TARASHA – Episode 30

April 12, 2031
‘Boss,’ Cole called, looking around to see from which angle of the corridor the response would come from. ‘Boss,’ he called the second time and paused to listen. There was no audible voice anywhere. He began to walk to the exit of the corridor, the soles of his shoes now making noise as they hit the shining tiles. He glanced at the doors at each side of the corridor as he walked, taking time to observe their locks and see if any of them was opened. He got to the end of the corridor without finding any of the six doors leading off the corridor opened. He stared for some seconds at the door right before him which led to another living room in the house. Then he turned back again and looked around for some seconds, adjusting the heavy school bag he had strapped to his back. He wondered if coming to this part of the house wasn’t a waste of time, Tarasha was rarely seen using that area of the house but he just had to look all around because she had asked him to make sure he sees her when he returns from the errand. He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed it again, the call went unanswered just like the previous times he had tried. Just as he returned the phone into his pocket, he began to hear sounds of footsteps coming towards the corridor. He stopped to see who was coming, looking straight from where he was to the other end of the corridor and hoping it was Tarasha.

Soon, a shadow appeared and then Henry surfaced. He stopped and stared at Cole for a while, his eyebrows gathered together as he wondered what Cole was still doing there.

‘Still looking around for her?’ Henry asked, his voice echoed through the empty corridor.

‘Yes, you have any idea where she is?’ Cole replied.

‘Have you gone in there?’ Henry said, pointing to the door behind Cole. He began to walk down the corridor slowly.

‘No, what could she be doing in there?’

‘Go in and check, I think I saw her coming this way after you left.’ Henry said. He stopped and and closed his eyes as if he had just remembered something. ‘Check her inside there,’ he added before turning back and left without uttering any other word to Cole.

Cole turned back to the door reluctantly, wondering what Tarasha could be looking for at the other side. He turned the knob of the door and pushed it slightly. He poked his head in before the rest of his body followed.

It was his third time of getting into this place since they had moved in. The house was one of late Chief Onwuli’s facility which was been taken care of by Chief Nonso and now handed over to them for use by Chief Gab. Though the house was built several years ago, it was properly maintained and had been renovated few years before the present year.

Cole began to hear some familiar sounds as he closed the door and took just two steps in. He paused to listen and determine the direction from where it was coming from.

He traced the sound until he got out of the living room to a corridor which enclosed only four rooms, two at each sides. The door of the first room was opened slightly and as Cole moved closer, he discovered that was where the sound was coming from. He entered in and found only Tarasha in the room, her inhaling and exhaling of breaths louder as she went up and down. Her body flat, suspended above the ground, supported by her palms on the floor and the tip of her toes also touching the ground. She knew of his presence in the room but continued without taking a look at him.

Cole walked in slowly, looking around the room. It was empty except for a plastic chair on which Tarasha’s face towel and her phone laid. He moved closer to Tarasha and began to turn to her front as she was facing the wall behind. He knew she was aware he was around but wanted to announce himself, so that she could attend to him quickly. It worked and Tarasha soon stopped with the push-ups. She got up totally and reached for the towel immediately, she was totally drenched with sweat even though the fan hung to the ceiling was rotating so speedily and releasing much breeze. She began to use the towel to clean her body.

That had been her routine for the more than a week after she was confirmed to be perfectly okay, she had been exercising and brushing up her skills in martial arts and use of guns. It wasn’t a new found zeal though, it was normal for her to exercise everyday but she only felt the need to intensify it and brush up her other skills because of the few weeks of inactivity she had been forced to go through to ensure her full recovery.

Even the whole team was now fully recovered from the stress and trouble of fighting with Rex and rescuing the boss. Except for Tomi who had just joined them and resumed her job as the cook, it had been an holiday for the rest of the team.

‘Why didn’t you wait for me?’ Tarasha asked after she finished wiping her body.

‘You asked me to talk to you immediately I get back.’

‘Okay, so have you got all I asked you to get?’

‘Yes, I did. I got all the gadgets in my bag,’ Cole replied. He unstrapped the bag from his shoulders and dropped it on the ground.

‘What’s up with Base B?’

Base B was the name Tarasha had given to the facility they got into from the underground while Base A was the first one which the enemies knew of.

‘Base B is the same way we left it, everything is untouched.’

‘And Base A?’

‘I passed through about three times like you instructed, there was no physical change I could see from outside and they were no signs outside the place to show that it was being monitored.’

Tarasha moved closer to him and squatted before the bag, she zipped it open to check the contents and closed it back after thirty seconds of viewing. She closed the bag and rose up.

‘Boss, why don’t we move everything from Base B to this place at once, so that we won’t have to do it as something of emergency when the work begins?’ Cole asked, a question that had been troubling his mind.

‘Base B will be our main Base of operation, it is closer to town and is connected to good road networks. This Base would serve as a distraction when the time comes.’ Tarasha replied.

‘How will this place serve as a distraction and to whom?’ Cole asked with a confused look on his face.

‘A distraction to anyone after us. No one will expect that our new base of operation would be closer to the previous one that has been discovered, they are definitely not going to be looking towards that direction. Here will work for us; if it ever gets to be discovered- which will be difficult, the enemies or whosoever discovers it would focus on getting into this place and while that is happening, we can wreck havoc on them from Base B.’

‘Hmm… Sounds cool,’ a brief smile appeared on Cole’s face.

‘We’ll start some work on Monday although it isn’t time for the main jobs yet, I hope you’re ready.’ Tarasha asked jovially. She picked the towel from the chair again and proceeded out of the place without listening to Cole’s reply.

Haunted Halloween Night

________

**NIS Underground Office**

Everything was quiet in the building and it’s environment as it usually is during weekends. The weekdays were always different. Not that any sort of noise was expected during weekdays but it never used to be this quiet, there would always be sounds of people watching footages of crime events and recapping crime scenes from the security cameras data and when there was none of that, there would always be sounds of different fingers on keyboards of different computer systems.

Lizzy was the only one in the open office meant for six people, she had the her ears covered with the ear tips of an headset and the other end of the headset plugged into the CPU of the system on which she was watching a video. She had a pen and a jotter on her table which she used in writing down notable details from the video whenever she saw one.

A side of the office was made of transparent glass walls, so those in the office could see people who passed through the corridor and even speak to them; the glass walls had large spaces between them and the slabs above and that allowed sounds in and out of the place. That was a characteristics of most offices in the NIS Underground except offices of very senior Agents and rooms where top secret operations were planned and monitored from.

Someone could finally be seen walking in the corridor outside the wall of the office, after almost two hours of Lizzy not seeing anyone. She didn’t look up until the she realized the person was coming into the office. She paused the video she was watching and looked towards the transparent door.

‘Hey!’ Dave walked in with a smile.

‘Hi,’ Lizzy replied in the same manner.

‘How are you doing?’ he asked, walking towards her.

‘Fine, as you can see. How about you?’

‘I’m doing fine too.’ Dave pecked her on the left cheek and drew a chair close to sit.

‘What did you come to do this early in the office?’ Lizzy asked, turning back to her system to minimise windows and pause other processes she was running.

‘Early?’ Dave paused to check the time on his wristwatch. He turned it to her, ‘It’s just ten thirty.’

‘I know,’ she replied without taking time to look at the watch he showed her. She continued with the mouse, clicking and dragging. ‘We resume work on Saturdays by three pm, so ten thirty is early.’

‘Well, I came to see you. I’ve been here several times during the week to look for you.’

‘No one told me.’

‘You also didn’t reply my messages.’

‘I’ve been working, my personal phone has not been with me until this morning.’

‘Well, it’s okay. It’s been past a week since we saw each other and I really needed to see you.’

Lizzy paused and turned to Dave, a smile forming on her face. ‘You really came to see me?’ She sounded surprised.

‘Ermm… Yes.’

‘Hmm…’ She gave a broad smile and turned back to the system. ‘When did you start becoming so nice?’

Dave chuckled. ‘I’ve always been nice.’

‘You’ve never been to me.’

‘You would never agree. Well, what’s your schedule for today and tomorrow?’

‘Today and tomorrow? I plan on having enough rest. The person I’m working on is out of town and wouldn’t be back till Tuesday.’

‘Oh! Then, you definitely have enough time to rest.’

‘Yea, before the task continues. You want to take my out?’

‘No…I actually came to see you for something very important,’ Dave began with a serious tone.

‘Hmm…’ Lizzy interrupted. ‘I just knew you have a different mission, you’re not just nice enough to check on me.’

‘I’m sorry Lizzy but I tried to reach you during the week like I earlier explained.’

‘Don’t explain, just talk on what you’re here for.’

‘Okay,’ Dave cleared his throat. ‘See Lizzy, tomorrow would make it exactly three days since the last delivery of the Easy Shoppers to Samantha Osman and I think it’s another opportunity for us to step in…’

‘Us?’ Lizzy frowned.

‘Hmm… Sorry, I know that you’re busy and you’ve got your own work to do also but I just need you to help me. I started this with you already and I don’t know who else to run to,’ Dave pleaded.

‘Well, let’s just thank God that I’m free tomorrow and I’ll be able to help. So what would you have me do for you?’

‘I want us to intercept the delivery of goods like we did the other time,’ Dave said.

Lizzy let out a breath. ‘On a personal review of the last time, I found out that it wasn’t really a smooth operation. We didn’t plan well and we’re only lucky not to have been discovered. But how do we return to them now when they discovered our trackers the last time?’

‘I don’t really think the trackers were discovered. I’ve made a review of our activities the last time. Samantha Osman would have never allowed her man leave the tracker with the clothes at that boutique. And I’ve also visited the vehicle Inspection Office to fetch details about the car using the description and the plate number you gave me, they confirmed that the number was newly registered that day. My further investigation and review with the footages from the security cameras data proves that repainting the car, change of the plate and even the man’s change of the clothes were planned beforehand and wasn’t a result of your meeting with him.’

There was a brief silence.

‘Are you sure you’re not judging based on your instincts?’ Lizzy questioned, squinting at Dave’s face.

‘You know I’m better than that. I watched the guy’s body movements, he never checked his body or his car for the tracker before he drove straight to repaint it.’

‘So you mean Samantha Osman didn’t clear the footages from the database like she usually does?’

‘It wasn’t an operation, so she wasn’t expecting that anybody would be monitoring the guy with the security cameras.’

‘Hmm… That’s true.’

‘I also confirmed the identity of that guy, his name is Cole; he’s the same we saw with the lady at the front of that gate and the same one that came to rescue the lady from the Inspector General.’

‘Okay. But we need a smooth plan for tomorrow, I don’t think we should work like we did the other time.’

‘I have one already,’ Dave said with a smile. ‘I kept on monitoring the calls between the two numbers – the EasyShoppers and Alexander Kimberly – and I’ve been following their conversation. Tomorrow, we will make the EasyShoppers guys come two hours ahead and I will receive the goods on behalf of Cole…’

‘Sorry, but…’ Lizzy interrupted. ‘Do you know if he’s the one coming to get the supply tomorrow?’

‘Yes, I confirmed from the conversation of Alexander Kimberly with Easy Shoppers. And even if he isn’t, we will still do something.’

‘Okay, please go on.’

‘I will receive the supply on behalf of Cole and then you will deliver it to the real Cole.’

‘Sounds nice and with less troubles.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Okay then, I think we’re ready for tomorrow.’ Lizzy said and turned back to her computer.

‘Yes, we are ready. Thank you so much. I’ll be back later to see you,’ Dave said, getting up to his feet.

‘You’re going already,’ Lizzy looked at him, disappointment written all over her face. ‘I thought I was going to have some company in here.’

‘I’ll be back to talk to you, we still have a lot of things to discuss about tomorrow. Right now, I have to meet with Inspector Dakolo, I’ve been avoiding him for sometime.’ Dave explained.

