Danny jumped on his brakes the moment he saw the pastor turning into a fast food joint and finding an empty parking space opposite the fast food joint, he parked the car, killed the engine and sat down to wait. He just wanted to know where she will be holed up and then he will strike in the night and the rest will be history. He was excited and shivered nervously. His palms were wet and he perspired profusely. Once again the doubts, the misgivings and the prospects of failure came looming across his mind, but he dismissed the thoughts as soon as they came. He’ll rather die than fail. He was still lost in thought when the pastor and Jessica stepped out of the eatery. As usual, his heart skipped a beat at the sight of the girl. She is one of the most beautiful girls he has ever seen and he has been madly in love with her ever since he first set eyes on her some four years ago when he began working for her father. And in all these years, he has never stopped admiring or wishing she could get to notice him, but he was too miniscule and unimportant to be noticed. So, he sat on the sidelines and watched her grow up into a very beautiful and adorable young woman. And now he had been commissioned to waste that life. He shuddered, wondering what he will do. Shrugging, he kicked the engine to life and pulled out after them. “Yes, you were saying …” Jessica started as she settled herself comfortably on the cozy car seat. “Yes, now you see, doesn’t maturity fall short among children, teenagers and many adults?” “Yes, it does.” “Good, then aren’t they also less than fully persons and if less than fully persons, then less than fully humans?” “They are,” she agreed. “Clearly so, hence they too must yield to the interests of the more fully humans. All that remains is to sort us all out.”  She nodded knowingly. Ijeoma has often told her that. “But no, no, no, no,” the pastor laughed. “The progression is too extreme! People are not that logical! Ah but they are more logical than they know, they are only logical slowly. The implication they did not grasp today, they may grasp in 20, 30, or 40 years. If they do not grasp even then, their children will. It is happening already. Look around.” She needn’t look elsewhere. She was a classic and living example of what he was saying. “You are right, pastor, you are.” “So you see, conscience has its revenge. We cannot know the preciousness of human life. Therefore, if we tell ourselves that humanity is a matter of degree, we can’t help holding those who are more human precious than those who are less. The urge to justify abortion drives us inexorably to a system of moral castes, more pitiable than anything the East has ever devised. Of course, we can fiddle with the grading criteria; consciousness, self awareness and contribution to society have been proposed, even racial purity has been tried,” he paused.  She nodded again knowingly. “No such tinkering avails to change the character of our deeds,” he said, shaking is head. “If we will a caste system, then we shall have one; if we will that some shall have their way, then in time, there shall be a nobility of Those Who Have Their Way. All that our fiddling with the criteria achieves is a rearrangement of the castes,” he said as he slowed down and pulled up in front of a block of offices. Jessica looked back instinctively and saw a red sport car pulling into an empty parking space a little distance away from them. She frowned, wondering where she had seen the car before. “I’ll just see a couple of associates and then we can go home,” he said as he got out of the car. “Come with me.” She jumped out of the car, and together, they ascended the flight of stairs and disappeared into one of the offices. From his car, Danny watched them both as they came down from the car. As usual, his eyes roamed all over Jessica’s traffic stopping body and he swallowed hard. He was torn in two. He wished he wasn’t mandated to kill her. He shifted uneasily. He knew he was doing it for the money and nothing more. Then an idea occurred to him. Why not kidnap the girl, confide in her and convince her to elope with him, he mused. The idea seemed good and tempting. Immediately, his heart began to warm up at the idea. He knew she was desperate and homeless and with over six million naira in his account, he could afford to take her to any part of the world. He will kidnap her and tell Chief they have killed her and then scram with her. He was still lost in thought when they came out of the office and drove off. He wouldn’t have noticed them driving away if the car parked nearby did not hoot noisily, jutting him out of his reverie. Hurriedly, he started the car, engaged gear and followed them. “Need we wonder why then, having started with our babies, we now want to kill our grandparents,” the pastor continued as soon as he set the car in motion.  Jessica looked back instinctively again and there was that same red sports car following them. She wanted to mention it to the man of God, but she held back. She didn’t want to appear foolish or to sound alarmist if they weren’t being tailed. “Sin ramifies,” he was saying. “It is fertile, fissiparous and parasitic, always in search of new kingdoms to corrupt. It breeds and just as a virus cannot reproduce itself except by commandeering the machinery of a cell, sin cannot reproduce except by taking over the machinery of human conscience. Not a gear, not a wheel is destroyed, but they are all set turning in different directions than they wont. Evil must rationalize, and that is its weakness. But it can and that is its strength. So you see how justification of safe sex will lead to the legalization of abortion on demand and open up a road that could lead to almost anywhere?” “Yes,” she concurred, greatly at a loss. “Again, acting with the purpose of compensating for immorality is always wrong as when we set up secondary school clinics to dispense pills and condoms to teenagers or encourage people to go ahead and do it so long as they are protected. Here is the axiom; we cannot alter human nature- physical, emotional or spiritual. A corollary is that no matter how cleverly devised, our contrivances never do really succeed in concealing out the natural consequences of breaking the natural law.” “What do you suggest then?” she asked, somewhat confused. “I mean what can be done?” “There are only four hard lessons,” he said. “Okay.” “The first is to acknowledge the natural law as a true and universal morality.” “Yes,” she concurred. “The second is to be on guard against our own attempts to overwrite it with new laws that are merely rationalizations for doing wrong.” “Okay.” “And the third is to fear the natural consequences of its violation, recognizing their inexorability, and finally to forebear from all attempts to compensate for immorality, returning to the path that brought us to this place. Unfortunately, the condition of human beings since before recorded history is that we don’t want to learn hard lessons. We would rather remain in denial and hide our heads in the soil like the ostrich,” he said as he pulled up in front of a massive gate. “We are home.” “Oh, thank God,” she exclaimed unconsciously, heaving a sigh of relief.  The gates opened and neatly dressed gatemen waved them in. Jessica looked back again in time to see that same red car zooming past down the road. By then she had no more misgiving they were being followed. But she was not bothered; she has explicit faith in the pastor. She has just been with him for only a few hours and yet she was feeling like the greatest living person ever. The moment the pastor knew Jessica was safe at home and after instructing his wife to take her to the Holy Trinity hospital for medical attention; he drove over to Senator Nnamani’s office.  Meanwhile, Danny was on the phone with the Senator. “Chief, I’ve seen her.” “You have seen her, did you say?” he asked crossly. “Did I pay you to see her?” “I am sorry, Senator.”  “So, where is she?” “She’s with Pastor Okechukwu.” “Pastor Okechukwu?” Chief cried and felt cold sweat broke out all over him. He dreads the man of God like he dreads the deadly HIV virus. In fact, he was more deadly and dangerous than the HIV virus itself. There and then he knew he was up against a hard nut to crack because he knew the pastor has a penchant for trouble. He felt defeated. Pulling himself together, he said. “I don’t care who she is with and I didn’t pay you to see her, but to bring her back here dead or alive. I thought I made myself clear before?” “Yes, Chief. It’s it…” “Your deadline still remains 6.00 pm,” Chief reminded him and the line went dead. Danny put another call to Stan. “Stan, I want you to come over to Kings and Queens Crescent immediately. I hope you know where?” “Yes. I’m around the neighborhood.” “Good, make it snappy. I want you to keep her covered until we are ready to take her.” “Alright, boss,” Stan said and the line went dead.