The following day, by nine on the dot, Savior was preparing to join a virtual meeting with not just the police commissioner of Rivers State, but also the commissioners of Kano, Lagos, Abuja and the Inspector-General of the Nigerian Police Force.
Everything was apparently working according to plan and he was ecstatic about it. Indeed, he was born for this moment.
He'd been waiting for a long time. The opportunity had finally presented itself. Now, it was left for him to maximize and make good use of the advantage that destiny had presented to him. And Savior, a guy who never failed to use even the most sparsely distributed opportunities, would jump on this one.
He dressed casually in his leather jacket—it wasn't like any of the commissioners or the Inspector-General could see him through the disguises—and sat down on his chair in his private study and switched on his touch-screen, detachable, Apple laptop.
The monochromatic color scheme and lighting in the air-conditioned room blended well to produce a calming effect. Simple and harmonious. A mirror of his bland yet ambitious life.
There were two chairs straddling a table coated in fine leather—the first was an ergonomic, swivel chair, the second a regular armless chair.
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On the table was an organized array of gadgets and books and countless files. On adjacent sides of this rather spacious room were two parallel horizontal bookshelves that ran from top to bottom. All sorts of books, ranging from mystery and crime novels to high-class info studies and research on politics, business and whatnot, were nicely tucked in. Not as though he was much of a reader, but when the need arises in lieu of a particular operation, he had something to fall back on.
He connected to the internet with just a tap. He accessed the pre-scheduled virtual meeting, but not before activating a software that would make him look like a silhouette. Even his voice had been electronically altered.
Not even a video conference meeting would unveil his real identity to the people he was about to talk to.
He waited for the few seconds it took for the live video feed to connect, drumming his finger rhythmically on his table. Like a brief flicker of a flame in an icy terrain, a memory came to his mind. The night of the operation/game where he shot two unfortunate ganglings. That melodious voice of unusual clarity that pierced his dark soul.
Amazingly, this was not the first time. These days, apart from his work which he was even still trying to keep up with, all he mostly thought of was the girl. The girl. The singer...
He itched to go and do a little spying. If he was lucky and smart about it, he'd not just see her face, but also try to get acquainted with her.
He smiled. What beautiful face would be behind that voice?
Well, there would be enough time to visit her. For now, he would just concentrate on this job with the four commissioners and the Inspector-General of police.
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At the moment, he surmised, the meeting with these law enforcement officers was of utmost importance.
When he was done with them, only then would he be free to go on another little, personal escapade.
The virtual call finally connected. He could see the faces of all the commissioners and the Inspector-General staring at him, their trained eyes squinting very hard, trying in vain to make him out from the silhouette that was currently showing on their monitors.
He smirked victoriously, also staring back at them, trying to read their eyes and body language to see if he could detect anything unsavory with the police officers.
So far, all he could detect from their energy and attitude was wonder. Pure wonder and a large dose of curiosity.
The admiration he created and planted in them by pulling off what he did.
All the commissioners that were present in the virtual meeting and the Inspector-General of police looked at their monitors, specifically at the only civilian in the meeting. The civilian who had done so much under a week for them, the civilian who had done enough to capture the attention of the top commissioners and the Inspector-General of the Nigerian Police Force.
Being able to disguise his appearance and the outline of his figure on a live video feed, the enigmatic civilian was definitely proving to them that he was indeed a genius. They could only watch him in awe.
"I never knew we still have such great minds and people with high intelligence quotient like you," the IG said with a practiced smile, breaking the propitious silence.
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Savior just shrugged as though he felt embarrassed at such kind of recognition and praise, especially coming from a high-society person like the Inspector-General.
"And to think we have people like you in Africa, especially here in Nigeria. I thought we only had the great Philip Emeagwali. You know he has the record of being one of the human beings with a high intelligence quotient, right? Time will not give us the luxury of mentioning his multiple world breaking records.
"Apparently, we still have more of him here in Nigeria. Are you also from the East, son? And could it be that you also coincidentally hail from Anambra state like the great Philip?"
"My name is Omotola," Savior said.
The IG squinted, having the hunch that he was faking that name. "You mean like the namesake of the popular Nigerian actress?"
"Yes, sir."
The Rivers State commissioner wasn't surprised. None of the commissioners were surprised.
The civilian wasn't carried away by the praises of being compared to one of the personalities with a great IQ in the world. The Inspector-General had also failed to unravel this enigmatic civilian.
