Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (6 page)

Alex though long and hard. At a point his
eyes went to the wall clock and he saw that it was past eleven
o’clock. He got to his feet, turned off all the lights and
appliances to save some money on electricity bills, them went into
his bedroom to sleep. Tomorrow would be a very busy day at the
warehouse and he would need to get there early, he was already
tired for today as it was.

*******

The huge warehouse and its large compound
were a hive of activities that Friday.

Twenty-four workers labored in the
mid-afternoon heat, offloading goods from two giant shipping
containers on trailers, parked within the compound. There were two,
three men in each container, bringing the cartons of goods from
deep inside to the open rear end where other men took them, two big
cartons per person, carrying them on their hands and shoulders into
the huge warehouse where other men worked hard, piling them up
systematically to the high roof.

A separate team of workers also labored,
carrying cartons of other goods from another section of the
warehouse out into the compound where more men worked, piled the
goods directly into big heavy duty trucks or arranging them in
groups for the customers buying in minor wholesale quantities.

Alex was the Foreman in charge of the work
teams, an enforcer, the guy who kicked ass to make sure a good work
pace was maintained all around. He was also in charge of all
shipments to the warehouse. Once a container arrived from the Apapa
ports, the warehouse manager would sign off on it and it then
became his responsibility to offload and transfer the contents of
that container into the warehouse using his workforce. Containers
of goods from Asia, the UK, Europe and the United States arrived at
the warehouse at a rate of at least half a dozen each week and
traders from all over the country, even from outside it, were
always ready to buy up everything so there was always lots of work
to be done and a work force to be kept sharp.

Five giant containers had arrived at the
warehouse overnight and the offloading work had started at eight
o’clock that morning. It was past one o’clock now, two of the
containers were already done with and the trailers had departed
again for the ports. The third and the fourth containers were being
worked on now and the last container trailer was parked just out on
the street, awaiting its turn to back into the compound and get
offloaded.

Alex had lots of control but never did much
yelling which was one reason he was okay with the job for the time
being. He had two assistants that did the yelling and the work
teams were all made up of professional laborers who knew the drill.
They all knew too how tough and hard he was.

Sweeting and toiling in the heat, the men
worked steadily for another two hours until the containers were
empty then took the customary thirty-minute lunch break as the two
empty container trailers started up and moved out of the compound,
allowing the last container trailer back in to take their position
so that the work was set to continue again.

Once the new container was in perfect place
before giant doors of the warehouse, Alex took the lunch break like
everyone else. He had some roasted sweet yams and vegetable sauce
delivered to his office from the canteen across the street from the
warehouse. His office was a modest sized one on the ground floor of
the narrow one story block of offices built to one side of the
compound. The manager and his assistant had their nice
air-conditioned offices on the top floor but Alex’s office was a
dump right next to that of security. It only had an old wooden
table, an old swivel chair and a ceiling fan. The windows and doors
of the office were always open so he always had a good view of the
compound and any ongoing work.

Just when Alex was almost through with the
food, his cell phone rang.

He picked it up from the table and check
caller I.D.

It was his younger brother. The little guy
wasn’t bothersome. If he was calling now, then there was sure to be
a very good reason. Alex took the call.

“Hello” said Alex putting the phone to his
ear.

“Good afternoon, big brother”

“Afternoon, man. What’s wrong?” Alex could
already hear the worry in his brother’s voice.

“It’s my laptop, big bros. I think it’s
gone”

Alex sighed. “That’s not possible, Kent. That
laptop is new and you haven’t used it for up to a year”

“The laptop was good it was a power surge
that caused the problem. Most of the components on the motherboard
are burnt”

“Sounds like you plugged it in to one of
these small chines generators”

“There’s never light in my hostel now, bros.
I have to go out to a barbing saloon to charge my phone and the
laptop. They use the small generator there”

“You should have used some sort of voltage
protection, those Chinese generators are destroyers and that laptop
was expensive”

“I used a voltage protection, bros, hut it
was apparently fake too, China too”

Alex sighed again. “How much will it cost to
fix the motherboard?”

“There are too many damaged components on it”
said Kent quickly. “The engineer says it will be better and cheaper
to buy a new one”

“How much?”

“Forty thousand naira. We’re ordering a new
one form overseas and if we move now it will be here and all fixed
up in time for my exams”

Alex knew that the price had been properly
padded up and inflated like all yearly national budgets in the
country but students did these things to solve other monetary
problems. “Alright, I’ll send you the money along with your
allowance for next month and some extra pocket money too. Make sure
you buy a good voltage protector this time and it is nothing made
anywhere near China”

“Ah, I will never make that mistake again,
big bros, thank you. Thank you so much”

“How often do you go down to see mom now?”
asked Alex.

“At least once in three wrecks”

“From now on make it every weekend and any
other chance you get. I’m going on a short mission soon and until I
get back, I will be counting on you to take good care of her”

“Hope this is nothing dangerous?” asked his
younger brother at once in a worried voice.

“No, Kent, and don’t mention it to her. This
is just some routine training stuff, a week or two and it’s over. I
am depending on you to take very good care of our mother while I’m
away, out sister too”

“No problem, big bros. I will take good care
of both of them, but you’ll need to give me something extra to
cover transport fares for regular visits home, it’s my only problem
in that area”

“You’ll get it” said Alex and got off the
phone, put it aside and turned back to his meal.

Once finished with the last of his food, Alex
picked up his phone again and dialed the bank to check his account
balance. He had just over two hundred thousand naira in his two
accounts. He transferred all of it into the accounts of his brother
and his mother then sat back in his chair to rest for the final few
minutes of the break.

He did some thinking too.

By four o’clock the laborers were done and
paid off, Alex inspected the pile up of goods in the warehouse with
the managers and then they stopped for the day.

