**Two weeks later**
Maitama, Abuja.
In a spacious room, with four windows which were well covered with curtains. The walls were well padded and soundproofed, the ground was made of dark marbles and long black leather sofas were placed at the walls all around, the only break was the opening for the door.
A bright florescent bulb at the middle totally eliminated darkness from the room, a medium sized rectangular shiny metal table of 5m by 3m was directly under the bulb and about six laptops were placed on the table. Cole and Aisha wer seated beside each other at the table and operating different laptops. Cole frequently paused to look into Aisha’s laptop and give her brief instructions before returning to his.
The door flung open and Tarasha walked in with Henry following slowly behind. Henry seemed surprised to see Aisha and Cole in the room, he stared around the place for a while before turning to Omotara.
‘Where did you get the money to set up this place in just two weeks?’ Henry asked, his surprise was visible on his face.
‘Do I need money?’ She said in reply. ‘There are other things that have purchasing power and that’s what I use.’
‘Things like?’
‘Things like the name Samantha Osman,’ Tarasha answered jokingly as she began to take a stroll round the room.
‘How do you mean?’
‘Hunmn… I walk into a store, introduce myself as Samantha Osman and plead with them to release some of their goods to me with the promise of paying later,’ she answered.
‘I don’t still understand,’ Henry said with a frown. ‘You mean you walk into a store, introduce yourself as Samantha Osman and they allow you take things on credit?’
‘Ermm… Not really. Most of them never accept, that’s why you’ve been hearing news of stores robbery recently but they ain’t really robbery, borrowing is a better word.’ she said as she approached the narrow side wall. She pushed a button on the wall and the wall below the sofa gave way for a large screen. Henry stared in awe, he wondered how she had been able to fix such mechanism and several others she had been showing him in just two weeks.
‘So you’ve been stealing from stores?’ Henry asked in bewilderment.
‘No, I’ve not been stealing, the news just reports them like that. What I really do is take goods on credit, but I’ll truly pay back.’ She said in defence.
Henry fixed his eyes on her face, perplexed while she moved away slowly. His facial expression was like that of a person who had seen an alien drop from the sky.
‘Why are you staring at me like that? Didn’t you do the same with the hospital that treated you when you escaped the bomb?’ Tarasha turned to him and asked.
‘Oh!’ Henry exclaimed, widening his eyes, he remembered that he had not even returned to pay the hospital.
‘And you’ve even forgotten about it, you’ve not paid them yet.’ Tarasha added immediately as if she could read his thoughts.
‘Ermm… But at least I didn’t leave the doctors handicapped,’ Henry said with a smirk and proceeded towards her. ‘You always dislocate the joints or break bones of those you borrow from.’
Two weeks had passed so fast. During those two weeks, both of them had only met with each other once, that was six days after visiting Jefa’s grave. Tarasha had come to intimate him about her efforts in buying several properties and making some quick investments which will produce money for her in the long time fight against her family’s enemies. She also warned him of the dangers of coming out of the place where he had been hidden. She successfully ignored the question when he asked her about her plans for punishing the enemies. The rest eight days had gone without Henry seeing or hearing from her when he wanted to, even when he tried to reach her on phone, the call would be answered by Cole and he would only tell of her absence. Two days to the end of the fourteen days was when Henry discovered the way to reach her. After enduring loneliness for several days, he tried summoning courage to leave the place to get some computer gadgets which he wanted to use, that was the day he realized he was under close watch. He had not yet stepped out of the gate when he got a call, Omotara’s voice sounded from the other end when he answered. She warned him to get back into the house, that the cap he was planning to use in disguising his face would not suffice. She asked him what he wanted and after he told her, she promised to get it and deliver it to his doorstep. An hour later, Aisha appeared at the house with the gadgets he asked for.
She was laughing hard as Henry approached her with the look of a defeated child. Cole and Aisha were already taking side glances at them.
‘You were right Cole, the Boss is in love with him.’ Aisha said in whispers to Cole.
‘Huh?’ Cole feigned a shocked expression. ‘What do you mean by ‘You are right’? Did I tell you anything?’ He asked back, making his voice as low as possible.
Aisha took another quick glance at Henry and Tarasha, hoping that their attention had not been caught by their side talks. Henry looked their way that moment and his eyes met with Aisha’s, she quickly looked away.
‘What are they doing?’ Henry stopped before Tarasha and asked.
‘Getting information and mapping out some already made plans,’ she answered.
Henry stared at the duo sitting at the table for close to two minutes in silence, a worried look appeared on his face as he turned back to Tarasha.
‘Omotara, I don’t know why you kept me solitary for two weeks and I don’t know how long you may be gone after you drop me back today. We really need to sit somewhere quiet and discuss some important things.’ He said.
‘What are the things we need to discuss?’ She answered him with a less serious tone.
‘I’m still a wanted man, I can’t continue to live like a fugitive. All I want to do is help you punish all those who have a hand in Uncle Jeffery’s death before I surrender myself back to the police.’
A serious look finally appeared on Tarasha’s face, she took a brief glance at Cole and Aisha and then motioned for she and Henry to leave the place. They walked out of the room and entered into another one arranged as a proper living room. Tarasha balanced herself on the three seater sofa and rested her arms on the armrest. Henry sat next to her seat.
‘Do you really want to go back to prison?’ Omotara began after both of them were properly seated.
‘No, I don’t want to but I have to.’ Henry answered. ‘It would be right thing for me to do.’
‘Then what will happen to me?’ She asked in soft tones.
Henry leaned back, staring thinly into her eyes, he wasn’t expecting the question and had not thought about it.
‘Do you really think it’s because of avenging my brother’s death I brought you out?’ She continued. ‘I don’t think I need help for that…’
‘You took me out because my stay there was a threat to your safety,’ Henry cut in.
‘No,’ her eyes widened in surprise. ‘How could you think of that?’
Henry paused for a while and leaned back forward, ‘Isn’t that the reason?’
Omotara uncrossed her legs and rose up to her feet and turned her back to him. ‘If I was thinking about my safety, I wouldn’t have taken you of prison. I would have come there to send you out of this world.’
Henry could feel the hurt in her voice as she spoke, he rose up slowly and stood behind her. He let out a breath before placing his hands on her shoulders, she allowed him turn her to face him. He rubbed his hands on her cheeks softly, ‘You’ve changed a lot,’ he said with a light smile. ‘I believe you must have had to admit somethings after Uncle Jeffery’s death.’
‘Yes, I did.’ She replied him. ‘During these few weeks, I’ve had to admit that I still have feelings resident in me. I’ve never felt like dying when I see somebody else die, the last time I felt like close to that was when my parents were killed, I also had similar feelings when I killed the boy I first fell in love with. But the heaviness I felt when I saw my brother in his pool of blood was totally different from what I ever felt; it was more than the previous ways I ever felt.’ She paused to take in a deep breath. ‘And that’s why I swore after burying him that I’ll go after everyone that was involved in his death.’
Henry pulled her closer to himself and engaged her in a warm embrace. It lasted for more than two minutes. Omotara suddenly pulled away, ‘Do you still love me?’ She asked, staring into his eyes.
***Hi guys, sorry for the short updates. It’ll get longer from the next episode but note for now; I’ll post a minimum of 1,500 words in an update, that’s half of 3,000 words which I ended Season One with ( Remember, I posted once in two days then. So it’ll be the same length of updates per week if sumed up) ***
Henry pulled her closer to himself and engaged her in a warm embrace. It lasted for more than two minutes. Omotara finally pulled away slowly, ‘Do you still love me?’ She asked, staring into his eyes.
Henry continued staring at her face silently, he pulled her by the waist close to himself again and used the other hand to softly caress her face by brushing her hair backwards.
‘Boss, we have a minor challenge here,’ Cole came saying as he stepped into the living room. Henry and Omotara detached unwillingly from themselves.
‘What minor issue, can’t it wait?’ She snapped at him in reply.
______
‘We’re not waiting for her anymore, we’ll go search for her.’ Rex said as he released a huge mold of smoke to the air. Don and stainless were standing in front of his seat with their hands placed at the back like obedient children waiting for instructions. ‘I told you guys that the guy we killed may not be related to her, even if he was related to her, she would have no feelings for him anymore’ Rex continued. ‘Nefary Clan Assasins are also well trained, they don’t let feelings get into their way. We didn’t make her furious by killing the assumed brother, we’ve only made her to be more cautious of us. If she was pained by his death like the inspector general expected that she would be, she would have fallen into out first trap.’
Rex got up from the seat and took out a gun from his pocket, he closed one of his eyes and stared thinly into it.
‘I have an idea,’ Don broke the silence.
Rex took a quick glance at him and returned his focus to the gun, ‘What is your idea?’
‘The Vice President returns in five days time, I’m sure she would be coming back to make an attempt on his life, we could set up another trap for her.’ Don voiced out.
‘No man, she won’t fall into the trap. She’s aware that she has people after her now and she would apply more carefulness. I’m sure she won’t attack him immediately he returns, she knows the security would be tight. Except the need for his death is very urgent, it may take her several months for her to attack again.’
There was another brief silence between them, Rex began to pace around, making soft noises with the soles of his shoes.
He suddenly turned back to stainless and Don. ‘Hey, you have two of your ex-men working with her.’ He said in a questioning tone to Don.
‘Yes, I do.’ Don replied, squinting as he wondered why the question was being asked.
‘Did you train them yourself?’ Rex asked.
‘Yes, they learnt under my tutorship.’
‘Do you still have their contacts?’
‘Ermm… No,’ Don stated, blinking his eyes.
‘You don’t,’ Rex stared at him with an unbelieving look in his eyes, he stretched a palm out, bringing it to Don’s neck. ‘Are you that foolish?’
‘Er…’ Don began to stammer and shiver as Rex’s hand touched his neck.
‘Don’t you have their email addresses, Facebook IDs or any of their social networks usernames?’ Rex asked, touching the neck softly contrary to Don’s expectation of life being squeezed out of him.
‘Er… I do have some of them but I doubt if they still use any,’ Don replied shakily, his eyes staring at Rex’s hand on his neck.
‘Which ones do you have?’ Rex asked, finally taking his hand away from Don’s neck.
‘Their Facebook IDs, Twitter usernames and emails,’ Don replied, breathing heavily as a result of the panic from Rex’s strangling threat.
‘And they don’t use any of that again?’
‘Yes, I tried reaching them through all those platforms when the Vice President asked me to trail their boss but all my attempts were futile.’
‘They should have other websites they visit,’ Rex said thoughtfully, looking away from Don.
Don closed his eyes for some seconds to search his mind, he tried to recall if he had ever seen Aisha frequenting other websites. ‘I think there’s another website the girl visits well, ‘ Don said ecstatically as he finally recalled.
‘What website is that?’ Rex turned back to him and asked.
‘Two websites actually; Nairacountry.com and Lilianikeja.com.’ Don answered.
‘Are they social networks?’
‘Humn… One is a forum while the other is an entertainment and news blog.’
Rex turned slowly and stared blankly at the wall for a couple of seconds. He cleared his throat before speaking again, ‘The girl was your girlfriend right? And the guy, was he also close to you?’
‘Yes, she was my girlfriend, the guy was a bit close to me. He was one of the two bests I had.’
