MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE

THE SNAKE HAS MORE HEADS

One week after Oshodi. 11:47pm. Yaba Flat.

The flat was quiet for the first time in months.

No gunfire. No running. No 2am calls from unknown numbers.

Tunde was on the couch, leg propped up. The cut from Martins’ guard was stitched. Kunle was at the table, sorting through the evidence box Ayo gave them. Photos. Bank statements. Names circled in red.

Emeka was in the spare room, sleeping for 14 hours straight. Mama Nkechi had gone back to her shop with two DSS guards outside. Chief Adeyemi came by every day, but he didn’t say much. Just checked their wounds and left.

It felt like peace.

It wasn’t.

Tunde’s phone buzzed. Unknown number.

He almost didn’t answer.

He did.

No voice. Just text.

Oshodi was just the beginning. The snake has more heads.

Then a second text. A photo.

A warehouse. Different from Oshodi. Bigger. By the water.

And in the corner of the photo, barely visible: 'the Martins Import & Export logo' spray-painted over.

Kunle looked over his shoulder. “Bro...”

“Yeah,” Tunde said. “It’s not over.”

'8:00am. Back at DSS Annex, Falomo.'

DSP Ayo looked older. Tired.

He spread a map on the table. Red dots all over Lagos, Ogun, and down to the coast.

“We arrested Martins,” Ayo said. “But we didn’t cut off the head. We cut off a finger.”

He tapped three red dots. “In the last 48 hours, three shipments moved. All under shell companies. All to this place.”

He zoomed in on the photo Tunde got. 'Badagry Waterfront. Warehouse Delta-9.'

Nnamdi spoke up. “Intelligence says Martins wasn’t the boss. He was a distributor. The real money is coming from outside. Dubai. Cotonou. And someone inside government is clearing every container.”

Kunle leaned forward. “So who’s above Martins?”

Ayo hesitated. “We don’t have a name. Only a code. They call him ‘The Python King’.”

The room went cold.

Tunde frowned. “Eku was trained. What if there are more? What if the whole operation is about smuggling? Not just money, but people. Drugs. Weapons. Using animals to move it.”

Ayo nodded slowly. “That’s what we think too. And we think Emeka saw too much.”

Emeka, who’d been quiet, finally spoke. “When they held me in Idiroko... I overheard Tafa on the phone. He said ‘The King wants the next shipment by Friday. And make sure the Adeyemi boys don’t interfere this time.’”

Friday.

That was in 3 days.

Ayo looked at Tunde and Kunle. “Officially, you’re on medical leave. Unofficially... I need you.”

He pushed a folder across. Inside: blueprints of Warehouse Delta-9, guard rotations, and one name circled.

'Inspector Bassey. NPA. Badagry Port.'

“He’s the leak,” Ayo said. “He’s been signing off every ‘agricultural equipment’ container for 2 years.”

Tunde closed the folder. “We’re going in.”

“Not alone this time,” Ayo said. “But we can’t use DSS. The King has people inside. We go quiet. Small team.”

Kunle cracked his knuckles. “Who else?”

“Me,” Ayo said. “Nnamdi. And if you want... your dad.”

Tunde shook his head. “No. If something happens to us, someone has to stay clean. Dad stays out of this one.”

Ayo respected that. “Then it’s us four.”

10:30pm. Badagry Road.

They drove in a beat-up van. No DSS markings. Rain again.

The plan was simple: Get in, get proof of the next shipment, get out. Call the real DSS and EFCC to raid it.

No hero stuff.

Warehouse Delta-9 was massive. Lit up like daytime. Containers stacked 3 high. Forklifts moving.

And at the gate: Inspector Bassey, in full NPA uniform, checking papers and waving trucks through.

“He’s moving it tonight,” Nnamdi whispered.

Through binoculars, Tunde saw it. A container being loaded. The side had a small vent.

And from inside the vent: a hiss.

“Snakes,” Kunle said. “He’s using them again.”

Ayo checked his watch. “We have 20 minutes before that truck leaves. Tunde, Kunle, you two go for the container. Get photos, documents, anything. Me and Nnamdi will keep Bassey busy.”

They moved.

Tunde and Kunle slipped through a gap in the fence. Mud up to their ankles. They reached the container.

Kunle picked the lock with a tool Ayo gave him. The door creaked open.

Inside was dark. And it stank.

Crates. And coiled inside them: not one Eku. Five. African Rock Pythons. All tagged. All trained.

And chained to the back wall: a man. Beaten. Barely conscious.

“Emeka?” Tunde whispered.

The man lifted his head. It wasn’t Emeka.

It was DSP Ayo’s younger brother, 'Lekan'. DSS too. Missing for 6 months.

“Lekan?” Kunle said.

Lekan coughed blood. “Run... it’s a trap. The King... he knew you were coming...”

Footsteps.

From outside: “WELL WELL.”

Tafa Bello. And behind him, Inspector Bassey. And 10 armed men.