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The IG leaned back on his seat, recognizing that his subtle intention had just been busted.
"I know, I know," he said, waving his hand as if to say this was old news. "You've said that before. At least, that's what you've told all my commissioners."
Abubakar was a bit taken aback that he wasn't the only one who had tried to uncover the identity of the civilian and failed.
"That's my name, sir."
"That is what you claim. We haven't done our own background check."
The police officers and the civilian stared at each other for a while, their gazes unwavering, before the Inspector-General broke the eye contest and continued the meeting in earnest.
"My commissioners have briefed me on how you became their informant last week, blowing the whistle on Alpha Shadows, helping my officers to uncover clandestine operations, exposing several hideouts and even the warehouse of the leader of Alpha Shadows."
The Commissioner of Rivers State Police was quiet as the conversation progressed. He even maintained a poker face, but he shuddered inwardly. And it wasn't as a result of the ongoing conversation. No, it was because of the personal conversation he had yesterday with Omotola or whatever his real name was.
He remembered vividly the first statement he made when the commissioner asked him about the killing of the two men.
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"I killed them." Those were Omotola's words and it had dropped like a bomb.
Abubakar had asked the reason for his actions and when Omotola replied, the commissioner was certain beyond all unreasonable doubt that his heart stopped beating for a while.
"I want to be a spy for the Nigerian police against Alpha Shadows," Omotola said, his words jarring the River State police commissioner back to the ongoing conversation.
"You mean like an undercover cop that would penetrate deep inside the inner sanctum of the crime syndicate?"
"Undercover, yes. But not as a cop."
"Then, in what capacity do you want to achieve this?"
"I have my resources and skills that would perfectly help me to blend in. I don't have to be a police officer to do it. What I'm saying in essence is that I would like to partner with you and not work under you."
"What makes you think that we would be interested to 'partner' with you?"
"The answer is quite simple, you desperately want to bring down Alpha Shadows, and you need my expertise."
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Omotola spoke self-assuredly, the IG observed.
"Why do you want to work with us?" asked the IG.
"I want to do this because I hate evil. My second reason for doing this is that I want to honor my late father and every other policeman that had died at the hands of these people."
"Let's talk a little about the last part of your statement. Do you want to take revenge against the people who killed your father? Is that the point you're trying to make?"
"No, that's not it at all."
"Okay, tell me why. I'm all ears. We are all ears."
"My father, God rest his soul, always told me that he was a believer in justice each time I asked him why he joined the Nigerian Police Force. He would always end it with vehement advice, encouraging me to strongly believe in it as well. The concept and perception he inculcated in me is the driving force behind this whole thing."
As he spoke of his father, Savior almost choked on emotion but applied a strong restraint.
He spoke of his father with a genuine calm that both surprised and touched the police officers. By the time he was done with his emotional tale, no one doubted him.
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"I'm sorry we keep bringing up this topic about your father," the Inspector-General apologized.
"It's alright, sir. I definitely understand. I'd do more if I were in your shoes."
"I will definitely understand if you are too emotional to continue this meeting. We can continue later, whenever you're ready of course," the IG offered.
But Savior waved his hands. "I'm very much okay. Let's continue."
The virtual meeting finished after fifty-two minutes.
Savior had succeeded in getting the police to adopt him as their secret informant. After a few moments of attempted persuasion from the Inspector-General and the other commissioners, Savior still didn't reveal his real identity to them, his reasons being that he didn't want to attract any form of attention to himself. He concluded by telling them that whenever he carried out any successful operation with them, the Nigerian Police Force should take the credit in the public.
He only asked that his monthly salary should be paid on time.
Savior had asked for a specific amount to be paid him as his salary. In his own opinion, it wasn't much but the Inspector-General and the commissioners thought it was outrageous.
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At the end of the day, he had won the argument and the police personnel had all capitulated to his demands. If they wanted the kind of quality job that he was ready to offer, then they should also be ready to bankroll him.
Not everything was free in Freetown.
Truth be told, he didn't need the money from the Nigerian police to do his job—he could have done this conveniently for free—but he didn't want to do a volunteer job for the Nigerian government lest he'd be taken for granted.
And away from the public eyes, they signed a contract with him and almost a dozen non-disclosure forms. Savior was finally in. And it was where he always wanted to be since his adulthood.
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