Robin Kahn’s dead body was finally recovered from the house where he was ki||ed the next day. It took seeing Greg’s dead body for James to remember that they were on a mission to a particular address before the wanted lady attacked them.
James led a group back to the location on Gravl estate that day and they entered into the compound, finding Robin’s body laying lifeless on the floor behind the ambulance. They searched round the compound and even broke into the house but found nothing else implicating, except for some bullets and the blood stained doctor’s coat found in the ambulance.
The bullets and coat were sent to the forensics team immediately for scrutinization while Robin’s body was driven back to the headquarters.
Still that morning, James and Sandra visited Dr Hammed who had met in 2030 with Samantha Osman in Derl Pharmacy to ask for a confirmation if Aisha Bello was the same as Samantha Osman.
‘They are not the same person’ Dr Hammed replied their question in an angry manner. He was tired of replying questions already, he had had enough from the EFCC and his lawyer. His plan was to rest and prepare for his court hearing the next week.
‘Just take a proper look at it first’ James insisted.
‘Am I a baby who doesn’t know his left from the right? I said they are not the same’ the man replied back stubbornly.
‘Sir’ James tried to calm the situation. ‘I don’t mean to infuriate you. Well, maybe I should show you one of her recent pictures, that one is old and dated back to 2023’
James moved closer to the man with his tablet and displayed some pictures for the man to see. ‘These are her recent pictures on Instagram and Facebook’ he said as he swiped through different photos.
‘There’s no iota of resemblance between this girl and Samantha Osman’ Dr Hammed stood on his point. ‘Samantha looks more like a black American and has a kind of mixed accent, she’s certainly not the same as this’
++++++
Aisha’s eyes opened to see Benny pointing a gun at her, her body which was previously stiff immediately began to vibrate in fright.
‘Benny, what are you doing?’ she struggled to mutter under her breath. She looked over his shoulder and saw Tarasha and Cole standing at the back, close to the entrance of the lab. Cole hid his face immediately, after her eyes met his.
Benny Ç0çƙed the gun.
CHAPTER NINE
06/01/2031
**Maitaima, Abuja**
‘Nice to have you here, Mr Henry’ Sylvester shook hands with Henry as he welcomed him to their head office in Abuja.
‘Thank you sir’ Henry smiled, receiving the handshake. ‘I’m happy to be here to work with you sir’
‘Come in please’ the stout man adjusted his suit trousers belt as he ushered Henry into an office.
Mr Sylvester, the official in charge of the security cameras system of whole nation had been recently embattled with series of breaks and attacks on their operations which always resulted in assassinations.
The first time it happened was in November 2030. The security cameras all stopped transmitting at the same time and for the same duration of a minister’s assassination. Others had happened after that, the latest was just one week ago and it involved the death of United States special officer, Robin Kahn and his team.
After fruitless struggles by all the software engineers and officers to fix the loophole, Mr Sylvester was forced to invite Henry George, a young Internet technician, software and computer engineer and transmission expert to come to their aid.
Henry George, aged 26, was a renowned ethical hacker who had saved the nation on a previous attack by enemies on their security official websites. Henry saved his country four years ago when he was serving as a youth corper in Maiduguri. His breaking of the limit brought him fame and money as he was well sought for by several organizations after his service. He decided to settle in Lagos with his parents, occupying a good position in a well respected computer security firm.
‘Please have your seat, sir’ Sylvester motioned him to the visitor’s seat.
‘Thank you sir’ Henry replied as he sat comfortably into the seat.
‘I believe you’ve heard about the recent security breaches we’ve had in our systems’ Sylvester began before sitting down.
‘Yes. As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying to work on it already’ Henry leaned forward, placing his hands on the table. ‘But you know there’s a limit to what I can do without having permission from you to use your data’
‘Yes’ Sylvester smiled. ‘We’ll give you everything you need to work with. We need to fix the problem as soon as possible to avoid more blames from the police’
‘I’ll work with the best of my abilities as long as you provide every necessary data for me’ Henry licked his lips as he replied, he felt uneasy.
He wasn’t being honest. In fact, he wasn’t so sure if there was any more data to get from them as he had already hacked into their systems to derive information for his personal investigation.
When the news of the security failure first hit the news the last year, Henry had launched his personal investigation immediately, being curious to know the expert that was good and bold enough to hold the nation’s security in captive for hours.
Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t make much progress like he thought he would. Every link to trace the person behind the work was completely blocked. He even tried to locate the server from where the Health Minister’s compromise video was uploaded from but the result he got was an incorrect proxy and IP address. Since then, he had concluded that his failure to locate the source was due to lack of complete data. But the data he needed was sure not from this organization he had been invited to work for, he accepted the invitation with the hope that their influence would get him the data from other organizations. He was ready to break record.
‘Here sir’ Sylvester courteously handed a file to Henry. ‘In it is all our codes and data that you need, please we’ll like you to start work on it as soon as possible’
Henry stood to take the file from the man, smiling as he marveled at the man’s great show of respect for him. The man was a married man who was far older than him in age and authority, so Henry felt greatly honored by his attitude.
‘I’ll begin my work immediately’ Henry said as they exchange a parting handshake.
++++++
11/01/2031
Their Bus got to Kubwa, Abuja at exactly five minutes past nine in the evening and they drove into their lodge by fifteen minutes past nine. Their arrival attracted a lot of attention from people around the house. The house had been abandoned for over two years.
‘Hey! Wetin I dey find for hia?’ A Mallam walked in after them as they drove in through the old rusted gate.
Tarasha was the first to come out of the Bus and walk back to the gate to attend to the man, but she was helpless as she couldn’t understand the man’s pidgin language until Benny came around
‘Wetin I dey find for hia?’ The man asked again.
‘We came on a short business trip’ Benny answered him. ‘This property has been sold to us’
‘Who sell am for me?’
‘Where are the house and land documents?’ Benny turned to Tarasha to ask.
‘Is that all he’s saying?’ Tarasha commented as she walked back to the car to get the documents.
She returned a minute later and handed it over to Benny who displayed it to the man and spoke in low tones to the man. The man walked away silently after nodding his head in agreement several times to Benny.
‘He’s one of the security guards in the town’ Benny informed Tarasha as they walked back to the bus to join the others offload the loads in the bus.
+++++
13/01/2031
‘This bug is not a common one’ Henry said to Sylvester as he examined a small black device held up in his hands. ‘It is customized, I believe the user manufactured it by him or herself’
‘So can nothing be done with this?’ Sylvester asked in a pessimistic manner.
‘Of course, something can be done with it’ Henry answered with a mischievous smile.
‘What do you mean?’ Sylvester asked, confused by the look on Henry’s face.
‘Is it not this device the police headquarters sent from Lagos this morning?’ Henry dropped the device on the table and sat in front of a computer set.
