Nicholas

Nicholas batch 18

Nicholas
Episode 20
UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL
ILORIN
7 AM
8, DECEMBER 2015
Kate opened her eyes slowly, she was not sure what had woken her up; the voices or the pain in her back. She had slept off around one in the morning beside Kemi’s bed. Nicholas had insisted she stay in the hospital, he was sure the arrest was a mistake or some new thing Lawal had cooked up to destroy him, either way, she was not going to be any good and Kemi needed her more. She could not help but worry, it had kept her awake. Kemi had not stirred, the doctors did not think she was going to make it. If Kemi died and Nicholas could not get out of jail, it was going to be the worse day of her life.
Her phone rang, she dug in,side her handbag to get it. It was Nicholas’ mom. It had not occurred to her to call Nicholas’ mother. If Lawal was indeed behind Nicholas’ arrest, she was sure he would not be allowed access to a phone.
“Hello ma’am.”
“Kate, how are you. Do you know where Nicholas is? He has not picked my calls since last night, he doesn’t do that.” She sounded anxious.
“I’m sorry ma, I should have called you since yesterday.”
“What are you talking about? What happened to him?” she sounded even more anxious.
“He was arrested yesterday.”
“Arrested? For what?”
“Kidnap and attempted murder of Kemi, he was arrested right here in the hospital.”
“Murder of who… what was he doing in the hospital in the first place” Of course she did not know about the accident.
“I’m sorry, I should have told u this too. Kemi was hit by a car yesterday, it happened in front of CyberCorp building.”
“But why? Nicholas didn’t… how’s Kemi, will she survive? Is she okay? Can I speak to her?” Nicholas’ mom rambled on, she was obviously distraught.
“She’s unconscious, the doctors are not very hopeful.” Kate looked at Kemi, it looked like a part of her face moved. She looked closer, she was moving and then she started gro-ning. “Can I call you back ma’am?”
She put of the phone without waiting for a reply, jumped off the chair. It looked like she was saying something.]
“Adam…” Kemi mumbled. Why was she talking about Adam?
“Shhhh, conserve your energy, don’t talk.” Kate looked around, there was no nurse or doctor in sight.
“Adam…” she said again, her voice barely a whisper. “…Lawal… Adam is…kidnap…find him.” Kate looked around again, this time in confusion. Adam was investigating the kidnap, Nicholas had mentioned that he had not seen or heard from him in a few days. Why was Kemi telling her to find him? If that was what she was saying. “Nicholas…”
“He’s not here, he is fine, he will be here soon, okay? Just relax.”
“ Chelsea bag… false bottom…” She coughed, stopping her rambling. Kate could not understand, Chelsea bag? She could not recall Nicholas owing anything like that. “Nicholas…I’m sorry.”
“Just keep quiet Kemi, Nicholas would be here soon.” She had no idea if Nicholas was coming any time soon but it seemed to make Kemi happy, she smiled and closed her eyes.
Her phone rang again, she had not told Nicholas’ mother where Nicholas had been taken to. It was not her.
“Hello.” Kate said
“Hi, Kate right? I have called Nicholas but he is not picking his calls, this is very important, I need to meet him.” The voice sounded familiar.
“Who is this please?”
“Oh sorry, this is Tola, we met earlier.” It was the blogger. Why would she want to meet Nicholas?
“Yeah, Nicholas is not here, he was arrested last night.”
“He was? That’s interesting. Do you think Senator Lawal had anything to do with this?” She could not understand why the blogger sounded so excited.
“It’s possible he did, why do you ask?”
“If he did… you know what, how about you meet me at the police station? What police station was he taken to?”
“I don’t know…” She heard a beep on her phone, she looked at it, Nicholas’ mom’s call was waiting. “I don’t know but I would think it would be the headquarters. I have to pick another call and I can’t come to the station now, I am in the hospital. Bye.”
“Hello ma’am, sorry I had to drop that call so fast, Kemi was stirring, I had to get to her.”
