Tarasha

Tarasha wiped her face with her handkerchief as

she relayed her story to him. Henry moved closer

and drew her body nearer to his. He engaged

her in a tight hug as tears dropped off his eyes

too.

"You had such a bad past, I"m sorry for bringing

back those memories" he said as placed a hand

on her back. "But G.o.d can help you forgot those

memories and focus on the future"

Evelyn moved her head from his chest and

stared into his eyes angrily. She gradually

removed herself from his grip and got up in a

hurry.

"I"m sorry, but I was just saying the truth." He

stood up, watching as she put on her shoes

hurriedly. "Look, you can"t blame G.o.d for what

some evil men did"

She proceeded towards the door without paying

attention to him anymore. He followed after her

and held her bag to stop her. She turned to look

into his face.

"I don"t know how you feel Evelyn, but I know

you must feel very bad" Henry said in a calm

tone. "But G.o.d didn"t send those men to your

family"

"Then why didn"t he save my family from them?"

Evelyn screamed as she dragged her bag from

him. "Why didn"t he save us from them?"

Henry stood speechless for a moment and

watched as she barged out of the house and

hurried away.

"Let me drive you home" he shouted and followed

after her again when he regained himself. She

has walked away into the darkness already.

+++++++++

8am, next morning

Jubril Lawal had just walked into his office with

his personal a.s.sistant when his phone began to

ring. His P.A handed the phone to him. The call

was from an international number.

Jubril settled into the swivel before answering

the call. "h.e.l.lo"

"h.e.l.lo Mr. Jubril" a mixed kind of accent was used

to answer him. "How are you doing today sir?"

"I"m fine. May I know who"s on the line …."

"Oh! Pardon me. I thought you were expecting

my call. I"m Alexander Amaechi, director, AA Ltd

Canada" the voice came bolder.

"Oh! Good morning Mr Alex" Jubril spoke

cheerfully. "I wasn"t expecting the call so early"

"Oh! I prefer to do it early if it"s business" the

caller said a chuckle. "My daughter told me

about your discussion with her and I showed

interest in speaking with you directly, she gave

me your mobile number"

"Yes, she told me that I should expect a call from

you"

"Good. I started a little research about you from

the day she told me about your company" the

man continued in his baritone voice. "I"m a

Nigerian myself" there was a pause.

"But I was a little bit disturbed when she told me

about coming to Nigeria for the cotton business.

It"s not easy to do business with Nigerians

nowadays especially when it"s a Young person. I

didn"t want her to fall into wrong hands"

"I understand" Jubril replied with a smile. "I had a

little research about you too, I wanted to be sure

of what I"m getting into"

"Well… I believe you"re the right man. I"ll be

speaking to her from time to time. The monies

needed for any transaction would be transferred

from the AA account at any time"

"Okay, you agreed to fund her deal"

"No, the monies we"re dealing with is for her, she

saved it up"

"Oh! I see"

"Yeah"

"I must commend you. You really did a great job

in bringing her up, she"s a very focused young

lady"

"Hmm, Thank you. I"m always very proud of her"

"Good!"

"Well, I"ll talk to you later "

"It"s okay" Jubril said and dropped his phone. He

made a signal to his P.A who motioned forward.

"Trace that number for me, find out who owns it."

He handed the phone to the P.A.

The P.A gave him a puzzled look. "Find an expert

who can do that, I didn"t mean you should do it

yourself" Chief Jubril fired at him.

"Okay" the P.A replied timidly after which Jubril

dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

...…

8am

"How far?" Benny asked as Cole ended the call.

"Good, went as planned" Cole answered standing

to his feet. "No true caller application can detect

where and who the call was from" he boasted as

he walked towards the TV to switch it on.

"I trust you but I don"t trust that voice disguiser,

I almost recognised your voice when we tested

it" Benny said.

"We tested it at a close range, it could

misbehave. But you still said my voice sounded

more like an older man"

"True"

"That"s enough for us, the man doesn"t know me

before so he can"t even detect any resemblance

to anyone"s voice." Cole returned to the sofa.

"I believe so" Benny gave a light smile. "Has the

boss called you still?"

