‘You don’t know anything about the attack that morning?’ James questioned the elderly man.
‘No, I don’t’
‘So why have you been trying to avoid talking to the police?’
‘I didn’t deliberately hide from the police, I was scared that those that attacked the warehouse may also come for me’ the man replied.
‘You were scared because your hands are not clean’
‘No, I don’t know anything; my hands are clean’
‘But you were involved in the illegal business that happened that night’
‘It wasn’t illegal, sometimes we work overnight and we get paid extra; that’s what happened’ the man explained
‘What kind of product did you people sell to them?’ James continued
‘What else do we sell my son? We sell beverages’
‘But you have several beverage products’
‘Yes, the one those guys came for that night was tin milk’
‘Okay, those guys. Do you know them? How frequently do they patronize you people?’
‘I don’t know them , but it seems Oga Felix knew them from the way he related with them’
‘Hmm’ James paused and scanned through a book. ‘There’s no record of that night’s sales in the sales book’
‘Ermm, I don’t know about that. My job was just to load the van’
‘That means you joined Mr. Felix to carry out an illegal business; there are no former records of the goods in your stock and there are no records of the sales’
‘No o, its not illegal’ the man replied, already frightened.
‘It is…’ James phone rang, interrupting his interrogation.
‘A body found?’ James eyes widened as he stood up from his seat.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Okafor Nnamdi’ Chief Gab called loudly and squinted his eyes, as he and his friend, Chief Nonso stared at the picture of the man bearing the name he called.
Okafor Nnamdi was the NAFDAC president appointed to work during the years 2016 – 2020. He was appointed few days after the new President was sworn in. He carried out his job perfectly nabbing several fake drug producers and marketers including Chief Gab, he also rejected Chief Gab and other offenders at every attempt that was made to bribe him which made him become h@ťěd by several corrupt politicians and government officials but loved by citizens of the country for his good job.
Okafor Nnamdi was the first person but least important on Chief Gab’s revenge list, he was desperate to make the man breathe his last.
‘Can you carry out this job?’ Chief Gab turned to a huge muscular man who stood by his side, the man was the head of Chief’s thugs. ‘I want him dead’
‘Hmm Chief’ the guy gave a short timid chuckle. ‘This one might not be that easy; ki||ing him might not be hard but getting away will definitely be, due to the tight security system’
‘Shut up! Idiot’ the Chief barked angrily at the guy and turned to his friend. ‘This is what am saying; these guys are bunch of lazy goats, I know that they won’t be able to carry out this mission’
‘Its okay Gab. I think if we are able to supply this guys with everything they need, they’ll be able to carry out the job’ Chief Nonso supported the guy, looking at his face for confirmation of his suggestion. ‘Or isn’t it?’
‘Chief, you don’t understand; it’s not about ki||ing him but after ki||ing him’ the thug began his explanation. ‘It might not be too hard for us to break his personal security, that’ll be done if we get…’
‘If you get?’ Chief queried as the guy paused, looking more confused now.
‘There’s no how we can even get to him’ he said after thinking deeply. ‘There are security systems and cameras that would have announced our presence before we get to him’
‘Just get out of here and stop talking lazily’ Chief Gab ordered.
‘So what’s the other plan now?’ Chief Nonso asked.
‘I knew these guys aren’t capable since when they messed up and almost implicated us the last time, so I already ordered for a trained Assassin from Russia’
‘From Russia? How?’
‘Huh? You’re asking me how?’ Chief Gab laughed loudly. ‘From one of my business partners in Russia; he sent me a Nigerian, a product of one of the raw materials I sent him over fifteen years ago’
‘I don’t understand’ Chief Nonso looked confused.
‘Don’t worry, you’ll understand later. I will speak to her and send her the details we need’
‘Huh? A female?’
‘Yes, female. But she does better than a lot of guys’ Chief Gab laughed again as he answered.
‘When would she come here? I would love to see her’
‘Hmm, that’s the question to which I don’t have an answer’ Chief Gab smiling face turned serious. ‘I’ve not even seen her face, she talks to me on phone and chats on Skype but she wears a mask to conceal her face’
‘What? That’s nonsense’
‘No, Vladislav says she’ll reveal herself when it is time. I only hope that the time would be soon’
‘But where does she stay?’ Chief Nonso asked more questions.
‘She stays very close to Gravl avenue I believe, she refused to stay in the house I prepared for her before she arrived, she even ducked us at the airport when we went to welcome her’
‘Hmm, interesting’ Chief Nonso shook his head, trying to reason out all that he just heard about the female assassin.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Hello Tarasha’ a voice came on as Tarasha accepted the Skype call from Chief Gab. Chief Gab was smiling as he spoke, sitting by his side was another middle aged man staring intently at the screen.
‘Good morning Chief’ Tarasha replied as she poured the wine into the champagne glass cup.
‘Do you sleep with your mask on?’ Chief Gab asked jokingly. ‘I didn’t expect to see it on you this early morning’
‘I’m in my office already Chief, the mask is part of the compulsory dress code for my job’ Tarasha replied back with a cheerful tone.
‘And you’re comfortable sipping your wine with the mask on?’
‘Chief’ Tarasha called more seriously. ‘I don’t do jokes during official hours, so go straight to your reason for the call’
‘I have another job for you Tarasha, I want you to take down someone. He’s the country’s Minister of health’
‘Minister of health? Why do you need to take him down?’
‘I have my reasons, yours is just to do the job’
‘Yeah Boss, sorry for asking’ She chuckled. ‘Send me every detail you’ve got, I’ll review and get back to you’
‘I’m forwarding the details to your mailbox already, you’ll get it in the next few seconds’
‘Okay Boss, so hope you’re not gonna play tricks this time?’ Tarasha asked with scorn in her voice.
