BANKS, COPS AND ROBBERS 3

It had been 3 months since the man who had hid in his bus had given him a bundle of money.

Johnny had counted the notes the strange man who had threatened to kill him had tossed at him.

A hundred thousand Naira! It was too good to be true!

The next day, he went to get a room in a block of rooms close to the park. It cost him 40,000 Naira for a year. He also bought a 6 spring mattress and some cooking utensils. He had to share a communal toilet and bath but it was a small price to pay for finally being able to get a roof over his head. As far as he was concerned, he was living like a king compared to where he was just the day before. He still had 35,000 Naira left so he went to open an account with it. It was the first account he ever opened and it felt good. For the first time since he had run away from home, he actually felt as if he was making progress of a sort.

Now three months after he opened the account, he had 120,000 Naira. He had gotten into the habit of saving a portion of what he got from his job as a conductor weekly.

He had gone to make another deposit and was walking out of the bank thinking of all the things he could do with the money he now had and any more he would be able to save when he bumped into someone. He had been daydreaming and wasn't looking where he was going. When he looked up and saw who it was he had bumped into, he felt such a mix of emotions it felt as if his heart was going to explode. It was the man who had hid in his bus that night 3 months ago. At first he was just surprised, and then fear settled in when the memory of all that had happened that night came flooding back. The people chasing this man who was now smiling at him had been shouting Ole! Ole! Ole! (Thief! Thief! Thief!). He started to walk past praying he had not recognized him when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You are the guy who hid me in your bus, aren't you?" he asked. "Walk with me. I need to talk to you". He had been going into the bank but now he turned and headed towards the gate in the same direction Johnny was going.

"You got me out of a really tight spot that day", he was saying. To Johnny everything was happening in slow motion. He considered making a break for it and then thought of kneeling and asking that the man not kill him. He thought of a thousand other things he could do all of which involved getting as far away from that spot as possible.

 "My name is Marcus", he was saying, "and I would like to show some appreciation for your help". He had that disarming smile on his face again.

"It's alright sir. What you gave me the other time sir, was more than enough sir", Johnny stammered and then realized how foolish he must have sounded saying sir so many times in one sentence. He had also begun to sweat profusely. He kept on walking by Marcus' side as he walked towards a Mercedes Benz SLR.

Marcus kept on walking towards his car as though he had not heard what Johnny said. He walked to the front passenger door, opened it and looked around in the glove compartment for a while.

When he looked back up, Johnny saw that he had a wad of notes in his hands.

Dollar notes.

He had stared at the notes for a full minute before he realized that Marcus was talking.

"…just a little something extra to show you how much I appreciate what you did for me the other time", he was saying.

Everything inside of him was screaming for him not to take the money but Johnny saw himself stretching out his hands to collect it from Marcus.

Looking back now, he always thought that was the moment when he crossed a line he never had any business being close to in the first place. He still wondered what would have happened if he had turned down Marcus' offer that day and had just walked away. But he would never know.

Marcus had written an address down on a piece of paper and asked him to come and visit that weekend.

"I'm a very busy man and I don't have much time on my hands", he had said, "and I need you to help me run some errands".

Instinctively, Johhny was going to say his boss wouldn't let him off work but then it occurred to him that with the money Marcus had given him, he never again had to work as a conductor. He did the figures in his head and came up with over 1.5million naira. He felt weak in the knees. A million and a half was more money than he had seen his entire life!

Johnny was done polishing his Makarov SP Pistol and was half way through with the AR15 assault rifle when Marcus and the rest of the boys showed up. He glanced at his watch and saw it was 11am. Marcus was always a stickler for punctuality. He had scheduled the hit on the bank for noon. They had agreed to rendezvous at Johnny's place because the bank was about 30 minutes away from Johnny's house. They would spend 30 minutes tying up any loose ends in their plans.

At 11:30am, they left the house in two cars, a Peugeot 406 and a Toyota 4runner Jeep. As they drove to the bank, Johnny looked around the car. He was sitting in the back on the passenger side of the Peugeot and Jenny was driving. She had been a hooker on the streets of Abuja before she met Marcus. She had a level headedness that even Marcus confessed scared him sometimes. Marcus always told Johnny about the time when an op went terribly wrong. Marcus had been shot and their escape plan had gone up in smoke. The rest of the guys had panicked but Jenny had maintained her cool and gotten them all out of a situation that could have cost them their lives.

