THE following months were the most difficult and harrowing Eric had experienced since he joined the force. The delay in the payment of salaries went from the third to the fourth month and then to the fifth. Officers began to go berserk. Some resorted to selling household belongings to keep body and soul together. Even those who were notorious in collecting bribes at checkpoints could no longer do so because the IG had activated a police Special Monitoring Unit (SMU) to apprehend any officer found collecting such bribes. Eric, who had decided to go against his principles in order to cater for his immediate needs, was almost caught by officers of the SMU the very first day he went to a checkpoint with the intention of collecting bribes from motorists. After the barrage of questions and threats from these officers, he told himself he would never again indulge in the act. Even Umaru, who was slowly drawing from his bank account, soon ran out of cash and announced to the young corporal that he was broke. To make matters worse, Rose came home the following weekend with a very cheerless news. She was now in the second semester of her first year.
‘The lecturers in my department have all come to a unanimous decision that henceforth, submission of assignments via textbooks will earn the student fifty per cent of the entire semester’s grade,’ she told Eric.
‘And what does that mean?’ he asked.
‘It means whenever you want to submit your assignment, you have to insert it into the textbook for that particular course before submitting it. After the assignment has been marked, you take back your textbook.’
It was now Eric saw the implication. ‘That means you will need to buy the textbook before you can submit the assignment.’
‘Yes,’ Rose nodded. ‘Actually, it’s not a new thing. But the per cent has always been just five or a little over five and it could be overlooked. With this new regulation, you will need to buy the textbook or you carry the course over. And you know that I have bought just two out of the fifteen textbooks for this semester.’
‘This is serious.’ Eric was at a loss of what to do. He had been waiting for the salary to be paid so he could buy the remaining textbooks as well as meet Rose’s other financial demands. Rose would be going back to the campus the following day and all he had to give her was barely enough to cover her feeding. Even the money to type her assignments was not there. Something had to be done, of that he was sure. But what?
‘What are we going to do?’ Rose asked.
‘For now, I don’t know. There is no one to borrow from because everyone is broke. Even Umaru, who has always helped out, is himself looking for someone to borrow from. Maybe I’ll just have to sell the TV and the shelf.’
‘You can’t do that,’ Rose said. ‘Besides, the money from their sales would not even go halfway.’
‘It’s the only thing to do for now.’ From the worried look on her face, Eric could tell she was just as anxious as he was but only trying to hide it. ‘You don’t need to worry. I’ll get all the money you need. I am a police officer or have you forgotten?’
‘But I don’t want you to get involved in all those bad things the others are doing,’ she told him.
Eric wanted to tell her about his ordeals in the hands of men of the SMU but decided against it. It could make her suspect him all the more. That evening, he went to the different tokumbo shops where fairly used furniture items were bought and sold. But none of them was ready to buy a TV set or a shelf.
‘Sorry sir, we are no longer buying. We have too many in stock and we want to sell off the ones we have first before we stock new ones.’
‘No sir, bring them next month.’
‘Sorry, we don’t buy televisions and shelves.’
That night, it was a tired and frustrated Eric that came walking up to the door of his house. He was about to knock but stopped when he heard a disturbing sound coming from the inside. It was Rose and from the sound of it, she was weeping loudly and bitterly.
‘Oh God, please help me,’ Eric could hear her saying in a tearful voice. ‘Please, help us. I don’t know what to do. I am so helpless. How am I ever going to get out of this dilemma? Please, help me, help us…’
That broke Eric’s heart. He was always uncomfortable at the sight of Rose’s tears. It took him some time before he was able to take hold of himself and then knocked on the door. The weeping from inside stopped immediately. He could hear the rustling sound of clothes and concluded she was probably drying her eyes. He was not far from the truth because when Rose opened the door, her face was dry even though the swollen eyes were enough to give her away.
‘You are back?’ she said, trying to pull a smile. ‘How did it go?’
He did not reply her but gently took her arm and led her to one of the sofas in the room. ‘I heard everything,’ he told her.
‘Heard everything? What did you hear?’ There was a strange ring of fear around her eyes. It was something Eric had begun to notice of late and he wondered why she should be so agitated over a problem that was squarely his.
‘Rose, please don’t cry anymore. I have told you not to worry; I’ll make sure everything is alright at the end of the day. You will buy your textbooks. All your school demands will be met. I have never disappointed you before, have I? What makes you think I will disappoint you this time?’
