Tarasha

now, you may be in serious danger." Dakolo said into the

phone. He got no reply or response. "h.e.l.lo… h.e.l.lo."

He took the phone off his ear and placed the call on loud

speaker. "h.e.l.lo Henry," he called again. Still there was no

response. After some seconds, sounds of movements

were heard and the call ended.

Ken and Dakolo glanced at each other. Could it be that

Henry had decided not to speak with the Agent but just

to waste his airtime? Dakolo stared at the phone"s screen

for a while, contemplating if he should call back

immediately, give it sometime or just give up on calling

until they got to his residence.

Maybe Henry wasn"t even worth the struggle, Dakolo

thought. They were trying to save him from possible

danger and he was ignoring their calls. But Dakolo still

felt a strange kind of fear in his heart for Henry.

"We still have twenty minutes more to get there," Ken said

to him, as if reading the thoughts of his heart.

"I know," Dakolo replied. "I don"t really know why Henry is

acting like a kid," He added bitterly.

"He"s a young man," Ken chuckled. "He can act like a kid

sometimes."

"I think I should call the officer at the gate again," Dakolo

stated.

"Sir, there"s really no need to get worked up on this issue.

Let"s just leave it since we"re almost there already." Ken

discouraged.

Dakolo stared at the phone"s screen for a while before

reluctantly dropping it.

~~

Tarasha cut the call and flung the phone away. She

squatted and placed the intravenous fluid bag carefully

beside the school bag. She then dragged Henry by his belt

and carried him to the three seater sofa. She made him

lay flat properly. She walked to the dining table and

picked a chair from the place. She returned to the school

bag and picked it up with the IV bag. She got back to

Henry"s side and placed a knee on the ground. She took

out a syringe and a small bottle from the black school

bag and drew out the contents of the bottle into the

syringe. She turned to Henry and straightened his right

hand, trying to select a vein.

She released the contents of the syringe into his blood

cells through the vein. In two minutes, he"ll be awake but

very weak, the victim had to be awake for the contents of

the drip bag to work properly.

She had carefully weighed several options and selected

this as the best way of sorting out Henry"s mess. She

thought of taking him out with a gun or another weapon,

that wouldn"t waste so much time but she thought Henry

didn"t deserve to die yet, somethings from him like his

fingerprints, thumb signature might still be needed by

her in the future, especially now that she was working

with the NSCC. Getting into his house early was what

strengthened her choice, she saw machineries and apps

in one of his rooms that could only be opened by his

voice, she also found out that the upper floor was not

also accessible until he placed his fingers on the lock. She

then thought of his work in the NSCC, it was possible that

he had also configured some programs that same way,

killing him would may make those programs inaccessible

for life and that may cause some obstruction in her job

also.

She looked up and a sudden fear gripped her as her eyes

met his eyes. The injection had worked and he was now

conscious again but temporarily paralyzed. He had that

innocent look that her first love used to have until the

day of his death. She wasn"t killing him, but what she was

about to do wasn"t too different from killing him. It

would render him totally useless to himself, only his

body would be alive but his brain and mind would be

dead. The liquid she was about to pa.s.s into his body from

the intravenous fluid bag would do the damage to his

brain and make his paralysis complete.

After arranging the drip bag and making the contents

flow into his body, she would go back through the back

door and repair it before leaving, so as to give no one a

clue that someone entered through the door.

She coughed as she remembered something, that sofa

where he laid. It was the same place they had both sat

some weeks back when she told her story to Henry and

he listened with great care and attention. She closed her

eyes and took a deep breath. She had to do what she had

to do.

She got up and proceeded to the dining area, she drew

out a dining chair and took it with her. She placed it

beside Henry and hung the drip bag on the chair

backrest. She took out a bottle of mentholated spirit,

nylon of cotton wool and a roll of plaster from her bag.

She straightened the drip line and inserted the needle

into the same vein she had just used before, she held the

needle firmly to his hand with the aid of the plaster.

His eyes was still opened when she got up and began to

pack back her things into the bag. After a minute of

packing all other things except the small bottle of liquid

from which she drew out the first mixture she injected

into Henry"s body, she bent down to pick the small bottle

but couldn"t as her eyes met his again.

He couldn"t lift a finger, move his lips or even make an

expression with his face but she could see utter

disappointment written on his face, she got up slowly to

her feet like someone who had been caught stealing

without picking the bottle. For the first time in several

years, she felt afraid and tears began to form in her eyes.

She closed her eyes, tightened her fists and let out a deep

breath. She released the valve in the drip bag and the

liquid began to run down in drops.

Henry wasn"t aware of what was going on, he couldn"t

feel the needle in his vein nor could he see Omotara"s

face anymore. He could only see her legs moving. He also

saw the dining chair placed closed to him but couldn"t lift

up his head to see the drip bag placed on it. He could see

the drip line but still couldn"t see that it was leading to a

vein in his hand.

Tarasha closed the bag and placed it behind her. She

stood, unable to move for a moment, she stared at him

in pity, but there was nothing she could do.

A sudden noise brought her back to her senses, someone

was. .h.i.tting the gate violently, that was when she realized

that the person ringing the bell at the gate must have

resorted to applying force now since there had been no

response. It was time to go. She touched the valve

control on the drip bag once again and the liquid began

to flow more rapidly.

~~

"Don"t you think it"ll be dangerous to walk into this place

like that?" An officer asked another one beside him as

they watched from a car the other two officers trying to

force the gate open.

