Hi guys, thank you for 6.5k reads. It feels like I'm finally doing something right and yayy it's my birthday🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊💃💃💃💃. I'm excited for today and I'll need your prayers. Please don't forget to comment, I'd love to know what you think.

ADEEL BABA HASSAN

After eid prayers, Mama, Inna saude and the rest assembled at the carpark waiting on Beela and Muad'h's wife.

"Ajike's number isn't reachable. Maybe due its  to network. But I'm sure they are on this eid ground." Fawad is holding tightly to my hand as I try Beela's number, it rings and its picked. Alhamdulilahi

"Nabeela, what part of the eid ground are you guys on." Safiyya's sniveling voice hits my ears and my heart feels like it dropped to my stomach.

"Safiyya, be clear? What do you mean kidnapped?Two women, one pregnant. Innalilahi

"Where are you?" She tells me where she is and I turn to a cousin of mine to help me go get her.

"Maama, Nabeela and Ajike have been kidnapped by unknown gun men." My mother gasps and she immediately leans on my father who holds onto my mother's arms. I stare over Zarah's veiled head and over the sea of people coming out of the huge football field that has served as eid ground for many years in Chiroma.

Mu'adh's security people! After a kidnap scare many years ago, before Fawad  was born, Mu'adh took serious care of his family's security.

" Muad'h call your security people in Abuja." He makes the  phone call and says what makes me feel like sitting on the bare sand outside the eid ground.

Ya Ilahi.

"It was an inside job, her tracking bracelet was removed before they were taken. So as of now, no one knows where they are." I hit a bonnet in complete frustration and think of how they could have gotten kidnapped.

My phone vibrates against my sweaty palm and I look down to see a message from my security team.

"Sir, we just tracked a faint signal going thirty kilometers west of where you are. They are moving at a high speed too."

My heart stops and begins pounding hard again. I faintly hear my mother saying we should go home  to plan next. I forward the message I just received to my father and he steps away to make a phone call. We don't know who we are dealing with.

"Let's go home to wait. No attention drawing to ourselves. They will feed off our fear."  I nod at my father and get into the car with Fawad tightly clasped in my hands, like a baby.

I've not even had the chance Beela a lot of things. Like how I wished she smiled at me the way she smiles at my mother or Safiyya, how I wish she smiled more and brooded less, how i really want her to stop staring unseeingly at things, how I wish she wore the colour lemon more, how I wished I could taste her date coffee. I'll beat whoever took her to pulp when I see them.

Sir, the signal just went off. We have no idea what direction they went. There is a T junction, one point five kilometers away. We only know that at the last check, they were thirty five kilometers west of where you are.

My hands shake and I almost drop my phone, a few minutes ago I had hope, plenty of hope. Now my hope just dropped from hundred to thirty. I can only  wait on Allah for a miracle.

I tap Muad'h.

" Anything?" He shakes his head and wipes his red rimmed eyes. Out of the corner of my left eye I see Inna Saude sitting so stoically in the next car.

"No messages yet? How much do they want?" Baaba asks as the driver starts the car.

"Nothing yet." I look down at my phone. My thumbs are twiddling themselves of their own accord, I pull Fawad  up properly.

We drive slowly home taking a shorter route, all the way home I looked around, to see if any suspicions car passed us. Nothing. Frustration built deep in my belly, I hate more than anything to be out of control.

When we arrive home, we pile into our house and Mu'adh sprawls on the floor by the side of his mother's chair. She pats his shoulder absently.
"Mummy, why me?" Tears find their way down his face and the weight of what just happened hits me. Ajike is pregnant, and the baby could be at risk. Nabeela is there afraid, in Allah knows where.

A few minutes later. Inna Saude opens the door for a group of policemen. The result of the call my father made earlier.

"Officers. " Their leader, a dark skinned, non smiling man makes his way towards me. Not that he should be smiling.