‘Alright, see you later.’

______

The loud roars of laughter announced the presence of visitors in the house to James. He hoped that they were not discussing an issue that’ll be of concern to him because he didn’t want to stay there for long. He began to hear voices as he got closer to the living room and the speed of his walking reduced, he didn’t wish to meet the person whose voice he heard last. He finally got to the living room and met the Inspector General seated with the Vice President , The Lagos State commissioner of Police, Agent Tim and the Chairman of the NIS and they were discussing about the new generation of Police and security officers. The men stopped and all turned to him as he approached.

‘Talk about the police officer himself,’ the Vice President hailed James.

‘Good morning your excellency, good morning sirs,’ James bowed in respect to the older men.

‘Good morning Agent James, please have your seat.’ Chief Rikau replied, pointing him to an empty sofa adjacent to his. ‘What drink would you like to take?’ the man offered

‘Ermm… Any soft drink would be okay,’ James replied. He would have loved to refuse but he thought it might be disrespectful for him to since all the other men in the room had drinks in front of them.

It was the Inspector General’s house and he had just been discharged from the hospital after twenty nine days. His colleagues and friends were coming to pay him complimentary visits and James had also come, not knowing that he would meet the set of people there at that time. He knew the Inspector General must have announced his coming because he had called earlier and must have also instructed the guards to allow him in because they wouldn’t allow just anyone in when the Vice President was present.

James had no choice than to join in the conversation and stay longer than he expected, his eyes occasionally meeting with that of Agent Tim who he had been avoiding. He had suspected that Agent Tim had been sidelining him ever since the Inspector General was shot, he knew that the purpose was to hide the truth, so he also decided to continue his own investigation without the Agent knowing about his activities.

The jovial discussion continued for several more minutes and the Inspector General was active involved in it. One thing James was able to get out of the whole thing, even though not expressly stated was that the Inspector General’s woes was self inflicted.

______

‘Yes, come in.’ Cole replied in response to the knock at the door of his room. The door opened and Tomi came in.

‘Cole, the boss asked me to remind you about the supply from the EasyShoppers we’re supposed to receive tomorrow.’ she said as she walked in.

Cole’s eyes scanned her body from her head to toe without giving an immediate reply. Tomi was on a short skirt and a singlet. He was sure she wasn’t dressed like that when she got the instruction to come and meet him from the boss because anytime she wanted to come into his room, she made sure she was dressed in a way she could arouse his interest in her. Cole couldn’t count how many times he had slept with her during the thirty days break but she never got tired and was always coming back even when he pushed her away. Cole was however happy about the house in which they now lived, it had enough rooms for everyone and he didn’t have to share one with her.

‘Do those guys deliver on Sundays?’ Cole asked, looking back to his laptop.

‘Yes, they make deliveries everyday.’

‘Okay, I’ll get it from them.’ Cole said without looking at her. There was no reply from her but Cole could see her coming closer to him. ‘I’m doing an assignment from the boss,’ Cole said to stop her from coming closer.

‘Huh…’ she grunted. ‘For the past one week, you’ve been having assignments from the boss and doing it in your room. I thought you were supposed to do them in the computer room.’

’No, she asked me to do this here. Please Tomi, don’t distract me, we can always see later.’ Cole said.

He didn’t look at her but could hear her hiss and mumble some words. Soon he heard the loud bang of the door. He heaved a sigh and relaxed back into his seat. He placed a look at the door and shook his head. Tomi had become a prostitute without knowing, he thought. She wanted s*x everyday and was never tired. Maybe she was used to it as it was her normal routine when she worked with Don and so she must be feeling very uncomfortable having gone one week without it. However, she never did it with anyone without protection, she always had hers on even if the man does not, maybe that was a proof of her difference as a nurse.

Cole’s mind drifted to the EasyShoppers delivery he was to receive the next day and Patricia’s picture flashed through his mind again. He still had the sheet of paper where she wrote her phone number hidden somewhere and he had fought every temptation to call her during the last thirty days, not for the fear of anything but for not wanting to have anything serious with any girl until after they had completed their mission with Tarasha.

Part of him wished that she would be the one to deliver the goods this time again and the other part of him that didn’t want distractions wished she wouldn’t. He was sure that he wouldn’t be able to resist asking her out if and when they ever met again. Memories of her had been tormenting to him during the last twenty nine days and he felt like he was about to lose someone so special and that he really needed to act quick. But anytime he tried to reach for her number he remembered what could happen to him if he ever got distracted or how her life could be in danger by her association with him. He was confused about the whole issue but one thing he was sure of was that he could never resist the effect she had on him.

‘And are you sure of all these things you’re saying?’ Dakolo questioned.
‘Yes, I am. I’ve been following this for sometime now and I’ve been trailing the police officers in charge themselves. So I get to know what’s happening and don’t depend on what the officers say like other journalists do.’ Dave replied.

‘But that is dangerous, hope you know?’

‘Yes, I do know it is dangerous but I tread carefully. I followed you for months while you were in charge of the case and you never discovered me,’ Dave said with a smile.

Dakolo narrowed his look at Dave’s face, shaking his head slowly. ‘How do I believe that you did follow me? I couldn’t have been so careless not to noticed anything.’

‘Well, I’ve been following you and I can tell you some of your activities. I even know about the meeting you had with the Vice President and some other top security officers on Samantha Osman.’

‘Oh! Do you also know what we discussed there?’

‘No, I don’t know that. It was a closed door meeting,’ Dave lied even though he knew all the details of their discussion and that his involvement in the case began as a result of that meeting.

Dakolo frowned and stared blankly at the wall. ‘That day we discussed about Samantha Osman and how she could cause more harm to our security and even our economy as she would scare of investors. And we also contemplated on getting an undercover that day, I don’t know if there has been anyone yet, or do you know if there’s an undercover working on this case?’ the man stopped, expecting a reply to his question.

‘Undercover?’ Dave repeated, looking somehow startled. Dakolo nodded in response. ‘No, I don’t know. I mean if I know about the undercover, it means he or she is not doing his job well.’ Dave answered. He knew if there was anyone that was supposed to work as an undercover in the case, it was himself and that was one of the major instructions he was given when the case was delivered to his team and he was appointed to handle it. But then, it starts with first knowing the criminal organization before acting as an undercover and if things would work out as planned, Lizzy would be the one playing the role.

‘Well, that’s true.’ There was a long silence and then Dakolo got up. ‘I’m committed to seeing the end of Samantha Osman, I don’t just care whether the case has been taken from me or not.’

‘But it could earn you a query and could even lead to a dismissal from the force,’ Dave warned.

‘I really don’t care as far as I see Samantha Osman go down the drain first.’

________

Tarasha wiped off the table neatly and arranged the books back on them, putting the heavier ones down and the lighter ones on top. The late Nasiru Attahiru’s book was second in the arrangement and her mother’s diary was third. She had read the former several times and had even sourced for more information from different places to confirm what she read in the book. Now she knew all about the notorious group that was led by the Vice President and how they operated in their days. It had also brought to her knowledge more secrets of the Vice President and Inspector General which she could use to plan against them and bring them down but she didn’t have proofs to any allegations she could make against them. However, she had located several areas and places where the proofs could be present and she had taken opportunity of the last twenty nine days to map out how she would gain access to these places, look for the evidences and also keep them with her. She had done her planning and strategizing in very convenient ways that enabled her to relax well for her quick recovery and also made the job less tedious. For example, she had used the street and road maps data into making computer and mobile applications and games and whenever she played these games, she mastered the roads and buildings, getting used to fast escape routes and short cuts which will be needed when the main operation starts.

One thing she had not been able to look into was her mum’s diary. She didn’t really believe there would be so much information about the notorious group in the diary as the group operates secretly, even without their families knowing about them. Tarasha believed the diary would contain more of her mum’s happy moments – she had always known her mum to be a happy woman – and less than one percent of what she needed for her operations but she still intended to search for and read her mum’s account of their treatment by the notorious group.

Her phone beeped on the table and she picked it up to check the notification. She had gotten an email from an unnamed city in Russia. It was an email she was expecting because she had sent a message first.

More strategies and ideas had been coming to her each day on how she could kill her remaining targets without necessarily having to fight with Rex again. The recovery process of the past days had not been able to take off her mind the torture she experienced from Rex even though her body was stronger and the wound – her weak point – which Rex used in defeating her that day was also healing fast. The thought of facing Rex or another surprise like him again was the major reason she had decided for her body to be healed completely before going for any major operations that would involve a gun war or a combat. She was sure Rex knew a lot about her already while she knew none about him except that he was sent by the Vice President and the Inspector General. Her fight with him had been the toughest since she finished her training at the Nefary Clan and began to work for them. Not that she had not met or fought with men who were stronger than Rex before, but it wasn’t just about the strength, there are tactics involved for every fight and she always had it better than those strong men. Her specialty in the use of her hands and calculation of the body movement of her enemy was always her weapon used in defeating anyone she faced. But Rex was totally different, she was totally unable to calculate him except for a few attacks he made which she dodged. But that was a normal part of any fight, Rex also dodged some of her moves, except it was a fight against an inexperienced or weak person, it was always expected that each fighter dodges some casual moves.

There was something about Rex which she also had but thought he could be better at than her, it was his intelligence in calculating his enemy’s movement. He was even able to detect her weak point early that day and had wasted no time but focused on it and decapacitated her. She would have been long dead if not for the Vice President’s instructions that she be brought to him alive. And that was what she was desperate to do before getting her main operation started again, ensuring that there was no loophole or weak point that the enemy could use.

She clicked open the email and scrolled up to read her own message which started the conversation. It was sent to the email address 47tarasha@nefary.org. It read;

‘Good day Queen

I’m in a certain African country right now on a contract and I had an encounter with a strange man called Rex. His composure is exactly like that of one of us and he carries a sign on his mask. It’s a sign that I can’t really explain but that has been seen several times on Lord Nefary’s board. I hope you are in Russia, I need you to visit the clan and check for the names of other assassins in Africa right now.’

The reply was sent to 34tarasha@nefary.org twenty one days after the initial message. It read;

‘Hello Tarasha

I received your message and I acted as soon as I could. I visited the clan and after searching, only your ID was on record for assassins in Africa.

I believe a picture of description of the sign you saw would be helpful. As you know, different signs are added to Lord Nefary’s board from time to time.’

Tarasha placed her fingers on the keyboard and began to type her reply immediately.

‘I do need you to make another visit. The sign on the mask had a animal’s face embedded in it, that’s the only description I can give except I see it again.

And also check for any missing Zonal or Regional Lord or any of them that has been transferred recently. Do get back to me as soon as you can.’

She clicked on the send button after checking through her typed message for errors and dropped the phone on the table.

______

**April 13, 2017**

2.03pm

Cole could spot the EasyShoppers van waiting for him in the park they met the last time. He drove into the place and parked just beside the van. He could see the hair a lady seated at the driver’s side of the van, she was looking towards the other side. As he turned off the car engine, he wondered if it could be Patricia again because he didn’t expect that the EasyShoppers company would have a lot of ladies involved in driving their delivery vans.

He opened the door and got out of the car still looking at the lady seated in the car. She turned at that moment and their eyes locked. Cole froze on the spot, he could feel currents flowing down from his head to toe. Patricia opened the door and stepped out of the van. She turned to his car and stopped at his front. Both stood still, looking into each other’s eyes for almost a minute.

‘Good afternoon sir,’ she finally broke the silence. ‘I believe we will go straight to transferring the goods this afternoon since there’s nothing I’ve been instructed to inform you.’