"Dangerous? Why?" The other replied.

"We don"t know what to expect inside?"

"C"mon, haven"t we stayed here all day monitoring the

house, the only person that entered into the place since

has been the owner."

"Yes, I know but we don"t know what he has in store for

us."

"No matter what he has in store for us, only him can"t

defeat the four of us."

"Hmm… I wouldn"t have bothered if it was an ordinary

person o," the officer said in a warning tone. "We"re

talking about someone who is related to the notorious

a.s.sa.s.sin gang here. How are we sure that we are not even

being watched at the moment."

The other officer quickly glanced around in fear, his

colleague had been able to transfer his fear into him.

"Hmm… You have a point but someone has just got to

find out, we can"t have a squad here. That"ll be too

noticeable to all."

"But I don"t think we"re going by it the right way," the

officer said and opened his door to step out. "We were

told to monitor Henry and report any suspicious activity

not to break into his house." He stepped out and began to

match towards the road. He paused for a black car to

pa.s.s before proceeding. The driver of the took a glance at

him and continued driving.

~~~

From afar, Don could see the two non uniformed officers

at Henry"s gate. He slowed down the speed of his car and

gradually began to think of a way to get inside the house

without pa.s.sing through the officers. His plan was to

threaten Henry and force out some information from

him which could lead him to Tarasha. He continued

towards the house slowly, he saw another man trying to

cross the road to the other side. He guessed it was

another officer. He drove past the house carefully

without raising any suspicion and made a U-turn,

planning to check the street behind and examine the

feasibility of getting in through the back.

He wasn"t expecting that Tarasha would be in Henry"s

house, his thought was that Tarasha and her crew

weren"t even in Abuja again. Since Lagos was their base,

he was expecting them to have returned like they always

did, to plan the attack on the next victim.

There was a little bit of confusion on the street as he

wanted to turn into the next street. The traffic warder at

that point must have gone to sleep as all motorists were

moving at their own discretion.

It took sometime for him to get a clear view to cross. A

motorcycle ran into his car.

++++

"The Agent"s instruction was that we get into this place,"

the officer in blue stated adamantly. He stepped back and

hit the gate lock once again. It gave way and two of the

officers stepped inside. The third officer made a signal to

the one in the car and glanced around before following

them hesitatingly. He hadn"t been able to stop them,

instead they had talked him into following them inside.

The two officers ahead took out their guns and

proceeded into the house after checking the compound

to see if there was anything strange. The leader signaled

to the third officer to wait in the compound.

The doors were opened so they had no problems

entering the house, they pa.s.sed through a couple of

extensions before getting into the living room where

Henry was.

"D--n!" An officer cursed as he saw Henry. The fluid bag

was halfway already. He rushed to Henry and started

disconnecting the drip line. The other officer checked

around the place.

Henry"s eyes was still open wide but he was cold and still.

"Is he alive?" The blue shirted officer asked.

"I don"t know," the colleague replied. He then placed his

ear on Henry"s chest to listen to the heartbeat. "He"s

alive!" He announced.

"Call an ambulance, then call Agent Dakolo." He ordered

and began to proceed further into the house. He

returned a minute later, the other officer had left Henry"s

side. He was proceeding upstairs.

"This place is locked?" The officer on the stairs said. "It"s

locked from outside."

"Okay, have you called for an ambulance?"

"Yes," the officer replied, returning down slowly.

"What of Agent Dakolo?"

"He"s not answering his calls."

The blue shirted officer bent down beside Henry and

picked up the small bottle that contained the remnant of

liquid which Tarasha injected into his veins to make him

conscious. "Is it possible he"s a drug addict?" He asked

raising up the bottle for his colleague to see.

"Very possible, there"s no one around so he might just be

placing himself on a dose."

"Yeah… At the same time he doesn"t look hurt, no one

could have forcefully placed him on a drip." He said and

wrapped the bottle in his palm. "Please call the office

again and tell the ambulance to hurry down."

~~

"Where the h.e.l.l is the traffic warder here?" Dakolo

bounced out in anger as he proceeded towards the

accident scene. The driver of the car stepped out to help

the victim, some pedestrians had also come by to help

him.

"The motorcyclist was impatient," some people began to

murmur.

"Let"s carry him into my car," Don said. He was furious

about what had happened because it had disturbed his

journey. He would have escaped if it was a less busy road

but he couldn"t try that here, he could get mobbed.

"Wait!" Dakolo said to the men as they tried to lift him up.

He recognized the face of the victim, it was the same man

who joined him in the cab on his first day of arrival into

Abuja.

"Your phone is ringing sir." Ken said, approaching from

behind.

Dakolo turned and took his phone. "Ken, you have to go

with this man to the hospital, make sure the victim is well

treated and the man who hit him comes to the office to

take down his statement.

"Okay sir," Ken agreed reluctantly and handed over the

car keys to Dakolo.

Dakolo took the keys and rushed back to the car, he

dialed the number before starting the engine. "Officer,

have you gotten in?"

"Yes sir," the reply came promptly. "He put himself on

drugs, I think he took an overdose."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir, we met him placed on drip and there was no one

else with him."

"Have you taken him already?"

"No, he"s unconscious and we"ve called for an

ambulance."

"Okay, I"ll get there in the next three minutes." Dakolo

said and ended the call. He zoomed off immediately.