TARASHA – Episode 39

® 18 + SNVL
© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
All Rights Reserved

‘Omotara,’ Mrs. Atinuke smiled. She then stared deep into Tarasha’s eyes, ‘I know who she is…’
There was silence for some seconds.
‘So, who is she?’ Tarasha asked impatiently.
A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. Tarasha glanced at the door but remained silent. The knock sounded a second time and without waiting for a response, the person at the door stepped in.
Stephanie was surprised on seeing Tarasha seated beside her mum. She closed the door and stopped at the entrance.
‘Good evening,’ Stephanie greeted.
Tarasha replied with a gentle nod.
‘I’m sorry, hope I didn’t disturb anything,’ Stephanie apologized. From the way the two were seated, she knew they were in the middle of a conversation.
‘There’s no problem,’ Tarasha said with a forced smile. ‘I’ll just like to be alone with her for some minutes, I’ll tell you once I’m done.’
‘It’s alright,’ Stephanie said and turned back.
Tarasha turned her face back to the woman after Stephanie closed the door. She saw an unhappy look on the woman’s face and knew that the woman did not want her daughter to leave the room. ‘She’d return as soon as we’re done with the conversation,’ Tarasha said with a forced smile. ‘I had to ask her wait outside because you said you didn’t want anyone else to hear the secrets.’
The woman nodded silently as if she understood what she was told. ‘So, let’s continue, you were about to tell me about Omotara.’ Tarasha urged. Her phone began to ring before the woman could start talking. She quickly picked it out and silenced it. ‘Please proceed,’ she said as she dropped the phone beside her in the bed.
Instead of proceeding, the woman turned back instead and picked a phone on the footstool. She scrolled through the phone for about thirty seconds as if she was looking for something serious and then dropped it back.
Tarasha watched her patiently until she was through with the phone. ‘Okay ma, let’s continue the discussion on Omotara,’ Tarasha urged, having to force a smile on again.
‘Yes, Omotara,’ the woman smiled. ‘Omota…’ another knock at the door interrupted.
Tarasha sighed. Who the hell was at the door again? She asked herself. The knock sounded again.
‘Come in,’ Tarasha answered, managing to sound as calm as possible.
The door opened and Henry stepped in.
‘Boss, I’m ready but there seems to be lack of funds, I can’t pay for the needed car with your card. I need another card or a reload,’ Henry said to her.
‘Oh!’ Tarasha nodded. ‘I’ll join you soon.’
‘And I’m also ready to go out, I’ll need out to dress me up.’
‘Sure…Okay, give me two minutes to join you,’ Tarasha replied.
‘Okay,’ Henry replied. He bowed slightly to the woman before stepping out.

Tarasha turned back to the woman. ‘Please can you just tell me a little about Omotara now, we would continue the remaining part of the discussion some other time.’
‘Yes, Omotara. Omotara was the only daughter of the Danjuma’s family, but she was not their biological daughter, she was adopted.’ the woman said.
Tarasha squinted. She was disappointed with the woman’s response, she wanted to hear something which she didn’t know about already.
‘Yes, can you tell me a little more about her?’
‘Omotara was beautiful and intelligent, only Jerry the youngest son of my brother Danjuma was as intelligent as her.’ the woman continued. ‘Danjuma and his wife brought her home on a certain wedding anniversary they had and…’
‘Okay ma, I need to go now, I’ll be back to continue with you,’ Tarasha said reluctantly since she wasn’t getting any useful information from the woman yet. She had to attend to Henry at that moment.
The woman did not stop talking however, she continued to tell stories of how Omotara began nursery school with her brothers and how she used to be beaten by bullies.
Tarasha held the womans hands warmly to thank her even as the woman continued talking. She looked in her eyes and noticed the woman was staring at something behind her, she turned to look but saw nothing there. She looked at the woman’s face again an realized the woman was already lost in her own world even as she recounted the stories.
‘We’d continue later,’ Tarasha said and shook the woman to get her back to consciousness but Mrs Atinuke kept on talking without being listened to. ‘Thank you ma,’ Tarasha had no choice than to get up and leave her talking.
She walked to the door and turned to look, the woman was still talking and staring at the same place. She shook her head in pity and proceeded out of the room.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 15 Part 10
___

‘Samantha is still with your mother?’ the doctor asked as Stephanie sat beside him.
He was putting on his lab wear, seated behind a table. On the table were lab instruments including a glass cylinder, burettes, pipettes and a bottle of distilled water. On the other side of the table were three ampoules of different sizes, two syringes and small pan containing some whitish powdery substance.
‘Yes, I left there a moment ago. They’re having a discussion,’ Stephanie answered.
‘That Samantha may just be someone related to you,’ Dr Ekwueme said.
Stephanie squinted, she stared at the doctor’s face questioningly. ‘What do you mean sir?
The doctor smiled and shook his head. He realized that he may be making a mistake if he told her of his suspicions, especially if it were not true or if it happened that Samantha wanted no one to know. ‘I was just kidding,’ he replied. ‘The way she likes to spend time with your mum is strange.’
Stephanie shrugged. ‘I don’t think she likes to spend time with my mother, she just needs some information from the woman and that’s all.’
‘Hmm…’ the doctor replied as he raised an ampoule up to see check the level through the light from the bulb.
‘What’s this mixture you’re preparing?’ Stephanie asked.
‘It is an extract from Benrylcarboxyl,’ the doctor replied. ‘I started preparing it in the laboratory in the house we stayed before we had to move here, I couldn’t take all the ingredients required to complete it, so I’m stuck here at this point. And there are also no laboratory equipments to continue.’
‘So, how do you plan to continue?’
‘Well, I will speak to Samantha. It’ll be done if some of the equipments and materials in that lab can be moved here since we now stay here.’
‘What about buying the new ingredients or making them in another lab?’
‘New ingredients?’ The doctor chuckled. ‘These ingredients are not easy to come by, it is not sold just anywhere and to anyone. It took Samantha some efforts to get them the first time.’
‘Hmm…’
The doctor picked another ampoule, the largest one amongst the three and checked it through light like he did with the first.
‘Are the mixtures the same?’ Stephanie asked, referring to the first ampoule the man picked and the one he had with him.
‘No, they aren’t. This second one is used to reduce the effect of the main mixture, just in case it is administered in excess.’ the doctor answered.
‘Are the ingredients for these mixtures part of what you sent the nurse to get yesterday?’
‘No, this is something different. It’s not for your mum.’
Stephanie frowned. ‘Is it not medicinal?’
‘It is.’
‘Then who is it for?’
‘For another patient,’ the doctor replied evasively and got up from the seat to walk to the window.
Stephanie knew it seemed she was asking too much questions already. The other patient except for her mum she knew the doctor was attending to was Dave James.
‘But can I ask what the mixture is being used for?’
‘You asked already, but you won’t get an answer,’ the doctor replied as he turned towards the door. ‘You won’t even understand if I decide to explain the details to you,’ he added and began to proceed towards the door. ‘I need to take a rest now.’
Stephanie got up and followed him. The door opened before they could get there.
Tarasha stepped in. She took a glance at Stephanie but fixed her gaze on the doctor. ‘I think you’d need to check Mrs Atinuke before you take a rest.’ She said and stepped back out immediately.
__
An hour later.
Cole’s mind was unsettled and disturbed as he put on his shirt. He buttoned the sleeves first and then fixed a gun behind his belt at the right side of his waist before he buttoned it from below almost to the neck. He looked at his image in the mirror to check if the shape of the gun was revealed through his shirt. He put another gun in his pocket before he turned. He picked his two phones from the table, he tried Patricia’s number on the extra phone again, the call wasn’t still answered.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 1B
He could feel weakness in his body as he proceeded out of the room but he refused to stop. He couldn’t rest yet until he located Patricia according to Tarasha’s instruction.
He met Tarasha in the living room. She was working on a laptop with full attention.
‘I’m going out boss,’ he said to her.
‘Where are you gong to?’ she replied without looking at him.
‘To get Patricia,’ he replied.
‘Where is she?’ Tarasha questioned.
‘I tracked her through her phone and got her location, she’s in Opebi.’ he answered.
‘And what do you intend to do with her?’
‘Bring her to you.’
Tarasha chuckled. ‘So you feel comfortable walking into the hands of the same person who organized Tomi’s kidnap?’
Cole’s mind skipped a breath. Tarasha had just confirmed his greatest fear. He had been hoping and silently praying that it would not turn out to be that Patricia was an enemy and was only getting close to the gang through him. He had no words to reply Tarasha. He had thought Patricia was the angel sent to change his life as he had decided to quit the assassination job after the mission with Tarasha ended. He had accumulated enough wealth to set him up for the rest of his life. Hearing that his supposed angel was an enemy was more than heartbreaking to him, it was totally devastating.
‘You looked surprised,’ Tarasha said with a scorn, now looking at him. ‘What were you going to do there when you weren’t sure yet of who she is?’
There was no response from Cole.
‘Go take a rest, you’ll need your strength later,’ she said to him dismissively.
Cole stood still. He couldn’t move or talk for some seconds until Tarasha spoke again.
‘Go take a rest, you need to keep your strength.’ Tarasha repeated, this time it sounded more like an order than a suggestion.
‘No boss, I’ll go get her.’ Cole said in a determined tone.
Tarasha chuckled. ‘I won’t waste more than a bullet in ki||ing you if you step out of this building,’ Tarasha said as she got up on her feet. She took the laptop with her and walked away from the living room.

Later that Night

Tarasha, Henry, Cole, Dr Ekwueme, Tomi and Madam Henrietta all sat and ate silently on the dining table. Stephanie had prepared the meal that night but couldn’t join at the dining table because she had to be with her mother in the room. Even though the meal was delicious and they all enjoyed eating, nobody seemed to express that enjoyment as the atmosphere was tensed instead of being lively.
Almost everyone finished eating at the same time but it took more than three minutes for someone to get up and that person was Madam Henrietta.
‘Retiring to your room so early?’ Tarasha spoke as the room took a step.
She stopped and turned back. ‘Yes, I don’t really feel like watching the television tonight,’ Madam Henrietta replied, even though she had never be there to watch the TV with them at any point of their stay together.
‘Well, I arranged for your flight to the United States already and you’d be leaving tomorrow morning. Cole would see you off to the airport,’ Tarasha said.
‘Okay,’ Madam Henrietta replied without enthusiasm. She herself was surprised that she didn’t feel excited about leaving even though she had always wished and prayed that the day would come soon.
‘Would you need to get clothes or anything?’ Tarasha asked.
‘No, thanks. You got enough for me already. I’ll just go with the one I have here,’ the woman replied.
‘Okay, get prepared early. The flight is for 8am.’
‘Thanks,’ the woman said and turned to leave. She suddenly stopped and turned back. ‘Please, can I get my phone back?’
‘Oh, your phone!’ Tarasha said with a sad tone. ‘For your safety, we’d have to give you another phone instead. Cole would buy you one on your way to the airport and we’d give you an email address to reach us with when you get to the US.’
‘Okay,’ the woman replied and turned to leave.
Tarasha got up from the dining table, her phone was ringing on the sofa she placed it on. She picked the phone and checked the screen before sitting down.
‘Hey! Mr Gabriel,’ she hailed.
‘Tarasha, I heard that you dropped him at his house,’ Chief Gab said.
‘Yes.’
‘I hope he’s fine.’
‘Don’t ask me, call his family to confirm. If anything is wrong with him, it has to be from those who kidnapped him.’
There was silence for a while.
‘I’m in town now, when can we see?’
‘Well, we’re quite busy at the moment, I’ll tell you when I can meet with you.’
‘d@mn it! You’re busy with what Tarasha?’ the man shouted angrily over the phone.
‘Relax man, I don’t hear your words when you shout like that.’
‘What are you busy with? Am I not the one who gave you the job you’re busy with?’
Tarasha didn’t reply.
‘Just tell me why you should be so busy that you can’t see the person you’re working for.’
‘Okay, when and where do you want us to meet?’ Tarasha asked, she didn’t argue because she knew the man was right.
‘Tonight,’ the man replied.
Tarasha took a glance at the time, it was past nine already.
‘Can we make it tomorrow morning? I won’t like to step out this night.’ she pleaded. She wanted to rest well that night to reserve enough strength for the next day.
‘Send me your address, I can come to you.’ Chief Gab replied.
Tarasha sighed. ‘You don’t need to do that, I’ll locate you.’
‘Okay, let’s make it tomorrow morning.’ Chief Gab finally said after some consideration. ‘I’ll call you by nine o’clock to tell you the venue.’
‘Thank you,’ Tarasha replied.
__

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 20 Part 3
7:45am, next morning

‘Good morning Samantha,’ Stephanie greeted Tarasha as they met with each other in the corridor.
‘Good morning Steph,’ Tarasha replied. ‘Hope you slept well.’
‘Yes, I did. How about you?’
‘I did too,’ Tarasha replied. ‘So, your foster mom should be at the airport already, waiting for her flight.’
‘Yes, I saw her before she left.’ Stephanie said in a kind of sad tone. She was going to miss madam Henrietta.
Tarasha chuckled and patted Stephanie on the shoulder as she walked past her.
‘Mum asked of you this morning,’ Stephanie turned back to say to her.
Tarasha stopped and turned. ‘Your mum?’
‘Yes, she asked to see you. She wanted to know why you left her yesterday.’
Tarasha let out a faint smile. ‘I’ll see her later today.’
‘It’ll be nice if you just say Hi to her this morning, she thinks you left because you got angry with her.’ Stephanie explained.
‘Okay, I’ll check her.’ Tarasha said and proceeded to the living room.
She stopped by and knocked on Mrs Atinuke’s room on her way back. She entered without waiting to get a response.
‘Good morning ma,’ she greeted as she stepped in.
The woman was already awake and sitting upright.
‘Good morning Samantha,’ Mrs. Atinuke replied. ‘Why did you send her away?’
Tarasha squinted in confusion. She didn’t know what the woman was talking about.
‘I don’t understand ma.’
‘What did Henrietta do?’
‘Oh! I didn’t send her away, she needed to return to the United States.’
‘Hmmm…’ the woman shrugged. ‘Omotara was quiet different from her mother.’
‘Omotara…’ Tarasha suddenly become more interested. ‘Do you know her real mother?’
‘Henrietta gave birth to Omotara, she was the biological mother of the Danjuma’s daughter.’
Tarasha’s mouth opened wide in shock. Her phone rang at that moment and she pulled it out. Cole was the one calling.
‘Hello Cole, where are you people?’
‘The flight has left already, I’m returning back already and I want to know if you still want me to stop at the mall.’

‘Omotara…’ Tarasha suddenly became more interested. ‘Do you know her real mother?’

‘Henrietta gave birth to Omotara, she is the biological mother of the Danjuma’s daughter.’

Tarasha’s mouth opened wide in shock. Her phone rang at that moment and she pulled it out. Cole was the one calling.

‘Hello Cole, where are you people?’

‘The flight has left already, I’m returning and I want to know if you still want me to stop at the mall.’

Tarasha’s mind went blank for a moment, her eyes were fixed on Mrs. Atinuke’s face but she wasn’t seeing anything. It appeared like she was in another world entirely and the only face she was seeing was madam Henrietta’s face. She couldn’t put it in her imagination. There was no iota of resemblance between her and madam Henrietta.

She came back to reality when her phone began to ring again. Cole had cut the call and was calling again. It was then she realized that Cole been asking her a question while she was mute. Cole must have thought the network was bad.

‘Cole, can you stop them?’ she said into the phone as she answered the call.

‘Stop who?’ Cole asked in a surprised tone.

‘Don’t bother,’ she said on realizing that she was making an impossible request. ‘For how long has the plane left?’

‘Close to thirty minutes now.’

She heaved a sigh. ‘Come back, don’t stop at the mall.’

‘Okay boss.’

Tarasha put the phone into her pocket and drew closer to Mrs. Atinuke. She sat beside her and held her hands. ‘Do you really mean Madam Henrietta is the biological mother the Omotara, the Danjuma’s daughter?’

‘Yes, Henrietta is.’

‘But how is that possible? The name of Omotara’s mother is Adunni and she died after giving birth to the baby,’ Tarasha argued.

‘Who told you all that?’ Mrs Atinuke questioned. ‘Henrietta is the same person as Adunni and she did not die after giving birth to her baby, she only ran away from the hospital.’

Tarasha looked confused. She tried to remember what she read in Mrs. Danjuma’s diary, whether it stated that Adunni died or ran away from the hospital.

She stared at Mrs. Atinuke’s face for a while, hoping that the woman was said all she said in the right frame of mind.

‘Come on, why are you looking at me that way, do you think I’m insane?’ the woman asked, as if she could read Tarasha’s thoughts.

‘No, sorry,’ Tarasha quickly looked away. It all still seemed impossible to her. How could it have been that Madam Henrietta gave birth to her? There had been no connection in anyway between the both of them while the woman was around.

‘So, do you know Omotara’s father?’ Tarasha asked, looking at the woman’s face again.

‘Yes, I know who he is.’

Tarasha’s phone rang at that moment. She took it out and wanted to place it on silence but she couldn’t on seeing the caller’s ID. Chief Gab was the one calling, and she knew it was about their scheduled meeting that morning. She knew it wasn’t right to miss the meeting with the excuse being a personal reason.

‘Excuse me for a minute please,’ Tarasha said and got up to receive the call. ‘Hello Mr Gabriel,’ she said into the phone.

‘Tarasha, morning. I’ll like for us to meet by 9am prompt at my house in Gravl avenue.’

‘Okay, I’ll be there.’ Tarasha replied after taking a look at the time.

The call ended and Tarasha opened the dial pad to make another call. She typed in Henry’s phone number and dialed.

‘Henry, I want you to start a check on the area about Gravl avenue and Chief Gab’s residence. I’ll be going there soon and I want to ensure the place is safe.’

‘Okay,’ Henry replied from the other end.

Tarasha cut the call and quickly returned to her seat beside Mrs. Atinuke.

‘Please, tell me who Omotara’s biological father is.’

