**Saturday; after several uneventful days **
~~Abuja, Nigeria ~~
11am
The shock and grief that came with the news of Jubril Lawal’s assassination was still very fresh in the African atmosphere. The streets were flooded with people rushing the newspaper vendors to get their copies so as update themselves on the latest discoveries surrounding the death.
Journalists also flooded the street to get the farewell speeches from the citizens whose lives have been affected in one way or the other by Jubril Lawal. Everyone had something good to say about Jubril, from his charity works to his service and commitment to the nation’s growth, they all had felt his impact in one way or the other. None except for a middle aged man expressed doubts in the man’s integrity and commitment. The middle aged man after praising Jubril for his visible works, paused before talking about the likely cause of his death.
‘It is possible that the man had an evil secret hidden with some people and they had to come and demand for his life. And it is also possible that the murderers are just enemies of the country and they ki||ed Jubril because he refused to agree with a selfish plan of theirs’ the man had said while being interviewed by a journalist from the national TV station.
‘I really don’t have much to say anymore, all I know is that he was a good man’ Mallam Jefa said into the mic with a sad face.
‘All right, thanks for speaking with us’ the reporter said and left Jefa’s presence to face the camera alone.
~~
Dakolo glanced at the beautiful buildings as they drove through the streets of Abuja. The cab man took his time to tell Dakolo the names of every street and what they did in every magnificent building that they passed by. The cab man was never silent, no wonder he didn’t put on the radio in the car, he himself was doing the job of a radio.
‘Sir, so why have you come to Abuja? Business? Pleasure? Both? Or none?’ The cab man asked as he took a glance at Dakolo seated at the back.
‘I’m relocating’ Dakolo replied him, enjoying the man’s jolly nature.
‘Relocating?’ The man stared at him. ‘What about your family? Where are they?’
‘My wife and kids are in port harcourt, they would join me after the school session ends’
‘Wow! That’s a long time, why didn’t you wait for them to finish the session?’ The cab man adjusted the front top mirror so that he can see Dakolo’s face from there.
‘I couldn’t wait, I was transferred at my place of work’
‘Oh! I see…’
‘Yeah. So what about your wife and kids?’
‘They’re all here in Abuja. My wife runs a mini restaurant and my two kids are in college’
‘Good’ Dakolo said with a chuckle.
~~
Jefa turned back to the road, he picked out the piece of paper from his chest pocket again. ‘Tara works in Elymax hotel’ he read out the words which he had written down after the first day he had the encounter with his younger sister.
Several days had gone by and Jefa had made the decision to meet her and explain things to her. What delayed him was his lack of proof. The Omotara he saw had now developed into a big girl, she looked highly educated too and he believed that she would not just accept his stories if he had nothing to show as proof. Now, he was bringing a picture and a diary with him. A picture which contained the whole family’s image as at that time in it. The diary was their mum’s. He had taken the diary from his mother’s room and hid it behind in his trousers, planning to read it after the celebration of Omotara’s birthday that night, but he never had the chance to read it on that day. His parents were ki||ed and he and his remaining younger ones were abducted on the same day. He later found the picture in the middle of the diary on the day he opened it.
He hoped that Omotara would be able to recall by seeing the picture and even the diary, which their mum had always warned them not to touch anytime she brought it out.
Deep down inside, he wished that Omotara would be a person of influence in the country; perhaps an influential lawyer or a friend to one who would be able to fight their cause for them. He was still hungry for revenge, he was tired of seeing the faces of the perpetrators of the evil that was done several years ago to him and his family and several thousands of other Nigerian families and kids, now in government offices parading themselves as saints and nice people.
He waved down a taxi and bent over to look inside. A man was already sitting comfortably at the back. ‘Elymax hotel’
‘Elymax? That’s where we’re going to’ The taxi man replied, giving him a surprised look.
‘May I join you?’ Jefa replied indifferently, already trying to open the front door.
‘Okay, if you can pay five thousand naira’
‘What? For what? I’ll pay you two thousand’
‘No, I can’t take anything less than three thousand’
‘I’ll pay you two thousand five’ Jefa said and entered into the cab without waiting for a reply.
++++
~~ Lagos, Nigeria ~~
11am
Laughter filled the room as the two friends joked and chatted happily. Chief Gab was in his casual native wear seated on the sofa in the middle of his large living room while Chief Nonso was seated on the sofa opposite to him, in a more official wear; his black trouser was matched with a black waist coat on a blue shirt.
‘You know I’ve been really thinking of something new’ Chief Gab interrupted the laughter, taking a sip of wine from the glass cup in front of him.
‘What’s that?’ Chief Nonso wiped off the tear formed in his eyes as a result of the heavy laughter and paused to listen.
‘I’m thinking we are being too harsh in judging some of these people’
Chief Nonso cleared his throat. ‘Why do you say so?’
‘We could just make Tarasha leave them alive after decapitating them; in a way that they’ll be able to see our success after we finish our plans while they are suffering’
‘Hmm… That sounds like a good idea’ Chief Nonso heaved a sigh and gave Chief Gab a stare. ‘Chief’ he called calmly.
‘Yes’ Chief Gab who was busy with his iPad looked up to see the serious look on Chief Nonso’s face. He narrowed his gaze as if to ask Chief Nonso what the matter was.
‘You’ve not still told me the reason we have some people on our list. I don’t understand why we are punishing some of them yet’
‘I think we talked about this before’ Chief Gab replied, standing up from his seat. He took the wine bottle and proceeded to the bar to take another wine bottle.
‘Yes, Chief Onwuli said before his death that you’ll explain to before we begin but when I asked you, you said you’ll tell me soon. I’m wondering why the “soon” is not yet here’
Chief Gab walked back to his seat with a bottle of wine, he dropped it on the stool and walked to the flat screen TV to switch it on. He turned back to the sofa and returned to his former seating position without hurrying, not minding Chief Nonso’s eyes which was escorting him all about, awaiting his response.
‘If we don’t take care of these people, they’ll come back for us when we rise again’ Chief Gab finally said, looking straight in his friend’s eyes. Chief Nonso was already getting pissed off.
‘Several years ago, Seven of us were involved in a certain illegal businesses. Five of us were politicians. At that time, we were all successful, but we wanted more ; we wanted to lay up riches for our kids, we didn’t want them to suffer like we did’ Chief Gab paused his story to pour wine from the bottle into the glass cup.
