12:45am
The soft sounds made by the continuous tap of Henry’s fingers on the keyboard could be heard audibly in the silent night. In the control room sat both of them, Cole and Henry, Cole’s eyes intently fixed on the screen of the computer which Henry was working on.
‘Whose property is this really?’ Henry finally broke the long silence. On the computer screen was an option of clips showing the different areas of a large building enclosed behind a thick fence.
‘It’s supposed to be a store house for a brewery company,’ Cole replied.
‘Then what did they take her there for?’
There was silence. Even Henry did not expect an answer to his question. Only one who knew what was going on behind the walls of the building could give an answer to the question.
Henry selected a clip amongst the options. The car with which the Vice President moved Tarasha could be seen driving down a road, they got to the gate of the building and stopped for about two minutes. Someone opened the gate from behind and they drove in. The space in the compound was only enough for a vehicle.
What happened afterwards in the compound was not captured by the NSCC cameras.
Henry and Cole had watched the car’s movement right from the gate of the computer market facility till it got to the new place. Since the car had been driven into the compound, it had not been driven out again.
Few minutes after the car was driven in, another car showed up and waited at the gate until Inspector General Rikau joined the car. It drove off and returned an hour thirty minutes later, dropping Rikau at the same point he joined from.
Another hour later, the day was slowly giving way for darkness, two other cars arrived at the gate of the building. Even though the darkness made it difficult to see what was going on, Cole and Henry were able to detect the Vice President as one of the men who arrived with the new set of cars. They watched him walk in with two other men while the cars waited for them outside the gate. Two people returned forty five minutes later, it was already dark but Cole could see from their figures that it was the Vice President and the Inspector General, they got into the cars and drove off only to return again an hour later. They spent another thirty five minutes inside the place before they left again. Two hours after that time, no other activity had been noticed.
‘I think we’ve got where they’ve kept her already,’ Cole spoke after another few minutes of silence. ‘We don’t know what they intend to do with her, so we have to act fast.’
‘What do you think we do?’
‘The Vice President and the Inspector General would be planning to go there tomorrow morning or probably send someone, we should try get there before them.’
‘So what time do we get there tomorrow?’
‘As early as five o’clock should do,’ Cole replied thoughtfully. ‘The challenge we have is that we don’t know the number of men in the place, neither do we understand the place we’re about to attack.’
Henry heaved a sigh of frustration. His heart pounded heavily as fears of failing took over his mind. He stared into Cole’s eyes and Cole wasn’t looking so confident himself.
‘We just have to try,’ Cole said as he shrugged. ‘But right now, we’ve got to sleep so that we can be up as early as four a.m.’ With that Cole rose to his feet and yawned, then he proceeded slowly and tiredly towards the door.
Suddenly he turned again and squinted at Henry. He seemed to have remembered something important. He stuttered silently for a while before he gained his voice, ‘Can you gain access her room?’
‘I’m sorry I can’t,’ Henry replied sadly. ‘What do you want to do in there?’
‘I just got an idea on how to get into the place and I need some of those clothes she puts on.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Henry frowned.
Cole closed the door and proceeded back to him. ‘Most of her clothes are sewn with inner pockets for hiding tiny weapons and she has some meant for both genders, I’m thinking I could make use of that too.’ he explained.
Henry stared in silence for thirty seconds, to assimilate what Cole explained. ‘Well, I don’t have access to her room. Can’t we sew a cloth like that?’
‘We will be needing it in a couple of hours, it’s impossible for us to sew now.’ Cole replied. He let out a deep breath and stared at Henry’s face, ‘Can you use guns?’
Henry stared blankly for a moment and then shook his head like a scared kid. ‘She tried to reach me very briefly this morning but I don’t think I can do it, even she wasn’t so positive about it.’
‘Okay then, we’ll find a way somehow.’ Cole said optimistically and turned back towards the door. He was so close to the door when Henry called him again.
‘I think I know where she kept some clothes you could use,’ Henry said.
‘Where?’ Cole turned back.
‘Ermm… I’ll just get it for you,’ Henry replied. Both stared each other in the eyes before Cole finally turned and walked out of the control room. Henry turned back to the system after Cole slammed the door behind him. His mind flashed back to the things he had seen in the underground again, some of Tarasha’s cloths which Cole needed were also there.
________
3:46am
It seemed like she was serving a punishment in hell as she regained consciousness. That was what she expected, she hadn’t expected for her life to be spared by Rex.
Her head felt heavier than the rest of her body and she felt pains in almost every part of her body. She stared into the darkness for some minutes, unable to tell what was happening to her. She found herself on her knees, her hands suspended in the air by ropes at both sides. She was unclad, save for the pantie and bra that covered the vital parts.
Her knees were hurting intensely and the pain on her wrists where the ropes were tied more intense. She tried to get up but she couldn’t, her legs were too weak to carry her. Then she tried to ease the pain in her knees by sitting on the floor but wasn’t successful at it too. With a sharp pain at the bullet would on her back, painful memories of what occurred the day before began to flash through her mind. She made painful groans as she could see and feel Rex lifting her up again and slamming her back to the ground.
A door directly opposite her opened slowly, giving entrance to a little source of light which gave her an idea of the breath and width of the room. A male figure appeared at the middle of the opened door and Tarasha’s heart gave way for fear as she looked up and saw the shadow. At first, she thought it was Rex. Then she remembered Henry and Rex’s promise to kill him if she hadn’t gotten to meet him in one hour, she hoped Rex had not gone ahead to kill Henry after their encounter.
She stared as the male figure proceeded forward slowly, her mind was a bit relieved when she discovered from observing his figure that he wasn’t Rex. She was sure he didn’t keep her alive because he was being nice but most likely because he needed something important from her he couldn’t get if she was dead and trying to get that from her would involve rounds of torture and probably drugging which she wasn’t ready for.
She closed her eyes to protect it from a light which shone from the man’s hand to her face. Then she heard footsteps of someone else join him from behind. She tried to open her eyes to see the people in front of her but her retina couldn’t accommodate the light yet.
‘I told you I heard noises,’ a male voice spoke.
‘You were right,’ another male voice replied. ‘She’s awake, do we need to send a message now?’
‘No, we wait till it’s daybreak.’ the other voice replied.
‘Send a message to who?’ Tarasha wanted to ask the question but kept it to herself. Soon the light left her face and she opened her eyes to see the men’s back turned to her as they proceeded out through the door, making very little noise like they had done when they entered.
Tarasha tried to move again but she couldn’t make any significant movement, her wrist and knees hurt the more. She closed her eyes, bowed her head and took in a deep breath.
She was still very surprised to find herself alive. However, she was very sure that she had little time to live.
________
4:12am
‘I hope we can capture that guy and hand him over to the police today,’ Henry said as he stepped out of the out through the backdoor, carrying a luggage bag which had a shoulder strap.
Cole followed behind with a backpack and a white nylon bag in his hands. He stopped to close the door and then joined Henry who was waiting for him.
‘You better start hoping we don’t find Rex there, I don’t think we stand a chance against him.’
‘But all the other men we saw in the video looks heavier and trained than he is,’ Henry said.
‘In the killing business world, you don’t judge by looks. Who would think Tarasha is as deadly as she is judging just by her looks?’
‘Hmmm…’
They continued in silence until they got to the car at the parking space car at the front of the building. Henry opened the boot and dropped the luggage bag in. He opened the bag while still standing behind the car and took out a laptop and a tablet device. Cole joined him at the back and put his nylon bag into the boot too, then he proceeded to the front with his backpack.
Henry closed the boot and joined at the front. He opened the front doors and got into the driver’s side, Cole at the right side.
‘Rex still has my parents,’ Cole said to Henry as he entered into the car and strapped on the seatbelt. The tone of his voice depicted sadness and loss of hope.
‘Your parents?’ Henry gave him a quick glance, also strapping on he seatbelt. ‘How did he get them again? Tara rescued your parents and Aisha’s on the same day she got to Lagos,’ Henry said she pushed the button to start the car engine.
Cole stared at his face with a shocked and confused face for a while. Henry began to drive the car towards the gate, Cole pushed the button on the control for the gate to open.
‘She didn’t, Rex has them kept somewhere in Lagos.’ Cole replied back as they drove out of the gate. The gate closed back automatically.
‘That’s not true, Tara took your parent’s out of the kidnapper’s custody that night even though the press reported it in favour of the police.’
‘But I saw those pictures and video, Rex was with my parents and he threatened to chop their bodies into tiny pieces if I betrayed him to Tarasha.’ Cole argued.
‘Here,’ Henry stretched forth the tablet device on his lap to Cole. ‘Go ahead and confirm online, make a search on the abduction of Aisha Bello’s parent.’
Cole took the device silently and conducted a quick search using the www.youngicee.com engine. After five minutes of reading through, he finally looked up and spoke, ‘I now understand, she left them in care of the police and Rex works with the Inspector General, he definitely has access to them.’
Henry glanced at him briefly and then returned his focus to the road without saying anything.
‘I just hope Rex does not find out I’m involved in this rescue operation,’ Cole spoke aloud to himself.
Henry glanced at him again. ‘I believe we can get Tara to help us get them to safety if we’re successful with this.’
Cole chuckled hopelessly, ‘Tarasha would need to rest and recover first,’ he said. ‘That’s if she isn’t dead yet though,’ he added in his mind.
‘So what are we going to do then?’
‘I don’t know,’ Cole replied with a sigh. ‘But if we’re able to get back Tarasha, she could give us tips on how to go about it.’
There was total silence for the next ten minutes until Henry broke it. ‘I’ve got this question I need to ask,’ he said with a narrow look at Cole.
‘What’s that?’ Cole asked, his eyes fixed on the tablet’s screen as he scrolled up a page on www.youngicee.com .
‘I don’t understand the Vice President’s involvement in all this,’ he said in a confused tone. ‘I mean what was he doing there with Inspector General Rikau?’
‘The both of them are friends,’ Cole answered briefly.
‘Friends?’ Henry wasn’t satisfied with the answer.
‘Yes and you must have heard of Tarasha’s attempt on the Vice President’s life.’
‘Yes, I did hear about it.’ Henry nodded, remembering vividly the role he played in that operation.
‘They are working together to bring Tarasha down since she’s their common enemy.’
‘Oh!’ Henry sighed and shook his head.
_______
4:32am
‘Chief Rikau, thank you for being here so early.’ the Vice President smiled in the darkness as Chief Rikau approached him.
Both had their cars parked opposite each other in front of the gate. They had come with three men each and used cars that couldn’t be associated to them. They also dressed in unusual fashions to disguise themselves.
‘I’m about twenty minutes earlier,’ Chief Rikau smiled as he received the Vice President’s handshake. ‘Good morning sir.’
‘Yeah, it is really a very Good morning.’ Chief Elvis replied, now turning towards the gate. ‘It’s the beginning of doom for my enemies,’ he chuckled. ‘Our enemies,’ he added with emphasis. ‘She should be awake now, right?’
‘I don’t know for sure but it’s more than nine hours she’s been unconscious.’
‘Let’s just go in, we’ll find out ourselves.’ Chief Elvis made a signal to his boys and one of them followed him while the rest two and Chief Rikau’s men remained outside.
5 minutes later
‘She woke up about an hour ago,’ one of the men that was left at the place with Tarasha explained to Chief Rikau and Chief Elvis.
‘Can we go in there now?’ Chief Rikau asked him.
‘I’ve sent someone to set up light there, the connection lines to the bulbs there are faulty.’ the man replied, his voice still sounded sleepy.
‘How long will it take them to set up the light?’
‘Let’s say two minutes,’ he said.
There was a very brief silence.
‘Did you see her when she woke up?’ Chief Elvis spoke for the first time to the man.
‘Yes sir, I heard some noises coming from the place and I went to check.’
‘And you saw her eyes opened?’
‘Yes, her eyes were opened. She closed them when I turned my phone’s flashlight to her face.’
‘It has been lightened,’ someone who just entered into the place interrupted their conversation. The Vice President and the Inspector General turned their gazes to him.
‘Okay,’ the other man replied his colleague. ‘Sirs, I think we can go there now.’ he said and began to lead the way towards the passage where the messenger had come through.
‘What’s this?’ Chief Rikau stopped at the entrance of the passage on seeing something on the floor.
‘Sir, the ropes previously used to tie her.’ the man leading them turned back to see what he was talking about.
The ropes Rex had used to tie her were in pieces on the floor at the left edge of the room.
‘I thought you used the same ropes to tie her back,’ Chief Rikau raised a eyebrow at the man.
‘No, we couldn’t lose this rope. We had to cut them off and that even took us time. We used another strong rope to tie her hands,’ the man explained. ‘It’s the same colour and breadth, that’s probably why you didn’t notice it was a different rope.’
Chief Rikau felt a bit awkward about the situation but just shrugged and joined Chief Elvis who was waiting in the passage.
______
4:55am
‘d@mn it! Some people just got there before us,’ Cole cursed aloud, his eyes fixed to the tablet’s screen as he monitored the streaming from the NSCC cameras.
‘Who are they?’ Henry glanced at the device.
‘The place is dark, I just know that not less than seven men have arrived in two new cars.’
‘But it’s just four minutes to five o’clock, what are they doing there so early?’ Henry asked, checking his wristwatch.
‘I can’t really tell if the Vice President and Inspector General are with the men who just arrived but if it’s by what I think, they don’t want to take chances at all and they’ve sent more men. It’s a proof that Tarasha is alive or why would there be so much activities around the place is she isn’t.’
‘You’re right,’ Henry said. He glanced at his watch again, ‘We’ll get to the place in less than three minutes, are we still going ahead with the previous plan?’
Cole thought for a while before he spoke. ‘The plan would not change too much, we only need little changes because of these new men that have just arrived. Your role remains watching and waiting as a backup, and that’s mainly because you don’t know how to use a gun even though you know how to shoot. You should monitor me with the tracker always and never take off the earpiece from your ears, so that you can listen to everything that happens. Your instincts should tell you what to do based on the information you get from the tracking and the voice transmission.’
‘I don’t see any change in that, these are still the instructions you’ve given me before.’ Henry countered.
‘There’s no change on your part except that you have to be highly at alert and on guard. I’m the one who has more changes to make, I have seven more men to deal with.’ Cole said.
Henry heaved a sigh of frustration. ‘I just wish we don’t have to do this, can’t we just involve the police or any other security forces?’ he asked, thinking aloud.
‘That will be nailing Tarasha and don’t even forget that we’re against two important citizens of the nation, no security agency will remain for long on our side.’
‘I’m scared, you have over fifteen men to pass by before getting to Tara, can you really defeat all of them?’ Henry eyes, giving Cole a blank stare. He was loosing hope too.
Cole chuckled and sniffed in a tear. ‘It’s a suicide mission we’re on, let’s just hope the men are ordinary security officers and police men.’
______
Tarasha shivered as cold water ran down her head to the rest of her body.
‘Sleepy head,’ she could hear them scoff at her as she managed to open her eyes. Her body still vibrated from the cold impact the water made.
It took sometime for her eyes to be able to accommodate the light in the room and when it finally did, she saw twelve legs right in front of her. She looked up and scanned the men’s faces one after the other from the left. She kept moving her gaze until she got to the middle where Chief Elvis stood and met a smirk on his face. The worst came when she saw Chief Rikau standing beside Chief Elvis and looking at her scornfully. Her blood boiled in rage and she struggled to free herself from the bonds but ended up inflicting more pains on herself.
The men laughed aloud as they watched her struggle fruitlessly.
‘Finally Kimberly, I’m getting you punished for your sins.’ the Vice President began to speak. ‘I wonder how you thought yourself undisputable, you lived your life threatening others but now you’re here helpless.’
He stopped to stare at her face briefly and then moved forward. ‘I once worked with you and I saw you as a diligent girl, I never knew you were planning to kill me. Anyways, I know you get paid for what you do and now I’m willing to pay you more to kill those that sent you to me. Your life would be spared if only you agree to work for me.’
Tarasha stopped and stared at his face on hearing his offer. ‘And who says I’ll want to work for you?’ she said in a weak tone.
‘You’re stubborn, I can see, but I know you’ll like work for money even if you don’t want to work for me. I’ll pay you handsomely to kill the idiots that sent you to me.’
‘Forget it Chief, I’m never gonna work for you.’ Tarasha stated blankly.
Chief Elvis chuckled. ‘You’re trying to be loyal to your paymasters but I know you know money pays than loyalty. I’ll ask you one more time again, kill those who sent you and I’ll pay you handsomely.’
Tarasha delayed her response a bit, she stared at the other men’s faces and then her eyes met with Rikau’s. A sharp pain surged through her body as faint pictures of Rikau treating her mother brutally flashed through her mind.
‘Bleep you mister, I still can’t wait to have your head roll.’ she said, staring the Inspector General in his eyes.
‘Then you don’t deserve to be alive,’ Chief Elvis said as he pulled out a gun from Chief Rikau’s pocket. He focused it to her knee and pulled the trigger ignoring the protest from Chief Rikau.
____________
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Time: 5:53am
‘d@mn!’ Chief Elvis cursed as he pulled the trigger twice in a frustrating manner without any bullet coming out.
‘Sir, there’s no bullet in it. You asked me to remove them,’ Chief Rikau said to the Vice President who had forgotten his instruction out of anger.
Chief Elvis flashed a look at Rikau, panting angrily. ‘Please give me one that has bullets,’ he said, turning to the other men standing by the sides.
‘I’ll work with you,’ a soft voice spoke.
Chief Rikau froze and turned to Tarasha without receiving the gun which was being offered to him by an officer.
‘But I’ve got two conditions,’ Tarasha added in a weak voice.
‘What are your conditions?’ the Vice President squinted and swallowed in. ‘Get me a seat,’ he shouted quickly at the men while he waited for Tarasha to respond.
Tarasha breathed in air heavily. She closed her eyes and shook her head briefly to ease off the rising headache. She knew there was going to be no deal between her and Chief Elvis and suspected that even the man wanted no deal with her, he must have an ulterior motive for offering her a job with him or why would he want her to work with him when he had an assassin like Rex already on his side.
‘I would work with you if Henry E.G is still alive and only if you allow the abducted parents of my men to go untouched.’ Tarasha said.
‘Henry E.G? I don’t know about Henry E.G, I don’t even know if he’s alive or dead.’ the Vice President replied. He paused to seat on the short chair brought for him. ‘And your men’s parents; I had nothing to do with them.’
Tarasha close her eyes briefly and shook her head weakly. ‘I won’t like to work with one who lies,’ she said as she opened her eyes and stared into his. Chief Elvis’ look narrowed as he wondered if she was referring to him as a liar.
A rod hit Tarasha’s mouth from the left, sending blood spilling to the other side. The Vice President flashed a quick and angry look at the person who struck.
‘I instructed him to,’ Chief Rikau spoke in support of the man. The Vice President gaze turned to him. ‘She was calling you a liar,’ he quickly added.
‘Just leave the two of us,’ Chief Elvis said with a warning look at Rikau and turned back to Tarasha.
For the first time since he began to work with the Vice President, Chief Rikau felt like striking Chief Elvis on the head from behind. He had done that to so many others for Chief Elvis, but now that Chief Elvis was ridiculing him before junior officers, he felt like doing the same to him.
‘Listen Kimberly, I truly do not know about your men’s parents. All I heard was that the police rescued them from you when you tried to kill them.’
Tarasha took some time to reply. Her tongue’s movement in her mouth could be seen and soon she spat out blood down beside her. ‘You know that isn’t true, besides the police has them in custody now. I would like for them to be released to anyone I tell you.’
‘That’s fine,’ Chief Elvis agreed.
‘And Henry E.G was with that man you sent to me,’ Tarasha said. Her voice was sounding weaker.
‘Which one?’
‘Rex, he probably brought me to you.’
‘Hmm… Rex. I’ll find out from him and ask him to allow Henry go,’ Chief Elvis replied. There was silence for forty seconds. ‘So, what’s your second condition?’
There was silence again, this time longer than the first. Tarasha seemed weaker and was taking time to muster strength to talk.
‘I’ll tell you the second condition when we get halfway the job,’ she said.
‘Halfway?’
‘Yes, it’s not something difficult.’ she replied, moving her gaze to Chief Rikau’s face.
‘Hmm… I hope you’re saying the truth.’ he said as she moved her gaze back to him.
‘I don’t break deals,’ she said almost in whispers
‘Okay then, together we are.’ the Vice President said and put on a fake smile. He leaned forward and stretched his hand towards her for an handshake, pretending to forget that she was tied. ‘Oh!’ he took quick glances at the ropes at both sides as he withdrew his hand. ‘I’ll ask them to take these ropes off as soon as possible but I’ve got some few questions to ask you now.’ he said as he leaned backward.
Tarasha raised up her head to look directly into his eyes.
‘Can you give me some brief details about our new enemy? I mean the person who sent you that I’m sending you back to kill now, so that I can have a little idea of who I’m dealing with.’
Tarasha closed her eyes briefly and opened again. It was exactly what she expected. There was no deal, Chief Elvis only wanted to extract some information from her in a deceptive way by making her think they were on the same side instead of going through the method of torturing her which may not yield results.
‘You can only have the details when the deal starts,’ she replied.
‘When the deal starts?’ Chief Elvis frowned. ‘The deal has started already.’
Tarasha remained quiet but only glanced at the two sides she was tied to.
‘Oh! The ropes? I’m gonna ask then to cut it off immediately after this conversation.’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t start deals when I’m tied up like this. I’m sure you know it’s improper too.’
Chief Elvis sighed and got up slowly from the seat, supporting himself with the walking stick. ‘Kimberly, we know you are the daughter of Doctor Danjuma. Your brother told our men before his death,’ he said and paused to see her reaction.
There was a sudden rush of blood through her body as her parent’s pictures flashed through her mind and then the picture of Jeffery on the day of his death. The adrenaline rush in her was strong but wasn’t enough to give strength for her to make any move. She was too weak, even to make a facial expression.
Chief Elvis stared at her face for a while but wasn’t able to detect anything from her expression. ‘Your parents were very good people before they were killed by Boko Haram, and I don’t want a situation where you, the only surviving family member dies too. That’s why I’m giving you a second chance.’
Tarasha forced herself not to make any movement and she could sense the uncertainty in his voice and knew he was trying to confirm facts from her.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said in low tones, shaking her head slowly for emphasis.
‘Your…’ Chief Rikau tried to speak but the Vice President stopped him by raising a hand.
‘Your brother was killed in your house, after your attempt to take my life. You remember now?’
Tarasha stared blankly at him for a while. ‘You killed Mallam Jefa, a cook I employed. He was one of my favorites in Nigeria.’ she said.
The Vice President and Inspector General flashed quick looks at each other. ‘He called you his sister,’ Chief Rikau spoke.
‘I picked him from the slum, he regards me as his elder sister and even addresses me as Tara, name of his dead sister. I only have one family and that’s the Nefary Clan in Russia. Another assassin is coming for you once my failure to kill you is announced to the clan by the client.’ she said facing the Vice President.
The Vice President was visibly shaken at the sound of her words but he tried to hold himself down. ‘We’ll be back Kimberly, we’ll be back.’ he said and turned towards the door. The Inspector General followed immediately. And one after the other, the remaining men began to walk out of the place. The last one turned off the light before closing the door leaving Tarasha in utter darkness and total silence.
___________
‘We’ve been here for more than fifteen minutes, when are we going to make a move?’ Henry asked impatiently..
