Flaming Shadow

8

Gowon's POV

The strange car stopped in front of him, he noticed there were about four men, and an elderly woman in the old beat up Sienna, the trunk was overflowing with vegetables and tubers. The driver lowered the car window to ask for directions; Gowon looked him in the eye as he mumbled in Yoruba, he looked anxious but not threatening so Gowon relaxed a bit and flashed a smile, HE was the one being menacing to them.

Gowon knew the town they were heading to, It was still ahead but he called one of the students to give them the a precise route, they seemed legit they probably followed the fresh trails their cars left on the untarred road.

As the car made a U-turn he texted the plate number to Oke to look up, just in case.

**

Another hour passed with them still in the forest and at some point, he noticed they were doing less planting and more talking, the students were taking selfies and chatting while Yinka and the lecturer guy were engrossed in a serious discussion. He knew they were talking about unnecessary topics like trees and freaking climate change. The guy looks like a serious person though, Oke has ran background checks on him as well he has been reclaiming and preserving forest reserves even before Yinka started doing it so hopefully he won't be using her money to plant cassava.

They were sha wasting time they still had about 100 seedlings to plant!

A frown formed on his face when that her damn PA abi Intern appeared again, blocking his view of her. The guy was just all over her, following her up and down again, forming bestie, he would bring her a hand fan, pass her a bottle of water and still hang there blocking his damn view like... young man shift, I want to see my crush!

He went back into the car after a while to communicate with the other guys and to check up on the Team in Abuja....again. About 10 minutes in, she knocked on the front passenger window startling him a bit, his face didn't show his alarm, but his hand calmly reached for the gun under his shirt.

She was grinning ear-to-ear holding a pack of refreshments and a can of soda. He unlocked the car and she hopped in.

"Here!" She said as she handed him the pack "We don't have food here, just....snacks, I know Nigerians don't recognize anything that is not rice or swallow as food, so I hope this will do"

He was flustered and surprised but not so surprised, she is always offering him something to eat or drink in her apartment.

He should have declined, but it was too late it was already in his hand and he was actually thirsty. So he just thanked her and opened the can. He was not even hungry; he was too restless and stressed to care about his stomach at this point.

"Can I send some refreshments to them too?" She asked.

"Who?" He looked at her in confusion.

"I know we are here with escorts Gowon," She rolled her eyes.

"How did you know that?" That is actually impressive it means she was paying attention during the trip.

"I am security conscious too you know it's funny how you always underestimate me" She smirked. "I don't know how many there are, but I know we are not alone" She smiled.

"They are fine, you don't... have to" He smiled.

"Are you sure? We have enough to go round" She seemed genuinely concerned.

He really didn't want to stress her. He knows she likes sharing food up and down.

The other day he 'accidentally' ate some waffles she made. He found them on Oke's table, he actually asked Oke where he bought it because he wanted get some and he was surprised when Oke shamelessly said it was from her.