‘We were friends; secret friends, nobody knew our association. Four of us were in the ruling party, ADP as at the time we started working together. One was in the strongest opposition party, PCP while the remaining two including the minister of health who was dropped recently were not involved in politics then . Two deflected from the ruling party to the strongest opposition party before the next election on seeing that there were little chances of victory for the ruling party at the polls. The remaining two of us remained faithful to the ruling party. The election year came and we were defeated at the polls. The new government came in and began to investigate corrupt deals of the past government. Although, ours was not really a political crime; meaning it didn’t involve stealing or mismanagement of country’s fund kept in our trust, the crimes commission began to look into the personal lives of some politicians. This got us scared and the seven of us held an urgent secret meeting, we concluded that we would stop all illegal deals after we concluded the hanging fake drugs consignment and do our best to cover up our track. But unknowingly to I and Onwuli, my friend who was in my party, our counterparts in the new ruling party and the other two non-politicians had other plans. The only one out of the them who didn’t agree to their plans was found dead mysteriously several days after the meeting; I didn’t know it was connected to our meeting then’
Chief Gab took another pause and took a sip of the wine. He put back the cup on the stool and refilled it. ‘Unluckily for me, I was the one in charge of the execution of the last fake drugs consignment. Some of our secret documents were released to the police. The late minister of health was the NAFDAC chairman then, he didn’t show me pity at all. Jubril Lawal was the head of the law enforcement agency that handled my case; neither he showed any pity. I was indicted, found guilty in court and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for a crime that we all committed. Onwuli and his whole family were murdered when he tried to speak out for me’
Chief Gab paused and stood up, taking the cup of wine with him. ‘The last time I went to Onwuli’s family grave, I swore that I was going to repay everyone of them even if it was going to take my last breath’
Chief Nonso heaved a deep sigh as he stood up and stared straight at Chief Gab. He now understood why Chief Gab was bent on seeing the death of everyone on the list. Chief Onwuli’s family’s murder was a very gruesome one. Onwuli was made to see the bodies of each member of his family including the young ones chopped into pieces by the murderers and himself was given a poison that ki||ed him slowly. Onwuli was a saviour to Nonso, being the one who helped Nonso survive a life thr_@tening disease and also brought Nonso’s family out of pain and distress.
Chief Nonso let out another deep breath as he remembered the promise he made to Chief Onwuli seconds before the man gave up the ghost. Chief Onwuli had made him promise to stand by his friend, Gabriel in prison and also help him when he comes out. He also made the promise to assist Gabriel in wh@ťěver he does to take revenge for Chief Onwuli’s death.
‘So you see, we are delivering judgement to those who deserves it’ Chief Gab added, smacking his lips as he took in another sip.
‘None of them deserves to be left alive, they should all die’ Nonso said, giving a determined stare at Chief Gab. ‘I think we should even increase their pain, make their death as horrible as Chief Onwuli’s’
‘Yes’ Chief Gab agreed. He took another sip from the cup before speaking again. ‘And I’ve been thinking of something else’
‘What’s that?’
‘How to get rid of Tarasha after we finish all the enemies. She seems to be very powerful and fearless, she might become a thr_@t to us in the future’
‘So, what’s your plan?’
‘I don’t have any yet. I fear her myself’
Chief Nonso smiled. He gave Chief Gab an awkward look. ‘So you mean that with all the wisdom you’ve used to organise the big men’s destruction, you’re afraid of a little girl?’
Chief Gab hissed in reply first before thinking deeply on Nonso’s statement. He spoke again after a some seconds of horrible silence. ‘You’re right, no matter how powerful she seems to be, she is a small girl and she does not have the wisdom we have’
‘Exactly… She will just fall into a little trap set for her, we only need to be very wise’
+++++
11. 08 am
Henry drove quietly, in a solemn manner, listening to songs from the new album of veteran artiste, Asa. Her genre of music was the perfect one for his mood right now.
He had not remained himself since the day of the event. Several things had played down his memory in the last two days; including the pictures of the assassin and how he walked up to Jubril Lawal and murdered the man. But the strongest of the pictures were of Evelyn’s face. He kept seeing her in everything he did, even when he closed his eyes.
He tried to figure out what really happened between them, the passion he felt when she placed her head against his chest and when they kissed. Was it love or just lust was feeling? Maybe both. At the point they kissed, he had the lust for her whole body, he could already see her wrapped around himself, both of them unclad, he squeezing her B-__-bs in his hands. No, it had to stop if it was lust, he had determined in his heart, knowing that nothing borne out of lust would last. But he also felt something more in his heart, in his spirit. The desire to see her well even if he couldn’t have her body, the desire to see her happy. There was something in her eyes when he stared into it, something that showed him that she wasn’t happy although she always performed well in her bid to hide it.
Where she was now, he had no idea. Her line had been switched off since the last time he tried it, so all his attempts to track it were futile. He also tried again to get the customer’s information of her sim by hacking into the database of the network provider but there was still no information there. It had either been deleted or the information never existed. He couldn’t conclude yet.
Oh! And the Canadian number he was supposed to investigate. He finally concluded the investigation, though the client was no longer interested nor did was there any call to ask for it. The Canadian number was cloned, it had not even been issued out to any customer by the network provider in Canada. Henry found out that the user was in Africa because on tracking the last conversations restored from the backup of the network provider of his client’s line, he could deduce the maximum possible distance of the Canadian number, which was a distance within Africa.
All these discoveries were confirming Henry’s fear but he still refused to admit it. Evelyn claimed to be from Canada and was doing business with the late Jubril Lawal, it must have definitely been her number the man was investigating. Or how else could he explain that Evelyn only began to insist that he followed her to the party after she saw the number in his jotter? And what else was the explanation for her unregistered and now unreachable Nigerian line? It meant she must have destroyed the line since her mission had ended.
But with all these proofs, Henry still choose to believe that he was mistaken, he didn’t want to see her that way. He couldn’t get himself to think of her as a criminal. To him, she was someone who was in need of great help and he believed he could give her that help.
He remembered her outburst the first time he called the name “God” and attributed God to be a loving person while conversing with her . The pain he saw in her eyes that day was too much for a young woman like her to bear. She needed someone to show her love; real love and not one of segzual attraction.
Then he recalled her sharing the story of her family’s death with him. Going through such an horrible experience would most definitely affect one’s future and even control it if one finds no help.
She needed help, she needed love. That was all Henry could think, regardless of every other thing he had found out about her.
Henry finally got to his destination by twenty minutes past eleven. The security men searched his car before allowing him to pass in through the huge gates of Elymax hotel.
++++
The cabman zoomed off immediately after the new passenger entered. He cleared his throat and continued his conversation with Dakolo. ‘So what kind of company do you work in? What’s the name?’ He asked, looking into the top mirror.
‘Hmm…’ Dakolo paused and licked his lips as he thought of the best answer to give the man. ‘I’m a contractor who works per time for different companies, one of the firms I partner with has this urgent big building project here. That’s why I had to rush down’
‘Oh! Building contractor?’ The cab asked to affirm.
‘Yes’ Dakolo answered.
‘Cool…’ The man said with a short laugh. ‘When I was young I wanted to be a civil engineer but there was no money to further my studies after college, so I had to go through vocational training’
‘Oh! And what vocation were you trained for?’ Dakolo asked.
‘Carpentry’ the man answered with a smile. ‘I’m a carpenter’
‘Nice, but are you practising it?’
‘I was, I had to stop for some reasons. But I’m planning to go back to it once I raise enough money for capital’
‘Better, carpentry is a lucrative job. Do you make furnitures or you do roofing?’
‘I do both and I’m very good at it’
‘Wonderful, maybe I could even get you some jobs when you start’
‘Really?’
‘Sure, I can. But you’ll have to prove first that you’re really good at it’
‘Oh! That’s not a problem. Thank you sir, I’ll make sure I get your telephone number before I drop you off’
‘Okay’ Dakolo said. There was silence for some seconds.
‘What did you say sir?’ The cab man suddenly put in.
‘I only said okay’ Dakolo quickly answered.
