The Man From Lagos

by Bayo Fasinro

  The woman led them to a room deeper in the house. It looked like a hospital setup. It had monitors, a table, a wide space around the table for instrument trays, metal sinks… This was a secret operating theater, and the metal front door suggested the underworld used it often. Femi put Peters down on the table. The woman looked at him and ordered Femi and Sade to wait outside of the room. Before they could object, the woman turned to a girl that Femi and Sade didn’t notice and told her, “Wake everyone up.”

  The woman went to work right away on Peters. She quickly took his pulse. The frown on her face was not reassuring. She quickly put on surgical gloves and grabbed a stethoscope. After a moment of listening to his chest, she immediately chose to put him on a ventilator because no one was around for the bag manual ventilation process. Peters was struggling to breathe and had fallen unconscious. Sade sat down in a chair by the doorway. Femi went outside to check on Kwesi, who was standing watch at the car. He gave him the news that Peters was still alive and commended him for his good driving. He told Kwesi just to stay put and keep his eyes open.

  “What about Niyi and the others?” Femi asked.

  “Yes, they all made it out and back to the estate right as the police were arriving,” Kwesi responded. He sounded relieved.

  Since he hadn’t been to this part of Lagos in a long time and it had changed a lot, Kwesi thought it best to step out of the car and make sure he was alert to whatever could come his way. He was holding Femi’s Tavor, reloaded and ready to spit. He was still full of adrenaline, so he kept his finger off the trigger and took deep breaths. He’d learned that tip from Femi.

  Femi headed back into the house and took a seat next to Sade. He held her hand. Now they just had to wait. Sade prayed aloud that whoever this woman was, she was good at what she did. She couldn’t bear to lose her father and her brother in the same year. She just couldn’t.

  What gave both of them hope were the sounds of a busy operating theater with lots of chatter, the professional sort that recalled a real hospital. Sade prayed that the people who were operating on her brother right now were the best of the best.

  Chapter 42

  Heavy Price

  Four hours went by with no word. Sade and Femi were still sitting in the same spot. Femi had gone out every hour to check on Kwesi. He gave updates on Niyi and the team; everyone was safe and sound except for their targets. Chioma and Mama Kojo were dead, and no news yet about how the poison affected Kumari. They would know soon enough. Niyi had driven the Audi back to the estate and would wait for them there.

  Just then, the woman appeared from the back. Femi and Sade stood up as though shocked out of their seats.

  “What of our man?” Sade said with anticipation.

  The woman motioned for them to retake their seats. She pulled one of the chairs and sat close to them. She looked exhausted and had not scrubbed all the blood from her shoes. Her face had lines etched on her cheeks from hours in a mask. She took a deep breath before giving her update.

  “He lost a lot of blood. He was shot twice, but they missed all the vital organs. He is lucky to be alive.”

  The life came back to Sade’s face.

  “We removed the bullets from his body. We were also able to get all the fragments so, with luck, he won’t have any long-term complications from his injuries.”

  “Can we see him?” Sade asked.

  “He is sedated now and needs rest. You can see him, but he won’t be able to talk to you,” the woman replied.

  She stood up from her seat and beckoned for them to follow her. As they walked into the room where Peters rested, Sade almost fainted. His body bristled with tubes. A ventilator was hooked up to his mouth as a precaution since he was still not breathing at full strength. She walked up to his bed and held his hand. She put her head down on it and cried. The woman and Femi stood there without a word between them. They let Sade have her release. It was a very emotional time for everyone.

  The woman finally spoke. “We need to let him rest.”

  Sade stood up from her kneeling position. She let go of her brother’s hand. “How long will he be in this state? When will he wake up?”

  The doctor searched for words. She knew she had to choose her words carefully; she had seen patients not wake up from wounds like these. “We won’t know until he chooses to wake up himself. We will see how much he wants to live.”

  *

  Peters drifted in and out of consciousness. During one of those times when he was semi-conscious, he heard a woman’s voice. It was soft like his Sarah’s. God, he missed her. He wanted to be with her—he could try to find her in the afterlife. There was nothing here for him now, nothing he wanted to live for. He just wanted to be with her again. He wanted their day at the mall when they rode rides and laughed like little kids. He wanted that morning before he walked out the door and got into her car. He just wanted to go back inside and give her one last kiss, one last hug. But he couldn’t, not on this side of death.

  He hoped he wouldn’t wake up.

  Even so, Peters tried to shake that negative thought out of his head. He knew Sarah would have none of it and would send him away. She would say what she always said to him when he came to a difficult decision—“So, what are you going to do about it?” It would disappoint her if he just quit.

  So, what was he going to do?

  I want to live, he thought to himself. I want to live for Sarah—I owe her that.

  *

  “If he is a fighter, he will wake up,” the doctor added. “That is all I can promise at this time, sorry.”

  Just what Sade did now want to hear. She and Femi left the room. When they got to the main waiting area, her mind was racing. She didn’t know what to do next. She couldn’t have him taken care of at the estate—there was no way to keep that a secret if Adama’s police were still watching her.

  “How long can he stay here?” she asked.

