Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

All the while, I hadn’t heard anything about the Cartel or anything being done to look for Bonnie and Peter’s killers. Perhaps to the police, they were just any statistics of the cultism related killings in Calabar. So no need to waste resources in looking for their killers. And again since no one ever asked me where I got my drugs from, I paid little attention to the cartel.


More like, i felt they had been crushed already by that singular attack.


I wasn’t the only one selling these particular drugs, the other boys who had been with Vivi that night were also their share. But while they did business mostly within and around the campuses, I limited my dealings with students as best as i could. But those who had their noses close to the ground on the streets knew that i also dealt, hence making certain frat members to threaten and “tax” me whenever they got the chance.



I did my best to avoid these guys, especially the three who were unical students. Though I would wave whenever I saw them and that was it. But one Friday evening, some three months after I started dealing, I met with Mr. Nameless (the fella that joined me in the car to trail Peter) in the same bar I had met the Colonel somewhere by Marian road. This was in December and the Carnival spirit was already in the air. I had just finished meeting with a client who was a banker inside the main building, and was about leaving when i ran into him seated outside with some guys.



He spotted me and screamed my name unnecessarily loud because I wasn’t far from their table. By this point, i was already well known in this bar as a campus pïmp because i usually met so many clients here with my girls in tow. So my coming here this evening even without a girl didn’t raise eyebrows as it wasn’t unusual. Mr. Nameless insisted he was going to buy me a drink because we’ve not met since that night.

From the way he shouted my name earlier and when we got talking, I could tell he was already tipsy and was seconds away from flaring up if i continued to insist on leaving. So I finally decided to sit with him and the guys he was with who had somehow joined in asking me to just seat.


He was definitely going to cause a scene if i refused and the place was packed full. Time was already a 9:30pm

I sat next to him, he put an arm around my neck as he began to talk about nothing in particular at first, before mentioning Milady, my girlfriend. He asked me questions about how we started dating, if i wasn’t afraid of her, how she took care of him and that he wouldn’t hesitate to waste me if i ever screwed up and Milady asked him to.

At this point he pulled out a pistol and pointed it towards my stomach under the table saying “I go just waste you”. Rather than fret, I was very calm for all the right reason because this dude was definitely high and could just pull the trigger trigger if I made a wrong move. I’d seen lots of gun, even been threaten before by some girls and the boys who robbed me, but at that point I remained calm.
“And you think she’ll be pleased to know you pointed your gun at me?” I replied him with a smile calm without looking down at the gun.

He then pulled the gun away saying apologetically that he was only trying to tell me he was very loyal to her to which i replied it wasn’t necessary as his loyalty to her was well noted by me long before we met. That cheered him up as he felt Vivi must have really told me alot about him.

He then asked me if I had one or needed one. I said no. He replied I should get one. That probably if i had my piece (i.e a gun) with me that evening, my phone probably wouldn’t have been collected by those small boys who brandished only knives at me. He was talking about the last incident in which i was robbed somewhere in Calabar south. I looked at him in a way that suggested i wanted to know how he knew and he laughed out loud before bending back towards me.

“Na two secondary school boys o. They brought the phone to me to buy, you know that’s my hood right. I knew it was stolen because I was once like them. And they do that all the time. But when i went through the phone as we negotiated, I entered you media and saw it was yours. I then told them it was stolen from a wrong person. I would have sent it back to you but i allowed them to keep it only after they explained to me that you willingly gave it to them when the accosted you. Besides, you know how the streets work na, that’s the only way to keep their loyalty”. I just nodded my head after he’d finished explaining.



He had a point about me carrying a gun with me.

But the problem with carrying a gun was how far are you willing to go with the gun? Would i be willing to pull when the heat is on? I didn’t see myself taking anyone’s life, so i was better off without a gun i concluded. This meant i would continue to be prone to such small robberies and bullying from frat members who are fond of taxing me.

And as for my bullies, while i had over the years established relationship with guys who would be willing to “take care” of them for me for a little token, I never wanted to be responsible for sU-Ck person’s fate. Because at the end, it would translate into me being committed to these guys. These are guys who could literally hide someone forever without a trace.

I had spent just about 10 minutes with him during which time my client left the bar while noticing me and where i sat. The music wasn’t quite loud but something asked me to leave the table and pretend to make a call, then return to tell him i had to go urgently.


I had barely walked 20 feet away from the table when I noticed three guys walk in through the gate of the bar arena. I wouldn’t have given it a second thought because it wasn’t unusual for guys to come to the bar in groups but the fact that they all wore the same outfits, had non smiling faces and took quick steps. Black t-shirt, black trouser and a long black blazer over the t-shirt. One had something in his hand which i could tell was a pistol and our eyes met temporarily, the other two had their both hands hidden behind their blazers.



The pistol I had just seen was enough to know someone was about to be shot and at that point, my eyes went back to the table I had just left.



Neither Mr. Nameless or the two guys with him had noticed them. I couldn’t scream as I watched in horror the other two guys pulled out two AK 47 riffles and opened fire on Nameless and his friends.

As the first rounds of bullet hit their targets, the whole place was thrown into pandemonium while i made for the fence at the other end of the bar. It took less than two seconds for me to go over the 5ft tall fence. But once over the fence, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg even before I landed. I never stopped to look but ran as far as I could go while keeping away from the main road. And finally i got a cab in one of the lanes of Marian to take me to the hotel. More like my safe house.

By the time I settled into my hotel room and called Vivi, she told me she was already aware of the shooting but was surprised to know i was there. She asked where I was and I told her and she demanded I stayed they for the weekend while she sorted things out.

I ended the call and decided to have a bath. I then remembered I was experiencing small pains in my leg and decided to take a look. I was shocked to see my jean was torn just close to my ankle and that I was actually wounded. Taking a closer look, i realized I was grazed by a bullet.



The guy with the pistol must have shot me while I jumped over the fence. The realization sent cold chills down my body.

****

Exams was scheduled to be later in January so besides the Carnival, i really had nothing to do in Calabar again, so Vivi insisted I left for Lagos. By Wednesday, about a week to Christmas, i left for Lagos.

I kept in touch with Vivi about who ordered the hit and why but nothing was fort coming. But I could tell she was really devastated about Nameless death. From her findings, the other two guys were also frat members, but not important enough to be marked for killings, which meant Nameless was the target and the rest were just collaterals.


I kept pondering on these questions all through the break. Like why that heavy artillery fire for just one person? Or three people? That bar had never experienced a gun fight before in it’s history due to security and all, but those guys actually dared anyone to stop them. Why was i shot at? Did the guy think I had been with them? Or is this the Cartel coming for us?