I received the first news of a successful operation exactly four days later. I was lying on the couch in the living room reading a lifestyle magazine and trying to decide if I should go for a massage or invite Olabisi for a girl's day out. I would have preferred the latter, but Olabisi works and I don't. I spend all my days sleeping and watching movies in the house. I wanted to call her but wasn't sure if it was her day off or not. She gets a day off work every week at her place of work where she's a sales manager.

Sometimes I get lucky, and we spend her day off together. I just wasn't sure what day it would be since it's never fixed. It could be any day of the week. I decided to let her be as I didn't want to disturb her in the event that she might be at work.

I decided to go get myself a drink. I stood up and yawned lazily when my cell phone began to ring. I picked it up and stared at the number. It was a strange number, and my caller identification application didn't even display a name. I almost didn't pick the call as I don't usually pick unknown numbers, but I picked it up out of curiosity that it might be a message from the guys that I gave the job to do. My curiosity was rewarded as I picked up the call and heard a masculine bass voice on the other end. All I heard was.

"It's done. Go the bar as we agreed, and get the package."

The caller dropped the call before I even had a chance to ask questions. Questions like who are you? what's done? what package? what bar?......." Something suddenly clicked in my brain, and I remembered the guys promised to start work after three-day surveillance on the said girls. It now occurred to me that they must have dealt with the first unfortunate girl. The package was the flash drive, and the caller didn't want to disclose sensitive information over the phone. It was just a safety precaution.

I was thrilled and exhilarated. I excitedly began to search for my car keys. After a few frustrating minutes, I found it wedged in the corner of a couch. I must have dropped it on the couch and, somehow it got squeezed into the couch. I quickly snatched it up and ran outside to my car. I drove out of the compound in a hurry dialing Olabisi's number as I drove temporarily forgetting that I didn't want to disturb her at work.

She picked up after two rings. "Yes, Tessy. How are you doing? I have been meaning to ......"

I quickly interrupted her and told her about the call. "Where are you? Should I come to pick you up? Or do you prefer to drive in your car and meet me there?"

"I am actually at work, but I can sneak out for a few hours. I can cover my ass on that end. Come pick me up, if I go out in my car, someone might suspect I am not around."

"Okay, cool. Wait outside for me. I am coming right away."

We clicked off and I headed straight for her place of work. I saw her standing outside already, waiting for me. She got into the car without much ado and we made our way towards the said bar. All through the twenty minutes drive, we were chatting excitedly and trying to guess what they must have done to the first unfortunate girl.

We arrived at the bar and we went inside to look for the bartender. The bar was quiet as it was a weekday and most of their customers were at work. However, we still saw a few people drinking foamy beers from cups. One or two of them stared distractedly at us. I wondered what could drive a man to drink on a working day before the end of the day's activities. My thoughts were interrupted by Olabisi dragging me ahead and telling me the bartender was motioning us towards him. Sure enough, there he was the palm of his right hand curved towards him indicating that we should come to him.

We got to the bar and didn't bother to greet him cause he didn't reply to our greetings the last time, plus he wore a gloomy look. Upon getting to the bar, he slid an envelope towards me. Olabisi reached out to take it but he held her arm saying.

"The envelope's not for you, it's for her." He said noddingin my direction.

I picked it up and he let go of Olabisi's hand. She shot him a look that could have frozen ice. He didn't even seem to notice as he turned around to mix drinks.We quietly walked out of the bar and headed to the car. I immediately tore open the envelope and retrieved the content which was a flash drive with the name Eva written on it in black permanent marker. I knew it had to be the Eva I had an altercation with over the phone. I became happier and more excited by the thought that she had finally gotten what she deserved.

Olabisi beamed at me and took it from my hands looking at it all over. "Should we go to your house to watch this before I head on back to work? I can't wait to see what's on it."

I shook my head in disagreement. "That's too risky. Tade might come home anytime, you know how he wanders around. I wonder how he even became a lecturer. He has no iota of discipline."

"Let's go and watch it at my place then. My laptop's at home."

I have a laptop in the car. "Let's use that. Let's just sit back and watch it here."

"Yeah, that's better. Bring it out. Let's see what's in this baby." She says raising the flash drive up.

