TARASHA – Episode 34

® 18+ SNVL

© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel

FLASHBACK

‘Put this on,’ a piece of cloth thrown from outside the car landed on Tara’s face.

The queen had gone into the cloth’s store to get a change of dress for her. She stood outside the car, watching as Tara struggled to put on the cloth. She glanced at her wristwatch again and looked around, it was close to evening already. She waited until Tara had finished putting on the new gown before joining her at the backseat.

‘Let’s move,’ she said to the driver of car who in response kicked on the car engine and drove into the road.

For a moment, Tara felt secured with the queen. She still didn’t understand what took place at the building with the Russian inscription. She thought she was taken there to be molested to death and she expected no escape but was still baffled by the Queen’s intervention to help her.

Several thoughts began to run through her mind, she wondered what would be her fate now that she had escaped death from the hands of those men. She wondered what the most senior Queen who had given her the death judgement would say. She hoped for a pardon but could only envisage another trial to murder her, one which she wouldn’t be able to escape again. The Nefary Clan never forgave one’s sin.

The Queen’s phone beeped and she took it out to answer the call. ‘Aaron, what’s up?’ she said into the phone in low tones.

‘Marie Wayne, why did you kill Tom’s men?’

‘They attacked first. So you tell me, where is Tom now?’

‘I don’t know where he is, he hasn’t come to play for a while. He’ll be mad at you,’ Aaron replied.

‘No one cares if he’s mad or not, I need to see him.’

‘Don’t see him now, I advise you.’

‘Where is he?’ Tarasha asked.

‘I don’t know.’

She paused to think for a moment, she could sense the concern in his reply. ‘What about you Aaron, where are you?’

‘At the game house,’

‘May we see right now?’

‘Ermm…’ A deep sigh from Aaron’s side could be heard from the speaker.

‘I’ll be there in ten minutes.’

‘Hey, don’t…’

She hung up the call before he could finish talking.

‘Take us to Evion Game House,’ she said to the driver who nodded in reply.

Tarasha flashed a look at Omotara, the teenager was already dozing off. She closed her eyes briefly and took in a deep breath. She had gone against the Clan’s will by giving the girl a knife to use against the men. If not for the knife, the girl would probably have died or would have been already weakened by the assault of the men before she(the Queen) showed up. Although there was room for her to remain alive but she would have had to defeat the three men with her bare hands and no weapon. The queen wondered what would happen if the clan discovered she had given the girl a weapon. But it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t resist the helpless look on the little girl’s face who looked to her like a saviour. It meant that the Nefary Clan really never succeeded in killing their emotions and memories totally with the trainings.

10 minutes later

Evion Game House.

The queen walks into a large room where several games ranging from cards, chess, snooker and many others were being played. The gamers include mostly rich middle aged men and very few young men. There was a stage at the front of the hall where scantily dressed girls were dancing to Russian music.

‘Marie,’ Aaron was the first to locate the Queen as she stood at the entrance, with the girl’s hand in hers.

He walked briskly from everywhere he was to her and pulled her into a quiet room.

‘Marie, what are you doing here?’ he asked in a stressed tone. His intonation was American, his land of descent. He had migrated into Russia with his parents when he was eighteen and took over the job of managing the game house from his father in-law.

The Queen stared silently for a moment, then she flashed a look at Omotara. ‘Go wait for me in the car,’ she released the girl’s hand and watched her go. ‘Aaron, I need a favour from you.’

‘What’s that?’ Aaron asked with a frown. ‘Please speak up, you’re not supposed to be here now.’ he hurried her up when she wasted time in replying.

‘That girl, do you like her?’ the queen asked, talking about Omotara.

‘What do you mean?’ his frown deepened.

‘I mean would you like for her to stay here?’

‘What the ****! We don’t do child games here. That girl is little and underdeveloped, what do you want her to do here?’

‘Join your girls to dance, maybe,’ the queen suggested.

‘No, never! She doesn’t have the required body yet. Our men like girls with big busts and butts, not the tiny figure of a minor.’

The queen was speechless for a while. Just few hours ago, some other group of men were craving to have the teenager and this was another refusing the same thing others were lusting for.

‘Can’t you get her to do something for you here?’

‘No, she would be useless here. I don’t want any liabilities.’

‘What about your petty jobs?’ the queen persisted

‘Oh d@mn it! She can’t do anything here, don’t to get it?’

‘You’d have to find something for her to do,’ the Queen said in a strong tone, sounding more like a command. ‘Remember, you still owe me some bucks.’

‘I will pay you your *****ng money Marie, just give me sometime.’

‘You take care of the girl until you get the money,’ the queen replied.

‘No, I can’t keep her here. She’s not safe, she’d get molested everyday by different men.’

The Queen stopped to think for a moment. It wouldn’t be wise taking the girl out of trouble to put her in danger again.

‘Aaron,’ she called with a smirk. He stared at her face. ‘I will kill you and your old *****ng mother if anything happens to her.’

Aaron’s face turned sad and helpless. His bones grew weak and his knees trembled.

‘Wait here for her, I’ll send her to you right away.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 15 Part 11
Aaron sighed and shook his head, staring the queen at the face. ‘Wait!’ he said to the queen as she turned towards the door, he had an idea. She turned back and raised her brow. ‘I know somewhere you can take her to,’ he said.

‘Where?’

‘To my friend, Ristoe. His wife sells and employs girls to market her goods.’

The queen took some seconds to consider the option, it seemed like a good one. She bit her lips slightly and looked at his face. ‘I’m going out now, I’ll be back to take her later tonight, make sure you get her some food.’

Aaron closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The Queen was already at the door of the room when he opened his eyes. He wasn’t comfortable with the girl having to stay at all but he was consoled by the fact that Marie promised she was coming to take him back. It was past the eighteenth hour already and it meant the girl would be staying for less than six hours.

Omotara eyes followed the queen as stepped out of the building until she got into the car.

‘Go and meet Aaron in the room I met with him, you’ll be safe there until I come back to get you.’ the Queen said to Omotara without looking at her. She was staring blankly like someone lost in thoughts.

Omotara’s heartbeat rose immediately. She thought she was out of trouble already but it seemed she was never going to be free. The Queen which she thought would protect her was sending into a strange place to stay. She wondered what would happened to her with all the men she had seen in the hall. She remained in her seat, wishing that the knife she got from the Queen earlier was still with her. She would have killed herself immediately instead of going into the place to face torture from another set of cruel men.

‘Go!’ the Queen commanded in a strong tone which depicted urgency and seriousness. Omotara opened the door quickly and stepped out. She began to walk towards the building without looking back. Just before she got to the stairs to the balcony, she heard the sound of their car zooming off and turned back to look, the Queen had gone. Her heartbeat increased, she thought about running away. She looked left and right, there were ways at both sides but she didn’t know which one to take. She noticed a switch at the wall, it was a large one four times the size of the switch Tara was used to. She looked forward again, the entrance of the building was widely opened. She considered disobeying the Queen’s instructions but remembered what happened when she tried to escape at the ‘mad house’. She didn’t know what the Queen had in store for her now, or what had been put in the cloth she was putting on, maybe it was instant death if she tried to run away this time. She took in a deep breath and stared at the entrance one more time. She had only climbed the first staircase when the man the Queen called Aaron appeared at the entrance.

‘You little brat! I’ve been waiting for you, get inside right now,’ Aaron shouted at her.

She climbed up immediately and followed his lead until they got into a room which was set like a lounge.

‘Get yourself seated somewhere,’ Aaron said and walked out through another door.

Omotara walked slowly to the first available sofa and sat on it. Her eyes wandered around the room for a moment. It was an ancient facility, the furniture were old but clean, so as the walls; the paint on the walls were almost totally faded.

The sound of music from the game hall could still be heard faintly in the place.

Soon after, a Russian young girl, a little bit older than Tara entered into the place from the exit Aaron took, bringing with a tray of food. Omotara’s stomach rumbled as she perceived the aroma, she suddenly remembered she had not eaten for a long while.

2 hours later.

Omotara sat quietly all through after the meal, the same girl had come to take the plates fifteen minutes after. No one talked to her or came close to her, not even Aaron her host. He had come into the place several times, most times with other men and once with a woman. No one seemed to give her more attention than just a glance.

However, for about fifteen minutes there had no activity in the place at all. Omotara was more relaxed, she was less afraid of someone hurting her anymore but she wondered if the Queen was coming back for her.

Soon after, the sound of the noisy music from the game hall which was being faintly heard ceased. Omotara was about to conclude that the hall was about to be closed that day when she began to hear some strange sounds. She could detect that they were sounds of people fighting with fists, that was one of the sounds she was very familiar with. Another thing that aided her quick recognition of the sound was that she had also began the course on mastering and differentiating sounds in the Nefary Clan even though she had been doing the course only for a month. The sounds heard became more than sounds of fists but sounds of gunshot now but mixed with screams and shouts of men and women.

She sat there, still unsure of what to do when Aaron rushed into the place from the entrance. He rushed towards the exit without looking at her.

Few seconds later, the sound of the gunshots began to come closer. Omotara got up from her seat and ran to the entrance to see what was going on outside. She walked through the passage and rooms that led to the lounge which were empty. She stopped behind the wall of the passage entrance and peeped. She could see some men furiously attacking the gamers in the hall, using guns on some and fists on others. A huge man who seemed to be the leader of the attack looked towards the passage and his eyes met with Tara’s. She froze immediately on the spot, scared to death as the man’s mean face twitched wickedly.

‘Hey guys, follow that little girl there and fetch out Aaron for me.’ the guy beckoned on his partners with a shout, pointing to where Omotara was peeping from.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 19 Part 8

She moved away immediately and ran as fast as she could. The door to the exit which Aaron took had been locked before she returned. There was nowhere to run to. She panicked as she looked around for somewhere to hide, she could hear sounds of the men’s footsteps getting closer. She quickly walked to the corner of the lounge where two long sofas placed perpendicularly touched each other at the arm. She entered into the corner and hid herself under the covering and shadow of the two arms.

The men soon got to the lounge and looked around without seeing anything. Omotara remained in the low position without making any attempt to look at the men, she could only hear their voices as they spoke to each other. Most of the men spoke English but with Russian accents, only the leader who Tara later discovered to be Tom spoke with English accent.

‘Break the *****ng door!’ Tom said on top of his voice to other four men with him.

The sound of gunshots made Tara look up, they were shooting the lock of the door. Luckily for her, all the men had their backs turned to her, so none saw her looking at them.

They broke the door and the four men rushed into the place, leaving Tom in the lounge.

Six minutes later, they dragged out Aaron to the lounge. He was already wounded and weak, bleeding from the nose.

Tom laughed wickedly on sighting Aaron. The men dragged Aaron to his front and dumped him.

‘Where’s she?’ Tom said, bending to stare into his face.

Aaron bit his lips tightly with teeth stained with blood. He stared back at Tom with mean eyes. He already resigned to his fate. He knew he couldn’t escape the death that Marie Wayne had brought him. Right from the day they had first met, his instincts had told him she would bring him trouble but his weak mind and the organ between his legs could not let him resist her offer to sleep with him. His life had not been the same since then as Marie Wayne had threatened to release pictures of them having sëx to his wife and that was something he couldn’t risk, the game house which his life depended on would be taken away if his wife divorced him. Marie’s blackmail was however not for money, rather, she used him to get close to Tom who was a regular gamer in the place. However, he never knew what business existed between her and Tom, he only knew they had frequent arguments.

‘Would you answer me? Where is Marie?’ Tom barked.

‘I don’t know where Marie is,’ Aaron answered. He tilted his head to the left and spat out blood.

‘That’s a lie! People spotted Marie Wayne with you three hours ago after she killed my men at the mad house, where the hell did she go after that?’ Tom shouted at him.

‘I don’t know!’ Aaron shouted back. ‘I don’t know what is happening between you and Marie, I’m not the one you should be asking these questions.’

Tom rose up slowly with his eyes squinted, he took a quick glance at one of his men and then fixed his gaze back on Aaron’s face.

‘Where’s the girl she left with you?’ Tom asked. Omotara quivered in fear where she was.

Aaron turned his head slowly to the spot Omotara was previously occupying, he squeezed his eyelids together as he turned his face back to Tom. ‘She was seated there.’

‘Is she that black girl I saw some minutes ago?’

‘Yes, she’s an African girl.’

‘Who is the girl and what is she doing here?’

‘I don’t know who the girl is, and she’s only waiting here, Marie is coming back for her tonight.’

‘She’s coming back?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

Tom looked around the place for sometime as if he was searching for something, then he turned to his men. ‘I want you all to leave this place now.’

‘Boss, are you sure we should leave?’ one of the men asked.

‘Yes, leave.’

‘But how do you handle her alone, she’s dangerous you know? She took out all the men at the store gate an hour ago.’

‘Yes, leave right away. I have plans for her.’

‘Okay.’

The men seemed a bit reluctant but finally left one after the other.

‘Where’s your phone?’ Tom asked Aaron after the men left.

‘Here,’ Aaron squeezed the phone out of his pocket.

‘Call Marie and tell her I was here, tell her I left already and I threatened to return. Then let her know you’re planning to leave here and you’d be leaving the African girl alone here.’

Aaron stared silently for a while. Then he looked at Tom’s face and the pistol being pointed at him. He dialed Marie’s number and told her as he was instructed.

‘Wait there, I’ll meet in the next thirty minutes,’ was Marie’s response before he cut the call.

Tom took out his own phone and dialed a number, ‘Darya, come around the game house, she’d be coming in the next thirty minutes.’

After that, Tom motioned Aaron out of the place with his gun, leaving Omotara in the lounge undiscovered.

She came out of her hiding place and traced them to the hall. She stopped behind the wall where Tom had caught her earlier. The place was dark now as the bulb had been tampered with and there was little risk of her being discovered again.

There were several dead bodies and blood splattered on the floor in the gaming hall. Tom was now seated comfortably on a chair with his gun still pointed at Aaron who was kneeling some distance in front of him. Tara watched them remain in the same position for close to ten minutes until Tom received a phone call. A lady entered one minute later and Tom rose to speak with her. She was a tall lady just like the Queen but older in age, it was evident from her looks. Tara couldn’t hear what they were saying but he knew they spoke in a Russian language. After two minutes of speaking, the lady walked out of Tara’s eye view but was still in the building. Tom spoke some words to Aaron who got up to his feet, they both went out of the gaming Hall for some seconds. The lights went off totally. The whole place became dark. It was only through sounds Tara was able to detect that they returned into the hall, she peeped from the wall and saw a tiny source of light being held in Tom’s hand as both men returned to their previous positions.

The Queen arrived fifteen minutes later. Omotara recognized her voice when she started to call out Aaron from the entrance. Aaron replied but Omotara could no longer hear their voices, Tom also began to talk to Tarasha in a furious voice. Omotara quietly walked away from behind the wall into the hall, she hid behind one of the tables. Tom’s little source of light was now on and Tara could see the Queen’s face turned to her. She knew the Queen would have heard her footsteps even though the men didn’t hear. One couldn’t become a Queen in Nefary Clan without the ability to hear the slightest sound.

Tara could now hear their conversation well. Tom was accusing the Queen of backstabbing him. He said the Queen had killed some politicians and took the key which was in his custody to take all the monies they had embezzled in cash and kept in a store with him. The Queen replied and told him she was only carrying out a job and there were sentiments attached.

The talk got more heated which resulted to the Queen grabbing Tom at the neck and trying to squeeze out life from him. Tom was bigger in size but the Queen was stronger. All of sudden a loud sound was heard and a scream followed. The little source of light in Tom’s hand fell and the light went off, nothing could be seen again. Omotara was scared, she recognized the Queen’s voice, it was the Queen who screamed. And that was when Omotara remembered the lady that had entered some minutes before the Queen. She regretted not warning the Queen of her presence.

She had more sounds of fists fight and the groans that followed after was that of the Queen’s. Omotara knew the other lady was winning the Queen. She listened carefully and was able to detect the area at which the fighters were, she tiptoed as silently as possible and passed by the wall until she got out of the gaming Hall. She struggled in the dark to locate the switch outside and turned it on.

The lights came on and it happened as a surprise to Tom, Aaron, and the lady fighting with the Queen. The noise from the fight did not allow them know when Omotara slipped out. Only the Queen who was an expert in differentiating sounds was aware and heard the sound of every step she took.

The Queen was already badly injured, she was bleeding terribly and she already sustained an injury on the left leg. But she was able to give a fight after the lights came on. Tom tried to command Aaron to go out to turn back off the lights but the other lady stopped them. She saw that the Queen was already badly injured and was confident that the Queen would die in her hands.

The fight continued. This time, the Queen was able to deliver some hits to her opponent. The fight continued as a tie until the other lady discovered that there was an injury on the Queen’s leg. That turned it all around. The lady took control of the fight and injured the Queen so badly that one of the arms became terribly injured. Omotara watched with tears in her eyes as the Queen was being defeated while Tom cheered and Aaron just watched with a sad face.

The Queen began to speak out some incoherent words as the torture continued. It looked like she had gone crazy to the others but Omotara knew she was saying something meaningful. She was speaking an esoteric language which the Lords and Queens at the Nefary Clan used. Obviously, Omotara was the one she was speaking to but the teenager could do nothing as she understood no part of the language. She struggled to listen until a phrase rang in her memory. She remembered that one of the Queens had said it when she (Omotara) was taken to the prison the day before. And what happened after was the lights going off. Omotara decided to turn off the lights, thinking it may be what the Queen was trying to communicate to her. She turned off the lights and there was total darkness again.

The groans and grunts continued for about ten minutes and then it suddenly ceased. Heavy breathing of someone could be heard, the spectators couldn’t tell whose own it was. Omotara ceased her breath, not knowing what to expect next, same as Aaron and Tom. The next thing they heard was Tom’s sudden loud growl. Aaron rushed out of the hall and collided with Omotara outside the hall.

Omotara couldn’t understand what was happening, she got up from the fall and ignored as Aaron ran away. Then there was silence for another five minutes. Omotara had to turn on the lights when she couldn’t tell what was happening again. She turned in the light and looked into the hall. Behold, the Queen was seated on the floor, trying to tie the wound on her arm with her cloth; she had torn off her shirt, leaving only her bra on. Tom and the lady’s lifeless bodies could be seen on the floor.

The Queen rose up and limped to the entrance. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said to Omotara.

Omotara followed her quietly. Confused. She couldn’t tell how the Queen had been able to win the war in the same darkness that was making her loose at the beginning of the fight.

The Queen promised to reveal the secret of the fights victory to her later.

Rex,’ Tarasha muttered to herself with her eyes closed as she pictured his figure again. She compared him with Darya whose well built figure was still clear in her memory. She and Rex were certainly citizens of the same clan, the tiger clan. But she still couldn’t relate the secret the Queen told her to the victory against Darya and how it was going to help her against Rex. It was a mystery that still needed to be unveiled.

_______

1:30am

COLE’S RESIDENCE

The whole house was silent. Patricia sat at the dining table working quietly with her laptop. Two of Cole’s phone were on the table. The one which was reserved for communicating with her was behind the top cover of the laptop and the main one he uses was connected to the laptop through a USB cable.

Cole had slept about an hour ago after a sëx romp with her. She had put the sleep inducer in a drink for him like she planned. She was certain he was going to sleep until she woke him up by morning, so she did her job confidently. She had gone through the first phone – the one which Cole reserved for her- it was without a security lock, so she was able to go through the phone easily. She found nothing useful in the phone. The only contact on the phone was hers and the messages and online conversations on it were the ones he had with her. The second phone had a security lock and she had connected it to the computer, trying to unlock it without losing or tampering with any of the files. She had been on it for close to ten minutes and was almost done with the task.

She took a glance at the phone’s screen one more time before clicking OK on the pop up dialog box. The screen of the phone turned on and it unlocked automatically. She picked the phone and disconnected from the laptop. She clicked on the menu icon and the first thing she navigated to was the phone contacts list. She pulled the notepad at the center of the table closer and picked the pen beside. She started from the first contact on the list and began to study every one; she paid attention to the contacts’ name, checked the social media accounts associated with the number and go through the conversation between Cole and the contacts on WhatsApp and other messaging apps.

It was almost three o’clock by the time she got to the thirtieth number. It occurred to her that she couldn’t cover all the numbers if she were to continue at that pace. She began to skip some numbers whose names seemed unimportant. She got to a contact stored as ‘boss’ and clicked on it. She checked the call records first and discovered that there had been only three calls between the number and Cole’s. Two outgoing calls and one incoming. She exited and moved to the messages, there were no records of SMSes exchanged between the numbers. Then she navigated to the Whatsapp messenger. Only two messages were found there and they were from Cole to the Boss. The both read; ‘Benny has dropped the package’ and ‘The Police officers are close by’, they were dated January 2031. She closed the chat and decided to go through other messages on WhatsApp. Like she expected, she couldn’t find any conversation useful to her. She knew most of the important details must have been deleted or the serious chats would have been done done on a more secure chat application.

