11.30am
She sped down the free expressway like someone in a car race competition, not because she was in haste but because it was one of the things she enjoyed doing most. It brought back memories of her first meeting with Henry to her. It had been when she was on a leisure powerbike ride, she remembered him always trying to stop and talk to her but she never would stop. She also remembered the last time they met along the Lagos Ibadan expressway, where she had sent a stone to his forehead. A smile appeared on her lips on remembering the short cry he let out that day.
She also began to wonder if she was now changing Henry to be an assassin too. He had surprised her with the way in which he handled the truck, what surprised her most was that Henry never mentioned again the man who he hit with the truck, he never looked like he was concerned about the man’s survival.
One of the new phones in the passenger’s seat distracted her attention as it rang. She took a glance at the screen and slowed down the car’s speed before picking up the phone in her hand, the caller’s number was unsaved. She recited the number to herself in a bid to see if you could recall who the owner was. A frown appeared on her face as she recognized it as Aisha’s, she wondered how it was possible for Aisha to start calling now, after several hours of quietness and no communication and after she had concluded that both of them had been captured. She slowly pulled up to a curb before swiping the green icon, she placed the phone to her ear without speaking.
‘Hello Boss,’ she heard Aisha’s voice sound calm and undisturbed. She didn’t reply, instead she waited for Aisha to talk again and see if there will be any inconsistency noticed.
‘Hello,’ the voice came again normally. There was no underground voice or noise but Tarasha still did not reply. The call was cut from the other end. Tarasha patiently waited for the call to come again. It came and she repeated the same thing she had done the first time but now she heard underground voices after Aisha had mentioned ‘Hello’ thrice without getting any reply, but she couldn’t make out what was being said.
The third call came and she answered and spoke immediately. ‘Hello Aisha.’
‘Boss…’ Aisha’s reply came slow as shaky revealing that there was no expectation of her speaking this time, there was brief silence after. ‘Ermm…ermm… The phone has been switched off since and I…I…’
‘What are you saying?’ Tarasha cut in impatiently. She was already aware of the situation, she knew that Aisha was not talking on her own but only repeating something she had been forced to say. The silence she kept at the first and second time she answered the call had worked, it had made Aisha’s mind unsettled and made her not to perfectly remember what to say.
‘Actually, I was caught by Don’s men but I escaped.’
‘How did you escape?’ Tarasha played along.
‘I was left alone in a room with two men and I took them out with the weapons hidden under my clothes,’ Aisha replied.
‘Oh! But what about Cole?’
‘I’ve not seen Cole but I think he has been captured already, all my efforts to reach him has been futile.’
‘Okay…’
‘Ermm… Boss, are you coming please?’
‘Coming to do what?’ she asked with a mean voice.
There was silence for some seconds and then Aisha could be heard sobbing, ‘Boss, my parents are still with them and Cole has been caught too, I don’t know what else to do.’
‘Think of what to do and stop being a sissy, I can’t come there. I have other things to do, like taking out the Vice President before tomorrow.’
‘Please boss…’
‘Goodbye Aisha.’
‘Pleeeease…’
‘Sort it or yourself,’ Tarasha said in a very mean voice and ended the call.
_________
**Lagos**
‘Boss, Boss…’ Aisha called as the phone beeped off. She continued sobbing as she looked up to Don’s face. Don snatched the phone from her.
‘Can you see that the person you’re willing to stay loyal to is not ready to help you?’ Don chided her. Aisha continued to sob. ‘Look here,’ Don said as he placed his hands on the arms of chair and squatted before her. ‘Samantha is not someone you should remain loyal to, she’s only concerned with using you and not concerned about your welfare. She allowed you come here alone without giving you support and now she has refused to help even when she knows you are helpless.’
Don rose up to this feet and turned back. Stainless and Stone were sitting behind him, facing a computer set while Stone was the only one working on it. ‘Take her out,’ he motioned to a man standing by the door before he joined Stainless and Stone at the table and bent forward to look into the computer.
The room was a very small one, dark and only lit up with the light from the computer monitor’s screen.
‘Her location was not detected?’ Don asked Stone after studying the map on the computer for some seconds.
‘Yes, her location is protected.’ Stone replied.
‘And are you sure we’re doing everything correctly, don’t you think we need to report to Rex?’ Don asked, directing the question to Stainless.
‘Everything was done according to Rex’s guidelines, I don’t think that’s where the issue lies. Rex himself already told us to expect her to be fully secured. The only way we could have gotten her was by allowing her find a location through the wristwatches we seized from them, but that would have only worked if she was coming. It’s obvious from the phone call that she’s more concerned about killing the Vice President first.’ Stainless replied.
‘She failed yesterday,’ Stone cut in. ‘That Rex must have prevented her right?’
‘Yes, I’m sure he did.’ Don replied Stone but a confused look appeared on his face afterwards. ‘But he was not just supposed to prevent her, he was supposed to kill her. We all heard her talk today, so it’s obvious she isn’t dead.’
‘It couldn’t have been easy to stop her,’ Stainless put in. ‘She is a crazy assassin and Rex would have gone through a lot to stop her from killing the Vice President yesterday, it would be more difficult to kill her.’
‘But isn’t Rex supposed to be as crazy as her? Or even crazier?’ Don countered.
‘I don’t think we need to argue on this,’ Stone cautioned. ‘The good thing is that we are still ahead of her in this game, we know her next move and we can tell that to Rex now. You never can tell, this could just be her waterloo.’
‘With this our team, it surely is her Waterloo.’ Don remarked confidently.
______
**Abuj@
15 minutes later
‘What’s up Don Dan?’ Rex said into the phone after taking in a long drag from the pipe.
‘Rex, I don’t think she’s ready to help them at all. She sounded harsh to the girl some minutes ago.’ Don replied.
There was a brief moment of silence, Rex seemed to ponder and consider the possible meaning of his report. ‘I think she may still feel disorganized from her failure of last night,’ he sounded not too sure. He took in another long drag, ‘I believe she’s trying to reorganize and strike back as soon as possible.’
‘Yes, she expressly stated that she needed to eliminate the Vice President today or tomorrow.’
‘That should be her plan,’ Rex agreed. ‘I don’t think she’ll bother herself yet with matters of her subjects. I understand perfectly how Nefary assassins behave, they never meddle with other affairs until they finish their primary assignments.’
‘I see boss… So I think you should watch out for her,’ Don advised.
‘Definitely, Yes. I should not miss her this time and… Ermm…’ Rex tone changed a bit. ‘Do you know about any other person working with her?’
‘I don’t know about that, but it’s very possible she has gotten other hands to join her,’ Don replied.
‘I’m asking you this because someone unexpectedly showed up last night to help her, I don’t know who that person was but I don’t think she was expecting him either.’
‘I don’t have an idea who that could be boss,’ Don replied in an unsure tone.
‘I want you to force out every single information you can from the girl in the next one hour and make a recording which I must get immediately you’re done,’ Rex said in a concluding tone as he took another drag.
‘Right away boss,’ Don replied and the line went off.
_______
**Lagos**
Several thoughts ran into Aisha’s mind as she sat alone in the small room. The building seemed to have so many rooms of different sizes and for different purposes. Ever since she had been forcefully made to agree to work with Don, she had been untied and even given a meal which she refused to eat for the fear of been poisoned, even though the organs in her stomach were all crying out for food.
She stared around the room, feeling pains in her stomach. It wasn’t as if she had never stayed for a longer time without food but the manner at which she had been tied for several hours had caused more pains. She began to regret rejecting the food. At least, she would have gotten more strength if she had taken it and even if she was poisoned and she died, it would have saved her the misery of betraying Tarasha and expecting the calamity that may follow. After some more thoughts, she realized that it wasn’t really the fear of death that made her reject the food, but the panic and fear of what could come as a result of her agreement to work with Don. She had seen Cole shake vigorously and make loud inaudible sounds, she understood that he was either trying to express his disagreement and warn her of the possible consequences of her actions.
But this wasn’t just about her life, her parents were also involved. She had caused her parents so much hurt and pain in the past and done them so many wrongs, maybe this could be her last chance to do something right for them.
She became alarmed as she heard some footsteps approaching the door to the room she was in, she stared around unconsciously again, trying to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon but there was none. The room was empty except for her and the chair which occupied it.
From the sounds of the footsteps she heard, she could tell that more than one person was approaching. The footsteps stopped at the door and she could hear someone engage in a speech with someone else afar. Unfortunately, their conversation was done in Igbo language which she didn’t understand.
She tightened her fists and got up from the chair as her urge to find something to defend herself increased but the pain she felt especially in her belly as she rose up made her discard the idea almost immediately and sat back. She wondered why she was even thinking of defending herself now that she was in their terrain and obviously outnumbered, worse still her hands and bones felt weak and lifeless.
The door opened gently and in came Don and Stainless, she instantly concluded that Stainless was the one who spoke in Igbo as she had never heard Don speak Igbo.
‘How are you doing dear?’ Don asked with a calm smile which was unusual of him. It made her recall the first day they met in the Polytechnic, it was that smile that had deceived her, making her feel like he was just a nice undergraduate willing to assist a fresher without any bad intentions. The result few weeks after was that they began to date and he seemed to be of help to her in every aspect of her stay in school. Before the first semester exams, he had already slept with her several times, albeit never in his apartment. He had lied to her that he stayed with his aunt and that they couldn’t meet in his aunt’s house. She herself wasn’t a ‘good girl’, so she never minded meeting him in an hotel and sleeping with him. Several times, they even had sëx in a car which he claimed to be his uncle’s who wasn’t in the country at that time. During the second semester exams was when she noticed she was pregnant for him and confirmed from a doctor. Unluckily for her, the Doctor was an old friend of her mother whom she didn’t recognize. The Doctor had let out the teenager’s secret to her mum and that had been the first problem she had with her parents.
To cut the long story short, Don had invited her to his ‘new apartment’ after been told of her pregnancy for them to plan. On getting there, she found an apartment with inner walls decorated with paintings and drawings which were cultic. Don had then revealed his association with his cult and his position as the major hitman and second in command to her, for the first time in her life, she saw him pull out a gun that day and he even gave it to her to play with.
She was shocked at his revelation at first but didn’t maintain the shock for long, he had been showing signs for a long time which she chose to ignore. The idea seemed scary to her at first but Don with sweet words had painted it to her in a good light, saying it was just something they joined for protection of themselves. This made her gradually accept the idea until she joined in her second year. Don made sure she didn’t fully go through the rigorous process of the initiation and made her maintain a low profile. After joining the cult was when Aisha found out Don had several sëx machines who were also in the cult and that was why he hid his apartment from her for a long time. She was at first devastated that she was just one of the tools he used in calming his sëxual urge but after much apology from him and explanation from his friends that she was indeed special to him, she decided to forgive him when he promised to let go of other girls. This promise he kept until he became the leader of the group, then she had been involved for three years although not deeply because Don resisted her, but there was still no turning back for her. She soon got used to his adventures with several girls and later surrendered as one of his tools after Don’s power grew all over the city as he moved from school cultism to minor assassinations and then major political assassinations. It was also in the cult Aisha met with Benny and Cole as they were initiated about the same time but were strangers from each other until they started to work with Don after graduation.
Not to forget about Aisha’s pregnancy, it was aborted, against her parent’s advice, that made her move totally from their house into Don’s house and she totally left their tutelage to be with Don.
‘Hey!’ Don called, waving his palm in front of her eyes as she seemed totally lost in thoughts. ‘Are you ready to start your work with us?’ Don asked after she seemed to have come alive.
‘What am I supposed to do for you or with you?’ she asked, consciously dodging the straight ‘yes or no’ answer.
‘Is that a Yes?’ Don asked with a smile on his lips.
‘I thought I already started work with you with the call I made earlier,’ she retorted.
‘Well, that’s just preliminary. We’re just going to the main part now.’
She thought for few more seconds before coming up with an answer. She thought of how mad Tarasha would be at her when she finds out about the betrayal. But she waved off her concern about Tarasha’s wrath on remembering her parents, she remembered Tarasha’s harsh tone to her when she pleaded with her earlier on phone. If Tarasha wasn’t ready to help them (she and Cole) and wasn’t concerned about their plight, why should they be loyal to her? she asked herself. Tarasha definitely deserves the betrayal she would get, she concluded in her mind.
‘Yes, let’s start work. I’m ready.’
‘Good, you’ll start by telling us what you think is her next game plan’.
Tarasha had remained motionless since the call from Aisha had ended. Her left hand was glued to the steering wheel while she still held the phone in her right hand. She was confused as to what to do next, whether to turn back to Abuja or continue on her journey to Lagos. It was obvious that Aisha would soon start releasing information to the enemy when she couldn’t bear the pressure anymore and even though Aisha had told her she drank the mixture that was supposed to harden her and help her lessen pain, she couldn’t really trust Aisha’s words. And with the just concluded call, Tarasha could tell that Aisha’s heart wasn’t hardened at all.
Now, if Aisha should release information about their control base to the enemy, it would mean Henry’s life was in danger. This was the real reason she was confused, she didn’t want to make the same mistake she had made with her brother.
She looked down as her phone vibrated in her hand, she turned the screen to herself and heaved a sigh as she identified the number as Henry’s. She answered the call and placed the phone to her ear quietly.
‘Omotara, where are you now?’ Henry’s voice sounded with so much concern.
‘I don’t the know the name of this place but I believe I’m not far from Lagos anymore, I have to check the map first to know the name of the location,’ she replied.
‘Are you driving now?’ Henry asked.
‘No, I’m on a brief pause. I just received a call from Aisha and I think there’s a little problem.’
‘Problem? What’s the problem?’
‘Aisha and Cole have been captured and I presume Aisha could not endure the torture and she’s now dancing to their tune. Aisha may be forced to let out sensitive information and that would be dangerous to us,’ Tarasha explained.
‘Oh no! I hope you’re saying the whole truth to me, hope you’re not in need of help already?’
‘No Henry, it’s actually you who is in danger and in need of help. If Aisha is to let out the address of that place, some people may come visiting soon and I’m sure you can’t handle them.’
‘But there’s no way they can penetrate easily, this place is heavily secured, they would cause a lot of attention from the public if they try to break in forcefully.’ Henry tried to sound bold but his voice was still shaky.
There was a very brief silence, then Tarasha cleared her throat and began to speak again. ‘Henry, you need to remember that the people were fighting against can easily gain the support of police. Once they do that, they would invade the place and can pull down the walls just to get in.’
‘Hmm… So what do we do now?’ Henry asked, he could be heard heaving a sigh of frustration, finally letting out his fright.
‘Listen carefully to me. First, turn on another computer system with which you’ll be able to fully monitor any one or group trying to gain access into our building. Then, we’ve got sets of…’ Tarasha stopped as she remembered something. ‘Have you ever heard of laser scopes?’
‘Laser scopes? I though they only existed in sci-fi movies,’ Henry replied.
‘Maybe several years ago, they existed only in movies but we have them working in reality now.’ Tarasha answered. ‘We have some sets installed at the passage from the main door, I wanted to ask you to switch it on but if you do without knowing how to pass through, you’ll be the first to be killed by the lasers.’
‘Oh!’ a note of great fear sounded in Henry’s voice. ‘What do we do then?’
‘Go into my room, the code for the locker in the room is 6798. There are three access cards in the locker, pick all the cards you see and proceed to the study. Behind the wall clock at the left side of the study, you’ll find where to insert the access card labeled 1, unlock with the code 9867…’ Tarasha suddenly stopped and hissed, there was a pause for eight seconds. ‘Wow! There are many codes I’ll be giving you, you need to write them down.’
