CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The man who was obviously in charge of that cell was seated, nobody came near him. He was calm, relaxed and his face was dead. It was difficult to tell whether he was sorry or not. He had been there for seventeen days. His friends called him 'disaster', how he ended up with that name no one knew. Everyone called him 'disaster’ and the name 'disaster' swallowed his real name. Whenever he had a reason to tell anyone his real name, that person either would end up laughing or with a mouth opened wide in surprise thinking 'are you serious?' 

Gabriel, the name did not even fit him and he would laugh when people gave him that look because he knew what they were thinking. Yes, his name was Gabriel, and his parents certainly aren’t  to blame for how he turned out. They raised him the same way they had raised up their other children and they had all turned out well. His eldest brother had joined the army as a recruit and stationed at the Army Depot. With Gabriel being the second child, the third daughter a nurse married a doctor. With a happy home and blossoming career, even Gabriel knew she was a successful woman. The youngest of them all was in his final year in a university. 

Gabriel, well, here he is, in a cell, being the chairman. He had done this to himself, brought it upon himself, his parents were not to blame. Gabriel went to a boarding school, his school father as it was called, a senior student who looked out for him was a good fellow. The school father liked Gabriel because he was neat, handsome and innocent too, there were no other strings attached. His roommate on the other hand was a bad fellow. He would send Gabriel to buy contrabands for him, these sometimes-included cigarettes and Indian hemp. 

The school guardian was furious when he found out. He changed his room and took Gabriel with him when he left. When he graduated, the bad senior had already corrupted Gabriel. He was expelled in his final year. The parents were heartbroken. He, well, that he was the path he had chosen; perhaps he was enjoying it. He didn't make efforts to go back to school, though his parents did all they could. He eventually wrote college exams. It wasn't even Gabriel that collected the result, it was his elder brother. He would leave home and not return for days, sometimes for weeks. Whenever he found his way back home, his father would get mad and ask him to go back to wherever it was he was coming from, his mother would cry and beg both father and son. It was more or less a ' good cop bad cop' sort of thing. 

His elder brother had joined the army and came visiting when Gabriel returned from one of his 'journeys' or whatever you would call it. As usual, he got into an altercation with his father, his elder brother tried to intervene but Gabriel insulted him and was almost fighting his brother, a soldier. if you were wise, you would do everything possible not to fall into a soldier's trap. Well, Gabriel had just fallen into one, his brother's. His elder brother went away and returned with three soldiers. Luckily, for him and unluckily for Gabriel, he was still at home. Gabriel was taken away to the barracks. As a soldier, you can just imagine what happened there, when he came back the next day, he could hardly walk nor talk for he had entered the lion’s den just that he didn't shut the lions mouth; the lions had dealt with him. When he recovered, about two weeks later, he left home and never returned. He ended up with birds of the same feather and they did flock together well.

On several occasions, they had had opportunities to spend nights in cells. They were often involved in armed robbery and other offences but what had landed him or them, among his other friends in the other cell this time, was something else.                                       

They had decided to up their game and they thought kidnapping would be best. They had done their assignments well and come up with a target- a businessman. 

The man was an epitome of success; he was involved in import of electronic, cables and building materials. He also ran a successful traveling business for he owned buses that were involved in distant inter states journeys. The man also owned a mansion palace worth millions of dollars. They had followed for him for days to understand his daily routine; they even knew or assumed they knew what he was worth. The day they had set was a Wednesday, for every Wednesday he would go down town and return at night, no matter how late it was, he would never sleep outside. He had a family he loved. What always took him to Down Town? His concubine, this was a girl who had become rich herself by being his concubine, his wealth and generosity rubbed off on her. She was a university student and would behind his back call him 'aristo', for that was the name girls called rich married men who had lots of cash to spend.

Gabriel and his gang of criminals had followed him to his concubine's house and had waited patiently for him to leave, and he did leave around 9:15pm. He was not far from the junction that led to her house when they struck. It was supposed to be a simple grab but unfortunately, there was a police patrol vehicle with four policemen in it. They didn't even know what was happening before one of the gang member, King, opened fire on the police vehicle, the policemen scrambled for safety and began to return fire but their guns were no match for the guns the kidnappers used. The police vehicle was riddled with bullets but so was the car the kidnappers had come with. It was a beautiful E-class Mercedes Benz. 

The guns the policemen had were no match for Gabriel's crew but they gave their all, they eventually gave in when one of the police man was hit; even though he had survived. They began crawling to safety, away from the kidnappers; they were running out of bullets. The kidnappers knew they had to leave, and they did manage to escape, not with their car though, for it was almost‬‬‬‬‬ impossible to use. The whole street was deserted because of the fire exchange; it was straight out of a typical American gangsters movie. Mothers shouting their children’s name while running for safety, shop owners ran for their lives leaving their shops open. In situations like this, one’s safety came first. The deserted street made it easy for the kidnappers to try to escape.