The icy, freezing wind of the London morning slapped against Sledge's face the moment they stepped out of the Heathrow Airport VIP terminal. The bright, chaotic, humid heat of the Oyingbo flyover was thousands of miles away; out here, the grey sky was dripping with a miserable British drizzle, and the air tasted like wet asphalt and cold concrete."Omo! Chief pikin!" Sledge shivered violently, his teeth chattering like a loose engine block as he wrapped a massive, oversized designer winter coat tighter over his heavy native agbada. He looked down at the sleek black pavement with pure disgust. "Which kind primitive weather be this? The cold dey enter my bone marrow directly! If I stay here for two days, my bitter kola go freeze turn stone o!"Adekunle walked right beside him, completely unfazed. He looked like an absolute international monarch, wearing a flawless, custom-tailored double-breasted midnight-black overcoat that fit his hardened physique perfectly. His skinhead buzz cut was sharp, and his steady, cold eyes scanned the line of luxury black cabs and corporate vehicles waiting at the curb."Sledge, tighten your jacket and focus your radar," Adekunle murmured smoothly, his voice dropping into that chilling, corporate-kingpin pitch. "We didn't come to London for a holiday. Valerie and her international offshore syndicate think they can sit inside their high-rise offices and use a global assets freeze to choke our Apapa port empire [INDEX]. They think because we are from the trenches, we don't know how to navigate the global chess board."A sleek, bulletproof black Mercedes Pullman limousine silently pulled up right in front of them, its tinted windows reflecting the grey London sky. The door was opened by a white chauffeur in a crisp suit, who bowed respectfully as he spotted Adekunle."Welcome to London, Mr. Solomon," the chauffeur said politely. "Your reservations at The Savoy Hotel have been fully secured by your maritime routing accounts.""Standard!" Sledge grinned, quickly jumping into the heated leather interior of the luxury limousine to escape the freezing wind. He looked around the premium cabin, touching the polished wood panels. "Omo, the packaging out here get levels o! But Chief pikin, how we go take bypass the International Maritime Court block? Kazeem say our two hundred million dollars routing keys are completely frozen in Switzerland [INDEX].""We are not bypassing the court, Sledge. We are going to bypass Valerie entirely," Adekunle said coldly as the limousine accelerated smoothly onto the highway, heading toward the heart of the London corporate sector. He reached into his leather briefcase and pulled out the ancient data tape—the secret encrypted document Chief Solomon had stolen from Valerie's father's private office ten years ago [INDEX].Adekunle swirled the drive in his palm, a ruthless, predatory smile touching his lips—the exact look his father used to have right before a barracks command execution."Valerie thinks she is the supreme executioner of the syndicate, but she forgot that my father kept her ultimate secret inside his leather ledger [INDEX]," Adekunle whispered, his eyes locking with Sledge's rugged face. "This tape contains the original document and audio files proving that Valerie has been secretly working as an undercover informant for the International Anti-Money Laundering Command to collapse her own global syndicate board from the inside [INDEX]. If her billionaire directors in London and Zurich find out she is a snitch, they will skin her alive within two minutes [INDEX]."Sledge stared at the drive, his jaw dropping in absolute, chaotic street shock before a massive, wild grin spread across his face. He slammed his fist against the leather seat. "Oshey! The woman be double-agent snitch?! 😱 Tar! Chief pikin, you hold her life for your hand o!""Exactly," Adekunle murmured, looking out the tinted window as the massive glass towers of the London financial district began to loom through the grey fog. "Valerie used General Bello to launch a shadow war against my father inside the northern desert [INDEX]. Now, I am going to walk straight into her syndicate's supreme headquarters, drop this tape on the global director's table, and watch her entire international empire turn into an absolute graveyard before sunset."