“How is she?”
“I don’t know, it looks bad… I don’t know honestly.”
“All is well. Which station is Nicholas held at?”
“Oh sorry, I should have talked about that, I am not sure, but it would be the headquarters. That’s where I would check.”
She pulled the chair closer to the bed and dropped into it.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
ILORIN
9 AM
8, DECEMBER 2015
Tola had never been so excited in her life, one of the nation’s most corrupt leaders was about to be brought down and she was going to be a part of it. Putting Nicholas in jail was going to be his last act as a villain. She talked with the governor of the state, it was not easy to pull off but he was more than glad she had gotten to him. He was a political son of Lawal but like most political fathers, Lawal was overbearing and he wanted to know anything that would set him free. It had not been difficult getting the governor to believe she had anything relevant but she convinced him. She had not given him anything but the promise of information that would sink LawaL was good, it was enough to set up a meeting.
She had one more thing to ask though.
“Hello Your Excellency, this is Omotola Adekunle, we talked yesterday sir.” He answered on the third ring.
“Yes… I thought our meeting was scheduled to hold in an hour’s time.”
“Yes sir, we will meet in an hour, I just needed to ask for a favour sir.”
“A favour?” He sounded hesitant.
“Yes sir. It’s about a man named Nicholas Akorede…”
“C.E.O. of CyberCorp? “ he asked.
“Yes sir, he was arrested last night on the command of Senator Lawal, he is supposed to be a part of our meeting, can you please get him released? I would like for him to come with me.”
“You realize, I can’t just… what was he arrested for?”
“Sir, you are the governor, I’m sure whoever is holding him would listen to you. Just give the commissioner a call, I’m sure he would honour you above the ex-governor.” Tola knew he would make the call, he would do anything to be free from Lawal.
Three minutes later, her phone rang and lady told her to pick Nicholas at the Police headquarters in ten minutes.
She drummed on her steering wheel as she pulled into the Police Station, Nicholas was already standing outside, his suit folded across his arm. She got out of her car, motioned to him. He saw her and approached the car, he looked confused, she could not blame him.
“Get in, I’m about to make your day.” He opened the door and entered. “Sorry, my car is a little messed up right now but you would not mind after I give you this good news.”
“You look so excited.” He said. “How did you get me out? They wouldn’t even let me call anybody.”
“Just listen to me.” She then told him all that had happened. She watched him closely, she knew she had given him the greatest news he had ever heard, but his reaction surprised her. He did not smile, instead his eyes seemed to water, he looked away from her.
“Are you okay? I thought you’d be excited.”
“I’m excited, sorry, thank you for everything. So this is over, huh? Lawal goes down and I get to have peace?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“You know Kemi could die and it will all be my fault, if I had refused CyberCorp, all these would not have happened.”
“Come on, you shouldn’t blame yourself. Remember Kemi was kidnapped before you took over CyberCorp?”
“Yeah, let’s just see the governor, let’s see how this ends.”
They rode in silence for the twenty-five minutes’ drive to the Government House. They were expected so it was not difficult to get into the state house. They were ushered into what looked like a boardroom by a petite middle aged woman. Nicholas looked distracted as they sat.
“His excellency will be here in a few minutes.” She said before she left.
Fifteen minutes later the governor was sitting in from of them. He had greeted Nicholas with some kind of respect, it surprised her, he just eyed her with suspicion.
“Miss Adekunle, let’s hear what you have to say.” The governor started, trying to hide his anticipation.
“Alright sir, the short version of what I want to say is this; I have proof that Senator Lawal stole the party’s money. That’s it.”
“You have proof? How did you come across this proof?” He was failing badly at his attempt to hide his excitement.
“You know I can’t tell you that sir. What I can tell you is this, the proof is legitimate.”
“What do you plan to do about it? And why are you here?”
She had thought about it, she could make a lot of noise with the evidence, she would cause a stir but it could all end with her. The governor on the other hand could pursue it with his own political prowess and he could easily see that Lawal was punished.