‘Yeah, sure.’ Henry said with a sigh. ‘My brain is quite overloaded and I can’t even remember the codes you mentioned already. I’m getting a jotter and pen right away.’
‘Wait! Before you get a jotter and pen, turn on the system to monitor the environment first.’
‘Okay…’ Henry was silent for over a minute before he spoke again, ‘Done.’
‘Okay, you can get your jotter and pen now.’
‘Gotten already.’
‘Write down these codes; 6798, 9857, 7698, 6789…’ she called a total of seven codes for him.
‘You said there are three access cards, how come I have seven codes?’ Henry inquired.
‘The first code is for the locker, the next three codes are to be used with access card 1,2 and 3 and on the first three locks you’ll find respectively. While the rest four should be used with card 1 on the remaining four locks.’
‘I don’t understand…’
‘The access card labeled 1 would be used for the lock behind the wall clock with the second code, it would open to you a weaponry…’Tarasha paused and heaved a sigh. ‘You know what?’
‘What?’
‘Just be on guard for the meantime, tell me once there’s any problem and I’ll get across to you the steps then.’
‘But… What if you’re busy when next I try to call you?’
‘Before I proceed now, I’ll make arrangements for your missed to call to be replied with the steps well explained in a voice message. But if you’re not calling to get the steps, you should send a voice message first.’
______
**Lagos**
‘She plans to get the killers of her brother, together with the Vice President. I don’t know about her other plans for now and I’m not sure if she has any.’
The questioning had began after Aisha had been allowed and agreed to take a meal. They had also moved in another room with better ventilation and lightening but only a little bit wider than the previous.
‘How does she intend to get the killers of brother?’ Don asked, resting his hand on the back rest of a chair which had been brought in, Stone was sitting on it while Stainless stood at the other side. They all had bony and hard faces on, to put fear into Aisha as she spoke with them.
‘She knows all of you already,’ Aisha replied and paused to glance at each one of her listeners- Don, Stainless and Stone. ‘She saw your faces, and recognized you especially’ Aisha said, referring to Don.
She could see Don cringe in fear at her revelation and she tried to conceal a smile. Don’s response has betrayed his words and previous display of confidence. He had claimed not to be afraid of Tarasha and went further to say she was just a stubborn girl who needs to be put in her place but his shakiness when he heard about her recognition of his face had showed that all he voiced out were mere empty words. Aisha thought of reconsidering her decision to work with Don at this point. Don himself seemed to be afraid of Tarasha but she could tell that there was still something or someone who Don was relying on, who or what it was was what she couldn’t tell. She had to maintain her decision after thinking of her parents again. She had to keep revealing the truth to Don and couldn’t afford to play any dangerous game as she knew Don would not hesitate to take out another body part from any of her parents just to make her give in and that she didn’t want, her parents should not suffer because of her anymore, they had suffered so much already.
‘And how is she planning to go about that? Does she know where we operate from?’ Don asked after few seconds of losing his voice.
‘I don’t know but she has her way of finding what she wants everytime.’
Don heaved a sigh, he glanced at Stainless and Stone briefly. ‘Where is your new operation base?’
The question seemed to hit Aisha in a bad way as she swallowed hard. It had been one she had been avoiding and praying for Don not to ask. She knew how much money and efforts Tarasha had put in to organize the new structure. Even though she was sure that the place was well secured and Don could not penetrate, she knew that some level of havoc could still be done to the place.
‘Where’s your new operation base?’ Don asked again, noticing the uneasiness that came over her with the question.
‘That’s quite complicated,’ Aisha answered in a low shaky voice, avoiding Don’s gaze.
‘What makes it complicated?’
‘It’s not in the main city but after Maitama.’
Don squeezed his face, ‘What kind of location is that?’
‘Hey,’ Stainless called Don’s attention. Don turned to him. ‘Rex is calling already,’ Stainless whispered, showing Don the incoming call from the screen of the phone. ‘I think you should ask the questions which he needs direct answers to first.’ The incoming call ended without being answered.
Don nodded slowly in agreement and turned back to Aisha. ‘Does Tarasha have other people working for her apart from you and Cole?’
‘No,’ she answered, heaving a sigh, quite relieved that Don had changed the direction of his questions. Don glanced back briefly as he heard the door open, it was Stainless going out to attend to a phone call. ‘We were three working with her and became two when we lost Benny,’ Aisha quickly added.
‘But has she at any point worked with any external agency? I mean another assassin somewhere else or a security officer,’ Don asked his question in a different style.
‘No, I don’t think so. If she ever did, she must have done it hidden from us.’
‘Oh!’ Don stared thoughtfully for a moment. ‘Who works closer with her? You or Cole?’
‘Cole used to, but recently we’ve all been working together.’
‘Do you think Cole could give us some information you don’t have?’
Aisha frowned, ‘I really don’t think he has any except the one he could have gotten while coming to Lagos or before you guys got him and I don’t think Cole is ever going to work with you or give any information.’
‘Forget about that, if he doesn’t work with us, we’ll make him vomit any information that he has to.’ There was a pause of about one minute before Don spoke again. ‘Is there anyone living with her now like her brother did then?’
Aisha did not give a reply but there was a twitch on her face which gave Don a positive signal.
‘Come on, speak to me.’ Don urged.
‘Yes, Henry stays with us now.’
‘Henry? Who is Henry?’
‘Henry E.G, the hacker we recently broke out of prison.’
‘Oh! What the hell was I even thinking about!’ Don exclaimed with a loud voice and brief chuckle. ‘He works with you now, right?’
‘No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t seem to be in good terms with Tarasha.’
‘He’s not in good terms with Tarasha?’ Don chuckled again, it sounded ridiculous to him. ‘I thought he was just one of the tools she uses, how can a tool not be in good terms with the master? Does he have a choice to work for her or not?’ Don asked, the questions were more like to himself as Aisha remained quiet, staring at his face. ‘Why is she keeping him then? Why has she not killed him if he’s useless and refuses to work for her?’
‘I don’t have the answers to that,’ Aisha replied.
‘What then does he do in the house everyday?’
‘Nothing, he sleeps and wakes up. Most time works with his PC but what he never does anything related to our work.’
‘Maybe you don’t know the work he does for her, but I’m very sure he does something.’
‘He does nothing, absolutely nothing.’ Aisha insisted.
‘Then what’s the relationship between them?’ Don asked, widening his eyes. Aisha answered with silence. ‘Or are they lovers as rumour has it?’ Aisha still maintained silence. ‘Come on, answer me, what’s the relationship between them?’
Aisha’s reply was slow, ‘I’m not really sure of what it is now, but it seems somehow romantic.’
‘Hmm…’ Don eyes brightened up with a smile, he folded his lips in as he stared away blankly.
The door opened and Stainless walked back in, moving towards Don with the phone in his hands. ‘Dan, you need to talk to him now,’ he said in a low voice as he handed the phone to him.
Don took the phone and looked at the screen, the call was still on and reading. ‘Hello boss,’ he said as he proceeded out through the opened door and closed it after getting out.
___
**Asokoro area, Abuj@
‘You once said you know who Tarasha’s sponsor is right?’ Rex asked. He was seated in a motionless car with his left hand on the steering wheel and the seatbelt well fastened.
‘Yes, I worked with him before she came.’ Don replied from the other end.
‘Do you know his location?’ Rex asked.
‘Yes, I know where he stays. He stays somewhere hidden from town in Lagos.’
‘Good, I just wanted to be sure of that. We might work with that information in case I can’t get Tarasha today or tomorrow. I’m not sure of her plans yet and I don’t know if I’ll be able to take her down when she makes her next attack, I’m only sure I’ll be able to prevent her from succeeding…’
‘But boss… There’s a new information now,’ Don cut in.
‘What’s that?’
‘The person who showed up to help her yesterday, I think we’ve found out who it is.’
‘Who?’
‘Henry E.G, he’s a software engineer and developer. He’s the one who was recently rescued from prison by the Tarasha gang,’ Don explained.
‘Is he a trained assassin too?’
‘No, he’s not.’
‘Okay, gather more information about him and mail me everything you’re able to gather as soon as possible.’ Rex ordered.
‘Okay Boss, but there’s one more thing. The girl mentioned that there’s a romantic relationship between Tarasha and that Henry,’ Don sounded excited about the additional information.
‘Of course, a female assassin can bleep anyone she wants to, just to get her job done.’ Rex replied, his tone showed he had considered the information not relevant contrary to Don’s expectation.
Tarasha continued to take brief glances at the map showing on the device placed on her lap as she drove carefully on the slow lane, also looking sideways for any sign of Bevo hotel.
Soon she located Bevo hotels and halted for some seconds just before the gate, she pressed the car horn and rolled down the window glasses of both sides as she drove towards the gate. She stopped briefly at the security check where she had a brief conversation with the security guards. They conducted a brief search on her car and cut out a pass ticket for her before she was allowed to drive in. She followed the directions given to her by the traffic directors and parked her car where she was instructed to. Soon she entered into the main building of the hotel and located the reception desk.
‘Lovina Dike, personal investigator,’ she introduced herself to the receptionist, bringing out an identity card which the receptionist checked briefly and nodded in confirmation. ‘A lady booked a room here yesterday, ‘Tarasha continued. ‘She left her room yesterday evening and has not returned since then.’
The receptionist frowned a bit before turning to the computer, she began to type on the keyboard until she remembered something. ‘I think I’ve heard of who you’re talking about,’ she said, pausing a bit to look at the personal investigator before she continued to type on the keyboard.
‘Has she returned?’ Tarasha asked.
‘No,’ the receptionist concluded her typing and turned squarely to Tarasha. ‘We don’t know the exact time she left but the cleaners didn’t just find her when they tried to clean her room this morning and afternoon. Those on duty yesterday said they never saw her leaving.’
‘What was her room number and how many days did she book for?’
‘She booked for three days and her room number is…’ she paused a bit and stared into the computer to confirm the room number. ’15B.’
‘Okay, have you guys accessed her room since she left?’
‘Yes of course, we did. That’s how we confirmed that nothing happened in the room.’
‘Ermm… I mean did you find anything strange or suspicious in it?’
‘Nothing like that was reported, her bags are still there and they can always remain there as far as her money hasn’t expired yet.’
‘Hmm… Okay, I think I’ll have to come back in some few hours time. Hopefully she’ll be back by then but I’ll also try to bring with me a search permit in case she hasn’t returned.’
‘Okay ma’am, there’ll be no problems with us once the due process is followed.’ the receptionist said as Tarasha turned to leave.
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha flashed a smile and proceeded towards the exit door briskly. She stopped halfway as a thought struck her mind. She turned back slowly and proceeded back to the reception, ‘Sorry for disturbing Miss, but I just think I should stay around here. I’ll like to book a room and stay in there for few hours and I’ll like you to reach me on phone when she comes in.’
The receptionist stared suspiciously at her face for a second, she wondered why Tarasha wanted to book a room and not just ask for somewhere to wait. She shrugged off the though, then she took out a neat paper and handed it to Tarasha. Tarasha looked through briefly and returned the paper after making an option. ‘Okay, just a minute please,’ she finally said and turned to her computer for about forty five seconds. ‘You don’t have any luggage right?’ she asked as she took out a small card from a printer and gave it to Tarasha. Tarasha nodded in response to her question.
’13C,’ Tarasha mumbled to herself the number of the room written on the card. She then took out her debit card from her back and inserted it into the point of sale terminal. After making the transaction, she was handed the key and she headed straight to the room.
_____________
**Maitama, Abuj@
Henry stood and watched in amazement after the wall splited up right before him, it formed an opened door. He wondered if the facility was existing before like that or if it was Tarasha that built it up the system just within few weeks or if what she did was only to modify it. He pointed his torchlight forward and saw the staircase leading to the underground. He began to proceed downwards but stopped at the fourth step taken. He remembered that he was yet to get the full instructions from Tarasha. So he turned back and walked out. To his surprise, there was a timer reading at the lock box when he returned and it was on ‘3’ and counting down when he came out.
The wall closed by itself immediately the timer got to zero and the access card was automatically emitted. Henry stood there dumbfounded, he inserted his card again into the card reader on the wall and typed in the lock code. The door opened the same way it opened the first time. He checked around the wall to see if the timer had began to read again but it was not reading. He took a step into the place and stepped out again. The timer was reading now and it had started from ten. He found a button on the timer and clicked on it which made the timer stop counting. He took two steps in again and turned to see if there was any means by which he could come out if the door had closed when he previously entered. He searched around the walls of the staircase within six seconds and stepped out again before the door closed.
His curiosity grew and several questions which he couldn’t find answers to ran through his mind. He wondered how and where Tarasha had gotten so much technological knowledge from. The underground was just a perfect hiding place for someone who knew how to use it properly and also a perfect trap for anyone who unknowingly or illegally finds his way in. He retrieved his card from the reader and placed the wall clock back to cover the lock system with the card reader.
_________
**Lagos**
‘Hey! I don’t understand the message you just sent to us,’ Stone said to Don as he and Stainless entered into the computer room Don was seated in.
‘That was the direct instruction from Rex, I relayed it as he gave to me.’ Don replied, taking away his focus from the computer screen to stare at them.
‘Yes, I know it’s from Rex. What we don’t really understand is what we’ve been asked to do,’ Stainless replied him as they proceeded closer.
‘Okay,’ Don heaved a sigh and turned his chair backwards to face them. ‘Rex wants us to put the two hostages in two different places, he wants us to keep them in separate locations,’ he explained.
‘But they are not together now, are they?’ Stainless asked, he and Stone exchanged glances.
‘They are not together but they’re in the same location, he wants them in two separate locations.’
‘Why and when did he give that order?’ Stone asked with a frown on his face.
‘He gave the instructions few minutes ago, and he wants it carried out immediately.’
‘Why?’ Stainless and Stone asked together in unison.
‘You don’t expect he’ll give me full details about that right?’ Don said and paused to look at their faces. ‘From other things he said, I can deduce that he’s not seeing signs of Tarasha’s moves to kill the Vice President and he’s trying to put up some defense here for us if she suddenly shows up here.’
There was a minute silence. ‘But I don’t still understand how separating them would help us,’ Stone said, looking confused.
‘When they are put in separate locations, it’ll bring disoderliness into her plans, that’s if she has any plan of coming here.’
‘Are you sure this is going to work?’
‘Hundred percent sure, and I want us to act immediately. You both would take some boys with you and move Cole to the other place while I’ll remain here with Ojo and some other boys.’
_____
**Bevo Hotels, Lagos**
‘Why are your services slow here?’ Tarasha asked an attendant who brought in a tray of fruit juice for her.
‘I’m sorry ma but we came with your order immediately after the call,’ the lady replied as she dropped the tray on a small table and placed the cup upright.
Tarasha stared at her intently and in silence as she dropped the tray, particularly observing her uniform. ‘What side of the building is room 15B?’
The lady stood up straight and thought for a while, ‘If rooms 13 are on this side, it’ll mean room 14 are at the left side. Then room 15 should be on this side too at the next floor.’
‘Oh! Thanks. I have a friend who claims to be in that room,’ Tarasha replied.
‘Okay, is there any other thing you would like?’ she asked in preparation to leave.
‘No, not for now. You may leave now,’ Tarasha dismissed her.
She curtsied and proceeded to the door, it refused to open as she turned the handle. ‘I think you locked the door,’ she said, flashing a look at Tarasha who seemed to be busy with something else.