‘Oh! Not you sir’ the cab man quickly corrected. He was facing the new passenger seated with him at the front.
‘Me?’ Jefa asked with a surprised tone.
‘Yes, I thought you were saying something to me’ the cab man replied.
‘No no’ Jefa denied strongly.
‘Okay. But hope there’s no problem sir. I noticed your mood since you entered’ the cab man spoke in a low voice.
‘Nothing, I was just thinking about a small issue’
‘Well, okay’ the cabman shrugged.
++++
‘Good morning miss’ Henry greeted as he approached the reception.
‘Good morning, you’re welcome to Elymax hotels. What can I do for you?’
‘I’m Henry George, from the NSCC’ Henry displayed his ID card.
‘Nigeria security cameras corporation’ the lady read aloud.
‘Yes’
‘Okay, what may I do for you?’
‘We’re investigating a particular case and I need information about one of your guests. I don’t know if she’s still here’
‘Humm… I think I have to refer you to someone else. I can’t handle your request’
‘Alright, please do that quickly’ Henry replied and paused. He turned to stare around the place while the lady was making a call with the landline.
‘Please come with me’ the lady dropped the call and walked out from behind the wall. She led him towards a corridor in the right direction.
They got to an office after walking a few metres and Henry was ushered in. A middle aged man on a black suit was seated in the office. The receptionist introduced Henry and left.
‘May I see your ID card again?’ The man asked after offering Henry a seat.
‘Here’ Henry took it out to show him.
‘So who’s this guest you’re investigating and what’s her crime really?’
‘No, she has not been accused or found guilty of any crime yet’ Henry corrected quickly. ‘We only need to get some of her personal details’
‘So you want to meet her and talk to her?’ The man raised a brow. ‘We do respect the privacy of our guests here and we won’t like to give out any information without proper verification of who needs it’
‘I don’t understand’
‘You’ve not showed us any licence yet or letter that proves that the NSCC sent you to get this information’ the man explained further.
‘Oh! I can get one now’ Henry said, bringing out his phone. ‘Via email’ he added. He dialed Sylvester’s number.
‘Wait, we can help you meet with the person if you want to’
Henry cut the call first. ‘I doubt if she’s still in your hotel’
‘Let’s find out, what’s her name?’
‘Evelyn… Evelyn Alexander’
‘Okay’ the man began to type into his computer system while Henry continued with his call.
‘Hello sir, could you please forward a permit for Elymax to my mailbox now? I need it in urgently’ Henry said into the phone. He inhaled lightly after getting a positive response and ended the call.
‘Evelyn Alexander was here truly, she paid for three weeks’ the man began. ‘But she has been gone for days without any word to us, we tried contacting her through our customer’s service but the number she dropped was unreachable’
‘Exactly… That’s why I need you to give me every information she supplied to your hotel’
‘Have you gotten the permit?’
++++
11.47am
The forty minutes journey finally came to an end as they drove into Elymax hotels. The cab man, being someone who knew his way around the hotel needed no security man to direct him to the right place to park. He quickly located the best available space and drove his car there.
‘Here is my card sir’ The cab man handed over his card to Dakolo after he turned off the car engine. ‘You can reach me if you need to cab to take you around town’
‘Sure’ Dakolo collected it cheerfully. ‘And make sure you do contact me with the number I gave you’
‘I will’ the cab man replied, counting the Naira notes given to him by Jefa. ‘It’s complete’ he said to dismiss Jefa and stepped out of the car afterwards. He walked to the back to open the boot. Jefa stepped out too and stared around the big building, not knowing the next place to go, he stood still.
Dakolo also stepped out and walked to the booth. The cab man handed over his small luggage to Dakolo and returned to his car after exchanging some few more words with him.
Dakolo turned and stared at the big hotel building where he was going to stay until the next day evening when he’s officially welcomed. He took two steps away from the cab as he heard the sound of the car’s ignition. He turned around to look at his surroundings and then he saw a familiar face.
‘You…’ He mumbled with a smile as he huried towards the young man trying to enter his car. Henry looked up. ‘Henry George’ Dakolo finally remembered the name.
‘Oh! Special agent…’ Henry tapped his nose continuously with a finger as he struggled to remember the name.
‘Agent Dakolo’ Dakolo quickly put in.
‘Wow!’ Henry closed back the car door and walked towards Dakolo, full of smiles. ‘It’s nice to see you again’ Henry said as they shook hands warmly.
‘Yeah, after so many years. How have you been?’
‘Fine sir, how about you?’
‘I’m fine.’ Dakolo said and stared warmly into his eyes. ‘Thank you for making me proud of you. My joy knew no bounds when I saw the news of your exploits on the TV and in the newspapers’
‘Thank you sir’ Henry smiled.
‘Thank God you didn’t allow that tragic occurrence affect your life. See what you’ve made of yourself now’
‘Thank you sir’ Henry’s face continued to beam with smiles. ‘Well, I had to let that go and focus on my future. You see, bad people get their rewards, even if it comes late’
‘Yes, you’re right. Just look at the way he and his father died, both on the same day. What a sorry life! ‘
‘Yea, although I heard the father was a generous man before his death and did many charity works ” Henry put in.
‘No matter the quantity of pure water added to dirty water, it can never make the dirty water pure. In his own case, the quantity of dirty water far exceeds the pure. The man already had so much blood in his hands. We couldn’t just get him because he was clever enough to eliminate all possible proofs’
‘Hmm… Well, what brings you here?’ Henry asked.
‘My job’ Dakolo smiled. ‘I was transferred here to handle some cases.’ He glanced at his wristwatch.
‘But why did you have to take a cab? Was there no provision to come pick you?’
‘There should be’ Dakolo said. ‘I was actually supposed to arrive tomorrow but I had to come today for some reasons’
‘Okay, so what state were you transferred from?’
‘Rivers state’
‘Oh! Well…’ Henry was cut short abruptly by the sight of someone walking by, the person paused and faced Henry. Dakolo turned to see the person at his back. It was the same man who was in the cab with him.
‘I gotta go now’ Dakolo said, handing a card to Henry. ‘Please give me a call tonight’ Dakolo said before walking away.
‘Alright sir’ Henry dipped the card into his pocket and turned up to faced Jefa. He walked slowly towards Jefa who stood still with a kind of timid look. ‘You again’ Henry said, recalling him as the man from the police interrogation and the one Evelyn was facing in the Catholic Church premises.
‘I…’ Jefa stuttered for a while. ‘I have come to see my sister’
‘Your sister?’ Henry asked in uttermost disbelief.
‘Yes, that lady is my sister’ Jefa said shakily.
Tarasha laid on the three seater sofa in the living room having a nap while Benny, Cole and Aisha engaged themselves with the ludo game at the balcony. Some flies could be seen in the living room as all the windows which had torn nets were opened because of the unbearable heat. But Tarasha was undisturbed, she was having a sound sleep.
Several circumstances had kept them behind after the operation. They couldn’t leave immediately because the security in the capital was still very stiff. After much thinking and putting of heads together, they finally planned to leave the following Monday; that is the day after the next day.
‘Ooh!’ Benny exclaimed as Aisha kicked back in the last of his eight tokens the third time. He was seated on a stool, with his shirt hanging around his neck. Aisha was seated on another stool directly facing Benny and they had the ludo board placed on two six inches blocks.
