Call the Four by Osagie Ololunose
Synopsis
“A significant work of art of this era… Osagie is one to look out for.”– Bookause Reviews
“Captivating… this story is alive in society!”– Ray Anyasi (Author of Ujasiri)
In the shadowed heart of Edinburgh, two teenage girls disappear without a trace. The city sleeps, unaware that its peace is about to be shattered. Adeyinka and Eoin, two boys from their school, carry a secret. Guilt gnaws at them. And in a reckless act of courage, they vanish into the night, chasing after the abductors without telling a soul.
By midnight, four teenagers are missing. Panic grips the city. The police scramble. Parents flood social media with desperate pleas and wild theories. Misinformation spreads like wildfire, igniting fear and suspicion.
Then, a CCTV clip surfaces: Adeyinka, the son of Nigerian immigrants, walking into the park with one of the missing girls. The image becomes a spark. Rumours explode. Hate festers. A violent anti-immigrant protest erupts, tearing through Edinburgh and rippling across the nation. The city that once stood united fractures overnight.
As the search spirals into chaos, the real danger slips further from view. Far to the south, Adeyinka and Eoin—brave, impulsive, and tragically unprepared—stumble into the clutches of a ruthless grooming and trafficking ring. Their fight for truth becomes a fight for survival.
Call The Four is a searing tale of youthful defiance, fractured communities, and the devastating cost of silence. In a society quick to judge and slow to protect, four teenagers become the lightning rod for a nation’s unrest. And only by facing the darkest corners of their world can they hope to find the light.
1
The Park, 17:08
Adeyinka Olusoji, 14, walks briskly toward the small park, breath fogging in the bitter November air. His hoodie is pulled tight, hands buried in the sleeves, but one thumb still taps at his phone. The screen glows against his face — the only light in a street already swallowed by dusk.
The sky is a deep navy, streetlights flickering to life with a hum. The park ahead is barely visible, its swings creaking in the wind, the roundabout frozen mid-spin. A fox slips past the bins, unnoticed.
ADEYINKA (texting)
“nah fr tho u wild 😂”
He grins, distracted. Doesn’t hear the crunch of gravel behind the hedge. Doesn’t see the second figure watching from the shadows near the climbing frame.
He slows at the gate. Looks up. Types again, more cautious now.
ADEYINKA (texting)
“wait u went already?”
The phone buzzes once. Then again. Then dies, screen black, no warning.
He frowns. Taps it. Nothing.
From the trees: a rustle. A breath. A pause.
Adeyinka turns, not fast, not scared. Just curious.
ADEYINKA
“Yo?”
The wind picks up. The swings groan. The screen stays dark.
Adeyinka’s phone flickers back to life, not fully, just enough to buzz once in his palm. A new message slides across the cracked screen:
UNKNOWN
“you at the park yet?”
He hesitates. The contact has no name. Just a grey circle. No profile picture. No history in the chat log, everything before today is gone.
He thumbs a reply, glancing toward the swings.
ADEYINKA
“yeah i’m here. what now?”
Three dots appear. Then vanish. Then appear again.
UNKNOWN
“wait for Alana. or go get her if she’s still far.”
Adeyinka frowns. Looks back toward the street. The wind picks up, carrying the sound of a distant siren. He types, slower now.
ADEYINKA
“do i have to?”
No reply.
He pockets the phone. Starts walking toward the estate.
Behind him, the swing creaks once. Then stops.
Alana adjusts her scarf with one hand, the other glued to her phone. Her breath clouds the air as she steps out of the stairwell and onto the pavement, boots crunching on frost-bitten leaves. The sky’s already ink-dark, the kind of Edinburgh evening where the cold feels personal.
She’s typing fast, cheeks flushed, not from the cold.
ALANA (texting)
“what’s the rush lol”
She bites her lip. Waits. The reply comes almost instantly.
ADEYINKA
“just come to the park. i’ll show u”
She stares at the message, heart thudding a little harder than she’ll admit. Adeyinka Olusoji, the boy who barely says two words in class, who always sits near the window, who once lent her a charger without making eye contact, is suddenly asking her to meet him. Alone. In the park. After dark.
She tucks her phone into her coat pocket, fingers tingling. Not from the cold.
He’s shy, she thinks. Maybe this is his way of saying it. Maybe he’s finally going to tell me.
She walks faster.
