Tarasha

*7am

The news of the minister"s death was greeted

with great shock and grief throughout the

country and the African continent as a

whole. Unemployed youths and adults remained

indoors that morning, fixing their gazes on the

TV screen as circ.u.mstances surrounding the

minister"s death were being unveiled. Workers

who rushed to their offices also had their

earphones stuck to their ears, listening to the

news reported on the various radio stations.

At first, the country"s news stations reported

that the minister was shot by unknown gunmen

in his residence and had been taken to the

hospital ,immediately many well wishers and

patriotic citizens began to offer emergency

prayers to G.o.d for the preservation of the man"s

life. It was till morning time that it was divulged

that the man died immediately after been shot

by escorts of the Ghanaian minister. The

country"s president also took to his Facebook

page to pay tribute to the late minister.

"Excellent job done!" Chief Nonso exclaimed, his

face beamed with smiles as he gave Chief Gab

a high five and took his seat beside the man in

the three seater sofa. "She delivered at the set

time"

"Yeah" Chief Gab replied happily, keeping his

focus on the TV screen. "The job was done

neatly"

"That girl is good, she did it in a way that the

street cameras did not capture anything" Chief

Nonso continued.

"Shhhh!" Chief Gab hushed, he increased the TV

volume with the remote control. The Lagos

state commissioner of police was being

interviewed by some journalists.

"The tragic loss of the honorable minister came

as a shocking news to everyone of us in this

nation including the security forces. What is

more painful to us is the fact that he died in the

hands of our supposed trained security officials.

But we are doing our best to capture all those

responsible for this great offence and we

promise to arrest the killers as soon as

possible"

"How do you intend to find them?" A journalist

posed a question. "We are aware that the

security cameras failed at the time the murder

took place"

"No, the security cameras were perfectly in

shape" the commissioner lied. "We only had a

little network issue with the transmission but

we"re already working towards recovering the

files"

"How long will that take sir?" Another question

was thrown at the minister.

"I have to go" the commisioner ignored the

question, he was being led away hurriedly by

the junior officers guarding him.

"Hahahaha" Chief Gab laughed loudly, he tuned

down the TV volume. "The commissioner looks

so confused"

"He is really confused" Chief Nonso stood up to

pick the bottle of wine on the center table, he

removed the cover and poured the liquid into

two gla.s.s cups.

"Let"s toast to our success" He handed a cup to

Chief Gab who stood up merrily. Their gla.s.ses

met and they took a sip before returning to their

sitting position.

"One gone, three more to go" Chief Gab said as

he settled back into the seat. "I"ll send Jubril"s

details to Tarasha today"

"No, not Jubril yet" Chief Nonso opposed, he

dropped the gla.s.s cup on the table. "Let"s take

down Kelechi Edwin first"

"Why Kelechi first? Chief Gab asked with a

surprise tone. "Don"t you think we should still

leave him to enjoy Rivers State money a little

before he dies? I don"t even understand why you

want him down yet"

"Come on, he has enjoyed enough already"Chief

Nonso retorted. "He"s gaining the trust of so

many people already, they are beginning to like

him for governing Rivers State very well"

"Well, that shouldn"t be our problem, the people

loved you for governing Abia Statements well

during your tenure" Chief Gab argued.

"It is our problem if he continues to gain so

much fans, he"s done ten times of what I did in

my right years in just six years of governing"

"Well…"

"I should have done better Gab, but remember

that I couldn"t abandon you…".

"Don"t remind me of all that Nonso" Chief Gab

cut in. "I would have done the same, if you were

in my position"

"I know and that"s why I decided to help you,

that"s why I saved so much from Abia. I knew

we will need it some day" Chief Nonso replied

calmly, trying not to heat up the situation.

"Okay, what are you saying now? I don"t really

understand why Kelechi should be the next"

"Simple, it is very obvious with the way things

are going that he would succeed the president

if something is not done" Chief Nonso explained.

"I won"t be able to beat him at the Party"s

primaries, so if we take him down now, n.o.body

would suspect be like they would if it happens

close to the election period"

"Okay" Chief Gab prolonged the word as he

nodded his head in realization. "You should have

explained better. We have to take him out first

because he"ll definitely step in your way"

"Yea, that"s what I"m saying "

"Okay, Kelechi is it then"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++

*9pm*

Cole laughed loudly as he read the several

comments of the previously grieved Nigerians,

who now turned around to insult the late

minister after seeing the video of the man,

where he connived with the Lagos state

commissioner and other organizers of the

conference to defraud the federal government.

The video circulated easily and quickly without

need for special publicity since the minister"s

death news was still trending on the internet

that day. It received more than six thousand

views in less than one hour after Cole uploaded

it with a new YouTube account. Most of the

viewers were those redirected from Google

search while they surfed to find out more about

the minister"s murder.

