The morgue was about a minute's walk from the nurse's Call station. Yes, I insisted on seeing Dozie's dead body for my mental preservation. I couldn't come to terms with his crimes.

Nurse Dima was surprised that I hadn't wavered in my resolve to see his body. It was the only way to be sure he was now a confirmed ghost. The morgue attendance didn't put up much resistance. Immediately he saw us, he just let us in.

His ashen colour, coupled with his bland creepy face was sure evidence that he was dancing to the rhythm of the spirits. It sure looked like whatsoever punishment handed to him over there was way worse than what he'd done to people over here. I walked closer to his bullet-ripped face and took his cold arm.

"What are you doing?" Nurse Dima asked, moving closer to me.

I scoffed and moved my hand to his wrist. "Making sure he's dead."

A chuckle escaped the morgue attendant's mouth. I shot him a glance and resumed being a nurse for a second.

"Oh, okay." She mused and waited for me to finish my experiment.
After I checked his pulse and felt nothing. I went ahead to count the rise of his chest, but it was as still as a rock. His whole body was just as cold as ice.

I swallowed hard. My emotions were all over the place, but a few tears made it out of my eyes and I brushed them off immediately.

Nurse Dima gently nudged me and ran her right palm over my shoulders. "He's gone now. He's gone."

I took a quick breath, hoping to keep my emotions at bay. "Dozie, may you never rest in peace."

With that, I walked out of that place and waited for nurse Dima to follow. A few minutes later we were headed to the room assigned to Mercy and me.

"Linda?" She called. "Are you going to be okay?"

I didn't lift my head, I simply nodded. "Yes, I guess so. Just that there are many more Dozies out there. Mama's army seems to be as huge as that of the Philistine with many Goliaths everywhere."

"Hey, don't say that. The good guys always win."

I sucked my teeth and stopped walking. "You don't understand, new revelations about Mama were quite terrifying and honestly, I just didn't know where to start."

She nodded, agreeing with me. "But let's wait and see what the police say."

"Police is not our friend!" I scoffed, pulling my right ear to emphasize my distrust.

"Let's just be patient." She insisted.

Mercy and I were assigned to a room farther from the nurse's station and closer to the end of the hallway. Most of the renovations for the hospital were done and normal working hours had resumed.

We got numerous Police interrogations weekly and at first, everything went smoothly until they began losing our interview files. The new person claimed the previous officer lost them.

This continued for a couple of weeks. Then they sent a different batch of officers who were not interested in the case but were busy pushing us to lie about the events of that night.

We used that same opportunity to tell Nurse Dima everything we knew about Mama and her gang. We even told her how to locate them, even when I wasn't sure. But it was a start.

For some reason, this ruffled a lot of feathers hence the change of officers. To me, I would've preferred to zip my mouth but It was her idea we opened up a little to the officers and the result hadn't been favorable. It got to a point that Some of them were demanding personal payout to carry out the investigation.

The last straw was when one of those officers slapped Mercy because she repeatedly told the investigative officer that Brigadier Musa raped her. I was cross with her for sharing such delicate information, knowing fully well how much danger we were in.

Then, General Musa visited and threatened to hurt Mercy and me except we retracted the statement. He ordered more police presence outside our rooms and even more outside the hospital gate.

He even went further to call the siege a gas explosion, thereby denying that some fifty gang boys invaded the hospital and caused mayhem.

Before more words could even be said, he abruptly closed the case and deleted evidence. No one bothered about the captured guys anymore. Everything went quiet.

While these were ongoing, the recent harassment forced Nurse Dima to keep a hidden camera in our room to monitor what those detectives wanted.

When it became obvious that they were bent on buying our silence or muting us, she decided it was best to break us out of the hospital.

+++++++

We'd spent three days in an apartment in a remote village. Thanks to Nurse Dima who successfully stole us out of the hospital. The whole thing went from that interrogation to intimidation, Then threats and blackmailing.