Behind her, a porch light flickers. A curtain shifts.
She doesn’t notice.
Alana spotted him before he saw her, or at least, before he let on that he had. Adeyinka stood beneath the glowing streetlamp at the corner of her road, hands buried deep in his hoodie pocket, shoulders hunched like he was bracing against more than just the cold. The light above him buzzed faintly, casting a halo that blinked in and out, as if unsure whether to reveal him or let him disappear.
She slowed her pace, heart ticking faster. He wasn’t usually like this, waiting, reaching out. In class, he barely spoke. He kept to the edge of things, always near the window, always with his phone half-hidden under the desk. But tonight, he’d messaged her. Out of nowhere. Told her to come to the park. Said he had something to show her.
He looked up as she approached, then quickly looked away. His face was unreadable in the half-light.
“I came to walk you,” he said, voice low, like he wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say.
Alana smiled, trying to sound casual. “I know my way to the park; you didn’t have to.”
He shrugged, and they fell into step without another word. Their footsteps echoed in the quiet street, the only other sound the distant hum of traffic and the occasional rustle of wind through bare branches.
She glanced at him sideways. He wasn’t looking at her. His jaw was tight; eyes fixed ahead like the pavement might shift if he blinked.
“So…” she said, drawing the word out, “what’s this surprise?”
He hesitated. “I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t press. He was nervous, she could feel it. And maybe that meant something. Maybe this was it. The moment he finally said what she’d suspected for months. That he liked her. That he’d just been too shy to say it.
The thought made her stomach flutter.
They walked on in silence, the park still a few streets away, the sky above them a deep, unbroken navy. Somewhere behind them, a set of footsteps trailed off. Neither of them turned around.
Far Corner of the Park, 17:16
Eoin Row sat hunched on a damp wooden bench, collar pulled high, fingers stiff with cold as he held his phone to his ear. The call rang out once. Twice. Then voicemail.
Again.
He let the phone drop to his lap; screen still lit with Haley Keith’s name. No answer. No text. Just the same silence he’d been getting all day.
The park stretched out in front of him, dim and skeletal in the winter dark. The swings creaked somewhere behind him, and the roundabout turned slightly in the wind, though no one had touched it. His breath came in short, visible bursts.
He checked the screen again. Still nothing.
They weren’t even in the same year, she was sixteen, a class ahead, but they shared the same bus route, and once, she’d laughed at something he said. Not politely. Properly. Like she meant it.
That had been enough.
He’d messaged her earlier, just to say hi. Then again, to ask if she was coming out tonight. She hadn’t replied, but he’d called anyway. Just in case.
Now he sat there, phone cooling in his hand, wondering if she’d ever meant to come. Or if he’d imagined the whole thing, the smile, the laugh, the way she’d once said his name like she liked the sound of it.
A fox darted past the path ahead, pausing just long enough to look at him before vanishing into the hedge.
Eoin leaned back, exhaled, and stared up at the sky. No stars. Just clouds. Just cold.
Eoin’s phone buzzed in his lap, cutting through the silence like a whisper too close to the ear.
He glanced down. Not Haley.
No name. Just a number. No profile picture. No status. Just a message.
UNKNOWN
“Is Haley in the park with you?”
He blinked. His thumb hovered. Then typed.
EOIN
“No. She’s not picking up.”
The reply came fast. Too fast.
UNKNOWN
“Prove you’re a strong man. Get her there.”
Eoin stared at the screen. The cold felt sharper now, like the bench was pressing into his spine.
UNKNOWN
“All you have to do is make her come. Once she’s there, you’ll see. Our technique works. Any girl you like, she’ll love you.”
He swallowed. The message sat there, pulsing faintly. He looked around, the trees, the path, the empty swings. No one.
He typed, slower this time.
EOIN
“What will you do?”
No reply.
Just the wind.
Eoin’s fingers were stiff with cold, but he tapped the call button again, screen glowing faintly in the dark. The phone rang once. Then…
“Eoin,” Haley’s voice snapped through the speaker, sharp and unmistakable. “I got your thousand texts. Chill.”
He sat up straighter, heart thudding. “Sorry. I just, thanks for picking up.”
“I’m coming,” she said. “But whatever you want to say or show me better not be stupid. Or I swear I’ll kill you.”
He laughed, too quickly. “It’s not stupid. You’ll like it. I promise.”
A pause. Then a sigh.