The woman frowned for a moment. She widened her eyes and shook her head. ‘Sorry, I don’t know who her father is, I only have an idea. I know that he was a lecturer when he impregnated her and refused to take responsibility for the pregnancy. Danjuma also said he was a prominent Chief in the village as at then.’

‘Do you know his name?’

Mrs. Atinuke squinted, trying to remember the name of the Chief. ‘I don’t remember his name.’

Tarasha sighed. She thought of Madam Henrietta as her mother again, it appeared too unreal to her but Mrs Atinuke seemed to be very sure and also in her right frame of mind.

‘Do you know any way we can find out who the man is and if he is still alive?’ Tarasha asked.

‘I don’t know of any way,’ the woman replied and then squinted at Tarasha’s face. ‘Where did you get the information you have from? I mean, what you know about Adunni and who told you she died.’

‘I read from a diary,’ Tarasha replied. Then she realized that she could confirm what Mrs. Atinuke told her from the diary if Mrs. Danjuma did put every details in writing.

‘Maybe you should check the diary for the name,’ Mrs. Atinuke suggested.

Tarasha’s phone began to ring. ‘Please excuse me,’ she said as she checked the screen, Henry was calling. ‘Hey Henry,’ she said into the phone.

‘I just checked the place, there are no thr_@ts there for now. Are you on your way there already?’

‘No, I’m still in the house.’

‘Okay, tell me when you get there so I can do the monitoring for you.’

‘Sure,’ she said and ended the call. She looked at the time, it was the almost time for her to leave the house if she didn’t want to get late to the meeting with Chief Gab. She then glanced at Mrs Atinuke’s face and smiled, ‘Thanks for telling me all this this morning. I have to go out now, I’ll see you when I return.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 21 Part 11
She got up to her feet.

‘I’ll be expecting you later in the day,’ Mrs. Atinuke said.

‘Alright, do make sure you have a nice day.’ Tarasha said as she walked out of the house.

____

Location: Chief Gab’s Residence, Gravl Avenue.

Time: 9:02am

Tarasha did not have a hard time locating the Chief’s residence as she had been there before. She walked into the house, opening all the doors for herself without waiting for anyone to respond to her. She remembered the exact place they had the last meeting they held and she walked straight to the place before calling Chief Gab that she had arrived.

‘Okay, I’ll tell the security to bring you in.’ Chief Gab said, thinking she was still waiting at the gate.

‘I’m in the room we had the last meeting,’ Tarasha replied.

‘What room?’

‘The inner living room in your house,’ she answered.

‘Oh!’ the man did not sound too surprised. He already knew what she was capable of doing.

He joined her after five minutes and settled in the chair opposite hers.

‘Tarasha, I want to find out how long it would take you to finish the job I gave you.’

Tarasha was silent for a while. She only stared at his face, trying to read what his expression meant.

‘We would finish all in less than a month,’ she finally replied.

‘A month!’ Chief Gab exclaimed with his eyes widened in surprise.

‘Yes, a month.’

‘Why? That’s too long. You didn’t take so much time in ki||ing the other targets like you are doing for this.’

‘Yes, the other targets were not expecting our attack but Elvis Richards knew we were coming and not only did he know, he got a well trained assassin to come after us and has brought more.’

‘Which well trained assassin are you talking about? As far as I’m concerned, there’s no assassin that’s as trained as you in this country.’

‘There are Chief, there are three other assassins in this country employed by Chief Gab all trained in the Tiger Clan in Russia.’

Chief Gab was more than shocked on hearing the information, great fear overpowered him. He wondered why and how Elvis Richards got to bring in other assassins but then he remembered that Elvis Richards had always been the mastermind in all their dealings when they were together, so Elvis Richards had more connections with the clans than he had. And Elvis Richards was also more than times richer than he was, so he had the money to fund more than one international assassin.

Chief Gab heaved a sigh, now in doubts that the task was achievable for Tarasha. He looked at her and began to feel pity for her. Something else struck his mind as he looked at her face and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He grabbed his chest and gave a sharp cry.

‘Is everything alright?’ Tarasha asked from where she was seated, without showing any signs of panic.

‘Yes,’ the chief mumbled as he tried to calm himself. It took him some minutes to be calm.

Tarasha was still staring at him and willing to help him if there was need to.

‘Tarasha,’ Chief Gab called, after he was properly seated again. She didn’t give him a reply but just stared sternly at him. He coughed and cleared his throat after. ‘Do you remember your origin?’

Tarasha squinted. She didn’t know what answer to give him but she was interested in the subject.

‘What do you know about my origin?’ she replied with a question, her eyelids gathered together.

‘Nothing, I was just wondering if you know how you got to be an assassin in the Nefary Clan.’ Chief Gab replied.

‘What do you know about that?’ she asked in a more serious and determined tone.

Chief Gab stared at her face, he noticed that her expression had changed. He realized that he had pushed a button and he might not like the outcome. He had called to meet her just to ask her to hurry up with the task so that he could dismiss her and end the two years contract because he was already going broke and would soon be struggling for money to keep funding her.

‘Start talking Chief.’

He looked at her face again. ‘What Tarasha? I asked you a question about your personal life and you’re asking me back, how would I know your origin?’

‘Of course you do know a lot about my origin, you were one of the Chiefs who sponsored the insurgency and sold us to the Russian assassins.’

Chief Gab’s heart began to beat faster usual. He never knew she was aware that he was a part of those who trafficked Nigerian children out of the country for millions of dollars.

‘What do you know about my parents and me?’

Chief Gab began to tremble. ‘Your pa…rents, I don’t know who you parents are,’ he replied truthfully.

She stared at him in silence for a moment. ‘Your group ordered for the death of Doctor Danjuma’s family, and you say you don’t know about them?’

The Chief opened his mouth in surprise. He remembered that she had asked about the Danjuma’s family once but he never thought that she could be related to them. All he knew was that she was a Nigerian and she was a part of the kids that were abducted by the insurgency and taken out of the country. He also remembered giving Tarasha a part of the book which contained his activities with Chief Gab and the rest of the Chiefs, he realized that she must have searched for more information using the one in the book as a base.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 18 Part 9
‘I don’t know about your parents death, the group was already going apart then and my side of the group opposed the murder of the Doctor’s Danjuma since the Doctors had left town already but he insisted that they should die.’

Tarasha heaved a sigh She remembered that Chief Gab had once explained it to her.

‘Are you related to the doctors or were you one of their kids?’

‘Do you still have anything else to tell me today?’ Tarasha asked, purposely ignoring his question.

Chief Gab knew that his question was ignored on purpose but he decided not to bother on getting an answer. ‘I wanted to tell you that I would like to end this contract once and for all next month.’

Tarasha squinted at him. ‘It’s supposed to be a two- years contract.’

‘Yes, I know.’ Chief Gab said tiredly. ‘But since you would finish the task next month, I believe that we can end our business together next month.’

‘So you would not need me anymore?’

‘I don’t think so,’ the Chief replied, looking down.

‘Is there something else you are not telling me?’ she asked him with a side look.

He looked up. ‘Tarasha, I’m broke and I cannot keep funding you. Even now, I’m owing a lot already.’ He confessed.

She let out a breath. ‘Is that all you have to say today?’

‘Yes, thats the main purpose of this meeting.’

‘Okay, I’ll like to take my leave then.’ She said as she got up to her feet.

‘You can leave but please, fulfil your promise, don’t let it drag beyond one month time.’ he pleaded.

Tarasha did not reply. She only stared at his face for some more seconds before proceeding towards the door.

As she walked out of the place, she was more convinced that the Chief was hiding something from her.

___

Location : Presidential Quarters, Lagos.

Time: 10:12am

‘Elvis Richards,’ Dr Reuben mentioned under his breath as he saw the Vice President’s face.

Elvis Richards smiled scornfully as he saw the look on the Doctor’s face. He proceeded towards the seat in front of the one the doctor was tied to and sat on it. His PA walked into the room after him and handed the phone to him. The Chief asked for the PA to leave them alone.

Dr Reuben kept staring at his face. It was his second day there and he had been expecting someone to tell him why he was abducted but all that the men did was to untie him at meal times and serve him food. He didn’t eat at the first two occasions he was served but began to eat at the third time when he could no longer hold the hunger in. Now, seeing the Vice President before him got him more confused. He didn’t know what he could have done that would make the Vice President kidnap him, even though he knew he and the Vice President had never been friends after the Vice President’s wife had conceived her second child when he said the man could not impregnate a woman anymore.

‘What am I doing here?’ the doctor asked in anger.

The smile disappeared from Elvis Richards’ face, even he could not answer the question. He had only asked out of anger that they abduct the man even though he still had some clarifications to make from the man.

‘Be calm, I only want to ask you a question.’ Elvis Richards replied. ‘I’ll let you go once you tell me the truth.

The doctor remained silent.

‘The DNA test has been conducted for all my kids and I found out that none of them is mine,’ Chief Elvis said in a pitiful tone. ‘But the most confusing part is how James, the first child is not mine also, it was after his birth that I was involved in that accident.

The doctor just stared at him silently.

‘I want to know how James is also not my son.’

The doctor raised a brow. ‘If the DNA test shows that he isn’t yours too, it meant that your wife had him for someone else.’

‘But I was capable of giving birth then, I only had low sperm count but I was on drugs.’

‘It means your wife was playing you even before the accident,’ the doctor said boldly.

Chief Elvis felt like hitting the doctor on the face for his boldness but he knew the man was saying the plain truth.

He let it slide. ‘Is there any way we can find out medically who their real father is?’

‘That’s only if someone lays a claim on them, then we can confirm if the person is their father or not.’

Elvis Richards sighed.

The door opened at that moment and Ayo walked in. Chief Elvis Richards looked back.

‘We’ve got that Chima Bright here now,’ Ayo stopped behind the Vice President and whispered into his ear.

‘Okay, get him into a room. I’m coming to talk to him right away.’ Chief Elvis said aloud.

Ayo turned back and left the room immediately. Chief Elvis got up from his seat slowly. His stare lingered on the doctor’s face for a while before he proceeded towards the door.

___

‘Henry, where is Tarasha?’ Cole asked as he got out of the control room to meet Henry in the corridor.

Henry was dressed up and it appeared like he was going out to somewhere. ‘She went for a meeting, she’d be back soon.’ Henry replied as he buttoned his sleeves. ‘She asked that you track the new device you gave to Madam Henrietta once you return.’

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‘Oh!’ Cole widened his eyes. He took out his phone and unlocked it. He clicked to see the list of apps running and opened the notepad application. He heaved a sigh on seeing that the IMEI numbers he had copied without remembering to save was still there.

‘Okay,’ he said to Henry and stepped back into the control room.

Henry proceeded to the living room. He picked the remote control of the TV and settled on the sofa directly opposite the television. As he crossed the leg and was about to change the channel, he heard the sound of the door opening. Tarasha stepped in.

‘Tara, welcome. I’ve been waiting for you,’ he said, looking at her face.

Tarasha squinted. ‘Why have you been waiting for me?’ she asked, noticing he was dressed to go out.

‘I want a disguise,’ Henry replied.

‘Where are you going to?’

‘To the hospital.’

Tarasha frowned.

‘You asked that I find out what the Vice Presidents kids were doing there.’

‘Okay,’ Tarasha nodded. She felt an urge to ask him what his plan was but decided not to. ‘Come with me,’ she said to him as she proceeded towards the dressing room.

_____

Chief Elvis Richards kept pacing the floor angrily. Chima Bright was kneeling before him oblivious of what he was doing there and why the Vice President was looking so angry.

After a moment, the Vice President stopped pacing and stared at his face. He knew this man but he could not just remember where he had seen him before. He was sure he had seen him before, even though it was a long time ago.

He dragged the chair set aside for him closer and sat on it.

‘So, you were the one sleeping with my wife?’

Chima Bright stared at him, surprised at his allegation. Then he suddenly remembered that he used to drive the man’s wife in his boss’ car several years ago. He knew too much of what the man was talking about that he couldn’t deny or frame ignorance. He knew how Mrs. Elvis and his boss used to go out with each other and how the woman visited his boss at home frequently and spent several hours locked up especially when Chief Elvis Richards was out of town.

‘Can’t you answer my question?’ Chief Elvis Richards barked.

‘I never touched your wife sir,’ he responded in fear.

‘Then who was my wife cheating with?’

‘It was my boss, he and your wife had an affair.’

‘Your what?’ Elvis Richards opened his mouth wide in shock. He couldn’t believe his ears, his wife was sleeping with the person he least suspected.

____

Time: 11:56am

‘Have you started tracking the device I asked you to track?’ Tarasha asked as she walked into the control room.

‘Yes, boss.’ Cole answered and adjusted himself on the seat in front of the computer. He quickly minimized the app he was working on and switched to the tracking software. ‘It’ll start showing the location once she lands on earth.’

‘Okay,’ Tarasha replied as she sat in front of the main control computer system. ‘Why did you return late from the airport?’

‘I’m sorry boss, I should have told you. I saw some security officials at the airport and I overheard them saying something that concerns us. I had to go back to the airport to get more information when you instructed me not to stop at the mall anymore.’

Tarasha raised her brow. ‘What did you hear?’

‘Their words didn’t make sense to me, I didn’t understand clearly but I discovered that they had more information online. So, I hacked into their online database this afternoon and gained access to some of their secret emails and messages.’ Cole continued to explain.

Tarasha was staring at him, expecting him to get to the point.

‘The President has approved that the Inspector General should be moved secretly to the UK for safety and treatment.’

Tarasha’s eyes shone widely. There was no way she was going to allow the Inspector General escape his death.

‘What other secret information do you have?’

‘Twenty security officers have been approved to go to the airport with him and three to travel with him.’

‘What time is the flight?’

‘The flight is 10am from the international airport in Abuja.’

Tarasha checked the time on her phone, it was just past twelve. ‘Arrange a car to take me to Abuja right away.’

‘Okay boss,’ Cole replied and picked his phone immediately. He began to search for a contact.

‘And try to make sure that you cover up for the hack on their website, don’t let them find out you did.’ she said as she proceeded towards the door.

Cole stopped to listen to her. ‘Sure boss,’ he said as he continued to search for the contact while she went to prepare for the trip.

He located the number and called the transport service to arrange for the trip. He put the phone on the table after he was sure he had finished the necessary arrangement. A text message popped in just as he wanted to turn back to the computer. He picked the phone again.

‘Let none of our team members know about this, including Henry ‘ The message read. It was from Tarasha.

Cole heaved a sigh after reading the message. He felt some confidence and happiness with himself as Tarasha still showed some trust in him.

___

In less than a minute, Tarasha had stripped to her undies in her room. She had an empty traveling bag and a empty backpack on the bed. She then opened the lower part of the wardrobe and began to pull out guns and throw them on the bed.

Location : Asokoro, Abuja
Time: 03:40am

There were a total of six police men standing at different positions inside the fence. Two of the men were standing close to the gate at the edges of both sides of the fence, two others were standing close to the entrance of the house – one at the balcony and one down the balcony and the remaining two were standing at either sides of the building close to the backyard and watching the back comfortable from where they were seated.

Tarasha numbered each one of them, watching from her tablet device. She knew there were at least ten other men who would be in the same building securing the place. Six of the ten could be the ones changing shifts with the ones currently on duty outside the house and not less than four would be on duty inside the house. She also expected that at least one person would be monitoring the footages from the security cameras.

She exited the current footage she was watching and returned to the dashboard which displayed an option of more than twelve footages on a page and still had three other pages. She scrolled to the third page and began to select the footages one after the other, trying to see the security cameras placed around the house and what the method of connection to the house system was. After checking some footages, she got what she wanted – the certainty that the cameras made use of wireless connections. She took out another device from her bag and placed it carefully on the dashboard. She turned the BiV wifi app on her tablet on and searched for the available connections. The BiV wifi app was an application which was created to search for and identify networks located both at near and far distances from the searching point. It could also help to connect to the network as far as it wasn’t secured.

She picked the second device as the BiV application began it’s search. She turned on the address locator on the second device and sent a request to locate the distance in metres from her point to the State Staff House where the Inspector General was being secured. The address locator processed the results in seconds. The BiV WiFi app had found up to fifty available networks and was still searching. As it displayed the networks found on a list, it also displayed their distance in metres and directions from the point where the device was. It took five more minutes of searching before the app could locate the network available at the exact distance the Staff House was.

Tarasha clicked on it from the list and viewed the details of the network. It was secured as she expected. She copied some numbers from the details and minimized the app, she opened another app and pasted the numbers into a pop up box.

_

Location : State Staff House, Abuja

Time: 04:00am

‘Sir, we are having some glitches with the network.’ Agent Tom heard the voice sound in his ears. At first, the words didn’t make sense to him. He had not woken up completely yet after answering the fifteenth knock on the door.

‘What do you mean?’ He said, trying to open his eyes wide enough to accomodate the light.

‘It’s fluctuating, going off and on.’ the officer in front of him answered.

‘Why?’ Agent Tim rolled out of the bed and sat at the edge. He picked his phone on the footstool and checked the time.

‘I think its about to rain, there’s heavy wind outside.’

‘So what do we do?’ Agent Tim.

‘We were thinking of switching, the network officials could switch for us if you make a call to them.’

Agent Tim checked his time again. He sighed. He had barely slept for two hours and his boys had come to wake him up again.

‘Their call service opens by 7am, they would not give us a quick response at this time.’ he answered.

‘But you could make a call to their boss, that’s why I came to tell you.’

Agent Tim yawned. ‘How bad is the fluctuation? What are those things it is affecting?’

‘Our communication and also sending and receiving of texts but most especially the cameras, the signals are going off and on.’

Agent Tim checked his time once again. ‘If that’s the case, we can manage till 6am, I’ll call the man then,’ he said and made his way back to his sleeping position. He didn’t think there was any cause for alarm. Nobody knew where the Inspector General was kept and the state staff would be the least suspected place.

‘Okay sir,’ the officer bowed slightly and turned. He walked out of the room, typing a message on his phone as he walked.

__

‘Let’s make use of the network till 6am, the networks should be back up at least by 6:30am.’ a message popped into Tarasha’s device.

She read for a second time and checked the time. ‘Six thirty,’ she muttered under her breath and smiled faintly. She had two hours to work conveniently.

