*Chapter 9: The Truth*
266 Words
Yaba bus park was chaos. Buses, shouting, smoke from roasted corn.
David scanned the crowd. No Tunde.
His phone buzzed again. Tunde:
_Third bench. Back of park. Come alone._
David looked at Ada. She nodded.
_"Go,"_ she said. _"I’ll watch from here."_
He found the bench. Tunde was already sitting, cap pulled low.
_"You’re late,"_ Tunde said.
_"We were being followed,"_ David replied, sitting down.
Tunde sighed and rubbed his face.
_"Okay. Full truth. My sister Chika didn’t just disappear. She was into something."_
_"What kind of something?"_ David asked.
_"Fraud,"_ Tunde said quietly. _"Yahoo. But not the small one. Big boys. They used her phone to run scams. And your number... it was the backup contact."_
David went cold. _"What?"_
_"They needed a number that looked clean. No red flags. Yours was perfect. 3 years old, no wahala. So they cloned it onto Chika’s SIM,"_ Tunde explained.
_"When she tried to quit, they took her."_
Ada had walked up behind them. _"That’s why the calls,"_ she whispered. _"They’re still using her number."_
Tunde nodded. _"The voicemails, the texts... that’s not me. That’s them. Warning you to stop answering. Because if you keep picking up, the police will trace it."_
David stood up. His hands were shaking.
_"So where’s Chika?"_
Tunde looked away. _"I don’t know. But I think they’re keeping her somewhere in Ikeja. That’s why they sent ‘Don’t go to Ikeja’."_
A bus honked loudly.
Tunde grabbed David’s arm. _"If we go there, we might find her. But it’s dangerous. Are you in?"_
David looked at Ada. Then back at Tunde.
_"I’m in."_
- Writer
