Tarasha

**Tuesday Morning**

Sylvester sat behind his table, brushing up some of his

previous works. Something surprising had happened the

day before. It all started from the moment Dakolo asked

about the report of Chief Jubril"s job, Henry did not reply

with a straightforward answer.

Dakolo did ask, "what was the result of your

investigation?"

Henry who was obviously not suffering from catarrh

before that moment sniffed in and rubbed his nose like

someone who was heavily disturbed with cold. "The man

has not come to collect it" Henry gave an answer which

surprised his two listeners.

Dakolo slanted his face slightly and stared into Henry"s

face. He wasn"t expecting an off point answer like that

from the brilliant Henry, his detective mind quickly

suggested to him that Henry was trying to hide

something. "I know" Dakolo persisted, "but what I want is

the report"

Henry stared still for some seconds without a reply. "I

have it with me" Henry answered, still trying to conjure

what kind of answer would be accepted by the Agent.

At this point, Dakolo was quite sure that Henry was trying

to hide the truth but he still decided to keep his doubt

unknown as he could be wrong, he didn"t want to

wrongly suspect or accuse the honorable Henry.

"What was the result? Was the number really Canadian?"

Dakolo made his question more specific.

"Yes, it was. The calls they were receiving was from

Canada" Henry finally gave in and lied to cover up

Omotara. He could see the unhidden surprise on the face

of Sylvester who he had once told that the number was

cloned and the calls were being made from Africa.

"Hmm" Dakolo paused for a moment, still staring straight

into Henry"s eyes. He took a brief glance at Sylvester as if

to confirm Henry"s words from him but the look on

Sylvester"s face was that of a person who was just

hearing the report too. Sylvester tried to help Henry

cover up too.

Dakolo returned his gaze to Henry"s face, still trying to

deduce if Henry was hiding the truth. He shook his head,

smacked his lips softly and rubbed his palms together.

"Let me leave you guys to continue with your work for

now, I"ll be back to give and get more information"

Dakolo had concluded before getting up to pack his load.

Back to Sylvester. He was still wondering why Henry told

a lie to the Agent as he arranged his table. Or did Henry

give him the false report earlier? Whatever it was he

would have loved to find out immediately but with the

look Henry kept on his face after Dakolo had left, he

couldn"t summon enough courage to ask.

"Alexander Kimberly" he p.r.o.nounced as his eyes met the

file dropped by Tarasha the day before. He selected it and

took out the papers inside. The first was her curriculum

vitae, followed by copies of her certificates from school,

then some copies of the reports of her personal projects

as a developer and software engineer.

He began to read the report and soon found the contents

interesting. She seemed intelligent and competent. "She

may be good for the job" he said to himself on a second

thought. He continued to read through the reports and

found some details that astonished him. He was forced to

check her curriculum vitae again to confirm which

university she graduated from. It was a London

university. He returned to the report again and continued

to scan through, getting more surprises as he read

through. At a point, he began to doubt the authenticity, it

was possible that she had copied from the works of a

successful developer.

He was still engrossed with the reports when his phone

rang. He picked it up and checked the caller, it was an

unsaved number. He answered the call and a familiar

voice sounded.

"Good morning sir, it"s Alexander Kimberly" the voice

introduced.

"Oh!" He sighed, he was just considering her files and here

she was already calling his number. "Miss Kimberly, how

did you get my phone number? I don"t remember giving

it to you"

"I got it from your office yesterday sir" she replied. "I saw

it on the calender too"

He sighed again. "Okay, what can I do for you?"

"I"m at the reception now and I asked to see you but I

was told that you"ve asked that I should not be let in" she

answered.

"Yes, I"m not expecting anybody today" Sylvester replied

tiredly. "And why are you here again? I didn"t ask you to

come"

"Yes, I"m sorry about that sir but since we couldn"t talk

yesterday due to the circ.u.mstance that played out, I

thought it okay to come back today"

Sylvester rested his forehead on his palm which was

placed on the table. "You shouldn"t have come"

"I"m sorry sir, I apologize for any inconvenience" she said

sharply, as if the reply had been rehea.r.s.ed. There was a

short pause, Sylvester could not be heard saying

anything. "So should I come to your office?" She asked

after waiting without hearing his voice. She was sure he

was still online as she could hear little sounds of his

intake of breath.

"I"ll call the Secretary first" Sylvester accepted reluctantly.

Well, not really reluctantly, he was already wishing and

itching to interview the applicant who presented such a

mind-blowing personal project.

Six minutes later, Tarasha was in Sylvester"s office seated

in the same seat she sat the day before. She was dressed

in a black skirt suit and blue inner shirt. The attachment

on her hair had been changed but she still made the hair

in the same style, done to fall at both sides and cover her

ears and cheeks.

Sylvester took some minutes before he finally gave her

attention. "Why didn"t you stay back in London to get a

job?" He asked, staring into her curriculum vitae.

"My parents wanted me to come back to Nigeria. I"m

their only child" Tarasha replied.

Sylvester paused and rolled his swivel back a little. "These

projects" Sylvester lifted the papers for her to see. "You

handled them on your own? Or someone else joined

you"

"Yes, I carried out every single one on my own" she

replied with a smile. "I still have the files with me"

"If that"s true, it means you"re good." He complimented.

"Thank you sir." Her smile broadened.

"For now, the vacancies are closed" Sylvester announced

bluntly, returning the papers back into the file. Tarasha"s

smile diminished. "I promise to call you once we have

another opening" he said, handing her property to her.

Tarasha didn"t collect it immediately. It took some

encouraging looks from Sylvester before she took it from

him.

"Can I work as a volunteer?" She asked after a moment of

deafening silence.

