The drive to Bellhound railway was fast, Michael had made calls to Sarah on the way and Chioma was filling the guns with bullets. She had kept a small knife hidden in her trousers earlier, for emergency purpose. Michael stopped the car, few metres away from the station.

The sky was getting dark now, not due to the time, but the rain which scent one could already smell in the air. To the right cows were grazing on fresh green grass, not paying attention to the two detectives who were passing by.

"So, do we go with plan A or B?" Chioma asked as they walked towards the three story uncompleted building, which looked abandoned.

"What's Plan A?" Michael asked not remembering them making a plan.

"We go in without a plan."

"And B?"

"We stay here and make plan C which should be our plan." Michael looked at her and she shrugged.

"Well, how about we go throu-" Michael started but Chioma stopped him.

"No, 'we' have to go separate ways. I go through the front opening and you find another way in through the back." Michael kept quiet for a moment, then nodded. They walked further to the building, passing through the small opening, in the poor excuse for a gate.

They walked quietly to the building, being careful to avoid being seen by the people they suspect to be inside. They finally reached where they should go separate ways. She nodded her head at him and turned to walk away, but he held her by her elbows bringing her a bit closer to him.

"I want you to be alive by nightfall," He said.

"What about tomorrow?" She gave a small smile.

"You know what I mean," He said caressing her cheeks, Chioma nodded and step back from his touch.

"I want to see you by nightfall too." And we that she walked away, Michael watched her till she entered the building, then walked further to the back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chioma walked into the dark building quietly, she was being careful not to create any noise and call attention. The heavy wind whirled outside and against the old building, making the few windows there to rattle against it frame. A huge black rat squeaked at the sight of Chioma and hurried away to a darker side of the room. Chioma took a deep breathe and proceeded, her eyes adjusting to the dark room to see clearly.

There wasn't really anything on the down floor, just bins everywhere, the old building was already infested with rats and spiders and other creepy crawlers. There was an odd stench in the air, Chioma shuddered at the thoughts of her matching someone's feaces.

Suddenly, she heard the faint sound footsteps approaching. Quickly, her eyes scanned round the room, looking for a place to hide. There wasn't a single hiding place, except under the stairways, without thinking twice, she tiptoes there quickly, crouched low and fitted her body in there, the odd stench she had smelt earlier was heavier there.

Oh lord! Who will drop shit under staircase?!

Ancient cobwebs hugged her face, she pushed them away with her fingers and tried her best not to think of the insects that may be living there and may be angry at the unwanted visitor in their space.

The footsteps got closer till it was just above her. She heard the sound of feets scratching against the floor and then a thud above her which caused sand to fall before from the roof of the stairs, the person had sat down on the wooden stairs.

Chioma heard a sigh, the voice was that of a woman, the flicking sound of a lighter was what she heard next, seconds later was the stench of a ciger. Chioma couldn't bare the feaces and the ciger stench, she had to do something, but she knew she couldn't attract attention, till she has done what she needed to do.

She leaned to the side, peeping out from under the stairway. She saw the figure of a young woman, she was seating down at the foot of the stairs, her left hand holding the cigarette and her right holding her phone. Chioma looked round the room thinking of what to do. A small laugh startled her, she looked to see the lady had just laughed at whatever she was looking at on her phone.

Holding tight to her gun, she got out from the position she was in. The lady was so concentrated in what she was doing, she didn't see the figure approaching. Chioma was just three foot away from her, quickly, she leaped forward, head butting the lady with her gun. She caught the lady before her unconscious body dropped to the ground and attracted noise.

Dragging her body slowly, she moved her to the position she was in under the stairs, she laid her body there and placed her phone beside her. She looked at the woman, it was the same one that had helped her in the beach, with the aid of the light coming from the lady's phone, Chioma was able to see the feaces she had been perceiving, it was just few inches away from the lady's face. She was going to walk away, but on second thought, she used her foot to push the lady's face to the shit. She pushed it, till the shit had moulded against the unconscious lady's face, she gave a small smile and walked away, going up the wooden stairs.