Cole was seated on another block, watching and making comments. He had already gone on several rounds of the game with Aisha and they ended up with a tie in scores.
The particular game between Aisha and Benny was even now, they both had one token each left and in the players yard. The first person to get a six would get the token out to begin the race to the finishing point. Aisha and Cole laughed at Benny as he heaved a sigh of frustration.
‘Homey, if you’re not careful, this will be the fifth time you’ll be beaten by a lady today’ Cole jested.
‘And that means I’ll actually spell his name’ Aisha added with a chuckle. ‘ 5 – 0, B-e-n-n-y’
‘Just watch and see, I’ll win this game’ Benny replied with a determined tone as he poured out the dice from the dice cup. He had four and five come up, he picked the dice into the cup and handed it over to Aisha for her own roll.
Aisha stared at his jestingly as she shook the dice cup. ‘Come on, play’ Benny said, getting impatient.
‘Two sixs’ Aisha said, laughing hilariously. She rolled again after shaking vigorously. ‘Six, two’ she rolled out the extra turn earned by reason of the two sixs
Benny took the dice cup from her in frustration, he avoided looking at Cole who was already making funny faces at him. He shook the cup from side to side in the same manner as Aisha, watching carefully as Aisha placed her token after counting.
Aisha and Cole stared at Benny’s face in suspense as he continued to shake the cup. He kept a smile on his face as if he was sure of the outcome of his new roll.
Kpaa… He landed the cup with so much force on the board and removed it. Aisha and Cole burst into heavy laughter as two ones stared at them from the surface of the dice.
‘Come on, play’ Benny hurried Aisha again, forcing himself not to give up.
Aisha took the cup and out she rolled again. Two sixs. Another round of heavy laughter came from Cole. Benny finally gave up, he got up from the stool with a smile of defeat.
‘I’m not playing again’ he announced as he walked into the house, ignoring Cole’s uncontrollable laughter. ‘Please, come and play one more now’ he could hear Cole calling to him jestingly as he proceeded into the room. He paused and stared at Tarasha who was asleep on the couch. He wished she could always look exactly the way she was looking now; gentle, peaceful and harmless. She should really be at peace with herself after such a successful operation.
‘Oooh’ Benny’s body trembled as Tarasha eyes popped open. She caught him feeding his eyes on her face. The gentle and peaceful face Benny was seeing seconds ago had changed into the normal Tarasha’s face. He quickly hastened his steps and rushed out of her sight.
Tarasha wiped off the sweat on her face and sat up, she glanced at the wall clock, it was just twelve pm. She couldn’t wait to get out of the Abuja and begin her new task. She was also now in a hurry to conclude all Chief Gab’s tasks and leave the country.
And Henry’s issue? She had settled it in her heart already. As far as she was concerned now , he was her greatest enemy that needs to be either taken out of her sight forever or out of the planet earth. That was her training, anything that returns emotion into her heart should not be allowed to live. People who have emotions are weak people; and weak people can’t live the right kind of life. So if Henry was stirring up emotions in her, he had to be moved out of her sight forever or ki||ed before he succeeds in making her weak. Her final resolve was to ki|| him when next he comes into her life.
++++
‘Your sister?’ Henry asked again to be sure of what he heard.
‘Yes, Omotara Danjuma is my kid sister’ Jefa replied.
‘Hahaha’ Henry suddenly burst into sudden laughter. Jefa who was startled by the outburst stared at him in confusion. ‘Omotara what again?’ Henry asked, trying to calm himself.
‘Omotara Danjuma’ Jefa answered him again, with so much conviction in his voice.
‘Okay, pardon me… I actually thought you were talking about somebody else. I’m sorry, I don’t know Omotara Danjuma.’ Henry said, cleaning his eyes as he spoke. ‘Does your sister work around here?’
‘I don’t know’ Jefa shook his head in negative. He took out the piece of paper from his front pocket.
‘Then why are you looking for her here? Did she get lost?’
Jefa read the contents of the paper to himself again. ‘I heard you guys mention Elymax that day’.
‘What day?’
‘The day you escaped from the kidnappers. After she came to me in the cathedral premises’
Henry made a quick flashback. Evelyn was standing before the man while he knelt by the statue of virgin Mary. But he didn’t hear them talk to each other. All that happened was a silent stare.
‘Evelyn?’
‘No, I don’t know Evelyn’ Jefa shook his head. ‘That girl you came to meet in the catholic church, the one you I saw you with in the police office is my sister’
‘Unbelievable!’ Henry exclaimed under his breath. ‘But you said Omotara Danjuma’ Cole asked again, aloud, this time with a serious tone.
‘Yes, that’s her name not Evelyn’
‘Omotara is a Yoruba name, I don’t think she’s Yoruba, she doesn’t look nor sound like one’ Henry retorted.
‘Yes, she didn’t grow up in …’
‘Hello Sirs’ someone interrupted, a security official. ‘You have to proceed into the main building please, you can stand here and have a discussion’
‘Okay’ Henry answered with a slow nod. He stared at Jefa’s face for some seconds thoughtfully. ‘Let’s go in for a discussion’ he said and turned back to the car to shut the door.
++++
‘Thank you’ Dakolo smiled as the attendant who helped him get his load to the room left. He sank into the bed and started to unbutton his shirt, also murmuring some words of prayers.
He sat up and took off the shirt completely. He flung it on the bed and laid back. His mind drifted back to his encounter with Henry several years ago. He was a junior agent in the force then and was not yet in the anti-asassination squad. He was at the office reception when Henry had rushed with a friend in tears, to report a gang of three guys who molested his sister to death. Dakolo took special interest in the case and did all he could do to get justice for Henry. But lack of funds and the culprit’s father’s influence did not let him go far in his fight for Henry. The culprit, Dare Lawal, was later acquitted and discharged by the court of law.
He remembered advising Henry then, to continue with his studies and not allow what happened affect his future. Now, the same Henry was known widely in the world for his exploits on the internet and for helping his country solve a severe security attack. His enemies too had been paid by nemesis in its own way.
Dakolo’s phone rang. His wife. He exhaled deeply before answering. ‘Hello dear… I just got to the hotel room… Thanks, I’ll call you later… I love you’ the call ended.
He got up from the bed to get his traveling bag. He opened the bag and took out a suitcase. He punched in the lock code and it opened. He brought out some documents and closed back the suitcase. He began to read through.
Before his arrival in Abuja, he had already began to receive messages on what he was going there to do. The new case of Jubril Lawal’s assassination also came up. He was going to be working with Officer Ken on that.
Jubril Lawal’s assassination was quite different from the recent past ones. Eyewitnesses had it that it was carried out by a man and he wasn’t accompanied by anybody. Officer Ken had also written in his report that it was highly possible that the crime was carried out by one of the security officials of the event centres as the escape routes used were only places known to them. Several of the security officials had been arrested and kept in the police custody for interrogation. Several sessions of torture and torments had occurred within the last two days but there was still no confession to show for it’
Dakolo’s phone rang again. Officer James was the one calling. ‘Hello officer’ Dakolo spoke cheerfully.
‘Good afternoon sir’ James greeted. ‘How was your trip?’