Jamiu was in front with Jenny. He was literally a monster and Johnny was always careful not to get him angry. At 6 feet 8 inches, skin the colour or burnt clay, with rippling muscles and a slight stoop, he reminded Johnny of an enraged bull about to charge. His reputation for viciousness was well known and whenever Marcus needed to "strong-arm" anyone, he always got Jamiu involved.

Dare who was beside Johnny in the back was the complete opposite of Jamiu. He was soft spoken and the voice of reason whenever tempers were flaring. It still baffled Johnny that a man like Dare could end up an armed bandit. Thinking about it, it occurred to him that Dare had never fired a single shot on any of their Ops or even exhibited any show of force.

Marcus was in the 4runner Jeep with Chinedu who was next in the line of command after him. He was a kind of consigliere for the gang. He was Marcus' right hand man and he was the one with a head for business. He knew everyone there was to know and had all the right connections. Marcus always used to say Chinedu could find you an amala (local Yoruba* meal made from Yam flour) joint on the moon in just one hour of his arriving there. He was the kind of guy who could get you anything; the kind who always knew somebody that knew somebody.

As they got closer to the bank, Johnny got tense. It always happened before they were to make any hit. His mouth went dry and he started to sweat in his palms. He could feel his heart pounding and soon, it was the only thing he was aware of. He could hear the thump of his heart beating as loud as if he had a stethoscope to his chest. He looked around again and everything was a haze. Jenny was talking to Jamiu who was laughing. She must have told a joke or said something funny because Jamiu was laughing but to Johnny it sounded like he was hearing Jamiu's from under water.

He blinked, trying to clear his head but when he opened his eyes he was back in time on the day of his first errand for Marcus.

The Saturday after he had run into Marcus at the bank, he had gone to look for the address Marcus had written down on the piece of paper for him. It was off Bourdillon road in Ikoyi and very easy to find. He had stood in front of the house for nearly ten minutes, afraid to knock. He had never seen a house so big all his life. Finally, he had summoned enough courage to walk up to the gate and ring the bell. The guard who opened the gate had asked him to wait when he had told him his name and that he was there to see Marcus. About five minutes later, the guard had returned and taken him into the house.

When he stepped into the house, his jaw had literally hung open. Never in his life had he seen such opulence and display of wealth. Marcus welcomed him with his usual disarming smile which Johnny was beginning to get used to and slapped him on the back.

"I see you came", he said, "That's good because I have something for you to do for me right now and it's urgent. You just saved me the trouble of having to find someone to do it for me".

Half an hour later, Johnny was on his way to Ojota in a cab. Marcus needed him to pick up a refrigerator from a friend. It was an easy enough errand to run because the address had been easy to find and Marcus' friend had been waiting. When he got back, Marcus had thanked him and they had talked extensively. He had asked a lot of questions. Was Johnny still sleeping at the motor park? Did he have family? Were they in Lagos? He had wanted to know everything.

Johnny was brought back to the present by Dare's hand on his shoulder. They had arrived at the bank and were just pulling into the parking lot. Johnny released the safety from his AR15 assault rifle as the car came to a stop. The guard who was parking cars for customers started to walk towards Johnny's side of the car. Johnny took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and shot the guard. The customers who were at the ATM started screaming and running, trying to get away from him. He turned in their direction and fired a volley of shots into the crowd. He saw a guard trying to jump over the wall. He shot the man in the back and saw him topple from the fence. Just then, Marcus and Chinedu pulled into the parking lot in the 4runner jeep. Marcus remained in the car while Chinedu joined them as they walked towards the entrance of the bank. This was always Marcus' way. He always used to say, "Strike fear into the hearts of people and no one would be dumb or brave enough to do anything stupid until you were done with a hit"

Jenny was already at the entrance of the bank. Johnny saw her go down on one knee and aim the rocket propelled grenade launcher she was carrying at the security door and the next instant the whole door went up in flames.

When the dust settled, there was a big hole where the security door was. Jenny stepped into the banking hall with Johnny and Jamiu right behind her while Dare and Chinedu stood sentry at what used to be the door.

TO BE CONTINUED….