I leaned towards the back of the car and retrieved my laptop from the seat. My hands were shaking with excitement as I opened it and switched it on. We waited for it to boot while Olabisi fondled with the flash.

The laptop came on and I refreshed it a few times before collecting the flash drive from her and inserting it into the laptop. I clicked on the flash drive option and, the content was a video that began to play when I clicked on it.

The video lasted one hour forty-three minutes, and we watched as three guys in masks and black overalls raped a young, slim black girl roughly in the video. She couldn't have been more than twenty-three, she looked that young. I couldn't even decide if the girl could be regarded as beautiful. Her only distinctive features were her eyebrows, which were perfectly shaped and thick. They took turns raping her, and her pleas for mercy were met with slaps and blows. They kept telling her all they were doing to her was as a result of her sleeping with and dating another woman's husband. I smiled a satisfied smile that they remembered to tell her what I said. By the time the third guy was through with her, she was already bleeding ceaselessly, and she had fainted twice. She was revived each time with buckets of water and slaps. We watched on as the guys finished raping her, and one of them took out a syringe filled with blood. He moved to bend beside the almost unconscious girl and proceeded to inject the contents of the syringe into her arm. The video ended, and I removed the flash drive. I turned to face Olabisi whose eyes were now moist with unshed tears.

"What's wrong with you, Olabisi?"

Her voice was shaky as she replied."What did we just watch, Tessy? That was cruelty. It's too much for the love of God! I can't bear to watch that again. "Wait!" She suddenly said. "I hope the girl's in the hospital now. She could die if left alone."She put her head in her palms and moaned. "Oh God! What did we do?"

I watched her in disgust and hissed. "Will you shut up and stop with the hypocritical attitude? So, you have grown a conscience? Don't forget you helped me orchestrate this whole thing, and there's three more to go. She got what she deserved. What do I care if she's not in the hospital yet? I told them not to kill anyone and they didn't kill her. If she dies, they are not responsible for it in my own book. She was obviously alive when they left."

She slowly lifted her head and looked at me as if she was seeing me for the first time. "How can you be this cruel? How can you even talk like you aren't human? I don't care what that girl did. No human deserves to be treated that way. Please, Tessy let's call it off. I promise to give you back the money you spent. Please, I beg you."

I was beyond angry now, and I lashed out at her. "Oh! Shut up! You think it's about money? I don't even care about that. All I care about is making sure they all get what's coming to them so, no amount of money can make me change my mind. We are in this together so, don't even try to grow a conscience on me. I am most certainly not calling anything off. I couldn't be more pleased with what they did to her. She deserved it and more for sleeping with my husband and having the guts to insult me." I hissed again, slamming the laptop close.

"Tessy, please. It's enough. I am sure others would learn their lesson from her. I am not sure I can bear being a party to this anymore. Don't you have blood running through your veins? This is extreme."

"You know for one who's always acting confident and exposed, you sound really stupid right now. Tell me, exactly what did you think they were going to do? Sit her down for a heart to heart talk?" I laughed a mirthless laughter. "I don't want us to quarrel or argue about this, please. The action continues."

She ignored my insult and continued begging me. "Please, I beg you in the name of God. I didn't expect them to go this far. I thought they were only going to beat her a little and threaten her into leaving your husband. I swear I didn't think it was going to be this much. I had no idea."

"Look, Olabisi. Those guys did exactly what I wanted. It's done, I better warn you not to think of finding religion, and thinking you can do the right thing by confessing. Remember we are in this together, and you were the one who planned it all. Now, I need to know, are you with me or not?"

She sighed and had on the expression of someone who regrets her actions but has given up to fate. "I am with you, I have no choice. I just hope the girl is okay. I wish I never got involved. I wish I never fed your lust for revenge."

I didn't say anything, satisfied that she wasn't going to betray me. I told her to use her seat belt and did the same. I drove her to her place of work, and throughout the drive, we didn't say anything to each other. I didn't even care about that. I was just happy with how fulfilled I felt. I began to fantasize about watching the video again, probably with popcorns and wine. How good it felt!