‘No Tarasha’ Chief laughed briefly. ‘I think I’ll go by our former agreement, I’ll pay you monthly’.
‘Monthly?’
‘Yes monthly, that’s the deal I made with Vladislav’
‘Okay?’
‘But I can’t afford much at the moment, lets make it five thousand dollars monthly for now’
‘Five thousand dollars?’
‘Yes’
‘It’s okay, agreed’
‘Agreed?’ the Chief face lit with joy, clearing showing his surprise at her acceptance of the deal.
‘Yes, but you’ll provide all the capital needed and…’
‘Capital…?’
‘Calm down Chief, the capital just includes the guns, bullets, cars, computer systems and other little things I’ll make use of’
‘Okay, I accept’ Chief Gab reluctantly agreed, ignoring the awkward stares he was getting from Chief Nonso from time to time.
‘Good, and the salary would always come in at the beginning of the month’ Tarasha added.
‘What tha…’
‘Deal or no deal Chief?’
‘I can’t…’
‘I’m not a market woman that negotiates; tell me if you’re not ready, I’ve got other things to do’ She said bluntly. ‘Or why do you think I’m taking that little?’
‘No o, it’s not possible’ Chief Nonso added with his shaky voice. ‘How can…’
‘Agreed Tarasha’ Chief Gab cut in after thinking for a moment
‘What? Agreed? What if she doesn’t get the job done?’ Nonso fumbled.
‘She dare not fail’ Chief Gab replied, calming his friend as he gave a strict look, his eyes facing the webcam directly.
‘Good Chief, we’re good to go’ Tarasha finally spoke, after laughing out loud at the drama going on at the other side. ‘Don’t look at me like that, I won’t fail you. I’ll start working on the job once I get the alert for this month’
James untied his necktie as he dropped into his office seat, he had been out all morning with members of his team. Earlier that day, he received a call informing him about the discovery of a dead body just by the gate of a house winch was only few metres from the warehouse. The body was later identified to be Mr Felix, the manager of the warehouse.
After hours of roaming the estate and interrogating people; especially those who stayed in the house whose gate the body was found, James and his team returned to the office with no substantial clue about how the body was dropped there.
‘Do you care for juice?’ Sandra asked as she walked into the office with a glass cup and a juice pack.
‘No, thanks’ James replied, adjusting himself on the seat properly.
Just then Segun, the third occupant of the large office walked in, he curtsied to James and Sandra who were already seated before he walked to his own table.
Segun and Sandra were the top officers in the team headed by Inspector James and worked closely with him at all times. Segun was the officer who visited the injured man in the hospital with James and was also the one who called that morning to inform him about the body that was found.
‘Sir’ Segun spoke up after watching hos boss for sometime, he took a look at Sandra who was busy with other things and looked less worried. ‘It’s a pity that the security cameras around that street aren’t working anymore, I think the government has to do something quick about it, it would have provided us with more information’
‘Yea, the government has to do something about it’ James replied, wiping his face with an handkerchief. ‘But I don’t think we would have gotten much from it’
‘Why do you say that sir?’
‘I believe the body was laid there late in the night; that’s why nobody saw them. The cameras wouldn’t be able to show us clear images even if it was recorded’ James answered
‘Hmm, that means they don’t just have to make sure it’s working, they also have to improve the quality of the cameras’ Sandra joined.
‘This is 2030 for God’s sake, how can these things not be working properly? And they expect the police to perform magic’ Segun complained bitterly. ‘Everything is just messed up in third country, the government, it’s officials; nothing to write home about’
‘It is high time we stopped laying blames on the government for our personal inefficiencies and take responsibility for ourselves; our jobs’ James said, looking at Sandra and Segun’s faces one after the other. ‘Fifteen years ago, Nigeria was not like this; it was far worse, so we should be grateful to God that we have a better environment’
‘But look at other countries sir’ Segun argued. ‘They use better technology to aid their security systems, but here in Nigeria; the government keeps misusing, funds and fabricating stories for the public’
‘No, you’re wrong Segun; things are far better than they used to be’ James maintained his position. ‘Now we are living up to the name “Giant of Africa”, we are the best in Africa in terms of technology and development and we are doing better than several other non African countries that used to be ahead of us’
‘But we as the police needs some very vital things for… ‘Segun was arguing when James interrupted again.
‘No Segun, we don’t have any excuse not to do our job well. In years past, several criminal cases like the ones we have now have been solved by the police with very little level of technology or even no technology at all. I believe if everyone would play his part properly then we wouldn’t have problems with our work’ James said with seriousness in his voice, totally silencing Segun and Sandra as they pondered deeply on his words.
The office was silent for some minutes; the threeofficers got deeply engrossed with the computers on their table.
‘Boss’ Segun called to James, he scratched his head as he seemed to remember something. ‘I think we need to look into this matter of the guys on patrol that met those guys in the midnight’
‘We’re already doing that’ James replied, ending his typing on the keyboard. He looked towards Sandra who was already looking at him too. ‘Sandra, I told you to handle it’
‘Yes sir, i checked the records just after we came in this afternoon’ Sandra answered. ‘There was no record of any statement taken, I don’t even think those driving the van were brought to the station’
‘What? But they said they were found laying unconscious on the road’ James questioned
‘Yes,I think we have to take disciplinary action on our men’ Sandra suggested. ‘I believe they were bribed, that’s why they didn’t do the right thing’
‘Oh! You ask them to see me when they return today’ James ordered as he stood up from his seat and walked towards the door. ‘We won’t take it lightly with them if they were truly bribed, they’ll be punished severely’
…to be continued