‘Yes’
‘It might take us a little time before we come up with anything useful to us about this bug. I don’t want us to rush’ Henry said, typing in the label on the bug into the Google search engine.
‘Ha! I don’t want us to spend too much time on this issue, we’ve gone about six days already without making a headway’
Henry paused and turned to Sylvester, he stared into his face for a moment before speaking out. ‘Mr Sylvester’ he called. ‘Do you know the history surrounding this bug?’ He raised a brow as he asked.
‘Ermm… I know. You know, it’s just that the government is putting a lot of pressure on us’ Sylvester stammered as he tried to convince Henry.
‘Well, if they really want a quick job’ Henry turned back to the desktop as he spoke, ‘let them come and do the job themselves. I won’t get myself ki||ed stupidly’
‘I’m not saying we should work stupidly, I just think we should work a little more faster’
‘I won’t work faster than this, I assure you’ Henry said boldly without turning to the man, he was beginning to get pissed with the man but tried to remain calm. ‘I won’t work like Robin Kahn who was impatient and ran into the waiting hands of the assassins, I’m wiser’
Sylvester did not reply anymore as he began to reason with Henry, he remained quiet and allowed Henry to continue his searching.
Henry silently read each of the search results before clicking on the best option. He read for few minutes and jotted some codes into his notepad before getting up.
‘I have to get to a computer accessories shop now’ He said as he picked up his bag and hung it on his shoulder.
‘Ehen, Okay’ Sylvester got up too and set out to leave the computer room.
** Twenty minutes later **
‘Seginet Computers’ Henry read aloud to himself as he parked his car in the parking lot of the company. He took a deep breath before proceeding to the main building.
The company’s main building had four doors, two for entry and the other two for exit. Henry smiled as his Android device beeped. He took it out from his bag, a red light pointed out from the screen, slanting in an upward direction. He took care not to look in the direction of the light as he understood the message. His properly designed app was just locating the positions of the neatly hidden surveillance camera at the door.
The door opened, allowing him to enter after been scanned by the security system. He switched off the device to avoid attracting attention to himself as it would in no time begin to make numerous beeps on locating the cameras inside the building.
Computer accessories and softwares of different kinds and uses were neatly arranged in shelves at the different sections. Henry quickly located the camera section and proceeded towards the stand.
‘Henry’ he heard someone call. He turned back to see the caller but found out that he wasn’t the Henry being called. He hissed and turned again carelessly to collide into someone.
‘Oh! Sorry’ he apologized as he bent to pick the fallen contents of the fallen nylon bag. The lady watched him in disgust as he picked up the gadgets and returned them into the nylon bag.
‘I’m so sorry’ he apologized again as he handed over the bag back to the lady. She gave him a searching look before collecting it from him.
There was something familiar about the lady, Henry thought as they both stood for thirty seconds without moving. It wasn’t her face that looked familiar, rather it was an atmosphere around her, the scent of her perfume. He had felt that atmosphere sometime before but he couldn’t tell where and when it was.
He was also held spellbound by her beauty, her charm was irresistible. Her face was neat with no acne or pimple, her eyes were attractive and too radiant to look at for long without falling in worship. He had only one description for her, a perfect African goddess.
He felt his body shiver as he ran his eyes through her clean segzy legs. Her figure eight was clearly displayed in the tight mini gown which revealed her thigh down to her foot. His heartbeat suddenly increased without him knowing.
‘Be careful next time’ she said and walked away from his presence, leaving him to stand overwhelmed in the midst of other moving people.
He stood transfixed for some more seconds, but his brain was working perfectly well and quick also. He had heard that voice somewhere before but couldn’t remember where it was.
He turned back to see her just going out through the exit and quickly followed after her, abandoning his primary assignment.
She was already entering into her car when he got out, he quickly ran towards her but she started the car engine and began to drive towards the gate before he got to her. He tried to call out to her but there was no response.
Without thinking twice, he jumped into his car and drove out of the gate, pursuing after her. After minutes of trying to get her attention through the side mirror, she finally stopped near an army checkpoint and came out of the car. The soldiers approached her immediately as it was wrong to park at that place.
He drove closer to them and was still arguing with himself whether to park also or just drive forward when he realized what was going on, but it was late already.
The lady had just finished explaining something to the soldiers and two were signaling for him to park with whips in their hands.
++++++
Good News!!! In case you missed any episode, you can now get it HERE
**LASPOTECH, Lagos **
‘Aisha Temitope Bello was a student of this school truly’ the secretary began her well prepared explanation to the officers. ‘She was admitted in 2023 and she finished her national diploma program in 2025, since then she has not returned to collect her ND result nor take the Higher national diploma form’
‘Is that all you have for us?’ James stared at her awkwardly as he asked.
‘That’s all I think you may need’ the secretary replied.
James tried his best not to let out a hiss, but he was obviously pissed off by the lady as she could only dig out such little information after delaying their investigation for more than a week. ‘Tell or show us all you’ve got, let us be the ones to pick what we need’
‘Okay, no problem’ the secretary said and looked into a paper. She cleared her throat before she began to mention out points.
‘She was a student of the business administration department, her matriculation number was ND/23/FT/BA/35. She finished the ND program with a distinction grade. She was also involved in school politics and sports. She contested for the post of the “Sports Director 2” and won, she ruled for one year with the other sport director and they won several trophies for the school during their tenure. Aisha herself participated in the Ladies football team and captained the team, they came out second place in the Nigeria Polytechnics Cup 2024. She…’
‘It’s okay’ James stopped her after communicating something with his eyes to Sandra who was seated opposite him. ‘Did any of her friends come back for HND?’
‘I don’t know any of her friends’ the secretary replied bluntly.
‘Can’t you help us find out?’ James inquired.
‘I can but you have to come back some other time’
‘What?? Come back again?’ James couldn’t believe his ears, maybe it would take the lady a month now to help them find who Aisha’s likely friends were and if they returned for the HND program .
‘Yes, there’s nothing I can do now’ the secretary replied lazily.
‘Well, I think I know what’s happening here’ James spoke angrily. ‘You know this Aisha and you’re only trying to cover up for her’
‘No o’ the naive secretary seemed terrified by James’ prank.
‘Then why are you hiding her and taking so long to give us information about her?’ James asked, wondering how she quickly fell for his thr_@t. He had expected her to respond boldly back to him, he decided to take advantage of the situation.
‘Okay, I will find out and tell you when you come back by tomorrow’
‘No, now!’ James barked. ‘Do something now’
‘Excuse me’ an elderly man who was the Head of the business administration department came out of his office. ‘You can’t be shouting at here like that, what’s the matter?’
‘Tell your secretary to stop aiding criminals and give us the information we need’ James answered him.
‘Yes, what’s the matter?’ The Head of department turned to his secretary.
‘Sir, they’ve come to gather information about Aishat Bello, the assassination suspect who was a student of this school seven years ago’
‘So?’
‘They want me to find out about her friends’ she added.
