Chips - Part 2

Taju frowned.

That was not right. He gave the phone a side-eye. He was about to attend to the unusual blinking through the phone's settings but decided against it. He'd shelf this little annoyance for the time being he told himself. He'd give it more attention soonest. He didn't expect this meeting to take the whole day.

And his client was just arriving.

"Good afternoon, Mr. LabChips," the imposing figure of Deji greeted, preferring to go with Taju's tech nomenclature. The man was an Iroko 6ft-5 at his full height. He had begun greying early and had a full head of it now with a peppering of still jet-black strands. He had high cheekbones so that they framed his beakish nose. Aging was fair to him and the lines about his eyes weren't too prominent. He was lean and built like an athlete. And he was all business today, dressing the part too.

Taju ruminated about the man's decision to be strictly formal. Deji could've addressed him by his real name without losing an ounce of formality. Yes, it had to be intentional. The corporate hawk had come for the nuisance of a prey that dared to dance too close and disturb his peace. And he was making it crystal clear that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. If Taju needed any extra points to make this glaringly obvious, the man refused to take Taju's offered hand in greeting.

"Good afternoon, sir," Taju's reply went as he withdrew his lonely, hanging offered handshake.

"This meet will be brief," Deji ploughed on without taking a seat. There were two staffers flanking him and looking, like him, directly into Taju's eyes. Were it possible, they might as well have been examining his soul.

"You have overestimated yourself and messed with my systems for the last time. And," Deji's voice became steely as fiery torches lit up in his eyes, "as such, this is what will happen." It was a voice thick with derision.

Taju noticed the redness in his eyes and ferocity of his voice. He was certain that were they meeting in a secluded location, he'd have been bleeding from more body parts than he cared count by now. But, it was the obvious threat embedded in the words that caught Taju's attention.

"What will happen?" Taju echoed Deji's last words. "Were we not done with that already, sir?"