‘Shhh…’ Cole hushed him. ‘Be patient, we can’t make any move until we get a clear view of what is happening,’ he said in whispers.
‘That means we’ll have to wait till it’s bright.’
‘Just shut up!’ Cole slammed in low tones. Both stood behind a parked lorry, having left their car some distance behind to avoid being noticed. Cole had a schoolbag strapped to his back and Henry the same too.
‘I can’t go now with those men at the gate, I may not be able to take them out completely.’ Cole Said.
Henry sighed.
______
‘That girl isn’t ready to budge,’ Chief Elvis thought aloud. He sat on a leather chair in the room while Chief sat on a plastic stool.
‘I just think we shouldn’t waste any more time by keeping her,’ Chief Rikau added.
‘I don’t want to keep her either but it’s important we find out who her sponsor is before giving permission for her death.’ Chief Elvis replied.
‘But I don’t think that girl is going to ever tell us anything,’ Chief Rikau said.
‘We’ll crack her, she’ll yield under serious torture and if she doesn’t yield easily, we can invite Rex to force it out from her.’
‘Good idea, I’ll say we should start right now.’ Chief Rikau suggested.
‘Sure, let’s get the boys to work.’ Chief Elvis said and both rose simultaneously.
____
Location – NIS Underground Facility
Time: 6:15am
‘Information gathered from sources revealed that the motorist yesterday could be Samantha Osman and the case has been transferred from Inspector Dakolo to Agent Tim.’ a man reported to agent David as they both walked down a corridor.
‘I would have loved Inspector Dakolo to continue with the case, Agent Tim does not work clean. Anyway, it’s only a matter of time before we expose and flush some of them out of the system.’ Agent David replied.
They turned to a door by the left and the other man swiped his access card into it, he typed in a four digits code and the door gave way. He waited for Dave to enter before he followed.
The place looked like a dressing room, there was a line of three swivels arranged neatly before a large mirror. The mirror had an open shelf underneath which had some makeup kits and hair making tools in it.
‘Have you called her already?’ Dave asked as he proceeded to one of the chairs in front of the mirror.
‘Yes, she’s around already and will be here in no time.’ the man replied, taking a seat on a long bench which was far at the wall end.
A minute later, a tall lady entered, carrying a first aid box with her. She was putting on a white cleavage revealing blouse and a very short black skirt.
‘Good morning Dan,’ she greeted the Agent sitting on the bench at the back and proceeded towards Dave. ‘Dave, where the hell have you been?’ she asked all smiles as she leaned towards him, placing her palms on the two armrests of the swivel, her face on same level with his.
Dave smiled. Her face was close to his and her nose almost touching his, he could see her Brë@šts through the cleavage and feel her breath on his face. ‘Lizzy, you were trained to seduce people to extract information from them not to seduce Agents like yourself. I wonder what you want extract from me this morning, you will succeed very easily because I’ll do anything to get under this skirt of yours.’ Dave said jokingly and received a hard spank on his nose.
‘Stupid boy, when will you stop being naughty?’ she turned and picked the white box, she dropped it on the shelf and opened it. ‘Why do you need wounds on your face?’ she asked, turning back to him with a serious look.
‘For work, I’ve been away for sometime.’ Dave replied briefly.
‘When are you resuming?’
‘Today, this morning.’
‘What time are you supposed to resume?’
‘Normal working time, eight o’clock.’
‘Okay,’ she turned back to the mirror and brought down a piece of cloth and hung it around his neck. ‘Let’s see what we can do with fifteen minutes.’
_____
‘Are you sure that rod is not soft?’ the Vice President asked one of the men carrying out the torture process.
‘Yes, it is harder than the previous ones we’ve been using.’ the man answered.
Three of them were dragging up Tarasha by her hands and one holding an iron rod. The Inspector General and Vice President stood about two metres at the front watching and mocking.
Tarasha’s face had turned unrecognizable from the impact of the blows and weapons on her face. Her mouth and nose were running with blood and her hair was scattered, some strands were spattered on her face and the blood made them stuck on it.
‘Let me have it,’ Chief Elvis demanded for the iron rod from the man holding it and stepped forward. The Inspector General took some steps backwards to give Chief Rikau more space. Chief Elvis examined the rod after collecting it, it was about two metres long.
He signalled for the Inspector General to move some more steps backwards and for the men holding her to pull her up. His eyes met with her blood stained eyes as he dropped his walking stick and positioned his legs carefully. Then with all strength he could muster, he raised the rod up and struck her belly hard.
She gave a loud groan and her head dropped weakly.
‘Would you tell us who your boss is before we finish you off?’ he stopped to ask.
She didn’t talk or move, neither was she strong enough to raise up her head again. With her head still bowed weakly and the men supporting her hands, she could see the shadow of the rod being raised again.
_____
The day was gradually getting brighter and the men in front of the gate entered into their cars to wait for their bosses. The street was quiet and without much activities, only few personal cars and cabs were seen passing the two lane road and more of pedestrians walking past with their bags and some waiting to get cabs.
A tall man putting on an oversized leather sweater and an old school cap was walking towards the gate in front of which the two cars were parked. He stopped behind the first car and stopped to check the plate number, then he proceeded to behind the second car to do the same.
Three of the men in the cars – one of the one at the left and two from the right- had come out before he could finish behind the second car.
‘Yes? What do you want?’ one of the men who had come out of the car barked angrily. He stood close to the gate at the bonnet of the left car while the other two began to walk towards the intruder. The man putting on the oversized jacket refused to be intimidated and proceeded towards the men approaching him.
‘I want to see the Vice President,’ he said with boldness.
The men at his front flashed a quick look at themselves and then one of them glanced to the one at the back to see if he was listening. Another man from the car at the left was stepping out.
‘Does this place look like Aso Rock to you?’ an hefty man standing in front shouted at him. The day was getting brighter and one could see that all the men were dressed in all black shirts and trousers.
‘My name is Ben and I really want to see him for something urgent,’ the oversized sweater man replied back, unwavering at their intimidating looks and responses.
‘Are you drunk so early? Why are you searching for the Vice President here?’ one of the men said.
‘The guy must be one of the jobless nonentities who smokes weed every morning,’ another man said from behind.
‘Now get lost,’ the hefty man in front of him gestured for him to leave immediately.
‘I have to see the Vice President today and I won’t leave here till I see him.’ the oversized sweater man insisted calmly. He now had both hands in the pockets of the sweater.
There was tension in the atmosphere. Cole could sense that he had gotten the men angry and from the looks on their faces, they were ready to pounce on him.
‘I’m gonna tear this dude into pieces,’ the hefty man threatened, looking backwards to the other men to get their support to continue.
‘No, don’t cause a scene here. Remember we were warned against attracting attention here,’ the first man who spoke said. He began to walk towards them from beside the bonnet where he stood.
He got to them and they gave way for him to stand right in front of the man. ‘Just disappear silently now, you’re not going to like it if we apply force.’ he said to the man in very low tones.
‘I only want to see the Vice President, I don’t want to make any noise,’ the man also replied in low tones.
‘If you want to see him, then make your way to Aso Rock, that’s where the Vice President stays and not in an beer storage place.’
‘I’m not going anywhere, I saw the Vice President here and I’m not leaving until I speak with him.’ the man replied stubbornly.
The man turned to his colleagues who stood by his both sides, ‘This madman must have seen the Vice President with us. Pick him up and take him inside as quietly as possible, cover his mouth with an handkerchief. We can do all we want to do inside with him.’ he said and began to walk slowly back to the gate.
Cole’s eyes met with the eyes of the men who had been instructed to carry him, he could see the anger in their eyes.
The reason for the act was to make them unsuspicious of the fact that he came for Tarasha, then they will try as much as possible to kill him immediately or probably give announcements for those inside to move Tarasha to somewhere else. But now that they thought he was only a crazy intruder, they were taking him inside to deal with him for just being an annoying person and not a major enemy.
‘Hey!’ the man who had given them the instruction suddenly turned back and stopped them as his men attempted to make a move for Cole. He walked back towards them smiling, ‘I think we should just let him in, he means no harm, he just wants to see the Vice President.’ he said and stretched his hand towards Cole for a handshake.
Cole smiled and took the man’s handshake, following the man’s gesture for him to proceed forward. He glanced at the two men who wanted to carry him and eyed them like the crazy person they thought he was.
With a bandage tied around his forehead and a short one around his wrist, Dave drove in his car. It was still more than an hour to resumption time at the NSCC but he decided to visit some of the scenes of the day before’s encounter of the police with the motorist suspected to be Samantha Osman. He had stopped at the turn where some officers were killed in the accident and was now on his way to the place where Samantha Osman was reported to have snatched another car and dropped hers, this he had confirmed from the pictures and video shots taken by the press.
As he approached the main spot, he could see someone at the place the motorist’s car was parked the day before, searching the ground with something like a torchlight. He drove past silently and from observation, he could tell that it was Agent Dakolo.
Hurriedly, he drove his car forward to a suitable distance and parked. He stepped out of the car and returned to the spot walking.
Inspector Dakolo could see someone approaching as he rose up to his feet and turned off the torchlight but he ignored, thinking it was just a passerby. He walked towards the drain and switched on the torch again, looking carefully inside. Then he looked back as he heard the footsteps approaching him.
‘Good morning Agent Dakolo,’ the man surprised him by calling his name.
‘Good morning sir,’ Inspector Dakolo answered, switching off his torchlight as he peered at the man’s face. He noticed the bandage on the head and wrist and wondered who the wounded man was. With the little revealed by the sky whose dark clouds were already giving way, he didn’t think he had ever seen the face anywhere before.
‘I’m Agent Dave sir,’ he introduced with a smile. ‘An Agent of the Security cameras commission, I once ran into you at our headquarters.’
Dakolo stared at the face for a while. He couldn’t still recognize but he could remember that once a young man had almost collided into him at the NSCC headquarters, he couldn’t remember the face of the young NSCC official.
‘Agent Dave,’ Dakolo faked on a smile and offered him an handshake, still wondering what he wanted.
‘I actually stay around this area and I was driving by, I was surprised to see you here at this early hour. It seemed like you were looking for something important and I don’t know if I could be of help to you,’ Dave offered.
‘Oh! Thanks, that was thoughtful of you,’ Dakolo said with a sincere smile even though he didn’t see Dave’s car drive by. Dave’s face did not look like someone who could be of help to him, the bandage on his head even made him look like one who needed help. ‘ I’ll rather prefer you don’t bother yourself, I think you should just be on your way to where you were headed.’ Dakolo refused with a polite smile. The smile suddenly disappeared from his face and he looked serious and concerned, ‘By the way, what happened to you? Did you have an accident or what?’
‘Yes sir, a car accident.’ Dave replied, touching his forehead with his fingers.
‘Oh! Sorry about that, I hope you’re feeling better now.’
‘Yes sir, I am. Thank you,’ Dave replied briefly, uncomfortable that the man had drifted and made him the subject. ‘I heard that Samantha Osman’s car was dumped here yesterday,’ Dave said, trying to get back on course.
‘Yes, it was all over the news and that’s why I’m here to check out for evidences. ‘Samantha Osman was cunning as usual and didn’t snatch any car on the major roads where the NSCC cameras could capture it and she also drugged the car user also to prevent him from describing her to anyone.’
‘But why are you still on this case? I thought it was already transferred to Agent Tim,’ Dave said accusingly.
Dakolo got caught unawares by Dave’s words and appeared visibly shocked. He looked around quickly as if to check if there was anyone else listening before he kept his gaze on Dave’s face.
‘Where did you get this information from?’ Dakolo asked him in hushed tones.
‘I’m an NSCC official, we are always informed about officers in charge of top cases,’ Dave replied.
‘Oh! Yes,’ Dakolo smiled sheepishly. ‘I just had to come and check for somethings so I can add to my final report before submitting to the new team.’
‘Hmm,’ Dave stared at him with a raised eyebrow, finding it hard to believe the man’s explanation.
‘Let’s move away from here,’ Dakolo said and began to walk away slowly. Dave refused to move. ‘Where’s your car?’ Dakolo turned to ask when he noticed that he wasn’t being followed. There, his attention got caught by something at the major road behind, he saw a car he recognized driving pass and then one of the extra police cars following it. ‘Oh! I’ve got to go now,’ he said running to his own car which was parked at the curb off the major road.
Dave watched as he ran off. He folded his arms and thought for some seconds before turning back to his car. He was determined to see what Dakolo was up to.
______
Rex gently pushed away the unclad girl on his body and turned on the bedside light. He rolled off the bed and located his ringing phone. He checked the screen to see the caller as soon as he got the phone. He licked his lower lip gently on seeing it was Chief Elvis and rolled back into the bed, placing his head on the pillow as he answered the call. The unclad girl rolled back onto his body and they began to cuddle.
‘Good morning Rex,’ the Vice President’s voice sounded so active over the phone.
‘Good morning Chief,’ Rex replied, taking care not to mention the man’s name because of the girl with him.
‘Thank you for a job well done,’ the Vice President started. ‘You showed your competency and efficiency.’
‘Well, I don’t think I should be thanked for it. It’s my job and you paid me to deliver,’ Rex replied unthankful.
‘Anyway, thank you for doing the job well.’ the man said and cleared his throat. ‘Your message was delivered to me in full and I recognize that we have to sign another agreement to begin the new job. But I have a very small one for you now, I don’t know if you can do it,’ he said in a questioning manner.
‘What job is…’ Rex stopped suddenly to grab the hand of the girl which had moved down from his chest to his belly and was now entering his lower region. He gently rolled away and sat at the edge of the bed to avoid more distractions from her. ‘What small job are you talking about?’
‘Can you make her talk? I mean can you make Samantha Osman give away the name of her sponsors?’
Rex stopped for a minute to think about the answer to give. He wondered why Chief Elvis had not left him to do that before. The girl had come to him again. She pressed her Brë@šts against his uncovered back and curled her hands around his chest.
‘Yes, although it may take us sometime and she may not give straight answers but we will eventually get the information from her.’ Rex finally said as he tried to stop the girl from tickling him.
‘How long will it take?’
‘It usually takes four hours to do so. But if it’s done now that she’s weak, it shouldn’t take more two hours to get her talk.’ Rex answered.
‘Oh! That’s a good one,’ the Vice President’s voice sounded excited at the sound of hope. ‘So can you start coming right away?’
‘You mean come and meet you where you are?’
‘I’m at the place she is but you won’t meet me when you come, I have to go for a meeting with some foreign investors by seven this morning but Chief Rikau will wait for you.’
‘Okay, I should be ready in the next twenty minutes.’ Rex said and got up from the bed. He spoke some more words before ending the call.
‘Where are you going?’ the girl walk up to him and curled her arms round his body again, trying to get him back to the bed.
He pulled her placed her back against the wall near the table in the room. He searched for with his hand for something on the table as he smooched her and cupped one of her Brë@šts. Soon she was down to the floor unconscious. He lifted her body into his arms and dropped her in the bed before going to clean and dress to go out.
_________
Cole moved slowly, still eyeing the men as he got close to the gate, one man by his side leading him in through the gate.
‘This way,’ the man said as he entered with Cole, another man following before they closed the gate.
Cole stopped to stare at the building like a village man, he was conscious of and still kept an eye on the men behind him.
Suddenly one of the men tried to pull him by the neck from behind but he grabbed the man by the palm and twisted the fingers. The other sprang into action immediately and launched a blow but Cole dodged and gave the man a jab in the belly. He twisted the first man’s hand and made two-360 turns, taking out one of his arms from the sleeves of the oversized plumpy jacket. He covered the man’s face with the jacket and inserted a pin which he took from under his sleeve into the man’s neck. The man fell to the floor unconscious.
The other man pulled out a gun but Cole was quick to throw the jacket on his face before he could raise the gun. He followed it up with a kick on the man’s chest and the man staggered backwards. He followed up and quickly hit the man’s back head with the butt of his gun. The man fell to the floor, he bent down and inserted a pin into the man’s arm. He looked back towards the gate and there was nobody there. He hoped that the other men would think from the sounds they heard that it was their men dealing with him and not the other way round. That way, they would not bother to check what was happening until he had gone far inside. He picked the plump jacket from the man’s face and as he looked up, his eyes met with the Inspector General’s car which had been used to carry out Tarasha after the fight with Rex. He proceeded towards the building, unsure of where to go as he couldn’t locate the entrance but then a man peeped out from a door to see what was going on outside. The man went back in quickly, probably to tell the others about what he saw. Cole rushed towards the door with the jacket now hung around his neck and two guns in his hands.
The man who had peeped returned with a gun and tried to shoot but Cole’s bullet got into his chest before he could. Cole kicked in the door and was about to rush in but stepped back outside quickly he saw a gun pointed in that direction. Two bullets were released in that direction that moment but Cole was already hidden behind the wall. He quickly tapped the button on his wristwatch, hoping that Henry would get the message and would be able to carry out the instructions.
His eyes met with someone at the gate as he looked towards the place, the hefty man who had wanted to bounce on him. The man rushed back outside and Cole knew the task was getting harder, the men outside would soon join the fight against him.
_____
Same time, in the building.
‘IG,’ the Vice President called unto Chief Rikau as they both walked down a corridor. Three men followed behind them. ‘Do you think she was saying the truth when she said that guy was only a cook to her?’
‘Sir, it sounds like the most reasonable thing to believe. Most of the young ones taken that night did not survive. And even if any one of them had survived then, it would be impossible to trace his or her roots to Nigeria talk more of even locating a brother.’ Chief Rikau replied.
‘So in short, you think she was saying the truth?’
‘Ermm… I really believe that the person sponsoring her must be related to the Danjumas.’
‘Well, I’m thinking the person is related to Gabriel or Onwuli.’ Chief Elvis countered. ‘Anyone it is, Rex will get out the information from her when he arrives. Please make sure you’re here with him.’
‘Yes, I will be…’ the men were suddenly thrown into panic as they heard the loud sound of a gunshot. It was obvious that the gun was shot in the building. As they froze to listen for more, they heard the sounds of more gunshots which sounded farther than the firsts.
‘Sirs, I think you should stay here first.’ one of the men said, gesturing for them to walk back into a room they had walked past in the corridor. Another man behind ran to open the door to the room for the Chiefs while the third man hurried out to find out where the gunshot was from.
______
The vibration on Henry’s wrist startled him and he sprung to action immediately. He peeped towards the gate from behind the truck and saw the activities in front of the gate. He returned to pick the bag and then squatted beside the back tyre as he took out the sniper rifle and set it up quickly like Cole had instructed. He knelt and peered with one eye closed into the sniperscope to adjust the focus of the rifle properly. He set the focus to the middle of the gate, where none of the men were at that time. He looked up again and saw a man at the entrance of the gate. He quickly returned to the rifle and took four shots, getting two right as they went in direction of the gate while the last two went totally off target due to the tension in his heart and inexperience in the use of the weapon.
Unsure of what he did, he quickly readjusted the sniperscope to check the gate. He saw one man grabbing his shoulder which had taken a bullet and another one sprawling on the floor, he could see two others who did not know where the gunshot came from hiding behind the cars. His bullets had hit two people contrary to his plan of only diverting their attention by shooting at the gate. He sent two more shots to the gate before getting up with the weapon.
______
‘How close are you now?’ Cole could hear a man’s voice as he entered into the building. He quickly hid himself behind a wooden chair at the left side of the room and tried to locate the direction the voice came from. ‘We have an intruder here, I want all of you to come over here at once.’ the man stepped out with a phone on his ear from a passage at Cole’s right side, into the place Cole was and their eyes met.
Cole quickly sent two shots but the man was fast enough to move back and hide behind the wall. Cole rolled away from his hiding spot just in time. The person he shot at replied with two shots directed to the chair.
Cole continued to shoot at the wall beside the corridor to prevent the man from stepping out to shoot again as he searched for something in the sweater hung around his neck. He took out a small ball from the sweater and removed a tiny cap on it, the ball began to emit blue smoke. He stopped shooting as he waited for the emmision to become faster, he then threw it into the passage where the man was hiding. The man had popped out his head and gun from behind the wall to shoot but ran back when saw the ball coming. In less than five seconds, Cole began to hear two people coughing from the direction of the passage.
He took out a wet handkerchief from his back pocket and tied it on his nose before making his way towards the passage. He met the man who was shooting at him coughing uncontrollably with his gun on the floor and another man at end of the passage coughing too. He dragged the first man out of the passage.
‘Where’s she?’ he asked, placing his gun on the man’s head.
The man could not stop coughing but described the direction where he could find her with his hands. Cole pierced him with a needle before running back into the passage. He shot the other man on the end before entering into the place according to the description he got from the first man. It was the room which had bottles on the floor and few wooden chairs.
________
‘This way sir,’ the Vice President’s Chief Security officer said, leading his boss through the backdoor out of the building. The Vice President was holding a gun and following behind them.
‘Where are we going to?’ the Vice President asked with stammering lips.
‘We have to get you out of here sir,’ Chief Rikau spoke before the security officer could answer. ‘You go out through this gate with him, we’ve called for another car to pick you there.’ he explained, pointing to a smaller gate leading out of the compound through the fence at the left side fence.
‘But Samantha Osman must not be rescued,’ the Vice President stammered unwilling to leave but his Chief Security officer was almost applying force to get him moving.
Time – 7:18am
Agent Dave watched everything carefully from a good distance. He had followed Inspector Dakolo who in turn had followed Agent Tim’s car and the police car which was driving behind it. From where Dave was, he could see Dakolo stepped out of the car and he did likewise. He watched as Dakolo tried to monitor something from afar, the same way he was being monitored from behind. Dave wondered what it could be that caught Dakolo’s attention so much that the Inspector didn’t suspect he was being followed.
Few seconds later, Dakolo suddenly hurried back to his car and sat in it. Dave noiselessly moved to the median and stood on his toes behind the street light, confused for a while as he tried to see what Dakolo was looking at. He could only see two cars and some men outside, he couldn’t tell who they were or what they were doing. Soon he ran to the Road Safety stand at the median and bent to hide himself behind the stand as he noticed that Dakolo had hidden his head in the car, meaning that there was someone coming who Dakolo was hiding for.
Dave watched from his hiding place and observed that one of the two cars he had seen Dakolo watching had turned to the other carriageway and was driving back the way. He saw Dakolo raise up his head in the car after the car had passed and he stared intently at the car to see who was in it.
He recognized the driver of the car to be Agent Tim as the car approached. There was another man at the front seat of the car and a third one at the back. He watched carefully as the car came nearer, the second man at the front seat wasn’t someone he recognized but the man at the back seat was the Vice President, Chief Elvis. He opened his mouth in surprise at the manner the Vice President was dressed. The car passed and he began to rise up slowly from behind the median. He suddenly remembered that Dakolo was still around and bent back quickly. He looked up and saw Dakolo’s car in motion too. He watched for some minutes and Dakolo’s car also sped past in the same direction Agent Tim’s car had gone.
Dave came out of his hiding place and watched as Dakolo’s car turned out of sight. He began to think of what direction to go, whether to follow Inspector Dakolo or to go to the place where the Vice President’s car was coming from and see what was there. He looked towards the place again and saw the second car still there, some men who came out of the car were entering into a house close to where the car was parked. He looked back again and drew in a deep breath, the Vice President was up to something that Dakolo was determined to find out, he also needed to find out what the Vice President was about to do. He ran off the median and rushed into his car. He had to catch up with them as quick as possible.