‘And she told us to come back again’ James quickly put in. ‘We need to conclude our investigation this week for God sake. We are giving the suspect enough time to escape by delaying the matter’
The man turned back to his secretary, he let out a deep breath and shook his head sideways before talking. ‘How are you planning to know who her friends were?’
‘I don’t know yet’
‘You were not monitoring her, were you? What you can do is to fish out all available information about those with close matriculation numbers to hers, they should know more about her’
+++++++++++
**Kubwa, Abuja**
‘Welcome Boss’ Cole greeted as Tarasha walked in.
‘Weldone’ she responded without taking a look at him. She dragged the centre table with her and sank into a sofa adjacent to Cole’s. She emptied the contents of the bag on the table.
‘Any useful information now?’ She asked Cole before getting up.
‘No, no other information’ he replied as he picked up the laptop from the sofa and placed it on his lap. ‘But I’ve gathered enough information about his son’
‘I’ll be right back’ Tarasha excused herself and walked away from the common room. She returned three minutes later in a blue sleeveless top and pair of comfortable Jean trousers with a black leather bag in her hands. She returned where she was previously seated and removed some of the tools from the bag.
‘So what option do we have?’ She asked as she hit a small hammer on a computer gadget.
‘Huh?’ Cole couldn’t hear as a result of the noise from Tarasha’s work.
‘What’s our option?’ Tarasha repeated. She began to pick out some chips from the destroyed gadget.
‘His first son is the only way we can get close to him’ Cole answered. ‘The man has been kind of surreptitious of recent’
Tarasha was quiet for a moment, the man’s recent secrecy was a known fact to her. Jubril Lawal, as if anticipating something evil had not been seen in public places recently. His visits to government officials and public figures had always been in secrets.
‘Dare Lawal is a terrible womanizer and he frequents nightclubs in the city’ Cole began, looking straight into Tarasha eyes. ‘He visits Oriental Club every third Friday of the month’
‘Friday is too far, we can’t wait till then’
‘Maybe we should trace him from work then’ Cole said, he got up from the seat and adjusted his belt properly. ‘He is the CEO of his Dad’s retailing firm here in Abuja but he doesn’t really do anything. He closes by 4pm everyday and most of the times chill out with friends before heading home’
‘Going somewhere’ Tarasha responded to his movement. ‘Does he live with his father?’
‘No, he does not but he visits his father’s house almost every week’ Cole moved away the table blocking his way. ‘Please excuse me, I need to ease myself’
‘It’s okay’ Tarasha permitted. An alert note sounded in her brain as she watched him walk away, she was allowing him handle too much already. She needed to confirm the information he had given her before working with it, so as not to run into error.
‘I brought this for you’ Aisha’s voice sounded softly as she served Tarasha wine in a Champagne glass. She made a little groan as she bent to hand over the cup to Tarasha, her belly wound had not healed completely yet.
Tarasha took the cup from her silently, she properly scrutinized the drink first, she took another look at Aisha’s face as if to ask if she could trust her.
Aisha quickly looked away from those eyes staring at her. Tarasha had the same look on her face that day she was given a death scare. She remember vividly how she vibrated when Benny Ç0çƙed the gun, hot urine escaped down the bed immediately.
**Flashback **
Benny closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. Aisha heard the gunshot sound. Then her body was being carried away by unknown forces, to heaven, she thought. Not until the bed she was laying on hit the wall, then she realized that her bed had been rolled away before the bullet was released and the bullet had penetrated into somewhere else.
Cole and Benny who were surprised turned to look at Tarasha’s face immediately, they met a smile which made them more confused . They could not tell the reason Tarasha acted that script.
One of the legs of Aisha’s bed which had tyres for easy movement had been tied with a long rope to stop its movement. Tarasha cut the rope when she was sure that the trigger was going to be pulled.
Benny was about to barg out of the lab when Tarasha spoke, he paused. ‘You would have died if you didn’t obey, I wouldn’t have let you live one more second’
He looked at her face for some seconds before proceeding out of the lab, Cole followed suit.
‘You’ll remain as a cook with us but you’ll not be able to go out as you used to do’ Tarasha said to Aisha before leaving the lab.
Unknown to them, Tarasha had other plans. To her, if Benny could attempt to ki|| Aisha on her order, then he would do the job when she asks him for the head of Don, his former boss.
Tarasha walked back to the living room to get the medicines she got for Aisha. She wondered how Benny and Cole really thought she wanted Aisha to be ki||ed. She wouldn’t have gotten the drugs if she wanted the girl dead, she already knew Aisha was wanted by the police before she set out to get the drugs. Well, if Aisha was ki||ed or not, her lifespan had been cut short by the bullets already.
** Present **
‘Thank you’ she said with a smile and took a sip of the wine. Aisha walked away.
Benny came in few minutes later, he was sweating and looked dusty, the harmattan breeze had not been nice on him.
‘Good day Boss’ he greeted as he dropped a bag carefully in front of Tarasha, beside the table where she had her gadgets.
‘What do we have here?’ Tarasha bent to open the bag.
‘I got all you requested for except the “Walther PPK” revolver’ Benny answered.
Tarasha hissed. ‘I still have one with me I can use though’ she closed the bag. ‘You can take it in’
Cole walked back into the common room and met Benny, he tapped him on the shoulder. ‘How far?’
‘I’m cool’ Benny replied as he dragged the bag away.
‘What’s this Boss?’ Cole expressed surprise on a look at the table where Tarasha was working on. He was amazed at the speed she used to convert the bought devices to her own manufactured ones.
‘This, is a tracking device that can be implanted under the skin’ she displayed a very tiny pill-like material to him. She raised up another one that looked like a gun, ‘we use this to implant it’
++++++++
‘I’ll make sure they pay for it’ Sylvester cursed loudly. He sat on a stool beside the hospital bed where Henry was sitting, a bandage was wrapped round Henry’s arm.
Henry hissed. ‘It’s okay, thank God you came at the right time, it would have been worse’
‘What did you do to them?’ Sylvester asked again, a question Henry was not willing to answer.
Henry had made up his mind for a thanksgiving service in church the next Sunday. He who had heard several stories about the brutality of soldiers on civilians on several occasions had only partly believed the story. He had a friend with a gentle nature who was also in the force, his friend didn’t look like a brutal person. Henry concluded that only the wicked ones amongst them were brutal to ordinary people.
The ones he had met that day were more than wicked, they gave him only a little room for explanation before they began to use the whips on him. What had aggravated the matter was Henry’s identity card that was nowhere to be found, he could have gotten away by proving that he was working for a security agency.
The two soldiers that addressed him wasted no time in landing the whips six times on his body as he delayed obeying their order to kneel down.
‘You wan go rape am?’ One of the mean looking huge soldiers had accused him of attempted rape.
‘No , I saw something suspicious with her and was only trying to investigate’ Henry had lied to save himself, but there was no ID card to support his claim.