"No, she hasn"t" Cole answered with a frown. He

picked his phone from the stool. "It"s strange of

her not to pick her calls, since yesterday

evening"

"Hope everything is fine with her"

"Sure, nothing can be wrong" Cole sniffed as he

dialed her number again. He stared at Benny.

"It"s switched off now"

"Switched off? I hope nothing has gone wrong"

Benny frowned.

"I"m sure she"ll call us soon, don"t bother your

mind." Cole concluded. He smacked his lips and

rubbed his palms together as Aisha walked into

the living room, he was expecting an

announcement about breakfast

Aisha stared at both of them curiously,

wondering why they stopped talking when she

appeared. "What are you guys hiding?"

Cole and Benny laughed in unison. "Hiding

what?" Benny asked. "Please is breakfast ready?"

...…..

9.15 am

Henry dialed Evelyn"s phone number for the

thirtieth time that morning, it was still switched

off. He rested his back into the office seat and

loosened his tie.

His mind had been unsettled since the last night

when she left his apartment. He had driven after

her in a bid to catch up with her on the street

and drive her home but she wasn"t found, she

just disappeared into thin air. He began to feel

guilty and wasn"t going to forgive himself if

anything happened to her.

He stared at his phone, confused about what to

do. He thought of going back to the hotel to ask

about her but he had only little information

about her. The only thing he knew was her first

name.

He got up and took off his suit jacket and hung it

on the rack by the wall after which he began to

pace around the office. The landline on his table

rang.

"h.e.l.lo." He answered the call.

"h.e.l.lo Mr Henry" Sylvester"s voice came through.

"I"m sending someone to you office right now, he

has a job for us and I think only you can handle

it well"

"Okay… Send him in" Henry replied after a brief

moment of hesitation.

"Right away" the went off.

Henry put another call through to his secretary

after putting back on his jacket and knotting his

tie. "h.e.l.lo, someone is coming from Mr Sylvester

now, please send him as soon as he gets there"

Someone pressed the bell two minutes later.

"You may come in" Henry answered.

A tall dark man in a black suit walked in smiling.

He looked like someone in his early forties. Henry

rose to greet him.

"Good morning sir" Henry stretched his hand to

shake him.

"Good morning Mr Henry, I"m Debo Ola" the Man

introduced himself as he took the handshake.

"I"m pleased to meet you sir, please have your

seat" Henry motioned him.

"Thank you" the man settled down.

"Yeah, Mr Sylvester said you have a job for us"

"Yes" the man replied, pushing a paper forward

on the table. "Here is it"

Henry picked it up to look at it. "This is a mobile

number. Canadian right?"

"Yes, Canadian. It has the Canadian code but

we"re doubting the authenticity. That"s why I"ve

come to you" Debo replied.

"What"s the reason for the doubt?" Henry asked

and began to scribble the number into a

notepad. "I mean it looks authentic to me"

"It"s the number of one of our invisible business

partners" Debo explained. "We need to verify if

we"re discussing with the right person or

someone is just playing tricks with us"

Henry gave him a stern look. "But do you know

that this is illegal? You"re asking for confidential

details of someone which shouldn"t be released"

The man dipped his hand into his suit inner

pocket and brought out his ID card. "I"m a

private investigator approved by the

government" he displayed the card to Henry.

"Okay then, just a minute." Henry turned to his

computer after confirming the man"s ident.i.ty.

After seven minutes, he turned back to the man.

"The number is really Canadian but I"ve not been

able to verify the owner"

"Okay. But is it possible?"

"Yes, it is. I only need to get data from the

network bearer in Canada. It may take us

sometime and cost us some money"

"How long will it take?" The man enquired.

"Three days should be okay" Henry replied with

so much positivity. "As far as the authorities

cooperate and provide us what we request for"

"Okay, how much will it cost?"

"Five hundred thousand naira should do"

"Five hundred thousand?" Debo looked surprised.

"Yes" Henry replied unperturbed. "We would be

charged by any of their authorities we pa.s.s

through"

"But it"s kind of much"

"It"s okay" The man said, dipping his hand into

his bag. He brought out his cheque book and

began to write in it.

"I should write it payable to who?" The man asked

after signing.