‘Eric, it’s not the textbooks. It’s not the fees. It’s…it’s…’ She broke down and began to weep afresh.
‘Don’t worry.’ Eric held her to himself. ‘I know you will not agree because you don’t want to hurt my feelings. But I know. And all these tears are silently killing me. You know I cannot stand to see you cry. It makes me want to cry.’
He managed to calm her down. But as they lay on the bed that night and Rose had slept off, Eric could not help revisiting Oldso’s proposal. He found himself weighing the options. What were the risk factors? Oldso was untouchable and everyone knew this. Even Umaru had told him that much. If the kingpin was untouchable because he was connected to the powers that be, did it not mean that those working for him would also be untouchable? If in the course of carrying out the illegal assignment, something went wrong, would the mention of Oldso’s name not let one free? He told himself the danger with Oldso was actually you working against him, not you working for him. So, what if he decided to do the runs for Oldso once, just once? That consignment was worth fifteen million. Twenty per cent of that was a whopping three million. With that kind of money, all his problems were over. He would be able to pay Rose’s fees up to her final year and still have some left to live a stable life. So, what if he worked for Oldso once? And in any case, the delayed salary would eventually be paid sooner or later and life would go back to normal. Before he managed to sleep that night, Eric was convinced of what to do.
As soon as Rose had gone back to the campus of The university the following morning, he brought out his phone and dialled Oldso’s number.
‘That you Eric?’ Oldso’s voice was calm and cool from the other end.
‘Yes sir. Good morning sir.’
‘New Year in August! Why did it take you so long to call back? And all this while, you stopped picking my calls.’
‘My official duties,’ Eric told him. ‘I was kept too busy.’
‘So, have you made up your mind at last?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘So, when am I expecting you?’
‘I will be on duty from now till 6pm. When I am done, I will come over.’
‘Alright.’ Oldso paused. ‘When you are coming, please remember to come in your uniform. It could be helpful.’
‘Okay sir.’
Fortunately for Eric, he was not sent out on patrol that day. But he could not stop thinking over Oldso and the illicit assignment. He tried as much as he could to avoid Umaru for fear that he might give himself away. Umaru had a way of looking at you with deep probing eyes that seemed to get information from you even before you opened your mouth to speak. It was an effective means of getting the truth out of criminals. Eric did not want the DSP to get the slightest inkling of the decision he had taken concerning Oldso and the cocaine deal.
That evening, as Eric walked through the short drive from the gate of Oldso’s mansion to the main building, he was for the first time unconscious of the environs and the beauty they exuded. His mind was far too busy to accommodate that kind of thought. Oldso was as usual at the balcony. He was seated before a table and the usual bottle of foreign whiskey was on the table in front of him. Eric wondered if he ever got tired of whiskey.
‘Welcome, welcome,’ he said when Eric came in. ‘Please, have a seat and help yourself.’ He pointed at the bottle.
Eric took the offered seat but declined that of the drink. ‘Please, can we get started?’ he asked.
Oldso laughed. ‘At first, he did not want to get involved but now, he cannot wait to get on the beat.’ He took a sip from the glass. ‘You know what, Eric? If not for the fact that I know you very well, I would have been suspicious at your sudden change of mind and the urgency I now see in you.’
‘I have a host of financial responsibilities hanging on my shoulders,’ Eric replied. ‘The earlier we get it done with, the better.’
‘I see.’ Oldso nodded in an apparent show of understanding. Raising his voice, he called, ‘Absalom!’
Almost immediately, the servant came in with a briefcase which he placed on the table, beside the bottle of whiskey.
‘This briefcase is different from the one I saw the other day.’ Eric was beginning to get suspicious. But Oldso’s next words put his mind at ease.
‘Quite observant of you,’ Oldso said. ‘That particular consignment has already been disposed of and the agent is now richer by three million. That money would have been in your account by now if you were not slow in making up your mind. But not to worry.’ He was opening the briefcase as he was speaking. The lid snapped open and he pushed it across to Eric. ‘See? This one is even better than the first one. This coke is worth twenty-five million.’
‘And it goes with the same commission?’
‘Yes of course. Our commission is fixed irrespective of the amount of the cache.’
Eric did a quick mental calculation. Twenty per cent of twenty-five million was five million. That was enough to put an end to all his financial challenges. If there was one consolation he got for going out of his way to indulge in such a criminal activity, it was the fact that he was doing it to protect his future with Rose. Five million naira was enough to do that. He told himself no sacrifice was too much for the girl for whom he had left family and friends. And if engaging in a criminal activity once was what it would take to do that, he felt no qualms about it.
