Sunday evening brought the news Caleb Enyindah had been looking forward to. He had been hired for the job of a driver to the Briggs. He couldn’t wait to start work the next day.
Things were going exactly to plan.
#
In the Briggs home, the news about the employment of a new driver had caused a totally different reaction to Caleb’s.
“If someone is going to drive me around, then we’re not using my car. You better be prepared to give me one of your cars to use o.” Preye said, her lips turned down. It was a Monday morning and the Briggs were having breakfast on the large dining table. Fragrant steam wafted up from the plate heaped with fried food in front of Chief Briggs, but he had barely taken a bite before his daughter began her lamentations.
The man sighed and dropped the fork that was halfway to his mouth. “Use one of my cars? Why?”
“I won’t let anybody drive that car. It’s my car. You bought it for me and no one else has driven it before.”
It was clear that Preye Briggs wasn’t yet reconciled to the idea of another person driving her beloved 2015 Jeep Cherokee. It had been a gift from her father after she had graduated from the University of Lagos with a degree in mass communication. Her disapproving mother had called it an ‘obscene gift’, but Preye loved the car. In all honesty, it was more like a bribe, to make up for all the years of suffering in the university.
Preye had been born in the United States, but citing homesickness, her mother had returned home with her baby. At the age of eleven, Preye had left for Texas, to live with a favourite paternal aunt for the duration of her high school education.
Years spent groomed under a doting aunt had spoiled her rotten, and Preye’s mother kept her husband awake at nights with complaints of how wilful and obstinate their child had grown all the way in the United States. When Chief Hanson Briggs decided to visit his sister while on a vacation, he had seen for himself that his daughter was spiralling out of control. On the last day of his visit, Preye had been involved in a high-speed chase with the Texas police. Even though she had just been a passenger in the car—driven by an underage male driver—it had been the last straw. The chief had returned to Nigeria with his daughter, and had refused to let her go back until she finished her university education.
They had weathered Preye’s angry tears and threats to report herself kidnapped to the American embassy. Finally, after numerous gifts and bribes, an uneasy truce was reached. Preye agreed to finish her tertiary studies before she returned to the United States, and the jeep was an unspoken thank you for her ability to ride out five tough years in a Nigerian university when she could have had the pick of various Ivy League institutions.
The forced stay in Nigeria had done little to add to the girl’s moral fibre, and the Chief was not going to let his daughter’s emotional blackmail work this time. He was tired of her tantrums and selfish behavior. From an adult of twenty-three, he expected better behaviour.
He hissed and resumed his meal. “I’m not going to let your car seat untouched for months, young lady. You’re being petulant and unreasonable. I have hired a driver and he will drive you to work and wherever you want to go every day in YOUR car. Better get used to it.”
Angry tears filled Preye’s eyes. “Daddy, it’s not fair! It’s not fair o!”
The chief refused to look up from his food. Preye pushed her plate away and left the dining table angrily.
Mrs Priscilla Briggs sighed. “Why not give her one of your cars to use, hen, Hanson? This girl will not give anybody peace like this o.”
Chief Briggs glowered at his wife over his spoon. “Look, don’t add kerosene to the fire. Go and talk to your daughter. Have you not spoiled her enough?”
Preye’s mother pouted. “Am I the one who bought her a big jeep? Abeg let me mind my business. After all, it’s you she takes after. Wetin concern me?”
Chief Briggs ignored his wife and chomped on his breakfast. He had bigger problems. He had received news of thwarted plans for a hostile takeover of his various businesses and was yet to find the person or persons behind the attempt to buy out his companies from under his nose. His daughter and her temper tantrums would have to wait. He had bigger fish to fry.
And yet, he was wrong. His daughter was as close to danger as his business was, even closer. He just did not know it yet.
#
When Caleb showed up for his first day at work and Mrs Nathan showed him the jeep he was to drive, his jaw fell open. He touched the vehicle reverently, running his hand along its sleek, jet-black sides. He had driven jeeps before, but nothing this grand. He could hardly wait to sink into the luxurious leather seats and let cold jets of air flow over him while he chauffeured his rich employer.
Maybe this job isn’t so bad after all, he thought gleefully, taking a deep breath of the car’s interior. It smelled of money.
“So, you need to be here by seven every morning and you officially get off work at eight. You may be required to show up earlier or stay later, but that goes into overtime, and you get paid extra for that.” Mrs Nathan said brusquely. “Is that clear?”
Caleb nodded, and then carefully broached something important to his plans. “If I have to stay late, i thought maybe there was accommodation included..?”
Mrs Nathan sighed. “Actually, there is. There are quarters for the staff and you’re entitled to a unit there. One bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and a small living room; all furnished. Nothing much, but comfortable.”
“So when do I move in?” Caleb asked eagerly.
Miss Nathan shrugged. “Trust me I wish I knew that as well.” Caleb looked confused till she continued. “When you’ll move in is up to Mr Benson Adewale. He isn’t done with his almighty security checks on you. I guess you just have to be a little patient…”
The woman was still droning on, but Caleb had stopped listening. Damn it! His instincts had told him the Benson fellow would be a problem. His documents were forged to perfection and his false history had been established carefully. The man would find nothing suspicious and given the country’s lack of proper information compilation, Caleb felt he could explain any lapse away.
Benson’s correct instincts bothered him; the man could prove to be a stumbling stone.
“….so Miss Preye Briggs leaves the house at 7:30am and returns just past four, but you’ll have to hang around till eight unless she specifically dismisses you…”
“Excuse me? Did you say Miss Briggs?”
Mrs Nathan blinked a few times. “Er… yes, didn’t i? Yes, that’s who you’ll be driving. The chief’s daughter.”
Caleb struggled to hide his shock and confusion. “I see.”
The woman guessed his problem correctly. “Did you think you’d be driving the Chief himself?” Mrs Nathan laughed, but it was a good-natured one. “Oh, Caleb. You would never pass the rigorous security checks for his own drivers. They come straight from the security company which guards this house and his offices. Plus, their hours are gruelling.” She patted his arm and let her touch linger a bit longer than necessary. “Trust me, this is the better job.”
But it’s not what I needed, Caleb yelled in his head. Outwardly, he flashed his usual charming smile at the woman. “I’ll take your word for it, madam. Thank you so much.”
When the woman turned away, Caleb’s smile faded and panic bloomed in his chest.
Driving the chief’s brat was not part of the plan. How could he get close to his real target? This job was going to be harder than he had expected.
To Be Continue
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