"Ermm… I think Mr Sylvester would handle that"

"Alright." Debo returned the cheque book and

pen into his bag.

"Is there any other thing left?" Henry asked.

"Nothing, I only want to be a.s.sured that we"ll get

the report in three days"

"You will, I a.s.sure you"

"Okay." Debo rose to his feet. "I have to go now"

"Alright" Henry rose too and shook hands with

the man again.

"Thank you Mr Henry"

"You"re welcome." With that Debo walked out of

the office.

Henry sat back into his chair and stared at the

number on his notepad for a while. He wanted to

begin work on it but he felt restless. His

thoughts immediately drifted back to Evelyn.

Without much thinking again, he grabbed his

car key and proceeded out of the office.

...

9.20am

A police Hyundai sonata parked right beside the

cameras security office. A young officer came

out of the car thirty seconds later and proceeded

to the gate. He met the security man in charge.

"Good morning sir" the young officer greeted.

"Good morning officer" the security man

answered.

"I"m Officer Paul from Division A" he said,

displaying his ID card. "I want to know if there"s

any Henry working in this organization"

"I"m sorry Inspector, I don"t have the right to

release such information"

The young officer laughed. He dipped his hand

into his pocket and brought out a card. "Why are

you hiding a criminal? We found his national ID

card in a crime scene yesterday" he displayed

the card to him.

The security man opened his mind in shock.

"Yes, we have one and that"s him. He"s inside"

"No, we don"t want to arrest him now. We want

to trace him to his accomplices" the young

officer tucked in the card into his pocket. "What

kind of car does he use?"

"He has different cars but he brought a blue

Honda accord today"

"When does he close from work?"

"Four O"clock"

"Okay, here"s our number" the officer handed a

card to the security man. "Please call us anytime

he"s leaving this premises"

"No problem, I will"

"We"re watching you, don"t try to aid his escape."

The young officer warned with a crooked smile

before he turned and returned to the car. He

was satisfied that he could put fear in the older

man"s heart. He got into the back seat where Afo

was also sitting down, dressed in the police

uniform also.

"How did it go?" Afo asked.

"Fine, the man"s gonna call us. He says Henry

uses a blue Honda"

"Did he notice anything about the fake national

ident.i.tycard and was the picture correct?"

"He couldn"t have noticed anything and the

picture is the right one. I sent it to Dare for

confirmation after I downloaded it from

Facebook"

"Good" Afo applauded after which he picked up

his phone and dialed a number.

"h.e.l.lo… Has the girl come out of the hotel at all?"

.....

9.20am

Evelyn finally got up from the bed after what

seemed like the longest night she had had in

several years. She stood up and stretched, she

felt a little at peace than she did the last night.

The only thing that still kept the event still fresh

in her brain was a sharp headache she felt. She

clenched her teeth as she walked to the window

and opened the blind.

A strange anger against herself was welling up

as her head continued to bang. It was wrong for

her to feel headaches. It had been ten years ago

she had one, at least not one that made her feel

as terrible as this. She was sure that it was a

result of the emotional stress she went through

the last night. But how did the emotions return,

she thought they had died long ago?

She couldn"t describe what she felt when Henry

spoke with her. Her mind raced back to the

feeling she had when she stared into his eyes as

he narrated his story. She had tried to deny the

feeling before but she felt it again now as she

remembered the faint glow in his eyes.

She rebuked herself and turned away from the

window, she was not supposed to be thinking of

him, a total who was only going to be used in

the course of her operation. The only right thing

for her to think about was the operation.

She suddenly remembered her phone as she sat

back on the bed. She quickly looked for the bag

she went out with the last night and picked it

out. It was switched off.

"D--n!" She cursed. It was supposed to be

always on as she was expecting a call from Jubril

Lawal.

The first three messages that entered when the

phone came on were from MTN, her network

bearer. The fourth message was from Henry. She

closed her eyes and dropped the phone as she

saw his name. His face popped up in her mind

again.

Wait! Did she tell him the story of her family"s

ma.s.sacre? How did he get her to do so?

She clenched her fists and opened her eyes, it

was bloodshot. Her phone call distracted her.