He received a total of six whips, three slaps and had done frog jump for about fifteen minutes when Sylvester came to his rescue. Sylvester had coincidentally seen the event through the surveillance camera’s transmission.
‘Take this two tablets, twice a day. This, one tablet thrice a day. And this, three tablets every six hours’ a Doctor explained how to use the drugs to Henry.
‘Don’t bother, I’ll read the instructions myself’ Henry snatched the drugs jacket from the Doctor impatiently, he wondered why so much drugs should be administered to him for just something little. ‘Is that all? Can I leave now?’
‘Yes that’s all, you can leave’
‘Thank you’ Henry got up and left with Sylvester immediately.
‘You still haven’t told me what happened with you and the soldiers’ Sylvester troubled him again as they settled into the car. ‘I want to know what action to take’
‘Thank you for saving me sir, I don’t think it’s necessary to take any action. I’ll tell you what happened later’ Henry hesitatingly answered. ‘We need to go back to the office now to check for my ID card. I have my MasterCard too in the pack’
‘I’m not sure you forgot it in the office, I saw you put it in the front pocket of your shirt’
‘Then where could it be?’ Henry searched his pockets again. His phone rang out, interrupting him, he didn’t know where it was.
‘Here’ Sylvester handed over the phone to him from the back seat. He started the car engine.
‘Hello, are you Henry George Ekene’ A voice asked.
‘Who’s this please?’ Henry replied with a question.
‘We found a pack containing some cards in our company, Seginet Computer International, your phone number was on it’
‘Huh?’ Realization hit Henry, it must have dropped when he almost collided into the strange lady. He frantically searched through his pocket for the bug, it wasn’t there.
**4.15pm **
‘That girl is d@mn wild!’ Dare laughed loudly as he got into the driver’s side of the car. ‘I had to beg her to stop because she wouldn’t get tired, she just kept on riding without pity’
He cleaned his face with a white handkerchief as he paused to listen. He loosened his tie and took it off his neck, opening the two top buttons of his collared shirt. His eyes met with the scar on his forehead through the front mirror as he relaxed back in the seat.
He had gotten the scar two months ago when he got himself drunk to stupor on his birthday. He had attempted to pull the shirt of one of his friend’s invitees to the party and she responded by pushing him violently away, not minding that he was the celebrant of the day. He hit his head on a table beside them. Since then, his face had been disfigured with the black scar.
‘OK, I agree I’m not strong’ he began with another round of laughter. ‘Just get me someone better this Friday night’
He rounded up the call in few seconds and started the car engine, he wasted some more seconds to fasten his seat belt before proceeding to drive out of the company’s gate.
He received salutations from other employees as he drove out and face the main road. He had driven for only one minute when his eyes met something attractive. He smacked his lips and took a deep breath as he fixed his eyes on the segzy legs walking up the road.
‘Hello Pretty, where are you going to?’ He pulled up close to her.
‘Sir?’ She pretended not to hear as she bent down to look into the car.
‘What way are you going to?’ He took another deep breath as he viewed her brea$t neatly packaged in the cleavage showing dress.
‘Bello road’ she answered and stared at him in anticipation.
‘I’m going to Bello road too’ he lied with a big smile on his face. ‘Let me help you’
‘Thanks’ Tarasha replied and opened the door quickly.
‘You’re welcome’ he responded.
Tarasha heaved a sigh of relief as she sat in. She was already tired of waiting for him outside the gate. She has tried to trap him also the day before and waited at that same point for him, only for him to drive happily by without taking any look at her side, it seemed his mind was disturbed the other day.
This was the only trick that Tarasha could play this time as going to his office could revealed her identity after the operation. The company had been studied and it was found to have several security measures that could keep records of her visit. Trying to break and corrupt their security devices would only waste more time, so Tarasha opted for the option of getting him to notice her on the road.
‘Can we go sir?’ She said to the stunned Dare who waa still feeding his eyes on her thighs sheepishly.
‘Oh sure’ he replied like he was caught unawares and started the driving.
‘Thank you’ Tarasha said again.
‘No thanks. God would have gotten angry with me if I had refused to help an Angel. I did it for myself’ he replied, putting a smile on her face. ‘So where were you heading to in Bello road?’
‘Lorita restaurant’ she answered.
‘For lunch, I guess?’ He took a quick glance at his wristwatch.
‘Yea, kind of’
‘Wow!’ He exclaimed. ‘So who’s this lucky guy who’s opportuned to take you out for lunch?’
‘No one, I’m going alone’
‘Alone?’ His eyes widened in disbelief.
‘Yes, alone’ she replied firmly.
‘Okay, your boyfriend is coming to meet you there ‘ he voiced out his assumption.
‘No, I’m going alone’ she repeated. ‘I’m new in Abuja and I’ve got no friends yet, I came to do business’
‘Are you kidding me?’ He talked with so much excitement. ‘I hope you won’t mind if I join you’
‘Of course, you’re welcome’
‘Wow! ‘ he smiled happily.
……………..
‘Why didn’t I even check here?’ Henry laughed at himself as he tossed the bug on the table. He remembered arguing about itbwith the attendants at the computer company when he had gone for his ID card. He insisted that they would have found it the same way they found the card and that one of the workers had taken it for himself because it was seen as a special type of bug. He totally forgot that he went to the company with a bag.
He picked up the bug and brought it close to his eyes to scrutinize again. He sighed and shook his head in a negative manner. He had to dismantle the device and check the components before making any reasonable conclusion.
What he planned to do was to learn the working techniques of the device, that would help him avoid getting into a trap like Robin Kahn did. Then he would be able to trace the real address from wh@ťěver trap was set.
………………
‘The last time I saw Daniel was last year’s December, here in Oshodi, in this street’ the plumpy girl explained to the two officers seated in front of her. ‘He was with a girl I know to be called Franca’
‘Okay, did you guys talk when you saw?’ James asked.
‘ No, he acted like he didn’t see me’ Bose replied. ‘We didn’t use to really greet in school, our matriculation numbers were just close because we registered at almost the same time’
‘And Aisha registered at the same time with you too?’
‘Yes, she registered after Daniel’
‘Okay, are you sure he saw you?’ James inquired
‘Yes, he did’ she gave a quick reply.
James paused for a moment, he scanned through all he noted down in his tablet device. ‘You said they were dating in school’
‘I didn’t say they were dating’ Bose refuted. ‘I said they were so close that people assumed that they were, Aisha said they weren’t’
‘I thought you said you were not close to Aisha, how did she tell you they weren’t dating?’ James asked with suspicion in his voice.
‘You see’ she began her explanation. ‘Aisha was a sportswoman, she was loved by everyone. The only reason some people stayed far from her was get association with Daniel. Daniel was a rough guy, believed to be a deadly cultist but that assertion wasn’t proven. So everyone except teammates maintained a distance from Aisha, they could only speak with her briefly when she wasn’t around Daniel or his friends’
‘So he was already dreaded in year two?’ James raised a brow.
