Chapter Eight: Blood Between the Lines
> "When the devil fails to kill you with bullets, he tries with blood."
— Anonymous memo, retrieved from Ibrahim Dalhatu's archives
Zina didn't sleep.
Even after Colonel Musa's body was removed, after Sparrow's wound was treated, after Aurelian dozed off upright in the armchair like some trench soldier her eyes stayed wide, watching the city lights blink like coded warnings through the window.
She wasn't afraid.
She was angry.
And anger was more dangerous than fear.
A TRAIL THROUGH HER PAST
By morning, she had the flash drive plugged in again tracing patterns, bank statements, intelligence reports. Aurelian stirred to the smell of instant coffee and her typing like machine-gun fire.
"Didn't you rest?" he asked, groggy.
"I'll rest when they do," she muttered.
Sparrow sat up with a grunt from the couch and held out her hand. "Coffee, please. And maybe a new bulletproof vest."
"You're lucky I didn't shoot you myself," Zina said, handing her a cup.
Aurelian chuckled. "You two are adorable. Like Bonnie and Clyde, if Clyde paid taxes."
Zina smirked. "We'll need humor where we're going."
"Where is that?" he asked.
She turned the screen. "Kaduna."
His smile faded.
"KADUNA? You want to walk into your hometown while you're wanted and watched?"
"I'm not going home," she said. "I'm going to see my uncle."
THE BLOOD YOU TRUST
Professor Jibrin Dalhatu was her father's younger brother. A university professor. Clean record. Low profile. After her father's death, he'd vanished from public view but she never questioned him. Until now.
"I found a document," Zina explained as they drove toward the airstrip. "A security clearance order signed by him authorizing an internal probe on my dad... two months before he died."
Aurelian frowned. "You think he turned on your father?"
"I think my father knew too much. And trusted the wrong brother."
BACK TO KADUNA
The drive through Kaduna's outskirts was haunting. Familiar markets, half-burned billboards from political campaigns, and children playing near abandoned checkpoints.
They reached Jibrin's bungalow just before sunset.
Zina stepped out first.
A dog barked in the distance.
No one answered when she knocked.
She pushed the door open.
Inside, the house was perfectly clean. Too clean. No books. No photos. No shoes at the door.
Then she saw the newspaper on the dining table.
Yesterday's date.
"He's still here," Zina whispered.
Sparrow swept the room with her gun drawn. Aurelian checked the back.
Then they heard it.
Crying.
In the room down the hall.
UNCLE JIBRIN'S TRUTH
Zina stepped into the small room.
There he was.
Jibrin Dalhatu her uncle seated in a prayer position on a rug. Tears staining his cheeks. His eyes lifted to hers like he'd been waiting years for this exact moment.
"Zina... you came."
She froze.
"You're alive."
"I am. And you're... praying?"
He nodded. "Every day. For forgiveness."
"For whose sin?" she asked coldly. "Yours?"
Jibrin exhaled. "Your father... he warned me. He knew what Gambo and the others were doing. I believed him at first. But then I... I got scared. They offered me safety, money, tenure abroad. I signed the clearance."
Zina's fingers curled.
"You signed his death warrant."
Jibrin shook his head violently. "No! I thought it was just an investigation I didn't know they would"
"Stop."
Tears brimmed in Zina's eyes. "You were his brother. You held my hand at the funeral!"
"I didn't know, Zina! They threatened to burn everything!"
She turned away, fists clenched.
Aurelian watched her quietly, his expression unreadable.
Jibrin sobbed. "I've written everything down. Names. Transfers. Conversations. Take it. It's in the Quran in my drawer."
Sparrow retrieved the holy book, opened it and inside was a thick USB stick taped into the spine.
Zina took it without a word.
"I'm sorry," Jibrin whispered.
Zina looked back at him once.
"I'm not."
-THE DISAPPEARANCE
They returned to the city with the USB hidden in a lunch box Sparrow bought from a roadside vendor.
Zina uploaded the data.
It was explosive.
Evidence of weapons deals between elected officials and foreign syndicates.
Names.
Video calls.
One signature stuck out: R. Aurelian.
Zina froze.
"Aurelian…" she whispered.
He stepped toward the screen. "That's not me."
But the signature was nearly identical.
The document listed a payment of $200,000 for a "transport license approval" dated three years ago.
Zina's eyes narrowed. "Who's this payment from?"
She checked the metadata.
The source?
Dalhatu Law Chambers.
Her father's old firm.
Pain Runs Deep
Zina couldn't breathe.
Aurelian stepped forward. "Wait this isn't what it looks like"
"You worked for my father."
"Yes. As a junior."
"And you never told me?"
"I didn't think it mattered"
"IT MATTERS NOW!"
Sparrow tried to cut in. "Hey cool it"
"No," Zina snapped. "If he worked there, and this payment came from there, then either he's hiding more or my father wasn't who I thought he was."
Aurelian stepped back like he'd been slapped.
Zina's voice cracked. "Did my father approve these deals?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yes. I swear."
Sparrow rubbed her temples. "This is giving me ulcers."
Zina stormed out to the balcony, leaving them behind.
The city below blinked, innocent and unaware.
Her hands shook.
Could her father have been... involved?
Or worse betrayed from both sides?.
Back inside, Aurelian tried to make tea.
He spilled half the water. Burned his fingers. Swore.
Sparrow watched him struggle and shook her head.
"You're a lawyer, right?"
He grunted. "With poor motor skills."
"Explains why Zina handles the gun."
They both laughed.
Outside, Zina heard them and sighed half annoyed, half grateful.
At least the world hadn't ended yet.
-THE TWIST THEY DIDN'T EXPECT
That night, just before bed, Zina received an anonymous email.
"Search your father's bar certificate. Truth sleeps behind his license."
She dug into her father's old documents.
There hidden behind a cracked picture frame was his original license to practice law.
And folded behind it...
A photo.
Old. Faded. Pre-wedding.
Of her mother...
… and Colonel Musa.
Not smiling.
But embracing.
---
Reader's Corner:
Whoa… what did we just uncover?!
Zina's uncle betrayed her father… and now even her mother's past is in question?!
Let's talk :
Was Aurelian lying or just scared?
Do you think Zina's father was clean… or hiding secrets?
And what does that photo of her mom and Colonel Musa mean?!
Drop your thoughts in the comments!
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