Chapter 4: Kaduna Static
701 Words
The night bus to Kaduna left at 10:30 PM.
I didn’t buy a ticket under my name. I paid cash, took seat 27 near the back, and kept the tablet on silent. Every 10 minutes it vibrated once. Checking in. Watching me.
Kaduna was 3 hours away. Too close for comfort.
At 1:47 AM, the message came through:
_“Market Road, Sabon Tasha. Old phone repair shop. 800 people. 8 AM.”_
800 people. ₦40 million.
They weren’t just doubling down anymore. They were scaling. Fast.
I didn’t sleep.
Sabon Tasha at dawn smelled like diesel, grilled suya, and wet concrete. The shop was called “TechFix.” Metal shutter halfway up, a cracked sign, and a generator coughing black smoke outside.
Inside, 6 computers lined the wall. Only 2 were on.
The laptop running the chat sat behind the counter, next to a pile of dead power banks. Same account number. 9021187434. Same chat group. Different handle this time: _“Admin_KD”_.
The payment was set for 8:00 AM.
I had 90 minutes.
But this time, the shop had a guard. Young guy, maybe 19, with a torch and a cutlass leaning against the wall. He didn’t look away from the door.
I couldn’t walk in like I did in Abuja.
So I waited across the street, pretending to drink tea from a roadside stand.
At 7:15 AM, the guard stepped outside to piss against the wall.
That was my window.
I slipped in through the back alley. The door was unlocked. Idiots.
The laptop was still on. The chat was still open.
I plugged in my flash drive. Ledger_cleaner copied in 3 seconds. But I couldn’t run it here. The shop’s Wi-Fi was locked, and mobile data inside was dead. Too much interference from the generator.
I needed to trigger it from outside.
I took a photo of the laptop screen. Zoomed in on the payment ID. Then I left the way I came in.
The guard didn’t see me.
At 7:40 AM, I was in a small internet café two streets away. “CyberEdge.”
I logged into the cloud server. Uploaded the payment ID. Set ledger_cleaner to hit at 7:59:59 AM.
Target locked.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
_“You’re getting predictable, Tayo.”_
A second message came with a photo.
It was the tea stand. Me, holding the cup, taken 20 minutes ago.
They had eyes on the street.
I typed nothing back.
7:59:30 AM.
My heart was in my throat.
7:59:59 AM.
Ledger_cleaner ran.
On the cloud server, the status changed to: *Payment Blocked: Security Hold.*
I closed the laptop.
At 8:03 AM, the chat went dead.
Message: _“System error. Try again later.”_
800 people kept their money.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
I didn’t make it 5 minutes before the tablet buzzed again.
_“Mission complete. Node destroyed.”_
Then:
_“You’re good. I’ll give you that.”_
New message.
_“But you’re alone. We’re not.”_
Location updated: *Kano. Central Market. 9 AM tomorrow.*
Kano.
They were moving north. Faster than I could travel.
My phone buzzed again.
Unknown number.
A voice note.
I hesitated, then played it.
It was my voice.
From the voice note I sent my sister 2 years ago.
_“Aisha, I’ll send the money by Friday, I promise.”_
My blood went cold.
_“We know your family, Tayo. Stop, and nobody gets hurt.”_
The call ended.
I sat there, hands gripping the edge of the table, staring at the screen.
They had crossed a line.
Before, it was money. Now it was personal.
I opened the tablet and typed “Yes.”
Kano was next.
But this time, I wasn’t just stopping a payment.
I was going to find out who was behind the voice.
The tablet buzzed once more.
_“Good. Come find us.”_
I stood up.
Outside, Kano was already awake.
And somewhere in that city, 1000 people were about to get a message that would ruin their lives.
Unless I got there first.
- Writer