She closed the app and returned to the contact list. She scribbled down the first number with the name boss, there were two contacts there named ‘Boss’ but with numbers attached. She opened each of them and repeated the process she went through for the first one. Then she scrolled up the list to the contact named ‘Benny’.

After spending another thirty minutes on working on the contact list, she returned to the main menu and began to check for other chat applications that did not reflect in the contact list application. It didn’t take her time to find one which seemed like what she was looking for. She opened it and at the top of the chats found a conversation with a contact named ‘My Boss’ , there were over a thousand messages in the conversation.

6:30am

‘Wake up sweetheart, I thought you planned to leave here early.’ Patricia said as she planted a kiss on Victor’s lips.

‘Uhnn…’ Victor snorted as he stretched lazily in the bed. He yawned noisily as he managed to seat up. ‘Good morning Pat,’ he said, looking at her body as she slipped off her clothes in front of the wardrobe.

‘Good morning honey,’ she replied without looking at him. She had just taken off he P@?tië? and her backside was bare before him.

He felt his male organ rise and felt the urge to grab her from behind but she picked out a towel at that moment and wrapped her body with it as she turned to him.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 21 Part 12B
‘I’m going to take my bath now, I prepared breakfast already.’ she said as she brushed her hair backwards with her hand. Then she proceeded into the bathroom.

Victor took in a deep breath as he rose up. He had no clothes on except his boxers. He proceeded to the table where his phones were kept since the last night. He tapped one of them on to check the time. He widened his eyes in surprise as he saw the time, it was 6:38am. He had slept so peacefully and sound, after having a nice time with his girlfriend. He unlocked the second phone to check if he had any new messages, there was none yet. He yawned again and dropped the two phones, then he returned to the bed to wait for Patricia to finish having her bath.

7:32am

BASE B

Cole turned off the car engine and took off his seatbelt. He picked his phones from the passenger’s side and stepped out of the car. He straightened his shirt and began to walk towards the entrance of his house, whistling under his breath. He tried to take off memories of the last night with Patricia from his mind and focus on the day’s job but the adventure kept replaying in his mind and he wished he still had her in his arms.

His thoughts were cut off as he came closer to the entrance. Tomi was standing down beside the two-step stairs leading to the verandah, he had not noticed her until then but she had stepped out while he drove the car into the compound. She had on her apron which was a sign that she was already preparing breakfast. The look on her face wasn’t too different from that of the day before. Cole wondered if she was going to talk to him or remain mute like she had been since the day before.

‘Good morning Tomi,’ he greeted as he got to the stairs leading to the verandah. She just stared at him without answering, her hands were folded across her chest and her lips tightened slightly.

He kept staring at her as he walked up. He sighed and turned to the door on seeing she wasn’t going to answer him.

‘So, you’re coming from her right?’ Tomi said as he placed his fingers on the knob.

Cole closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He wasn’t ready for her tantrums that morning, there was enough work to do and he couldn’t imagine starting his day having to listen to her blabbing first.

‘Coming from who?’ he asked, with a raised eyebrow, hoping she’d ignore his question and he’d walk away with the opportunity.

‘From that slut called Patricia,’ she slammed.

Tomi’s mention of Patricia’s name hit Cole as a shock. He wondered how she got the name. His mind searched fast to see if there was any possibility of her to have been stalking him around town without him noticing. There was no possibility, especially because they had different jobs and tasks always assigned by the boss. Then he suddenly remembered that he had once mentioned ‘Pat’ while talking on phone on a certain day. He believed that was how she must have gotten the name.

‘She’s not a slut!’ he replied her. ‘And be careful how you talk about her,’ he warned and entered into the house without listening for her reply. He would have replied back by calling her a slut too but he decided to take it lightly because of the sad mood she seemed to have been since the day before.

Tomi took in a deep breath after he slammed the door shut at her. She stared blankly with her arms still folded across her chest, thinking of what to do next.

She took out her phone from the pocket behind the apron and searched out for the number she stored on the phone the day before. She dialed it and waited for the call to be answered.

‘Hello,’ a tiny voice answered from the other end. There seemed to be an element of surprise in her voice.

‘You shameless slut!’ Tomi cursed. ‘I’m gonna ask you to leave Cole alone in a friendly way right now, but if I ever have to ask you again, you would not like what would happen to you afterwards.’ she said and ended the call.

______

SSS Headquarters

‘Who is Cole?’ Lizzy asked the caller. ‘Hello…’ she stared at the phone’s screen and noticed that the call had been cut. She stared at the number for a while, wondering who the caller was. She knew that Cole was Victor. She had been surprised when she got a call from an unknown number, being that Victor was the only person she had given the telephone number to. She thought the caller had dialed the wrong number until she heard her mentioned Cole’s name.

She clicked on the Truecaller application to check the caller’s real name and location but the app was unable to reveal the details.

She was still seated in her car in the parking space of the security organization, waiting for eight o’clock before heading to her office. She took out her second phone from the bag and the notepad in which she had jotted down some few details, she had sent most of the important details in text format straight from Cole’s phone into her laptop and from the laptop to her own phone.

She opened her chat application and opened a new conversation with Dave.

‘Good morning Dave, I’ve got so much of details this morning.’ she typed and sent. The message was marked sent but wasn’t marked delivered yet. She continued by typing in more of the details and then concluded by informing him of the call from the unknown girl, she asked him to call her immediately he read the messages.

_______

ILORIN, KWARA STATE.

The sound of Rex’s ringtone woke him from sleep. He opened his eyes and turned around to pick his phone which was by the pillow side. The Inspector General was the one calling.

‘Rex, we booked a flight for you to Cross River already. It’s leaving by 9am, you have to get ready immediately.’

‘What am I going to do in Cross River?’ Rex asked in a confident tone as he sat up.

‘Samantha Osman called John Bisong this morning and she has asked him to prepare some docvments for her which she would be going to get from him by night time today.’

‘How sure are you of this?’ Rex asked, getting up from the bed.

‘Very sure. John Bisong called the Vice President some few minutes ago to tell him about the message she sent regarding it.’

‘Which airline did you book for me?’ Rex asked as he pulled out a towel from the wardrobe.

8:36am

International Airport, Ilorin.

Dan and Dave rolled their boxes along with them as they followed a junior NIS officer leading them to the car waiting for them in the garage. The junior officer was also carrying a bag in his hands.

They got to the garage and put their bags into the boot of the car. The junior officer joined the driver at the front seat while the Dan and Dave entered into the car. The driver turned on the car engine and was about to drive off when Dan spoke up.

‘Hold on for a second,’ he said, reading something on his phone. He then turned back and looked out through the back glass, watching the couple of cars which drove past at that moment. Every other person in the car had their attention turned towards him. ‘We can move now,’ Dan said after the last of the cars passed.

‘What was that for?’ Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘I wanted to see those cars pass us,’ Dan replied without paying much attention. He continued with his activity on the phone.

Dave refrained from asking more questions as it was obvious Dan wasn’t ready to keep answering. He took out his own phone and unlocked it. He swiped down the notification bar. He already had so many messages, the highest number and most recent of them from Lizzy.

He went through Lizzy’s messages carefully. The look on his face brightened as he read each one. Cole’s chat history which Lizzy had gained access to had revealed a lot of his conversations with his boss, Samantha. Dave couldn’t fully comprehend the messages but he was sure it was something positive. He read to the end where she asked him to call her immediately he reads the messages but he couldn’t at that time. He typed back a reply instead, ‘I’ll call you when I’m alone, Good work.’

________

9:30am

Abuja

Cole was working in the control room when Tarasha walked in. He glanced towards the door and paused what he was doing to greet.

‘Good morning Boss,’ he greeted before turning back to the computer.

‘Hey Cole, good morning.’ she greeted as she proceeded towards the main computer. ‘How many cars are we using tomorrow?’

‘One should be enough, going with the directions we were given by Henry.’ Cole replied.

‘What’s our escape route?’ she took her seat and turned on the system.

‘We’d return through the same way we double cross them.’

‘Have you checked what the traffic is like on a Saturday?’

‘Yes, it’s always less busy, especially at that time of the morning.’

‘Then we should have it smooth tomorrow.’

‘Yes, we should.’

_______

Aguda House, Aso Rock

James glanced at his wristwatch as he hurried towards the house. He was sure his father would be out already. He took out his phone and dialed Vivian’s number as he walked the verandah to the entrance.

‘Good morning Vivian, I’m coming into Dad’s house now. Can we see briefly?’ he said into the phone immediately the call was answered.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 20 Part 3
‘Yes, I’m inside.’

‘Okay, just come into the living room to meet me,’ he said and ended the call.

He got into the house and waited in the living room for some few seconds until Vivian came to join him. He saw her walking down from the stairs, still in her night robe. She didn’t look hurt just like Inspector Dakolo had told him but she wasn’t looking lively either.

Dakolo had called James late the night before, telling him how Vivian was rescued from the car and how their father prevented them from asking her questions. James offered to do the questioning since he had direct access to his sister and he was also involved in the case.

‘Good morning brother,’ she said as she entered into the living room.

‘Vivian, good morning. Can we sit and talk?’

‘Yes, ‘ she replied, folding her arms.

They both settled on the three seater sofa, facing each other.

‘So, what happened to you yesterday?’ I’m aware you were on your way to the airport.’ James began.

‘Nothing, I only had a minor accident due to the carelessness of my driver. The doors of the car were shut,’ she lied.

‘Minor accident?’ James widened his eyes questioningly. ‘Come on, stop hiding the truth from me. I’m your blood.’

‘Brother,’ Vivian called and sighed. ‘Dad does not want me to tell this to anybody.’

‘I know, but am I anybody?’ he asked, looking straight into her eyes. ‘And even if Daddy wants you to hide it from me too, should you?’

James paused to see her reaction. She was expressionless, so he continued.

‘I think our Dad is facing something dangerous that could harm him and us, and it’ll be crazy to hide it from ourselves. You should talk to me so that we can both make plans on what to do, to help our Father and ourselves. It won’t do us any good if your hide it from me.’

Vivian sighed and closed her eyes briefly. She stared into his eyes and took in another breath. ‘But do you promise you won’t let Dad know if I tell you?’ she questioned James.

‘Vivian, it’s not about letting Dad know or not here. It’s first about our safety and his.’

‘Are you sure we’d actually find a solution if I tell you?’

‘Come on, you’ve not even told me yet. How do I know there’ll be a solution if I don’t know the problem yet?’

Vivian closed her eyes and shook her head gently, it seemed she was making a tough decision not to keep what happened to herself like she promised her father.

‘Tell me Vivian, what really happened yesterday?’

‘I was supposed to travel but Samantha Osman sent someone to stop me from traveling.’

‘Samantha Osman?’

‘Yes, she sent a guy and he said I’m not allowed to travel until my father is punished for all the wrong things he has done.’

‘All the wrong things?’ James frowned. ‘Did he tell you what these wrong things are?’

‘No, but…’ Vivian sighed again. ‘I’ve seen him before, he actually came with the wrong things the first time.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Samantha Osman has sent him to me before, he came to meet me at a studio. It’s part of the reasons Dad arranged for me to leave the country quickly.’

‘Huh? What did he tell you when he came the first time?’

‘He gave me a file to give Dad.’

‘A file? What file?’

‘A file containing docvmentations of a deal by a certain NOTD firm, the Ministry of Health and some foreign health companies.’

‘Wow!’ James inhaled and let out air from his mouth. He got up from the seat and began to pace in front of the three seater slowly.

‘What’s wrong?’ Vivian asked.

‘Nothing,’ he suddenly stopped and sat down again. ‘Did you give the file to Dad? And what did he say after receiving it?’

‘Actually the file carries his signatures and passport photographs showing that he signed the illegal deals for the NOTD firm,’ she paused to look at James’ face. He was paying full attention to her. ‘Dad denied knowing anything about the deals, he said they were the works of his enemies who wants to Tanisha his.’

‘Hmm…’ James got up from the seat again and paced the floor for a while. ‘I received a file too,’ James said, after sitting down again. She seemed confused by his statement. ‘Samantha came to me in person and asked me to deliver the file to Dad.’

‘Wow!’ Vivian exclaimed with her eyes widened.

‘What do you think about the allegations they made against Dad?’ James asked.

A confused look appeared on Vivian’s face, she seemed to have a hard time giving the answer to the question.

‘I don’t know, but Dad says he knows nothing and I think we should believe him.’

‘I don’t think he knows nothing, I think he was really involved in those terrible deals.’

‘You think so?’

‘Yes, I do. Let’s look at the facts together…’

Ilorin, Kwara State.

11:12am

Dan, Dave and the junior NIS officer sat at different angles of the large office room, each studying different files and docvments.

‘I don’t still understand why the deceased’s wife hasn’t been questioned by the police officers yet,’ Dave said as he walked slowly to the center of the office with an opened file in his hands, reading as he walked.

‘I learnt it’s an instruction from the Inspector General not to trouble her yet until she’s fit enough,’ the junior NIS officer replied.

‘But that’s delaying investigation, isn’t it until the investigation has been tried that we can determine whether she’s fit or not? But right now, there has been no trial whatsoever.’ Dave complained.

‘The Police and the rules they make sometimes have no sense in them,’ the junior officer shrugged.

Dave flashed a look at Dan who seemed not to be interested in their conversation.

‘Dan, what’s up? Have you found anything? Dave asked.

‘Not yet bro,’ Dan replied without looking up.

Dave walked to Dan’s seat and took a minute to look at what Dan was doing. Dan was reading something totally different from the case at hand. He had abandoned the case file on the table after not being able to come out with anything significant.

‘Dan, we need to ask the man’s wife some questions.’ Dave said in a tired tone. He drew a chair closer and sat down.

Dan finally looked up, ‘Let’s reach the Chairman, he can give us a directive that will override the one given to the police not to question her.’

‘How soon do we expect a result after we do that?’

‘In one hour time, that’s if the Chairman believes that we should be allowed to see her.’

14:56am

AFTER THE INTERROGATION

‘Do you think it makes sense to conclude that the same Samantha Osman who killed Eze Okafor also killed Garuba Ahmed?’ Dan asked as they walked back into the NIS office. He dropped his key on the table and sank into the chair.

‘Of course it doesn’t make sense,’ Dave replied him. ‘The woman claimed that Samantha Osman came into their house at midnight with their son and she left after taking a docvment from the man without hurting anyone.’

‘I really doubt if the person who visited them was Samantha Osman,’ Dan said.

‘You doubt? Why?’

‘Don’t you see that the timing does not make sense? Samantha Osman was seen at the hospital in Nnewi as at the same time the woman claimed he was at their home.’

‘So who do you think we should believe? The security officers who claimed they saw her without providing any proof or this lady, her son and gateman who all confessed that she got into their house at midnight?’

‘The both parties have no proof, we can’t judge with what they tell us.’ Dan replied.

‘Yea, you’re right.’ Dave replied, even though he already took sides with a party. ‘But… I don’t see any reason Mrs Garuba would come up with a lie.’

‘I don’t think she wanted to lie too, I think she was deceived. She most likely was visited by someone else who claimed to be Samantha Osman.’

‘What if the security officers at the hospital also saw someone else?’

‘They saw her face and identified her to be the same woman in the pictures we released. But Mrs Garuba said the person who came to them was putting on a mask and that makes her unable to identify the face and the son does not remember her face. He claims he was drunk then.’

‘I don’t think that guy was just drunk, I think he was drugged.’

‘Humn… That’s another thing we need to look into,’ Dan interjected. ‘If their son Toheeb could still remember that he brought a girl home that night and the only thing he doesn’t remember is her face, there’s a higher possibility that Samantha Osman wasn’t the girl. This I say because; normally, Samantha Osman would drug everyone that saw her with benryl for them to forget their encounter with her.’

‘Hmm… And what if she was rushing and forgot to do that? Just like she did forget the numerous identity cards in the car.’

‘I don’t think those Identity cards can implicate her, that’s why she’s didn’t bother to take them. Now that she knows they must have gotten into our hands, she would dissociate herself totally from all the companies whose cards she framed. But forgetting to give benryl to them is something unlikely to happen with her, she never wants them to remember what she did with them.’

‘Anyhow we see it, we still need physical proofs like you rightly said.’

Dan sat upright and took a quick glance at his wristwatch. ‘We’ve got to see that officer that was with the senator when he was attacked,’ he said.

‘We were told he’s conscious already, let’s wait till we’re called that he’s fit enough to talk to us.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 9
05:30pm

INSPECTOR KEHINDE’S RESIDENCE, ASADAM.

‘So, he didn’t tell you about anyone visiting his house midnight that day?’ Dan asked Inspector Kehinde. Dave watched in silence while Dan conducted the interrogation.

All three were seated in Inspector Kehinde’s residence. The Inspector had been discharged from the hospital few hours ago and had gone straight to his house to take a rest. The Secret Agents had gone to meet him at home without prior notice, cutting short his rest.

‘I believe he was planning to but he didn’t get there before the man who attacked us came in,’ Inspector Kehinde replied.

‘What are the things he told you before the man came?’ Dan questioned further.

‘He was only talking about how he needed to tighten his security as the election approaches and that he’d like if I lead his security team or recommend someone to do it,’ Kehinde answered.

‘And that was all you guys discussed?’

‘Yes, that was what we discussed until the interruption.’

‘So, do you think the attacker was sent by Samantha Osman?’ Dan asked.

”Ermm…’ the man’s face twitched a little bit uncomfortably. ‘The officers who got his remains already confirmed that they got it in Samantha Osman’s car.’

‘But do you think that is accurate?’

‘Of course, it is. I believe they made such declaration with necessary proofs and I don’t even have a say in it because I was in the hospital while all that happened.’

‘Alright,’ Dan said and took in a breath. ‘What else do you have to help us with?’

‘I’m afraid I have nothing else, I have no other information apart from the one I’ve given you.’

‘Okay,’ Dan replied. He adjusted himself on the seat and flashed a look at Dave. Dave shrugged as a signal to him. ‘Thank you so much Inspector Kehinde, we would like to take our leave now,’ Dan said and got up to his feet. Dave followed suit.

‘It’s my pleasure sirs,’ Kehinde said and got up to shake the men’s hands. He followed them to the door and opened it for them. ‘Rest well sirs,’ he said and bowed slightly as Dan stepped out first. Dave stopped briefly at the entrance and turned to look at the Kehinde again. Kehinde frowned as their eyes met, feeling uncomfortable with the stare. ‘Till we see again Inspector,’ Dave said with a smile before stepping out to join Dan.

‘I still believe the lady that visited them at midnight wasn’t Samantha,’ Dan said as they stepped into the car.

‘That’s the most logical thing to believe right now,’ Dave said in reply, even though he didn’t believe. He stepped into the passenger’s side and closed the door. He knew the Inspector was hiding something and he needed to find out what that thing was.

_______

ABUJA.

COLE’S RESIDENCE.

Victor parked his car in the compound and stepped out hurriedly. He found himself inside the house without wasting time and was welcomed with Patricia’s embrace and a kiss on his lips.

‘Pat,’ he said, looking at her smiling face with so much seriousness. Her hands were still wrapped around his neck and his on her waist. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Nothing,’ Patricia replied, still smiling.

‘But… But you called me to meet you here immediately and you said it was urgent.’

‘Yes, I did call you to meet me here right away and I said it was urgent.’ she replied. They were still locked in the embrace.

‘So what happened?’

Patricia broke away from his hold and walked to the three seater sofa, she picked a neatly folded A4 paper on it and brought it to Victor. She stretched it forth to him at first but quickly withdrew her hand as he tried to collect it.

‘Guess what’s in it first?’ she said, still smiling.

Victor sighed, staring at her face tiredly. He had thought something bad had happened to her when she called him on phone and asked him to meet her at the house immediately. With the urgency that sounded in her voice, he had left what he was doing to rush down to her. She had gotten into the house before him as he already gave her own keys to the doors in the house.

‘Guess…’ she urged when she saw him still looking at her speechlessly.

‘Ermm…’ he began to rack his brain. ‘Are you pregnant for me?’ he blurted out. That was the only thing coming to his mind.

‘Oh no! I’m not pregnant, how could I be?’

‘Hmm… Okay,’ he replied and began to think again. He wondered why she asked him ‘How could I be?’, then he remembered that she had always used protection anytime they had sëx and even brought out an extra for him always when he forgot his own. ‘I don’t know what it is Pat, just spill it out.’

‘Okay,’ she blinked her eyes playfully for a moment and then gave him the paper. ‘I just got a new job with Bevi International.’

