Chapter 21

"Yeah…I can see how you are enjoying his show." The Liberian said to doctor Zayyad.

"Hey, come and take a close look at the pictures that he posted, aren't they cute? Awww…see the eyes of that puppy. Wish I could adopt him." The Liberian said.

"Or her." Doctor Zayyad replied as he felt the animal gender might also be a she and not a he.

"Hahahaha…yeah fine." The Liberian laughed.

"Let me take a look." He said as the librarian turned the laptop towards the doctor.

"They are cute. I love dogs especially." Doctor Zayyad replied.

"Scroll down, there are more. If not for work and I don't have anyone at home to look after them I would have adopted some too." The Liberian replied.

"Why don't you just quit work and become his assistant, animal lover boy." Doctor Zayyad teased as he went through the pictures.

"Hahahahaha….I really love them and that's why I'm a forensic Liberian. I have read them since I was a little boy. I had these animal stories with me. I had so many piles when I was a young boy. My mum didn't like animals while my dad had a little affinity for them. Because my mum never liked them she never allowed me to get one.

After so much pleading and tears, they finally got me a puppy which didn't stay for long before it was sold to our neighbor who eats dogs. Mum complained that it always poops around the house and she had to keep following after it to clean it up. She got fed up with it and took it away.

I cried after that day and refused to eat. One day I saw a chameleon in our backyard and took it to my room. Men, it was so much fun with creatures especially what that chamelion did to my mum. Hahahaha….that was my last pet." The Liberian began to narrate what happened when he was a young boy.

"What happened to it? What did your mum do?" He asked the librarian.

"It sneaked into the kitchen I didn't know while I was still sleeping. It must have been hungry and went to get some food. My mum was cooking when it suddenly jumped on her forehead. She started screaming until she brought down our roof. I received enough scolding that day." The Liberian narrated his story.

"Hahahaha…must have been a good lesson to you. I can only imagine what your mum's face must have looked like." Doctor Zayyad said to the Liberian as they laughed out loud while Zayyad was still looking at the pictures.

He noticed one of the pictures having a nose like that of a werewolf. Just then, the Liberian collected his laptop.

"Wat wait wait…let me see that picture again." Doctor Zayyad said to the Liberian as he got up from his seat and stood beside him and peered into the laptop again.

"This?" The Librarian asked.

"Yes yes that. Zoom on it please…by the left." Doctor Zayyad Mingway said to him as he looked closer.

"What's it?" The librarian asked.

"That's a wolf…" Doctor Zayyad Mingway exclaimed.

"You must be joking…there are no such things as that in his shelter…maybe you're not seeing clearly." The librarian said to doctor Zayyad Mingway.

"No, no…I know what I am seeing. Zoom on it properly and click it. Yes yes there…take a close look at it and all its features. What did you see?" Doctor Zayyad Mingway asked.

"Oh my God…that's a…shit! How is that possible?" The librarian exclaimed.

"Track his address immediately. We have to get there and take back that wolf from him." Doctor Zayyad instructed.

"But what will he be doing with such a creature? Doesn't he know how dangerous it is?" The librarian asked.

"Don't ask me. You can see for yourself that he is an old man. Get his address quickly, we need to get there on time." Doctor Zayyad Mingway said as he left the library.

Doctor Zayyad Mingway rushed to go and see the lieutenant in his office alongside with doctor Charles. The lieutenant was in the seat when they came in.

"Can I help you?" The lieutenant asked them as he saw the way they hurtled into his office.

"Yes sir. We just found out the address of the werewolf." Doctor Zayyad Mingway said in a panting voice.

"What werewolf are you talking about?" The lieutenant asked them.

"Sir, I found something in the library online. There is a werewolf in an animal shelter and we need to get it away from there." Doctor Zayyad replied again.

"Since when did you see that?" The lieutenant asked them.

"This morning sir." Doctor Mingway Zayyad replied.

"Really? Are you sure about what you saw?" The lieutenant asked him again as he looked at the both of them.

"Yes sir." Doctor Zayyad said to him.

"Then wouldn't it be a good thing if it is just liked? I'll send some detectives to kill it." The lieutenant said as he bent down hisbehad as though he was done with them.

"No sir. We need it alive…it might be the one that we were programming before it escaped." Doctor Zayyad said as doctor Charles nodded his head.

"What programming are you learning about again after what ever faced because of those beasts? Didn't you also hear about the news that happened in Abuja?" The lieutenant asked doctor Zayyad as he directed his question to him.

"Sir, though I wasn't around during the procedures that was done on the werewolf but I assure you that this can be to our good. We have made a series of experiments and we so much believe it to work. We need to program him and also find a way to suck out his powers which was one of the mistakes that was made, they forgot to do that and that's why they faced a great challenge.

