Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, without the express and prior permission in writing of Pen It! Publications, LLC. This book may not be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is currently published.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. Pen It! Publications does not grant you rights to resell or distribute this book without prior written consent of both Pen It! Publications and the copyright owner of this book. This book must not be copied, transferred, sold or distributed in any way.
Disclaimer: Neither Pen It! Publications, or our authors will be responsible for repercussions to anyone who utilizes the subject of this book for illegal, immoral or unethical use.
This is a work of fiction. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect that of the publisher.
This book or part thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise-without prior written consent of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.
Published by Pen It! Publications, LLC in the U.S.A.
812-371-4128 www.penitpublications.com
ISBN: 978-1-954004-54-2
Edited by Jen Selinsky
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE ...........................................1
CHAPTER TWO.........................................17
CHAPTER THREE......................................27
CHAPTER FOUR........................................35
CHAPTER FIVE..........................................63
CHAPTER SIX.............................................89
CHAPTER SEVEN.....................................101
CHAPTER EIGHT......................................111
CHAPTER NINE........................................133
CHAPTER TEN..........................................149
CHAPTER
ONE
Pete recalled the fun of the evening in room six on the first floor of the Alvin Hotel and Suites. He satiated his urge for
pleasure in such a patronising place other than his house because it would have made a difference.
‘I would be out of the ordinary today’, he aimed.
Both of them were raised in the city; their exposure to fast-progressing social life would help them understand each other. They were irresistible that night, burnt in affection. He was well-behaved because he wouldn’t want to be spotted as uncultured by his new wife, as such would create fear in her and could trigger issues in his marriage. He was never prepared for one, and he understood his wife was the same way.
It had been an unforgettable night because it marked a start for the new couple. They experienced romance with each other for the first time in their affair. Pete and his wife, Lanle, left the room, cuddling each other, the burning love was overwhelming in their minds. They chose the Alvin Hotel and Suites on Old Gallant Road of Ilumeroh for their honeymoon.
It was necessary that Lanle hurry,at once, to her family home, where she lived before they got married, to collect the set of kitchen utensils she got herself few days prior to the wedding. Pete walked her down into the long street and watched as she stopped a cab driving through Gallant Road, heading towards Akpansa square.
Besides her kitchen utensils, Lanle bought some clothes as gifts for her hubby prior to the marriage; they were fifteen pairs of men’s trendy wear. Two hours after Lanle had gone, Pete had a thought that his wife had delayed her return.Her mother, or her younger siblings, must have engaged her in a long bout of conversation that caught her attention and got her distracted, or something else.
She has delayed much because it is getting into the third hour, he pondered. It escaped her mind that they ought to have left during the early hours to attend their church thanksgiving service. The thought lingered with him until he began to doze off.
Kelvin, a neighbour who designed and sold men’s wear in his fashion house along Gallant Road, rushed down to meet Lanle in the house, as arranged prior to her wedding ceremony, to hand the box of clothes prepared for her spouse to her.
Lanle pleaded with him to drag all that she had come home to collect in a pair of suitcases near the side of the road, where they would load them into a cab.
They waved at cab drivers to stop and move them to the hotel, where her husband waited, but not one of the cabs stopped. They must have thought that she wouldn’t want to pay separate charges for her fares and the luggage to be loaded into the booth,as was usually the issue with some rigid passengers. She just wanted to return to the hotel where they lodged.
Pete dozed off before his wife returned. She didn’t have to knock on the door because it was half opened, rather than closed, so she wondered what happened to the person inside. Alas! Pete had gone far, his fingers quivered at the sound of steps towards him.
Lanle expected that he would rise from the bed, as usual, to join her in bringing the luggage inside,though she didn’t wait for him to join. He was as quiet as if in pretends to be in deep sleep. She dragged the handles towards the bed on which she could sit.
Kelvin, who came just to deliver the box of the clothes, pushed from the rear as they got the luggage into the room.
At the sounds of the pulling and pushing, Pete woke up from his slumber and, in his range of vision, was a young man who had come into the room with Lanle to meet him. He thought this threatening, so he jumped up from the bed at once as he tried to figure out what was happening.
His wife turned to him, without delay, to introduce who the man who had come with her was as Kelvin. ‘He prepared some clothes for you. He came with them. I paid. He is my neighbour on the street trading in wears’.
Kelvin greeted and asked him to wear the clothes one by one to check for fitting. Should any of them need to be adjusted to size, he would take them back.
The check took another fifteen minutes of their time, and Pete complained on two of the outfits only.
Kelvin collected the two outfits and walked out of their sight. He dashed out to work on them in his fashion house, which wasn’t far from Gallant Road.
One hour later, he returned them. He waited as Lanle had pleaded with him. She asked Kelvin to help them as they moved their luggage out to leave the hotel.
Time was far spent between the heavy luggage and the ongoing church service. Pete, Lanle, and Kelvin all came out of the room to the reception and signed out of Alvin Hotel and Suites at about 10.45a.m. to board a cab from Gallant Road for the church service while Kelvin went on his own way.
The Thanksgiving service ended, and it was high time that Lanle and Pete left for Lagos. The church members, Lanle’s siblings, and their mum bade goodbye to 'the newest couple in town' as the cab drove off to a park along Ikukhwu Junction, where they further rode on another one to Omeariho. The couple joined the other passengers to ride in GIG Transport Bus to Lagos,which was their base.
