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Emeka’s white shirt is stained with the mascara of his wife, but he doesn’t even think about changing it, it serves as a reminder of everything he’d put her through and everything she’d told him.

As he stood in the street outside the mighty building Hadija called an office, Emeka knows there is one more difficult confrontation he must make.

He hails a cab and jumps in the back seat of the first one that stops.

“Where to Oga?” The cabman asks, oblivious to Emeka’s anguish.

“Nicon Estate” it was time to see John.

The black and yellow cab pulled up in front of the imposing house John called home. A place where Emeka was once welcome now filled him with a sense of despair, a final confrontation to determine the path their lives would take.

He took a final deep breath and hopped out of the cab. Praying for the best but expecting the worst. He slowly approached the massive black gate and rang the bell for the gateman.

“Oga Emeka, how body?” The gateman asked as he looked through the peephole.

“I’m fine, let me in, I want to see John.”

“My Oga no dey.”

“Where did he go?”

“Me no know, him come house last night but commot again early dis morning, around dat kind five. Before the sun.”

“and he hasn’t come back yet?”

“No, I neva see am since.”

“Ok, thank you.”

“Yes, sir. Any message for him?”

“No no, I wanted to surprise him, let me just call him.” Emeka replied as he moved away from the gate.

Fuck, where could he be, I hope he’s not out there doing something crazy.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Emeka realized that is exactly what John would be doing. He walked to the edge of the street looking for a call center to buy credit and eventually found one.

He dialed Jonathan, no answer. He dialed Cassie, no answer.

What the hell is going on?

The President was getting worried about what it could all mean when he remembered Cassie’s brother called him the night before.

He fumbled through his phone and dialed the young man’s number with shaking fingers expecting the worst.

“Hello?” The rich deep voice boomed out over the connection.

“Hello, Chris? It’s Emeka, you called me last night.”

“Oh, thank God, I couldn’t remember where I kept your number, have you heard from them?” The young man asked, a trace of hysteria creeping into his voice.

“Heard from who?”

“Cassie and her husband!” He barked at the clueless Emeka.

“Chris, slow down, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. The last time I heard from John was when he came to my house a few minutes after you called me.”

“How did that turnout?”

“That’s not important right now, what are you talking about, where have they gone. Fill me in on the details.”

“Ok, ok. Early this morning, they said….”

“Who is they?”

“The nurses at the hospital.”

“OK, go on.”

“They said Johnathan came to the hospital and yanked Cassie and the baby out of their room. They tried to stop him, but he slapped one of the nurses and nearly beat one of the doctors into a coma.

Before they could call security, he was gone with Cassie and the child. When they were telling me the story, they also said he seemed deranged and he just kept on repeating the same phrase ‘as it was conceived, so shall it die’

What the hell is he talking about Emeka?”

Emeka couldn’t answer, his brain was racing through all the possible forms John’s madness could take.

“Emeka, are you still there?”

“Yea, I’m here, where are you now?”

“I’ve been driving around the city looking for them. I’ve gone to John’s house five times already, but the gateman keeps telling me he’s not around. The last time I went, I forced my way inside and had a look for myself. Truly, he’s not there.”

Emeka, if he does anything crazy, you’ll have me to answer to.”

“This is not the time for threats, I think John wants to kill the baby.”

“What!”

“What else could ‘as it was conceived, so shall it die’ mean?”

“Emeka, what are we going to do?”

“Meet me at Mainstreet Bank’s former head office in two hours, I need to think.”

“Wait Emeka, what…..”

Emeka didn’t let him finish his sentence before hanging up the phone. He had an Idea of what John wanted to do and where he would do it.

What he needed now was a plan.

***

“Emeka, what is he going to do? What is John Planning?” Chris shouted before Emeka had a chance to turn off the ignition after pulling up to the Bank.

“He’s going to kill them, both of them.” Emeka said calmly while staring into the young man’s blood shot eyes.

“Fuck you Emeka, if anything happens to my sister I’m going to kill you.”

“Get in line my friend, get in line.”

“Arrrgh. What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to stop him of course, is there any other option?”

“You seem to be very calm, do you realize what you just told me? John is going to kill my sister and my nephew, your son.”

“Chris, my world has been destroyed within 24hrs. I have gone from hysteria, despair, regret, anguish, and hate in this period. The only thing left in my body is resolve. I’m going to save your sister and her child even if I have to die in the process.”

Chris opened his mouth in stunned silence as Emeka finished, he didn’t expect the president to say he would help, let alone put his life on the line.

“So what are we going to do?”

“Get in Chris, John has always had what he likes to refer to as ‘an evolved sense of irony’ I’ll tell you the plan on the way.”