‘It was fine, thanks’
‘Alright, thank God. Yesterday, I received my letter of transfer also’
‘Transfer ?’ Dakolo replied, surprised.
‘Yes sir, coupled with the long overdue promotion’
‘Wow! Congratulations’ Dakolo rejoiced with him. The promotion had been long overdue truly. After several cases solved by James, the force still retained him as a special officer for so long, denying him the promotion and several other benefits.
‘Thank you sir’ James said without much excitement.
‘What’s wrong?’ Dakolo asked, noticing the unhappy voice.
‘Nothing sir, I’m really happy about the promotion part but I think the reason it’s happening is because of my inability to solve this Samantha Osman’s case. I overheard the IG saying that the minister wants more younger and zealous officers who are very hungry for promotion to handle the case’
‘Don’t think like that’ Dakolo said after heaving a sigh. ‘We’ve done our best based on the evidence gotten. Even the NSCC has a part to play in all these. If they’ve not been able to recover the lost footages or discover who interrupted the transmission of the security cameras, what are we supposed to use for our investigation. I believe we don’t have enough data to work with’
‘Sir, several years ago. Assassination cases were solved by the police without the use of the technology we use now. Why can’t we…’
‘Officer James’ Dakolo cut in. ‘Several years ago, Assassins do not use the kind of technology they use now. Several years ago, most top assassination cases like these spans for more than fifteen years, some even exceed thirty years without getting an headway. So you shouldn’t compare, the police force is better now’
James was quiet.
‘Don’t blame yourself, we’ll keep trying our best but be sure of this one thing’ Dakolo paused for a brief moment. ‘Good always prevail over evil’
‘Thank you sir’ James replied after another brief moment of silence, in a very low voice.
‘So where have you been sent to?’
‘Ilorin, Kwara State. I’m going to be working as a special agent in the anti-assasination squad also’
‘Sounds cool… Congratulations, just keep doing your best. We’ll prevail’
‘Thank you sir’
After few other talks, the call ended. Dakolo returned to his work, he continued reading through the documents. He paused as he saw something.
‘No recordings or videos footages found in the cameras security database. It has not been ascertained if there was any capturing or not’ he read. ‘Except for one photographer that is currently being interrogated, no journalist or member of the press was allowed into the event hall. Footages from the street cameras leading to and out of the event centres were also not found’ he read aloud to himself.
He just found a similarity between the new assassination case to the two others, there was no video capture of the Assassination process nor the escape. Could it be that the assassin works in or has an ally in the NSCC?
‘Oh $h|t!’ Dakolo cursed as Henry’s picture flashed back to his mind. He should have been the one to take Henry’s card, what if Henry forgets to call him. Henry might be greatly needed now to help in these cases.
++++
A great intensity of heat welcomed Benny as he walked into the room. He changed his direction and headed straight for the wardrobe. His previous plan was to come in and lay on the bed after he couldn’t stand the much beatings he got in the game from Aisha. Due to the unbearable heat in the room, he had changed his mind and decided to only change his trouser to shorts.
One of Cole’s trousers dropped to the ground as Benny opened the wardrobe. He bent to pick it up. A phone fell out of the phone. He picked up the phone and checked it, it was specially customised for a user. He opened the back to check the battery and closed it back. He switched on the phone.
Tears began to form in Henry’s eyes as he listened to Jefa’s narration of the Danjuma’s family disaster and how he got separated from the rest of his siblings. There was no difference between Jefa’s account from Evelyn’s. Henry could also see the same pain and torment that he saw in Evelyn’s eyes . But apart from the pain in Jefa’s eyes, there was something else that Henry couldn’t understand. It was the thirst for revenge.
‘So you think Evelyn does not recognize you?’ Henry cleared his throat and began after listening in silence for a long while.
‘Omotara’ Jefa corrected.
‘Sorry, Omotara’ Henry smiled softly.
‘I don’t think she knows who I am but I believe she felt a connection when she saw me’ Jefa answered.
‘Why didn’t you speak out then? You didn’t say anything, you could have called her by her real name, Omotara’
‘I didn’t know what to do’ Jefa sniffed in, more tears began to fall off his face. ‘I was so overwhelmed with the shock of seeing her, I didn’t know if I was ready to come back into her life. I was afraid to speak, I didn’t know how she would feel about me now, I couldn’t protect them as their eldest brother, I failed’ Jefa began to sob.
‘Wipe your face please’ Henry said and stretched out his hand to hold Jefa’s palm. He waited for Jefa to comply before he continued. ‘So what do you intend to do now?’ Henry asked.
‘I want to see her’ Jefa stated clearly, still wiping his face.
Henry paused for a while and closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. He opened his eyes and stared into Jefa’s. ‘I don’t know where she is now’ he said. ‘She doesn’t work here in Elymax, she only came to stay here for a while. I don’t have any idea of her whereabouts’
‘No, no, no’ Jefa’s body vibrated in fear, the fear of not seeing his sister again. He couldn’t stand the regrets that would follow him all his life when he remembers that he didn’t take the opportunity immediately when he saw her.
‘I came here to look for her also and I’ve not gotten any clue yet’ Henry added. He took out a folded paper from his pocket, he opened it up and stared into it. That was Evelyn’s details which she provided to the hotel. It was all fake. She claimed to be a visitor from Canada, including a fake house and Street address. Henry felt no hope of seeing her again.
‘I must find her’ Jefa said to himself, loud enough for Henry to hear.
‘We can find her’ Henry joined excitedly suddenly remembering something, he took out his Android phone. He unlocked the phone by drawing the security pattern. He clicked on an application which began to process.
‘I can get access to everybody’s database in the country as far as I’ve got their real names’ Henry boasted with a reassuring look to Jefa. ‘I once worked in the National Citizens Affairs and we have the details of every citizen who is above the age of eighteen’
Henry could really gain access, illegal access though. He would have to hack into the country’s online database.
The application was taking time to load. ‘So where have you been all these years?’ Henry asked, trying to while away time.
‘It’s a long story…’ Jefa was about to begin.
‘Okay, okay’ Henry interrupted, the application had finished booting. ‘What did you call her full name again?’
‘Omotara Danjuma’ Jefa answered.
Henry typed in the name and clicked a command which began to process. Several options began to appear, in thirty seconds, there were over twenty options with middle names and it was still loading.
‘Humm… Could you tell her middle name so I can narrow down my search’
‘Omotara Cindy Danjuma’
Henry cleared the search and added the third name, the search process began again. This time only four options appeared. Henry clicked on the first option and it began to load. After sometime, it showed an error page. Jefa stared into the phone intently, though he didn’t understand what Henry was doing.
‘Oops! Inaccessible’ Henry read aloud to himself. That means that he couldn’t access the details from his IP address even if he could access the site. He smiled to himself. Other Nigerian developers were growing fast too, they have been able to add more security to the database. But it wasn’t something that could stop Henry permanently, he only needed more time.
A phone call from Sylvester interrupted. ‘Please, I have to answer this’ he said to Jefa before answering. ‘Hello sir’
‘Mr Henry, where are you at?’ Sylvester’s voice came hastily from the other end.
‘Somewhere around town’ Henry answered, surprised at the question.