‘Sounds nice,’ Rex said with an evil smirk.
______
‘James!’ Dakolo called on sighting his long time friend.
‘Shun sir!’ Inspector James saluted. ‘Good morning Agent sir.’
‘Good morning James,’ Dakolo replied with a smile, extending an handshake to him.
They were at the reception of the police headquarters, James had just been transferred again, from Ilorin to Abuja to work with Agent Tim who was now the one in charge of Samantha Osman’s case. The case had been taken away from Dakolo, after he couldn’t meet the deadline given to him by the Inspctor General. Dakolo had also been demoted secretly back to the level of an Inspector as a punishment for his carelessness and his part played in Henry’s escape. James who apart from Henry’s prison escape which was noised all over, wasn’t aware of Dakolo’s punishment and the other details, had arrived to resume his duty, thinking he would be working with Dakolo.
‘Sir, I’ve been longing to see you since I arrived this morning but Senior Agent Tim said it was unnecessary for me to see you.’ James said.
‘Yes, of course, it is unnecessary, haven’t you been briefed already?’
‘I don’t understand you sir,’ a frown appeared on James’ face.
‘I’m not in charge of the case anymore.’
‘Agent sir, why were…’
‘Shh…’ Dakolo interrupted him, placing a finger on his lips. ‘Call me what I am, I’m a Inspector once again, I’m no longer an Agent.’
‘What do you mean sir?’ The muscles on James’ face were squeezed in confusion.
‘I meant what you just heard, I’ve been stripped off my position as an Agent since Henry E.G’s escape from prison.’
‘No sir, I refuse to agree with that.’ James argued. ‘They can’t strip you off your agency just like that, you’ve done so much for the force.’
‘It doesn’t matter how much you’ve done for the force, it only takes a single mistake for you to be stripped. ‘
‘But something has to be done about this issue.’
‘You can’t do any thing James, I’ll sort it out myself. I’ll hand over Samantha Osman to the law even if it’s the last thing I do on earth.’
‘I’ve searched all the footages around the place, the only thing I keep identifying is the car stopping in front of the house but the cameras did not capture their faces.’ Cole said to Tarasha who was still visibly angry that she had been disturbed.
‘Do you still find only three people in the car?’ Tarasha asked, walking away from Henry to follow Cole. Henry let out a deep breath and sank into one of the sofas, he knew what they were doing is trying to identify some people with footages from the street cameras.
*
‘Could this be your boss?’ Tarasha asked Cole as she stared into the laptop screen. She stood behind the upright chair Cole was previously occupying and her hands were rested on the backrest. Aisha was still seated on the next seat. The clip being played was one captured at night, three men were outside the gate of the house where tarasha lived previously, the same one in which her brother was killed.
‘I don’t know, the clothes all these men put on are far bigger than the ones Don Daniel uses.’ Cole replied.
‘He’s probably disguising with those clothes,’ Tarasha said thoughtfully. ‘I saw him that day with the Inspector General, the other two must be some of his new boys.’
‘One of them could be Stainless, his friend here in Abuja, the one whose warehouse was ransacked by the police when Don met you at Henry E.G’s house.’ Cole suggested.
‘You’re right, that must be one of the other guys.’ Tarasha agreed. They maintained a brief silence. ‘Where has the car been located again?’
‘Going out of town, we couldn’t ascertain where because of the absence of cameras around those areas but the transmission suddenly cuts sometimes when they are going to other places in asokoro.’
‘Hmm, I think we need to visit Gwagalada today, that must be where they were heading to out of town.’ she suggested. ‘And I think we can guess who the third man is now,’ Tarasha said thoughtfully, rubbing a finger on her lower lip.
‘Who do you think it is?’
‘If you observe well, Don has been acting more intelligent than he is. How else can you explain the cut in transmission of the security cameras? He can’t do that except someone had thought him how recently and the only persons capable of teaching him are those at the NSCC or anyone who has previously been with us.’
‘Ermm..’ A frown appeared on Cole’s face as he tried to comprehend. ‘Do you think Benny is the third person?’
‘Most likely he is…’ She said. Their discussion paused as the door opened softly and Henry walked in.
Their eyes moved towards him as he proceeded towards them, from the look on his face, they could deduce that he had been forced to come in after waiting without seeing Tarasha for long.
‘Is there anything I can help with?’ Henry blurted out, having nothing else to say.
‘Not for now,’ Tarasha replied him and turned back to face the laptop. ‘Anybody else apart from the NSCC officials found at the house?’ She asked Cole.
‘Non yet except for one chubby guy that lives in the next building.’ Cole answered.
_______
‘Good afternoon Sir,’ James saluted Agent Tim.
‘Afternoon James,’ Agent Tim offered him a handshake and motioned him to the seat behind the table.
‘I can see you’re already getting yourself to know the new environment.’ Agent Tim said, adjusting his eyeglasses as he focused on a docvment.
‘Yes sir, I’m trying. I also met with Agent Dakolo earlier,’ James replied, purposely trying to bring in a discussion about Dakolo.
‘Inspector Dakolo,’ Agent Tim corrected consciously. ‘His case is such a pathetic one, he destroyed his reputation with his carelessness.’
‘But it could have happened to anyb…’
Agent Tim raised his hand to hush him, ‘Forget about Dakolo and let’s discuss the reason you’re here,’ he adjusted his eyeglasses again and rested his back in the chair, fixing his gaze on James face. ‘Inspector Dakolo actually recommended you in a meeting several weeks ago, that was when he was still handling the case.’ Agent Tim continued. ‘I read up your file and found it interesting, I also discovered that you have been previously involved in the case.’
‘Yes sir, I was the first to handle it in Lagos.’ James replied.
‘But you weren’t able to do much also, the only reason I think you’re still much qualified for this is because you had an encounter with Samantha Osman and I read about that gun battle.’ He paused and sat up right, resting his hands on the table. ‘How were you able to escape the same woman who killed Robin Kahn?’ He asked, looking straight into James’ eyes.
‘Sir, I didn’t do anything special. There was a gun battle between her and my team that day. My shots actually hit her body that day but she was well proofed.’
‘That’s encouraging, no other police officer or even Robin Kahn came so close to her.’ Agent Tim commended. He took a pause to note down some things in a jotter. ‘I know you should have read about the progres of the case…’ He paused and chuckled. ‘That’s if I can call it progress but I think you still need to hear it from me. So listen carefully as…’
_____
‘Have you installed the features of the woman?’ Mr Sylvester asked as he entered into Frank and Shola’s office.
‘The features are not new ones sir, Its exactly like one of the ladies out of the two we already have, even the face is only slightly different.’
‘So you mean we have the features already?’
‘Yes, we do.’ Frank replied briefly.
‘Okay, ‘ Mr Sylvester proceeded to take a seat behind Frank’s table. ‘I’ve been thinking about your suggestion and I think we should employ someone else. It’s very possible we get a good or even one who is better than Kimberly.’
‘Nice decision sir,’ Frank replied with a smile.
‘Yea,’ Mr Sylvester heaved a sigh. ‘I’ll draft out the vacancy announcement later.’
_______
‘Omotara, how do you intend to get back to the killers of your brother?’ Henry asked, adjusting his face cap as he took a quick glance at her face. He was seated at the front seat with her while she drove the car.
‘Cover your face with the cap properly, anyone could see you through the window.’ She replied, consciously ignoring his question.
‘You didn’t answer my question,’ Henry said as he adjusted his cap.
‘You really want to know?’ She replied. There was no answer. ‘I plan to let them die the same way he died.’
‘No, I think we shouldn’t kill them ourselves. Let’s hand them over to the police.’
‘I knew this is where were we’ll disagree,’ Tarasha said in a sad tone.
‘But I just said what is right,’ Henry replied, giving her a surprise stare.
‘How can we hand over the police to the police? I already told you that the person who led them is the Inspector General himself.’
‘But there are still legal ways to handle it,’ Henry replied. ‘I’m sure Inspector Dakolo would help us if we explain things to him. That way, our revenge on them will happen legally.’
‘Legally?’ She chuckled mockingly. ‘You still talking about legality when everything about you, everything about us is illegal already.’
‘No Tara, I’ll make things right after this.’
‘What do you mean?’ She glanced at him with a frown.
‘I mean I won’t keep running from the police forever,’ he replied.
‘Hmm, so you still keep this crazy idea of you submitting yourself to the law?’
‘It’s the right thing to do, when we do things the right way, God can help us.’
‘d@mn it!’ Henry had pushed a wrong button with his last words. Tarasha cursed in anger as she pushed the brakes all of a sudden. The car screeched and Henry hit his head against the airbag . The vehicle following behind would have hit them from if not for the experience of the driver. He quickly pulled his brakes and swerved the car to the pedestrian lane. A mini traffic jam was caused as cars began to line up behind them.
Henry turned to look at her face in a questioning manner but she looked less disturbed by what had happened, there was a terrible angry look on her face as she stared blankly through the windscreen. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘Where was that God when he was killed?’ Tarasha asked with a voice filled of rage, she stared thinly outside the car. ‘Those two bullet holes I saw on his forehead would be on the foreheads of all those that killed him, I’ll present their bodies as sacrifices to God with my hands.’
Some motorists had come out of their cars to see what was happening. One of the was already knocking the glass at the driver’s side. Without paying attention to the man knocking, Tarasha reversed the car and drove off.
March 12, 2031
The days rolled by slowly but smoothly, Tarasha spent very less time with Henry wven thoygh they now stayed in the same building, and when they met, they only talked about the structures which Tarasha was putting in place to ensure they had a smooth attack on the killers of her brother. Though, Henry still nurtured the idea of not killing them but handing them to the law after making sure they are disgraced, he was scared to talk to Omotara about it.
Tarasha had been busy setting up structures, she invested the monies she had gotten from hijacking some of her past victim’s account so that she’ll have something to present as the source of money for which she used to build those structures. She also decided to keep the name, Kimberly E. Alex and use it for official purposes. There was just four more days before the revenge mission starts.
The Vice President had long returned and was back to work, more security protocols had been set up around his residence and he had more officials guarding him closely and even much more from afar, same applied with the President and the new Senate President.
“Tara,” Henry called softly. He h@tëd the silence between them, it was killing him deep inside but he decided to play along because Tara seemed not to be bothered about it or even look affected by it. She had turned suddenly cold towards him since the day he mentioned ‘God’ during their conversation. Since then, Henry had been wondering if things would ever be the same and if she would ever be able to live the kind of life she deserved, especially now that she had the fire of revenge burning inside her.
‘Henry,’ she called back softly, looking up from the dinning where she was seated.
‘You’ve not said anything to me since you returned,’ Henry got up from the sofa and faced the dinning.
‘I said good morning to you,’ she replied with a wry smile, her eyebrows gathering together.
‘I mean you’ve not said anything else,’ he said, approaching her slowly. ‘You’ve been avoiding me and you only answer me briefly whenever I ask about the progress of your plans.’
Tarasha drew in a breath and returned her gaze to the laptop on the dinning table, ‘What else do I need to tell you?’ She said without paying attention to him as he stepped into the dinning section.
‘Don’t you think I feel lonely with the way I’m being neglected?’ He asked, resting his hands on the backrest of a dinning chair.
