Gabe was way behind the older boys and a sore loser, but he got offended when Julius tried to look at his letters to help out. Both brothers kept checking their phones, which were on different networks but showed No signal.

‘Earlier the calls kept dropping,’ Julius noted, chirpy after scoring fifty-two points with jukebox. ‘Now it’s like there’s no cell network to connect to.’

‘That is the nail on the head,’ Remi said. ‘When there is trouble, the police switch off phone networks so that trouble-makers cannot co-ordinate.’

‘Are my mother’s goons still around?’ Julius asked. ‘Her people carry police radios that are probably working.’

Remi shook his head. ‘The Ford they were following me around in had its tyres slashed while I was in a meeting. The next day, they came in a very nice Lexus that fell victim to a mysterious petrol-tank fire while I ate lunch in a restaurant …’

Julius laughed as he imagined Simeon explaining a burned-out Lexus to his mother.

‘I have few friends left in this town,’ Remi added. ‘Luckily, your mother has many enemies.’

For the second Scrabble game, Gabe accepted a hundred-point start and got super-tense as it neared the end with his lead shrinking to eight. Duke was trying to make a game-winning score with his final letters when Remi’s phone broke into a string of delayed text messages. Gabe’s phone pinged a second later.

‘NiCom is back,’ Remi said, peering at his Samsung over the top of his glasses. ‘Now everyone will call at once and swamp the network.’

Gabe almost toppled the Scrabble board as he snatched his phone off Duke’s bed. He dialled Orisa, then froze with angst and passed his phone to Julius. ‘It’s ringing.’

‘Gabriel?’ Orisa blurted frantically.

‘It’s me,’ Julius said. ‘Gabe’s here too. We’re both safe.’

‘God be praised!’ Orisa sang. Then, away from the phone, ‘Bunmi, I have the other boys … Are either of you injured?’

Before Julius could answer, his mother snatched the handset. Her voice was tearful, but her accusatory tone made Julius feel unloved.

‘Why did you not call sooner? I have the entire police force out looking for you.’

‘Nobody has landlines any more. Mobile and data just came back on.’

‘I feared my babies were dead,’ Bunmi sobbed.

‘Hi, Mum,’ Gabriel said as Julius moved the phone so they could both hear. ‘I got a splinter in my leg, but Remi took it out and it barely hurts.’

‘Remi Balogun?’ Bunmi guessed, shocked and sour. ‘I might have known! But I did not think your brother would be stupid enough to cross town in riot conditions!’

Julius wanted to ask his mother why she had such a problem with him, but it wasn’t the moment for a showdown.

‘What about the others in the car?’ Julius asked.

Bunmi wept noisily. Gabe gave Julius a fearful stare as Orisa took the phone back.