‘Wow! That’s great,’ he forced on a smile as he read through the employment letter which she had printed from her email inbox. ‘Congratulations,’ he said and spread his hands out to hug her again.

She stayed wrapped her hands around his body and located his lips with hers. She stopped after a brief kiss but still remained locked in his embrace. ‘I want you to congratulate me better, that’s why I called you here,’ she said and began to take off the buttons of his shirt slowly.

He tried to speak up and resist but she covered his mouth with hers again. Soon, they were on the sofa, half unclad and kissing each other desperately. Patricia reached out for her phone which had been placed on the sofa earlier, she unlocked it while kissing him and navigated to her call register, she dialed the last number on the list. She then dropped the phone back and continued fully with him.

The remaining clothes on their bodies were taken off soon and the real action began, both forgetting caution this time.

‘Just tell me loudly how you love me,’ Patricia said amidst her loud Mõ@ns as he moved to and fro on top of her.

‘I love you Pat, I love you with my life.’ Victor repeated aloud as she requested.

________

9:45PM

Inspector Kehinde’s Residence.

‘Who is it?’ Kehinde asked in response to the sound of the bell.

His wife who was seated by his side and resting her head on his chest reduced the television volume with the remote control.

They could hear a response from the person at the door but couldn’t hear the words clearly.

‘Please honey, let me check the person.’ Kehinde said to his wife as he got up and proceeded towards the door. He wondered who could be at the door at that time of the night. He had checked the time on the wall clock before getting up. It was only fourteen minutes before the gate guarding the whole house would be locked. He concluded in his mind that it must be one of his neighbors in the building. It was one of those days he wished he already lived in his own house where he could lock the main gate at anytime he wants and create a limit to the time unwanted visitors had access to his door.

He peeped through the door hole and saw the visitor. He became instantly worried as he wondered what the reason for his coming could be.

‘Agent, what do I owe this visit tonight?’ he asked as he opened the door halfway.

‘Good evening Inspector Kehinde,’ Dave greeted.

‘Good evening Agent, what can I do for you?’ Kehinde replied in a tone that made it obvious to the agent that his presence wasn’t welcomed.

‘We need to talk Inspector,’ Dave replied unperturbed.

‘What do we need to talk about?’

‘You have to let me in or come out.’

‘Look Agent, my family is already asleep. We have to discuss anything we want to do right here,’ Inspector Kehinde said in low tones.

‘Honey! Who’s there?’ the Inspector’s wife called from inside.

‘It’s one of our neighbors,’ Kehinde replied back. ‘I’m coming in a minute time,’ he said before turning back to Dave. ‘One minute Agent, can we proceed?’

Dave stared at him for some seconds, he didn’t want to go about his mission brutally, he would have dealt with the Inspector for not regarding him well enough.

‘Inspector, I want to know what Senator Garuba Ahmed said to you before his death.’

‘I think I already told you and your partner earlier today when you visited, what else do you want me to tell you?’

‘You and I know that you didn’t say the truth,’ Dave replied. He paused for three seconds to stare at the man’s face. ‘I know for sure that Senator Garuba Ahmed confided in you and you’re scared to tell just anybody what he said to you and that’s why I’m here, you need to tell me, because I’m one person who is committed to unveiling the truth.’

The Inspector stared at him in silence for a while, then bit his lower lip slightly. ‘No one would say he isn’t working for the truth, every Agent and officers claims to be committed to the truth.’

‘You need to trust me Inspector, I’ve been on this case for a long time. I believe that Samantha Osman did not kill the Senator and I know you believe that too. I also believe that she didn’t kill Eze Okafor.’

Inspector Kehinde pondered deeply on the Agent’s last sentence. That was the first person after Senator Garuba Ahmed who he heard saying confidently that Samantha Osman wasn’t the killer of Eze Okafor. Maybe the Agent was the right person to tell the truth after all, seeing the possibility that the Agent knew the same thing the senator knew that made him defend Samantha Osman before his death.

He stepped out of his house and closed the door. ‘Yes, senator Garuba Ahmed confided in me. He told me about Samantha Osman’s visit to his house at midnight.’

‘Did he tell you details?’

‘Yes, he did.’ the Inspector replied, leading Dave away from the entrance to a quiet place. ‘The Senator also believes that she didn’t kill Eze Okafor, he was confident about it just like you are.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 16 part 7
‘What do you think made him confident that way?’

‘I think it was the meeting with her that changed his perception about her, he thought she was fighting for a good cause.’

‘And what do you think about it? Is she really fighting for a good cause?’

‘I don’t believe she was fighting for a good cause but I believe she didn’t kill Eze Okafor if it was really her that visited the senator that night. I heard the details of the news this night and comparing the time of Eze Okafor’s death to her visit to the Senator’s house, it couldn’t have been possible for her to be in two places at a time.’

‘Did the senator tell you what docvment she came for?’

‘Yes, some docvments which were signed long ago. They are docvments incriminating the Vice President, about some illegal businesses he carried out as the deputy governor of Lagos State.’

‘He didn’t mention the illegal businesses?’

‘He called them deals, I think they were done with the Vice President’s pharmaceutical company.’

‘Does the Vice President own a pharmaceutical company?’

‘I don’t know of any but if senator Garuba Ahmed said so, then it must be true.’

‘Did he have any idea what Samantha Osman planned to use the docvments for?’

‘He mentioned a buried case against the Vice President and said the docvments are the proof of the Vice President’s guiltiness. He believed that Samantha Osman is trying to make the Vice President pay.’

‘Hmm… That’s interesting,’ Dave drew in a breath deeply. He remained silent for a moment as he tried to connect the new information with the data already stored in his brain. ‘Do you still have something else to tell me?’

‘No, I think I just told you all I know.’

‘Thank you very much Inspector, Thank you for trusting me. I’d advise that you keep this information you have carefully for now, it could bring you into danger.’

‘I know Agent, thank you.’

‘Goodnight Inspector,’ Dave said and offered him a handshake.

‘Goodnight Agent,’ Inspector Kehinde replied and turned back to his apartment. His wife was already waiting for him at the door.

_______

9:50pm

ABUJA

JAMES ELVIS’ RESIDENCE

James pondered on the day’s event as he walked to his apartment. All through his stay in the office that day, his mind had been on his father’s case and the file Samantha Osman brought. It was obvious from Samantha Osman’s relentlessness that his father was guilty. And even if his father wasn’t guilty, he had expected that the man report the file to the police himself.

He couldn’t think of where to start in investigating the file’s veracity and he was afraid to even start. He was so sure of his father’s guilt.

He got into his house in a few minutes and turned on the light. Just like it happened a few days ago, Samantha Osman was seated in the same position and dressed in the same way, the only difference was that it didn’t come too much as a shock to James and he didn’t try to bring out his gun.

‘Welcome, James Elvis.’ Tarasha said without looking up, she was playing with the gun in her hands and staring at the floor. ‘I came to make a report against the Vice President to you and I see you’ve not done anything about it yet,’ she said and looked up briefly. She faced down again. ‘I know I may not succeed if I take him to court myself, and so I’ve decided to wait till Monday night to see your actions on it. But if you don’t act, I’d release the evidences I have to the media which includes the original copies of the docvments in the files I gave to you and a lot more. So the course case would be your father and the public. ‘

She picked a file from the floor and rose up to her feet. She stared at the file for a moment before she began to proceed towards the door. ‘I’ll give you till Monday night, don’t forget.’

She left him on the spot like she did the first time and drove away in her car. The new file she brought along contained more docvments against the Vice President. She had planned on giving them to James like she did with the first file but she changed her mind just to protect Dr Ekwueme. The file and docvments were prepared by the doctor himself, so she wondered why he gave it to her when he knew it would put him in trouble as he himself was involved in the child trafficking crime.

9:55pm

INSPECTOR GENERAL’S RESIDENCE.

The Inspector General sat quietly in his living room, waiting for the network news by 10pm to begin. He had missed the one by 8pm. As the hour hand moved close to twelve, the phone by his side rang. He picked up his phone to check the caller and then reduced the TV volume with the remote control.

‘Rex,’ he said into the phone, clearing his throat. ‘I’ve been busy all day but consciously expecting a report from you.’

‘The man just got into his house with his entourage, I’ve been following them for more than five hours and nothing is happening.’

‘Ermm… John Bisong says she asked to meet him between five to six pm in the evening.’

‘I’ve been following before then, there are no signs of her or anyone else around. But I can see from the man’s body language that he is also alert and ready for her,’ Rex replied.

‘Okay, give me some minutes to reach the Vice President. I’ll get back to you.’

He picked his remote control to increase the TV volume a bit before dialing the Vice President’s number.

‘Good evening your excellency,’ Chief Rikau greeted.

‘Good evening IG, have you heard anything from Rex yet?’ Chief Elvis replied from the other end.

‘I spoke to him just now and…’

‘Has he come in contact with Samantha Osman there?’ Chief Elvis cut in.

‘No, he hasn’t even seen any trace or sign of her. But has John Bisong called you?’

‘He called me first about two hours ago and then thirty minutes ago, he hasn’t seen signs of her too,’ the Vice President replied.

‘Does that mean she isn’t going to show up anymore?’

‘I don’t think that’s what it means, she might just have changed her schedule. John Bisong is the police commissioner of his State, it will never be easy for her to get to him.’

‘I know, but I’m wondering why she decided to tell him she was coming. Did she tell the Garuba Ahmed and Eze Okafor too?’

‘I’m not the one to answer that question, you’re the Inspector General of Police, you should know if she did send them messages before visiting them.’

‘There are no records suggesting that, but it is very possible she did it in the case of Garuba Ahmed.’

‘And he didn’t report to the police in his state?’

‘The officers in Ilorin have no record of any such report. And the content of the message she might have sent him might be totally different from this pattern.’

‘I understand you, Rex should still stick around and watch. She might show up unexpectedly.’

‘Yes, I’ll call him back now. He should stay and be more vigilant.’

_____

May 3, 2031.

5:17am

The atmosphere was moisty that morning. Droplets of water from the sky touched the ground occasionally. The Inspector General sat alone at the backseat of his car, his driver and one other escort at the front seats. The light from his tablet device which he held in his hand reflected on his face, his fingers worked gently on the device and his eyes were focused on the screen.

He was already tired of the weekly routine but had no choice as the doctor had threatened that it was important to follow the routine until his injured leg was perfectly healed except he doesn’t want to walk with his legs anymore.

Five minutes left for them to get to the hospital, they noticed a car driving speedily from behind with the headlights shining brightly. Chief Rikau’s driver moved to the slow lane to allow passage of the coming car. It wasn’t unusual to them, a lot of cars using the road at that time of the day moves on high speeds as there’ll be only very few cars on the road.

It came as a surprise when the vehicle overtook them and swerved to their front. The driver and other escort of the Inspector General were proactive. The driver took off his seatbelt and they both took out their guns. But before they could do anything, a man was already out of the attacking vehicle and bullets from his gun pierced through the front glass.

‘Sir!’ the guard at the passengers’ front seat shouted in concern for his boss as he bent his head to dodge the bullets. He opened the door carefully and rolled out of the car to the ground. The driver had also rolled out of the car in the same manner, trying to engage the shooter while his colleague took care of their boss.

‘Please, step out sir,’ the guard said to the Inspector General as he opened the backdoor.

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With his head bowed, the Inspector General dragged himself to the door and rolled out.

‘Just stay…’

‘Shh…’ the shooter already appeared at their front before he could complete his statement. The driver had been killed already. The guard tried to lift his gun but a bullet ran into his head at that moment and he fell to the ground lifelessly.

‘Inspector General,’ the shooter hailed in a mocking voice, flashing his teeth at the man.

The street lights were bright enough to make Chief Rikau recognized his face immediately, it was the same guy that came to rescue Samantha Osman about two months before. He placed his knees on the ground and put his hands in the air to surrender.

‘Get up,’ Cole said, motioning him to rise with the gun in his hand.

The Inspector General rose slowly, still with his hands raised in the air.

‘This way,’ Cole directed him towards the car parked in front.

The Inspector General remained still for a while wondering how he would make the movement to the car with his bad leg.

‘Come on, start moving,’ Cole was getting impatient.

‘My leg is bad, If I have to move, I have to support myself with the car.’ the Inspector General replied, lowering his hands slowly.

‘Be fast about it then,’ Cole ordered.

Chief Rikau placed his elbows on the top of the car to support himself and walked forward. Cole followed him with the gun, watching him closely to ensure he doesn’t make any tricky move. The Inspector General managed until he passed the bonnet of the car where he could no longer support himself by leaning against the car. He dragged his injured leg slowly until he got to the car in front. Cole opened the back door and allowed him to get in.

Chief Rikau noticed a lady at the driver’s side of the car as he struggled to settle at the backseat in pains. She turned her face to him when he had finally settled and Cole had closed the door. His heart was gripped with fear. He recognized her face at once, and his lips trembled as he tried to speak but found no word to utter.

Cole got into the car through the other side. He took out something from his pocket and moved closer to the man. The man’s eyes closed slowly and he fell sideways unconsciously.

‘Let’s go boss,’ Cole said to Tarasha.

Tarasha remained still for a while, looking thoughtful. Then she turned to Cole at the back. ‘Let’s get those dead bodies into the car and move the car away from here.’

Cole stared at her thinly for a while, wondering what the reason was for the new instruction. He took in a deep breath and reluctantly opened the door to carry out the instruction.

She stepped out of the vehicle to join him. Together, they moved the body of the first man and the second one into the boot. Tarasha stopped for some seconds to stare at the blood stains at the place they carried the second body from. She then turned back to Cole. ‘I think we neglected some aspects of planning…’ she paused for a moment. ‘We never considered this aspect actually.’

‘What are you talking about Boss?’ Cole asked with a raised eyebrow. ‘Are you talking about doing it with no trace?’

‘No, they can’t trace us right now.’ She sighed and checked her phone for the time. ‘We’re wasting a lot of time already, just drive to somewhere the car won’t be discovered easily and abandon it there.’

‘Boss…’ Cole frowned. ‘That may get me into trouble, the day is getting brighter.’

‘It doesn’t have to be somewhere far, just anywhere to keep their bodies undiscovered for few hours.’

‘Okay,’ Cole drew in a breath. He closed the boot of the car and proceeded to the driver’s side. He entered into the car and took a few seconds to look around, he picked out some of the devices in the vehicle and handed them over to Tarasha. ‘I’ll see you at the base in one hour time,’ he said after closing the door.

‘Good,’ Tarasha smiled at him and returned to their vehicle.

7:02am

BASE C

‘Here,’ Tara handed a phone ringing with a loud tone to Henry. They both sat on wooden chairs directly facing each other

Henry collected the phone and glanced at the screen to see the caller’s ID. He glanced at Tara’s face one more time before he answered the call. He placed it on loud speakers.

‘Good morning Doc,’ he said in reply to the caller’s greeting.

‘Good morning, ermm… What about the Inspector General? We haven’t seen him yet and we’d like to remind him of the check up at the hospital this morning.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 2
‘Yea, the IG is pretty occupied with state matters this morning. He’d be coming to the hospital as soon as he can.’

‘Okay, please encourage him not to miss today’s treatment. He needs to be consistent to ensure perfect healing for his legs,’ the doctor said.

‘Yea, he’d surely be there later today.’ Henry said before ending the call. ‘Hope I did it well,’ he said as he handed back the phone to Tara.

‘Excellent, now we’ve got to proceed to other things immediately.’ She got up from the seat and proceeded towards the door. Henry got up and followed her.

Cole almost collided with Tara at the door. He apologized and stepped back for her to come out of the room, Henry followed after.

‘Did you find a good place to dump the car?’ she asked Cole and began to walk down the corridor after taking only a glance at him.

‘Yes, I did. No one should be able to discover the car until evening time.’

‘Great work,’ she said and continued walking until they got to the door of a room. She stopped after placing her hand on the knob, ‘Can someone get us a bucket of water.’

‘Okay, I’ll do that right away.’ Henry said and walked off immediately.

Tara opened the door and stepped into another room. The room was large and dark. There were only two chairs in it, both at different opposite corners.

‘Please bring the chairs closer for an interrogation,’ Tara said to Cole.

She walked to the centre of the room where Chief Rikau was laid flat on the tiled floor. She placed two fingers on his neck and observed for some seconds. The man was putting on a yellow track suit. The shirt under the polo had been rolled up while he was laid and his belly was visible.

Henry returned with the bucket of water while Cole was still arranging the chairs. He placed the bucket close to the spot where the Inspector General was laid. Tarasha dipped her hand into the water and sprinkled some of it on the man’s face. There was no visible response. After one minute, she repeated the process again but the man still did not respond. Then she got up and carried the bucket by the handle, she then poured the whole of the water from his face to his legs. The man opened his eyes and began to stretch.

Everything was blurry to him at first. He felt so strange and awkward, with his whole body drenched with water. A heavy wind blew in at that moment from the windows signifying the coming of rain.

Someone pointed a torch light to his face and he quickly shielded his eyes with his hand. The light was taken away and he looked up. He could see the reflection of three people standing around him, he noticed that two of them were males and one female. His brain worked fast and his memory came alive, he remembered how he was taken some hours ago. A headache set in at that moment.

Someone pulled him up and helped him to sit on a nearby chair. He breathed heavily as he was balanced on the seat, his extremely wet clothes on his body making him feel so dirty. He could now see properly, he recognized those in the room with him. He expected to see Cole and Samantha Osman but he was extremely surprised to see Henry E.G in their midst. He never thought the well respected hacker and seasoned developer could get so involved with the assassins.

‘Inspector General,’ Tara called in mockery before sitting in front of him. They stared at each other’s faces in silence for a while. The man closed his eyes and bowed his head. One couldn’t tell whether he did in shame or if he was simply making up his mind not to be broken easily. ‘Look up man,’ Tara said to him.

It took him sometime before he looked up and stared at her face. He had never thought that this day would ever come, at least not this soon. And the fact that she was even supposed to be at Cross River’s state baffled him more. He didn’t know what to expect, questions or torture. But the only thing he was sure of was that the end result of all would be his death except there was a divine intervention.

He closed his eyes briefly mumbled some words of prayer in Arabic, asking God to forgive his sins and accept him into heaven whenever Samantha finally decides to kill him.

‘Inspector General, do you have a family?’ Tara asked.

The expression on the man’s face changed at that moment. He didn’t expect that kind of question. He stared at her face without replying, wondering what her reason for asking the question was. He didn’t want to answer. He decided not to. He didn’t want to corrupt the prayer be had just made by his words. He went further to decide in his mind to keep shut without answering any of the questions she or any other person would ask him. He would keep mute until death.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 19 Part 2
‘Speak up, Inspector General, I don’t want to make you go through any torture.’ she urged. She knew the answer to the question already but wanted to hear from him, she had a different aim.

He remained mute and unwavering. He knew that there was no way he was going to escape torture but his mind was made up, never to give in to her. He hoped he could keep up his decision.

Tara got up from the seat and stood behind it. She stared at the man’s face for some more seconds. She could sense his determination not to make things easy for them and she determined in her mind to make him suffer too.

A phone began to ring in Tara’s pocket and it got the man’s attention. It was his phone. She took it out and glanced at the screen. The caller ID was displayed bodily ‘REX’.

‘Rex is calling,’ she said with a chuckle as she turned the screen to him. The man groaned uncomfortably on his seat. Tara turned to Henry as she dipped a hand into her pocket. ‘Check his text messaging pattern,’ she said to Henry before turning back to the Inspector General. She walked closer to him and stopped right in front. They stared at each other for a moment. She then took her hand out of her pocket and placed it on his shoulders. The man fell sideways as he went unconscious. She stopped him from falling to the ground and laid him gently on the floor.

‘Tie him to the burglary proof, he would be tortured when he is awake.’ she said to Cole and began to walk to the door. Henry followed her and they got into the corridor.

‘These things you use frequently, don’t they have adverse effects on the victims later?’ Henry asked as they walked down the corridor together.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I mean the drugs you use, for example, the tranquilizer you used on the man just now?’

‘The effects are minimal and can be washed away easily if he goes on a medical checkup, they only become dangerous when there’s a continued use.’ she explained. Henry nodded, he seemed comfortable with the answer. ‘So, have you checked his messaging pattern?’

‘Yes, they’re brief and straight to the point, no short forms of words used.’

‘Okay, check if he has any previous message with Rex before we send one.’

‘Yes, he does. I read through all of them. You want us to send Rex a message?’

‘Yea, let’s make him think the Inspector General is busy.’

‘Okay,’ Henry replied. They both walked into the room they were seated before and got settled on the chairs.