‘Yes, I considered that fact and that’s the reason I’m here working at the dinning close to you. You’re aware that I prefer staying in the computer room,’ she replied and began to type with the laptop’s keyboard.
‘And you think that would suffice?’ Henry asked in a sad tone.
She stopped abruptly and let out a deep breath, then she turned her gaze to his face, she seemed tired of the conversation already. She wanted to say something more hurtful but her heart melted as she saw the look on his face. She sighed and took her gaze away, not liking the feeling of guilt that was building in her mind. ‘What else do you want me to do?’ She asked and continued typing.
‘Isn’t there a reason you brought me out?’
She paused again and took a glance at his face, ‘A reason like?’
‘Didn’t you say you need me out to get back to the killers of Uncle Jeffery?’
‘I didn’t say anything like that,’ she replied. She tried to harden her heart as she fixed her look to his face, she didn’t want to be broken by his pure and innocent looking face. ‘What I said was I needed to get you out, so that I can focus on killing everyone of them, I don’t need you for anything.’ She said coldly and turned her face back to the laptop.
Henry’s shoulder’s dropped at he pondered again on her words, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. ‘Then I think you should allow me go,’ he tried to speak boldly but his voice failed him.
‘Go where?’ She looked at him with a smirk.
‘Take me back to the prison where you took me from or better still, take my life; that’s something you’ve wanted to do for a long time.’
‘Oh, please Henry!’ She said, closing her laptop. ‘I don’t have time for this kind of conversation now.’ With that she walked away from his presence.
________
Inspector General Rikau could hear sounds of laughter erupting from the living room as he approached. He wondered who the Vice President’s visitors were. He had seen only one strange car in garage, so he thought it would be only one visitor but he could hear more than two voices.
‘So did you select him thinking that he’ll be more interested because his father had almost become a victim?’ Chief Elvis Richards asked. He was sitting comfortably in a settee, putting on a light shirt and the trouser of a track suit. The walking stick which he now used to support himself rested on a footstool close to him. Seated opposite him was Agent Tim, dressed in a black suit and white inner shirt, he looked relaxed and jovial just like the vice President. James was also seated in the living room, dressed in the same manner as Agent Tim, he had a more serious look on.
‘No sir, he was the most qualified person for the job, Dakolo himself recomended him before he was kicked out.’ Agent Tim replied.
‘Its good Dakolo was kicked out, he was never cooperative…’ Chief Elvis was saying when the Inspector General walked in. ‘Oh! Here comes the boss himself,’ he smiled happily on seeing Chief Rikau. James and Agent Tim got up simultaneously and saluted the IG.
‘Good afternoon sir,’ they said in unison.
IG Rikau replied with a smile and a mock salute, proceeding towards the vice President. ‘Good afternoon your Excellency,’ he saluted.
‘Good afternoon Rikau,’ Chief Elvis replied. ‘Please take your seat.’
Chief Rikau settled into the sofa beside James, ‘How are you James?’ He asked as he unbuttoned his suit jacket.
‘Fine sir, thanks.’ James replied with a brief smile.
‘Okay, now that the Inspector General is here, I’ll leave him to do the talking. He knows some things that we don’t know, he has also been working with external forces on this case.’ Chief Elvis said.
‘Which external force?’ James asked with a frown.
____
‘What’s up girl?’ Cole asked Aisha as she strolled into his room. He was seated at the end of the bed, resting his back against the headboard. He had on a white singlet and brown shorts. He was focused on what was being showed on TV, it was the trailer of a new movie, The Airegin Mafias, a Romance and Action Thriller. Aisha was putting on a short top which stopped above the abdomen and a bumshort.
‘I just finished preparing lunch,’ she replied him and sat into the bed at the same side he was seated. She took off her slippers and laid on the bed, placing her head on his laps.
‘Did you say lunch?’ He asked, rubbing his belly but his eyes was still fixed to the television screen.
‘Yes, lunch.’
‘Oh Great! I’ve been expecting that,’ he said, taking his eyes off the TV, now that the trailer had finished airing. He rubbed his fingers on her lips, staring at her face with a questioning smile. ‘You’ve been frequenting my room these days, I hope I’m safe.’
She smiled and stared up at him, ‘Are you scared of what I could do to you?’
‘Scared? What can you do?’ He asked, trying to supress a smile.
‘You don’t know what I can do?’ She asked in a surprised tone.
‘I don’t know, please tell me.’
She ignored him and rolled fully into the bed. ‘What?’ She said in a scolding tone as she caught his eyes feasting on her exposed thighs. ‘You better go eat your food before it gets cold,’ she added.
‘Oh! You’re right,’ Cole got up as his stomach made a funny sound in reaction to Aisha’s mention of food. ‘I hope the boss and…’ He paused and reduced his volume, ‘and her boyfriend are not there anymore.’
‘Haha…’ Aisha burst into laughter. ‘They’ve left the living room but I’ll tell them you said they were lovers.’
‘Who said anything?’ He eyed her mockingly and put on his sandals, he was whistling a tone as he proceeded out of the room.
Aisha stared for some minutes at the TV, she wasn’t interested in the music show going on and began to search for the remote control. She found it beside his phone by the headboard but instead of taking the remote control, she took the phone. She tapped the power button and the lights came on, it was unlocked. He was previously browsing on his phone and was on one of her favourite websites , Nairacountry.com .
‘Hmm…’ She smiled to herself as she scrolled up to see his username on the website. Cole had always lied to her that he wasn’t a fan of the site, so it would feel good stalking with his username. He was sure he’ll be a notorious personality online especially at the sëxuality section. She was disappointed when it got to the top and she discovered that he was browsing as a guest and the page had been loaded since 9:16am. She clicked on refresh button and scrolled down to see the new updates on the site.
The first topic was “Security Summit ends in Lagos”, she was uninterested, so she scrolled to the next. The topic below was ” Nairacountry user hangs out with writers on Youngicee”, she was about to open when her eyes met with the headline two topics below, “Who has seen Mr and Mrs Bello? (See Photos)”. One of those kidnapper’s works again, she thought as she saw it. She could have ignored but for her surname which the missing people shared. She clicked on the heading and the news displayed. The missing couple were her parents.
‘Parents of the infamous suspect, Aisha Bello of the Samantha Osman group have been missing from their home for more than five days. Mr and Mrs Bello had left home on Saturday evening after telling the neighbors that they were going for their usual evening Bible study meeting at the church in the next street, since then they had not been seen to have returned home. Efforts to reach them by telephone proved abortive as their lines have been switched off since then. The daughter from Ibadan had since returned to join in the search for her parents after being alerted by the neighbours, the only son of the family has also been alerted and has arrived from his base in Kano state as at the time of this report.
It should be recalled that the family has been confirmed to lost all contacts with Aisha and have been unaware of her whereabouts and occupation for more than ten years.
We encourage any citizen who has information about the parent’s whereabouts to report to the closest police station to them.’
Aisha heartbeat increased speedily as she read the news. Though she had been away from her family and had not heard from any of them for years, she always wanted to hear of their well being only. She picked up the phone and rushed out panicking.
‘Cole, I’ve got a problem.’ She announced as she approached the dining room.
Cole paused for a second to look at her face, he still had unchewed food particles in his mouth. ‘What’s the matter?’ He asked and rushed up the rest of the food in his mouth.
‘Here, my parents have been kidnapped.’ She said trying to turn on the phone’s screen.
‘How? How did fine out and where did you see it?’ Cole patiently swallowed the food and took a cup of water, wondering if she had really heard of her parent’s kidnap or she was just hallucinating, it seemed more like the latter to him.
‘This is my dad and mum, they went missing since Saturday,’ she said shakily as she showed him the page on the browser.
He sniffed in and scrolled down to read the news, it took him less than a minute to finish reading. He stared at the pictures for some seconds before looking up. Aisha was staring intently at his face like he had the solution to her problem.
‘Ermm… What do we do now?’ He blurted out as he had nothing else coming into head.
‘I don’t know, that’s why I’m showing you.’ She replied.
‘Ehen…’ He stammered as he thought of what to do. ‘Ermm… I think we should try reach some of your siblings, let’s check the thread again and see if we can find any useful information.’ He added and picked up the phone again. He turned on the screen and scrolled down to see comments below the post.
‘Na who dey kidnap Assassin Papa and Mama? You dey sure say no she kidnap them?’ the first comment read. He scrolled down again. ‘Good job by the police, I’m sure that they police have the parents in custody just to make Aisha Bello come out of the hiding.’ the second reply read. ‘I think I saw these people around my area this week,’ the third reply. ‘The police are unserious people, I went with the little information I have and non was ready to listen to me, I think they kidnapped the assassin’s parents themselves and they’re expecting the assassin to show up,’ the fourth reply read. Aisha had gotten up when she saw that Cole was engrossed in it and was reading the comments with him.
‘Is there anyway we can contact this guy that says he has little information about them?’ Cole asked, looking up Aisha who was now standing by his side.
‘Yes, we can send the person a personal message.’ Aisha replied and collected the phone. She clicked on the monicker and waited for it to load. The profile of the person loaded, she scrolled down the person’s topics and paused a little to check the profile picture, a young simple looking man flashed his teeth pleasantly in it. She scrolled down, searching for the ‘send pm’ link, that was when she remembered that she had to be logged in first to access that feature. She quickly scrolled up and clicked on the login button.
______
‘We have two personal messages and ten mentions, ‘ Stainless spoke aloud, navigating the browser with the mouse of the desktop in his hand.
‘Any useful one?’ Don asked, proceeding towards him. He was bare chested and had a towel hung around his neck, he had just finished taking care of his beards, not forgetting that he needs to always remain unrecognizable as the wanted Daniel Ogbighe.
‘I’ve replied the first personal message we got to open the conversation and I’m just about to reply the second,’ Stainless replied him.
‘Okay, what about the mentions?’ Don asked.
‘No useful mentions except some people hurling insults at the poster for not reporting to the appropriate quarters,’ Stainless said.
‘Let’s hope we succeed with this,’ Don said, wiping the back of his neck with the towel.
‘If we don’t get it now, we’ll keep making posts that’ll hit the front page until we get the desired result.’
‘I hope that happens soon,’ Don said and took a seat beside Stainless. Stainless scrolled down the thread checking for more replies to the post, after reading for few minutes. He navigated to the next tab where he had his mailbox opened.
‘Oh!’ he exclaimed as a new message popped. ‘We’ve got a new message from the moniker IshyBabe,’ he announced.
‘IshyBabe?’ Don mentioned and held his breath briefly, the moniker sounded a bell to him. He turned to look into the screen, ‘I think we’ve found the target, track the sender’s location.’
‘Okay, let me…’
‘Please just let me handle it, I’m hundred percent sure that IshyBabe is Aisha’s moniker.’ Don said, signaling for Stainless to allow him continue with the laptop.
‘Alright,’ Stainless quickly typed in somethings and tapped the enter button before rising up.
____
James sat in his office pondering on the meeting he had the day before with his father, Agent Tim and the Inspector General. He wondered why so much secrets about the case were hidden with them. His father and the Inspector General had spoken like people who had so much knowledge about Samantha Osman but they were unwilling to release the information to the police as an organization.
