Dare's POV.

Dare was out drinking with his secondary school friend, Akin and 2 of his guys. He has been postponing this meetup ever since he moved to Lagos because he has been very busy with the new job. Akin literally threatened him this week so he finally caved in.

Akin's wife and 3-year-old daughter are currently away in the US to deliver their second child so he has been very bored and has all the freedom to party and stay out all night with the guys.

Thinking about, it is actually funny that even Akin, who is a Medical Doctor does not trust the Country's healthcare system. Its not about the passport for them, his wife is a US Citizen.

They were drinking, catching up and playing chess. There was a football replay on the TV in the room. His phone rang; it was Gowon.

"I am here," Gowon said "Can you meet me in the parking lot, I can't come In because there's someone in the car with me"

"Sure I'll be out in a sec" Dare excused himself and Akin glared at him at first thinking he wanted to leave.

"Guy calm down" He laughed. "Someone is here to see me"

The person he is going to meet outside, Gowon is an ex-DSS agent. He quit years ago and now runs a private security company; the Company provides offshore security for many oil companies in the country. Mostly for the oil majors.

When he was moving to Lagos and needed to make his home and private security arrangements, Mr. Obaze introduced him to Gowon because his Company provides security services for some their operations in Port Harcourt as well.

The security system and software he installed in his house is so good and even more advanced than the one in his London apartment. Gowon's Company also handled the purchase of his armored S-class from the US. In fact, Gowon personally handled the acquisition of the car himself and that was how they started talking one on one.

They developed a good rapport because Gowon speaks Hausa like him so they get along quite well.

So when he decided to do THIS, it was Gowon that came to mind.

He did not even know he would see him today but when he called him an hour ago and said, he wanted him to do something for him Gowon, sensing the hesitation in his voiced asked if he wanted to discuss it in person and he said yes. Luckily, he was heading towards Ikoyi so they just agreed to meet at the club.

The fact that Gowon actually took time off his super busy schedule to come here personally, made him grateful. Such a reliable guy, no wonder he is very successful.

You see he actually needed this hangout today more than anything because the job was beginning to stress him out. Everything was going smoothly but he still has more cleaning up to do. He has nailed his first scapegoats, he really had no plans of firing more people but hoped the example he set with those two would be a deterrence to the others, going forward.

In addition, the structure of the Company irritated him. Why was that Sofi girl low-key in charge of everything? Mr. Bakare was running the place like typical Nigerian one-man-business and the Sofi girl was like his hidden deputy.

The company's only redeeming feature is that it is an oil and gas E&P Company and most of the technical work is outsourced so Chief Bakare's management style worked for them while he was still CEO. He could not wait to fix that and put up a solid structure with stricter internal controls.

He also has to mop up funds in order to raise more funds that the Company will use as financial capability in the new gas projects they'll be bidding for in the next two months.

His final headache is the Sofi girl, he was a little bit wary of her..actually, more than a little bit.

The thing is, he met one of the Company's Board Members, Senator Dele in Abuja by chance prior to his resumption, and the Man specifically told him to be cautious of her.

The Man criticized Mr. Bakare's Management of the Company and alleged that he gives Sofi "too much power", he could still remember the man's words;

She is a junior manager but she makes most of the major decisions in the Company and even awards contracts to her friends. That small girl is the one calling all the shots there, good luck with that one.

So to some extent, he was already prejudiced towards her, Senator Dele painted her as one olodo slay queen, but now that he has worked with her in person he could see that she is clearly an intelligent person. Perhaps, a little bit inexperienced in a top management role but very competent nonetheless.

He already knew Mr. Bakare was behind those silly celebrity endorsement deals because they discussed it last month before he even flew into Lagos, but it was interesting to watch her try to defend and take all the blame for it lol. She is a diehard Chief Bakare loyalist, and he has a problem with that.

Her reports were the most professional and accurate unlike Uncle-Mr. Richards or the other Heads of Department. Her financial management is impeccable, and she was able to assemble a competent roster of contractors. He did his research on their contractors and they are some of the best operating in Africa not just Nigeria. Senator Dele's heavy disapproval of her was losing basis real quick and he was starting look more like a sofi-hater to him. Lol what did she do to him.

Anyway he still wanted to find out more about her, he wanted real and accurate info not unsolicited and biased chatter from one Agbaya in Abuja.

She is way too close to his employer for his liking and he wants to know why Mr. Bakare trusts her so much....and why a whole sitting Senator feels threatened by her.

