Don't! Look Closer - Episode 12

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Bayode wheezed as soon as he was out of George Avenue. He parked at a crossroad and rushed off to unlock the trunk of the car, while the other members leveled up with him. Idowu climbed out, sweating. In no time, they were on rushing to Queenitee’s hotel. This hotel started out on a great island called Fortune City and had been one of the top five hotels in the city. The owner expanded to places in Lagos, giving Bayode the chance to patronize the hotel.

He played Ella Fitzgerald, his favorite jazz singer, as they drove off, attracting a ridiculous look from Idowu.

“Jazz is life”, Bayode explained.

“Just hurry and put me out of this misery”.

They drove off and were in the grandeur of the hotel in no time . As much as he loved the galaxy of stars, he couldn’t compare its beauty to the hotel. He had heard the story of the owner, of how she rose to fame after many years of the plan and starting a little in Malachy town of Fortune City.

They entered their room and were too happy to have escaped the security men of the hotel. She hated any illegal activities in her hotel and that made him suspicious about the way they gained entrance into the hotel without so much as a question about what they had in the trunk. However, nothing pleased him more than that.

Every of their operation had been smooth

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. Well, except the last one when a certain group of people called the Gragus Team targeted his crew. But he outsmarted them and even got the attention of one that called herself their sponsors, Chloe Kings. Now, his intuition wanted him to raise an alarm about the last phase of the operation but the only person still not with them was the Insider. They needed her there before they could make any change in plan.

As it was their rules, they couldn’t drink any alcohol until they had kept their money somewhere safe. Thus, they gathered around the bag of money. Luckily for them, the receptionist left her post before they entered the part of the hotel. Bayode loved the coolness but couldn’t shake the fear that lingered in his mind.

When they entered, Moses spoke up first. “Are we to wait for insider?”

Bayode crashed into the bed as the men dropped the bags in the middle of the room. “You don’t need to use nicknames anymore? And no, she will meet her share when she arrives”.

“Good”, Idowu said, dragged the bag nearer and opened it.

“Bust first. Give me the statue”, Bayode said.

One of the young bloods, their intern, Kingston, spoke up as expected of any agitated person when it came to money matter. “Abeg! Statue can wait. Money first”.

"Bright brain”, Yusuf said and pointed at the bags. “This one is present. The buyers can wait”.

“Anything you say”, Bayode said, rested on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He needed to shake off the feeling that something big would happen. He glanced at them as Idowu opened the bag with glee. Like hungry ants, they were gathered around the bags and pulling off the bale of cash on the top layer. Then, they all exclaimed their horror, making Bayode rise to investigate the matter. He also shouted when he saw they saw.  Only the top layers contained money. The remaining part of the bags contained books and paper.

Kingston shouted his disgust. “Who did this?”

“You followed us immediately we left the house”, Idowu said.

Moses shook his head. “Insider”.

They nodded. But Bayode disagreed with them. “It can’t be. She can’t do this”.

“This is a setup!” Idowu shouted. “We need to know where she is”.

Yusuf slammed the wall and turned towards them. “Impossible! We’re the best in this game. No one can play us”.

Everyone looked confused. Bayode rose as he realized something. He wouldn’t want to believe it. “The statue. Give me the Bust”.

Idowu passed it. Bayode examined it.

Moses shook his head. “Still intact”.

“It’s fake”, Bayode muttered and moved back as if he had just been hit with a plank on the chest. Every pulse of his body warned him against the image when he first saw it. But there had been rumors about Chief George being unwise and had always run his business through his P.A. Bayode assumed Chief George posted the picture on Instagram, which leaked to their forum. And to be sure he was doing the right thing, Bayode followed Chief George’s page and noticed the picture was taken down after a while. So, that means the picture was genuine.

Despite that, he still felt his fear racing with full force. Yet, he couldn’t understand why. No one had ever beaten him in the game as he always had plans.  The plan for the statue and money had been on for months. They built the plan, planted everyone that should be planted, and followed their plans to the letter.

“What do you mean by fake?” Rasheed asked.

 Kingston snatched the bust and accessed it.“This looks like an original”.

“What do you know?” Bayode retorted.

“Don’t you dare say that again!!!”