  The woman looked at her with a puzzled look. “Your man can stay here as long as needed. He will have privacy, safety, and discretion while he is here.”

  Sade looked at Femi and then back at the woman. “Thank you very much for saving his life. How do we compensate you for your time, the medicines…?”

  The woman again seemed confused. As she started explaining again about the card, Sade interrupted her.

  “Yes, yes, the card.”

  And where had Peters gotten that card? He said he hadn’t been to Nigeria for twenty-two years but had a card that led them to a part of town locals hardly came to, even in all their years living in Lagos. She knew he visited someone in Singapore, but whom? Why was he in Singapore to begin with? Sade knew of Mr. Vue, Baba’s dear friend, but she didn’t know for sure if he was involved. All Idowu had told her was that he was visiting “a friend” in Singapore and then he would head to Lagos. Sade knew her brother was mysterious; she wanted to still have years together to find out more. She would press him for more details—he had to live. But first, he had to wake up.

  “Okay, thank you for doing everything you can. Can we meet the other doctors who worked on him?” Sade asked, almost pleading.

  The woman thought for a second and didn’t look like she thought it a good idea.

  “The team is very tired, ma’am. Maybe some other time.”

  “Please, I want to thank them personally for what they did.” After a few moments, the woman reluctantly agreed. She led Sade and Femi down the hall of the house to a side room. What came next floored Sade and Femi to the point where they were speechless. The woman opened up the room and there sitting on plastic chairs looking dead tired were kids. Four kids to be exact. Sade and Femi looked at each other and then back to the kids. The woman went over and stood next to them. They all stood up wearily. The introductions began.

  “This is Benjamin, our chief resident.” The kid moved toward Sade and Femi and shook his hand.

  “This is Alexa, our surgical nurse.” The girl looked not much older than fourteen. She came forward
for more handshakes.

  “This is Daniel, our anesthesiologist.” Sade and Femi were still in disbelief at what they were seeing and hearing.

  “And last is our surgical assistant, Timothy. He also doubles as our radiologist. Our normal radiologist Isiah is off to university. If you don’t mind, I can’t say where.”

  Sade was still speechless. She thought it was a joke, but there was no way the woman didn’t have help to work on Peters.

  She could see the look on Sade’s face and started to explain. “These kids live here with me. We are family.”

  Sade still didn’t understand. “Your kids, doctor?”

  “Sometimes people are dropped off here with a child. If we can save them, they all leave at some point. These four and the one at university stayed because they didn’t have anywhere else to go,” the woman added. She went on to explain that over the years, the children watched and learned all that they knew from her. Each of them developed an aptitude, and this was their new home. They learned skills to survive in this world. She added that she couldn’t just send them to school because they weren’t her kids, and there would be too many questions. She was able to get Isaiah off to university since he was of age, and all they cared about was that he could pay his school fees. Otherwise, they lived on donations that came from the people dropping off the injured. They mostly never heard from those people again.

  “I was very surprised that both of you stayed. That told me that this man had people who cared about him,” she added.

  Sade thanked the kids for all their work to help save her friend. She lied because she didn’t know these people and didn’t want to offer information to strangers. They all said they were happy to help and that they would take care of him until he was better. Wow, Sade thought. These kids should be in school—a medical school. They were too smart to be living here, doing what they were doing without all the money, opportunities, and prestige that usually came from skill and brilliance like theirs. She waved goodbye and left the room.

  She knew Peters was in good hands but was still in disbelief. Sade couldn’t believe a place like this existed in Nigeria. Nothing surprised her now. She had seen everything. She wondered how many of these places were around, forever under the radar, run by people who put their humanity about their careers. She was proud of the woman for not just turning these kids out on the street. The woman was making the best of the situation and having them learn something. She couldn’t begin to imagine what this woman’s story was.

  Sade said, “Can I call this number again? Will you be the one answering?”

  “Yes, that number will ring in the house. You can call whenever you want an update on your man. We assign colors to our patients. Do you remember what color bulb I told you to look for?” she asked Sade.

  “Yes, a green bulb.”

  “Ask if Dr. Green is in when you call,” the woman told Sade.

  Sade thanked the woman again and said she would be in touch. She shook her hand and Femi did the same. They opened the door and walked out. Kwesi was still waiting for them. He was back in the car since he determined there was no threat, and had cleaned a little of the blood out of the back seat. Sade paused before getting in the car. She looked at Femi, who was still processing what they had seen in there, too. This was the first time in a long time that Femi was at a loss.

  “Femi, how much paper do we have in the boot?”

  “How much do you need?” He asked.

  “Enough for those kids if we have it.”

  Sade knew that they always carried the paper money in case they had to take care of something or someone. There was always someone asking, “Anything for me today?”

  Femi opened up the boot. Took out the spare tire and the false bottom. He pulled a duffel bag out and set it on the ground. He replaced the false bottom and put the tire back in and closed the boot. He handed the bag to Sade and she walked up to the door. She banged on it again, and it opened. The woman asked if everything was okay. Sade just handed her the duffel bag and turned around and left.