‘Yes, as a matter of fact, there were rumors that he was already a committed member of the cult before he gained admission’
‘Hmm, serious’ James nodded his head slowly and took a glance at Sandra. ‘Do you know where we can find this Daniel?’
‘No, I don’t have any idea’ she replied.
‘What about the girl you saw him with?’
‘She lives down the street, I can show you to her house’
…………
‘So Evelyn, what part of Nigeria are you from?’ Dare asked as he took a bite of the chicken. They were seated opposite each other in the restaurant on a table for two.
‘Rivers State’ she answered, ‘my parents are from Orogbum’
‘Orogbum’ Dare corrected her pronunciation, he gave her a suspicious look. ‘You don’t even know how to pronounce the name of your town?’
Evelyn quickly put up a bright smile, ‘I wasn’t born or brought up here so you can’t blame me’
‘I see. I’ve been to Orogbum before for a friend’s mother burial’ he paused and stared at her face. ‘What part of Canada did you stay?’
‘Ontario’ she took a sip of the fruit juice and rested back in the chair.
‘Hmm, cool. So what brought you back to Nigeria? ‘
‘I told you earlier that I came to do business’
‘Business?’ He started stared at her in disbelief.
‘Yes, business. To invest in the many opportunities here’
He gave a broad smile, ‘I like that, it’s very rare to see young girls talking business in this part of the world’
She replied with a chuckle. She took another sip from the glass cup.
‘Ain’t you eating again?’ He stared at the remnant of the food in front of her.
‘I’m full’ she smiled.
‘Come on’ he cleaned his oily lips with a tissue paper. ‘You’ve not even taken up to five bites’
‘I’m full’ she insisted
‘Or you want something else?’
‘No, thanks’ she took a glance at the wristwatch and exclaimed. ‘Oh! I have to leave now’ she said and hurriedly grabbed her bag.
‘Why?’ He asked
‘I have an appointment with my Dad online in forty minutes time’
‘I see…’
‘Yeah’
‘Let me drive you home’ he offered, getting up from his seat.
‘No, thanks. Don’t bother, I’ve troubled you a lot already’
‘You don’t have a choice’ he said mockingly. ‘Do you know how to get back home?’
‘Of course’ she laughed heartily. ‘How do you think I know this restaurant? I’ve been briefed about this city and I also have the map’ she displayed something on her phone’s screen to him.
He smiled. ‘Well, I insist on taking you home’
‘Alright, I agree’ she eyed him playfully and took the lead.
He licked his lips and rubbed his palms together as he had a view of her behind once again. He caught up with her and they walked silently to the car. He opened the door for her to sit first before entering into the driver’s side.
‘So where are you staying exactly? Where’s your house?’ He asked before starting the car engine.
She smiled. ‘I don’t have a house yet, I’m planning to pay for a property next week, I’m in a hotel for now’
‘What?? That means you don’t have somewhere to stay?’ He glanced at her as he began to drive.
‘I just told you I stay in a hotel’
‘And you’re comfortable there?’
‘What? Why not?’ She wiped her hair backwards. ‘I’m not staying there for too long’
‘I can help you get your own property this week, a very good one’ he said
‘No thanks. My Dad specified what he wants me to get’
‘We can get something of the same kind’ he persisted.
‘OK, let’s see what you can offer’ she gave in. ‘Tell me about this weather’ she changed the topic of discussion.
‘It’s harmattan. It was harsher than this two days ago, it’s gradually subsiding’ he grinned. ‘Hope it has not been bad on you’
‘Not at all. I’m putting on a sleeveless short gown, it doesn’t seem cold to me. I only h@ťě the dust’
He smiled. ‘You h@ťě the dust?’
‘Yeah’. She looked at him funnily.
‘You’re lucky that everywhere is tarred in this city. If you get to the rough side of the country, your whole body would be covered by dust already’
‘Wow! Is it that bad?’
‘We don’t see it as bad anymore, it’s just one of our seasons’
‘What season does cotton grow here?’ She suddenly changed the topic again.
‘Hmm…’ He scratched his beards. ‘I don’t really know but I can find out for you. Why do you ask?’
‘I’m into the cotton business and I hear the industry here is big. I’m looking for a good company to partner with’ Evelyn explained.
‘You’re into the cotton business?’ His eyes widened as he asked.
‘Yes, do you anybody who is also involved in it? Or any company?’
‘Yes, I know’ he started joyfully. ‘My father has the largest cotton firm in the whole nation. Julal Limited’
‘Your father is Jubril Lawal?’ Her eyes widened in surprise as she exclaimed.
‘Yes, he’s my father’ he stated proudly.
……………….
‘Who do you say you were looking for?’ A middle aged woman walked into the living room with her teenage son who went to call her.
‘Is Franca your daughter?’ James asked.
‘Yes, she is’ the woman put on a serious look as she placed a hand on her chest.
‘We need to see her concerning one of her friends’ James continued. ‘We are from the police headquarters’
‘Eh! ‘ the woman began an unforeseen wailing, adjusting her head tie as she sniffed.
‘Calm down madam, let’s hear you well’ James urged, as he couldn’t hear what she was saying amidst tears.
‘My daughter has left this house since the thirty first day of December and has not returned since then’ she repeated.
‘Where did she say she was going to?’ James enquired.
‘She only said she was going to see her friend’
‘Which of her friends?’
‘She did not specify, she said she wasn’t going to stay long’
‘Has this been reported to the police?’
‘Yes, it has. They’ve questioned all her friends that we know but no one seems to know where she is’
‘Have they questioned her friend Daniel?’
‘Who is Daniel ?’ She asked ignorantly.
‘You don’t know Daniel?’
‘None of her friends bear that name’
James turned to look at Sandra to come in with an explanation. ‘Daniel is very tall, he’s dark and not too slim’
The woman looked more confused at the explanation. ‘He came here with her on the thirtieth of this December’ Sandra put in.
The Woman looked at her son standing beside her for affirmation or denial. ‘I don’t know if he came to the house with her but I saw them walking on the street’ Sandra quickly added.
‘Yes, I saw her with a stranger that day’ the light skinned teenage boy joined in. ‘But they did not stay together for long’
‘The person was a total stranger?’ James turned to the boy.
He affirmed by nodding his head. ‘Was he a stranger to Franca too?’
‘I think he was her Facebook friend. I overheard them saying something like that’
‘What’s Franca’s Facebook ID’ James brought out his phone and began to type into it.
……………
16/01/2031
**7am**
Henry looked sober in his room. His head rested on his two palms that were clasped together as he mumbled some words under his breath. He had just finished listening to a salvation message by popular Nigerian televangelist , Chris Oyakhilome and had been fired up from inside. Though he was a Christian, he wasn’t a committed one. Now, his mind had just been awoken again to the love of God and how why he should be passionate about God.
