“Finally! After almost 4 weeks!” I said “I am sorry, I was hurt!” “Hurt? But I hope the time you took to heal has not caused your daughter more harm.” Silence happened next as the depth of that questioned hovered for the next few seconds. “Well, we will have to wait for Kenneth to return from work. We have been using his memory card and besides we don’t have a sophisticated phone anymore. Kenneth sold his phone…” I said “It’s okay, I will wait, but I have a memory card on my phone and besides my phone even has a higher resolution than Kenneth’s phone!” She said as she took one of the chairs at the balcony. “Ok…, you are not going to work?” I asked “I quit!” She said sharply “You did what?” I asked very shocked “I just felt I should quit and I followed my instincts!” “Ok, I guess so that you can focus more on Mercy when she returns?” She didn’t say anything…but instead she started weeping and I couldn’t stand her tears. I pulled her close as a sister… “Chuks, I have failed as her mother, I have failed…” She said repeatedly… “You haven’t, you are one of the best mothers I know…We all make mistakes, even geniuses make mistakes, just bounce back and get back your child.” I said encouraging her. “Will, she be the same when I find her? I have a feeling she is not the same. I had a frightening dream overnight..” “Really?” “Yes, I saw Mercy in the midst of people were dressed as Muslims and she felt really lost…she was reaching out to me for help, but as I stretched my hands towards her, our hands couldn’t meet. As I moved closer, she was been drawn away from me. I am scared Chuks. I hope Mercy is not dead… “NO…don’t say that again. I reject that in Jesus name, she is not dead, she is only lost and by the grace of God, in no time we will find her… Let’s do the video right away. I immediately saw that point as the best time to record her video, as Favour would express more emotions. “Let me use your phone to record like you said…” I said to her, which she immediately passed to me. “Mercy, I remember the first time I carried you in my hands even as a teenager, you looked so beautiful, I said, “so beautiful like a princess”. I knew instantly I was going to train you to be a princess, but dear I didn’t know I was training a prisoner instead who had been looking for the slightest opportunity to break free. I am sorry for trying to correct my errors through you… You are special, you are unique, and I know you can never make my mistakes because you are wise… Please come back home… I miss you!” She stepped away from the video and kept on crying, I made sure I captured that moment also… After about 15 minutes of chatting about irrelevant things I decided to share my news with her but before I could do that…A familiar face walked into the gate. He was one of the security men from the Sperm collection Agency. I rose gently with my heart pounding. Favour knew something was wrong. “Do you know him?” Favour asked as the man didn’t so much as say anything. He only stood like a body guard. “I am not going with you!” I said to him but he didn’t so much as look towards my direction. He kept looking towards the gate, and just like the way your heart will almost jump out of your body, my heart did a flip flop when Tina stepped into the gate. “Tina! Tina in the flesh” My heart screamed in fear. She had found me out. As she walked towards me, I saw someone worse than Chinaza. I felt really sad for her, remembering she was a Christian initially. She wore the usual SCA cloth code, An Ash and red themed dress. Favour wanted to know who she was, so I whispered to her “Tina”… “You are good” Favour whispered to me… Surprisingly Tina spoke loudly in a sarcastic tone “Yes He is good, thanks to you, but are you good and more importantly, Is Mercy good?” Tina said as she obviously had heard Favour’s whisper through her spiritual earpiece… “How did you know about my daughter? Is she with you..?” Mercy said as she walked towards Tina. I tried pulling her back but she yanked my hands off her… “Where is my daughter? Oh I get this, you want to take the daughter of the person who took your prey away, thereby hurting me? That’s your plan right?” “I don’t answer to anyone, I am the one who ask questions” Tina said “I am not afraid of you!” Favour said, but Tina walked part her like she was inconsequential… “You better be, because we are talking about your only daughter, May I remind you, that you are wombless, so should you lose Mercy, then your very existence is a waste.” Tina said with the deliberate sarcastic undertone in her voice and as Favour tried to reach at her in anger, the body guard stopped her. “What do you want Tina?” I said as I swallowed hard in fear, I didn’t like the way she was taunting Favour. “I am no longer interested in the SCA.“ I said “Hello, brother in law, so good to see you in person after so long… Yes! In person… You know I have been keeping tabs on you every day right?, you know how things work?… I see you have been doing a ‘good’ work on the little ones and a big congrats on the new facility that has just been handed over to you. Shows you still have the potential to be useful, so I have a deal.” “I don’t deal with the devil anymore, I did not take anything that belongs to the SCA, that should tell you I want to have nothing to do with you “ “Well, what if what you have to do will bring back Mercy, is it not a good bargain…” Tina looked at Favour and I Favour wanted to say something but she restrained herself. I am sure there was a Fight of Faith going on in her mind. “What is the deal?” I asked wanting to know if it was worth compromising to save Mercy from them. To be continued