I dropped Olabisi at work and neither of us said goodbye to each other. She got out of the car without looking back at me.I drove off too without looking back at her. I was just happy and feeling on top of the world. I got home and entered the house. I had taken the flash drive with me, and I went into the bedroom to get one of my teddy bears I used to decorate the room. I unzipped it as it had a zip. I thanked God for the choice I made to get the teddy bear the day I wanted to buy it. I almost didn't buy it because of the zip. I wondered why a teddy bear would have a zip at the bottom, it looked stupid but I had fallen in love with the fluffy teddy bear and finally bought it. I unzipped it and tucked the flash drive safely inside before zipping It back up. I removed my clothes, took a shower, and put on fresh clothes. I went back to the living room to play music on the home theatre and began to dance. I eventually got tired of dancing and sat down to rest a bit, with a smile on my face. I was still smiling when I dozed off from tiredness and satisfaction.

I was woken by the sound of Tade entering the house. I looked at the clock wondering how long I had slept and discovered it was really late. I was infuriated that it was almost midnight. Tade has resumed his late-night crawling. I managed to smile a bit and got up to welcome him when he slumped on the couch. His clothes were soaked with blood and I was alarmed. I rushed to him and shook him.

"What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?" I knelt beside him, checking his body for wounds that could have caused bleeding."Were you involved in an accident? Talk to me please, what's wrong with you?"

He looked at me and sighed. "Don't get worried for nothing. It's not my blood."

I let out a breath of relief. "Thank God for that. But, how did you come in contact with all this blood? Whose blood is this?" I asked him as I took the couch beside him.

"It's one of my students' blood. Her name is Eva."

I suddenly realized that he must have been the one to come across Eva after her ordeal. I covered my mouth and stifled a smile. This couldn't have gone better. I didn't even count on him being the one to see her in that condition, but the Lord sure works in mysterious ways.It was a good thing he saw her in that condition. The fool was probably going to get laid in her house. This is fucking hilarious. I managed to keep a straight face and show concern even though it was hard to.

"Who is Eva? How did you get her blood on your clothes if she's your student? I mean what exactly happened to her?"

"Tessy, she's my student I told you that already. I went by her house to see her when she didn't show up in school for lectures. I got to her house and, saw her lying in a pool of blood. I got her blood on my body because I carried, and rushed her straight to the hospital."

"Oh my God!" I covered my mouth with my hand as if I was shocked. " How could that have happened? There's something I still don't understand. Is it customary for a lecturer to visit his female students at home? I sure didn't have any lecturer visit me at home when I was a student? Is it how its done now?"I intentionally asked to set him on fire. It took all my self-restraint to stop me from bursting out in laughter.

He looked at me in annoyance searching for signs that I was taunting him. Seeing none as I kept a straight face he hissed and shook his head.

"What are you insinuating? The girl is one of my brightest students in the class. She didn't come today which was unusual of her. Is it wrong for me to show concern, and drop by to check on her welfare? Look what happened now!" He spread his arms wide to buttress his points. " Only God knows what would have happened if I hadn't gone over there. She doesn't deserve this! She's such a good girl."He groaned out loud.

I pretended to show concern. "I wasn't insinuating anything. I was just trying to understand what happened. How is she doing now? Is she going to be fine?" I asked trying to get information out of him. "Do they know exactly what happened to her?"

"The doctor said she was raped and her uterine is ruptured. She was beaten savagely like a dog. She's being treated and is still unconscious, but she woke up to say she was injected with blood. What blood it is, I don't understand. The doctor is still treating her, and I was told to come back tomorrow. She had lost a lot of blood before I got to her. I only pray she's going to be fine."

I moved closer to soothe him." It's okay darling, she's going to be fine. You tried your best. Let's leave the rest to God. I would pray for her before sleeping tonight."

He looked at me gratefully. "Thanks so much, babe. I really appreciate this. I am happy you understand, I thought you were going to think otherwise that I was involved with her."

"Why would I think otherwise? I know how important your students are to you. Besides, you know I was only that way before cause I was jealous. This is more important than some petty jealously. Let's go get you cleaned up."I said pulling him up from his seat and pushing him towards the bedroom.

"You need to take a shower and drink a warm cup of tea before trying to get some sleep."

He stood up without resistance and walked in front of me.

We entered the bedroom, and he undressed and got into the bathroom. I left him there and went to make tea for him in the kitchen. I was the happiest woman alive in that moment. One down, three to go!