****
Lanle conceived three months after the wedding. She and her hubby went to get a scan to confirm her status. The scan proved her pregnant, and they returned home, happy, expecting their own baby.
At seven months, the next scan showed that it was fibroid growing in Lanle’s womb, and not a baby.
Pete was shattered, feeling discouraged because they do not expect to start their marital journey seeking solutions to such problem. They realised that there was turbulence ahead of them, and they're needed urgent solution to the problem.
‘I was expecting to hear that it’s a baby boy, but…That would make me the husband to a new wife, a “real strong man’ before my people”.
He patted Lanle comfortingly on the back and encouraged her as they strolled out of the medical facility.They could not discuss the issue with anyone else at that point.
With time, they sought for a counselor to guide them through the steps and out of their dilemma.
Nurturing the pregnancy turned uninteresting.The couple were becoming fearful because they wanted to have a boy as their first child, but they were booked for surgery in the hospital where they had registered.
Pete and his wife summoned courage to exercise some faith and headed out to meet their church’s pastor. He explained their ordeal, seeking her support in prayers. They made her understand that they could do anything possible to avoid the surgery that was booked for Lanle.
Their pastor saw how tempted they were to have the operation done, but she didn’t want to oblige them to settle for surgery.Rather, she encouraged them to let their faith guide them through. In her pity, she declared to them that God would help them and they would deliver their baby as they so desired.
Lanle was fidgeting, but she was encouraged by the pastor to be strong. She braced herself for a life-changing expectation. She wanted her husband to be happy again. She prepared to feed her faith in prayers as their pastor began to lead them. The couple stopped attending to anti-natal care at this point because they were told that the scan couldn’t discover the foetus rather than the fibroid.
The pastor soon sounded like a doctor in their minds. They reported to her office every day. She kept assuring them that something favourable would happen to them if they believed.
Once Lanle had reached the ninth month of the pregnancy, the pastor advised another scan. After they returned with similar report, she decided to support them by saying that fasting and prayers might give them a positive result. She advised yet another scan, which they had done, but they returned, depressed.
Neither one of them could encourage the other again because they had already exhausted their hopes. Right now, they banked on their pastor’s belief as their last resort. They didn’t have the enough money to have another scan on week forty-one, even though their pastor advised it.
When she mentioned the possibility of another scan; they burst out into uncontrollable tears and wept bitterly before her.
She brought out her slim leader wallet and handed cash to Pete, urging them to have another scan.
Lanle was already devastated, and weary, but she was the one carrying the weight of the burden that was about to sweep them off their feet!
The couple went for another scan, and something else had come upon Lanle. The laboratory attendant scanned the limbs and declared that it looked like a baby, although he wasn’t very sure because that wasn’t the first time he had run a scan on the expectant mother within the same month.
By then, the couple was engulfed in mixed feelings; they were lost to their faith in their pastor’s counsel.
Pete asked the lab attendant to please affirm to him that it was a baby but because the young man said that ‘it just looked like it’, held him bound in his mood swings.
They returned to their church’s pastor and narrated the story to her. The news was favourable, amazing! She implored them to start going home and prepare to have their baby.
. Lanle, who was fond of eating shrimp, fed her baby, mixing the dry powder in pureed foods for him. They added though other nutrients to his meals to enable him to take it.
Within the first three months, he could respond to cheers. When Junior was only six months old, he weighed seven kg and was growing properly.
During the seventh month, he could sit up supported; he also attempted crawling. His food was nutritious to nourish him, alongside breastfeeding. His rapid growth impressed his parents; he began crawling and gripping.
By the eleventh month, he began to take steps, learning to move his limbs, step by step.
His parents marked his first birthday by holding his hands unto the knife to cut his birthday cake.
They held him up and snapped some photos and, as the flashes of the camera triggered, he was amazed and focused more on the snap-shots, which made him have a great number of exquisite shots and for his first birthday.
Two weeks after Junior’s first birthday, he stood up, opened the door and held other objects for support and took one, two, three steps forward before he sat back on his buttocks.
By the third week of the thirteenth month, he began to walk, staggering, it was great surprise. He fidgeted and waved left and right until he gained his balance.
During the fifteenth month, he had started crying whenever either of his parents rose to go out without holding his hands; he wanted to clutch them. Only on rare occasions he cried for a longer time because he was ill. He cried when there was poor ventilation in the apartment while feeling sleepy. He would prefer bathing before being laid to sleep,after refreshing; he dozed off.
He did this until he became strong and could move his limbs faster. Junior nearly walked on his toes fast, as if he was running to catch up with something.
Neighbours had also joined his parents to monitor Junior in order to prevent him from impeding dangers. One day, he fell from bed because he wouldn’t grasp the support to come down. Then, twice, he had fallen from the bed immediately after he woke up, rolling left and right carelessly before Lanle heard him cry out for help.
Whenever anyone carried him, he struggled his way down to show displeasure because he wanted to run fast ahead. Sometimes, he ran into dangerous ditches ahead of him, or someone else that was on the same path, he refused to be held. Some of those people he innocently ran into while on their way cheered, but others bullied him.
Lanle exclaimed, calling his name so that he might discontinue what he was doing. He forced his mother to snap her fingers on other times just to make him stop his prevailing actions.
To help the situation, it was rather preferable to lift him up onto Mum’s back, or in Dad’s arms as part of their tradition. The most comfortable manner of curtailing him included one of those methods. Sometimes, he struggled his way down the back, or the hands, just to feel free. Whoever had lifted him up had to put him back down to allow him his convenience.