**Flashback**
‘Thank you sir,’ Chief Rikau thanked the Vice President as he adjusted himself properly on the seat and cleared his throat. ‘We now know who Samantha Osman is, we don’t know her real identity yet but we’ve seen her work closely with us. It’s just that we didn’t find out at the right time, but it’s not too late yet.’ he paused and adjusted himself again. ‘She worked at the ‘NSCC but has left now. Like you also know, no one at the NSCC seems to have information about her whereabouts…’
‘But why hasn’t she been declared wanted already?’ James cut in, taking glances at the other discussants’ faces. ‘Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I don’t just understand where you’re coming from.’
‘You don’t need to understand where we’re coming from, as far as you understand where we are going to,’ the Vice President replied him and signaled for Chief Rikau to continue.
‘We’ve not declared her wanted because we’ve not been able to link her to any crime yet, that’s why the police even hasn’t received any information,’ Chief Rikau decided to explain to James.
James still looked as confused as before, he stared at Agent Tim’s face to see if Agent Tim could comprehend the Inspector General words but Agent Tim just had an expressionless look on. ‘If she hasn’t been linked to any crime, how are we sure she’s the one?’
‘She actually has been linked to a crime,’ Inspector General Rikau replied. ‘She was with the Vice President the day he was shot.’
‘Oh! I think that’s good enough for the police to work with,’ James said in a confident tone. ‘You can allow us to work with that information from your personal investigation team.’
‘No, the police can’t work with it now.’ Inspector General Rikau said. ‘Let’s just pretend that the fact doesn’t exist.’
‘I don’t understand…’ James tried to argue.
‘Look here James, you don’t have to understand. After being attacked by Samantha Osman, I launched a personal investigation team and they’ve done so much already.’ the Vice President cut in harshly. ‘I think I’ll just go straight to the point of the whole story,’ he said before picking up his walking stick. ‘Since the case has been transferred to you and Agent Tim, I and the Inspector General thought it would be wise for you to know about our personal Investigation team, this team is non governmental and even in plain words, illegal. That’s why we can’t involved them with the police. But as you know, you’ve got to use desperate measures for desperate times. We don’t want you to come into the way of our personal investigators, so that you won’t be a victim, that’s why we called this meeting.’ chief Elvis said in a dismissive tone and got up with the aid of his walking stick. He walked out of the living room, leaving a confused Agent Tim and James with the Inspector General.
______
Chief Elvis sat relaxing on a rocking chair, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the fresh air in the garden. All through his medical stay in the united States, he kept having nightmares of a masked young girl coming after him. Sometimes she would appear to him and only threaten him about the nemesis coming, other times she would warn him to stop his wicked ways so that his death would be less gruesome. He didn’t understand the nightmares until the Inspector General called one afternoon to inform him about them locating the assassin’s house. The Inspector General also told him that her backbone was Jeffery Danjuma, the first son of late Dr Danjuma. Jeffery was one of their lucky victims who was granted pardon from prison after being wrongly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in terrorism.
Chief Rikau explained to him how they had met Jeffery in Samantha’s house in her absence and how Jeffrey had spoken to Don and Stainless about Kimberly who worked at the NSCC to be his sister
**Flashback**
Jefa’s Death
Jefa was laying flat on the three seater sofa in the living room, reading from his mother’s diary when the doorbell sounded. He paused to listen if he was hearing correctly and it sounded again. He rose up slowly, wondering who could be at the door as he wasn’t expecting anyone except for Omotara who would never use the doorbell as she had her keys with her always.
He proceeded to the door, still with the diary in his hand, one finger placed where he was reading. He checked through the peephole, he saw two unknown men standing outside. ‘Who’s it?’ he asked.
‘PHCN,’ one of the men replied.
‘PHCN, at this time of the day?’ Jefa asked himself. He looked through the peephole again to check the men, there was nothing suspicious about them. He touched the key and wanted to turn it but another thought came into his mind. They could be the police, he wondered, peeping through the hole again. He finally decided to open the door, knowing that if they were officers, they could get angry he left them waiting.
He opened the door and popped out his head, ‘What can I do for you sirs?’
‘Please, we want to see the owner of the apartment.’ one of the guys replied.
‘Oh! She’s not back from work yet,’ Jefa replied.
‘Okay, do you stay here with her?’
‘Yes, I’m her elder brother.’
‘Oh! You’re Kimberly’s elder brother?’
‘Kimberly?’ Jefa stared in surprise.
‘Or is Kimberly not her name?’ the man began to trace somethings on a paper in his hand, putting it close to his eyes as if he was searching for the real name.
‘Her name is Tara,’ Jefa unsuspecting said.
‘Tarasha?’
‘No Omotara,’ Jefa replied.
‘She works at the NSCC?’
‘Yes.’
‘Wow Wow Wow!’ Someone exclaimed in a loud voice, clapping with his hands as he approached.
Jefa stepped out a little bit to see who it was. His eyes met with Chief Rikau as the man appeared from the left side of building.
‘You? What are you doing here?’ Rikau asked in an angry tone.
‘Get inside man,’ Don said, pushing him inside the house with force. They kicked the door open and the first two men entered. The Inspector General walked in thirty seconds later. Jefa had fallen and was sitting on the floor, wondering what was happening.
‘Bring him to the middle,’ Chief Rikau said to Don as he walked into the living room and proceeded to sit on a sofa. Don and Stainless dragged Jefa violently and placed him in front of the IG after dragging the center table away.
‘So what do you think you’re doing? Having a family revenge right?’ the IG began after Jefa was placed at his front.
‘You fool, what have you come to do here?’ Jefa cursed got up, trying to attack the Inspector General. He was stopped by Don and Stainless who dealt him huge blows that sent him sprawling on the floor.
‘I’ve come to take your life and that of your sister’s whom you send always…’
‘We don’t have much time,’ Rex’s voice interrupted, he was just coming in through the door. ‘Do what you want to do quickly.’
Jefa took a glance at the new person with the voice, the person had his face partly masked. He picked up the diary again as he tried to rise in pain. The IG was already pointing a gun at him.
Jefa froze and stared at the IG with an expressionless look, ‘You can kill me if you want to but I know that the blood of my parents and mine would cry out loud until the day you die disgracefully.’
‘Shut up, Idiot!’ Chief Rikau cursed and released two shots into Jefa’s head. Jefa fell back to the floor lifelessly.
‘I thought we were going to take him,’ Rex said in an alarmed tone, rushing to towards the IG.
‘No need for that,’ the IG replied, he took out a pen and a paper and squatted beside the dead body.
‘Is there any way you could also reach your siblings?’ Cole asked, staring at Aisha’s face after they had sent the personal message.
‘No, I don’t have their contacts anywhere.’ she replied.
‘I just think we need to confirm from them before we take any step,’ Cole said thoughtfully. ‘It may just be as one of the replies have suggested; it may be a ploy to bring you out of hiding.’
‘But wh@tëver it is, I have to come in to ensure that my parents suffer.’ Aisha said defensively.
‘No Aisha, you may not have to come in,’ Cole said, trying as much as possible not to hurt her with his words. ‘You may not come in if it is something that can be handled by the police and your siblings.’
‘So are you saying I should leave it to the police and my siblings to handle?’ A notification beep sounded on Aisha’s phone, she ignored it and locked back the screen.
‘Yes, or…’ Cole paused and stared straight into her eyes. ‘What do you want to do?’
Aisha was weakened by the question, she hadn’t thought of it yet and really did not know what to do.
‘The mission we’re about to start is very crucial and important to Tarasha and I wonder what would happen if you make mistakes in the tasks she gives you,’ Cole added.
Aisha heaved a sigh, Cole was right, maybe she was getting unnecessarily worked up. Imagine that she had abandoned her family for years without caring enough to call or ask about anyone but now she wants to become the superhero who would rescue her parents from kidnappers.
‘Did I hear my name here?’ Tarasha’s voice sounded, startling the both of them.
‘Ermm… Boss,’ Cole feigned an unnecessary smile as he rose to his feet. Aisha also tried to put on a smile too. ‘Nothing really boss, we were just talking.’
Tarasha stared at both of them suspiciously, sensing their tensed mood. ‘Are you sure there’s no problem?’ she asked.
‘Yes, there’s none.’ Cole replied while Aisha remained quiet.
‘Okay then,’ she flashed a look at the duo’s faces before turning back.
_______
‘Sir, I’ve been expecting your call since I resumed this morning,’ James began, barely settling into the visitor’s seat. ‘I didn’t understand everything that was said at the meeting with the Vice President, I believe you would explain better to me since you still spoke with the Inspector General after the meeting.’
Agent Tim pretended not to hear anything James said, he kept his eyes fixed to the file he was skimming through. It took him another minute before he finally looked up. ‘James, the only thing required of us is our cooperation. The Vice President and IG has a special investigation crew working for them. The NIS and CIB are also cooperating with them,’ he said.
‘Yes sir, I understand that but…’ he paused, trying to find suitable words to express himself. ‘I’m wondering why their efforts can’t be merge with the force’s effort. I mean even if they don’t want the team to work with the police, they should allow the team work with the NIS.’
‘That has been explained already, their investigation team is not one backed by the law, so their works can be merged with the force’s work.’
‘That is what I don’t really understand,’ James adjusted himself and took another seating position to show his seriousness. ‘Why should the Inspector General and the Vice President be using an illegal team?’
‘Shut up James! You ask too many questions. Can’t you consider the fact that your father is involved in this?’ Agent Tim blasted.
‘Sir, whether it’s my father or not, we have to do things the right way.’ James insisted.
‘Just keep quiet now,’ Agent Tim commanded. ‘It’s better you keep your ideas to yourself and work with us or you get into trouble if you don’t. Even your Dad has promised not to interfere in what would be the consequences you may face if you choose to be uncooperative.’
‘Sir, I don’t intend to oppose you or anybody…’
‘Get out of my office,’ Agent Tim said dismissively and turned to his computer.
James quietly rose up and walked out of the office, having so many unanswered questions in mind. He wondered what kind of team his father and the Inspector General had gathered, why it was secret and termed legal. Could it be that his father had something to hide?
_________
In a fairly lit room, the Vice President sat quietly in a leather chair with a long backrest, he had two heavy men standing at both sides of his chair. The Inspector General not too far from him, on a high stool with his feet far above the ground. Rex was standing at the window side, resting his back against the burglary proof and gripping one of the horizontal rods of the burglary with his palm. He had his left foot placed against the wall and the right on the ground. His face could not be clearly seen as he had his back to the room’s source of light, the slightly opened curtain.
‘Rex, I think it’s better to work with him.’ the Vice President said to Rex, ‘him’ referring to the Inspector General. ‘He knows this people well and can help you with a lot of knowledge that you may need.’
The Inspector General’s face could been seen brightened up with a look of confidence even in the dark; here was the Vice President vouching for him in the presence of arrogant Rex.
‘I don’t work alongside with anybody, I only get people to work for me. He can only work for me under the same conditions as Dan and Stain.’ Rex replied.
‘Oh no! That’s ridiculous, you mean I should become your boy?’ Chief Rikau blurted out, flashing a quick look at Rex and the Vice President.
‘See Rex, that won’t be possible. He’s the Inspector General of the nation,’ the Vice President said in a calm tone.