His phone rang, disturbing his prayers. He switched it off immediately and hid it under his pillow. He picked up the bible on the stool in front of him and began to flip through the pages, he was unsure of where to stop. He turned back to the concordance and located the word “love”, he began a more intensive study on it.
………
‘Make sure it is organized before this afternoon’ Tarasha said, looking into the laptop screen.
‘Sure, I’ll get it done’ the reply came in a thick Russian accent.
Tarasha closed the video calls application and shut down the laptop. The landline in the room rang aloud.
‘Hello’
‘Good evening Miss Evelyn, A man by the name Dare Lawal is waiting for you’ a voice came through.
‘Thank you, I’ll be down shortly’ she said and dropped the call.
She catwalked to the mirror and viewed herself one more time. She was looking perfectly okay in her blue trouser suit, more importantly she looked business minded.
She picked her handbag and proceeded out of the room. She got to the reception in two minutes.
‘Hi’ Dare smiled and got up as he spotted her. ‘Good morning’
‘Good morning.’ She smiled back.
‘How was your night?’ He extended his hand to her.
‘Perfect, how about you?’
‘Awesome’ he said and placed a gently kiss on the back of her palm. ‘I was thinking about you all night’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. It’s like I never met someone as beautiful as you are before’
‘Oh! That’s sweet’ she blushed, getting her acting ski||s perfectly.
‘Anything for an angel’ he grinned. He arranged the tip of his suit properly before taking her hands in his. ‘Shall we?’ He smiled and ushered her forward with his other hand.
‘So what part of the city are you taking me to?’ Evelyn asked as they walked out of the hotel.
‘Asokoro. There are lots of apartment you’ll like there’
‘Alright, let’s see’ she gave a bright smile as she stepped into the car.
‘You will like it, my Dad stays there. You’ll be able to see him often and partner well with him’ he said before closing the door. He smiled as he turned to the driver’s seat. His concern wasn’t her partnership with his father. He was so focused on getting in between her thighs that he wouldn’t have raised any doubt if all she had told me about herself the last night didn’t sound authentic.
17/01/2031
‘BN 10354’ Henry read aloud to himself as he studied the makeup of a particular chip on his laptop. He took a deep breath he cleared his throat. This code number was a strange one.
‘Encrypt XL
<< — t.a.r– n.e.f — >>
Run script = enter ‘
His laptop screen displayed the above in a pop up window. He quickly wrote them in a jotter.
What the codes meant was a mystery to him but he was sure that the key words, ‘TAR’ and ‘NEF’ referred to something very important that would be of use in his research.
He took a sip of wine from his glass cup and relaxed back into his seat to think deeply. This method of encrypting used by the manufacturer of the blog was more tedious to read than the computer machine language. He wondered where a criminal could have gotten such level of technological knowledge from. He was sure that the person was highly educated and not just a petty app developer, he was also certain that the person did not get his or her education in Nigeria. What baffled him was the fact that someone with so much intelligence and knowledge had decided to use it negatively. Such great knowledge could have been used to improve the country and the information technology world at large, instead of it being used to carry out assassinations.
He got up and stretched himself, he walked to the window and opened the curtains, it was evening and the sun was gradually setting. He had worked all day without even remembering to take his lunch. It was time to take a little break, he decided to take a stroll round the street but then remembered that he also needed to get something from the office.
He hurriedly put on his football jersey and pocketed his car key, setting out to ki|| two birds with a stone.
………..
‘d@mn it!’ Don cursed scattering the books on his table angrily. He took another look at the newspaper lying on the floor again, his picture was printed boldly on it with the word “WANTED” written boldly below it. A compensation of three million naira was also promised to anyone who had information about him.
He was not really angry or scared about t the police’s search for him. His domain was enough for him to hide for several years without them getting any clue of his location. His anger was based on the fact that their search for him would dissuade his clients from associating and bringing jobs to him.
He picked up the newspaper again. “Wanted: Daniel Ogbighe. Criminal: suspected to be in Samantha Osman and Aisha Bello’s gang” he slammed it on the floor. He paced about angrily.
When he released the information on Aisha’s location to the police, he didn’t think that it could backfire like this. He had forgotten of his escapades with Aisha right from the polytechnic and when they had both dropped out. He never imagined that she could ever be traced to him.
He was also confused about how the police connected Aisha Bello’s case to Franca who he had recently murdered. Franca had been one of his secret informant and segz partner for years after they met with each other in a night club. Things had gone bad between them when Sandra began to demand for more money from him. The rest is history.
‘Stone’ he spoke into his phone. ‘I’m coming over to Cameroon tomorrow’
‘You sound tensed. What’s wrong Don?’ A faint voice asked from the other end.
‘I’ll explain to you later’ Don replied. ‘I have to leave this country for a while.
‘You can’t get me to start arranging for you without giving me a valid reason’ the voice replied more confidently.
‘What the hell is wrong with you Stone?’ Don replied in an angry tone.
‘Tell me what the matter is’ Stone replied, unperturbed.
‘Okay, I’m wanted in this country now. My pictures and names are all over the media. Do you get it?’ Don said in a firm voice.
Stone laughed. ‘Is that’s what’s sending you out of the country?’ He said in a mocking manner.
‘What do you mean?’
‘See, if you don’t have anything to say other than this joke, allow me go and do something better’
‘d@mn! I’m serious man’
‘You can’t be serious man, you mean you’re running away from your domain just because the police declared you wanted? Haven’t your influence grown at all?’
‘You don’t get it’ Don scratched his head. ‘I want to see you for some other things too, I need you to help me against an enemy ‘
‘Okay’ Stone voice sounded more considerate. ‘Who is this enemy that’s getting you on your toes?’
‘Tarasha’ Don let out a deep breath as he mentioned the name. ‘She’s really a pain in my butt’
‘Tarasha?? A she? I never heard that name before’ Stone said half laughing. ‘Is she one of these new amateur assassins?’
‘No, she’s different…’ Don gave a quick reply but was cut short by Stone.
‘Or one of your numerous side chicks that has learnt your dirty secret?’ Stone added.
‘No not that’ Don refuted quickly. ‘Have you heard about Samantha Osman?’
‘Samantha Osman?’ Stone raised his voice. ‘That name is all over the world news’
‘Yeah, it is’
‘Isn’t it the same Samantha Osman associated with top profile assassinations?’ Stone asked again to be sure.
‘Yes, her real name is Tarasha’ Don answered.
‘Wow! How did you get involved with her?’ Stone sounded somehow excited. ‘That chick would be a hell of a machine to work with’
‘Stop that’ Don slammed, getting angry by Stone’s excited tone. ‘She’s my enemy, she’s after me’
‘I see’ Stone sighed. ‘We’ll talk more when you come over, I’ll prepare for your arrival’
……………….
