A Table of Two

Chapter 2

It was a week after Eid-El Kabir, school had resumed then. We were on our way to Kingima, Samira's school, when a black van drove in front of us, I halted and changed the gear to reverse thatwhen I hit another black van. Tou tou, two gunshots fired, instantly my world changed and my bones started to tremble in utter fear. Samira sitting right beside me and her mother who just woke up from sleep widened her eyes in fear, moved forward and held our daughter from the back seat like a child stocked to his fat dad on a small motorcycle. While in that terror state, three mask men came out each came out from both from the black vans, on seeing a pistol pointed at me, I lifted my hands up in surrender and showed Samira to do the same. Two of them opened the door from my side and violently pulled me out the jeep.

What do you want? I asked with the little courage left in me

Please let us be

Don Allah... I pleaded

Don't touch my daughter I said when the other mask men from the other van grabbed Samira. Then I struggled to reach my hands to her but they grabbed her away. I hit one of the mask men, the one holding me and tore his mask with my long nailthat made a mark like 7 to his cheek. Before it began bleeding he revenged with the locally made pistol in his left hand. A hit that took me unconscious and when I woke, there were no vans on sight, no Samira nor my wife A'ee who was in the back seat. Just me and my car with droplets of blood on the back seat something I didn't notice till days later. All my life I have always been brave never scared of men, things or animal aside snake. Maa once told me how as little as age four I chased a dog that was trying to bite her, the big dog who was terrorizing the neighborhood until it met me.

But my Samira taken away from me along with A'ee was something I never dare imagine. I began to pray a mix of prayers that sounded like incarnation. I was already crazy going forth and back, blabbing things I can't even remember. I checked around to see prints made by their car tyres to know the direction they headed, but nothing, they erased it, it seem.

I stood there scared, angry and frustrated... I finally remember my phone in the dashboard, when I grapple it, it was shutting itself off because of low battery. I fix it on the car charger, already crying when it boot. I dialed Mama A'ee's number, it was busy

What the! I shouted and tried again. She picked

They took mama, they took A'ee... Mama A'ee they wore masks. I tried to voiced it out, I tried but all I did was stutter

Kai, yimin shiru... calm down and speak to me.

What happened? She asked... panic attack held my breath that I couldn't speak. I cut the call, breath in and out in the small cup beside the driver seat. Mama A'ee was calling back already, the first time I didn't pick, I finished my in and out and my breath normalized. Mama A'ee called again, this time I picked.

Gayamin, meh yafaru? Tell me... Mama A'ee asked with hard voice this time

Muna hanya ne, they stopped us. Some masked men with guns, they hit me ah kai, when I woke up they've took Samira and my wife.

Ina kake? I am in between emmm, close to Kusabi. Kusabi is 15mins away from Minister's house and 25miles away from mine.

Have you called police? No ma, ina hanya dai.

Kanaji, head straight to police station report the case, ni da Nazeera will be there soon. Calm down kaji, and keep praying.

Mama A'ee knows how to handle every situation well, the reason why I called her first. I remember when Baba had a heart attack just outside their house, he and Minister had just returnedfrom a short vacation in Paris, Baba loved Paris, like me, Minister knew this too. Baba would buy me wallpapers and pictures of Paris. He would gist me about the history of Ifle Tower, he even promised to take me one day. Mama left me with Baba at the age of 8, since then Baba has been my friend and pillar, he had sacrificed everything to see me happy, sometimes I feel guilty been his only joy in life cause Baba never married nor dated since his wife died.

The heart attack happened by the front door whilst saying goodbye to Mama A'ee and thanking her for not minding his troubles, that was when Baba voiced "ouch" and held his chest

Yaya? Mama A'ee asked

Still he held on to his chest, bending down and already sweating, that's when Mama A'ee rushed to help, she and Lanre took him to Minister's sitting room where they layed him down on the floor and mama A'ee rested his back on the only chair in the sitting room, she ran through the other door like scattered papers leading to the general sitting room where she brought the familyfirst aid box placed just above the giant water dispenser. She gave him aspirin tablet and talked him to rest quietly as all will be fine, and it did.

On my way to police station I dialled Hamza's number to narrate the incident. We have been friends since the establishment of Kaleb Consult, I needed a rich guy then to help market the company, Hamza's father is a retired General, rich and influential. Hamza is this outspoken person, confident but not brilliant, he is a combination of will and action, a recipe most gifted people lack, he knows how to push people to get things done. We started as partners and became best friends, as his best man I advised him to head to Dubai too for his honeymoon after the wedding a month ago just like I did. I promised not to call him, not even for greetings that if he ever saw my call while away then we must have secured the contract we were chasing with the Federal government few weeks before his wedding.

We drafted an entrepreneurial partnership program with the government where we will train individuals, especially new graduates on to run small and medium businesses collectively as a group and then disperse independently as the business gets to maturity stage. The project also included setting companies in the six geopolitical zones of the country and those companies fit what their location can offer. Thus, individuals in that zones are automatically attached to it, to learn and grow while engaging business tycoons with that zone to provide aid in form of capital, infrastructure, mentoring and even investments in those businesses to be established by these graduates. It is a massive project with high potential and we hoped the government see that vision as we presented our plan before the committee and later the assembly.

So when I dialled Hamza, he picked instantly, thinking it's the good news.

Jan wuya, kace mundanno... shege Walid... he said even before I said hi

Emmm Hamza, the moment I uttered that he knew something was wrong

Don't tell me we didn't secure the contract. We had everything settled ai.

I narrated everything to him, afterwards I felt exhausted and weak.

Network went bad as I couldn't hear him, I cut to call him back but no signal.

I drove slowly towards kunnari police station when an unknown number called. I parked and received it with keen interest.

"If you know what's good for you don't enter the station nor report this to the police

We took your daughter and the woman, they are fine.

Go home and sleep well... we shall call you again"

Who are you and what do you want... please. I pleaded but he had cut the call already leaving me blab to air.

I called Mama A'ee and told her what just happened, she said I should come straight to their house.