Chapter Twenty-Four: Dangerous Digging*
Time; 10:00 am.
Anjii came over with breakfast and was setting it on the table while Rita was stretching in the corner. The warehouse was almost like a house anyway, it had two bedrooms, one was Tammy's and the other was for either Rita or Anjii or both sometimes. Tammy had tried to tell them that they didn't have to stay here with her and leave the comfort of their beautiful homes but they insisted running around with her like fugitives. And this time the ladies made sure they weren't discovered on their way here.
Tammy's fingers flew across the keyboard, eyes locked on the endless stream of code as her laptop hummed lowly in the dark warehouse room. Anjii made her way over and sat cross-legged beside her, eating chin chin from a nylon bag and glancing between her phone and the screen.
They hadn't eaten yet but interrupting Tammy now would be war and she was just going to have to wait. Their energy was tense, focused, the only sounds being furious typing, the crunch of snacks, and the occasional curse from Tammy.
"Got him," Tammy whispered, leaning in as a thread of data finally connected. She expanded the transaction log and there it was—a wire transfer of twenty million naira, neatly hidden under dummy company names and looping transactions. But the original source stood out in bold: *Balogun Consulting LTD.*
Anjii leaned forward. "Wait… isn't that Tony Balogun? The same one Jeremy always chills with? And he same one that drugged him?"
Tammy nodded slowly, eyes narrowed. "That's Jeremy's business partner. But it doesn't end there. We already found out he's in this with Tayo remember?" She tapped her trackpad and opened a web of connections—emails, offshore accounts, fake identities. "This isn't just one person. It's a network. Someone has been paying multiple people to do multiple things. They weren't just trying to ruin me—they were trying to start a scandal big enough to shake the whole Adebayo name. And Tayo and Tony obviously can't pull this off."
Anjii's eyes widened. " Damn. What if it wasn't just about you and Jeremy having a one night stand?"
Tammy coughed and leaned back. "Exactly. Not the one night stand part though. We know that Tayo and Tony planned it differently but somehow I and Jeremy ended up sleeping together. And now all this… it's crazy."
Meanwhile, across the city, Jeremy was in Zion's living room, pacing with his fists clenched while Tobi and Wale sat silently, eyes trained on the giant screen where Zion had pulled up a blurry CCTV grab from a back alley ATM camera. It showed Tammy, hooded, withdrawing cash. The timestamp was from yesterday.
"She's still in Lagos," Zion muttered. "She's being careful. Every move she makes is masked, but whoever she's working with—they know what they're doing. And if it's only her, then bro's I have got myself a master."
Jeremy ran a hand through his hair resting on the chair and sighing. "So she *is* hiding something."
Zion stared at the screen, something flickering behind his calm gaze. "Or she's protecting something. Or someone. Look Jeremy I know you believe her and it's this two idiots that are making you doubt her. But see reason. I mean you've chilled with her more than the rest of us and then me. These two don't know anything."
Wale and Tobi scoffed while Wale sighed. "She left. No note, no explanation. And now she's hacking into God knows what?"
"You're not listening." Zion turned slowly, his voice colder. "If she wanted to disappear, she could've. But she's still leaving traces. What if she wants us to follow her?"
Tobi looked up. "You think she's innocent."
"I think she's desperate."
Back at the warehouse l, Tammy's eyes burned from staring at the screen for too long, but her heart pounded with purpose. She was close to something big. She traced a second transaction, this time leading to a shadow company under a man named Kola Fashanu—an alleged fixer known for pulling strings in media, politics, and finance. She flagged the trail, encrypted it into a clean drive, and locked it away.
Anjii grabbed her laptop and kept it on one side dropping the food on the table and staring at Tammy with eyes that said 'i dare you not to eat your food.' Tammy sighed and started eating while Anjii went outside.
Suddenly, Anjii ran back in and tugged her arm. "Tammy… don't freak out, but I think Jeremy's car just drove past."
Tammy froze. She leaned toward the small window, peeking between the blinds. A black SUV, definitely familiar, rolled slowly down the dusty road.
"They're tracking us," Tammy said, her voice low.
Anjii grabbed her bag. "We need to move."
Tammy shut the laptop with a snap and swept everything into a backpack. They slipped out the back of the building, merging into the chaos of the Lagos traffic.
Across town, Jeremy slammed his hand on the dashboard. "It was her. I know it."
Tobi stared out the window. "You missed her by two minutes."
Jeremy didn't say anything. He just clenched the wheel tighter.
Back at the safehouse Anjii had pre-rented under a fake name, Tammy flopped onto the bed, panting, sweat dripping from her neck.
"You okay?" Anjii asked.
Tammy nodded weakly. "Yeah. But this isn't just about me anymore. I'm not stopping until I find out who did this. And when I do… they'll wish I had stayed missing."