‘Please, we need you in the office right away. We have some urgent questions to answer’ Sylvester said. Henry could have refused but Sylvester’s tone sounded really urgent.
‘Okay, I’ll be there in few minutes time’ Henry replied.
‘We’ll be waiting for you please’ Sylvester said and the call ended.
‘I have to go now’ Henry said to Jefa who was already staring at him expectantly. He stood up immediately.
Jefa stared at Henry with a pity face, looking like his last object of hope was about to disappear.
‘Can I get your phone number too?’ Henry asked after handing Jefa his business card.
Jefa called out the digits for him and Henry stored it in his phone. ‘Where are you going? Maybe I could drop you off the way’ Henry offered, taking out his car key from his pocket.
Henry’s phone beeped again. His device locator had a notification, one of his tracked devices had just been located. Henry ignored the notification temporarily and walked out of the building with Jefa.
~~
The phone booted with a medium volume power tone. Benny waited patiently for it to boot so he could see the features in it but he was disappointed when it finally booted, it was protected with a password. He flung the phone back into the wardrobe and picked out his shorts. He quickly changed into his shorts and left the room.
Tarasha was seated upright when he passed the living room, he avoided looking at her and walked out straight to join Cole and Aisha.
‘You’re back again for more?’ Cole taunted. Cole and Aisha were already in the middle of a round. Cole had taken Benny’s former seating position which was opposite Aisha so Benny opted for the available space which Cole used before.
‘I’m not ready for you today’ Benny replied Cole. ‘I’ll deal with you both some other time’
‘Okay, let’s hope so’ Cole said with a short laugh.
‘Who’s got that phone you have inside?’ Benny asked Cole.
‘Which one?’
‘It doesn’t have a label. It dropped from one of your trousers’
Cole hissed. ‘I don’t really know who has it, I picked it from the car we rented for the last operation and I’ve been expecting for the Boss to ask if it’s hers. I think it’s for the guy that was in the car with us’
‘Okay, but you better ask the boss. It’s useless to you anyway’
‘Useless? Because it’s passworded?’ Cole questioned. ‘I could flash it if I have need of it’
‘Just speak to the boss about it’
‘It’s not hers jare’ Cole sounded convinced.
‘Then why are you keeping it?’
Cole paused to stare at him. ‘Don’t you see it’s not an ordinary kind of phone. It may be useful for something’
Benny shook his head at Cole’s stubbornness. ‘It’s okay, as you wish’
~~
‘Hello Chief Gab’ Tarasha spoke into the phone in a pleasant voice.
‘Tarasha, how are you?’ Chief Gab sounded cool and happy.
‘Fine Chief, thanks’
‘Okay, how soon are we going to see again?’
‘See again? Who says we’re going to see again?’
‘I mean about the next job’
‘How many of our targets do we still have left?’ Tarasha drifted a bit and asked a question which kept Chief Gab mute for seconds.
‘Two’ he finally said. ‘Two main targets but more enemies may come up along the line’
‘Send me details of the two and let’s see how we can take them out together at a time’
‘Do you think it would be possible that way?’
‘I have to get their details first to be able to analyze that. We have no options than to try it that way. Things are getting more complicated and the country is tightening up their security’
‘Alright, I’ll mail them to you now but do you know our deal does not end with the death of the targets?’
‘What ends the deal?’
‘It’s a two year deal’
‘So you’re gonna keep me even if there’s no job to do?’
‘There’ll always be a job to do’ Chief Gab sounded confident.
Tarasha paused and took in a deep breath. ‘Send me the details as soon as possible’ she said before ending the call.
~~
Dakolo’s job had began already, he was already in the NSCC’s head office for questioning. Part of the reason he had come to Abuja before his official arriving date was to make some secret personal investigation.
He had just seen Mr Sylvester, the head of operation in the corporation and asked him about the steps the corporation was taking to stop the recent security breaks.
‘While we are not assuring you of finding the source of the previous disruptions, we are doing our best to ensure that none of it happens again’ Mr Sylvester had answered.
‘But what about the one which happened recently here in your backyard?’ Dakolo had replied him.
Sylvester replied with a shocking look. ‘What do you mean? Which one happened here?’
‘Oh! You’re not aware that there was no transmission from the street cameras all close to the location of the recent assassination during the time of assassination and two hours after it’
‘Which one are you talking about?’ Sylvester still looked ignorant.
‘Chief Jubril Lawal’s assassination on his birthday’ Dakolo stated.
‘No, nothing like that has been reported. There was no failure from our systems that day’ Sylvester refuted.
Dakolo gave a mock chuckle. ‘Okay, can I see all footages from the street that day?’ Dakolo then requested.
‘Of course, I can get that for you now’ Sylvester began to punch commands hastily into his computer system. After minutes of searching and not finding anything, Dakolo’s allegation began to seem true to him. He put a call to the NSCC official in charge of the assassination area to report and waited some minutes for reply. The official couldn’t find any record too. Dakolo had no other choice than to call on Henry. Things were getting out of hand already and he was scared that he could lose his job if it was mentioned in the public that even he as the chairman of the corporation had no knowledge of their recent system failure. He silently thanked God that the police had not released information about it to the press.
Henry arrived some few minutes later and went into a secret room where Sylvester was waiting for him.
‘Mr Henry’ Sylvester got up from his seat as Henry walked in. ‘Here’ Sylvester handed a document he just printed to Henry after offering him a handshake. He ushered Henry to a seat behind the computer.
‘There was a breach on Thursday?’ Henry asked with a flabbergasted tone.
‘Yes, I didn’t believe it too when I was told ‘ Sylvester joined in. ‘And to think that the incompetent fools in charge of the area did not notice anything nor did they make any report’
Henry remained silent for some minutes and focused his attention on the computer. ‘But why was there no alert? Or alarm raised by the system?’
‘Sir, there have always been no alarm raised since the security breaks started’
‘And does that also mean that…’ Sylvester’s phone rang aloud interrupting their conversation.
‘The agent’ Sylvester whispered before answering the call. ‘Hello… I’m coming with him already’
‘Do we have to go now?’ Henry whispered back.
‘Yes, I’ll be there with him in some few minutes’ Sylvester concluded with his call before answering Henry. ‘Let’s go explain things to this man. He’s a top security agent, his report about us could cost me my job’
Henry had no choice than to smile at the sound of the word “job” from Sylvester again. The man was always scared of losing his job. ‘Okay, let’s go’ Henry got up from the seat.
Few minutes later, they walked into the room where Dakolo was seated. Dakolo who was facing front turned back his swivel at their entrance.
‘Oh! Henry’ Dakolo was first to notice.
‘Officer Dakolo’ Henry was surprised too.
‘Agent Dakolo’ he corrected.
‘Sorry, agent Dakolo’ Henry said with a smile.
There was an handshake between them again. ‘Are you by any chance the person I’ve been waiting for?’ Dakolo asked.
‘I guess so’ Henry replied, turning around the table to seat behind the computer.
‘So you’ve been working with NSCC?’ Dakolo asked.
‘I’ve actually come to help for a short time. I joined few weeks ago’ Henry answered.