“Fine. I’ll be there in a minute.”
The line went dead.
Eoin stared at the phone, a grin creeping onto his face. She was coming. She’d actually said yes. Maybe this was it, the moment everything changed.
He didn’t notice the message still open beneath the call screen. The one from the unknown number. The one that hadn’t replied.
“All you have to do is make her come…”
Haley arrived with her coat half-zipped and her hair pulled into a loose bun, cheeks flushed from the cold and the walk. She didn’t slow down as she approached the bench, didn’t smile, didn’t ask how he was.
“You better not have dragged me out here for something dumb,” she said, arms crossed, breath visible in the air between them.
Eoin stood quickly, nerves jangling. “No, it’s not dumb. I swear.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Then spit it out.”
Before he could speak, his phone buzzed again. He glanced down, another message from the same unknown number.
UNKNOWN
“Bring her to the park entrance. Now.”
He hesitated. Haley noticed.
“What?” she asked. “Who’s texting you?”
“No one,” he lied. “Just… come with me. I want to show you something. It’s at the entrance.”
She frowned. “You said that already. You’re acting weird.”
“It’ll make sense when we get there,” he said, trying to sound confident. “Please.”
Haley rolled her eyes but started walking. “If this is some joke, I’m leaving. And I’m blocking you.”
Eoin followed, heart pounding. The path to the entrance was darker than he remembered. The trees leaned in closer. The wind had picked up.
He didn’t look at his phone again.
They reached the park entrance just as the wind picked up, carrying the scent of damp leaves and something metallic. Adeyinka and Alana were already there, standing under the broken streetlamp, its light pulsing weakly like a dying signal. Neither of them spoke. They looked like they’d been waiting for something, or someone, but hadn’t decided if it was good or bad.
Eoin and Haley slowed as they approached. Haley was already annoyed, arms crossed, ready to leave if this turned out to be a joke. Eoin opened his mouth to speak, to explain, to stall, to say anything, but then the van pulled up.
White. Unmarked. Fast.
It screeched to a halt in front of them, tyres skidding on wet tarmac. The doors flew open. Three men in black balaclavas jumped out, moving with terrifying precision. One of them had a gun.
Adeyinka ran before he saw it, instinct, pure and clean. He bolted down the path, feet pounding, breath ragged.
Alana froze. Haley did too. Their eyes wide, locked on the masked men who were already closing the distance.
Eoin stepped in front of Haley, arms out, body tense. “Run,” he said, voice low, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t.
The man with the gun didn’t hesitate. He struck Eoin hard across the face, a sickening crack, and Eoin dropped, knees buckling, head hitting the pavement with a dull thud.
The other two grabbed the girls. Alana screamed first, then Haley. They kicked, twisted, tried to break free, but the men were fast, practiced. In seconds, both were shoved into the back of the van.
The doors slammed shut.
The van peeled away, tyres screeching, leaving behind a trail of silence and a boy bleeding on the ground.
Adeyinka crouched behind the low hedge, knees pressed into frozen soil, breath shallow and uneven. The white van tore down the road, tyres screeching, its red taillights shrinking into the dark like a warning swallowed by the night.
He didn’t move.
Couldn’t.
His heart was hammering so hard it felt like it might crack his ribs. He’d run before he saw the gun, before he saw Eoin fall, before the girls screamed. Something in him had just snapped, and his legs had taken over.
Now he was alone. Hidden. Watching.
He blinked, trying to make sense of the last sixty seconds. The van. The masks. The gun. Alana and the other girl, gone. The boy? He doesn’t know.
Adeyinka gripped the hedge, fingers numb. He wanted to stand. To run again. To scream. But his body wouldn’t decide.
What had just happened?
Was it real?
He pulled out his phone, hands shaking. No messages. No clue what to do.
He thought of Alana’s face, frozen, wide-eyed, and the way she hadn’t moved. The way he hadn’t helped.
He felt sick.
Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. A siren wailed faintly, too far away to matter.
Adeyinka stayed crouched, cold seeping into his bones, waiting for something, anything, to tell him what to do next.
Eoin stirred, groaning as the cold pavement pressed against his cheek. His head throbbed, a deep, pulsing ache that made the world tilt sideways. He blinked, once, twice, trying to focus. The streetlamp above him flickered, casting fractured light across the empty park entrance.
