by Tope Oluwole
"Somehow, I don't think it's coincidence that the governor of New Lagos State did a drive-by," Dockery said. "What's going on Inspector?"
Morefishco nodded. "Are you certain this was the same hover-limousine you saw?" Morefishco pulled up an image of a hover-limousine taken at night, on the vehicular computer.
Dockery studied the image from the display mounted behind the driver's seat. "It could be, but it's hard to say for sure in the dark," Dockery said.
"Your two cents?" Morefishco asked Churchwell.
Churchwell studied the image for a few seconds. "The shapes are similar, but it's not a very good image."
"Thank you for insulting my photography skills," Morefishco said. "Let's try again." Morefishco pulled up an image of a robust Nigerian man, at the dais of the seal of New Lagos State.
"That's him!" Churchwell said.
Dockery tilted his head sideways at the image. "Yeah, that's the dude."
"We put a tracer on the hover-limo the other day, but we didn't pick it up in our passive scan as they were leaving," Churchwell said.
"Ha-ha," Morefishco laughed. "The poorest governor in Nigeria has at least three hover-limousines."
Morefishco arrived on the scene in Ikeja, with Dockery and Churchwell on his heels. The smoke hung above in the night sky like the angel of death. Market sellers and okada riders marked the perimeter of the scene. The local residents threatened to swallow the police with their shear mass.
The local sergeant raised his arms towards Morefishco. "What do you think you are doing here?" Morefishco breezed right by him. "Hey there!" Churchwell deflected the sergeant and pulled him aside, gently explaining who Morefishco was and their authority to be in the mix. Morefishco walked straight through where the first scene markers were, and then continued until he got the far wall of the lot.
"Who called it in?" Morefishco asked a local NPF officer, whose back was turned to him.
"Eh?" he replied, and then turned around to see the F-I-I-B on Morefishco's crest. "Sorry sa." The NPF officer saluted Morefishco. "The meguard reported what happened on the roof."
"Which roof," Morefishco asked.
The NPF officer pointed to the roof of the house just over the far wall of the lot.
"So what happened on the roof?" Morefishco asked.
"Some people, including the meguard, said they saw robots chasing Omoaiye down..."
"Who?" Morefishco asked.
"Omoaiye," the deputy continued. "That is what they call him."
"I see," Morefishco said. "Go on."
"They saw or heard a large explosion on the roof. After that, they disappeared," the NPF officer said.
Morefishco looked over the wall and could see the local NPF marking off the front of the compound, with the throng of locals threatening to demolish the front gate. The burglar-proofing was laser-lined, so Morefishco, Dockery, and Churchwell circled the block and came in through the mob in front. Morefishco brought the attention of the crowd on himself as he pushed his way to the gate.
"Where is the meguard?" Morefishco asked.
One of the NPF officers in the compound led Morefishco to a muscular Igbo man, wearing a wool blazer, singlet, and worn dress slacks.
"Hot date?" Morefishco asked.
"Eh?" The meguard responded with a confused expression.
Morefishco waved it off. "Where are oga and madam?" Morefishco asked.
"They go Abuja," the meguard replied.
"Show us the roof," Morefishco said. The meguard led Morefishco, Churchwell, and Dockery up the narrow stairs of the building, then up a ladder on the side of the fifth-floor veranda. This led to the roof.
Once on the roof, they saw the carnage of two robots riddled with heavy caliber ordinance, and then traces of blood. Dockery squatted over a small pool of blood and then turned his left pinky finger to reveal an opaque tube. He touched the tip of the tube in the blood. With a tap of his thumb to the base of his pinky finger, blood began to flow up the tube.
CHAPTER 25
Draw Three
Fatima had just gotten off the phone with her kids, when her phone rang. The caller ID read, "UNAVAILABLE". Fatima looked at Ingrid in confusion, but answered the call. "Hello?"
"Fatima, I found it!" A man on the other end exclaimed. "It took a bit of searching, but I found it."
"Who is this?" Fatima asked.
"Larry. Larry Huong," he replied.