She held the message on the screen down with her thumb and a list of options displayed. She clicked on the first option “Release”. That way, the message would go into the devices of the people it was sent to, but if it was withheld , it would never get delivered to the right people.

She was already close to the staff house now. Her backpack was at the passenger’s side of the car. She pulled out two pistols from the backpack and placed them between her legs. She also took out a communication pack from the outer pocket, she fixed the earpiece in her ears and fixed the mouthpiece on the collar of her shirt.

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‘You can connect now,’ she typed in a textbox and sent to Cole’s number. She then opened the door and stepped out carefully. She took a quick look around the area before picking the guns on the seat and putting it into her pockets. She bent in and picked her backpack. It was lighter, unlike how she took it from Lagos. She had emptied some of the contents into the boot of the rented car. She strapped the bag to her back and proceeded to the neighboring compound beside the staff house.

She got to the gate of the compound and tapped it gently. She didn’t get any response at the first time. She tapped it the second time and she began to hear the sounds of dogs barking. She then took out a small radio device from her bag, she put on the radio and placed it on the floor in front of the gate, leaving it to make noise as it was tuned to no particular station. She walked away quickly to the next fenced compound which was a church, she had studied the place already and knew there were only two security officers in the place and they had been locked in in their security room since night time, probably because the place was less prone to attack.

She scaled over the fence into the church compound, landing as quiet as possible. She picked a white plastic chair beside the gate and walked straight to the left side of the church. She placed the chair beside the fence and climbed on it to see what was going on in the other compound. From there, she could see the only security man in the compound with the two dogs beside him at the gate, the dogs still barking at the noise from the radio outside. She took a minute to observe the barriers on the fence and carefully placed her hands on the safe places and jumped into the other compound. She landed quietly like she landed the first time and the noise from the dogs barking helped to make her landing more unnoticeable. She glanced one more time at the gate, the security man there was still pointing his torchlight through the holes to see what was outside. She walked hurriedly to the backyard to make a turn to the other side, her sneakers were perfect enough to ensure that no sound was made even as she walked hurriedly.

She stopped at the left corner by the fence of the new compound where the dogs were barking. She turned back and looked around for a while, she located a twenty five litres jerrycan. she went for it and brought it closer to the fence. She climbed and raised her head carefully to peep into the Staff House compound. She could find no one at the left side of the compound, she knew that the dogs barking would have caused the movement of the men from where they were previously stationed.

The dogs’ barking reduced and Tarasha heard the sound of the gate opening. In a twinkling of an eye, she crossed over to the staff house. She landed safely in a squatting position. She took out one of her pistols and ensured the silencer was attached. She walked to backyard of the house, there was no one and nothing there except some containers of paints and painting materials. She walked to the edge of the building at the other side and hid behind the wall to peep. She could see three of the men from where she stood, all facing the gate and saying some words to themselves.

She turned and walked to pick three painting brushes. She returned to the edge of the wall and took another look, then she tossed a brush from where she was to the fence to make some noise. She pulled her head back a bit and saw as the man behind turn back. He put his gun forward and began to walk towards the back. She could hear every of his footsteps as he came closer.

‘They found a radio at their gate,’ Tarasha heard a voice say.

‘A radio?’ the man coming to the back stopped and turned again.

Tarasha squatted and took a quick look.

‘How did the radio get there?’ the man asked and began to go forward again. One of the men Tarasha saw at the front before had joined another outside the compound. Three men were now at the front space of the compound, two outside and one at the right hand side where Tarasha was.

Tarasha tossed the second brush to the wall and the man turned back sharply. He pointed his gun to the back and looked about randomly to see where the noise was from. He noticed the two brushes at the side of the wall. They weren’t on the same spot but had a difference of about one and half metres between. He halted on that spot trying to remember if he had seen the brushes there before. He shook his head in negation and pointed his gun forward as he proceeded to the back, now slowly.

‘Who is there?’

Tarasha positioned her gun well in her hands.

‘Who are you talking to?’ one of the men shouted from the front.

‘I think there something, or someone at the back,’ the man said without looking back.

An idea struck Tarasha’s mind at that moment and she got up from her squatting position and walked to the spot where the paint buckets were, she behind the buckets placed on each other. That way someone coming from the right would see her easily but the guy coming from the left wouldn’t.

She waited for some seconds until the man got to the back, she could tell where he was from the sounds of his steps.

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‘There’s nothing here,’ the man said in an unsure voice as he got to the back of the house. Tarasha peeped from the side and saw that he wasn’t pointing his gun anymore. He was however walking closer and checking around.

Tarasha held her gun firmly and peeped once again. She counted three silently and at the third time rose out of her hiding place and fired a shot to the right shoulder of the man. The man staggered and fell to the ground on his bum with his gun dropping away from him.

She got to him immediately and rushed him two blows on the face, making him fall back to the floor. Then she pushed her gun into his mouth and placed a finger on her lips.

‘Shhhh… If you want to live answer all my questions quickly,’ she said in very low tones.

The officer nodded in fear.

‘In what part of the house is the inspector General?’ she asked.

The man continued to nod his head and make incoherent sounds, a sign for Tarasha to remove her gun from his mouth.

She took it out and he quickly tried to take advantage by pushing her away but she was able to resist him and ended him hitting his head with the butt of the gun. After that she sent a bullet straight into his forehead. She looked up immediately and could hear footsteps of someone else coming closer. She quickly rushed to the back wall of the house and waited at the edge.

She stepped forward and pulled the man to the back of the building immediately he surfaced. He tried to hit her with the swing of his hand but she dodged and slammed the man’s back to the wall.

He groaned but quickly tried to dip his hand into his pocket to take out his gun but she followed up with a kick to his stomach and then dragged him by the neck and turned his back to herself. She pulled him to where the glass window was and slammed his head into the window, smashing the glass and leaving him with several injuries on the face. She turned him back and pulled him from the wall, she sent a blow to his face and he fell to the ground. She placed a knee on the ground and quickly pulled him by the collar. She placed the gun to the forehead.

‘In what part of the house is the Inspector General?’

The man raised his hand and pointed a finger to the left side. ‘The first master bedroom at the left.’

She twisted his neck and dropped him on the floor. She took out his gun from his pocket and proceeded to the right hand side. She could still see one of the officers at the gate but he wasn’t looking back. She proceeded slowly and as fast as she could. Then she stopped as she noticed a door by the side.

She tried to turn the knob but it wouldn’t open. She noticed that the lock needed a card to be swiped into a card reader for the door to open. She glanced at the man at the gate again, he was still too busy to look back. She took off her backpack and took out a set of screw drivers. She looked at the lock of the building to pick the matching screw driver. Then she began to loose the screws of the lock mechanism. In two minutes, she took o.ff the front pack of the card reader and the covering. She located the string which released the door whenever the card reader reads an authorized card and pushed the string in with the screw driver. The door opened with a loud sound. She glanced at the man she could see standing at the gate, he was now looking back and she was sure he had seen her.

She pushed the door and stepped in with her tool pack on a hand and her backpack on the othcer hand. She closed the door back immediately and destroyed the mechanic with two shots from her gun. She quickly returned the toolbox into her backpack except for the screw driver used to make loose the lock machine. She strapped her bag on and proceeded further.

It was a passage of about two metres wide and five metres long. She could hear some footsteps approaching from inside the house as she proceeded. Timing the distance of the sounds of their footsteps and relating to the entrance of the passage, she surged forward with great speed and rammed a kick into one of the men approaching the passage. Another man was behind the first man and he raised his gun to $h00t her but she quickly grabbed his wrist and directed his hand upward, making him $h00t at the ceiling. She stabbed in the belly with the screw driver severally and pushed him to the wall.

The second man was up and he came rushing to her with a kick but she swerved away and grabbed his leg and slammed him to the wall of the passage’s entrance. As she raised her head up, she saw another man entering the straight passage. She Ç0çƙed her gun and fired a quick shot at him before he could take out his own gun. The bullet entered into the man’s chest and he fell to the ground at once.

The man who was stabbed in his belly was still making efforts to get up. Tarasha glanced at the second man who she had slammed to the wall and fired a bullet into his body.

She picked up the screw driver used to stab the man and quickly fixed it into the outer pocket of her backpack. She pulled the man by the collar and began to drag him along with her.

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She had hoped that the whole operation would be done silently but that had changed since the man she was dragging tried to $h00t her and she redirected his hands up. The bullet sound would have attracted the attention of other officers on duty and even the ones sleeping. She would now have a lot of officers to deal with but she was ready and up to the task.

She dragged the man some metres away from the bodies on the floor and made him sit on the ground with his back against the wall beside a door. She looked around and noticed that five other rooms along that corridor. ‘Where is the IGP?’ she asked, staring into his eyes.

‘In the first master bedroom.’ the man replied in a weak voice.

‘How do I get to the first master bedroom?’

‘It’s the second room where you enter through the living room.’

‘Shi*t! Tarasha cursed. She had not come in through the front door, so it could be quite difficult to locate the master bedroom. Her ears began to pick sounds of footsteps approaching hurriedly as she thought of other ways to get to the master bedroom faster.

The footsteps were getting closer and Tarasha was not yet decided on what to do. She stepped closer to the door to the room beside the man and turned the knob, it opened easily. She pushed it in and quickly dragged in the man. She closed the door just in time. Three men surfaced in the passage from the front at that moment, one of them stopped beside the dead body close to where they entered from and another proceeded slowly and carefully to the other body lying at the entrance to the left side passage at the wall end.

‘Where’s your service room?’ Tarasha asked the man in low tones.

‘Service room?’ the man widened his eyes, not knowing what she meant.

‘Your control room where I can find a map of the house or where the security cameras are being monitored from,’ she explained.

The man shook his head, unwilling to talk.

She landed him a blow on the nose. He developed a headache that instant.

‘You have to go forward,’ the man replied reluctantly in a voice almost muffled by the pain. He raised his hand and made gestures to describe the way. ‘You get to a lounge after stepping out of this passage, another passage leads into the lounge and the control room is the last one along that passage.’

Tarasha hit the butt of her gun on his head immediately after he mentioned his last word and he fell unconscious. She hit him in the head once again to make sure he stays longer in his unconsciousness.

She rose up and moved close to the door to listen. She could hear footsteps running around and walking up and down the passage. Then she heard the sounds of kicking and slamming of doors, she knew the men were opening the doors of the rooms along that passage one after the other and checking inside, she knew they were coming to that one. She quickly adjusted the straps of her backpack to make it loose and stretched her hand to the middle zip to pull it down. She picked out cartridges for her revolvers and changed the catridge in the gun she held and also put another catridge in the gun she took from one of the men.

She moved away from the back of the door and leaned against the wall beside the frame of the door. Soon as she expected, the door was kicked open and a man rushed in. She slammed the man with the opened door to the wall and with the guns in her hands pointed outside. She sprayed the bullets randomly to the front, hitting two officers at the front side of the passage. She quickly glanced to the back just in time to see a man coming from the wall end corridors firing a shot at her. She quickly bent and fired back a shot. The man dodged and hid behind the wall of the passage quickly. She heard the steps of a man from the front and fired a shot straight into his belly as she swung her right hand there.

She got up and began to fire shots with her left hand to the passage direction as she began to walk forward in the corridor, her head swinging left and right as she proceeded. She added speed to her steps when she saw that the man hiding at the passage wasn’t coming out and stopped at the passage entrance which was the back door to a lounge.

__
‘Mr. Dangana, what the hell does it take you to fix another entre-net and send us the details right away?’ Agent Tim said angrily into the phone. He had been forced to come awake now that it was obvious the house was being attacked. He was just trying to force the chairman of the network service installers to provide another for them, so that they could use the security cameras.

‘Sir, I’m not in the office and would have to call someone else who also isn’t in the office. It’ll take some time for the person to get there and that’s even if it’s possible.’ a male voice replied from the other end.

‘Dude, do you realized that the house is under attack and we can’t even collect footages from what the camera is recording.?’

‘Oh! What the heck,’ the man cursed. ‘I would make a request for a new network now but you could also send me the details of your previous network so I could check and see if it’s rectifiable.’

Time: 05:00am

Location: Lagos

‘Who’s there?’ Cole shouted, glancing towards the door. He quickly selected the hibernate option and clicked on it. He waited for the computer to finish hibernating before he got up to his feet. He took off the earpiece in his ears and the mouthpiece attached to his collar and dropped them on the table. He then pulled on the head cover of his pull over jacket before he proceeded to the door and unlocked it. He walked back straight to his seat and sat, resting his hands on the table and placing his forehead on them.

‘What’s happening?’ Henry asked as he opened the door and stepped in. He looked around and noticed a female handbag on the chair facing the computer at the left corner.

‘Where is Tara?’ Henry asked, after looking around the place without seeing any other signs of Tarasha apart from the bag.

‘She’s gone out,’ Cole replied with a sigh and adjusted his head to send a message that Henry was disturbing his sleep.

‘Did she return at midnight?’ Henry probed further, not minding his unwelcoming response.

‘You can see her bag there, why are you asking again?’ Cole replied in a harsh tone and raised his head to give Henry a harsh look, trying to discourage him from asking further questions.

‘And she’s gone out again?’ Henry continued, refusing to be discouraged.

‘Yes,’ Cole answered him absentmindedly.

Something was fishy, Henry thought. He had met Cole in the computer room when he returned the last night and was told Tarasha had gone out when he asked about her. He came out of his room some minutes before twelve am and still met Cole in the computer room, giving him the same report that Tarasha wasn’t back yet. He tried to stay for a while in the control room with Cole but he noticed that Cole was uncomfortable with his stay and suspected that Cole was hiding something from him. And even as he wasn’t so sure of what was been hidden, he was very sure Cole and Tarasha were up to something dangerous that could involve the life of someone and that was why he was not been involved. But he chose not to doubt them or bother about it, he decided to believe Cole wasn’t hiding anything from him.

‘By the way,’ Cole said on remembering something as he finally raised his head to look at Henry’s face.

‘When she came, she wanted me to ask you the findings you got from the hospital?’

Henry stared at him silently for some seconds before locating a seat. He dragged it close to Cole and sat. ‘The Vice President has no children of his own,’ he said after clearing his throat.

Cole squinted. ‘What do you mean by that?’ He asked with his brows raised. ‘If he doesn’t have any child of his own, who are those guys whose activities you went to check in the hospital?’

‘Those three are not his children,’ Henry replied.

‘How did you discover that?’

‘They went to the hospital for DNA tests and I saw the result of the tests, none of the three are his children,’ Henry replied.

Cole opened his mouth in surprise, then he let out a chuckle. ‘So you mean the man has no children or he has some hidden somewhere else?’

‘I don’t think he has any, I think his recent illness led to the discovery that he has problems with his reproductive organ and he had to call the children from their different locations to come for the DNA test to confirm if he gave birth to them.’ Henry replied.

‘What the f***! Cole began to laugh. ‘Mehn… His wife played a really fast one on him, who knows if he’s a slowpoke in bed, that’s why the woman had to seek for help outside,’ Cole continued laughing out loud.

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Henry just stared at him, wondering how the situation was amusing him.

‘So, what are we really going to do with this information?’ Henry asked after Cole stopped laughing.

‘Hmm,’ Cole cleared his throat thoughtfully. He shook his head after some minutes, ‘Well, I don’t know.’

‘Tara was talking about getting to him through his children but would that still be possible now that the man has discovered that the kids aren’t his?’

‘Well, I don’t think we should strike out that possibility totally. It is something of disgrace to the man and I don’t think he would just want to reject the children at this age after bringing them up for so many years. He must be really shaken at this moment.’

‘When is Tara returning?’ Henry asked after some minutes of silence.

‘Most likely late this night or midnight,’ Cole replied and put his head back on the table.

Henry frowned. He was now very interested in what was happening. He wanted to ask more questions but stopped on seeing that Cole wasn’t ready to talk about it. He stood up quietly and proceeded out of the control room.

Cole got up immediately he heard the door shut, he locked the door with the key and turned back to the system. He pushed the boot button and adjusted his seat to settle down.

____

Location: State Staff House, Abuja

Time: 5:08am

Tarasha peeped in and saw that there was no one in the lounge. She glanced back at the right time and saw the man hiding in the corridors just coming out with his gun raised. She quickly dashed into the lounge and hid behind the wall, sending a quick untargeted shot towards the man as he also sent his.

She proceeded to the front entrance of the lounge immediately and got into the new passage. Her eyes went straight to the door of the room described to be the control room and she headed towards the place immediately. Just as she was a step close to the place, she heard the sound of the door opening and she quickly stopped beside the frame of the door. She took a quick glance back and then forth.

A man stepped out of the place hurriedly and she charged towards him immediately, almost choking him as she grabbed his neck and pushed him to the wall. Another man rushed out immediately, with a gun in his hand but oblivious of what was happening outside the control room.

He saw Tarasha holding his colleague to the wall just as he closed the door and turned. He tried to raise his gun but Tarasha kicked it off his hand before he could $h00t. She dragged the man she was holding by the collar and pushed him towards the second man. Then she followed up with a kick to the belly of the man at the front. The man behind fell down first but the one who was kicked staggered for a moment until he was tripped by the foot of the man on the floor.

She proceeded towards them and fired a bullet from the gun with the silencer into the forehead of the first man. She stepped back and dragged up the second officer, she made him raise his hands up in the air and pushed him towards the door. She pointed a gun at his back, ordering him to go to the door and open it.

The door opened before they got there, another man had stepped out to check what the cause of the noise was. He wasn’t with a gun. He tried to rush back in immediately he saw Tarasha but she was faster was quick to send a bullet into his body making him fall against the slightly opened door into the room.

She pushed the man in front of her faster into the room and hid at his back as she stepped over the dead man at the door.

Three other men were seated in the control room and they had gotten up immediately they saw the man fall into the room. Only of them was able to locate his gun quick and fired a quick shot which scratched the ear of the man Tarasha was hiding behind. She responded quickly with a bullet to the unshielded man’s chest and dragged the man in front of her backwards. She had a hand tightened around his neck and a gun to the side of his head.