______
The blows continued to rain on Cole’s face even as he tried to resist. The attacker had been waiting for him inside that room, hiding behind a chair and had successfully caught Cole unaware. A blow had hit him on the head and sent him to the floor and the gun in his hands far away from him while he was still trying to look around the place.
The man had rushed to him, pinned him under and had continued to rain blows on his face and chest.
The struggle continued for Cole until the man decided to pull him up by the shoulder. Cole quickly used the opportunity to send the man a blow in the belly and then cover the man’s face, tying the head with the sweater that was hung around his neck. He was able to quickly take out another gun from his pocket while the man tried to remove the sweater from his face. A bullet ran into the man’s knee as he threw off the jacket. It weakened him and he was unable to move immediately. Cole sent in another bullet to his other knee before the man gained the sense to make any other move.
The heavy man hit the floor with a thud. Cole took heaved a sigh of relief and used the opportunity to take in more breath but as he did he noticed he was sniffing in more than air. He touched his hurting nose and realized that he had blood coming out from it. He hurried to pick the sweater on the floor and the other gun that had fallen. He took out a piece of cloth from the sweater and wiped his nose. He then looked towards the heavy man on the floor who was looking at him helplessly and threw the blood stained piece of cloth on the man’s face before sending another bullet into his chest.
He sniffed in again and turned towards the exit of the room, he noticed something on the floor by the wall beside the exit. He walked there and squatted, he picked the pieces of ropes from the floor and squeezed them in his hands. He remembered seeing the same type of rope at the mini computer village facility where Tarasha was captured.
As he rose up to his feet and intended to proceed further, he heard a voice that he was used to hearing on the television, it was the Inspector General’s voice.
‘Surround the whole place and fish him out, he must not leave.’ the Inspector General could be heard shouting. Cole could hear several footsteps around the building and some other voices which he knew was in response to the Inspector General’s order. At that point, he knew getting Tarasha out would be more difficult than he thought. With the noise he could hear around the house now, there were more of the enemies inside than he thought.
_____
‘Rex, you gotta hurry up. Someone is trying to help her get away,’ the Vice President said frantically into the phone. He sat uncomfortably at the backseat of the car while Agent Tim drove the car and his Chief Security officer at the passenger’s side in front.
‘Why do you panic Chief, she couldn’t have gained enough strength to be able to escape by herself except all the people with her are dummies.’ Rex voice sounded in reply. From the shakiness of his voice, one could tell that he was driving a vehicle on a bad road.
‘The place is under attack right now, I don’t know if it’s one of her men who has come to fight for her?’
‘What? How can you allow that?’
‘I don’t know how it happened, but someone is causing trouble there now.’
‘I hope you’ve killed her already,’ Rex asked.
‘No, I can’t kill her yet. We need to get more information from her, isn’t that what I told you earlier?’
‘You should have killed her already, we could have extracted the information you require from her house or personal facilities or even her surviving man. You should have just allowed me handle all of this,’ Rex complained.
‘No, I still want her to die by my hands.’ Chief Elvis replied, not regretting his actions. ‘Don’t bother about her escaping, the Inspector General is in control and I’m sure the intruder can’t even make it out of there alive. Just be there as soon as possible to do your own job.’
‘I’m on my way there Chief,’ Rex sighed. ‘Since the Inspector General is there, I’ll call him and give him instructions, I hope he follows.’
__
Cole changed the cartridges in the two revolvers quickly as he listened to get the direction from which the footsteps were approaching him. It seemed to be from several directions. With the increasing noise in the building as the people searched for him, he began to lose hope of fulfilling the task but since he was in already, he had to give a fight till the end.
He exited the room where he had seen the pieces of rope and began to walk slowly through the next room, looking back and forth carefully with the revolvers set in his hands. As he approached a closed door which led out of the new room he just entered, he heard fast footsteps approaching from behind the door. He quickly tiptoed to the wall behind the door and waited until the door was opened. A fully uniformed officer with a gun in his hands entered carelessly and looked around, his mouth was covered with Cole’s sweater before he turned to look at the back.
Cole cleared the man’s feet off the ground as he squeezed his neck with his arm simultaneously. Soon the man was on the floor and struggling for breath while Cole with a knee to the ground did not relent in his effort to squeeze life out of him. The man’s struggles finally seized as he gave up the ghost. Cole took the sweater off his head and returned it to his own shoulder, he looked around and listened briefly for footsteps. Luckily for him, he could hear no noise at that moment, it seemed the men had assigned themselves to different sections and had all left that area after assigning this particular man to where he was. He quickly began to unbutton the man’s uniform. It took him about a minute to unbutton the shirt and another minute for the trouser, he quickly dragged the man’s half unclad body away from the middle of the place to the edge of the wall. Then he took out somethings from his own clothes and the sweater before he wore the uniform on top of his. He covered the man’s bare body and face with his sweater and rose up to straighten his new outfit. He looked fatter in the new outfit but that wasn’t something to care about, he picked up the officer’s cap from the floor and put it on.
He began to head towards the door the officer had come in from when he heard footsteps from the other room he just left.
‘Have you found any intruder yet?’ Cole heard someone say to him from behind.
He froze behind the door and readjusted the officer’s cap on his head without turning back. ‘I didn’t find anyone here yet except for some of our dead officers,’ He gave his reply in a thick voice and quickly hurried out through the door.
He entered into a faintly lit corridor of about ten metres long, it had about ten doors leading off it, five rooms at each sides and the end led to another corridors which looked very dark from his view.
He took out his gun as he got to the first room by the left and opened the door carefully, he peeped in and the place was dark. He had to loosen his belt and bring out a tiny device from the pocket of the trouser under the uniform which he used to shine light into the room. He closed back the door as he discovered that the room was empty and stuffy. He took three steps to the first room at the right and opened the door to peep in the same way, it was also empty like the first one.
___
Dakolo followed Agent Tim’s car carefully until they got to the Vice President house and the car drove into the Vice President’s compound. Dakolo realized that that was the farthest he could go in trying to find out what they were up to; there was no way he was going to get into the Vice President’s house to continue his investigation. He began to blame himself for not waiting to see what see what the officers they had left at the place they had picked someone were up to, he had thought that the real deed was going to take place where Agent Tim was.
It remained unknown to Dakolo who had joined Agent Tim in the car, so he thought it was must be a criminal or a suspect Agent Tim was sneaking into the Vice President’s house, not knowing that it was the Vice President himself. The Vice President’s disguise clothes had worked perfectly well in making Dakolo not to recognize him from far where he watched.
Dakolo was desperate to know who the man that was sneaked in was. He decided to wait where he was until Agent Tim and the person drives out of the place.
____
Time : 7:32am
Location : Chief Gab’s Residence. Gravl Avenue, Lagos.
‘Good morning sweetheart,’ Chief Gab’s replied his little daughter who was just learning how to use words and greet properly. He held the four year old girl who ran into his hands and lifted her up playfully. He put her down and straightened her school uniform properly. ‘I bought a lot of chocolates from my trip and I’m going to give them to you when you return from school, alright?’
The girl nodded happily in acceptance.
‘That’s my girl, now hurry up and don’t go late to school.’ he said and waved her bye as she turned and ran towards the door.
He smiled as he watched her go out of the living room, the driver and a guard followed her. He sank into the sofa and released a deep breath as he picked the remote control. Thoughts of his daughter still occupied his mind and he remembered when Tarasha had threatened to kidnap the little girl. That was when she had just begun to work for him and he had refused to pay her at the right time.
‘No weapon formed against us shall prosper,’ he muttered unconsciously and laughed at himself afterwards. He wondered how he could still remember that line of the Bible, he had not gone to church or even open his Bible for more than ten years.
His phone which was on the centre table rang and distracted his thoughts, he was about to stand to get it when he saw one of his errand boys coming to bring it to him.
‘Chief Nonso,’ he muttered as he squinted at his phone. He answered and placed the speaker to his ear.
‘Good morning sir,’ Chief Nonso’s voice sounded cool.
‘Good morning Chief Nonso, what’s happening this morning?’
‘Nothing sir, I just wanted to find out what the plan for today is.’ Chief Nonso replied.
‘The plan for today?’ Chief Gab replied, his voice suggested that he didn’t know what Chief Nonso was talking about. ‘Oh!’ he exclaimed on realizing what was being talked about. ‘Do you mean with Samantha Osman?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘I have no plans for her yet, I’ll…I mean we’ll receive them just like every other visitor.’
‘Just like that? Don’t you think we need to take some precautions?’
‘What precautions can we get against Tarasha?’ Chief Gab said with a chuckle. ‘She doesn’t have any reason to hurt us, so I think we should just receive her as any usual visitor. Setting up any precaution may create unnecessary tension, besides I want her to be more comfortable with us.’
‘Well…’ Chief Nonso released a breath. ‘I’ll be there very soon.’
___
‘I’m right where she is now,’ Chief Rikau replied someone through his phone.
He was with two other men and a lady in the room Tarasha was tied. The men fully armed and alert while the lady was only with a knife and a small paper bag. The chief also had a gun in his right hand while the phone was held in his left hand.
‘Is she awake?’ Rex’s masculine voice sounded into the Chief’s ear again.
‘No, her eyes are closed.’ Chief Rikau replied, looking at Tarasha’s face.
‘Okay, make sure the liquid is injected right into one of the veins on either of her hands and wait for a minute before taking off the ropes.’
‘Okay,’ Chief Gab said, making a signal to the lady with the paper bag to proceed towards Tarasha. He also took some steps forward.
‘I’ll be at the other entrance you described in less than fifteen minutes, you should bring her out to me.’ Rex instructed.
‘Okay, that will be done.’
______
Cole was at the seventh door now and his search was looking like a complete waste of time. Half of the rooms he had checked were completely empty while the rest were either filled with empty bottles, empty cartons of drinks, or cartons filled with expired drinks.
He opened the seventh door and peeped in carefully before he stepped in and closed the door. The room looked like a training room for a professional boxer, except that it was dirty and the materials in it looked old and unkempt. He searched every corner of the room and found nothing useful or any information leading to Tarasha. He proceeded out of the room and moved to the eighth room at the other side. He turned the handle of the door and it gave way easily, the place was dark like the first and second rooms. He took out his tiny device and shone the light in. As he took a step into the room, he began to hear some voices approaching from the end of the corridor, he quickly entered as silent as he could and closed the door. He stopped at the door side to listen.
The voices sounded lower at first when he closed the door but as the men entered into the corridor, it became louder.
…where did you find the body?’ Cole heard a male voice asking but didn’t hear the reply.
‘He was found unclad?’ the same voice asked again without Cole hearing the response to the man’s first question. Cole realized that the man was talking to someone on phone.
He opened the door slightly and peeped outside as the voice began to diminish. He saw two men with guns in their hands walking towards the other entrance of the corridor.
One of the men suddenly stopped looked back. Cole withdrew his head in immediately but wasn’t sure if the man did not see him. His heart began to beat faster as he put the small device in between his lips and took out his second gun from his pocket. He stopped to listen but couldn’t make much meaning from the voices he could hear. He had to strain his ears to pick out some words.
‘I think… go ahead while…check… rooms.’ From the little he heard, he could decode that one of the men was waiting to check the rooms.
He removed the device from his lips and turned off the light. Then he took in a deep breath as he opened the door slightly, and peeped outside. There was only one man left and he had just entered into the first room. Cole thought of rushing out of the room he was before the man comes out but the man was out he could even finish thinking. The man proceeded to the second door and opened, he shone his light and pointed his gun in. Then he closed the door without entering. He repeated the same for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth doors. Then he proceeded to the seventh door and Cole was getting ready to receive him at the eighth room but the man didn’t only look in from outside and close back the door like he had done for the previous five doors, he entered into the room with his gun. Cole knew he must have been attracted by the same thing that attracted him in the seventh room, he quickly walked out and closed the door gently. He walked silently out of the corridor into another which the two men had entered from. He peeped from behind the opening until the man came out of the seventh room, he watched as the man made his way to the remaining three without finding anyone. Then the man heaved a sigh and put his gun into his pocket as he turned and walked back in the direction his partner had gone. Cole knew there was nothing in the three rooms he didn’t check and decided to proceed from where he was. At both ends of the new corridor where he was were two doors which seemed like entrances to another section of the building. He stared left and right for some seconds, unsure of which to go. He could see a shoe in front of the door at the left, he shone his light towards the the door at the right and he saw that it was locked with a huge padlock. He finally choose to go to the door at the left. He crossed the opening and proceeded to the door without making much noise.
He turned the handle of the door and pushed the door open, pointing a gun in. The place was dark and he could see nothing. It was as silent as a graveyard with no signs of any living thing there. He took out the device in his pocket and turned on the tiny light.
Just as he was about to put the device in between his lips. A strong hand grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in violently.
The device fell from his hands and one of the guns from his hand as he was lifted by the same hand and his back slammed to the floor. The lights in the place was turned on and it revealed three huge men, each of them more than twice his own size pointing guns at him. A slimmer man who turned on the light was beside the bulb stand.
Cole winced in pain. He turned his head and saw blood on the floor in between two pole and two truncated ropes tied at the upper part of the poles. He knew at once that that must be where Tarasha was tied to but have now been taken away.
Cole knew it was the end of the road, he had failed himself, failed Henry and failed Tarasha. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as someone ÇOçked gun.
______
Henry continued to turn and turn around restlessly in the car, he was getting tired of waiting for Cole’s next signal. The day was already bright and the traffic on the road had increased, the execution of their task was getting increasingly difficult with time.
He glanced at his wristwatch impatiently again and then pushed the start button of the engine angrily. He pulled on the seatbelt and as he was about to launch into the road, he remembered something. He turned back and stretched his hand to the backseat, he rolled the bag away and under it was a tablet device, he picked the device to the front and placed it on his lap.
His inexperience and anxiety was taking a better hold of him and he wondered if he hadn’t been more of a burden to Cole than a support. His assignment at the gate wasn’t well delivered and now he had also forgotten that Cole had a tracker and recorder on his body with which he was supposed to use to track him and listen respectively.
He put an earpiece into his ear after turning on the screen of the device. Then he navigated to the main menu and clicked on the icon for the tracker. He minimized the window while it loaded and returned to the dashboard of applications to search for the streamer.
________
‘Wait!’ one of the hefty men said to the one who ÇOçked the gun. He walked closer to Cole and bent beside him, putting the gun to his head. He searched Cole’s body and took out two guns and a small purse containing cartridges from the pockets. He flung the objects aside and stood up when he was sure he had fully disarmed him.
Someone entered in through the door Cole came through, it was the same man who had searched the ten rooms in the corridor.
‘I saw him hiding in the eight room,’ the man said with a smile as he took out something from his pocket. ‘He thought he was wise,’ he added, with his smile turning devilish. He closed the door and took some steps in, making noise with the soles of his shoes as he dialed a number on his phone.
Cole’s eyes opened again and it met with one of the hefty men at his front still pointing a gun at him. He heaved a deep sigh and his eyes wandered about the far ceiling of the tall building for a moment, he wondered why the men were still delaying his death.
‘Sir, we’ve got the intruder.’ The man who had just entered spoke into the phone. ‘What should we do with him?’ he asked after getting a response to his first statement and listened for a reply to his question. ‘Alright sir,’ he said before hanging up.
‘Chief is still at the backyard, and he wants us to bring him there.’ the man said to the rest of the men in the room, pointing to Cole.
‘Get up!’ one of them barked at Cole. Cole struggled to his knees sluggishly, he raised his two hands in the air as one of the men ÇOçked his gun again. ‘Stand up and move,’ the man added, gesturing for him to move to a door at the edge of the opposite wall.
Cole got up slowly with his hands still raised in the air. He began to walk towards the door, remaining conscious of the three guns pointing to his back. The slimmer man opened the door before he got there and Cole entered into the new corridor where the door led, it was half the length of the corridor of ten rooms but was slightly larger in width. It had a door at the straight end and had only four doors at the two side walls leading off it.
‘Faster!’ Cole heard someone bark from behind him and a gun th-ru_st him forward from behind. One of the men leveled up with him and pulled him by the belt, hurriedly moving towards the door.
‘Only God knows how he got to beat the officer and take his uniform.’ Cole heard one man say.
‘If you hadn’t seen him hiding, he would have passed for just another officer who isn’t in our team.’ another one joined in.
It took them less than a minute to drag Cole out through the door, it led outside the building to a space of about hundred square metres area. There were several objects ABC structures at the backyard. There was a power house which housed the electric generator at the left edge of the wall. A car which looked abandoned was parked beside it. A tall heap of torn cartons was at the left hand side, a bit close to the centre of the place and a taller heap of bottles, both broken and whole ones followed just with a metre space in between them.
The man dragging Cole released his grip as they got outside and walked some metres, they waited for the rest to come out. Cole froze in shock as his eyes went straight to where the Inspector General stood with two other men, a big sack was on the floor beside them and it formed the shape of a person in it. They were standing about six metres away from a small gate which was too small for a car or bigger vehicles to pass through but enough for a tricycle or motorcycle to pass through.
Cole’s heart began to beat so fast as he thought about the possibility of Tarasha being the one they had put in the sack, he couldn’t stand the thought and was burning deep inside. It appeared too much for him to bear and his knees shivered as one of the men standing beside the Inspector General squatted and began to loosen the rope they used to tie the sack.
One of the men at the back pushed Cole violently forward and Cole fell painfully on his knees.
The sack was already opened before he looked up and there he saw Tarasha’s face down to her bra. Her eyes was opened but wasn’t blinking or moving. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or not.
His blood boiled with anger and he vibrated visibly. The men behind him noticed his shakiness and two of them standing at each sides pointed their guns at him at a closer range.
‘I know you came for her,’ the Inspector General stepped forward and began to talk. ‘I don’t know who you are but I’m sure you’re one of her loyal boys. However that does not matter now, we’ll have you and Samantha Osman taken care of by Rex.’ Chief Rikau said, turning to look at Tarasha’s face.
A glint of hope formed in Cole’s heart as he heard the man’s last words, it meant that there was a possibility of Tarasha still being alive even in the terrible state she was in. The only area he didn’t see any possibility was both of them – he and Tarasha- getting away alive, especially now that they were going to be handed over to Rex. He looked at his both sides and saw the two revolvers still pointed at his head. There was no way he was going to make any move without getting them to blow off his brain in seconds.
‘Rex will be here in seven minutes,’ the Vice President announced and fear gripped Cole’s heart. Rex’s face flashed through his mind and he remembered his parents and Rex’s threat again. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, something happened as he was about to release the breath and open his eyes. The two men pointing guns at him by his sides were hit with bullets from an unknown direction.
______
The location Henry could see on his device was confusing to him. He wasn’t sure the compound was that wide for Cole to be at that point in the place. He drove past the gate and continued driving without towards the ‘L- turn’ even as he listened carefully with the earpiece. He couldn’t really make any sense from what he could hear so far, the only thing he was sure of was the sound of moving footsteps.
Suddenly he heard someone bark ‘Move!’ and his heart stood still. That was a sign that Cole had been discovered and captured. He heard some groanings following it and the footsteps sounded faster and numerous.
He took the L-turn hurriedly narrowly missing a car. He didn’t stop or wait to apologise but he drove on. He could see the wall of the building at the return carriageway separated from the one he was on by the median. As he drove ahead, he took brief glances at his device’s screen and confirmed that Cole was still in the compound. Then he noticed a smaller gate at the end of the fence wall as he approached. He saw a police Hyundai Sonata parked beside the gate with no one in it. He drove past, driving close to the median so as to be able to turn quickly when he gets to the nearest U-turn. He continued to drive until he passed the police post before he found a U-turn. He turned on the trafficator.
_____
It was over thirty minutes of waiting for Dakolo and he was patient although feeling very hungry. His thoughts drifted to the NSCC guy he met that morning and he wondered why the young man was so determined to question him. Maybe he was one of those errand boys who Agent Tim bribes with little cash, he thought. Whoever he was, he must stay away from him, Dakolo made up his mind.
Dakolo’s attention was drawn to the gate as it opened, then he saw Agent Tim’s car driving out of the place alone. The gate closed and Agent Tim drove down the road. Dakolo thought of following him again but as he started the car engine, a better idea came to his mind and he turned it back off. He took out his phone and dialed Agent Tim’s phone number, it rang twice without being answered. Then he sent a text message which read, ‘I have a very urgent information for you, please call back as soon as possible.’
He started his car engine again and was about to drive into the road when he saw the gate opening again. He stopped to look as he pulled on his seatbelt. Two cars were driving out through the gate, the Vice President was on his way out.
___
Dave still had his nose tied with his handkerchief to reduce the stench of bad oil from the generator room where he hid himself.
He had turned back again on a second thought before following Dakolo’s car for just a minute and had decided in his mind to check out the place he saw the officers before going after officer Dakolo. He planned on calling the Inspector anonymously on phone later and tracking his location after checking out what was happening where the Vice President was picked from. And if he wasn’t successful in locating the Inspector, he would have just continued on his way to the NSCC headquarters.
He left his car with a tracking chip and a gun, although unsure he was going to use it. He met only two officers at the small gate when he got there, one at the driver’s side of the car and the other seating on the bonnet with his hands folded. He had approached them, pretending to need answers to some questions and ended up taking out two of them. He kept them in the car’s boot before entering inside. The motorists and very few pedestrians that morning seemed to be very serious minded and none interfered or even stopped to watch, they all went on their ways hurriedly.
Dave got into the compound through the back gate, he didn’t see anyone but could hear voices and shouts from inside the building. He was lucky to be close to the generator house when one of the doors at the back opened. He quickly entered and watched from there while he readied his gun incase he was discovered. Then he saw three officers come out, two of them carrying a neat sack with something he couldn’t tell. The Inspector General came after the men and they all proceeded towards the gate. The Inspector General asked them to stop when they got to some metres close to the gate. Then he took out his phone to make a call.
Dave couldn’t hear what the Vice President said on phone but he knew that what was being talked about was the content of the sack. He stared at the sack from the holes on the walls behind which he hid and his best guess was that an animal was what was inside it. After the call, the Vice President said something to the third officer that came out before him and the officer in response hurried back into the building. He watched for some more seconds and the Inspector General received a phone call giving him an information he was glad to receive. Not too long after was when the door opened again and a man was dragged out and pulled not too close to where the Chief stood. It was then Dave saw them open the sack briefly and discovered that a woman was what they had in the sack. At first, Dave thought it was one of the Vice President and Inspector General’s numerous girlfriends who had discovered their secret and they had to silence but as the Inspector General spoke out loud, Dave realized that who they had in the bag was his reason for all his strenuous and hard work for the past weeks, Samantha Osman. That was when he knew he had to be vitally involved in what was going on. He also realized that the man kneeling was on Samantha Osman’s side. He decided to step in to foil the plans of the Inspector General and the person called Rex coming for Samantha and her man.
He shot the two men pointing their guns at the Samantha Osman’s man kneeling, to give the latter an opportunity to act.
____
Cole did not know where the bullets came from or who shot the gun but he was sure that God had sent an Angel from heaven. Before the other men could recover from the surprise, he slid to the left side and collected the gun from the man who was shot at the left. He pushed the man with a kick at the back towards the others who tried to shoot at him and followed up with bullets sporadically. The bullets from the unknown source seized after two more shots directed towards the Vice President’s place.
The place was already in disarray. The bullet from Cole hit two more men, making it two more left at his side. One of the two was running to the other edge of the building to dodge the flying bullets and the other had entered back into the building through the exit where they took Cole out from.
