Tarasha

The nation woke up to be greeted by the sad news of the Senate President"s demise, the other news in circulation was Henry E.G"s abduction. The atmosphere was filled with sorrow and grief, most of the citizens were asking G.o.d questions of what the nation did that warranted the loss of some of their respected citizens. No one knew exactly what the problem was but some of the citizens began to carry rumors that the victims of the a.s.sa.s.sinations could have been members of a particular cult group.

Immediately the Senate President was confirmed dead, President Emeka and his Vice called for an urgent meeting with the security staffs and top police officers. He told them about the need to double up their efforts like never before, he also asked that top officers who they thought could make the work fast should be summoned to headquarters in Abuja immediately.

Meanwhile, work at the NSCC continued to go fine. The cameras were working well and the officials especially Kimberly, were coming up with new innovations that would improve the quality of their job.

__9.30am__

Chief Elvis Richards stepped out of his bathtub and picked the towel from the rope, he stared into the mirror as he cleaned his body. As soon as he got out of his bathroom and entered in his room, his phone beeped, it was a text message notification. He moved closer to the table where his phone was and unlocked it, he was actually expecting a message from the Governor of his State of origin.

The message he saw there was a strange one and it made him begin to think deeply. "How are you planning to pay for your sins?" he read it again and again. After thinking deeply for a moment, he decided to check the sender as the ID was not displayed where it should be, the name he saw on checking was "Samantha Osman". A sudden fear gripped his heart and he held the phone close to his chest, he could feel and hear the sounds of his fast beating heart.

He tried to check for the phone number carrying the name but there was none, he also tried to reply the message but the message could not be replied.

He stared blankly at the wall, having only one prayer point in mind; a prayer for the a.s.sa.s.sin whom he had hired to be stronger than Samantha Osman.

++++

__11pm, same day __

"Thank you," Henry said to the driver as he came out of the cab. The cab drove away immediately. Henry covered his head with the hood of his pullover and then stared round the place before crossing over to his gate. He knew where the cameras on the streets were, so he made sure that he wasn"t facing anyone or revealing his face. He pushed something on the gate and a flat box rolled out for him, he pressed in a code and the gate opened for him to enter. Soon, he got into his house and proceeded straight into his upper rooms where he locked totally and made inaccessible to anyone else. After about two and half hours of working upstairs, he came back with two bags, one strapped to his back and one held in his hands. He took another glance at the three seater sofa where he laid while Tara set up the drip, he also recalled how she appeared to him suddenly after the darkness that day disappeared. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before walking out of the place.

++++

**Next Day, 10:50am**

The security at the Vice President"s House was tightened up immediately he got the first message. He had immediately called the Inspector General to tell him of the development and then asked for competent officers numbering about twenty who could join his large security team.

"Good morning sir," Tarasha stood up to greet as she saw the man coming towards her in the living room.

"Good morning Kim," Chief Elvis greeted back. "Please have your seat," he said, taking a seat directly opposite hers. He first busied himself with something on his phone for a minute before he started to converse with her. "How are you Kim?" he said, still doing some final pressing on his phone.

"Fine, thank you sir."

"Okay, I"ve heard about the good works you started already and I want to commend you; you"re really good at what you do."

"Thank you sir," she replied with smiles.

"I also got reports from you about thrice but sorry I didn"t acknowledge receipt, it"s just that I already have someone doing a similar job for me," he said.

"It"s okay sir," she replied, wondering who could be doing the job for him or if the man was just saying without meaning it.

"Okay, the reason why I called you here today is simple," he continued speaking with a tone of seriousness and then adjusted himself on the chair. "I heard about your recent work of raising alarms through the camera system whenever one of the suspected a.s.sa.s.sins" appearance is captured by the camera, is that true?"

"Yes sir, it is."

"Can you do the same for me in this house?" he asked.

"Yes sir, it can work." she replied.

"What about my office and other houses?"

"Yes sir, it can work anywhere it is installed."

"Nice, I want you to install the process here for me. How long will it take you to do it?"

"Hmm… A week for installing the process at a new location."

"Okay, when are you going to start the job? I mean start installing it in this house."

"As soon as you want it and once I"ve been permitted to be absent from the office for that duration the job is going to take."

"Permission? Who"s going to permit you?"

"Ermm… My boss sir," she replied stammering.

"Forget about the permission," he said with a wave of the hand. "You"re working for me and I"m permission myself." he added and both of them smiled. "So how do you start?"

"I"ll start by first locating the points at which all cameras are in this house."

"Okay, come." he said and got up immediately. "Let me show you who you"ll work with."