‘Good afternoon,’ Cole greeted and closed the door which he hadn’t closed when he saw her face. His body shivered as he watched her walk to back of the van. She wasn’t putting on the EasyShoppers uniform as the day wasn’t a workday. Instead she was putting on a crop top and a black trousers which she looked more like a leggings displaying her full features and hiding nothing of her body shape. He was getting aroused as he watched her backside dance up and down as she moved. He cursed under his breath and wondered what she was doing with that kind of clothes, he considered it inappropriate for the job and began to doubt the EasyShoppers’ professionalism even though he didn’t doubt Patricia’s s*xiness and heavy endowment. Surprising to him most was the EasyShoppers logo he saw at the back of the crop top she was putting on, it only meant that the cloth was giving to her by the company which would also mean that they encouraged their female workers to use the sëx appeal with male customers. He wondered however how that had to do with their job and began to have suspicions. He stood still for a moment, thinking about what could be happening. Then he took out his phone and dialed the EasyShoppers’ office number he had.

_______

‘Omotara,’ Tarasha blinked and turned as she heard the call of her name. She knew Henry had entered the room and was behind her all along but decided not to give him attention, thinking he will leave when he sees her busy so as not to get distracted from her thoughts.

‘Yea, Henry.’ she replied him with a smile.

He squinted his eyes at her as he moved closer. ‘You don’t look happy, what are you thinking about?’

‘Nothing, I have no worries.’ she replied him.

‘But it shows on your face, you didn’t know when I entered.’

Tarasha smiled. ‘Of course I knew when you entered. I wouldn’t have missed that in my deepest sleep.’

‘Oh!’ he paused and sat on the bed facing her. She turned her chair from the table to him and shifted it that they both sat directly opposite each other. ‘So what was on your mind? Don’t tell me there is nothing.’

Tarasha drew in a breath. ‘Nothing really, nothing different from what I’ve been brooding upon these days.’

‘And what’s that?’

Tarasha paused for a while and rested her back against the backrest of the chair. She folded her arms and stared at his for a while. He now looked more handsome and relaxed, the few weeks rest had helped cure the impact the stress was having on him. It made her remember how he looked when he was in prison and how he refused to let out information about her and also how he convinced her that day to turn away from assassination with the selfless sacrifice he was ready to make for her. She also remembered the taste of his lips and gentleness with which he handled her and of course, his inexperience in handling women. Another memory of him she had was his demeanor on the day he had to bath her. She didn’t know when she let out a loud laugh.

‘Hey! What’s so funny on my face?’ Henry asked with a smile, rubbing his palms on his face as he wondered what was so amusing to her.

‘I was thinking about us when you entered,’ Tarasha lied to change the tone of the conversation. She was finally glad she gave him a chance to speak with her as his presence seemed to have eased her mind after the message she got from her fellow assassin. They never had the opportunity to sit and talk during the last thirty days as Tarasha always had her door locked when she was in except meal times or time to use her drugs or give out instructions to her workers. She had also spent a lot of time with everyone else in the living room, having jovial chats and on about four occasions playing video games with Henry in the presence of the two others but this was their first time of being alone to talk.

‘But what were you thinking about before I entered?’ Henry asked.

‘Nothing, I just finished arranging my books and cleaning the room.’

‘Hmm… I see,’ Henry replied and took in a breath again.

There was silence for the next couple of seconds as both stared at each other without having words to utter. Tarasha began to smile at him again.

‘Now, you have to tell me what’s amusing you on my face today.’ Henry said as she laughed briefly again.

‘You are amusing,’ she said. ‘Sometimes, you look like a ten year old kid to me.’

Henry’s eyebrows gathered as he watched her talk and he frowned at her in a playful manner, though he felt a bit embarrassed.

‘Thank God, I’m not ten year old.’ he said. ‘I’m sure I’m older than you.’

‘Oh!’ Tarasha shone her eyes widely. ‘You must be a very old man to be older than I am,’ she joked.

Both of them laughed briefly and there was a brief silence again.

‘Come to think of it Tara, I really do not know your age.’ Henry said thoughtfully.

‘Oh! You want to know?’

Henry made a ridiculous face at her.

‘I’m sixteen years old,’ she said.

Henry chuckled and shook his head. He hadn’t expected that she would answer him but he felt it funny that she could tell him she was a teenager. ‘Why do girls always like to hide their age?’

‘Girls love to hide their ages?’ Tarasha asked in a surprise tone. ‘Well, I’m not hiding mine.’ she said and then a frown appeared on her face as a thought popped up in her mind.

‘Yea, I’m sure you’re not hiding it. Sixteen must be your football age,’ Henry joked.

‘What’s football age?’ she asked him, with the frown still on her face. She wasn’t lying, sixteen was the age she knew. It was the age recorded for her in the Nefary Clan. She had lost count of her age during her years in the Nefary clan as there was no count of days nor years there. She only remembered that she was celebrating her birthday on the day her parents were killed but couldn’t remember what year it was. The Nefary Clan also made it difficult for the assassins to calculate their exact ages as they never started counting from the day the abducted kids were brought into the clan but from the day they had fully gone through a series of tests which certified that they should be trained as assassins and this series of tests varied from one to five years for different kids. This age confusion was one of the strategies the Nefary Clan used to keep their assassins in bondage and also make them unable to create links to their pasts. And that was the reason for Tarasha’s frown, she realized that she didn’t know her real age. It had never occurred to her and wouldn’t have if she was working like the assassin she was meant to be and not having anything personal with Henry. She had been asked several times of her age by people she had come in contact with and had also written different ages in docvments she had submitted in different organizations but this was the only time she was asked and needed to say the real age.

‘You don’t know football age?’ Henry shook his head at her. ‘Well, never mind.’

A brief silence ensued again with Henry staring at her face while she stared blankly at the wall behind.

‘Is there any problem Tara?’ Henry asked, after watching the frown on her face for a while.

‘Nothing,’ she said and forced a smile, trying to brighten up again.

‘You sure? You’ve been keeping a sad face since I asked you about your age.’

She tried to smile again. ‘Nothing, only a bad memory.’

‘Oh! I’m sorry I made you remember something bad.’

‘No, it’s not your fault.’ she said smiling and shaking her head. She closed her eyes and took a breath in. Then she opened her eyes and looked back to the table behind. Her eyes went straight to her mum’s diary, that was the only place she knew she could find her real age. Now, she had another reason to read the diary. She decided that moment to set aside a day to go through it from the front to the back page.

She turned and looked at Henry’s face again, he was staring intently at her.

‘So what about the games I sent to your device, have you been playing them?’ she asked.

‘Hmm…’ he pouted. ‘I’ve been playing two of them, I think you sent me three, or are they four?’

‘Just three. Which two have you been playing?’

‘Ermm… The one I love most is the one named Ajuba, I hope I got the name correctly. ‘ he paused to confirm and she nodded in affirmation. ‘I love racing games naturally but the reason I take interest in Ajuba is because the roads are so similar to some of the road networks in Abuja, where did you get the game from?’

‘Well, I’ll tell you that now but let me know the second one you’ve been playing.’

‘The second is the climbing game, truth is I don’t really enjoy that. And I’ve only played the third one once, I didn’t really get it and I left it when I got confused.’

‘Well, you don’t have to enjoy the games, you just have to play them, I sent them all to your device for a reason even though I know you’ll also catch fun with them.’ she began to explain. ‘The games were created by me…’

‘I know,’ Henry cut in.

She chuckled. ‘The first one was patterned using the Abuja street and road maps. The reason for the design is for us all to learn and master the road networks for easy driving and escape when necessary. The second game which involves climbing is for you to master buildings of different storeys and heights and how to climb up and done using ropes and the window frames when necessary. The third game that got you confused is designed to make you master the use of weapons. All these masterings only works mentally but it’ll make it easier for you to learn when you face the real world.’

The smile on Henry’s face had completely vanished by the time she finished explaining. The thought of them having enemies again brought sadness to his heart. He wished that their days of peace and calmness would just continue without having to go back to fighting Rex, the Inspector General or any other enemy.

‘But Tara, do we really need to go and fight these people? They don’t know where we are right now, why can’t we just live as new people and forget them.’

‘Live as new people?’ Tarasha blinked and shook her head. ‘That can’t happen until all these enemies are dead. Have you forgotten that you’ve been declared wanted?’

Henry heaved a sigh of frustration. ‘But we can just run away, leave this place or leave the country completely.’

‘No, we will not do that. Never!’

__________

Henry heaved a sigh of frustration. ‘But we can just run away, leave this place or leave the country completely.’

‘No, we will not do that. Never!’

There was another moment of silence, this time longer than all the others put together.

Henry finally broke the silence with a very calm silence, ‘Tara, is there any way we can do this without killing people?’

‘You mean is there any way we can kill people without killing people?’ Tarasha replied him in a rather sarcastic manner.

‘Is there any way we can make sure those men receive their punishment without killing them?’ Henry replied her in a desperate tone.

‘Henry, we’ve gone through this over and over again. It seems like every bit of rest you have makes you reconsider and change your mind always but I have told you that there’s no way out of this. We have to do what we have to do and even if we decide not to do it, those people would still come after us no matter where we run to.’

Another silence occurred, it seemed to be the pattern of the day’s discussion, only the intake and release of breath could be heard. Both stared at each other for a while before Henry looked away and fixed a thin stare at the ground.

Tarasha kept on looking at his eyes, not sure if it was fear or uncertainty she could see there. She closed her eyes to think for a brief moment. ‘Henry,’ she called calmly after a minute. ‘I don’t have to put you into all these you know, you can leave if you want to, I’ll ensure you cross the border safely and also make sure you get a new identity outside the country.’

‘Leave the country?’ Henry shone his eyes at her as if he was shocked by her words. ‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’

‘I’m not about to go anywhere with you, it would mean betraying the Nefary clan.’

‘What is that, Nefary?’ Henry narrowed his look at her face.

She rose up and walked two steps to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and then squatted, bringing her hand down to his elbow. She looked directly into his eyes before she began to speak, ‘Look Henry, I was born to be an assassin and I can’t deny who I am. You have a different path, you have tried staying with me and it’s not working. The best you can do for the both of us is to leave and go somewhere very far because anywhere close to me would never be safe for you.’

He took her hand off his elbow and got up. ‘I’m not going anywhere, I’m going to stay here until I convince you and we leave together.’ he said and proceeded towards the door. She watched him as he opened the door and slammed it shut after stepping out. She fell flat in her bed and buried her face in the pillow.

________

Patricia watched him with the side eye as he put the phone close to his ears. She was alert and ready for any surprise he would come up with. She opened the gate of the boot behind the van and continued to watch Cole from the hole between the door and the van, she also hoped Dave was watching from where he was like he had promised.

‘Hey…’ she paused to listen to him as she began to hear his voice. ‘I’ve got…’ she couldn’t hear his voice anymore as he reduced it and turned to the other side.

She took some seconds to look around towards where Dave had parked the car and was supposed to be watching from but she couldn’t see him there. Her eyebrows gathered together in panic at the thought of Dave leaving her alone against their agreement. She was still wondering where he could have gone when she heard the guy’s voice again, he had turned towards her and took two steps forward before stopping again. She quickly tried to comport herself for him not to notice anything if he comes to the boot. At the same time she saw Dave walking from a building close to the car back to the car. He had a phone close to his ear and was looking towards them. He displayed a thumbs up to her as he saw her watching. That gave her more confidence and she believed that Dave must have been listening to the the conversation the guy was having on phone and there was no problem for them. She turned back to goods in the boot and leaned forward to open a carton. She ensured she positioned her backside in a way that Cole wouldn’t miss it when he gets to the back of the van.

‘I did not…’ she could hear Cole saying as he walked to the back after ending his phone call. His words were cut short when his eyes met with the trap she set for him.

She could hear him take in a deep breath and release it immediately. ‘You did not do what?’ she said, changing her position with a twist as she knew his eyes will still be on it.

Cole sighed. ‘I think I should just open my boot now,’ he said and turned to the Lexus car CR-V car he drove there.

