MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE

THE NEWS.

DAY 3. 3:47am. NATIONAL GRID CONTROL CENTER, ABUJA.

The night shift was boring.

Adekunle was on his 3rd cup of instant coffee. 12 monitors. All green.

Fatima was on t****k. “Nothing ever happens on this shift.”

At 3:48am, Monitor 7 flickered.

Then Monitor 3.

Then all 12 went black.

White text scrolled across every screen:

'THE CUBS ARE HUNGRY. -J2'

Under it, code. Fast. Gibberish.

Adekunle slammed the emergency button. “BREACH! WE HAVE A BREACH!”

Red lights. Alarms.

The text stopped. One new line:

'LESSON 5 STARTS NOW.'

Then the building power cut.

'DAY 3. 4:03am. DSS CYBER DIVISION, LAGOS.'

Nnamdi’s phone blew up on his couch.

12 missed calls. 40 messages.

Director Bello: 'GRID BREACH. ABUJA. NOW.'

Emeka: 'I’m in. It’s bad.'

Nnamdi was dressed in 4 minutes.

He called Tunde.

Tunde answered on ring one. “I know.”

“You know?”

“Alert came 2 mins ago,” Tunde said. Voice flat. Awake. “Ayo’s driving. We’ll be in Abuja in 3 hours.”

“Emeka says they contained it,” Nnamdi said. “But it was a test.”

“Stopped it or let us stop it?” Tunde asked.

Silence.

“Yeah,” Nnamdi said. “That.”

'DAY 3. 4:15am. THE ADEYEMI COMPOUND'

Dark. Quiet.

Tunde was already in gear. Vest. Boots. Gun.

Ayo was pulling the car around.

Emeka was at the kitchen table with 3 laptops.

Chief came out in his wrapper. “What’s happening?”

“Cyberattack,” Tunde said. “Grid. Abuja.”

Chief’s face hardened. “J2?”

“J2,” Tunde confirmed.

Kola was awake at the table. Watching.

Emeka looked up from his screens. “They didn’t take the grid down. They just wanted to leave a message. And clock our response time.”

“How fast?” Tunde asked.

“4 minutes to detection. 7 to containment,” Emeka said. “That’s good.”

“That’s what he wanted to know,” Tunde said. “Now he knows.”

He looked at Kola. “You know anything?”

Kola shook his head. “No. J2 never told me.”

Tunde believed him. “Stay with Chief.”

Chief nodded. “I got him.”

Tunde, Ayo, Nnamdi were out the door.

'DAY 3. 7:20am. DSS HQ, ABUJA.'

Chaos. Technicians. Cables. Coffee that tasted like regret.

Director Bello met them. “Contained. But close.”

War room.

Emeka was on video call from Lagos. Hadn’t moved in 3 hours.

“I found the entry,” Emeka said. “Subcontractor laptop. Maintenance firm. J2 pivoted from there.”

Nnamdi was pulling logs. “11 minutes inside. Long enough for the message and a speed test.”

Bello: “And the message?”

Emeka shared his screen.

'THE CUBS ARE HUNGRY. -J2'

Timestamp: 3:48am.

“It’s not a threat,” Emeka said. “It’s a declaration.”

Tunde stared at it. “He wants the public to know he’s here.”

Bello’s phone rang. She answered. Hung up.

“Channels TV. Statement in 30.”

'DAY 3. 9:03am. LIVE ON CHANNELS TV.'

Packed room. Cameras. Sweat.

Director Bello at the podium. Calm.

“At 3:48am, an attempted cyberattack targeted the national power grid. Detected and contained within minutes. No loss of power. No damage.”

Reporter: “Who was responsible?”

“We are investigating.”

Another: “Reports of a message. Can you confirm?”

Bello hesitated. Then: “Yes. A message was left. ‘THE CUBS ARE HUNGRY.’ Signed J2.”

The room exploded.

“Who is J2?” “Is this Makinde?” “Are we safe?”

Bello: “No immediate danger. We are treating this as priority.”

She walked off.

Tunde watched from the back. Ayo next to him.

