"What about her?" I shouted back at Carlos, pointing at the incapacitated woman.

Things seemed calm around the camp as more people trooped to the bus. Just a few of us and Mama still stayed on.

He turned and shot me a pitiful gaze. "Do with her as you please, she's now your problem."

I was still trying to figure out what to do with the older woman when my eyes caught Carlos taking a tiny walkie-talkie device out of his pocket.....Or, that's what I thought it was.

He slowly lifted his head, scanned the camp and just as our gazes met, he swiftly pushed the buttons on that device. In seconds, things began to go Kaboom from everywhere, exploding into balls of fire.

Mama's house was first to go, followed by her war room and drug distribution warehouse.

Screams filled the place as Dima and I tried to shield away from the debris that was flying in the air. Although the explosion was coming farther away from us, the tremor and debris could be felt right where we stood.

It was Mama's loud wail that caught my attention, then mine, nurse Dima's, and maybe the prisoners in those secured rooms. Carlos was right, he finally incinerated Mama's collaborators and maybe some other innocent clients.

While he pushed those buttons, it was fear on the old woman's face that intimated to me about what Carlos had planned. He wanted to burn the whole thing down with or without my help. And now, he'd achieved his aim.

Right at this point, it dawned on me about what Carlos meant when he suggested that I should've left Mama where I'd found her. And it made me realize that anyone who attempted to rescue Mama through that channel would have met their horrific death as well.

He, Carlos wasn't close enough for me to question him or vent my anger \ confusion. He was already on the bus, riding away to safety.

Mama's raging wail shook me out of my temporary sting of guilt and anger. She couldn't hold back her screams, it filled the camp and my ears with continuous ringing. She tried to stand but her wounded toes wouldn't let her.

"Mama, stop!" I tried to help her back into the confined chair, seeing how unstable she was on her feet but she slapped me away, wagging her finger in my face.

"All my hard work," She pointed as the tongues of flame rose high in the sky. "Everything I built, you," She wobbled on her injured foot, shakily grabbing her chair's handrest for support.

"You took them all away from me." Those shaky fingers came fiercely back at me, pointing and reaching to grab me.

My brain without my instruction instinctively pushed my foot back, away from her. A widened surprised gaze and a scowl were all I weakly presented as my defence.

This woman was still very far away from reality. This was someone who had hurt me in ways that were unspeakable, inhumane, and heinous, yet here I was, still trying to help her. "Ah!" I yelled into the noisy raging fire. "What is wrong with me!"

After I managed to comport myself, I roughly forced her back into the chair while she fought, wailed, and cursed.

Hysteria took over her mind, her hands were stretched into the dark orange glowing night as though she could do a thing to rescue all she'd lost. For her, it was wealth, power, and money.

For me and the rest of us, it was the lost humanity in us, the lost dignity of our bodies, minds, and happiness. This was beyond money, it was the uncertainty of an opportunity to heal and live again.

I shook my head and wiped my tears. I'd save it for another time because for now, it was up to Dima and I to figure out what to do with Mama.

As flames continued to compete with each other, pumping ashes and dark fumes into the sky, a handful of the victims were still on the ground, deliberately refusing to leave the camp. So, we all stood at a safe distance and watched as a kidnapper's den went up in flames.

Sounds of explosions continued to come from everywhere, I couldn't help my thoughts and surprise. Carlos rigged this place well.

But then, my thoughts wandered back to the self-freed campers and how they were going to survive. I understood that many of them had nowhere to go back to and some, out of shame wouldn't want to be around people who would be curious and critical at the same time.

After all, this was Africa, and worse still Nigeria. In this country, rape or sexual molestation was still a very shameful thing. It didn't matter if you consented to it or not. You dared not talk about it.

Even Parents, friends, and relatives preferred the story was never told. The advice was to hide it, hide yourself, and hide your pain. Cover your family, cover your shame, and put up a smile.

It was an image of suicide to reveal that your body was a communal ground for molestation. Kidnapped or not. Sex trafficked or not.

It didn't matter.

It was a story everyone hid in the folds of their pillows at night and pretended it never happened. If it ever got out, Such a woman would never be respected in that community ever again.

The story surrounding the situation was irrelevant. No woman was and is willing to tell this kind of story in a country where women's right was next to nothing. Society was built to shame and ridicule women, how many more victims of such crime?

And the men, the topic would be hurriedly dismissed as if it meant nothing as if a boy or a man couldn't be raped or molested. So, I couldn't blame them for choosing to stay back, to find peace away from home...

I studied the group for a minute and I couldn't place the emotion on their faces, whether it was fear, joy, or uncertainty. But I knew just like myself, we had our wounds, and although differently experienced, it would take time to process all we'd been through....even though we may never heal.

Nurse Dima walked towards me, her face buried in a small glowing device. It was so little that I doubted if truly it was a phone.

"What's that?" I asked, meeting her halfway.

Her face lifted and she flashed a quick look at me and then went back to the device. "The press are on their way."

I stared at her, befuddled. "What press?" A raised eyebrow followed my question.

Both of her upper limbs went up in a surrendering gesture. "Well," she began, evading my curious gaze. "I may have contacted the press!"

"You did what?"

She hurriedly placed the phone back into her pocket. Her hands were up in surrender. "I know this is wrong, but I had to do something!" She was relentless, eyes widened, and restless legs.

