The heavy silence inside the sawmill was broken only by the sound of Kazeem's fingers aggressively tapping against the keys of his modified hacking laptop. The screen reflected a bright blue light onto his sweat-slicked face, displaying rows of encrypted global banking transactions."Chief pikin! The bypass don complete!" Kazeem suddenly shouted, a wild, victorious laugh escaping his throat. "The two hundred million dollars offshore syndicate funding... it don leave their Switzerland account completely! The alert don land our secure maritime router!"Valerie's corporate briefcase slipped from her fingers, crashing onto the muddy sawdust-covered floor. Her face turned from an elegant red mask into a completely hollow, terrified white."Adekunle... you don't know what you have done," Valerie whispered, her voice finally losing its smooth corporate composure, shaking with deep, primal fear. "That money belongs to people who can pull down governments. You have signed your own execution order.""Valerie, your global bosses cannot pull down anything on this mainland mud," Adekunle said coldly, stepping closer until he was standing just inches away from her face. He casually reached out and pulled her designer sunglasses off her face, tossing them into the dirt. "You came to my sawmill to demand my father's head because your board members are panicking. You wanted him dead because dead men don't talk to international federal investigators."Chief Solomon stood up slowly from his plastic chair, letting the wool blanket drop to the floor. His eyes were locked onto Valerie with a terrifyingly sharp, military precision."Valerie," Chief Solomon growled, his voice deep and menacing. "Tell your bosses in London and Zurich that their secret identity ledger is fully backed up on three different encrypted servers. If a single international mercenary steps foot into Lagos to hunt my son... the entire global network of your syndicate will be on the front page of every international newspaper before noon."Valerie stumbled back, her eyes darting from Chief Solomon to Adekunle, then out toward the open warehouse doors where four hundred mainland street boys were standing firmly with heavy iron rods. She realized the bitter, crushing truth.The poison capsule she sent to Kirikiri prison was useless. Her tech boy, Damini, was currently on his knees with a pistol to his forehead, transferring fifty percent of his crypto holdings into Sledge's wallet. Her accounts were drained, and the very man who knew the syndicate's dirtiest global secrets was standing alive, fully protected by an untouchable street army."Damini, let's go," Valerie hissed, her voice completely broken as she turned around, her high heels dragging heavily through the mud. "This boardroom meeting is over.""Hold on, Valerie," Adekunle's voice cut through the air like a cold blade, stopping her at the entrance. He didn't even look back at her. "You don't leave this mainland sector until you pay the gate fee. Leave the keys to the three bulletproof G-Wagons outside. My boys need new operational vehicles for the block. Consider it your administrative donation."Valerie's fists clenched so tightly her fingernails drew blood, but she looked at Sledge's automatic rifle and the massive crowd outside. She reached into her pocket, violently threw the car keys onto the floor, and marched out into the blinding morning sun.Sledge scooped the keys off the dirt, letting out a loud, chaotic roar of pure celebration that shook the zinc roof of the warehouse. "Oshey! The Mainland don take over the Island machinery! Chief pikin, you be king!"Adekunle stood in the center of the dark sawmill, watching the luxury luxury cars get swarmed by his boys. He had officially broken his father out of a fortress, drained a global syndicate, and brought the Island cartel to their knees. The gbege was far from over, but the new commander of the streets had just written his own law
