Chapter Seven: David

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 and the woodwork peeling off. A coppery smell clung stubbornly to the air, which made Seven's nostrils twitch.

He was getting anxious.

They had loosed the blindfold a couple of minutes ago and had stepped out of the room, leaving the car-lady tied up, lying on the hard cemented floor, while Wale was sitting in the chair beside him, not uttering a word. His face carried a fire Seven could not possibly put a hand on, almost as if he knew what was coming, and he was prepared to face it, even though his hands and knees were violently shaking.

The door opened and someone stepped in. the shoulders were broad but not as wide as the previous men's. The stench of marijuana found Seven's nostrils. He felt nauseated, and this time, afraid.

Wale sat upright with his right hand cuffed to Seven's left. He knew just exactly who just stepped in.

"In that silly head of yours, you thought you could run away from me." The man mocked in a silly tone. Smiling so wide and bold.

"Well," Wale began, maintaining his stand. "I did try to leave, didn't I? And I would have gotten away were it not for the human drawbacks."

The entire room was dark except the single bulb dangling above Seven and Wale's head.

The man moved towards their table with the determination of a tiger. Carrying between his fingers, the marijuana source.

"You know for a man with no backup, you talk pretty big." He sat down, his face still under the shadows.

"You'd think I'd let you walk away with my sweat? Never. Never Lekan. You're the phenomenal one here. Even when the dog runs away from the owner, he will still be found with the tracks. You know very well, that if you lose me, you lose everything."

The man clasped both hands in astonishment.

"Very brilliant of you to observe."

Wale sighed. "Now how may I help you, Oladele Olalekan? What do you want?"

"Same as always. I want David." Olalekan said.

"And I don't know where he is."

The overhead light highlighted Olalekan's face, revealing his devilish smile.

"Do you know what I am capable of?"

Wale knew he could not bring himself to speak any further.

"I can rip your skin out of your muscle tissues, have my men fry your skin and feed it to my dogs, and your flesh will be served to my men. Human meat is delicious. Elastic too. So you better start talking."

Everything Olalekan said sent chills down Seven's spine, somehow he did not believe this was a threat. The man sounded as if this was not his first rodeo.

Wale knew too.

"Honestly speaking," Wale said. "I don't know where he is."

"Well, you created him, you better find him."

"WAIT WHAT?" Seven recoiled.

The interrogator turned to him, "And who is this boy that you have involved?"

"No, he's just a friend, caught up in the entire thing – he has nothing to do with this."

"Young man," Olalekan smiled, ignoring Wale's words. "What do you know about what we're talking about, what do you know about David?"

Wale made eye contact with him. Don't say a word! Seven's throat went dry all off a sudden. He was slowly dehydrating, his bladder was full. This man scared the piss out of him.

"Yes, he's the guy behind my online girlfriend's account. He catfished me." Seven swallowed hard.

Olalekan stole a glance at Wale, "What?"

"Wale, what is this young man talking about?"

"David toyed with him on the internet. He was the tool he used."

Tool. Hearing Wale refers to him as a tool made his skin crawl, his self-image shrunk even smaller, and his heart sank inside his chest. Tool. His emotions and love life was an experiment, in less than twelve hours, he has been chased by gunmen, experienced a car crash, been abducted, and called a tool.

What a great day to be alive.

"David catfished him with a female account for a long time unknown to me before he disappeared."

"Quite sad. So you got him to talk about David's whereabouts?"

Wale nodded.

"And I'm sure you intended on killing him after you got the info."

"Of course not! All I wanted was –"

"Have you told him about David?"

Wale did not reply.

"Lekan, please."

"Spare me the crappy familiarity. You didn't, did you?"

"What about David?" Seven was perplexed.

"What did he tell you about David?"

"That he's a relative. I don't care. I just want to find him and punch him in the face."

Olalekan could not help but laugh at Seven's statement. His hearty laughter resounded in the entire room. His head fell back into the darkness and his chest jerked.

"Pardon me, I couldn't help myself."

Wale looked away, praying this lunatic does not talk.

"Sorry." Olalekan composed himself, "But I lost control when you said punch. Did you come all this way to punch a computer screen?"

"Shit," Wale cussed under his breath.

Seven was finding it hard to decipher what the man was saying.

"What? I don't understand."

"Kid," Olalekan looked into Seven's eyes. "David is a Computer."