One of the men who was standing close to the Inspector General was already down and the other was trying to protect the Inspector General who had also taken out his own gun for protection.
Cole’s eyes was fixed on the sack which had been left on the floor. He continued to shoot at the door of the building as he made his way slowly towards the place.
‘Get the sack!’ he could hear the Inspector General scream out of panic at the man who was trying to get him to safety. The man hurried back towards the sack, shooting towards Cole. Cole had to quickly hide behind the heap of cartons. He peeped from behind and saw the man now shooting towards the generator house as he began to drag the sack towards the open gate. It was then Cole noticed a man coming out, up from the roof of the generator house with a gun pointed at the man dragging the sack. He could only see the man from the side view.
A bullet flew over Cole’s head and it made him look away briefly to the building again. The man who ran back inside had come out with his gun refilled and was shooting at him.
Cole dropped himself flat on the floor and shot twice at the man, rolling away from the heap of cartons to behind the heap of broken bottles. He could hear sounds of more bullets flying as he changed his hiding point.
As he looked up to shoot again, he saw two newly dead men at the back of the building, there was none shooting at him again. He knew it was the work of the man who was now on the roof of the generator building. The man who also trying to protect the Inspector General and drag out Tarasha was now dead. The only person left with them was the Inspector General.
Chief Rikau was in no mood to give up even though he could see that all the men were down. He knew there were more men inside the building and at the front and he all he needed was to delay the two opponents before he got support from his men or Rex was must be very close now. He continued to shoot at the man who he saw come out from the generator house and he proceeded towards the sack. The man was now on the fence at the right side of the building and was running on it to dodge his bullets. After six shots, his bullets finished and he took out another gun from his pocket but the man had gone over the fence before he could shoot again. He quickly began to drag the sack towards the gate and at the same, searching around the place for the other enemy with his eyes. Now, he was just two metres to the gate
A bullet suddenly entered hit his shoulder and his gun fell off, another one hit his leg and he dropped on his knee, his body falling over the sack.
Cole rose out from behind the heap of bottles and proceeded confidently towards the Inspector General, pointing his gun at the man who had raised his head and was looking at him. He was about to shoot and end the man’s life completely when three new men rushed out through the back door of the building and began to shoot towards him. He quickly ran behind the car beside the generator house. As he peeped from there, he noticed that the men’s shooting direction was no longer towards him before towards the fence where his unknown helper had flown over. The unknown helper was standing behind the fence, half of his body showing above. He was with a bandage on his head and looked seriously wounded but still active. Cole’s eyes met with his and he made a hand signal telling Cole to carry the sack and leave the place while he handled the rest of the men.
Cole followed the man’s plan which seemed reasonable, he ran out from behind the car without cover, trusting the man to cover up. He pushed away Chief Rikau from the Tarasha’s body and lifted Tarasha to his shoulder, he made his way to the gate quickly. Something like a bullet entered into his back as he opened the gate and stepped in middle of the opening. It made him pause for a second to absorb the pain. But he decided not to look back and just rushed away, ignoring the pain.
He closed the gate and hurried towards the road with Tarasha’s body still on one side of his shoulder. He could feel her bare skin on his hand now as the sack was already falling off. He stopped at the side of the road and dipped his hand into his pocket to search for his phone. The number of cars and cabs had reduced on the road because of the disturbing sounds of gunshots and Cole knew it would be hard to get a car to snatch. And even though he could still see a car coming towards him, he wasn’t sure he would be able to snatch it because he wasn’t ready to drop Tarasha from his shoulder. He began to hurry down the road as he struggled to make a call with his phone.
‘Hey!’ he suddenly heard a familiar voice call happily from behind and looked back to see Henry approaching in the car he had seen. He had been too unsettled to notice it was their car approaching.
The back door opened for him by Henry and he dropped Tarasha’s body carefully in it and entered after. Henry drove off speedily without even allowing Cole close the door first.
‘Wow! You got her,’ Henry exclaimed and jumped happily as he drove on crazily. He looked back all smiles but his smiles reduced on seeing Cole wincing in pains behind as he threw a sack out through the window.
‘Were you hit?’ Henry asked, in concern for Cole although his face was on Tarasha’s body. He couldn’t see her face and didn’t know her state because of how she was placed, he could see injuries on her arm and her back and he doubted in his heart if she was okay.
‘d@mn it!’ Cole cursed suddenly and quickly bent his head as he saw a car at the other carriageway. ‘Drive faster!’ he shouted at Henry.
‘I’m already at the fastest speed,’ Henry replied, now facing the front. He looked briefly at the car whose view made Cole hide.
‘That was him,’ Cole raised up his head after Henry had drove for another one minute.
‘Who?’ Henry asked, adjusting the rearview mirror so he could see Cole’s face.
‘Rex,’ Cole answered, gritting his teeth with the pain at the back tormenting him as he tried to seat upright. ‘Rex was the one who kidnapped you and also captured her at first.’
‘Oh!’ Henry’s heart skipped a beat as he remembered that scene again. ‘Is Omotara okay?’ he asked after some seconds of silence.
There was no reply.
Cole managed to adjust her body and place her head facing up on his laps. Her eyes were opened, but without any expression. He touched some of the injuries on her body and looked at her face again, he wondered if she could even see with the eyes or if she was conscious at all.
‘She’s still breathing,’ Cole said with a sad voice. ‘But I don’t know if she’s okay or conscious,’ Cole added.
At the moment, Tarasha’s eyes blinked.
‘Oh! She just blinked,’ Cole shouted out happily, almost jumping but stopped again as the pain at the back enveloped his happiness.
‘She blinked?’ Henry joined in happily, turning the mirror to see her face.
‘We need to stop somewhere to take out this bullet from my back,’ Cole managed to stretch his hand to the spot at the back and touched it, he could only feel a little quantity of blood than he expected. ‘Maybe we should just go home straight, it’s not bleeding like I thought.’ he added. ‘I think I can manage it.’
They drove in silence for a while and Cole kept glancing at Tarasha’s face from time to time. She closed her eyes after some minutes and Cole suddenly became worried, thinking she had sank into unconsciousness. He shook her gently and she opened her eyes again, this time she was able to move the eyeballs. Cole smiled, reassured of her consciousness and allowed her rest when she closed her eyes again.
They drove in silence for a while and Cole kept glancing at Tarasha’s face from time to time. She closed her eyes after some minutes and Cole suddenly became worried, thinking she had sank into unconsciousness. He shook her gently and she opened her eyes again, this time she was able to move the eyeballs. Cole smiled, reassured of her consciousness and allowed her rest when she closed her eyes again.
_____
Dave dropped back into the compound after taking out the last man. He turned back to see the building in the compound in which he was in now. He couldn’t tell what the building was used for as he could only see the side and the back from the backyard where he was. He tucked his gun into his pocket and began to walk forward hurriedly.
He met some people discussing something serious at the front of the building. They all had disturbed looks on their faces and were all turned towards the building where he had jumped down from, he knew they were discussing about the sounds of gunshots that had filled the air.
They all shifted back in surprise and some ran back inside on seeing him. He took out his gun to display it and scare them more as he headed for the gate. The rest of the people ran into the building and shut the doors behind. Dave looked back once more and discovered that the building was a fashion designing outfit. He hurried out of the compound through the gate, ignoring the security man who he saw peeping at him from inside their security building.
He tucked back his gun in and waited impatiently for the road to clear before he crossed to the other side of the carriageway. He took off the bandage on his head and his hand before waving down a taxi.
‘Take me down there,’ he said to the taxi man, pointing with his fingers to the direction he wanted. He took out his phone and dialed a number. ‘Lizzy, have you gone back to work?’ he said into the phone.
‘No, until four hours time.’ her voice sounded back.
‘I just took off all the stuffs you put on me, I may need a redress soon.’ Dave said.
‘You took them off, why?’
‘I’ll tell you later, something serious came up this morning. You just get ready whenever I call you, okay?’
‘Okay, Dave.’ she replied and the call ended.
_____
A disturbed look appeared on Rex’s face after he called the Inspector General for the third time without any answer. He could see the gate where he was supposed to stop ahead of him but he didn’t want to waste any time by waiting or entering into the place, he wanted Samantha Osman body’s brought out to him.
He finally pulled up behind the police car and hurried down with a gun in his hand. He looked around the area carefully and at her cars driving by as he approached the gate. He pushed it open with his backhand with his eyes still on the road, then he entered carefully and closed the gate. He was welcomed by a scene of injured and dead bodies scattered over the place. His eyes surveyed around quickly and visited all the corners where any attacker could be hiding, he saw none. Then his gaze settled on the Inspector General’s body on the floor where the man laid. He quickly rushed there and turned the man over.
‘Get me to the hospital quickly Rex,’ the Inspector General pleaded in a weak voice.
Rex stared at him for some seconds without saying anything. There was no pity seen in his eyes for the man and no sign of urgency in his movement. ‘I can hear sounds of sirens approaching, some of your men will be here soon’ he finally spoke, squatting to look at the man’s face. ‘Which way did they take?’ he said, asking about Samantha and the man who came to help her.
‘He carried her out through this gate,’ Chief Rikau said, looking towards the gate. ‘A wounded man came to help them, he went over this fence not more than a minute ago, he had a bandage on his head.’
Rex rose up to his feet and wondered which of the two options he should take first. While he was still wondering, he remembered that Police officers were on their way there and he turned to go out without casting another look at the man on the floor. He hurried out and entered into his car.
_____
‘Where are we taking her to?’ Henry asked after thirty minutes of driving in complete silence. He turned back and stared at Cole who looked like he had already fallen asleep. ‘Cole,’ he called louder this time.
Cole opened his eyes calmly and took in a deep breath. ‘Just drive straight to the base first,’ he replied, sitting up and gently adjusting Tarasha’s head which was on his laps.
‘Are you sure it is safe for us to go there?’ Henry asked, now adjusting the rearview mirror to see Cole’s face.
‘I’m not sure,’ Cole answered with a sigh.
‘You’re not sure? Why then do you ask me to drive to the base?’ Henry questioned
Cole remained silent.
‘Please say something, I need to know what direction to drive in.’ Henry urged him.
‘Do you have somewhere else to take her to?’ Cole asked with a raised eyebrow.
Henry was silent for some seconds. ‘No, I don’t.’
‘Then drive straight to the base.’
‘But what if someone is following us?’
‘If someone is following us, shouldn’t that be the more reason we should drive to the base?’ Cole sniffed. ‘The base is the only place we’ll have a upper hand against anyone for now. And let’s pray we don’t come across police officers on the way, they’re going to give us some troubles , the day is already bright.’
‘Then how do we make sure Omotara gets quick medical attention?’ Henry asked another question, his eyes meeting with Cole’s in the rearview mirror.
‘That will be yours to bother about, I appear to be the one who needs quick medical attention here, I have a bullet in my back.’ Cole complained with groans as he adjusted his back against the seat.
Henry stared at him pitifully and heaved a sigh.
‘I know a nurse who used to treat Don’s boys in Abuja, we have a medical lab in the base, you could get her in to attend to us.’ Cole said.
‘But will you be able to hold it before she arrives?’
‘It depends on how fast you are, I can get myself first aid to keep my alive before she comes.’ Cole replied.
‘We should get there in the next seven minutes,’ Henry said before turning into another road.
_______
‘Hurry,’ Dave shouted at the taxi man as he saw a car driving away from behind the police officers car.
The elderly taxi man glared back at him and hissed, even Dave felt embarrassed on seeing that the man was old enough to be his father.
‘I’m sorry, I just have to go after that car.’ Dave apologized.
‘You didn’t hire me to pursue after cars for you,’ the man shot back.
‘I’m sorry,’ Dave said and kept mute while the man continued on a average speed.
Dave asked him to stop when they got to the spot his car was parked. He paid the man off and entered into his own car. He thought about going after the car he saw but dismissed the thought, it would have gone too far for him to pursue. He picked a portable Android device from the backseat of the car and unlocked the screen. He then opened his tracking app and waited for it to load. He made a quick flashback to how he launched the tracking chip into the back of the guy who carried away Samantha. He was sure it entered and he knew the guy could not remove it by himself, it would take a professional to remove it.
The app loaded and a map displayed, a rotating circle appeared and the word ‘processing’ floated over it.
________
10:24am
‘Why can’t we drive there?’ a lady asked as she came out from the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
‘Just follow and stop asking questions,’ the man who came out from the driver’s side replied her.
‘I’m following already but I can’t stop asking questions,’ she said as she ran after him with a big bag hung around her arm. ‘You’ve not told me who gave you my number yet,’ she said.
‘Do we need to go over that again?’ the guy asked without looking back at her. She hurried after him still.
‘Yes.’
‘You’re going to get paid for your services, isn’t that all that matters.’
‘You said they are two people right?’ she asked, trying to level up with him as his pace was too fast for her.
‘Yes, but they might become three soon. Somebody else may need treatment soon if you don’t stop talking.’
After about five minutes of walking, Henry led the nurse into the compound. He locked the gate properly and hurriedly led her to the back entrance. In a couple of minutes, they were both in the medical lab of the place.
Tarasha was seen laying peacefully on a bed with white sheets while Cole was laying face flat on another beside hers but with a different colour of sheet. He had taken off his tops and the belt of his trousers. Two small bottles and used syringes were in a tray beside the bed.
‘What took you so long?’ Cole asked as he heard their footsteps. ‘I thought I’ll be dead before you get here.’
‘It took me sometime to locate her, ‘ Henry replied. ‘After locating her, it took me more time to convince her to come with me.’
The nurse dropped her bag on a stool beside the bed and began to take out some instruments from the bag. She cleared the syringes on the tray to one side as as she placed two new syringes and ampoules. Cole turned his face to her side.
‘d@mn it! You Cole?’ a nylon of medicine and anesthetics fell off her hands as she stared at Cole in shock, with her mouth agape.
‘Yes, Tomi. It’s Cole,’ Cole replied her.
‘I’m not supposed to treat you, Don declared you an enemy to the Nanl Gang,’ Nurse Tomi said, now feigning reluctance to continue.
‘Don is dead and so is the Nanl Gang, so get to business at once. You’re going to be paid handsomely.’
‘The Nanl Gang didn’t die with Don, Stainless is already gathering the rest of it’s members,’ she retorted.
‘Stainless isn’t gathering them to resurrect the Nanl Gang, he is gathering them for himself.’ Cole said
‘Wh@tëver you say, but you betrayed us. You’re an enemy.’
‘I betrayed no one, Don sold me here for money, he wasn’t supposed to expect me to remain loyal to him.’ Cole replied. He turned his back to her again, making loud groans. ‘Please do you need to get this bullet out first or what should be the first thing?’
She put on her medicated gloves and placed her hands on his back, spreading the bullet wound surface with her fingers.
‘Did you lock the gate properly?’ Cole asked Henry who was already sitting beside Tarasha on the bed and gently rubbing her face.
‘Yes, I did.’ Henry answered without looking at him. There was silence for a minute and then Henry remembered something and stopped rubbing Tarasha’a face. ‘But I don’t still get how that will stop them from getting inside especially when they have the police’ backing them.’ he complained.
‘Stop being negative, how come you do believe they’re going to locate us?’ Cole shot back.
‘I’m just trying to be extra careful,’ Henry replied on soft tones, turning back to Tarasha. He placed his fingers on her hair and stared at her passionately. He heaved a sigh, ‘I don’t want anything to happen to us again,’ he said, really meaning he wanted nothing to happen to Omotara again.
‘Nothing’s going to happen for now, we still have the lasers and other security measures on.’ Cole reassured. ‘Did you park the car far away from here?’
‘Yes, I did.’ Henry replied briefly.
There was a brief silence.
‘Don’t you think she needs a bath?’ Henry asked, talking about Tarasha.
‘Let her wake up first,’ Cole snapped making soft sounds as the nurse worked on his back.
‘I think you’ll make this easier for me if you stop talking and moving your body this much,’ the nurse complained to Cole.
‘I’m sorry,’ Cole apologized briefly.
‘Talking about her,’ the nurse stared at Tarasha’s body briefly and squeezed her face. ‘Why does she look so dirty? Hasn’t she taken her bath for weeks?’
Henry ignored the nurse’s question and looked away.
‘Please pardon me, I have to speak again.’ Cole apologized as he turned his face towards Henry again.
‘Now, be quick about it.’ Nurse Tomi snapped.
‘Henry, I think we have to delete the records of all we did today from the NSCC database.’ Cole said to Henry. ‘That would be the easiest way for them to trace us here. I just hope they haven’t saved it yet.’
‘So what you be included in what I’m deleting?’ Henry asked, jumping down from the bed immediately.
‘Our movement from that place down here, and how you went to pick this nurse. Just delete everything you think they could use to trace our movement to this place.’
‘Okay,’ Henry picked a key and hurried out of the place to the control room.
‘So how did you get this wound?’ the nurse spoke some seconds after Henry had left.
‘I thought you wanted it quiet, how come you’re the one asking questions now?’ Cole queried.
‘I’m just being inquisitive,’ she replied. ‘You know I’ve really missed you,’ she added with a soft voice. She pulled down boxers a little at the back to give him an injection.
Cole didn’t give a reply to her last statement but twitched in pain as the needle entered his bum.
‘You were the sweetest amongst all the boys,’ she said in a complimenting way after the injection.
‘Oh!’ Cole chuckled. ‘You b***h! So you actually slept with all the boys?’
‘F*** you!’ she said and frowned her face as she applied something hard on his back.
‘Arrrgh…’ Cole screamed and cursed.
Nurse Tomi used to be a nurse and one of Don’s sëx machines which Cole had tasted without Don’s knowledge. Several times after leaving Don’s bed will she end up on his and she spent more time with him than Don himself.
‘How long will it take you to do this? The pain is getting too much,’ Cole complained.
‘I injected you some anaesthetics, the pain shouldn’t be that much. I didn’t bring any sedative, I would have ensured you’re asleep all through.’ she replied.
‘d@mn it! But are you sure we’ve got to take out the bullet now?’
‘We’re not in the hospital, and I don’t know if you have equipments to check that here. But I’m not really sure what I’m seeing here is even a bullet,’ she said with a confused look on her face.
‘It’s not a bullet…’
‘Shhh…’ she hushed him. ‘Reserve your strength and make this easier for me.’
She spoke again after three minutes. She took out something covered with blood from the wound and placed it on metal plate. She took it to the front for Cole to see.
‘What’s this?’ Cole asked, looking at her face, still lying on his belly.
‘I don’t know, that’s why I’m showing it to you.’ she said, turning the object around with the tool in her other hand. ‘It’s not a bullet and it’s not poisonous, that’s why you didn’t die before I arrived.’
Cole watched intently as she turned the object around on the plate. Then he looked at her face, ‘Can you rinse it a little?’ he asked, raising a brow.
She didn’t reply but just turned around and walked to where she kept her bag. She took out a bottle of methylated spirit and poured a little on the object. She took it back to Cole to see.
‘d@mn it!’ Cole exclaimed. A flashback of the unknown helper ran through his mind. He remembered seeing the man with two guns behind the fence. Who was that man? He asked himself for the first time since. Maybe it was the same man who had put the object into his body.
‘It’s a tracker, someone is tracking us, we need to destroy it immediately,’ he said, trying to get up.
‘Don’t!’ the nurse warned, pushing him back down. ‘I have to dress the wound first,’ she added and dropped the chip on the floor, crushing it with her shoe.
Cole reluctantly laid back on his belly.
______
‘Object lost,’ a message popped up on the screen of Dave’s Android device. He picked it up from the passenger’s side, one hand on the steering wheel as he drove on. He clicked OK on the pop up message and clicked on the refresh icon on the locating map. It refreshed for only five seconds and displayed another message, ‘No Object found.’
He refreshed again but got the same message the third and fourth time. He hissed and clicked on another icon to check the previously saved location. ‘No location discovered yet,’ the new window displayed.
‘Oh no!’ Dave hit his fist on the steering wheel in anger. He closed his eyes for two seconds, trying to remember the previous location he saw displayed. He could only remember the street name but couldn’t remember the exact location as described by the tracker.
He refreshed again two more times and got the same response of ‘No Object found’. He flung the phone to the backseat angrily. He wondered how the man he shot had been able to take out the tracker so quickly and destroy it. He hadn’t seen any other person around the place, so he had thought it would take more time for the man to snatch a car and get out of the place and it’ll take a longer time for the man and Samantha to reach somewhere safe enough that’s if they weren’t stopped by the Police on the way.
He slowed down the vehicle and eventually pulled up to a curb. He picked the device again and tapped on the back button, he tapped it five more times and luckily for him, the app returned to a previous display where it showed the location of the object including the full address. He quickly made a screenshot and continued driving.
________
Rex sat at the middle of the three seater sofa fuming about the situation and how that Tarasha had been allowed to escape. Even though he had ended his own part of the job perfectly, he was still angry that they made his efforts fruitless.
The phone placed beside him on the seat vibrated and he picked it up to check what message he had. It was from the Inspector General and it read;
‘Please help me find and kill her immediately, I’m ready to pay you any amount you ask for.’
He dropped the phone after reading the message and hissed. After some minutes, he picked the phone again and dialed a number.
‘Where are you Stainless?’ he said into the phone.
‘I just got out to find something to eat,’ Stainless replied.
‘Please, get back here immediately. We need to make some plans, we’ll visit Tarasha’s base tonight to kill her finally. If we don’t find her there, we will extract the necessary information we need to get her.’
_____
Tarasha shivered uncomfortably on the bed where she was. She was sweating profusely even though the place was cool enough. She could hear faint voices of Cole and a lady but then she could hear some louder voices elsewhere. She could hear Jefa’s voice, her father’s voice, Jerry’s voice, then her mother’s. Suddenly she could hear and see herself as a child and the other children she was kidnapped with sixteen years ago.
‘Bring his head’ someone shouted as she turned, reminding her that her job wasn’t completed until she presented his head as her trophy. She motioned towards where the sword was and picked it up. Then she went back to Marvin’s lifeless body and detached his head in few seconds.
She held it in palm, stretching it far away from her body as blood dropped to the floor from it. She looked around again for a second at all the Zonal Lords seated, then her eyes met with Vladimir. His eyes was full of expectations for her to do the last thing required to announce her victory before she came out to present her opponent’s head as a trophy. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she raised the head up in display. The bell rang to signify the final victory.
There was a loud chant and round of applause from the young upcoming assassins. Even though most of them could not tell who won the battle, it was their custom to chant whenever a winner emerged from the bloodbath. The Lords present also chanted, especially the males. Vladimir, the zonal Lord’s shout was the loudest amongst them all. He rose up to welcome her as she proceeded towards the gate of the cage, one of the Nefary servants unlocked it before she got there.
She stepped out of the cage and proceeded towards Vladimir, a servant stood beside Vladimir with a tray to collect the head. She placed the head in the tray and stood behind Vladimir’s table, staring up straight into his eyes and waiting for his commendation.
‘You truly deserved the nickname Tarasha, ‘ Vladimir praised in his rough Russian accent. ‘I’m sure the name would be bequeathed to you when you finally get to be under the supervision of Mother Tarasha and you’ll be crowned as one of the queens, I’m sure you’ll be the one to take over from her when she dies.’
‘She’s still too young, we can’t say that yet.’ another zonal Lord seated close to Vladimir countered.
Vladimir flashed a quick look at him and smiled. Every zonal Lord spoke well of the machines in his own zone and didn’t hide their envy when they see one doing well from another zone. He sat back on the seat and dismissed Tara. Tara’s Tent Lord walked up to her and led her out of the Hardness Hall.
