"What?" I wiped the glass shield frame to get a clearer view. The image remained the same, staring back at me. Their happy expression mocked my disbelief and confusion.

Ten fingers of mine trembled around the frame. I held onto it firmly, afraid it might slip away from me. Then, my crazy emotion filled my knees with jelly and they began to withdraw their support for my weight. This discovery involuntarily pushed me gently to the floor.

"It can't be! Couldn't be!" I muttered, forcing my unwilling eyes to investigate the picture further, and just like the sun, it sat there, flashing its wicked secrets at me.

"No. No!" That single word echoed out of my mouth as though I was too afraid to say it.

His face, I stared at most. A laughter-filled face. The face of the man I called father for years but he was just there with his hands wrapped around Mama and Dozie. The boy sat on his left lap while Mama who looked way younger sat on his right.

"Dad?" I whispered yet again in unbelief.

I wanted to look away, to stop seeing him with the woman who had wrecked our lives but, I just couldn't bring myself to stop staring.

My eyes weaved from him to Mama, then to Dozie, and back to the man I called my father. He wore a ring as well as Mama and the background was rocky and dry. More like the northern part of Nigeria.

"Were they married?" I asked in my head but shook the fog out as soon as it made its debut in my mind. "Can't be! Not possible!"

"What's that?" A voice asked from behind me.

I looked up and realized that so many faces merged into my blurry vision. They seemed longer and shapeless. Then a warm feel of wetness ran down my face, and that was when I realized that I'd been crying.

"Why" ....the feminine voice asked as if shocked to see me in that position. "Why the tears?" The fog cleared as soon as I wiped the tears off my face. And there was the solid image of my friend, Nurse Dima.

Her face was laced with bruises and her body looked like the forbidden land of the spirits with patches of dark painted on them. She smiled and put her right arm on my shoulders as she knelt to meet me on the floor.

The rest of the room was filled with questions from different voices, sometimes, an outburst, a scream, or a whimper. There was nothing good about the energy in that room. Everyone seemed to have a reason to seek closure at this time.

Mama mostly cried or wailed as her victims kept bombarding her with tons of unanswered questions. At times, there were sounds of a slap or a punch. But suddenly, she wasn't a problem in ways I'd been clamoring for. She'd suddenly become a puzzle I must unravel.

Without a word, I pointed at the picture frame in my hand and it was the Nurse's turn to stare at me in confusion. "Who's the man?" She asked still captured by the beauty and unity of those in the photograph.

I wiped the snort off my nose with the dirty shirt I'd been wearing for the last twenty-four hours.

"My Dad." I pushed the air off my lungs, whooshing away my agony.

My heart was thumping away at the thoughts of things I didn't know or maybe... Wasn't just ready to know. Our bodies sometimes understand situations more than our minds, they rebel and repel negativity or uncertainty.

Dima's eyes danced into mine for clarification or total unbelief. Either way, she was feeling a little bit like me. "You're kidding right?" She scoffed, shaking her head. "It can't be!"

I pushed the frame up a bit and pointed at the man in the picture, "This is my father!" A minute of silence passed between us and froze me in its city of imagination.

"Mustafa Suleiman is your father?" Carlos barged into our little two-aside pity party.

My brows furrowed and I pushed my head up to meet his long frame hovering over us. "I don't know any Mustafa Suleiman. This person here," I pointed at the picture in my hand,  "......is Jeremiah Ifemezuie, my father."

Popped eyes bulged out of the sockets that housed them. Carlos was already gifted with magnificent intimidating eyeballs, bulging them further as though an anomaly was beginning to originate on his face.

"Calm down..." Nurse Dima mumbled, robbing his tightly laced boots. He sucked in air and glanced over his shoulders, suddenly afraid.

"Why did you ask?" The sound of my voice pushed his face back to us.

"I think we must leave this camp right now!" He declared, seemingly angry and forceful.

I braced backward, more like I flung my body away from him. The way he bent over and said those words was like he'd seen death and tangled with it too.

"We must leave now!" He snapped his fingers and the rest of the team left Mama alone for a second. "I need everyone to gather what they can, we must leave this place now!
It's almost skylight and law enforcement should be on their way."

I heard murmuring, confusion, and maybe defiance. It floated in the air, in their words and their body movements.

"We destroyed them," Someone said. "We should be able to rebuild this place and make it home for all of us," the steadiness of the voice wavered like the ocean waves before the person added...." at least, for those who wish to stay."