Henry composed the message immediately. ‘I’m in a meeting, can you send a text message?’ he clicked send and the message got delivered immediately. ‘Message sent,’ he said and looked up at Tara’s face. ‘So, what plan do you have for the Inspector General? Are we sticking to the previous plan?’

‘He’s not speaking up and I don’t think he’s gonna get broken with torture, he looks determined to keep mute.’

‘Is there anyone who doesn’t break with torture?’ Henry asked.

Tara chuckled. ‘Yes, not everybody breaks with torture, some have learnt to keep their body under subjection and it doesn’t matter what you do to their bodies, they will never do your will.’

‘So you mean we can’t get any information from him if he decides to remain mute?’

‘We can still get a lot of information but we can’t get all we need. We can infuse some drugs into his body which would make him answer our questions but it would weaken him, and may destroy his mental faculties, he would be unfit to make the videos we planned to make.’

Henry let out a deep breath. ‘I thought we already had a perfect plan.’

‘It is still a perfect plan. I may be wrong about him not breaking with torture. We’d torture him first and see the results before considering the options of using drugs. Any way we do it, it’s a win win situation for us.’

10:13am

NIS UNDERGROUND FACILITY

Dan and Dave walked side by side along the corridor in the facility. They greeted some agents in opened offices and some others on the way as they proceeded. Their drive from the airport had taken longer than expected. A trailer had fallen on the road and caused heavy traffic through the road networks.

They got into the office where the Chairman was waiting for them. The man was seated in a swivel and using his computer. The computer desktop had a large screen which covered his face totally from being seen from the door and from behind the computer.

‘Good morning sir,’ Dave and Dan chorused as they moved closer. They stopped behind the table and waited for his response.

‘Good morning, you may be seated.’ the Chairman replied.

They both settled on the seats behind the man’s table and remained mute until the man finished what he was doing on the computer. He moved the desktop to the side of the table and rested his back in his swivel.

‘So you guys came back with nothing?’ the Chairman began, folding his arm across his chest and moving playfully side to side in the swivel. Dan and Dave remained silent. ‘I’m not about to start asking how it went, I read all the reports you sent already and I am highly disappointed. I expected that the both of you should have gotten a headway after being away for two days.’

There was a pause. The man stared at their faces for a while and then shook his head in disappointment. He pulled a paper file on the table to his front and opened it. He pulled a paper and placed it on top after closing the file.

‘I’m going to give to you, you’ll make photocopies for both of you and bring my copy back to me. But before I give them to you, Dave, I want to see your personal case file. I’ll be glad if you can get it for me right away.’

Dave stared at the docvment in the man’s hand for a second, he wondered what it was and if it was important. He felt the urge to ask the man but decided to be patient until it was given to him.

‘I’ll get it from my office right away sir,’ he said as he got up to his feet. He bowed slightly before proceeding out of the office.

‘Dan,’ the Chairman began as soon as Dave closed the door. ‘Are you sure you’ve been following this boy closely?’

‘Yes sir, he’s not been able to do anything without me.’ Dan replied.

‘And you don’t think he is hiding anything?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Dan replied.

‘Does that mean you guys were always together?’

‘The only few times we weren’t together were the times he spent at the brothel and the time he spent at Catholic Church confessing of his deeds at the brothel.’

The Chairman gave a faint smile. ‘Are you sure he wasn’t doing something else at the brothels?’

‘I’m sure, it’s even obvious to anyone else that works closely with the way he carries his pack of condoms everywhere.’

‘Okay, good work then.’ the chairman rested his back. ‘I hope he also did not suspect anything.’

‘No suspicion at all, my physical communication with the officers are less often.’

‘And have you been keeping in touch with the Chief?’

‘Yes, he even asked me to call him when we return to Abuja.’

‘Good, I want you to keep in mind the reason why you are working so close with Dave. He appears to be stubborn, so we want you to make sure he doesn’t have full control in the investigation. We’re keeping him in the case just because we think he’s still the best man, and he’s been doing good. The other agents who are fit for these kind of jobs aren’t young men anymore and their age would make some things difficult for them to do. So keep an eye on Dave and monitor his every move.’

*

Dave finally pulled out the file from his locker. He took a brief look at it before he closed back the locker. He picked his phone which he had dropped on the table and began to proceed towards the door. His phone rang just as he placed his hand on the knob. He stared at the caller’s ID for a moment, it was the man who had been giving him updates on Jumoke’s health.

‘Good morning sir,’ he answered the call.

‘Good morning Mr Dave, I hope you are doing good.’

‘Yes, I am. Hope you’re fine too.’

‘Yes, we give God the glory.’

Dave chuckled at the man’s response, he hadn’t heard such a cliche from anyone recently. ‘So what about Jumoke?’

‘She’s the reason I’m calling. We paid all the bills already and she’s doing very fine,’ the man replied.

‘Wow! That’s good,’ Dave heaved a sigh of relief. He felt good that his money was not wasted.

‘But there’s a problem…’

Dave frowned. ‘What problem?’

‘She lost her memory, every bit of it. She can’t remember anything or anyone at all,’ the man replied.

‘Oops!’ Dave let out a deep breath.

He felt somehow relieved and happy because her memory loss would make her forget totally about him and all they had together, and it would save him the stress of having to put her away himself but his happiness was not complete knowing that she would have to start her life all over again and it may be difficult for her to get help to stand.

‘That’s not too nice,’ Dave said into the phone. ‘What did the doctors say? Is there any possibility of her regaining her memory?’

‘I’m not sure there is. The doctor in charge explained that her memory loss appears to be self induced, he says it might not be caused by the fall like we think.’

‘Self induced? How?’

‘He says it’s likely she took something that caused it.’

‘But that’s not possible, how could she have taken something to wipe off her own memory?’

‘We don’t really understand yet, but the doctor may go further to make some tests. He’s sure it isn’t the fall that caused the memory loss, he says the impact of fall on her head and other parts of the body wasn’t enough to cause her to lose her memory.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 9
‘But… Why would she have taken something to hurt herself?’

‘We can’t tell.’

Dave sighed again. ‘Well, I’ll call you back. You have to give me sometime to digest this information.’

‘Alright, have a nice day.’

‘You too.’

Dave ended the call and took some seconds to think. He realized it was the perfect time to cut off contact with Jumoke totally since he would not be needing her around him anymore. It was time to take out the sim card from his phone and destroy it. He considered it for a while and decided to leave it for few more days.

He opened the office door and stepped out. Just as he looked up, he saw Lizzy smiling and walking towards him.

‘Lizzy,’ he smiled back at her.

‘Agent Dave,’ she flashed her teeth as she stood in front of him.

He stretched out his hand to her for a handshake and she received it warmly, both looking into each other’s eyes. Dave would have preferred an embrace but couldn’t offer her anything more affectionate than a hug. Even though they joked and played a lot, their relationship was still official and they were nothing more than colleagues to each other who were now becoming friends as a result of their closeness and working together.

‘We have a lot of things to talk about,’ Lizzy said, still looking into his eyes.

‘Yes, we do.’ Dave nodded. ‘But… Ermm… Are you leaving the office very soon?’

‘No, why?’

‘Nothing, just that we can’t see now.’ Dave said with a smile. ‘I’m having a meeting with the chairman, he actually sent me to come get this.’ he added, showing her the file in his hand.

‘No problem, you can call me on phone when you’re done and I’ll meet you at the usual place if I’m free.’

‘Okay, thanks.’ Dave patted her on the shoulder before walking away.

Lizzy watched him go. She h@tëd to admit it but he was handsome. Sometimes she wished she could have him as her boyfriend but she saw it as impossible. Most male NIS agents believed that the ladies especially those whose job had to do with secret investigation sleeps with a lot of other men to do their jobs. So any NIS female official planning to get married someday had to hope that someone who did not know the kind of job she did will fall in love with her.

She remembered all she did with Victor again and was terribly disgusted at the thought of it. She had had to endure the criminal’s body on hers just to extract details from him. She rarely ever gets to the extent of sleeping with a man. Most times, she stops at the point of early bed romance before getting the information she needed.

She wished her body was being subjected to Dave’s body instead, it would have been a memorable experience instead of an annoying one. She couldn’t wait to see Victor rot in prison, and she was confident that the day was not too far.

**

‘Why did it take you so long?’ the chairman asked as Dave walked back into the office.

‘It took my sometime to search for the file,’ Dave replied, apologizing with a bow and a light smile.

The Chairman waited for Dave to sit before stretching forth his hand to collect the file. He took about a minute to go through the file before returning it. Then he handed over the docvment he promised to give them.

Dan collected the docvment and looked into it with Dave. It contained a summary of the past criminal cases the two last victims of Samantha Osman had been associated with. The late Senator who was an ex police official had more than two-third of the whole docvment about him.

‘I think it should help you greatly. I expect you to work on it and bring results as soon as possible.’ the chairman urged.

*

Sixteen minutes later.
‘I found over five hundred messages in the conversation,’ Lizzy said to Dave, showing him the saved chats on her Apple device. Dave was seated on a high stool while she sat on a low plastic chair.

‘This should be close to a thousand or even more than,’ he collected the device and began to scroll through alone. ‘You extracted this from his messages while he was asleep?’

‘Yes.’

‘Wow! I knew you could do it, I…’ Dave voice faded away as he saw something in the messages. He read through silently for a while and began to make screenshots. ‘I’m beginning to understand now what that drugs list was for.’

‘What was it for?’ Lizzy asked, rising slowly to look into the part of the messages that caught his attention.

‘If you listened to the news this morning, you must have heard them say briefly how a thief visited the late Senator’s house the midnight before he was killed.’

‘Well… Desert Reporters actually said it was Samantha Osman who sent a spy ahead,’ Lizzy said.

‘Oh! I didn’t listen, so I don’t have the accurate report.’ Dave said and sniffed in gently. ‘My point is that none other than Samantha Osman herself visited the man that midnight. Now, I want you to think about this properly. She was reported to have abducted Eze Okafor earlier before returning to kill him at midnight and now she also visited the Senator at midnight first before returning to kill him in the afternoon. Does it make sense?’

Lizzy’s brows gathered together, ‘But they didn’t report that she went to the senator’s house herself, they reported that she sent a spy to his house.’

‘And I’m telling you that’s a lie, she visited the man’s house that midnight.’

‘But that doesn’t make sense, she couldn’t have been in Kwara State and Anambra at the same time.’

‘Yes, but that’s not the only thing. It doesn’t make sense that she visited them and left them alive, only to return later to kill them. I think if she really intended to kill them, she would have done that at the first visit.’

‘Hmm… Okay,’ Lizzy said with a confused look on her face. ‘So what do you really think happened?’

‘Samantha Osman did not kill those men, she visited them and left them alive. Someone else who is tailing her killed them.’

Lizzy squinted, ‘And who is tailing her?’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 14 Part 4
‘I’m not sure but I believe it’s the assasin group that clashed with her in Lagos.’

‘Nanl Gang?’

‘Its more than just Nanl Gang, I’ve gone through the past case files of the Nanl Gang with some of our agents and the ones with the police, the Nanl Gang doesn’t have the capacity to follow after Samantha.’

‘But do you remember that Don Dan died in the clash some months ago?’

‘Yes, I do. I believe he was working for someone higher than himself who was employed by the Vice President.’

‘Why the Vice President?’ Lizzy asked with a squint

‘Oh! The man’s hands are not clean. Have I told you what I discovered about that list of drugs?’

‘No, you were about to tell me.’

‘I learnt from our trip that the Vice President was involved in importation of fake drugs some years ago, all those low quality drugs you saw in the list, the man brought them into the country.’ Dave said.

‘Huh? That’s a serious allegation.’

‘Yes, it is. But I’m sure of it’s authenticity. I got it from the only man Senator Garuba confided in before his death.’

‘But what happened then, wasn’t the case investigated?’

‘Yes, it was but the man had enough backup to rescue himself. The docvment proving his involvement is what Samantha Osman went to get from Senator Garuba Ahmed that midnight.’

‘But what does she need the docvment for?’

‘I can’t say, my best guess is that she wants it to dig up the case again or probably release the docvments to the public to shame or destabilize the man.’

‘That’s serious,’ Lizzy gasped. She took sometime to ponder on the information before she spoke again. ‘But I don’t still get it, how is all these connected? What about Eze Okafor, what was his input?’

Dave chuckled. ‘They’re all connected,’ he said and turned his face towards Lizzy who had just returned to her seating position. ‘Eze Okafor was the minister of health who signed the importation of drugs then while senator Garuba Ahmed was the Police Inspector in charge of investigating the case. I believe it was from her visit to Eze Okafor that she learnt about the location of the docvment she needed which led her to Senator Garuba Ahmed. Then the assasin tailing her got to Eze Okafor late and killed him in the hospital after getting her direction, he followed her to ilorin where he killed senator Garuba Ahmed. Unfortunately for him, she had already gotten the docvment before he got there.’

‘Strange! I could have never imagined this kind of situation.’

‘I never imagined it too but that’s the way it is right now.’

‘Did the person also tell you where Samantha Osman went after she left the senator?’

‘No, he had no idea.’

‘So that leaves us without clues again?’

‘No, with so much clues. I know for sure that Samantha is planning to do something with the information she has. I think it’s better to do something of such before her, it will slow her down and make her try to trace us.’

‘Hmm, are you sure?’

*

*

*

2pm

The Inspector General opened his eyes in the dark room to see his hands and legs fastened with strong ropes to the burglary proof of the back exit. He winced in pain as he tried to move his injured leg but couldn’t. He felts pains all over his body.

The door at the other side flung open just in time. Tarasha entered into the place with Cole following behind. They proceeded towards the man and stopped in front of him. Cole opened some of the window curtains for more light.

‘Good Afternoon Inspector General, nobody seems to have noticed your absence in the world yet. Does that mean you’re not as important as you think?’ Tarasha said mockingly.

Chief Rikau closed his eyes briefly and drew in a breath. He felt tempted to talk but remained shut to conserve his energy.

‘And so will you talk to me now? I need to ask you some questions about your country,’ Tarasha said again.

She waited for about two minutes and he was still silent and staring at her.

‘He doesn’t want to speak Cole, take off the ropes and give him the first dose.’ she said as she glanced at Cole. He nodded in response and moved closer to the Inspector General, he pulled took off the ropes from the hands first and then the legs. The man fell weakly and sprawled on the floor. Cole turned him over, making him lay on his belly with his back facing up. Then Cole took out a whip from the bag which he carried with him.

Tarasha turned back and proceeded out of the room as soon as Cole began to administer the whip on the man’s back. She met Henry outside the room as she stepped out, she closed the door. The man’s cry and the sound of the whip could be heard from outside the room.

Henry’s face was full of pity. He could feel every landing of the whip he heard.

‘Tara, that man is an old man.’

Tara stared at his face for a while and shook her head. ‘He is not old, he’s less than sixty and that’s not too old for torture,’ Tara replied.

‘But what if he dies while he’s been beaten?’

‘He would not die but live to take as much beatings as he can take,’ she replied with a smile.

‘Why don’t you just use the drug on him and let him speak at once since you already believe he’s not going to get broken by torture?’

‘He still needs to be beaten before the drug works,’ Tara replied. Henry remained silent for a moment. ‘Lets move away from here, leave Cole alone to do his job,’ she said and placed a hand on his shoulder to make him turn.

His shoulders dropped and he stopped her from moving by holding her hand. ‘I can’t move from here, I feel weak hearing him cry.’

Tara two some steps back to stare at his face. She looked angry as she raised her brows at him.

‘Don’t you feel bad too? I can’t really stand it,’ Henry asked, wondering why she was staring at his face like that.

Her anger was kindled and it showed in her facial expression. ‘I’m trying to be professional because I still need him to answer some questions but do you want to know how I really feel?’ she squinted at his face.

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Henry was silent. He didn’t understand her mood and why the hand on his shoulder was now vibrating, he still had his left hand there holding her by the wrist.

She took her hand off her shoulder and turned back. She entered into the room and slammed the door shut. She charged towards Cole.

Henry opened the door and peeped in, wondering what was going on. Tara got to where Cole was and stopped him. She collected the whip from Cole and spoke some few words to him. Cole picked up his bag and proceeded towards the door. Tara continued the beating in a more ferocious manner. The man’s cry became louder.

Henry felt afraid and confused. He couldn’t understand how what he said that made her so angry.

‘What happened? Why did she stop you from beating him?’ Henry asked in a shaky voice as Cole got to the door.

Cole took a quick glance back and shrugged, ‘I don’t know, maybe she felt I wasn’t doing it well enough.’

‘And she asked you to leave?’

‘No, she asked me to get Tomi.’

Henry gave way for him to pass and continued watching with his mouth left agape.

The beating ended less than one minute later, after the man’s voice could no longer be heard. Henry was afraid that the man was dead but he didn’t dare to step further inside the room. Tara dropped the whip and began to proceed back to the door. Cole returned to the place with Tomi at that same moment. Henry stepped out into the corridor giving room for them to see Tara.

‘Tomi, he’s unconscious, make sure he doesn’t die.’

‘Okay,’ Tomi replied. She waited for Tara to step out first before she rushed back into the room to check the man.

Tara stepped out of the room and walked away without taking a look at Henry who stood behind. Henry stood still and watched her leave, still wondering what the cause of her sudden rage was.

Tomi soon rushed out too and hurried off to get her first aid equipments. Cole showed up after, walking slowly. He stopped at the entrance and rested his back against the door frame with his arms folded across his chest.

‘Is he dead?’ Henry asked.

‘No, he’s only unconscious.’ Cole replied.

Henry felt a bit relieved but the tension in his heart was still much. He heaved a sigh and began to walk away with the purpose of finding Tara. Cole followed behind and both walked slowly.

Tomi returned with her first aid bag and met them in the passage. She only took a cursory glance at both of them and stopped after passing Cole slightly.

‘I’ll need someone’s help to move the man from here,’ she said.

Cole stopped and waited a few seconds before turning back.

*

*

Henry searched around the house for Tara. He finally found her where he least expected her to be at that moment – in the study. The door was left ajar, so he could see her from outside. Her back was turned against him. Her previously neatly packed hair was now scattered, several books were scattered all over the floor and a wooden chair was broken on the floor. He stopped behind the wall beside the door and continued to watch her. After sometime, she turned sideway and sat on the floor, with her knee raised. She placed her elbows on the knees and bowed her head, running her fingers in through her hair.

Henry could now see the side of her face, only that the hand placed on her knee was covering his view. He desperately wanted to see her facial expression. He bent down and watched for a while, he then noticed a drop of tears falling from her face to the floor.

It made him remember the first time he saw her cry. It was then he realized what he had caused. She was right when she said she had been acting professional until he talked about how she was feeling.

He regretted ever going to the room to see the torture. Now he had kindled something that he may not be able to control – her anger for the man who R@PED her at the age of eight and killed her parents.

Tears filled his eyes too and he found his bum on the floor. He remained there for close to an hour watching Tara who also remained in the same position.

He raised his head and looked sideway as he heard the sound of someone footsteps, he found Tomi approaching.

‘Can I see the boss?’ Tomi asked in low tones.

‘What do you want?’

‘The intravenous fluid is finished and the man still needs more, I also need to get some more medicines for him.’

‘I thought you had a credit card with you.’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘You can go, you’ll sort it out with her later.’

‘Thank you,’ Tomi bowed slightly and turned back. She quickly rushed back to get the credit card from her room.

She stopped in the corridor on hearing Cole talking to someone on phone. His room door was slightly opened.

‘I really would love to spend time with you but it’s a busy weekend for me and there’s no way I can make out space.’

Tomi hid behind the wall to listen, anger against Cole boiling in her heart.

‘Patricia, I love you and there’s nothing that can change that. You just have to understand my schedule. Okay.’

Tomi heaved a sigh of frustration after sensing that the call had ended. She wondered in her heart how she would get to that Patricia that was stopping Cole from paying attention to her. She heaved another sigh before walking away.

She picked the credit card and her phone and hurried out of the room. Her phone began to ring before she got out of the place, the caller ID displayed was ‘Bi**tch’.

7:30pm

Aguda House.

BREAKING NEWS – INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE POLICE KIDNAPPED

The Vice President had just returned home and was trying to change his clothes in his room when he got the text message carrying the headline on his phone. ‘Nonsense, fake news,’ he said to himself. ‘What’s wrong with Linda Ikeji?’ he added, already blaming the blogger in his mind for giving out false and unverified news. He took off his shirt and returned to the bed in his singlet and knee-length shorts to read the text message properly.

He placed a knee at the edge of the bed and clicked on the link provided in the text message. It led him to the news website and he scrolled down to read. The first thing he saw was the vehicle which he recognized as the Inspector General’s in the bush. He hissed and scrolled to continue, thinking it was just another vehicle of the same kind.