‘Oh! I did?’ Tarasha stared up at her and got up quickly with the key but instead of opening the door, she covered the lady’s nose with an handkerchief
** 1 hour, 50 minutes later**
_Rael University, Road_
Tarasha kept her gaze on the gate from the car where she was sitting quietly. She had been watching for over fifteen minutes and was still undecided about what to do or how to get in. She had confirmed from breaking into Aisha’s room what the state of Aisha was. She found the mixture used halfway like she had instructed, so she knew Don’s gang must have threatened Aisha with her parents to make her give in.
After five more minutes of inactivity, she decided it was time to act. She took out her phone and dialed Aisha’s phone number. It rang for the first time without been answered. It was answered when she called the third time.
‘Where are you now?’ Tarasha asked.
For some seconds, there was no sound heard from the other end. Then Aisha’s voice came calmly, ‘I’m in Ikeja.’
‘Where in Ikeja? I sent someone to meet you at Bevo hotel where you lodged earlier,’ Tarasha replied.
‘Oh! Bevo hotel? Ermm… I… I’m not there now, I can’t get there because I’m sure Don’s boys are on my trail and would take me if I move out of this place,’ Aisha’s reply came shakily.
‘Then, where are you?’
‘Ermm… I don’t know the name of the place…’
‘Okay,’ Tarasha cut in. ‘I’ll ask Henry to track this call and figure out your location. Just hold on for a second,’ Tarasha said and kept quiet for about thirty seconds. ‘Okay, he’ll get to you in few minutes. But I think you should know he doesn’t know how to use guns, all he can do is to drive you to safety.’
***Inside the building***
‘Okay Boss,’ Aisha replied with a low voice as the line went dead. She looked up to Don’s face who was staring down at her. The phone was on loud speakers, so Don had listened to the conversation.
‘Henry is trying to track you?’ he asked with a tone which made the question sound rhetorical. ‘We added waves protection to this building today and the point of communication in here can’t be discovered by any tracker. You have to call her back and give her a location for Henry to meet you.’ Don said and took a brief pause to think.
His phone rang while he was still thinking of the location to give Henry, he took it out of his pocket and stepped back to receive the call. ‘Hello Boss,’ he said.
‘Have you separated the hostages?’ Rex voice sounded dry.
‘Yes, we have.’
‘How about the info you’re supposed to send me?’
‘I’ve gathered some already, I’ll send it within the next thirty minutes.’ he said and the call went off immediately. He flashed a look at Aisha and caught her staring intently at him, she quickly hid her gaze when their eyes met. ‘Call her back and tell Henry to meet you at the Bolevian Garden,’ he turned back and redialed Rex’s number as he walked out of the room and closed the door gently.
‘Boss, there’s something new,’ he began immediately Rex answered the call.
‘What’s that?’
‘The man you asked me to gather information about, I think he’s in Lagos now. Tarasha called and told Aisha of his presence,’ Don said.
‘What is he doing in Lagos?’
‘I guess she sent him to assist the captured two. I’ve asked Aisha to send him an address to lure him into our trap.’
‘Sounds good, I’ll like to get a feedback on that as soon as you get him.’
‘Sure boss,’ Don said and ended the call. He returned the phone into his pocket and walked through the corridor to the computer room.
_______
**Asokoro, Abuj@
James paced about his room silently, he had a cup filled with alcohol with him. He wasn’t a big consumer of alcohol but he took it once in a while when he was with friends or when he felt heavily troubled like he was this time. All the struggles and the failures he had been facing was giving him headaches and he could still not find any possiblity of making an headway.
Working with the NIS twenty four hours ago, after he had been informed of Samantha Osman’s threat to the Vice President, they had worked together to figure out the location she had threatened from but to no avail. It seemed as if Samantha was never going to be caught but would only be playing games with the police and other security agencies.
Samantha’s case was enough problem at that moment, another issue that added to his worries was the news of Stephanie George’s abduction. He had been following up the Inspector responsible for the case in Lagos and could tell from the information he was getting that there was no progress being made.
He gulped down the contents of the cup in a rush as if the arrival of the solution to his problem depended on it.
‘Stephanie…’ he muttered under his breath. Her picture flashed back into his mind again. He remembered the first day he had met her at the police office reception in Lagos, her beauty had been totally irresistible. He had approached her right there to listen to her complain instead of allowing the constables do their jobs. He personally handled her complaint that day and even gave her a free ride back to her school. He had found out that she was an assistant to the leader of the SWAD group of which he was also a member of while in school, he also found out that she was a student of computer engineering. They became friends. He had began plans to ask her for a relationship but aborted it when she revealed to him during a normal conversation that she was not ready for any until she was done with school. Since then he had kept his feelings for her unvoiced. She kept him as a friend and someone whom she ran to for advice when necessary. That was over a year ago, now she was the leader of SWAD. James love for her had continued to grow even though they saw less before he was transferred to Kogi State, her new post as the leader of the group had made her busier.
He poured into the glass cup again and gulped down half almost immediately. He staggered forward and sank into a sofa, already tipsy, he swallowed and closed his eyes, seeing Stephanie’s face in the darkness.
After speaking with Aisha on ohone, Tarasha had continued to watch the gate in order to observe the movements occurring. Things remained the same for fifteen minutes until Tarasha saw the gate been opened slowly. Soon, it opened wide enough for a vehicle to pass through and she spotted a vehicle driving out of the place. She could not see those in the vehicle from her distance but she was very sure that it was a response to the call. The vehicle drove out of the gate and took the left direction. Tarasha decided to make a call to Aisha’s in order to ascertain if Aisha was in the car. She dialed the number and Aisha answered almost immediately.
‘Boss,’ Aisha’s voice sounded low.
‘How are you Aisha?’ she asked, trying to buy time as she unlocked the tablet device placed on her laps.
‘I’m trying to be fine.’
‘What do you mean by trying to be fine?’
‘My parents have gone through a lot already and have still not been set free by them yet…’ Aisha began in a pitiful voice but stopped abruptly.
Tarasha noticed from the way Aisha stopped that someone with her must have issued a warning to make her stop. The tracker application was now running on the tablet device and already locating the point from which the call was been received from. ‘Henry is on his way to Bolevian garden now, you should call me when you’re there,’ Tarasha said. A street map appeared on the screen of the tablet and a green moving dot was seen.
‘Okay boss,’ Aisha replied.
Tarasha ended the call and minimized the app running on the tablet device, she was now sure that Aisha was in the car that was driven out of the compound.
She took off the seatbelt and tossed the tablet device to the backseat. She took out two guns from behind the driver’s seat and stepped out of the car. The first gun was a machinery loaded with tranquilizing pins which made no sound when shot while the other was normal revolver loaded with bullets. She put the guns into the pockets of her trousers and closed the front door. She opened the door to the backseat and took out a backpack. She then began to proceed carefully towards the gate, she crossed the first carriageway and then the second.
As she got to the gate, she looked back to the distance her car was parked and then looked around carefully before peeping through the space at her right hand side of the gate. She couldn’t get a proper view of the compound well but could only see a little part of the entrance. She stepped back and looked around briefly again, the few passers-by seemed to be rushing to their homes and took no interest in what she was doing. She walked to the other end of the gate to peep through the space between the wall and the gate end. She got a view of three men dragging along with them a blindfolded girl whose mouth was also covered with large plaster. They were laughing aloud at her as she cried while they dragged her towards the door, soon they were out of range of vision again.
Tarasha paused to listen for sometime and heard no sound coming from inside. Since she could not see or tell what was going on inside , she decided to follow a careful guesswork. She took out something from the outer pocket of her backpack, she separated a one-eared earpiece from it and attached the other magnetic device to the gate. Then, she returned to the other side which had the smaller opening for entrance with legs. She pushed the door and it opened easily to her surprise. She pushed it gently forward and took a step in. She took a brief pause of two seconds to view the whole place before she stepped in completely and closed the door gently. She quickly hid herself under the shadow of the small building close to the gate, it looked more like a gateman’s or security room. She stood in the small space between the gateman’s house and the fence. The compound of the building was well lit and she could be easily spotted by anyone in the building through the windows or through the cameras in the compound. She removed the backpack from her back and squatted, she brought out a device which had the shape of a cuboid, surface area of about a hundred square centimetres and placed it on the floor. She opened the device and in it was something wired like an explosive material, she turned on a metre box which read zero minutes and zero seconds, then she picked out a small black switch which had the shape of a matches box from the cuboid. She closed the device and wore her backpack, then she moved the device back to the end of the wall of the gateman’s building. Instead of walking back to the entrance of the security building, she passed the space at the back between it and fence of the whole compound, she proceeded carefully towards the main building.
A guy came out of the building as she got few centimetres close to the main entrance, he was about to raise an alarm but she quickly silenced him with a tranquilizing pin from the gun in her left pocket, only allowing him to mention a word. She ran with light steps to him and searched his body carefully.
___Same time, Inside the building___
‘Shey all the other guys apart from the ones wey follow Don Dan and the ones wey dey back don go Villa for school abi?’ Ojo asked the two guys standing behind the blindfolded girl’s chair.
Ojo had been forced to make out time to conclude Stephanie’s case as the news of her abduction had spread round town and he had gotten wind that the police were already tracing the crime to his gang. He had to finish her up quickly, so as to erase every other possible evidence against himself and his gang. Therefore, he chose the night to finish up what he had started and take Stephanie’s life once and for all.
‘Yes, but we should have three people join the three of us here soon. They were already on their way the last time we spoke,’ One of the guys replied.
‘Okay, you two can now return to your positions, make sure Saadu mans the gate properly tonight, Don Dan would not like to meet the place empty when he comes. If I don’t call you when I’m done bl**ping this girl, come when you hear gunshots.’ Ojo said. They exchanged brief glances amongst themselves and quietly left their boss in the room.
Ojo rose up from his chair after they had gone, he moved closer to Stephanie and took off her blindfold and the thick plaster on her lips.
She stared at him palely, her slow and weak breathing was the only noise that could be heard in the room. Then she dropped her head and stared down.
‘Won’t you talk? I thought you were always bold,’ Ojo taunted. Stephanie raised her head and stared at him briefly before staring down again. ‘Oh! I’m sorry I’ve not been able to attend to you since they took you, I’ve been quite busy. Have the boys not been treating you well?’ he asked, trying to feign concern but his voice still depicted mockery.
She didn’t look at him this time nor did she reply. He placed two fingers of his right hand below her jaw and raised up her head with it.
‘Are you dumb?’ he asked and bent forward, looking straight into her eyes as he brought his head closer to her face.
He already felt victorious on seeing her look pale and weak, he only had to finish the job by sleeping with her and ending her life afterwards. They had never met face to face before, they had only spoken on phone and seen each other from afar but he had seen several of her pictures and videos, she was looking very different from what he used to see. He knew his boys must have maltreated her physically but he had warned them not to molest her as he wanted to be the first to penetrate into her. He had heard tales of her being a virgin, that was when he made promises to his juniors in the cult and leaders of other cults that he was going to molest her badly before killing her.
Though she didn’t look appealing to him now like she used to in the pictures and videos, he still had it in mind to molest her in other to fulfill his promise.
‘Did my boys maltreat you so bad?’ he asked again with his face still close to hers but she still gave no reply nor did she show signs she was going to.
He brushed his lips against hers and bit her lower lip, that was when she responded by landing him a slap on his face and spitting into his eyes. He stepped back angrily, feeling irritated as he wiped off his face. He turned his face and shone his eyes at her like an angry lion, then he charged towards her and landed her a blow on the face which made her scream and fall off the chair.
‘You b***h, you think you can say nonsense about us in school and get away with it right,’ he cursed as he knelt beside her and turned her body upwards, he began to tear off her clothes.
She struggled and screamed out with the whole of her strength in resistance but her struggle did not help matters and Ojo continued to dish her blows occasionally which made her weaker.
____
The first room Tarasha entered from the entrance was a wide one, it had no furniture in it. There were bottles of alcohol scattered at a corner of the room and pieces of cigarettes laying carelessly on the floor. From the structural design of the building, Tarasha could tell it was formerly used as a factory. There were two opened doors before her leading to two separate places from the room, the door at the opposite wall led into another room while the door at the right side of the room led into a corridor. She proceeded towards the door leading into the corridor but she heard voices approaching from that direction as she almost stepped out. She quickly turned and entered through the door which led into the other room, walking on the tip of her toes to lessen the noise.
‘I swear na Ojo go bl**p that girl till she die, he don tey wey him near any woman.’ one of the guys was talking aloud as they passed. ‘Na why him wait till now wey everybody don comot for here.’
‘Nothing concern me with wetin hin go do with the girl, make him just do fast make we know wetin we go do with her body, night don reach already.’ the other guy replied as they approached the exit.
The first guy suddenly stopped and turned, he looked towards the opened door of the room where Tarasha had entered into. He seemed to notice something and began to proceed towards the door.
‘Wetin you dey find?’ his partner asked.
He continued walking till he got to the front of the door, he stopped and squatted to pick something on the floor.
‘I lost my memory card somewhere here yesterday,’ he finally replied as he rose up and tossed away the tiny substance he had picked from the floor.
‘You don see am?’
‘No,’ he replied as he walked back towards his partner.
________
Tarasha came out from behind the thick wooden door where she had hidden and stared at them as they walked out through the main entrance. She could still hear their voices outside in the corridor. She hoped they’ll go wherever they wanted to without turning to the right side of the building where she had placed the body of the guy she silenced.
There was another door leading to the corridor from the new room she was, she closed the door which she entered in from and proceeded out through the other one.
She tried to make meaning out of the conversation of the guys she heard as as walked slowly through the corridor. It took her some seconds to process what she heard them say as she was still not used to communicating in pidgin English.
For a moment, she totally forgot her real purpose of coming to the place as it dawned on her that the girl she had seen them drag in was going to be molested. She froze, pictures of Rikau’s hands on her small body flashed back through her mind, she could feel the pains again of how he th-ru_st in so heartlessly that day and how worthless she felt after it all happened.
The screams of a lady brought her back to life, she sprung into action immediately and charged towards the direction of the scream.
She had to go through another wide room which led into another corridor before she located the room where the screams were coming from. She kicked the door open and entered. Welcoming her was Ojo’s black behind, he had pulled his pants halfway and had torn his victims trousers off. He was holding her two hands down with one of his hands while he tried to tear off his victims P@ntiës with his right hand. His victim’s movement was very weak, so her resistance was little.
Unluckily for Ojo, what Tarasha saw wasn’t another man trying to molest another lady, who she saw trying to do the ungodly act was Rikau.
‘What the heck are you do…’ Ojo was saying without turning back, he thought it was one of his boys who had entered. He couldn’t finish talking because the wooden chair he was previously seated on was shattered on his head by Tarasha.
____
The gate is opened and we didn’t find Usman there,’ a short guy who had just newly arrived with two others said as they shook hands with the two guys they met at the balcony. They had a big bag with them.
‘He just went out of this place now, maybe he’s doing something in the compound.’ one of the two guys around before answered him, glancing at the gate as he did.
‘Where’s Capon? I need to see him now,’ the short guy asked. He was the leader of the other two who just arrived with him.
‘Capon is with the girl, I think he doesn’t want to be disturbed now.’
‘But I have an important information to give to him,’ the short guy argued.
‘Hmm… Well, you may try your luck. Just knock on the door if he has not started banging the girl yet, if he has, it’s better you don’t knock at all.’
‘You have to take me where he is, I don’t have time to start searching around,’ the short guy said firmly.