That night Nurse Dima found a way to bring us to this quiet village. And so far, it had been a relief.

"We will do this investigation ourselves." Nurse Dima said, glaring at the TV which had our molester's faces plastered on it. "They will run this thing into the ground and bury it for good."

"But, I thought it was already buried."

She lifted both palms in my direction. "No. I can't let that happen. Moreover, they brief the general public once in a while to keep the federal govt pumping money into the investigation. With the high rate of kidnapping cases in this country, they have to keep acting as though they are doing something about it."

I sighed and pushed myself further into a torn squeaky couch that carried my weight. An oversized gray gown covered my body and bogus socks laced my toes. Mercy was asleep on the floor, covered with a black blanket.

"We are not police officers, neither do we have the resources to figure this thing out," I suggested, taking note of her left foot taping endlessly on the cold tiled floor. She had green pants and a white T-shirt on.

She stilled for a moment and shot me a glance. "Then what?" My gaze shifted away from hers and focused on the ceiling.

It wasn't a ceiling but a plain Zink roof with fitted raffia fonds inside its skeletal frame.

It was her maternal grandmother's house, according to her. I'd asked her if anyone could locate us here and she said no. The place was so quiet that you could hear people greet themselves from a distance. It was her hideaway as well.

At first, I expected the two-room hut house to be hot, but to my surprise, it was pretty cool.
The mud plastered outside the walls kept everything cool. There was a pit toilet at the back and an open-air bathroom next to it. A water well sat at the center of the compound and a barn of some sort was at the entrance.

It was a typical village house, nothing fancy. I mostly enjoyed the peace. Nurse Dima recalled the house had been standing since the eighties,  and since no one cared about it, she took it upon herself to make it her getaway vacation place. According to her, we were safe.

After I didn't give a reply to her question, I stood up and went towards where she sat on a stool right in front of the television.

"You know what?" I said, counting my fingers, "We'll do it together. And I think I know where we should start."

Her face lifted like a glorious sun coming out of darkness, but then it fell again, subdued by the uncertainties of the task ahead. "You are only but a child. I can't put you in harm's way."

Laughter oozed out of my mouth as though I was drunk. "A child?" I pointed at my bosom. Her confused gaze tickled me the more. "This child has been through what an adult like you has never seen. I have seen things eyes shouldn't see, so when I tell you that I am in, please don't underestimate me."

She pushed herself backward and gazed at me in awe, leaving her mouth open in shock. When she recovered, she took my hands and asked, "Are you sure you can do this?"

I nodded in the affirmative. "Yes."

She pulled me into a hug and spoke over my shoulders. "Then let's do it."

Mercy stirred from herself from a self-imposed sleep. "Do you have logistics?" She asked, pulling herself to a sitting position.

Nurse Dima and I shared a glance and then turned our gazes at her. "No!" We answered in unison.

"Then whatever you're planning won't work."

"Why would you say something like that?" An agitated Dima asked. "Can't you see I am...No, we" She pointed at me and back at herself. "We are trying to save you and hundreds of children in captivity?"

Mercy's head shook over her tiny neck. "Please calm down. We are on the same page." There was a quick pause, but she continued almost immediately. "See, Mama, plans for anything and everything. She's always one step ahead, so if you... don't have well-grounded logistics, we may at well say our last prayers because it's not a battle you two can win."

We all sat silently for a while. She was right, we needed more than barging in there acting like superheroes.

"I have few friends in the force." Nurse Dima volunteered.

"Police again?" I countered, cocking an eyebrow.

"Do you have a better idea?" She pushed, glaring at me.

Things were getting heard in the room and continuing that conversation could create a rift that could hinder what we were about to do. So I stepped outside and inhaled the fresh air of freshly cut grass. Another waft of burning leaves filled my nostrils as well.

A mud-molded stool sat by the side of the hut. I took a seat there and calmed my nerves. We just needed to do something but the universe seemed to working against it. Mama was right there in view, yet untouchable.