Chapter 3: Spreading

Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Marc applied some Nivea Shaving Foam to his beard before he reached for his reusable orange razor and started to shave it off of his face. The Ivorian man sighed as his brown eyes watched his fingers handle the razor with care as hair started to come off his newly washed face smoothly. Underneath the coolness of his 4-year old ceiling fan and in the night, he was able to relax after speaking to his friend from Tel Aviv.

It took him only a little while until he was finished with shaving his face and soon took another shower, glad that there was plenty of water for him to use right now.

It was March 11. The year was 2000. It made Marc happy that even though it was 29 degrees in the day, at night, it became so cool that he could easily sleep anywhere in Abidjan. But now was not the right time. He was going to meet Mr. Ayren Solomon, the head of the UNAMSIL. Despite the fact that it was also a Saturday, Marc swallowed it and hoped next Saturday would do. It wouldn't.

He took a few more minutes and soon enough, he was out of his apartment, took the elevator from the 5th floor down to the basement and grabbed his Rouser, driving out of the underground parking space and into the highway towards the border with Sierra Leone.