Deep Secrets

Episode 8

6:45 am, Accra Ghana

“My wife is missing. Someone
abducted her after a nude
picture of her was sent to me…”
said Steve. “What!! A nude
what?! Lizzy is a good woman.

What got her into such a
habit?!” Emmalyn wondered
aloud. “She is innocent. I have
an idea of what is happening. I
want to leave my children with
you and go back to Nigeria to
look for her. Please watch my
children with your life.” “But
Steve, I don’t want to get into
trouble by your leaving your
children here. I have lost
enough relatives over the years;
I don’t want to lose more.” “No
one knows where I am right
now, Emmalyn. Please help me.

There are not many people I can
trust right now.” “I love your
children, Steve, and will gladly
watch over them; but make
sure I don’t get into trouble
doing that. “Thank you Ema; I
am sure you won’t get into
trouble helping me with trouble helping me with my
children.”

7: 18 am, Marlow Street, Lagos
Nigeria
Lizzy was in a dark small room
and tied to a chair. Since She
was abducted by the men in
black Mercedes SUV, no one had
spoken to her as to the reason
she was abducted. Of course
the Sony camera containing her
nude pictures taken in a hotel
room in Sun City had been taken
from her. Whoever abducted
her knew about the pictures
and had taken her primarily for
those pictures. For three days
she had not eaten a thing and
had not had a bath. She could
smell her own pong. She could
not tell what hour of the day it
was outside. The room she was
in had been dark from the
moment she was taken into it.
She was happy when the door
to the small dark room jangled
and flew wide open. A gust of
fresh air rushed into the room
and caressed her skin. The door
remained open for a while
without anyone coming in. She
had to assume that perhaps her
captors must have remembered
her and decided to let her have
some fresh air. Just when she
thought no one was going to
talk to her, two hefty men
barged into the room and lifted
her along with the chair to
which she was tied.

She had no clue what would
happen next, but she was
afraid. She struggled to break
loose but the ropes on her were
firm and the men carrying her
were too strong for her. When
she was brought outside the
house, her eyes began to burn
for not having seen daylight for
days. The two men took her
toward a swimming pool at the
back of the grand building and
set her down. There were three
men sitting at a table, staring at
her like mongrels. She was
certain she had not seen any of
them before. One of them
barked at the two men who
carried her out, “Untie her!” The
men hurriedly untied her. “Lizzy,
we are sorry about what you
have been through in the last
few days. Please don’t take it
personal, we are just doing our
job. Anyway your husband
brought it on himself when he
overstepped his bounds. You
must be hungry, get her
something to eat!” the man
barked again. Lizzy stretched
her arms and legs, while she
studied the three men. Though
her heart was pounding against
her ribs as a result of fear, she
was grateful that the ropes had
been untied from her.

In a jiffy, a man, looking like a
chef brought food for her. The
sight of grilled chicken served
with rice and a glass of Piña
Colada made her stomach to
growl loudly. She felt
embarrassed at the sound her
stomach made. She was
ravenously hungry; dragging
her chair closer to the table on
which the food sat, she dug her
fingers into the chicken and
shoved chunks of it into her
mouth. Turning to one of the
guards who stood nearby, she
said with a mouth full of
chicken, “Water, I need water.”

As though on cue the chef who
had served her food appeared
with a glass bowl and a can of
bottled water. He was surprised
to see that Lizzy had begun to
eat without washing her hands.

Smiling, he set down the glass
bowl and can of water and filled
the glass bowl with water for
Lizzy to wash her hands.

When Lizzy had eaten to her fill,
she was dragged into a
bathroom and was ordered to
have her bath. She was scared,
and didn’t know what would
come next. All the people she
had seen in the house were
men. However, she had to take
her bath, for days she had gone
without one. As soon as she
was done having her bath, the
door of the bathroom flew
open and two men dragged her
out of it and led her stark nude
toward the swimming pool. She
was overcome with shame and
cried like a child, pleading for
them to allow her put on her
clothes. When the three men
who had watched her eat,
stood up from their table, Lizzy
took note of what she did not
see earlier – her Sony camera.
Then it dawned on her that the
men were going to take more
nude pictures of her or
probably force her to have s-x
with one of them and then
make a video of it.

She had not been that afraid
before. Without thinking about
it, she bolted toward the house,
knocking one of the guards to
the ground. Just before she
made it to the door, she heard a
gunshot and the glass door
next to her shattered. Thinking
she had been shot, she sunk to
the ground. The guards came
and picked her from the ground
and put guns to her head and
asked her to do as she was told.

Shaking like a weather beaten
bird, she nodded. The three
men who had watched her eat,
undressed quickly and asked
Lizzy to pose nude with them.