Bayode ignored him and grabbed his phone, muttering, “What’s happening?”

 He dialed Tolu’s number.

Tolu replied in a low tone,” I’m on my way o. Nothing must happen to the money o…”

“The bag is fake. We got the wrong bag. The statue is fake. Get back inside and check for the statue…”

“Tell her to make a video call with you”, Idowu suggested and Bayode heeded his advice.

He waited agitatedly and others remained calm, seeing that he had lost his cool. He hadn’t been known to farewell when angry.

Tolu did a video call to him and the others gathered around him. He felt cold.

 “Are these ones fit to be taken?” She asked. The room was filled with busts that have been broken into pieces. He couldn’t see anything real about those busts. They were probably made by amateurs.

“Are you blind? These ones are fake? Wait! What are those things on the side?” He said and directed her to the bag behind her than contained some folded material. They looked used.

“Pants. They are…” She replied and sniffed them. They disgusted him at that point. He always had a penchant for hot girls but seeing their pants without them turned his stomach.

Tolu spat. “Yuck! They are used pants”.

Her hand was shaking terribly as she rushed away and peeped.

“Oh! My God! In Ghana Must Go Bag”, he exclaimed.

Idowu popped his head. “ Record that”.

“Why?” Bayode and Tolu asked.

“We can use it to blackmail him”.

“Wise choice”, Bayode agreed and nodded. That was the reason he kept Idowu close. “Send it to… Go off the video call. Whose phone is free? In fact, send it to our Whatsapp group”.

The others looked at him with wonder. She sent it to her Whatsapp group. He rose to see Idowu forwarding the video to a second number. But Bayode felt betrayed by everything in the world to even take that as something serious.

Their rule in the group had always been that whenever they were done with their work. Everyone would clear their messages in front of everyone and would send screenshots of their cleared messages, showing the time, which much be the exact minute the message was sent to the group; the screenshots of their email addresses; the screenshots of the bar showing their emails, if they had more than one; the screenshots of their sent messages from every of these place; the screenshots of their documents; the screenshots of their messages; the screenshots of their Whatsapp message and all these must be within three minutes of their conversation. They just didn’t always leave anything to chances.

“Leave there before they get to you”, Bayode told her.

“I have to stay a while. They think I’m here to plead with Ireti. I must get her angry”.

Moses shook his head and joined others in the sitting in the rich rug of their room. “What’s next? We have been duped. We’ve been played”.

Bayode looked about. “I’m thinking…”

Idowu removed his gun from under his jacket and walked towards the door. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, guys. Two fishes in one can”.

Bayode, like the others, looked at him with calmness but everything in him was rattled. There had been news that Queenitee, the owner of the hotel, was a formidable force in Fortune City and that she was part of a group that hated injustice but the few times he had spent in her hotels hadn’t shown she suspected him of anything, even when they went to the one at Maroon City, co-owned by the owner of the town (Ann), for a job that involved taking some artworks out of Suncity.

Now, he felt he should have seen the signs. Ever since they arrived in the hotel, her crew had been cold but he took that for granted. Idowu opened the door for four plainclothes policemen.

“What’s this? I.D” Bayode asked.

“Judgment day”.

“You’ve been playing us”.

Kingston rose and placed his hands on his head. “Ah! I should have known”.

Idowu walked, happy at the prospect. He pointed at Bayode. “Remember, you have the badass brain. I just used it to my advantage. You’re under arrest every one of you.

Read " The Thorny Path to Europe " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. You see: reading Miranda’s right is only a fallacy because we don’t use it here in Nigeria. Nevertheless, you have the right to remain silent. Whatever you say would be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, those idiots. But I’ll be ready to testify against you all. I have enough and substantial pieces of evidence against you”.

The police came for them and pushed them away. This time, one of the police vans had been stationed outside. The policeman taking Bayode away reduced his pace and asked Idowu “What of the girl?”

“We’re heading there for her and chief’s family. Are your men ready?”

“More than ready!!! They are around the house”.

“Good”, Idowu replied. “These men are good”.

Bayode swallowed hard. Ever since he had been operating as a scam or art collector, he had never been caught, even when he first used an Open University as well as some jambites as his first sets of experience.

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