Okonta Daniel whizzed through Vertical Technologies’ Customer Care unit. He brought his wrist to view to check his timepiece and saw that he was late for the meeting. His colleagues could not help laughing at the comedy of a man as he ran across their cubicles with crumpled files loosely clenched under his left arm, and the other adjusting his glasses.
He knew he would have to apologize, once again, for his symbolic tardiness.
Normal employees would have lost their jobs if they tried to pull the stunts Daniel pulled. Everyone knew that it was Daniel’s significant skills that kept him in the job.
Daniel was panting as he darted up the stairs.
If only I had a girlfriend.
He practically barged into the room.
“I’m sorry, everyone. Sorry for keeping you all waiting.”
Grumbles all over the General Meeting Room.
The room had a whiteboard mounted on the wall close to the door. The center table was made of oak wood. It was roughly fifteen feet long and four feet in width with classical desk chairs. Olalekan, however, sat on a more majestic chair with his legs propped on the table, he was scrolling through his Twitter timeline, gawking over another beautiful social media influencer he was going to pester for some quality time. An influencer that would later give in after finding out who he truly was.
They always do.
Daniel slammed the files on the table to get the attention of the boss and the others whose attention has been greatly absorbed by their tablets and smartphones.
Everyone was still engrossed on their phones, so Daniel cleared his throat rather uncomfortably.
They looked up.
“You’re late.” Vanessa, a short and slightly overweight woman. She was the head of Accessories and Maintenance.
“I apologize. You see, the traff –”
“Stop right there. We don’t care. Has there been any progress so far with the tracking?” Olalekan tossed.
Mildly offended, Daniel forced a patronizing smile, picked up the files, and shared a copy with everyone on the table.
They opened the files.
After studying the files for a moment, Olalekan dropped his file irritatingly on the desk.
”So???”
“Those charts represent the irregular web imprints I have been tracking and these right here,” He lifted his copy of the file and pointed to a distortion in the frequency-looking signatures drawn-out. “This shows that the person we are looking for is aware of the tracking. That is why they created a distortion in their server, kind of like a web flutter, or a glitch. Whatever you want to call it.”
The executives seemed lost.
“So in other words, we’re being fucked in the ass?” Olalekan clarified.
Daniel chuckled. “Precisely.”
One of the executives leaned towards Olalekan and whispered something in his ear.
After a short while, Olalekan excused Daniel.
“Keep trying to track it, and get back to me as soon as there is a new development.”
“Thank you, sir.”Daniel had reached the door when his boss called out to him.
“And Danny?”
He turned. “Sir?”
“Don’t be late again. You might get fired this time. Is that okay?”
Knowing fully well that he is a complete asset to the company and that they would not allow him to get sacked even on fifty more tardy accounts, Daniel made a promise not to be tardy again.
“You can go.”
Olalekan faced his Executives.
“My sources tell me there’s been little progress with the tracking and…
We have found Him.”
Wale had the lights of his hotel room dimmed as Seven found a comfortable spot to sit on at the foot of the bed. He studied the boy’s composition and was convinced that he was quite anxious and very conscious of his environment.
“Are you comfortable?” He was not.
“Uhmmm, yeah.” Seven lied.
“So,” Wale began. ”How long have you known… Janet?”
”We met on F******k last year and since then things have been super amazing.”
“I’m sure your life took a huge turn after she came along.”“It sure did! She became the missing piece to my complex puzzle of a life.”
Yeah right.
“So, why did you not ask her for the full details of her family?”
“I did not think it was important at that time.” He said. “Plus, she did not want to share.”
Wale made conscious efforts to hide his chuckle, with the dimly-lit room, it was successful.
“So… Janet Kwesi.”
“Yeah,” Seven was skeptical. “So, who is she to you?”
“Well, you could say we are related of some sort.”
Seven’s demeanor changed. He nearly ran to where Wale was resting on the wall and he almost wrapped both arms around the man.
Wale dodged the hug.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re Janet’s brother!” Seven beamed.
“I AM NOT!!!” Wale held himself from spilling it all to the young boy. Such news is never placed so calmly.
Doubtfully, Seven slumped on the bed.
“So who are you to her and how do we find her.”
Wale was tired of pretending.
He moved closer to Seven. Sighing heavily.
The bulb overhead twitched.
“Look, kid, what I am about to tell you is probably going to make you dizzy and sick, but I must tell it so that you’d know.”
Seven was confused and at the same time alarmed.
“What do you mean?”
“You see… your girlfriend, Janet…”
“Yeah?”
“She’s not real.”
An impeccable silence ensued between both men with Seven staring deep into Wale’s eyes, searching for any hint of a joke.
There was none.
“I don’t understand. What are you talking about? You told me over the phone that you knew her…”
This is not happening!
The room began to spin for, and Seven’s source of oxygen flow stopped.
Wale studied the boy’s face and felt pity. If only he knew how messed up the situation was.
“Janet is just an alias. The person behind the profile was only performing a social experiment and you were his test subject.”
Seven refused to believe that all he shared with Janet was a lie.
Imagine the faces of all his friends when they hear this. His sister, dad, and mom.