His penis often went turgid in the morning when he woke from sleep, just as whenever he was pressed and wanted to urinate. Almost everything anyone did in his sight he tried out after, laughing and repeating those actions.
At fifteen months, he began to respond to sounds he heard and repeated them to learn how to make such sounds. At every sound of music he heard, he danced. The toys became his companion that kept him busy when he gripped to play.
Growing beyond eighteen months made him responsive to holding firmly on to an object; it was just that when he lost his balance to fall, he sustained the hold on that item and got injured by that same object. Some objects like cups, chairs, tables, books in the house he fondled; his strength made him even want to lift the slightly heavy objects that he sighted closer, or turn it upside down, just for the fun and the discovery that he could handle such excitement.
His teething was not, in any way, different from that of other children in that he sneezed and coughed at times. His temperature went on the rise, so Lanle dipped short towel inside a bowl of water to cool him down.
Most times, he rejected food, not minding that he was hungry, yet crying to be fed. What he wanted no one could understand; it was by testing many ideas on him that he responded towards one.
All manner of touch seemed to have brought him displeasure at that moment. He pushed off hands from himself, but he also wanted someone lift him, not up, and not down, either.
It was a challenging period for both himself and his parents; it looked as if they were not just getting,themselves.
After a long while, not less than four weeks, a new set of teeth sprang from his gums, and his temperature began to stabilise again. He began to open his mouth for soft food like noodles, pap, tea, and cereals. The first set of teeth and the second formed sixteen (eight up, eight down). He learned to cut and tear with his teeth, trying it out on his soft and well-prepared meat and fishes. It had always been after a scold, and a gentle push away to close his mouth that Mum stopped him from biting her.
During the nineteenth month, his parents prepared, and enrolled, him in a crèche that his career in education might start from there; they had enrolled Junior in a school close to his mum’s trading store.
Junior’s teacher, popularly called Aunty, taught him in her class from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon. He joined his peers to stand beside a very low to the ground-level drainage at a place nearer his school so they could urinate. They erected their penises to extend, adding more force, until it expanded one another’s during their play. He played rough among his peers.Though quick in learning, he understood explanations whenever he was in his learning mood both at school and at home.
Aunty Helen, Junior’s teacher, liked him for his excellent response towards the class work.‘He makes my work less difficult', she said in her mind because it was rare that his parents visited the school to complain. ‘Aunty’ would write a short note for him to give to his parents only when there was a need for it. That style was the channel of communication between his teacher and the parents.
Junior was playful, yet intelligent. His brilliance had set him above some other children in the crèche. He responded positively to instructions. This attitude earned him popularity in school. In addition, Junior performed well in sports.
Aunty Helen was on ground at the school’s open-day, where parents came to view the ground, get informed, and celebrate their children upon their activities in the school over a session.
Lanle visited the event, she saw the outstanding writings and paintings works that Junior had done within the session to earn those good marks, and the prizes awarded to him by the school. She was like, ‘Wow! His teacher has really done him proud. She must be for his responsible for his good attitude towards learning, I know’. She left the event, excited, with Junior’s prizes in her hands.
When playing with other children in school, Junior had more positive impact than negative in the sense that he led them into reciting some of their play songs. He was restless most of the time. Being energetic, he couldn't stay without engaging himself in exercises since his limbs had become strong. He picked words, mimics, and repeated sounds as he heard; it was regular of him as something else.
He was growing tall, it made him look like a three-year-old, though he was only one year and nine months old. Junior would never ignore any activity that took place near him. He had always been attentive to sounds, he was attracted to the sight of other children fondling objects, like dolls and footballs. He never stayed in one place!
The whole house was not enough for him to run around in a day. He wanted to go outside the compound’s main gate and see what made the sound that he just heard. Anyone who wanted to restrain him could not do that easily because he would twist and turn his arms carelessly to free himself; he had the mindset that the person might hinder him from enjoying himself.
Talking him into another action and instruction after the initial was difficult sometimes because he acted fast on instructions.The person who directed, or instructed, him would wait for him to finish up on the one he had started before the next order.
Sometimes, Junior would do something different from what he was instructed and laugh. He was sarcastic about it, watching as his comedy spread among the people that responded in laughter near him. One could not easily conclude that he didn’t hear, or interpret, what he heard at a time like that; he just wanted to satisfy himself. He was funny most of the time
Junior’s style of play made a younger toddler cry. They could not stand his strength; he gripped hard on them to play as he wished. His parents attended more to him at that stage; they kept feeding him with the adequate nutrition that he needed to continue developing sound health. They never compromised his care, and they did that so that he could grow healthy and strong into his second year. It was awesome he had started pronouncing one, two-letter words in the diphthongs after nineteen months of age.
Junior familiarised himself with some food items, such as cereals,at that stage. Rice was his quick meal to eat.His mother relieved him of breast feeding by the twenty-second month. His eating habits began to improve reasonably so that he grew robust. He laughed out loud and uttered blabs that one could not pick the outright meaning.But, as common as that with him;his mother could understand him the most.
Whenever he was with his mum and laid his hand on an object, she was always quick to pull him back so that he wouldn't hurt himself. At that time, somebody else could connote what her son wanted, blabbed about, demonstrated, or had reported in the first place. As for his words, he could pronounce some. The others could easily guess and help him upon his descriptions as he continued to blab the whole message at a particular moment. He blabbed into many sounds for the listener to remain helpless. Junior was confused, yet he understood that he needed something to be satisfied.