‘She has passed her second test of dead emotions,’ another zonal Lord seated at the left end of the long table said to Vladimir. ‘When are you showing her to Mother Tarasha?’
Vladimir flashed a quick look at him, he looked surprised at his colleague’s question. ‘That would be killing her,’ Vladimir began in defense. ‘She’s not ready yet, she still has lots of training to do and tests to pass.’
‘Then why exactly have you named her the Mother’s name when you know she’s not worthy yet?’ the first zonal Lord who countered Vladimir joined in.
‘I didn’t name her by the mother’s name, I only said she deserved the nickname.’ Vladimir argued.
‘That alone is equal to treason against the Clan,’ the zonal Lord shot back.
‘I have not in anyway said anything that…’ Vladimir tried to defend himself but someone interrupted. Vladimir knew he was wrong but he wasn’t the only one guilty of the crime. Other Lords from time to time also boasts and compares their machines to the Mother and even sometimes compare the males to the God of the Clan. He knew it was clear that Tara was doing too well for her age and other Lords were not too happy about it.
‘These machines aren’t ours and we shouldn’t let them cause rifts between us, they all belong to god Nefary.’ a zonal Lord seated at the center of the table cut Vladimir short. ‘We still have more battles for today which won’t happen if we stay here and argue about that tiny insect,’ he added, referring to Tara as the tiny insect. ‘Let the next battle begin,’ he ordered.
Vladimir and the other Zonal Lord shot cold looks at each other before facing the battle cage. Vladimir knew the danger he was in if the Queen gets to hear that she was compared with an unworthy machine . The other Zonal Lord was envious because he wanted a machine from his zone to emerge as the next junior queen which will also lead to promotion for him to the position of the Sub regional Lord which increases his chances of becoming a King or God of the Clan later in future. The King of the Clan usually emerges from the regional Lords which is the position senior to the Sub Regional Lord in the Nefary hierarchy. The Zonal Lords are subject to a Sub Regional Lord while Sub Regional Lords are subjected to Regional Lords. Being only two Regions in Clan, they had only two Regional Lords. A new King emerges after the death of King by a war between the two Regions, involving every Lord under that Region except the Tent Lords. The Tent Lords, trainees and servants are excluded from the war. The winning Regional Lord emerges the new King after the death of the opponent Regional Lord and the regions are restructured.
Three months later
‘Tara, Tara…’ Omotara was asleep when she heard the gruff voice of her Tent Lord calling unto her. Sleepily, she rose from the bed and searched around the place for something with the aid of the very dim light provided, she found the short wrapper beside the girl who slept beside her and picked it up. She wrapped it around her waist to cover her loose undergarment as she proceeded towards the door.
She walked out of the tent to meet the Tent Lord waiting outside with two other men, all three of them were holding long wooden lamps lit up with burning fires at the edges.
‘You follow these men now, the Mother Queen needs your attention.’ the Tent Lord said to her in a trembling tone.
She stared at the men’s faces for a second and then at her Tent’s Lord, the look she got on his face made her turn back to the men immediately and step forward to them in obedience. They gestured for her to move forward while they followed behind with their lamps.
Tarasha continued without uttering a word, though she could sense that there was trouble in the air. At the same time, she had a feeling of excitement because the Mother Queen had called for her attention. Several stories have the girls been told about the Mother Queen and most of them admired and adored her even without seeing her yet. It became the dream of most of the girls to graduate into the stage where they would receive lessons from the Mother Queen herself. Now Tara was getting it at this midnight but for unknown reasons.
The sounds made by the insects, rodents and wild animals in the bushes did not scare the three as they walked through the tiny bush paths. A piece of wet leaf dropped on Tarasha’s chest as the cold breeze swept across the place heavily. She picked the green leaf from the top of her left brea$t where it stuck to and flung it away. She readjusted the straps of her bra which was the only thing covering her chest and for a moment fondled her Brë@šts in her bra. She was now fifteen and the twins were developing as it should be. She was proud of them as they had been taught that having great bosoms was a great asset to female assassins.
They walked for more than an hour before they got to their destination. Tara was already sick of the journey as she felt like a goat being led to slaughter. It wasn’t the first time she or other girls would be woken up at midnight but it was always for a defined reason and with a defined duration of time to complete an assignment.
They finally entered into a very gigantic building through a door which appeared to small for the mightiness of the building. Inside the place chilling, the place seemed empty and their footsteps could be heard echoing as they walked through a narrow passage.
After walking for another three minutes, they came across the first human being all through their journey in a small brightly lit room. The man collected the lamps from the two men who brought Tara and said something to them in a Russian language which Tara understood fairly. The man was telling them that the Queen was already expecting them.
Wh@tëver it was the Queen summoned her for, it must be something big, Tara thought to herself with a feeling of importance. She was still surprised that the Queen could be waiting for her at such an hour of the day.
One of the men knocked as they got in front of a tall wooden door. The door was opened from inside and he stepped it first, before calling in Tara and the other man. The Hall was brightly lit so Tara could see everything and everyone the way they were.
Tara needed no one to tell her who the Mother Queen was as she entered into the Hall. It wasn’t what she expected at all. The Mother Queen was black, a black American. She had thought the Mother Queen would be a Russian woman. The Mother Queen was however very beautiful, as beautiful as what had been described in the stories she had heard. Even though advanced in age, the Mother Queen still had a perfect slim body and beautiful eyes. She had no crown on her head as expected but was only differentiated from the other Queens which sat at her both sides by the colour of her dress. She was putting on a short sleeve golden top which stopped right after covering her Brë@šts and a long flowing white skirt which touched the floor from her seating position. All the Queens seated close to her also dressed the same way but theirs were red tops on black skirts. They all had beautiful but devilish looks just like the Mother Queen. There were very few men seated after the junior queens and Tarasha could recognize some of their faces; they were the Zonal Lords seated with Lord Vladimir few months ago at the Lover’s Bloodbath where she killed Marvin. Her eyes searched around the place for Lord Vladimir and she finally found him but he wasn’t seated like the others, he was kneeling on the floor, faced down and tied with chains on his hands and legs.
The queens and Lord who seemed to be discussing something previously stopped and turned to the door after one of the Lords called their attention to Tara’s entrance. As Tara’s eyes met with the Mother Queen’s, she shivered and felt blood rushed through all the veins and arteries in her body.
‘Is that the machine?’ the Mother Queen asked, rising up to her feet to have a good view of Tara.
‘Yes, it is.’ one of the men seated replied.
Lord Vladimir raised his head at that point in time and his eyes met with Tara’s as she proceeded slowly forward following the direction of the man who ushered her in. Lord Vladimir kept an expressionless face, ready for what was about to befall him.
‘Come closer,’ the Queen said, mentioning her words slowly in a rather pleasant voice. ‘Stop,’ she ordered Tara when the latter was standing at the straight position to hers though they were still both far away. ‘She’s African,’ the Queen noted and looked at the men’s face for confirmation.
‘Yes my Queen,’ a Lord answered, bowing his head slightly.
The Mother Queen sat back on her seat and crossed her legs. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked in a calm voice which sounded very harmless to Tara.
‘Omotara, Omotara Danjuma.’ Tara mentioned in full.
The Queen turned to look at Lord Vladimir, ‘Sounds like you didn’t lie about that,’ she said before returning her gaze to Tara’s face. ‘I hear they call you Tarasha, how did you get that name?’ the Queen asked.
Tara glanced at Vladimir’s face and he turned away immediately.
‘You don’t lie to the Queen,’ Tara heard the Queen say as she turned back to her.
‘He calls me Tarasha,’ she replied, looking towards Vladimir.
‘When did he start?’
Tara turned again to look at Lord Vladimir. She turned back to the Queen with a narrow look, ‘He started on the first day he slept with me and every time after that he screams the name during the act,’ she stated and glanced at her Zonal Lord again.
‘Oh!’ the Queen smiled. ‘Did he tell you anything about that name?’
‘He did,’ Tarasha answered briefly. The look on the Queen’s face suggested she needed more explanation so she continued. ‘He said anyone he sleeps with gets glorified and ends up being queens in the clans.’
‘Did he also claim to have slept with all the queens in the clan?’
‘Yes, and his favorite was the Mother Queen.’ Tara answered.
The Queen’s face turned scary immediately and she turned to Vladimir who did not raise his head. ‘He disrespects the Queen,’ she said slowly. Then she turned towards the left and made a signal to a man there. The man stepped forward with a sword and submitted it to the Queen.
The Queen rose and motioned Tara forward, she handed the sword to the teenager and sat back. ‘Get me his head,’ she said and crossed her leg again.
Without waisting time, Tara took out the sword and proceeded to Lord Vladimir. The man had already raised up his head to make the job easier for her. The sword slid through his neck and his head fell off to one side, the body following slowly after.
Tara turned back to face the Queen as she turned the sword down to allow the blood drip from it.
‘I still think he trained you well,’ the Queen commented, looking straight into the teenager’s eyes. ‘I’m Mother Tarasha, the highest Queen in the Nefary Clan, highest Assassin in the Land second only to Lord Nefary. The Second of the Order of Tarasha, the greatest Queen Assassins on the face of the earth. Nobody takes the name Tarasha except she proves worthy and be crowned first. And she who answers the name unworthily is worthy of death.’ she paused for a moment and licked her lower lip briefly. ‘And here is my judgement, by morrow, you would be led to death by one of the Queens as she deems fit.’
With that, Tara was yanked away by two strong hands and led out of the hall. She found herself thrown onto the cold floor of a dark room where she spent the rest of the night.
She slept peacefully through out the night instead of panicking like someone who had just been given a death sentence. The room was fairly bright when she woke up. She could tell it was dawn already and could hear footsteps outside the room she was in. She sat up and looked around, the place was empty. The old walls were designed with scary paintings of human skulls, skeletons and dangerous weapons. Tara wondered how she had been able to sleep there without having nightmares.
She looked towards the door and noticed it wasn’t locked. She was surprised at that. She was supposed to be a convicted person already sentenced to death and to be executed that day, so it felt odd that they didn’t lock the door to prevent her from trying to escape.
She sat still on the floor, thinking about the Nefary Clan and how she was going to miss the girls. Even though they had been warned severally against it, the girls still grew attached to each other. She thought about what death would feel like, will she be translated into another realm of life like she had been made to believe before been brought to the Nefary Clan or was death just the end and nothing else after? She couldn’t tell, only after she died will she find the answer to her questions.
She rose up and proceeded towards the door. She opened it slowly, trying not to make any sound and peeped out. The corridor was empty but she could hear footsteps approaching again, this time it sounded like the pointed part of a lady’s heels. She closed back the door lightly and hid behind it trying to see through the tiny line between the door and the frame.
A knock sounded on the door and she shifted back shakily, afraid that she had been discovered. ‘Do not waste my time any longer, come out and follow me now,’ a lady’s voice sounded at the door and soon the footsteps began to fade away in the other direction. She opened the door and stepped out into the corridor to be sure she was the one being talked to. Then she saw a tall lady corporately dressed in the Englishman’s style, walking towards the exit at the left side of the corridor. ‘Follow me,’ the lady turned sharply and snapped. Tara hurried after her immediately.
After two minutes walk, she was led into another section of the building which looked modern compared to the other parts. It had the floors expensively tiled and the walls neatly painted and decorated. The doors and windows were made of transparent sliding glasses and they opened automatically as they got to them. The atmosphere smelt nice and the whole place was fully air conditioned. The last time Tara entered into that kind of environment was nine years ago in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos in Nigeria. She found it hard to believe that somewhere like that existed in the Nefary Clan’s city.
Tarasha took a look at herself and discovered that she was looking too odd for such an environment. The lady who was leading her was putting on a black trouser suit and had her hair neatly plaited. Tara could also perceive the strong scent of her perfume as they walked on.
They entered into a place which was neatly arranged as a living room and seated on one of the sofas was another smartly dressed lady, she rose up immediately she saw them enter and proceeded towards Tara’s guide with an Android phone. Tara couldn’t but open her mouth in surprise, that was her first time of seeing a mobile phone after several years.
‘Marie Wayne speaking,’ Tara’s guide said into the phone she collected from the other lady. She left Tara standing and sank into one of the sofas comfortably, crossing her legs.
Tara was amazed as she beheld the beauty of the Lady sitting before her. She recognized her to be one of the junior queens she saw sitting with the mother Queen at midnight but her beauty then could not be compared to what could be seen now. She did not just look like a goddess in human skin but also spoke and acted like one.
‘He’ll be dead before nine o’clock tonight,’ she said into the phone before hanging up. She uncrossed her legs and then looked up at the lady they met in the living room, ‘Here’s the girl, go dress her up.’ she said.
The other lady nodded courteously and turned, motioning Tara to follow her.
‘Rulian, what’s up man?’ Tara could hear the woman sitting speaking to someone else on phone. ‘C’mon you dog, It’s Tarasha.’ Omotara tried to listen even as she followed the lady leading her out of the living room. She wondered why the queen in the living room was referring to herself as Tarasha when it was supposed to be the name for the Mother Queen.
‘She’s not more than sixteen years old, I want the three of you to bang her mercilessly until she bleeds to death.’
Omotara stopped in shock as she heard those last words, wondering if she was the one being talked about. Fear gripped her mind for the first time since she heard her death sentence, she wasn’t afraid to die but dying the way the junior Queen had chosen for her was definitely not going to be an easy experience.
Omotara stopped in shock as she heard those last words, wondering if she was the one being talked about. Fear gripped her mind for the first time since she heard her death sentence, she wasn’t afraid to die but dying the way the junior Queen had chosen for her was definitely not going to be an easy experience.
Two hours later
For Omotara, it was beautiful again to see the world outside of the Nefary City again. This place didn’t look like Nigeria but the air still smelt freedom and life not like the torture and death atmosphere that was in the Nefary City. She totally forgot about her predicament as she saw the foreigners, or rather the citizens; as she was the foreigner in their land, she saw new cars of unique designs and styles, houses and high rise buildings she had never seen before. The pleasant journey came to an end after they got to a high-rise building which had a bold inscription written in Russian language. The outer walls of the building didn’t look as attractive as the previous ones she had seen on their way, it looked like an abandoned old building. They waited in the car for few minutes after they stopped and only stepped out after the queen received a call. She said some few words to the driver of the car before they proceeded towards the building. Tara watched as the car was driven away while the queen knocked the gate of the building.
Omotara felt very uneasy in her short gown as she trudged after the queen who led her through the big overcrowded hall. She kept forcing the elastic material of the gown down to her knees as it rolled up past halfway her thigh when she walked. Ninety five percent of the people in the hall were men, “big men” and they were doing heavy works, carrying and arranging heavy metals. Their sizes made Tara tremble anytime one stopped his work to look at her and they didn’t just look at her, they did lustfully. As they walked on, she could feel the eyes of the men piercing through her dress.
The junior Queen had also changed her dress into a more casual one. She had a pair of shredded black jean on a blue top and a black sports boot. She had also changed her makeup and arranged her hair in a new style. Omotara wondered why they didn’t dress her the same way.
‘…’ the queen spoke the Russian language to a short man they met at the exit of the hall. Omotara understood she had asked the man where his boss was.
The man pointed backwards, signifying that his boss was inside, he moved away from the road and allowed them pass. His eyes followed omotara as the teenager followed after the fast walking Tarasha, he sniffed in after they walked out of his sight and turned away.
They got to a block of brown walls, the door had an inscription at the wall above which read “Mad house” in English. The queen pushed the door open and entered, omotara walked in after and allowed her close the door. They were welcomed by an unpleasant smell which almost made omotara choke, the queen seemed not to be disturbed by the smell. The room which had two open windows at the left and right sides was empty except for two dusty benches close to the window at each side. There was another door directly opposite the door they had come in through, it was opened and inside it was dark. No one could be seen inside but a thin line of smoke could be seen proceeding out of the place. Omotara stood behind the queen who also stood like she was waiting for someone.
Few seconds later, a voice was heard from inside the dark room. Then a man came into view from inside the dark room, he could be seen making a call and smoking a pipe whose smoke was the source for the disgusting odour.
‘She’s here,’ the man said to someone else in the room after dropping his call, then he came out of the room to meet them. ‘Tarasha,’ he called as he proceeded towards them. He revealed his brown stained teeth. From his colour and looks, one could tell he was a native of the land. His face looked older than his body, his height was more than every other man they had seen along the way but he was slender and he walked like one who was been controlled by the wind. His dreaded hair was packed in a head warmer. He had on a faded black shirt and a sagging black pants. ‘We’ve been expecting you,’ he said in his thick Russian accent as he offered his guest a handshake.
‘Where’s Tom?’ the Queen asked with a disgusting look on her face, ignoring his offer to shake her hand.
‘Tom ain’t anywhere near here baby, you’re supposed to relate with us here.’ he said and put the pipe in his mouth to take another drag. He closed his eyes briefly after taking in the drag and his gaze landed on Omotara as he opened them. ‘Oh!’ he smiled revealing his stained teeth again. ‘Pretty young chick,’ he said like an intoxicated person, sizing her up with his eyes. Omotara hid her body and face from the man behind the Queen.
The queen turned back to look at her and their eyes met for the first time all through the journey. The queen had not said anything to her after the last thing she said before they got into the car for the journey which was ‘you follow me everywhere I go without questions’. Since then, she had not said anything else neither did she take any look at her when they both sat at the backseat of the car or act as if the teenager even existed. Omotara also had been obedient and cooperating, she followed everywhere she went without thinking about escaping or asking questions. She had heard about how dangerous queens were when their instructions were disobeyed and also seen an example in the case of Vladimir.
The queen’s eyes pierced through Omotara’s young innocent eyes but guilty assassin’s. She saw a young vulnerable girl whom she was leading to her death hiding behind her for protection instead of running away from her.
‘Tarasha,’ another man appeared from inside the dark room. He was also a native, he was shorter and looked neater than the first man. He was heavily built like most of the men they had come in contact with before entering the room. The first man left the Queen’s front with his pipe, giving way for his partner to talk with her.
‘Hey! I want to see Tom,’ she said to him as he approached them.
‘You have to see me first,’ the man. He took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his front pocket, he put a stick in his mouth and offered his guest one. She gently refused and waited for him to light his before they continued their conversation.
‘Is this the girl?’ the man asked, his eyes finding Omotara behind the queen. Omotara hid back herself behind the lady again.
The queen flashed another look at her and then turned back to the man. ‘Yes, she is.’ she replied.
Omotara’s heart skipped a beat and she closed her eyes in fear; maybe that was the man the queen spoke to on phone earlier, she thought.
‘She looks like a baby,’ the man commented, taking another drag of his cigarette. ‘Can I see her very well?’
The queen turned back and made a gesture with her eyes for Omotara to step forward. The young girl stepped forward shakily and stood beside the queen, facing down as she pulled her gown down to her knees again.
‘Look up young woman,’ the man shot in a cold voice, blowing out smoke into the air.
Omotara looked up fearfully and his eyes met with hers. He took a good look at her for some seconds and then took a drag after he was satisfied with looking.
‘She looks too good and useful, why do you want to waste her?’ he asked, turning to the queen.
‘She has a death sentence already,’ the queen replied.
‘Who dare sentence this pretty girl to death?’ he asked, taking another look at Omotara.
‘That is not my business, I carry out what my clients asks me to do.’ the queen replied. Omotara’s body shivered all through and she faced down again.
‘But what about we strike a deal,’ the man said with a tempting narrow look at the queen. ‘You hand her over to me and I’ll pay you handsomely,’ he offered.
‘What do you want her for?’ she asked him, raising a brow.
‘That shouldn’t matter to you, I’ll pay for her.’
‘It matters, my client shouldn’t see her anymore.’
‘Okay,’ he paused and cleared his throat. ‘Your client should not see her again truly since he sentenced her to death already,’ he paused again to take another look at Omotara. ‘She looks good, better than most of the girls you supply us, a lot of men would pay a lot to get her for just a night.’
‘Oh!’ the queen exclaimed in surprise. ‘You use girls of this age for night stands?’
‘Not always, but on rare cases like this, we do.’
The queen frowned and shook her head. ‘The girl is not fully developed yet, what kind of men would want her instead of the mature ones you have?’
The man flashed her a funny look and chuckled, his smile broadened and developed into a loud laughter. ‘Why don’t you just release her to me first? How much will you do that for?’
‘Sorry, no deal. We go by the previous instruction,’ the queen refused.
‘Okay, if you say so.’ the man flashed another quick look at Omotara and shrugged. ‘Let’s go in to talk,’ he said and turned back towards the dark room.
‘Wait for me there,’ the queen said to Omotara, pointing to the dusty bench at the left before entering the room with the man.
Omotara moved to the bench but remained standing instead of sitting. Running away began to look like an option to her. She wondered if the queen considered her a moron or dummy for leaving her alone there and expecting her to wait for her death. She listened carefully to note if they had begun their discussion inside already, she could hear them speaking in soft tones. She looked at the door briefly, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then with determination in her mind, she walked gently to the door and stepped outside.
She met with three men – the tall Russian who first addressed the queen and two of the men they had come across in the working hall- outside the door whose gazes were placed on her as she stepped out. She decided to ignore their looks and keep on going but as she took two steps further, she felt a surge like an electric shock all through her body. It was so much that it weakened her and she fell to the ground. The men continued to stare at her without moving an inch.
The queen appeared outside the place with the man she was discussing with thirty seconds later and pulled Omotara up.
‘Hahaha! She was trying to escape,’ the man who followed the queen laughed as he folded his arms and watched.
‘Clean up your body,’ the queen said as she dragged Omotara back into the place and put her on the bench before going back into the dark room with the man.
The weakness in Omotara’s body had seized but she couldn’t still understand what happened. She rose up to clean the dusts on her cloth and at the same time tried to search for what was placed on her body but found nothing.
She waited ten minutes more without any other trial to escape. The queen and the man came out after ten minutes and proceeded towards the door, Omotara followed immediately she got the signal from the queen.
They still met the three men outside and the man who discussed with the queen instructed them to follow as he led the queen and Omotara to another section of the building.
After walking for two minutes, they got to a smaller working hall where they only met three men sitting idly. The man leading them whispered something to the queen, she turned back and looked at Omotara as the man turned to the three others to give them a signal.
‘You follow them,’ the queen said, referring to the three other men. Omotara glanced at the three men and then glanced back at the Queen’s face with a pitiable look, the queen looked away. Omotara turned back to face the three men who stood aside waiting for her. A hand touched her shoulder as she took a step, she turned back and her eyes met with the Queen’s. She felt a cold metal inserted under her cloth on her shoulder. The queen released her and turned away with the other man who led her on a different way while Omotara followed the three men.
They led her into a small well ventilated empty room. A fan hung in the ceiling was rotating and blowing with so much noise. The men shut the door.
‘You know what you supposed to do, okay?’ the tall slender fellow spoke, adjusting his head warmer.
Omotara stood still, staring at him without giving a reply.
‘You dumb?’ he glared at her as he began to take off his belt.
She still didn’t give a reply.
‘Tear off her garments for me,’ the slender man said to the other two.
‘Please wait,’ Omotara raised her hand to stop the two men proceeding towards her. ‘I’ll take them off myself,’ she said, starring with taking off her shoes.
‘Better,’ the slender man gave an evil smile. ‘But I still prefer take them off myself,’ he said and proceeded towards her, the two men cleared the way.