The gravity of this made his legs jitter.
Shit, He cussed. They warned me!
But it was too late for any of that. He has come to realize that the internet never forgets. The world is going to laugh at him when the truth eventually, is revealed, that his super-cute girlfriend was just another guy behind stolen pictures.
Maybe he could run. Maybe he could just run away this very moment and never return. But no matter how much he runs, the internet never chases. It remains there.
Seven’s head hung forward, his shoulders slump. “Why?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why did it have to be me?”
“I’m deeply sorry,” He truly was. But you see, this guy never does things on anybody’s terms.
Wale saw tears run down Seven’s cheeks.
“Boy, are you crying?”
Wale wanted to put around Seven’s shoulders. He figured it would be too much.
How do you deal with a teenager who just found out that his online girlfriend is a catfish?
“What’s the guy’s name?” Seven asked, sniffing back the tears.
This is not a good idea but…
“David.” Wale said, “His name is David.”
“When we find him, I’m gonna punch him in the face.”
The chuckle could not stay in Wale’s mouth, he busted out laughing. There was an instant connection between these two strangers. Something about Wale made Seven feel safe.
Then a black cylinder fell through the opening in the window, releasing thick smoke that made Seven’s eyes teary, his throat itchy, and his lungs squeezed.
Teargas.
Wale had already sensed their eyes watching him some minutes before the boy came into the room, he calculated the time they were going to take before they made a move.
His calculations were wrong.
He crawled across the room towards the door, yanking Seven’s arm.
Follow me. His eyes said.
As both of them made it to the hallway, inhaling fresh doses of oxygen, they took to their heels. For a slightly huge man, Wale knew how to move his weight. Though terrified and confused, Seven paid close attention to Wale’s every body movement. His swift switch between sides of the hallway, avoiding close contact with the hotel room doors, and the direction of his head.
So man questions ran through Seven’s mind and he started to piece every clip together and reach an inconclusive idea.
These are bad men, they are trying to get David but they cannot get to him directly, so they try to abduct someone closely related to him with the hope of David coming to play Hero, and when he does they would capture him and do whatever they wanted to him.
Seven caught up to Wale at the second landing of the stairs that spiraled down to the ground floor and reception area.
“Listen, once we get to the reception, don’t stop running. Look ahead and push anyone who tries to stop you. Don’t be scared of anyone trying to catch you, they won’t. Just follow my lead.” Wale said between breaths.
Within a minute their legs shuffled on the reception floor, attracting onlookers and the security personnel who ordered both of them to stop. Wale reached the entrance door and pushed it open wide enough for Seven to pass.
Seven slipped through the opening and Wale followed.
“Stop them. Make una stop them!” The hotel personnel called out to the Security Guards who in reaction, started to close the automated gate.
“Run faster, boy!” Wale increased his pace, his chest pumped, his toes barely touching the ground, and was almost flying. He landed close to the electric gate. Close enough to hold it open. Seven slipped through once again as the Guards punched the gate’s button in frustration.
Running down the lonely sidewalk that only had the street lights guiding their paths, Wale studied their surroundings.
There was teargas but he did not see the person who threw it. They must be close by.
Seven’s legs slowed to a stop with him almost collapsing. He wedged his body on his knees with his arms, struggling to gulp down oxygen.
“You okay?”
“W- w- who are we running from?” Seven was panting.
“People that are after David.”
“I figured that much. What did he take from them?”
Wale had his eyes fixed on something. He could sense stares coming from the white Hilux parked close to a well-lit semi-detached duplex across the street.
He placed a hand on Seven’s panting shoulders. “Boy, I’ll tell you everything. Right now we have to run.”
Seven did not understand why, yet he tried to pull all his strength together.
They jogged into the next street after the curve.
The white Hilux with tinted glasses revved its engines. Without turning the headlights, it moved slowly towards the street where those two had disappeared into.
Inside the glass were two huge dark-looking men clad in a black suit, putting on wire-rimmed glasses.
“Yes sir, they just entered Clover Street. We’re on their tail.” The driver spoke into his earpiece.
The man in the passenger’s seat cocked a gun.
“C4. Put that gun back.” The driver scolded. “We aren’t doing that tonight.”
C4 cursed as he replaced the gun in the car’s pigeon hole and hissed. “This nor just make any sense.”
After three matches, Gentrix was convinced that there was something off about tonight. Half an hour ago she had woken up with phlegm stuck in her throat which she rushed to the bathroom to spit out.The sleep was long gone so she decided to play FIFA on her PlayStation 4 console. Of which she’s been losing to Madrid woefully. Ball possession was not in her favor. Not only had Madrid smashed her with four goals, but they had also taken a 65% ball possession.Gentrix dropped her gamepad in frustration and groaned.Just as she rested her head on both her palms, her phone came to life.It was a specific alarm, different from her normal iPhone ringtone.Jaden Smith’s “U” rang to life, and that tone was assigned to only one contact.Only him.Gentrix picked up the phone and stared at the screen.3 NEW UNREAD MESSAGES.She unlocked her iPhone to check who the message was from.Him.
