4:00 pm
Tony looked at the pictures Anderson Chuma left with him and started crying; he let it all out like a baby that had been hungry for days, Tony wept. “Oga… oga wetin dey do you? Wetin happen? Wetin that man tell you?” Olinlin was back in the room with confusion but Tony could only cry and point at the pictures on the bed.
Olinlin took the pictures and looked at them carefully “Oga who be all these people?” he asked without looking up from the pictures “my family… my entire family members” Tony replied through tears. “I don’t want anything to happen to them” he cried and Olinlin asked again in confusion “wetin happen? Them tell you say something don do them?” his question was not going to get an answer; at least not from a wailing Tony.
A whole ten minutes passed before Tony was able to catch his breath and calm down a bit, the day was definitely the worst day of Tony’s life and he believed that if he survived that day; then the world would be his oyster. “Drink more” Olinlin urge Tony to drink more water, perhaps replenish the litre he had lost through his eyes by crying.
Tony sipped out of the water bottle, covered it, put it on the table, and laid on the bed; he closed his eyes and prayed that when he opened them, the day would be a dream but Olinlin’s voice didn’t even let him fantasize properly. He opened his eyes and turned to Olinlin
“You get anything wey you dey do today?” “I don finish work for today but I be wan go market” Olinlin replied eagerly “Abeg, dey with me today… I need you to help me do something” “Okay sir, no problem” Tony had no idea that Olinlin was very excited to be needed by him; Olinlin was excited to be needed by the cool guy who lived next to him and had the life that he could only dream of.
Tony dialled his phone and he heard it ring on the other side, his heart beat increased “Hello” a male voice answered, it was Emeka, the EFCC guy who approached him earlier in the day to help him take down Mr. Henry for embezzlement. “Hello” Tony spoke sighing anxiously “Emeka, I need to talk to you but no one must know that you are talking to me” Tony stated with plea in his voice.
Emeka agreed to meet Tony in his hospital room and within fifteen minutes he had arrived “so what’s up?” he asked going straight to the point. “I need protection” Tony replied, trying his best to sit comfortably with his bandaged arm.
Olinlin was present as Tony explained his ordeal to Emeka in totality; he told him about the strangulation in the conference room of the Abuja Private Clinic which led to the accident and then the scary conversation with Anderson Chuma.
Tony was not afraid to lay it all out; he figured that Emeka could only properly help protect him if he knew everything. Everything but the content of the envelop given to him by Anderson Chuma; it was going to help his bargaining power and a way to ensure that Emeka did whatever he was about to promise him as regards his protection.
“Are you sure that the content of the envelope is all we need to persecute Mr. Henry?” “It is enough to convict him without trial sef” Tony replied clutching onto the envelope. “You will have to come into the office” Emeka said and the disappointing look on Tony’s face made him explain further “I cannot promise you anything right now, we have to go and meet the people or person who will order for your protection and give you what you want” it wasn’t what Tony wanted to hear but he agreed to it.
Fortunately for them, the hospital was ready to discharge Tony at his request and within minutes; they were in a car on their way to the EFCC headquarters. They arrived in no time proceeded past security into the building.
Just as they stepped their feet past the reception, Tony spotted a familiar face, it was a man; he kept looking at the man wondering where he knew him from and just like that it clicked. It was the same man who hit him with a car in front of his house.
“Hey! He is here to kill me! He is here to kill me!” Tony screamed with unimaginable fear and panic, his feet couldn’t move any longer; all he could do was point at the man and scream. Before Emeka and Olinlin could figure out what was going on, Tony clenched his chest with his uninjured arm and collapsed on the floor.