___ February 13, 2031- 3 days later___

**5pm**

Benny rose immediately to his feet as he saw the big loaf of bread being tossed to him from the small opening. A bottle of water was also thrown to him. He picked the loaf of bread and began to devour like an hungry lion, that was the only meal he had gotten in three days now.

He wondered why Stainless and Don were still keeping him alive, even though they were sure he wasn"t going to ever tell them what they wanted. Maybe they wanted to punish him by giving him a slow death, he thought.

He gulped down the water after finishing the bread in one minute. Surprisingly, another loaf of bread of the same big size was tossed to him again with another bottle of water. He picked them up this time with suspicion in his heart, was it that they had finally agreed to kill him by putting poison in his meal? He stopped to think for a while.

After a minute of considering everything he could, he began to devour the second loaf too. Even if they wanted to kill him, he had no problem with that, he thought he was better off dead already.

In another two minutes, he was done with the second loaf. He gulped down the second bottle of water and gave a loud belch, then he moved to the corner where he always sat and rested his back on the wall. After ten minutes, he began to feel dizzy. He knew it must be a result of the bread he ate as he had just woken up from a long sleep before eating the bread. Maybe it was his death finally coming, he positioned himself properly in readiness to die, thanking Don and Stainless in his heart for giving him a peaceful death.

++++

**5.30pm**

It was the third day of Tarasha working in the Vice President"s House, and the man was getting closer to his death but he seemed to be very confident by the security measures he had put in place.

Chief Elvis had already informed the police about the threat messages he was being sent on phone but warned them against releasing information to the press. The police had tightened the security in his house and in the area where he lived in, the NSCC regional office for the area had also kept the place under close observation.

Tarasha drove home quietly, her plans were going on smoothly. After taking out Chief Elvis, then she would have been through with her work for Chief Gab, though her contract period wouldn"t expire until a year after.

Immediately she"s done with Chief Elvis, she"ll go one after the other for those who destroyed her family"s peace and kept her brother in pain for years, starting with the Inspector General.

Tarasha was already driving into the street to her home when she noticed that a car had begun to follow behind her. She monitored the car for a while and decided to play along, she drove past the house and continued to watch the car. It followed her for a while but she could see that it was with reluctance after pa.s.sed the house; then she knew that the person or persons in the car must know that she had driven past her house.

After driving for twenty minutes more, she stopped to think for a while and then turned back. She had a feeling of fear that something could have happened to her brother at home, but she discarded the fear immediately, there was no way anybody was going to enter into that house without her receiving an alarm on her device and there was also nowhere her brother could have gone without her knowing. She began to drive back home but before she got back to the house, she noticed that the car had stopped following her.

As she got to the balcony of her apartment, she noticed a visitor"s shoe at the entrance; then she heard two people laughing inside. She could deduce that it was her brother who had a visitor but the surprising thing was how the visitor had come in without her receiving an alarm of intrusion on her device.

She ensured that her gun was ready in her pocket before she entered into the house.

"I think Tara is back," she could hear her brother say as she opened the door.

"Oh! Okay." a familiar voice replied.

She walked into the living room to meet a very big shock. Henry was seated comfortably with her brother, watching television and sipping wine.

"h.e.l.lo Tara." he said to her with a crooked smile as their eyes met.

++++

*5.30pm*

Benny didn"t die but was still dizzy and finding it hard to close his eyes. A strange kind of ache visited his head, almost running him mad. He couldn"t understand himself anymore, everything had turned double; the door, his shoes, the floor and even his body. The Nigerian praise song, "Everything na double double" began to ring in his head.

Not long after, he heard Don and Stainless coming closer to where he was. They got to the door and opened it gently, more light entered in through the door, making Benny to block his eyes with his hands. They both stepped into the place and approached him slowly, Don squatted before him.

"You refused to tell us the location of your boss right?" Don said in a mocking tone, Benny gave no reply. "I know it"s more than just loyalty, you must have been sleeping with the wh*ore," he accused in a threatening tone.

Benny"s vision was becoming clearer as he could now see Don as one and not two anymore but he felt very weak in his body, it was as if his whole body except his brain was paralyzed.

"Tell me, how sweet is she on bed?" Don continued taunting. "Is she very good in the act like my Aisha or she"s manageable or useless?"

Don rose to his feet and continued with his speech, "I"m sure her body on bed must be like a log of wood, poor thing!" he exclaimed in a mocking tone. "But what I don"t understand is how she could get you to be loyal with the poor s.e.x she offers you. Maybe I"ll bang her one of these days to see what you"re enjoying."

"You…can…never," Benny said, his lips were heavy and trembling. "She…is not like…your Aisha whom I have banged her brains off."