I watched as her hands went up in surrender, trying to placate me but I wasn't just buying it. "And you didn't think it wise to inform me?" I wasn't angry. No. I was just blindsided and it made me feel .....stupid.

"You know how you wanted justice for all the victims?" She was hush-speaking now because of the people around us.

I should have nodded in agreement, but I was furiously shaking my head. "No, No, you shouldn't have done that!"

"But, how can you,...I mean we, everyone who'd been through this hell get justice if the world doesn't get to know about it? How?" She reached out to touch me but I wouldn't have it.

"My father is coming!" I blurted out heavily, the words thick in my mouth like fufu.

She moved closer. "That's why I sent the videos."

My head sharply turned towards her. "Videos? What Videos?"

"Oh my Goodness! Linda, you don't get it, do you?" She stood there are stared directly at Mama.

"How then do you want to nail her and your Dad?" She paused as though she'd mentioned the forbidden name. "If he was anything Carlos talked about, then there must be some sort of evidence!"

"Huh!" I breathed, rubbing my arm that'd suddenly developed goosebumps. Somehow she was right, but I wasn't sure how to weave through the situation.

After rubbing my forehead for a second, I turned towards her. "Okay. But," I raised a finger, "If my father turns out to be the opposite of what Carlos said, then we'll give them Mama only. Is that clear?"

She nodded affirmatively.

Now, because of the unexpected act of Carlos and the little revelation of Dima, we were less aware of the Increased wailing of sirens that had gotten louder around us.

It was so close that we didn't have time to hide or prepare. In minutes, we were surrounded by military vehicles.

My gaze flashed at the blazing police lights as they made their way into the compound. Luckily, the last bus already left and although deeply terrified, I exhaled a sigh of relief, mixed with anxiety. Hopefully, they were the good ones.

If my father was coming as Carlos pointed out, then there was hope. I could be saved. Yes, I believed that not minding the allegations heaped on him, I still believed in the man who fathered me. There was no way he could hurt me.

Well, In seconds, men in uniform jumped off the trucks, guns in hands, boots thumping like hail rocks on sandy ground. Soon, they were ordering people to go on their knees. Anyone who resisted was given the beating of their lives.

Honestly, at this point, regret set in almost immediately. I wished I had left with that last bus and with my sisters. Why I stayed, I didn't know. I guess I didn't want Mama to get the 'Carlos treatment'.

I wanted justice through the court of law. I wanted to expose her and all who funded and aided her enterprise. Or, maybe.....I wanted to see him.

But while I wallowed in the thoughts of my almost-gotten freedom, Soldiers already surrounded us from every part of the camp. I didn't have to wait for anyone to tell me to lift my hands in surrender.

As I promptly obeyed my instincts, a solid boot hit my bum hard and I fell. Roughly, my hands went over my head, holding them while avoiding eye contact.

However, Nurse Dima wasn't that lucky, her hands were already zip-tied and her gun was taken from her. The rest were restrained and made to lie on the ground.

We'd been in that position for a like five minutes, not moving or talking while watching the soldiers with the help of the fire service try to quell the fire that'd almost consumed the entire property. It was useless because nothing was salvageable.

As they paraded around us and whispered to themselves, I couldn't help but wonder if my father whom everyone feared was already on the ground. But that thought had barely left my mind when I heard his forceful, militant voice.

"Is everyone secured?" He asked, forcing the other soldiers to stomp their feet in a stiffened salute.

"Yes Sir!" Came the response as terrifying as the question.

Every nerve in my body protested against itself and left me with imaginary snakes that crawled through my head like a massive infestation. I wouldn't say that I loved my father, non of us did but he was our father and life never gave us a choice of choosing our parents.

Every living thing around us ceased to move as he walked slowly above our deflated bodies on the bare earth sand. His military boots moved in slow motions imprinting danger with every step.

It stopped right in front of me. Since I couldn't lift my head to see his face, I just watched and waited with bated breath. He began to move again, now away from us towards Mama. She'd been sitting too quietly with silent sniffles while the whole scenario played out.

"My love," I heard him say. "I am so sorry."

Curiosity wouldn't let me keep my nose out of their business. I needed to know. I just need to know who he was referring to.

His fingers were running the curves of her face as she rested her head in his palm. A softened voice that wasn't akin to the woman I was staring at came out in a whispering tender whimper. "I thought, you'd never come for me."

Mama had turned romantic on my father and I just couldn't believe it. "He sighed and lowered himself to her height on the chair. " When have I ever left you alone?"

A sob escaped the older woman's mouth as he pulled her into his embrace, patting her old braided corn rows.

"Was this happening?" My head was spinning. All the good memories I had of my father falling like a pack of cards. The picture playing out in front of me incensed my heart and filled me with anger.

My fits clenched followed by a tightened jaw and I unconsciously was pulling myself off the floor. I couldn't stomach what I was seeing and hearing.

Just as I was about to get up, Dima's hand and whispering voice pulled back in place. "Don't be stupid!" She hushed. "Control your anger or you'll get us killed!"

I brushed her hand off. "He needs to know what she'd done to me, to his girls!" I whispered back.

Her grip was still on my upper arm in a coded way, wrapped around it from beneath. And since we were all sandwiched together, it was difficult to see what was going on.

"Please..." She whispered back.

Our gazes held for a second and I nodded. "Okay!" I muttered. "Okay."