"I'm sorry o! I didn't recognize your voice." Fatima brightened up. Ingrid looked at Fatima, mouthing something Fatima couldn't understand.
"Are you alone?" Larry asked.
Fatima looked at Ingrid. "No."
"Okay. Can you meet me at Café Okada today for lunch?" Larry asked.
"Yes. What time?" Fatima asked.
"Twelve sharp!" Larry said.
"I will see you then," Fatima said. She heard Larry disconnect the call.
Ingrid shook her head.
"What?" Fatima asked.
"You should see your face," Ingrid said. "I still don't know if we can trust him."
"My dear, trust when it comes to men is not black or white," Fatima said. "It is in shades of gray."
"So which color is distrust?" Ingrid asked.
This time Fatima and Ingrid arrived at Café Okada earlier, and took a seat at a table in an alternate corner from where they had been seated the last time. "I'm hungry," Fatima said.
"Me too," Ingrid added. "I hope he gets here soon."
"I do not think I can wait," Fatima replied, and waved over a young waiter, no more than twenty. He wore a white t-shirt with a bowtie and blue slacks. "Ah beg, groundnut," Fatima said. The young man put up two fingers and looked to Ingrid. Fatima shook her head and raised one finger.
Fatima and Ingrid were halfway through the groundnut when Larry walked up to their table. Fatima noticed Larry hadn't shaved, and his clothes were wrinkled. Fatima smiled. Ingrid nudged her beneath the table. "Hello!" Fatima yelled in reaction.
Larry scanned the restaurant before sitting down. He crouched low, and with a hand shielding his mouth, whispered, "Borno State Park." Fatima and Ingrid looked on in confusion. "Your...map?" Larry said. "It's part of Borno State Park."
"How did you manage to know that, when I at the University of Maiduguri did not?" Ingrid asked.
"It's classified as a restricted area," Larry replied.
Ingrid pressed on. "If that's true, how did you find out?"
Fatima awaited a response. Larry showed them the map on his PDA and said in the same whisper. "You see that marking at the bottom?" His finger pointed to text that read SC:PP. "The S-C stands for security clearance. P-P is the highest clearance you can have. The only project I have with P-P clearance is the sanitation robot project."
"I don't understand." Fatima said.
"I don't see the connection, either," Ingrid added.
Larry went on. "The sanitation robot project is a program the government started to keep New Lagos clean, a revival of the old program from the 1970s. One of my former classmates, who owes me a favor, told me that the military has been testing the policing capabilities of these robots as well."
"I still don't understand," Fatima said.
"The testing is rumored to be taking place at Borno State Park. The map my classmate sent me had the same terrain features yours did." Larry exhaled. "If the sanitation robots could be programmed to enforce other laws apart from the sanitation code, it would be a more efficient revenue stream."
Now Fatima and Ingrid stared at Larry glass-eyed.
Larry looked up and realized the waiter had been standing there waiting. "Peri chicken with a shandy," Larry spewed out. He then pointed to Fatima and Ingrid.
"Chicken gizzard suya, and moi-moi, with tonic water," Fatima said.
"Meat gyro with orange juice," Ingrid answered.
Larry waited until the young waiter had left before continuing. "This..." Larry pointed on the map Fatima had given him. "...is where the robots are supposed to be tested."
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"What do these robots look like?" Ingrid asked.
Larry pulled out a piece of net-paper, and slid it in front of Fatima and Ingrid.
"This looks like the same type of robots that attacked us yesterday," Fatima said. "Do you think they had something to do with my husband's death?"
"I don't know," Larry said. They all sat silent as the mood of Larry's revelation settled on them all.
Fatima spoke up. "Up til' now, I had been going on faith to find how my husband died. I feel so drained. Still, God will give me strength, if not for me, for my children. I want to tell them, this was your father, this was how he lived, this was how he died." Fatima rubbed her palms together. "Once I get there, the Lord will guide my path."
"There?" Ingrid looked at Fatima. "There where?"
"Borno State," Fatima replied.
"You can't go," Larry said, raising his voice. Several patrons turned around.
"I must," Fatima said.