The Inspector General Of Police has been kidnapped this morning while on his way to the hospital for his weekly routine checkup and treatment. How the kidnap happened is unverified yet but our sources say the Inspector General and his escorts were ambushed along Goodluck Road. His car was found in a bush at Ama with the dead bodies of his two escorts in the bush. Efforts to trace how the car got there is yet unproductive as most of the residents interviewed claimed not to have seen how the car got there. More details to be revealed later.

It can’t be true, the Vice President thought to himself. He located his other phone and dialed the Inspector General’s phone number. The number was switched off.

He thought of calling the man’s wife but remembered that the woman and their two daughters lived in the US and may not be able to tell the immediate whereabouts of the man. He then scrolled down, he selected and dialed the number of the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the zone. The call was answered after the first ring.

‘Good evening your excellency.’

‘Good evening DIG, there’s the rumour about someone kidnapping the Inspector General, I want you to find out who’s behind the rumour and get the person arrested.’ Chief Elvis said, getting up to his feet.

‘It is true sir…’

‘What is true?’

‘The Inspector General was kidnapped this morning…’

The Vice President lowered the phone slowly in shock and found himself seated in the bed. He stared at his phone in silence for a while before something popped up in his mind. He checked the time on the phone, it was 7:53pm. He got up and proceeded to the television. He turned on the wall socket and turned on the TV. After two minutes of looking for the remote control without seeing it, he turned off the television and hurried out of the room to the living room. He met Vivian seated there and watching a music channel.

‘Hello Vivian, you have to excuse me for some minutes please. I can’t find my TV remote control and I want to listen to the news here,’ he said as he sat beside the girl on the three seater sofa.

‘Its okay sir,’ she said as she handed the remote control to him. She looked at him for a while and noticed the tension. ‘Hope all is well Dad.’

‘Uhmn… I hope so too.’

The news began and Chief Rikau watched in silence with Vivian. The kidnap was confirmed and everything about the kidnap Chief Elvis had read online was repeated on the news.

Vivian did not need anyone to tell her what the matter was after listening to the news. She knew that the Inspector General was a close pal of the Vice President and believed that they must share a lot of secrets together.

‘Vivian, get me a bottle of Ace from the bar.’ the Vice President said to her with a huge release of breath.

‘Sir?’

‘Ace Of Spade, get me a bottle!’ he shouted at her.

She got up quickly and found her way to the bar. She returned with the bottle and a glass cup in less than a minute.

‘Here is it,’ she said.

The man opened the wine bottle and filled the glass cup with it. He dropped the bottle on the floor and got up to his feet with the cup in his hands.

‘Tell one of the maids to open the door, I want to spend sometime in the field,’ he said to Vivian.

Vivian stared at him, surprised and wondering what the man was going to do on the field. She remained on the same spot instead of doing as her father had instructed.

‘Didn’t you hear me?’ the man turned back and slammed at her after taking a sip.

‘Dad, what are you going outside to do?’ she said in a loud voice as she sprang up from the seat. ‘You’re not even dressed properly,’ she added, her eyes scrutinizing his looks from head to toe with her eyes.

‘Just get the door opened for me,’ the man replied angrily, biting his lower lip and tightening his fist.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 19 Part 8
Vivian remained on the same spot without moving. But just then, a maid was seen at the dining area and the man beckoned on her. He instructed her to get the door opened and proceeded slowly after her.

_________

9pm

DAKOLO’S RESIDENCE

Inspector Dakolo was seated in his living room with James, both discussing about the recent news of the Inspector General’s kidnap.

‘Could the kidnapper be Samantha Osman?’ Dakolo said, more like thinking aloud to himself even though James was in the room with him.

‘I don’t know what to think,’ James replied. ‘There has been reports of her kidnapping people recently and I’m scared this might be one of them, she ends up killing them after the kidnap.’

‘Are you talking in reference to that of Senator Garuba and the former Health Minister?’

‘Yes.’

Dakolo paused and stared thinly for a moment. ‘The two victims were killed in those cases.’

‘Yes.’

‘Hmm,’ Dakolo shook his head. ‘So does that mean the Inspector General will be killed soon?’

James also pondered on the situation for a while. ‘No one can tell. But if the kidnappers of the previous two guys are the same with this, then it may have the same outcome.’

‘But this is not right,’ Dakolo said in anger and sprang up to his feet. ‘Someone is toying with the nation’s security. If the country’s Inspector General of Police can be kidnapped, then it means nobody else is safe.’

There was a brief moment of silence.

‘The man was only with two escorts that morning,’ James said, lifting his gaze to Dakolo’s face. ‘I heard that he’s been going to the hospital like they for a couple of weeks now.’

‘There’s actually no problem with that. What I’m really bothered about is the boldness of the person in plotting and executing the kidnap and the inability of the Inspector General and his escorts to foresee a possible attack.’

‘Well, it has happened already. The onus is on us now to make sure the man is recovered safe and sound and as soon as possible.’

‘Which of the agents are in charge of the case?’

‘My team should be, even though I’m yet to receive any directive concerning that. But since it’s a Samantha Osman related case, my team has to be involved. I believe I would get a call from the team leader soon, Agent Tim.’

‘So nothing has been done yet?’

‘Something should have been done.’

‘I heard that a number of the DIGs and AIGs met in the Headquarters earlier this evening.’

‘And what is the result of their meeting?’

‘I don’t know, I’m not sure they’re even done yet.’

‘What about the last two victims? Haven’t you made any investigations on them?’

‘The cases happened outside our territory, and like it should be, other officers carried out the investigations. The reports we’ve gotten so far hasn’t been too bad, Samantha did a clean murder in Eze Okafor’s case except that she made it obvious she was the killer but for Senator Garuba Ahmed’s case, we’re tracing the ID cards already and we would get a complete result after the trace.’

‘What about the other guys she works with, is there nothing that shows their real identities?’

‘Nothing for her members were found in Kwara state and Anambra.’

‘Hmm… Okay,’ Dakolo said and sat back on the chair. He relaxed for half a minute before he began to talk again. ‘So what about your sister, how is she doing now?’

James frowned a bit but tried to hide it, he didn’t like the change in the subject of discussion. ‘She’s fine now.’

‘Did she tell you what happened to her?’ Dakolo asked.

‘No, she didn’t. My Dad has convinced her to keep quiet,’ James replied.

‘But what about you? What do you think it could be?’

He shrugged in a tired manner and shook his head ‘I don’t know.’

‘But you’re the elder brother, I believe you should be able to deduce somethings without being told except you never lived with your family.’

‘I did, but these matters are complicated, you can’t make a conclusion.’

‘Well, if making a conclusion is the challenge, it means you already have some thoughts in your mind.’

‘Yes,’ James sighed uncomfortably. ‘I do think it’s something serious and connected to my father.’

‘Is that all?’ Dakolo asked, raising his brow, he didn’t expect such a vague answer.

‘Yes, I know a lot of things are still being hidden from me but I’m sure I’ll discover them soon.’

‘Yes, I believe we will discover a lot soon. It’s getting tougher and I’ve decided to put in more efforts. I’m going to get to the root of the matter and make sure I clear my name.’ Dakolo said in a determined voice.

James just stared at him in silence. His father’s name and reputation was at stake, so was his. He knew he might have to turn against Dakolo if the man goes far and takes steps that may hurt his father and the family.

10:35pm

JAMES’ RESIDENCE

James took out his gun as he got to his entrance. He was somehow ready and expecting Samantha’s visit again. He decided not to be intimidated by her threats anymore and talk back to her when she talks. He had also made up his mind to move from the apartment as soon as he could and had already began to search for another.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 20 Part 2
He pointed in his phone’s flashlight as he entered into the house. The place he always met her was empty. He turned on the switch and the lights came on. His eyes hovered around the living room, searching every corner for her.

‘I’m going crazy,’ he said to himself and hissed. He sat on one of the sofas and unbuckled his belt. His belly was full, he had stopped at a restaurant to take dinner.

He closed his eyes and rested his head on the backrest of the seat for some minutes. He was had slept up for some minutes but was woken up by the ringtone of his phone. His eyes popped open and he pulled out the phone from his pocket. Vivian was the person calling.

‘Good evening Vivy,’ he said as he answered the call.

‘Good evening brother, did you listen to the news this evening?’ Vivy asked, her voice sounding worried.

‘Yes, I did. What’s the matter?’ James replied.

‘Its Dad, since he listened to the news about the Inspector General’s kidnap, he has been acting strange.’

‘Strange in what way?’

‘He’s been drinking, and now he’s still outside the house in the garden. He’s been there for more than two hours and doesn’t want to come in.’

‘Hmm, that’s strange. Why don’t you talk to him?’

‘I have but he’s not listening. He says he’s only trying to think and says nothing is wrong with him.’

‘Well, I don’t know what we can do to him.’ James shrugged.

‘What if you come around?’

‘Its late Vivy,’ he replied and glanced at the wall clock. It was past eleven. ‘I won’t be allowed in this night. But even if I’m allowed in, Dad may not listen to me, he listens to you more.’

‘I’m worried.’

‘I know, just calm down. He’s an adult and he knows how to take care of himself. You just go in and take your rest, he’ll be okay.’

_______

Aguda House

11:43pm

Chief Elvis slapped himself on the shoulder as he felt a mosquito bite there. He checked his palm and saw the freshly murdered mosquito in blood. He hissed and wiped off the stain with a leaf. He wondered how mosquitoes could be in the garden when it was supposed to be fumigated. But then he realized he was no longer in the garden. He looked around and found himself close to the small farm. He hissed. He had left the garden to avoid another reoccurring plea from Vivian to come into the house. He didn’t want a situation in which she would invite others to come and plead with him.

There was nothing wrong with him as the girl thought. He only had to stay out for a while and think. He didn’t think his thinking in the building could produce the results he needed. He had planned his life from the scratch thinking under harsh conditions and it had made him successful so far, he needed to think in that same condition to get him out of the mess.

He chuckled as another mosquito sang past his ears. He remembered the days of hustling and sleeping outside as a young man. His determination was what had brought him out of poverty.

He looked around and located a wooden long bench behind. He got up from the concrete block he was seated and changed position to the bench. He decided to lay flat on the bench for some minutes and think more.

He knew he was safe from Samantha Osman as long as he remained in the Villa. He also decided to increase the number of security officers moving around with him when he was was in public. He had gotten a call a few hours ago and was rest assured that the Inspector General would be rescued, he decided to go aggressive in his plan against Samantha Osman immediately after the Inspector General was rescued.

May 4, 2031

06:54am

‘Do you know when he entered into the house last night?’ Vivian asked a maid, standing at the entrance of the kitchen.

‘He came in not too long ago,’ the maid washing plates answered. Two other maids were in the kitchen, one cleaning the floor and the other one arranging the utensils. ‘Let’s say around 5am,’ the maid added.

‘5am?’ Vivian widened her eyes in surprise. ‘That means he stayed outside for more than six hours.’

She shook her head and turned back. She proceeded back towards her father’s room and paused at the entrance for a while before walking back to her room.

_____

BASE C

9:45am

Tarasha walked into the room where the Inspector General was being treated. Dr Ekwueme and Tomi were in the room by the man’s bed. The doctor had just finished inspecting the intravenous fluid passing into the man’s vein and now had the tip of his thumb placed behind the man’s wrists.

‘Good morning Doc, how is he doing now?’

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‘Not doing bad,’ Dr Ekwueme replied and turned to her. ‘One major reason the beating affected him terribly because he had not had anything to eat that day.’

‘Yes, we didn’t give him food on purpose, we wanted him to feel it badly.’ Tarasha replied the doctor. She stopped beside the bed and stared at the Inspector General laying asleep in the bed. ‘He should be conscious already, isn’t he?’ she asked, staring at the doctor’s face.

‘Yes, he woke out of unconsciousness around 2am. He’s only asleep now,’ Dr Ekwueme replied.

‘When will he be fit enough to continue receiving torture?’ Tarasha asked.

‘You still want to torture him?’

‘No, I don’t want to but I may have to. The only way he’d escape another torture is if he tells us what we need willingly, and I’m not so sure he would give in so easily.’

‘But you have to allow him recover at least a bit more than this.’

‘How long will it take him to be fit?’ Tarasha asked.

‘Three to four days,’ Dr Ekwueme replied.

‘Huh?’ Tarasha widened her eyes at him. ‘I didn’t ask you how long it will take him to be fit for his usual activities. I mean how long will it take him to comfortably receive more torture without dying.’

The man sighed and stared at Tarasha with confusion in his eyes.

‘Don’t worry Doc, I’ll help you decide that.’ she said and moved her gaze away from the man’s face to the sleeping general. ‘We’d ask him the questions we have once he is awake and if he doesn’t talk, we’d torture him again tonight.’

With that, Tarasha turned and left the two others in the room. The watched her every step until she got out through the door.

‘She’s going to kill this man,’ Dr Ekwueme said, looking at Tomi’s face.

‘She doesn’t care if he’s alive or not,’ Tomi replied, bending her lips in a nonchalant way. ‘All she needs is the information from him, but he’s also refusing to speak up.’

Tarasha entered back into her room. She picked her phone and unlocked it before sitting at edge of the bed. She was going to use the drug on the man that day and extract all the necessary information. She was going to make him confess all his past deeds in front of a camera and release the video online for the world to see. And she was going to make sure he’s tortured more and drugged before being released to his death. The man had to die a terrible and shameful death, and that she was determined to make happen.

She heard a knock on her door which interrupted her thoughts. The door opened slowly before she could answer and Henry popped in his head slowly. Their eyes met and she looked away. He stepped in and closed the door.

He walked closer to her and stopped a metre away, standing at her front like a kid who was being reprimanded for doing something wrong.

‘Tara, I’m very sorry for yesterday.’ he said after a minute of staring.

She lifted her gaze to his face, ‘Sorry for what?’

‘For what I said,’ Henry replied.

‘I don’t remember,’ she said nonchalantly.

Henry released a breath, he stepped closer and placed a knee on the ground before her. He placed his elbow by the sides of her knee and held her palms on her lap. He looked into her eyes. ‘I know you’re angry with me, but you should…’

He couldn’t complete his words. She pulled his head closer and covered his mouth with hers. She wrapped her hands around his neck and their lips intertwined.

Henry rose up slowly and his knees found their way to the bed, he and Tara now moving slowly and closer to the middle. His hands located the zip at the back of her gown and he pulled it down. They broke the kiss for a moment and he began to help her in taking off the gown while she helped with his shirt.

Someone tapped the doorbell. Both of them heard but ignored it. Henry’s fingers had located the buckle of her bra and he was taking it off. The bell sounded again and a knock followed. They ignored. Henry had taken off the bra halfway when the knock sounded harsher with the doorbell and then Cole’s voice was heard, calling on Tarasha.

‘We gotta answer him,’ Tara said with a sigh and excused herself reluctantly. She got up the bed after strapping back on her bra and walked to the door. ‘What is it Cole?’ she asked before opening the door.

‘Boss, there is trouble.’ Cole said as their eyes met.

‘What trouble?’ Tara frowned at him. She noticed he looked serious and had a pistol in his hand.

‘We are under attack, about six men just got into the compound.’

*

*

‘We gotta get them this morning,’ Rex said to Stainless and they entered into the compound through the gate. ‘Give directions to your men.’

Stainless stopped at the entrance of the house and gave directions to his men while Rex proceeded straight into the building.

9:50am

NIS UNDERGROUND FACILITY

‘What’s up Dave? You seem to be in a hurry this morning,’ Dan said with a questioning look as he walked to his office table beside Dave’s.

‘Nothing really, did I tell you that my girlfriend was in the hospital?’ Dave replied and continued to search for what he was looking for on his table.

‘I remember you mentioned something like that,’ Dan said, placing his hands on both sides of his waist.

‘Yea, that’s the only little problem right now. They need some money urgently to continue her treatment.’

‘So what are you planning to do?’

Dave paused for a moment and stared blankly at Dan, he had no specific answer to the question. ‘I don’t know, but I just have to get out now and do something quick.’ he finally replied, after taking some time to think.

‘How much does she need?’ Dan asked.

Dave paused again, he didn’t expect Dan to ask such a question. ‘Well, about 1.5 million naira,’ Dave inflated the amount in an attempt to scare him off.

‘Do you really like this girl?’ Dan sat and asked with a raised eyebrow. He wondered in his heart why Dave was so concerned about the girl but still visited brothels frequently.

‘Yes, of course.’ Dave replied. ‘Don’t worry about me, I’ll get the money,’ he said and got up to his feet, hoping that Dan would not offer to help.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I am.’ Dave replied. He had finished arranging his table. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ Dave said as he picked his phone and car key from the table.

‘Okay,’ Dan put his chin on his palm and watched as Dave walked out through the door. He knew something was fishy. He opened the drawer and took out his pistol. Then he got up from his seat and tucked the gun into his pocket.

Dave was on the way to his car when his phone began to ring. He stopped just after stepping into the garage and took the phone out of his pocket.

‘Steph!’ Dave mentioned under his breath before answering his call. ‘Hello.’

‘Hello Mr Dave, Good morning,’ Stephanie George replied from the other end. Dave could feel the smile in her voice.

‘Good morning Steph, it’s nice to hear from you again.’

‘Yes, it is nice to hear from you too.’

‘How have you been?’

‘I’ve been fine, how about you?’

‘I’m doing great. How is school?’

‘Fine, I’m on break now.’

‘Good. I guess you have something good to tell me this morning.’

‘Ermm… I’m actually in Abuja and I found out from your profile online that you’re also based in Abuja. I don’t know if you’re in town now, I’ll like for us to see.’

‘Yes, I’m in town. I hope there’s no problem.’

‘No, there’s no problem but it’s kind of urgent that we see.’

‘Okay, where are you right now?’

‘I’m in Maitama.’

‘Should we make it evening today?’

‘Yes, evening time is fair enough.’

_______

BASE C

‘Six men?’

‘Yes.’

Tarasha stared at Cole’s face blankly for a moment, wondering if he could be saying the truth and how the men found them if he was saying the truth.

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‘Get Dr Ekwueme to safety,’ she said to Cole before turning back into her room.

*

Rex watched Stainless direct his men to the sides of the building. He adjusted the mask on his face before firing a shot at the lock of the entrance door. He entered into the living room slowly and carefully, holding his gun up. There was no one in the living room but the TV was on. He proceeded slowly and met no one on the way. He continued towards the passage and stepped in carefully.

*

‘What’s wrong?’ Henry who was already out of bed asked.

‘We have some men who have come to attack us,’ she replied him as she walked straight to her wardrobe. She opened it and her eyes scanned through for a second, then she pulled down the zip of her gown and released the gown to the floor, leaving her bra and her short tight pant on. She took out a pair of shorts and an armless Kevlar. She stripped them on in less than thirty seconds. She pulled out three pistols from under the bed. She inserted two into the pockets of her shorts as she proceeded to the door. She slipped her foot into a sneakers by the door side before opening the door.

*

Rex stopped and held his breath as he heard a door open. He couldn’t see the entrance well from the angle he was standing but he knew it was the door close to the exit of the corridor that was opened. He placed his gaze at the floor in front of the door to observe any shadow formed there but couldn’t notice anything except the slight movement of the door.

*

Tarasha stopped partially behind the opened door. She had heard the sound of steps in the corridor and waited to listen more. She became more suspicious when she noticed the sound had stopped. There was supposed to be no stop in the sound if it wasn’t an intruder who was in the corridor.

*

Rex held his gun pointed at the entrance, waiting for the person standing there to come out. He kept his eyes dancing to and fro, staying alert for anything coming from behind.

He remained in the same position for more than thirty seconds, then he concluded that the person who opened the door was aware that he was in the passage. He began to take slow steps forward, trying his best to remain noiseless as possible.
*
She could now hear very low sounds of someone walking towards the place. She raised her gun and made a count of three in her mind before stepping forward.

Rex froze immediately as he saw the shadow of a gun in someone’s hand formed on the floor. He timed her in his mind and knew the exact second she would be out with the gun. He swerved to the left side, hitting his back against the wall as he fired his gun.

Tarasha stepped out in a squatting position, contrary to Rex’s expectation and his bullets flew far over but she also missed him because of his swift movement to the wall.

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They fired several off target shots at each other before Tarasha rolled out through the exit. Rex followed immediately but stopped at the wall by the exit opening.

As Tarasha headed towards the room where the doctor was being treated, she heard sounds of gunshots being exchanged at the back of the house.

‘F*** it!’ she cursed in her mind as she knew Cole must have met some of the men at the back and must be having problems with them. It meant the men had penetrated so well before her team found out.

______

‘Where are you?’ Dave said into the the mouthpiece of his headset, looking around as he walked forward along the side of the road.

‘At TopMost salon, my car is parked in the compound.’ Lizzy’s voice sounded in reply.

