“What do you mean by saying we should waste her? Were we asked to kill her?” One of the men who had been silent since they met Uloma asked in anger.

There leader turned in anger and faced him.
“Dogo, What did you just say?”

“I said that we were not told to kill her It’s just to warn her and let her go. She has already recieved 2 slaps which was not supposed to be part of our assignment. I think that is okay. We have delivered the message to her. Let’s allow her to go ,”

“Who are you to determine what happens when we go for an operation? Infact, who permitted you to talk?” The leader asked, still finding it difficult to believe what was happening.

“In this case, I must talk. This lady is innocent. I perceived it the moment I set my eyes on her.” The Dogo insisted.

At that point, the 3rd person had to intervene, ” Dogo, what is wrong with you? Are you drunk? How dare you oppose our leader.”

” Tell your leader to let this lady be. She is innocent. I am tired of how he has been killing people. This lady must be set free. If not, we will scatter everything.”

The leader got infuriated and landed Dogo a slap across her face.

“Did you just slap me?” Dogo asked in anger.

“Yes ,and I will slap you again. I will keep slapping you till the wine you drank evaporates from your eyes. Dogo you are acting like a drunk. What is wrong with you?”

“Did you just call me a drunk” Dogo thundered.

“A drunk is even better than you,” the leader retorted.

“It’s alright. I will show you how a drunk behaves, ” Dogo threatened. He lifted his rifle, pointed it at the leader and pulled the trigger. He dropped dead.

Immediately Uloma heard the sound, she took off.

“Dogo what have you done? ” His colleague cried out. He looked round and discovered that Uloma had ran away. He decided to pursue after her.

“Come back here. Leave that lady alone,”Dogo commanded.

His colleague didn’t mind him. Dogo ran after him and shot at him.

Almost immediately, It was like scales felled from Dogo’s eyes.

“What have I done” he cried. He ran to lift the leader but he was already dead. He also tried lifting his colleague but he was gone too.

“Ha! I didn’t mean to kill them,” Dogo cried.

Uloma ran to the main road and was waving frantically at vehicles that were passing.

“Is that not Uloma?” Stanford asked. He and Osas were coming back from Bible study.
They quickly told the driver to stop the vehicle. As soon as they opened the door, Uloma ran in.

“Driver please move fast” Uloma pleaded.
Her entire body was shaking.

“Uloma what is the matter” Stanford asked.
Uloma couldn’t utter any word. She kept weeping.

When they alighted from the taxi, Stanford and Osas took her to the house of one of the elders of the church. Elder was not around but they met his wife at home They narrated how they met Uloma and how she refused to tell them what the problem was.

Elder Paul’s wife thanked them for bringing her and told them to go home. Uloma continued to weep profusely.

“Uloma, please stop crying. See me as your mother and tell me what the problem is”

“Thank you ma. ” Uloma stammered as she kept cleaning her eyes and blowing her nose.
“It’s okay please calm down and talk to me”

Uloma took time to narrate everything that happened to her. She also explained to her that she didn’t want to talk when Osas was around because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

“I don’t trust Osas to be able to keep the information. I don’t have problem with Stanford, he is a child of God and is matured too.”

“You mean that the gentle Itohan can do this kind of thing,” Mrs Paul asked in wonder.

“It is true that it is dangerous to trust anybody. Yet, I don,’t think that Itohan could plan such thing against me.” Uloma told her.

“But the message was clear. Do you have another friend that is getting married that you have been advising?”

“No ma. There were certainly talking about I Itohan. But I doubt that she was the person that sent them against me. No matter what is happening now, Itohan still fears God. Though she is backsliding, yet there are things I trust that she can never do.”

“So who did you think did it?”

“I can’t tell. But I planned to avoid both Itohan, all her friends and even Eric”

“That is not all. This matter will be reported to the police so that they will sign an undertaking that if anything happens to you. They will be held responsible.”

“Mummy please, I don’t want to make trouble. I would have preferred to quietly pack out from where I was living with Itohan. Or simply relocate to another city.”

“Ofcourse, you will surely pack out from the house. You can also relocate from the city, if you wish. But this matter will will not be swept under the carpet. I and and my husband will handle it.”

“Please ma. I don’t want Itohan to pass through any stress.”Uloma pleaded.

“You are saying this because you are alive. What of if those men have killed you? It was God that brought you to my house . Just relax .”