‘Tee Black can take you there,’ he tried to push it to the other silent one.
‘No, Tee Black will take these guys to offload the weapons in their bags.’ the short guy insisted.
‘Okay,’ he agreed after heaving a sigh.
‘Where’s the weapon store?’ the short guy asked the silent one.
‘It’s inside too, we all have to inside.’
‘Okay, let’s go.’ shortman replied and the five of them all entered into the cult house again. They continued walking in silence, taking the same direction. Soon they began to hear the cry of the girl trying to resist Ojo.
_____
Tarasha took out the pistol and fired every part of Ojo’s body until she exhausted all the bullets. She had used six bullets on him alone, contrary to her normal strategy of one bullet for one person. To her, Rikau deserved more than six bullets in his brain. Her anger seemed to fizzle out after she ended the shooting and she took a second to look at the girl who would have been a victim of R@PE if not for her arrival.
_____
‘He’s still be busy with the girl,’ the guy previously replying to Shortman said.
Suddenly, the girl’s cry stopped and seconds after, they heard gunshots in a quick succession. They paused and looked at each others’ faces in surprise.
‘Is he that angry with her?’ Shortman asked no one in particular, with a confused look on his face.
‘No, he was planning to bang her mercilessly like he promised.’ the other man replied, also looking confused. ‘She might have done something that got him very angry,’ he added and shrugged.
The guys stared at each other in silence again before they continued walking, this time, faster and all of them to the direction of the room where Ojo was left.
Tarasha could see fear written all over the girl’s face as the girl withdrew fearfully from her and drew close to the opposite wall. Tarasha ignored for a moment and proceeded back to close the door. She took off her backpack to take out more bullets for her revolver.
Stephanie vibrated in fear as she saw the strange lady filling up the bullets into the revolver. She had pulled up her pant and was trying to cover her Brë@šts with the bra Ojo had violently cut off. The lady finished filling the bullets into the gun and looked up, their eyes met.
Stephanie cringed as Tarasha proceeded towards her with the revolver after strapping the backpack. Tarasha noticed her fear and paused, she tried to put on a friendly face but failed at the attempt. She was still bitter about what almost occurred and was terribly mad at ‘Rikau’ even though she had already killed him.
She took more steps forward and stopped in front of Stephanie. She bent on a knee and touched Stephanie on the shoulder, ‘I’m not going to hurt you, what did you do to that… that Rikau and why are you here?’
Stephanie still continued to vibrate in fear as Tarasha touched her, she glanced at the dead body of Ojo on hearing Tarasha’s question and assumed she knew him very well to refer to him as ‘Real cow’. Tarasha’s accent had made her hear ‘Real cow’ instead of ‘Rikau’.
She was yet to answer Tarasha’s question when they began to hear voices coming towards them, this time more than four men’s voices were heard.
______
The guy leading stopped at the door and knocked softly, he paused and waited for a reply from Ojo, there was total silence. He knocked again after a few seconds and there was no reply. Shortman stepped forward and knocked the door louder but there was still no reply. Then Shortman opened the door slowly and peeped in before taking a step in.
‘d@mn it! She has killed capon,’ Shortman cursed as he rushed in and took out his gun.
‘What the bleep!’ the other guys rushed in too and stared at the corpse of their Capon.
‘She must have gone this way,’ Shortman said, pointing at the second door in the room which led to a smaller room. He jumped over the corpse and walked into the room pointing his gun round while the other guys brought out guns from the bag which the newly arrived guys brought with them and wanted to offload, they joined in the search for Stephanie.
____
**5 minutes later**
‘They’re going to find us here,’ Stephanie said in a shaky voice as Tarasha dragged her by the hand into a spacious toilet. Stephanie’s clothes had already turned rags as a result of Ojo’s violent harassment but Tarasha was thinking of a replacement for her.
Tarasha ignored her remark and picked out the vibrating phone from her pocket. She stared at the screen, Aisha was calling. She placed her finger on the green icon without swiping , still thinking of what reply to give. Aisha must have gotten to the Bolevian Garden with the guys she went with and would be expecting a call from Henry.
She finally swiped to answer the call. ‘I’ll call you in few minutes time,’ she spoke immediately and ended the call without giving Aisha an opportunity to talk
‘What are you doing?’ Stephanie asked fearfully as she watched Tarasha keep the phone into her pocket and turned to lock the toilet door. ‘We can’t hide here.’
‘I’m not hiding here with you, I’m hiding you here,’ Tarasha corrected, giving her a stern look. ‘Now tell me, where is Don?’
‘Don, who is Don? I don’t know anybody like that,’ Stephanie replied.
Tarasha sighed and hissed lightly, ‘Sorry, I ought to have asked what you doing here first? You don’t look like someone who works with this people,’
‘I was kidnapped by a cult group in the school,’ Stephanie replied shakily.
‘So you don’t know anything about them?’
Stephanie shook her head in silence, indicating she knew nothing.
‘Did you see anyone else that was kidnapped too? A young lady and a guy or old couples,’ Tarasha pushed further.
‘No, I’ve not seen anyone else.’ She replied, shaking her head with her lips folded in to buttress her point.
Tarasha paused for some seconds to take out her phone, it was ringing again. She stared at the caller’s ID and returned her stare to Stephanie’s face. Both of them began to speak simultaneously.
‘Oh! Continue,’ Tarasha said with a straight face while Stephanie smiled lightly.
‘I overheard them talking earlier today, they said something like moving a person I think was kidnapped out of this place to confuse somebody, they mentioned Samantha,’ Stephanie said.
‘I don’t understand you,’ a confused look appeared on Tarasha’s face.
‘I didn’t hear more than that,’ Stephanie said.
Tarasha looked away to her phone, it was ringing again, she silenced it and turned back to Stephanie. ‘Do you have any idea of the number of men present here?’
‘I don’t see them, my eyes are always covered when I’m taken out of the room I’m locked in. But with my calculations based on the noises I hear when I’m taken out of the room, there should be more than ten of them.’
‘Okay,’ Tarasha turned sideway and dialed back Aisha’s number.
Stephanie stared intently at her face, wondering who she was. She didn’t look like one of the cultist, neither did she look like one of the abduction victims who had mistakenly escaped. Stephanie could notice the thick layer of makeup on Tarasha’s face and wondered if police women or other security agencies used makeups when invading a place like this, it made her discard the option that Tarasha could be a security officer.
‘Henry is on his way there, he just got to Bevo hotels now, be patient.’ Tarasha said immediately the call was answered, hoping that would be able to keep Aisha and those she went with there a little longer.
‘Okay,’ Aisha’s reply came almost in whispers. She spoke up again after some seconds of silence. Tarasha was able to deduce that a silent message must have been passed to her during the seconds of silence. ‘Please tell him to call me, so I can communicate where I’m hiding to him. I’m scared I may be discovered here soon.’
‘I’ll tell him to reach you as soon as I get in touch with him.’
_______
‘Are you sure she’s not playing a game with us?’ Don asked in a harsh tone, staring fiercely at Aisha who was seated opposite him at the table. They were at the Bolevian extension outside the main parlour of the clubhouse, they had been forced to settle at a table and order for drinks so as to be allowed to wait there as loitering was not allowed in the Bolevian facility.
Aisha stared back at Don without replying, better put, words refused to come out of her mouth even though she tried to talk. Don had listened to the whole conversation through the loud speakers as his usual manner was. He had been getting frustrated when Tarasha at first did not pick the calls and was already pacing behind his seat, until she called back and he sat to listen to listen. The darkness of the garden at night had added to his frustration but he just consoled himself with the fact that Henry would be spotted easily when he gets to the garden even if his face wasn’t seen clearly, as anyone was barely seen there at night even though the place is brightly lit.
The Bolevian club house, bar and restaurant was mostly used during the night time of the day while the pool, garden and kiddies’ facility were busy only during the day.
When Tarasha did not pick at the first and second call Aisha made, Aisha already knew Tarasha was up to something else. Tarasha’s workphone was always in her pocket whenever there was a job going on and she couldn’t have missed more than two calls which she did. Aisha was confused and scared at the same time. She was confused because she was sure Tarasha was playing a sort of game with them and she was scared at the thought of the possibility of Tarasha having already discovered that she was working with Don. She fidgeted on her seat as a picture of Tarasha’s fiery eyes flashed through her mind. An idea came to her.
‘Don, I’ll like to ease myself please,’ she said, faking on a smile.
Don took his eyes slowly away from the ground which he was staring at and squinted at her suspiciously.
‘I have to go please, my bladder is full and I may just do it on this seat if you don’t allow me go.’ Aisha added, sensing that he might decline her request
‘I’ll follow you there myself,’ Don said. He brought out a pistol to her view to warn her silently, careful enough not to allow other people seated around see the gun.
‘Okay,’ Aisha said with a forced smile and got up from her seat. She pushed the chair backwards with her legs to enable her step away from behind the table. Don put the gun into his pocket and got up after her. He placed his eyes on her, at the same time signaling to the boys he came with to be watchful until he returns.
Aisha reached for the phone she had dropped on the table and finally stepped away from the table. Her eyes met with Don’s as she looked up, he had a questioning look on, demanding for an explanation for the phone she picked.
‘Samantha or Henry might call,’ Aisha explained with another fake smile. Don’s face remained frowned but he nodded in approval and watched as she began to walk towards the DJ spot before following closely. They passed through the midst of people dancing and Aisha approached a bar girl to ask where the rest room was.
_______
Tarasha had loaded more guns and tucked them into the pockets by her side and one in the pocket attached to her shoe. Stephanie was still watching her in awe with her mouth ajar, she finally summoned the courage to speak up.
‘Who are you?’ she asked with stammering lips.
Tarasha looked up briefly at her face, and turned back to fasten her waist belt properly. ‘I don’t think you want to know that,’ she said after she was done with the belt.
‘I want to,’ Stephanie insisted.
‘My name is Tarasha…’ she spoke out too quickly before she realized. She stared at the girl’s face in confusion, wondering what had made her voice out without thinking.
‘Natasha or Natashay?’ Stephanie questioned. She did not hear the name clearly.
‘Natashay,’ Tarasha replied quickly, glad that she wasn’t properly heard.
‘That’s strange, I’ve only heard of Natasha, never heard some called Natashay…’
‘Shhh…’ Tarasha hushed her, placing a finger on her lips as she placed her ears close to the door to listen.
‘Have you found any sign of her at all?’ Shortman asked as he entered into another large room which had about four doors leading to other places. He was talking to the guy who led them to the room where they found Ojo dead. They had been searching for almost ten minutes without finding Stephanie.
‘No, I’ve not even found any clue to know where she passed.’ the other guy replied.
‘How she no go leave any trace na, she no be ordinary girl? We suppose don see one sign of where she pass,’ Shortman voiced out his frustration in pidgin English.
‘I’m very sure she could not have left, she must be hiding somewhere in this building.’
‘Has anybody checked through there?’ Shortman pointed to the door directly opposite where he entered from.
‘That’s where I’m coming from,’ the other replied.
‘Okay, it means we have to go here and here.’ Shortman said, pointing to the doors at the left and right sides.
‘That place is a toilet,’ the other guy said, pointing to his right.
‘A toilet?’ Shortman said in low tones, squinting suspiciously as he took quick glances to the door, the other guy’s face and the door again. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve not been checking toilets, she could just be there.’ Shortman continued in low tones, proceeding slowly and cautiously towards the door with his gun raised and pointed at the door.
‘That toilet is always locked because only Capon’s commanders uses it,’ the other guy said, trying to warn Shortman not to waste his time as the door would be locked.
‘Shut up, look at the handle.’ Shortman said in whispers, flashing a serious look at him. He pointed towards the door handle which had been destroyed, that was when the other guy noticed. He joined Shortman in proceeding towards the place, his gun also raised in anticipation.
______
‘Are you going in with me?’ Aisha stopped as she opened the door and Don tried to follow her in.
‘Yes,’ Don replied firmly. ‘Is there anything you want to do there that I’ve not seen before?’
‘No, but it’ll be embarrassing to the other ladies we may meet there or that comes in to meet you.’ Aisha answered.
Don seemed to think for a while, he placed a stern look at Aisha’s face and communicated a serious warning to her with his look. ‘Don’t try to play fast, if you’re not out in one minute, I’ll be in to get you.’
Aisha widened her eyes at him and exclaimed, ‘One minute? I’m a lady for goodness sake.’
‘One minute, and it starts now.’ Don repeated firmly and glanced at his wristwatch. Aisha sighed and rushed in.
Don stepped back from the entrance and folded his arms with his legs slightly apart. ‘Oops!’ he exclaimed as he remembered that he didn’t collect the phone from her. She must have hidden it from his eyesight to make him forget. He kept glancing at his wristwatch from time to time and got himself prepared to go in when it was fifty five seconds and she wasn’t out yet.
4…3…2…1. He bumped into a lady at the entrance as he tried to rush in and the bag in the woman’s hand fell off with the contents scattering all over the floor.
‘d@mn! What are you doing?’ the woman cursed as she tried to bend to pick her bag, one could tell from the sound of her voice that she was drink. It was very difficult for her to squat straight as her tight mini skirt would not allow her coupled with her druken state. She placed a knee to the ground, blocking the road partially. She was about to start picking the contents of the bag when she noticed that Don was still standing in front of her. ‘Why are you watching? Aren’t you supposed to help me pick up these things?’ she slammed angrily.
‘Please woman, I’m in a hurry. Leave the road, I have to go in.’ Don said, trying to pass by and walk in.
She rose up and he almost collided into her again, ‘Are you sick? Can’t you see this is for ladies?’
Don was infuriated but there was nothing he could do as the lady’s loud voice was already attracting attention from onlookers. He was confused on what to do but then Aisha’s appearance from behind saved him from more embarrassment.
‘What’s happening here?” Aisha said with a crooked but hidden smile as she pushed the lady blocking the way slightly away.
‘Füçk you,’ Don slammed angrily at her and turned. ‘Let’s go,’ he turned and dragged her by the hand as marched her furiously away, leaving the onlookers to wonder what kind of drama was going on.
‘Where’s the phone?’ Don demanded immediately they turned out of the scene.
‘Here, no calls yet.’ Aisha said as she took out the phone from her pocket and stretched it forth to him.
Don snatched it from her and hurriedly opened the call register, he found no record of any call made. He navigated to the messaging app and checked to see if she had sent any message but found none.
Aisha smiled in her heart as she watched him eye her wickedly. Having discovered that Tarasha might be playing a game with them, she decided to sell him out in order to avoid Tarasha’s wrath. She had planned with the lady who Don bumped into to keep Don busy until she was done and luckily for her, the lady being drunk accepted without questioning. She then sent text messages to Tarasha, telling her the whole truth and also her suspicions of Cole being moved to some other place, she also was warned Tarasha against replying the messages. She deleted the messages after being sure they had delivered and went out to relieve the tension that was being created outside.
Don was still burning with fury about the embarrassment Aisha had made him face and the delay in the arrival of Henry as they got back to the DJ area and were proceeding to their table. The phone in his pocket rang just some few centimetres to the dance space, he took it out and checked the caller, it was Rex.
‘Hello boss,’ he answered and spoke calmly, trying to hide the anger in his voice.
‘What the heck are you doing Dan?’ Rex fired angrily. ‘The b***h you thought you tamed has just sent a text message revealing all your plans to her boss.’
Don froze in anger, his mouth was left widely agape as he slowly turned his face to Aisha. Aisha who was now in front turned to see why he stopped. The look on his face said it all, she knew he had discovered her and before he could make any move, she decided it was best she ran.