His last words infuriated Don and it earned him a blow on his mouth. Benny"s headaches increased and his vision became blur again.

Stainless and Don dragged up Benny together and began to pull him out of the place. Benny could not resist as he was being carried out, he only hoped that they were taking him out to kill him finally but his hope did not materialize yet.

They placed him on a metal chair and made him sit up right, they chained his arms to the armrest of the chair and chained his legs too. Then Stainless picked up a syringe and drew into it some liquid from a bottle and then pa.s.sed it into Benny"s veins.

Benny felt weak and hot all over his body, then suddenly he felt cold again and began to see visions. Don and Stainless standing at his front had turned to carton characters, Pinky and the Brain. He began to laugh hysterically as he saw them dancing together, hitting their b.u.t.ts against each other.

His laugh earned him another resounding blow from Don, his vision suddenly became clear again, like a miracle.

"Now, tell me. Where does your boss operate from?" Don barked at him.

"I…will…never…tell…you…that," Benny spoke in low tones.

"Tell us and stop suffering yourself," Stainless said as a kind of advice.

"No…you two should…stop… suffering yourselves… Just kill me now," Benny replied. Don threw him another blow. Benny felt like his head had fallen but it was still there; just that it had become too heavy for his neck to carry.

"Inject him again," Don said to Stainless who repeated the process with the syringe again.

Don supported Benny"s head with his hands, "Now, tell me Benny boy, where does your boss operate from?"

Benny gave a short weak laugh, he closed his eyes and opened again. Don removed his hands from his head making his neck bend sideways again. "My…boss operates…operates from Cotonou," Benny said and added another short weak laugh.

Don wanted to blow him again but Stainless restrained him. "Don"t let him pa.s.s out without us getting what we want; remember we were told to keep injecting him and even leave him for a while if he doesn"t speak immediately. Don breathed heavily and stepped back for Stainless to take over, not wanting to spoil things with his anger.

Stainless injected Benny the third time and waited for five minutes before asking the question this time. "Tell us where you boss operates from."

Benny stared at his face sleepily for a while before speaking, "we… have two main places of opera… operation…in…Abuja."

Stainless quickly picked up his phone to write down the information Benny was about spilling.

"One… is… in Gwagalada and…the other one…Asokoro. The addresses are…" Benny said everything in details before his eyes closed and he slept off.

Tarasha"s bag dropped from her hand to the floor, her heartbeat increased and her eyes became full of frustration.

"Henry, what do you want here?" She asked angrily.

"Is that how to welcome a friend who you haven"t seen for a while?" Henry replied, still sitting comfortably.

"And who told you that you are my friend?" She slammed.

"Hey Tara, calm down." Jefa interfered, he got up from his seat and faced his sister. "Did he wrong you so much that you don"t want to see him here at all?"

Tara gave her brother no reply but fixed her eyes on Henry who was smiling mischievously.

"Uncle Jeff, I think we can fix this ourselves," Henry said, standing up from his seat. He touched Jefa"s shoulder in a calm manner.

"Are you sure you don"t want me to come in?" Jefa turned to look at Henry"s face.

"No, we would handle it ourselves." Henry said with a smile.

"Okay," Jefa said. He took another long stare at Omotara"s face before he turned back and walked into his room.

Henry and Tarasha stared at themselves eyeball to eyeball quietly for almost two minutes, there was a tensed atmosphere around them. Henry smiling face gradually changed into a serious one while Tarasha maintained her furious gaze, soon her hand was going into her pocket.

"Calm down Tara, don"t bring out the gun yet." Henry stopped her in a loud tone. "I"m not planning to run away, why don"t you hear what I have to say before you kill me?"

"Shh…" Tarasha hushed him with a frown and pulled him away, not wanting Jefa to hear their conversation, she knew Henry was speaking very loud to ensure Jefa could hear from his room.

She pulled him to the front of the entrance door and stared into his eyes coldly. "What do you want from me?"

"You want to kill me…" Henry continued loudly.

"Oh Shi*t!" Tarasha frowned at him for speaking on top of his voice. She thought of taking him outside to talk but the neighbours could hear their voices, so she had no other choice than to pull him into her room.

Henry went straight to the bed and sat comfortably, watching her as she locked the door and threw the keys behind the bed.

"I could kill you, you know?" Tarasha said in a threatening voice.

"I"m not afraid to die in your hands," Henry replied, he got up and started walking around the room. "You tried to kill me and failed, now I brought myself to you," Henry said as he got to the table where her laptop was placed.

"What do you want from me?" Tarasha asked.

"I want to ask some questions, I hope you would give me the answers," Henry said.