** 6pm **
Cole mimed along with the songs playing from his IPod as he waited patiently in the car. He glanced at his wristwatch again, he had waited for exactly one hour thirty minutes. His eyes finally caught a glimpse of Tarasha through the side mirror walking briskly towards the car. She was still dressed in the blue suit which she went out in with Dare.
She entered the backseat twenty seconds later. Her eyes met with Cole’s through the front mirror. He quietly passed a brief case from the front seat to her at the back.
‘How was today Boss?’ Cole finally broke tge silence.
‘Pleasant’ Tarasha replied in a tiny feminine voice that surprised Cole, he had never heard her talk like that. He remained silent , amazed at her acting ski||s as he watched her open the case check its content.
The person he knew was a Bossy Tarasha who gave orders, now she was acting as Evelyn, a young carefree and normal chick.
‘How did it go with Dare?’ He asked.
‘Fine, he’s cooperating’ she gave a short reply as she continued searching the brief case.
‘Alright boss’
‘Dare is still coming to pick me for dinner tonight, so we’re rolling fine’ she said. ‘You guys should get set to work’
‘Hmm’ Cole was speechless.
‘Thanks for this’ Tarasha said after closing the briefcase. ‘It’s accurate’
Cole smiled.
‘We’ll talk on phone’ Tarasha spoke and got out of the car. She walked straight back in the direction she came from. Cole also zoomed off in the opposite direction.
Tarasha had just walked for about six minutes when she noticed a car pulling up beside her. The driver pushed the horn, she looked back.
‘Someone needs a ride?’ Henry called to her with a mischievous smile.
She continued walking, he drove slowly behind her. ‘I’ve forgiven you for all your wrongs, let’s be friends ‘
Tarasha kept on walking without looking at him again. He increased his speed and parked in front of her, she stopped behind the car and waited defensively for him as he proceeded out of the car.
‘Hey! Trying to run away?’ he twisted his face as he taunted her, walking slowly towards her. She remain silent. ‘It’s my day, what do you think? Are you scared? He added.
She stared at him and bit her lips. She took a deep breath and tried to walk away, he blocked her. She paused again and stared into his face, she tried to feign a frustration remark on her face.
‘I work on this street and I’ve got lotsnof friends and supporters here, I could take revenge on you now for all you’ve done to mw’ he continued. She remained quiet and looked around to see who was watching. She waited for seconds before attempting to walk away again. The brief case hit Henry’s leg.
‘Ouch! That hurts’ he rubbed his knee. ‘What do we have in there?’ He pointed at the case, still standing in her way.
‘Will you let me go please?’ Tarasha said in a pleading voice and hid the case behind her.
‘I won’t let you go until I get soldiers to trash you like you did to me’ he thr_@tened.
She made no reply. Henry picked his phone and feigned a phone call.
‘I repent. No revenge but you must grant me a date’ he finally said.
‘I’m not, just let me go’ she replied stubbornly.
‘Then, let’s settle the case with the police’ he thr_@tened, pointing to a nearby station.
‘Yes, that’s better’ she replied confidently. ‘Let’s see what case you have to present’
‘Oh! I see you’re bold’ he exclaimed, surprised by her confidence. He picked up his phone and dialed a number. ‘Mr. Sylvester, I just found the lady that made me go through torment in the hands of the soldiers and we’re on our way to the A-Division to report ourselves’
He pushed the phone back into his trousers’ pocket. ‘Let’s see how you’ll escape’ Henry said boldly. He narrowed his gaze to the brief case as she hid it behind her again. ‘I know you have some exhibits there’
‘Henry!’ She called his name to his surprise. ‘Do you know it would cost me nothing to get you into trouble again?’
Henry stood dumbfounded at the sound of his name. Where in the world did she learn his name from? Had they really met somewhere before? He recalled that he had that feeling when he collided into her at the gadgets store.
‘How do you know my name?’ Henry asked, squinting at her.
‘Huh?’ Tarasha seemed surprised too. She had made a mistake of thinking he remembered her from their encounter at the Lagos Ibadan expressway.
‘How did you know my name?’ He repeated
‘Huh? I saw it there’ she pointed at a book placed by the window at the backside of the car. He turned back.
‘You saw my name on that book from here?’ He questioned in disbelief.
‘Yes, isn’t it bold enough?’ She asked. Luckily enough for her, Henry’s name was written behind the jersey he wore, so she changed her strategy. ‘It’s all over you, how do you expect me not to know?’
‘You are lying’
‘d@mn! Of course I am lying. Can’t you think?’ She said in a provocative manner. ‘Henry is written boldly behind your shirt and even on the collar and you’re asking me where I got your name from’
Henry took a deep breath. He felt foolish as he recalled that his name was on his jersey but he still had some doubts in his heart.
‘Can I go now?’ Tarasha made to leave.
‘No, let me know your name at least’ he stopped. ‘I’m Henry, I work here at the cameras security operation’ he said in a more pleasant manner.
‘Oh!’ Tarasha sighed and smiled as he exposed himself. She might need him to get some things done in regards of camera security.
‘You?’ He demanded for her name.
‘I’m Evelyn’ she replied at last. ‘I’m a business woman’
‘Sounds nice’ he smiled for the first time. She smiled back. ‘So can I give you a lift to your location?’
‘No please, don’t bother’ she pleaded. ‘My car is parked just nearby’
‘I could drive you where the car is parked’ he insisted.
‘That wouldn’t be necessary’ she smiled. ‘We could meet some other time’ she said and brought out her phone.
He brought out his too, expecting that she was going to call out her number. She didn’t disappoint this time. He stored the number with the name Evelyn and walked her to where her car was parked.
**7.30pm **
‘When is your Dad coming to Nigeria?’ Dare asked Tarasha who sat opposite him, playing with the spoon around the plate.
‘He might come visiting when I have established something big’ Tarasha answered after munching the food particles in her mouth.
‘I see. Your family is a business minded one’ he said playfully.
‘Just like yours’ Tarasha remarked playfully.
‘Not everyone loves business in my family’ he frowned. ‘I personally don’t like business’
‘What do you mean?’ She asked with a chuckle.
‘I would have loved to be a lawyer’ he replied sadly. ‘But I had to tow this path because my father needed someone to take over his companies’
Tarasha remained silent and listened to him with keen interest.
‘He gathered a lot when he was in government and he invested so much’ Dare continued with a note of sadness. ‘At a time he was in charge of securing the whole nation. He says he got fought by a lot of lawyers and wouldn’t want me to become one of his enemies’
‘If you want to be a top profile lawyer, you would have lots of enemies that’ll want to bring you down, so he says. He doesn’t want any of his children to fight like he did’
Tarasha extended her hand on the table and held his hands in a compassionate manner. He stared into her face, he could see she felt his sadness. She gave a him a look of reassurance, like she had been his friend for ages.
