The Waiting Game

chapter one

One month later…

Lagos State University welcomes all freshmen and returning students back on campus.

The first thought that occurred to Joshua Phillips as he glimpsed the grand banner on the gate on the left was that it used to be an Orion banner on that gate. These days, he found himself brooding on the past glories of the organization he now headed, that nostalgia always gave way to fury. Joshua did not like when things didn’t go his way. In fact, it was the one thing he struggled with these days, he’d never quite considered himself as spoilt but he was beginning to realize that he might be a tad out of touch with reality – he refused to admit anything more than that.

A faint smile touched on his lips before fading almost instantly, he pressed forcefully on the center of the steering wheel, sounding the horn. The gates were divided into two sides, one par for cars leaving the campus and the other for cars entering – it was this part that he was stuck at, he squinted his eyes and saw there was a bit of a commotion with the black jeep in front of his car. Two campus security guards were trying to solve it, trying to calm the driver inside the car.

He knew he was overdoing things but he sounded the horn again impatiently. He was by no means late for anything but the longer he had to stare at the banner in front, the longer his anger remained. It was the beginning of a new school year, usually, it was prime hunting season for The Orion Project, it was recruiting season. They usually had a banner on the gates, seeming friendly enough but declaring intent.

The truth was, The Orion Project had fallen from grace almost two years ago, after Joshua’s father had been mysteriously murdered (lie, Joshua had murdered him) but Remilekun Phillips had been unlucky to go against the wrong family. The Kingstons – the thought of that name was enough to make Joshua’s lips twist down in a frown. His father had let a two decade feud cloud his senses, he’d been careless and classified information had leaked to the whole country, it had even made international headlines.

Joshua had tried to contain the damage, he’d killed his father to save Grace Kingston and then he’d made a deal with her. She’d stay away from Orion business, drop all evidence she had against Orion and Orion would stay out of her business. He’d made that deal while he’d been unaware of the damage already done.

Sometimes, he wished he’d killed Grace Kingston. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, Joshua had only killed twice and the second person was his father. He didn’t think he could have killed Grace three years ago though, he didn’t like her at all but a part of him grudgingly thought she was smart and he respected her for it. Besides, killing her would be pointless and it would have raised other complications. That was exactly what he hadn’t needed then and exactly what he had now.

Too many damned complications. His uncle, Ademola Phillips had officially left his position as vice counselor of the university which meant that Orion no longer had the backing of the highest level of the university’s leadership. The new vice counselor was a man who was very much anti secret organizations. He’d also run against Remilekun Phillips many years ago as student union president while they’d been students at Freeman University.

There was no convincing a man like that. Joshua supposed some retreating into the shadows was a good thing for Orion, not everything was bad – Orion had successfully merged with their sister organization, The Artemis Project and he had Grace Kingston to thank for that.

But the biggest of all big curveballs had been thrown at him. Victor; his third in command had been murdered a month ago.

Joshua horned again, smashing his fist against the surface. He couldn’t bring himself to keep his cool. He realized he was breathing in harsh pants and he unlocked his door with shaking hands and stepped out of his car.  Once he was outside, he found himself in control like he wanted to be.