Tara closed her eyes as she waited for him. He stopped in front of her and knelt down. Then he began to run his hands into her gown from below. Omotara shivered as her his fingers made its way on her thighs slowly to her pant.
His fingers touched her pants and he began to pull it down gently, looking at her face and enjoying his evil act. He pulled the pant down to the ankle level and his fingers began to find it’s way back up.
‘We’re not supposed to take it gently with her,’ one of the men corrected him.
He paused and hissed at the distraction, he glared back back at the man. ‘Its the first ride, I like to enjoy it. You can go brutal at your turn,’ he said and turned back to Omotara. Her eyes was opened already but expressionless, her eyes moved around his body, searching for nothing in particular. ‘I like to enjoy fresh blood when I see one,’ the man said with a devilish smile, looking straight into Tara’s eyes as his fingers found it’s way back up under the gown. His thumb touched her private and she twitched, she closed her eyes briefly and when it opened, it did with a different colour but the man was too busy to notice. He began to use his teeth to drag up her gown as his hands found it’s way to her little backside and he squeezed it.
Tara looked up and took in a deep breath. She glanced at the two men watching and waiting. It wasn’t her first or second time of getting molested, but since this was going to be to her death, she wasn’t going to allow them have it easy.
Her fingers found it’s way to the short knife the queen had placed under her cloth and before the slender man knew it, the knife had gotten into his shoulder.
He screamed as he raised up his head, she dealt him a kick on his jaw with her knee and he fell back. She quickly followed up with the knife into the man’s belly but was only able to make a stab as the two other men had come to the rescue of the slender man immediately.
One of the men grabbed her by the shoulders and flung her against the wall behind. She landed on the floor heavily but she was able to struggle to get up and pull up her pant which was already out on one leg. The men wasted time to move the injured man aside.
One of the men proceeded towards after they carried the slender one to the opposite edge. She held her knife – the only weapon she had against them- up, waiting for him. He stopped before getting to her on seeing her readiness to stab him. He looked at her narrowly and began to move closer tactically.
He rushed towards her all of a sudden and tried to grab her arm but she bent down, dodging him as she stabbed his thigh. She turned to his back and stabbed him again on the waist. She was about to make a third stab on his other thigh when the third man’s strong hands grabbed her from behind and turned her towards himself. He landed her a heavy blow which made her stagger backwards. He followed her and grabbed the hand in which she had the knife, he tried to take it from her but she held it tight in her palm not ready to release it.
He sent her another blow on the face and she fell to the ground, the knife also fell off.
He rushed towards her all of a sudden and tried to grab her arm but she bent down, dodging him as she stabbed his thigh. She turned to his back and stabbed him again on the waist. She was about to make a third stab on his other thigh when the third man’s strong hands grabbed her from behind and turned her towards himself. He landed her a heavy blow which made her stagger backwards. He followed her and grabbed the hand in which she had the knife, he tried to take it from her but she held it tight in her palm, not ready to release it.
He sent her another blow on the face and she fell to the ground, the knife also fell off. Then he hurried towards her and held her two hands together in his right hand, he searched her body to check if she had more weapons on her. He pinned her hands to the ground with his after confirming that there was nothing else on her body, then he tried to drag up her gown but the struggles with her legs did not allow him succeed. He took a quick look backwards to call for support from the other injured men. The slender one who was already wounded on his shoulder and stomach was already moving towards them, he covered his bleeding belly with a palm.
‘Move!’ he said as he grabbed Omotara’s hands which was previously pinned to the floor and kept it in position with his right hand. He began to unbuckle his trousers. ‘Hold her legs for me,’ he ordered the hefty man who obeyed immediately. The slender man was still desperate to have his way with her before anyone else.
Omotara’s legs were held firmly and she could not make any more struggle except to shout which she began to do immediately, but the men looked less concerned about it , it appeared that they were confident that no one was going to respond to her no matter how loud she shouted.
Her gown was torn from the top instead of being pulled up from below. The man started for her little Brë@šts first and his fingers found its way to the straps of her bra. He was about to cut off the straps when a kick from outside sent the door of the room down to the floor.
It was the junior queen who entered, she was with a gun in her left hand and a wooden plank in her right. She started first with the third man who was injured on the thigh and waist. The plank landed on his head and he who was already standing up landed back on the floor with a thud. The two other men were distracted and surprised at Tarasha’s act but she didn’t stop, she moved closer to them and hit the head of the slender one with the wood before sending in a bullet to his back. The other one got on his knees immediately and raised his two hands in the air to plead for mercy.
Tarasha (the queen) threw down the wood and unÇOçked her gun, she put the gun into her pocket hurriedly. She took a glance at Omotara and the narrowed her gaze at the girl who was already on her feet with her shredded clothes on her body. She turned her face back to the third man who still had his knees on the ground and his hands in the air, ‘Tell Tom I’ll come for him.’ she said to the man and turned back to Omotara. ‘Let’s go,’ she stated briefly and turned, she proceeded towards the door without wasting time. She stopped at the entrance and turned when she noticed that the teenager wasn’t following her, she narrowed her look at the girl and noticed the fear in her eyes. ‘Come, you’ve scaled past death.’ she said with a reassuring tone and stretched her palms forth widely to receive the girl.
Omotara moved with slow steps towards the queen still trying to cover her body with her torn clothes. She placed her palm in the opened palm of the queen and the queen squeezed her hand softly and gave a smile. She took off the torn clothes from the teenager’s body, leaving only the bra and pant.
‘Let’s go,’ she said as she held Omotara’s palm in hers and began to lead her away hurriedly.
The fear in Omotara’s heart disappeared as she followed the queen. She placed her gaze on the queen’s face and then searched around her body, she noticed the queen now had a very small carton in her back pocket, she concluded in her mind that the carton was what the queen took from the man who she went away with while sending her to be molested by the three men. It wasn’t Omotara’s first time of seeing girls being sentenced to death in that same manner in the Nefary City or being punished by having to go several rounds with a sëx starved Lord, she had once being a victim of the latter. She knew the pain in it and couldn’t imagine how it would be when it was a sentence to death.
She ignored the coldness of the ground against her bare feet as they hurried past the large main walking hall, she also ignored the men’s stare which was much more now that she was only on pant and bra.
____________________
**Present**
The picture of the junior queen slowly faded off her mind and was immediately replaced by hers. She saw herself in that building where she had gone to rescue Cole and Aisha, she could hear the scream of the girl clearly again. She saw herself hurry through the corridor and into the room where the cultist was trying to molest Stephanie. How she rescued Stephanie played in her mind again just like the junior queen rescued her from the men, then she remembered how she looked at the queen again without trust in her eyes, it was the same way Stephanie looked at her several years after.
A sharp pain in her bum brought her out of the realm of memories. Her eyes opened and she found herself laying on her side in a bed. Her vision was still blur at that moment but she noticed two men standing and discussing something some metres in front of her. She turned back to look at the face of the lady who had just taken the syringe needle out of her bum.
‘You have to stay calm and let me attend to you,’ the nurse said to her with a frown. ‘Thank God you’re awake now, I’ve given you drugs to calm you but you wouldn’t just stay calm, maybe you can control yourself now that you can hear me.’
‘Is she awake?’ Tarasha heard a male’s voice ask, it sounded so much like Henry’s. She turned to look at the person and confirmed he was the one. There was joy in her heart on seeing him alive again and she also still alive. She still remembered how she was captured but had totally forgotten how she was rescued.
‘Yes, she is.’ the nurse who had walked away with a tray replied in a muffled voice.
Tarasha noticed she still had only her briefs on but a towel was now wrapped around her body. She tried to sit up as she saw Henry walking excitedly towards her but she only made a groan and couldn’t muster enough strength to sit.
‘Omotara, you’re awake.’ Henry said, beaming with smiles as he took her palms in his. ‘I’ve been so worried about you.’
Tarasha tried to put on a smile but she couldn’t tell if what she did was a smile or a frown., she was too weak to even control the movement of her facial muscles.
‘It’s not time for that,’ the nurse warned as she walked back to the bed with the tray in her hands. Two fresh ampoules, a syringe, a roll of bandage, two small scissors of different sizes and a nylon of cotton wool were in the tray.
Henry stepped back some distance from the bed and folded his arms as he watched with a smiling face, Cole stood behind him with his arms also folded but with an expressionless face.
Tarasha looked away from their faces to the surrounding, she felt a bit alarmed as she observed that they were in the medical lab in her facility.
‘Please lay down properly,’ the nurse said to Tarasha.
–15 minutes later —
‘For how long will Omotara keep sleeping? ‘ Henry asked aloud as he and Cole walked down a corridor.
‘You’re not supposed to direct that question to me,’ Cole replied blankly. ‘Tomi is doing all to make her sleep so that the medications can work, you should be glad she fell asleep again.’
‘Well, I’m just anxious to see her well again.’ Henry said.
They continued until they got to the control room. Henry opened the door and allowed Cole walk in first before closing the door. Cole proceeded straight to the control system, he took off his shirt and stared a minute at the already dressed wound on his back before sitting.
‘I just have this feeling that someone is coming after us right now,’ Cole said as he tapped the space bar on the keyboard and the desktop screen came on.
Henry glanced at his face with a worried look, ‘Who do you think is after us? That guy Rex?’
‘I don’t know; I think Rex finished his work after delivering the boss to the Vice President and Inspector General.’ Cole answered as he began to type on the keyboard.
‘What if he works for them full time?’
‘I don’t think he’s a kind of assassin that’ll work full time for anyone, he works on contract basis just like Tarasha. ‘ Cole said.
Henry heaved a deep sigh and stared at the ground thoughtfully for some seconds, he raised his head up to meet Cole staring at him.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Cole asked.
Henry took another deep breath and licked his lower lip briefly, ‘I just hope after recovering now, Omotara would make the decision to stop this assassination job.’
Cole chuckled mockingly, ‘Why should she make such a stupid decision?’ he asked, staring at Henry like he was looking at a kid.
‘What’s stupid about it?’ Henry countered with a serious look on his face. ‘I think it’s the wise thing to do, she almost got killed by those evil men, don’t you think it’s better for her, for all of us to just seek a peaceful life henceforth.’
Cole glanced at his face and then laughed. ‘Do you think we can ever live a peaceful life? Those men, do you think they’ll ever stop trying to kill the boss?’
‘I don’t know about them or what they’ll do but we could just run off to somewhere they can’t find us and start a new life there,’ Henry said.
A phone on the table rang and distracted them. Both stared at the phone for a while and then glanced at each other. It was Tarasha’s phone ringing. It stopped ringing and Cole picked it up to check the caller’s ID. The phone began to ring again, the caller was Chief Gab. Cole answered the call and placed it on his ear without speaking.
‘What’s the matter with you Tarasha?’ I’ve been waiting here for you since, you refused to answer my several calls or even send a message to explain yourself.’ the man complained.
Cole took the phone off his ear, he minimized the dialer and rolled down the notification bar to confirm the man’s claim to have called severally. He placed the phone back to his ear after he saw seven missed calls in the notification, the calls must have been when they left the control room to check on Tarasha.
‘Tarasha…’ the man was saying as he didn’t get any response.
‘I’m sorry Chief, the boss is not in position to speak with you now.’ Cole spoke.
‘Who… who are you?’ Chief Gab stammered.
‘She’s my boss, I’ll tell her about your call as soon as she’s able to attend to it.’
‘Hey! Tell her I’m expecting her here right now,’ the man said angrily.
‘I will do that when I’m able to…’
‘Please get to her wherever she is right away and deliver my message,’ the man slammed.
‘I’m sorry she can’t get your message right now, but I’ll deliver it as soon as possible.’
‘You must be joking right, you don’t know who I am.’ Chief Gab said in a threatening tone.
‘I know who you are but there’s nothing I can do right now,’ Cole replied.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, just tell her I give her thirty minutes to get here.’ he said and ended the call.
Cole shrugged and hissed as he dropped the phone on the table. He turned back to the system and continued with his work but Henry who was eager to get the details of the call grabbed his hand on the mouse.
‘Who was that?’ he asked in soft tones.
‘That’s Chief, the man who Tarasha works for.’ Cole replied without stopping his work.
‘What does he want?’
‘He wants to speak with her right away, I think she scheduled a meeting with him today.’
‘Oh! Why can’t you tell him what has happened, maybe he could help us to get somewhere safer.’
‘No, I can’t…’ Cole began but stopped briefly to think. ‘I can’t, not right now.’ he said, shaking his head.
_____
Dave typed in the address of the house again into the dialog box, he clicked ‘SEND’ and waited as it began to process. He looked out through the window to the gate again and the buildings nearby. He had been there for close to two hours and had not seen anyone going in or coming out of the place. He made enquires from the neighbors around and learnt that the place was occupied by a group of young people whom no one in the street knew anything about, they only see their cars drive in and out of the place. The people also told Dave that a car had entered into the place that day and left again but had not been seen entering there again after that. He also learnt that a man and a lady was seen hours ago walking into the place. All his efforts to confirm what the neighbours said proved abortive as he couldn’t retrieve from the NSCC Database any footage recorded at the time he calculated. The footages available were the ones recorded the last night and fifteen minutes before he got there. It only meant two things; either the cameras were made to stop work between that time or someone who had access to the database deleted the footages. The latter had a higher possibility of occuring.
He tapped the power button of his tablet device and the screen came on again. The processing had ended and the details he requested for were gradually loading. On the first page of the tab that popped up showed the picture of the gate of the building he was staring at, just the same way it was in real life. He scrolled to the next page and a half view of the gate and fence was shown together with the neighboring building at the left, he scrolled to the third and the other half of the gate was shown. On the fourth to the ninth page were shown different views of the top plan and roof of the building behind the fence. Dave paused to check the loading progress of the window and saw it as ninety seven percent, the displayed tab already had a hundred and twenty one pages. Dave knew at one that there was something fishy about the facility. There was no way a hundred and twenty one pages of a private owned facility would be docvmented in the Ministry of Housing database from which he was checking. Even government owned facilities do not occupy more than thirty pages in their docvmentation. He knew someone must have hacked into the system and made a dummy docvmentation or tampered with the original.
He scrolled back to the top and searched for the ‘find’ icon at the top bar of the app. He clicked on the icon and the keyboard popped up, he typed in the word ‘owner’ and searched. Only one result was found in the docvment, he clicked the result to navigate to the page where it was. It was the second to the last page of the docvment. The details he needed read below;
‘ Owner Of Facility : Unknown
Type of Facility : Residential
Description : Unknown
Signed by: Amodu Shehu
Minister of Housing ‘
The details confirmed to him that the docvmentation was not done by the Ministry of Housing, there was no way they would docvment a facility with an unknown owner.
He was sure Samantha Osman was the owner of the facility but how to get inside the place was his challenge. He needed to find a way to get in without raising suspicion. It wasn’t something he could rush into, it needed more planning. He pushed the start button on his car and drove off, he was going to return after planning well.
______
‘I saw this car at that gate where you came out carrying her on your shoulder,’ Henry said with his voice full of conviction as he and Cole both stared at the screen of the computer. Agent Dave’s car was seen in the video driving down the road away from their building, Cole switched the cameras in view to keep monitoring the car as it sped off.
‘I didn’t notice anything then,’ Cole replied him. ‘But we have to see where he’s heading for.’
‘Do you think it can be Rex?’ Henry asked in a shaky voice.
Cole smiled as he could sense the fear in Henry’s voice, ‘I don’t think so, if the car was really staying there for us, it must be that guy that helped me and later shot the tracker into my back.’
‘But don’t you think that unknown helper could be Rex?’
‘No, he can’t be Rex. The Inspector General was waiting for him to come and pick Tarasha and he couldn’t have gone against them after working so hard to make things work for them.’
‘So then who can that guy be and why did he help us?’
‘I can’t say,’ Cole said. He turned to look at the other computer systems on the table, ‘I think you should boot another computer and let’s check with that how long that car has been outside.’
‘Okay,’ Henry got up and searched around with his eyes for the computer that would be convenient for him to use.
_______
–Thirty five minutes later–
** The NIS Underground Office**
Dave hurried down the stairs into the corridor, the walls by the side and the doors were made of transparent glasses, that made it possible for him to see the other NIS officials as they worked in their offices which was usually shared by four to six people. He waved at some people and greeted some verbally as he walked to the exit, the place was now busy with activities unlike earlier in the day when he was there with Dan and Lizzy.
He almost collided into Lizzy as he exited the corridor into another block. ‘Hey… Easy!’ Lizzy cautioned, staring at him like he had just fallen from the sky.
‘Lizzy,’ Dave tried to put on a smile. ‘I was coming to meet you.’
‘I know, I was waiting for you.’
‘Then let’s go straight away,’ Dave said and Lizzy turned with him. Both of them began to walk to the dressing room.
‘What happened to all I did this morning?’ Lizzy asked as they walked on.
‘What’s that?’ Dave asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about. He stared at her for a while and noticed that she had changed into something different from what she had on that morning. She was now properly dressed in a corporate outfit since it was time for the office job unlike the cleavage and thighs revealing outfit she wore before.
‘I dressed you up with a bandage on your head and one on your hand, what happened to them?’
‘Well, it’s a long story.’ Dave said and paused as they got to the door of the dressing room. She slid in a card and the door gave way. ‘I’ don’t have much time to explain right now.’
‘So you mean you have a long story to tell already, it’s not up to ten hours yet.’ she said as she locked the door.
‘Let’s just forget that now, I want you to fix something different for me now.’ David said.
‘And what difference do you want?’ she asked as she took off the line the piece of cloth to be hung down his neck to cover his chest.
‘I want something removable and durable,’ he replied.
‘You must be joking if you believe you’re going to get that within the same period of period we did the morning dress.’
‘When can I get it then?’
‘You can’t even get it today, it can only be tomorrow evening or the day after tomorrow.’ she said, facing the mirror and rubbing a spot on her face.
‘What?’ David shone his eyes. His eyes met with Lizzy’s in the mirror.
‘Yea, you can however order for a ready made one if you need it urgently.’
‘Come on Lizzy, just help me do this.’ he pleaded.
‘I’m trying to help you, you know I also have my work to do. It can only be ready by that time, I’m telling the truth.’
‘Okay then, let’s have you repeat something quick like the one you did this morning but it should be totally different. Maybe I have to take off my shirt, so you’ll fix the wound around my belly instead.’
‘Yes of course, you dare not put the bandage on your head anymore,’ Lizzy began, she turned and rested her bum on the drawer, she folded her arms and looked directly into his eyes. ‘The whole country is already on the lookout for the man with the bandage on his head who attacked and killed several officers this morning and also left the Inspector General seriously wounded.’
Lizzy’s word hit Dave hard. It meant that the news of what happened that morning was all over the city already and he was seen by somebody who reported. Lizzy was sure he was the one.
Dave stared hard at her with his eyes widely open in shock and she stared back without blinking, confident that her allegations against him were accurate.
‘Where did you get that from?’ Dave finally found his voice.
‘It’s all over the news baby, everyone now knows that the Inspector General was shot by someone who to me matched your description,’ she replied.
‘Well, I don’t think I have to lie to you about my involvement but I’m quite sure you should know that the media would never report the accurate information and that’s because they don’t get it from honest sources but from the police who will distort it to their favour.’ Dave continued, looking intently into her eyes. She placed her legs over each other and folded her arms with her bum still resting against the drawer as she listened . ‘What did you hear on the news?’
‘That the Inspector General and other police officers were injured when they went for an early morning raid at a suspicious building.’ she answered.
Dave let out a deep breath and blinked. ‘I don’t know about the trueness of that but I didn’t kill any police man,’ Dave lied. ‘The truth is I was there this morning for issues relating to my case but…’ Dave hissed, he seemed to have lost words to explain himself.
‘We’re both NIS agents, don’t lie to me Dave.’ she said staring straight into his eyes. He looked away but she turned his face back to herself.
‘Lizzy, it’s a complicated and everything is not just the way it appears.”
‘Then how is it? You killed police officers Dave, that was uncalled for.’ She said as she got to her feet and began to walk around. ‘No matter the urgency in the case, we are always urged to avoid killing innocent people but you didn’t just kill innocent people, you killed other security officials who might just be on the same case with you. You’ve turned yourself against the government and the citizens.’
‘Hey! Please lower your voice Lizzy,’ Dave sprung up from the chair and turned to Lizzy who was still pacing around. ‘Someone might be listening to us.’
‘Someone might be listening to us?’ Lizzy stopped and stared at him with an eyebrow raised and her hands on her waist. ‘Do you know how many people would soon get to know that you were the man the news reported.’
‘No one will know,’ Dave tried to speak confidently, but his voice betrayed him. ‘You’re the only one that knows I was on bandage this morning.’
‘Oh!’ she shook her head and laughed. ‘What’s wrong with you Dave?’
Dave paused to ponder on her question. He faced down and drew in a deep breath. Was something really wrong with him, he thought in his mind. That morning he had taken sides with a criminal group instead of helping the police to make sure the criminals do not escape. But he wasn’t stupid, he argued his sanity in his mind. He didn’t fight against the police that morning as an enemy of the state or an enemy of the citizens and he didn’t turn against them because he wanted to be the one to take credit for nailing Samantha Osman. He did because he knew that the Inspector General and his group of police officers were not there for official purposes and neither were they there to do something legal, he knew that there was definitely something hidden in their cupboards or why else would the Vice President be at the location of a police raid, disguised at such an early hour. He couldn’t have let them go with Samantha Osman and her man, or else facts would have been distorted and the whole country would have been deceived by the two cunning top government official.
‘Dave, Dave!’ Lizzy screamed twice at him before he blinked in response.
Dave sighed again, ‘It’s a long story Lizzy, I can’t tell you all now.’
‘I’m not asking you to tell me all, I’m telling you that you’ve gotten yourself into a deep mess.’ she said with a serious look on her face.
‘Lizzy, as far as you don’t tell anyone that you dressed me with the bandages this morning, no one else would know I was the one described.’
‘Are you kidding me Dave?’ she narrowed her eyes at him, her face with a surprised expression. ‘The street cameras would provide them enough pictures to search for your features and get your full details.’
‘I got that covered Lizzy,’ Dave said and walked back to his seat. ‘The Cameras commission won’t find any footage to present if they’re asked.’
‘How sure are you about this?’ She said as she began to walk back towards him. ‘That road is a major one which has so many security cameras.’
‘I know, but I got it covered already.’
Lizzy returned to the previous spot where she leaned against the drawer, she folded her arms again and stared at his face with doubts in her eyes.
‘Listen Lizzy, I have acc…’ Dave stopped and coughed. ‘I know someone who has access to the Cameras commission database, he’s taken care of the footages for me.’
‘And how sure are you that the person didn’t deceive you?’ Lizzy asked, her doubts still obvious in her tone.
‘Hundred percent sure,’ Dave replied.
‘Now what about Dan? He knows you were here with me this morning,’ Lizzy said.
‘Yes but he didn’t wait to see how you dressed me up or which direction I went after that, besides I’m not the only one in this town who had a bandage on his head this morning. Dan wouldn’t suspect anything except you tell him that the police’ description matches my look after I was dressed up by you.’
‘And you think I’ll tell him?’ Lizzy raised a brow.
Dave shrugged, ‘I don’t know, but I’m pleading with you not to.’
‘He’s a member of your team and you guys are also close friends, why don’t you confide in him?’ Lizzy asked, not knowing she had raised a sensitive issue.