She had faced him by the time he finished making space in his boot. ‘You were saying something before you went to your car sir,’ she said, looking straight into his eyes seductively.

Even though Cole was getting irritated over her moves and the way she was looking at him which he knew was intended to seduce him, he couldn’t deny her obvious assets which could make any man go crazy when flaunted.

‘I forgot to ask for a delivery man,’ he said as he moved to the boot of the van and took a brief overview of what was in it. ‘Do I own the carton I saw you opening?’

‘No,’ she replied as she shifted closer to him, still looking into his eyes. ‘It’s a carton of beverages and we’re giving you one pack as a bonus.’

‘Oh!’ he took on a deep breath, shaking his head as the scent of her perfume filled his nostrils. He placed a look at her again. He wasn’t anymore impressed about her but he still wouldn’t mind a banging her crazily if he got the chance, maybe just one night will weaken her body and make her stop the naughty moves she was making because he would ensure he doesn’t stop with her until she had an headache and pains all over her body. That’s how he treated girls who acted so desperate to get down with him, he handled them roughly and violently like toys during the action and Patricia was looking like one who deserved it. ‘Okay, I have to start moving these one after the other.’ he said and began to pull out a sack.

‘I could help you, just for today,’ she said and bent to help move out the carton of chicken, using her bum to rub his legs consciously.

Cole dropped the sack on the ground and stood still, watching her as she carried the carton to his boot. She dropped it and was walking back to him when she saw him staring at her with a strange look on his face.

‘So is this how all you ladies at the EasyShoppers behave? Seducing male customers even at public places? Can you just use your brain for once?’ he slammed.

She didn’t give a verbal response but he could see her shoulders drop and her countenance fall. The glow in her eyes with which she moved about disappeared. She turned silently and then walked to the front of the van. Cole was left alone until he finished moving everything into his car.

He closed the boot of the CR-V and walked to the front to meet her. She was leaning against the bonnet of the van and staring down. He was surprised to see her already putting on a jacket on top of her crop top. The jacket covered down her waist down to her thighs. He shook his head as he presumed that that was the way she must have dressed before she left the office and must have taken off the jacket because he was a male customer, she probably wanted to get some extra money off him.

She faced up as he got close to her. She still carried the sombre look she had on when he insulted her. She looked at his face with no seductive looks this time, instead she looked more like a beaten child. Cole was confused and amazed at the same time. He already saw her as a prostitute who had a lucky job at the EasyShoppers but was confused on seeing the remorseful look she now had on her face.

‘I’m done,’ he was the first to speak.

She quietly walked away from his front to the back of the van and took out a nylon pack before closing the back. She walked back to him and stretched the pack for him to have. ‘It’s a bonus to all our customers for this month,’ she said with a lifeless voice.

‘Thank you,’ he collected it, still looking at her face and amazed at her change in countenance.

She silently passed his side as he refused to give way and turned to the driver’s side of the van. Cole stood still and watched till she entered into the vehicle and started the engine before he knocked the window to the passengers’ side. He got her attention and she wind down the glass.

‘Are you leaving without making me sign to confirm receipt of the goods?’

‘Oh!’ she let out a gasp and shook her head like she had forgotten the last stage of the delivery job. She killed the engine and stepped out of the car again with her receipt book. She turned to where he stood and opened the page for him to sign, handing him a pen to use.

Cole collected the book and pen but closed it instead of signing. He stared at her and bit his lips slightly, ‘I’m sorry for talking that way to you.’ He found himself apologizing.

‘You didn’t do any wrong sir, I’m sorry for acting badly and not being professional.’ she apologized back without looking at his face.

Cole still stared at her face without making any move while she stared at the ground.

‘Please sign the receipt sir, I have to return to the office now.’ she spoke again without looking at him.

‘Do you forgive me for talking badly to you?’

‘You didn’t offend me sir.’

Cole moved the pen and receipt book in his right hand to the left and placed his hand under her chin to lift up her face. He did until he saw her eyes looking at his face.

‘I offended you, would you just say you forgive me so that I can sign now.’

She turned her head to move her chin off his fingers, ‘You didn’t offend me sir but I forgive you if that’s what you want me to say.’

Haunted Halloween Night

Cole let out a crooked smile and still continued to stare at her face. ‘How do I know you’ve truly forgiven me?’ he asked and paused to hear her reply but she gave none. ‘Can I take you out for dinner tonight?’

‘Please sign sir, I would like to leave immediately.’

‘Please,’ he pleaded in a melodious tone.

‘No sir, it’s against the ethics of our job to get personal with customers.’

‘Huh ho!’ her words left his mouth opened in surprise. She wasn’t about to stop amazing him yet. He stared at her and wondered how someone who was desperate to seduce him few minutes ago now remembered her job ethics. He was tempted to ask her why she made all the moves she made earlier when she knew it was against her job but he decided to let it slide so as not to spoil his chances of getting her to go out with him.

‘Don’t mind how I acted to you earlier, just forgive me and forget that.’ he said, raising her face up again.

‘It’s okay,’ she finally said unsmiling.

‘Thank you,’ Cole smiled and opened the receipt book to sign. ”I’ll call you with the number you gave me the last time, can I pick you up here by 6:30?’

_____

4.55pm

Tarasha had slept for two hours when the sound of her phone’s ringing tone woke up. She got up from the bed and realized that she had slept off since Henry left the room. She was already getting used to taking naps in the afternoon like the nurse had advised for her to make her recovery fast. But she knew it was just for the moment; soon there might just be no time for her to even relax at night.

The phone had stopped ringing by the time she got to the table. She picked it and swiped it open to see the ID of the missed caller. It was Chief Gab calling with a Nigerian number. She dialed back.

‘Good afternoon Chief, I see you are in town already.’

‘Yes, I landed not up to thirty minutes ago.’ The Chief replied.

‘Okay then, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘What time are you coming? What time is your flight leaving?’

‘I’ll be coming anytime, just prepare for me. You would receive my call when I get there.’

‘I thought you would need someone to pick you from the airport,’ the man said.

‘No, you should not worry about that. All you need to do is to make sure you are ready with the docvments.”

‘Alright Tarasha, I will be expecting you.’ the man said and the call ended.

Tarasha dropped the phone on the table and was about to settle on the chair when she heard a soft knock at the door.

‘Come in,’ she said as she sat.

The door opened slowly and Cole walked in.

______

‘d@mn it! I was scared when I couldn’t find you at the car, I thought you left already.’ Tomi said in a stressed tone to Dave as he drove the car with her by his side.

‘I could see the fright on your face even from the far distance.’ he replied with a chuckle. ‘Who did you think he was calling?’

‘I thought he was calling a backup or maybe one his men, I thought he had discovered I was there on a different mission from the EasyShoppers but I became relaxed when I saw you with the phone. Who was he speaking to?’

‘He called the EasyShoppers line.’

‘Huh?’ Lizzy’s eyes shone in surprise.

‘Yea, but I didn’t let it go through. He spoke to me instead.’

‘Wow! You were so fast.’

‘Yea, I had to leave the car then because I wanted to watch every of your moves, so I moved to a place the van wasn’t blocking my view.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He wanted to confirm who was sent to make the delivery.’

‘I knew he had doubts with the way he was staring.’

‘He sure did.’

‘How were you able to intercept? Was it just the little time you spent accessing the EasyShoppers’ data that you configured your device with theirs and turned around their settings.’

‘Yes, those guys never expected this kind of day to come so they did not provide top security for their systems. I did it in such a way that I can intercept any of their calls to 55678 which is the number that responds to calls from Asokoro and Maitama but I only get an alarm on my device whenever Kimberly’s number is trying to connect or they are trying to connect to her.’

‘So does that mean Kimberly and her guys live in Asokoro or Maitama?’

‘Not necessarily, it only means they registered with EasyShoppers in one of these two places.’

‘I see.’

‘Now, we have to plan for tonight. Did you still put the tracker anywhere?’

‘No, you asked me not to do that only if I saw that there was no good rapport between us.’

‘But you said he accused you of trying to seduce him.’

‘Yes, he did but I could see that he still wanted to have a taste and I knew he was still going to fall.’

:Well, it’s what you specialize at, I shouldn’t be surprised that you knew what every of his reaction meant.’

‘I did, and do I need to meet him tonight?’

‘Did you agree to?’

_____

‘Good day boss,’ he bowed slightly before closing back the door.

‘Cole,’ she called his name in response to his greeting. ‘Have you gotten any useful data yet?’

‘Ermmm… I don’t really think what I’ve got is useful,’ he said and began to walk closer to her.

‘What have you gotten?’

‘I found out this morning that there’s been no other police officer or team handling the Samantha Osman case and there are no records of any other security agency acting on it.’

Tarasha took in a breath as she stared thinly into the air.

‘So Agent Tim’s team is still in charge of the case?’ she asked. Cole nodded in affirmation, muttering a ‘yes’ which could only be read by the movement of his lips. ‘So it means that the guy who helped you on that day isn’t a member of the agent’s team.’

‘Yes and I don’t think he’s a member of the police force also,’ Cole stated.

‘Why do you say so?’

‘He’s been declared wanted by the Police for a month now, I believe they should have fished him out if he was one of them.’

‘Didn’t you say he had a bandage on his head?’

‘Yes, he did. He looked seriously injured and…’ Cole paused, a confused look appeared on his face. ‘But his carriage wasn’t like that of a seriously injured person, he moved and acted so swift.’

‘That could just be as a result of a training he might have undergone,’ Tarasha said. ‘And that leads us closer to finding who he is; which armed force in Nigeria do you think has the ability to be that swift?’

‘I’ve thought about it also and there are so many of them, he could be a personal investigator who was trained somewhere outside the country or a special intelligence officer of one of the forces except the police.’

‘He can’t be a personal investigator, the Vice President and Inspector General who are the men in focus won’t employ a personal investigator when they have Rex…’ she stopped to think for a while. Then she turned to the table and picked her phone, she began to scroll through. I made some research and my findings were that the State Security Service in Nigeria would also be involved in the case since it involves top government officials and then I searched and found the pictures of some SSS men that have been involved in the case, I have them here,’ she said, stretching the phone towards him. He quickly walked forward to collect it. ‘Just keep swiping, they all have the same name pattern.’

Cole took about two minute to stare at the ten pictures of two men, five for each man. He shook his head, ‘Boss, this guy looked younger than these men. I know these two men before, they’ve spoken about the case on national TV before but it’s just that I didn’t find any existing record.’

‘Well, I was thinking it could be someone under them if it isn’t one of them but the confusing part is that he shot security officers and that is making me want to rule out the possibility of him being a security official himself. There’s a higher possibility of him just being from another Hoodlum who had worked with the Inspector General and Vice President before and had fallen out with them, it is possible he helped you just to get back at them.’

There was silence for a minute.

‘But he still being alive could be a disturbance to us, he shot you a tracker and that means he had plans of coming after us or of coming to us. It is also possible we never meet him again, no one knows where we are right now and can’t trace our movements from here except we expose ourself. But do you think he is someone who knew you before that day?’

‘No, I don’t think so. The only person I know who could interfere like that is Don who is late now…’ Cole paused and closed his eyes briefly. ‘And then Stainless, but Stainless works with Rex and he doesn’t look like the guy I saw.’

‘Didn’t you say he had a bandage around his forehead, he might also have had other things on his face.’

‘That’s true.’

‘Is there any possibility of this Stainless wanting to betray Rex?’

‘I’m not sure but Tomi mentioned that he was gathering a new set of guys recently and I believe he is trying to revive his own gang.

‘Tomi,’ Tarasha mentioned thoughtfully, stressing each syllable of the name. ‘Is Tomi good enough to be sent?’

‘With close monitoring, I think we could send her.’

‘Okay, I’ll decide on what to do.’ she said and remained silent for some seconds. ‘Don’t ask or tell her anything until I return from Lagos.’