‘Then I don’t need him for anything, you’ve employed me to kill Samantha Osman and that I can do without anyone. All you need to do is to provide me with every information needed,’ Rex answered.
The Vice President paused to think for some minutes before giving his verdict, ‘Rikau,’ he called in a gruff tone. Chief Rikau flashed a look at him and stepped down slowly from the stool. ‘Just tell him all he needs to know. He’s a professional, I think that’s all he needs to give us a good job.’ the Vice President supported himself with the walking stick and rose up.
_____
‘Cole, my personal message has been replied.’ Aisha said, after few minutes when the boss left. She just took out her phone and unlocked it after remembering the notification sound she heard earlier.
‘Huh? So soon?’ Cole asked in surprise. ‘How did you get it?’
‘In my mailb…’ Aisha’s word slowly faded away as her eyes met with something. She focused on the phone for twenty seconds, her hands suddenly turned weak and the phone dropped from her hands to the table.
Cole quickly picked the phone and stared into it, a video was playing, probably what she had downloaded from the message gotten. He rewound the clip. There was no sound but the visuals were clear enough, an elderly couple who Cole believed to Aisha’s parents were being tortured brutally in the video. The video ended with a banner displaying the logo of the Nanl Gang.
‘Shi*t!’ Cole cursed as he put down the phone. ‘But Don really thinks he can defeat Tarasha?’ he asked rhetorically. Aisha’s head was laid on the table and she was already sobbing.
Cole could do nothing but pity her, he couldn’t even find words to console her. He wondered how Aisha would be feeling; after several years of being away from her family and being the reason for the family’s bad name, her parents were being tortured because of her again.
He wished he could speak to Tarasha about the situation but she had already warned severally that nothing, no matter what it was should disturb the mission they were about to start. But was it going to be possible for Aisha to work well, knowing that her parents were being tortured because of her?
Cole was still deep in thoughts when Aisha’s phone beeped again, she raised up her head to take the phone but he reached it before her. He swiped it open and closed the video window, another mail from the same sender had been delivered. The body of the mail was just, ‘AND THIS IS FOR YOUR FRIEND’ but it had another video attached to it.
He clicked on the video icon and it downloaded within five seconds and played automatically. Aisha rose up anxiously to see what it was. There was another aged couple being tortured again, in the same manner as they did to the Bello’s. Aisha didn’t understand the video at first until she looked at Cole’s face. Cole did not need to say anything before she realized that the other couple were his parents.
‘Is anything the matter?’ Tarasha voice startled them again as she appeared back to the dining with a tray of food in her hand.
‘Nothing,’ Cole tried to pretend but she was unconvinced.
Tarasha dropped the tray on the table and turned to Cole’s side, ‘Can I take a look at the phone?’ she said, more in a commanding tone. Cole handed over the phone to her reluctantly.
She clicked the play button and watched in silence for fifteen minutes, ‘Who are these people? And why are they being tortured?’
‘Those are my parents,’ Cole replied sadly. ‘They also have Aisha’s parents there too.’ he said and rose up to play the first clip for her.’
Tarasha’s face remained expressionless, ‘So who is torturing them?’ she asked in a cold tone.
‘Don Dan, he heads the Nanl Gang,’ Cole replied with a sigh as he stared at her face hopelessly. He knew she had her mind on her mission and wasn’t going to let anything disturb her, even the cold manner she had answered with after revealing whose parents the couples were clearly showed that she wasn’t ready to waste time on the issue.
‘So Don Dan has gone for your parents?’ she said with a chuckle that sounded devilish. ‘What are you planning to do about it?’
‘Ermm…’ Cole stammered as he tried to put words together. He needed to be careful so as not to annoy her.
‘Are you planning to rescue them?’ Tarasha cut while he was still stammering.
‘Huh?’ Cole’s eyes widened at her. His answer should have been ‘Yes’ on a normal day but he had to keep in the think deeply on it now.
‘Are you planning to help them?’ Tarasha reiterated.
‘Ermm… Boss, we’re starting our mission on Monday, we can’t…’
‘Don’t be a fool!’ Tarasha scolded. ‘You’re going to abandon your family for the mission? Come on, we can do that later, you go deal with Don Dan first.’
Cole’s and Aisha’s faces brightened up, they almost didn’t believe what they were hearing. They exchanged glances amongst each other, wondering if the boss really meant what she said.
Tarasha dropped the phone and walked back slowly to her food, wondering if she had just said the right thing. She knew a lot had changed for her, few months to this, she wouldn’t have said the same thing but now she had a fresh feeling of what it meant to lose someone dear and wouldn’t like for them to experience the same.
Boss, we’ve gotten her message now and we’ve sent the videos. What we’re waiting for is her reply to the videos.’ Don said into the phone.
‘Okay, I just rounded up a meeting with the Inspector General and he gave me some details I’ll be working on. So I’ll leave you to work on getting Tarasha’s two workers.’ Rex said.
‘Alright Rex,’ Don replied.
‘Make sure you feed me with details,’ Rex concluded and the call ended.
‘So what’s the plan?’ Stainless asked as he approached Don with two Mr Biggs polythene bags in his hands containing food packs. Don was still sitting at the table with the laptop.
‘No change in plan yet,’ Don answered.
‘Don’t you think Tarasha may want to interfere?’
‘You mean with Aisha and Cole’s parents?’
‘Yes,’ Stainless replied and sat close to Don. He handed over one of the bags to Don and placed his on the table
‘The boss says she won’t interfere,’ Don replied.
‘The boss says,’ Stainless repeated and chuckled again. ‘She might just show up surprisingly.’
‘No, I think the boss is right. She would know that she is the main target and wouldn’t want to show up but Cole and Aisha would be desperate to save their parents. It’s their desperation we want to take advantage of in this plot and we should not expect to deal with Tarasha.’
‘Well… Anyhow you say it,’ Stainless said, giving up on arguing. He opened the plastic rubber containing the food and wiped the spoon with the neatly folded tissue paper. ‘What about Stone, when is he coming?’ Stainless asked before taking his first spoon of the fried rice.
‘Oh! That boy? Let me even call him to find out where he is now,’ Don said and picked his phone on the table, trying to move the laptop with the other hand. ‘Stone, where the F are you?’
‘Homey relax,’ Stone replied in a gruff voice. ‘I’m on my way to Nigeria, I won’t miss the downfall of that girl for anything in the world.’
‘Where are you exactly?’ Don asked.
‘I’m in Nigeria already, I entered by bus and I was planning to call you when I get into an hotel.’
‘Are you in Lagos already?’
‘Yes, we passed the borders of contonou about thirty minutes ago. I think I’m in Badagry now,’ Stone replied.
‘Okay, holla me when you get to Mile 2, I’m in Lagos too.’ Don said and hung up. ‘He’s on his way,’ he said to Stainless who was already eating. He dragged his own pack of food closer and was about to open when his phone’s screened turned on and it sounded. He swiped it open to see the notification. He smiled as his eyes met with the message and pushed the food aside. ‘We’ve gotten a reply from Aisha,’ he said with a crooked smile and pulled the laptop closer. He input the security password to unlock the system and clicked open his mail application. He stopped for ten seconds to read her reply.
‘Daniel, what do you want?’ he smiled as he read to himself. ‘She’s asking me what I want,’ he said aloud to Stainless.
_______
The Boss’ word had lifted their spirits and given them more confidence. Aisha had quickly typed her message to Don immediately while the boss was still seated at the dining and eating. Cole had also resumed his food, he and Aisha were hundred percent sure of defeating Don, especially when they had Tarasha’s support.
Henry walked into the living room with his laptop noisily, attracting the attention of those at the dining. Tarasha flashed a look at him and their eyes met, she felt a pinch of guilt and quickly hid her eyes while Henry continued to one of the sofas.
‘Has he been served?’ Tarasha asked Aisha in a low voice.
‘Yes, he wanted it in his room.’ Aisha replied.
‘Okay,’ Tarasha flashed another look at him, he wasn’t looking towards them anymore, already seated and trying to balance his laptop.
‘Boss, don’t you think it’s dangerous having him around especially when you say he’s not going to work with us?’ Cole began in low tones, he paused briefly to see if Tarasha was listening. She was, she had even paused chewing to listen. ‘He poses great danger to us now that he’s allowed to use the computer, we all know what he can do with it.’ Cole added.
She let out a breath after Cole finished talking and chewed the remaining food substance in her mouth. ‘I don’t think Henry can do anything to harm me or to harm any of you.’ she said, staring towards where Henry was seating.
Cole stared towards Henry for more than a minute after she had spoken, he could only hope she was right with her confidence in Henry, he decided to focus his mind on rescuing his parents.
‘They want either of us to meet with them secretly in Lagos,’ Aisha announced aloud, distracting Tarasha and Cole who were still eating. She then focused her gaze on Cole’s face to hear his reply, both of them stared at each other’s faces for more than twenty seconds until Cole turned to look at Tarasha’s face, Aisha turned to her too.
‘If they want you to meet with them, then go.’ Tarasha said as she lifted the spoon to her mouth. ‘Go prepared,’ she added before taking the content of the spoon into her mouth.
Aisha and Cole returned their gazes to each other’s faces. The question in their hearts was which of them would go and meet Don.
‘Both of you can go, but make sure they are only aware of one person’s coming.’ Tarasha said, as if she read through their thoughts.
There was a brief silence, Cole had totally lost interest in the food leaving Tarasha to be the only one eating. ‘Boss, but how are we going to handle this?’ Cole asked in soft tones.
Tarasha ignored his question and continued to eat, Cole and Aisha just fixed their eyes on her patiently until she was done with the food in two minutes. ‘You’ve learnt enough already to be able to handle Don and his gang,’ she said, gently cleaning her lips with tissue paper. ‘Just go and get your parents back,’ she said as she rose up from the table. She walked away from the dining, leaving her plates behind. She paused when she got to the middle of the living room and paused to stare at Henry, Henry also stared back without saying a word. She bit her lips and let out a short deep breath before walking away.
Cole and Aisha were left alone to make plans and strategies on how they would save their parents.
‘Let’s play along with them, tell them you’re coming’ Cole finally spoke after five minutes of silence and deep thinking.
_____
‘I think he’s good enough, let him be employed.’ Frank said to Mr Sylvester.
‘He seems inexperienced to me,’ Sylvester replied.
‘But he has passed the tests given to him, his sample works also gives him a good record.’ Frank argued. ‘I think he should be given a chance.’
‘You think?’ Frank’s colleague stared at him in surprise. ‘I believe he deserves the job.’
‘You guys are vouching for him already.’
‘Yes sir, I think his credentials and samples are really very impressive. The only person that has been that impressive is Miss Kimberly.’
‘Okay then, he has a chance to prove himself.’
**20 minutes later**
Frank and Dotun had left the office of NSCC chairman, he now had his eyes fixed to his laptop, he typed occasionally and used the mouse more often. His office line rang, distracting him from his work.
‘Yes…’ he answered the call.
‘Sir, Agent James from the police headquarters is here to see you.’ his secretary voice sounded.
‘Send him in, I’ve been expecting his arrival.’ Mr Sylvester replied, using one hand on the laptop and the other to hold the phone to his ear. The call ended, he quickly concluded his work on the laptop and relaxed back into his seat to wait for his guest. A knock sounded at his door, few seconds after the call. ‘Do come in,’ he said into the transmitter.