They lived in a house where there were two Alsatian German Shepherd dogs owned by their landlord who lived in the compound. The dogs were released at night, inside the compound, for security functions. Junior mentioned their names as many times as he heard them bark to overwhelm the whole compound.
'Shut up, stop shouting “--icky” for Ricky’.
"— etty”... for Betty “go away’, he instructed them from his parents’ apartment.
A new session had come, and Aunty Helen was promoted to teach a higher-level class. She had taught Junior first in the crèche class, another teacher taught him in the second session KG1 Class.
Aunty Helen had been promoted to teach in the KG 2 Class, which was a higher class in the kindergarten. The teacher who taught him in the crèche class was there again to continue building him up in his academics. She got so attached to the chap this time, and she drew him closer.
Junior was fortunate to be posted to KG 2b, the class where Aunty Helen was recently fixed to teach during the new session.
The pupils,with their tiny voices, greeted in harmony as they all could speak, ‘Goodmor—ning,Ma,
‘May God bless you. Amen’.
They sat back.
Aunty Helen was so happy with them because of how lovely they looked and behaved on that morning. ‘Junior!’ she exclaimed and mentioned his Christian name.
‘Pete, are you in my new class again?’
Junior smiled at his teacher.
She stretched her arms so that he might run into her embrace, which he did.
Aunty Helen had a mini pack of snacks for her breakfast; she beckoned Junior to come closer to the teacher’s table and dropped a roll of pie into his palm to toast with her. The can of soft drinks were in a two-pack and, upon handing one to him, a colleague, Aunty Joan, interrupted, asking whether the bottle of drinks was for Junior alone.
No reply came before Joan dashed at the drink on Junior’s table. She exclaimed out loud 'Hmm,.. is this full bottle of drink for Junior?’
This is too much for him noooow! It’s too much'.
Joan quickly snatched the can out of Junior’s fingers. She then walked away with it gushing, showing how sweet it tasted.
Aunty Helen laughed about it. But then, she saw the disappointed expression on Junior’s oval-shaped face, which seemed rather longer than wide, with his jaw narrower than the cheekbones, so proportionally shaped in his head.
She had another option, though, a thought, to either share from the one she had in her hand or go out and buy him another one to replace the onethat Aunty Joan seized so that Junior might enjoy his toast with her on her new promotion. She decided to buy another drink for him. Aunty Helen and Junior’s fondness for each other grew.
Junior’s performance had improved as he learned to write, recite, and identify symbols; he had improved in his skills. At home, he was conscious of himself to the stage that he chose the clothes he wanted to wear when he went out. It wasn’t because anyone else didn’t want to choose for him but, whenever they did, he just outright refused, thus rejected going out on those occasions. Only on rare cases did he acquiesce to wear traditional clothing.Because of his attitude, he chose the clothes he wanted most of the time.
Living with Junior had been a bit taxing; it took him agreeing to a particular decision before he could take part in it. His development was rapid as he grew; this much was evident in his physical outlook and intellect. He did well in his studies and had excellent remarks from his teachers in the school as he got promoted from a lower to higher class until the end of first term at primary one, which was marked by a short holiday.
CHAPTER
TWO
The Sahara Desert North Trade Wind (Harmattan season) was here,and second term on the modular made the season. Pete’s family didn’t lodge any complaints with the school’s management that Junior wouldn’t resume the new term with them. The administrative staff discussed this with great concern, wondering if the ward’s parent had, by any other means, informed the school that he had not been-on-the-know.
Just then, the head teacher's phone rang. The thought of losing a child against his expectations had engulfed him. Mr. Onwans’ phone vibrated the second time when he dashed towards his table.It was Mr. Pete’s voice he heard reporting his son’s condition officially;he pleaded that, as soon as Junior recovered, he would join his mates to continue his studies.
'Oh, my Junior’, he said in a deep tone. Junior fell sick one week to the resumption. His illness was severe that he was hospitalised.His parents worried about the situation, Lanle sobbed anytime she came beside her five-year-old son's bed in the children’s ward. Pete had taken a day off from work to be with their son in the hospital. His phone rang many times, for some hours, on that day;it was his colleagues calling to ask about his son’s condition.
The head teacher, Mr. Onwan, class teacher, Mrs. Brown,and other teachers called, too. They called Junior’s parents to ask how things were with their son on the Monday morning during the second week of his absence from the school.
Lanle became worried the more about their son’s case. Dr. Clan the family doctor, also the director of Nicolai Hospital, kept assuring them, and their friends who came to visit, that Junior would be fine again. Junior was admitted in the children's ward.
Dr. Clan explained how he had invited a pediatric specialist and surgeon friend from LUTHIA and how the surgeon would attend to their son. He was convinced that his friend would work his hardest to restore Junior. Dr. Clan further advised that they be prayerful for the success of their son's operation.
On the other hand, another consultant doctor who was also assigned Junior’s case file had an arrangement in place that was unknown to everyone;his secret agenda was to test adulterated vaccines on younger children against the ethics of his employer’s business. It was necessary that the hospital operated on Junior after several tests, medical check-ups, correctional drugs and X-ray administered because he suffered from Excretal-diverticular.
Dr. Clan promised to restore Junior to normal condition by surgical operation.
