The first thing Zara noticed was Emeka’s perfume on her skin.
Warm vanilla. Amber. Dark spice.
It lingered along her neck, where his mouth had been minutes earlier.
The second thing she noticed was the photograph on his phone.
It showed Emeka entering her building that evening.
Taken from across the street.
Zara sat up. The sheet slipped from one shoulder.
Emeka’s eyes followed it.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like there is not a threat on your phone.”
“I can see the threat.”
“Then why are you smiling?”
His gaze returned to her bare shoulder.
“Because it is not the most distracting thing in the room.”
“Emeka!”
His smile disappeared as he lifted the phone.
Beneath the picture was a message.
The engineer who copied that report did not make it home.
A second message appeared.
Neither will you.
Emeka stood.
He was still wearing only his trousers. His shirt lay near the bedroom door. Zara’s dress was on the floor, its zip broken.
“Get dressed,” he said.
“Do not order me around.”
“I am suggesting clothes before we discuss my tone.”
Zara reached for his shirt and pulled it on.
It fell halfway down her thighs.
Emeka glanced at her.
“No.”
“No what?”
“You cannot wear that while I am trying to think.”
“It covers more than the sheet.”
“That is not helping.”
She buttoned it slowly.
“Maybe you are easily distracted.”
“You have been distracting me since the night we met.”
“I was investigating you.”
“You wore that black dress to investigate me?”
“It was navy.”
“You knew what it was doing.”
“I knew what I was doing.”
“That is what I said.”
His fingers touched the lowest button of the shirt.
Zara caught his hand.
“This is not the time.”
“You are right.”
Neither moved.
Then Zara stepped away and opened her wardrobe.
She removed a black case containing two flash drives, AEGIS payment records and part of the original bridge report.
Emeka stared at it.
“You kept copies here?”
“I kept copies in three places.”
“You told me the investigators had everything.”
“They have enough to begin. They do not have this.”
“You could have told me.”
Zara looked at him.
“You want to discuss hidden information?”
Emeka became quiet.
Too quiet.
“How long have you known someone was watching us?” she asked.
“Zara—”
“How long?”
“Three days.”
Her anger arrived instantly.
“Three days?!”
“I saw the same grey car outside my office twice.”
“And said nothing?”
“I wanted to handle it.”
“Of course you did.”
“I was protecting you.”
“No! You were deciding what I was allowed to know.”
“You could lose your job.”
“I know.”
“You could lose your life!”
“I know!”
Silence filled the room.
Emeka’s voice softened.
“I do not know what I would do if something happened to you.”
“You do not get to love me by taking away my choices.”
His eyes changed.
“Love?”
Zara immediately regretted the word.
“Someone is watching the building.”
“You said love.”
“Do not become impossible.”
“You love me.”
“You are very annoying to love.”
His smile returned.
“There. You said it properly.”
Then the lights went out.
The air conditioner stopped.
Metal scraped against the front-door lock.
Emeka released her.
“Service exit?”
“Through the kitchen.”
They moved quickly.
The front door opened behind them.
Male voices entered the flat.
Zara and Emeka reached the service stairs as footsteps followed.
A man caught Emeka at the next landing.
Emeka drove him into the wall.
A second man appeared above them.
Zara grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it upward.
White powder filled the stairwell.
“You have done that before?” Emeka asked.
“No.”
“You looked confident.”
“I am good under pressure.”
“You were also good in the bedroom.”
“Focus!”
They ran outside.
A car waited with its lights off.
The window lowered.
A gunshot struck the wall above them.
“Run!”
They escaped through a narrow passage between two buildings.
Minutes later, Emeka shielded Zara behind a concrete wall.
His heart pounded beneath her palm.
“I should have told you,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I am still going to protect you.”
“And I am still going to make it difficult.”
A siren sounded nearby.
Zara tightened her hold on the evidence case.
“How long have you known Dele was willing to kill for AEGIS?”
Emeka looked away.
“Tell me the truth.”
When he finally answered, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“This started before I met you.”
THREE WEEKS EARLIER
At a reception inside the Federal Ministry of Works, Zara Musa stood alone with a glass of chapman she had no intention of drinking.
A warm, woody fragrance reached her from behind.
Then a man spoke.
“You are the only person here who looks like they are planning an arrest.”
Zara turned.
Emeka Nnadi smiled at her.
That was the beginning of the problem.