Copper John – episode 4

Copper John
 
episode 4
Their hearts saddened as he stepped out of the bush pointing his
gun at them, they recognized him instantly, he was one of Bison’s
men, he made a whistling sound and two other men came out
holding swords, make una no even try run or else I go shoot una
leg comot for una body, the man said in a deadly serious tone, na
una go dey allow make Bison para for us abi? una own don finish
today, he continued, oya in a straight line the second man
ordered harshly, they dared not disobey men with swords and
guns, ironically the lined up according to their height with Becky
in front followed by Joy then John was behind her after him was
Tomiwa then TJ was the last on the queue being the tallest, two
men stood behind them while the other one who was holding the
gun lead the way……………………….. Thousands of kilometers
away, Mr Adeboye was in his sitting room sipping his red wine
from his glass cup, he was a little worried because his only son,
John was expected from Enugu the previous day, he had read in
the morning paper how 9 people were found shot dead in Enugu
state, he had dialled John’s number several times the previous
day and even that morning, it was time to take action, he could
not just sit there and do nothing, just then Kemi his wife came to
the sitting room and greeted him, she seemed less concerned
about John’s whereabouts, he knew she disliked John but he
didn’t know it was up to that extent, he hissed as she walked
away, he stood up, picked his car keys and set out
………………………………………………… John and his friends had walked for
about 15 minutes with their abductors, he had never killed
anybody in his life before but he could swear he was going to kill
these men with the slightest chance he had, they had threatened
their lives enough, he remembered the fighting skills he had been
taught when he was at the NYSC camp ………….. The DPO sat in
his office in deep thought, that morning was not a good one for
him because he just got a call from the commissioner of police
who threatened to sack him if the criminals who killed those 9
people which the TV news and newspaper broadcasted were not
arrested, he had been receiving reports of kidnapping in the
community and now was the time to
act ………………………………. The man who held the gun
suddenly stopped and said ‘my guys wait I wan piss’ , John was
alert, now was his chance, he looked back at TJ who understood
him, using his hand to signal to TJ he counted down with his
fingers 5,4,3 he was ready to die trying 2,1
The birds in the forest flew away at the sound of the gunshot, the
first one was followed by two quick ones, John and his friends
la!d motionless on the ground, John looked up and saw a gun
pointing at his face, he raised his head more to study the person
who had a gun to his face, no shoes, Dane gun and the man had
a sack around his neck, John concluded that he was definitely a
hunter, but at that period his name had been changed from
hunter to hero as he was their saviour, the hunter had shot their
abductors within the blink of an eye, they stood up slowly, John
looked around to check if any of them were hurt, he didn’t know
whether to hug the hunter or prostrate for him, he had rescued
them from the hands of death, they all thanked the hunter for his
help as if he had given them 20 million naira each, the hunter
replied them and said no worry my children, he went on to
narrate how his one of his daughters had been kidnapped by
those wicked men, TJ looked back and saw one of the men
struggling to reach for his gun, with an anger that he had not
shown for a long time, he stamped his foot into the man’s neck,
killing him instantly, they all stared at TJ in awe, except John, he
had seen TJ portray that kind of anger before, the last time he
saw such anger was when TJ was sent out of the examination
hall by one of his lecturers, that time TJ had reacted by breaking
both side mirrors of the lecturer’s car, he knew TJ too well, for
someone who joked most of the time, TJ had a horrible anger no
one would wish to witness, my children where una dey come
from and where una dey go? the hunter asked them, Tomiwa then
narrated their ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers and their
underwater adventure to the hunter who didn’t seem surprised
but just nodded his head slowly and said okay make una follow
me, the didn’t hesitate much, he had just saved their lives and
earned a little trust from them, at least he had just saved their
lives, he lead them through a different path, they walked for 10
minutes and began to wonder where he was taking them to, as if
he was reading their minds, he told them that he was taking them
to his house, from there he would take them to town the
following morning, he introduced himself as Okeke, he was a
hunter as they would have noticed, they walked for another 10
minutes before arriving at the hunter’s house, the house was
made from mud, Tomiwa couldn’t have expected better, as they
approached the house, a young boy ran out and said papa
welcome, he introduced them to his son Obinna, where is ya
mother? he asked the little boy, she has gone to the farm, the boy
replied, just then a beautiful girl who was around 17 years old
came out from the backyard, welcome papa she said softly, the
hunter replied her and introduced them to his first daughter
Chinelo, John saw TJ focusing on the girl like a lion focusing on
its prey, TJ looked at John who gave him a stern look, he knew
John meant hands off, the hunter ordered his daughter to prepare
food for their guest, he then lead them into the house and asked
them to sit down, 20 minutes later Chinelo walked in with their
food, it was Akpu and ogbonna soup with antelope meat, they
started devouring their food immediately it was dropped in front
of them, nothing like forming, even Joy who had never eaten any
Nigerian staple food before eat her akpu like a pro, Tomiwa was
the first to finish his food, they washed their hands and drank
water from a bowl made from calabash, they thanked the hunter
or his hospitality and then they relaxed, they all slept and woke
up 3 hours later, by then the hunter’s wife had returned, she
greeted them and offered them oranges, after they had eaten the
oranges they went out to join the hunter who was by the fireside,
they began to tell tales by the fireside as the moon smiled on
them, they later went in,side to sleep, the hunter’s wife offered
them 4 wrappers for them to cover themselves, she apologized
for the shortage as that was all she had, Tomiwa, TJ and Becky
grabbed theirs quickly and went to sleep, leaving one wrapper for
John and Joy, John told Joy to use the wrapper as he could cope
without a wrapper, Joy smiled and suggested they share the
wrapper together, she winked at him and he got the memo, they
la!d side by side under the last wrapper and John put his hand
over her and smiled in his sleep, the girl he loved was in his arms.
 
Tbc
 
⬅️ PREVIOUS episode

NEXT episode ➡️