Chapter 2 : Before the Clock Hits seven
1438 Words
Before the Clock Hits seven
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The first thing Ifeoma noticed was the smell. Old paper, dust, and the faint tang of burnt coffee from the machine that hadn’t worked since 2019.
She stood in the doorway of Sterling Holdings’ archive room, heart hammering against her ribs. Ade was already inside, flashlight in hand, sweeping it across rows of metal cabinets that stretched from floor to ceiling.
“You’re late,” he whispered.
“Traffic,” she whispered back. “And my own nerves.”
It was 6:52 PM. The office had emptied out an hour ago. Security did their rounds at 7:30. They had 38 minutes.
Ade handed her a pair of latex gloves. “Put these on. We don’t leave prints.”
“What if we get caught?” Ifeoma asked, pulling them on.
“Then we tell the truth,” Ade said. “That my boss is framing your father.”
She didn’t argue with that.
They’d spent the last 48 hours chasing ghosts. Emails that disappeared, files that were ‘misfiled’, a paper trail that ended abruptly on March 13th. The day Ifeoma’s father was arrested.
“Cabinet C-14,” Ade said, pulling a keycard from his pocket. It wasn’t his. “Mrs. Bello keeps the master key in her drawer. She leaves it unlocked on Fridays.”
“That’s reckless.”
“That’s why I work here.”
The lock clicked open. Inside were binders labeled 2025-Q1, 2025-Q2, all the way to 2026-Q1.
“March,” Ifeoma said.
Ade nodded. “March.”
They pulled the 2026-Q1 binder out and laid it on the table. The paper was thick, official. Receipts, transfer logs, signed approvals.
Ifeoma’s finger stopped on page 47.
*Transaction ID: SH-3347-MAR*
*Amount: ₦15,000,000*
*Recipient: Chukwuemeka Uzo Enterprises*
*Authorized by: Femi Alabi*
*Date: 03/13/2026*
“That’s the day they arrested my father,” she said quietly.
Ade was already taking photos with his phone. Flash off. “Keep going.”
Page 48. Same transaction. But the signature didn’t match.
“That’s not Femi’s signature,” Ifeoma said. “I’ve seen him sign a hundred contracts. He loops his F.”
“Someone forged it,” Ade said. “And they were sloppy.”
They worked fast. Every page from March 10th to March 15th. Any mention of Chukwuemeka Uzo, any transfer over ₦1,000,000, any approval from Legal.
At 7:18 PM, Ifeoma found it.
An internal email printout, clipped to a transfer form.
*From: Femi Alabi*
*To: Legal Department*
*Subject: Re: Uzo Case*
*Message: Make sure the receipt looks clean. If anyone asks, the consultancy was real. Delete the original draft.*
Ifeoma’s hands shook. “He planned this.”
Ade’s face was grim. “He did.”
Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. Heavy. Not security. Security wore soft soles.
Ade killed the flashlight. “Get under the table. Now.”
They dropped to the floor as the door creaked open.
A voice muttered, “Who left this light on?”
It was Chinedu from IT. Night shift. He flicked the archive light on, glanced around, saw nothing out of place, and left.
Ifeoma exhaled. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath.
“We have 10 minutes,” Ade said, checking his watch. “Pack what we have.”
They stuffed the photographed pages into a flash drive. The originals went back exactly where they were. Not a paper out of place.
At 7:29 PM, they slipped out of the archive room and into the stairwell.
Down on the ground floor, the main doors were locked.
Ade pulled out his phone and typed one message: _Meet me by the back exit. Now._
Two minutes later, the door clicked open.
“Go,” Ade said.
Ifeoma ran.
The night air hit her face like cold water. She didn’t stop running until she was three streets away, leaning against a wall, gasping.
Ade caught up a minute later, holding the flash drive out to her.
“It’s all there,” he said. “Proof Femi ordered the forgery. Proof he moved the money.”
Ifeoma took it with trembling hands.
“What now?”
“Now,” Ade said, “we don’t go to the police. Not yet. They’re in his pocket.”
“Then where?”
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere he can’t reach us.”
He looked at her then, really looked at her. The exhaustion, the fear, the small spark of hope she was trying to hide.
“You trust me?” he asked.
Ifeoma thought about it for two seconds.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sure.”
Ade nodded once. For the second time in two days, he smiled.
“Then let’s get to work.”
---
The Safehoue
The place in Ikeja wasn’t a house. It was a two-bedroom flat above a printing shop, and the stairwell smelled like toner and fried plantain.
Ade knocked twice, paused, then knocked once more. The door opened a crack, and a woman in her late 40s peered out. Her eyes flicked from Ade to Ifeoma, then back again.
“Late,” she said. “Both of you.”
“Traffic,” Ade said, the same excuse as before.
Mrs. Bello sighed and stepped aside. “Get in before someone sees you.”
Inside, the flat was neat but bare. No photos on the walls, no personal touches. A safehouse didn’t need them.
“Sit,” Mrs. Bello said, pointing to the plastic chairs by the small table. “You have 20 minutes before I need to go back downstairs. The shop closes at 9.”
Ifeoma sat down and pulled the flash drive out of her pocket. Her hands were still shaking from the run.
“We have it,” Ade said. “Proof Femi Alabi forged the documents and moved the money.”
Mrs. Bello didn’t look impressed. She looked tired. “Proof doesn’t matter if no one will look at it.”
“Then we make them look,” Ifeoma said.
The older woman studied her for a long moment. “You’re Chukwuemeka’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“He was a good man. Honest to a fault. That’s why they targeted him.”
She plugged the flash drive into her laptop. The screen flickered, then filled with the photos Ade had taken.
Mrs. Bello scrolled through them slowly, her face hardening with each page. When she got to the email, she stopped.
“Fool,” she muttered. “He thought deleting the draft would cover him.”
“Can you get this to the right people?” Ade asked.
“I can,” she said. “But not through the police. Not through the courts. They’re compromised.”
Ifeoma leaned forward. “Then how?”
“Through the press,” Mrs. Bello said. “And through the people who have nothing left to lose.”
She opened a new email, attached the files, and typed a single line in the subject: _Sterling Holdings Fraud – Proof Inside_.
“Who’s it going to?” Ade asked.
“Three people,” Mrs. Bello said. “A journalist at Punch who hates Femi. A lawyer at the EFCC who’s clean. And someone you don’t know yet, but you will.”
She hit send.
The laptop chimed.
“It’s out,” she said. “Now we wait.”
Ifeoma felt the weight in her chest shift. It wasn’t gone. But it was lighter.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“Now,” Mrs. Bello said, closing the laptop, “you disappear for 48 hours. Femi will know something’s wrong by morning. He’ll come looking.”
“Where do we go?” Ade asked.
“Not here,” she said. “I’ll send you the address in an hour. Don’t use your phones. Don’t call anyone.”
She stood up. “And Ifeoma?”
“Yes?”
“Whatever happens next, don’t let them make you afraid again. Your father didn’t raise a coward.”
Ifeoma nodded. She couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat.
Mrs. Bello walked them to the door. “Go out the back. One at a time. Two minutes apart.”
Ade went first. Ifeoma waited, listening to the hum of the printer below.
Before she left, she turned back. “Thank you.”
Mrs. Bello smiled faintly. “Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t won.”
Ifeoma stepped into the alley. The night was hot, and the city was loud, but for the first time in weeks, she felt like she had a plan.
The fight wasn’t over. It was just starting.
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- Writer