Dave folded his lips in and shook his head. ‘I can’t really trust any secret into Dan’s hands in this case,’ he said and stopped to look at her face. ‘Lizzy, I know we’ve worked together on several occasions and we were in the same team for close to ten months, but can I trust you with this?’ he asked with a soft voice.
She squinted at him.
‘I mean can I trust you? As a friend, not as a colleague whose loyalty is to the NIS alone.’ Dave added to explain his question.
‘What is it David? Tell me,’ Lizzy said in a calming tone. She moved closer to him and squatted before him placing her hands on the armrest of his chair.
David stared at her silently for a moment before he finally spoke, ‘Please get a chair to sit,’ he said pointing to an empty chair.
Lizzy reached for the chair and pulled it closer, she sat very close to him with her knees touching his.
‘Right now, I’m working on Samantha Osman’s case and that’s what have led me into this situation.’ he started after adjusting his seating position. Lizzy paid him full attention especially after hearing him mention Samantha Osman. ‘You know she has been killing top citizens of the country; government officials, both past and current. You also know about her last attempt on the Vice President’s life failed when the bullet hit the wrong place. I’ve done a lot of work since I was given this case and I’ve discovered that it’s more than just random assassinations, all the deaths and the main victims are connected except for the late Rivers State Governor whose connection with the others we’ve not been able to see.’
‘Of course, any reasonable agent should know that the deaths are connected,’ Lizzy put in.
‘Yea,’ Dave continued. ‘The Vice President appears to be the next in line on her list and the intelligent man was lucky he discovered quickly that he was next, his preventive measures are what has been keeping him till now. The Vice President has recruited his friend, the Inspector General to work with him to hide this secret that he has which the assassin wants to get him for and that they’ll do by capturing and silencing her.’
‘I don’t still understand,’ Lizzy frowned.
‘You see, the Vice President has a dirty secret ; something he’s done in the past together with the other victims of Samantha Osman and maybe some others we don’t know yet. This dirty secret is the cause for the haunt; so the Vice President is as desperate to keep the past secret as he is desperate to live. To keep his secret, he has involved the Inspector General in his illegal activities, so they’re going after Samantha both illegally and legally. Legally through the public activities of the police geared towards nabbing Samantha and illegally through the hidden activities the Inspector General makes his boys do. That’s why the police is not truthful in handling the case, they don’t want the public to have any view of Samantha as someone killing people for their past evil deeds but see her as an enemy killing innocent people. They distort the information released to the media every time. For example, the news media reported that Samantha Osman tried to kill her men’s parents and Stephanie Williams but the truth is that she rescued these people from the kidnappers who I suspect to be Hoodlums working for the Vice President…’
‘I don’t get,’ Lizzy cut in. ‘Isn’t it the police that intercepted her and took Stephanie Williams and those old couples to City Gate Hospital?’
‘No, that’s what they made the media report but Samantha was the one who rescued them and drove them to the hospital. The Inspector General lied when he made claims that the person who took them to the hospital was a female officer, it was Samantha and not a police officer.’
‘It was confirmed by the hospital and the patients.’
‘The police paid the patients and the hospital workers to lie, and they also drugged Stephanie Williams to make her lose her memory, I got the accurate information from her before she was drugged.’
‘Hmmm…’
‘There are several other things the public have the wrong view about too and that’s what I’m trying to clear. I don’t want this case to end without all the criminals getting their deserved punishment; these includes Samantha herself, her sponsors and her victims if truly they are guilty. This morning, they wanted to kill her finally and they planned on doing it silently but I stopped them because if she dies now, there would be no way the Vice President would be punished for his evil deeds.’
‘No, so you want her to kill the Vice President first?’
‘No, I want her and the Vice President alive. She’s an evidence of the Vice President crimes and her death would give him an opportunity to cover his sins completely.’
‘But why is Dan not assisting you?’
‘Dan cannot assist me here, I’m hiding things from him.’ Dave looked away. ‘I suspect the NIS Chairman has been bribed by the NIS Chairman, he threatened me and gave me some money after I agreed also and I’m sure he’s done the same with Dave .’
Lizzy opened her mouth in shock.
‘Lizzy, this is meant for your ears alone.’ Dave warned.
‘Sure, nobody else would hear it from me.’ She promised. ‘But where is Samantha Osman now?’
‘There’s somewhere I suspect she’s hiding with her men, and that’s where I need your help.’
______
‘Tarasha!’ Chief Gab’s voice came blaring through the phone speaker as the call was answered, Cole had to take it far from his ears for comfort.
‘No Chief, she’s not here yet. I’m the one calling back.’ Cole said after putting the phone on loud speakers for he and Henry to listen.
‘Have your delivered my message to her?’
‘No Chief, you should know she’s in a very serious situation for someone else to be handling her phone. Or has someone else spoken on her behalf to you before?’
There was silence for some seconds before the Chief replied, ‘What situation is she in?’
‘She’s terribly injured and receiving treatment right now. The Vice President got another assassin group to counter us,’ Cole replied.
‘So Tarasha could not handle another assassin group? I thought she already handled the best in Nigeria, the Nanl Gang .’
‘Yes but this new guy isn’t a Nigerian assassin.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s no time to explain right now Chief, we need your help urgently to stay safe. The police and this other assassin group are seriously on our tail and they’ve discovered our location already. Tarasha is down and it will take more than a week for her to be well enough to defend herself or fight back. We need a facility where we can hide until she’s strong enough, if we don’t leave here tonight, we might get captured by the police.’
There was total silence for more than thirty seconds.
‘Chief, are you there?’ Cole asked.
‘I’ll call you back later.’ the voice sounded low and the call ended.
‘I guess the Chief is scared,’ Cole said to Henry, putting back the phone on the table.
‘What do we now?’
‘We have to wait for him, we can’t just launch out without knowing where to go.’ Cole replied.
‘But what if the car returns anytime soon, it was there for more than an hour, it looks like it went to get more of their men.’
‘We can’t still leave now, here is safer than anywhere else we can run to. The other option is if the boss gets well enough to speak to us.’
Both men remained in silence for the next couple of minutes, each one cleaving to his own thoughts and worries.
‘Where are you going to?’ Cole stared at Henry who had just risen to his feet.
‘I’m going to check on Omotara,’ Henry replied.
‘Come on sit and allow the nurse do her work well,’ Cole said giving him a reprimanding look.
‘She should be done by now, besides, she’s the one calling, I think she needs our attention.’ Henry replied, displaying the screen of his phone to Cole. There was an incoming call.
‘Alright, I’ll join you shortly.’ Cole said, waving him off. ‘But answer that call, she might just have something urgent to tell you.’ Cole added before Henry got to the door.
________
**20 minutes later**
‘But Chief, why have you made such an urgent decision, I thought you said you’ll only return after you meet with her.’ Chief Nonso’s voice sounded through the phone with a surprised tone.
‘I can’t wait anymore, besides she’s in trouble now and I don’t think I can help her right now. I have to help myself by leaving immediately else I’ll be in trouble if I’m still here when she’s caught.’ Chief Gab replied.
‘Oh! That’s serious, isn’t there anything else could do?’
‘The only thing I know I can do is to leave as soon as possible.’
‘It’s okay Chief, I wish you safety.’
_____
5pm
‘I’ll be back tonight to give her some drugs,’ Tomi said, looking at Tarasha’s face on the bed she laid. Cole and Henry stood at the other side of the bed, listening to her as she gave instructions on what to do while she’s away. ‘I have to go now,’ she said as she straightened her dress. She picked her handbag from the seat it was and began to walk away.
Cole walked up to her and stopped her by holding her hands. ‘Tomi, thank you so much for coming.’ he said in a calm tone, both of them staring at each other’s faces.
‘It’s nothing to thank me for, it’s okay as far as I keep getting my bank credit alerts.’ she replied, unsmiling.
‘Thank you so much,’ Cole said again and grabbed her in a warm embrace. The embrace lasted for more than twenty seconds before Cole released her.
She felt a bit embarrassed but tried to comport herself. ‘You’re welcome,’ she said, forcing on a smile.
Cole still held her with his two hands by her elbow. His hands left her hands and found it’s way to the back of her head where he rubbed her hair gently. Then he pulled her face gently to himself and took her mouth in his, the kiss lasted for more than thirty seconds.
Tomi gasped and forced out another smile, the look on her face showed the embarrassment she tried to hide as she saw Henry smiling behind.
‘Please Henry, can you help see her off.’ Cole said to him as he turned back.
‘Okay,’ Henry agreed and walked up to Tomi as Cole walked back to Tarasha’s bed.
‘Tomi, please do not tell anyone about this place.’ Cole said to her. She nodded back in response.
Henry returned seven minutes later and found Cole seated on a plastic chair beside Tarasha’s seat. He had his legs crossed and a tablet device in his hands.
‘I never knew you were in love with her,’ Henry said as he proceeded towards the bed.
‘In love with who?’ Cole raised his eyebrow to look at him.
‘In love with the nurse,’ Henry replied. ‘No one says thank you to a nurse my hugging her so tight and kissing her like that.’
Cole chuckled. ‘It worked then,’ he said and turned his focus back to the tablet device.
‘What worked?’ Henry stared at him.
‘The trick,’ Cole replied, shaking his legs playfully. ‘If you can think I’m in love with her, then she must feel the same way too. It’s just a trick to stir up her emotions and her loyalty. Girls are easily deceived.’
‘That was just a trick?’ Come on, I’m not a kid.’ Henry smiled doubtingly. ‘You couldn’t have kissed her as passionately as that.’
‘Yes, you’re right, I didn’t really intend to kiss her so passionately but it took me so long to fix the device at the back of her hair.’
‘Huh? Which device?’
‘I attached a tracker to her hair.’ Cole stated. ‘It will only take a passionate kiss for her not to notice anything going on.’
Henry laughed. ‘Oh my God! You mean that kiss was just to fix a tracker to her hair?’
‘Definitely, why should I be in love with a whore?’ Cole eyed him.
Henry chuckled, ‘It just looked too real’.
‘You have…’ Cole was about to say something when they heard a soft voice. Both of them paused and their gazes turned to Tarasha.
‘Has she left already?’ Tarasha asked in a weak voice.
‘Yes, she’s gone.’ Henry answered, running to her. He stopped at the bed and stared down at her face with his face full of smiles like a father who was watching his newly delivered baby. Cole also got up and stood by his side.
‘We need to move,’ Tarasha said. She tried to adjust herself and sit up but she couldn’t as her body was still weak. Cole offered to help her up but she refused politely, ‘Thanks, don’t bother.’
‘Where do we go to boss?’ Cole felt a bit happy now that his boss was talking, he was sure to get directions even if she couldn’t act by herself yet.
‘For now, we’ll move to the underground facility, Henry knows the way there. You just need to get the access cards from my room.’ she replied.
_______
‘The Inspector General will survive, the doctors have just confirmed it.’ a female journalist was reporting the news on television. ‘The police have still not confirmed the identity of the man with the bandage on his head and nothing has been said about the reason for the early morning raid.’
The scene faded away and a newscaster continued with the other items on the news.
‘These guys were just so stupid, how could they even allow themselves to be traced there?’ Rex said to himself as he arranged the instruments and weapons neatly into his backpack.
‘Boss, I think Cole should have a hand in this. He must have followed Tarasha to where you met with her and must have hidden somewhere to watch you people fight.’ Stainless said to him, bringing forth a set of knives he was sent to get.
Rex turned to face him with a disgusted look on his face, ‘And who was supposed to be watching out for Cole?’
Stainless faced down on seeing the angry look on Rex’ face, he regretted opening his mouth to speak.
‘I’ll make sure you pay for any other mistake you make,’ Rex hissed and returned to his work. He arranged the knives and a line of rope into the bag and zipped up the opening. He picked a neat nylon bag on the floor and put it into the second opening. He pulled up the bag and handed it to Stainless after zipping up every opening. ‘We’ll study the building images before moving tonight, I know they must have put up security measures to wade off intruders but what we’ll do is to find out strategic points where we can hide and find these structures they put in place, then we’ll find a way to put off all their security measures or evade them silently. But before we do all these, we must first have confirmed that they are in. And if after confirmation, our plans to escape their security measures don’t work, we’ll have to return to plan for another day.’
‘But why don’t we just set up bombs to explode the whole place once we confirm they’re inside there?’
‘We might end up killing more than just Tarasha and her men that way, I’ve considered it and I don’t think the Vice President will like it. But we will have no choice if our plan for tonight doesn’t work, we’ll blow off the whole place with an explosive which is powerful enough to have great impact even to the underground building if they have any.’
7:30pm
‘You have to go back to my room, I have more bags that we’ll need there.’ Tarasha said to Cole who was lifting up two traveling bags to allow her see.
Cole glanced at Henry, they had gone to Tarasha’s room the first time together to select the access cards and some of the bags Tarasha instructed them to bring.
‘He’s not going with you,’ Tarasha said to Cole who was already signaling to Henry for them to go together.
‘Okay,’ Cole bowed and left alone reluctantly.
Henry stepped closer to Tarasha after Henry closed the door. He was looking into her eyes as he wondered why she wanted him to wait, his closest guess was that she wanted to tell him something private and personal.
‘Henry,’ she called and he responded by raising his eyebrows expectantly. ‘You’ll go to the control rooms to disconnect the receiver from the control system, after that you turn off every network on the system. We will need them where we are moving to.’
‘Oh!’ Henry’s shoulders dropped, he was expecting something different. ‘But I don’t know the passwords of all every network there.’
‘I’m aware that you do not need a password to disconnect them, besides you already broke into some of them when you were left alone here.’ she answered him.
Henry stared blankly at the wall for a while. ‘Alright,’ he sighed and turned away.
_____
‘Good evening Mr Sylvester, ‘ Dakolo spoke into the phone in a calm and pleasant voice.
‘Good evening Agent,’ Mr Sylvester replied in his usual tone.
‘How was work today?’ Dakolo continued with the formalities.
‘Fine sir, how about yours?’ Mr Sylvester replied.
‘It was good, thanks,’ Dakolo said and cleared his throat to begin the main discussion. ‘I’m calling you to find out about one of your staffs at the NSCC headquarters, or should I say someone who claims to be your staff. But I think I might have met him at your office once. I saw him this morning, he called himself Agent Dave.’
‘Agent Dave!’ Mr Sylvester exclaimed, his voice showing his surprise. ‘Where did you see him? He’s been away for sometime now.’
‘I met him in town very early this morning,’ Dakolo answered. ‘For how long has he been away?’
‘Just about four days now and we haven’t received any message from him since his absence. All our efforts to reach him through his phone number and email address has been futile. Even his neighbors could not tell us of his whereabouts when we located and visited his house.’
‘That’s quite interesting,’ Dakolo hummed.
‘Where exactly did you see him sir? We need him here, most of his tasks have been left undone since he disappeared.’
‘What position does he occupy in the Agency?’ Dakolo asked, ignoring the man’s question.
‘He’s a top official, he was handling the responsibilities of Evelyn Alexander and Henry E.G.’ Mr Sylvester answered.
‘Oh! That’s a huge responsibility he has there. But since he left, did he ever send a message or give any suggestion about what he’s up to?’
‘No, no one has heard from him for the past few days he’s been absent.’
‘Okay, thank you Mr Sylvester. I’ll see you in your office tomorrow to talk about this fully.’
‘Okay, what time should I be expecting you?’
‘I’ll call you before I come, have a good night rest.’
____
8:29 pm
‘Tomi, where are you?’ Cole spoke into the phone. It was dark where he stood in front of the gate as the gate lights weren’t turned on yet.
‘I just dropped from the taxi and I’m walking down there now. You guys were the ones who asked me not to drop in front of your house.’
‘It’s okay, just hurry up, we need to lock the gate in few minutes time.’
‘I’m here already!’ Tomi sang in a melodious way which Cole hear both through the phone and also before him. He looked up and saw her smiling and waving at him as she walked towards the gate. He ended the call and put the phone into his pocket.
At that moment, the gate lights turned on and the place became brighter. Cole knew it was 8:30 pm as that was the planned time to switch on the lights, Tomi had delayed him for a long time.
‘Hey!’ Tomi flashed her teeth as she approached him.
‘Hi, what took you so long?’ he replied back with a fake smile.
‘I didn’t know I had to do so many other things,’ she said as she entered into his opened embrace. She looked up and gave him a brief kiss after the embrace.
‘Let’s go in,’ he said as he collected one of the bags she was holding. He opened the gate and allowed her in first.
As he entered, he thought about the change in her body language that night. She had felt embarrassed when he kissed her earlier that day but now she was the one initiating a kiss. She probably could have taken some time to think about the whole situation after she left and decided to enjoy the moment with him.
He smiled and followed behind her after locking the gate. ‘Hope you didn’t forget anything?’
‘No, I didn’t.’ she answered, waiting for him to level up with him. ‘I will bring more of the things I need to add tomorrow.’
‘Hmm,’ Cole hummed as he took her hands in his. He also noticed her change of clothes and the short sëxy gown she was putting on now. She also had a makeup on and her hair was styled differently. Cole needed no other explanation as to why she came late, it was obvious she had taken the time to beatify herself before coming.
____
Meanwhile, two other people were watching at the other side of the road.
‘I don’t know who that girl is, but that’s the guy who rescued Samantha Osman this morning.’ Dave said to Lizzy who was seated at the passengers’ side of his car.
‘Is this picture clear enough?’ Lizzy asked, showing him a picture she had taken of Cole and Tomi at the front of the gate just immediately after the gate lights came on.
‘It should be,’ Dave took the device from her and placed his fingers on it to zoom the picture. Cole’s face was shown clearly but only Tomi’s side view was captured. ‘With this, I can do something.’ Dave added.
‘Cool, so are we good to go?’ she asked, putting on her seatbelt already.
‘Oh Ye…’ Dave almost answered, already putting on his seatbelt too but his mouth was left agape as he saw something. His eyes followed the movement of a vehicle at the other side of the carriageway.
‘What’s that?’ Lizzy asked, trying to see what he was looking at.
‘Nothing, I just thought I saw someone I know.’ Dave strapped on the seatbelt and started the engine and trafficator. He took some few seconds to observe the road through the side mirror before driving into it.
As they drove off, another car parked at the same spot they left.
_____
8:45pm
Lizzy wondered what the movement was all about as the bags she was given to carry now was heavier than the one she brought with her. Cole had put her bags into a bigger one and asked her to help him with it and another big one. Little did she know she had more to do that night.
‘We’re moving to our underground facility,’ Cole had said to her and without any further explanation began to ask her to help him.
Henry navigated Tarasha gently out from the medical lab on the wheelchair she was placed to the corridor where Cole and Tomi were waiting for them. Tomi was the first to turn back and see them coming, she was surprised that Tarasha was awake already.
‘Hey! What are you doing up already?’ she shouted watching them as they approached. ‘She’s still supposed to be resting on the bed for now, who woke her up?’ she turned and asked Cole who gave her no response. She turned back towards Tarasha and Henry and shone her eyes at Tarasha as they got to them.
‘Good evening nurse,’ Tarasha greeted, looking up into her eyes. ‘I hope you’re ready?’
Tomi turned to look at Cole, not understanding what Tarasha meant by asking if she was ready.
‘Did you bring everything you need?’ Tarasha asked again.
‘Yes, your royal Majesty,’ Tomi answered in a teasing way, folding her arms and wondering who this lady speaking in an authoritative voice was.
‘Good,’ Tarasha nodded and signaled for Henry to keep wheeling her.
Cole held Tomi back by the shoulder as Henry wheeled Tarasha out of the corridor. She turned back to him with a surprised look on her face, ‘Hey! You never really told me who that girl is.’ she said to Cole.
‘Be careful Tomi, that’s my boss.’
‘Your boss? That girl?’ Tomi still had a surprised expression on her face, wondering how Cole who was next to Don in the Nanl Gang could agree to be submissive to a young lady.
‘Yes, she is. And she’s the one called Samantha Osman in case you don’t know,’ Cole added and picked up his bags from the floor, leaving her standing dumbfounded.
Tomi stood speechless for some seconds, her expression had changed to a shocked one when she heard that the girl, her patient was Samantha Osman. She didn’t expect that Samantha Osman was someone she would easily see like that and she had also never imagined her to be a young lady, she was expecting someone far older that the age she was seeing now.
‘Can we go now please, they’re waiting for us.’ Cole returned to get her.
She quickly picked up her bags and walked away with Cole.
‘Who’s taking charge of the security cameras when we get down there?’ Tarasha asked as they proceeded further after Cole and Tomi had joined them.
‘I will take care of that,’ Henry replied after taking a glance at Cole.
‘That means Cole would be in charge of the weapons,’ Tarasha said as they got to the entrance of the study which led to the underground.
Cole dropped his bag and moved forward to clear the five other bags that were at the entrance, earlier placed there by him. He opened the door and Henry wheeled Tarasha into the study. Henry walked straight to the place the wall clock was and brought it down, he inserted the card into the reader and punched in the codes, the wall split into two before him.
He turned back and spoke to Tarasha, ‘How do we stop the timer from reading?’
‘You don’t need to stop it, it hasn’t started reading yet’ she replied him.
‘But it’ll start once someone steps in,’ Henry said.
‘I changed the process yesterday, it would not read.’ she said and tried to wheel herself but couldn’t use her hands properly.
Henry walked to her and held the wheelchair in readiness to move but he stopped on remembering that he had to carry her down the stairs. He turned to look at Cole who was staring in surprise at the opened door of the underground. ‘Cole, you gotta assist me with the wheelchair.’ he said and lifted Tara into his hands, balancing a hand at the back of her knees and the other at her back.
Cole moved further inside and dropped his bags at one side, then he pulled the wheelchair after Henry who proceeded with Tarasha in his hands.
He followed down the stairs until they got to the landing, he positioned it properly and Henry dropped Tarasha back on the wheelchair carefully.
‘Henry, I need to have a bath tonight.’ Tarasha said in a soft tone as he dropped her on the chair.
‘Ermm… Thank God the nurse is here, she will help us with that.’ Henry said, looking towards the nurse who was now standing on the first step of the stairs.
‘No, you will do it.’ Tarasha said in an instructive tone.
‘Huh?’ Henry shot her a shocked look.
_____
‘There’s no sign of movement in the compound yet,’ Rex said to himself although loud enough for Stainless who sat beside him to hear. He had a headset covering his ears which he used to listened to what was going on behind the gate. They had attached a listening chip to the gate which could grab voice from anywhere in the compound as far as it wasn’t even protected by a wall.
‘Their neighbors confirmed that a man and a woman entered not too long before we arrived,’ Stainless said to Rex.
‘I know and I’m sure people are in the building but we can’t tell yet if the people we want are the ones who are inside; Cole and Tarasha.’
‘I think they are the ones; the guy could have been Cole or Henry and the girl must be Samantha.’
Rex shot a cold look at him, ‘Samantha couldn’t have recuperated well enough to walk, it has to be someone else.’
There was silence for the next ten minutes which Rex used to listen more for any sound through the headset. After that he handed over the headset to Stainless and picked a backpack from the backseat, then he got out of the car and headed towards the building.
____
**NIS Underground Office**
A neat cropped photograph of Cole could be seen displayed on the desktop screen, Dave was seated behind the system. With the aid of the mouse, he selected and labeled the different features on Cole’s face one after the other. Then he clicked on the ‘search’ button just below the picture and a dialog box to show the processing progress displayed.
After searching for about five minutes, the dialog box indicated the completion of the process with the word ‘FOUND’. Dave clicked on ‘OK’ just below the main word and a new tab opened on the window. It loaded for five seconds and displayed on the new page the full profile of Cole, showing his full name, his date of birth and other birth details, his parent’s information and some of his other personal details.
