It takes two taxi drivers to pass the scene and ask what happened for the news to be all over the Hammarsdale taxi rank. When Jacob hears that Smile has been involved in another shootout, he immediately calls Sbahle and Sne. When neither of them pick up, fear grabs Jacob’s neck with an iron hand and chokes him hard. He gets into his taxi and shoots it to the scene, praying all the way that his daughter is okay.

Jacob makes it to the scene as paramedics load Sbahle into the ambulance. When Jacob sees her on that stretcher, his emotional main switch trips.

“Your daughter has been shot but she’s still breathing,” says a female paramedic after Jacob introduces himself as Sbahle’s father.

“Is … is …?” Jacob tries to ask the paramedic if Sbahle is going to be okay but figures he can’t let the words out without letting emotions in. So he just stops.

“We can’t tell you anything right now, sir,” the paramedic responds as if she knows what he wanted to ask. “We’re taking her to Northdale hospital; you can follow …”

Jacob walks away from the paramedic while she’s still speaking. There’ll be a time to hope that his daughter survives, there’ll be a time to cry if she dies, but now is a time for him to do something else. He walks towards two officers talking to a young man standing next to a white Toyota Etios. He listens as the Uber driver explains what happened to the officers who are writing down the information in their notebooks.

“I saw three cars leave with the injured driver of the black Golf 7 GTI. It was a black Ford Ranger, a Nissan Sentra and a brownish Chevrolet Spark,” Jacob hears the young man say.

He rushes to his taxi. Tyres screech on the tarmac as Jacob heads straight to his house. He finds that Sne is not there and calls her again.

“Where are you Sne? I have terrible news. Sbahle has been shot. I don’t know if she’ll make it. They shot my baby. They …” Jacob’s voice breaks.

The guilt in Sne’s heart is overwhelming. “I’m so sorry, Jacob. They said they wanted to only get Smile; Zola promised they wouldn’t hurt Sbahle,” Sne blurts out. She sniffles and sobs. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was …”

Jacob smashes his cellphone on the wall. There is a dead gaze in his eyes as he goes to the storeroom and collects a five-litre container full of petrol, two beer bottles and an old t-shirt. The dead gaze is even darker as he opens the safe in his bedroom. He takes out two pistols with the serial numbers scratched out. The police might still be looking for the three cars, but Jacob knows all the whoonga spots in Hammarsdale.

Smile is in bed bleeding profusely and losing energy in one of the whoonga spots. Thabo is on the way with the car they’ll use to take Smile to a hospital far away from Hammarsdale. Jacob stops at the gate, puts on his balaclava and jumps out of his taxi. He throws a petrol bomb at the black Ford Ranger and starts shooting. Two of Smile’s boys run around the burning Ford Ranger while three, including Bhizos, are hit with bullets before they can pull out their guns. The two boys take off running but Jacob is a good shot. He hits the back of their heads and kicks in the door of the whoonga spot as their bodies hit the ground with a thud.

Smile tries to get out of bed but it’s too late. Jacob bursts through the door and puts two bullets in his head. His death is instant. Jacob throws a petrol bomb on the wall. He is halfway to Zola’s house by the time the whoonga spot is engulfed in flames.

***

Tell us: What do you think of Jacob taking the law into his own hands?