"I"m not obligated to give you any answers," Tarasha said coldly. "In fact, I think it"s time for you to leave; I don"t want to see you near me or my brother anymore."

"You don"t want to see me?" Henry asked tauntingly.

"Yes, I don"t want to see you," she shouted.

"But I need you to answer my questions or you"ll keep seeing me until you kill me." Henry replied.

"Get out of here," Tarasha commanded, leaving the way to the door.

Henry stood unmoved and kept looking into her eyes, he took in a short breath. "If you don"t want to answer my questions, then you have kill me but you should let Uncle Jeff witness my death."

Tarasha was getting angrier, not understanding his intention, she moved closer to him slowly, dipping her hand into her pocket. She didn"t plan to kill him but to scare him to leave. Her heart was beating abnormally and her body vibrating all over, there was a strange kind of overwhelming fear around her; one that she had never felt whenever she tried to scare or kill someone. It was as if she was the one in danger of death.

Henry didn"t step back for her in fear, he was as calm as a dove, he was little bit confident that she wouldn"t kill him because he knew she was intelligent. He knew there would be questions and doubts in her heart as to whether it was a set up by the police for her.

Tarasha stopped at his front and stared into his eyes, she took her hand out of her pocket when she saw that he was unmoved. She looked away from him and opened up her laptop on the table. She quickly pressed the boot b.u.t.ton. The fear in her heart began to increase even as she stood very close to him, but she choose to ignore and act like the fearless a.s.sa.s.sin that she was.

"You"re scared," Henry said after shifting back a little as the computer began to boot.

She took a quick glance at him and turned back to the laptop without replying.

"There"s no need to check anything, I didn"t inform the police or anyone else of my coming here, so n.o.body is outside. Your cameras are also working, I only made them stop operating for ten minutes." Henry said to her, making her freeze for some seconds. She took another quick look at him, wondering how he knew exactly what was in her mind.

"What exactly do you want from me?" she stood straight and asked again in a serious tone.

"I want to know why you wasted several lives just to get me and now I"m here and you can"t even kill me," Henry slammed at her.

She stared at him in silence, not knowing what to do or say. Was he really right about her not being able to kill him or was she the one sparing him because it was not the proper situation to kill him?

"Can"t you answer?" he shouted at her. "Do you think G.o.d would be happy with you for wasting several lives?" he paused to look into her

"Hehe," Tarasha began with a short laugh which turned into a roar of laughter.

Henry became the confused one now but her position about G.o.d quickly came into his mind.

"But seriously do you think all these things you"re doing wouldn"t come back to hunt you?" he asked again.

She stopped laughing suddenly and looked into his face, her fear had disappeared; now she saw Henry like a weakling; the same way she saw those who reverenced G.o.d.

"Who"s gonna bring them back huh?" she asked mockingly. "Your G.o.d who is a great murderer himself?" she continued speaking and began to walk in a circle round him. "I"ve not killed half of those who your G.o.d has killed and I"m not hoping to beat him in the records, he"s too good in the act of murdering people."

She stopped at his front and looked into his face, "I kill for people who pay me, I don"t kill because I"m a blood sucking viper; those who I kill are worthy of death in one way or the other."

"n.o.body is worthy of death, why would you say they are worthy of death when you"re not the G.o.d who created them?"

Tarasha laughed aloud again, "believing in G.o.d is enough reason to be worthy of death, how can you believe in a blood-sucking flesh eater and say you don"t want to die?"

"Omotara, G.o.d does not kill, G.o.d does not love to see his people die," Henry said calmly.

"Hehe, G.o.d doesn"t love to see his people die? Maybe that"s why he doesn"t come down to kill them himself, he doesn"t see them die but he sees them after they are dead and takes delight in their blood and pain."

"Shut up, Tara! Don"t blaspheme, G.o.d is love," Henry said briefly, running out of words to say to her. "G.o.d helps those who submit to his authority and give him the right over their lives."

"G.o.d is love?"

"Yes, G.o.d is love." Henry stated.

"Love doesn"t exist, that means if G.o.d is love, G.o.d does not exist."

"Love exists, Tara. Love exists," Henry said. "Or tell me why you"ve not hurt your brother, tell me why you"re keeping him here and protecting him, isn"t it because you love him?" he paused to look at her face.

She was quiet as she pondered on his words. It was true that she was supposed to have killed Jeffrey under normal circ.u.mstances but she didn"t understand why she kept him and the feeling she always had when she thought about him as her brother, could that be love?

"You love him as your brother and that"s why you"ve kept him here," Henry said and took another brief pause. "And why are you scared of killing me?" he asked a question which made her shake visibly.