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The other two men standing behind the computers had already located their guns and were pointing it towards them. They were seated at opposite corners of the room with a distance of close to five metres between them.

Tarasha was conscious of the opened door behind as she looked at the men’s faces and also looked around to see the positions of the chairs and tables in the room. None of the men said a word but held fast to their guns and pointed towards Tarasha.

She Ç0çƙed her gun again to warn them against making any moves as she began to step back slowly, not straight to the door but towards a table and chair by the left hand side. As she got exactly half a metre to the table, she pushed her hostage with great force in a straight direction towards the man sitting at her right hand corner and fired two shots to the man at the left corner as she went through behind the man she pushed to the back of the table.

The man at the right corner was confused for a moment as he changed the direction of gun to find Tarasha but her body was hidden behind the pushed officer until she got to the table. Before he knew it, a bullet entered into his shoulder making him hit his back against the wall and before he could $h00t with the gun which was at the other side, another bullet entered in through his neck.

Tarasha got up from under the table immediately to see the man she pushed rushing to pick a gun but she shot in the direction of the gun which made the man dodge towards another direction. He stayed on one knee and raised his two hands in the air to show a surrender to Tarasha, still with his back turned to her.

She walked to the door and locked it from behind and then proceeded towards the man. She pulled him up and faced her gun to his chest.

‘Which of the computer’s here is the main computer system?’ she asked.

The man, in response pointed to the computer at the left corner.

Tarasha raised her hand and took a quick glance at her wristwatch. She realized she didn’t have enough time to work on any computer.

‘I need to get to the first master room, what’s the fastest way to do that?’ she asked and began to look around the walls of the room.

The man shook his head in negative, a sign to Tarasha that there was no faster way to get to the place.

Tarasha adjusted her gun and placed it right at the middle of his chest. ‘Where’s the shortest way?’ she asked again. She was convinced that there would be one, there was no way the control room would not have a short link to the master secured bedroom in such a building like that.

The man still shook his head but she was still unconvinced. Her eyes went up and immediately, she noticed a part of the ceiling which would allow for her to get into it, she knew it was exactly what she was asking for.

The man’s eyes also went in the same direction and he knew from the look in her eyes that she already knew that was the route to the place.

‘How do I get to the master bedroom from there?’ Tarasha asked.

He still shook his head. He wasn’t going to talk even though he knew she could ki|| him, he was committed to his job and willing to die to protect the secret.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 20 Part 4
Tarasha smiled on realizing his loyalty to his job. Her eyes fell on his pocket of his uniform and she saw his name and title written boldly on the tip.

‘Officer Olaitan Adebowale, I’m Samantha Osman.’ she introduced herself, mispronouncing his name in the process. ‘I will not ki|| you but spare you to live and see how I go after your family and finish every one, if you don’t give the information I want.’

The man was shaken by the thr_@t. He knew she had seen his name where it was written but he also knew that if she was truly Samantha Osman likeshe claimed, she could really trace his family and ki|| them as she said. But if he kept the secret to himself, there was a possibility that her purpose for attacking would fail or she’d probably get to be arrested by the other officers. He almost made up his mind to keep his mouth shut when he remembered that she had never been caught by the police on any occasion, no matter the number of officers that tried or how tight the situation was. He wasn’t ready to sacrifice his family. He shook his head as he gave a sigh.

‘The remote control is over there,’ he said pointing to a white device located on the next table. ‘The red button opens this part and the green opens the master room,’ he added.

Tarasha moved carefully to the place, with her gun still pointed at him. She picked the remote and found several buttons of different colors, she located the red and the green. She pointed it towards the part of the ceiling and pressed the red, a small hole opened slowly, enough for anybody to conveniently pass through.

‘How do I find my way there?’ she asked the man.

‘Follow the green track,’ he replied.

She stared at him thinly for a moment, wondering whether to leave him alive and just make him unconscious or ki|| him. She almost put her gun down but raised it again as she remembered something. She sent a bullet straight into his chest. She was an assassin and assassins had no time to show mercy or reward people for helping them.

As she dragged a table to fix under the opened part of the ceiling, she began to hear sounds outside the room of people trying to open the door.

____

Chief Rikau was now awake in his room. He sat uncomfortably in a seat close to the bed and was sweating even with the air conditioner. Seven officers including Agent Tim were in the room with him but he could not still put his mind at rest. He had a feeling that the attacker could be Samantha Osman and didn’t think he would be able to escape death in her hands this time around.

‘Have you arrived?’ Agent Tim’s voice came out loud as he spoke into the phone. ‘How many men do you have with you?’

‘Nine,’ the voice on the other side of the call replied.

‘Did you check the NSCC cameras?’

‘Yes but we didn’t see anything strange except a lady who dropped a radio at the gate of the neighbouring house?’

‘A lady and a radio?’ Agent Tim asked.

‘A lady?’ the inspector general shouted in fear from behind.

Agent Tim turned to look at him and nodded in affirmation.

‘Bring the phone to me,’ he ordered and Agent Tim obeyed immediately.

‘Hey you!’ Chief Rikau began hurriedly into the phone. ‘The d@mn lady is in the building already, what the hell are you guys doing staying outside? Get all your nine men with you inside the building now and call for more reinforcement, we need at least thirty more officers.’

Location: State Staff House
Time: 5:32am

‘There’s no way she can get in here,’ Tarasha heard a voice say from the room. She had gotten to the end of the green track and all she had to do was to push the green button on the remote control and the space on the ceiling would open up for her to step down through the place.

‘We have five men standing at the door now, and seven others gone round the house to look for her. Some other men are on their way here, there’s no way she would beat all of us.’ the voice rattled on. This gave Tarasha an idea on what she was going to face.

She sat carefully on part of the roof truss and sat as quietly as she could. She stretched her legs and placed her backpack in front of her. Inside the roof was dark but the reflection of light from inside the building was bright enough to lead her through the track. She opened the zip of the bag and then searched her pocket for her phone. She turned on the flashlight of the phone and turned it into the opened bag. She took out a long gun and placed it carefully on the roof members. She then placed two short guns by the sides. She brought out two small shiny balls which had tiny red cork stoppers on top and placed them by the side. She then rolled her shirt up slightly and fixed the short guns one each at both sides under the belt of her trousers.

Her hand reached for the middle of her belt and she switched the button on a device attached to the buckle. Her communication device came on.

‘Cole,’ she whispered into her mouthpiece. For a moment, she didn’t get a response until she repeated the name twice.

‘Hey boss! I hope you’ve not been trying to reach me for a long time, Henry was in the room with me.’ Cole’s voice suddenly came up when she was almost giving up and thinking he had slept off.

‘Are you monitoring the live footages from the NSCC cameras?’ she went straight to her question.

‘Ermm…’ Cole seemed to stammer for a moment while he tried to make out her words. She was whispering so low that he couldn’t pick her words quickly. ‘I just rebooted the system and the app is loading already,’ he finally replied.

‘I just overheard the men saying they’ve called for reinforcement, I need you to confirm the number of officers they have as reinforcement and their positions outside the building and on the road to ease my escape. I plan to leave with the Inspector General in the next forty minutes.’

‘Okay boss, I’ll will get back to you as soon as possible.’

‘Keep connected,’ Tarasha concluded.

She looked into her backpack again and then zipped the main storage, she opened a smaller part. There she took out a treated nose cover and covered her nose with it. She then turned off the flashlight, returned the phone, zipped her backpack and strapped it on gently.

She took a quick glance at the time . She had less than forty minutes to round up if she wanted to be done with the operation before 6:30am. She picked the remote control placed beside her, picked the long gun with the other hand and crossed the handle around her shoulder.

She adjusted the speed control on the remote control to increase the speed at which the hole would open and then clicked on the green button. She dropped the control and picked the two small balls immediately in both hands. She uncorked one of the balls and threw it into the room through the opening hole and then launched herself in through the hole after it opened conveniently enough for her.

The gas from the ball circulated the whole room immediately and began to blur the vision of those who inhaled as well as weaken them. Some of the men behavior to cough as they closed their eyes and held to the walls for support. The Inspector General also began to cough profusely and was almost falling from his chair.

Tarasha dropped dropped right beside the bed, behind the seat of the Inspector General. She took out the gun with the silencer and fired a quick shot into the body of an officer who was struggling with the knob of the door even with his weak body.

She looked around quickly as she took off her backpack again. All the officers were on the floor and weak. The Inspector General was almost falling from his chair also but she stopped him from falling and held him back to the chair.

‘Boss,’ Cole’s voice sounded into her phone through the earpiece at that moment.

‘Yes, talk to me ‘ she replied as she placed her backpack on the Inspector General’s lap and unzipped it. She took out a spray and another nose cover.

‘There are four police Hilux Vans outside the gate, the officers just arrived in the vehicles and I’m not sure of their total number.’ Cole said.

‘Okay, keep me updated.’ she replied and continued with what she was doing.

She sprayed the content in her hand on the Inspector General’s face and gave him time to breathe in deeply and out, then she covered his nose and mouth with the nose cover.

The Inspector General could now breathe normally and could see clearly. However he could not make any movement as Tarasha’s gun was touching his forehead and her finger was close to the trigger.

He would have thought death would not mean so much to him anymore, for the fact that he had faced it so many times from her but he was still so afraid of death, more than he thought he could ever be.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 22 Part 4B
She put on her backpack on one shoulder as she stepped back and ordered the man to stand up. She motioned him to move forward and move in front of her and he obeyed, slowly, with his hands raised in the air.

They climbed over the bodies of the officers including Agent Tim who had all been rendered useless by the gas and proceeded towards the door. A phone rang just as they got few metres to the door.

Tarasha glanced back briefly, the sound was coming from Agent Tim’s body. She ordered him to wait while she stepped back slowly without turning her face fully. She took out the phone and answered the call on loud speakers.

‘Sir, we are at the gate now. We have a total of twenty seven men here,’ a voice said through the phone’s speaker.

Tarasha stared at the Inspector General’s face for a moment and their eyes locked. She walked closer to him and pushed her gun into his neck, making him panic more.

‘Hello Agent Sir, are you on the line?’ the voice asked from the other end of the phone.

She raised her nose cover just enough to leave her mouth free and raised his too the same way. She then covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her finger.

‘You’d tell this officer that I escaped through the back and Agent Tim has gone after me, tell him to instruct every other officer to turn around to the road at the back of this street.’

‘Agent Sir!’ the voice sounded through the phone again.

The Inspector General collected the phone from her and placed it close to his ear. He wished to say something else to the officer on the line but the pain caused by the pistol pushing his neck reminded him that he had no extra life and the only one he had could be taken if the trigger was pulled.

‘Officer, IGP Rikau on the line,’ he said into the phone shakily.

‘Yes sir,’ the officer at the other end saluted in a loud voice.

‘Samantha Osman just escaped and she escaped through the back fence, Agent Tim and other officers have gone after her. You should mobilize all your men there and follow through to the road backing this street,’ the IGP said.

‘All the men?’ there seemed to be an element of surprise in the officer’s question.

‘Yes, make sure it’s everyone. There are a couple of men still with me in the building.

‘Right away sir, the officer replied and ended the call.

The IG returned the phone back to Tarasha and turned to face the door. She placed the gun at his back, making sure it was touching his mid bone to keep him afraid.

Tarasha stepped ahead of him to open the door and stepped back again to motion him forward.

One of the officers outside the door stepped towards them to check who was coming outside as he saw the door opening. He was shocked to see the IGP coming out with his hands raised in the air.

He raised his gun quickly and pointed it towards Tarasha but she already had her arm wrapped around the IGP’s neck and her gun to the side of his head. Two other men were in the living room where they stepped into, all three pointed their guns at Tarasha and kept moving back slowly as Tarasha moved forward with her gun to the man’s head.

She located the door with her eyes and knew it was the quickest passage to the gate of the house.

‘Put down your guns or I ki|| him,’ she thr_@tened the men as she stepped a bit away from the passage entrance behind her. She remained conscious of the space behind and was ready to deal with anyone coming from behind. The men held fast to their guns and none moved from the spots where they stood.

Tarasha Ç0çƙed the gun and put her finger close to the trigger. They moved uncomfortably and fastened their grips on their guns.

‘Put..down…your guns,’ the IGP stammered in a stiff voice. ‘Put them down,’ he shouted when he saw their reluctance.

Slowly and one after the other, the men put their guns down and raised up their hands.

‘Push the guns forward,’ Tarasha said to them, pointing to a spot in the middle where she wanted the guns. All three men obeyed.

‘You, open the door,’ she said to the man closest to the door and he obeyed immediately, opening the door wide and stepping aside. She turned to another man, ‘Go get the bullet proofed hilux out there ready for me.’

The man stood at a spot, reluctant to obey until the IGP spoke.

‘Obey her!’ he shouted with all his strength.

‘Move out one after the other,’ Tarasha motioned the other two guys.

With their hands raised in the air, the men stepped out and Tarasha followed with the IGP behind. They stepped down the balcony and stopped some distance away and faced Tarasha with their hands raised.

Two new men surfaced from the left side of the building pointing their guns towards Tarasha as they saw her.

Tarasha glanced at her wristwatch. The day was getting bright already.

‘F*** you guys, drop the guns,’ she said to the two new men but didn’t wait for them to obey as she fired shots into their bodies immediately with moving. She put the gun back to the IGP’s head to warn the other men of making any move.

‘Over here,’ she said, raising the hand with the gun to show direction to the man preparing the hilux.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 21 Part 12B
The other men remained in the same position until the man drove the hilux and stopped in front of the balcony. The man stepped out of the car and joined the other men at the same distance.

‘Get the gate opened,’ she said to them. ‘Two of the men went to the gate and each opened the both wings of the gate.

‘She opened the passenger’s side of the car and stepped in first, still holding the IGP’s neck with her. She dragged him in and then moved to the driver’s side. The first thing she checked was the fuel level of the vehicle and saw that it was enough. She then checked the controls to see if any function was locked, none was.

She wind up the glasses and with a crazy speed, sped out through the opened gate.

The embattled three men sprung into action immediately and quickly located guns as one of them went to prepare another car. They all got into one car and one put a call through to the office to report the situation.

__

Location: Presidential Quarters, Lagos

Time: 6:02am

‘You want me to do this alongside my pursuit of Samantha Osman?’ Rex asked the Vice President.

‘Yes,’ Elvis Richards replied in a desperate tone.

‘Have you had a public clash with the man earlier?’ Rex asked. ‘Or is there anything that would make people suspect you after I ki|| them?’

‘No, I’m going to be the least suspected person.’ Elvis Richards replied.

Rex remained silent for a moment, he went through the details of the new job sent to him and tried to memorize the name of all the death targets and their locations.

Elvis Richards stared at Rex keenly. He needed Rex for this job because he wanted it as neat as it could be. He also couldn’t wait for the man’s children to be ki||ed and for the man to have the feeling of not having any children in his lifetime just like him. His greatest joy had been when Chima Bright told him that his boss wasn’t aware about the fact that the Vice President’s wife had any kids for him. That knowledge had always been a secret between Chima Bright (the driver) and the doctor who only knew that Elvis Richards wasn’t the father of the kids but didn’t know who the father was.

Rex raised his head up after some minutes and stared at the Vice President thinly, ‘Do you know anyone in this nation who also has connection with the Vilary Clan?’

The Vice President squinted at him. He wasn’t expecting that kind of question and he wondered why Rex was asking such.

‘The Vilary clan? Why do you ask?’

‘I need to know, it’ll help me make some decisions,’ Rex replied.

Elvis Richards stared at him for a moment, doubting his reply. ‘The Vilary clan… The only person who knows about the Vilary clan and is probably still alive is Gabriel, I don’t think anyone else…’ he stopped talking as he remembered someone else who may know. He blinked and shone his eyes widely in awe.

__

Tarasha took a glance at the side as she made a turn into another direction. Only two vehicles were trailing after her but she already saw two more coming from the opposite side of traffic. The new road she followed was a one-double way traffic road and the both lanes were busy at that time of the day. Only two vehicles turned with Tarasha into that new road and that reduced the gap between Tarasha’s vehicle and those trailing after her.

Tarasha could see the vehicles coming after her through the side mirror. She couldn’t speed up because of the vehicles in front of her and the muddiness of the road. She took a look at the Vice President and took out the pin she drove into his neck. The man still had his forehead resting on the bullet resistant glass unconsciously. She adjusted the gear as she spotted the turn into a street. Without putting on the indicator, she swerved into the street and continued without reducing her speed.

The men driving after her were shocked to see her turn into the street, wondering what her aim was. The man sitting on the passenger’s side at the front pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

‘Officer, she’s driven into Anguwar Sarki and we don’t know where she’s headed for.’ he said into the phone. He listened for some more seconds before he dropped the phone.

‘We’ve got to follow her, they’d join us from the other side.’ he announced to the other men in the car.

The roads were filled with pot holes but Tarasha knew well how to manoeuver past them even though she had never drove past that street in reality. The only time she had driven past the street was through the gaming app she developed which included all streets and routes in the capital city. The game also featured the characteristics of the roads and streets just the same way they were in real life, so she could recall the exact spots the potholes and other obstacles were, making it easier for her to drive through.

The men after her drove into the street and tried to follow with the same speed at which she drove but the first car soon got into trouble with the front tyre as it entered into a pothole and the second vehicle had both front tyres burst after two more minutes of trying to pursue. It was then the officers realized why Tarasha had taken them through that route. The other two vehicles Tarasha had spotted coming from the opposite lane the other time joined them where they stopped on the street and couldn’t pursue further.

Location: Gbadolo, Gwagalada Abuja.
Time: 7:35am

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 15 Part 5
In a moderately furnished hotel room, Tarasha sat on a plastic chair with her elbows resting on a plastic table in front of her, her laptop in front of her and her phone held by her right hand close to her ear.

‘It’s all over the internet boss,’ Cole’s voice sounded through the phone’s speaker. ‘Everyone knows Samantha Osman has kidnapped the IGP once again.’

‘Any report on police action?’ Tarasha asked.

‘None yet, no one knows how you left the town.’

‘Okay, keep me updated with necessary information.’ Tarasha said, hoping to conclude the phone call with that.