The waiter arrived with the meals. Larry dug in, while Fatima said a prayer before eating.
"I don't think I can go back there," Ingrid said.
"You owe me," Fatima said, "and you owe yourself."
"You...you're not serious. We don't even know what part of this is verifiable," Larry said. "Also, you'll never get clearance into the site."
"That is why you are coming with us," Fatima said.
Larry shot up and his eyes seemed to pop through his glasses. "I can't." He pulled out a Bit-Cash card and slid it through the reader, paying for the entire meal.
"You have the clearance," Ingrid said. "You could get us in."
"How?"
"We'll be your assistants," Ingrid said.
"Yes," Fatima echoed, "your assistants."
Larry began looking around the restaurant again. "I have to go. This was a mistake."
"Larry." Fatima reached out and grabbed Larry's hand. "Just get us there, and God will make a way."
CHAPTER 26
Baker's Dozen
Omoaiye had spent the night at Dejure Bakery, nursing his wounds. He was now headed back to Victoria Island on the back of a hover-okada. It was early enough in the morning that darkness still shrouded New Lagos, camouflaging him.
The hover-okada raced over Third Mainland Bridge, and straight through to New Lagos proper. Omoaiye stopped the okada rider just a block shy of Fatima's flat. He paid the okada rider enough to keep his mouth shut, but not so much to make him greedy.
Omoaiye strolled down the alley behind Fatima's flat and groaned at the thought of having to scale the eight-story building in front of him. He was dreaming about the ogi and akara that Olga had made for him in his lunch pod. It was something he wanted to sit down and savor.
He did the unthinkable and walked into the building after waiting for someone to exit, and then raced to jam the door after the someone was out of sight. Omoaiye crept through the hallway and popped into the elevator where he almost collided into an elderly woman wearing a bubu. He froze. The woman barked, "You cannot see I am blind? Commot from my front jare!"
The woman flicked the tip of her cane forward, but Omoaiye had already slid to the side. "Shap-shap!" She smirked, then continued out of the elevator.
Omoaiye took the elevator to the top floor, then took a left down the empty and quiet hallway. He found the fire exit at the end of the hallway and climbed the stairs. Omoaiye tried the roof access door, and found it unlocked.
The breeze tickled his body through the pores of the body-suit, cooling him down a bit. The smell of akara filled his nostrils, as did the smell of pepe-stew. Then he heard his stomach growl. As Omoaiye walked the roof he did a quick survey of the area including the street below. He went around the HVAC unit, and crawled along the edge of the roof. Down in front of the opposite building, Omoaiye saw an Asian man get out of a hover-taxi, cross the street, and then disappear.
Omoaiye watched through his goggles, a magnified image of the entrance to Fatima's building, for the next hour or so. The sun hung higher in the sky now, and Omoaiye could feel his body moisten, and the ache in his side. Omoaiye passed the time eating the akara Olga had packed for him, and felt much better afterwards.
Out of the front of Fatima's building, the woman he was supposed to get the media card from, exited with another more robust woman in a scarf. The Asian man followed them. They all got into the hover-taxi which took off a moment later. Another car pulled away from the curb and pursued them.
CHAPTER 27
Three's Company
On Morefishco's way to Misses Blanc's flat he re-read the analysis from the fabric he found at Dejure Bakery. He also reviewed the images of Misses Blanc, Miss Natarajian, and Mister Huong at Café Okada, and knew where they were heading. Morefishco had no plans of letting them leave New Lagos.
When Morefishco arrived at Misses Blanc's flat, he rang her for fifteen minutes, before concluding she was not home. Morefishco could have put a crimson alert on the three of them, but decided he wanted them to lead him to their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
He connected with Dockery and Churchwell, on the vehicular computer, to get teams on every train and bus with destinations to Maiduguri. He jumped back in his unmarked cruiser, flipped on the sirens and sped off.
Morefishco would follow them to wherever the map led, and expected to find Omoaiye there to finish what he started with Mister Blanc.
"Inspector!" Churchwell's voice came through the cruiser speakers. "We have a visual. Two females and one male, fitting the description."