‘Sure boss, I won’t.

___

‘I wish I could just go with a communication device of any kind,’ Lizzy spoke aloud, seated some distance behind Dave who was working on a computer system.
‘The only thing you can go with is a recorder, so that I can hear your conversation but there’s no way you’ll be able to hear me talk to you without him knowing. Even if there was a transparent coloured earpiece, he would still know from your movements.’ Dave replied.

‘What exact information do you think I can get from him?’

‘I think you should just get to know yourselves for now, it’ll be difficult to get anything from him today.’

‘I know but you should also remember that we’ve not got all the time.’

‘Well, what I really need to know from him is who his boss really is, her mission and her sponsor.’

‘We can never get those information from him, he’s never going to tell us.’

‘Yes, but he’s still our key to her.’

‘How do we use the key then?’

‘First,’ he paused to check the time on his wristwatch. ‘It’s 5:48pm already, he would be calling you very soon. From that, we can get where he comes from – their base.’

‘Getting his base is just a step out of several steps.’

‘Yes, I know.’ he said and got up from his seat. He turned towards her and squatted right in front of her, placing both hands on the armrests. ‘Lizzy, the rest lies in your hands. How can you make him fall completely for you and trust you?’

She stared at him speechlessly for a while. ‘Why do we need him to fall for me?’ she asked with a slight frown.

‘If that happens, he’s going to get comfortable with you and eventually careless, then we can extract a lot of information from him. Information on how to get into their base successfully when we finally need to.’

‘But I don’t want to dip my hands too far in this case, it might disturb my involvement in the cases I’m involved in.’

‘Hmm,’ Dave sighed thoughtfully and rose up. He walked slowly to the window and opened the curtain. ‘I don’t really know how else to do this, the only option I’ve got apart from this is to follow the Chairman’s order.’

‘And are you really considering that?’

‘What other option do I have?’ Dave turned back towards her, his fingers still on the burglary proof metals.

There was silence for some seconds.

‘You have a lady in your team, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ he chuckled briefly and shifted his stare to the ground. ‘But she’s on the chairman’s side already, anyone who isn’t either loses his job or gets demoted.’

‘But you can’t just get demoted or fired without a reasonable cause,’ she stared at him with her eyebrows gathered together.

‘It’s starts with taking the case off your hands first, then they’ll find a cause to fire or demote you. You know how easy it is to be set up at the NIS especially those of us that has worked and works as Undercovers.’

‘But you can’t just give in yet, this case is top notch and solving it will not just make news in Nigeria, it will be worthy of news all over the world.’

‘It’s not even about making news, I believe that solving this case will reveal a lot of secrets that could alter the destiny of the country for good. But what other option do I have when the ones who sent me are willing to pay me to be dishonest in the job they gave me?’ he asked, now staring at her face. ‘I’ve got no one on my team who thinks like I do.’

‘Alright,’ Lizzy took in a breath and rose to her feet. ‘Let’s see how far I can go, I’m not sure I can go too far.’

Dave raised his eyebrow, ‘I don’t think you have to go too far but I think your little input will make a huge difference. So do you agree to continue with me?’

‘Ermm… Let me say I’ll continue until there’s need for me to pull out,’ she replied.

‘Oh! Thanks,’ he said with a brief smile. He began to walk towards her with his hands stretched out for an handshake. He would have given her a hug but the atmosphere felt too ‘official’ for that.

‘Hold on,’ she said with a hand up and palm faced towards him. He halted. ‘You said you wanted him to fall completely for me but we started on wrong note already, it might be difficult to get him to like me at all.’

‘It’s your job, I believe you can do it.’ Dave said and slowly put his hands in his pockets. ‘But what makes you think it’ll be difficult for him to like you, if he doesn’t like you yet, why then has he asked you out?’

‘I displayed my body to him and that’s what he wants, he wants to sleep with me.’ she said with a sorry look on her face.

Dave folded his arms. ‘I don’t know why I believe otherwise, he’s a crook that shouldn’t have time for girls, if he wanted to get down with you, he would have just offered you money and told you the hotel he wants you to meet him.’

‘That’s not too late, he could still do it.’

‘I don’t think he…’ the ringtone of a phone cut Dave short. Both of them looked at each other’s face for a second and then at the table where the phone was ringing the next second. ‘Don’t answer it yet,’ Dave said as he rushed back to the computer system.

Lizzy walked to the table and picked up the phone, the number displayed had no name attached but there was only one person she had given the number of the sim in the phone. While the phone was still ringing, she swiped down the notification bar to check if the data connection was on, wondering why the Reveal Caller application was not displaying the registered name of the caller.

‘There’s no caller name displayed,’ she said aloud after confirming that it was connected a source of data. The phone stopped ringing.

‘Is the data connection of that phone on?’ Dave paused briefly to ask.

‘It’s connected to your hotspot.’

The phone began to ring again. Dave typed in some more commands with the keyboard and ended with the enter key. ‘You can answer it now.’

Lizzy took two back steps before answering the call. ‘Hello.’

‘Hi Patricia, Good evening.’

‘Good… evening,’ she replied, making hesitation sound in her voice. ‘Who’s on the line please?’

‘It’s Victor,’ the voice replied. ‘I received the foodstuffs supply on behalf of Alexander Kimberly today.’

‘Oh! Victor,’ she sounded surprised.

‘I promised to take you out tonight, remember?’

‘Oh yes, but… I’m kind of busy right now,’ she replied, making it sound as if she had forgotten about the outing before.

‘Come on, what are you doing? It’s just past six now, it would be okay if you can round up in few minutes time.’

‘No, it might take a little bit longer. I’m actually cooking.’

‘Cooking?’

‘Yes.’

‘But I promised to take you out for dinner already,’ the voice sounded disappointed. ‘Or do you want me to join you for dinner at your place?’

‘Oh no, my parents would not like that.’

‘I see… So how do we do it?’

‘Maybe I should call you when I’m ready,’ she suggested.

‘Okay, that would be nice. I’ll be waiting for your call,’ he said.

‘Okay.’ she replied and the call ended.

She met a frown on Dave’s face as she got to his table. He had his back rested and his hands folded with this eyes staring up.

‘Top security in their building,’ he said and sat up on noticing her by his side.

‘You could not determine the location?’

‘Yes, I couldn’t. The building is protected, the map is displaying a location not in the country or even Africa.’ he stopped and tapped the keyboard to confirm the location displayed. ‘It’s Russia.’

‘Russia? How possible is that?’

‘It’s not possible that he’s speaking to you from Russia but it could mean that the configuration they use for the ultimate server in the building was set up in Russia.’

‘That’s crazy, we have to take another step then.’ she said and pulled a seat to sit beside him.

‘I think you should get dressed now,’ he said. ‘Put on something sëxy to keep him asking for more,’ he added with a smile.

‘Asking for more what?’ She bit her lips. ‘I thought you wanted him to fall for me now.’

‘Yes, Ermm…’ he scratched his head. ‘I thought dressing in a sëxy way will help you achieve that.’

‘That’s not important at all, it’ll only make him want to take me to bed the more. And the special thing about this is that he’s a well trained assasin, I don’t think we can hold him down, send him crazy or get him addicted to me with good sëx.’

‘I can assure you that most male assassins love to sleep with women a lot and some of them can’t go a day without it.’

‘But do you know that as crazy as they are for se*x, some shoot dead the ladies they sleep with immediately after everything and go for another girl the next day?’ she asked and Dave couldn’t give an answer. ‘The thing is that they love se*x but never get attached to the girls. They only see them as tools and nothing more.’

‘Well, I don’t have anything to say about this anymore. It’s your specialization, you how you do it and I trust you to handle it well,’ he shrugged.

‘Since you’ll be watching and listening, you have to read us in between the lines. I’ll call this a well calculated risk, he could try to kill me if he notices anything.’

‘Okay, just do your job.’ Dave said and got up. ‘When you’re ready to go, I need you to tell me. You’ll call him twice, one to inform him that you’re ready and then will we’ll give him a space of some minutes to get out of the building he is in and then you call him again. The whole street or area can’t be protected even if the building is protected.’

_______

‘Rex, are you so sure about this?’ the Vice President asked with a tone of doubt. The Inspector General was seated at the same end with him and they were all in a secret room at the Inspector General’s quarters.

‘Yes, I am. You already made the decision with the board, do you want to reverse it?’ Rex asked, looking straight at the Inspector General.

‘It could still be reversed if it will not fetch any good thing. I can’t seem to forget what happened a month ago.’ Chief Rikau replied.

‘You got shot and almost killed because of your carelessness, both of you.’ Rex replied, taking glances at the both men.

‘I don’t want to talk about that anymore,’ the Vice President raised his hand in anger. ‘That’s gone and should be forgotten,’ he added, turning to the Inspector General. ‘Now we should focus on the next plan. Rex gave the idea and we’ve started the implementation already, we announced it last week and everybody including them should have heard by now. If Rex thinks it would work, I believe it would.’

‘Yea, it’s the only way I know we could trap her now.’ Rex joined in.

‘That girl and her team are intelligent, don’t you think they’ll detect any foul?’ Chief Rikau questioned Rex.

Rex let out a brief chuckle which sounded devilish. He placed his gaze on Chief Rikau for almost a minute, thinking about the man’s words. It was the most meaningful question the man had ever asked since he began to work with them and Rex wondered if the wounds he got had made him more intelligent.

‘I thought about that already,’ Rex finally replied. ‘But it’s not a direct trap for her, someone has to fall first before pulling her in.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Chief Rikau frowned.

‘You don’t really need to understand…’

‘I need to understand,’ Chief Rikau cut in. ‘I’m the one to explain to the world if anything goes wrong.’

Rex was silent for a moment. ‘In Nigeria, isn’t there a law against detention of people for so long?’

‘No one has been detained here, only her movements were restrained.’ the man argued.

‘What’s the difference in this context? Since the movements have been retained, have you made any reasonable headway in the case?’

The Inspector General remained silent.

‘Let me handle this and Samantha Osman would walk right into our hands.’

_______

‘When are you returning when you leave tomorrow?’ Henry asked Tarasha who was sitting in the living room and listening to the network news at six. He dropped the tablet device in his hands on the three seater before sitting beside it.

‘I’m not planning to stay there more than twenty four hours,’ she replied, taking a look at him as he sat on the chair. She noticed he just had a change in hairstyle and had shaven his beards.

‘So that means you’ll be back by next tomorrow?’

‘Yes, I should.’

‘Alright, I guess I should just leave this till tou return.’

‘What’s it? Why don’t you say it now?’

‘It’s nothing big, I told you sometime ago that I needed to find a way to see my parents and calm them.’

‘So have you found the way?’

‘Well, I’m just going to visit them and explain things to them.’

‘I hope you know you have to go there disguised.’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘When are you planning to go?’

‘I thought of planning that with Cole, I was going to discuss it with him tonight.’

‘Tonight?’

‘Yes.’

‘Cole’s out already and won’t be back until midnight.’

‘You sent him.’

‘No, he went to the club.’

‘Oh well, I’ll discuss it with him tomorrow then and we’ll get back to you but I believe it’ll be this week?’

‘Huh? You’re going to see your parents this week?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then it has to be your Dad alone.’

‘No the both of them, in fact my mum is the one I need to see.’

‘How are you going to do that?’

‘I found out she’s going home this week.’

‘Then you can’t see her this week except you do it on her journey home.’

‘I don’t understand you.’

‘Don’t you think the officers would be expecting your visit?’

‘Hmm…’

‘They’ll expect that you visit her if you’re still around and would stick around to wait for you.’

‘That’s true.’

‘Choose another day, you could get into trouble if you make it next week.’