Each time Lanle visited her son, she went looking for his case consultant, Dr. Bridge,pleading with him that he might help her monitor to see that nothing worse went wrong with their son during the course of his treatment; it was as if she knew that something set back Junior’s progress.
The consultant doctor had a series of secret bio-scientific projects contracted to him by 'cabals', who were officials in the prevailing regime. They sold the poor and average family homes to buyers who could pay to own them.
They paid Dr. Bridge to create counter drugs that they used on younger children to delete their memories. The goal was to kidnap as many younger children as possible to use as victims for their cruel medical experiments. They were able to infiltrate the security sector due to short-staffing and frustrated active security operatives to resign from their jobs.
Dr. Bridge had secretly paid a lump sum to another student doctor, Lasan,whom the management of Nicolai Hospital officially affiliate themselves with to learn from. The management had funded all the tests and experiments so that Dr. Bridge could execute his secret project.
Lasan employed a shoe coupler, Maalo, to help fetch as many young children as possible between ages four and eight years to sell to his boss. Due to the sensitivity of the project,Lasan was ready to pay up to $165.00 per capture.
Maalo accepted the offer from Lasan, and the team made an agreement to work together because Lasan had cajoled them. It was a secret contract that involved government officials and was ready to make payments in hard currency. As long as the contract ran, and they delivered tomorrow, he would pay.
In order to execute this mission, Maalo disguised himself and acted as a madman during the daytime. During the evening, he surveyed the community, on the prowl for unsupervised children. Most times, thirty minutes after a child was seen playing by himself, or herself,he ran over and kidnapped them.
Dr. Bridge was becoming engulfed in the success of his secret project; he had his minor laboratory in the underground floor of an old museum building in Ikoyi, which most of the museum workers overlooked as a desolate building.Because of that, he would not mind if his team smuggled the next victim for his project and took them down to his hidden laboratory. They operated in a network; they stole from the theatre's refrigerant the particular vaccine arranged for surgical operation on that fateful day. The adulterated doses were then refilled into the original containers of stored vaccines.
Those who perpetrated the act with Lasan worked as a team on that night. Nurse Gbenro resumed his duty earlier to join his colleague. Lasan. The second to last nurse on the nurses roster worked hand-in-hand with the student doctor Lasan. She had access to the theatre that day, and she was the one to pass messages across the intercom to their supervisor, Gbenro.
They did the whole swapping and were not caught. Their seriousness beat the security and they deflected almost all the gadgets stationed on corners while carrying out their classified swap operations.
Nicolai Hospital had scheduled to carry out surgical operation on Junior that evening. Lasan had his eyes on Junior Pete, and another ward named Dododawa, whom they wanted to use as their victims.
The pediatrics peculiar and surgeon from Luthia, who had been scheduled for that operation on the two wards respectively on that night of a Thursday, had arrived early at the premises of the Nicolai Hospital. He had not reported to the director’s office to make his arrival known, Instead, he decided to stroll around and, in doing that, he witnessed the scene where a man he recognised as Dr. Bridge, his former college colleague,taking out his wallet from his back pocket and paying another young a huge sum. He watched as Dr. Bridge stretched the lump sum notes of money to the young man.
Bridge must have been engaged to Nicolai Hospital, the pediatric surgeon thought. Bridge was a member of his project group in the medical college during their study days and, so, he was aware of Bridge’s area of specialization, which was epidemiology. He was outstanding in performing biochemical experiments, along with his breakthrough in new research, but they had left the college years back and both later engaged in LUTHIA as freshers.
The pediatrician also recalled that the so-called Dr. Bridge, colleague from years back had, at most times, been spotted as an accomplice in secret projects that were influenced by well-paying personalities in the society; that was how Dr. Bridge earned his living during their school days. Way back during their college days, a selected number of best students were always enticed by these well-paying 'cabals' to build devices that could perform special functions to inflict harm on their spotted enemies.
The ‘cabals’ were always ready to finance some of the medical students throughout their studies. They used the strategy of going through some representatives to entice students of the medical college. Some of the students were gainfully employed this way, while others were in the government research centers and establishments around the town.
The most beneficial class of students were those in the nutrition department of the college; a lot of them were engaged as privates in food production companies, health organizations, and in general hospitals to teach, inform, and guide the masses on how to live and eat healthy.
The pediatric surgeon sighted Bridge. He would have whispered a ‘hello’ to Bridge, but the exchange of that lump sum cash had aroused his suspicions. Then, he noticed the young boy, Lasan, was also engaged in such dealing with Dr. Bridge.
Close to the time the operation was to start, the pediatric surgeon walked towards the director’s office.Moments later, at the reception lounge, he saw Lasan stand with the receptionist laughing and flipping some notes of cash that he could sight in his hand from the distance. He just wondered how popular the young man must have been in the hospital’s vicinity.
The ward's parents came in moments before it was time to take Junior into the medical theatre. The boy was already in his theatre apron. Junior lay on the wheeled bed with the proper apparatuses connected to him: one on his hand, and the other on his leg close to ankle, in case there might be a need to work with his tissues during the operation.
All the doctors involved gathered,and in came Lasan to join the team.Plan successful! he had assured himself in thought.
The surgeon imagined how happy the young man had been because he had that much cash handed to him right inside his pocket, straight to work with him at the theatre?
I will tease him a bit as he comes closer,he thought.
'The glove, the syringes, Injections'?the surgeon asked one after the other.