The once overconfident leader was shuffling his gait back and forth, his head stuck seated uncomfortably on his right palm while the left hugged his body. "Nobody can stay here. What is coming is worse than what's come!"

Ezinne who refused to give Mama a breathing space was up on her feet, swaddling gently to the cluster of people. "Why the change of plans?" She spoke with difficulty, raising an eyebrow and clutching her sides. "You said you had everything in control."

Carlos released his head from the wedge of his right palm. "That was before I stumbled upon a new information." He had his fingers pointed at Ezinne.

She watched him loosely from her left eye while squinting the right. I'd never know how she did that, how her brain could function like that. "What new information?" She pushed. Her gaze stayed on him as the tone of her voice dared him to lie.

He went silent, studying the tile design used for Mama's luxurious bedroom. "We are in the path of the King Cobra and believe me, you don't want to find out what he can do!"

The room went into another bout of confusion, complaints, and disunity. "We must leave right this minute!" Carlos yelled and began marching out of the room. "We'll have vans ready in five."

"Vans to where?" Someone yelled back at him.

"Hmmm... I just hope we're not going from frying pan to the real fire!" Another spoke with a tone of defeat.

I only stared back at Nurse Dima and began following Carlos out, still holding onto my picture frame, Nma walking next to me. As for Ifediora, she was already on her heels right behind her boss. Whatever that meant.

"But what happened to her?" Ezinne yelled, tossing her hands in the air. No response came but some said, "Tie her up or better still, kill the old witch!"

We all trooped outside into the open space of the camp, the team already had themselves divided into units and there were hurried movements in the camp as people grabbed whatever was important to them.

Three big buses sat toward the entrance of the camp while some men dressed in khaki black were tossing equipment into one of the trucks.

"Hurry!" Carlos said, signaling aggressively to his team.

"What's gonna happen to Mama?" I asked as my feet hurried to meet his unsteady movements.

He stopped for a moment and glanced at me. "She'll die when this place is set on fire. All of them will!"

No action came from me. I didn't know if that was what I wanted. He was just trying to burn up every culprit within the camp and cover their heinous crimes. Because left to the government, that woman would walk.

As long as you have money and connections in Nigeria, you were practically untouchable. Nobody could do a thing to you. Because, when money came in contact with integrity, in this part of the world, money would always win.

But my desire was different, I wanted them tried and sentenced. I needed the world to know of their crimes and what they'd done. So my gaze didn't shift from his, I held him in my mind deliberations.

"Huh? What?" His head shook as he gazed at me intently. "You know we will never get justice! So why do we free them when they can and will continue hurting other people?"

I swallowed hard, biting away the truth in his statement. They would walk and the world would forget in exactly one week or even less. He was right and I was thorn.

My feet shuffled under my weight and a feeling of restlessness crawled into them. The frame was hiding under my armpit while I held my little sister with the same hand, the left.

Carlos has gone back to controlling what needed to be moved and what stayed. I stood there or maybe I paced a few times, dragging my sister gently back and forth.

"Is there no other way?" I was right up behind him, distracting him with another 'do the right thing' question.

He passed me a glance, but it fell on Nma. Shouldn't you get that girl on one of those buses to a safe place?" His fingers went tight to the buses and trucks parked in the distance.

"And, you should be deathly worried about that man in that picture." His fingers pointed at the picture tucked right under my arm. "If he gets here before we leave, then all of this would have been a waste."

I looked up into the skies, it was already morning and a little chilly. "I pushed my sister into my arms, she reciprocated by circling her arms around me. The camp was rowdy and busy.

People ran in different directions like a hydra snake. Carlos hasn't slowed down since we walked out of Mama's room. Some buses were already moving, taking lots of ammo and equipment. I had yet to see anyone on any of those buses.

"Where are you taking us anyways?" I yelled as the noise from those trucks tried to swallow my words.

"What?" He yelled back, still flagging people with his right hand.

"Where are you taking us?"

His head went up and down, showing he understood my question. "I'm not planning another kidnapping ring if that's what you're worried about."

"Just looks like you'd never shared what you are doing and how you came about all these logistics... Plus how you knew my sister."

He stopped and breathed a long sigh. "Your sister came to us, not the other way round."

From the corners of my eye, I watched him suspiciously. "How can a thirteen-year-old come to you?" She can barely wipe her behind. "

His body gently vibrated from a chuckle. "You don't know your sister, do you?"

I averted his gaze. He was right. Nobody knew Ifediora, she was a wild card. She was taller than all of us, including Papa. And most days she would be gone for hours without anyone knowing where she was.

