Chapter 37 - the shadow in the cell

The line went dead with a cold, mechanical click, leaving Adekunle staring at his phone screen in total silence. The humid night air of the parking lot suddenly felt freezing cold."...The game just started, Boy."His father's words echoed in his head like a death sentence. Chief Solomon was supposed to be inside a maximum-security military cell, stripped of his rank, his uniforms, and his power. Yet, his voice sounded as clear as someone sitting in a premium lounge, watching the entire parking lot showdown live."Chief pikin, wetin dey sup?" Sledge asked, walking over while tossing Damini's expensive car keys in his hand. He noticed the sudden change in Adekunle's face. "Your eye don change o. Who call you?"Adekunle slowly pocketed the phone, his mind turning into a dangerous tactical chalkboard. "My papa."Sledge's hand froze mid-air, the car keys catching the dim yellow light of the streetlamp. The rugged street lord swallowed hard, his skin crawling. "Your papa? The man dey prison now. How he take get phone? Abi the military police dey play format with us?""No be military police," Adekunle whispered, his eyes scanning the dark perimeter of the parking lot, looking at the restaurant staff, the security guards, and even Sledge's own boys who were still laughing around the cyber-vans. "My father is a virus. Even inside a cage, he knows how to manipulate the system. Sledge, nobody knew I was meeting Damini tonight except our inner circle. Someone inside our camp is still sending briefs to the old man."Sledge's face twisted into an ugly, furious mask. He gripped his iron spanner tightly. "Traitor? For my boys? If I find the person, I go finish am sharply!""Calm down," Adekunle commanded, his voice dropping into that heavy, absolute authority he stole from Chief Solomon. "If you shout, the mole go run. We behave like everything dey normal. Drive the vans back to the sawmill. I am going to pay a private visit to the maximum-security yard tomorrow morning. I need to look my father in the eye."The next morning, the heavy iron gates of the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison groaned open.Adekunle walked down the long, suffocating concrete hallway, escorted by a senior warden whose hands were trembling slightly. Adekunle didn't come as a suspect this time; he came as a powerful stakeholder of the mainland, and his connections had cleared the visitors' room completely.The thick glass partition divided the small visiting room. On the other side, the door opened, and Chief Solomon walked in.He wasn't wearing prison overalls. He was wearing a spotless, custom-made white senator attire. He didn't look hungry, he didn't look stressed, and he didn't look defeated. He sat down smoothly, picked up the intercom phone, and looked at his son with a terrifyingly calm smile.Adekunle picked up his side of the phone. "You look very comfortable for a man who is facing a federal tribunal, Papa.""A tribunal is for people who don't know the law, Adekunle," Chief Solomon chuckled over the receiver, his voice full of supreme arrogance. "You used TikTok and live-streaming to destroy my public office, yes. But the judges, the politicians, and the prison controllers—I built their careers with my dirty money over the last twenty years. You think you locked me in a cell? Boy, I just changed my office location."Chief Solomon leaned closer to the glass, his eyes gleaming like a cobra's."Damini's cyber cartel is just one small branch of my network. The real players are landing from Abuja tonight to clean up the mainland. And the best part, Adekunle? Your most trusted boy is the one who collected the mobilization funding from my account this morning. Enjoy your kingdom while it lasts, Chief pikin. The crown is already slipping."