He pushed himself up slowly, palms scraping against gravel, knees trembling. The world felt wrong, too quiet, too still. His breath came in short bursts, fogging the air. He touched the side of his head and winced. Wet. Sticky. Blood.
Haley.
He spun around, dizzy, scanning the street. No van. No girls. No small-ish boy. Just silence.
His memory came back in fragments, the masked men, the gun, the scream, the van doors slamming shut. Haley’s voice, sharp and scared. The other girl’s face, frozen in shock.
Gone.
He staggered to his feet, swaying, clutching the bench for balance. His phone was still in his pocket. He pulled it out. No new messages. No missed calls. Just the last one from Haley, and the one before that, the unknown number.
He stared at it, heart pounding.
What had just happened?
What was he supposed to do?
The wind picked up, rustling the trees. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed, faint, fading.
Eoin stood alone, bleeding, broken, and unsure whether to run, call for help, or collapse.
Adeyinka watched from behind the hedge, heart still thudding, breath sharp in his throat. He saw Eoin stir, then rise slowly, unsteady on his feet, one hand pressed to the side of his head. Blood. But he was standing.
They hadn’t taken him.
Adeyinka blinked, unsure if relief or guilt came first. He waited a moment longer, then stepped out from the shadows, legs trembling, shoes crunching softly on the gravel path.
Eoin turned at the sound, eyes wide, then softened when he saw who it was.
“You’re still here,” he said, voice hoarse.
Adeyinka nodded, unsure what to say. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Eoin gave a weak laugh, then winced. “Me neither.”
They stood there, two boys in the cold, under a broken streetlamp, surrounded by silence and the echo of screams that had already vanished into the night.
Adeyinka glanced down the road where the van had disappeared. “They took them.”
“I know,” Eoin said. “I tried…”
“I ran.”
Neither spoke for a moment.
Eoin looked at Adeyinka, eyes glassy but focused. “At least I’m not the only one who saw it.”
Adeyinka nodded again, more firmly this time. “We’ll tell people everything.”
Eoin sighed.
Adeyinka stepped closer, his breath still ragged, eyes wide and glassy. He looked at Eoin, bruised, bleeding, shaken, and pulled out his phone.
“We need to call the police,” he said, voice trembling but firm. “Right now while there’s time. They’ll chase the van. They’ll catch up.”
Eoin didn’t answer. He was staring down the road, where the van had vanished into the dark. His jaw clenched.
“What’s your name?” Adeyinka asked.
“Eoin.”
“I’m Adeyinka.”
Eoin nodded, apparently not in the shape for introductions.
“Eoin,” Adeyinka pressed, thumb hovering over the emergency dial. “We have to.”
Eoin reached out and grabbed his wrist, not hard, but enough to stop him.
“Wait,” he said. “Just… wait.”
Adeyinka frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I think I know who they are,” Eoin said quietly.
The words hung in the air like frost.
Adeyinka blinked. “What?”
“I think I know who took them,” Eoin repeated. “I’ve seen that van before. Near school. Near Haley’s street.”
Adeyinka’s voice rose. “Then all the more reason to call! ”
Eoin didn’t let go. His grip tightened slightly. “Just give me a minute. I need to think. If I’m right… if I say the wrong thing…”
Adeyinka stared at him, torn between panic and disbelief. “You’re bleeding. They took the girls. What is there to think about?”
Eoin looked at him then, properly, eyes dark and scared and something else. Something heavier.
“I need to be sure,” he said. “Before we tell anyone.”
Adeyinka hesitated. The wind rustled the trees.
He lowered the phone, but didn’t put it away.
They stood beneath the broken streetlamp. The wind had settled, but the air was still sharp, still heavy with everything that had just happened.
Adeyinka stared at Eoin, phone still in hand. “We need to call the police.”
Eoin didn’t answer. His eyes were distant, fixed on the spot where the van had disappeared. Then he spoke, voice low, almost broken.
“It’s my fault.”
Adeyinka blinked. “What?”
Eoin turned to him, face pale, blood drying on his temple. “The abduction. It’s my fault.”
“That’s not…”
“No,” Eoin cut in. “Listen. A few days ago, someone messaged me. I didn’t know who. No name. Just a number. They said they could help me… Said they knew I liked Haley.”
Adeyinka’s grip tightened around his phone.
“I told them I couldn’t ask her out,” Eoin continued. “She’s older. She’s in a different class. She barely knows me. I said it wouldn’t work.”