‘Okay,’ Dave replied and cut the call. TopMost Salon was just some metres in front of him.

Dave walked into the salon compound and located her car. He joined her in the front seat.

‘Lizzy, why are we here?’ Dave asked, looking at her face. ‘And why have you asked that I arrange with a doctor in a hospital around here?’

Lizzy took off the dark shades on her eyes and dropped it on the dashboard.

‘I think Victor lives here,’ she replied without looking at his face.

‘Cole? You think?’

‘Yes, I’ve traced his location to this road side on more than two occasions and recently that of the girl who called to insult me.’

‘When last did you confirm this?’

‘Yesterday, with her number and with his number.’

‘So, it means they both live on this street? Could she be his wife?’

‘I don’t think so, I think they’re colleagues and lovers. I believe Samantha Osman recently moved their operation here and the whole gang has been here since yesterday.’

‘Huh? Are you sure of what you’re saying?’

‘Yes, I am. I’ve traced both of them here several times yesterday but I wasn’t able to locate the real building they are in, their location disappears when they pass this building.’

‘Oh! That means they’re in a secure building whose force field extends to this place.’

‘Yes, and as far as I’m concerned, Samantha Osman is the only one who has been able to build such secure fields recently. And you know what that means?’

‘What does it mean?’

‘You know what happened yesterday,’ she squeezed her face at him.

‘What happened yesterday?’ he widened his eyes in confusion.

‘Stop acting like a d***, Samantha Osman kidnapped the Inspector General and they also moved their base here yesterday, does it sound like a coincidence to you?’

‘Oh!’ he squinted his eyes and then widened them again. Her words were now beginning to make sense to him. ‘So you think they brought him here?’

‘Yes, isn’t that the logical conclusion to make?’

‘Yes, you’re right, but I still don’t really trust the media reports. I told you that they’ve been telling a lot of lies about her, didn’t I?’

‘Yes, you did but you also confirmed that she visited every of the victim they reported about, you only did not believe that she killed them.’ Lizzy said, staring at him with her side eyes and her lips folded in.

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‘You don’t believe what I told you? You think she killed them?’ Dave said to her with a frown.

‘That’s not my point. My point is that if they were right about their report of her kidnapping the previous victim, they should be right about her kidnapping the Inspector General too. At least, they haven’t said she killed him yet and we can stop that from happening if we save the Inspector General before he’s killed, that way we would know who has been killing the victims Samantha Osman kidnaps.’

Dave heaved a sigh. ‘So, what’s your plan?’ he asked in low tones.

‘Have you made arrangements with a hospital already?’ she asked him.

‘Yes, one that’s not too far from here.’

‘Can we drive there now?’

‘Sure, it’s just about ten minutes away.’

‘Okay,’ Lizzy replied and put back her shades on. She turned and stretched to the backseat to pick her tablet device and her phone. ‘The tracking app is running on my tab,’ she said as she gave them to Dave and then pressed the ignition button of the car. She put on her seatbelt and Dave followed suit. ‘You call Victor with my phone to report that I’m sick and in the hospital, or tell him anything that’ll pull him out of the building, then we’d use the security cameras to pick the building he comes out from. We could also make him use his debit card in the hospital for a payment.’

‘Sounds like a nice plan, but we need to plan it better.’ Dave said thoughtfully.

‘You finish up the plan, but you should know we don’t have much time.’ Lizzy replied in an angry voice. She stopped at the gate and honked to get the attention of the gateman.

Just before the gateman opened the gate. The sounds of gunshots were heard from the surroundings. Dave and Lizzy flashed quick looks at themselves.

_______

Henry was in his room when he heard the sounds of gunshots exchange from the corridor. He knew it must be between Tara and one of the intruders. He stood behind the door of his room, holding his pistol in his right hand. After some seconds, the gunshots ceased and he heard the sound of movements towards the exit of the corridor. He stayed for some more seconds before he decided to step out of the room.

*

Rex turned back swiftly as he heard the sound of a door. It was the door before the one Samantha’s room. It was being opened slowly. He turned back and pointed his gun towards the place.

*

Henry stepped out of the room slowly with the gun in his hand raised. He looked towards the right first and just as he turned to the left, his eyes met with the eyes of the man in the mask. He tried to shoot but it was too late, a bullet was already coming his way.

Henry stepped out of the room slowly with the gun in his hand raised. He looked towards the right first and just as he turned to the left, his eyes met with the eyes of the man in the mask. He tried to shoot but it was too late, a bullet was already coming his way.

The bullet narrowly missed the right side of his face and hit the frame of the door. Henry was back into the room in a second, slamming the door shut.

Rex followed after immediately, seeing that Henry was a weak prey which he could use as hostage against Tarasha. He got to the front of the door and kicked it with the back of his door but the door refused to give way. He then pointed his gun at the handle and fired two shots at it.

*

Tarasha turned back with her gun raised as she heard the first gunshot. She could tell it was from the corridor and she continued towards the room where the Inspector General was kept as she didn’t see Rex coming after her yet. She stopped suddenly at the entrance of the room as she heard more gunshots. The direction of the sounds was from the passage she just left. She suddenly realized that Henry must be the one Rex was shooting at. He had gone into his room after leaving hers.

She turned back and proceeded back towards the passages with speed.

*

The door gave way immediately after the second bullet hit it but bullets began to pierce through it from behind just as about the same time. Rex moved swiftly away and hid behind the wall of the door. Henry was trying to fight back and was now shooting at him. The gunshots ceased. Rex remained in the same position, he fastened his fingers to his gun and waited for the right time to move. But Tarasha showed up at the exit again and fired two quick shots at him. He quickly bent down to dodge the bullets and began to run towards the entrance of the place while she continued shooting at him. He fired two shots while running but was totally off target.

‘Henry!’ Tarasha called as she stepped into the passage. ‘Step out now,’ she said, still firing shots with guns in both hands towards the front entrance, spraying the bullets up and down.

‘Tara,’ Henry called in low tones as she stepped out of the room, still holding the gun in his hands.

‘Go this way,’ Tara said, directing him with a hand to leave through the exit. The bullets in her pistol finished at that moment and she dipped her hand into her pocket to bring out another gun while Henry ran towards the exit.

Rex was quick to notice the pause in her shooting and he took advantage of it to enter back into the corridor. He began to shoot at her before she could raise up her gun. She dashed into the room and hid behind the wall, raising her gun above her shoulder in readiness for him.

The gunshots from Rex continued for some more seconds, Tarasha watched the flow to see if she could come out bending but the bullets were being shot from up to down. After thirty seconds, the shots ceased. Tarasha concluded that he had run out of bullets, she positioned her finger on the trigger.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 17 Part 2
But just as she tried to take a step forward, something hit the head jamb of the door frame and fell to the floor by her side. It was a grenade.

_______

Most of the stores and shops on the streets were already being locked up. Very few vehicles are now on the road and almost no pedestrians was seen by the roadside. The sound of police sirens could be heard from afar. Dave and Lizzy already had their car parked opposite the gate of the building but at the other side of the road. Dave had just finished calling Dan and the SSS office for reinforcement and the police officers at the nearby station were already on their way in response to the sounds of gunshots being heard.

‘You need to leave here now Liz,’ Dave said to her as he fixed in bullets into his gun.

‘Yes, I know but what do you plan to do?’

Dave finished loading his gun before looking at her face. ‘I have only six bullets in my gun, I’ll be in trouble if I go in there right now. So I’ll stick around and wait for the police officers to get here, I should be able to get more from them. You have to leave now, you’d have a lot of trouble with the Agency if you are seen around here.’

‘I’m fully aware of that. But what about you, do you have a NIS protection mask?’

‘I left it in my car.’

Lizzy pulled out a mask from her bag and handed it to him. ‘Here’s mine, it might be a little big for you but you can still manage it.’

‘Thank you,’ Dave said with a very brief smile as he received the mask. ‘I’ll call you as soon as I can,’ Dave said and stepped out of the car.

‘Stay safe,’ Lizzy said to him before driving off.

Dave stood on the same spot for almost a minute, staring at the gate of the building. He was expecting Dan to join him in nothing less than five minutes. But the police had arrived already in three different vehicles and he had to get into the place before it was too late to do anything. He put on the mask and crossed the road to meet the officers at the other side.

______

Henry got into the other passage and made his way straight to the room the Inspector General was kept. He got in to meet a surprise, Tomi was in a fist war with a man and he had knocked her down already. He was about to twist her neck when Henry fired a shot into the man’s shoulder. He fell off to the floor weakly and Henry hit the butt of the gun on the back of his head.

‘What do we do to him?’ Henry asked, pointing his gun at the Inspector General who was still laying on the bed. The man was now awake but still weak and unable to move his body because of the drugs given to him.

‘I don’t know,’ Tomi replied as she struggled to her feet. ‘I don’t know if the boss wants him dead now or still left alive,’ she said, still breathing heavily.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 20 Part 4
‘No, we can’t kill him.’ Henry said, shaking his head.

‘Then we have to move him out of here, the police would soon surround this building. We can take the backdoor,’ Tomi replied.

‘Where do we take him to?’

‘We’d just take him out first, hijack a car and get across to Cole.’

‘Where’s Cole?’

‘Cole just left with Dr Ekwueme. He told me that the boss asked him to find somewhere safe for us. He would call me as soon as he finds somewhere good.’

‘Okay,’ Henry kept his gun into his pocket and hurried towards the bed. ‘How do we carry him?’

‘Can you carry him on your shoulders or we lift him together?’

‘Let me see if I can have him on my shoulder, I hope he would not give me problems.’

‘No, he won’t. The drugs have made him totally weak.’

Henry bent and pulled the man up to sit upright. He placed the man’s hands on a side of his shoulder and was trying to lift when they heard a voice from behind.

‘Stop right there!’ Stainless ordered, standing at the entrance and pointing a gun at them.

Tomi eyes widened in surprise on seeing Stainless at the door. She wondered what Stainless was doing there. It had never occurred to her that he could part of the guys who had come to attack them.

‘Stainless!’ she exclaimed almost voicelessly.

Stainless ignored her and tightened his grip on the gun, ‘Both of you should go on your knees.’

They obeyed, going on their knees slowly with their hands raised in the air. Stainless proceeded slowly towards them with his gun still pointed at them. Tomi still stared at him in surprise.

‘I’m still amazed at the boldness you guys had to kidnap the Inspector General,’ Stainless said as he moved closer to them, the gun now aimed at Henry’s forehead.

He was going to kill them both. That was Rex’s instruction, to kill everyone they could to rescue the Inspector General.

Tomi finally realized what was happening as Stainless approached. It dawned on her that she was the cause for the attack.

Flashback — The day Before

Tomi paused and stared at her phone’s screen for a moment, anger boiling up in her heart. The slut called Patricia was really proving to be a whore. She wondered why she was calling her just few minutes after she had spoken with Cole.

The call ended without being answered and Patricia proceeded out of the house. She got into the car and drove out of the compound. The call from Patricia came in again after she drove out through the gate. She ignored for the second time. The call came the third time and it enraged Tomi. She pulled over to the side of the road and stepped out of the car with the phone.

‘Why the **** are you calling my line?’ she voiced into the mouthpiece.

‘Hey! Calm down,’ a calm voice responded from the other end. ‘Good evening.’

‘Shut the **** up and go straight to the point!’ Tomi slammed. She wasn’t going to calm down. Patricia was really a slut who knew how to get on her nerves. Not only was she taking Cole’s attention from her but she was also doing it in a way to annoy her badly. She remembered the day before when she received the last call from the slut’s number, she was greeted by very annoying sounds. For the whole ten minutes of the call which she listened, Cole was shouting on top of his voice how he loved Patricia for the first two minutes and then Mõ@ns of sëxual pleasure followed all through. The call had been a terrible one and it was the reason Tomi wasn’t willing to answer her call again.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 15 Part 10
‘I’m only trying to be nice but I’ll go straight to the point since you want me to,’ Patricia sounded pissed off from the other end. ‘I knew you listened when I called you yesterday and I’ve been feeling guilty ever since then. I knew you would be feeling so jealous as you listened to the man you claimed was your boyfriend confessing his love to me and giving it to me so hard. So I’ve come with an offer for you. With this offer, we can both enjoy him together without any party loosing. So, I want to ask if you’re interested in striking a deal with me.’

‘You’re crazy,’ Tomi slammed, feeling infuriated. ‘I’ll kill you when I see you.’

‘Hahaha,’ the voice from the other end giggled. ‘**** off b****, he is for me and me alone.’ the call ended.

Tomi got into the car feeling so annoyed. She drove in that annoyance to the pharmacy and got the drugs she needed. Then she decided to visit a joint she used to be regular at, to cool off her mind with cold beer which she knew would be odd taking at the base at that moment.

She was cooling off with beer when Stainless appeared before her. It didn’t meet her as a surprise as the joint was also regularly visited by Stainless and his men.

Stainless joined her table and they eventually began to talk. He was able to convince her to speak to him what bothered her and she told him how she met with Cole, one of late Don Dan’s boys and was now working with him. She deliberately left out the part of Cole’s relation with Samantha Osman and did not in any way hint about knowing anything concerning Samantha Osman. But she never knew Stainless was aware of who Cole worked for.

Stainless was able to calm her down by promising to help deal with Patricia, the only thing Tomi had to pay him with was a good round of sëx.

Unknowingly to Tomi, she was traced to the base that afternoon.

Present

Tears formed in Tomi’s eyes as Stainless stopped at their front. She knew she had caused something terrible for the gang.

Stainless smirked on seeing the frustration on Tomi’s face. He shook his head in mockery and then turned his gaze to Henry’s face. He stared Henry for a while. Henry had been staring at him and Tomi and wondering what was between them with the way they stared at each other. Stainless smirked at Henry. He was glad to have the opportunity to be the murderer of the famous Computer programmer and developer.

Tomi closed her eyes as she saw Stainless’ finger pushing the trigger slowly.

Bang! The gun was shot.

Henry fell to the ground.

Tarasha dashed out of the room immediately she saw the grenade land on the floor. Thick smoke from the grenade rushed out from the opening and filled the atmosphere, blocking her from seeing as she tried to fire at Rex. A bullet hit the top of her shoulder and another hit her back as she made her way to the exit.

Rex stepped back and held the wall tight as the grenade exploded, causing the whole building to vibrate.

_____

The bullet hit the window behind Henry and Tomi as the vibration caused by the grenade shook the whole place. Stainless landed on the floor with his butt and Tomi fell on Henry’s body.

Henry was the first to get up after the vibration ceased. He took out his gun immediately and charged towards Stainless. He held the gun with his two hands and pointed it at stainless who was just trying to get up and pick his gun that had fallen to the ground.

‘Don’t move or I’ll shoot,’ Henry threatened and Stainless stopped in his attempt to pick the gun. He placed both knees on the ground slowly and raised his hands the air.

*

‘**** it!’ Dave cursed, holding onto the gate for support as the ground vibrated. He was able to stand without falling because the intensity of the vibration was not felt much at that distance. He waited about ten seconds to observe before he stepped in through the gate. He stopped some steps away from the entrance and looked at the building for a while, trying to see the fire from the bomb that sounded, he could only see some smoke rising out from the ceiling of the building at a particular side. Six police officers stepped into the place with him, all holding long guns. .

‘We can’t go in like this, we’re not sure what weapons or arms they have.’ Dave suggested to the police officer who seemed to be the leader of the team.

‘Why do you say so Agent? We brought enough weapons to tackle them,’ the police officer replied.

‘Enough weapons to tackle bombs?’ Dave questioned.

‘We have a explosive detector with us, it’ll detect the explosive based on its power and alert us before we move out of its safe distance.’

‘Let’s go in together then.’

*

Tara managed to get up from the floor in the corridor which the vibration had thrown her. She could hear sounds of Police vehicles as she proceeded towards the room where the Inspector General was kept, limping on her right leg.

She stepped in and found Henry still pointing his gun at a man kneeling on the floor. She took out her gun and pointed at the man, she was about to shoot him in the head when her eyes met with Henry’s eyes. She unÇOçked the gun and hit the man’s back head with the butt of her gun.

‘Has Cole gone out yet?’ she asked as she proceeded towards the bed where the Inspector General was still laying.

‘Yes, we killed those three men,’ Tomi answered her.

‘We gotta leave here now, the security officers are around.’ Tarasha said and bent to pick something from under the bed. She rose up and walked to the window behind.

‘What do we do about him?’ Tomi asked, pointing at the Inspector General.

‘There’s no time to do anything about him, we’d just leave him to be taken back home by his men.’

‘What?’ Henry and Tomi exclaimed in unison.

Tarasha turned and stared at Henry’s face for a moment. ‘Are we not sticking to the plan of not killing? That’s the only option we have now.’

She stared for some more seconds at his face before turning back to the window. She folded and stretched her right leg twice to ease the pain in her leg from the fall. She took down a side of the window. ‘Let’s get out of here before it’s too late.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 16 Part 5
*

Rex turned out of the corridor slowly and hurried back towards the living room. He was sure that two of his bullets had hit Samantha and he knew she wouldn’t be able to move fast with two bullets in her body and with the impact of the bomb. He planned to turn to the backyard and enter through the backdoor as the easiest way he could get to her which was the corridor was in fire already.

He began to hear voices as he got to the living room, he rushed to the window and checked, he saw five officers and a SSS officer already moving closer to the house. He turned back, he knew they were going to waste his time. He had no option than to pass through the corridor which he had turned back from.

He hurried back through the corridor and slowed down to carefully walk pass the exploded place. Some objects which had been displaced were burning on the floor and the fire was spreading fast to the ceiling.

He had brought that kind of grenade specially, it produced less burning and more vibration and what he really needed was the vibration and the smoke released to distract Tarasha. He began to take one step after the other as he stepped into the new corridor, looking around to see where Tarasha was hiding, he was sure she couldn’t have gone far because his bullets had hit her.

____

5 mins later

Tarasha, Henry and Tomi got to the road after escaping through the back gate. There was very little activity on the road compared to the usual but they could see a vehicle coming closer from behind. Tarasha stood at the centre of the road and raised her hand to stop the vehicle. The car screeched to a halt just in front of her.

She took out her gun and fired in the air to scare the driver, then she began to walk towards the backseat as she ordered the driver to get out. The man stepped out of the car and laid flat on the floor.

‘Henry, get into the driver’s side.’ Tara said as she got into the backseat. Tomi entered through the passenger’s side at the front and Henry got into the driver’s side.

*

Rex opened the door of the last room and entered carefully, pointing his gun everywhere. He saw Stainless lying on the floor motionlessly. He squatted beside him briefly and placed two fingers by the side of his neck to check if he was still breathing. He stood up after confirming Stainless was alive and walked straight to the bed. The IG turned am his neck at that moment and their eyes met. Rex ÇOçked his gun and looked around suspiciously for a moment. He didn’t expect that the Inspector General would be the one in the bed, he had thought it was someone else.

‘They left already, they went through the window.’ Chief Rikau said to Rex, glancing at the window through which Tarasha left with the two others.

‘Was Samantha with them?’ Rex asked, staring at the window which was broken at a side.

‘Yes, she asked them to leave because the police officers were around.’ Chief Rikau replied.

‘Wasn’t she hurt? I shot her twice,’ Rex stared at the IG’s face with his face squeezed.

‘She didn’t look hurt, she was okay.’ Chief Rikau replied in his weak voice.

Rex frowned, wondering how she could have possibly dodged the bullets. He had seen her image through the smoke and seen her movements when the bullets hit her body.

The voices and sounds made by the security officers as they got closer woke him from his brief reverie. He took a glance at the Inspector General and glanced at the broken window again.

‘Please help me out of here quickly,’ Chief Rikau said in a low voice.

‘Police officers are coming, they’ll help you. I have to leave now.’

_______

‘Cole, where are you?’ Tarasha spoke into the phone, still seated at the backseat of the car.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 19 Part 1
‘I’m heading towards Kurudu,’ Cole replied from the other end. ‘Looking for an uncompleted building around we can stop by at.’

‘What about Dr Ekwueme?’ Tarasha asked.

‘He’s here with me.’

‘I hope he isn’t giving you any problem.’

‘He’s not for now, but I hope he doesn’t try anything funny when I have to go in the midst of other people.’

‘Locate a hotel and stay somewhere close to it.’

‘A hotel?’

‘Yes, one that we all can stay.’

‘We all? We may have problems getting the IG into the place with us.’

‘The IG is no longer with us.’

‘Oh! Okay,’ Cole released a deep breath, he believed that Tarasha must have killed the Inspector General to say he was no longer with them. ‘Should I go ahead to book for rooms?’

‘No, don’t book for rooms yet. You may not be able to handle Dr Ekwueme and get into trouble, just stay around the place and send us the address.’

