IN THE SHADOWS OF JUSTICE

  The Meeting             The dim glow of the fluorescent light flickered overhead as the clock on the wall edged toward 4 a.m. The quiet of the prison was broken only by the distant sounds of guards chatting and the shuffling of their feet. Deji, slumped on the cold concrete floor of his cell, was just waking from a deep sleep on Tuesday morning, the second day of his arrest, when the door creaked open.      “Deji,” a hushed voice whispered, cutting through the haze of sleep. “Get up.”      Deji’s heart raced as he jolted awake, adrenaline surging through his veins. “What’s happening? Are they moving me?” His voice trembled, laced with both fear and curiosity.      “Not yet,” Femi replied, stepping inside and quietly shutting the door behind him. “I need you to come with me. No time to explain.”      Deji hesitated, a million questio...

    Race Against Exposure      Ada's apartment felt suffocating, despite the warm glow of the morning sun filtering through her curtains. She hadn't slept all night, her body tense with dread. Her phone screen flashed again—more messages from Tunde. His persistence was alarming. He had been demanding the recording for hours, pressuring her to send it as soon as possible.      But Ada wasn’t the same naive person she had been the day before. Now, she understood the terrible mistake she had made by trusting him. Tunde had been Deji’s closest friend, someone she thought they could rely on. Yet, the eagerness in his voice, the urgency with which he pushed her to hand over the evidence, now rang in her ears as the telltale signs of betrayal.      She cursed under her breath, realizing the depth of her error. Tunde had been working with Senator Bala all along. Ada had unknowingly put herself in danger by even...

  Chapter 2   The Sudden Arrest      Deji stood by the large hotel window, staring out at the Lagos skyline as twilight faded into the deep indigo of evening. The city’s flickering lights stretched far beyond him, but none of it registered in his mind. It was around 9 p.m., but he felt as though time had come to a standstill. He had been back in Nigeria for only a few hours, yet the weight of the decision he’d made to confront Senator Bala was already closing in on him. But there was more than just Bala’s impending reckoning troubling him—an unsettling feeling had been gnawing at him since he arrived.       Seeking some comfort, Deji pulled out his phone and dialed Ada’s number for a video call. Her familiar face appeared on the screen within seconds, her expression soft but filled with concern. He smiled briefly at the sight of her, though the tension in his body remained.      "How’s my man doing?" Ad...