Shortman kicked in the toilet door violently and it hit the wall behind.. The toilet was dark, so he could not see clearly except for the parts which the little ray of light entering through the door lit up. He shot thrice in a random manner as he took in a step but he didn’t see the ladies inside, bending by the dark side of the wall. It was too late before he noticed their bodies in the dark as a bullet already pierced through his chest and he fell back lifelessly against the door he had kicked open.
Shortman’s partner on seeing what happened began to shoot into the toilet from where he was as he called the attention of the other guys around.
‘Tap this red button if you need me,’ Tarasha whispered to Stephanie, handing her a small device which had a switch on it. ‘Don’t leave this place until I come back for you,’ she instructed before rising up from her squatting position and proceeding towards the door. She stopped just before she got to the part where the reflection of the light would reveal her shadow and squatted, she took some seconds to observe the shooter’s manner of shooting and listened carefully to the sound made by the soles of the shooter’s shoes. The shooting stopped for a while and she noticed a shadow of a man approaching slowly with a gun in his hands. The shadow stopped and she could see notice the owner trying to change his gun. She used the opportunity and surfaced at the entrance, a bullet entered into the guy’s forehead before he knew it.
Tarasha took Shortman’s gun before dragging away his body from the doorway into the toilet properly, she turned on the toilet light and could hear Stephanie let out a scream as she closed the toilet door. She ignored Stephanie’s scream and proceeded towards the opened door by the wall at her left hand side. A guy rushed in from the place she was headed to, she sent a bullet straight to his right knee, he staggered and fell down but with his gun still in his hand, he turned and attempted to shoot at Tarasha but she was faster, her bullet had hit the hand holding the gun, just at the wrist. The gun fell off his hand and he let out a loud cry. She approached him hurriedly and pulled him up with his collar, careful not allow his blood stain her clothes. She made him rest his back against the wall and she placed a knee on the ground. She pointed her gun to his nose, ‘Where are the couples you kidnapped?’
The guy refused to give an answer at first and closed his eyes, pretending to be weaker than he actually was. She ÇOçked her gun and pointed it backwards, sending in a bullet to the chest of another guy who was approaching slowly and carefully from the opposite door.
‘Tell me where they are,’ Tarasha used the tip of the gun to hit his nose and he opened his eyes, looking bewildered as he saw the person he thought would have shot her laying lifelessly far behind.
He was still too confused to talk as he wondered how she had seen the other guy coming behind her from the corridor leading into the door at the opposite side but she surprised him again. She pointed her gun towards the door at the right side and the door flipped open almost immediately, with the man who opened the door receiving a bullet into his chest from her gun.
‘Where are the couples?’ she hit his nose hard with the tip of the gun again
‘The building behind,’ he said in a weak voice, vibrating fearfully. She must be using a sort of black magic, he thought to himself.
‘How many people are there with them?’ she asked.
‘We have two boys each assigned to stay with the different couples, one stays at the door,’ he answered, his body and his voice was growing weaker, his vision more blurred. The bullets in his body and the bleeding were making their effect on him.
‘That means five people are in the building behind?’ she asked and he nodded weakly in affirmation. ‘Any other person in the whole facility?’ she asked another question.
‘Five of us were looking for you in this building and we have one person who is supposed to be outside,’ he replied, now gasping for breath.
She paused for a moment to listen, she could hear some footsteps and tried to figure out where it was from. She then turned and look towards the toilet where she came out from, three seconds later, the door of the toilet opened slightly and Tarasha could see Stephanie peep out frightfully. Stephanie was terribly scared as their eyes met.
‘I told you to stay in there,’ Tarasha slammed angrily at her and the door was hurriedly closed.
The guy before Tarasha was still gasping when she turned back to him and she hastened his journey to the great beyond by slamming her gun against his forehead before she rose up. She pocketed the revolver and took out another as she entered into the next corridor through the door in front of her.
She stopped for a minute to think and strategize. She took her time to observe the building walls and roofs, it was made of materials which were natural sound absorbers which meant the people in the other building may possibly not be aware of the gun exchange except the buildings are connected to each other with a wall or unclosed roof.
__
5 Signs that shows your Girlfriend is a
Aisha knew better than to wait for Don to unleash the fury in his eyes, so she used the opportunity to run since she was already some steps away from him.
Don shot at her once but missed, he chased after immediately but couldn’t continue shooting as she quickly mixed up with the guys and half naked girls previously dancing who had now also fled for the lives at the sound of the gunshot.
‘After her guys! After her!’ Don screamed aloud in anger at the rest of his boys who already joined in the pursuit. He shot twice into the air as he spotted Aisha running towards the opposite side of the DJ stand, he followed immediately.
Aisha did not know where she was running to but she kept on running, the last time she looked back, she saw Don standing and screaming at his boys. The DJ and his assistants had fled the place before she got there, she bent her head to dodge the bullets as she ran past the platform. She could see Don’s men coming after her but she kept running towards the toilet where they were just returning from. She ran past the restroom and entered the laundry area of the Bolevian hotel which had no crowd except for the few laundry workers doing late night jobs.
The laundry workers who had also heard the gunshots and were already alert quickly hid themselves as they saw Aisha run pass their blocks through the window. One who was ironing clothes flung the pressing iron away and hid himself under the ironing board. Two ladies in the washing room also hid themselves behind the washing machines.
Aisha followed a narrow path between two walls to the back of the laundry block and found a very dark room on turning back. The wide room had the door ajar, she entered into the room and closed the door. Then she proceeded futher inside to find a perfect place to hide herself. She couldn’t see well because of the darkness as she tried to navigate but she was still able to figure out that the room was the store for finished laundry works.
___
‘You dey craze, leave me jor.’ Don slapped the face of a huge man who was trying to stop him from running.
‘What the Füçk are you doing?’ the big bouncer shouted as he squeezed Don in his big arms, trying to take the gun from Don. But Don was also a fighter, he hit the man’s groin hard with the back of his feet, making the man release the grip on his body. He turned and shot the man in the belly. He turned back to face the DJ stand where he was running to before he was grabbed from behind by the bouncer. He couldn’t see Aisha or any of his men around, the partyers had already fled the place and the only people he could see coming towards him were security officials of the place.
___________
Tarasha knocked twice on the door after covering the peephole with her palm. She looked around briefly again before turning back to the door. The building looked more like a quarters for living. She heard someone shout to her in response to her knock but couldn’t make out what was said. She took out her phone while she waited, it had made several short vibrations some minutes ago and she had not yet checked the messages that came in.
Aisha’s number was the first thing her eyes saw when she unlocked the phone, she had received up to seven text messages from Aisha alone, each message carrying not more than the standard one hundred and forty character limit. She began to read from the first;
‘I’m sorry Boss, I never meant to lie to you. I was forced into it. These people would not hesitate to kill my parents if I don’t dance to their tune. Please, instruct Henry not to come to the Bolevian garden, they have men there waiting to capture him. Our base is…’
She had to stop reading and keep the phone as she heard heavy footsteps approaching the door from inside. There was a pause as the footsteps got to the door, Tarasha could tell that the person was trying to check who was knocking though the peephole.
‘I said the door is open, can’t you…’ a stout man was saying as he opened the door but couldn’t finish his statement. With a kick on his chest, Tarasha pushed him back into the house and followed him in, rendering a shot in through his forehead.
Another guy inside the entrance hall of the building turned from his seating position and tried to raise his gun but Tarasha sent a bullet into the arm he lifted, rendering the arm useless and making the weapon drop to the floor.
She approached him slowly, with her eyes alert and observant. ‘Get up, where are the rest of your boys?’
As if in response to Tarasha’s question, two guys came walking out through an opposite door. They were without guns and had only come out to make enquires about the recent gunshots they heard, thinking it was one of their men shooting to terrify a captive of theirs as their custom was. Tarasha turned towards them and shot them down before they could make any move to turn back. The guy whom she was interrogating on seeing she was distracted by them attempted to pick a gun with his other hand but the second hand was rendered useless too as soon as his fingers touched his gun in the pocket. He let out a loud cry.
‘Now don’t play games with me. How many more people are still in?’ Tarasha asked, placing a foot on the chair, in the space between the man’s thighs.
‘Two,’ he muttered, quivering in pain.
‘What about the couples you kidnapped?’
He was yet to answer the new question when his phone began to ring, the screen light drew Tarasha’s attention to his pocket. She took out the phone from his pocket and checked the screen.
‘Who’s this?’ she asked, turning the screen to him.
‘The guy in,’ he said weakly, nodding his head in direction where the two dead guys had come out from. He was bleeding so much that his trousers had changed color.
Tarasha answered the call and put it on loud speaker. ‘Guy, what is happening?’ a gruff voice barked from the other end.
The guy stared at Tarasha’s face helplessly, not knowing what response to give. Tarasha shook her head to indicate and pronounced the word ‘nothing’ silently, expecting him to read her lips.
He clearly understood the message but did not speak, he frowned and stared at her face thinly before he spoke. ‘Guy, there’s …’ Tarasha who already read his possible response from his demeanor hit his forehead with the butt of her gun and flung the phone away. She turned and proceeded towards the door, changing her gun and equipping her two hands as she walked. She entered into a well lit long corridor and as she took two steps forward, a guy showed up with a long iron rod from the last room at the far end. She immediately shot at him but he was alert and fast to enter back into the room. Tarasha walked faster and broke into the first room, the corridor led to a closed end with four rooms at the right hand side.
She reached for the switch and turned on the light in the room. It revealed two terrified old couple, clinging to themselves fearfully. They placed their gazes on her as the lights came on like they had seen a terrifying monster erupt from the ground. Tarasha heaved a sigh of relief, she knew she had gotten the parents of either Cole or Aisha. She turned off the light and moved away from the area of reflected light through the opened door from the corridor. She could hear footsteps approaching slowly and carefully and she guessed it would be the man who had appeared at the other end before, maybe he had come out with a gun now.
Tarasha remained quiet as possible where she was, she could hear some muttering from the corridor but the voice was too low for her to hear what was said. The sounds of the footsteps seized, then Tarasha assumed what was mutterred in her mind. The men were two now obviously and one must have warned the other about her being in the first room. She tried to calculate the distance where she was from them, making use of the closeness of their footsteps sounds the last time she heard it and their muttering.
‘Who the hell are you? Get out and talk to us,’ one of the men yelled, pointing his long gun in readiness towards the room with the opened door. His partner, the former man stood beside him holding the same long rod. There was total silence for more than one minute. ‘Come out and face us, stop being a sissy.’
‘If you want us to talk, drop your weapons first.’ They heard a lady’s voice emanate from the room.
The men exchanged quick glances. ‘I told you, I saw a lady figure.’ The man with the rod whispered to his partner.
‘You drop your gun first and throw it outside,’ the guy with the gun replied Tarasha.
There was ten seconds silence and then a pistol was thrown out through the door of the first room.
‘Did you see her?’ the men asked each other in low tones, staring intently towards the opened door and trying to observe the direction the gun came from.
‘It came out straight, she must be by the walls or by the bedside where the old cargos are seated.’ the man with the rod answered.
‘Are you going to drop your weapons or waste my time discussing with each other?’ the lady’s voice sounded again, without giving them the opportunity to think of what to do.
‘Ermm… How many… How do we know if that’s the only weapon you have there?’ the man stammered.
Tarasha let out a sigh at his reply, she was tired of their time wasting talks, she took out the tranquilizing pin launcher and proceeded out of the room.
____________
Don kept on shouting commands at his men as he followed the way he had seen Aisha take, ignoring the security men who were after them.
‘Where’s the Bîtch?’ Don asked one of the boys he met as he entered the laundry area.
‘We’ve not seen…’ he couldn’t complete his statement because Don shot him angrily.
He stepped on the balcony of washing area and took out his phone, he could see the abandoned works from the opened window. He hissed and stepped down from the balcony again on hearing approaching voices.
‘Stainless, where the hell are you?’ Don shot angrily at Stainless.
‘Exactly where you sent me,’ Stainless replied.
‘The godamn girl is escaping man, there’s a tracker on her cloth. Provide me her location,’ Don said as he turned towards the back of the building.
Don was well familiar with the laundry section of Bolevian as he was a regular customer there before, he knew where the back of the building led to.
He hurled curses aloud as he hurried through the narrow space. Things had really gone messy and all in a twinkle of an eye. He hadn’t anticipated that Aisha would turn back against him. Getting out of Bolevian at the right time was his worry now, he was sure that Aisha would be found again, sooner or later, before she discovers the tracker on her cloth. The greatest of his worries was of how he was going to tell Rex how messed up things were.
He stepped out from the narrow corner and stopped to think for a while. For some reason he turned back and saw the store for finished laundry works, he knew it because he had been there to collect his clothes before. An idea came to him, he could find a cloth to change into to perfectly disguise himself. With a quick light steps, he climbed the short steps up and pushed the door open. It opened with lesser force than he exerted, making him almost fall. He hid behind the door for a while, waiting for the Security men running around to pass. After some minutes of waiting, he turned on his phone’s screen light and began to search around the clothes hung in the room.
The two guys were caught totally unawares, they actually expected the lady to engage them in a longer conversation but Tarasha wasn’t ready for that. Before they could process the image they were seeing in front of them she had sent in two tranquilizing pins into their bodies from the launcher.
The men’s strength rapidly weakened, the weapons on their hands fell off first. The one with the rod fell on his knees before he fell face flat but the guy with the gun fell half sideways, hitting his head on the wall.
Tarasha picked up her gun and walked slowly and carefully, over them and to the end of the corridor. She opened the door to the fourth room which was at the end, there was nothing and nobody in it except for some empty packets of cigarettes and lighters. She closed the door gently and proceeded back to the third door, she pushed it open and found another frightened couple seated on wooden chairs. There were two dirty student sized mattresses laid carefully on the floor.
Her phone began to ring as she closed back the door, she took it out and saw the Henry’s name displayed as the caller’s ID. She silenced it and returned back to the tranquilized bodies of the two men lying on the floor in the corridor.
____________
Several hours had gone and the message Henry was expecting from Omotara had not yet arrived. He had slept off, sitting on a chair and placing his head on the table in the computer room.
He rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched as he rose up from his seat. He tapped the keyboard in front of him to turn on the desktop screen, the software was still running and there was nothing unusual about the monitoring. He yawned again, as he wondered if Tarasha had given him a false alarm and why she didn’t send the message she promised to send. Or maybe she was the one in trouble, another thought flashed through his mind. He searched the table for his phone and found it behind the flat screen desktop, he picked it up and dialed her number. It rang but wasn’t answered, he tried three more times before taking a pause. He fell back on the chair shakily, afraid of what could have happened to her. He remembered the last night occurrence where the enemy was already approaching her to kill her before he showed up. He wondered if she was in that kind of danger, who would be there to help her? He asked himself. But then he remembered her words when they had a little argument after that, she had said to him that she would have definitely found a way out without his help.
His phone beeped twice, distracting him from his scary thought. The cure to his fear was what arrived, a text message from Tarasha. It read, ‘I’m quite busy now and I’ll call you later. You’re safe, just enter after unlocking the first block. These men already think you’re in Lagos.’
Henry heaved a sigh of relief after reading the message, he laid back his head to rest on the table immediately but the noise made in his stomach reminded him that he had not taken dinner.
