Max’s conscience is disturbing him. His colleagues wouldn’t tell him why the police wanted to see them. He walks in and sees Dambuza.

“Aaaa finally, at last. Come…We need to get this done quickly,” he shouts.

Max looks around, he wants to run away but that will make things difficult. He walks into the room nervously. Inside, there are two men with white coats.

“We are here to check your finger prints and DNA,” one of the men says.

Max puts his finger on a machine while they check on the computer. It’s not that bad.

“We just doing our job making sure we won’t miss any evidence,” Dambuza says.

“So, the person responsible will be caught?” Max asks, curiously.

“I don’t think one person did it; I think he had company,” he answers.

“When are the results coming back?” Max asks, nervously.

“Later today,” he answers.

“What will happen if our fingerprints don’t match with your evidence?” Max stands up and looks at Detective Dambuza.

“Then we will take it to home affairs to check if they have the fingerprints in their register,” he chuckled. “You can go. We need to sort some papers.”

Max walks out the police station. He tries to grab his phone in his pocket, but he panics when he sees an empty pocket. He puts his hand in his other pocket and felt at ease, his phone is in the other pocket. He sends a text to Carl.

We are finished! -Max

Why? What’s going on? -Carl

They will check fingerprints. -Max

Not bad. Did you by any chance see Gary? ¬-Carl

No. -Max

He is going to sell us out. Let’s meet at the abandoned building. -Carl

Sure. -Max

Max ran downtown. The city isn’t that crowded even though it is lunchtime. A lot of different cars are parked on parking areas. Max passes a woman who is sweeping the street. A lady throws a paper on the ground, and the cleaner shouts at her.

“Stupid! This woman doesn’t have morals. Your mother should have taught you not to throw papers in the street!!”

Max laughs while the clearner picks up the paper and throws it in the bin. He hopes he can see Gary before he makes a mischievous decision. He finds Lesley and Carl smoking.

“Did you see him?” Carl jumps on Max.

“No, I didn’t,” Max answers.

They sit on the sofa thinking about where Gary could be as they smoke cigarettes. Max falls asleep for some minutes. He wakes up when he heard sirens: he thought the police were on to them. It ends up being a false alarm.

“We will hide at your place,” Carl demands.

“Fine,” Max says, annoyed.

“Buy meat and beer.” Carl hands him a hundred rand.

Max takes the cash as they walk away. They wear hoods on their heads like they don’t want anyone to take notice of them. They arrive at a shop where Max goes in alone while Carl and Lesley look out.

They arrive at home, and Max goes straight to the shower. Lesley prepare sthe meat so he can cook it. He wears shorts and a bright shirt because he feels hot.

“Are you a girl now?” Lesley laughs.

“Stop it. We have bigger problems,” Carl hisses.

Carl’s phone rings and rings. He checks it: it’s Mandy, his sister.

“Hello, Mandy,” he says in a low voice.

“Carl, where are you?” she says, petrified.

“I am around,” he answers, looking at Max and Lesley.

“Your friend Gary brought cops here!!” she screams.

Carl ends the call and switches his phone off. Max was hoping he would say something but Carl just looks at the ground.

“Are you okay?” Max asks.

“Gary has sold us out,” Carl talks slowly.

“What happened?” Max sits on the bed.

“Let’s wait a bit to see where to go from here, but Gary is going to tell the cops about your place,” Carl says, louder.

Tell us: What would you do if you were in a similar situation?