Oldso brought out what looked like an inner waterproof wear and carefully arranged the sachets of cocaine powder into it. Eric pulled off his uniform and, with the help of the other, tied the consignment round his body. Then he wore his uniform on top of it. It made him feel somewhat heavy and awkward but he did not mind. Five million naira was worth any kind of discomfort that came his way.
‘You will go with the empty briefcase,’ Oldso told him.
‘Why?’
‘As a decoy in case any overzealous officer at a checkpoint gets suspicious. Though I don’t see that happening. You are a well known face here and I don’t think anyone would want to embarrass you with a search. Another reason is that you will use it to repackage it for the buyer when she comes.’
‘She?’ Eric was surprised. ‘You already have a buyer?’
For a moment, Oldso looked like he had been caught off guard. But he got himself back immediately. ‘Well, we are actually discussing with a lady even though she has not yet made up her mind,’ he told Eric. ‘That means you will soon be relieved of the stuff and your bank account will become heavier.’
Eric wanted to ask why the lady could not come to Oldso’s house to take delivery of the cocaine herself if they were already negotiating with her but the thought of the five million naira commission made him think otherwise. He did not want Oldso to change his mind.
‘She cannot come here Eric because she does not have the protection of a uniform like you do,’ Oldso said, looking directly into his eyes.
Eric was stupefied. How did the older man come to know what was going on in his mind? It was now he began to understand what Umaru had always told him, that every professional criminal was a psychologist and one had to be very smart when dealing with them.
‘I understand,’ he told Oldso. ‘And when am I getting my pay? Is it from source or you will make a transfer after collecting from the buyer?’
Oldso smiled. ‘Now, you are talking like a pro. But don’t you worry. Oldso is a business man to the core. He will not double cross you. You will get your commission from source. The buyer will be notified and he or she will give you your own cut as soon as they come to take delivery of the stuff.’
‘That arrangement is okay with me.’ Eric took up the empty briefcase and made to leave.
‘One more thing Eric,’ Oldso said, stopping the other in his tracks. ‘You are a smart police officer. That’s why I picked you in the first place. I like to work with smart people so long as they don’t get smarter than themselves. You see, my clients are people with whom I have been dealing for years. They have come to trust me. So, when I tell them there is a certain gram of coke in a particular consignment, they believe me because that is the truth. So, they make an advance payment before coming to collect it. Imagine what would happen if after paying the advance, they come to you and for some reason, you are unable to deliver the consignment to them.’
‘But why would that happen?’ Eric was at a loss. ‘Why would I not give it to them?’
Oldso did not answer him immediately. Instead, he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a photograph. ‘Some time ago,’ he told Eric, ‘I had a fellow who worked for me. Just like you: smart and intelligent. Unfortunately, he got smarter than himself and attempted to double cross me. Here is what became of him.’ He gave the photograph to Eric.
Eric took a look and flinched in horror. Despite all his expeditions against men of the underworld, he had never seen a more gory sight. It was the photograph of a man hacked to pieces. The bloody limbs were stacked together with the head placed on top of the heap.
‘You mean… you mean you did this to a fellow human being?’ he found his voice at last.
‘Eric, you are smart. Please, don’t get smarter than yourself. Be sure to deliver the consignment to the buyer when she comes to collect it. You may take your leave.’
Eric gave him back the photograph and left. It was now he really began to dread Oldso and company. The picture in that photograph kept coming up his mind again and again as he left the compound and went to a nearby junction to wait for a taxi. He felt uncomfortably heavy as he walked with the weight of the cocaine. Soon, a cab came along and he boarded. Contrary to his fear of a possible stop-and-search encounter at a checkpoint, the ride was uneventful. He found himself silently thanking the IG for coming up with the SMU initiative. Ever since the operation was activated, the city highways had been witnessing a drastic reduction in the number of checkpoints, most of which were illegal anyway.
It was almost midnight when he eventually got home. He carefully unpacked the sachets of cocaine from the inner wear and repacked them into the briefcase. Then he went to the bedroom. He had already created an opening on the ceiling before he left for work that day. Through this opening, he put the briefcase on top of the ceiling and closed the opening. It was so neatly done that not even Rose could detect there was anything hidden there.
Adapted from the novel, Why Are We So Dark?
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