THE GIRLS WERE awake by six in the morning and ready to leave the hotel.

They had each taken a turn to bath. Tina gave Solomon a bath while Chinyere rummaged through the bag for the phone.

"What are you looking for?" Tina asked as she walked out of the bathroom with Solomon dressed in fresh clothes.

"The phone," Chinyere grunted and then sighed a sigh of relief when she found it.

"Where did you get the phone?" Tina asked.

"I got it from Chibinobim," Chinyere answered. "I thought it would be of help to us."

Tina nodded and said, "Call whoever you're calling fast. They only live a few minutes away from here. If we don't hurry they'll catch up to us."

Chinyere nodded and punched in her mother's number. She lifted the phone to her ear as she waited for Chioma to answer the call.

"Sorry, the number you are calling is not available. Please try again later," the operator said.

Chinyere hissed and punched in her father's number, only to get the same response.

Why aren't they picking up? Chinyere asked herself.

She wanted to cry. She was frustrated and annoyed by everything that was going on.

"Is everything alright?" Tina asked when she saw the frown on Chinyere's face.

Chinyere didn't respond but punched in another number. Florence's number.

Florence answered the call not even three rings later, "Hello, who is this?"

"Flo, it's me Chinyere," Chinyere answered, using Florence's nick name.

"Chinyere?!" Florence exclaimed. "Where are you? Do you know that daddy has gone to Ebonyi state just to find you."

"R-really?" Chinyere asked, shocked.

"Yes," Florence said. "After Aunty Chioma told him about your call, he worked even harder to find you."

Chinyere could not believe it. Things seemed to actually be working out for her. She could not believe that call had gone through despite the phone dying in the middle of the call."

"Why isn't daddy answering his phone?" Chinyere managed to ask.

"I don't know," Florence said. "Maybe he's busy with the police officers that went with him to Ebonyi state. Aunty Chioma is also not around, she went to the police station here in Abia state."

Chinyere nodded even though Florence couldn't see her.

"You have no idea how much we've missed you," Florence continued. "One may think that because we come from a large family it would make no difference if one wasn't around, but that's not what's going on here. The house has been quiet since you left."

Florence said the last sentence in a whisper and Chinyere knew that she meant it but she also knew that they had to leave the hotel soon.

"Listen, Florence, tell everyone I love them but I have to go. I need to leave this place before seven," she said.

"But where are you?" Florence asked. "Just in case daddy calls."

"I don't know where I am. I'm currently in a hotel and I'm about to leave but tell him that Obi Oko is involved," Chinyere said.

"Okay, sister," Florence said, "may God guide and protect you."

After they said their final goodbyes, Chinyere threw the phone back into the bag and zipped it up.

"Who were you talking with?" Tina asked.

"My sister," Chinyere answered. "Let's go."

Tina stood up with Solomon and grabbed the key card that was lying on the bed while Chinyere slung the hand of the bag over her shoulder.

The two exited the room and went downstairs to the reception.

Jemima was not the one standing behind the reception desk, but instead it was a man.

Tina walked to the reception desk and handed him the key card after greeting him.

He checked on the computer register to know whether or not any bills had been charged towards their room but there was none.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay here," he said with a slight bow.

Tina just nodded and went back to Chinyere and they left the hotel.

Finding a bus wasn't a problem for them as many buses were moving up and down the road.

They got onto a bus where many people were. They didn't want to make the same mistake that Tina made by getting onto a bus with human traffickers.

They sat at the far back, beside a middle aged woman who was carrying a tray of vegetables.

Chinyere was seated in between Tina and the woman. Chinyere kept the bag under the seat and turned to the woman.

"Good morning, ma," Chinyere greeted the woman.

"Good morning," the woman smiled. "Where are you headed to?"

"We're not really sure, ma," Chinyere answered truthfully.

She knew that their destination was Abia state but she did not know where the bus driver was going to drop them off at.

The two then continued to talk as though they had known each other for years.

Chinyere found out that the woman was thirty four years old and a single mother to one boy.

Her son, however, had run away from home a few days ago and she had assumed that he ran to his father's house.

They didn't know how long they had been in the bus but it was long enough for the bus to become filled with people and the sun to come up completely.

Tina was awake but she had been quiet the entire time.

"I know he didn't like living with me," the woman, whose name was Vivian, said. "I am poor and can't afford to take him to school. His father is rich but he used me and threw me away like a dirty rag when he found out that I was pregnant."

"Did he care about your son?"

"He did and I know he still does," Vivian said. "But he was just afraid of marriage and commitment."

"Have you contacted him to see how your son is doing?" Chinyere asked as she looked outside the window. They had reached town.

"I went to visit him but he wasn't at home," Vivian answered.

Chinyere nodded and continued to look outside the window. Many people crowded town, both adults and children.

Most of the children were in school uniform and were either walking to school or standing by the roadside and waiting for a bus, keke or okada to stop for them.

As Chinyere looked outside the window, she recognized two people who she was not expecting to see. Amadi and Mr. Oko were roaming up and down on the road. It seemed like they were looking for something.

Of course they're looking for you, Chinyere thought.

Amadi looked in her direction and Chinyere turned her head immediately.

"Are you okay?" Vivian asked Chinyere but she didn't reply. She wanted to say yes but that would be a lie.

Tina noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Amadi and Mr. Oko are right outside," she replied with a whisper.

Tina almost jumped out of her seat, "Did they see you?"

"I'm not sure," Chinyere said. "Let's just pray the the bus will leave before they catch up to us."

Much to their dismay, the bus stopped. Some people got off the bus while others got on.

The people who got on the bus were many and they blocked the view of the front.

They could no longer see who was getting on or off because of the people.

"I better take my leave, it's getting crowded," Vivian stood up to leave but just as she stood up, a voice that Chinyere knew all too well filled the bus.

"Sit down! Nobody moves or you die!" Mr. Oko yelled as he got onto the bus.

Vivian sat back down and everyone kept quiet and dared not to move. The people who blocked their view hurried to find a place to sit.

Some squeezed themselves between those who were already seated while others sat or knelt down on the floor of the bus.

Mr. Oko and Amadi both had guns in their hands and they had them pointed at people in the bus as their eyes roamed around the bus.

Tina shoved Solomon into Chinyere's arms and pointed at Vivian.

Chinyere knew what Tina meant and forced Vivian to take him into her arms.

Chinyere was certain that Mr. Oko and Amadi could not see what their hands were doing because of everyone else in the bus but there was a possibility that he could still see their faces.

"Why?" Vivian mouthed as she dropped her tray of vegetables on the floor of the bus and gently carried Solomon.

"Just hold him," Chinyere whispered.

"Aha!" Amadi exclaimed and Chinyere turned her face to the front and, unsurprisingly, the father and son duo had their guns pointed at them and were staring at them with pure hatred in their eyes.