CHAPTER 5: CALL THE POLICE
1351 Words
CHAPTER 5: CALL THE POLICE
8:47 AM. FUEN Teaching Hospital Gate.
The crowd was still screaming.
“328 Girl! 328 Girl!”
Phones in her face. Microphones shoved at her mouth. A girl was crying, holding a cardboard sign: THANK YOU 328 GIRL.
Ada couldn’t hear them. Her ears were ringing.
28.
Dr. Kene said 328 becomes 28.
Not 180. Not 80. 28.
Too dumb for polytechnic. Too dumb for life.
Daddy gripped her hand. “Ada. Ada, what did that man say to you?”
She couldn’t answer. Because behind Daddy, three men in FUEN security uniforms were pushing through the crowd. Coming straight for her.
Not DSS. FUEN security. The ones who beat students for protesting school fees.
The first one grabbed her arm. “Miss Okoro. Vice Chancellor’s office. Now.”
Daddy stepped forward. “Remove your hand from my daughter.”
The guard shoved Daddy. Hard.
Daddy stumbled. Fell to one knee on the same ground he’d knelt on to thank her.
The crowd gasped. Phones went higher. Recording.
Ada saw red.
She yanked her arm free. “Don’t touch my father!”
The second guard pulled out a radio. “Target secured. Moving to Admin Block.”
Target.
She was a target.
Mr. Jude tried to block them. “Officers, please. She’s a minor. She’s traumatized. The news said—”
“The news said glitch,” the first guard snapped. “The VC said bring her. Now.”
They dragged her.
Through the crowd. Past the news vans. Past the girl with the 328 sign. The girl was crying harder now. “They’re taking her! They’re taking 328 Girl!”
Daddy was shouting her name. Trying to stand. Mr. Jude was holding him back.
Ada didn’t fight. She saved her strength. She looked at every camera. Memorized every face.
If she disappeared today, Nigeria would know who took her.
---
*9:15 AM. Vice Chancellor’s Office. FUEN Admin Block.*
The office was cold. Too much AC. Smelled like money and floor polish.
The Vice Chancellor sat behind a desk bigger than Ada’s whole village house. Professor Ezenwa. Grey hair. Glasses. Known for suspending students who complained about lecturers.
Dr. Kene Obi stood by the window. Sipping water. Like this was a normal Tuesday. Like he hadn’t threatened to delete her life an hour ago.
Two DSS officers stood by the door. Not the ones from Midnight Bytes. Different ones. Younger. Meaner.
“Sit, Miss Okoro,” the VC said. Voice calm. Fatherly. Fake.
Ada stayed standing.
“Suit yourself.” The VC slid a paper across the desk. “Sign this.”
Ada didn’t look down. “What is it?”
“Retraction of your Dreame story,” Dr. Kene said from the window. He didn’t turn around. “Apology to FUEN. Apology to me. Statement that you fabricated the USB story due to mental stress from scoring 180.”
“180,” Ada repeated. “My score is 328.”
“Was 328,” one DSS officer said. “As of 9:00 AM, JAMB database shows 28. System update. Very unfortunate glitch.”
28.
He did it.
He actually changed it to 28.
Daddy’s voice echoed in her head: You were Dr. Okoro the day you were born.
She looked at Dr. Kene. “You said the mercy offer stands. Six months.”
Dr. Kene finally turned. Smiled. “It did. Before you posted Chapter 1. Now the offer is different.”
He walked to the desk. Picked up the paper. Walked to her.
“New deal,” he said softly. “You sign this retraction. You delete your Dreame account. You never write again. You never talk to press. You go home. You retake JAMB next year. Maybe you score 200. Maybe you become a nurse. But you stay alive.”
“And if I refuse?”
Dr. Kene tilted his head. “Then your 28 becomes 0. Then DSS charges you with hacking the JAMB server. Terrorism. Five to ten years, KiriKiri. Your mother’s BP drugs stop coming. Your father goes back to farming alone. And I...” He leaned closer. “I visit you every month. For six months. Behind the scene. In prison. Where nobody hears you scream.”
