TAKEN

[22]

I peered through the thick moving grass that danced across my face. Its length and width gave us the shelter we needed to stay out of sight. The sky was still gloomy as darkness made way for morning.

It was still early. 6:15 am.

We arrived early after beating the morning traffic along Mcc road. We finally made it to Emekuku. It was Friday and I expected traffic to be crazy. Nurse Dima and I wore complete black from head to toe.

We chose this outfit because it was the daily outfit for Mama and her crew and it would help us blend in if the situation got dicey. Apart from the domestic staff, people like Ifechi and her kitchen maids would be easier to pass as her staff.

When we got to the river bed I marked most of my journey in the forest when I was in captivity and also the footpath for delivery of Mama's cannabis business. I knew I was close.

I found the huge palm tree which I tied with a tiny palm fond. We followed that path until I found more that I'd left in place and some Ifechi placed there on days she took me to the hidden market runs within the network. She said it was so we wouldn't get lost.

With my photographic memory, my brain brought the images to the surface of my mind.

We got to the first camp by mistake because we were lost. I recognized it as the first camp because I also marked the trees with the fork I used for meals. I successfully carved out the symbol of a cross, an upside-down cross.

To my surprise, it was still in service. Many people still lived in the camp. Teenage girls and militia guys were busy offloading some huge wrapped boxes from three vans.

Those boxes were cannabis, I couldn't forget the markings on them. We hid behind huge iroko trees and watched as activities filled the place. There was no trace of law enforcement, instead, I saw police officers overseeing the delivery.

I recognized Frank, he wore a red band on his arm, the same as Dozie used to wear in our camp. Which means he was in charge of this place. There were even more structures in this camp, more tents, which had only one explanation...Expansion.

This made me wonder if there was a raid the day Mama uprooted us from this particular camp in the dead of the night.

Nurse Dima hid next to me, her black shirt and top had strands of grass on them. With an old binocular, she was busy looking through it to map out the first camp.

I lay beside her squinting my eyes through the active camp. I slapped my face gently, killing off the mosquito that perched there. There were so many insects buzzing around us.

"Who's this guy?" She asked, handing the binoculars to me.

I looked at the little thing with disgust. Outside the claim it could magnify things, I just felt it was a burden to my eyes. It was better to get the old-fashioned glasses than peep through this thing.

"I don't know him," I answered, without touching the instrument.

"Then why is he always there?" She pointed to the camp we had been scouting for days.

I shrugged, still squinting through the cracks in the grass. But her comment caught my thoughts. "He's been there before?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Her braided shuku hairdo went up and down in agreement. "I'd seen him a couple of times."

Setting aside my sentiments about the device, I grabbed it from her and stared through its magnifying glass. A man, pot-bellied, crooked teeth and hand tires are as big and round as 'Ekenedilichukwu tires', the big luxurious bus that takes people to Lagos and Abuja.