Believe me sir, we can use this to our own advantage as a means of weapon. We can also use this werewolf to help the military in fighting wars and that will mean so much income." Doctor Charles explained their point as to where they were coming from.

"Okay. I've heard you and I'm putting all my hopes in you, Doctor Charles. Don't let me down this time." The lieutenant strictly warned them as though he was giving them a last chance.

"Yes sir. We won't mess up this time again I promise." Doctor Zayyad Mingway gave his word to the lieutenant.

"I'll send some police officers to the address to get it back here. One of you should go with them and make sure it is harmless before bringing it in here." The lieutenant said to them.

"Yes sir." They chorused.

"Which of you is going?" The lieutenant asked.

"I will." Doctor Charles volunteered.

They dispersed as they started to prepare what to take to the address in order to render the animal harmless before they could bring it back to the station.

Doctor Zayyad helped in packing some syringes with some poisonous substance that would be used for doctor Charles while he stayed behind to prepare the machines and other equipment before their arrival.

Officer Doyin, Detective Henry and doctor Charles were the ones to go as they set off in a van. The address was collected from the librarian as they tracked it down. Finally arriving at their destination, they dropped down and observed the place.

It seemed to be a quiet area and robbery could take place there without anyone's knowledge. The houses around there too were rusty.

"Which is the house?" Detective Henry asked them as the mapped address was with officer Doyin.

"From the map here, it should be that house over there with a green gate. The one with a bulb just above the gate." Officer Doyin pointed at a house that was in front of them with two houses. They walked up to he house as the doctor carried his bag along while the police officers took alongside with them another bag that contained what they would also use too. They arrived at the house gate and knocked on it but no one replied.

They knocked several times on the gate but there was no response so they pushed it open and went inside as they looked around the house, observing it.

"This house is too quiet to house animals. Are you sure that we are at the right address?" Detective Henry asked again.

"That's what is written down here. Let's go round and check, maybe we can find something else or a door to the main entrance of the house." Officer Doyin replied.

"That's trespassing. We can't just barge into someone else's house like that without invitation or permission unless in rare cases of emergency." Detective Henry replied to officer Doyin's question.

"Let's just go. This is not the place." Doctor Charles said to them as they turned around to leave. They had just walked a few steps when a voice called out to them.

"Hey!" A voice called out and they turned to see who it was when they saw an old man.

"Good day sir." They greeted him in unison.

"Keep your greetings to yourselves. What are you doing in my house without knocking?" The old man asked them.

"We're sorry sir…we did knock on the gate but no one replied." Detective Henry apologized to the old man.

"Could this be the old man who owned the animal shelter?" Doctor Charles whispered to them.

"We have never seen him so we can't tell." Officer Doyin said to doctor Charles.

"What do you want?" The old man asked.

"We came to check on the animals you are keeping in this house." Officer Doyin replied and the detective, Henry, nudged him.

"We come in peace…we just want to talk." Detective Henry said to the old man as he looked at them suspiciously.

"What do you want?" The old man asked again.

"Can we talk please?" Detective Henry requested for an audience with the old man.

"Follow me." He waited for them as he turned his back and walked away. They followed after him as he entered the house through another door. They looked around at the environment. How strange it was.

"Do you live here alone sir?" Detective Henry asked the old man.

"No. I live here with my family." The old man said to them.

"Oh…you must have grown up kids for the house to be so quiet." Doctor Charles commented. The old man didn't say anything.

"Have a seat. Coffee or tea?" He asked them as they sat down in the living room.

"We'll be fine with water sir." Detective Henry said to the old man as he left them in the living room to an adjoining room which they suspected to be the kitchen.

They observed the coolness and quietness of the living room. Such a big house and a quiet house. The old man later reappeared with a tray which contained two bottles of water and three glass cups. He gave it to them as officer Doyin collected the tray from him after muttering a "thank you" to the old man.

He left back to the kitchen and came out with a mug for himself as he sat down on the sofa opposite them. He looked deeply into their eyes as he sipped his hot coffee.

"You like coffee in the afternoon?" Doctor Charles asked the old man but he didn't reply to him . Rather, he ignored his question.

"Where is your family, sir? Are they home or have they traveled?" Detective Henry asked the old man as he didn't see or hear anyone coming out of the house. He also didn't see any photo frame of his family as all the portraits that were hung on the wall were that of nature paintings.

"I live here by myself." He replied to detective Henry after a long while of silence.

"What about your family? Who leans in and takes care of the house for you?" Detective Henry asked again as he pressed further, wanting to know about his family.

"I cook and clean all by myself." The old man replied. He seemed to act dtenage as his replies were also strange. They needed to play cool headed with him even though his mode of response was delaying and frustrating.

"Do you need help around the house sir?" Detective Henry asked the old man.