The door opened and James stepped in, he closed the door and proceeded to the table at once. Mr Sylvester rose to welcome him. ‘Good afternoon Agent James,’ he greeted, extending a handshake to him.
‘Good afternoon Chairman sir,’ James said, bending a little in curtsy as he took the handshake.
‘You may be seated please,’ Mr Sylvester motioned him to the visitor’s seat politely.
‘Thank you sir,’ James replied and sat comfortably.
‘Yea, so what brings you here?’
‘Sir… I need to get some details about Kimberly E. Alex.’
____
5. 30pm
Chief Elvis stood patiently beside his car in the Vice President’s garage and stared towards the gate as the Vice President and his entourage drove in. Two of his security officers were standing behind him by the car. It took the cars about two minutes to drive from the gate of the large compound to the garage. Chief Rikau carefully observed and waited for the cars to halt completely before proceeding towards the car which carried the Vice President.
‘Good evening sir,’ Chief Elvis greeted as he got to the owner’s side of the car where Chief Elvis was seated.
‘Good evening Rikau,’ Chief Elvis replied, the door to his side had been opened and he already had one leg outside and his walking stick to help him step out of the car but he was attending to something on his tablet. He finished with the device a minute later and handed it over to the security officer standing beside the door before stepping out from the car.
He was simply dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, the top two buttons of the shirt was off exposing the white singlet under. The toe cap of his shiny shoes carried dust on them.
Chief Rikau stared at the Vice President patiently, waiting for the man to give a go ahead.
‘Rikau, you called that you wanted to see me.’ Chief Elvis said as he began to walk towards the house entrance along with Rikau.
‘Yes sir, I wanted to talk to you about James. He’s not cooperating,’ the Inspector General began in a bitter tone. ‘I got information that he went to the NSCC headquarters today.’
‘What did he go there for?’ Chief Elvis asked in a surprise tone.
‘I’m not so sure sir, but I think it’ll be to find out more about Kimberly.’ Chief Rikau replied.
‘I thought that boy would consider the fact that his father is involved in this,’ the Vice President stopped and heaved a sigh. ‘I even have worst news.’
‘What news is that sir?’ a thick frown appeared on Rikau’s face.
‘I’m just returning from the Presidential quarters, I had a meeting with President Emeka. His CSO and the CSA were also present.’ Chief Elvis spoke slowly while Chief Rikau kept staring at him impatiently. ‘I was asked to hands off Samantha’s case and allow the NIS and police continue their job without my interference.’
‘The Bîtch has agreed to come,’ Don said in soft tones to Stainless. They had finished eating but still sat at the table with their empty food packs on the table.
‘She’s agreed to come alone?’ Stainless asked.
‘Yes, I warned her strictly not to inform her boss or tell anybody else about her movements.’ Don said.
‘And is she adhering to that?’
‘Yes, read the message here,’ Don said and turned the laptop to Stainless.
…Send me the location, I’ll meet you in Lagos tomorrow but we have to be brief about it. My Boss must not know I’m leaving Abuja,’ the reply read. Stainless heaved a sigh and returned to the inbox, another message from the same email address entered at that moment.
‘She just sent another,’ Stainless said to Don as he clicked on it.
‘What’s she saying?’ Don asked in reply.
There was a one minute delay of the reply as Stainless tried to read the message to his understanding. ‘She says we should start discussing the terms here and now,’ Stainless said as he looked up.
‘She wants to start discussing?’ Don asked, widening his eyes in surprise. He turned the laptop to himself.
‘Yes, see for yourself.’ Stainless said as he relaxed his back.
‘Hmm… This is the sign Rex asked us to take note of, I think Aisha’s informed Tarasha and she’s coming with her.’
_______
***Rael University, Lagos***
‘It’s time for us to stand against every act of violence, students bullying, R@PE and lecturers assassination in this school,’ a young girl on the podium was speaking. She paused for a moment to allow the chants of ‘Yes’ that accompanied her speech fade away. ‘We can’t sit and keep watching and complaining. We complain too much!’ she shouted and a loud noise of agreement followed her speech. ‘It’s time to lead the fight ourselves,’ she continued. ‘We must protect the freshers, we must protect the helpless alumni. Let’s continue to evangelise our good values to the freshers and stop allowing the bad group get them first before us. And most importantly, we must protect ourselves from them. We must stay away from every bad activity and social vices. Remember, you must first change yourself if you want to change your surroundings. The good life we want begins with us. Thank you and God bless you.’ she rounded off her speech with a thunderous applause following and left the podium, two guys who had been standing behind her followed immediately .
While the other students were still clapping their hands, another speaker climbed the podium and shouted, ‘Great Nigerian Student!’
‘Great!!!’ the students shouted back in a loud prolonged tone.
‘Great Nigerian Student!’ the speaker shouted again and got this same reply, this time louder than the first.
Faint noises from the auditorium could still be heard as Stephanie and the two guys who accompanied her proceeded to the car, other guys from their group had joined them The student journalists were all around, trying to move closer to Stephanie and interview her but the guys accompanying her stopped them and dismissed them with the excuse that she was very tired and couldn’t stop to address them.
Stephanie George was a three hundred level Computer Engineering Student of Rael University, leader of the group named ‘Students With A Difference’ popularly known as SWAD. Though only twenty one years old, she commanded so much respect in and outside the university, it’s campuses and environment. The SWAD group was an initiative started by a group of eight students who were now graduates of the school. The group’s major focus was to produce students who were coming out not just to join the workforce but to take charge of the affairs of the nation. Simply put, the aim was to produce Future Nigerian Leaders. Another aim of the group was to promote a culture of creative students who thinks out of the box and were never limited by their courses of study. The group promoted selflessness amongst their members and dedication to make the world a better place.
Stephanie George who previously nurtured some of the ideas which were the group objectives, joined the group in the first semester of her first year. Her dedication and selfless commitment to the work of the group had made the leaders take quick notice of her and begin to hand over little responsibilities to her. She proved faithful in the responsibilities assigned to her and grew in rank at a fast pace. Before the end of her second year, she was already the assisting the Leader of the group. The then Leader and his executives had before the end of the tenure decided to hand over the baton of leadership to her even though she wasn’t yet in 400 level as she proved to be the best option. The other group members who had been taught to be selfless welcomed her appointment with glad hearts and rejoicing since they knew she was really capable of leading them. Since Stephanie George began to lead, she began a massive crusade for reaching out to more students and getting them to catch the vision of the SWAD. She also began a campaign tagged ‘Catch them young’ for freshers in the school especially those who showed signs of becoming troublesome and problems for the school later on. They made sure that these freshers were quickly reached out to before being reached by the bad gangs of the school and put through a mind renewing process. This way, fifty percent of those they reached out to caught the vision while some others never did and some fell off the way. In less than one year of Stephanie George’s leadership, the group membership strength grew from below two hundred to over five hundred students. Their influence became stronger within and outside the school.
This particular meeting they just concluded in the auditorium was one to inspire the students to shun violence and cultic activities. This was an offspring of the recent cult clashes and bullying of non cult members that became rampant in the school.
Stephanie entered into the backseat with one of the two guys who followed her from the podium while the second guy joined the driver at the front.
‘To the SWAD quarters ma?’ the driver of the car asked after they had settled in, staring at Stephanie through the rearview mirror as he buckled his seatbelt.
‘Yeah, I’ll be leaving there to my place tomorrow morning,’ she replied with a smile.
‘You did a nice job today ma,’ the driver said before driving off.
‘Thanks,’ she said, staring back at him through the rearview mirror with a smile.
_____
About six young men were sitting quietly in a room, three on the short plastic chairs, one on a very comfortable sofa and the two others on rugs. They had gun barrels in front of them which some of them were fondling playfully. The room was stuffy and thick with the smell of Indian hemp.
The door flung open suddenly and in came another young man, he had a green shoe to compliment his green trouser and green shirt, the face cap he had on was also green. His face, though young, had scars which seemed to have been there for over thirty years even though he wasn’t up to thirty himself. The rest of the guys in the room rose up immediately to recognize his presence. An evil smirk lurked around his lips as he scanned the other guy’s faces one after the other with his eyes.
‘I hope we all know that Don Dan is paying us handsomely for this job and that he does not condole nonsense in any form,’ he said in a loud serious tone.
‘Yes boss,’ all the guys replied in unison.
‘Good, we’re going to organize all the other boys for this and brief them on the importance of following instructions accurately.’ he concluded and walked away from the room into another room inside the same building.
_______
**Maitama, Abuj@
7pm
In the workroom, Cole was seated on the table busy with his laptop while Aisha was at the left corner of the room. The seat part of the sofa she was squatting before was opened, just like a toolbox with neatly arranged tools inside; Aisha was carefully selecting pistols of different sizes and arranging them on the floor. She had an small opened black box bag on the floor. After taking out up to ten pistols and arranging them on the floor, she began to scrutinize each one with her eyes. The first one she picked was Berretta M9, Tarasha’s favorite pistol. Then she selected two others which she put in the open box beside her and arranged back the remaining under the seat.
‘How far have you gone with your preparations?’ Tarasha said as she came walking into the workroom.
Aisha and Cole were distracted from their work and they turned to face her, she proceeded towards Cole and stood behind the chair he was sitting, staring into his laptop.
‘Boss, I’ve not been able to track their location yet, it keeps submitting back errors.’ Cole said with a sad tone and sad look on his face.
Tarasha quietly pulled a chair closer and sat on it, she turned the laptop to herself and began to work on it. Aisha also rose from where she was gathering the arms and joined them at the table.
‘What’s up Aisha? What’s the game plan?’ Tarasha asked without looking at Aisha, her eyes were still fixed to the laptop screen and her fingers working on the keyboard.
‘I’m going there tomorrow, they’ve refused to brief me on what they want to discuss.’ she replied.
‘So…’ Tarasha said in a questioning manner, flashing a quick glance at her.
‘So Cole is coming with me, the chip would be on my body everytime so he can always track me.’ Aisha said.
There was a one minute silence, Tarasha seemed to be considering some options before speaking. ‘And where are they planning to meet with you? Is it in a secluded place or an open one?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ Aisha answered.
‘Don’t meet with them in a secret place,’ Tarasha said and suddenly stopped her finger work on the laptop. ‘Ermm… That may not be optional though.’ she added after thinking for few seconds. ‘I think you should just do what they say first, meet with them wherever they want. But make sure you add recording devices to the chip on your body so that Cole can listen to wh@tëver will be said.’
‘Okay boss,’ Aisha replied with a light smile, happy that the boss was finally giving them tips.
‘So have you selected the best weapons for yourself?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Ermm… I’m still trying to,’ Aisha replied.
‘I think Cole can help you with that, he seems to have learned more about guns recently.’ Tarasha said.
Cole and Aisha exchanged quick glances and Cole gave her a naughty wink. They kept making funny faces to themselves until their boss spoke again.
‘I think they’re working on an encrypted network,’ Tarasha said with a serious look on. She paused and stared into the air thoughtfully. The playful look on Cole’s face also disappeared, he turned the laptop slightly to himself to see what Tarasha came to her conclusion with.
‘But Don doesn’t encrypt,’ Cole said, looking surprised. ‘How could he have done that?’
