‘Tolu, stop,’ Maria shouted. ‘I want to ease myself; I can’t hold it anymore.’ God, I thought. She has no shame whatsoever. I bet she can tell one how her mother conceived if one will care to listen. Tolu slowed down the car. ‘Don’t stop here,’ Eric said. ‘Get close to a settlement. This road is dangerous in the night.’ Tolu accelerated the car. ‘Maria, hold it for a minute.’ ‘I am a woman,’ Maria protested. ‘When it’s time, it’s time. Did you see me go to the ladies’ since we left the house?’ ‘Keep going,’ Eric barked. ‘I would rather she wets the seat than be robbed on this road.’ Maria turned and faced Eric. I couldn’t see her face, but I could imagine what lay under the stare. She turned her face to the windscreen, propping her thick thighs together. I felt the car slowing down and I raised my head to look through the windscreen. I saw a flood of bulbs shining up ahead, lightening a settlement. Tolu decelerated some more and stopped a few meters away to the first building.

We got to Lagos in the early hours of the morning. The car started after hours of tinkering and fixing and stopped after every few kilometers for the leaking radiator to be filled with water. We used the water meant for the kidnapping operation to cool the car and by the time we got to Berger, the sun had announced it was coming. Tolu drove and I sat with him in the front, and we had the responsibility of keeping the radiator filled. Maria sat with Eric in the back, and they sat like strangers in a taxi. Eric stared through the window; his face drawn up like the face of a chronic alcoholic. He stopped sobbing about five minutes after he started, but he had kept to himself and had not spoken a word to any of us since then.Now I looked to the back; Maria had lost the battle to the sleep that had chased after her since the car started moving. She snored quietly, thank God, and her head leaned against the window. I turned my eyes on Tolu; the side of his face was swollen, and cake of bl

'What do you mean?' I asked.Eric sprang up from the bed and walked to me, stretching out his hand. I did not stretch mine, but he grabbed my arm and shook my hand with vigor. 'Dracula wants to partner with us,' he said, still shaking my hand. 'He wants us to come over tonight and take back the target and to take over the operation. I think they don't know how to get the money out of him.' He turned and looked at Maria, his happiness contagious. 'We are back in business, man! We are back. Hope is restored.'We stared at him as if he wore a kilt for a trouser. 'Why are they giving him back?' Maria asked at last. 'It's a trick! A trick to woo us into another trap.'The smile on Eric's face ran away. 'It's not a trick. I think they are not able to get the money from him. Dracula did not say what the problem is, but I think they have hit a rock and are not able to collect the money from Mr. Potter's relatives. That's why they want to partner with us.''I don't believe it,' Maria said, s

Eric turned to Dracula. ‘We had a deal; you said we are now partners.’Dracula said nothing. He dangled the pistol in his hand, tapping it against his short thigh, regarding Eric and the rest of us. Then he laughed and thank God his laughter did not come out in stammers.‘We...we...are partners. The...the...the white man is yours. He…is not…not…not well! Sleeps like…like a b…b…bat!’ He took a step forward and pointed the gun at Eric’s temple. ‘Get...get the ran...ran...som in three...three days. No...ex...ex...excuses.’‘Okay,’ Eric said. He stared at Eric for another moment and then he brought the gun down. He turned to Joseph. ‘Ta..ta..take over,’ he said. He walked to the jeep and sat inside. Joseph raised his gun upward. ‘Listen carefully. We are taking half of the ransom, and you will call us as soon as it’s ready; and that would be in three days’ time.’ He spat. ‘Like the boss said, no excuses.’ He turned to Eric. ‘Go to the same cocoa factory. You will find the white man in

It turned out we needed Maria's twenty thousand naira, and it took close to an hour before I could convince her to let it go. I had to swear on my father's grave that I will pay her back with the first ransom we receive. We paid ten thousand naira for a full day's use and made a deposit of another ten. The hiring company took down the details of Maria's international passport since none of us had a driver's license. The 2004 Toyota Corolla we got was in good condition—the AC worked. Maria signed to return it by eight that evening, or we will pay extra charges by the hour. We left Lagos some minutes to four that evening, heading for the factory. I drove while Eric sat beside me, and Maria sat at the back, her eyes glued to the phone. We got to the junction to the cocoa factory by ten minutes to five. I stopped the car and we waited for the sun to go to sleep, and after an hour it did. I started the car and turned into the road leading to the factory. No other car was in sight, and we