The room went silent.
The VC coughed. “Dr. Kene, perhaps—”
“Perhaps Miss Okoro needs a minute,” Dr. Kene said. “To think about her future.”
He dropped the paper at her feet.
“Sign it, Ada,” the VC said. “This is for your own good. You’re a brilliant girl. Don’t throw your life away over a... misunderstanding.”
Misunderstanding.
412 names. 180 to 28. Fatima Bello’s 290 to 140. Her mother’s BP drugs.
Misunderstanding.
Ada bent down. Picked up the paper.
Everyone relaxed. The DSS officers lowered their shoulders. Dr. Kene smiled.
Ada held the paper with both hands.
Then she ripped it.
Once.
Twice.
Four pieces.
She let them fall.
“I’m 18 in 23 days,” she said. Voice clear. Loud. “But I don’t need 18 to know what r**e is.”
The VC choked. “Miss Okoro! That language—”
“You offered me 328 for six months of my body,” Ada said. “That’s not a mercy offer. That’s r**e by power. That’s you buying a child.”
Dr. Kene’s smile vanished.
“You changed 412 scores,” Ada went on. “You stole futures from poor kids and sold them to rich kids. You made Fatima Bello’s 290 into 140 because her mother couldn’t pay 200k balance. That’s not a glitch. That’s theft.”
“Enough,” the DSS officer barked. He stepped forward. “You’re under arrest for—”
“FOR WHAT?” Ada screamed.
The room froze.
“FOR WHAT?” she screamed again. Louder. “For scoring 328? For stealing a USB that proves you’re all criminals? For refusing to sleep with a lecturer?”
She pointed at Dr. Kene. “HE is the criminal! HE changed my score! HE threatened my mother! HE should be in KiriKiri!”
Dr. Kene’s face was blank now. Cold. Dead.
He nodded at the DSS officers.
They moved.
One grabbed her arms. The other pulled out handcuffs.
Ada didn’t fight. She looked straight at the VC.
“Call the police,” she said.
The VC blinked. “The... the DSS are here, Miss Okoro.”
“CALL THE REAL POLICE,” Ada said. “Not your paid dogs. Call 911. Call the Commissioner. Call the Minister. Because when Nigeria finds out you arrested a 17-year-old girl for refusing to be r***d, FUEN will burn.”
The handcuffs clicked.
Dr. Kene laughed. Quiet. “You think Nigeria cares, Ada? Nigeria cares about power. I have power. You have 28.”
Ada looked him dead in the eye.
“I have 412 names,” she said. “And I just posted them on Dreame.”
Dr. Kene’s phone buzzed.
Then the VC’s phone.
Then both DSS officers.
The VC picked up. Listened. His face went white.
He dropped the phone.
It clattered on the desk.
On the screen: BREAKING NEWS – DREAME STORY EXPOSES 412 JAMB FRAUD VICTIMS. FULL LIST LEAKED. MINISTER OF EDUCATION SUMMONS FUEN VC.
Dr. Kene walked to the desk. Picked up the VC’s phone. Read it.
For the first time since Room 304, he looked scared.
He looked at Ada. Handcuffed. 28 on JAMB portal. 17 years old.
And she had just declared war on a billionaire.
From a prison cell.
With a Dreame account.
“Take her,” Dr. Kene whispered to the DSS officers. “Take her to Cell 4. No phones. No visitors. No lawyers.”
As they dragged her out, Ada saw it.
On the VC’s computer screen.
Her Dreame Chapter 3.
Title: The List
Views: 2.1 million.
Comments: 89,000.
And the top comment, pinned by Dreame:
User_FatimaB: My name is Fatima Bello. My real score was 290. Dr. Kene changed it to 140. I have proof. I’m going to Abuja. Who is coming with me?
Reply count: 411.
- Writer