____

Cole drove down the road silently, glancing at his phone from time to time and wondering if he was going to ever receive the call from Patricia. He couldn’t go back home as he already requested permission to club all night. The previous plan he made was to take Patricia for dinner at a restaurant and then talk her into spending the night in an hotel with him but speaking with her minutes ago had changed his plan totally. He had learnt that she was still living with her parents and was sure it’ll be quite difficult to convince her to spend the night with him, and she also sounded over the phone like someone who wasn’t used to night outings and that got him surprise because the impression she had given him about herself with all her seductive moves was that she was no different from a runs girl. He decided that if he got no call from her, he was going to eat somewhere and then spend the rest of the evening at a club and his night in an hotel with a prostitute.

The call he had been hoping for finally came in, earlier than he thought it would. He quickly searched for a space by the road side and pulled over. By the time he held the phone, it had stopped ringing, he dialed back her number.

‘Hey Patricia,’ he said into the phone.

‘Hi, should I meet you around that car park now?’

‘Yes, you can. And you can also tell me your address so that I can come there for you.’

‘Oh! Don’t bother about that, I’ll just meet you at the park.’ she said.

‘Okay, no problem.’ he said and the call ended. He put the phone back beside him and took in a deep breath, he wondered if he was really going through the stress of taking her out just for se*x or if he was beginning to like her. He didn’t know what it was. Earlier that day, he was irritated by her moves and just wanted to teach her a good lesson by having a violent sëx session with her but now it was all different, he craved more than the sëx, he craved her presence and attention. If it was only sëx, he could choose to go to a brothel where he would have several options of girls with different assets and some more even endowed than she was. He realized that he was attracted to her in the first place because of her sëxiness but now, something different was attracting him and wh@tëver it was, he was determined to find out.

He took a quick glance at his wristwatch to check the time, it was ten minutes to seven. Then he looked at the side mirror before turning on the trafficator to signal to coming cars his plan to move into the road.

Not too long after he got on the road, his phone began to ring again. He glanced at the screen and it was her number calling again. He looked around the road to see if there were any traffic officials on the road who would stop him for disobeying by answering a call while driving. He found none but still decided to stop somewhere before answering the call.

‘What’s up Patricia?’ he said into the phone.

‘I just wanted to find out if you are close by already, I don’t want to stay waiting for long.’ she replied.

‘I’ll get there in eight minutes time,’ Cole answered.

‘Okay.’

_____

‘The guy already left the house before you called the first time,’ Dave said to Lizzy who just ended the call with Victor. He was still dressed the same way he was buy Lizzy had freshened up and worn a new dress – a slim fitted gown which stopped just on her knees but was split on the right side, revealing her right knee up to the thigh. She also arranged her hair in a new fashion and was still busy with her makeup tools.

‘So what we got is the wrong location?’ she asked.

‘Yes, we heard sounds of cars on both occasions. I think he left home when he called the first time.’ Dave said with a tired look.

‘We didn’t think about that,’ she said with a light smile. ‘You can’t predict criminals sometimes, especially those that work with top level intelligent organizations such as this.’

____

7:16pm

Cole felt the cold wind blow on his body as he rested his bum against the boot of the car. He looked up quickly as he felt something cold touch his hand – a drop of rain, there were no signs of rain in the clouds. He closed his eyes and took in a breath of the cold air rushing against his skin.

‘Hi,’ a voice sounded right in front of him and he opened his eyes quickly. And there was the most beautiful person he had ever seen standing at his front, even the darkness of the night couldn’t hide her beauty. The reflection of light from the car wash and other buildings some distance away helped to reveal her perfect figure and the shadow formed beside her revealed the same beautiful shape and elegance.

His heart throbbed for joy as his eyes scanned her body from head to toe. Everything about her was mind blowing and even the smile on her face was angelic. He stretched out his hand towards to receive her. His eyes scanning her body again as she walked elegantly towards him.

He imagined how it would feel like touching the sëxy thigh he could see through the split skirt and how it would be when his hands moved from her thighs to the middle region and his fingers touched the strings around her waists.

He quickly shook off his lustful thoughts with a smile as her fingers touched his, he moved her hand gently to his lips and placed a light kiss on the back of her palm.

‘I’ve never seen one as beautiful as you are,’ he confessed, pulling her into a warn embrace. He didn’t feel like letting her go, he wished to remain under her influence with the scent of her perfume fighting air for space in his nostrils and her Brë@šts touching his chest with her chin on his shoulders.

_______

Updates will be posted thrice a week during this break; Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays or Fridays (I’m still trying to see which is more convenient between this), min of 3000 words each. Please note that the three times update a week is only certain during the break. I’m emphasizing on it now, so that there would be no complaints if I return to twice weekly when school resumes.

‘Here,’ Patricia handed over the item list back to the waiter who stood by their table to take their order. ‘You can ask him what he wants,’ she said to him.
‘Just give me the same thing she ordered for,’ Victor said to the waiter with a smile, refusing to collect the paper the waiter was handing to him. The man bowed slightly and walked away, leaving the two to themselves for a brief moment.

The restaurant was one of the bests and most expensive in town. It was known for its provision of a wide variety of food and drinks, both Nigerian and popular foreign dishes. And that was the reason it received high patronage from visitors in the country as could be seen at that moment. The environment was quiet and serene. The workers were always well dressed and attentive and they answered the customer’s queries and requests always very quickly.

Victor kept his gaze on the Patricia’s face without saying any wordsand both looked into each other’s eyeballs like kids who were amazed at the inverted image of themselves formed on the retina.

‘Is this how you’ll stare at me all day?’ Patricia asked with a chuckle.

‘I’m just amazed,’ Victor said, releasing a breath.

‘Amazed at what?’ she questioned.

‘Amazed at your beauty, never seen one like this.’ Cole said and licked his lips as he adjusted his seating position and placed his right elbow on the table.

She smiled at his comment and made a shy face as she relaxed her back, also examining his face. ‘You could flatter a dead body till it blushes.’

‘No, I’m saying the truth.’

She wondered why he sounded like a gentleman instead of the rough assasin she expected him to be. Ever since he had picked her that evening, all his actions have been contrary to what she expected and she found it hard to believe that everything was going so smooth. For her, it only meant two things; either that Victor was falling for her easily like Dave had predicted or that he already suspected her and was playing along to get her trapped. If the former was true, then it meant that the fall of Samantha Osman was really close but if it was the latter, then she needed to pull out totally or apply extra care or her life could go with it. However, one thing that gave her more confidence was that Dave was close and was listening to their conversation.

‘Here,’ the waiter spoke out to their hearing, announcing his arrival with the tray containing their order, a waitress was standing behind him with another tray containing the exactly the same substances in the first.

‘Wow!’ Victor exclaimed with his mouth widely opened as he saw the food being served on the table. He looked at Patricia’s face in surprise, ‘You requested for Amala and reedy?’

‘Yes, what’s making you so surprised. This is what I was making at home before you called.’ she replied, already beginning to unwrap the food.

‘What the h***!’ he said, still in surprise as his was being served. He began to imagine her in the kitchen preparing the Amala like she claimed and he presumed that she must be a good cook. Thoughts of settling down in the future after saving a lot of money began to drift into his mind, he wondered if it would ever be possible to settle down and if he would find someone as beautiful as Patricia who could also cook well. He began to calculate in his mind how much he had in his Bank accounts. He was a millionaire already as he had been able to save a lot since he began working for Tarasha and also had less time to squander the monies on drugs and women like he used to do when he was with Don Dan. However, squandering the money or getting it out of the Bank account then was important so as not to draw attention of the authorities if he had so much in them, but working with Tarasha, he had learnt and was able to keep the monies in foreign accounts with a different identity. He remembered Benny as he thought of his previous lifestyle of squandering monies on girls and partying again, Benny was his partner in the act. Benny was now no more, same as Aisha. An assassins life could never be predicted, it could end at any time, so saving money for the future shouldn’t even be part of his focus because he wasn’t sure he would have that future. It was important that he enjoyed his life to the fullest; party as much as possible, drink as much as possible, sleep with girls as many as possible and also buy all expensive things he could find.

‘Hey Victor,’ Patricia was waving her left hand at his face as he looked lost in thoughts. She was already eating her meal while he just stared absentmindedly.

‘Hey!’ he forced on a smile, coming back to himself.

‘What are you thinking about?’ she asked after swallowing the food in her mouth.

‘Was I thinking?’

‘Yes, you were thinking. You were far away from here.’

‘Hehe, it happens sometimes,’ he said, now unwrapping his own food. ‘I was thinking about my friend who used to love eating Amala,’ he quickly added to stop her from asking more questions. ‘Died few months ago.’

‘Oh! Sorry about that. He must have been so close to you, ‘ she sympathized.

‘Yes, she taught me how to eat Amala.’ he added, now thinking about Aisha who really Mac’s made the first Amala and served him with the soup he enjoyed.

‘She?’ Patricia seemed more interested about the friend now. ‘She must have been so important to you.’

‘Yea, kind of.’ Victor replied.

‘Can I know more about her?’

‘We have to finish eating first,’ Victor reminded her of the food, taking a mold in his hand.

‘Yea, sorry for my bad manners.’ she apologized in low tones and continued to eat.

It took them some minutes to finish eating and the plates were taken away by the attendants.

‘So, when did you start working with EasyShoppers?’ Victor began the conversation.

‘Just this year,’ she replied without much enthusiasm in her voice. She bit her lips slightly, thinking on how do change the subject of the conversation. She couldn’t allow him continue asking her questions about EasyShoppers because she didn’t have many answers available and wouldn’t like to say something contrary to what he already knew about them.

‘So, you’re new there. EasyShoppers is really a…’

‘Shh…’ she hushed him playfully, putting a finger on her lips. ‘I don’t entertain people when I’m invited on a date.’

He raised his brows. ‘I don’t understand,’ he shook his head gently. The waiter arrived at that moment and dropped on the table, two packs of juice and two cups.

Patricia took time to open the juice before talking again, also using the opportunity to think on what else to say. ‘I mean I don’t do the talking, you do the talking and answering while I ask the questions,’ she said, raising her eyebrows and shaking her lips in a playful way.

He chuckled and rested his back. ‘Okay then, let’s have you ask the questions.’

‘You know where I work already, what about you, what do you do?’

‘I’m a businessman, I deal with electronics majorly.’

‘You have a company that manufactures electronics?’

‘No,’ he smiled. ‘I help companies in importing and exporting.’

‘Importing? Do we still import electronics in Nigeria?’

‘Yes, we still import some rare parts though eighty percent of electronics used in Nigeria today are locally made. So I do more of exporting and very little importing.’

‘Okay, what’s the name of your organization?’

‘For now, I run my company as a division under AA Ltd.’

‘AA? I think I’ve heard something like that before.’

‘You should have, I’ll be surprised if you’ve not.’

‘Well, I don’t really remember certainly.’ she said, staring up like she was trying hard to recall. ‘What’s the full for AA?’

‘Alexander Amaechi.’

‘Oh! Alexander Amaechi,’ she repeated under her breath and then stared thinly at his face. She leaned forward on table, ‘I’ve been wanting to ask, how do you relate with Alexander Kimberly, the lady whom you come to get the supply for? Isn’t she Alexander Amaechi’s daughter?’

Victor replied with a forced smile. He appeared a bit unsettled but did his best to hide it. He never expected the question but he had to come up with an answer.

*

Dave had his earpiece in his ears as he walked around the car in the security guard’s uniform. He peeped through the window glasses to see if there was any weapon in it but he couldn’t find any. He turned to the driver’s side and examined the lock of the door for a moment and then took out a flat long metal from the bag which hung from his shoulders down. He thought for a moment about forcing the door open but realized that it would only make things harder for he and Lizzy, there was no way the owner of the car wouldn’t know that the car had been tampered with. He returned the metal into his bag and took out a tracker as he walked to the back of the car, he attached the tracker under the boot closed to the left hand side tyre. He dusted his palms as he got up and looked around briefly to see if anyone was looking his way.