Lasan answered him, 'They are all set for use'.
The surgeon opened a pack of sterile gloves and put on a fresh pair, after which he collected the first of the injections from the tray, emptied it into a syringe in his hand, and shook it. He expected to see some bubbles, as usual, but couldn’t find one. He hesitated though, thinking that it might just be one of its kind. Then, proceeded to operate on his patient.
While the other doctors prepared to start the operation, the surgeon injected Junior below his pelvis.
They all observed.
Everyone had expected just a slit yelp in response, but Junior couldn’t hold himself together; he screamed out loud for help like he was being murdered.
Despite the decorum in the room, Junior’s cries hovered in the air, and he began to struggle for life to return into him. He was panting like a heavily thirsty animal because he was injected with the harmful vaccine from Bridge’s laboratory. It was an adulterated dose swapped with the original.Part of his body jerked for a moment, after which he forcefully raised his hands and covered his eyes, as if he was ashamed to see his doctors beside his bed. The vaccine affected his eye sockets.
The action triggered the surgeon’s suspicions and coupled with the sarcasm of the student doctor in there with him. He felt uneasy to continue, andLasan’s sarcasm made him frown. Also, the ward’s reaction was uncalled for in that situation.
While he was that empathetic with his patient, he raised his head to converse with his colleagues, as they could all see what happened, and they showed reasonable concern.A look of excitement had overwhelmed Lasan, unconsciously,because of the success of his mastermind. They had aligned with his set plans uninformed. The surgeon, by the distraction, made an unusual signal that caught Dr. Clan’s attention instantly.
Dr. Clan was alerted to the scene and so asked to know of the boy’s pulses with the gradient and was told. To cover up on the reply, Lasan interrupted, describing his observation of the radii that, ‘Anagen’s reaction on the patient was normal’.
The surgeon was completely gobsmacked by Lasan’s behaviour; it seemed that Lasan did not understand how to describe gradient of pulses on the radar. ‘It could be in Celsius, or Fahrenheit, proportions to the patient on surgery’s reaction to his treatment, yet '... And he worked in the theatre?
He began to feel uncomfortable with Lasans’ activities around him. He knew that the student had to learn something from them while there, but his responses to the activities on sight were just implied negatively!
The proprietor clan ordered that they change all the vaccines in the theatre refrigerator immediately. The surgeon wanted them to be evacuated quickly, and new orders sent to the pharmacist before any other vaccine would be applied on the patient, except for the gripe, which was seen not very necessary.
This intelligent move prompted Lasan, and the other staff on duty,to get moving. It was strange to everyone in their departments because that was the first time they had experienced such an approach from the proprietor.
Lasan began to sweat; the fever had attacked him. The overhauling was carried out immediately, and the operation also continued on Junior, with the proper vaccines this time around.
The boy came out successful and was wheeled out conscious. That was contrary to Lasans’ plan because their swapped vaccine usages were eventually avoided, except for the first injection that had hurt Junior and had a gradual impact on him.
At about ten minutes past the hour following the surgery, they wheeled the next ward into the theatre for his own operation; it took time before they had a need for a gripe for Dododawa.
He could have been successfully operated on without the gripe but, because of his pulses that fluctuated many times and didn’t assure a balance, it became necessary that the doctor fixed one to sustain him. The impact of the fake gripe water was enough to render Dododawa unconscious and subsequently wipe his memory.
The pediatric surgeon, who wasn’t a party to the plot on the pupil-patient, performed the surgery successfully, to the disappointment of Lasan’s team; he was unaware of their plans.
The assigned nurse wheeled the patient out on the stretchers.Meanwhile, on a side of his bed hung the second adulterated gripe from the theatre. The supporting nurse, who understood the plans on hand, sighted it from a distance. He rushed down, pulled it out, and replaced it with an empty tube of the same gripe, but original brand this time.
The assigned nurse wheeled Dododawa into the next hall adjacent to the theatre. The nurse waited further instructions, as usual. They finally put him onto the children ward stretchers and off into the children’s ward. Lasan couldn’t re attempt his nefarious plan at the time; it would have to wait.
Nurse Gbenro had waited for quite a while to see things workout; he had positioned his car in the hospital’s garage to move the wards out as soon as the deal was perfected.
Gbenro had positioned his car to steal the wards as planned, but he was disappointed. He felt terrified that they had missed their target on both Junior and Dododawa. Gbenro concluded that he would follow the boys up and see that they had them stolen from the streets by any means.
Junior was discharged from Nicolai Hospital and released to his parents.
Dododawa’s parents came two weeks after Junior’s to settle their bills and have him discharged. The young ward left Nicolai Hospital to join his family at home.
On the same day of Junior’s discharge, before long, Nurse Gbenro alerted Dr. Bridge by placing a call. He and another member of the team, Gado, followed Pete’s family in the old model L6X Mercedes Benz car. He ended up driving to the family’s house on that day and continued surveillance on Junior,who had passed his office at a time for treatment.
Since this action was in the dark, the plot was unknown to his office colleague that he worked hand-in-hand with Lasan, who could be referred to as a nonentity in their office and completely unaware that they had spotted the two boys that night as their victims.
Lasan had the rest of his day after his legitimate work to get involved in his shady deals; he had more time to himself to work for Dr. Bridge because of the amount he offered to pay for his business.