He paused, swallowing hard.
“They said I didn’t have to ask. Just get her to the park. They’d do the rest. Said they had a technique. Said it worked. That she’d love me.”
Adeyinka stared at him, stunned. “You thought that was real?”
“I didn’t know what to think,” Eoin said. “I just… I wanted it to be.”
The silence between them stretched, thick and unforgiving.
Adeyinka looked away, toward the road. “And now they’ve taken them.”
Eoin nodded, eyes shining. “And the other one too. Because I believed them.”
“Her name’s Alana. She’s in my class.”
“I effed up.”
Adeyinka stared at Eoin, the weight of his confession settling like frost between them. The broken streetlamp buzzed overhead, casting a pale, uncertain light on their faces.
“I am guilty too,” Adeyinka said quietly.
Eoin looked up, eyes still glassy, blood drying on his temple.
“I got a message,” Adeyinka continued. “A few days ago. From someone I didn’t know. No name. Just a number.”
Eoin’s breath caught.
“They asked if I liked Alana,” Adeyinka said. “I said yes. I mean… I do. I didn’t think it was weird at first. Just someone messing around.”
He paused, voice tightening.
“Then they said I should convince her to meet me in the park. That once I did, they’d help me. Said they had a way to make her love me.”
Eoin’s face went pale. “That’s exactly what they didi to me. About Haley.”
Adeyinka nodded slowly. “I didn’t think it was real. I thought maybe it was a prank. But I wanted it to be true. I wanted her to like me.”
The silence between them deepened, no longer empty, now thick with guilt, confusion, and something darker.
“They used us,” Eoin said. “They knew we’d do it.”
Adeyinka looked down at his phone, the screen still cracked, the message thread still open.
“They planned this,” he whispered.
Eoin didn’t reply. He didn’t have to.
Adeyinka’s voice was quieter now, almost swallowed by the wind. He wasn’t looking at Eoin anymore, just at the cracked screen of his phone, the message thread still open like a wound.
“I thought something was off,” he said. “I mean, I knew it was weird. I knew it was… wrong. But I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
Eoin didn’t speak. He just waited. Brooding.
Adeyinka swallowed. “It started before last week. Weeks ago, actually. Some girl online, or I thought she was a girl, started chatting with me. Said she liked my profile. Said I looked cute.”
He paused, breath catching.
“She convinced me to send her pictures. You know, no cloths. I didn’t think. I just… I liked her and she said she liked me too.”
Eoin’s face didn’t change, but something in his eyes did, a flicker of understanding, of dread.
“Then this new person messaged me,” Adeyinka continued. “Said they had the photos. Sent them to me. The same ones. Said if I didn’t do what they asked, they’d post them. Everywhere. School group chats. My mum’s Facebook. Everything.”
Eoin’s stomach turned.
“They asked if I liked Alana,” Adeyinka said. “I said yes. They said I didn’t have to do anything weird. Just get her to the park. That they’d help me. That she’d love me.”
He looked up, finally meeting Eoin’s eyes.
“I thought maybe it was just some prank. Or something stupid. I didn’t think they’d… take her.”
The silence between them was thick, suffocating.
Eoin nodded slowly. “They used both of us.”
Adeyinka’s hands were shaking. “And now they have what they wanted.”
Eoin sat back down on the bench, head in his hands, breath fogging in the cold. The blood on his temple had dried into a crusted smear, but the ache hadn’t faded. Adeyinka stood nearby, silent, phone still in hand, the emergency number glowing faintly on the screen.
“I need to tell you something else,” Eoin said, voice barely above a whisper.
Adeyinka looked up.
“They got me too,” Eoin said. “Same way. Someone online. Said they liked me. Said I looked like a model. I didn’t think anyone saw me that way.”
He paused, swallowing hard.
“I sent them pictures. Stupid ones. I didn’t think. I just… I liked that they think I was like that.”
Adeyinka didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
“Then this new person messaged me,” Eoin continued. “Said they had the photos. Sent them back to me. Said if I didn’t bring Haley to the park, they’d post them. Everywhere.”
He looked up. “I thought maybe it was just some twisted prank. Or maybe they just wanted to scare me. I didn’t think they’d actually take her.”
Adeyinka sat down beside him, slowly, like the bench might collapse under the weight of what they’d both just admitted.