‘People learn new things,’ Tarasha said, mentioning the words one after the other. She flashed a quick look at Cole’s face as she remembered something, ‘Did Benny learn how to encrypt from you?’ she asked him.
‘No,’ Cole answered, shaking his head to emphasize.
‘Then someone new must be teaching Don these things.’
‘Could it be the third unknown guy? Maybe it’s not Benny afterall,’ Cole suggested.
‘Maybe,’ Tarasha said thoughtfully in a low voice, closing her eyes partly as she stared at Cole with a serious look.
** Omonile Street, Off Rael University Road **
‘Rex, I’ve tried all that you taught us, we can’t seem to track their location.’ Don said into the phone. He was seating at the passenger’s side of a car with Stainless at the driver’s side, Stainless had his hands on the wheel and the car’s engine was on but it wasn’t in motion. They were in front of a three storey building house, the colour of the painted walls shone in the night with the aid of the bright lights hung around it and the bright lightening of the environment.
‘Are you sure you did it the way I asked you to?’ Rex replied from the other end.
‘Yes, I did it exactly the same way you did.’ Don answered.
‘Then it means they’ve got it encrypted just like us,’ Rex said.
‘And I also think Tarasha has been informed.’
‘You think?’
‘Yes, the girl whose parents we have tried to question us.’ Don replied.
‘Okay then, keep me updated.’ Rex concluded the call.
‘Alright boss,’ Don replied and took the phone off his ear. He locked the screen and kept it into his pocket, after which he released his seatbelt immediately and opened the door at his side. Stainless turned off the engine and also released his seatbelt, he opened the door but only placed a foot on the ground outside when his phone which was inside the car began to ring.
He turned and picked the phone, ‘Stone,’ he muttered under his breath before answering the call. ‘Bad man, whatta guan?’ Stainless said.
‘Man, when are you guys coming to the hotel?’
‘We’ll hit you this night man, or are you scared of Lagos already?’ Stainless replied as he stepped out of the car and jammed the door.
‘Hahaha,’ Stone burst into laughter from the other end. ‘I’m not a Jew man, why should I be scared of anything talk less of Lagos?’
‘Then relax man, we’ll meet you tonight.’ Stainless said, staring at Don who had turned to his side and was staring at him.
‘What about Don? He’s number has been busy,’ Stone asked.
‘He’s here with me, he was discussing with our boss.’
‘Okay then, I’ll just wait for you guys.’
‘You have no choice man,’ Stainless replied tauntingly before ending the call.
‘What’s he saying?’ Don asked as he led the way into the building.
‘He’s asking where we are,’ Stainless replied.
Both of them walked to the left side of the house and opened a door which led to a staircase. The staircase was extremely dark. Don took out his phone and decided to make a phone call before stepping in.
‘Ojo, we’re coming up now. Open the door,’ he said in a commanding tone and ended the call. He then switched on his phone’s torchlight and entered into the place, Stainless entered behind him and locked the door. Then they began to climb up the stairs using the torchlight as source of light.
Soon they got to the second floor and entered in large, almost empty but well lit room. The floor was barely screeded and very dusty, the walls were also not plastered. The interior of the building was a complete opposite of the exterior.
A younger man walked out from one of the inner rooms, proceeding towards Don and Stainless. He was dressed in all green.
‘Boss,’ he said, staring at Don’s face, a evil smile formed on his face.
‘Ojo,’ Don called back.
Ojo was the guy who addressed the six other young men earlier that day, telling them of how Don was going to pay them handsomely for a job.
‘Where are the old cargos?’ Don asked as they stopped at each other’s front.
Ojo greeted Stainless with a nod. ‘They’re in,’ he said, tightening the rest of his fingers while pointing the thumb finger backwards, towards the place he had come out from.
‘Okay, I hope you’re feeding them well. You’re aware they need to feed well to regain strength after all the torture they passed through,’ Don said.
‘Yes, they’re feeding very well. I’m even hoping we’ve not been overfeeding them,’ Ojo replied.
A smile appeared on Don’s face and vanished almost immediately, ‘Are your boys ready now?’
‘Yes, they are all prepared.’
‘Did you get up to thirty of them?’
‘Yes, even more than. We have thirty five,’ Ojo replied, twitching his lips as a crooked smile appeared on his face.
‘You really have thirty five?’ Don asked, widening his eyes. He took a quick glance at Stainless’s face and returned his gaze back to Ojo.
‘Yes, I have thirty five.’ Ojo replied back, full of confidence.
‘Now, that’s nice. But I think we should just work with thirty first, we have some of my guys at the Nanl Territory already.’ Don said.
‘Okay, there’s no problem. I even have an assignment for the remaining five boys,’ Ojo said.
‘All good,’ Don took in a breath of confidence. ‘We’ll move the couples to the Nanl Territory very early tomorrow morning. Five of your boys would accompany them with you but then…’ Don took a brief pause. ‘Stainless needs to talk to the remaining twenty five.’
‘Of course, there’s no problem with that. They’re inside and I can call them out for you anytime you want.’
_________
**Inspector Dakolo’s Residence, Asokoro, Abuj@
Dakolo and James were seated in the living room, both in a solemn manner. James had a pack of untouched juice and a glass cup on a stool in front of him.
‘I think my Dad’s hiding something but I’m not certain what that thing could be. My best guess is that Samantha Osman is not just an hired assassin, she’s killing for a cause.’ James was saying to Dakolo.
‘You’re right, I already began to make some discoveries in that direction. I’ve been able to link together all Samantha Osman’s major victims except one, the late River’s State Governor who was the second victim to be killed. The first, Chief Nnamdi Okafor, the third Chief Jubril Lawal and your Dad have so much in common. In fact they were all good friends. The fact is that they’ve not been seen moving together recently, but in their younger days, they were always together. I believe there must be something they did together several years ago. There must something wicked your father did.’
James shot a quick angry look at Dakolo at the sound of his words but Dakolo wasn’t looking at him. James wasn’t comfortable with the way the man addressed his father. Even though he nurtured the same thoughts, he still believed he had to protect his father by keeping somethings to himself.
‘Sorry about how plain I sound this night,’ Dakolo apologized, now staring at James. He knew that James must have been offended by his words.
He stared at the wall behind Dakolo thoughtfully. Thoughts of Kimberly Alexandra drifted back into his mind. He closed his eyes briefly as he remembered his meeting with the NSCC chairman concerning her.
**Flashback**
‘Sir… I need to get some details about Kimberly E. Alex.’
Mr Sylvester stared blankly at him for almost thirty seconds without replying, he couldn’t tell what was going through Mr Sylvester’s mind but he knew the man was surprised by the question.
‘Miss Kimberly E. Alex worked here for barely one month and she doesn’t work here anymore,’ Mr Sylvester finally replied.
‘I am aware she doesn’t work here anymore, I would have gone directly to her. So I’m asking you now so you can provide information about her.’ James replied.
‘Ermm… I barely know much about her too,’ Mr Sylvester said as he began to work on his computer. ‘Let me see what I can help you with.’
Four minutes later, Mr Sylvester turned the laptop to James. James looked into it for up to five minutes.
‘And why did she have to leave the way she did?’
‘The reasons are written there,’ the chairman replied.
‘But do you believe the reason she gave?’ James asked, staring at him eyeball to eyeball.
‘Of course I believe, her mother has been always sick before then and her father was down with stroke.’
James took another one minute to read the docvment on the laptop again. ‘I want to see her pictures,’ James said.
‘Pictures?’
‘Yes sure,’ James answered with a nod.
Mr Sylvester turned back the laptop to himself and began a search for Kimberly’s scanned passport.
‘Ermm… I can’t find her passport here but it would be in our master system,’ Mr Sylvester said after ten minutes of fruitless search.
‘Okay please, how do I get it? I also need to print this docvment which has in it her house address and her guarantor.’
‘Oh! I’ll get someone to do that for you,’ Mr Sylvester said. He picked the phone from the table and dialed a number. ‘I’m sending you a docvment to print right away,’ he said briefly and cut the call after the secretary’s reply. He dialed another number, ‘Do meet me at the control room right away.’ he said.
After two minutes of more work on the laptop, he closed it and rose up from his seat.
‘Would you like to come with me to the control room?’ he asked James as he stepped out from behind the table.
‘No, I’ll just take my leave. I want to get somewhere else,’ James said and also rose up. ‘I’ll be here tomorrow morning, I’ll appreciate if the hard copy report is available before I arrive.’
‘Okay Agent, I’ll ensure that happens.’ Mr Sylvester replied and led the way to the door. He opened the door and ushered James out first.
Someone almost collided into James as he stepped out, it was a young man, he had a laptop in his hands and wasn’t looking forward while walking.
‘I’m sorry sir,’ the young man apologized with a smile.
‘It’s okay,’ James returned the smile.
‘What’s happening here?’ Mr Sylvester asked as he stepped out, trying to lock the door. ‘Oh you!’ he exclaimed as he saw the face of the young man.
‘Yes sir, I was going to the control room already. I wasn’t concentrating and almost collided with your guest.’
‘Oh! Sorry about that,’ Mr Sylvester apologized with a sincere look.
‘It’s nothing,’ James said.
‘You should be careful next time,’ Sylvester cautioned him.
‘Yes sir, I will be.’ the young man replied, bowing his head.
‘Okay, I’ll join you in the control room soon.’ Mr Sylvester said and gave way for the young man to pass.
‘Okay sir,’ he said and hurried off.
James and Sylvester watched him walk away before they began they continued in the opposite direction.
**PRESENT**
‘Agent James, what are you thinking about?’ Dakolo cut through his thoughts.
‘Ermm… Nothing sir,’ James replied. He felt like telling Dakolo about Kimberly but he decided not to talk yet, he wanted to make more investigations by himself and make sure he wasn’t going to put his Dad into trouble. ‘I think I’ve got to leave now,’ he added and picked up his car keys.
‘Why James? You didn’t even take the drink I served you,’ Dakolo said staring at him with a surprise look on his face.
‘I’m sorry sir, but that’ll be next time.’ James replied with a smile and rose to his feet.
‘Okay then,’ Dakolo rose up to see him off.
Soon, James drove out of Dakolo’s compound in his car. Several thoughts filled his mind as he drove down. He put on the music player in the car to help him relax his mind. He saw his phone ringing as he was about to change the song playing. He took a quick glance at the phone’s screen, a smile appeared on his face as he saw the caller’s ID. He reduced the music player volume and quickly searched for a place to pull over. He answered the call after carefully parking.
‘Hello dear!’
______
‘Here’s the picture of the girl, your devices would be connected always, make sure you raise an alarm and notify us her location immediately you see her.’ Stainless stood before a group of over twenty guys, giving them instructions. ‘Does anyone have a question?’ he asked, planning to dismiss them already.
‘Ermm… Yes,’ someone raised a hand from behind.
‘What’s your question?’ Stainless asked, a frown formed on his face.
‘It’s not really a question but suggestion,’ the guy replied.
‘Okay, go on.’ Stainless said and folded his arms.
‘Ermm… I was just thinking that we could also make use of technology. Instead of just standing at the bus points and the airport. We have some computer scientists amongst us who has previously gone through his Industrial attachment at the NSCC and still has access to the place, I’m thinking he could help us track the girl using the cameras.’
