Muur Chronicles

CHAPTER 5

EPISODE ONE - 

     After running to a reasonable distance from the destruction he wrought, where no-one will likely suspect him of anything, Steve called the driver to come and pick him up. When he entered his room in the hotel, he quickly went to the bathroom, smoked some tabs before taking his bath. He later ordered for meals after stealthily disposing of the dress he wore. He kept thinking about switching on the television in the room as he figured that the whole thing would have been on the news anytime from the moment he left the place. But, he decided against it and decided he needed to sleep because the whole event kept reverberating in his head over and over again. It wasn't long before he slept off.

His dreams were hazy and weird that night, but he remembered it all when he was abruptly woken up by knocks on his hotel door room.  He stood up, walked briefly to the door and inquired who was knocking.

"It's us! " Tracy replied. On hearing Tracy's voice, he let out an exclamation to show surprise and quickly opened the door even though his mind has started wandering around, trying to know if he has been tracked down.

"Jeez! Steve, we even thought you are ready to start going immediately!" Tracy said rhetorically immediately they entered.

"Not intentional I tell you! " he said and apologized.

"I will go and take my bath now." Steve added.

"No wait. Let me ease myself first." Nora said.

"Cool! " Steve replied. She entered immediately, and while doing her business, she observed that there were pieces of weed and its ashes littered in some corners of the bathroom which also houses the toilet. Few seconds later, she came out but for some reason didn't actually talk about it but just smiled at Steve who didn't know what the smile was for but quickly rushed in to brush up and take his bath.

"Which park are we going to?" He asked as soon as he was ready.

"Park?" they both chorused.

"Yup. Didn't come with car" he replied.

"Nah, I came with mine" Tracy replied.

"Oh!  Problem solved!" he added immediately.

"But, you are driving." Nora added.

"I don't know how to drive!" he replied.

"Really?" Tracy asked.

"Nah. Just kidding!" he retorted. Few minutes later, they were on their way to his sister's school, where he is an alumnus himself.

            The drive from Owerri to Abia State University usually takes one hour and twenty minutes on a 64km drive through the popular Owerri-Okigwe Road unless any of the usual road hazards caused an unnecessary delay in traffic. This was not the case as they arrived even earlier than usual due to Steve maintaining an 18m/s mileage all through the journey. They entered the town before noon, and as soon as they entered the popular roundabout near the newly built township stadium, Steve implored Tracy to call Christie with his phone.

"Where are you?" she said immediately she picked the call.

"On my way back to Abuja!" he joked.

"Oh really?" she added.

"Yup" he replied.

"Be serious please." She retorted.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"At the lodge"

"Alright. I'm almost there!" he said.

"That's nice" she said with a smile on her face.

"And my sister?"

"She went out, but she will soon be back. I told her by the way!" she ended.

"You know what awaits you. See ya!" he said and ended the call as she laughed out casually.

"She has a sweet voice!" Nora added immediately he ended the call.

"Yeah, she really does!" Steve replied.

"How did you two meet?" Tracy asked.

"You will soon know!" Steve replied.

"I didn't know you can be evasive Steve." Tracy added.

"Nah, I don't want to spoil the fun, it's still too early."

"He's right you know!" Nora remarked immediately, referring to Tracy.

"I knew you were going to support him"

"That's not fair, Tracy"

"I was joking now. Haba!" Tracy stated immediately, using her facial expression to affirm same.

"We are here!" Steve alerted them few seconds later as they entered Ahaoma Street, off the popular Abakpa market. He called Christie on the phone, who came rushing down and urged the Lodge's gateman to open the gate for them before they entered and parked accordingly. Her demeanor changed immediately she saw the two girls with Steve, though she did her best to hide it by showboating huge affection and connection with Steve, hugging him and holding him very closely while Steve introduced Nora and Tracy to her.

Christie was so pretty that even Nora and Tracy couldn't help but remark to Steve that he is a lucky guy to which he smiled to. It doused the tension building up in Christie as she led them to the well spaced and finely decorated self-contained room apartment of his sister.

"Wow!  Your sister really has an expensive decor taste" Nora exclaimed as they entered the room.

"She would have been pretty stunned to hear you say this." Christie replied almost immediately.

"Really?" Nora asked.

"Yes!" Christie replied.

"Why?" Tracy queried.

"She said she was cheated during the purchase phase of most of the things here and that the decorations were badly done." Christie replied.