Sylvester was smiling sheepishly as he watched the two talk like people who have been friends for a long while. He believed that things would work out easier now and the Agent wouldn’t be too mad at the corporation, and his “job” would be secured
‘Thank God I have you here, I was already thinking of calling you in. Well, I’m here in respect of the recent breaks in streets cameras transmission’
‘I’m aware sir, I’ve actually been working on a program that would stop the breaks permanently, although it may not guarantee us the real locations of those who try to break it’
‘So, can you try locate those who did the recent one? How come you guys were not even aware?’
‘Truly, the guys monitoring the place were not vigilant enough’ Henry replied.
‘d@mn! They were too careless’ Dakolo said. ‘Has anyone of them been queried?’ Dakolo asked. He received no answer from Henry who had turned his full focus to what he was doing on the computer. Dakolo turned to Sylvester for an answer. Sylvester shook in fear, not knowing what to say, he stared at Henry, hoping he’ll come to his aid.
‘Wow!’ Henry exclaimed and exhaled through his mouth. ‘These guys are intelligent!’
‘Which guys?’ Dakolo asked. Sylvester also seemed very interested.
‘The guys involved in this crime’ Henry said, relaxing back into the swivel. ‘What they actually do is to deceive those monitoring the transmission and footages. They stop the cameras from transmitting and send signals of repeat transmission of previous days to the monitors . So the supervisors would not notice there was anything until they are asked to provide the tapes’
‘Interesting! So you mean there was something playing on the screens of those monitoring it while the real transmission had already stopped?’
‘Yes, the only places that would not receive the fake signals is here in the headquarters, in the Lagos head office and head police cameras division. These places have the direct servers while the others don’t’
‘Then why wasn’t it noticed here?’ Dakolo asked.
‘There’s no way we can monitor everywhere at the same time. That’s why branches were set up’
‘So, what are we going do now?’
‘We’ve only just found out the mode of the failure, we can be able to find a solution now’ Henry said softly. ‘But as for finding the source of the failure, we have less than 1% probability. The hacker who did this is smart and would definitely lead one into a trap if we’re desperately trying to follow his already covered tracks. He’ll just create another track leading to his trap . That explains what happened to Robin Kahn and his men’
The email containing the details of the remaining targets came in few minutes after Tarasha’s conversation with Chief Gab. She began her research immediately and was already gathering vital information about the targets. But Chief Chief Gab also sent her a summary of their profiles.
Nasiru Attahiru, the next on the list, according to Chief Gab’s plan was formerly one of Chief Gab’s close associates before the take over of a new government after the elections in the year 2016. Then, he was just a politician, in the same party as Chief Gab until 2015, a year before the election year when he switched to the strongest opposition party after it seemed to be growing stronger than the ruling party. He also vied for the position of a senator in the Kaduna state house of assembly in the same year. He was successful and remained in the office for eight years. In the year 2024, he attempted to run for the governor’s seat but failed woefully in his party’s primaries because most of his party members were still finding it hard to trust him, majorly for his undefined reason for switching parties. But that didn’t deter him from contesting for other positions. As a business tycoon, he had enough money to keep buying the forms and to carry out massive campaigns. He only needed to put on better strategies.
He used the next three years before another election to move closer to and buy the trust of the party heads and most of its members. When 2028 came, he didn’t contest for the governorship position again but waited until both the presidential and governorship elections were over. He was actually interested in the seat of the Senate President. He won the seat without stress and had since then been the number three citizen of the nation.
Elvis Richards, the last on the list, was the current vice President of the nation. He had been serving in the government for more than sixteen years. During the time of his association with Chief Gab and the rest six, he was the Deputy governor of Lagos state. He was a part of the major heads that came together to form the strong opposition party before the year 2016 and ousted the seating government. During his tenure as the Deputy governor, he and his head looted the state treasury but did it in such a way that the masses believed they were actually working for them.
Before his service as the Deputy governor, he was the commissioner of police for the state. Ruthless and cruel he was to criminals, the crime rate of the state reduced to the lowest minimum while he was there. But he was also vicious himself, while he punished other criminals ruthlessly, he was always an hardened criminal, sponsoring several criminal acts secretly. Elvis Richards during his eight years tenure as the deputy governor was the mastermind and pioneer of the coalition between the seven friends including himself, Chief Gabriel, Chief Onwuli, Chief Jubril, Chief Nnamdi, Chief Nasiru and Chief Rufai. Four out of the seven were dead already; two were ki||ed recently by an unknown assassin for reasons unknown. Elvis Richards spearheaded the group activities and introduced them to the major illegal business deals. He also supervised the gruesome murders of Chief Onwuli and Chief Rufai.
After the new government came resumed in 2016, Chief Elvis was called to service again. He was to take charge of the Nation’s security. He did his job faithfully and worked tirelessly to curb all crimes and ensure safety, finally putting a stop to his own criminal activities, mainly because he thought of his children’s future and didn’t want them to be in trouble because of him. It was during these eight years that better security measures like the use of security cameras and other forensic innovations were put to place. After, he took a four years break from 2024 to 2027. In 2027, he was appointed by his party to contest alongside the seating President. That’s how Elvis Richards rose to be the number two citizen of the nation.
The next two jobs would be tougher than the last three put together, Tarasha could envisage. But it would be done, she was sure, she only needed to get close to the targets and plan very well.
Tarasha rose up from her sofa and stretched her body. She shifted the centre table away and began to do some acrobatics to exercise herself. She stopped after some minutes and picked up a face towel hung on the backrest of the sofa to wipe the sweat on her body. She then proceeded outside to the balcony where the others were playing the ludo game.
There was a pause when she opened the curtains and stood by the door. The three gamers turned to look at her, they turned back to their game when she didn’t say anything. She stepped away from the balcony and walked into the compound. She got to the side where about fifty six inches building blocks were neatly arranged. She picked one and carried it back to the balcony. She erected it beside Benny to sit.
‘Come sit here boss’ Cole offered, trying to show some respect.
‘No, thanks’ she calmly refused.
Cole turned back to his game but couldn’t concentrate anymore, he was stealing glances at the boss’s face. Aisha was not fully concentrating too. It seemed they all had the same thing in mind. It was strange for the boss to sit with them and watch them play. The expression showing on her face even revealed that she was enjoying watching them play and that surprised them further. Benny and Aisha were happy about it, they thought it would be nice if she could only be as friendly as she was now at all times but Cole was still indifferent.
Except for Cole who had a clue, none of them had really come to understand their boss; none knew that she controlled the expressions on her face. She could keep a happy smile on even if she was greatly infuriated. She was trained not to have emotions, so how could she express what she didn’t have. The only emotions she was permitted to express sometimes were anger and h@ťě. But she was trained specially to use her facial expressions to manipulate people and use them for her purposes.
‘I’ll be playing the next game with you, let’s make it a four man game’ Tarasha surprised them further, surprising Cole more
‘So you can play boss?’ Cole teased happily. It seemed to him now that she was expressing real emotions.
‘I’ve learnt it’ Tarasha replied.
‘Just now?’ Cole asked again.
‘Yes, how long does it take to learn it?’ She asked.
‘It depends on individuals’ Cole replied. ‘But I’m sure this is not the first time you watched someone play it’
‘I’ve seen something like this called Mandavoshka, and I also saw you play this yesterday’
‘Just yesterday?’ Cole asked. She nodded in affirmation.