_____
11:30am
The new sitting room was a beautiful one, carefully organized and decorated but not as big as the one in the main building. Cole and Tomi had taken time to clean up the living room and two other rooms after they moved in all the loads. The underground facility had other rooms but only the living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and the restrooms were for domestic purposes, the other rooms were either weapons’ stores, computer rooms or just empty.
‘I thought I was supposed to only work as a nurse here, how come I had to join you clean up the place?’ Tomi spoke for the first time since they finished cleaning up. She and Cole were the only ones in the living room, Henry had gone with Tarasha to bath and dress and dress her up.
‘Don’t talk as if you did any thorough clean up, the place wasn’t dirty, it was only a little bit dusty.’ Cole replied her.
‘Oh! But how come I had to join you at all?’
‘Why are you complaining after we’re done with it? You didn’t say anything when I asked you to join me,’ Cole said.
‘I didn’t know we were going to work so much,’ she replied.
Cole chuckled. He got up from the sofa and walked to her, he sat on the arm of the chair and placed a hand around her neck. ‘You don’t have anything else to talk about, that’s why you’re complaining, right?’ he said, looking into her face.
‘Oh! You think I’m just complaining because I want to talk?’ she eyed him.
He sighed. ‘Okay, Tomi.’ He said, raising up his hands in the air. ‘You win, I’m sorry for making you work like that.’ he tilted his face and made a funny expression at her. ‘Are you okay now?’
She responded by giving him a light playful slap on the face. He smiled and grabbed her hand.
‘Wait! Will we continue to see after I finish the treatment here?’ she stopped playing and asked.
‘Huh?’ he raised his eyebrows, looking into her eyes directly. He knew he had sparked off some feelings in her when he kissed her earlier but he wasn’t ready to return wh@tëver feeling she was developing for him, he had only done that to attach the tracking and recording chip to her hair.
He remembered that he had not checked if the tracker was still in her hair or it had fallen down when she had her bath. But he was quite sure of the former, the kind of hair she plaited would require her to cover her hair while bathing so that it wouldn’t get wet and that meant she wouldn’t have touched the hair while bathing except while she rearranged it.
‘I mean, will you reach me again after tomorrow when I leave here?’ she explained.
‘Where are you going to?’ He questioned her.
‘Going back home and to my job of course,’ she replied.
‘I told Tarasha that you can cook,’ Cole said and looked away.
‘And what does that mean?’ she squinted.
‘The boss wants you to remain here,’ Cole replied. ‘You think we would have allowed you know of this underground facility if you weren’t going to join us.’
‘I can’t stay here,’ she refused.
‘You will.’
‘No, I can’t stay here. I’m not prepared, besides I’ve got a new job I have to go back to.’
‘You don’t have to go back to any job, you have another here, you’ll get paid monthly and I assure you that she pays nicely.’
‘No, but I can’t just leave everything like that,’ she argued.
‘Tomi, I advice that you don’t reject this offer,’ Cole said in a serious tone, getting to to his feet.
‘But…’ she stammered uncontrollably.
‘Listen Tomi, you have all you need here,’ Cole said, taking a squat position before her. He placed his elbows gently on her laps and looked into her eyes. ‘You don’t need to go back where you were working with the street thugs and riffraffs, the boss will pay you well.’
‘Its just that…’
‘Shhh…’ he hushed her and placed a finger on her lips as he rose slowly and brought his face closer to hers. His lips touched hers softly and withdrew immediately, he looked into her eyes as he placed his hands on gently on her neck and covered her mouth with his. His fingers found it’s way into her hair and he was able to locate the device, he took it out gently and dropped it behind the chair. He tried to break the kiss but she wasn’t ready to let him go yet as she continued to pull him closer.
‘Hmm…’ someone cleared his throat behind them. They quickly broke away from each other and Cole turned back. Henry had just wheeled Tarasha into the living room, she had been bathed and had changed into a white top and white shorts. Henry also looked refreshed, he had also changed his clothes and had his hair neatly combed.
‘You guys are going to stay in the same room tonight, you should have been patient enough.’ Tarasha said as Henry wheeled her to the middle of the living room. ‘Cole, you can have your seat.’ she said and waited for Cole to respond. Henry also joined Cole on the three seater sofa directly in front of Tarasha. ‘What’s your name nurse?’ She turned to Tomi with a smile.
‘Tomi,’ she replied with mixed feelings of fear and confusion. Her eyes met an encouraging look on Cole’s face.
‘To me,’ Tarasha said, pronouncing the name in a funny way.
‘Tomi,’ the nurse corrected.
‘Tomi,’ Tarasha pronounced again, getting it right this time.
‘Yes, Tomi.’ the nurse nodded.
‘What exactly is wrong with me? I’ve not been able to use my hands well, other parts of my body have also been so weak.’
‘I don’t really know what know what happened to you, so I can’t say or guess what the problem is. We will have to use an hospital facility to be really sure at this moment,’ Tomi answered, mentioning her words carefully and one after the other and also glancing at Cole frequently.
‘I was tortured by the enemy group and I also have a bullet wound on my back, I see that you redressed it earlier. ‘ Tarasha said to her.
‘Yes, I did. I only hope it wasn’t soaked by water when you had a bath. I thought I was supposed to bath you tonight,’ Tomi replied.
Tarasha smiled and her eyes met with Henry’s, ‘I can’t really say if it was touched by water or not.’
‘I did not allow water to get into…’ Henry said with his eyes blinking as he felt shy about owning up to have bathed an unclad woman.’
‘I can’t really trust that word,’ Tarasha cut in with a kind of mocking smile. ‘I need to get a more thorough bath tomorrow, I could even tell he closed his eyes when he got to some parts on my body.’ she said looking at Henry.
Cole could not help but burst into laughter and Tarasha joined in the laughter.
‘Well, I’m happy he did it anyways.’ Tarasha said after laughing. ‘So nurse, I’m aware you’ve him drugs for me already.’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘Thank you. And I also want to believe you’re aware that you have a job here.’
Tomi frowned and took a glance at Cole’s face.
‘Oh! I don’t mean the one you do in the room with him,’ Tarasha said chuckling. ‘You have an official one to do with me.’
‘Yes, I’m aware.’ Tomi finally answered shyly.
‘Good! I hope I get well as soon as I want but whether or not I do, we’ll start with what we have to do immediately.’
It is really disheartening to find out that some readers here would after reading start sharing the posts on WhatsApp groups and FB pages. After have pleaded and warned several times against plagiarism. Please if you are one of those sharing the story anywhere without our consent, STOP. You guys are only frustrating the efforts of writers and showing ungratefulness that way.
____
Time : 12am
Location: Maitama, Abuja.
The wristwatch on Rex’s hand vibrated and made a beep sound to signify 12 am. It was the time Rex had been waiting for.
After doing a proper check some hours ago, he had decided on the best way to break into the compound and the right tools to use without causing any alarm to the people inside and twelve am was just the right time for him to begin.
He stretched forth his hand to the backseat to take his backpack. He placed it on his laps and opened the main section, he took out a black cloth-like piece of material and wore it on his head, it stretched like a nylon as he pulled it gently to cover his face. He adjusted it till every feature on his face entered the place meant for it on the piece of cloth which happened to be a mask. Then he touched a part on his forehead to test the headlamp in the mask and the light came on, he turned it off immediately. He then took out a set of gloves for his hands and a small tool box which he had neatly arranged his carefully selected tools. He fixed the rope handle of the tool box onto his hand and relaxed back in the chair. He stared thinly through the front glass of the car and took in a breath as he made a quick mental review of all his plans and strategies.
‘Stay awake and alert, with your earpiece on always,’ he said to Stainless as he stepped out of the car.
The night was silent and calm as usual. Rex crossed the two carriageways and turned straight to the gate. He opened the toolbox and took out a tiny drilling tool, he inserted it into the keyhole of the gate and pressed a button on the handle which rolled the metal in. He held the handle of the gate as it gave way. He removed the tool and returned it into the box before opening the gate gently and stepping in. He stopped at the entrance as he closed back the gate, he looked around for a while, studying everything his eyes could see. Inside the compound was brightly lit as outside was, so he could see clearly every object and what they were.
He walked carefully to the left side of the wall and rested his back at the place the walls formed an angle, facing the way which led to the backyard. Then he opened the tool box again and took out a paper which had something wrapped inside it. He unwrapped it and picked out one of the small tiny balls in it. The balls were as small as the seeds of an orange. He squatted and threw one of the balls straight from where he was, he waited to see the response but got none. He took out another ball and flung it towards the main entrance of the building and also got no response immediately. He rose up slowly and surprised as he expected to get a reaction but as soon as he straightened himself, straight red and hot lights emanated from different points on the floor and the soil beside the fence. The lights were so sharp and hot that he could feel the heat and intensity where he stood. He had expected it but the timing was different. He was impressed by the expertise and intelligence of the person who installed it.
After a minute, the lights went off and the place became as normal as it was. Rex took out his gun and attached a silencer, he shot the two bulbs placed on the top at both ends of the gate first and then the light at the entrance of the building before the first one he could see by the side of the building.
The tiny sharp laser lights came on again but this time didn’t take Rex by surprise. He returned the gun to his side and squatted again. The place became darker after the laser lights went off. Rex remained still and listened carefully for minutes, waiting to hear sounds of movement or voices in the house or see anybody or thing come out.
_____
Time : 12:11am
Location : The Underground Facility
‘What sign could that be?’ Henry asked as the lights in the underground control room fluctuated.
‘I don’t know,’ Cole replied, staring up at the bulbs.
‘Could it be that the system is unstable yet because we just installed it?’
‘No,’ Cole replied sharply. He pulled his swivel back to the table and tapped the keyboard to turn on the screen.
The underground control room was a small one, just about a quarter of the main building control room. The computer system in it were just four and were arranged two on each sides of the table.
‘So can it be that someone has already invaded our main facility?’
‘Most likely that what it means,’ Cole replied as he began to type something fast on the keyboard.
‘I and Omotara tried to locate the sources of all the cameras in the main building earlier, half of them were not responding.’ Henry said as he began to work on the system he sat behind. ‘I have to check now if they’ve all been located.’
‘If they’ve not been located, connect the ones we located already, we need to know what’s up there.’ Cole said.
‘Okay but who could possibly be up there at this time, the police or Rex?’
‘Rex or that man who helped us escape,’ Cole stated without thinking much for an answer.
They worked silently for the following two minutes.
‘I’ve got all,’ Henry suddenly announced. Cole left his system to see what Henry had. ‘Someone is truly in,’ Henry added in a low and sad tone. On the screen, the point where the gate bulbs were destroyed was being displayed.
‘And we can’t have a playback to see how it got destroyed right?’ Cole questioned.
‘Yes, we just connected. The only playback we can have is what happens from now.’ Henry replied.
‘Move that camera and let’s see,’ Cole said. Henry did as he was told and the view shifted from the gate to some parts of the wall but didn’t get to the angle. ‘Switch cameras,’ Cole said again and Henry obeyed. The view shifted to the entrance of the house and Henry continued to move the cursor without being told anymore. They saw the destroyed bulb at the entrance and saw the pieces shattered on the floor. ‘Wow!’ Cole exclaimed, releasing a cold breath from his mouth.
‘What do we do? Do we tell the boss?’ Henry asked. The fear in his heart could be easily heard in his voice.
Cole stared at him for a second, it was the first time he heard Henry refer to Tarasha as the boss. He could have smiled or laughed if it happened in a normal condition but he just kept a straight face. ‘She’s asleep already, why bother her? And even if we tell her, she doesn’t have the strength to do anything physical yet.’
‘But she can tell us what to do,’ Henry insisted.
‘No need to bother her, I know how to handle this for now.’
‘Okay, and how do we go about it?’
‘Switch into the cameras inside, let’s see if the intruder has gotten in.’
____
Flashback
16 Years ago
A large open space in what looked like a thick forest, men armed with guns and machetes could be seen working and walking around. Most of them were entering into a smal hutl at one end of the space and coming out with plates of food while some others could be seen on one side sharpening their machetes and others cutting and arranging some sticks.
Every activity seemed to seize as a loud voice emanated from the only bush path which led to the place from behind the hut. The voice spoke in Hausa language and the men began to leave all they were doing to reply in the same language. All the men working and those eating left their foods to respond to the call, they all began to walk towards the hut and stop at the entrance. Soon, the owner of the voice they were responding to surfaced from behind the hut with four other men. The man was Abubakar Shekhau, the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Rikau watched from where he stood with the other men, he was one of the youngest amongst them and the most educated. He finished his Higher National program in his State’s Polytechnic and could not further his education due to lack of funds. For five years after his graduation, he roamed about the street without getting a job. He maintained himself by doing menial jobs and in the sixth year was able to get the police recruitment form. He was selected and he went for training. It was during his training he met with a young policeman, officer Elvis Richards. After he finished his training, he went on a visit to his hometown and that was when he was offered a huge some of money to implant a bomb at a certain location which he agreed to and after that he joined the terrorists group fully when they promised to pay him more when he becomes a full member. When he got to find out that he was deceived, it was too late to turn back. He had to accept their philosophy of killing unbelievers for their god to receive a reward of paradise and virgins though it never really made sense to him. He rose speedily in rank amongst the terrorists and soon was one of their top leaders, fifth in command to the leader Shekau and a director of most of their affairs because of his literacy.
‘Mallam Rikau,’ Shekau shouted the group’s leader’s name and Rikau replied with a loud voice with words in Hausa and Arabic languages. He came forward and they conversed with each other in Hausa briefly before Shekau turned to the whole group of men and addressed them. Rikau was to leave them for somewhere else and another man was introduced to them as their new leader.
That night when Rikau left the troop he led with Shekau was when he discovered that their Insurgent’s group as a whole was also being used to achieve selfish interests of some influential men in the society. It was during their meetings with some of the meetings with an influential man that Rikau got to meet with Elvis Richards again, this time he had risen so high in the force rank.
A year after, he was contacted by Elvis Richards to carry out few assassinations for him and it was done together with the usual Boko Haram attack, giving no room for suspicions. The most notable assassination he carried out was that of the Danjuma’s family.
Years later, Elvis Richards became the Inspector General and helped Rikau escape death and punishment which other Boko Haram members faced after their defeat. He also put Rikau into the force, making him start at a high rank. But all these Chief Elvis never did on his own, he had someone backing him, a notable person Rikau never got to know.
**Present**
Time: 12:25am
Location : University Of Abuja Teaching Hospital
Chief Rikau finally opened his eyes to meet himself on the hospital bed. He wasn’t surprised because he could remember clearly how he was taken from the scene and all that led to his hospitalization. All through his sleep, he kept having dreams reminding him of his younger years and of the Danjuma’s family. This made him believe more that Samantha had to be the Danjuma’s daughter. He tried to move on the bed but he stopped when the pain in his legs and back was unbearable. He had never in his service as a policeman been hospitalized for gunshots. A tear dropped from his eyes as he thought about his life, was nemesis finally catching up with him?
_____
12:56am
After taking out two other bulbs by the side of the house, Rex began to work on the first window at the side. He inserted his drilling tool into the points of connection of the burglary proofs to the wall and made a circle round the points which weakened the wall at the points. After a while, he was able to take off the bulglary proof metal.
He turned on the light on his mask and tried to see the different edges of the dark living room before he entered through the broken window. He stopped and looked around for a moment, he located the switch for the bulb and went for it.
____
‘Keep switching the cameras,’ Cole said to Henry who was already complaining about not seeing anyone for over thirty minutes he had been monitoring. Henry was still seating behind the main computer while Cole was at the other side of the table, trying to configure the other computers
‘I think the person has left already?’Henry said tiredly.
‘No, I’m sure someone is around.’ Cole insisted. ‘I just think the person is being wise and dodging the cameras.’
‘How possible it for you to dodge something you don’t know it’s location or direction, the cameras are hidden.’
‘Come on, stop talking like this man. Don’t you know about camera locators?’
Henry’s shoulders dropped as he realized he was arguing lamely, Cole was right that someone could detect and dodge hidden cameras with the right app. He decided to stay for more thirty minutes before admitting his tiredness and need for sleep. Silence took over the atmosphere for the next five minutes.
‘d@mn!’ Henry exclaimed all of a sudden. ‘Someone is there.’ Cole quickly left the computers at the other side and turned to the other side to check what Henry saw.
On the screen was a masked man trying to find his way from the living room. He located the entrance into the inner parts of the house and began to walk towards the place but stopped suddenly. He stood still for some seconds before turning back and his eyes went straight to the camera.
‘Does he know we’re watching him?’ Henry asked, flashing a quick look at Cole.
‘I think…’ Cole began to talk but stopped in fear as the man took out his gun and pointed it to the camera. Henry dropped from the chair to the floor while Cole rushed up to his feet as the bullet hit the camera in two seconds. The screen went blank.
‘d@mn it!’ this guy knows we’re watching him.’ Henry replied, trembling as he struggled to get to his feet.
‘Yes, he does.’ Cole answered back shakily. He sat on Henry’s seat and located the mouse immediately, he closed the source and began to switch cameras to locate the intruder. ‘Sit here and locate where he is now,’ Cole said to Henry, getting up from the seat to the next one. He tapped the keyboard and the screen came on at once, he typed in the password. ‘I have to put on the remaining laser scopes we have inside the apartment.’
_____
10 minutes later
Rex came out again after hiding behind the curtain for sometime. The camera detector app in his phone had been able to help him detect that the cameras in the house were working and someone was monitoring and rotating them. He removed the drilling tool from the tool box and covered the metal before putting it inside his pocket. Then he brought out his two guns and began to move further inside. The exit of the passage led to another perpendicular one which was splited in the two opposite directions. Rex stopped at the exit, undecided as to where to go for a second, then he took the left turn and only took two steps when he heard a noise from the back. He froze and turned back immediately. It was just in time for him to see the laser lines building from behind and coming towards him. He quickly rushed back into the previous corridor and stopped at the middle to watch, but the laser lines didn’t give him enough time to watch as the lines after spreading to the end of the first began from the exit of the corridor he ran into.
He ran out of the place and back into the living room. The lasers stopped at the entrance of the corridor and he watched from the middle of the living room. The beams burnt hot and the hotness spread into the living room. Rex knew at that point that he couldn’t go further anymore, it was time to return and make a better plan.
‘Meet me at the gate now,’ he said, wiping off the sweat on his forehead as he proceeded towards the window he had destroyed.
___________
7:38 am
Henry woke up earlier than he planned to the next morning. He was still deep asleep when he began to hear heavy and violent knocks at the gate. He knew at once that Rex was finally here for them. He flew out of the bed spontaneously, shouting Cole’s name with his fists tightened in readiness to fight, only for him to find himself in the room with Omotara on the bed, looking at him with a funny expression. The knock was from the door and not the gate like he thought and it wasn’t as violent like he heard from his sleep.
The knock on the door sounded louder this time.
‘Yes, who’s is?’ he shouted, feeling embarrassed as he could see Omotara laughing at him.
‘It’s me, please open quickly.’ He heard a lady’s voice as he got closer to the door. He wondered who it could be as he put his hand on the knob, Aisha was dead and there should be no other lady in the house apart from Omotara. It was until he opened the door and saw Tomi that he remembered that there was a new person amongst them.
‘Will you allow me in or keep looking at him like you’re seeing a ghost,’ Tomi barked at him and he quickly moved out of the way for her. He stood at the door, still surprised and wondering why his memory was playing games with him.
Tomi walked in with a tray containing a nylon of drugs, a tea jug and mug, she proceeded straight to the stool beside the bed and placed the tray on it. Then she moved them together to Tarasha’s side and sat on the bed close to where Tarasha lay. ‘Good morning,’ the nurse greeted.
‘Why in the world were you knocking like that?’ Henry spoke angrily at the nurse, giving Tarasha no opportunity to reply her greeting.
‘Do you know how long she has been at the door?’ Tarasha was the one who replied Henry.
Henry’s gaze moved from the nurse’s face to Tarasha’s face and back to the Nurse.
‘She has been knocking for over thirty minutes,’ Tarasha added and Henry’s eyes fell on hers again.
His shoulders dropped as he shook his head at himself and hissed. He looked and the nurse again but she wasn’t looking at him, he found his way back to the previous position he laid in the bed.
‘You’re supposed to use some of these drugs every eight hours and that’s why I’m here this early,’ the nurse explained to Tarasha. ‘I’ve made tea for you,’ she said pouring from the jug into the cup.
She stood to help Tarasha sit up and wanted to put the cup in Tarasha’s mouth but Tarasha stopped her and collected the cup to take it herself.
‘Wow! You’re recuperating faster than I expected,’ Tomi exclaimed.
Tarasha took a sip of the tea and let out a breath, ‘You were expecting something else?’
‘Yes, actually the symptoms I saw were of partial paralysis but maybe I was wrong, I can’t really trust the tools in your lab since it’s not an hospital.’
‘The tools there are working perfectly fine,’ Tarasha replied. ‘I think I was drugged with a substance to induce paralysis but it was partial, so you may not be totally wrong.’
Another knock sounded on the door at that moment. Tarasha and Tomi looked towards Henry expecting him to answer the knock but he turned away and covered himself with a blanket.
‘Cole?’ Tomi called to confirm as she approached the door, as if she was expecting someone else.
‘Yes,’ Cole’s voice sounded from behind the door. She opened and allowed him walk in. ‘I came to see her,’ he said to Tomi as if he was seeking permission to proceed but he didn’t wait to get a reply.
‘You have to wait till she finishes with her drugs,’ Tomi said, walking after Cole. ‘Where were you all through the night?’ she asked him as she sat back in her previous position. Cole stood right in front of Tarasha after greeting her with his words sounding as low as a whisper.
‘Can’t she listen while she takes her drugs?’ Cole asked Tomi, ignoring her own question to him. He knew she would be expecting him to come into the room the night before but he wasn’t ready to fuel her the feelings by sleeping on the same bed with her. He was sure having anything between themselves could cause a distraction or problem for them later especially now that they were to work closely. ‘I can wait for the answer after the drugs,’ Cole added, looking now at Tarasha.
‘What do you have to say?’ Tarasha asked, stretching her palm to Tomi who placed the tablets in it.
‘I don’t know if Henry has said anything about it already,’ Cole paused and looked towards Henry but Henry did not make any movement or act like he was listening. ‘A masked man I believe to be Rex was at the main facility around twelve a.m today,’ he paused for a second as he noticed the change in the look on Tarasha’s face. ‘ He was able to penetrate into the building and started searching everywhere, but we were able to turn him back after we turned on the laser scopes inside the building. I’m not sure this place is safe for us anymore.’
‘d@mn it! Was all that true? I thought it was all a dream.’ Henry suddenly sprung up to his feet. He looked like a previously blind man who had just received his sight and was trying to identify his people. Nobody gave him a reply but he turned to the same place Cole was standing and stood beside Cole.
Tarasha didn’t say about word until she finished taking the drugs and gulped down the rest of the tea. ‘We’ll move out of this place but we have to protect it in such a way that no one will be able to use any of our facilities here.’
‘How do we plan the movement? I’m sure we’ve got people monitoring that gate.’
‘Get me the wheelchair please, I need to use the control room.’ she said to Henry. Henry quickly dragged the wheelchair to her. ‘This underground leads to another above ground facility, an entirely different one and that’s where we’re moving to.’
…To be continued
