de-ep_SECRETS
Episode 11
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01:13 am, A Mansion outside
the City
“Whoever made the videos
knew what she or he was
doing. I can tell you that I and
my wife have been framed up.
Someone wants us to take the
fall for their sins…” Stanley said.
Eve, Stanley and the three
doctors were startled with the
sudden entrance of Maxwell’s
armed men into the room. From
the look of their faces, they
were angry, afraid and
surprised. Stanley did not know
what might come next and so
he shielded Eve with his body,
just in case the men were to
pounce on them. “Stanley, you
are right. Mayo knows
something about the videos,”
one of the armed men stated
with the gesture of a man who
had just uncovered a great
secret. “Where is he now?”
Stanley asked, expecting the
men to lead Mayo into the room.
“We did not find him in his
house, but we found enough to
know he knows much,” the
armed man said with a sadistic
smile on his face. Breathlessly
Even and Stanley waited for the
man to let the cat out of the
bag. “Someone made it to
Mayo’s house before us. We
found two dead masked men in
his house and two Na-ked girls
in his bedroom. There were
bullet holes in some pa-rts of his
house. Clearly there was a
shootout in his house. We didn’t
find Mayo. He may be on the
run. Someone wants him dead.”
Eve, Stanley and the three
doctors took sigh of relief.
Stanley had given them Mayo’s
name because he was the one
who told him about the videos
and was the person Maxwell
wanted to have a chat with.
Stanley did not know how it
was going to go down if they
had found Mayo, but he had to
give them his name to save
himself and his new wife. “What
we saw in Mayo’s house
confirms what we have always
feared; there is someone or
some people out there who do
not want the videos found. They
want you, all your friends and
whoever knows about the
videos and how to find them
dead,” the armed man said and
stepped closer to Stanley. Like a
bolt from the blue, he stretched
his hand toward Stanley for a
handshake and said, “You have
just saved yourself and your
pretty wife by narrowing down
our search.” Stanley shook his
hands in spite of himself,
wondering what would come
next. The man brou-ght out his
phone, fiddled with it a bit and
showed Stanley some pictures.
“Do you know any of these
men?” The pictures were those
of two dead men on the floor.
There was way too much blood
on their faces. Stanley and Eve
studied the images for a while
and said, “No, we don’t
recognize any of them.” “Then
they are just who we think they
are, @$$@$$ins sent to kill Mayo.
They are the men we found
dead in his house.”
Stanley already knew that. He
recognized some of the
furniture in the pictures. The
man swiped the images,
revealing new ones. “How
about these Na-ked ladies, does
any of you know them?” One
look at them Stanley said, “They
are students and must be
around eighteen and twenty
years. Mayo has a bent for
tender girls. He must have given
them Pendulum. Did you get the
girls to a hospital?” Stanley
asked with alarm in his voice.
The armed man nodded and
said, “Yes, we did. My daughter
is about their age. I could not
leave them to die there.” “Thank
you sir.” “You are welcome
Stanley.” The armed man’s
phone rang and he moved a bit
to take it. He didn’t talk long
before he came back and
handed the phone to Stanley
and said, “My boss wants to
speak with you.” Stanley took
the phone from him and said,
“Hello.” “Mr. Stanley, I am
grateful for how helpful you
have been to us so far. How is
your wife?” “She is fine.” “You
must be wondering who I am. I
am Maxwell. I un-derstand my
men have mentioned to you
who I am. I have an offer for
you,” Maxwell said and paused
as if to read Stanley’s mind.
Stanley on his pa-rt waited with
bated breath to hear the offer.
“I want you to help me find the
videos by finding Mayo. He was
your friend, if he is still in the
city, he might be willing to meet
with you if you can convince
him to meet up with you.” “You
said it is an offer, what am I
going to get if I do it for you?”
“Stanley, you will get to walk
free with your pretty wife. Also
you will have your account
credited with twenty million
Naira; and here is the best pa-rt,
we will make sure no one
harms you. I hope you know
that there are people out there
who cannot wait to blow your
br@ins out. The have been
fooled to believe that you made
the videos and that the videos
are in your possession.” Stanley
felt boxed in. He loathed being
drawn into a battle he knew
nothing about and also being
put in a position to work
against his friends. Already he
and Eve had taken bullets for
what was none of their
business. “I don’t expect this
decision to be ha-rd for you Mr.
Stanley, you don’t have much
options here. Your friends have
sold you out and there are
many who can’t wait to put
their hands on you. Don’t forget
you have a pretty wife.” “Are
you threatening me Mr.
Maxwell?”
“No, I am not. I am only helping
you see things as they are. Help
me by helping yourself. Don’t
you want to find out who
framed you up and almost had
you and your wife killed. Are
you aware that the man who
shot you and your wife has
escaped from the hospital?
Ehmm… what’s his name?
Leroy! Yea, that’s his name.”
“Give me time to think about
your offer Mr. Maxwell.” “Okay,
Stanley.”
3:45 am, Oak City Hotel
A yellow cab pulled into the
hotel premises. Inside was Lizzy.
Since the previous day when
she drove away from Apple Bar
and headed toward a market,
she had not slept a wink. She
had been dodging and hiding
from the man she sp-otted at
Apple Bar. She wanted to make
sure she had not been followed
to Oak City Hotel. Steve had been
there for about thirty minutes
waiting for her. Certain there
was no one watching her, Lizzy
stepped out of the cab ad
walked into the hotel lobby.
Steve had told her to introduce
herself to the receptionist as
Mrs. Bernard. “Hello, I am Mrs.
