“Wha-What is thi-this all about?” Michael stammered, “am I under arrest?” He asked, “keep quiet and move,” the hefty looking man replied, pushing him towards the direction of the SUV as Chinedu immediately jumped out of his car, “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? WHO ARE YOU?” He shouted, “Mind your business, unless you want to join your ancestors” the hefty man replied pointing a gun at Chinedu who immediately scampered back into his car at the sight of the gun, “so much for fighting for me” Michael thought to himself shaking his head as he was bundled into the the black SUV. The hefty man and his accomplice immediately sped off leaving the vicinity before anyone could raise an alarm.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at a mansion guarded by even more hefty security men who admitted them into the building. Michael was lifted into the building by two of the hefty security men, one holding each of his arms followed closely behind by the man who had abducted him. He had been experiencing palpitations all through the journey and they continued to get worse with each passing minute.
Heart palpitations happen when you feel your heart is racing, pounding or has skipped a bit. When you have palpitations, you suddenly become conscious of your heart beating and you can feel it in your chest, your throat or your neck. Palpitations can happen at any time regardless of what you’re doing at the time it happened but they are usually harmless and can last from a few seconds to minutes. Palpitations can be caused by a variety of factors such as anxiety, stress, fear, panic, pregnancy, exercise, anaemia, dehydration and taking too much caffeine or certain heart conditions. Palpitations don’t usually require treatment unless they are caused by certain heart conditions.
When they finally entered the building, Michael was brought before a man fully clothed in the Yoruba traditional ‘Agbada’ wear, he immediately recognized him as one of the former senators, Senator Austin who had served in the previous government “my gosh!” He thought to himself, “what does this man want from me?”
“Is this the fool that took my money?” Senator Austin asked the man who abducted Michael, “that’s him” the man responded nodding. “So you’re the one of those who connived to steal my money?” the Senator asked turning to face Michael, “S-sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about Sir, I did not take any money Sir” Michael stammered, “Do you know this man?” The senator asked, picking a picture up from his table and showing it to Michael, “ye-yes I do” Michael stammered, “he is a member of my church” Michael replied, “you remember receiving 10million naira from him right?” the senator asked, “ye-yes I did Sir” Michael confirmed, “where is it?” the Senator asked looking sternly at him, “S-sir, I don’t have it right now but I will pay” Michael replied “I borrowed it from him because I was in desperate need of money to fund my wedding.But I promise to pay Sir” Michael begged.
“The money you borrowed was part of the proceeds from money stolen from me by your so called church member,” the senator said, “he is currently on the run but some of the stolen money was traced to your account as he made that transfer to you shortly after committing the crime” the Senator said, “your church member has successfully left the country with the rest of my money and when I realised he had gone, I decided to look for you.” the senator narrated, looking very angry. “With the help of my insiders at the bank, we were able to trace you to your house and my men have been on your trail ever since then” the senator explained.
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“I have a proposal for you” he continued looking at Michael, “Becausewe both know you cannot pay back the money, I mean, we’ve investigated and seen that you have No money at all in your account, as a matter of fact, you’re even owing the bank, so it is very clear that you have no means of returning this money. You will render me a service that is higher or equivalent to the amount that you stole from me and I will write off your debt” Senator Austin concluded. “What service is that Sir? I am ready to do it” Michael replied, “That’s a wise choice” the senator laughed. “You will be smuggling a consignment to Mexico. This consignment is worth 30 million naira. If you successfully get it across to my partners, your debt will be written off, if not, you will be left to your fate” the Senator explained, “if you get caught, you don’t know us and we don’t know you but at the end of the assignment, it’s your choice whether to return or not.” the senator explained.
“To get to Mexico, I will be using my connections to help secure a US visa for you. You will be posing as someone going to represent my company in a conference in the USA. After getting the visa, you will fly to Mexico via USA but you will only have a few hours layover at the airport in USA, your final destination will be Mexico” the senator explained further, “after you have delivered the consignment, you can choose to stay back in Mexico, USA or use the return ticket back home, the choice is totally yours” the Senator explained. “C-can I have some time to think about this?” Michael begged, “there is nothing to think about” the Senator replied, “you have my money, and you can’t pay it back, so I’m not asking you if you want to do it, I’m telling you that you will” the Senator firmly spoke, “what type of consignment Sir?” Is it like foodstuff or clothes, are we exporting contraband items?” Michael asked, “Don’t be stupid. Are you trying to play dumb with me?” The senator asked, “in all honesty Sir, I-I’m not familiar with this type of business” Michael stammered.
“You will be smuggling coke” the senator further specified, “Oh! Coke and Fanta right?” Michael said easing up, he felt a sense of relief upon realising that Chief was not referring to what he had earlier thought, “so why are we smuggling them? Have they banned importation of coke and Fanta to Mexico? Or is it Nigeria that has banned exportation?” Michael asked, “you fool,I am talking about c0cain€” the senator snapped, “you will be ingesting wraps of c0cain€ shortly before you travel and you dare not try to play smart with my goods, because we have men planted in all the airports and airlines that you will be transiting through. I assure you that you will be under close monitoring” the senator warned.
“Sir please don’t do this to me, I can do anything else but not this” Michael begged, dropping to his knees. “You either accept my proposal and I write off your debt or reject it and I sign your death warrant” the senator replied, “the choice is yours” the Senator added, bending and looking eyeball to eyeball with Michael who was trembling and staring at him in horror.
Find out what happens next, in episode 24 #checkwithdoctoro