On that fateful day, consultant Doctor Bridge had waited in the lounge to meet and hear from Lasan regarding the number of victims they had captured into their cage. Dr. Bridge wanted to inspect and pay him for a deed well-done since his experiments yielded expected results, so there was the need for more specimens.
Meanwhile,he had also secured plans to take two weeks of leave once they scheduled surgery on Junior and Dododawa.
CHAPTER
THREE
It was unknown to Lasan that there was camera positioned on the storage boxes doors to pick up the faces of whomever opened the boxes at any moment; he had never noticed it before. That particular last camera wasn’t deflected, as at the time the smuggling and swapping operations were done on the theatre vaccines box.
Only one person in the hospital discovered the scene as he hopped in and out of the place. The IT department Boss who glanced at the recorded scene on the Internal CCTV wondered what was wrong with them and caused him to be hopping in and out of the vaccine store innermost the operation theatre.One moment later, he saw him pour out some liquid into a container.
Mr. Divine became suspicious and suspected sabotage. He waited for the next twenty-four hours to hear if there were any complaints from any side of the office, but there was none from the corner of the departments. He decided to probe into the incident;he wanted student doctor Lasan to explain the mission he had alone on the boxes inside there.
He questioned Lasan verbally, and the young man didn’t sound very much convincing, as he was stuttering unnecessary replies. Mr. Divine issued him a query to further explain his lonely activity inside the theatre’s innermost room that was also the vaccines store.
After the query was issued, Lasan stepped aside to make calls to Maalo and Gado, describing Mr. Divine, and his Official car, to them.
The receptionist saw Lasan around the lounge walking up and down the staircase, calling and receiving calls too many times in one hour, being restless. He suspected that there was something going on but ignored the study of activities. The team of assassins assigned by Lasan launched an attack on Mr. Divine in his car on his way back home. Lasan arranged the assassination within a few hours before closing, and the prospect narrowly escaped death, which unknown by the assassins who had reported him dead to Lasan.
Nevertheless, Mr. Divine suspected the incident of that query letter issued on Lasan in his office, he had earlier called the proprietor to report his experience and recent dealings with the student doctor.
The managers and the chief security officer didn’t charge him at once because he would run away if they did. The proprietor,Mr. Clan, called the policemen attached to his hospital to clamp down on him for investigation.
The pediatrician,who recognised Bridge at once as he sighted him there, later made it known that during one of his discussions with Dr. Clan. The pediatrician had shown interest in the matter as the proprietor tipped him off about the incident linked to his operational activities of that day. He knew of Bridge’s lifestyle on the profession, as he had sensed something on setting his eyes on both him and Lasan.
Maalo who had always disguised as a madman, checked on Lasan in his office at Nicolai Hospital on a Saturday. This time, he was in his real clothes.
The policemen, upon hearing that Lasan had a visitor at the reception, put up their guard. The CSO didn’t hesitate; he informed the MD of the development and his intention to delay the visitor.
Dr. Clan allowed him to do what he wanted. Even though the message had been conveyed to Lasan through intercom by the receptionist. The CSO had cut in and acted upon it, thus blocking the channel and delaying Maalo, just to aid ongoing investigation.
At first, the other security operatives did not realize that there was an order from the CSO in that regard; they came to realize when it was already four hours after Maalo’s arrival.Thus, the need arose to remind Lasan of his visitor’s prolonged stay inside the reception lounge. They did so as to get Lasan to come out and disperse his visitor if he was too busy to attend to him.Their awareness was triggered by the CSO’s immediate interference, stating that the visitor shouldn't be allowed to leave the premises, as he might be of further assistance with the ongoing investigation. Lasan had been a suspect for the attack launched against the company's IT manager.
Lasan,upon hearing that his friend had been delayed by the policemen inside the same compound with him angered him. He began to rage, condemning his boss’ orders, shouting at the top of his voice. He kept asking that someone help call his lawyer, as if he had one;the chief security officer had already ceased his handset. All his colleagues who’d heard all the shouting wanted to know what was happening.
While Lasan was going through interrogation, it was becoming unbearable for Maalo to keep to himself, waiting, and not allowed to leave.His captives had increased, and there was no further plan to move them out of his ‘cage’ in an isolated warehouse.Thus, the need to check on his business partner. That was the reason why he visited, but this turned out to be trouble for him. Both of them knew, very well, that a leak in the cult would boomerang on them; anyone apprehended in the course would face the law of the land, and society at large.
There had not been any backup signal, as usual, to pass any information between the two. That would have enabled Maalo to suspect that Lasan was in trouble. Lasan had gotten himself into a mess in his office. Maalo’s unannounced visit was just so that they could‘shoot the shit’, as he didn’t call through Lasan before appearing in Nicolai Hospital to see him.
It amazed Lasan to hear that his disguised ‘mad friend’ was in his office to check on him based on what had been on ground between them as a ‘going concern’! Maalo had been directed and delayed to sit down at the lounge for over twelve hours after entering into the hospital’s compound, expecting that his friend would come out and attend to him.
During the interrogation, the CSO imposed that even Maalo was a suspect. There, the conversation continued.
Chief Security Officer: ‘We shall have to hear of his relationship with you here before we allow him leave'.
At once, Lasan thought, Maalo would be invited and questioned, for what? He knew that, with the presence of his friend inside that compound, another case would erupt against him and his immediate boss, Mr. Bridge, the consultant doctor.