‘Okay, does anyone else have anything to say, or ask?’ Stainless asked, using his eyes to search for anyone else with a raised hand. He continued after he saw that no one was, ‘That would have been the best option, I can even do that myself but the girl you’re about to track is who you all know; Aisha Bello, a member of Samantha Osman’s gang, Samantha could disable the cameras to hide her movements. So we already have plans for that but we need to focus on this other plan too. You get me?’
‘Yes,’ the questioner nodded in response.
_____
‘Her noise has been too much recently, I want us to silence her already.’ Ojo was speaking to five boys sitting before him. ‘I want us to capture her first and then bl**p the hell out of her before killing her,’ he said and paused to stare at his men’s faces. They all had a contented look on their faces, which meant they were okay with his idea and had no questions.
** Next day, 9am**
~Abuja, at the NSCC office~~
‘Sir, how many times have you visited that house after she left?’
‘About three times Agent; twice with two of my colleagues and once on my own,’ Mr Sylvester replied him in a stressed tone, resting his back in the chair and folding his arms tiredly.
James took another long look at the paper in his hand, he heaved a sigh. ‘And who’s her guarantor?’
‘Guarantor?’ Mr Sylvester asked in a surprised tone.
‘Yes, guarantor.’ James replied.
‘Ermm…’ Mr Sylvester scratched his head as he tried to put together words to express himself.
‘Isn’t she supposed to even have more than one guarantor?’ James added.
‘Yes, she had a guarantor but the circvmstances that surrounded her employment did not allow us take it very serious.’
James stared at his face in disbelief, he didn’t believe the Chairman of an organization like the NSCC could be talking like an inexperienced person.
‘It was the Vice President that hurried up the process,’ Mr Sylvester quickly added, trying to shift the blame away from himself. ‘He wanted someone else to represent Henry E.G immediately, so he asked to to rush up her employment.’
James heaved another sigh, he placed a finger on his lip and continued to stare at Mr Sylvester in silence.
________
**Rael University premises, Lagos**
Two guys sat under the tree impatiently, Ojo was standing. He was holding one of the lower branches of the tree. He checked his wristwatch from time to time and would change his standing position to the other direction to check if the one they were waiting for was in sight.
‘Capon, don’t you think we should call him again?’ one of the sitting boys suggested.
‘Okay, use your phone.’ Ojo replied, still staring around, he changed the hand used in holding the branch to the right hand.
Other students were around the place but kept a reasonable distance from them. Students who unknowingly moved closer to them would quickly withdraw once they saw their faces. Ojo was a well known cultist in the school, even the lecturers and school board recognised and respected him. His association with top criminals like Don and Stainless made him function in a way that he was invisible to the law enforcement agencies.
‘Where are you?’ one of the sitting guy stood up with the phone on his ear. ‘Come on, we’ve been…’ he stopped abruptly as he noticed someone coming towards them. The guy had his phone on his ear too and was putting on a face cap. The caller cut the call to wait for the approaching guy. Ojo and the other sitting guy also looked in direction of the approaching guy.
The guy with the face cap joined them in less than a minute, ‘I’m sorry for keeping you guys waiting,’ he quickly apologized on seeing the angry look on their faces.
‘Okay, what’s the information you have for us?’ Ojo asked him impatiently.
The guy looked around to check if anyone was watching them, then he took out a paper from his back pocket and handed it to Ojo. ‘I’m going to lure her to the place, make sure you make use of the chance well,’ he said and paused to look around again. ‘You know she’s getting more dangerous and she could cause you a lot of…’ he stopped and a look of fright appeared on his face as he saw the evil face Ojo was making at him.
‘Disappear!’ Ojo barked at him in a loud gruff voice.
He stumbled and almost fell as he took to his heels.
________
*Maitama, Abuj@
10.30am
Aisha and Benny left Abuja very early in the morning but at different times, Aisha left by 5am while Benny left by 6.30am and they took different routes to different transport vehicle’s garage to avoid being tracked. Tarasha was left home alone with Henry.
Henry had been up before Aisha’s departure, he had heard noises and carefully listened from his room. He knew that Aisha must be the one leaving as he heard been suspecting they were planning a journey but didn’t know where they were planning to go to. He was also out of his room and at the backyard doing exercises when Cole was leaving by 6.30am, Tarasha had driven out with Cole in a car, they had kept two big bags in the boot which Cole suspected to contain weapons. Tarasha returned thirty minutes later without Cole and an empty boot. Henry who was in the living room when she drove back into the compound walked into his room before she entered the house. Tarasha of course noticed that he had been in the living room but decided to ignore it like she had been ignoring all his other activities.
Henry kept turning around the bed, he felt tired already without even doing anything yet that morning. He heard a noise from his belly as he ran his hand through his hair, that reminded him about breakfast. He didn’t know if he was going to have breakfast that morning since Aisha was out of the house. Usually, she would have come knocking at his door, asking for where he would like to have his breakfast. He thought of going out to check if the food had been served at the dining but he discarded the idea at the thought of meeting Tarasha in the living room, he wasn’t sure what the feeling would be like between them both, especially now that they were alone in the house. He turned to his left side of the bed and closed his eyes in a bid to force sleep and suppress his hunger but his belly made another sound, this time louder and longer, that was when he remembered that he didn’t take dinner the night before. He had been so engrossed with a new app he was developing that he worked until it was very late and he went to bed tired, without remembering to eat. He rolled out of bed reluctantly and put on his sandals, he proceeded out of the room hurriedly.
He met at the dining what he had been trying to avoid, Tarasha. She was sitting and also taking her breakfast, she was dressed up neatly, like she wanted to leave the house. She noticed his presence as he approached the dining and heard his footsteps, she turned back and their eyes met. Henry felt a little discomfort as their eyes met but the feeling of hunger had overwhelmed him, so he joined her at the dining without minding how awkward the feeling would be for them having breakfast together.
‘Good morning Tara,’ Henry greeted as he walked past her to the seat where he saw his breakfast served.
‘Good morning Henry,’ she replied, her eyes followed him to his seat.
He sat and opened the plate cover almost immediately, he picked the fork and knife and began to eat.
Tarasha watched him silently while eating her meal slowly, he was fully concentrating on his meal though he still ate moderately. She had lost concentration on her own meal, she fixed her eyes on his face as he ate.
He had changed and gained more flesh since he had been taken out of prison, his sores and wounds had also healed but he looked very unhappy, there was an absence of the joyful beam of light that his eyes usually carried. Tarasha felt guilty.
‘Why are you staring like that? Hope you won’t chew your tongue?’ Henry’s words drifted Tarasha back to reality. Then she noticed she had finished chewing the food particles in her mouth and had been chewing nothing for more than one minute. Henry had almost finished his food while she was still halfway.
‘Are you traveling too?’ Henry added, using his eyes to scrutinize her dressing and new ‘gallas like’ hairdo. The food had given him more strength and energy to talk. Tarasha’s thoughtful mood and uneasiness had also added to his confidence to speak.
‘Traveling where?’ she replied with a question.
‘To where your guys went to,’ Henry replied, cutting another slice of yarn in his plate.
Tarasha heaved a sigh and tried to dodge his question, ‘So why were you hiding when you saw them leave?’
‘I wasn’t hiding, I know you saw me watching.’ Henry replied as he chewed the food particles in his mouth.
‘I didn’t see you watching but I knew you were watching,’ Tarasha corrected. ‘So why have you been locked up since?’ Tarasha asked, trying to bring up a lively conversation. All she wanted to see was that beam of happiness on his face again and she thought conversing with him freely could help.
‘Why shouldn’t I stay in? It’s not like we’ve been having any smooth discussion recently, it’s like you just want to keep me here like a dummy.’ Henry replied accusingly, staring into her eyes directly and wondering why she sounded accommodating that morning.
‘It’s not like that Henry but…’ she stopped abruptly and heaved a sigh. She thought it would be unwise stating again how she didn’t want him to be involved in the revenge anymore because of his weakness of wanting to submit to the authorities.
‘When are you going to join them?’ Henry asked, after waiting for few seconds without her continuing her speech. ‘Soon, I’ll be locked in here for days without being allowed to go out or being visited.’
‘No Henry, that won’t happen.’ Tarasha said in a convincing tone. ‘I think we can make a solution to your limitations of going out.’
‘A solution? What solution is there to it? I’ll be caught by the authorities once I’m seen.’ Henry said. He felt like adding that the only solution would be taking himself to the authorities himself but he choose not to, knowing how much she h@tëd the idea. He didn’t want to ruin the conversation they had just begun which was not even going smoothly yet.
‘I can help you with a good disguise idea, something like that of Aisha’s,’ she replied him.
‘Huh?’ he squeezed his face as he tried to figure out what she meant. ‘Which Aisha are you talking about?’
‘Same Aisha, the wanted Aisha Bello.’
‘Humn…’ Henry stared thoughtfully, he was still trying to figure out where she was driving to. ‘Do you mean the Aisha that works with you is the wanted Aisha Bello?’
‘Yes,’ Tarasha replied with a brief smile. ‘You should have noticed that if you paid more attention to her face anytime she’s here. Her disguise plan is working well for her and she goes out very often without ever being recognized.’
Henry paused for a while to think, he never imagined that he had been living with someone who had been declared wanted like him and she even served him food every morning. He stared at her face blankly for some seconds before letting out a short hiss. ‘Just forget about that, tell me how long you’ll be gone.’
She paused and stared into his eyes for close to thirty seconds, Henry’s eyes looked like that of a terrified child whose mother was going on a long journey. She tried to conceal a smile that was gradually forming on her lips, ‘You don’t want me to go?’ she implied.
‘Huh? Why would I stop you, it’s not as if you’ll listen to me anyway. You should go anywhere you want to, I don’t really care.’ Henry tried to feign carelessness but the look on his face betrayed him, it was obvious he cared about where she was going to.
Tarasha let out a smile accompanied with a short release of breath, she rose up from her seat and moved closer to him, abandoning her food. She turned the seat next to him and sat facing him directly, a very close distance that both of them had to hold their breath for some seconds.
‘You’ve changed a lot, you now smile more this days,’ Henry tried to change the discussion as he knew he had been defeated.
‘You taught me how to, ‘ she said and rested her weight on the table with her arms. She shifted the plate of food away from his front and held one of his palms in hers. Their knees were also touching each others and their face came closer. There was a deafening silence for close to one minute.
‘Tell me what love is,’ Tarasha found herself asking. Even she was surprised as to who and where the question came from.
‘Love?’ Henry mumbled. He took his eyes off her face for some seconds, staring at the table. He looked up again, ‘I can’t explain it but you’ll understand when you feel it.’
Tarasha drew in a short breath, she reached out for his second palm. ‘I don’t know if it is what I’m feeling,’ she said, looking down shyly.
Henry drew closer to her, ‘I’m sure of one thing, love makes you ready to make sacrifices for the one you love.’
There was another thirty seconds silence, ‘Is that why you were willing to sacrifice yourself for me?’
There was another silence, this time longer than the previous ones put together. Henry stared at her lips as their faces moved nearer to each others. Tarasha closed her eyes and held her breath, she could feel Henry hold his breath too. Their lips moved closer, only a centimetre far from each other.