"She is not yet back?" Steve interjected.

"Yes."

At this point, Steve decided to call her and when she learnt her brother was not just around but in her room, she left everything she was doing in school and rushed back to her lodge to welcome him.

"Jeez! You said you were coming in two days time." Annie, the sister asked immediately after hugging him and welcoming Tracy and Nora accordingly.

"Let's say, i just wanted to surprise you!" he replied. He introduced her to Tracy and Nora, and they hit it off immediately much to his surprise.

"Well, girls will be girls! " he said to himself afterwards. "I'm so hungry!" he said out loud seconds later.

"We got you covered!" Christie assured.

"That's true. So, it's the reason you were preparing the food Christie?" Annie asked in a teasing manner, though rhetorically.

"And here i was wondering! Bad girl" She exclaimed. Christie simply smiled, turning to meet Steve's gaze, who was also smiling.

"Please o... Food! Your guests are famished." Steve simply said to them before taking a leap for the bed, phone in hand.

"Your sister is really beautiful!" Tracy whispered to his ear.

"So are you!" Steve replied, making her to smile stylishly.

"I will ask you what she whispered to you later." Nora whispered to Steve afterwards and he casually smiled.

Few minutes later, they all ate a sumptuous meal of fried rice with salad, cream and huge chunks of chicken. They helped themselves to some expensive wine in the fridge afterwards. After the meal, they engaged in various conversations that bordered on a lot of topics and more on creating familiarity with the casual assimilation of Tracy and Nora into the family and friend ring.

      Towards the evening, they went out together, had a lot of fun strolling around the school and visited some cool places within the school too. It was inside the school they got to know about the disaster that happened in Owerri which has been the talk everywhere since morning, but which they all seemed oblivious of except Steve. He did well to not concern himself with the incident despite the heavy internal battle of guilt that continuously riddled through his mind. They discussed it at length, formulating theories upon hypothesis and discussing the events as a rookie would. Deep in his mind though, he was saddened at their ignorance of the whole thing. He couldn't tell them his involvement. How could he? What will they think of him? How will they handle it? Will they understand him even if he tried to? Would he understand it if it was someone else? A lot of questions kept running through his mind as he listened to them mostly, avoiding to talk much. They went back to Annie's place later in the evening just after dusk. A few moments later, Steve alerted them that he is going to lodge somewhere else with Christie to which they agreed he should do.

"We are fine. Go! "Tracy echoed as soon as Annie jibed him" Well, you brought two to take one, can't complain!" They all laughed at the sarcasm and then Steve left with Christie.

"So, where do we go from here?" Steve asked her as soon as they entered Christie's car.

"Mmmm... Relobiz should be fine!" she answered.

"Okay!" he said.

"Steve?" She called.

He smiled with a look at her in acknowledgement of her call.

"You should drive!" she said.

"Nah... I want you to drive me. I enjoy it" he replied, making her become a little bit shy but with smiles registered all over her face.

"Hope you came with..." She asked as soon as she started the car’s ignition, but not completing her sentence intentionally.

"Of course!" he said.

"Good boy!" she muttered to him.

"Bad girl!" he replied.

It was not long before they arrived at Relobiz, a world class four-star hotel that is mostly the talk of town for those who can afford it and for those who can't. It caters for all and sundry directly and indirectly. After paying for an accommodation and lodging in one of the pricey suites, they both went to the bathroom to take their bath in a lavish bathtub affixed to it.

As soon as they entered the bathtub naked, he relaxed on the bathtub itself while she relaxed more on his arms and body. They started smoking, discussing randomly about a lot of things before the talk went back to Tracy and Nora. "I know it's been on your mind. Ask anything, I will answer." he said. "What are you actually doing with them?" she asked, letting out huge puffs from her mouth.

"I really don't know honestly...Just rhyming with the flow i guess." Steve replied.

"But don't you think it's awkward. Two random strangers, just like that...When did you say you met them again?" she queried.

"Three days ago!" he replied.

"Jeez!  Steve!" she exclaimed.

"What?" he said teasingly.

"It just seemed like you have known them for ages!"

"I could say same about us, you know?" he said rhetorically.

"It's not the same thing my love " She said, running her hands on his legs.

"Sincerely though, I don't understand it myself." he remarked.

"So why allow it go on?" she queried.

"Well, they are not a threat to us for one." he said.

"And I like them both!" he ended.

