In Murky Waters – Episode 3

In Murky Waters – Episode 3
© 2018 Kayode Odusanya
She woke him up around 5am and said she had to leave before the sun came up. They had gone one more round in the sack before he fell asleep; considering the fact that he had actually had another girl a few hours before she came along, he was pretty warn out. But still he couldn’t let her leave on her own, so he offered to drive her to where ever she was headed. Apparently, she had driven to the club where he had met up with Fatai Lion earlier, and her car was still parked there, so all he had to do was drive her to her car.
The place wh0le place was still bubbling when they got to the road the club was on. After taking the right turn off the road, She pointed at a black Mercedes Benz S 550 up ahead and asked him to park behind it. He looked at her with a quizzical look on his face as he pulled up behind the beast. “What?” She asked as she unfastened her seatbelt.
“How much do you get paid?”
She smiled and got out the car, leaned in on the window and said, “I’m priceless Frank Ederibhalo.” Her British accent sounded so sweet to his ears. She looked at him sed-ctively for a few seconds before him a k-ss. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you around.”
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Umm!” He didn’t know what to say but didn’t want her to go just like that. “Let me buy you breakfast.”
“Breakfast? I can’t stick around.”
“It’s 5:25 am. We could go somewhere and get breakfast before the sun comes up.”
She looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds before saying, “By this time? Where?”
“Somewhere in Surulere. You are heading to Ikeja, right?” He asked and she nodded. “Cool. You could use Eko bridge instead of Third Mainland, and we can make a quick detour to Surulere.”
“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea.” She said and checked her watch. “Okay.”
……….
She drove behind him on Eko Bridge; one of the three bridges that linked the mainland of Lagos with the Island. Frank had driven through this bridge many times in the last couple of years, but everything seemed different today. It felt like he had been numb to the scenery all this while and now only just realizing how beautiful the view from the bridge overlooking the Lagos lagoon was. Yellow lights from the lamp posts in the middle of the road, white lights from the reflection of the moon on the surface of the lagoon on both sides of the bridge, with multicolored lights from sh¡ps everywhere; It felt so beautiful.
He was lost in thought when he heard a car rev up its engine by his side. He looked, and it was Kiki in her Benz, with a look on her face that said, why are you driving so slowly? Post Malone’s Psycho was booming out of her car speakers. It felt like a scene from Fast and Furious. She revved up her car engine one more time before zooming past him. He smiled as he put his foot to the pedal, catching up and overtaking her swiftly.
Like two teenagers, they raced for a while, with Kiki being in the lead most of the time. She let him take the lead as they descended the bridge into the mainland. Two quick turns and two minutes later, they were slowing down on a brightly lit road. Frank came to a halt outside a shop, and she parked behind him. It was 5:45am, and people were strolling into the small shop to buy food like it was 7pm. Frank got out of his Avalon and waited for her to catch up with him. He was about to say something to her when from the corner of his eye, he saw a car speeding up towards them. The car came to a screeching halt in front of his car, and two guys in black jumped out of the small VW Golf car; the one that dropped from the front passenger seat fired two shots in the air as he approached them.
____
People around ran into shop, and Frank froze. Kiki ran into his arms. His survival instinct would have made him run too, but that was overridden with the instinct to protect Kiki. He wrapped his arm around her. “Relax guys. You can take my car.” He said and stretched his free hand at the one in front of them. The guy hit the car keys out of his hand and shouted out some curse words in Yoruba. The one with the gun stood in the center of the road, looking out for police. “Empty your pocket, fast.” The guy shouted out and Frank slowly put Kiki to the side, as he pulled out his wallet. The guy quickly grabbed it, and shouted at Kiki to empty her pocket too. With shaky hands, she pulled out her phone and some pieces of paper from her jeans pocket. She handed him everything in her hands, looking up for the first time since the encounter. The guy froze for a second like he had seen a ghost. He looked like he didn’t know what next to do. Then he dropped Frank’s wallet on the car and ran off. “Let’s go!” He shouted out to his partner in crime as he headed for the driver seat of the VW Golf.
Frank watched them drive off, shocked to say the least. “Are you okay?” He asked Kiki, pulling her into his arms. She held on tightly to him without saying a word. “Did you know the guy?” He asked her as he pulled away from her to see her face.
“I was about to ask you the same question.” She said as she flipped her braids to the back of her head and looked up at him. “I thought it was someone that knows you around the neighborhood.”
“I don’t think so.” He said, looking lost. “I don’t talk to anyone around here.”
The people in the midnight food joint started coming out one by one, asking in Yoruba if Frank and Kiki were okay. “I think we should leave before police come around.” Frank said and walked over to the side of the shop to pick up his car keys. “We can drive down to my house. It’s just around the corner.” Frank said as he walked back to his car with his keys in hand.
“Frank, I have to leave now.”
“Wait, are you sure? You can stay a while.”
“I have to. I already overstayed.” She said and rushed towards her car. She opened it and got in a hurry, but hopped out again and walked hurriedly towards him. “Please Frank; promise you won’t try to follow me?” He didn’t say anything but kept staring at her, trying to read the strange look on her face. It wasn’t fear, but he couldn’t place it. “Please promise.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. I got to go. I will call you.” She said and rushed over to her car. She drove past him, made a turn at a right turn up ahead, and zoomed past him at top speed.
To be continued