In order to continue investigation and resolve the matter for it not to get out of hand, Dr. Clan requested that the IT Manager be brought to the office escorted by two armed policemen with the CSO. Not minding the escort, Mr. Divine and his family were afraid of the killers that were after him. They didn’t know what might happen next, so it took some time for them to be convinced.
They all drove back to Nicolai Hospital at Shosho Island on that Thursday afternoon. Lasan was afraid that Mr. Divine, even though he had been reported dead by the assassins, would show up in the office again!
Immediately,Lasan became panicked. He was very much afraid to behold a dead man again. He suffered from hay fever as he saw Mr. Divine coming out of the car. Lasan couldn’t believe his eyes as he came into the security office with a white bandage rolled over his left arm and another ‘round his head. He screamed out loud, ‘Eeeeeh....oku, oku!. Lasan would rather die right there than be caught.
The interrogation began as the parties assembled; The policemen attached to the hospital invited the DPO, the CSO, and some HOD listened to them as they spoke.
The interrogation continued, and the consultant, Dr. Bridge, was mentioned as a person of interest.Ateam of policemen had ambushed in his residence at Palm Avenue, Mushin to make an arrest. They discovered that, when his wife and the children came out of the house to talk to one officer, Mr. Bridge had traveled to Cotonou on a business trip. That must have been before the ambush order. On that day when Mr. Divine appeared physically in the interrogatory session, as he opened his mouth and struggled to speak of his ordeal, Lasan ran out of the security office, completely in shock.He ran towards the main gate to escape onto the street.
A policeman threatened him by cracking his AK47 gun, but Lasan ran faster until he escaped through the gate. He made a wrong turn in that he ran straight into a vehicle which had crushed his head and killed him upon impact. that got him knocked down and crushed only his head in a fatal accident right in front of the hospital’s gate. Everyone near the hospital gate witnessed the scene. They screamed, but it was too late!
The government had seized Lasan's corpse through the police commissioner and the DPO. No one in his family was able to show up before the government to identify and claim his corpse because of his deeds, which was unfortunate.
Mr. Divine fell on his already injured knees again as he tried too to run after him.
A policeman also ran after him,but he wasn’t fast enough to get closer and grab Lasan before he was struck.
Maalo denied ever having any dealings with Lasan, apart from being his shoe cobbler.
The suspect from the first round of interrogation summoned up his courage; he wanted to reply by his own identity. Maalo started speaking after a deep sigh, 'I’m Osho-maalo Arigba. a shoe cobbler, and a security man. I just come to Lagos. I noh get house now'.
The police officer cut in, 'Please, could you repeat your last sentence? What did you say?’
Maalo repeated, 'I aff no house'.
Police Officer: 'Tell me, now, where do you work as a security man?Do you sleep during the night, or during the morning after your night watches?'
Maalo: 'A street. I dey sleep in my workshop bed e dey there'.
Police Officer: 'Name the street. Where is your workshop? When did you stay there to work last?’
Maalo: ‘Bouler.It is the last street before the refuse dump.
My work shop is a stand near the last light pole on that street". I was there two hours before I came and see my customer, Doctor Lasan'.
Police Officer: 'Aside from your doctor friend who has died, did anyone else know you in the place as a shoe cobbler, or as a security man?’
Maalo: ‘Yee...es.Them know me, but l use to stay more with
Lasan before I go back to work in the evening'.
Police Officer: 'But you are a shoe coupler ...Eehn?
'Yes', Maalo interrupted.
The Police Officer continued: 'How long do you stay with Lasan in a day?’
Maalo: 'I couple shoe, I stay in doctor’s house before he goes to work'.
'Every day? the Police Officer asked again.
Police Officer:'Can a doctor have all the time to hang out with you as you are painting here?’
At that point, another officer cut in with aggression.He interrupted them, saying, 'This guy would have questionable character! "Oga,you may need to be on this guy, he is not truthful'.
Police Officer:'Where is that Bouler dung?
The Police Officer faced Maalo, asking him in the usual Pidgin English again,"You say you be the security man, who use you to secure himself"?
All efforts to prove him beyond reasonable doubt were aborted. After much investigation, which yielded no fruitful result, the security officials had to set him free.
Maalo was happy that he finally was allowed to leave, but he felt for his accomplice, Lasan,who died during the investigation process.
Dr. Bridge had also denied all allegations against him.
The team didn’t give up on their evil deed because they were already enticed by the lump sum that they were receiving.Instead, they divided themselves and made their channels more sophisticated....
🚨
Please Check Back
Thank you so much.
From your author friend.
#malepsychologynovel🌋
Are you looking for a tantalizer detective and Christmas celebration colourful?
🏖️ Choose 'Boy' and 🏟️faff with the intriguing one.
Shaaaii!😍😂 Selar motivation.
#OpeyemiPeterOdeseyi #AfricanAuthor #FaithWriter #MoralFiction #CulturalStoryteller
#YorubaWriter #ChristianAuthor #AfricanLiterature #StorytellingAfrica #ReadNigeria
#BoyTheBook #BoySeries #MoralGrowthStories #FaithAndFamily #YouthDevelopment
#AfricanValues #ParentingThroughStories
#YorubaTranslation #AfricanLanguages #TraditionInWords #YorubaProverbs #YorubaLiterature
#AuthorSpotlight #BookLoversAfrica #BookstagramNigeria #ReadersCommunity
#InspireThroughStories #AmazonBooks
selar.com/showlove/malechildpsychology
