Chapter 138 The Departure
Chapter 138 The Departure
Adrian’s POV
The apartment is mostly empty as I zip my travel bag shut on top of the bed, and Maya is standing by the closet double checking that we haven't left any files or phones behind in the drawers while the morning traffic hums along the main road down below. We spent two hours cleaning out the remaining papers from our work table, throwing away all the old maps and temporary notes we used during the investigation, and as I lift our bags into the hallway, Damien and Sofia step through the front door to help us carry our luggage down to the waiting car.
"Did you make sure to put the original land deeds into your carry-on bag, Maya, because I don't want those papers going into the plane cargo hold where anyone can handle them?" I ask, taking the smaller folder from her hand and sliding it into the side pocket of my coat.
"The deeds are right here beside my passport, Adrian, so nobody is touching them until we hand them over to our family lawyer in London tomorrow morning," she answers, zipping her purse shut and turning to look around the quiet bedroom one last time before we pull the door closed behind us.
"The driver has the trunk open and the engine running, so let's get these bags downstairs before the airport road gets crowded with afternoon shipping trucks," Damien calls out from the staircase, carrying two heavy suitcases under his arms while Sofia follows right behind him with her tablet.
"Are you sure you don't need us to drive all the way to the main terminal with you, Adrian, because Commander Balogun said his officers can escort your car directly to the tarmac if you want extra security at the gate?" Sofia asks, setting her tablet down on the hood of the car while I slide the suitcases into the back.
"We don't need any police escorts today, Sofia, because my father is sitting in a federal cell and all his hired guards are in custody, so we are just going to travel like regular passengers," I tell her, closing the trunk lid and turning around to look at her and Damien.
"That sounds like a great plan, because you two have spent enough months surrounded by armed guards and police trucks, so a quiet flight back to England is exactly what you deserve," Damien says, stepping up to shake my hand with a firm grip before reaching out to hug Maya.
"You two better make sure you actually answer your personal phones when I call you from the Port Harcourt office next week, because I am not running that entire terminal without sending you the weekly compliance updates," Sofia tells us, stepping forward to wrap her arms around Maya before giving me a warm nod.
"We will answer every single call, Sofia, but you and Damien have full authority to make operational decisions without waiting for our permission every time a ship enters the river," Maya answers, smiling at her while the driver closes the passenger doors for us.
"Keep the terminal running clean, Damien, and call us the second Prosecutor Ojo gives you the final court schedule for the trial," I say, stepping into the back seat beside Maya while Damien taps the roof of the car twice to signal that we are ready to leave.
The drive to the airport takes forty-five minutes through the smooth highway lanes, and as the driver pulls up to the private airfield gate near the commercial tarmac, we see the plane sitting ready on the concrete line with its boarding stairs lowered. We step out of the car and walk toward the gate where the flight assistant takes our tickets and checks our passports against the passenger list, allowing us to walk straight through the security checkpoint without any delays.
"It feels strange to walk across a tarmac without holding a bag of bearer bonds or watching the treeline for black utility vans, Adrian, because every single time we moved between cities before today, we were running from your father's men," Maya says, holding my arm as we walk up the stairs toward the cabin door.
"The running is completely over, Maya, and from this moment on, we don't have to plan escape routes or worry about who holds the key to the next safehouse door," I tell her, stepping onto the top platform and guiding her into the quiet passenger aisle.
We find our seats near the middle of the cabin and put our small bags into the overhead compartment before sitting down side by side, pulling the seatbelts across our laps while the flight attendant closes the main cabin door with a solid thud. The plane engines begin to whine louder as the pilot steers the aircraft away from the gate and moves slowly down the taxiway toward the primary runway line, aligning the nose of the jet with the long strip of black asphalt stretching out toward the coast.
"Are you ready to leave all the corporate warfare and the shadows of the Lekki estate behind us for good, Maya?" I ask, turning my head to look at her as the engines roar to full power and the plane begins to accelerate down the runway.
"I have been ready for this moment since the day we met in that London office, Adrian, and I am not looking back for a single second," she answers, gripping my hand tightly as the wheels lift off the ground and the car lots, buildings, and terminal docks shrink down below us.
The commercial jet clears the runway, climbing steadily into the sky as the entire city falls far beneath us, leaving the corporate warfare and the shadows of the Lekki estate permanently behind in the clouds while we fly toward our new home.