______________
Aisha froze in fear as she watched the figure move around the room, the darkness did not allow her see the person’s face but she knew it was a man. He moved around with a little but bright source of light which was held in his right hand, he kept searching for some minutes before he stopped in front of a shelf which was only few centimetres far from Aisha’s hiding spot. She was under a table which was small compared to the other ones in the room, but it was still large enough to allow her body under it. The figure placed the source of light on a table beside the shelf making the light point towards the ceiling. He heard some noises from outside the room and quickly covered the light with his hand and looked back towards the other side. After a minute, the noise faded away and he removed his hand from the light. He then took off his shirt and changed into another which was of a bigger size. Then he stopped to look around again for a second, then he fixed his stare towards Aisha’s direction and then gradually began to proceed there slowly.
Aisha cringe in fear as he drew nearer, she made sure her legs were well hidden under the table. He got to her table and stopped there. For a minute, she held her breath, not wanting to be discovered by anyone and even if she was discovered by this man, she was ready to give a fight in order not to be handed over to the security men. She only hoped that her strength would be enough to tackle the man. Her thoughts drifted to Tarasha and Henry while the man continued with what was doing at the table, she could see his legs move occasionally but did not know what he was doing above. She wondered what Tarasha would be doing now and what instructions she must have given to Henry whom she sent to help. Her mind drifted again to the possibility of her being discovered by the Bolevian staffs, it would mean that she’ll be handed over to the police from their security officials. But she still preferred the option of being discovered by the Bolevian staffs than Don discovering her, she could still get saved by Henry or Tarasha before she gets to the police but she was very sure that Don was going to kill her immediately he sets his eyes on her.
She regained consciousness of her environment again as something dropped to the floor from above and rolled under the table, a bow tie. Her heartbeat increased in speed as the light was pointed to the floor. The man stepped back a little to check for the tie. The light revealed his shoe and she automatically recognize that the man was Don. She began to fidget all over as the man bent his knees gradually.
__________
‘Look here dummy,’ Tarasha accompanied her words with a blow to the man’s face again.
He closed his eyes back and shook his head vigorously as he tried to balance his vision, at that point, he was seeing more than stars. He was one the men whom Tarasha had tranquilized at the corridor. She had removed the pin from his body and injected him with a substance to revive him, so as to extract some information.
Even after opening his eyes, his vision was not still clear enough and the throbbing headache contributed to his pains. ‘Where am I?’ he muttered as his eyes met with a young lady’s face.
‘You’re in your kingdom,’ Tarasha answered in mockery. She placed her palms on the arm rests of the chair and stared into his eyes.
‘Where’s the other guy your gang captured with Aisha Bello?’
‘I don’t know what…’ he tried to reply but Tarasha cut him short as the butt of her gun hit his lips. He winced in pain and rubbed his lips with his palm as it bled.
The hit seemed to reset his brain to default settings and cleared his blurred eye vision as he could now see Tarasha’s face clearly.
‘I don’t have much time here, answer me now.’ Tarasha barked at him, ÇOçking her gun to show her seriousness.
‘Ermm… Baba Stainless and the other guy took him to our other lodge behind our mini campus ‘ he said shakily.
‘How do I locate the place?’ she asked, pressing the tip of the gun against his already bleeding lips.
‘Ermm… It’s behind our school’s mini campus,’ he said, stammering.
‘Which mini campus are you talking about?’
‘Uhmn…’ the guy continued to stammer, not knowing what to say.
‘You know what? You’re taking me there,’ Tarasha pulled him up by the collar and pushed him to the front.
‘Oh no…’ he tried to refuse.
‘The other option you have is to die,’ Tarasha said with a tone of seriousness, pointing her gun towards him as she stepped back slowly to the last room in the building. ‘Don’t try anything foolish,’ she said and kicked the room door open, she entered and switched on the light. ‘I have to get you out now, get up and follow me,’ she said to the couple and turned back. The couple seemed to consider first, they stared at each other in silence and then finally stood up and walked towards the door slowly.
‘Are you looking for these?’ Tarasha said as she stepped back into the corridor, she was waving a long gun and a rod at the guy she left in the corridor. He had searched his unconscious colleague’s body for weapons and found none and began to search around the place for the long gun he was holding before they were knocked out.
She threw the both weapons to the floor and they both dropped close to him. ‘You want to use them right? Pick them up and use,’ she said to him and began to proceed forward. The couple at the last room had already appeared behind her, holding each other’s hands. They looked frail in their dirty clothes.
The guy stood frozen as Tarasha got closer to him, he was too shocked and afraid to pick up any of the weapons. She walked past him to the first room where the first old couples were and entered. She beckoned on them to come outside and stepped out of the room. The other couple were still standing by the wall at the far end will while the tortured guy was facing them, still without picking the gun. ‘Come on, let’s go.’ Tarasha summoned them. They began to walk up to Tarasha weakly, they paused in fear when they got closer to the unconscious body and the standing guy at the middle of the corridor. ‘Come, that dummy can’t do anything to you.’ she said, knowing that they had paused in fear of the guy standing.
‘Hey! What’s the address of that place?’ she said, proceeding back to the guy.
’14/16, Ejiro Street, behind Rael University Campus.’ he replied almost immediately as if he was expecting the question. He turned to Tarasha slowly.
Tarasha smiled and bit her lips slightly as she noticed the sweat on his forehead. She reconsidered her decision for him to lead her to where Cole was on remembering that she also had to pick Stephanie. ‘You don’t have to follow me anymore, I want you to deliver a message to your boss in case I don’t come back before him. Tell him Samantha Osman was here, ‘ with that, she inserted a pin into his neck where it would be seen easily, he collapsed to the ground immediately.
‘Follow me,’ she turned swiftly and led the couples out of the corridor.
They entered into the main room where Tarasha passed before entering the corridor. She walked to the door and opened to peep outside, she closed back and turned to look at the couples. They were walking to catch up with her as fast as they could but their weak bodies didn’t let them match quarter of Tarasha’s speed, coupled with the fear they experienced on meeting dead bodies lying around.
‘I have to check if the way is clear first,’ Tarasha turned back and said to them. ‘You guys should remain in here and I’ll be back in few minutes,’ she said to them. She could see the fear on their faces, especially the ladies as they stared around the place seeing the dead bodies laying everywhere.
______
**Abuj@
For the fourth time, Chief Rikau kept hearing the singing of birds disturb his sleep. He dipped his index fingers into his ears to reduce the sound but it didn’t help matters because it came sounding the fifth time. It was at the fifth time, he opened his eyes and sat up in the bed, wondering what could be the source of the disturbance. His eyes drifted towards the blinking light from the footstool beside the head side of the bed, his phone was the noise maker and the source of the bird’s song.
He blamed himself for bringing his phone into the room as he reached out for it, the caller’s ID was unknown. He wondered who could be calling him at such time of the night with an unknown number. Late night calls was not something strange to him though, the only strange thing was the hidden status of the number at that time of the night. He answered the call and listened in silence.
‘Where have you been Chief Rikau? And why have you not been answering my calls?’ a male’s voice from the other end sounded. Chief Rikau remained silent, trying to identify the speaker. ‘Can’t you talk?’ the voice came rudely again. Chief Rikau paused to check the caller’s ID again. There was only one person who was always acting rude to him like that, Rex.
‘Is this Rex?’ he said in a low voice.
‘Oh! You’re finally awake, now sit up properly, I want to ask you some questions.’ Rex said with command in his intonation.
‘Rex, why are you calling at such an ungodly hour?’ Chief Rikau replied, his voice still clouded with sleep.
‘Who made the hour ungodly? No hour is unreasonable when there’s something important and urgent to do,’ Rex replied.
‘Okay, what do you want me to do for you?’
‘Before I stay, sit down properly.’ Rex insisted.
Chief Rikau dragged himself up and rested his back against the headboard, wondering in his heart how Rex knew he wasn’t lying down and why he insisted that he sat upright. ‘I’m sitting up now,’ he said.
‘Okay, I have five minutes for this call before the network provider’s system start recording the conversation. We’ve used two minutes already, so don’t waste my time in answering wh@tëver I ask you.’ Rex said and took a brief pause, Chief Rikau only heaved a sigh in response.
‘Where has the police kept the mother of Henry E.G?’
There was silence for a couple of seconds.
‘d@mn you Rex! That’s confidential and shouldn’t be let out by any officer…’
‘Give me a quick answer man, I don’t have time to waste on this.’ Rex cut in.
‘What do you want to do with her? Even though her son is wanted, she’s under our care and nothing bad must happen to her.’
‘Okay, thank you. All I need to confirm is that she’s with you, if you don’t tell me where she is exactly, I can find out myself.’ Rex said and the line went off immediately.
Chief Rikau froze for some minutes, trying to study the situation. Rex would never stop bringing surprises and he wondered what he was up to now.
_______
Rex flung the phone to the bed and continued to pace around the room, his heavy but slow breathing was loud enough for deaf to hear in the silent room. His anger towards Tarasha was rising everyday, reason being that she was given him tougher time than other assasins he had previously brought down. In fact, this was his area of specialization in the job and he had always excelled easily. Being an assassin who was brought to the Villary Clan at a very young age, it was easier for the masters to brainwash him and fill his head with their theories than the older ones. He and others who had started the training at the same age with grew up with the mindset of the Clan being their only home, they were made to forget that they had an existence outside the Clan. Therefore, they were more committed to the Clan and had less chances of betraying their masters than those who began the training at older ages. Most of the jobs done by Rex was bringing down other assasins who betrayed their masters. He always did this with all his might as he believed in loyalty to the Clan and strongly h@tëd betrayals. Although, the job to kill Tarasha was quiet different, he was still had more experience in killing other assasins. What frustrated him the most was his seemingly unpredictability of Tarasha. He had been successful in predicting some of her steps before but never got it completely. He had correctly predicted that she would plan attacking the Inspector General but he never thought she would come with a back up which showed later. Right now, he couldn’t even predict her next step. But he knew one thing; the man who had come to back her up must have been her very close assistant and another top Assasin to know her plans and whereabouts, if he could capture that assassin, he could get Tarasha.
He had been able to study about Henry from the information Don had sent to him and concluded that Henry must have learnt his hacking skills from another top Assasin organization. Now, he was going to get Henry and at the same time keeping tabs on Tarasha.
Don eyes located the bow tie under the table where it rolled to. He pointed his flashlight downwards as he bent to pick it. He touched the tie with his hand and picked it, but as he was about to rise up, his eyes met with something else, he slowly bent down and pointed the light to the object under the table. He had not yet figured out what it was when the sole of someone’s shoe kissed his face and pushed him backwards, he landed painfully on his back with a scream.
‘d@mn it!’ Don cursed as he saw the figure struggle out from under the table. He hadn’t seen the face but he automatically knew who it was. He picked his phone which had fallen to the ground and struggled to his feet. With the pain he felt on his back, he still followed after her immediately. He picked his pistol on one of the tables he had left it and pointed it towards her at the door but she was out before he could release two shots.
Aisha jumped down the corridor but unluckily for her, she jumped into the hands of one of Don’s parading men. He sent her sprawling to the ground knocking her out with two heavy blows on her face.
Don came out to meet her on the ground, he pointed his gun at her as he moved closer.
‘No boss, don’t shoot.’ his man pleaded with him. ‘We’ve got the vehicles closer and we’ve settled the Security men, let’s leave now from the back without making so much noise.’
Don seemed to think for a while before putting his gun into his pocket hesitatingly. ‘Pick her up,’ he said. The guy dragged Aisha up and placed her on his big shoulders. ‘How much did you bribe the Security men with?’ Don asked as he waited for the guy to lead.
‘We didn’t pay anything, most of the Security men here are Ojo’s friends,’ the man replied and led the way to a dark and narrow space between two buildings.
_______
‘Hey girl,’ Tarasha called in low tones as she walked over the bodies and got closer to the door of the toilet. She opened the door and looked in, there was no sign of Stephanie in the place. She stepped back outside the toilet and looked around to see if Stephanie was hanging around, there was still no sign of her. She hissed angrily and hurried back through the way she had gotten into the place. She took out her phone hurriedly and unlocked it, she clicked on a tracker app and waited a minute for it to load. From the reading on the app, she could tell that Stephanie was still in that building. She got angrier and regretted coming back to get Stephanie, the girl was only a distraction to her main purpose and she wasn’t supposed to have allowed the distraction. Stephanie had made matters worse disobeying Tarasha’s instruction by leaving the toilet where she was asked to hide. Tarasha decided to return to the couple and leave Stephanie to find her way if she could or die due to her stubbornness.
‘Get in,’ Tarasha said in a ordering tone to the couples which she led from the building at the back to where the bus was parked. It took them over ten minutes to walk there because of their weak bodies, but Tarasha was patient enough, only hoping in her mind that none of Don’s men was going to arrive while they delayed with their sluggishness.
She proceeded to open the gate while the couples got into the car. She also picked the device she had attached to the front of the gate and the explosive mechanism she set up behind the security house. She hurried back to the bus and closed the big passenger’s door before turning to the driver’s side.
She drove out in less than a minute and dropped again to close the gate, after parking the bus just few metres away from the gate.
She paused on getting halfway in closing the gate and remained still to listen, she thought she had heard something from the building. Even though she was angry that Stephanie had disobeyed her instruction, she still didn’t feel alright leaving without her. Her plan was to drop Stephanie and the couples in front of a police station and alert the officers to pick them while she goes on her way.
She closed the gate after waiting for few seconds without hearing anything else and hurried to the bus. She hopped in and turned the vehicle into the free road, she drove slowly towards the U-turn and made a turn to the other carriage way which linked to the road where she parked the car she came with. It took another two minutes to get to the place the car was parked. She stopped the bus there and dropped to take some things from the other vehicle, she put them into the boot of the bus. She turned back and looked towards the warehouse again, she felt a bit guilty for leaving Stephanie behind but couldn’t do anything about it since Stephanie was the one disobeyed her instructions. She closed the boot and walked back to the car to lock the doors properly, then she turned to the driver’s side of the bus and entered the vehicle.
As she started the vehicle engine and pulled the seatbelt, she felt a slight wave of headache, then she Rikau’s face suddenly flashed through her mind again. She closed her eyes to absorb the pain but it seemed to worsen it. She saw herself again as a small kid under Rikau’s body using one of his hands to hold her two tiny hands and dipping one into her pant. Then Stephanie’s face and the way she struggled flashed through her mind again, she could see the picture of Ojo pants pulled down and him trying to have his way violently.
The bad memories suddenly blacked out, leaving her with a more painful headache. She slammed her two hands on the steering wheel and took off the seatbelt. She opened the door and stepped out of the bus. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes as she heard murmurings from inside the vehicle, she looked towards the couple but couldn’t see their faces as the darkness in the bus covered them. She knew they must be wondering who she was and why she was acting all strange. Even she couldn’t understand her strange behaviour but she knew the cause of newly developed headache was the thought of leaving Stephanie behind in danger. She felt there was a strong connection between her and Stephanie but she couldn’t just explain what it was.
She took out her phone again and unlocked it, the tracker app was still running and it indicated that Stephanie was still in the building.
‘Don’t turn on the light,’ she said to the couples, pointing her phone’s flashlight into the vehicle through the window. ‘And , don’t make any noise. Don’t let anyone discover your presence here. I’ll be back, there’s still someone in that building I need to get out.’
________
Aisha could feel the cold chains on her hands and legs as her eyes opened in the darkness, she could also feel the roughness of the ground she laid against the sides of her body. She tried to stretch her legs and arms but she couldn’t as her body hit the restriction walls by the sides and pains accompanied the effort. She soon got to realize that she was in the boot of a car which was in motion. She closed her eyes in pain as she tried to remember what happened to her.