The only living thing which had seen the action was the big black rat in the room, it watched with it beady eyes as Chioma ran up the stairs. When she had gone, it ran with its tiny legs to the position Chioma had been under the stairs, staring at the unconscious body which was laying in its space. It used its small nose to nudge her fingers, when it got no reaction, it climbed her body, settling on her chest and relaxing in the warmth it got there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael walked to the back of the building slowly, he stopped when he heard the voices of two men discussing, they were talking in a language that was foreign to Michael. He walked slowly avoiding sticks and leaves, so the crunches his feet would make against them won't draw attention. Lightening flashed across the dark sky, and a thunder rumbled seconds later.

He was walking close to the wall to avoid being seen through any of the windows. He walked slowly till he reached the edge of the walls. He kept his body still and leaned forward a bit, looking out at the people in the backyard of the old building. There were three of them, the biggest of them all had a scar running from just beneath his ear, to the nape of his neck, his eyes were red as he smoked whatever substance that was contained in the lit paper. The second one had pimples over his face and a bowleg, while the smallest, was with deep tribal marks over his face. They were all black like charcoal.

Michael wondered how he was going to take all three down, two would have been much better, he thought. He looked around where he was, he sighted a plate of zinc laying feet's away, bending down, he picked up a stone and threw it head against the zinc. The clatter noise it made reached the ears of the hoodlers.

"Wetin be dat?" The gruff voice of the biggest man, whose name was Ago asked in broken language.

"Maybe na rat," The smallest said shrugging and went back to his business. But the pimpled faced one, Aboi stood up to check it out.

Michael heard the steps approaching and pushed himself further into the small corner of the wall. Aboi reached the edge and walked right.

Just few more steps

He walked further looking around, when he didn't see anything, he turned round but was met by Michael who was holding a taser, in few seconds he was unconscious. Michael got hold of his heavy body before it fell down and attracted attention, he laid him to the ground softly.

But it got no answer.

Michael stepped out, looking at them with a smile. "Sorry, Aboi won't be joining you anytime soon. But if you kindly surrender, I would try to be gentle."

The two men looked at Michael confused at first, then slowly it turned to a scowl. The smaller one with the tribal mark, turned to the big one. "I will take care of him."

Before Michael could even say his name, the tribal mark dude rushed to Michael flashing a knife in the air. Michael swerved to the right quickly, the knife missing him by just inches, twisting around, he held the man by the scruff of his neck, used one hand to grab him by his elbow and applied great but enough pressure at a particular point, in few seconds the man was unconscious. Michael let his body fall to the ground and turned to the biggest dude, whose name was Ayo.

Michael brought out his gun and pointed it at the man's chest. "Put your arms behind your head and go down on your knees."

The man shot Michael a look and spat on the floor. "Why don't you stop being a coward and fight me like a man."

Michael raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok, fine, it's been so long anyway."

**********

Chioma walked slowly, like a tiger stalking its prey, except there was no prey in sight and she might just be the prey herself. She walked through the dark passage, her eyes at alert for any sound. The pitter patter of rain drops against the zinc which served as a rooftop to the building was all she heard.

Lightening zigzagged across the sky and soon the thunder roar followed, Chioma jumped up with a start, her stomach rising to her throat. She took a deep breathe and tried to calm herself down.

It's just thunder, no need to panic.

She walked further and soon came to the entrance of a room, pressing her back flat against the wall, she held tight to her gun. She kept quiet and tried to listen to any sound coming from the room. She was sure she heard whimpers coming from the room, with a deep breathe she walked in.

"Freeze!" She shouted. The light coming from the open window space showed the scene clearly, Funmi and Alex tied in a corner of the room, hands behind their back and mouth gagged with a clothe. She looked round the room, no one else was there, she ran towards them. "I will get you out of here."

She moved to untie Funmi but stopped when Funmi started giving muffled screams, Chioma turned around confused and she found herself facing the same woman she had seen somewhere in Funmi's apartment, Angela.

"Hello detective," She said with a cheeky smile, with a swing of her right hand which held a heavy stick, it came slamming down hard at the side Chioma's head. "Goodbye detective."

Chioma dropped to the floor unconscious.

           **************

Hello again, I know it's been really long, but well, we all know wattpad did some funny things last month.

I wasn't able to log into my account and update, wattpad support finally helped me with a new password, and I got my account back yesterday.

I know this chapter is short, but update won't be delaying again, they will be coming in as scheduled.

That's all, vote and comment, thanks.

Stay safe 💞