CHAPTER SIX
After Paul's funeral ended, the air remained thick with grief and suspicion. Daniel stood back for a moment, quietly studying the movements of those still lingering. Then, as if by calculation rather than coincidence, he walked toward Tim Alfred.
After introducing himself as a friend of Detective Hassan, the two men fell into an easy conversation. They laughed lightly, spoke at length, and exchanged complimentary cards, promising to stay in touch.
From a distance, Hassan watched every gesture.
Something didn't sit right. He moved quickly to Moses.
"I'm worried about Daniel."
"Why?" Moses asked, distracted.
"He seems… off. And for a salesman to know that much? It doesn't add up."
"Relax," Moses replied. "That was his past. Everyone has one."
But Hassan wasn't convinced. His instincts had begun to itch.
Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Without breaking eye contact, he slipped Tim Alfred's card into Moses' hand.
"Look into him."
Moses frowned. "Tim Alfred is the head of State Security Service. What exactly do you expect to find?"
Hassan didn't blink. "Look into him."
A pause.
Then realization dawned on Moses. Tim Alfred had been appointed by the Governor shortly after he assumed office. If the Pentarchs' influence ran that deep…
They exchanged a silent, unsettling glance.
"It's just a theory," Moses muttered finally. "But I'll check."
Across the courtyard, Daniel ended his conversation with Tim. Casually, he slipped his phone from his breast pocket and sent a message before returning to join his friends.
Leo, meanwhile, had deliberately stayed away from his brother's funeral. He knew the police would be watching for him. Grief burned inside him but stronger than grief was rage. He began planning vengeance.
Not far from the funeral grounds, Edwin sat inside a parked car with Kelvin and Tiger, observing everything from a safe distance. His focus, however, was fixed on one man, Don Kingsley.
He intended to tail him. Then his phone vibrated.
"I've found the guy that pulled the trigger."
Edwin's jaw tightened. He dialed Big Sam immediately and issued quiet instructions before ending the call.
Back at the Embassy warehouse, Leo returned, restless and agitated. To his relief, only Big Sam was present.
Leo paced slowly, rehearsing his next move in his head, every angle, every possibility. Across the room, Big Sam watched him carefully, his eyes calculating.
Elsewhere, Edwin instructed Kelvin and Tiger.
"Follow Don Kingsley. Abduct him. Bring him to the hideout." He then drove off to meet Chike.
Don Kingsley left the funeral alongside his right-hand man, KC, unaware they were being tailed.
The Pentarchs departed separately to Safe Haven for a private meeting to discuss the growing storm around them.
Daniel excused himself early, claiming urgent business. Detective Hassan began searching for Leo. Inspector Moses planned to summon Don Kingsley for questioning the next day.
But Don would never receive that call.
Exhausted, he arrived home late and dismissed his staff. Unlike his usual routine, he didn't even freshen up. He collapsed onto his bed, drained from the day's tension.
Minutes later, Kelvin and Tiger slipped silently into his room.
The lights flicked on.
Don stirred, half-awake.
"Who's there..."
The question died in his throat.
A heavy blow struck him. Darkness swallowed him whole.
Within minutes, he was bound, carried out, and driven away without a single alarm raised.
The house fell silent again.
The next morning, KC waited for his boss's usual call. It never came.
Hours passed.
Unease grew into dread.
Finally, he drove to Don's residence. The security guards insisted Don had not come out since returning the night before.
KC entered the bedroom.
The bed was barely disturbed.
His stomach dropped.
He rushed to the surveillance room and replayed the CCTV footage. What he saw drained the color from his face.
Masked men. A swift operation. A clean extraction. Don Kingsley had been abducted. Without wasting another second, KC jumped into his car and sped toward Safe Haven.
The game had escalated.
The Pentarchs remained at Safe Haven long into the night. Glasses clinked endlessly as they drank, argued, and tried to unmask the invisible force hunting them.
