THE GENTLE RACKETEER: A Novella

by Kingsley Aguchibe

  Teezee breathed deeply. He tucked his gun back into his suit. “Please get up sir. I’m not going to shoot you.”

  The old man got up, was breathing really fast.

  “Please help us locate Mr. Kenneth. I can pay you whatever you want. Please.”

  The old man had no choice but to agree to whatever Teezee asked of him. He brought his phone and showed Teezee the number that Kenneth used to contact him.

  Teezee copied the number and thanked the man. He came out of the house but the old man remained inside.

  “C’mon boys,” he said to his men when he came to where they stood, watching the old men play their game. Or maybe they pretended to play since the other old man that brought them knew what’s up.

  When Teezee and his men got to the hotel where they stayed, he told them what the latest development was. “We’ve got only one lead. A phone number, which I’m sure isn’t active right now.” He was rubbing his head as he said these things. He was really tired of how twisted the whole thing was. He decided to call his boss and tell him what was going on.

  “Hello sir, it’s a dead-end here. We’ve found those elders but they don’t even know the land was sold. The guy used them. What we could get from one of them was that the guy is from Nigeria.”

  “Nigeria? Wow! The guy sure does have some balls. Ehmm… I will have to talk to someone in the South African police force. Let me see if he can give you guys access to their airport’s CCTV.”

  “Okay, sir. We’ll be expecting your call,” Teezee said and terminated the call.

  Within a few minutes, Master Scott called back. “I have talked to someone in the police force. He agreed to give you access to feeds from their CCTV. You need to be checking your emails regularly. I sent him your email. He’ll mail the details to you shortly.”

  “Alright,” Teezee said. He opened his mails, nothing was there. He waited for some minutes, nothing again. He checked again after waiting for the next 17 minutes, and then, he’s got the details on how to access the feed.

  Throughout that night, they were busy watching the feed. They’ve all got tired of looking at a screen. Their eyes pained them. It was around 8 am that they finally spotted the face of the guy. Teezee jumped up from where he sat. He was thrilled. With intense focus, he replayed the feed and watched Kenneth’s face with great interest.

  “Gotcha! Fool! You didn’t know you chose the wrong guy.” Teezee said excitedly.

  To him, seeing Mr. Kenneth’s face was a great achievement. He gave his boys two hours of rest.

  After the hours of rest, they all went for a visit to the airport. At the airport, they humbly requested to see the logs of people that boarded the airport with Mr. Kenneth. The airport officials refused to give them access to the log. Teezee contacted his boss. His boss did what he knew how to do best. And within one more hour, a police officer came along and aided them in tracing Mr. Kenneth, of which they found out, from the log, that the guy’s name wasn’t even Kenneth. His real name was Nicholas Daniels.

  Oh man! Teezee thought in his mind. He was beginning to respect the guy. He admired Mr. Daniels, how he was always one step ahead of him.

  From the log, they’ve got all the information they needed. They then know the real name of their target, his phone number (probably an active one), and his real nationality. They only had to pay a short visit to Lagos, Nigeria. From thence, they’d finish their mission, hopefully.

  Teezee thanked the police officer and the airport officials. He and his boys went back to the hotel, and as well they prepared to visit Nigeria, to see how Mr. Daniels would elude them again. Teezee can’t wait to meet him again, maybe probably.

  CHAPTER 3

  The Baits

  From South African Airways (SAA) to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, wasn’t much of an enjoyed journey for Teezee and his men. When they got to Lagos, they didn’t care about lodging in a hotel. They just went straight away looking for Mr. Daniels.

  Teezee called up Master Scott and fed him in on their latest move. Master Scott only offered to provide them with anything they might need. And what would they need anyway? If the phone number they had was an active one, all their problems would be solved.

  They had to dial the number first. And that must be done properly, to avoid blowing up their discreetness. But they have to come up with a reason why they called. Teezee had a little thought for a while and decided to dial the number first, and see what happens.

  Four white men in black, walking briskly on a very busy road. People somehow noticed them, but no one really cared. So, Teezee pulled his men into a small shop nearby. He borrowed a phone from the shop owner. He still hadn’t thought up what to say to whoever picked his call.

  “Hello.”

  “Yeah. Who’s this?” A lady from the other end asked.

  “Ehm, please are you Mrs. Daniels?”

  “Yes. Any problem?”

  There was a very long pause. Teezee was thinking up what to say.

  “We’re associates to Mr. Daniels, business associates. We happened to be here in Nigeria by chance. And we’d like to meet Mr. Daniels in person. Please, how may we reach him? We thought this was his real number. Forgive us though. We didn’t mean to disturb.” Teezee said with bright smiles on his face. Mrs. Daniels could even feel the positivity in his properly packaged speech. And his accent was a top-notch too.

  “Oh. No problem. You’re not disturbing at all,” the lady said. She didn’t catch the point where Teezee said, ‘real number’.