‘Ouch!’ she let out a cry as her head hit the sides of the boot. The vehicle had driven over a road bump impatiently.
‘She’s awake,’ she could hear a male’s voice from inside the car and she desisted from making any more sound. She remembered clearly now how she had tried to escape from Don but ran into one of Don’s men, she couldn’t recall what exactly he did to her. She remained calm and quiet so that she could listen more to the conversation of the men in the car but didn’t hear anything else, they had stopped talking only after muttering a few words to each other.
***
‘What’s the situation right now?’
‘Under control boss,’ Don replied Rex. He was seated tiredly at the front seat in a different car from the one Aisha was.
‘You messed up already, there’s no way you’re going to get that guy called Henry anymore, the girl already warned her boss,’ Rex said and there was a brief silence. ‘The next thing you should do is make sure your hostages and their parents remain with you. Cut off all communication from them right now until I give you further instructions.’
‘Alright boss.’
‘Make sure you don’t make any more mistakes, you might pay for the next one you make,’ Rex concluded with a serious warning.
‘Yes boss,’ Don said before the call ended. He turned off the phone’s backlight and squeezed it in his fist, he was still terribly mad at Aisha but he was grateful to his man for restricting him from killing her, that might have gotten him into another trouble with Rex.
He continued to consider the options in his mind, he needed to find the best way to punish her, she truly deserves to be punished for playing fast with him and the stress she made him go through. Even if it was severe beatings, he was surely going to make her pass through.
In less than ten minutes, they would have gotten back to the warehouse and he’ll unleash his fury on her, probably take off one of her hands
_______
Tarasha navigated through the house carefully, using the compass app installed on her device which was connected to the little device she gave to Stephanie. It took her sometime to locate the object because of unfamiliarity with the building and it’s doors. After a total of five minutes, she was able to locate Stephanie where she laid unconscious on the floor, bleeding. Tarasha rushed to her and knelt by her side, trying to find where she was bleeding from. Her phone beeped at the same time, she scrolled down the notification bar and saw the warning notification. It indicated that the device Aisha was using to communicate to her was closer.
She quickly tucked the phone into her pocket and lifted Stephanie easily to her shoulder. She turned and hurried out of the building immediately. Her phone continued to beep aloud as she got out through the gate and crossed the two carriageways. She increased her speed into the straight road as she spotted some vehicles coming from her right hand side. She paused after hiding herself in the shadow formed by an electricity pole to prevent the occupants of the vehicle from seeing them, she took out her phone and silenced it. She continued towards the bus after the two vehicles passed. She got to the bus before they reached the U-turn which led to the carriageway to their gate.
A thought flashed through her mind as she entered the passenger’s side of the bus where the couples were. She wanted to go back and attack the cars, so that she could save Aisha at once. But another look at the bleeding Stephanie made her change her mind. For some reasons, the urgency in her heart to save Stephanie was more than the urgency she felt to fulfill the real purpose of her coming which was saving Aisha and Cole with their parents.
She could hear the vehicles horning at the gate before she closed the door to the passenger’s side and turned to the driver’s side quickly, she started the engine and drove off immediately, having no particular place in mind, all she wanted was to drive to anywhere safe enough to treat Stephanie but she didn’t even have the materials to use.
______
‘Get down and check why that r*tard is not answering,’ Don shouted angrily at the person driving the car he was seated in. They had horned severally without anybody responding from the compound.
The driver opened the door and stepped out of the car immediately. He proceeded to the gate and entered the compound through the smaller opening.
‘Usman! Usman!’ he shouted the name of the person supposed to be at the gate. He looked around the compound to see if anyone was coming forth but there was none. He felt something was missing as he bent down to open the gate passage for vehicles. He opened widely the two arms of the gate and walked back into the car.
‘Where the hell is Usman?’ Don asked him as he entered the car.
‘The small gate was opened and I didn’t find him there,’ the driver replied and closed the door.
‘It’s past 12am and the gate is not locked, ‘ Don looked alarmed and angrier. Everyone and everything seemed to be pissing him off the more. ‘Is there nobody else in?’
‘I didn’t see anyone, they’re most likely in their own positions’ the driver replied and then drove the car into the compound. The car behind followed closely.
Don stared around the compound with a tiny gaze as the car pulled up at the small garage at the left side of the building. The driver killed the car engine and stepped out of the car immediately, he turned back towards the gate to close it. The other vehicle had also parked behind them. The compound was well lit with the Security lights at the gate and the outer walls at each side of the building.
‘What the hell is Ojo doing? Where is the bus that’s supposed to be here?’ Don shouted angrily, so loud to the amazement of the guys coming out of the other vehicle. ‘Did he think I wasn’t going to return tonight? Did he go out or send someone with my vehicle?’ Don blared on as he marched back towards the front entrance.
He stopped close to the boot of the other car as two men lifted Aisha out. She still looked unconscious to them as they dropped her to the interlocked floor.
‘I’ll be back to deal with this sl*t,’ Don said, tightening his fists as he turned towards the entrance, his anger for Ojo and the urge to unleash his fury on him growing. As he approached the corridor at the front entrance, he looked around the compound again, it looked rough and so disorganized, he wondered what Ojo must have done to disorganize the whole place. He hurried up the corridor and pushed the main entrance door open, shouting out Ojo’s name.
_______
‘Don will most likely execute Aisha today, she played a very dangerous game on him,’ Stainless was speaking as he circled round Cole. ‘And from the way he’s speaking, he won’t hesitate to kill your parents if you don’t cooperate with us.’ He stopped in front of Cole and blew some smoke from his cigar to Cole’s face. He tried to speak again but a cough came instead, he wasn’t as addicted to and good in smoking as Don was. ‘We know you’re scared of what Tarasha can do to you but she won’t be able to do anything if you deliver her to our hands according to plan.’ Stainless continued after he regained his voice.
‘Enough of your talks, what exactly do you want me to do?’ Cole cut in angrily.
‘Sell Tarasha to us dude, deceive her and make her fall into our trap. Once we capture her, you’re free to go with your parents.’Stainless replied to him sharply. Stone stood up from where he was seated and smoking heavily, he stood two metres at the front of Cole where he could see his face properly.
‘I don’t just want my parents alone. After getting them, how do I fend for them?’ Cole seemed to gain some strength in his voice, he stared thinly into the four eyeballs fixed on his face. ‘I’ll help you capture Tarasha if you add a million naira to the prize.’
Stainless and Stone stared at him in surprise for some seconds, then they turned to stare at each other’s faces.
‘Is that your only condition?’ Stone was the one who spoke. He took three steps closer to Cole and stared deep into his eyes.
‘Yes, with my parents.’
‘We’ll fix that when it’s daybreak and start work immediately. Deal?’ Stone said and turned to look at Stainless. The look on Stainless’s face revealed he consented to Stone’s proposed deal to Cole.
‘Deal,’ Cole replied firmly.
Stainless and Stone stared blankly at each other’s faces, Stainless plans seemed to be working well. Unknowingly to Stone, Stainless was only doing it out of his selfish purpose of gaining Rex’s heart. If Don could fail with Aisha and he succeeds with having Cole work for them, then it would make Rex believe more in him.
‘Ojo!’ Don kept barking the Yoruba name with his thick Igbo accent. As he proceeded past the first room into the large corridor, he noticed the doors of the rooms which the corridor led to opened carelessly and there were no signs of boys coming forth. He stopped halfway in the first corridor for a moment, he turned briefly around, feeling disgusted about how the whole place was, his anger against Ojo increased. All he thought was that Ojo had gone out to a party with his boys in the bus that was supposed to be parked outside. He took out his phone and dialed Ojo’s number, he proceeded towards the corridor exit, unbuckling his belt as he did. He needed to make quick use of the toilet as his bladder was full.
Ojo could hear the sound of a phone ringing as he walked past the rooms whose doors were carelessly opened but he didn’t bother to check as he felt his need to use the toilet more urgent. He stopped the call and proceeded faster to the toilet he shared only with Stainless and Stone in the factory. He met the shock of his life as he opened the door whose room enclosed the toilet.
_________
Tarasha located the City Gate hospital after driving for over fifteen minutes, she had stopped on the road after driving past the Police Headquarters in Ikeja to attend to Stephanie’s wound. Stephanie had fallen due to the weakness in her body when she left the toilet instead of obeying Tarasha’s instruction. Tarasha had used a cloth to cover the wound on her neck and placed her on Mr Bello’s lap to lay in a position which will reduce the bleeding. She also gave some instructions to the couples as they drove on.
She pushed the horn furiously after getting to the front of the gate. The guards and gatemen had gone to bed already. After a minute about a minute of constant horning, two men surfaced behind the gate. He unlocked it and pushed the first wing out while the second man pulled the second in. The first man who was dressed like the security man stopped the bus as it made it’s way in, another man was also seeing coming out from the main building of the hospital.
‘We have an emergency here,’ Tarasha said to the man who stood by the driver’s door, looking back towards Stephanie who was held by Mr Bello in the bus.
‘Na woman dey drive am,’ she could hear the man say as he walked slowly forward, checking inside the bus through the windows.
‘Why them con plenty like this inside the bus?’ a man at the left side asked.
‘It’s our grand daughter, she fell while using the toilet.’ Mr Bello spoke out shakily. His gaze meeting with Tarasha’s.
The first nodded and walked back to the driver’s side, he gave a pass ticket to Tarasha and signaled for them to drive in.
______
Don pulled out his gun with great fear as he crossed over the first body. He ÇOçked his gun in alertness and pulled out his phone. He dialed Rex’ phone number in error, thinking it was Stainless as he moved with slow steps towards the opened door of the toilet.
‘Stainless,’ Don shouted into the phone.
‘Don!’ Rex’ replied but Don was still too occupied with his thoughts of fear to notice the difference in the voice.
He could hear shouts from the boys outside and his heart shook in fear for the worst. They were certainly under attack, he thought.
‘Stain, we’re in trouble. I think we are under attack from Tarasha herself…’ he stopped talking as he entered the toilet till he stepped out after finding no one there. ‘Stain, how many boys do you have with you there?’ he asked as he made his way back through the door he entered from.
‘No matter who attacks you, don’t let the hostages leave your custody,’ the thick and angry bass voice came as a shock to Don. He took the phone off his ear for a second and stared at his screen, that was when he realized that the person he called was Rex, but the deed was done already.
‘Boss,’ he placed the phone back to his ear shakily. Rex stopped talking abruptly. Don noticed that he must have missed some instructions because Rex was still talking when he took the phone off his ears.
‘Did you see her?’ Rex asked.
‘No but some of the men I left here are down.’ Don answered, he was now back in the corridor where he heard the phone ringing when he placed a call to Ojo.
‘All of your guys?’ Rex asked
‘I’ve not checked them behind,’ Don replied, entering into the rooms carefully one after the other.
‘Confirm and get back to me as soon as possible,’ Rex snapped and the line went off before Don could reply.
‘Holy shi*t!’ Don exclaimed as he met with Ojo’s lifeless body in the room. His pants was pulled halfway and several bullet holes were in his body.
He closed back the door and turned out of the door, half running and half walking.
‘Don!’ one of the boys almost ran into him at the first room.
‘What the hell are you running about for?’ Don shouted at him angrily, there was a gun in the guy’s hand and he was panting heavily.
‘Don, the guys at the back…’ he paused to control his breath as his voice seemed to be covered with the loudness of his breath.
‘Talk to me buffoon!’ Don cursed angrily, tightening his grip on his gun.
‘The boys at the back are all down and the hostages are gone,’ he finally said amidst his heavy intake and release of air.
‘Oh! d@mn it…’ Don went wild with anger. He almost shot at the guy who had reported to him but controlled himself at the last second and made the ceiling the recipient of the bullets on reminding himself that killing another of his men would put him at more loss and he was already down with so many.
‘Did you see anyone around?’ he barked aloud as he marched out to the balcony.
‘No boss, ‘ the guy replied and followed him closely.
‘Get me more loaded guns,’ Don ordered.
The other men in the compound were busy, moving about with their guns and scattering everywhere to see if the attackers of their territory were still around. Don observed Aisha on the floor as he passed through the parking space, heading for the building where both Aisha and Cole’s parents were kept.
‘Don!’ another guy called him from the back, carrying a male body on his shoulder. ‘Usman is still alive, he was only sedated.’ he said to Don who had stopped to listen to him.
‘Revive him and get him to talk,’ Don said and continued marching towards the back. Usman was placed beside Aisha where was laid and his shirt was taken off.
Aisha opened her eyes narrowly, she noticed that the two guys left at the parking space had their attention on the body placed beside her, she thought of how to trick them but there was still no way she’ll make a movement that won’t attract their attention.
___________
‘Young lady, where are you going to?’ the security man who had given her the pass ticket in stopped her as she drove the bus towards the entrance. ‘You drove in only two minutes ago.’
‘I need to get home and pick my father’s debit card,’ she replied boldly with her eyelids squeezed.
‘You mean five of you drove here without bringing your debit card for payment?’
‘My father and his friends are old people, you don’t blame them for not remembering things in such a time of panic.’ she replied him.
He stared at her face in confusion, wondering what kind of a family they are. Four old couples have just gotten into a bus without backseats and headed for the hospital with a young girl driving because another young girl was bleeding.
__________
Rex arranged the guns into the travelling bags neatly. He had put on his light jacket and black pants immediately after the call and was ready to begin the trip to Lagos immediately without waiting for day break. The only challenge was that he had never been to Lagos before and didn’t know the route to take or any other thing about the place, the only things he knew about Lagos were the things he read during his first week after arriving in Nigeria. He closed the zip of the bag and placed it on a wooden chair beside the wardrobe. He eyes wandered around the room for a minute, lost in thoughts while looking around to see if he was forgetting anything.
Although he was expecting surprises, he didn’t know it would come this quick, but that was also expected, not knowing the time it would come was a part of the surprise.
He lifted the bag and turned back to the bed where he dropped it. Then he opened the travelling bag and put his laptop bag and some other computer accessories and cables in it. Thoughts of how to get to and navigate through Lagos filled his mind again, he couldn’t just depend on the map. For him to be able to use the map efficiently, he must be used to the routes already else it’ll take him up to five hours to get to places he could get in five minutes.
An idea flashed through his mind as he weighed his options. He took out his cellphone from his pocket and dialed Chief Rikau’s number. It rang for the first thirty seconds without being answered. He tried again and the same thing was repeated until the fifth time.
‘d@mn you Rex, won’t you…’ Chief Rikau’s voice sounded sleepily but Rex interrupted.
‘Shhh… Just listen Inspector, I need someone who can drive me to Lagos urgently.’
‘Okay, that’s no problem. Allow me sleep now, we’ll settle that tomo…’
‘Inspector!’ Rex interrupted again, ‘I need the driver and car right now, immediately!’
‘Come on, stop troubling me Rex. What do you need someone to drive you to Lagos now for and how do you want me to get someone by this time of the night?’
‘I need it urgently, I need to get to Lagos as soon as possible.’
‘Forget it Rex, wh@tëver it is should wait till daybreak.’ Chief Rikau said in a dismissing tone.
‘My men are being attacked by Samantha Osman right now and I need to get there to help them,’ Rex insisted.
‘You can’t get to Lagos to help anyone, she would have finished all of them before you get halfway. Please stop troubling me, I had a very hectic day.’ The Chief concluded and ended the call.