‘Yes boss, there’s an important information available already.’ Cole replied.

Tarasha raised her brow, she was in a hurry to continue with her work and hoped that what Cole had to tell her was really important. She turned back towards the bed as she heard some noise.

There was a big rectangular box in the bed, an unusual big travelling box which she carried with her into the hotel room. There were some movements in the box and it looked like a live animal was kept in it.

She turned back and tapped the space bar on the keyboard of her laptop. ‘So, what’s this information?’ she asked as she picked the cup of tea and began to sip from it

‘It’s Henry’s discovery from his visit to the hospital yesterday,’ Cole answered. ‘The Vice President’s kids had gone for DNA tests and the results proved that none of the three are his biological children.’

Tarasha dropped the cup. ‘Huh? You mean those kids aren’t his?’

‘Yes, and he’s just discovering.’

‘Are you sure of this?’

‘Yes, Henry has copies of the test results.’

‘That’s cool, it’s a good one for us to work with. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’ she said and ended the call.

She got up from the seat immediately and took two steps to the bed. The noise and movement from the box had increased. She unzipped the box completely and split it open. The IGP was there struggling to no avail. His hands were tied and so also were his legs, his mouth was covered firmly with a tape.

He stopped struggling as he saw Tarasha. She stared into his eyes for a moment before she began to pack the clothes she had put on top him in the box aside. After that, she dragged him up and made him sit with his back resting against the headboard, his knees raised and his tied hands on the knees.

She smacked his cheek gently and made an evil smile. ‘Don’t worry man, I’m not keeping you here for a long time. I just need you to cooperate with me.’ She walked back to the table and picked the backpack under it.

She took out a video recorder and dropped it on the table. Then she walked back to the IGP and sat beside him.

‘Like I said before, I don’t plan to keep you with me for long. I brought you here for a purpose and I have two options right now,’ Tarasha stopped and readjusted herself. ‘The first is ki||ing you right here and now and the second option is getting some information from you and leaving you here to be discovered later by the authorities, that way you’d save your life.’

The Inspector General remained silent.

‘Would you like me to repeat myself or have I made my point clear enough?’ Tarasha asked.

He raised his gaze to her face and made a signal that he was ready to talk. She took off the tape from his mouth. He took in a deep breath first and exhaled deeply too.

‘After this, will you still need something else from me?’ the IGP asked in a desperate tone.

Tarasha stopped to think for a moment, then she shook her head. ‘No, it will be the last time you’d have any business with me,’ she replied, meaning her words. She knew the next thing after their meeting was his death even if it came slowly.

The IGP sighed. He bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment. ‘What information do you want from me?’ he asked, with the feeling of hopelessness. He knew there was no way out for him, it had not been her first time of kidnapping him and it now seemed that she just did it anytime she liked without anyone being able to stop her, his freedom was in her hands.

‘I want you to talk about your relationship with the Vice President, how you met and all the deals you had together, and explain especially the murder of the Danjuma’s family.’

The IGP felt a heavy pain in his chest. He coughed repeatedly but couldn’t help himself because his hands were tied and Tarasha made no move to help him.

‘Why don’t you just ki|| me, giving you all that information leaves me without nothing, it means I’m dead already.’ he complained bitterly after he was calm.

‘But it’ll leave your family alive, refusing to give me the information would ensure that your whole family is wiped out.’ Tarasha thr_@tened. She saw the fear in his face, it was what she expected. She had come to learn that most people cherished their families highly and were always willing to protect them.

The IGP cleared his throat. ‘I’ll tell you.’

Tarasha gave an evil smile. ‘You’re not just telling me, you’re telling the nation and the world.’

He squinted at her wondering what she meant.

She got up and walked to the table, she picked up the video recorder and inserted a card reader. Then she put the recorder on.

‘Start, tell us everything.’ she said as she faced the camera to him and began to record.

Location: Presidential Quarters, Lagos
Time: 7:40am

Elvis Richards wiped the soles of his feet dry on the foot mat at the door of the bathroom. He walked slowly but straight to the large mirror and stood in front of it, staring at his reflection for a couple of seconds. After a moment, he took the towel off his waist and stared at his naked body.

He heaved a sigh as he remembered how strong his body was when he was younger, especially when he just joined the police force. Or maybe it was how strong he thought it was because he didn’t think anymore he was ever strong at any point in his life. How could he say he was strong and wasn’t strong enough to impregnate his wife that she had to bring bastards home to him as his children.

He focused his eyes for a while on his male organ. The sight of the organ seemed to disgust him the longer he stared at it. As far as he was concerned, it had been useless in real life. The only thing he had used it for was having fun. He had slept with several other ladies before and after he met his wife. So he himself hadn’t been faithful to his wife. He never had any specific extramarital relationship but he did one night stands with ladies and slept with anyone that presented him the opportunity. His wife’s unfaithfulness though was painful to him wasn’t the most heartbreaking part of the situation. She had made the situation worse by her sainthood pretense, the man she cheated with and also deceiving him with children that were never his.

He began to wipe his wet body with the towel, still standing in front of the mirror. He imagined how the pain of the man who cheated with his wife would be when the death of the man’s own children were announced. He didn’t care if they had been friends or not, all he wanted was to make him feel the same pain he was feeling. The only person that gave Elvis Richards some joy about the discovery of his wife’s unfaithfulness and the children’s real paternity was the fact that the real father also did not know about the paternity of the children. Chima Bright had told him (Elvis) that his wife had always told him not to tell the man about their visit to the hospital or anything he hears from the hospital and because of the tips the driver gets from the woman, he indeed never told his boss about the visits to the hospital.

Elvis Richards was desperate to keep the truth about the three children’s paternity to himself and if possible away from the children themselves. He would love it if he died with people thinking that he had kids than dying with the whole world knowing he wasn’t able to father a child. He also determined not to lose all in life, he would not allow his childlessness affect the other areas of his life and other goals he was pursuing.

As he turned back after drying his body and flinging the towel into the wardrobe, he heard a knock at the door.

Without answering, he proceeded to the wardrobe first and took out his briefs. The knock sounded about thirty seconds after when he had put on his boxers and was putting on a white singlet.

‘Who’s at the door?’ he asked as he turned briefly towards the door.

‘Ayo,’ his PA’s voice came through.

‘Give me a minute to dress up,’ he said and turned back towards the wardrobe. After some seconds of searching, he pulled out a robe and stripped it on.

‘Ayo, you can come in.’ he called out to the person at the door and sat at the edge of his bed.

The door opened and Ayo stepped in. ‘Good morning sir,’ he greeted, bowing slightly. ‘Your breakfast is ready,’ he added.

The man sighed, not knowing what to do for a moment. ‘Bring it in for me,’ he said.

‘Okay,’ Ayo bowed and turned to leave the room.

Two minutes later, Ayo was back. This time with a lady carrying the tray of food. Ayo pulled the stool to the right position beside the bed and the lady dropped the tray on it.

The Vice President who was busy with his phone looked up at that moment and caught a glimpse of the lady. It was unusual for the ladies working around there to come into his room when he was in and he didn’t know the reason Ayo had brought this one at that time but he wasn’t bothered much about the reason, the only thing that bothered him was the heaviness of the backside of the lady.

It had been a long time he had been attracted to ladies because he had been more focused on acquiring wealth, but it seemed his discovery of his childlessness and reported unproductiveness of his male organ had awoken the urge in him and now he felt like putting it to test again.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 16 Part 5
‘Please, call me sir if you need anything else.’ Ayo’s voice sounded distant to the Vice President as he was full of thoughts on what to do. He thought of asking the lady to wait but he didn’t want Ayo to have a clue or imagine what would transpire after. As the two got close to the door, he suddenly realized that he needed not to hide anything from Ayo, if Ayo could know about his other dirty secrets, then there was no need hiding this from him.

‘Hey you!’ he called loudly as the door was opened. The two turned back. ‘Ayo can leave, you come over here.’ he said pointing to the lady.

Ayo wasted no time in stepping out and shutting the door but the lady still stood at the door wondering why the Vice President asked her to stay back.

‘What can I help you with sir?’ she asked, bowing her knees slightly in respect.

‘Come over here,’ Elvis Richards replied. He watched her as she walked briskly towards him. She was not dressed in any provocative way nor did her uniform expose any part of her body.

‘Come sit here,’ he said, tapping the space beside him on the bed.

The lady was reluctant to sit and when she did, she sat at a far point from him.

‘Come here,’ he insisted, tapping the same place he showed her the first time.

She moved closer but didn’t still move so close enough to him. He moved towards her and closed in the space between them. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked as he placed his hand around her shoulder.

‘Janet,’ she replied and shifted uncomfortably.

‘Hey! Stop behaving like a kid,’ he said to her in a stern voice. ‘Do you know I can change your life totally?’

She gave no reply and didn’t look up, but gave less resistance as the man began to rub his fingers on her knees and gradually go under her skirt.

A knock sounded harshly on the door. She shifted and the Vice President took a quick glance angrily towards the door.

‘Who’s that?’ he shouted.

‘Ayo sir,’ his PA’s voice sounded.

He hissed and continued to go dip his hand further under her skirt, rubbing her thighs.

‘I’m busy now, come back later.’ he said nonchalantly.

‘It’s really very urgent sir,’ Ayo’s voice sounded disturbed.

The Vice President stopped and hissed, he shrugged and signalled for the girl to get up. ‘You may leave, I’ll call for you later.’

She adjusted her skirt and shirt properly before heading towards the door. Ayo stepped in after she got out.

‘What is it?’ Elvis Richards asked in an angry tone.

Ayo moved closer to him, holding a tablet device in his hands. ‘Sir, see what we found in the news this morning.’ he said as he proceeded towards the man.

‘Stop!’ Elvis Richards shouted at him angrily. ‘Can’t you tell me what it is?’

Ayo stopped as he was commanded. He sighed before he began to talk, ‘The Inspector General was kidnapped this morning by Samantha Osman.’

Elvis Richards widened his eyes in shock. His fingers held the mattress for support. Not that he felt pity in anyway for the IGP – he had stopped pitying the Chief since he found out the truth- but he didn’t expect that Samantha Osman could stop the man from travelling. ‘How can that be? Rikau is supposed to travel this morning and we made sure that his convoy would be heavy and impossible to defeat or penetrate.’

‘Sir, she kidnapped him from the Staff House, very early in the morning.’

The Vice President picked his phone and checked the time, it was just few minutes to eight, the time for the flight was still hours away. He wondered how Samantha knew that the IGP was at the state house and how she knew he was going to travel. The IGP’s whereabouts and travel plans had been kept as top secret.

‘Bring that device, I need to read it myself.’

____

Location: Ongoing Flyover Construction Site, Badagry Expressway.
Time: 9:55am

Different construction plants could be seen on the site and engineers with their site wears and helmets could be seen standing at the different points along the Flyover Construction Site while other manual laborers which were more than the population of the engineers also went about their own jobs.

A part of the road which was untarred had been left for the movement of vehicles along the road. It was usually hooked up by several vehicles at busy hours but at that time of the day many people had left for work already and other motorists were avoiding the place. The rate of traffic jam was quite low even though there was a hold up at that moment. As the cars began to move slowly forward at the both directions of traffic, a black Corolla with tinted glasses appeared from the left side behind. The back glass slowly wound down a little and there appeared the mouth of a long gun.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 16 Part 12
Engineer Jimoh stood beside the plant erecting the precast concrete members, giving instruction to the trained labourers and inspecting the work. A beep sounded from his pocket and he dipped in his hand to bring out the communication device.

‘Hey Engineer Tunmise,’ he said into the device. He turned his back to the manual labourers and walked away. The labourers and the equipment drivers continued with their work when the sound of a gunshot was heard. All the workers ran for cover immediately as no one knew where the sound came from.

After some seconds of no activity, the workers began to come out of their hiding places and they found Engineer Jimoh on the floor, a bullet had pierced into his back of his head.

They looked towards the moving vehicles from where the sound came. They couldn’t tell from which of the vehicles it was. The traffic jam was less now and the cars were moving at a faster rate.

‘Ah Oga!’ the driver driving Rex’s vehicle exclaimed at the sound of the gunshot. He had seen through the rear view mirror how Rex brought out the long gun and placed it at the top corner of the window. He was shocked but Rex flashed a warning look at him and he could not utter any word. Rex did not $h00t immediately until the vehicles began to move, and not just when the vehicles were moving but just at the moment the road became totally clear. The driver did not see who the bullet hit as they did not wait to watch but he saw the reaction of the people after the gun was shot.

‘Shut the f*** up and concentrate on the road,’ Rex said to him as he returned the sniper into the bag. His tablet device was still on his laps, he picked it up and continued to watch until their car appeared in the video. He had been monitoring the traffic from the front through the NSCC cameras, so he knew exactly when it was free and the time to $h00t that would allow them escape easily.

‘Drive faster,’ he said and placed the tablet beside him on the seat. They had now gotten to the tarred part of the road away from the site of construction.

Rex phone began to ring and he reached for it, the Vice President was calling.

‘Hey man! I ki||ed the first dude,’ he said as he answered the call.

‘Uhm… Where are you now?’ Elvis Richard’s voice sounded disturbed.

‘On my way to find details of the lady amongst the targets,’ Rex replied. The driver in front shivered uncomfortably. Rex raised his gun and put it close to his neck.

‘Do you have a solid plan against Samantha Osman?’

‘What do you mean by solid plan?’

‘Do you have a plan that would surely ki|| her?’

‘Yes, I do. This new job is a distraction but I’ll still finish her up in less than two weeks.’

‘I think I have a hint.’

‘What hint?’

‘Samantha Osman kidnapped the Inspector General of Police again just this morning,’ Elvis Richards began. ‘He was scheduled for a flight out of the country by ten o’clock this morning.’

‘Okay?’

‘The knowledge of his flight and whereabouts is supposed to be kept as top secret within the top police officials and the Presidency, so it means she must have gotten her information from the people involved.’

‘Ermm… How can that help?’

‘I think we can come up with a plan and pass a secret information through this same channels too, it would leak to her and she could try to take actions against me and then we trap her.’

It took Rex some seconds to reply, ‘Sounds like a nice idea.’

‘Yes, so you think it would work?’ The Vice President asked, already having a victory note in his voice.

‘Yes, it would. I would come up with a plan and get back to you later.’

‘Okay,’ the Vice President replied and the call ended.

Rex took the pistol away from the driver’s neck. He rested his left hand on the driver’s seat and his right on the passenger’s and with that, he helped himself to get to the passenger’s side at the front.

‘Pull over,’ he said in a command tone to the driver.

The driver quickly looked for a good space and parked the car.

‘Get out,’ Rex said after the driver parked.

The man opened the door and stepped out quickly, raising his hands up as Rex’s gun was pointed at him.

Rex moved to the driver’s seat, he fired a shot into the man’s chest before closing the door and driving away.

___

Location: Ilorin, Kwara State.
Time: 11:46AM

In a pensive atmosphere, three men in a living room and putting on white shirts on black trousers all sat looking sad and disturbed. The living room was a large and beautiful one. The black leather sofas were clean and sparkling, so also the tiles and the centre table. The wall was painted with a mixture of white and wine colour, not in a conventional way but in a way that would make a visitor awed by the creativity of the painter. The ceilings were also made of shiny white and spots of wine materials. On the walls were hung different photos of people. On the right side were three photos of a man, one in his younger years another during his early marriage year and the third several years after marriage. On the left was the picture of a woman who was obviously his wife, three of them, in the same pattern as the man’s. The pictures on the wall behind the long leather sofa were that of the man and the wife in the middle, the man, his wife and his three grown up children on the left and the children without the couple in a picture at the left. All the pictures had wine coloured frames.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 17 Part 3
One of the men seated on a one-seater sofa with his arms folded across his chest and his lower lip folded in shook his head in sadness as his eyes met the face of Engineer Jimoh in the picture of the children.

‘Hmm,’ the man hummed out loud and shook his head. ‘How are we going to tell this woman that her first son was shot dead on this same day we’ve been running around about his father?’

‘I tell you, this is not a good thing.’ Another man joined in. ‘How can she even take it? They’ve been living in peace all these years, only for them to retire and enjoy their lives and the enemies would not let them rest.’

‘Seriously, something must be done about this nation. We need drastic change,’ the thrid man joined.

Just as the third man said his last word. A woman putting on a native attire rushed into the living room in a grieved manner. She had her scarf tied on her loosely and her wrapper almost falling off as she supported it with her hand. The three men got up to their feet immediately they saw her.

‘Please, tell me it’s not true. What happened to my son?’ she wailed as she rushed to the centre of the living room.

___

Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 8:23PM

‘Tara, you can’t tell me you had nothing to do with the Inspector General’s kidnap, there’s no way I’m going to believe you.’ Henry argued, following her into the room.

‘Please Henry close the door,’ Tarasha said to him, reminding him that he forgot to lock the door of the room.

Henry stepped back and closed the door. ‘Tara, I asked you a question.’ he reminded her, seeing that she paid no attention to him but was taking off her clothes.

‘I gave you the answer you need already,’ she said as she folded the top she just took off and threw it into the basket.

‘You didn’t tell me what you did with the Inspector General,’ he questioned further.

Tarasha turned to him and gave him a stare. ‘What the hell is wrong with you man? How is that your business?’

‘But Omotara, we agreed that we should no longer ki|| anyone except it happens by error.’

‘So who told you his death didn’t happen by error?’ she replied.

Henry’s mouth was left agape, he shone his eyes at her for some seconds before he spoke again. ‘So you ki||ed him already?’

She didn’t give him a reply but continued to take off her clothes. She threw her trousers into the same basket she threw the top, leaving her body only covered with her bra and pantie.

Henry sank into a chair tiredly.

‘What’s the time now?’ she turned and asked him as she took off her bra. He didn’t answer her or look towards her. She picked her phone on the bed and checked the time. ‘Do you have sms or email subscription to a news website?’ she asked Henry.

He still did not answer.

She dialed Cole’s number on her phone. ‘Hey Cole, I’m gonna rest for a few hours after taking a shower. Please forward links to me whenever a news site gives update on the Inspector General.’

