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‘We can’t go out that way,’ Shehu said. He covered his nose and waved smoke away from his face.

Amaka stood behind him in the corridor. She turned, opened the next door and went inside, then tried the next room, and the next. Back in the corridor Shehu had inched towards the flames to look down the stairs. ‘Come,’ she said.

Shehu followed her into the bedroom she had just come out of. She went to the window, turned and waved him over to join her. The edge of the swimming pool was visible to the left.

‘Can you swim?’ Amaka asked.

‘I was in the Navy,’ Shehu said. He slid the window open and gripped the metal burglar bars. They were too close together to squeeze through.

‘The roof,’ Amaka said.

She walked over to a chest of drawers at the side of the room, swept away a vase on top and the glass shattered on the ground. She shook the chest of drawers. It was solid.

Shehu bent down and interlocked his fingers to give her a boost. She took off her shoes before stepping onto his palms and he helped her onto the cabinet. Hunched down, she knocked on the ceiling. It was hollow. She braced her back against the wall and banged on the ceiling with her fist. A crack appeared. Below, on the ground, smoke seeped into the room from under the door. Shehu ran to the bed, yanked off the sheets, rolled the cloth up and jammed it along the base of the door. He returned to the chest of drawers.

‘Let me try,’ Shehu said. He extended his hand to Amaka and she helped him up. Hunched down, their bodies pressed against each other, they banged on the ceiling causing debris to fall from the hole. A chunk of the ceiling fell away and thick smoke poured down from the hole they had made. Coughing, they both bent down. Shehu jumped off, causing the chest of drawers to wobble. ‘Get down,’ he shouted. He held his hand up to her while shielding his own face from the black smoke pouring into the room.