While she posed with them,
crying profusely, a man came
out with a video camera, set it
on a tripod and began to film
Lizzy and the men taking
different nude poses. Whenever
Lizzy failed to pose as she was
asked to, the men slapped her
across the face. When they were
done, Lizzy was given her
clothes, car key and her Sony
camera. She dressed hurriedly,
crying her bruised eyes sore.

She had expected worse; her
thoughts were that the men
would force her to have s-x
with them, she was thankful
that her ordeal did not reach
that point. Clearly the men were
building a case against her
husband. Much to her surprise
she was led out of the
compound and was asked to go
home. When she stepped out of
the house and saw her car
outside; like a child whose
mother had been away for days,
she ran toward it car, got into
and drove away.

10:30 am, A Mansion outside
the City
Eve was sitting beside Stanley
on a bed, eager to find out
what was going on in his head,
and frustrated that he could not
tell her much because they were
being watched. Upstairs the
three doctors and some armed
men sat before a monitor
hoping that the couple would
volunteer some information
about the videos; especially
about who had the videos.

Doctor Larry picked up his
phone and dialed a certain man,
“Hello sir, it doesn’t look like this
couple know anything about
the videos. They have not said a
word about them for days. It is
likely they don’t even know why
they were shot. I want to ask,
should we let them go?” “If this
current plan does not work, tell
my boys to use force to find out
from them everything they
know. If force fails to yield any
good result, shoot them on the
head and dump their bodies in
a ditch somewhere!” an angry
voice on the other end of the
phone said. “But sir, this was
not what you told us earlier!
You said you wanted to help…”

“Doctor Larry, I am a
businessman and a politician
whose life is on the verge of
being destroyed. Eve and
Stanley have videos that can
destroy my life and that of my
daughter. I want the videos
found and destroyed! If the
couple cannot tell you anything
useful about the videos, kill
them and dump their bodies in
the bush. That should not be
difficult, you are at the outskirt
of the city. Doctor Larry, please
don’t call me until you have
some good news to give me. I
have just sent a message to my
boys to kill Eve and Stanley it
your method fails.” The phone
line went dead.

Doctor Larry was shocked. He
stood up and asked his other
two colleagues to follow him
down stairs. He could tell that
the message the leader of the
armed group read was from
their boss asking him and his
boys to kill Eve and Stanley if
they fail to give them the
information they sought for. On
the staircase, Dr. Larry told his
colleagues what the man they
were working for said. The two
doctors were horrified to hear
what their employer said. “We
have to let Eve and Stanley know
what is going on. If they know
anything, it is about time to let
us know,” Dr. Lami, the
youngest of the three doctors
said as he descended the
staircase in a flight. Eve and
Stanley were locked in each
other’s hands, kissing when the
three doctors barged into their
room. Eve was sure she locked
the door, how the doctors
opened it was a surprise to her.

She broke from the kiss, looking
at the doctors in disbelieve. “I
thought I had that door locked,
how did you get in?” she asked.
Ignoring her, Dr. Larry said to
the two of them, “Your lives are
right now more in danger than
they had ever been. I need you
to give me some information
about something.” Eve was
surprised, but Stanley looked
like he had been waiting for
that moment. “What is it you
want, Dr. Larry?” Stanley asked.
“The man who is keeping our
families from harm, the man
who saved your lives, he wants
a favour from the two of you.

He is looking for…” “Some
videos,” Stanley cut in. Dr. Larry
and the other two doctors
looked at each other, happy that
finally they were getting some
information from the couple.

Upstairs one of the armed men
called their boss and told him
that Stanley had begun to tell
the doctors what he knew
about the videos. Down in the
room where Stanley and the
doctors were, Stanley began a
mind game he had been
rehearsing for hours. “Doctors, I
am not sure you want to know
what is in those videos. Believe
me, you don’t want to know.”

“Stanley, please don’t bother
about us. We have no interest in
the videos. The man we work
for is the one who wants to get
his hands on the videos.” “Okay,
but you will need to write down
the things I am about to tell
you.” “Don’t worry about that
Stanley. Go ahead tell us what
you know.”

Stanley leaned forward and
whispered, “Doctors, you don’t
know what you are doing. Once
I tell you three the contents of
those videos, your lives will be
in grave danger. I know this
whole house is wired with
video cameras. You have been
watching us every minute. I
know this conversation is being
recorded, but you need your
own record of the things I am
about to tell you…” Stanley
lowered his voice further and
continued, “Doctors, you need
your own bargaining chips.

Your lives and those of your
family members will be in
danger the moment you hear
the contents of those videos.

You need something to bargain
your way out of the coming
storm.” The doctors were
scared. Stanley could see sweat
break on their foreheads. He
had got them hooked. His
scheme was working. Lami, the
youngest of the doctors, backed
the camera on the wall and
removed his Samsung phone
and turned on the recorder.

Blinking his eyes repeatedly at
Stanley, he pointed his index
finger at his phone and urged
him to continue.