  The woman set the bag down at her feet. Then she reached over and removed the green bulb and changed it to a white one. She gave one last look at the car and then picked up the bag and shut the door.

  Chapter 43

  Missing You

  Idowu Peters almost lost his life avenging his father and Sarah’s death. He alone had made the choice to come along for the mission to take down those responsible. He almost paid for it with his life. Almost two weeks went by before he woke up from his medically induced coma.

  He still wasn’t able to breathe on his own, so he needed help.

  The first time he opened his eyes, he couldn’t make out the people in the room. The pain was still there on his side, but he was surprised to be alive. He could hear voices, but it hurt to open his eyes. As with most patients who wake up while still on a ventilator, agitation sets in. That was the least of his problems; he had developed pneumonia. The house doctors were working round the clock to treat his condition, in addition to weaning him off the ventilator so that he could breathe on his own.

  He would have a long recovery from his injuries. One thing he would have to deal with was muscle atrophy. He hadn’t moved in two weeks; the body below his neck looked so different to him that he thought he had awoken as someone else. His joints were painful and his sense of taste seemed strange.

  “How are you doing today?” asked a soft voice that he didn’t recognize. “My name is Alexa, I’m here to check on your vitals.”

  Peters couldn’t respond because of the tube stuck down his throat. His eyes had a better focus each day and he was able to make out the face. She looked young to be a doctor or a nurse. She talked like a doctor and knew all the words a doctor would know and speak. His eyes followed her as she moved from one side of the bed to the other, checking readings and

  manipulating the many devices hooked up to his body. He wished he could say something to her. After a couple of minutes, she left the room. “You’re looking much better today,” she encouraged him.

  It took another week before he woke up one day without the long tube down his throat. His chest and esophagus hurt. He started coughing and choking before someone rushed in to check on him. This time, it was the same girl. He remembered her name was Alexa. He didn’t remember seeing the boy who came with her.

  “Hello, my name is Benjamin,” he said looking at Idowu. “I just want to check to make sure you have healed from your wounds.”

  Peters decided this had to be a dream. His doctor and nurse were children. He had to be delirious. Or was this a new, lucid phase of his coma? Did it indicate healing, or that he was soon to die? His eyes just followed their every movement. Please wake up, he thought to himself. The doctor in his dream started talking again.

  “Things look good. We should be able to take the bandages off in a day or so,” he added.

  And with a scribble on the pad attached to the end of the bed, he was gone. Peters shut his eyes and tried to sleep. They must have him on some pretty strong drugs, he thought before drifting off. He got sleepy after five minutes of being awake, then after an undetermined amount of time, come around again, still tired. The next time he opened his eyes, he saw a woman standing next to his bed. The girl he had seen before was now grown up. He watched as she grabbed the clipboard and read the notes, flipping some pages.

  “You are doing better each day. Can you try to eat something today?”

  Idowu looked up at her and tried to speak but words wouldn’t come out. He just nodded his head. A smile came on her face and she turned and left. Five minutes later, the girl was

  back—Alexa, holding a tray. She set it down on the table and asked if he wanted to sit up. He managed to nod, and she put one hand under his neck and she pushed the button that brought the head of the bed up slowly. When it was in position, she adjusted the pillow, pushed the tray to the bed, and adjusted it so it was in easy reach.

  She smiled. “Do you want s
ome help eating?”

  He shook his head. He wanted to do this himself. She gave him his privacy. Under the tray’s cover, there was a bowl of what looked like tomato soup, half a slice of toast, but no butter or jam. There was also some applesauce in a cup. He picked up the spoon and tasted the soup. It was good. He didn’t know how long it had been since that breakfast in Sade’s house.

  By the time Alexa came back into the room, he had eaten everything.

  “You seem to have your appetite today. That is a good sign!”

  Peters wanted to show her that he was indeed getting better, so he tried very hard to say some words.

  “I’m doing good, thank you.” Her eyes got big and her smile got bigger.

  “You are an American?” she asked with some enthusiasm. “We don’t get any Americans here—a lot of Asians and Africans, but no Americans.”

  A good nurse wants to see and hear the patient making progress. She stayed a little longer this time around. She asked easy questions that nevertheless required more than a nod or shake of the head.

  “Do you hurt anywhere?” she asked.

  “A little pain on my side but much better than before.”

  Another smile. It brought one to his face also. She didn’t want to overdo it, though, so she grabbed the tray from the stand. “Do you want some water in case you get thirsty?”

  He started to nod but then spoke. “Yes, please. Thank you.” He made himself smile. “And, if you don’t mind—do you have any magazines or books that might interest me? It’s boring sitting here until you come in. Only then do I have someone to talk to.”

  The smile came back, and out she went.

  Peters woke up to find the doctor staring at his chart. He didn’t notice that his patient was awake and staring at him. He looked so young, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. How could this be? What kind of place was this? Was Peters even still in Nigeria? All he remembered from that night was getting shot—an unfamiliar face, a thunderclap in his torso, and then nothing. Was anyone else hurt? Was Niyi alive? What about Kwesi? Did the team escape? What happened to the targets? Most of all, where were Sade and Femi? Did they know that he was here?