Henry flashed a look at her as he heard the mention of the IG but she said nothing to him anymore.

She dropped the call and continued with her undressing.

After some seconds, she walked past Henry’s front into the bathroom.

He stared unmoved at her naked behind until she was out of his sight.

His phone made a beep sound. He picked it out slowly after letting out a sigh. There was a new message, it read;

We’re still expecting your feedback.

He was still thinking of what to do when another message popped in.

Henry was still thinking of what to do when another message popped in.

He clicked open and the message displayed fully, it was a news update from a news portal he subscribed to.

BREAKING NEWS – Inspector General Of Police found in a hotel room. Read more here.

He flashed a quick look towards the bathroom after he clicked on the read more link. The link opened on the Google chrome browser. He scrolled past the heading to read the content of the article.

The Inspector General of Police, Chief Rikau Rafiu was discovered in a brothel some few minutes ago. The police command has sent men to the brothel and confirmed the news.

The brothel; Full Heights Hotel in Gbadolo, Gwagalada Abuja is known for its notorious dealings and accommodation of criminals and suspects and is usually being raided by the police officials from time to time. However, the police did not discover the Inspector General on a raid but were called by the hotel officials after they discovered the IGP in a room which was previously booked by a lady. The hotel official which attended to the lady when she checked in claimed that she didn’t come in with the man but only with a very big traveling bag and a backpack.

The police have refused to disclose the state at which the Inspector General was found in the room but according to a source in the hotel who pleaded anonymity, the IGP was found in the hotel room laying in the bed sleeping, with a intravenous fluid bag hanging beside him and the liquid running into his body through a vein in his left hand. The source claimed the liquid only remained few drops in the bag at the time of discovery.

The brothel official who called the police told our reporters that this discovery was made because the lady that booked the room only paid for twelve hours and she had not checked out at the time it expired. The hotel workers and security officials claim not to have seen how and when she left the hotel.

Investigations are still ongoing and more details to be reported later.

Henry heaved a sigh of relief after reading the news. She did not ki|| the Inspector General after all. But he couldn’t understand why she told him she ki||ed him, was it to get him angry with her or was it her way of telling him that he was disturbing her too much?

He was still in thoughts when she stepped out of the bathroom with her towel wrapped around her chest.

She walked past him to the wardrobe and began to wipe her body clean.

He watched her in silence for a while, not knowing how to restart the conversation with her since he ignored her questions previously.

‘Tara, I’m sorry if I’ve been disturbing you a lot,’ he finally began. ‘I’m just too scared of ki||ing people, I don’t want you to be seen as a wicked murderer or an assassin.’

Tarasha wanted to ignore him before but the last phrase he mentioned caught her attention.

‘Don’t you understand yet that an assassin is who I am?’ she asked, flashing a questioning look at him.

‘That was who you are, but you can change and make people see you differently.’ Henry said.

‘I don’t give a d@mn about how people see me,’ she replied him without looking back. ‘I came here to ki|| and that’s what I’ll do till I leave.’

Henry was quiet for a while, pondering on her words. They had been on this same line of argument severals times before and it has become like a circle which they have to keep going round in.

‘I can’t watch you continue to ki|| people,’ he raised up his head and looked at her. She was naked, with her back turned towards him. She had finished using the towel and was putting on her underwear. ‘I know you didn’t ki|| the Inspector General of police, but I beg you to keep it that way. You don’t have to ki|| others too.’

She flashed a look at him and turned back to continue what he was doing.

Henry had a rethink. He remembered that the IGP was found on drip. Could it be possible that she had decided to ki|| the IGP slowly through a poisoned fluid? He decided to keep his thoughts to himself and wait and watch what happens to the IGP after.

Tarasha put on a sleeping gown after putting on her underwear and turned towards Henry. ‘I’m here to ki|| and I would not make apologies for doing what I was born to do,’ she said in a stern voice. ‘I gave you the option of moving away from me already, if you can’t do that, you’d have to support and ki|| with me or you die trying to stop me.’ she said and bent to pick her phone on the bed.

‘I can’t leave you Tara,’ Henry said in a sad voice, shaking his head as he really wished he could leave her and choose a peaceful life instead of the one of hunting people everyday and also being hunted.

Tarasha unlocked her phone and raised her eyes to stare at his face, ‘Make no mistakes Henry, I’m going to ki|| you if you ever try to stop me or come in the way.’

Henry could tell she was serious with her words, but he didn’t know if she could really do it if it got to that point.

She sat on the bed and swiped down the notification bar of her phone. Cole had already sent her two links as she requested. She clicked on the message and opened it. ‘We still have some work to do this night,’ she typed and sent to him in reply.

After that, she laid in the bed and rested her head on the pillow gently.

____

Location: Andreas Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos State.
Time: 9:32pm

There was something strange about the Estate that night and it was the street lights, they were off and no one knew the reason.

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Two people; a couple; are seated in a moving Toyota Camry 2028 model. The husband at the driver’s side while the wife is seated at the passenger’s side in a very sad mood. The wife was the younger sister to the late Engineer Jimoh who was shot dead that morning and they were returning to their own residence from the residence of the late man where they had gone to pay a condolence visit to Mrs Jimoh.

Signs of dried tears could still be seen on the wife’s eyes while the husband’s face was without tears but gloomy. The news of Engineer Jimoh’s death had come as a shock to them and the way he died was more devastating.

The husband took a glance at his wristwatch, they had spent a lot of time being with Mrs Jimoh and he was driving at a high speed to ensure they drove out of the estate before ten o’clock. Ten o’clock was the closing time for the estate gate and he didn’t want to have to speak with the security guards before they would be allowed to go out. He took a look at the side mirror, the vehicle which had being behind them was now running at a lower speed and he guessed that the user had almost gotten to his destination. He wondered why that kind of vehicle was still on the road at that time of the day. It was a medium sized truck, the type usually used for the transportation of sand, gravel and similar construction materials.

There were usually very few vehicles passing through the estate, and at that time of the day the road users had become so few. Only those two cars could be seen at that part of the road.

‘Have you received any call from Esther yet?’ the husband asked his wife.

‘No, but she sent a message that she’s put Craig to sleep already.’ the woman replied. Esther was the name of their house help and Craig was their two year old son.

‘Okay,’ the husband replied. He took a look at the rearview mirror. He noticed that the vehicle behind had suddenly increased speed again and was coming forward with a very high unreasonable speed. He wondered what was wrong with the driver.

They were approaching a turn. The husband moved to the slow lane, hoping that the driver speeding crazily from behind would make use of the available space but all of a sudden, like a vehicle with a drunk driver whose brake had lost control, the truck headed straight towards the couple’s vehicle and crushed it into a fence.

Thirty seconds after the crash, Rex jumped out of the truck and turned to the right hand side. He stopped by the side where the wife was seated. The woman already looked dead as she was crushed in the car with blood rolling down her face already. He took out a syringe and injected the liquid into her shoulder to make sure she doesn’t survive.

He turned back and looked around to see if anyone was looking at him. He quickly hurried away to a car which he had parked some distance away.

____

10:25pm

‘Cole,’ Tarasha’s voice woke Cole up. He had slept off in the computer room, in front of the control system with his forehead on the table.

‘Boss,’ he said and got up to his feet as he saw her coming towards the main control system. She was dressed in jean shorts and an armless blue top and she had a backpack with her.

‘Get seated,’ she said to him as she sat on the chair in front of the main control system. She put the bag she came with on the table while Cole sat in front of the next computer

‘Where do you have Henry’s data?’

‘He stored them here, I don’t think he shared it yet.’ Cole replied, referring to the computer in front of him. He adjusted himself and faced the desktop before him after pushing the boot button on the CPU.

Tarasha tapped the space bar on the main computer keyboard to turn the desktop on.

‘I just checked the articles in the links you sent, did you read any of them too?’

‘I read only one,’ Cole replied. ‘I read the one on the Youngicee website, it’s a reliable source.’

‘Has there being any update since then?’

‘I’ve not checked, I slept off after dinner.’

‘Why did you chose to sleep here?’

‘I didn’t want to be too relaxed since you said we still had work to do tonight.’

Tarasha turned to her system without replying him. The system in front of Cole had also booted completely. The browser on Tarasha’s system was opened and the homepage youngicee.com was already fully loaded. She opened another tab and then typed the log in address to her blog. She logged in immediately and clicked on ‘create new post’.

‘I’ve just shared the folder,’ Cole said.

‘Okay,’ she replied and minimized the browser. She opened the file explorer on her desktop and navigated to network places. She soon found the folder and copied it to the desktop. She opened the folder and found four images and a microsoft word document, she opened the images one after the other and confirmed them as the DNA test results and summary. ‘What’s in this word document?’ she asked as she clicked on it.

‘Some news articles with their source underneath,’ Cole replied.

‘Did he get this from the hospital too?’ she asked.

‘No, from the research he made here.’

She scrolled through the document as Cole continued to explain.

‘Two doctors were kidnapped two days ago, we found out that they were the family doctors of the Elvis’ at different points in time during late Mrs Elvis’ years of child bearing.’ Cole expatiated.

‘Oh! Good job by Henry,’ Tarasha said as she nodded gently. Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Henry few hours before that time and remembered the look on his face when she thr_@tened to ki|| him. He had slept beside her few minutes after and she left him sleeping after she got up. ‘You can go to bed if you’ve told me everything necessary.’

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 14 Part 11
‘Ermm… Won’t you need me for something else?’

‘Not tonight.’ she replied briefly.

Cole got up and slowly walked out of the room.

__

Location: Presidential Quarters, Lagos.
Time: 10:25pm

‘Wow! Rex, you did a really good job today, I didn’t expect it’ll go that smooth.’ The Vice President said, elated with the news of the death of two of the children of his late wife’s cheating partner.

‘The third one will be dead by morning tomorrow,’ Rex said in reply, ignoring the compliment. He got up from the seat in the dark room and turned towards the door.

‘Rex, what about the clue I gave you on Samantha Osman?’ Elvis Richards asked.

‘I’m still working on it, I’m putting a structure in place already and by the time I’m done. Samantha Osman would not be able to overcome the bait.’ he replied.

‘Okay Rex, I’ll be waiting to hear from you.’

Without saying anything else, Rex walked out of the place.

Elvis Richards got up, he felt some kind of delight knowing that the man who slept with his wife would also be feeling pains and sorrows that moment but he still didn’t feel the kind of fulfilment he longed for. He could still tell that there was something missing, he didn’t know what it was. He began to think of what he could do to fill the hole in his heart. He thought of taking alcohol to clear his thoughts for a moment but he remembered the doctor’s warning for him not to drink alcohol anymore. Then he remembered Janet who he met in the morning, he felt a bit relieved.

He picked up his phone and dialed his PA’s number. ‘Hi, Ayo, I’m coming inside the house now. Sneak that girl Janet into my room and let her wait for me.’

‘Okay sir,’ Ayo replied from the other end.

‘After you do that, I want you to also take away the two doctors and Bright Chima from this place. You can wipe off Doctor Reuben’s memory and leave him alive but ki|| the other two and dispose off their bodies safely.’

__

Location: Ilorin, Kwara State.
Time: 10:30pm

The same expensive living room of engineer Jimoh’s parent’s house. Two of the men who were there earlier could be seen there but now putting on different clothes from the one they had on in the morning. Four other people in the room, three women and a young man in his mid twenties. Two of the three women were in their mid ages while the third one was a woman of about seventy year old. They all sat in silence, all with gloomy face.

A younger woman who bore a striking resemblance to Engineer Jimoh’s mother walked into the living room from inside. She was just walking through to the kitchen.

‘Is she asleep now?’ one of the elderly men asked her.

‘No, she’s not sleeping. I left her with Shefau,’ the woman replied before walking into the kitchen.

‘You people should talk to your elder sister, she’s old and she doesn’t need hurt herself.’ the man said, turning to the middle aged women seated in the living room. ‘At least, her husband has been confirmed alive by the doctors and is already receiving another drip. God is the only one who gives and takes and we don’t know what he did with this occurrence.’

The women sighed and whispered to each other. After that one of them got up from her seat and proceeded towards the room section. The woman who had gone into the kitchen came out at the same time and joined the other as they both went into the room.

A phone began to ring in the living room and one of the elderly men took it out from his pocket. He squinted at his phone’s screen for a moment before answering.

‘Hello… What!’ he shouted and jumped up in shock at the same time, alarming the other people seated. ‘Ah! Okay, I will call you back.’

‘Baba, what happened?’ the women in the room began to panic and the second elderly man stared at the man’s face.

‘It’s nothing, please calm down everyone, don’t mind me. It’s my farm, I just heard that one of my workers applied excess herbicides and ki||ed a lot of the growing crops.’ he lied as he rested back in the seat.

The lie seemed to make the people calm down a bit but they kept staring at him as if they were expecting him to say something else or like they did not believe him completely. He ignored them and remained quiet.

After about five minutes, he got up to his feet and turned to the second man.

‘See, Baba Musa, let’s talk. I need to leave here and see my farm manager immediately.’

‘Okay,’ Baba Musa replied and also got to his feet. ‘Remain here women, I would be back in a minute.’

The men walked out of the living room to the front yard of the house. They stopped when they got to a distance where they were sure no one could hear their conversation.

‘See Baba Musa, another wahala has happened o.’ the man who received the phone call said.

‘Which wahala is that again?’ the other man asked.

‘That call I received was from lawyer Lateef and he said that Aishat, the second daughter of Chief was involved in a terrible accident on her way back from her late brother’s house.’

‘Kai! Allahu Akbau,’ Baba Musa shouted and placed his two hands on his head.

‘Don’t shout Baba Musa,’ the other man cautioned, looking towards the windows and doors of the house to see if anyone was watching them from there. ‘Look here,’ he continued. ‘She was with her husband in the car but she died instantly while her husband is in a critical condition at the hospital.’

‘Ah!’ Baba Musa wanted to shout but quickly covered his mouth with his hands. ‘This one is too much now,’ he said panicking. ‘God, what have we done to deserve all these?’

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‘Hmm…’ the first man heaved a sigh of frustration, placing his hands on each other across his chest. ‘I don’t just know what to do.’

‘Kei! Can this be told at all? A family who just lost the first child, the father’s life was just saved by God today and the second child is now dead by accident.’ Baba Musa lamented.

‘Look Baba Musa, it’s not time to cry now. Go back inside and behave as if nothing happened,’ the first man instructed. ‘I’m going to see Alfa Kazeem right now and when I come back, we will know what to do.’

___

Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 11:02pm

Tarasha clicked on schedule after reading through the post again. The news will be posted automatically at exactly six o’clock the next morning and she was sure it would shock Elvis Richards and the nation at large. The post scheduled successfully and she closed the tab. She returned to the youngicee website and scrolled through the list of amazing fiction stories. She then opened the news section of the site to check for new updates, there was a trending news headline at the top.

DAY OF TRAGEDY: AISHA FOLLOWS ENGINEER JIMOH TO THE LAND OF THE DEAD

She raised her brows as she saw the news headline. She had seen a similar headline reporting Engineer Jimoh’s death earlier but she didn’t read it then since she didn’t know who Engineer Jimoh was but it now seemed she needed to know who he was since the news made it appear like his family was an important one in the nation. She clicked on the link and it loaded completely in less than five seconds.

She read through the well detailed news of how a truck whose driver lost control had crushed the car of the couple. The wife had died instantly and the man was on life support in the hospital. The driver of the truck was found still alive and being treated in the hospital. The driver was found drunk and only slightly injured by the accident. From that article, she followed a related post link to read the one detailing the story on Engineer Jimoh’s death. The details of Engineer Jimoh’s death caught her attention, the distance from which a single bullet was shot and hit the target in a very good area was noteworthy. She knew it wasn’t just a random $h00ter or assassin.

She returned back to the news on Aisha’s death and read through again, she began to have suspicions. She knew the country had strong laws against drinking and driving and wondered how a man driving a truck could have gotten himself drunk. She knew it was possibly not a coincidence like everyone else was made to think and it was also not a coincidence that it was happening at a time there was more than one assassin from the Vilary clan in the country.

After some minutes of thinking, her mind wandered off and she remembered Madam Henrietta, her mother. She minimized the browser and opened the tracking app. The last time Cole spoke to her about it, he had told he already set up the app to track the new phone he bought for her.

It took sometime for the app to load and it brought the result of the previous activity. It showed the details of the device being tracked and the position on earth. When Tarasha clicked to get more information about the position, she got the location of the device. But it wasn’t what she expected. The location gotten was the airport address at the US and not a residential address. She refreshed the app and waited for some minutes but it still brought the same location.

She didn’t know what to think. Was it that Madam Henrietta had not left the airport yet or she lost the phone at the airport? The latter could mean it would be quite difficult to find her again.

___

Location: Miami, United States.

‘Thank you,’ Madam Henrietta waved off the cab man after he dropped her at her residence. She turned towards her house with her bag in her hands and heaved a deep sigh of relief. She then proceeded towards the entrance. She stopped at the door and pressed the bell. Someone opened in a few seconds.

‘Hey Henrietta!’ the woman shouted her name in surprise. She drew her into a warm embrace and pulled her in. ‘What happened? I was scared something bad had happened to you?’

‘I’m fine,’ Henrietta said with a light smile. She sank into the comfortable cushion and dropped her luggage beside it. ‘I returned since yesterday but lost the phone I brought with me at the airport, it’s a long story my friend.’

Agnes kept staring at her as if she had seen an alien. Agnes was her friend and housemate who ran the same business with her and also left Nigeria at the same time. Madam Henrietta estranged husband was staying somewhere close to the house.

‘You need to rest now, you’d tell me the story later.’ Agnes said, rushing into the kitchen to get something for her friend.

Henrietta rested her head and heaved another sigh of relief as she remembered Nigeria. She remembered Stephanie and Atinuke. She was glad she was finally away from the troubles. She wasn’t sure she was going to be returning to Nigeria anymore. Stephanie was almost done with school and could see herself through and the girl seemed glad to be with her mother with her. She had nothing more to do in the country, it would only remind her of bad memories. All she needed to do now was focus on her business and make more millions from it.