“This is so embarrassing,” Eoin said. “If we tell anyone… if we go to the police… they’ll know. Everyone will know.”
Adeyinka stared at the ground. “But if we don’t…”
“They’ll keep the photos. They’ll keep the girls.”
Eoin nodded. “We have to think. Really think. Before we do anything. If we handle this wrong…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Adeyinka didn’t ask him to.
They walked the edge of the road, shoes crunching on damp gravel, the park behind them now a shadowed memory. Neither spoke for a while. The silence wasn’t empty, it was full of everything they didn’t know how to say.
Adeyinka broke it first.
“I think I know where they are.”
Eoin turned to him, startled. “What?”
“Sheffield,” Adeyinka said. “I’m pretty sure they’re in Sheffield.”
Eoin stopped walking. “How do you know that?”
Adeyinka hesitated, then pulled out his phone. “When they sent me the photos, the ones they threatened to leak, it was through a link. A private webpage. I didn’t click it straight away, but later… I checked the source.”
Eoin blinked. “You checked the source?”
“I hacked into it,” Adeyinka said, voice low but steady. “I traced the upload. The IP address was Sheffield. Not a VPN. Local.”
Eoin stared at him, stunned. “You hacked a website?”
Adeyinka shrugged, eyes fixed on the screen. “I’ve been learning software programming since I was nine. It’s kind of my thing.”
Eoin didn’t know what to say. The boy who barely spoke in the playground and the assembly, who ran before the gun came out, had just casually admitted to tracing a criminal upload across the internet.
Adeyinka looked up. “I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t think it mattered. I thought maybe it was just some creep messing around.”
“But it does matter,” Eoin said. “It matters now.”
They stood there, two boys on the edge of a road, holding secrets, guilt, and a single thread of truth that pointed to Sheffield.
They walked in slow circles at the edge of the road, the park behind them now a blur of shadows and broken light. The wind had dropped, but the cold remained, sharp, insistent, like it wanted to keep them awake.
Eoin stopped first. Turned to Adeyinka.
“I think we can find them,” he said. “Without the police.”
Adeyinka stared at him. “That’s insane.”
“It’s not,” Eoin insisted. “Not if you can do your tech stuff. You hacked that site. You traced the IP. You know where they are.”
Adeyinka shook his head. “It’s risky. We don’t know who these people are. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”
Eoin stepped closer, voice low and urgent. “But we do know they’re in Sheffield. We know they’re online. We know they’re watching us. If we go to the police now, they’ll leak the photos. They’ll ruin us.”
Adeyinka looked away, jaw tight.
Eoin pressed on. “But if we find them first, if we get the girls back, then it won’t matter what we did that caused all these. No one will even care about that. No one has to know what we did. No one has to know how stupid we were.”
Adeyinka turned back, eyes dark. “You think we can redeem ourselves?”
“I think we have to,” Eoin said. “Before anyone else finds out. If we get the girls back, we can say we were just messing about at the park and these bad guys in a van came and took the girls and we chased after them. We’re heroes.”
The silence between them was thick with fear and possibility. Two boys, bruised and bleeding, standing on the edge of a decision that could save them, or destroy them.
Adeyinka nodded slowly. “Then we need a plan.”
The wind had settled into a low hum, brushing past the trees like it was trying not to listen. Eoin and Adeyinka stood at the edge of the road, faces lit by the pale glow of their phone screens, the park behind them now a memory stitched with blood and silence.
Eoin broke the quiet. “First thing, we need to make sure no one knows where we are.”
Adeyinka nodded. “We ditch our SIMs. Get new ones. Buy fresh data. No names. No links to our accounts.”
Eoin stared at him. “You’ve done this before?”
Adeyinka didn’t answer. He just pulled out his SIM tray with a paperclip and dropped the card into his palm. “We also need to delete every app that shares location. Maps. Socials. Anything that pings.”
Eoin followed suit, fingers trembling slightly as he removed his own SIM. It felt like shedding a layer of skin.
“We’ll be ghosts,” Adeyinka said. “Digital silence. No one tracks us. No one knows we’re coming.”
Eoin looked at the tiny card in his hand, then crushed it under his shoe. “Good.”
Two boys in the dark, stripping away their identities, preparing to chase down something bigger than either of them had ever faced.
No police. No parents. No backup.
Just guilt, desperation, and a plan.
