LOVE AND BULLET
FINALE
The abandoned textile factory loomed before them like a corpse picked clean by vultures. Its skeletal frame stood against the stormy night sky, rusted metal groaning in the wind as rain began to fall in heavy sheets.
Ava crouched behind the crumbling remains of a delivery truck, her tactical gear soaked through, the cold seeping into her bones. The message on her phone still burned in her mind:
"Come alone. Or he dies."
She hadn’t.
Obinna and his most lethal men were positioned around the perimeter, hidden in the shadows, their weapons ready. Sergeant Kola waited two blocks away with NDLEA reinforcements—those who hadn’t been corrupted.
Ava exhaled, watching her breath fog in the chilled air.
Then she stepped into the open.
"I’m here!" Her voice cut through the storm, sharp as a blade.
Silence.
Then—
A single floodlight flickered to life, its harsh glow illuminating the factory’s gaping entrance.
And there, seated on a folding chair as if he were at a damn board meeting, was Commissioner Dike.
Ava’s stomach twisted.
He looked different—not the desperate, wounded man they’d left bleeding in the NDLEA headquarters. This version was immaculate: a tailored navy suit, gold cufflinks, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back. A king surveying his kingdom.
Behind him, six figures emerged from the darkness.
Not street thugs.
Not cartel enforcers.
Dike smiled, crossing his legs. "Ava Carter. Or should I call you Lola now?"
Ava didn’t flinch. "You wanted me here. Talk."
Dike chuckled, shaking his head. "You still don’t understand, do you? This was never just about drugs. Or money." He leaned forward, his eyes glinting like a predator’s. "It’s about control. The names on your list? They’re just puppets. We pull the strings."
Ava’s fingers twitched toward the knife hidden in her boot. "And Obinna?"
Dike’s grin widened. "Ah. Right on time."
The factory doors groaned open behind him.
Ava’s breath caught.
Obinna was shoved forward, his hands bound, a gun pressed to his temple by a masked operative. Blood trickled from a gash above his brow, his face a mask of cold fury.
No.
Her heart hammered.
They’d known. They’d known about the ambush, about Kola, about everything.
Dike’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it, then laughed. "Ah. It seems your Sergeant friend won’t be joining us after all."
Ava’s blood turned to ice.
Kola.
Before she could react, two operatives seized her, forcing her to her knees in the mud. The barrel of a pistol pressed into the base of her skull.
Dike crouched in front of her, his cologne cloying. "Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to disappear. Tonight. And in return?" He patted her cheek. "Your beloved kingpin gets to keep breathing."
Ava’s nails dug into her palms.
She could lie. Play along.
But Obinna’s gaze locked onto hers, burning with defiance.
Do it.
She smiled.
"Wrong answer."
The first explosion shattered the night.
The east wall of the factory erupted in a fireball, the shockwave hurling debris like shrapnel. Dike’s men stumbled, disoriented—
Ava moved.
She twisted, driving her elbow into the kneecap of the man behind her. His gun fired, the shot grazing her shoulder as she rolled and came up with her knife.
Obinna was already free—his bonds snapped, his guard’s throat slit before the man could scream.
Chaos swallowed the compound.
Gunfire. Shouting. The roar of flames devouring the factory’s corpse.
Through the smoke, Ava saw Dike scrambling for a fallen pistol—
She lunged.
They crashed into the dirt, rolling, clawing, biting. Dike was stronger than he looked, his fist slamming into her jaw hard enough to make her vision swim.
"You ****** girl!" he spat, pinning her down. "You could have walked away!"
Ava grinned through the blood in her mouth. "I don’t know how."
Then she headbutted him with everything she had.
The fire raged, painting the sky in hues of hell.
Ava staggered to her feet, coughing smoke from her lungs. Around her, the factory burned, the bodies of Dike’s men littering the ground.
Obinna emerged from the haze, his face streaked with soot and blood.
"Dike?" he rasped.
Ava scanned the wreckage.
"Gone."
The commissioner had vanished into the night, like the coward he was.
But the war wasn’t over.
It had just begun.
The safehouse in Accra was small but secure.
Ava stood on the balcony, watching the sunrise paint the city gold. Behind her, Obinna’s arms slid around her waist, his lips brushing her shoulder.
"We’ll find him," he murmured.
Ava leaned into his touch. "I know."
Dike was out there.
So were the others.
But they had time.
And they had each other.
THE END