Location: Presidential Quarters, Lagos
Time: 8:24am

Elvis RIchards was woken up by a knock on his door. He stretched and yawned angrily under the blanket. He opened his eyes and looked at his side, it was empty, Janet had gone. The last night had not been an eventful one like he had hoped for, his male organ had disappointed him again. Even though the first round had been fair, he had hoped for a better second round but to his disappointment, a second round could not happen because his organ did not respond anymore to Janet’s touches and attempts to arouse him, instead it remained flaccid like it went after the first round, leaving Janet totally unsatisfied and unhappy with him. He wasn’t surprised that she did not tell him before leaving the room.

He was angry with himself and angry with life. Life had not been fair to him. There was nothing he had been able to enjoy in peace, not even a nice time with a lady. But then he remembered it had not always been so, especially when he was young and he also reminded himself that he had now grown older. He remembered Janet, asking him if he needed a segz enhancer so that she could bring one along with her the next time but he couldn’t remember what answer he gave her, all he could hope for was that she would bring it along the next time so he could enjoy his time with her more.

The knock sounded at the door again, reminding him that someone was there.

He didn’t reply in a hurry but picked his phone first to check the time. He saw the missed calls signal at the notification bar and he swiped down to check, he had gotten three calls in the last twenty minutes which he didn’t get to answer as his phone was on silent mode.

The knock sounded again the third time.

‘Come in,’ he shouted, looking towards the door.

It opened and Ayo stepped in briskly, he had a worried look on his face.

‘What is it again this morning? Has Samantha Osman ki||ed the Inspector General?’ He asked on seeing the look on Ayo’s face. He had seen Ayo’s device in his hands, the same device Ayo always brought to him whenever he had a news article or something to show him online. He sat up and rested his back against the headboard.

‘Good morning sir,’ Ayo greeted first. ‘No, there has been no news about the Inspector General’s health yet but there’s something else going around the internet since seven thirty am and it has also been reported on the news this morning. It’s concerning you.’

‘And what could that be?’ The Vice President raised his brows.

Ayo raised his tab and unlocked it, he wanted to read out the news but he could not complete the first word. ‘Sir, I think you should see it yourself.’ he said and began to proceed towards the man.

‘Stop! What in the world is wrong with you?’ Elvis RIchards shouted angrily, mad at Ayo for already making his morning worse than it was.

Ayo stopped. He was already close to the bed.

‘On what site can I read it on? I want you to get out so I can check it myself,’ the Vice President asked.

‘You can visit the news section of the Youngicee website to read, the news videos can also be found on Youngicee Online TV.’ Ayo replied.

‘Okay, you can go out now,’ Elvis Richards said, dismissing him with a wave of the hand.

He watched until Ayo stepped out before he picked his phone. He quickly opened his browser and logged on to Youngicee.com, he found the headline of the news relating to him on the first line.

VICE PRESIDENT ELVIS RICHARDS IS IMPOTENT: DNA TEST RESULTS PROVES THE THREE CHILDREN ARE NOT HIS

His whole body froze in shock and for a moment it seemed like he was going to pass on but somehow he remained alive. His body continued to tremble and his phone fell off his hands. The secret he had promised himself would never leak out was already out and would have been read by several thousands of people in the nation and outside the nation as well.

How could it have leaked? Could the doctor have let it out to someone else who told a journalist? Or did a journalist visit the hospital after seeing that his children had visited there previously? Or had the doctor told the children the results of the tests after he warned him not to? All these questions were formed in his mind. He knew however that it was impossible for a doctor working in a hospital of that calibre to let out information about their patients talk more of such a sensitive information.

A thought came to his mind. One of his children could have stupidly confided in a friend about the DNA test and the friend had taken the news out on the internet without verifying. He hoped that was the case as he picked up his phone which had dropped to the bed. He unlocked it and clicked on the link. The page loaded in a second and he began to read through.

Hitting the internet early this morning is a new post from the Samantha Osman blog giving some dirty secrets about the Vice President.

Elvis RIchards paused and took in a deep breath and exhaled deeply on seeing Samantha Osman’s name in the news. He knew if it was Samantha Osman, it would be more devastating than he was expecting.

On her blog, the assassin made dangerous claims about the potency of the Vice President and the paternity of his children but she didn’t just make the claims, she had evidences to support her claims.

In the past week after the Vice President visited the hospital to treat his ill health, his children were also spotted in the hospital after he left and their visit to the hospital had been to do a DNA test whose results all confirmed that they were fathered by a different person who is still unknown. Pictures of the results can be found below.

Elvis Richards widened his eyes in shock as he saw pictures of the test results which had been sent to him through email. His lips and fingers trembled. There was no way he was going to claim that the results were fake, the pictures showed the signatures and stamps from the hospital. He managed to continue reading the article.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 15 Part 8
Samantha Osman has supported her claim by referring to the recent kidnap of two doctors, Doctor Musa and Doctor Reuben. Her findings have proved that the doctors were kidnapped on the same day the test results came out. Doctor Musa happens to be the gynaecologist who was in charge of the three kids birth while Doctor Reuben happened to treat the Vice President during an accident. She claims on her website that the Vice President had kidnapped the doctors after finding out that the children were not his. However, she did not tell what the Vice President would do or would have done to the doctors.

This information being reported was posted on SamanthaOsman.com in a very insulting manner this morning by 7 o’clock and our reporters have been trying to verify all her claims. As at this time of reporting, female artiste Vivy who is the only ‘daughter’ of the Vice President has been reached through her manager and it was confirmed that they really went for a DNA test but claimed that have seen the results of the tests yet. Efforts to reach the Vice President and the other children have proved abortive. However, our reporters are currently on duty, some at the hospital to make some verifications.

More details to come as we make more verifications.

Elvis Richards got up angrily and smashed his phone on the wall. He picked the pillow and blanket on the bed and flung them away. His hands reached for the footstool and he also flung it to the mirror, shattering the large rectangle object noisily.

Ayo opened the door of the room and barged in without permission. He seemed to have been expecting such a reaction from the man so he waited outside the room. Two other men which were alerted by the noise been made stood outside behind him.

‘Is everything okay sir?’

‘D*** you, nothing is okay.’ he barked at Ayo, looking around for something which his hands could reach so he could fling but he found none.

Ayo stood looking at him as he paced about angrily. His secret had been leaked to the world and there was nothing he could do to hide it anymore. The whole world would now see him as impotent and without nothing in the world. He had thought life wasn’t fair on him earlier that morning but after reading the news, he concluded that life was indeed very cruel on him.

A thought struck his mind and he stopped pacing for a moment. He decided he was going to lose everything just like that. He wasn’t going to let his name be tarnished totally, not before destroying every other person that could be destroyed too. He needed to make sure some things were in place first.

He turned to Ayo, ‘Which boys did you use in getting the doctors and Chima Bright?’

‘Sir, some of our boys here and officers.’ Ayo replied.

‘Make sure that none of them say a word about it, they should all deny if they are asked. We have nothing to do with the doctor’s kidnap and their deaths,’ he said, shining his eyes widely at Ayo.

‘Yes sir, I instructed them already.’

‘Good. Now, we have to get that doctor at the hospital…’ he paused as another thought struck his mind. He had thought of sending men to ki|| the doctor who carried out the DNA test but he remembered that it would deep him further into the mess. He began to pace about the floor again. Then he stopped and looked up. ‘Go back and resume your activities as if nothing is happening.’

He watched until the door was closed before he returned to seat at the edge of the bed. The whole place was dead silent for a couple of minutes until he began to hear the sound of his phone’s ringtone. He looked around to locate where he had flung it to. He got up and proceeded to the place to pick it up. He checked the screen to see who the caller was but the phone’s screen had gotten completely damaged and the ink could be seen covering the entire surface. He placed a finger at the fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone to answer the call.

‘Hello,’ he said into the mouthpiece.

‘Hello Dad,’ the voice that replied him was the least person he expected to hear from that morning.

‘James, how are you?’

‘I’m fine, where are you Dad?’ James asked.

‘In the presidential quarters,’ Elvis Richard replied.

‘I’m on my way there already, we need to see.’

Elvis Richards took the phone off his ear slowly without replying James. He wondered what the boy was coming to see him for. Was it to hear a verbal confirmation that he wasn’t their father or was it to ask who their real father was?

He felt afraid to meet with the boy but he drew in a deep breath. He returned to the bed. He had already developed a headache. He thought of taking his own life before James arrived but changed his mind on a second thought. It would be the most cowardly thing to do because that way, he would have assisted his enemies in defeating him totally. He was not ready to go down yet, at least not before his enemies.

___

Location: Tarasha’s New Base.
Time: 9:15AM

‘Apart from the ingredients we left at the other Base, do we need to get anything extra?’ Tarasha asked Doctor Ekwueme.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 14 Part 12
Both were in a large room. The doctor was seated in a comfortable plastic chair beside a hospital bed, Tarasha was standing by the window close by and Dave James was in the bed, his hands and feet fastened to the bed with straps.

‘I’m not really sure, I’ll only be able to tell after we retrieve those ingredients.’ the doctor gave an answer to Tarasha’s question.

‘We should get them before the end of today,’ Tarasha said. She stepped closer to the bed and placed her gaze on Dave James who was awake and listening keenly to them. ‘I don’t want us keeping unnecessary people with us, we should let him go as soon as possible.’

‘Yes, he should be free once the mixture is ready.’

Tarasha took a glance at the doctor’s face and again at Dave James’ face before walking out of the room.

The doctor stood up from his chair and flashed a look at Dave James. He looked at the drip bag hanging on the stand beside the bed as saw the content had finished already. He glanced at his wristwatch and nodded.

Dave understood his nod. He had been alive and sound but left immobile on the bed for days. His method of feeding had been through the intravenous fluid mechanism. The doctor always came to change it at meal times and it had been helping to keep him alive but Dave was tired of being fed artificially like a puppet, he was in dire need of natural food and he didn’t know how longer he could survive without it.

‘Doctor, what mixture are you preparing for me?’ Dave asked as the doctor turned towards the door.

The doctor glanced back at him and raised his brow. ‘We are preparing something that will make you free from here,’ the doctor replied.

Dave remained quiet. He hoped that the mixture was not going to hurt him in anyway. He somehow had some trust in the doctor for the fact that the doctor knew his parents and had helped him before and he had also explained that he was trying to help the doctor when he was captured by Samantha Osman.

The doctor heard no more words from Dave as he stepped out of the room and closed the door.

___

Location: Police Headquarters, Lagos.
Time: 10:50AM

‘Please, excuse me, I have other things to attend to right now.’ Officer James said repeatedly as he shoved his way through the crowd of reporters waiting in the compound to interview him. The reporters couldn’t follow him as he climbed up the verandah of the building, other officers were there to barr them for proceeding further.

Agent James hurried through the offices, responding to some greetings while ignoring others. He could literarily feel the eyes of the other officers on him as he passed through. He knew the news about he and his siblings being ‘bastards’ would be the talk of the moment even at the police headquarters, though everyone was silent as he passed.

He found his way to the Superintendent’s office and got in after going through some procedures.

‘Officer James,’ the superintendent replied as James saluted him. ‘Please have your seat.’

‘Thank you sir,’ James thanked the man as he sat.

‘So what brings you to my office?’ The man asked.

‘Sir, I’m here to make a request and I would be eternally grateful if you grant the request.’

‘What could the request be?’ the superintendent asked, squinting his eyes. He folded his arms across his chest and rested his back.

‘Sir, I want to get involved in the kidnap cases of Doctor Musa and Doctor Reuben. I want this because I really want to get to the end of the matter personally.’

The superintendent fixed his fingers into each other as he stared at James. ‘I don’t understand your reason for wanting to be involved yet but don’t you think it’ll make the scandal get messier?’ the man asked.

‘Sir, I think it’ll help in clearing my father and my family’s name.’ James replied.

The Superintendent stared at him silently for a moment. He felt the urge to ask if Samantha Osman’s claim about he and his siblings paternity was wrong but he resisted it.

‘So you don’t think the officers in charge of the case are capable of handling the case?’

‘No, I’ve not said that yet…’

‘But that’s what you’re implying by requesting to handle the case,’ the superintendent cut in.

James shook his head, he already knew his request would not be granted. ‘I would handle it more passionately if I do.’

‘Agent, those handling the case are also well trained officers. They know what they’re doing and would get to the root of the case. They will find out if they were really kidnapped by your fath… I mean by the Vice President like Samantha Osman claimed or if someone else kidnapped them. I think you already have enough tough cases in your hands you need to focus on.’

‘It’s okay sir,’ James replied with a bow. ‘That would be all,’ he said as he got up to his feet.

‘Okay, officer James.’ the superintendent stretched his hand out for a shake and James met with his respectfully. ‘I wish your family luck in handling this scandal.’

James replied with a smile before turning away. He proceeded out of the office immediately. He had not really come to get permission to get involved in the case, he had only come to inform the superintendent because even without the permission he would still involve himself.

James was sure there was no way any of the officers handling the case would get to the root except an insider betrays Elvis Richards. He had taken some time to talk with the Vice President but he did not bother to ask if the DNA test results were real, he was sure they were. And he also did not try to ask who his real father was, he knew it would be an insult to Elvis Richards as his late mother would be the right one to answer the question. However, he did not care what the world would think or say, he decided to keep recognizing Elvis Richards as his father. To him, fatherhood was not about donating the sperm cells to make the children but raising the children and making sacrifices for them which Elvis Richards had excelled in. So he wasn’t going to turn his back in Elvis Richards at that point, he would try his best to get the man out of the mess he was in.

Also read – The Heart Of An Assassin – Episode 14
His phone began to ring as he walked to his own office in the building. He picked it out and checked who the caller was, Inspector Dakolo.

__

Location: Sango Ota, Ogun State.
Time: 11:24AM

Taofeek sat at the back of the Jeep dejectedly. Two of his friends were at the front and one other was seated with him at the back.

The news of his elder brother’s death had come to him as a shock while he was in a business conference he traveled to the state with his friends and fiance for. He had wished to return immediately but his friends had insisted he stayed and they all leave the next day. It was more devastating when he heard the news of his sister’s accident and death that morning. His friends had seen it online the last night but kept it from him, he had woken up that morning to see a push notification from a website he subscribed to. He couldn’t hold back his tears and it took more than just pleading for his friends to make him calm.

Taofeek’s phone began to ring as they got close to a bridge. The friend who was seated at the passenger’s side in front was with the front and he raised it for Taofeek to see the screen.

‘Your girlfriend,’ the friend said calmly.

Taofeek stretched his hand out to get the phone and he was given. He answered the call.

‘Hello baby, where are you now?’ the girl’s tiny voice sounded through the speaker.

‘On my way to Lagos already,’ Taofeek replied lifelessly, wondering why she was asking him the question. They already talked that morning and he had told her he was traveling to Lagos.

‘Okay, I just left the hotel room now and I’ll be on my way to Lagos too, I’ll call you when I get there.’ the girl said in a shaky voice.

There was something strange about her voice but Taofeek was too dejected to notice.

‘We are close to the bridge, should we wait for you?’

‘Ermm…’ her voice trembled more. ‘Yes.’

‘Okay, don’t keep us waiting.’ he replied and ended the call. ‘Please guys, let’s stop and wait for Bisi to join us.’ he said to his friend.

The friends agreed and they soon found a reasonable space close to the bridge and parked.

*
‘He’s waiting,’ Bisi said in a trembling voice as she dropped the phone.

‘Cool,’ Rex said with an evil smile.

They were both seated at the backseat of a taxi and the driver who was putting on dark shades was alone at the front.

‘Tell me once you see their car.’
*

Taofeek checked his time. It had been ten minutes since they had parked to wait for Bisi and she had not showed up yet. There was no traffic jam which could have been her only reason for staying so long. He picked up his phone to call her again.

It began to ring but it wasn’t answered. He tried a second time. He turned his face to the right as a moving taxi got close to them. A gun was pointed from the taxi and before any move could be made, a bullet ran into Taofeek’s forehead and the taxi sped off.

_____

FAST FORWARD
Location: Orile, Lagos
Time: 11:32pm

Carl kicked the door open and rushed in with his gun. The room was completely dark except for a small phone’s Torchlight at the corner. Eric entered after him and stopped by the door. He took out his phone and pointed towards the direction Carl was going, there was someone there, tied to a chair. Eric followed Carl to the corner.

‘Is this not the f****** girlfriend?’ Eric asked aloud.

‘I think she is,’ Carl replied as he took off the tape from the girl’s mouth.

‘Where are those with you?’ Eric barked.

‘They went out just now,’ Bisi said in a shaky voice.

‘Where did they go to?’ Eric barked.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know them.’ she answered.

A third person walked in and Eric flashed a look back.

‘I found nothing and nobody in this building.’

Carl walked to the other corner to pick the phone with the switched on torchlight there. He turned to the screen, the SMS application was opened. There was a draft at the top. He clicked on the draft to read.

Cole, you haven’t been answering the calls. We’ve got the Taofeek’s girlfriend in the building at Orile, what do we do to her?

‘You guys need to see this?’ Carl said as he walked back towards Lizzy and Eric. He got to them and showed the text message.

‘Cole,’ Lizzy voiced out thoughtfully.

‘Do you know him?’ Carl asked.

‘You don’t remember Victor?’ she asked him with a raised brow. ‘Samantha Osman’s man, remember he’s the same as Cole.’

Carl chuckled. His face met with Eric’s and they had the same conclusion in mind. Samantha Osman’s team had carried out the murder of Taofeek and that of the older siblings.

‘We need to leave here now guys,’ Carl said loudly. ‘The police would have also tracked and located this place.’

‘Let’s get going, I can’t wait to lay my hands in Samantha Osman.’ Eric said in a determined tone.

They all turned and began to walk towards the door.

‘Please, get me out.’ they heard a voice from behind.

That reminded Carl that he had taken off the tape covering her mouth. He quickly turned back and covered her mouth back with the tape.