*

‘Alexander Kimberly is Mr AA’s daughter and she’s my sister, my senior.’ Victor finally found an answer to her question.

‘Oh! That means you’re also an Alexander and is that why you can work under the division of the AA Ltd?’

‘I’m not an Alexander, I’m a nephew to Kimberly, I have a different surname.’

‘And what’s yours?’

‘Amos.’

‘So you’re Victor Amos.’

‘Yes.’

‘Kimberly Alexander, what’s she like?’

‘Well, can we limit our conversation to myself and you for now. You’ll get to know about the others later.’ Victor said in a dismissive tone. He looked pretty uncomfortable about the conversation.

‘I’m sorry, it looks as if you don’t really like to talk about your family.’ she apologized and drew back from the table. She poured some juice into the cup on the table.

‘Not really but I won’t like to talk about them now.’

‘It’s okay, let’s just discuss something else.’ she said and took a sip from her cup. ‘By the way, what’s the time now?’

Victor turned his wrist to check the wristwatch. ‘It’s past nine already, eleven minutes.’

‘Wow! I have to leave for home by nine thirty.’

‘Oh! Barely twenty minutes more.’ he sounded disappointed. ‘I thought we were going to spend more time together tonight.’

‘I wish we could too but it’s already late.’

‘Well, no problem. But permit me to ask, do you club or go to late night parties?”

‘Yes, I used to, when I was in school and when I was staying with my friends.’

‘Okay, I guess you don’t anymore because you now stay with your parents.’

‘Kind of, but I can still go out if I have it well planned. I had to move in with them when I got the job here in Abuja with EasyShoppers.’

‘Okay, where were you working before?’

‘Never worked since I left school.’

‘What did you study in school?’

‘Business Administration.’

‘Which school?’

‘The University of Ilorin.’

‘Nice, what year did you graduate?’

‘2029 and I served in 2030.’

‘So you barely stayed one year without a job?’

‘Well, that’s right but I don’t consider what I do in the EasyShoppers now a job. It’s what I do just to stay busy and help my family.’

‘Hmm… Tell me briefly what your family is like,’ Victor relaxed his back, sounding more interested about her private life.

‘Well, I also think we should just only discuss about the both of us for now.’ She replied, paying him back for also refusing to talk about his family and also using the medium to escape forming lies.

”Not bad,’ Victor leaned forward to pour his drink. ‘He rushed it down his throat and dropped the cup noisily on the table which made her stare at him in surprise. ‘I must confess,’ he began with a chuckle. ‘I’m not used to this fruit drink stuff, so it tasted strange now that I drank it.’

‘Oh!’ she giggled. ‘Why didn’t you order for what you are used to then?’

He shook his head and forced a smile.

‘What are you used to? Beer?’ she asked with a smile.

‘Not really, I take non-alcoholic wines too. But this particular fruit,’ he stopped to check the fruit pack. ‘Pineapple is not really my thing’.He leaned forward again and stared at her face as she took another sip of wine. Her eyes met his as she put the cup on the table. She leaned forward and stared back at him, both looking into each other’s eyes and smiling and waiting for the first person to get tired of staring.

‘And why are you staring at me like that?’ Patricia widened her eyes as she giggled.

‘I just can’t seem to get enough of your beauty,’ Victor blinked and chuckled. He checked his wristwatch again, ‘Well, I think we can start leaving now, it’s almost nine thirty.’

She sighed and reached for her bag.

‘But we’re not leaving until we pick another date to see.’

‘Ermm… I work from Mondays to Fridays, and sometimes I get called to come on Saturdays and Sundays.’

‘So you’re busy everyday?’

‘No, I can choose not to go on Saturdays and Sundays.’

‘I don’t really think I can wait till Saturday to see you again, what time do you close from work on weekdays?’

‘I close from work by five pm except for Fridays which is by three o’clock.’

‘Ermm… I don’t know if we could go out during the week again.’

‘You don’t know?’ she asked him in a tone depicting that she believed he wasn’t serious about taking her out again. ‘You can give me a call when you know.’ she said and picked her bag to get up.

‘Hey! Calm down.’

5 minutes later

He opened the door and bowed slightly as she stepped into the car majestically. Then he closed it back and turned to the driver’s side. As he stepped into the car, he began to wonder where he learnt all the gentlemanly actions he had been performing that night. For example, he never remembered ever opening the car door for any lady in his life. The last time he made romantic gestures like he was making now was in his first year in school and he didn’t have a car then. Since he began to work with Don and specialized in criminal activities, the only place he had taken girls to were hotels and nothing romantic ever happened apart from what they did on the bed.

‘So, where is your place?’ He asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

‘I stay in Major estate, wouldn’t that be too far for you to drive to this night?’ she replied.

‘Too far?’ he laughed and pushed the start button of the car. ‘Major estate isn’t far.’

‘It’ll take us about forty five minutes to get there, are you sure I won’t be inconveniencing you now that you have to drive me there first and then drive back home.’

‘How do you want to leave if I don’t drive you home?’ he asked as he began driving.

‘I’ll get a cab to take me home.’

‘I’ll never forgive myself if I allowed you to do that.’

She smiled. ‘Nice of you, I must say.’

He smiled back without uttering any word.

‘So where do you stay?’

‘I’ve been expecting that question,’ he smiled again. ‘I live somewhere around Gwagalada.’

‘Huh?’ she turned and stared at him with her eyes and mouth widely opened in surprise. ‘Does your sister stay there too? I mean Ma’am Kimberly.’

‘No, she stays around here.’

‘And is it your supply you come to get monthly or for her?’

‘For us,’ he replied, pouting his lips. ‘For sometime now, I’ve had to stay in her apartment because I have work to do around here.’

‘Okay, so she asks you to come and get them?’

‘No, I offer to do so.’

‘But why don’t you guys allow us deliver it to the house directly? I was wondering why I had to come and meet you at the park again today.’

‘Kimberly has more than one apartments around and I think the place she’s staying now isn’t the address she registered with your office. The park we meet is very close to the registered address.’

‘Oh! But that’s easy, it won’t take five minutes to change the address of the delivery on her request.’

‘Hmm… Maybe she doesn’t know about that, but I’ll tell her.’

‘Good and what job does…’ she stopped, remembering that he wasn’t ready to talk much about her.

They continued discussing on random things until they got into the road leading to Major Estate.

‘So where exactly do you stay? So I can drop you at the entrance or somewhere close by, ‘ Victor asked.

‘You can just drop me at the gate, I stay at the second building by the left, so I can just walk in.’

‘Is there any reason I shouldn’t take you in?’

‘The gate closes by 10pm.’

‘Oh! This is seventeen minutes past ten already.’ he said after taking a glance at his wristwatch.

‘Yea but I know the security guys. I’ll talk to them.’

‘Then I won’t leave until they allow you in first.’

A security man appeared at the gate as their car approached. He drove closer and stopped right in front of the gate.

‘So, I’ll see you on Wednesday right.’ he turned to her and took in a deep breath, wishing she wouldn’t leave his sight.

‘Yes,’ she replied him, taking off her seatbelt. ‘Have a goodnight test,’ she said with a smile and opened the door. She picked her bag from the backseat and was about to step out when he grabbed her by the arm. She turned and stared at him looking surprised, he stared back at her without saying anything. ‘I have to go now, I may have issues with the security men if I keep them waiting at the gate.’ she looked towards the man at the gate to draw Victor’s attention there.

‘Okay, I was just wondering if I could really survive the next two days without you.’ he said as he released her arm slowly.

She turned back to him and dropped her bag on her laps. She then leaned towards him and pulled his head close to hers suddenly, placing her lips on his. Victor didn’t expect it but it was what he wanted, he drew her closer with his hand at her back and engaged her lips and tongue with his.

She broke away in less than one minute. ‘I have to go now,’ she said and turned away from him. She picked her bag and stepped out hurriedly. She pulled down her skirt which had rolled up before closing the door.

He watched as she proceeded to the gate and whispered something to the man at the back of the tall gate. The man opened the narrow way for her and she walked in. He could see her squeeze some naira notes into his hands from her bag before she was allowed to walk away. He watched as she walked on until she disappeared behind the first building which covered the view of the rest of the curved road. The security man behind the gate was still watching him until he reversed and drove away, taking the opposite direction to where he came from.

Dave whose car was parked several distance away from them also started the engine again. He waited for Cole’s car to drive farther before following, he had a tracker on it, so he didn’t need to follow closely not to miss it.

‘Awww,’ Dave yawned and stretched noisily. He looked around where he laid and realized he was on the car seat. The darkness in the sky was fading off gradually and the workers in the clubhouse were already cleaning the surroundings. He quickly sat up and looked out through the window, his target’s car was nowhere to be found. He took a glance at his wristwatch, it was fourteen minutes to seven. He adjusted the car seat in a hurry and turned on the engine of the car. He rubbed his eyes with his palms before putting on the seatbelt. Then he picked his tablet device and turned it on.
He had followed Cole all the way from the estate to the clubhouse where Cole had decided to spend the night. After several hours of watching Cole drink, dance with and rock different girls, he decided to wait in his car until Cole was done and that was how he slept off. He got into his car around 3.30am and he woke up before seven.

The app opened on his phone displayed the new location of the car and Dave drove out of the beer house as fast as he could. He needed to get to the new location quickly, so that he could also go home and prepare to go to the office. It was a Monday morning and he was supposed to resume by 8am.

It took him more than twenty minutes to get to the new location of the car and he was disappointed to find out that the car was only rented out to Cole for the night and it had been returned that morning. He took a look at the location again and realized it was the same address he got when he tried to track him through the phone call the day before. He turned back, feeling disappointed but still with the hope that there was another opportunity for him on the coming Wednesday.

How To Escape $eduction From Girls

________

‘Take care while I’m away,’ Tarasha said to Cole as he handed over the small briefcase to her. She was dressed corporately, in a black trousers suit, white inner shirt and a navy blue tie, with her face otally disguised, she looked like a black American who was on her way for a business meeting.

‘Alright boss,’ he replied. She gave him a pat on the shoulder before turning away.

He stood and watched until she went past the security clearance gates. He yawned as he turned and proceeded out of the terminal, playing with the car keys in his hand.

As he drove back to the base, he kept thinking of Patricia and their meeting the last night. He had spent his mouth with two girls he met at the club the last night but still couldn’t get Patricia off his mind while he was with them. He couldn’t take her off his mind for a second and even woke up from the one hour rest he had at home with her name on his lips. Now, he was thinking about her again and wishing that he could be with her all day. It began to trouble him, why she occupied his thoughts so much even when he had other things to worry about was becoming an headache to him.

_____

9:09am

‘Good morning ma’am,’ Lizzy looked up as she heard Dave’s voice. He had just entered into the office and was proceeding towards her and greeting the other occupants of the office. ‘Good morning Lizzy,’ Dave greeted as he sat on the seat behind her table.

‘Good morning Dave,’ she replied and continued to type using her computer keyboard like she was doing before he entered.

‘Hope you slept well?’ Dave asked.

‘Yea, how did it go last night? Did you sleep well too?’ she said, rushing up her typing so she could talk to him.

‘No, I didn’t sleep well at all.’ he replied.

‘Huh?’ she stopped typing to look at his face.

‘Yea, the guy Victor spent the night at the club yesterday and I had to stay with him there.’ Dave replied in low tones, being conscious of the other people in the office and not wanting them to overhear their conversation.

‘But then, were you able to trace him home?’ she also asked in a low voice.

‘No,’ Dave shook his head and smiled in self-pity. ‘That’s the sad story there. I slept off in the car while waiting for him and I didn’t know when he left the place.’

‘You didn’t put a tracker on his car?’