And in Tafa’s hand: *a new remote*.

The 5 pythons lifted their heads in unison.

Tafa smiled. “Chief Martins was just a test. Let’s see how Chief Adeyemi’s sons do against the real snakes.”

The container doors slammed shut behind them.

Lock.

Darkness.

10:33pm. Container, Warehouse Delta-9, Badagry Waterfront.

Darkness.

The only sound was breathing. Four of it.

And hissing. Five of it.

Tunde’s eyes adjusted fast. Military training.

In front of him: *5 African Rock Pythons*. Each as thick as a man’s thigh. Scales catching the little light from the vent. Tags on their necks. _K-1 to K-5_. King’s snakes.

Behind them, chained to the wall: Lekan. DSP Ayo’s brother. Face swollen. One eye closed. Blood on his shirt.

Outside the container:

“Open the vents!” Tafa’s voice. “Let’s see how long they last.”

Metal screeched. Air holes opened. Cold rain came in.

Kunle was pressed against Tunde’s back. His Glock was gone. Taken at the door.

All they had was Tunde’s box cutter and Kunle’s belt.

Lekan coughed. “Tunde... don’t... fight them. Run them. Tire them out. They’re trained to constrict. Not chase.”

Tafa laughed outside. “You have 2 minutes before we gas the container. The King wants to see how Chief Adeyemi’s sons die.”

The first snake, K-1, slid forward. Tongue out. It went straight for Kunle.

Tunde didn’t think. He grabbed a loose wooden plank from the floor and slammed it down.

CRACK

The snake reared back, hissing.

“Stay behind me!” Tunde told Kunle.

“Bro I’m not hiding,” Kunle said, and picked up a broken piece of metal pipe.

K-2 and K-3 moved together. Flanking.

Tunde threw the plank at K-2. It distracted it. K-3 lunged.

Kunle swung the pipe. Caught it across the head. The snake thrashed and knocked over a crate.

Lekan was struggling with his chains. “The keys! Tafa has them on his belt!”

“Kunle, cover me,” Tunde said.

He dove low, under K-4 who was circling. He made it to Lekan.

“Lift your hands.”

Tunde sawed at the chains with the box cutter. Metal on metal. Sparks.

Outside: “30 seconds!”

K-5, the biggest one, hadn’t moved. It was watching. Waiting.

Tafa’s voice again, closer now: “Release them.”

A click.

The remote.

All 5 snakes went rigid. Then attacked at once.

Chaos.

K-1 wrapped around Kunle’s leg and pulled. He went down.

“KUNLE!” Tunde shouted. He abandoned the chains and drove his shoulder into K-1. The snake loosened just enough for Kunle to kick free.

K-2 went for Tunde’s throat. He caught its jaw with both hands. Muscles burning. Snake strength vs human rage.

“Not today,” Tunde growled, and slammed its head into the container wall.

K-3 and K-4 were on Lekan.

Tunde grabbed the metal pipe from Kunle and cracked K-3 across the spine. It recoiled.

Kunle used his belt to whip K-4 in the eyes. It hissed and pulled back.

Only K-5 remained. The alpha.

It didn’t strike. It just stared at Tunde. Then at the door.

Smart.

It was waiting for the gas.

Ayo’s voice, muffled from outside, with Nnamdi: “DSS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

Gunfire. Shouting.

Tafa screamed. “GAS THEM NOW!”

A hiss from the vents. White smoke started pouring in.

Lekan’s chains were halfway cut. “Leave me,” he gasped. “Save yourselves.”

Tunde looked at Kunle. Kunle was bleeding from a graze on his arm. Snake bite? No. Bullet.

Tunde made the call.

He grabbed Lekan and Kunle, dragged them to the corner away from the vents. Took off his jacket and pressed it over all their mouths.

The smoke filled the container. The snakes, trained, retreated to their crates.

Through the smoke, Tunde could hear boots.

The container door was kicked open.

Figures in tactical gear.

“Clear!”

“Found them!”

Hands grabbed Tunde. Pulled him out.

He coughed, eyes watering.

The first face he saw: *DSP Ayo*. Gun in hand. Face like stone.

Behind him: 6 DSS operatives zip-tying Tafa and Bassey.

Ayo knelt next to Lekan. His brother. “Lek?”

Lekan managed a weak smile. “Took you long enough, bro.”

Kunle was being loaded onto a stretcher. He gave Tunde a thumbs up. Bloody, but alive.

Tunde looked back at the container.

Inside, the 5 snakes were coiled, calm now. And on the wall, spray-painted in red:

'THE PYTHON KING SEES YOU.'

Ayo followed his gaze. His jaw tightened.

“They knew we were coming,” he said quietly. “Which means the leak is still inside.”

Tunde wiped blood and smoke from his face.

“We’re not done,” he said.

Ayo nodded. “No. We’re just getting started.”

Outside, dawn was breaking over Badagry. The water was calm.

But somewhere out there, The Python King was watching.