Chapter 31 - the outlaw of the mangrove

The swamp was dead silent, except for the heavy, terrified breathing of the surviving street boys and the slow drip-drip of dirty water from the mangrove roots. The barrel of Sledge's pistol was freezing cold against the center of Adekunle's forehead."Talk!" Sledge hissed, his thumb slowly pulling back the hammer of the gun. "Give me one reason why your blood no go join this swamp mud tonight! Your papa kill my boys! He destroy everything!"Adekunle didn't blink. The fear that used to make him shake inside the police station was completely gone. Corporal Titus's training and his father's ultimate betrayal had turned his heart into pure stone."Sledge, shoot me," Adekunle said, his voice terrifyingly calm. He looked straight into the bloodshot eyes of the street lord. "If you shoot me, you kill the only person who knows how my father thinks. You kill the only person who can help you take revenge."Sledge's hand trembled slightly, but the gun stayed level. "Revenge? Against a military General? You think we be mumu?""My father just put a nationwide 'Dead or Alive' red alert on my head, Sledge!" Adekunle shouted, the raw emotion finally bursting through his chest. "He didn't just double-cross you, he tried to murder his own flesh and blood to get a promotion! To Chief Solomon, nobody matters. Not you, not your boys, and definitely not me."Adekunle gently reached out and pushed the barrel of the pistol away from his forehead. Sledge let him do it, his heavy shoulders dropping as the bitter weight of reality sank in."We have nothing left," Sledge muttered, looking back at his five remaining boys, who were busy wrapping a dirty cloth around their friend's bleeding shoulder. "The SUVs are gone. The mainland blocks are crawling with soldiers. We are dead men walking.""No, we are not dead yet," Adekunle said, stepping out of the smoking vehicle into the knee-deep black mud of the swamp. He turned around to face the entire group. "My father thinks he has won. Right now, he is celebrating his fake victory on television. He thinks his secrets are safe because he believes we are trapped in this jungle.""So wetin you wan make we do?" one of the wounded street boys growled from the corner."We play his own game, but we play it dirtier," Adekunle's eyes gleamed with a dangerous, dark ambition. "My father controls the streets through fear, but he controls the government through his secret bunker. Inside that bunker in the military quarters, he has the original ledger—the documentation of every illegal oil bunkering deal, every political assassination, and the real bank accounts he used to bribe Sergeant Sunday and the information ministers."Sledge looked up, a tiny spark of life returning to his eyes. "You know where the ledger dey?""I know the exact security codes to that bunker," Adekunle grinned, a ruthless, cold smile that mirrored his father's. "The whole country thinks I am a Nollywood actor, and now they think I am a terrorist. It's time to give them the real blockbuster movie. We are going to infiltrate the military quarters tonight, bypass the guards, and steal his entire life. We don't just survive, Sledge. We bring Chief Solomon's kingdom crashing down to the ground."Sledge stared at Adekunle for a long, heavy moment. He spat his bitter kola into the mud, extended his rugged, grease-stained hand, and gripped Adekunle's arm firmly."Alliance don set," Sledge growled. "Tonight, we follow the Chief pikin."