As usual, Alex took a commercial bike
straight home but this time didn’t stop at the G & N resultant.
Once in his apartment, he found the calling card still on the table
where the Alhaji’s assistant had dropped it yesterday, he hadn’t
touched it at all since then. He sat down in an armchair and dial
the phone number printed boldly in gold on the card.

The call was answered right off.

“Hello, Mr. Okoye”

Alex recognized Mr. Basil Audu’s voice right
off.

“How did you know it was me?” asked Alex.

“Your military file also contains your
contact info. I have your number keyed into this phone, both
numbers actually”

“Right, I want to talk to your boss”

“Okay, just a minute please”

The line went quiet for a moment, and then
the Alhaji’s deep voice came over the line.

“I take it we have an agreement, Mr.
Okoye?”

“I guarantee you will get your niece back or
El Soldat’s head on a plate. Fifty million is my price, half
upfront, the rest later along with the file. I also want the extra
thirty million naira bonus as well”

“Agreed” said the Alhaji too quickly. “Text
your bank details to this number right now and the money will be
transferred into your account at once. You will get the confirming
bank alert within minutes and once you are satisfied with the
details call me back right away”

The line went dead.

Alex did as he was told and was surprised
when, barely three minutes later, he got a bank alert for not
twenty-five but thirty million naira. The money had been
transferred into his account from an Abuja Zenith bank account that
didn’t carried only a number. He called the Alhaji back and the
line was answered right off.

“Are you satisfied now, Mr. Okoye?” asked the
Alhaji.

“The money I got is in excess of twenty-five
million”

“I know, Mr. Okoye and you will get the same
amount when this operation is over, plus the bonus. Chalk it down
to a generous gesture form a new employer who expects complete
loyalty and dedication. Details and information for your flight to
Abuja tomorrow morning will be forwarded to you by Basil within the
hour”

The line went dead in Alex’s ear.

Later that night, for the first time in six
months, Alex went for a long run on the dark streets of Ijegun.

*******

The Dana airlines afternoon flight form Lagos
touched down on schedule at the Nnamdi Azikiwe international
airport, Abuja.

When Alex walked into the arrivals hall of
the domestic wing, he spotted Mr. Basil Audu right off and with him
was another man that could have easily passed for the driver of the
Range Rover Jeep Alex had seen parked out on the street in front of
his apartment building two days before. Both men were in smart dark
business suits but the second man had on dark glasses to go. He
looked like he belonged behind a gun rather than behind a desk like
Mr. Audu did. He was just above average height and powerfully built
with the kind of erect bearings and spread-legged stance that spoke
clearly of military trainings.

“Welcome, Mr. Okoye” greeted Mr. Basil Audu
enthusiastically as he came forward to meet Alex. “I hope you had a
nice flight?”

“Yes, thank you” replied Alex and shook the
proffered hand.

“Please, allow me?” said Mr. Audu, reaching
for the mid-sized suitcase Alex carried in one hand. It was his
only luggage.

“Thank you” said Alex.

The other man hadn’t moved, he kept staring
fixed at Alex. He was very dark complexion, looked a lot like an
Hausa man. There was a bad scar on the left side of his face and it
made him look ugly and kind of mean. Alex couldn’t see the eyes
behind the dark glasses to analyze him more but generally, the man
looked to be in his early to mid-forties and he definitely had
military training.

Alex’s trained eyes swiftly picked out all
these detains and more as he released the suitcase to Mr. Audu who
then handed it over to a uniformed attendant.

“Please come with me” said Mr. Audu waving a
hand ahead in the direction of the doors. “We have a car waiting to
take us directly to your hotel”.

Alex noted that Mr. Audu made no move to
introduce the military-looking man and the silent man never took
his eyes off him. He fell in behind them as they moved off for the
exit, following the uniformed attendant who carried the
suitcase.

As they exited the huge air-conditioned hall
into the terrible midafternoon heat, a sleek black Mercedes Benz
s-class car rolled up and its boot popped open. The uniformed
attendant, following Mr. Audu’s directives, went over to put away
the suitcase in the boot of the car and to Alex’s surprise, the
military guy stepped up to rear door and got it open for him to get
in. Alex thanked him as he got into the backseat and the man gave
him a polite nod in response.

Mr. Audu went around the car and got in from
the other side while the military man handed the uniformed
attendant some naira bills then got into the front passenger seat
beside the driver who also dressed in a smart dark business
suit.

The big car drove off, heading into the
city.

Alex was fairly familiar with the nation’s
capital city. He had been a regular visitor to it for the two years
he worked for Military Intelligence which, like all governmental
institutions, had its headquarter right there in the capital city.
Some of his sojourns in the city had lasted quite a while even as
others had been very brief. Once, his entire special forces team
had been drafted down to provide top security for a presidential
function that pulled in several high-powered VIPs from other
countries including heads of state, he had spent a week in the city
then, and six days of it had been work.

Abuja was one of the most beautiful cities in
the country and indeed Africa. It ranked among the top twenty most
expensive cites to live in on earth, was the fourth in Africa and
had the highest concentrations of expensive luxury hotels to prove
it.

The drive took twenty minutes, and then they
were pulling into one of the exclusive luxury hotels. It was The
Nordic Palace, one of the more private two-star luxury hotels in
the city. They had booked him a
whole suite
on one of the
top floor and Alex was real pleased by the sight of it.

One of the senior hotel staff had personally
followed them up and he now stood by the door with Mr. Audu,
watching as Alex looked the place over. The military guy hadn’t
come up with them, he had stayed put in the car with the driver.
The uniformed velvet having put aside the suitcase he had brought
up, went about the business of turning on the large flat screen
television and the air conditioning system.