Bernard. I am here to see my
husband.” A porter walked up
to her and said, “You are
welcome Mrs. Bernard, we have
been waiting for you. Come
with me.” Lizzy followed him
into the elevator. At the fourth
floor, they stepped out of the
elevator and began to walk to
Steve’s room. Intermittently
Lizzy looked behind her
shoulders to make sure she was
not being followed. When the
porter reached a certain door,
he stopped and knocked once.
After a seeming long wait, the
door slowly creaked open and
Steve peeped at the porter and
Lizzy from the opening on the
door.
Seeing the porter and his wife,
he swung the door wide open
and grabbed his wife. As he
hurried to close the door, he
said to the porter, “You have
done well, I will see you in the
morning.” The porter nodded
and walked away. There was so
much to talk about, but first
Steve had to fulfil his conjugal
responsibility to his wife. He
knew Lizzy, when she was
going throu-ghso much stress,
the best way to connect with
her was to give her a good se-x.
Like a hungry lion, Steve ripped
off her clothes, being a maniac
as well and having gone for
days without his regular steamy
se-xual sessions was a tough
ask for him. In a matter of
moments, the two of them were
pouncing on each other like
lions fighting to protect their
territories. Two hours later they
lay on the bed spent. “Where
are our children, Steve?” Lizzy
asked sounding exhausted.
Steve rolled over to her sp-ot,
took her in his hands and said,
“They are in Ghana.” “Thank
God… what is going on, baby?
Who are the people who took
me? Why did they stri-p me
Na-ked? Why…” “Slow down
baby. Let us take them one after
another. Tell me what happened
in Sun City. I want to know how
the stranger got your nu-de
picture.” Lizzy stood up from
the bed and went bring her
Sony camera over. “Here is the
camera you asked me to bring.
Let us start from it. See if you
can find the picture the
stranger sent you amongst the
ones in it.”
The two of them snuggling in
each other’s arm began to go
throu-ghthe pictures together.
Lizzy had not had time to look
at the camera since she was
released by her captors. As she
and Steve went throu-ghthe
pictures, they stumbled on
shocking images which she
could not explain how they got
into her camera. Steve felt his
heart almost jumping out of his
mouth when he saw the
pictures. “Jesus!! What is this,
Steve?” Lizzy asked in disbelieve.
Steve’s hands shook and the
camera fell on the bed. Steve did
not know how to explain what
he and his wife had seen. He
never had for a moment
planned to explain his
adulterous life to his wife. He
had been very careful and was
certain she would never find
out. “Steve! Answer me!! What
is this?” “I… was… I… don’t
know. I am sorry. I was drunk,”
Steve stuttered, sounding
stupid. The picture they saw
was Steve and Bimpe in a se-xual
act. Lizzy picked the camera
from the bed and began to skip
from one image to another. The
images she saw were worse
than the first. She saw her
husband in se-xual acts with
Clara, Stella, Bimpe and some
unknown women.” Lizzy went
numb with shock. She knew her
husband had problem with
keeping himself in check when
standing in front of a pair of
brea-st s, but to have se-x with his
friends, some of whom were
married was beyond her
imagination. While they sat on
the bed, staring at each other
speechlessly, a deafening knock
was heard on the door. Steve
was not expecting anyone and
neither was the knock in
tandem with how he told the
maids and porters in the hotel
to knock on his door. They were
still wondering who that might
be when the knock came again,
this time louder. Lizzy leapt on
her husband and began to
tremble.
08:30 am, Clara’s House
“I think Steve is not on the run
from anyone. He may be on the
run for what he knowns and
might have done,” Clara said,
her eyes darting about. She had
remembered what Steve was
going to kill her for some weeks
ago. “Six months ago, my
account was credited with
three million naira. I got the
three million two days after I
accompanied Steve and Bimpe
to a meeting. I could not make
sense of the things that were
said in that meeting until now. I
think Bimpe and Steve sold false
information to a man about Eve
and Stanley. I know it was
about a video. I was asked if
Stanley had made se-x videos
before and could make some
and I said yes. Steve even
showed the man the video we
made about that time in Mayo’s
house and said to the man that
Stanley made it. The video was
not meant to leave Mayo’s
house and yet he brou-ght it out.
Stanley did not make that video,
Mayo did. They were making
money by betraying one of us. I
was paid three million for my
pa-rt in the meeting!” Stella and
Chucks were shocked and
confused. “Does anyone know
where Bimpe and her family are
at the moment?” Stella asked
after a long silence. No one
answered her.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone
about this before now?!”
Chucks yelled, finally uttering a
word after what he had heard.
“I didn’t see anything wrong
with it then. I thought Bimpe
and Steve were using Stanley’s
name to pitch for a job. We have
all at one point or the other
used university students to
make se-x videos and sold them
to foreign buyers. Believe me I
did not know it could be
worse.” “Could it be that Mayo is
innocent? Quite frankly since all
this began, I haven’t seen Bimpe
acting like she was concerned.
What could she and Steve have
done?” Chucks’ phone beeped
and he picked it. It was a text
message and it read, “Chucks,
you have been marked, get
lost.” Calmly he stood to his feet
and said, “Ladies, I forgot, I
have something to pick up for
my brother. I will meet you
again in the evening. Make sure
you stay safe.” Clara had her
eyes fixed on him, she had the
quickest mind amongst all of
her friends. Immediately Chucks
left her house, she said to Stella,
“I don’t trust anyone anymore. I
have a feeling Chucks just told
us a lie. Did you notice, he no
longer tells us much about his
investigation. Let us follow him
and find out where he is
going.”
Story continues..