  “Mrs. Daniels, please we would like to come over and have a cup of water if you don’t mind. Your husband has described his home to us. We didn’t believe him, because we thought a man like him couldn’t own the kind of place he described to us. But now that we’re here, we’re seeing lots of beautiful places. Maybe your husband was right. Maybe we just underrated him.”

  “Uhhuh, that’s cute. Ehhhm… where are you guys now?”

  “Don’t mind us. We don’t even know. Tell us the address and we’ll find our way.”

  “Hmm, that’s funny. Ehhhhhm… Alright, come to number 107…”

  The lady hasn’t even started calling the address and Teezee had already signaled his men to put it down.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Daniels. And please don’t tell your husband about our visit. We want to take him by surprise.” Teezee said to the lady and ended the call. He didn’t want the husband to get suspicious.

  Finally, they’ve got an address. Teezee gave the shop owner the phone and asked him about the address, of which the man told them the proper way to get there. Teezee thanked the man and went with his boys, on their way to a Taxi Park.

  The whole process was all messed up. The road was stuffed with busy people. Occasional hold-ups made Teezee and his men feel restless. They were in a Taxi hoping their mission comes to an end soon.

  It took them 42 minutes to get to their final destination. When they alighted from the Taxi, they saw Mrs. Daniels standing on a balcony. She waved at them. Teezee waved back. He told his men to stay calm and let him do all the talking. He asked one of his boys to go into a restroom with their backpack and assemble all their guns. They had to put their guns in pieces to avoid detection from the airline scans.

  Teezee and his men climbed a staircase to Mr. Daniels's home. When they got into the house, Mrs. Daniels welcomed them. She asked a young girl (her maid) to go get them something to drink. While they drank, one of them was busy in a restroom, assembling guns.

  “It’s a beautiful home. Just like Mr. Daniels described,” Teezee complimented.

  “Wow, thank you,” the lady said in smiles.

  “Where is your husband now?”

  “He hasn’t come back from work.”

  “And what does he do exactly?” Teezee asked with a tone of anger.

  “Wait. What? You said you’re his associates. How come you didn’t know what he does?” The lady was beginning to get surprised.

  “Oh, don’t mind me. I don�
�t do so well in conversations. I’m action-oriented, you know.” Teezee said and smiled at the lady.

  “Really,” The lady said, while she kept nodding her head in thoughts.

  “What time does he normally return from work?”

  “Around 5 pm.”

  “Cool, because we don’t have time to waste. In fact, you gon have to call him. Tell him to leave whatever he’s doing and rush back home.”

  The lady was so surprised. She couldn’t believe that a total stranger was commanding her, in her own home.

  “I beg your pardon…”

  She didn’t finish her statement. The gun assembler emerged from the restroom and threw a gun to each of his fellows.

  That was when Mrs. Daniels realized that something terrible might happen. Or maybe it was happening already. When she sighted those guns and shrieked, her maid rushed out from a room to know what was going on. But immediately she emerged and beheld those men with guns, she gave her version of the shriek. She was gunned down by Teezee, with no second thought.

  Mrs. Daniels couldn’t hold herself together. She was shaking and shouting at the same time. Teezee tried to shush her but wasn’t successful. He asked his men to put down their guns. That they did before Mrs. Daniels stopped crying and began to pant, a shaky and audible panting.

  “Now, are you going to call your husband or what?”

  “I… I will. I will…” She stammered.

  “Alright. You tell him that you’ve been held hostage in your own home. And the people holding you demand his presence right now. I’m gon shoot you in the leg if you try saying something else. Got it?”

  “Yes.” The lady said and picked her phone to make the call. Her hand was still shaking. But she managed to make the call and deliver the message to her husband.

  Mr. Daniels wouldn’t be so stupid enough to involve the police in such a situation. Teezee knew about this. That was why he didn’t mention anything about bringing in a third party.

  In about 38 minutes, there came a sound of a car from outside. Teezee had already tied Mrs. Daniels up. And immediately they heard a car come into the compound, they all disappeared into a hiding position. Teezee went to the balcony to see whom Mr. Daniels decided to come with.

  Mr. Daniels was smart enough to come with 5 men. But Teezee already had something so precious to him. He went back into the house and took Mrs. Daniels’ phone. He called her husband and warned him.

  “Your little girl is down already. If you try doing something stupid, your wife is gon lose her legs too. So, I suggest you dismiss your boys. Come in here let’s handle our unfinished business. And hurry up. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Mr. Daniels had no other option. He dismissed his men. Teezee just stood on the balcony and watched. He asked Mr. Daniels to remove all his clothes. That wasn’t a very hard decision when compared to what one has to lose. Reluctantly, Mr. Daniels did as he was asked. He removed all his clothes, well, except his boxers. He headed for the stares, all the while, Teezee watched from the balcony up the building.