"Where?" Morefishco asked, as he raced toward Carter Bridge.
"Lagos Terminus," Dockery added. "They just walked in."
"I'll be there in five minutes!" Morefishco said.
CHAPTER 28
To Catch A Train
The Lagos-Maiduguri train departed from the terminus at twelve sharp, and Fatima, Ingrid, and Larry were on it. Larry had worked with Ingrid to get her and Fatima credentials as temporary research assistants, with details broad enough to satisfy general scrutiny.
Larry hadn't been able to get a cabin on the train due to the short notice, but he was able to reserve a booth that would shield them from prying eyes. They picked the second booth which was in the corner at the end of the car.
Once the train left New Lagos proper, they all relaxed a bit. "Okay, take a look at this," Larry said, with a whisper. He brought up the enhanced map on net-paper, then zoomed out with a whisk of his fingers to a larger image of Borno State Park. "We'll take the car provided by the university, thanks to Ingrid, and we'll drive south to the park. Once we get in, we'll have to drive again to the site. It will be guarded, but Ingrid assured me that your identifications will get you through."
"Then they will," Fatima said.
"I hope so, because if they don't, the best we can hope for is jail," Larry said.
Ingrid looked from Larry to Fatima. "Is that true?"
"Don't mind him jare," Fatima said. "He's just trying to scare you."
"Well, it's working," Ingrid said.
The train arrived at Maiduguri at half-past-five. Larry, Fatima, and Ingrid walked off the train and headed for the car park. Ingrid shivered at the thought of what had caused her to leave, but at the same time she was happy to be home. Just then, she spotted the hover-car from the University of Maiduguri she had arranged.
Fatima and Larry followed Ingrid toward the hover-car. The hot and dry air whipped through the passenger pick-up area where a bevy of market sellers hawked newspapers, wosi-wosi, chin-chin, and caramelized and diced, coconut candy. Fatima bought a large bag of chin-chin from a young girl. They then all entered the hover-car, with Larry in the front and Fatima and Ingrid in the back. Fatima offered the chin-chin bag to Ingrid who grabbed a few piece. When Ingrid held the bag to Larry, he shook his head.
"Welcome to Maiduguri!" The driver said to Larry once they all settled in the hover-car. "Welcome back madam," he said to Ingrid.
"It's good to be back," Ingrid replied.
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br /> "Where are we going, madam?" the driver asked.
"Borno State Park," Ingrid said. Ingrid noticed the driver's University of Maiduguri uniform appeared to be too big for him. Also, with his sunglasses and hat, she didn't recognize him as a driver she had used in the past.
"Very good madam!" the driver said.
The hover-car took off quickly and passed along Amadu Bello Way, past Shehu's Palace, and down the road, headed for the expressway.
About fifteen minutes on the expressway the hover-car began to stumble, and dive.
Fatima eyed Larry, who looked to the driver, but kept quiet. Finally, Ingrid spoke up. "What's going on?"
"I do not know madam," the driver said.
The hover-car bucked and shuddered until the driver wrestled it off the expressway and down the side of the main road.
"Are you out of power?" Fatima asked.
"You're joking!" Ingrid yelled. "How could you leave for a trip without a full charge?"
Once the hover-car stopped, the driver looked nervous as he got out. "Don't worry, I have a spare battery in the booth." The driver strolled to the rear of the hover-car.
CHAPTER 29
End Of The Line
Chief Ibrahim met Inspector Morefishco at the Maiduguri train terminus with two deputies. Morefishco jumped in, skipping the pleasantries until they were screeching down the expressway.
"I don't know if letting them continue away is a good idea," Chief Ibrahim said, from the back seat of the unmarked hover-car.
"They'll lead us to the pot at the end of their rainbow," Morefishco said.
"Eh?" Ibrahim replied. "What pot?"
Morefishco shook his head. "Omoaiye killed Blanc," Morefishco said.
"But why?" asked Ibrahim.
"The map," Morefishco said.
"The map to where?" Ibrahim asked.
"Borno State Park. Blanc was working on something with Natarajian. Something big that got him killed," Morefishco said.