Mum was worried at first, but after Ife brought in more sales to her Fufu business, she eased her parental watch on her. She was not worried that someone could hurt her because the girl had proven to defend herself anywhere.

"So why protect someone more efficient in protecting themselves?" She questioned one night I raised the question. So yeah, after that day, we let her be.

"People, get in the buses. We have very limited time." Carlos yelled.

People began trolling into the buses while I watched and waited for Nurse Dima who for some reason hadn't stepped out of the building. I thought she walked with me until I didn't see her anymore. And because I needed to speak to Carlos, I completely forgot to go check on her.

"Come," I pulled Nma to my side, trudging her back to the building where Mama was still a captive.

"No, just leave her in here, I will watch out for her. Go get your friend."

Hesitantly, I left my little sister there after she'd assured me that she was safe with Carlos. Pushing my wavering thoughts to the back of my mind, I rushed into the building that housed the old kidnapping boss.

"Dima?" I called, running through the hallway that led to Mama's room. My voice bounced off the walls and echoed into the rooms in the building.

"Nurse Dima?" My voice went a decibel lower. It felt eerily, quiet and chilly.

I suddenly was afraid and it didn't help matters that cold chills ran down my spine. Something was wrong, there was nothing to prove that but my gut never failed me.

"Dima, where are you?" The sound from my mouth came as a whisper now yet, there was no response. Fear was congregating in my tummy, rising to my chest.

My steps slowed as I came closer to the room where we had tied up Mama. I listened, plastering my ear to the door.

Silence.

Absolutely silence.

Willing my fear-riddled hand to turn the knob, I pushed the door open and peeped into the room. It was dimmer than before and it was as quiet as a graveyard.

Filled with curiosity, I stepped further into the room. The first thing I checked was Mama. To see if she was still in her ropes, tied to a chair which I was so sure Ezinne would do. She wouldn't have let her go because it was all she wanted. She wanted Mama dead more than anyone.

But to my surprise, Mama's body was missing from the chair that held her captive. Her ropes are on the floor. I gasped and ran my eyes through the room. "Maybe, Ezinne had taken her somewhere else or...." I was still whispering my thoughts when my eyes fell on Ezinne's body.

Two bullet holes were firmly rooted on her forehead and chest. She was bleeding profusely and her gaze a distant fix. The blood was still fresh which meant that her assailants were close by.

I ran towards a door I saw flapping back and forth gently. Either someone was there or it'd been used recently. Without thinking and worried for my friend, I followed through and walked through a dark hallway that suddenly appeared as I made it through the door.

Distinct rays of sunlight barely illuminated the hallway. I followed through counting my steps cautiously. I kept walking until I heard shuffling, a scuffle, and even a whimper.

My brain nudged me to move closer towards the right. A turn had opened right there. So I followed and heard voices arguing in low tones. I recognised two of those voices but the third, I just wasn't sure.

Their argument was getting louder and the whimpering was almost turning into a wail.

"Just look at her and help her?" I thought that was Ifechi's voice forcefully pleading.

The other voice declined adamantly. "I will not help a murderer, a kidnapper, and a child trafficker!" Emotions washed through her words like it was going to be hard to keep up with her stance.

A gun clocked and, that voice came again, now forcefully. "If you do not want to end up like that other girl, help her! Right now!" I was closer now, their faces almost a dark shadow.

It was Ifechi pointing a gun at Nurse Dima while Mama sat helplessly in a wheelchair bleeding from her head, nose, mouth, and toes.

About the toes, it looked like Ezinne kinda used her for the experiment. Her two small toes on each side were off and a read flow was slowly dripping from it. Although it was roughly bandaged with pieces of clothing, it still didn't stop the bleeding.

"I have helped her enough. Can't you see?" She pointed at Mama's legs and head.

Ifechi's big body moved around in frustration, hands shaking in anger. "Fix her or I'll kill you!" Her hands were up again, flashing the gun in Dima's face.

The large woman was anything but organized. Mama did the organizing while she just lived her life in the kitchen. The operation of guns and bullets was out of her league. I was still surprised, she found her way here and attempted to free her master.

She still wasn't aware of my presence behind her, Dima saw me quite alright and had played along until I hit Ifechi on the neck with a long stick I'd taken off Ezinne's side.

She fell heavily on the floor and passed out. Mama, on realizing that she was now alone with us started to cry and scream. "Help!" She yelled, frantically rolling the wheels of her wheelchair away from us.

I pulled her towards me and began running towards the way I came, nurse Dima on my heels, when I heard a shrill voice.

"Stop or I'll shoot!"