The only other person in the Company Mr. Bakare trusts as much as he trusts her is Mr. Obaze and he's been friends with Mr. Obaze for over 30 years so that makes sense. But what is this Sofi's edge, there has to be something else and he is going find out.

She could be a relative, or even a lovechild. There's a high chance Mr. Bakare was a senior yoruba demon so he would not rule the possibility out. He really hopes she is not a relative and all that glory she gets is due to pure hard work and competence though.

He has looked her up on the internet and he's found her LinkedIn page, a couple of pictures on Bellanaija and some news sites but all of it was work related.

Which is why he wants Gowon to run an investigation on her for him. Because he wants to work out the best approach to gently strip her off her 'excessive powers' without offending Mr. Bakare.

***
Gowon was waiting for him beside a black G wagon, the security expert put out his cigarette when he saw him approaching.

"Is this armored?" Dare pointed at the car.

"Yeah, I went outside Lagos" Gowon said.

"This is sick!" Dare scanned the car again, he was very impressed with it.

"You want one? I can arrange one for you" Gowon grinned.

Dare laughed. "Let me recover from the S-class first, Oga" Dare said.

"Haba, You're a big man naw" Gowon said with a smirk on his face.

As they walked away from Gowon's car towards the building Gowon stopped, looked at the club building then back at Dare "What are you doing here though?"

Why does everyone keep asking him that? Earlier the Interior designer that worked on his house asked him the same question when he said he was in this club.

"Hanging out with some friends," He said.

"And you people chose this place? How old are your friends?" Gowon teased him.

He admits the place is kind of old school but he likes the privacy of the VIP rooms because no one smokes there. Also, Akin is a member of the club because unlike most of the Bars and lounges in Lagos this one has wheelchair accessibility.

Akin had a power bike accident 8 years ago and lost use of his legs, so he is a wheelchair user and he hates asking for help with mobility. He owns one of those super sophisticated powered wheelchairs; he says he is naija Professor Xaviar.

"My friend is disabled and they have wheelchair access here" Dare said.

"Oh! makes sense, sorry.. I made fun of..erm..." Gowon said regretting that he made fun of them.

"Its fine, you're not the only one who has mocked me for coming here today, it is clear now that you Lagosians really hate this place" Dare laughed then went straight to business.

"So anyway, I need a background check on someone, I want to know everything about this person from the day they were born to this day. I need every relevant info; educational, professional, personal......I want to know who their ancestors were" He said. "And I want you to handle this yourself because I don't want anyone else to know about it"

Gowon just smiled and nodded, he did not look surprised at all, he must be used to such requests.

"Okay. Who is the unlucky person?"

"Sofi....Sophia Sani" He said under muffled breath.

The surprise finally appeared on Gowon's face. He raised his brows, he was going to say something but he just nodded again and maintained his professional demeanor.

"Got it. But I'm going to need like 3 weeks, it can be done in a week, but my hands are full right now, how urgent is this?"

"Take your time"

He suspects Gowon knows her, everyone knows her in the Industry, she engages most of the contractors so he must have met her at some point  since his Company has done a great deal of security contracts for them in the past.

Gowon did not even ask why he was making such request he just casually changed the topic and asked if he was enjoying his car as they walked back to his car.

As he walked back to the club, he saw a couple leaving and the blonde haired girl somewhat reminded him of her. He didn't see her face but she was around her height and had nice legs..........just like her.

If he was being honest with himself the one thing that bothers him the most about her is the fact that she is freaking stunning.

He would never forget the first day he laid his eyes on her in his office.

She had nice and neat braids tied in a low bun. She was wearing makeup but it was very light, it was like she put it on.. just because. She has unique features, her lips were very defined and she has the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen.

The other day they had a minor staredown, she lost because he literally couldn't take his eyes off hers.

That first day she came to his office, he was fooled by the oversized blazer she wore over her midi dress. He thought she was skinny but he was wrong, the girl is thick in all the right places because luckily or rather unfortunately for him, the next day after that, she wore a fitted dress and he was blessed with all that thickness.

TBH She is fine AF but so are all the beautiful women in this Lagos like the interior Designer in his DM, shooting shots right now.

He attributed his thirsty thoughts over her to the fact that has not been laid for months now. He needs to fix that problem ASAP, he thought as he opened his chat with the Interior Designer.

A/N: I slept off last night instead of posting this.

How is it going? I hope I'm not introducing too many characters at once.

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