"Volunteer?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I just feel I have something to do here" she

continued convincingly. "Especially with our recent

security problems, I think I"ve got something to put in"

Sylvester placed a finger on his lips as he tried to reason.

Taking her as a volunteer seemed excellent to him, but

what if Henry thinks he employed her as a full staff? He

gave a brief smile and clapped his hands together. Even

Henry had said he was the Boss, so he wouldn"t owe

Henry any explanation.

"Okay" he smiled. "You"ll do some personal jobs for me,

when would you like to start?"

"Start?" Tarasha widened her eyeb.a.l.l.s to express her joy.

"I can start now, I"m ready"

"Are you sure?" Sylvester folded his arms and rested back.

"Yes, I am" she replied briefly.

Sylvester gave a crooked smile. He was going to have an

intelligent person work for him, for free. He started to

think of his abandoned projects that he needed to work

on.

++++

~~Elvis Richards Residence, Asokoro, Abuja ~~

Elvis Richards laid in the bathtub filled with warm water,

he had a pipe in his mouth. That was his perfect thinking

place when he had a serious difficulty, in the bathroom.

He could either stay thirty minutes thinking under the

shower while having what was supposed to be a brief

bath or deliberately set himself up in the bathtub. But it

had been years since he did any of those, because for a

long time, he had not been faced with any challenge

which got him so perplexed as this one.

Though when he became the Vice President, he had

promised himself to stay away from police and criminal

matters, he couldn"t keep his promise as the recent

a.s.sa.s.sinations involved two of his closest, old-time

friends and business a.s.sociates. Thinking about all the

a.s.sa.s.sinations and the mode; that is how they were killed

when they weren"t even vying for any position or

contending for any post. He began to think that this

dangerous a.s.sa.s.sin, Samantha Osman could actually be

their nemesis, his nemesis.

After the day he and the President had met with the

heads of all security bodies, he had become more

conscious of this thing, Nemesis. Or how could you

explain how his two close pals were killed? Without any

concrete or suspected reason.

The meeting had opened his eyes to see more clearly,

that"s why he quickly agreed to work with the security

bodies and bring in his experience to help them defeat

the a.s.sa.s.sin. But he still lacked absolute trust in the

security system. Being once a part of the system and a

notorious one at that, he concluded that the system

could not be trusted as there could be one like him who

would be the one perpetrating the crime and also

fighting it, like he did during his time of service.

All these troubles, just for his past. He wished he could

erase it totally and be a new man, but it wasn"t possible.

The effect of the atrocities committed by him, Nasiru

Attahiru – the Senate President, the late Jubril Lawal, the

late minister of health and some others who had been

dead for a longer while would still be felt for generations

to come.

One thing that still got him confused and considering if it

wasn"t nemesis was the second victim of a.s.sa.s.sination,

the Rivers State Governor. The Rivers State Governor was

never a friend or a.s.sociate of his, so he couldn"t connect

the man"s a.s.sa.s.sination to his close pals" deaths. Or

maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe some serial

killers had just been released into the countries of the

world and had unfortunately chosen his two friends.

Anyway anyhow it was, he had to be prepared for

anything. Now that he had joined forces with the security

bodies, he needed to also seek some other alternatives.

He stepped out of the bathtub and took the towel from

where it hung. He covered his nakedness with the towel

and began to proceed out of the bathroom.

He stopped at the entrance as he remembered an option.

Don. That was the topmost a.s.sa.s.sin in the country. Of

course, the topmost before Samantha Osman was

revealed.

Several years ago, Don was known as a trainee under

Scot, an a.s.sa.s.sin who used to work for Chief Elvis and his

friends. Scot was a dreaded cultist during his days in the

university, he was always used several by politicians to

carry out political a.s.sa.s.sinations and violence. Seven

years after leaving school, Don Daniel headed the same

cult he had left. Don graduated from school and joined

Scot in the a.s.sa.s.sination job but be proved to be wiser

and cleverer than Scot. Don later killed Scot after they

had a disagreement and took over Supremacy.

Don had a large network of a.s.sa.s.sins under him and he

also was connected with others who were working on

their own. Chief Elvis was sure that Don would know who

Samantha Osman is. She may even be an a.s.sa.s.sin under

his control, he thought. He was going to contact Don

before deciding what step was next.

Chief Elvis finally stepped into the room and closed the

bathroom"s door. He had a meeting in the next three

hours to prepare for.

++++

~~Same day, 4pm ~~

Henry was returning to the office in his car after driving

out to get something in a computer gadgets store. He had

been moody all day, barely talking to anyone in the

office. He couldn"t get his mind off what transpired in the

office the day before. He wondered if he had made the

right choice in lying to protect Omotara or if he had just

gotten himself into trouble. He also wondered where

Omotara was now and if she had decided to take his

advice to get a decent job.

He let out a deep breath as he turned at the roundabout

point and faced the road which led to the office. A

median was separating his lane from the opposite

direction lane. There was an unusual traffic jam on the

lane but the other was free. Henry sighed as he queued

behind a taxi, just few metres to the office.

As the cars began to move slowly, he saw a car which

looked familiar drive by through the opposite lane. At

first, he couldn"t tell where he had seen the car but in a

moment of seconds, realization hit him. It felt as if he

was punched hard in the stomach. It was the same blue

car he saw in Omotara"s compound, he could recognize

it by the scratch on the bonnet.

He wanted to turn and follow after the car immediately

but there were cars already behind him and he could not

fly over the median. He poked out his head through the

window immediately and looked back, he couldn"t see

the car anymore.

He hissed and shook his head in pity for himself. He was

just hallucinating, he thought.