  When Mr. Daniels got into the house, Teezee was surprised to found he was a very small young man – about 29 years old. Immediately he came close enough to his wife, one of Teezee’s boys sneaked out from behind and hit him on the neck, with the head of a gun.

  Mr. Daniels fell. And that was how they got him. They tied him up like his wife. They all sat and waited for him to regain consciousness.

  13 minutes later, Mr. Daniels slowly rolled his head to the other side. He opened his eyes and started panicking right away when he noticed who just showed up.

  “Ehm… Listen, Mr. Danny. I’m going to ask you some questions. If you, maybe by mistake, decide to play smart, I’m going to shoot your wife in the leg. I hope that was clear enough for you. Let me hear you say yes.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good boy,” Teezee said and slightly slapped him three times on the chick. “Now, where is my money?”

  “We’ve shared it among ourselves but I can get it all back. Please don’t harm us. Please. I can get you all your money.”

  “Hmm. I expected to hear that. You know, I don’t want all my money. I want more than that. Do you even have any idea what troubles you’ve caused us?”

  Mr. Daniels remained silent.

  “And how do you intend to get me back the money?”

  “I can transfer them to you right now. If only you’d let us go. I’ll give you your money, all of it. But please don’t hurt us.”

  “I’m not going to harm or hurt you. All I want is my money back. Give it back and nobody will have to get hurt.”

  “But you’ll have to untie me. My laptop is in my room. And there is where I can make the transfer.”

  “Now you are talking. That one isn’t a problem. But remember our agreement. Don’t try doing anything stupid.”

  They untied Mr. Daniels. Teezee called out to one of his boys to take out one leg. The guy didn’t even wait for Teezee to finish his statements. He just shut Mrs. Daniels in the leg.

  The husband wanted to shout but two men pointed a gun at him. He kept quiet immediately. Meanwhile, his wife was shouting all she could. But no one could hear her. Her mouth was tied up already.

  “See? That’s what happens when you try stupid things with us. Now move!” Teezee exclaimed and pushed Mr. Daniels.

  When they got into a room, a room filled with laptops and phones, Mr. Daniels sat down and started punching the keys of a laptop. He asked Teezee the details of his account, of which Teezee supplied him.

  It took him a few minutes to empty his account. All that he’s made through scams, he gave everything up to Teezee. He begged Teezee to let him go.

  When Teezee received a confirmation of the transfer, he was somewhat happy. He’s got more than he paid for the land – more to even cover all the suffering they went through trying to track Mr. Daniels.

  Teezee placed his hands on Mr. Daniels's shoulder and started massaging him. “Wow. I like it when a business goes smooth as this one. Don’t you think so, Mr. Danny?”

  “I do. Now let us go. Please. I’ve given you what you wanted. Please.”

  “Yeah. You’ve given me what I wanted. But ehm… Mr. Dan, I haven’t given you what you deserved. Have I?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Teezee said and headed for the door. “Take him out!” He said to his boys as he went out of the room.

  The boys didn’t hesitate. They both shot at Mr. Daniels at the same time. And that was the end of Mr. Daniels, AKA, Nick D.

  When Teezee and his men came out, Mrs. Daniels started crying when she noticed his husband wasn’t with them.

  “I think the lady has something to say. Untie her let’s hear what she has to say.” Teezee said to his boy, the one that watched Mrs. Daniels while they were handling business with the husband.

  “Please don’t kill me pleaseeeeh ha-ha-haaahhh! Hyaaaahhhhhhh! I have a son to look afterhh ha-ha-haaahhh! Please don’t…”

  “Wait a minute. You have a what? A son?” Teezee asked the lady who couldn’t hold herself from crying out loud.

  “Yes, I dohh! Pleaseeehh! Pleaseehh!”

  “Where is the boy now?”

  “He is ehm… Eh-hem!” The lady coughed and swallowed hard. “He is sleeping in my room.”

  Teezee asked the lady to take him to her room. He helped the limping lady into a room. Inside the room, a cute little boy was sound asleep. Teezee didn’t know what to do.

  He called Master Scott and asked him what to do. “Kill everybody and bring me the child. He’s now my son.” Master Scott said with authority.

  Immediately Teezee ended the call, he shot Mrs. Daniels twice in the head. He took the sleeping child and went to discuss with his men on how to smuggle a one-year-old boy back to America.

  CHAPTER 4

  Back to Base

  A new set of the problem has just been inherited by Teezee and his men. How they would take the child back t
o America became a huge problem for them. They wouldn’t want to attract unnecessary attention. So they had to come up with a brilliant plan. Else, all eyes would be on them, immediately they stepped into the public with a little boy – a little black child. That looked a lot more suspicious.

  The plan they devised was to split up. Teezee would take the child with him, while the other three men would go together. They would meet at the airport to book a flight. There, Teezee would have to make a quick friend – a female friend. How he would do it wasn’t anybody’s problem. After all, lying is part of his profession.