He had been with so many girls but always, his only aim was to sleep with them. This one was different, he felt like he could pour his heart to her.
‘Tell me about your father?’ Tarasha pushed further, with the main aim of gathering more information about her target. ‘How did he gather so much money to invest with?’
He stared at her face once again without saying a word. She quickly added more soothing words to reassure him. She squeezed his palm in hers. ‘I mean he’s a success, that means he had a mind of an entrepreneur unlike so many other retired public officers who are living off their pensions and gains during service’
He smiled. ‘My Father had some businesses he was involved in before serving the country. He used his gains at that time to invest more for the future’
‘Hmm…’Tarasha nodded silently and relaxed back into her seat, unsatisfied by the response.
Dare smiled and continued.
‘When would you love to meet my father?’
‘I already left that for you to fix’ she answered. ‘Since you said you were going to help me talk with him’
‘Sure, I will’ he reassured. ‘You’ll most likely meet with him next week’
‘Thanks’ she smiled.
‘So what about your boyfriend?’ He changed the topic.
‘Boyfriend?’ She seemed surprised.
‘Yes’
‘Well, I’ve got no time for a boyfriend right now. I want to establish my business first’
‘Huh?’ His eyes widened as he laugh. ‘You seem to just love business more than everything else’
She joined in the laughter. ‘Not really. I love my parents more, they mean the world to me’
‘Huh ho! Nice’ he smiled sheepishly.
He placed his hand on his stomach as he suddenly began to feel uneasy. He covered his mouth with the other palm as he gave a silent belch.
‘Can you excuse me for a minute’ he said and got up from the seat.
‘Oh yea sure’ she permitted with a smile.
She frowned and picked up her phone as he left. Her instinct told her something was happening as her network bar kept fluctuating, but she wasn’t sure of what it was.
++++++++++
**9.30pm**
‘What? Data inaccessible?’ Henry exclaimed at the pop up message on the laptop screen. How can that be? Does that mean that Evelyn was using an unregistered sim?
No, but it wasn’t possible to use a sim card without registering it first. So why couldn’t he access Evelyn’s registration details on the network bearer’s database? Or was it that the network bearer has made their database unhackable?
He dropped the laptop on the bed and stood up to yawn and stretch himself. His eyes met the wall clock, to his surprise it was twenty minutes to five. He was planning to call Evelyn by nine pm. but he didn’t know when the time passed as he was carried away by the desire to find her full name and details.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number as he sat on the bed. The call was answered after it rang the third time.
‘Hello Evelyn’ he said pleasantly.
‘Hello’ a tiny voice replied.
‘How are you doing?’
‘Fine’
‘You remember me?’ He asked.
‘No, I’m actually expecting an introduction’
Henry smiled. ‘It’s Henry, we met earlier today’
‘I remember’ she replied calmly, with less enthusiasm.
‘Yeah, so how’s your night going?’
‘Great, yours?’ She managed to reply.
‘Awesome’
‘Alright’
‘So when would we see again?’
‘I don’t have an answer to that question now’ she answered softly.
‘Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?’ He offered.
‘I’m not sure I’ll be free’ she replied nonchalantly.
‘Not sure? Tomorrow’s Saturday’ he said.
‘Yes, I know. I also have things to do on weekends’
‘Would you be busy all through the day? Maybe we can meet by evening time’
‘You know what? I’ll call you if I’m less busy’ she said and ended the call immediately.
Henry dropped the phone slowly. He wondered why she was acting so hard. His mind suddenly returned to the mystery surrounding her phone number registration details. He quickly checked the true caller application on his phone if it had recognized the number but the app did not show records of the call. That got him more suspicious.
He bit his lips as he remembered that he could have traced the call and gotten more information, including her location. He thought of calling back and tracing it but suspended it for another day.
He cleared his throat as he got up from the bed to pull his shirt. Why was he even getting unnecessarily suspicious about an innocent looking girl anyway, he thought. Maybe the sim registration just had some errors from the network bearer’s database. He had earlier decided and even included in his new year resolutions to stop intruding into people’s personal life through his knowledge of hacking. He didn’t know how he found himself doing it again when he was aware that it was a crime and was wrong morally.
He was about to hang his shirt in the wardrobe when his mind changed again. He saw the jersey he wore earlier that evening. His name on the collar was printed in very small characters and that made another question arise in his mind. How was Evelyn able to read it from the distance she was standing? He also did not remember turning his back to her, so she couldn’t have seen the name there.
She must have known him from somewhere else, he thought, remembering the feeling he had when he met her at the gadgeta store. She also could have lied about her name. He must find her real name. He was going to hack illegally once more and get her real details and location. Just once more!
………..
18/01/2031
‘Good morning Dad’ Dare voice sounded lively as Chief Jubril answered the call.
‘Good morning son’ the man replied. ‘How is everything?’
‘Fine Dad’ Dare replied and then went straight to his reason for calling. ‘I have one of my friends who would like to do business with you’
‘Your friend?’ The man seemed surprised.
‘Yes, my friend’ Dare answered. He seemed surprised too that he called her his friend. It was not up to one week that they had met and he already developed trust and friendship for her. What endeared him to her more was the listening ears that she gave to him. She was not like the other girls that he met who were only interested in developing a relationship with him because of his money. He too had always played along with them and used them only for segz and dump them after a while without releasing so much money like they expect him to. That has made several girls label him a tightfisted person.
‘Your friend? Are you sure?’ The man asked again.
‘Come on dad’ he urged. ‘Why are you talking to me like I’m a kid?’
‘No Dare, don’t get it wrong’ the man pleaded. ‘You hardly keep friends who are into business or investments, so I’m just surprised’
‘I just met this wonderful Lady Dad’ he continued with excitement. ‘She seems industrious and business minded’
‘You just met her?’ He replied with a note of suspicion.
‘Yes Dad’ Dare answered. ‘She’s a Nigerian but grew up in Canada with her parents. Her parents own large companies in Ontario Canada’
‘Hmm… Dare’ the father sighed. ‘You can’t just trust someone you just met’
Dare was silent for a moment. His father’s words left an impact on him, the loudness of his voice reduced. ‘I think she’s sincere’
‘You think? You should not make conclusions based on assumption, she might likely be a fraudster’ he fired.
Dare remained silent.
‘What’s her full name?’ The Chief asked.
‘Evelyn Alex’ Dare answered.
‘Her Dad’s name?’
‘Alexander Amaechi’
‘Okay’ the man jotted down the names. ‘Tell her to come see me on Monday’
‘Okay Dad, have a pleasant day’
‘You too’ Chief Jubril replied and hung up. He shook his head as he placed the phone on the seat. His son just disappointed him, he didn’t expect that Dare would not be reasonable enough to be careful with a recent acquaintance.
He picked up the jotter where he wrote down the names. He was sure going to deal with the Lady if he finds out that she is a fraudster, he swore.
… to be continued