NEW MESSAGE (6)The laptop screen came to life when Milkos was removing his shorts. He was just coming back from the Akara joint two houses away from his, where he went to get breakfast. He opened the messages as he was munching on a piece. The message was from an unknown contact on WhatsApp. As he read the contents of the message, his eyes widened.This is too good to be true. Finally. He mused.He minimized his WhatsApp Web and opened his Tracking Software.And got back to work, stuffing the remaining Akara inside his mouth.****Unlike Wale, this was Seven’s first time inside an Interrogation Room. The closest to this he had ever been was on one of the many crime dramas he followed on Cable Television. Those had one-way monitoring rooms guise as mirrors, lights everywhere, an iron desk, and a chair for the suspect.But this one was dimly-lit, four chairs, an old table with the edges brazed
“W- w- what do you mean by ‘David is a computer’?” the entire room started to spin around Seven. He stared at this man with his irritable grins. Wishing he had never embarked on this in the first place. Now sitting beside a chronic lair and staring into the dangerous eyes of their abductor, he wished he had stayed home.Olalekan removed his suit and draped it around his chair. The tension brought the heat. Heat brought sweat, he hated to sweat. He has had a lot of successes across his entire life but he has never come close to achieving anything with children or teens which is why his long line of children gadgets and gaming software were managed by his partners.Kids are energy-consuming. The only energy he wants to be consumed is the one that is exhausted during one of his numerous heated one night stands. Not by an emotionally, mentally, psychologically underdeveloped human.The boy looked like the confusion and the impen
Firstbank, Lagos.Yaba Branch.Since crowded places made him nauseous, Milkos did not flinch when he got sandwiched into the stuffy Transaction Area of the banking hall. He had come to deposit some cash. The line of people on the deposit queue was almost fifteen feet long. So he opted for a cold cup of water from the dispenser while waiting for the queue to be decongested.When it was finally his turn to perform his transaction, he walked up to the counter, smiled at the beautiful bank representative and slid his fat wad of a thousand naira notes across it, the rep took the money and counted with the machine.While she was busy shuffling the cash and recounting, he placed a black square micromagnetic device on the slab, finger-flicked it. He aimed for her System Unit which fortunately for him was propped on the same desk where the Monitor sat.The device silently stuck to the System Unit.Milkos was delighted.The light-skinned repres
2014.Vertical Technologies Ltd.Inside the restricted area of the Information Department breathed a two-ton machine swarmed with hundreds of wires that were connected to monitors and work stations. Each work station had an operator and each operator was assigned to a particular web audience. Their job was to arrange and redirect the data provided by this monstrosity of a machine to the designated clients. There were however over fifty work stations and operators, it was a chaotic environment during operating hours.The elevator dinged open, he stepped out, clad in a three-piece navy blue suit and a briefcase, walking briskly towards the main office. His office. Hours earlier he had received an error report from one of his assigned assistants about the monster machine not being able to perform tasks. Such an error can be brutal. Clients who pay dearly for their goods and wears to reach their desired audience demand that they get optimum impressions before their
An incoming call lit up Q’s private phone.The man stared at the army-green device with a white towel across his shoulders. Suspicious, he took the ringing phone inside the reception area. He was at a Lawn Tennis Resort area where he had gone to show some Love – as he would call it. He let the call vibrate violently till the ringing stopped, hoping that the person does not call back.But they did. The phone vibrated to life once more.This is unusual, he thought. This person intends to speak with him. No mistake. For this to occur, it means that the person must know what businesses he was into.He picked the call.And waited for the person to speak.There was pin silence on the other side. Yet, he waited. For something.“The man with the alias of ‘Q,’ are you there?” A crisp voice with a slight trace of Indian accent spoke, so clear, Q felt he was present in
Staring at the information retrieved from the bank’s database, Milkos could not help but smile widely. He had struck a big break with the tip given to him by his anonymous lead. There was a lot of foul play judging from the information staring back at him and it was a delightful feeling to be in the position to have access to such information. There was this feeling, a rush of adrenaline that flows through his body whenever he successfully executes a task without any form of drawback, or when he successfully infiltrates a database without any quick-reacting firewalls. This was one of those moments. And it was only a matter of time before his hard work produces visibly fruits.He smiled at his monitor.A call came in. It was a private number. From the person, he was expecting.“How far have you gone with the job?”“Child’s play.” But it was not. He spent hours to infiltrate the system. Something that normal
CHANNELS TV NEWS@12BREAKING NEWS“Explosion in Ogun State. An uncompleted building was blown to bits this afternoon, killing five persons. Three have been identified as residents who had gone for a drink and the owner of the store. The other two are yet to be unidentified, their bodies burnt beyond recognition. The property is said to be owned by a Mr. Peter Ayodele. Unavailable during the time of the report.”“Fuck!” Olalekan cursed as he smashed the remote on the ground. Staring at the TV. The reporter continued with the details of the incident as he turned towards his room door. He was just about to go to the office to meet Daniel and the other workers who had been informed about an impromptu meeting when the news came.Getting to the Vertical Technology building, ignoring his PA and the reception lady, he took the stairs instead of the elevator to work out all his