No: Just A Quick Stop For Gifts, Then A Long Flight To Nigeria...

Iaeiros Argyris dropped in on his favorite gift shop on the way to the airport: "Marcie & Marcie's Gifts & Oddments", run by this pair of dowdy and subdued but flameingly gay British lesbians both named Marcie and a dozen employees, mostly Italian and Indian in heritage. He had happened on it by chance during his first visit to NYC and it had been a frequent stop ever since. The visit was short and to the point, he got a bouquet of wildflowers and their largest box of top quality chocolates, paid and left. Normally he would stop to chat for a while, but he was in a bit of a rush, and besides the shop was abnormally busy.

At the airport he went through a perfunctory customs check at one of the private gates then boarded his private jet: a Gulfstream G550 that had been a gift from the grateful people of Bolivia after he saved their president and visiting business mogul Raymond Karras, and within an hour he was off.

Though there was some turbulence in the mid Atlantic it was nothing egregious and in about 15 hours he was touching down in Kano and getting into his 'African Car', an old but well maintained Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 with all wheel drive and a few other useful bells and whistles, such as solid rubber tires, 'bullet proof' glass, and an impeccable sound system and AC. That car had also been a gift, from Oya following the surgery where he saved her right leg after she was hit by a rocket from the Nigerian government's army, and he mostly didn't use it when he visited, but if he was going to be here for two to five months it didn't make sense to rent when he already owned a vehicle.

"Durodola, good to see you, take me to Awọn Iyaafin Ninu Awọn Odò please, I am sure she has told you I was coming." He said to his driver/mechanic/batsman/former interpreter.

"Yes sir, she did tell me you were coming, and she is waiting at the Tahir Guest Palace along with your full security detail." The driver said as Iaeiros got into the back seat and was shortly flanked by two members of the private micro army that accompanied him whenever he was in this part of the world in case of ****; traditional Orisha loyalists one and all.

Fortunately for all concerned there was none of that: perhaps it was the fact that the car was escorted by six men riding all-terrain motorcycles and armed with Glocks, or perhaps it was the fact that this visit was not scheduled or planed in any way, but he was unmolested the entire trip to the hotel, it was just a long and pleasant ride.

On the way he took out his sat phone and called Zeus.

"Yes? Are you alone?" Raymond asked.

"No, but that's OK, I'm just giving you a ring to tell you I've landed safely and hooked up with the security detail, we should have no further issues for the next few months, Olodumare willing: besides, all the people in the car with me can be trusted," Iaeiros declared.

"Alright Iaeiros, you be careful over there and don't go involving yourself in anything risky, we're a lot more fragile than we used to be, and we still haven't discovered Panacea." Zeus said.

"I will, bye." Iaeiros replied and hung up the phone.

As they reached the hotel the clouds that had been coming in just behind Iaeiros plane and covered the area during their trip finally burst and they ran to the door in a torrential downpour, the wind whipping the drops almost horizontally and no one being fool enough to open an umbrella, which would either have been ripped from their hands or broken by the 60 kph wind gusts.

So it was that Iaeiros Argyris came face to face with his current paramour again while he was soaked to the bone...