Somewhere in Mainland, Lagos.
Time: 05:08AM

‘If the boss’ claim is true, then could it mean Samantha works for the Vice President?’ Carl asked aloud, directing his question to no one in particular. He was seated before a large screen in a dark room, on the screen were pictures of the dead bodies of the three siblings; the first son by the right, daughter in middle and the last son by the left. Eric and Lizzy were seated somewhere behind Carl in the room and they all had taken some time to analyze the deaths of the three siblings. They concluded it was a well planned operation; everything was completed less than thirty hours before any one could even think the first and second deaths were connected.

‘I knew it, it wasn’t an accident,’ Lizzy spoke out loud. ‘She was seated in front of a computer and was going through some recorded footages.’

‘How?’ Eric asked. He got up from where he was seated and walked towards her.

‘Here,’ she zoomed in a picture. ‘This man tampered with the solar system which powers the street lights, he did before night fell.’

Eric squinted as he looked at the very blur picture.

‘They must have wiped out the NSCC footages, these are just some already caught up in the cache, that’s why they are blur.’

‘It only shows us that someone was there, it doesn’t show us the face.’ Eric commented.

‘Could have been one of her men,’ Carl joined. ‘She has quite a number of new people working with her now.’

‘I still don’t get how she could be working for the Vice President,’ Eric said with a confused look. ‘Past reports says she had tried on several occasions to ki|| him.’

‘But she failed,’ Carl put in. ‘Why didn’t she fail in her attempts to ki|| the previous victims?’

‘Her attempts on the Vice President were too real and close to be regarded as made up.’ Eric noted.

‘I don’t believe either that the Vice President pays Samantha, but the boss seems convinced about it.’ Carl said.

‘That man is in a very bad state now, you can’t expect him to make valid conclusions.’

‘Whether or not he is right, it all points to the fact that we need to get Samantha real quick.’

There was silence for a while and Eric returned to his seat. A phone rang.

Lizzy took out the phone and answered the call, it was the NIS Chairman calling from the other end.

‘Special Agent Elizabeth,’ the chairman saluted.

‘Good morning sir,’ Lizzy greeted in an official tone, wondering why the Chairman was calling her so early.

‘Have you started work on the Chief children murder?’

‘Yes sir, I have but no other agent was assigned to work with me.’ Lizzy complained even though she knew the Chairman must have ensured the case was assigned to her because he knew she was already working in that direction and she also had external people working with her.

‘I know, start reporting updates on the case progress and I would ensure another agent is assigned to you when the time is right.’ the man replied.

‘Okay sir.’

‘I called to ask you about Agent DJ, he’s not been seen around for a long time. Do you know his whereabouts?’

‘No,’ Lizzy answered and got up to her feet. She had really been concerned about Dave but decided not to bother herself since Dave also never showed concern for her when he ought to, he only was concerned about Stephanie George. ‘I stopped communicating with him when he started lying about his location to me.’

‘Huh?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you no longer work with him?’

‘No, I think we lost that connection with each other.’

‘So, what happened between both of you.’

‘Dave is very intelligent sir, he could have sensed that the information we shared together was used against him.’

‘But you only stopped working with him few days ago, or probably some weeks ago.’

‘Yes, it’s enough time for him to have suspicions.’

‘Well, I would say don’t reach him for now. Sometime ago we noticed his presence in Abuja, but his hotel room was claimed to be found empty without him paying the hotel officials or taking some of his things away. Something could have happened to him but we’ve not been able to trace him in any way.’

‘Oh!’ Lizzy felt some fear in her mind as she heard that something could have happened to Dave. She immediately felt the urge to reach him even though the chairman asked her not to.

‘Always remember to feed the office with updates girl,’ the man said in a conclusive tone.

‘Okay sir.’

Lizzy hung up. She saw Eric and Carl staring at her, obviously waiting to hear what she needed to tell them about the call. ‘That’s the NIS Chairman,’ she explained to them. ‘Office matters.’

‘Oh!’ Eric and Carl said in unison and returned to the work.

Lizzy picked up her phone. Her mind was no longer at rest. She searched for Dave’s number on it but realized that the phone it was stored on wasn’t with her.

____

Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 07:47AM

‘Hello,’ Cole said into the phone after answering the call. He continued to stir the tea in his hand, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he walked to the dining.

‘Cole, it’s me Nicholas.’ a voice replied from the other end.

‘Nicholas?’ Cole sounded surprised. He quickly dropped the tea on the table after sitting and held the phone with his hand. ‘Where the f*** have you been?’

‘I escaped that night but I lost my phone in that building and I haven’t been able to reach you since then. I just found your number in one of the old emails we exchanged.’

‘Mehn, you’re crazy, I’m glad you’re alive.’ Cole said with a very brief smile. ‘ So where are you now?’

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‘Hiding somewhere in Badagry?’

‘Who else have you made contact with?’ Cole asked, he continued stirring the tea with his right hand while holding the phone in his left.

‘None yet.’

‘Okay, I will get back to you once I report to the boss.’

*

Time: 07:57AM

‘We should have something interesting to see on the news this morning,’ Cole turned on hearing Tarasha’s voice, she was walking into the living room. ‘Have you read the news this morning?’

‘Not yet boss, Good morning.’ Cole greeted. Now he was busy with some slice of bread and the tea.

‘The Vice President has replied to the allegations.’

‘Oh! Interesting,’ Cole chuckled.

Tarasha picked the television remote control and settled on the three seater. She turned it on and waited a few seconds as it processed, she switched to the news station, the broadcast was about starting. Cole changed to a seat where he cold watch the television from and continued eating.

The news broadcast began and the newscaster started with reading the headlines and as expected the Vice President’s reply was oen of the headlines. After reading for about fifteen minutes, the newscaster began the news about the Vice President.

VICE PRESIDENT ELVIS RICHARDS DENIES SAMANTHA OSMAN’S ALLEGATION ABOUT KIDNAP OF DOCTORS.

Vice President Elvis Richards through his social media handles has denied knowing anything about the kidnap of Doctor Musa and Doctor Reuben. However he affirmed that he truly had childbearing problems which he and his wife knew of and both agreed to get children through another way. He said that the DNA results were done to clear some issues arising between he and his children and he was not surprised by the result.

Through a series of tweets and facebook posts, he blasted the hospital management and the doctor in charge for allowing such sensitive personal information of a patient out to the public and he also warned bloggers and the public to desist from sharing unverified news. He complained that Samantha Osman was out to spoil his name and tarnish his image and was so sure that she kidnapped the doctors and she did it at such a time as this to accuse him falsely.

He pleaded with the security agencies to investigate deeply and make the world know the whereabouts of the doctors. He further reassured the nation and the world that he is committed to the path of integrity and focused on making the nation a better place and would not let anything distract him. In his words, ‘The enemies who are trying to stop me from contesting in the next elections are the sponsors of Samantha Osman and they will never be able to stop me because I am God’s chosen one. They will all be put to shame.’

President Emeka has also reacted to the news through his spokesperson and he urged every Nigeria to remain calm. Thorough investigations on the matter have begun and the police hopes to reveal the whole truth soon.

‘Interesting,’ Cole commented after the reading finished.

Tarasha reduced the volume of the television.

‘I didn’t expect him to accept the allegation so easily,’ she said aloud. ‘But now that he has, he might get some sympathy from the public since our claims that he kidnapped the doctors are mere speculations.’

‘Boss, I think this could be a really good time to strike,’ Cole suggested after few seconds of silence.

‘Not now, I have a plan already,’ Tarasha replied.

There was silence for about a minute. Cole wondered what plan she had but he was rest assured that he would know about it at the right time.

‘Boss, Nicholas called me. He survived the last attack we had,’ Cole spoke.

‘Nicholas? One of the seven men?’ Tarasha asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And what did he say?’

‘He said he just found my number in one of the emails we exchanged long ago and he decided to call me. I told him I needed to tell you about him before getting back to him.’

‘Okay, so are you sure it’s the same Nicholas who was working with us?’

‘Yes, it was his voice and accent.’

‘That’s not what I mean,’ Tarasha corrected. ‘Are you sure he’s still the same Nicholas on our side?’

‘Ermm…’ Cole thought for some seconds. ‘I can’t say.’

‘Ask and find out what he wants, if he still wants to continue working with us, select a different location and ask him to meet you there.’

Four Hours Later

‘Cole,’ Nicholas’ voice echoed in the building. He paused and looked around, the place was broad and empty and there were no signs of life around. He took some steps further and called again, ‘Cole’. He turned towards all corners of the building and shouted the name but there was no response. He checked his wristwatch, he had arrived there early, ten minutes before the time Cole asked him to arrive and now it was forty minutes past and Cole was nowhere to be found.

‘Cole!’ Nicholas shouted again, turning around to see everywhere in the building. He picked out his phone and dialed Cole’s number again, it rang like it had been ringing but wasn’t answered.

Nicholas heaved a sigh. He closed his eyes, thinking of what to do. He wondered why Cole had asked them to meet there without showing up. His eyes were still closed when he hear some sounds. He opened his eyes and turned back to see Cole standing close to the entrance behind with a faded crooked smile on his face.

‘Cole,’ he called in a soft voice, heaving sigh of relief.

‘Nick,’ Cole called back.

Nicholas proceeded towards him and stopped right in front of him. Cole offered him a handshake.

‘How did you do it?’

Nicholas cleared his throat, he knew Cole meant to ask how he escaped that night.

‘I was attacked and they left me probably thinking I was dead, I crawled away from where I was wounded, the darkness helped me to hide myself.’ Nicholas explained, deliberately not mentioning the fact that it was one of the hostages that attacked him, he knew Cole would question him on how the hostage got free enough to attack him and that may cause Cole to ask him more questions or even arouse suspicions.

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‘So, how did you get to Badagry?’ Cole asked.

‘I got into the next compound and I was lucky to find some clothes still hung outside the building. I changed my blood stained clothes and left the place, then I found my way to the bus stop and did some pick pocketing, with that I was able to get to Badagry.’

Cole remained calm and fixed his gaze on Nicholas’ face so sternly as if he was trying to examine if he was saying the truth or not.

‘So who else knows that you are here?’ Cole asked. He took a look around the empty warehouse as he took out his phone from his pocket.

‘No one knows, just the two of us, except you told someone else.’ Nicholas replied.

‘And you’re sure you were not being followed as you came here,’ Cole pressed further.

‘No one followed me,’ Nicholas said in a confident tone.

Cole dialed Tarasha’s number on his phone. ‘Boss, I got him here, he’s alone.’

‘Bring him over,’ Tarasha instructed from the other end. ‘But look out for people following you.’

___

Location : PRESIDENTIAL QUARTERS, LAGOS
Time: 02:15PM

‘Rex, Samantha is destroying me already, can’t you see?’

Rex was quiet.

‘I need to know what you are doing about it, I really need to know.’

Rex flashed a look at his face but did not reply immediately. ‘I’m preparing a bait for her, I’m sure she would fall when it is ready. I would tell you how you need to get involved when you need to.’

‘When would that be Rex? It’s taking too long, I don’t know what else she has in store.’

‘I don’t what she has in store either, all I know is that she would go down in a matter of days.’

The Vice President shook his head in frustration. There was another long silence.

‘I would be returning to Abuja tomorrow morning, the President called for me.’

Rex looked at his face. ‘You should have told me that earlier,’ he said, then took out a cigarette and lit it.

___

Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 3:00PM

Tarasha was in the control room, watching the videos made by the Inspector General when she got the notification of a new email on her phone. She paused the video and opened the email. It was from a Nefary queen.

The device is still at the airport but I’m monitoring and would let you know when anyone comes to make claim of it.

Tarasha had sent some data to a clan sister of hers in the US to help check the possessor of the device at the airport and the sister had replied to tell her the airport authorities found it and were waiting for the owner to make claims.

She closed the email. There was another message on her work email. There had been a new update on the security website Cole hacked into the last time. She turned back to the computer and minimized the video player, she opened the email application to read the message on the desktop. After that she logged in to the security website. The police were yet to detect that information about the Inspector General’s travel out of the country was gotten by a break in into the website and were still sharing information through the website since it was one of their most secure platforms.

‘The Presidency has made arrangements for the Vice President to arrive in Abuja tomorrow morning, please make your own arrangements to this effect.’

The message was from the Abuja Headquarters and it was supposed to only appear on the dashboard of the Lagos State Headquarters but Tarasha’s team had access to it as they were able to break into the site.

She wondered what to do with the new information. She knew it would be more difficult to get into the Presidential Quarters in Lagos than it was getting into the State Staff House in Abuja; there would have been an increase in the number of security officers guarding the quarters and those on standby ever since the news of the Inspector General kidnap had broken out.

She decided to ignore the information and focus on her plans of ki||ing him after releasing the video of the IGP’s confession. She also wanted his death to come after the IGP’s death which she had already taken care of with the intravenous fluid that was passed into his body.

A knock sounded on the door and distracted her from her thoughts. Henry walked in without waiting for an answer.

‘Hey Tara,’ he said looking around the control room as he noticed some changes in the arrangement of the computers.

‘Hey,’ she replied him.

‘I just returned, should I hand over everything to the doctor?’

‘Yes, you should.’ Tara replied.

Henry looked around for a while. ‘I also need to talk to you.’

‘Okay, what do you need to talk to me about?’

‘Ermmm… I think I should see the doctor first.’

‘As you wish,’ she shrugged and turned back to the computer. Her phone began to ring as she turned. She picked it up and answered, ‘Cole, what’s up?’

‘I’m in the house, with Nicholas.’

‘Bring him over to the computer lab,’ Tarasha replied. She put the phone down and turned to the system to close the running applications.

In the Medical Lab
Fifteen Minutes Later.

Doctor Ekwueme turned to look back as he heard the sound of the door opening. He smiled and continued his setting up when he saw that it was Stephanie. He had been enjoying the girl’s company in recent times, the only thing he didn’t like her to do was asking him questions about his work with Samantha and he always tried his best to avoid getting into that line of discussion with her.

Also read – Tarasha 2 – Chapter 21 Part 5
‘Well done sir,’ she greeted.

‘Steph, please come have your seat.’

She proceeded further and sat beside him.

‘I’ve not seen you since morning,’ the doctor said.

‘Yes, I’ve been with my mother, she slept off some minutes ago.’

‘Hope she’s doing fine and taking her drugs regularly.’

‘Yes, she is.’ Stephanie replied.

‘That’s good.’

There was silence for a minute.

Stephanie looked around the lab for a minute and noticed some new things in it. ‘I saw you and Mr Henry a while ago.’

‘Yes, he brought to me some of the things I needed to use in completion of the mixture.’

‘In that carton right? I saw him bring that carton in,’ she asked, pointing to a big carton on the table.

‘Yes.’

There was another minute of silence.

‘So what would happen to Dave after the mixture is used for him?’

‘Nothing, he’s going to be fine.’ Dr Ekwueme replied.

Stephanie did not know whether to trust the doctor or not.

‘But is anything wrong with him now?’

‘He’s okay.’

‘Then why does he need the mixture?’

The doctor looked at her face, ‘He needs to get out of here, without that, Samantha would not let him leave. If Dave has to live, the only option is for the mixture to go into his body.’

‘Is it the same mixture that Samantha used for the Inspector General of Police?’

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and quickly flashed a look at her face.

‘Who told you Samantha used a mixture for the Inspector General of Police?’

‘It’s all over the internet, the Inspector General of Police was placed on drip.’

‘So, what makes you think that it was Samantha who placed him on drip? Because the media said so? Don’t you remember that the same media reported lies when you were kidnapped?’

‘I remember,’ Stephanie said. ‘And I’m aware the media tells a lot of lies but this was not a lie.’ The doctor looked at her face again. ‘I saw the pictures of the mixture in the drip bag at the hotel.’

‘So?’

‘It was the same drip bag that was here few days ago,’ she said pointing to a corner where there used to be several drip bags hung, one of the bags was missing.

‘Is it only in this lab intravenous fluids are produced?’ the doctor asked, he was already tired of the questions.

‘No, but…’ Stephanie got up to explain. ‘The drip bag missing here had a liquid in it which colour was close to yellow and the drip bag found in the hotel room with the Inspector was of the same colour, is it a coincidence that the drip bag here is missing at the same time it was found there and at the time Samantha did not sleep at home through the night?’

Doctor Ekwueme stared at her with his mouth left wide open. He got scared that he had allowed for too much closeness between he and the girl.

‘Do you know you are making very serious allegations and it could get you into trouble with Samantha if she knows you are thinking this way?’

‘Sir, I’m only stating the obvious truth. I’m in no way against wh@ťěver she does to the Inspector, I know those men deserve wh@ťěver is done to them. I’m only concerned about Dave because he was only doing his job.’

‘And thats why we are trying to make him leave here alive and healthy,’ the doctor snapped.

Stephanie heaved a sigh. She shook her head in pitiful manner, ‘All I just want to know is what the liquid would do to Dave.’

‘I can’t tell you that Steph, but I can assure you that he would not be harmed. Trust me, we are doing the best for him and for us.’

Steph let out another breath. ‘It’s okay, can you allow me see him?’

‘No, I’m not in charge of that. You can ask Samantha yourself,’ the doctor replied.

‘I only want to see him, she has not made any law that no one should be allowed to see him, has she?’

‘No, but she has not also told me to allow anybody who wants to see him do so.’

‘But the door is always open, anyone who wants to go in can.’

‘And you think Samantha would not know if anyone goes in?’

Stephanie remained quiet. She still had it strongly in mind to see Dave but she made up her mind that she would do it without the Doctor’s knowledge, to save him from getting into trouble with Samantha Osman and also to ensure he doesn’t try to stop her.

The doctor continued his work in silence. He made up his mind to make sure Stephanie found out nothing more about the mixture he was preparing, for the next few days for which the mixture was going to be ready, he was going to keep to himself.

___

Cole took off his sweat filled shirt and flung it towards the wardrobe as he entered the room. He had left Nicholas to discuss with Tarasha. He looked towards the table in the room and saw a blinking red light on the phone he left there. He walked towards the table and picked the phone to check the notification. He wasn’t expecting anything serious on it, it was the phone he used in communicating with Patricia alone. He saw the missed call signal and swiped down the notification bar to see who called him. He was expecting to see the customer care numbers but he was shocked on seeing Patricia’s name there. She had called him up to ten times.