‘Okay boss.’

Tarasha cut the call and dropped the phone by her side on the seat.

‘Has he found a place yet?’ Henry asked.

‘No, he hasn’t. But he would soon, just drive towards Kurudu.’

They continued driving in silence for some more minutes. Tarasha closed her eyes and rested back her head as she pondered on everything that happened. She knew there was something amiss and that one of them must have leaked out information to the enemy. Tomi was the person on her mind. Only Tomi had left that building since the day before, she stayed unusually long and returned home with the excuse of not getting all the drugs at one pharmacy. She wondered if it was only this incident Tomi had leaked out or if she had also leaked out her visit to Senator Garuba Ahmed and Eze Okafor. But on a second thought, she realized that only Cole could have leaked out her movement details to the enemies on the first two occasions. He was the only person who knew her every movement and was expected to keep it secret. She thought about Henry too but knew it was impossible for Henry to do something to hurt her. Tomi was still the major suspect for the enemies’ intrusion of their base. Eze Okafor and Garuba Ahmed’s cases could have been orchestrated by the Vice President.

Tarasha decided to remain quiet and act like she wasn’t suspicious of anyone until she found out more details.

*

*

‘Sir!’ Agent Tim rushed to the bed and placed a knee on the ground. ‘Are you okay sir?’

Two other men and Dave joined Agent Tim beside the bed but stood behind.

‘I’m fine,’ Chief Rikau replied weakly. He turned his face towards the window and shook his head slightly. ‘They left already, through this window.’

Dave proceeded towards the window immediately and Agent Tim signalled to two officers to follow him.

‘Don’t bother about them, they would have gone very far already.’ the IG mustered strength to say aloud.

‘Shi*t!’ Dave cursed as he heard the man’s words and turned back. He hissed as he proceeded to the door, wondering why he didn’t come straight to the last room in the corridor. They had wasted their time, checking one room after the other even that was the logical and due procedure.

‘Agent, are you leaving already?’ Agent Tim turned and asked Dave who had gotten to the door.

‘No, I still have to look around. I’m sure that my colleagues from the SSS are also around now.’

*

5 mins

Dave met with Dan just as he stepped out of the building. Dan had come with five other SSS officials, only he was on mask.

‘Dave, how far?’ Dan approached him inquisitively.

‘They escaped,’ Dave replied with a dejected tone as he stepped down from the balcony.

‘Who escaped?’

‘Samantha Osman and her men.’

‘They were here?’ Dan looked at him in surprise. ‘But you told me you looking for somewhere to get your girlfriend’s hospital fee.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 18 Part 2
‘Yes, I came to the GT Bank at the next street and that was where I heard the gunshots from.’

‘Hmm… Okay,’ Dan nodded his head. Dave had no idea that he was followed to the place by Dan and Dan saw how he parked his car somewhere and went into the salon. The only thing Dan did not see was who Dave went to meet and when he got out of the salon. ‘So what are we doing now?’

‘I’m leaving, we’re late. The police officers are gathering the report already,’ Dave replied, walking towards the gate.

‘Let’s leave in my car or did you bring yours?’ Dan asked in pretense.

‘I have my car parked at the other side of the road,’ Dave replied without turning back.

‘Okay,’ Dan stopped and turned back. He waited for Dave to step out of the place before he spoke to the other five men. ‘We’re going to check around and also get reports from the police officers around.’

11 minutes later.

Dave poured the rest of the cold water from bottle down his throat. He dropped the empty bottle on the backseat and closed his eyes as he let out a breath. Even though the troubles that day was something he could get commendation for, he wasn’t so happy because Samantha Osman got away again. The only thing he considered as his achievement that morning was being sure of the fact that Samantha Osman was being pursued by another assasin.

He was still lost in thoughts when his phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and checked the screen, the caller was Lizzy.

‘Hi Liz, sorry I’ve not called you yet.’ he said, remembering that he had promised to call.

‘It’s okay. How did it go?’

‘Well, nothing much achieved. But the Inspector General was rescued alive and has been taken to the hospital with over thirty police escorts.’

‘That’s something. I told you that they must have hidden the Inspector General there.’

‘Yes, you did. I’m sorry for doubting you.’

‘I take no offense.’

‘You know what Liz?’ Dave let out a breath and sat up, suddenly feeling the need to chill out a bit and ease the tension he had been facing.

‘What?’

‘Can we have lunch together this afternoon?’

There was silence from the other end for a moment. It sounded strange to Lizzy, they had done lunch together several times while working together and there was nothing special in it, so she wondered why he was asking that way.

‘Please don’t say no,’ Dave added in a pleading voice.

‘Oh!’ she chuckled on hearing him sound serious. ‘Is this a date, or you just want to buy me food?’ she asked in a joking tone.

‘Hmm…’ Dave thought for a while, not sure of what answer to give. ‘Well, let’s just say I want to chill out with you.’

‘Chill out with me? You have enough girlfriends to do that with, why me today?’

Dave laughed. ‘Two o’clock Liz, Fadel Cool Creamery.’

‘Okay, Dave. I’m free, so I’ll be there to eat.’ she stressed the word ‘eat’.

Dave laughed again. ‘Okay.’

The call ended and Dave dropped the phone on the seat. He was about to pull his seatbelt on when his phone began to ring again. This time, Stephanie was the caller.

‘Hello!’

‘Hi Dave, I’m sorry for disturbing but I don’t think I can make it this evening anymore, it could still work today if it’s a little bit earlier.’

‘Oops!’ Dave let out a sigh before checking his wristwatch. ‘It’s 11:57am now, how soon can you meet me at Fadel Cool Creamery at Asokoro.’

‘I don’t know the place.’

‘You can take a cab from where you are at Maitama, it won’t take more than 14 minutes to get you there if they take Shehu Shagari way.’

‘Okay, I’ll dress up right away and meet you there.’

‘Okay.’

Different thoughts ran through Stephanie’s mind at the backseat of the cab where she sat with another passenger. She had gotten some secrets from her mum on her last visit and wanted Dave to help her verify the details.

‘Madam, this is Fadel Cool Creamery,” The cab man said to Stephanie, pointing out through the window to show her the place. He found a good place and pulled over for her to come out.

‘Thank you,’ she said as she paid him the fee. She got out of the car and walked back to Fadel Cool Creamery. She stopped for a minute at the front to admire the beauty of the building.

Dave spotted her from the table he was seated at immediate she stepped in and waved to get her attention. She walked to him all smiles and he rose up to welcome her.

‘Good afternoon,’ she greeted first as she received his handshake.

‘Good afternoon,’ he replied, smiling back at her. ‘Please be seated.’

They both settled into their seats and Dave beckoned on a waiter. ‘What would you like to take?’ he asked Stephanie.

‘Oh! Thanks, don’t bother, I had something before coming.’

‘I understand, but don’t you care for ice cream? We could take that while we’re discussing.’

‘No, thanks. Maybe a bottle of water would do.’

Dave turned his face to the waiter and said, ‘Two bottles of water and two plates of ice cream’. He paused and turned to Stephanie, ‘What kind of cream would you like?’

‘Don’t bother, I’m very much okay with water alone,’ Stephanie replied.

‘I know, I’m talking about something you’d take along with you when you’re leaving.’

‘Well, anything milk will do.’ she said to the waiter.

‘Get the same for me,’ Dave said to the waiter who nodded and mumbled a reply before turning to leave.

‘I called for this meeting, so I’ll be taking care of the bill.’ she said to Dave after the waiter walked out of earshot.

‘Hehe!’ Dave chuckled. ‘I won’t allow you to that of course.’

‘I will.’

‘You will not, they won’t take your cash or card from you. I already paid some money while I was waiting for you.’

‘Oh! Nice of you but you shouldn’t have bothered.’

Dave shrugged, ‘I guess it’s what a gentleman should do.’

‘Thanks, so can we go to the reason we’re here?’ Stephanie asked.

‘Yes please, I have an appointment with someone by two pm.’ Dave said and glanced at his wristwatch.

‘Okay, we can’t stay up to that time here.’ Stephanie said, also glancing at her wristwatch. ‘I need a favour from you,’ she began.

‘And what could that be?’ Dave questioned, wondering why she went quiet again.

‘My mum told me some things which I’ll like to verify but I don’t know the way to go about it.’

‘Is your mum still in Nigeria?’

‘No, of course. She left a long time ago and I’m not even talking about madam Henrietta.’

Dave raised a brow, ‘Then who are you talking about?’

‘My real mother, Madam Henrietta is just my guardian.’

‘Wow!’ Dave shone his eyes in surprise. ‘Quite a revelation! So where is your real mum?’

Stephanie’s face turned sad, she inhaled and exhaled deeply. ‘She’s not feeling fine, so she’s been in a rehabilitation home.’

‘Oh! Sorry about that, I pray she gets well soon.’

‘Amen, thank you,’ Stephanie said with a brief smile. ‘I was with her three days ago and she was talking to me about how Madam Henrietta helped her, and she mentioned something about the Vice President that I need to confirm.’

‘Well, what could that be? I do hope I have the answer.’

‘I’m not sure you have the answer, I just need you to assist me in finding the answer.’

‘Okay, just tell me. I’ll do everything I can to help you.’

‘My mum told me how my father used to work with Chief Elvis Richards while he was the deputy governor of Lagos State and how my father and siblings death were arranged by him, then they made the world think that it was an accident.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 4A
‘I don’t really understand,’ Dave said with a frown. ‘Maybe you have to first tell me more about your father and who he was.’

‘Okay…’

______

Kurudu

Henry pulled over just behind Cole’s car. He took off the seat belt and stepped out of the car without turning off the engine. He walked to the car in front and entered through the backseat. Tomi stepped out of the car after him and also joined at the backseat.

‘Cole,’ Henry called as he entered.

‘Henry, where’s the boss?’ Cole replied him without turning back but looking at his face through the rearview mirror, their eyes met there.

‘She dropped on the way, she’ll join us later.’

‘What’s her instruction?’

‘We would book three rooms, but still wait in the car for her,’ Henry replied.

‘How do we pair?’ Cole asked, now casting his gaze back. ‘And how do we handle him?’ he added, flashing a look at Dr Ekwueme who was at the front with him.

‘Do you still think I would cause any trouble for you? I would have done that when we were alone and there were better chances of getting away,’ Dr Ekwueme cut in, in a very weak voice.

The three others in the car turned their gazes on him. Cole smiled faintly and looked away for a second. ‘I would have killed you straightway and explained later to the boss,’ Cole said in his mind.

‘The problem is not really you trying to make trouble, the real problem is trouble coming because of you. Just imagine a case of someone seeing and recognizing you with us in the hotel, that’ll be dangerous. The person would report to the police silently and they’ll come for us without we expecting them.’

There was silence for about thirty seconds. The doctor closed his eyes and leaned his head on the headrest.

‘Tomi would go in now to book the rooms while you remain here with him,’ Henry said to Cole.

‘What about you?’

‘I’m going to dump the car somewhere far from here, I’ll get us food on my way back.’ Henry replied and then opened the door.

‘Okay.’

______

‘What’s going on here? Please slow down a bit,’ Tarasha said to the cab man driving her as they drove past the base Rex and the officers had just attacked.

The gate of the place was wide open and some police officers could still be seen inside the compound, while two of their vehicles were parked outside. Tarasha had left Cole and Tomi and turned back to the place after visiting a boutique and changing her clothes there. She was also putting on a wig to cover her low cut.

‘No Madam, I can’t slow down here. Can’t you see the police tapes?’ the cab driver replied after casting a look of surprise at her.

‘What happened here?’

‘Hmm…’ the cab man folded his lips in and shook his head slowly like someone who was getting ready to gossip. ‘If you came here about ninety minutes ago, then you would have asked me to speed up instead of asking me to wait. About twenty armed robbers attacked the place and were shooting for almost an hour, it was terrible…’

The man continued to blab on while Tarasha paid attention to observing the environment.

‘I’m stopping here,’ she finally said to the cab man after three minutes. The man continued talking as she paid him and stepped out of the car. It wasn’t until she walked away from the car that he stopped talking and drove off.

Tarasha opened her handbag and took out her sunshades. She looked around before putting it on. She was now some distance away from the base of attack and she was sure the police officers were going to take that route back to their station. She wanted to wait until they left and go back close to the base and take pictures as a journalist. She walked away from the side and the road and stepped into the verandah of a locked shop with a bench in front of it.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 19 Part 4
______

2:40pm

Dave dialed Lizzy’s number and it rang for the fourth time without being answered. He sighed and glanced at Stephanie’s face, ‘She’s still not answering.’

‘I think you should just wait a little more for her,’ Stephanie said.

‘We’d leave in the next three minutes if she doesn’t show up,’ Dave replied after confirming the time to be twenty seven minutes past two.

‘Are you sure that wouldn’t get her upset?’

‘No, it won’t. I’m sending her a text message already,’ Dave replied, typing in a message on his phone.

‘I still think you should wait, she could be on her way.’

‘Today is Sunday and the library would be closing by four pm, it’s open twenty four hours everyday except from Saturdays and Sundays. Today affords us a very good opportunity to use it with less protocols,’ Dave said.

‘Well, if you insist.’ Stephanie shrugged.

‘Let’s move,’ Dave glanced at his wristwatch again before getting up from the seat. Stephanie picked her bag and followed him.

*

Lizzy walked back towards her car, pondering on all he had said to her. He wasn’t telling a lie when he talked about her crushing on Dave, she knew it was true but would not admit to him. It had caused an argument between them with no side winning the debate but the part that made the argument a heated one was what he said about Dave, she would never agree with him, even though she didn’t know so much about Dave except what she knew as a colleague. She knew he was closer to Dave and should know more about him than she knew.

She opened the door to the driver’s side of her car and entered to take her phone which she had forgotten inside before entering the main facility of the creamery. Her phone’s screen was on as she picked it, a text message had just entered.

‘I just got a text from the chairman and I’m on my way to meet with him,’ the message from Dave read. She heaved a sigh after seeing the message and was already complaining inside of her when she scrolled down her notification bar and saw his missed calls. She agreed it was partly her fault; he had been calling before two pm and it was likely he had wanted to call off the lunch earlier.

She took in a deep breath and glanced back unconsciously towards the entrance of the creamery. She fixed her gaze there when she recognized someone walking out of the place. It was Dave and he was with another girl. She quickly checked through her phone again to confirm if it was him who sent the message. She turned back to look, Dave was walking towards the garage at the other side with the lady. Lizzy opened her door and tried to sit inside, so as to reduce the chances of Dave seeing her if he mistakenly turned back but stood up again as sitting inside would not allow her watch him anymore because of the other cars parked around blocking her view.

She watched as Dave opened the passenger’s side door for the lady and turned to the driver’s side. Soon, the car was moving. Lizzy entered into hers and turned it on, she waited for them to drive out through the gate before following after them.

____

Rex stepped out of the bathroom with his towel wrapped around his waist, he took it off on getting close to the wardrobe and began to clean his body with it. He turned back on hearing his phone ring. He walked to the bed and picked the phone, the Vice President was the caller.

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‘Good afternoon Elvis Richards,’ he answered the call.

‘Hey Rex! Congrats man, I’ve just been told that the Inspector General was rescued from Samantha Osman.’ Chief Elvis’ voice came enthusiastically from the other end.

‘Yea, he was, and he’s still alive. I’m hoping nothing happens to him,’ Rex replied.

‘What do you mean Rex?’ the excitement in the VP’s voice reduced. ‘If you think she could still try to attack him, then you should tell us.’

‘Attack him for now?’ I don’t think so,’ Rex said as he turned back and proceeded to the wardrobe. ‘She would not attack him now that there are over fifty security officers guarding and monitoring the hospital he is.’

‘So, why did you suggest that something bad will happen to him?’

‘I’m only hoping that she hasn’t done any damage to him yet, she could have done all she needed to do before escaping.’

‘I spoke with the IG some minutes ago and he told me he’s fine and only needs to gain his strength back.’

‘Okay, I would need to speak to him too and find out what his encounter was like.’

‘Okay, did you go after Samantha Osman?’

‘No, that would be a bad move. She had the chance of killing the man Rikau before escaping but she left him alive, following after her would be like walking into a trap.’

‘Okay then, I guess we’d talk about that later.’

‘Yes, we would.’

‘Thank you.’

Rex replied his appreciation with the sound made by clearing his throat. ‘Well, I need you to facilitate stainless’ release.’

‘Stainless, what happened to him?’

‘He passed out and was taken to the hospital by the police, I’m sure he’d be taken to their station from the hospital.’

‘Okay, Agent Tim is in charge of the case and it’ll be easy to get him released.’

‘Good.’

Rex ended the call and flung the phone to the bed. He hung his towel in the wardrobe and picked out a new set of clothes to put on.

He remembered being confused the day before. He had gotten a text from the Inspector General to kill John Bisong and had almost fallen for it. He was suspicious of the text initially but decided to go ahead to carry out the instruction when he got another text to kidnap the man instead of killing. Stainless had called him that afternoon to tell him of having being able to trace one of Samantha Osman’s men. He had almost finalized his plans when the news about the Inspector General’s kidnap hit the airwaves. He informed the Vice President of his need to return early the next morning and the Vice President made it possible for him to get an early flight on a Sunday morning.

____

The journey was a straight one and it wasn’t difficult for Lizzy to follow them without being noticed. She followed until Dave’s car stopped at the front of a gate. She waited for a minute after they drove in before following after. She stopped at the gate of the place and took note of the name and function, it was a library and relaxation centre.

She let out a breath before driving off. Dave had cancelled the lunch with her to spend time with another lady. Maybe what was said about Dave was right after all. Maybe she was never going to get his attention like she wanted except for the flirtatious remarks he made at her occasionally.

She decided to watch him more carefully from that moment aand see if he was really fighting for the truth or just after his own belly and only deceiving her.

4:23pm

Someone tapped the glass at the left backseat to get the attention of those in the car. Cole and Tomi looked at him, it was Henry, dressed in a totally different way. Tomi opened the door for him and he passed the bag in his hands to her first before entering.

‘Hey guys!’ He said as he got into the car.

‘Hey Henry, I can smell fried rice, is that what you got for us?’ Cole replied. Tomi was already taking out the plates from the nylon bag Henry gave her.

‘Yes, fried rice. You don’t like it?’

‘Does liking it matter now? I’m very hungry, just pass me mine to me,’ he said, casting his gaze at Tomi.

Tomi passed the food with a bottle of water to him and Cole began to open it in a rush. He suddenly stopped and glanced at Dr Ekwueme who was asleep before but now yawning. He completed the opening of the food and passed it to the doctor, he also cut the seal of the bottle and passed it to the man.

‘The other plate,’ he said, looking back at Tomi again.

She stared at him for a while before realizing that he had given the first one to the doctor, then she gave him another.

‘Has the boss called you?’ Henry asked Cole.

‘Not yet, did she call you?’ Cole replied, opening his new pack of food.

‘No, she didn’t.’

‘I think we do have to call her, staying here any longer is not a nice idea. It’s inconvenient and could also attract unnecessary attention to us,’ Cole said. He reached for the air conditioner to regulate it. That feature of the car was what had been keeping them comfortable there even with the scorching sun outside.

‘I’m calling her already,’ Henry replied

______

POLICE HEADQUARTERS

‘Who’s that?’ Agent Tim said in an irritated tone. Someone was knocking roughly at his door. ‘Come in,’ he added without waiting to hear the person’s response.

James entered into the office and closed the door. He proceeded towards the man’s table with a frown on his face.

‘James, you?’ Agent Tim stared at him in surprise. He had thought it was his lousy wife who he was expecting or another Agent of the same rank as him. ‘Why did you knock like that?’ he added, raising his brows, really wondering what gave James the audacity.

‘I’m sorry sir but I was at the hospital some minutes ago and I found out that some of the suspects we took there for treatment from the crime scene have been released,’ James voices out in anger.

‘And so what?’ Agent Tim replied in a nonchalant manner.

James stared at him in surprise and was unable to speak for some seconds. ‘Sir…’ he stammered as his eyebrows gathered together. ‘I was told that you commanded their release.’

‘Yes?’ Agent Tim shone his eyes at him. He dropped the pen in his hand and rested his back, still staring at James’ face. ‘So you came to beat me up?’

James was silent, he looked confused and wondered how the man could take such decision boldly without fear of being queried.

‘But sir… How could you have let them go? We’ve not even conducted any interrogation yet.’

‘Who are you to question my authority?’ Agent Tim replied. ‘Who do you think you are?’

‘Sir…’

‘Shut up and get out of my office!’ Agent Tim barked.

‘Sir…’

‘Get out of my office,’ Agent Tim repeated. ‘I’m going make sure I deal with you next time this repeats itself.’