"You like them? " she asked, puffing her smoke all over his face after readjusting a bit to look him in the face.

"I...Like...Them...But i love you!"

"That's not my question!"

"Maybe I didn't get it!"

"Stupid boy"

"Me, stupid?"

"Of course!" she said, laughing.

"And what if this boy...this stupid boy did this..." he said, running his hands on her neck region and all over her shoulder, slowly moving his hands downwards from her right clavicle to the breast region.

"Well, he might actually... actually is stressed here... He might actually get what he is looking for in surplus!" she retorted, exhaling deep breaths of arousal. "Really?" he asked, letting smokes from his exhales hit her nose. "Mmmm" she replied amidst heavy deepened breaths of big arousals as his hands slowly crawled down to her right n****e and gently squeezed it. "So, this beauty here wants this silly boy to uhmmm..." he didn't finish. "If he wants it!" she replied. "Is he mad not to want it!" he stated, making her relax more into him. It turned to a full blown romance session that ultimately ended up with panting and a whole lot of "I love you!" afterwards.

***

      It was chaos and disorganization at the Police headquarters in Owerri after the debilitating attack and assault on the force by Steve at Ledding Street. The news of the previous night was already all over the media space, with a lot of top level officers and government officials already in some sort of one meeting or the other.

Already exhausted from continuous calls at his office, the commissioner relapsed into his seat, wondering and trying to make sense of what happened. Then a call he couldn't reject came in, it was the Inspector-General of Police.

"An elite team is on their way to help out with the situation" the IGP stated after inquiring about the situation report from the Commissioner.

"Elite team?" he asked.

"That's what I said" the IGP replied.

"We have the whole situation under control respectfully sir. The forensics team is already analyzing evidence from the crime scene to figure out what we are dealing with here." He retorted.

"I didn't ask for your opinion or suggestions. Just to let you know. You will do everything within your power to aid the team. This one is out of your league!" he finished.

"Out of my league? I remember very well i clearly warned about an impending doom with detailed reports I have been sending to the headquarters. Hundreds of lives have been lost in the unfortunate blast and you sir are saying it is out of my league. Respectfully sir, this incident right here should not be politicized. I am begging you!" he finished.

"Noted!"  The IGP replied and ended the call.

      The IGP's act clearly infuriated the CP who hurriedly left his office and headed straight to the Forensics Department without waiting for the usual protocol of them coming to meet him. Every one of them were stunned as he walked in, observed findings and demanded for their report.

"So far, we are very positive sir that the blast did not occur from a bomb or any other similar device." one of the guys, the Head, told him.

"What do you mean it is not a bomb blast? What else could have caused such massive explosion?" he asked.

"Sir, look at this!" he said going more closely to one of the snapshots, pointing out some inconsistencies.

"An explosion or blast like this should at least leave fragments, shells even. Again, no smoke. It was just like whatever caused the blast only focused on charring and drying up things." he stated.

"That's weird!" the CP said, closely observing same and agreeing with the Forensics guy.

"What does this connote then?" he asked.

"At this point sir, we can only speculate. There is really nothing much we can do. However, we have taken in a body, and we look forward to understand what really happened." he said.

The CP simply left them and started walking off the door before stopping to inform them that a special unit was coming from the National Headquarters, and that they should be ready to share all their findings with them. He walked straight to the Human Resources Department to know how they were going about on alerting the families of the deceased officers from the blast, and everything was on track. However, he was informed that there is one officer who is yet to be accounted for.

"Who is that?" he inquired.

"Osakwe Chinedu Elvis with FN/NPF/30885AD" Mr. Haddani Hassan, the head of Human Resources replied.

"What was his last duty post?" the CP inquired.

"He was one of the Sweepers detailed along with two others along the Energy Avenue area as well as Ledding Street. The areas within the blast" Mr. Haddani replied.

"And what about the other two? " the CP asked.

"Both dead!" he answered.

"And we are sure the whole area has been searched thoroughly?" the CP inquired.

"I led the search myself sir. Nothing!" he said.

"You will have to delay contacts with the families a bit, just so that we are certain and everyone is accounted for!" the CP ordered.

"Yes Sir!" he replied.

"Good!" the CP said and left.

Walking back to his office, the Public Relations Officer hurriedly met him and informed him of the PR nightmare he is having with the Press and families whose people are with the Force. "I'm doing my duty. Do yours!" the CP replied him and walked away promptly.

***