Desmond recounted the final call Paul had made to him on the night of his death. The only tangible lead was a photograph Leo had sent, an image of Edwin.
"There's something about that boy," Desmond muttered. "Something familiar."
But he refused to accept the possibility forming in his mind. He dismissed it outright. It couldn't be his nephew.
Edwin had never been close to the Governor's inner circle during his military days, just another face in the convoy detail. Yet it was during that time he had discovered the hidden bond between Desmond and the Governor.
By the time Desmond arrived home, it was nearly 1 a.m. Exhaustion clung to him like a shadow. He stepped into his dark bedroom, stretching his hand along the wall to find the switch.
The lights flicked on.
He froze.
Two men sat comfortably on his couch, smiling at him.
His heart skipped.
Instinctively, he reached for his phone but the cold muzzle of a gun halted him mid-motion.
"Good evening, Uncle," Chike said calmly. "It's a pleasure to finally meet after such a long time."
Desmond's lips trembled. "You… you can't be Chike."
"Oh, I am," Chike replied. "Not just the young boy whose father you robbed of his company and life… but also Agent Shadow, the leader of the Embassy." He gestured lightly. "And this is my brother, Edwin."
The room began to spin for Desmond.
He tried to negotiate.
"You won't get away with this. I have cameras everywhere. Your faces are captured. Spare me, and I'll end this. We can let the past go."
Edwin and Chike laughed.
"We handled that already," Edwin said flatly.
"Please," Chike added, motioning with his gun. "Sit down. Let's talk."
Desmond obeyed slowly, his mind racing.
"What do you want? Money? I'll return the company. I'll give you everything."
"We're not here for money," Edwin said quietly. "We're here for your life, it's blood for blood.."
"You need me alive," Desmond insisted desperately. "I can give you names. Information."
"We already have what we need," Chike replied coldly. "We're coming for all of you."
"There is no honor in killing a man in his own home!" Desmond cried.
Chike's composure shattered.
"Honor?" he roared. "Where was your honor when you murdered your brother in his home? When you killed his wife? His attorney? Where was it?"
Desmond fell silent.
"You took everything from me," Chike continued, voice shaking with fury. "Now you speak of honor? I swore to repay blood with blood. And none of you will be spared."
At that moment, Edwin's phone vibrated.
"It is done, boss."
He looked up at Chike and smiled faintly.
Elsewhere, Tiger and Kelvin had successfully abducted Don Kingsley and delivered him to the warehouse. While waiting for Edwin's arrival, the men drank and talked, unaware that Leo was preparing to betray them.
Leo had intended to free Don but not without eliminating his comrades first. He never got the chance. They had already been warned.
Before Leo could draw, guns were trained on him. He refused to surrender. What followed was swift and violent. Shots rang out in the enclosed space.
When the smoke settled, Leo lay bleeding on the floor but not alone. Kelvin had fallen with him.
A second message appeared on Edwin's screen:
"Leo is dead but we lost Kelvin."
Edwin's jaw tightened.
"Finish it," he told Chike.
Desmond understood then. There would be no escape.
His mouth opened for one last plea but the words were drowned by gunfire.
Silence followed.
The brothers dropped their signature note on his lifeless body and disappeared into the night.
The next morning brought chaos. Leo's body was discovered in a remote location. Desmond Okafor was found murdered in his residence and Don Kingsley was missing.
For Detective Hassan and Inspector Moses, it felt like starting from scratch. Every lead dissolved into smoke.
With no clear suspects, only a dangerous pattern, they considered their next move: summoning the Governor and the powerful business magnate, Mallam Abubarkar Mohammed, for questioning. It would shake the state to its core but the Pentarchs' shadow loomed too large to ignore.
They couldn't yet prove the connection. But they could feel it. With urgency mounting, Hassan and Moses headed to Safe Haven to interrogate KC, Don Kingsley's right-hand man.
The storm was no longer coming. It had arrived.