‘d@mn it!’ Rex cursed under his breath as he tightened the phone in his fist so hard until he began to feel the phone’s case cracking. He released his tightened fist, allowing the phone fall into the bed, the screen and the back cover had been cracked already. The Inspector General had just told him the truth, there was no way he was going to get to Lagos to meet the attack. His anger had beclouded his sense of reasoning and he almost made another error.
Maybe Tarasha’s real plan was to deceive them. She had deceived them already by making them think she wasn’t interested in helping Aisha and Cole in Lagos, only for her to say she was sending Henry at the last minute. He wondered for a second if Henry E.G could be the one behind the attack in Lagos and not Tarasha herself, she might just want to use it as a distraction for her to make space and attack the Vice President or the Inspector General.
He heaved a sigh as he sank into the bed. He noticed his phone vibrating, he had put it on vibration unknowingly when he squeezed it in his palm. He picked it up and tried to answer the call but the phone’s screen calibration had been damaged.
___________
Don dialed Rex’s number for the third time consecutively, it rang for some seconds without being answered again. He kicked one of the wooden chairs using the sole of his shoe angrily. The chair tumbled and fell on the dead body beside it.
Don ran his rubbed his palm over his head in frustration. He had been deceived big time by Tarasha, he wondered how Tarasha could have intelligently played the game with them. Was it that she knew that Aisha was lying all along or was Aisha able to contact her beforehand. He thought of the probability of the latter being the case, it was zero. There was no way Aisha could have spoken with Tarasha before they left the warehouse, Aisha had no phone and was always kept under close watch, so there was no way she could have contacted the outside world without their knowledge.
Or was it Cole who was able to contact Tarasha, he thought. Maybe Stainless and Stone had been careless with Cole and allowed him gain access to a phone with which he used to inform Tarasha of their situation. But then he remembered that Cole was always firmly tied and blindfolded, so there was no way it could have been him who reached Tarasha. He had to accept that Tarasha must have known through another means, most likely just her intelligent way of reasoning.
‘Is he awake now?’ Don asked, turning towards the corridor as he squeezed his phone in his palm and grit his teeth. His confusion was gradually transforming into extreme anger.
‘Yes but he’s not talking, ‘ one of the boys replied him.
‘Bring him here,’ Don ordered them with a hand gesture. He moved the body lying in front of him from the wall to create space for them.
He took out his phone again and tried Rex’s number, this time it was switched off.
_
6 minutes later
‘She was here… She was here,’ he stammered painfully after being poured water severally and slapped on the face. It was the same man who had released to Tarasha information about Cole’s whereabouts. The pin in his neck had been taken out but Don and his men were still trying to wake him up from the deep sleep that had been induced. The pin had been in his body for a longer time now which had made it’s effect stronger, so it was not easy for them to revive him like Tarasha had done when she wanted. It had taken them up to fifteen minutes to get him to talk the way he was now.
‘Who was here?’ Don slapped his face again. He had slept off again. ‘I say who was here?’ Don shouted, adding another slap.
The guy’s eyes popped open again, ‘Saman…tha, she ask…asked me to tell you she came here.’ he said before his eyes closed again.
Don rose up slowly to his feet from his squatting position, his fears had been confirmed. He didn’t know what step to take next, he bent down again to ask another question.
‘Where did she say she was going from here?’ he shouted but the man’s eyes were closed again. He was about to slap the face again when his phone vibrated on the seat he had put it on. He turned back and picked up the phone, the screen displayed the caller’s ID, it was Rex.
_____
**City Gate hospital*”
‘Nurse, I heard that the girl who brought those people have left already.’
‘Yes, they have.’ the nurse replied the young doctor. They both stood outside in front of the ward where Stephanie was carried into and was being attended to by another doctor.
‘Don’t you think something looks fishy about them?’
‘Yes, they look very dirty and unkempt.’ the nurse replied.
‘Okay, tell the security men to alert the Rapid Response Squad. I think I noticed some bullets in the clothes the patient was putting on.’
**City Gate Hospital**
‘Hello sir!’ a middle aged short Doctor approached the old couples sitting at the reception. They seemed lost and more worried than what their problem was, they also looked unkempt and weak themselves.
‘Who are the parents of that girl?’ the middle aged doctor stopped in front of them, staring in confusion at the four of them. He had come to tell them the money required for treatment and also ask again what happened to the patient as he and the nurses noticed that her body, especially her thighs and chest had marks and her underwear were also torn badly which was a sign of attempted R@PE. It was clear that the cloth the patient put on to the place was just changed after the attempted R@PE, it looked like a security official’s uniform for a male.
‘Actually, none of us are her parents,’ Mr Bello was the one who spoke up. The Doctor stared at them more, already expecting the answer. ‘We don’t know her,’ Mr Bello added, confirming his observation.
‘Have you been treating her?’ Mr Bello asked while the doctor was still thinking of what next to ask.
‘Err… I’m sorry, weren’t you the ones who brought the young lady here now.’
‘No, we didn’t bring her here.’ Mr Bello said slowly with his voice sounding shaky. The doctor was more confused. ‘We were brought here with her.’
‘Ermm… I don’t… Hello please,’ the doctor beckoned on a nurse who was about to leave the reception through an entrance leading inside.
‘Yes sir,’ she answered courteously and walked to meet him as he approached.
‘Ermm… Nurse, which of them claimed to be the father of that girl?’ the doctor asked, nodding slightly towards them.
‘The man seated on the first seat. They came with another girl,’ the nurse replied.
‘I don’t think these people are okay,’ The doctor flashed a look towards the couples. Mr Bello had already gotten up from his seat.
The nurse sighed, also looking towards them. ‘They claimed to be coming from home but they look so dirty,’ she remarked.
‘The scars on…’ the doctor had to stop talking when he realized the man was coming towards them.
‘Let’s explain ourselves to you doctor, you’ll need to help us reach the police immediately.’ he continued as the doctor and nurse stared at him with rapt attention. Cole’s father had also joined them and the women were looking from where they were seated. ‘We are victims of kidnap and we just escaped today, that lady that brought us here helped us out of the place. She also brought the bleeding girl from the same building and asked me to act as her father until she leaves.’
The two listeners had their lips sealed for some minutes, they had to take sometime to comprehend what they just heard.
‘You mean you people were kidnapped?’ the doctor asked, now running his eyes from the man’s head to toe as if to confirm his words by it.
‘Yes, the girl that drove us here helped us.’
‘Nurse, please call the police right away,’ the doctor ordered the nurse and she left immediately. He turned back to the man, ‘Are you sure of what you’re talking about?’ Mr Bello nodded affirmatively. ‘And where is the lady that brought you here?’
‘She allowed us to ensure she leaves first before telling you this, she does not want to get into trouble with the police.’ Mr Bello answered.
‘But you should have raised an alarm, she might just a dangerous fellow.’
‘I couldn’t do that, she helped us.’ Mr Bello insisted, getting a supportive nod from Cole’s father.
‘Please, do have your seats now. I’ll have to talk to the head Doctor about this and you people would also need a check up,’ the doctor said turning towards the reception desk where two nurses were seated and staring at them intently with sleepy eyes.
‘The rapid response squad is here already,’ the young doctor who had been treating Stephanie said approaching the reception.
‘You called them?’ the other doctor turned to ask.
‘Yes, I noticed something wrong about them and I asked nurse Titi to call the police.’ the young doctor replied.
_______
Tarasha stopped the bus briefly at the spot where her car was still parked. She came out of the bus and looked towards the warehouse gate. There were no signs of panic seen from outside but she could picture in her mind the panic behind the walls.
She turned to the boot of the bus and took out her backpack with the other bag she had transferred into it from her car.
She hurried back to the front of the bus and entered in through the driver’s side, she dropped the bags on the seat beside her and closed the door. She then opened the backpack first, she took out the pistol she had hidden in it. She took out another short gun and a long one from the second bag and began to fill them with bullets.
After three minutes of filling to her satisfaction, she kept the guns on the chair and brought out a tablet device from the backpack. She turned on the screen and clicked on the menu bar, then she selected icon for surveillance. A blank screen appeared, few seconds later a rolling sign appeared and disappeared immediately. Then a multiple video selection interface appeared, showing the several parts of the warehouse she had placed cameras.
________
Don answered the call heaving a deep sigh as he did, finally hoping he could get instructions to take him out of his confusion. ‘Boss…’ he said into the phone. At the same time, there was a loud bang heard from inside the compound.
__
‘Don, my phone got spoilt. What’s the update now?’ Rex asked immediately after hearing Don’s voice. He had transferred the sim card from the phone he destroyed due to his anger into another phone.
There was no response heard for some seconds, then he Don’s voice sounded. ‘What the Füçk is that? Go check it now!’ he could hear Don screaming and he knew it wasn’t to him.
‘What’s happening?’ he quickly asked.
‘There was a noise from the compound, I don’t know what it was.’ Don’s shaky voice showed that he was on a very fast motion.
‘d@mn it! I should have warned you earlier if the cellphone didn’t get spoilt. I know she’ll still be around that place. How about the hostages? You should do everything to keep them from her,’ Rex ordered in a strong tone, running his hand into his hair gently as he drew in a deep breath.
Rex could notice the hesitation in Don’s voice as he stammered his first set of words before being able to communicate fluently. ‘We can’t find any…’ The line went dead.
Rex took the phone off his ears slowly, he felt so defeated but maintained his calmness, refusing to get worked up like he did when Don told him about the attack. Tarasha was winning him slowly and he had now been quick to notice it. Even as he wasn’t sure she was aware of his presence, he believed some of her actions were directed towards weakening the master planner of the game, that is , the person who strategized and ordered all Don and his men were playing out. Never in his years as an assassins’ assassin has anyone been able to frustrate him enough and get down to control his emotion of anger like she did. Also he had never missed his first chance of killing them, that was why he was highly sought for. But Tarasha had made him fail the first time when the guy with the vehicle showed up to help her unexpectedly.
Few minutes of thinking while trying to change his phone had enabled him to fix his mind in the normal pattern. Like the mindless person he was built to be, he wasn’t going to be moved by any news anymore.
He walked to the wall and turned off the room’s light from the switch. He was able to trace his way back to the chair without struggles even in the darkness as his mind had already captured the positions of everything in the room. He sat on his chair to meditate for some minutes. Tarasha had won this first game, it was time for him to come up with a new strategy, one he would personally monitor and ensure the success. He knew there was very little he could do to help Don and the team Don had gathered, he counted them as lost already, he had to start up with his new strategy so fast.
Another thought struck his mind after few seconds of deep thinking, there could still be something to do about Don and his team. He took out his phone and dialed Stainless’s number.
_______
Having already seen Don and his men’s movements in the facility, Tarasha drove to the warehouse in the bus. Her speed was constant after the U-turn until she got some few metres closer to the gate. She changed the gear and turned the wheel in direction of the gate.
She caught unawares the two men with Aisha in the main compound who had given up on trying to revive the first guy she sedated. They were still in the same position behind the parked vehicle they occupied when she viewed them in her device. She would have driven straight to them and crush them if not for Aisha who laid down there. She swerved the bus towards the right side into the space between the side of the security building and the main house of the security building. She released one shot each immediately to the men before they could make any reasonable movement. She didn’t wait to park properly before she opened the door and jumped out of the bus. Without turning off the engine and closing back the door, she strapped the backpack to her back and she proceeded towards the parking space at the left of the building. One of the men she shot was not completely dead yet. She walked fast towards him and finished him with a butt of her gun.
She turned back immediately in order to move Aisha’s body to safety but she met a surprise. Aisha had risen up already.
‘Boss!’ Aisha stared at her boss’ face in unbelief and extreme joy.
‘You’re awake,’ Tarasha said flatly without making any expression on her face. She turned back and looked towards the building at the back, she could hear sounds of movement already but she could not see because the walls of the main building covered the main entrance to the building behind. ‘Here, have it.’ Tarasha tossed a gun she picked from one of the dead men to Aisha. She rose up to her feet and took out a device from the outer pocket of her backpack and tossed it too to Aisha. It was the same device she had given to Stephanie earlier. ‘Stay and watch the gate, you know what to do with the buttons, send me a message.’ She said without looking back and began to proceed to the back leaning her body closely to the cars to protect herself in case anyone shows up from the back suddenly.
One of Don’s men showed from behind the main building just as she got to the front of the Jeep, she sent a bullet into his chest before he could even raise his gun at her. Another guy came shooting sporadically but she was on the floor rolling forward and before he could direct his gun towards her, she had a bullet into his belly.
She sprang up to a squatting position after rolling close to the wall at the left side of the building. She could now see the entrance of the smaller building from where she was. Just as she rose up to her feet, a figure appeared at the entrance with a gun in his right hand and was making a call with the other hand. She directed her shot to his chest region immediately but he was lucky to have seen her at the same time, he was also fast enough to hide behind the wall and run back into the building.
Tarasha ran to the edge left wall of the main building where she could see the entrance of the smaller building from. From her calculation, it was only one person left for her to kill, she had seen five conscious people in her bug streaming and killed four already. She guessed the last person to be Don, she had not seen his face well as he backed the bug all through the few minutes she watched. She exchanged the gun in her hand with another in her side pocket, it had more bullets in it, in case another person who did not stay in the area covered by the bug was around.
____
Don had a pistol in his right hand and his phone to his ear on the left, still talking with Rex as he walked out through the door. ‘We can’t find any… Füçk it!’ the phone fell off his hand as he scrambled back in on seeing a gun pointed towards his side and a bullet following it. He hadn’t seen the shooter’s face properly but he recognized the figure. It was Samantha. He rushed back to the place where he was previously questioning the sedated guy to pick an extra gun. He ensured there were bullets in it before he made his way back.
He stopped at the wall beside the door and peeped out carefully before stepping out to the corridor. He leaned on the wall and raised his gun in anticipation as he dragged his back against the wall to the edge of the wall. He peeped and couldn’t find Tarasha where he had seen her before. He drew back and looked around again to see if he’ll get signs that she had passed to the other side of the building but didn’t. He shot towards the wall twice and there was still no movement.
He needed to call Stainless and Stone to inform them of the development. He could see the phone that fell from his hand to the ground beneath the pavement, it wasn’t far but it would require him to step down from the corridor thereby leaving the wall which was his cover and exposing himself to a gunshot. He sniffed in and shook his head as he thought of the possibility of his success in picking the phone. He finally decided not to try it yet as it could be the mistake that would cause him his life.
‘Don Daniel,’ he was startled at the call of his name. His eyes danced to and fro, searching everywhere and even the ceiling to know if the voice came from there. ‘I know you’re behind the wall there and you can hear me. Both of us could decide to stay behind walls all day, I think it’ll we better if we come out to face each other.”
Don was now sure about the direction from which the voice came now and he was careful not to poke out his head beyond the wall even as he tried to peep. ‘F*** you! Who the hell do you think you are?’ he shouted out in anger.
‘Hey! This is no time to ask unnecessary questions, it’s better we come out of hiding and settle the matter face.’ Tarasha replied him in a loud voice but still calmly.
‘Definitely, I’m gonna kill you today. It’s better you say your last prayers now,’ Don said. He came out briefly and began to fire shots to the wall where her voice was coming from.
Even though she was still behind the wall, she had to bend down to avoid the effect of the bullet on building. She didn’t peep as his shots became continuous but she could calculate the next step he was going to take.
Don decided to end it once and for all, even if his life was going to be taken, it wasn’t going to end without him giving Tarasha a good fight. He stepped down from the balcony carefully, he picked his phone and began to move towards the direction of the voice, shooting anytime he felt or noticed a shadow behind the wall.
…to be continued