‘I did but the car wasn’t his, he lent it just for the night. I traced it to the rental service he got it from.’

‘Not too good,’ Lizzy shook her head and folded her lips in. ‘But he asked for us to meet again on Wednesday.’

‘Yes, I heard you guys agree.’ Dave replied. He stretched his hand over the table and reached for Lizzy’s palm. ‘Thanks so much, you did a great job yesterday.’

‘You’re welcome,’ she chuckled, squeezing his palm back in response to his. ‘But I think that guy is a dummy,’ she said after releasing his hands. The look on her face showed that she felt disgusted by Cole’s easiness with her.

‘Why do you say he’s a dummy?’ Dave made a serious face. ‘Do you think it’s easy for a guy to resist someone like you? Especially when you make use of your special skills in making them fall.’

Lizzy shook her head, still looking disgusted. ‘He’s an assasin, I thought he would be more hardened and careful.’

‘And who says he’s not hardened or he’s careless? See for example, why did he have to rent a car? Why didn’t he pick of the several cars?’

The look on her face changed from a look of disgust to one of uncertainty. ‘If he’s not soft like I think then he must be playing a trick on us, I was thinking at a point that he suspects me already.’

‘I don’t think so, Lizzy.’ Dave said with much confidence in his tone. ‘I strongly believe the guy is falling for you… Rather he has fallen for you.’

‘Why are you so sure?’ she asked and leaned forward. She took a quick look around, none of her office mates were looking at them. The NIS members of staff were highly disciplined and rarely poked their noses into other agent’s business but she still wanted to make sure none of them knew she was working with Dave on the case.

‘I’m just so sure that no man can resist you.’

‘Come on, stop saying that. I work with several other men who do not even take more than a glance at me.’

‘Maybe because they didn’t have a very good glimpse of you the first time,’ Dave replied, adding a brief smile.

‘Let’s just talk about the way forward,’ Lizzy said, trying to shift the focus of the discussion from her. ‘We can’t make plans here, when then should we…’

‘Hey!’ Dave interrupted. ‘I’m saying the truth about men not being able to resist you. Even I myself find it very difficult. I would have made a move if it isn’t against our job ethics.’

She folded her arms and rested her back against the backrest of the swivel, looking at Dave like he we saying rubbish and she was waiting for him to finish and come back to his senses.

‘It’s true Liz, I didn’t feel too good seeing you with him last night’ Dave said and kept staring back at her quietly. He had wanted to say he didn’t feel good seeing them kiss, but decided not to mention the details in order not to surprise her further.

‘Dave, when and where do we meet to plan our next move?’ she asked, disregarding all his comments about her. Dave always joked and flirted with her which was against the ethics but which most of the staff members were guilty of and she was sure that this was just one of those moments he decided to flirt.

‘You don’t have much to do in the office today and the subject of your present case is presently not in town, am I correct?’

‘Yes, you are. I should be leaving in a couple of minutes.’

‘Okay, can I pick you up by noon? I still need to do somethings in the office.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘Alright, thanks.’ Dave said and got up to leave.

She watched as he walked out of the office and disappeared through the corridor. Not that she had never felt a thing for Dave, she had but she knew there was no point in letting it materialize. Dave, although was the definition of her kind of man, she still believed she could find other men better than he was. She also believed that Dave, like every other NIS agents who knew her work in the Agency and how she goes under different kinds of men to get things done would never be interested in her or other female NIS agent doing the same work for her team.

________

11:24am

‘I’m driving towards your gate now Chief, tell your men to open the gate at the sound of the horn.’ Tarasha said aloud. Her phone was on her lap and the call was placed on loudspeaker. She was driving a Zenvo ST9, a short gun was sitting on the passengers’ seat beside her.

‘Okay, Tarasha.’ The Chief replied and the line went off.

She picked the gun by her side and fixed it into the side of her trousers as she got closer to the gate. A horn at the gate got it opened and she drove in without having to wait.

*
*
*

Chief Gab cleaned his eyes to be sure Tarasha was the person walking towards him. He had stayed at the entrance of the house to wait for her after he got her call and had watched her drive in and park. But as she moved closer to him, who he saw was totally different from the Tarasha he knew.

‘Good morning Chief,’ she greeted as she got to his front.

‘Did Tarasha send you?’ the Chief asked, still staring at her face.

‘I’m here myself,’ she said before realizing from the look on his face that he didn’t recognize her. ‘Can we go in first?’

He nodded and stepped aside for her to enter through the door before following behind. The voice he heard was that of Tarasha’s but the face was different.

‘What room are we using?’ she asked as she got into the main living room.

He took the lead and led her into another sitting room.

‘Tarasha, why do you look so different today? Or are my eyes deceiving me?’ Chief Gab asked without letting them settle in the room first.

Tarasha settled on the three seater sofa and pulled the stool beside it to her front, she placed the brief case on the stool and opened it. She took out a white handkerchief and a transparent bottle filled with a yellowish liquid, she poured some drops of the liquid on the handkerchief and used it to wipe her face.

‘No more unhelpful questions, can we get straight to business?’ she said, still cleaning the different edges on her face.

‘Okay,’ the Chief replied, still a bit jittery but was now sure it was her. He took out a small box hidden behind the one seater opposite her and took it closer to her, less than three metres from her. He dragged the center table to the same place and then placed the box on it. Then he punched in the lock code of the box and it opened. The box was filled to the brim with different kind of things, the combination of things there looked very strange though they were neatly arrange.

‘So what do we start with?’ she asked, moving closer to have a proper view of the contents.

‘Let’s start with the docvments, I made photocopies of all you need.’ Chief Gab said as he brought out a file and handed it to her.

She opened it and began to check the papers in it one after the other.

‘These copies are not so clear,’ she said after getting midway.

‘But they are readable, aren’t they?’

‘Yes, they are but where are the original copies? I think I would need clearer copies.’

‘The original docvment are also here but are faded and dirty,’ he said, searching for something else among the files in the box. He pulled out a very old flat file from beneath and handed it to her. She opened and began to compare with the photocopies. The papers in the old file were also old and had began to decay at the tips.

‘I think the photocopies are clearer ,’ she finally agreed with him. She placed a knee in the ground and placed the two files on the empty side of the table, she began to compare each docvment to confirm that there had been no alteration in the new copies. It took her a total of four minutes to finish with the confirmation. She returned the old file to the man and rose to her feet. ‘Don’t you think these docvments will implicate you too?’

‘I’ve spent years in prison for these crimes already and I’ve also paid with my properties and reputation.’

‘So why didn’t you present these docvments a long time ago?’

‘Present them to who?’

‘To the police or whoever was processing the case?’

‘I had to face accusations from several agencies including from the then NDLEA and EFCC but Chief Elvis’ party was in power then and he was connected to so many of those in these agencies, they would have found a way to cover him up because he also keeps a lot of their own secrets.’

‘Well, I think he’s about to face this accusations now.’ Tarasha said as she walked back to the seat and placed the file on her briefcase.

‘Tarasha,’ Chief Gab called in a soft voice.

‘Yea,’ she raised her brow.

‘I want the Vice President dead, not taken to court or accused of these crimes.’

‘You don’t want him dead as much as I do. What if his secrets are exposed and he dies also?’

‘I don’t care if his secrets are exposed, he has enough power to turn things to his favour, all I want is his last breath.’

‘Well, I don’t care to expose his secrets or disgrace him for your sake. He’s going to die but all these evidences will be used to pull him closer to his death.’ She said as she walked back to the box. ‘What else can I get from here?’ she asked, now looking into the box.

‘I’m taking out what I need to take out already,’ he replied her. He took out another file and placed it on the old file which she had returned to him. He handed a neater file from the box. ‘Those are the new copies of the docvments here,’ he said placing his finger on the old file he placed on the ground.

‘What are these docvments all about?’ she asked as she opened the file and began to go through it.

‘Those ones are just extras you may need, they’re proofs of some monies gotten from the shipping and sales of drugs years ago. They could get me implicated again though.’

‘Then, I probably shouldn’t use them.’ she said, closing back the file to return it.

‘They also contain agreements with some Doctors, Pharmacists, retired officials of the NDLEA and NAFDAC.’

‘Some Doctors and Pharmacists?’ she asked with her brows raised, holding back the file.

‘Yes, you seem to take special interest in Dr Danjuma and his wife and that’s why I’m giving them to you.’

‘Alright.’ she said and took the file to her briefcase. ‘Tell me, what else do you know about the Danjumas?’

‘The Danjumas? I know nothing else about them except that they are doctors which have special records, Danjuma himself once submitted a research on wildlife and their similarities to humans in response to a particular stimulus while his wife Lydia worked with a team of Pharmacists to manufacture the cure for an epidemic.’

‘You know nothing else?’

‘Nothing else.’

‘What happened to their kids after the doctors were killed?’

‘I don’t have an idea. Elvis told me then that the plan was to wipe every one of them out, but I don’t know what they eventually did to them.’

‘Okay.’ Tarasha said and moved her gaze to the box. ‘What other things would be useful for me in there?’

‘You can now go with the whole box, they contain bottles and packs of some of the drugs, Chief Nonso recovered them years ago from Onwuli’s house after his death.’

‘Okay,’ she squatted again to look into the box.

‘Tarasha, why are you so interested in Dr Danjuma’s family?’ Chief Gab asked. The tone he used made it obvious he had kept the question in his mind for a long time.

She looked up at his face in silence for a while and then slowly got up. ‘Their case is one which can incite public sympathy, if it is presented together with these other proofs, we could inspire anger in the hearts of the masses and keep the Vice President under pressure. That could distract him and hasten his death which might not be taken grievous like it should by the public.’

‘That’s true. But there’s really no proof for his hands in the death of the doctors,’ Chief Gab said, looking up thoughtfully. He bent down and began to search through the files and docvments he had removed for himself from the box. He took out a torn book whose size was lesser than an A4 sized paper. ‘This book is torn and incomplete, a part of it which isn’t here contains some docvmentation about Dr Danjuma and Dr Lydia.’

Tarasha collected the book being handed to her and looked keenly at it, it was a part of the book she got from the Senate President’s house; the one she read and she found how her parent’s death were planned.

‘Where can I find the other parts of the book?’ she asked, being sure that there had to be some other parts because the portion in her hand could not complete the one she had with her before. They had about fifty pages difference between them.

‘I think the Vice President has one and then the late Senate President, I’m not really sure of how many parts it was divided into.’

‘But the docvments you gave to me, what do they contain?’

‘Those docvments only contains the legal agreements and signatures which will prove that certain events occurred. But the events which occured can only be found in the other parts of this book,’ Chief Gab replied, pointing to the book in her hand as he mentioned the last word.

Tarasha stared up thoughtfully for a moment, then she kept her gaze on his face. ‘Were you not a part of the group?’

‘Yes, I was.’

‘So why should I need a book to retell the events when I have a living witness.’

‘Oh,’ Chief Gab let out his deep breath with his shoulders dropping. He didn’t expect that she would turn it around and wasn’t willing to tell her the stories with his mouth. ‘They’re somethings I would never say to you, I’m too ashamed to say them. But I’m sure you can find out so much in the book.’

‘I don’t need you to say much, I only need you to tell me what else I need to know about the Danjumas.’

‘I’ve told you already. There’s nothing else I know about the Danjumas’ private life or our involvement with them but there was a senior Doctor who carried out what we expected from Danjuma.’

Tarasha widened her eyes as she heard his last statement, ‘Is he still alive?’

‘Yes, he is alive.’

There was a sudden note of victory in her mind. If the senior Doctor was alive, it was all she needed to get the Vice President without struggles. She was a hundred percent sure it would work beautifully and that it could not be stopped by wh@tëver the Vice President tries or even Rex.

But the enemies also had a plan to distract her, something else was coming her way.