“Sir, I am sure that you want to see justice served and this money was stolen from your own political party, we believe you are in the best position to pursue this sir.”
“Okay, I hear you but I have a feeling there is more to this, why is Mr. Akorede here?” He asked looking at Nicholas who had been quiet.
“I’m sure you’re aware that CyberCorp has been in the middle of a storm recently, I don’t want to bore you with the details but we have cause to believe that Senator Lawal is behind all of this.” Nicholas explained. The governor did not look surprised, he apparently knew Lawal was at war with CyberCorp.
“Okay, what do you want?” The governor asked.
“I want him to serve time in jail for all he has done; kidnapping me, kidnapping Kemi and if she dies, I want him to serve time for murder!” Nicholas got more emotional as he talked, Tola was scared he would burst into tears.
“That’s a lot, how am I supposed to do all of these? The evidence here should put him in jail but you know how it is in Nigeria, he won’t be in jail for long.”
“That’s not good enough.” Nicholas said, shaking his head. Nobody could blame him, he just spent the night in jail for a crime he did not commit. “There has to be another way… Faruk! If we can get Faruk to testify against him, that would help.”
“I know Faruk well and I know he will not go against Lawal.” The governor said.
“Not if Lawal is going down for the fraud charge.” Tola said. “He would know he does not have much to fear plus he gets a light sentence for his part in everything.”
“Okay, I’ll bring him in, see what I can do.” The governor said. “You’re going to have to give me the evidence you say you have, I’ll have my people go over it, see if it is legit.”
“Oh, it is legit.” She said as she handed a file to the governor. “Just in case you decide to go against us in anyway sir, this isn’t a threat but know that people know about this already and you won’t get away with it.”
“Okay Miss Adekunle. I just need to add that you can’t write about this until the case becomes official, okay?”
She could wait, but when she eventually wrote the story, the wh0le nation would know her name and justice would be served.
ILORIN
12 PM
8, DECEMBER 2015
The call from Kate still worried Nicholas. Kemi was not getting better, she had spoken at a point but that was it, her death was only a matter of time. The meeting with the governor had put a new fire in him, if Faruk would testify against Lawal, then he would be convicted on many charges, charges he deserved to do time for. But Kate had mentioned something about Adam been kidnapped and needing to be found. He had called him and he was not reachable but it did not mean he was kidnapped. He had been upset the last time they had talked but he had to be okay, he was a policeman, he could take care of himself.
He looked at Tola who was driving, her excitement was still bubbling, she was building a big story, it would make her career if she was the one who broke it. Nicholas could not begrudge her using him to get famous, he would still be in jail if it was not for her.
“Where are we going?” Nicholas asked her.
“Thought you’d never ask. We are going to see Senator Lawal.” She answered in a sing-song voice, it was all fun for her.
“Why? I thought we were going to allow the governor do this.” Somehow he was afraid of facing Lawal.
“Yeah, we are going for something else. I called him yesterday…”
“Wait, you called him? How did you even get his number?”
“I’ve got contacts, give me some credit. Anyway, I told him I have evidence he killed your father and I was going to go public…”
“What did you just say? He killed my father?”
“I’m sorry, I was going to tell you but with you being kidnapped and then finding evidence that can convict Lawal, I just forgot.”
“You forgot? You know… how did you find that out by the way? You forgot?” Nicholas knew he was probably overreacting but he had been through a lot and he had mostly kept his cool, it was only a matter of time before he blew his top.
“The same person that gave me the evidence of Lawal’s theft told me.”
“And he knows this how?”
“He was involved, Nicholas I know you are upset but we are putting an end to this, right?” She was right, he needed to calm down.
“What do you hope to get from this meeting anyways? A confession?”
“Exactly, a confession. I will record the meeting, if he confesses, bingo! That is all!”
Nicholas looked at her, she looked downright eccentric but he liked her, if everything went to plan, his life was about to return to normal. Well, sort of.
.

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