Nnamdi: “It’s out. #CubsAreHungry is trending.”

Emeka in Tunde’s ear: “12 accounts just dropped the jackal logo. i********:. t****k. Telegram. Coordinated. He’s building a brand.”

Tunde closed his eyes. “Of course he is.”

'DAY 3. 11:30am. WAR ROOM.'

Whiteboard. Photos. Red string.

Nnamdi’s timeline:

3:48am: Breach.

3:49am: Message.

3:55am: Containment.

4:10am: First post.

4:30am: 200 posts.

“He’s not just a hacker,” Nnamdi said. “He’s a propagandist.”

Emeka: “IP bounced 8 countries. Ends in Cotonou. Again.”

Tunde: “Where they held you.”

Emeka nodded. “Taunting me.”

Bello: “Options.”

Tunde walked to the board. “He wants attention. So we control the attention.”

He wrote:

'PRESS RELEASE'

'TUNDE ADEYEMI TO SPEAK'

'NATIONAL SECURITY FORUM'

'EKO HOTEL. DAY 5. 2PM'

Ayo: “That’s bait.”

“Yes,” Tunde said. “And he’ll take it. Because he wants to beat me in public.”

Emeka was quiet. Then: “I’ll set it. 6 cameras. Facial rec. Drones. Every exit.”

Bello looked at Tunde. “If this goes wrong—”

“It won’t,” Tunde said. “Because we’re not reacting anymore. We’re hunting.”

'DAY 3. 2:00pm. THE COMPOUND.'

Home to prep.

Chief was in the kitchen. Kola chopping onions.

Chief stopped when they walked in. “You’re going to bait him.”

“Yes, Baba,” Tunde said.

Chief nodded. “Then you come back. All of you.”

Emeka was in his room. 4 monitors. Code.

“Building a ghost network,” he said. “If he blinks, I own him.”

Nnamdi on with Interpol.

Kunle checking gear.

Amaka scrubbing grid CCTV.

The house was moving. But focused. Not frantic.

Kola watched from the door. “You think he’ll come?”

“I know he will,” Tunde said. “Question is what he does when he gets there.”

'DAY 3. 6:00pm. NEWS CYCLE.'

It was everywhere.

'BREAKING: “CUBS ARE HUNGRY” - NEW JACKAL THREAT'

'DSS CHIEF TO SPEAK TOMORROW AT EKO HOTEL'

'IS LAGOS SAFE?'

Comments:

“They caught Makinde and now there’s more?”

“Government can’t protect us.”

“Tunde Adeyemi is going to end him.”

Emeka scrolled. “He’s winning the narrative.”

“Good,” Tunde said. “Let him think he is.”

'DAY 3. 9:00pm. DINNER.'

Quiet. Early.

No one said J2’s name.

They talked about football. About rain. About nothing.

After, Tunde and Emeka on the roof.

Lagos below. Normal. Lit.

“You think this works?” Emeka asked.

“We have to try,” Tunde said. “Can’t keep playing defense.”

Emeka handed him tea. “3 teams on standby. If he shows, we see him.”

Tunde looked at his brother. “You ready?”

Emeka smiled. Small. “I’ve been ready for 6 weeks.”

'DAY 3. 11:11pm.'

Tunde was in his room. Packing for Abuja tomorrow.

Phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

Text: “I saw the press release. See you tomorrow, Tunde. -J2”

Tunde stared at it.

He didn’t delete it. He screenshot it. Sent to Emeka.

Emeka replied in 4 seconds: 'He took the bait.'

Tunde set the phone down. Turned off the light.

Outside, Lagos was quiet.

Inside, the Adeyemi house was holding its breath.

Tomorrow, the Forum.

Tomorrow, Lesson 3.

'DAY 4. 6:00am.'

Director Bello’s voice over the phone: “48 hours until you speak. Grid is stable. But eyes are on you.”

Tunde hung up.

He looked at the team. Ayo. Nnamdi. Emeka on video. Amaka. Kunle.

Chief in the corner, saying a quiet prayer.

Kola at the table, not eating.

Tunde stood. “Alright. Let’s go set a trap.”