She took a quick glance at his face and frowned at his accusation. "I"m not scared of killing you, I"ve not killed you right now because it"s not right place to."

"No, Samantha. You"ve not killed me because you are not bold enough to do so. You"ve taken out more secured people even at unideal places, so why can"t you take me out?"

"So what are you insinuating?"

"You can"t kill me Samantha, YOU CAN"T KILL ME!" he shouted.

"Shh, lower your voice please and don"t call me Samantha again." she replied.

"I won"t lower my voice," he continued. "People call you Samantha Osman, so why shouldn"t I call you that?"

"Are you crazy? People in other apartments could hear you." she said in a scared tone.

"People in other apartments?" he said and gave a short laugh. "No, Tara. You"re not scared of people in other apartments, you"re scared that your brother could hear. Your fear has even made you to forget that you have this room soundproofed. This shows that you are desperate not to allow your brother know who you really are. You don"t want it to hurt him, do you know why?" she was silent. "Because you love him Tara, you don"t want him to become disappointed on hearing that you"re an a.s.sa.s.sin."

"You don"t know anything about me Henry, I"m not scared of allowing anybody know who I am. They die immediately if they are not supposed to know," she said, trying to put up a bold face.

"But why have I not died immediately?" Henry asked.

"Stop making yourself look special," she slammed. "I don"t love you and never would I do."

"Hehe," Henry chuckled. "Now, you just unconsciously agreed that love exists but you say you don"t love me?" he said and waited for her response but she didn"t reply. "I agree that you don"t love me, but I know you love your brother and want to protect him, that"s why you"re so scared of letting him know the real you."

"I don"t love anyone, I could kill him now if I want to."

"Haha," Henry laughed again loudly. "The look in your eyes says opposite; you won"t kill him Tara, he means a lot to you and you want to protect him."

"I don"t…"

"Stop arguing," he interrupted her. "Accept the truth, strong people accepts the truth; they don"t deny even when they know they"re lying to themselves." he said and paused to see her response; he was making the desired effect. "Tara, you are better than what you think of yourself. You"re better than a tool made to kill people. Think about it; your brother, you want to make him happy, you don"t want to see him cry, you want to put a smile on his face at all times but what about those people who your work has caused to cry, whom your work has thrown into eternal pain?" He paused again.

Tarasha felt suddenly weakened by his words, her bones felt lifeless and she pulled out the chair and sat on it, tears formed in her eyes.

"Think about the fulfillment you feel when your brother is happy, think about how you feel happy when he smiles," Henry continued. "Don"t you think you"ll feel happier if you could make a lot more people smile instead of making them feel pain and giving them sorrow?"

Henry moved closer and squatted before her, looking into her eyes directly. "Why have you allowed someone lie to you about G.o.d being wicked? Why have you allowed other people"s words and theories control your life? Why should you deny love just because you were taught it doesn"t exist even though you feel it?" he said and got up again, he began to walk around.

"Strong people don"t allow what others have said to control their lives, they live and discover what is right, they let go of whatever they"ve learnt before whenever they find out that they"ve been wrong and they try to live right when they discover the right way." He stopped in front of her again and squatted. He placed his elbow on her knees and held her palms in his. He could see the tears formed in her eyes as he looked. "Why don"t you release those tears?" he said softly. "Don"t keep them in stubbornly; it would mean holding back the things you"re supposed to let go."

"I can"t let go of anything ," she said stubbornly and got up. "I"ve gone too far already."

"No," he rose up with her and stood behind her. "Don"t allow that mentality stop you from doing the right thing. You can start a new life, you can live a life of value; making other people"s lives better. I know you"ve been through a lot but don"t allow those memories keep you like the scoundrels that caused you pain, that would mean that they succeeded. But you can prove them wrong, help others like you avoid the pain, help them get a better life."

A knock sounded on Tara"s door, she remained still and there was no answer until Henry spoke. "Uncle Jeff, is that you?" Henry asked, going towards the door.

"The key is here," Tara said softly to him. He turned back, remembering that she had thrown the key behind the bed. He picked up the key and went ahead to open the door.

Jefa popped in his head, he glanced at Omotara and looked back to Henry. "I wasn"t hearing anything, so I wanted to find out if everything is alright." Jefa said.

"Yes, everything is alright." Henry answered.

"Okay," Jefa glanced at Tara once again and stared around the room before closing back the door.

Henry locked the door and turned back to Tarasha.

"I think it"s late, it"s time you go," Tarasha said to him, folding his arms.

"I don"t have anywhere to go, I"ve been sleeping outdoor for days."