‘Hehe’ Cole replied with a chuckle. ‘It’s time to teach the boss some lessons’ he said in his mind.
The time came for the four man game. Tarasha began well with the basics, she knew the number needed to leave the players home and could count very well. But out of inexperience, she took out all the tokens at a time and Aisha who was the gamer before her took the advantage and began to send all her tokens back in.
Tarasha came last in all four rounds they played, but except for Cole who mocked a little with chuckles and smiles, the two others couldn’t make fun of her openly like they would of themselves.
‘We may not be leaving Abuja for now’ Tarasha announced as Cole shook the dice cup to make his roll.
He paused and looked up. Benny and Aisha also fixed their eyes on her. ‘We have two new targets and they live in Abuja’ she explained further.
‘We need to start work as soon as possible, these two jobs are going to require a lot from us; we have to make a lot of research and take a lot of risks’ she paused and smiled on seeing the expression on their faces. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be paid handsomely’
‘Play’ she said to Cole who was still shaking the dice cup. Three of them still fixed their eyes on her, they were expecting one last thing.
‘The Senate President and Vice President are our next targets’ she announced. They were dumbstruck. The eagerness to continue with the game left them at once.
+++++
5pm
‘Mallam Jefa!’ Someone hailed as he walked into the shop. Jefa replied him by raising his two hands in the air. His customers had already filled the shop like every normal evening and he was very busy. About fifteen guys and two ladies were in the shop.
‘Oga Jefa, where you go since all these days na?’ The customer asked of his whereabouts in pidgin English.
‘I’ve been busy with some personal issues’ Jefa answered, less enthusiastically.
‘Hope you’re back now?’
‘I hope so. I might get busy again soon’
‘Please, don’t get busy o’ the guy pleaded with a serious tone. ‘These last two days that you didn’t open, I went to sleep without having dinner ‘
Jefa smiled. ‘Iko, what do you want?’
‘Get me some… ‘ he was saying when they heard a disturbing sound.
‘Are you crazy? Who the hell do you think you are?’ Two of Jefa’s customers had begun a fight. From the look of things especially the fighters’ demeanours, it was obvious that they had both had some portion of weed before coming to eat.
Before Jefa could make any move, one of the fighters had bent down to break a bottle but the second guy smashed a stool on his head before he tried to look up. Things were getting out of control already. The other customers, instead of separating the fighters began to take sides with the one they know. Soon, chairs, bottles and plates were flying everywhere.
~~
**9.30pm**
Henry let out a deep breath as he ki||ed the engine. He turned off the headlights but remained in the car. His Saturday had been unusually hectic, unlike other weekends when he had the whole day to himself.
He made a quick flashback of all he had done that day. From his visit to Elymax and the incidental meeting with Dakolo, his meeting with Jefa also. Jefa didn’t let him go that until he confirmed that Henry had given him his real phone number and address. Then his work in the office; Dakolo’s appearance had caused so many things to be revealed, so many flaws in the NSCC system and need to improve.
He took out his phone from his pocket, he hadn’t touched it for a while. He had five unseen notifications; one from his device locator, two text messages and two from social networks. He clicked on the device locator notification.
After some processing, the app displayed the text “HGE device located” and read it out at the same time. Henry’s eyes widened in disbelief. He clicked on “more details” immediately. It displayed a map, a green dot was specifying the exact location of the device found.
‘Gwagalada’ Henry muttered to himself. He zoomed the exact location on the map, read out the street and house address to himself.
~~~
**The next day**
6am
As usual, Tarasha was the first to get up from bed. She walked out to take a cup of water and returned into her room to change into her workout clothes. After about an hour of workout, she returned into the house. Aisha was also up already and was busy in the kitchen.
Tarasha picked up her tablet device and switched it on. She laid back on the bed and waited for it to boot. After three minutes, she picked it up again. She drew the security pattern. Her eyes met something and she looked suddenly alarmed, a warning alert popped up. She sat up quickly and placed it on her laps. She began to type in commands speedily using the keyboard. Her fears were confirmed, someone from the same building was sending out location signals. There was a traitor amongst them.
She got up hurriedly and dashed out of her room, shouting Cole and Benny’s names. Without waiting for them to respond, she proceeded to their room and kicked the door open. Cole and Benny had been woken by her voice already and was hurrying to put on their clothes.
‘Where are your phones?’ Tarasha barked at the guys who were still in their underwear. They seemed perplexed and gave no answer, staring at each other’s faces.
‘Bring out all your devices and join me in the living room now’ she said before slamming the door.
‘Aisha’ she called out too. Aisha quickly walked out of the kitchen. ‘Leave wh@ťěver you are doing, go and bring your phone and every other device you have with you.’ Aisha replied with a nod and hurried up to her room.
In less than two minutes, Benny, Cole and Aisha had assembled into the living room with all their phones and devices, waiting. They stood in front of the three seater sofa side by side on a straight line. Tarasha wasn’t there, only her tablet could be seen on one of the sofas.
She came out a minute later, loading bullets into a short gun while a long gun was hung around her arm.
‘Who is the traitor here?’ She said as she finished loading the gun. The whole building was silent, fear gripped their hearts as they watched their boss thr_@ten, she looked like one who was really ready to ki|| them.
‘Where are your devices?’ Tarasha asked, pointing for them to drop all the devices on the centre table. They complied. ‘Switch on everything’ Tarasha ordered. Cole and Aisha returned to the table to power on theirs and returned to the line. There was a total of seven devices on the table. Cole had four due to the nature of his job. Aisha had two while Benny owned the remaining one.
Tarasha moved closer to the table, staring at their faces carefully. She pocketed the small gun and picked up her tablet device from the sofa. She moved it over the devices for a period of one minute, scanning to know which device was connecting with the outsider. She had to find the device quickly to know the location of the outsider.
She stepped back and stared at their faces, shaking her head in pity for them. ‘These are not all the devices in this house’ she said as she tossed back her own device to the sofa. She took out gun pointed it at them.
Benny raised up his hand, ‘there’s one more’ he said with fear in his voice, but he kept a straight face trying to act like a strong man who wasn’t scared to die.
‘Where’s it?’
Benny pointed towards their room, Tarasha signaled for him to go get it. He left and returned a minute later with the phone that fell off from Cole’s pocket. ‘Let me have it’ Tarasha said and Benny handed it over. Her device began to beep loud as she brought them closer. That was what she was looking for.
‘Who owns this?’ She asked after scrutinizing it.
There was no answer.
‘Who owns it?’ Tarasha repeated again. They all kept quiet. Benny felt the urge to say that it was Cole’s but he remained quiet, not wanting to betray a brother.
Tarasha Ç0çƙed the gun. Aisha began to tremble visibly while the men remained as they were physically, but already dead on the inside.
‘I brought it in’ Cole finally said.
Tarasha stared at him in disbelief for some seconds. ‘How much were you paid for this?’ She focused her gun to his forehead.
Her finger was about to touch the trigger when she began to hear footsteps approaching the doorpost. She turned her head back towards the door. The footsteps seized for a while.
‘I don’t own it, I took it from the car we …’ Cole wanted to explain.
She turned back in anger to $h00t but her hands dropped as a knock sounded on the door.
… To be continued