"Mr Hassan. I assure you both ladies will be found in no time. Please let all arrangements for today go on. We don't know who has kidnapped them. They need to be fooled if they still have informants in this house." I nod at him and Baaba orders that other things go on.

"What was Mrs Hassan wearing when she left." My mind casts back to when she posed in front of me asking me if what she wore was nice. My heart had  swelled knowing that we were one step in, if she valued my opinion about how she dressed.

"She was wearing a black and blue patterned Ankara." I point at my mother who has her veil over her nose in silent tears. "They wore the same ankara. Except my wife had a black lacy veil on."

Mu'adh eyes the officer when he questions him. He has no idea what his wife was wearing. He had left for eid prayers. The ache in my chest returns. I just hope they are fine. I don't think Mu'adh will ever forgive anyone who did this. Its simply heartless.

"I heard we have witnesses? Where are they?" I ask Zarah to call Safiyya and while she walks away, she wipes tears from her eyes with the sleeve of a khimaar she wore when we returned. Safiyya and Zarah walk back downstairs hand in hand. In tears.

"Did Mrs Hassan notice anything while driving?" She nods and tells the officer that she noticed a sea blue Hilux following them just as they left the first intersection on their way.

"Did Mrs Hassan see anyone she recognised?" I leaned forward to hear this part because I had hoped that I'd get any inclination that  Imbecile her parents had married her too was responsible. Safiyya puts a needle through this balloon of hope.

" She didn't recognise the two men." The officer asks her to describe and I turned on the recorder of my phone. Sending to my security team in Abuja.

"The first one was dark skinned. Very dark skinned. Straight nose, but all that struck me was his hair. It was extra curly." The officer nods and Zarah offers her a glass of water. She takes a sip before continuing

"The second I remember so well because of his eyes, they were grey. I remember staring longer than usual until he shot Aunty Ajike's phone. He had straight nose and curly hair too." Mu'adh's silent  tears run down more when he hears this. I don't want to be him at the moment.

"This information will help us begin to comb everywhere in search of them. They will be found. Let's be rest assured. " Baaba shakes his hands and leads him outside, I sigh and sag against the chair. Paying attention to the weight on my legs. Fawad  is fast asleep on my laps after being pensive throughout the prayers, it was as though he knew what had happened.

I unlock my phone and pull up my messaging app. No messages. I lock it and put it away.

******

"We can't say for sure if they were taken far away, or outside Chiroma. All we know is according to the information given by your people, Mr Hassan, they were thirty five kilometers away. We've searched around there and saw nothing.  The T junction has been passed by many worshippers so we have no tracks to follow. But we promise, we will do all we can to get them back."

I growl lowly at the talk from the officer. What have they been doing for the past three hours? Playing? No wonder people no longer trust them.

"I see. Thank you Officer Sa'ad. We will get back to you once we have more  information." It should be the other way round. It should.

Zarah shuffles down the stairs still in her anko and khimaar. She smiles sadly at me before sitting next to me.

"I wish I didn't have to sit in here. Its so  painful, I don't know who would want to kidnap either of them, just to make us sad.  They are both so sweet, so amazing, so caring, so nice. They don't look at others with contempt. Life is so unfair." I stare at her and smile brokenly.

"I wish Nabeela was wearing one of the jewellery I gave her, I'd be able to track her." She stares at me before patting my  arm lightly and walking away to the kitchen. Baba ordered that no one should show any sign. Its killing me to smile at all the relatives that walk past the living room.

Its tearing me apart.

*****

Who wants to chew me raw and spit me out. 😭😭Sorry, I wanted you all to see how our Adeelu was doing and its my birthday soooo, no one touches me.😝😝😝

BTW, all of you who guessed on Monday. La, you all lost. No one has thought of our culprit. Issokay. I get to dedicate my chapter to myself. Next one for whoever gets it before Monday(That's when I update next)

I love all of you. Thanks for the love, God bless you all richly and beyond measure.

                      TheOmoope.