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_______

AGUDA HOUSE, ASO ROCK

Elvis Richards had barely settled in his living room when he heard his phone ringing. He sank into a sofa tiredly as he waited for his assistant holding the phone to bring it to him.

‘Who’s calling?’ he asked as the assistant got closer to him.

‘Agent Tim,’ the man replied.

‘Okay.’

The Vice President collected the phone and answered the call. ‘Good afternoon Agent.’

‘Good afternoon your excellency,’ the Agent replied from the other end. ‘Sir, I think it’s time to take your son James off this case totally. He seems to be getting bolder everyday, he confronted me today asking me why I ordered for the release of the men you asked me to.’

The Vice President sighed, he placed a palm on his forehead and rested his back. ‘And did you tell him I asked for their release?’

‘No, of course, I didn’t.’

‘Just do anything you’d like to do to him, let him pay for any wrong stuff he does.’

‘Okay sir, I just wanted to inform you.’

‘Thank you Tim.’

The call ended and the Vice President returned the phone to his assistant. He then bent forward and held his head with his two hands like someone in pains.

‘Is everything okay sir?’

‘Arrggh… I’m okay, just feeling a bit feverish.’

‘Do we call the doctor?’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll walk to the clinic myself.’ the Vice President replied and managed to get on his feet.

______

‘I told you we would get the newspaper here, this place is ancient, ‘ Dave said to Stephanie in a relaxed tone.

‘We’ve not gotten the exact year yet,’ Stephanie replied, her tone showing she had not seen any reason to celebrate yet.

‘Didn’t you say that the article was a viral one?’

‘Yes, that particular article went viral both online and in the real world.’ Stephanie replied.

‘Well, searching online would have been a better way to find it but…’

‘The blogs and news sites were ordered by the President then to take down the article and according to my mum, they all did, so it means we can’t find it online.’

‘Where was your Dad working then?’

‘I don’t know, my mum didn’t tell me.’

They remained in silence for a while, each pulling out stacks of newspapers from the shelves and checking the date of each one.

‘I think I’ve got it here,’ Dave said after pulling out a particular newspaper and reading the headlines. Steph stopped and turned to him. ‘What’s your father’s full name again?’

______

1 Hour later.

ASO ROCK CLINIC.

‘Sir, here are some drugs for you to use and you also need to rest very well, you’ve been putting a lot of stress on yourself lately.’ the doctor said as he handed a small nylon of tablets to the Vice President’s assistant.

‘What exactly is the issue with me?’

‘Sir, you have symptoms of malaria.’

‘Malaria?’ the Vice President shone his eyes in surprise. He and his assistant exchanged quick glances.

‘Yes sir,’ the doctor replied.

‘But how is that possible? How can I get malaria without mosquito bite? There are no mosquitoes in the Villa.’

‘You can never tell sir, it might have been somewhere else you didn’t spend so much time at.’

‘No, I only got bitten by mosquitoes yesterday when I spent much time at the farmyard but it isn’t even up to seven days yet, twenty four hours is not enough incubation period.’

‘It can’t be yesterday’s bite sir,’ the doctor said.’

‘Then where could it have been from? I…’

‘Sir…’ the assistant joined, raising a finger slightly. ‘Ermm… Not up to two weeks ago, we travelled and visited people at the displaced peoples’ camp, we spent so much time with them on each of the three days we visited.’

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‘So are you saying I got it from there?’ the Vice President shone his eyes at him.

‘Ermm… No sir but, ermm… Three other fellows who were there with us have also been treating malaria in these past few days.’

The Vice President took in a deep breath and remained silent for a while. ‘Okay, thank you doc, I’ll take the drugs, let me return to my quarters now.’

______

5pm

KURUDU

‘Henry, it’s five pm already, ‘Cole said to Henry who was busy with the phone. ‘Remember she asked us to call her by five.’

They were now at a different location, they had to move so as not to attract people’s attention.

‘She asked me to call when I’m done with clearing the NSCC records, and I’m not done yet.’ Henry replied him.

‘Why is taking you so long to do that?’

‘We’ve not just been to one location today, we’ve been to several places and I have to clear each record of everyone.’

‘Well, I’ll call her to find out what she has for us while you continue with that.’

‘You can go ahead,’ Henry shrugged.

Cole pulled out his phone and dialed Tarasha’s phone number. She answered after the first ring.

‘Hey Boss, it’s five pm.’

‘Has the NSCC records been cleared?’ Tarasha replied from the other end.

‘Ermm… Not yet, just a little bit left I believe.’

‘After the NSCC records have been cleared, you can start driving to Gwagalada, I’ll send you the exact address.’

‘Okay boss.’

Cole ended the call and placed the phone on his knee.

‘What did she say?’ Henry asked.

‘We would drive to Gwagalada after clearing the NSCC records,’ Cole replied.

‘What about the rooms we booked at the hotel?’

‘We have to forget about that, I believe she has somewhere safer for us.’

‘Okay.’

Just at that moment, the phone in Cole’s pocket began to ring. He took the one on his knees and kept it inside the other pocket before bringing the ringing one out. He already knew who the caller was, Patricia. He sighed as he stared at the caller ID. He didn’t feel like answering, he didn’t want to raise the tension at that moment especially for Tomi. He however answered the call on a second thought and began to speak in low tones.

‘Hello.’

‘Hi Victor, how are you doing?’ Patricia voice sounded through the phone speakers. Cole reduced the volume to the lowest he could, to ensure that Tomi or no one else heard what she was saying to him.

‘I’m fine, what about you?’

‘I’m fine too Vic. It’s strange that we’ve not spoken to each other since morning, I guess you’re so busy today.’

‘Exactly, I’ve been so busy. I’m sorry about that,’ he replied.

‘It’s okay my love, I just wanted to hear from you, we’d talk more later tonight.’

‘Okay thanks.’

______

6pm

NIS UNDERGROUND FACILITY

‘You’re welcome,’ Lizzy replied before ending the call.

She dropped the phone and picked her tab. The tracking app was on and it had already located Victor’s device, it was showing the exact address in Kurudu. She wondered what Victor was doing at Kurudu. Maybe he had just gone there to buy something or get something done, she concluded in her mind. That she would confirm when they speak next on phone.

The place was deserted already, the few people who had come to work that Sunday had left already. Dave could hear his own footsteps sounding loudly as he hurried back to his office, he was surprised to meet Dan on the way. Dan was with his bag and was obviously on his way home.

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‘Agent Dave, where have you been?’ Dan asked as they got closer to each other.

‘I’m sorry I left that way, I was frustrated, I just had to cool off my mind.’ Dave apologized instead of answering the question straightforward.

‘It’s okay, we’d see tomorrow morning.’ Dan said before walking away and Dave continued on his way to the office.

He met another surprise as he turned into a new passage, Lizzy was just leaving the office too.

‘Lizzy, what are you still doing here?’ Dave stared at her in surprise.

She folded her hands and stared at his face without replying. She had an angry look on and Dave recognized that she wasn’t happy with him.

‘Come on Liz, I’m sorry for today. I guess you came later to Fadel Cool Creamery,’ Dave said apologetically. Lizzy continued to stare at him without saying a word. ‘Didn’t you get my text message?’ Dave added.

Lizzy opened her hand bag to take out her phone. ‘I didn’t, please show me.’ She stretched it to him to take and show her the text message which she had already deleted.

‘Come on Liz, you don’t expect me to lie, do you? I sent a text message to inform you that I was leaving the place, I waited until two thirty pm.’ Dave replied, he didn’t take the phone from her.

‘I’ve heard you, thanks. I’ll take my leave now,’ she said and stepped aside to continue her walk.

‘Come on Liz, I’m sorry.’ Dave pleaded. ‘It was urgent I leave.’

‘It’s okay, I heard you already. I was also late, so it’s partly my fault.’

‘No, it’s my fault, I should have waited for you.’

Lizzy sighed tiredly. ‘Oh Dave! I’m not in the mood for this this evening, just allow me leave please.’

‘It’s okay,’ Dave sighed. ‘We’d see tomorrow,’ he added as he made way for her to pass. ‘Goodnight,’ he said as he watched her leave, she didn’t give him a reply.

He took in a deep breath after she walked out of sight. He couldn’t afford to lose Lizzy on his side, he knew his work would be difficult without her. He had to think of something to make her forgive him.

______

8:42pm

GWAGALADA.

Samantha Osman’s team was settled in a new apartment. Not an ideal one for their job, but it was something good enough to keep them safe for a short while.

There was no preparation of meal that night, Henry had gone to get dinner for all of them just like he got lunch. They finished eating and gathered in the new living room to listen to the news as their custom was.

Like they expected, news of the attack on their base and rescue of the Inspector General made the headlines with the media giving praise to the police for being able to rescue the Inspector General. After the news, Tarasha began the important discussion that they all were waiting for.

‘Everybody’s devices would be left in this living room this night, no receiving or making of calls until we know our next step.’ she began. ‘One thing I’m very sure of is that everything ends in a few weeks but before we proceed we need to find out who sold us out.’ she stopped and fixed her gaze on Tomi’s face.

Tomi began to vibrate on her seat. The boss’ gaze was piercing through her body and sending dangerous currents all around.

Tara did not need to hear Tomi speak before she knew of her guilt. Tomi was vibrating all over in fear of the judgement the boss would make. All eyes were on Tomi. Cole was surprised by her reaction but Henry was not, he had suspected foul when he saw her communication with Stainless earlier.

Tomi fell on her knees in tears, with the way everybody’s gaze was piercing her body, she knew she had been caught already.

‘How much were you paid?’ Tarasha asked in a calm tone.

The place was dead silent. Everyone listened for Tomi’s response but she had none to give yet, her eyes were closed and her head bowed.

‘How much were you paid?’ Tarasha asked again after some minutes of waiting for a reply.

Her voice sounded harsher this time and Tomi knew that Tarasha was already losing her patience. She wiped off formed around her eyes and raised her head. ‘I wasn’t paid, it happened unknowingly.’

‘You brought them to the base unknowingly?’ Tarasha raised her brow.

‘I never knew Stainless worked with the other side, I met him yesterday when I went out for drugs and told him I was now working with Cole, I believe he traced me to the base from there.’

Tarasha turned her gaze to Cole’s face and their eyes locked for a moment. She placed the gaze back on Tomi who turned her face down again. She didn’t know whether to believe Tomi’s story or not. Tarasha could see sincerity from Tomi’s body language but she didn’t want to judge from that. Judging assassin with that criteria alone could be dangerous because she has one knew how to put on a different body language for a different situation.

‘Cole,’ Tarasha called as she rose up from her seat.

‘Boss,’ Cole answered and got up to his feet also.

‘Take her away, search her and search through her devices, identify every lie she has not mentioned yet.’ Tarasha said before she began to walk out of the place. ‘Everyone’s devices should be left in the living room.’

15 minutes later

Cole placed an eye on Tomi as he worked on her phone. Both of them were in another room, one which was almost empty save for the plastic chair Cole was sitting on and the table he was using. Tomi stood by the window, holding the burglary proof and staring at Cole who she considered as the cause of everything.

‘Who is this person?’ Cole asked, turning her phone’s screen to her. He was on her call register and was checking through the recent calls she made. He noticed that the several calls from the contact named ‘B***h’ was at the same time Tomi went to get drugs the day before.

‘I can’t see what you’re showing me,’ Tomi replied, not willing to leave the window side to answer his question.

Cole got up from his seat and took the phone to her. She looked at it briefly and looked away. ‘Who is this person Tomi? You called the number before going out that afternoon.’

‘Why don’t you check the digits, don’t you recognize the phone number of the b***h you go around town with?’

Cole stared at her speechlessly for a moment, wondering what she was talking about and how she still had boldness to talk after betraying the gang.

‘That’s Patricia, the slut you go around with.’ She slammed at him and walked away from his front, she stopped at the table he was previously seated at and sat on the chair.

Cole stared at her with his mouth left ajar in shock. ‘Patricia?’ he said as he clicked on the contact to the view the digits ‘**** you Tomi, how did you get this number?’ he charged towards her in anger.

She hissed and looked away without giving him a response.

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‘I’m talking to you,’ he grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her face to himself violently.

‘Are you crazy?’ she slammed at him and hit him on the waist with her fist. ‘Shouldn’t you be asking why your b***h is calling me? You should be asking why she calls me when you people are having sëx and you’re Mõ@ning like an id**t!’

‘Are you crazy? What are you talking about?’ Cole squinted at her, confused.

‘No, I’m not.’ She said and snatched the phone from his hand. ‘You really Mõ@n like an idiot while having sëx, she’s turned you to a monkey.’

‘Give me the phone,’ Cole said in an angry tone but she refused and stepped back as she tried to scroll through. He stepped closer to her and tried to take the phone back from her. She struggled for the phone with him and he felt tempted to hit her on the face but he resisted the urge, he was able to take it from her after pushing her to the wall. ‘What are you trying to do?’ he shouted at her. ‘You think you can save yourself from the boss’ punishment by bringing me in?’

‘You’re crazy,’ she cursed again. ‘You’re a fool, the boss needs to know how you Mõ@n under the influence of that girl.’

Cole narrowed his gaze at her and shook his head, he was struggling not to hit her.

‘I have your voices recorded on my phone and the copy on other devices, that girl would lead you to hell soon.’

Cole was more confused now, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I have your voice on that phone, go to the voice recorder file and play the last recording.’

Cole stared at her for some seconds before opening the file manager on her phone, he got to the voice recorder file and played as she instructed him. He was shocked beyond words when he heard his voice and Patricia’s. He was shouting loud in the recording and telling her how much he loved her while she was asking him to say it louder.

He quickly stopped the recording as he heard a knock on the room door that moment and the door opened after, Henry poked his head in and stared at both of them. They knew he must have heard them shouting at each other. He stared at their faces for a while before closing back the door.

‘We are making so much noise,’ Cole said to her in low tones after Henry left.

‘Are you just realizing that?’ Tomi questioned him, she knew he had been humbled by the recording he listened to.

Cole unlocked the phone and deleted the voice note. ‘How did you get this voice note?’

‘Your b***h called me while you guys were at it and I recorded the call.’

‘Well… It’s…’ Cole stammered as he tried to speak. His heart was greatly aggrieved and he wondered if she was saying the truth about Patricia. ‘So, you sold us out because of my relationship with Patricia? How dumb you are.’

‘I didn’t sell us out, you never told me that Stainless was working with an enemy gang now and I didn’t plan to meet him when I went out that yesterday.’

Cole stared at her thinly for a while, wondering whether to believe her or not.

‘I really do hope that you are not trying to deceive yourself, be rest assured you won’t get away if we find out that you’re on the other side.’ Cole said to her and walked out of the room.

He proceeded into another room where Tarasha was seated and working on table with three laptops on top.

‘Boss, I couldn’t find anything in her devices, I believe she has told us the truth,’ he said to her as he got beside the table.

She continued with her work as if she didn’t hear him talk, not even granting him a glance. He stood there patiently, knowing there was no need to repeat himself.

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She finally replied him after five minutes, ‘So, you think we’re free to go back to Base B?’

‘Yes, since she was traced to Base C, they couldn’t have found out about B.’

‘So when should we return there?’

‘I don’t know, it depends on you.’ Cole replied.

‘I’m already setting up security for this place, we’d stay here for sometime.’

‘How long will it take for the security to be up?’ Cole asked.

‘Twenty four hours and it means all your devices would be with me till it’s up.’

‘I understand,’ Cole said and dropped Tomi’s phone on the table where he saw the other phones and tablets devices kept.

‘You’ll be on the streets with Henry very early tomorrow morning, I’m publishing a news article by four am and I need you to get the reactions of the people on the streets. I briefed Henry about it already and he knows what to do. You two should be up early to wear a perfect disguise.’

‘Okay boss.’

‘Yea, I think that’s all I’ve got for tomorrow, for now.’ Tarasha said in a dismissing tone. She turned back to the laptops in front of her and continued her work.

‘Goodnight boss,’ Cole said and took a slight bow before walking out of the place.

He paused for a minute outside the door and leaned against the wall. His thoughts drifted to Patricia and Tomi’s accusation against her. He didn’t remember seeing Patricia making a call on that day they had sëx. He remembered it clearly, it was on the day she had called him to come celebrate her new job with her.

He would have called Patricia immediately to clarify things but his phones were with the boss. He closed his eyes briefly and heaved a sigh before walking away to his room.

He stopped on getting to the front of the room assigned to him, he had suddenly remembered that he was to share the room with Tomi. He heaved a sigh of frustration and shook his head, arguing within himself why he couldn’t stay in the same room with Tomi that night. He decided in his mind to pick a cover cloth from the bed and return to the living room.

He pushed the door open and entered.

‘Stop avoiding me, you caused it all. I h@të you!’ Tomi welcomed him with harsh words.

One of the phones on the table began to ring some minutes after Cole left. Tarasha reached for it and checked the screen, the caller’s ID displayed was Patricia. She ignored the call and dropped the phone.

She continued with her work for five more minutes before completing all she needed to do about the security. She took her phone and checked her to-do list for the next thing. She heaved a sigh before exiting the list.

She opened the Bitcoin wallet app on her phone to check her balance. After that she switched to the contacts list and dialed Chief Gab’s foreign number. It took a while before it was answered.

‘Hey Chief, Good evening.’

‘Tarasha, Good evening.’ the Chief replied in a sleepy voice. ‘It’s late, hope there’s no problem tonight.’

‘Did you hear the news about Samantha Osman today?’

‘Yes, I did. I heard you kidnapped the Inspector General and he was rescued from you.’

‘Yeah, but that’s not the problem. The problem is the location they met us at.’

‘I don’t get you.’

‘They met us at the new facility you provided for us, didn’t you see it on the news?’

‘Which new facility?’ Chief Gab asked. There was silence for a while. ‘Chief Nonso’s facility which I prepared for you to stay?’

‘I don’t know who owns the facility, I’m calling to find out what we can do to protect the owner from being probed by the police.’

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‘It’s for Chief Nonso, I hope he’s not in trouble already.’

‘That’s why we need to do something on it quick, send me his contact details so I can discuss with him personally.’

________

AGENT DAVE’S RESIDENCE

Dave sat alone quietly in the room, his hands placed on the table and his eyes scanning through the page on the laptop. He scrolled down a bit with the mouse and continued reading for some seconds before he was distracted by a beep sound on his phone. He reached for the phone and unlocked.

‘Oh!’ he exclaimed happily on seeing the WhatsApp notification. Lizzy had just replied his message after reading a long time ago. He opened the notification and clicked on the chat.

‘I already told you I’m not angry with you,’ was Lizzy’s reply.

‘I wasn’t just pleased with the way you left earlier, it’s unusual of us to part that way.’ Dave typed and sent. He waited for about two minutes to see her reply after his message was marked delivered but he got none. He dropped the phone on the table and continued with his work on the laptop.

He was on the Federal Ministry of Works And Housing website and was logged in as an administrator. He minimized the browser and copied an address in text from the notepad application running at the background. He opened the browser again and pasted the address in the box provided. He clicked on enter and waited while his request was being processed.

His phone beeped again, he picked it up and unlocked. He had received two messages from Lizzy

‘I don’t have to leave the same way everyday

I’m about to end my work on Samantha’s man Victor, I think I’ve been able to pull out enough from him.’

‘I just hope you’re truly not angry with me,’ Dave typed as an answer to the first message. ‘Yes, you’ve done so well, very well indeed, Thank you so much. But you know we’re not there yet, you can’t abandon me there now.’

‘We were there today, I led you to their base, I led you to Samantha Osman. It was your opportunity to have caught her red-handed but you missed it.’

‘But you know I tried my best, it wasn’t my fault.’

‘I don’t know whose fault it is but I did my part excellently.’

‘I know Liz, I’ll be lying if I don’t agree with you. But I beg you to stay a little more with me.’

‘I’m not backing out yet, I’m taking one more trial, not for you but just to satisfy myself, I want that Victor behind bars, he disgusts me.’

‘Hmm… Thanks Liz, I’ll try my best to make use of the next available opportunity.’

‘Yes, you have to do. I’m sure Victor would be doubting me soon if he’s not stopped, I’ve done a lot of things that’ll make him suspect me.’

‘I’ll try my best Liz,’ Dave reassured.

The message was read and Lizzy went offline without replying. Dave thought for a moment, he knew she was still angry at him. He thought of the best way to make her forgive him. After some seconds, he opened the chat again and sent her a message.

‘Lizzy, please allow me make up today’s fault to you. Can we meet by 2pm for lunch tomorrow? Please…’

Dave dropped the phone and turned his eyes to his laptop’s screen. His request had just finished processing and the details of the facility owner was displayed. The name was ‘Nonso Abel’ and his current address, his occupation and other details about him were shown below his name.