Now the video has reached over a million views

in just five hours. Various social networks and

forums like coolval22.com and LindaIkeji Blog

also aided in the video spread; several

comments on these forums revealed that the

people were more shocked to discover that the

minister was corrupt than they were at his

death. Even the President"s tribute speech on

TV that evening was slightly changed to a

speech warning other government officials from

involving themselves in corrupt deals.

However, the police authorities vowed to track

down the person behind the YouTube account,

stating that they were positive that the YouTube

account had a connection with the killers. They

also encouraged that anyone who witnessed the

crime or had any useful information should

waste no time in releasing the information to

the police.

More reports on various news platforms

disclosed that the police officers accused of

carrying out the a.s.sa.s.sination were found laying

unconscious in a mechanic workshop, tests

conducted on them proved that they were

drugged. The policeman who drove the Camsol

used for the crime was later found dead in the

same car, parked at the front of an abandoned

guesthouse.

"Cole" Benny called, walking into the sitting room

with a bottle of beer. "How ya doing man?"

"Hey, you"re back" He placed his tablet device on

the table and sat up. "Where have you been?"

"Around town man, remember Boss says we can

flex if we want to. She only warned us to be

careful" Benny replied, he sat on another chair

close to Cole and bent to take off his shoes.

"Where"s Aisha?"

"She"s gone out, she"ll be back tomorrow

morning" Cole answered, standing up to take the

beer. He walked up to the mini bar in the sitting

room to pick a cup.

"She"s gone out?" Benny asked like he didn"t

hear the first time.

"Don"t worry Benny, your food has been

prepared" Cole laughed as he took a sip. "I know

that"s what you"re worried about"

"Better" Benny"s face brightened up, he stood up

and picked his shoes.

"I"m thinking of hitting the club tonight, are you

in?" Cole inquired.

"What kind of question is that?" Benny gave him

a funny look, he glanced at Cole"s phone ringing

on the table. "You know I"m always in"

Cole walked to the table and picked up his

phone with his left hand, the cup of beer was in

the right hand.

"It"s Boss" he whispered to Benny before

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

"Hey man, whats up with you?" Tarasha greeted

in a friendly manner.

"Nothing much Boss, what about you?" Cole

replied

"Samehere, I"m just trying to get used to the

country"

"Oh! Lagos is cool, you"ll find it lovely"

"Maybe you should have taken me out, instead

of staying indoors all day" she said.

"Huh? Me? Take you out?" He was a bit

surprised hearing her suggest that he should

take her out.

"Isn"t that better than staying in all day like

you"re also new in the country?" She continued.

"Ermm…" Cole stammered, he cleared his throat,

trying to gain more confidence. He finally did

and asked, "would you like clubbing tonight?"

"Oh! Not tonight, maybe some other time" she

turned down his offer.

"Okay" he replied in a low tone, disappointed.

"Where"s Aisha?" She demanded, ignoring the

note of disappointment heard in his voice.

"Huh?" The question met him unprepared, it was

her first time of ever asking about Aisha. "She

went out"

"Alright" Tarasha said with a concluding note,

"rest well, our job continues on Monday.

Goodnight"

"Goodnight Boss" the call ended.

Cole was lost in deep fantasy for a moment, he

wondered what it would have been like clubbing

with Tarasha, he wondered how it will feel

having her on the same bed with him.

"What did she say?" Benny"s voice jolted him to

reality.

"Nothing" he returned sharply. "She only said

she"ll like me to take her round town next time"

"You??" Benny asked with jealousy showing in

his eyes. "I"m sure she was joking with you?"

"No man, she was serious" Cole laughed, noticing

the jealousy in Benny"s voice. He stopped

abruptly after something came into his mind, a

confused look appeared on his face. "How the

h.e.l.l did she know I was indoor all day?"

Benny hissed and walked away, leaving Cole to

figure out things for himself.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++

**30.11.2030**

*6am

Don got up sluggishly from the bed with a

blanket tied round his body and opened the

window curtains to have a view of his men

working in the compound downstairs. He caught

a glimpse of Aisha in his kitchen through the

slightly opened door as he slumped back lazily

into his bed, she was wearing one of his shirts

on her pant.

His eyes met the trousers and boxers he

scattered on the floor last night, when he

couldn"t control his urge on seeing her, after she

had gone away for over a week. He

remembered pleading with her to come spend

the night with him that weekend, his pleading

wasn"t in vain as he had been compensated

with several rounds of s.e.x.

"Hi Don" Aisha greeted, walking into the room

with two cups of hot liquid in her hands.

"Hi" he responded, getting up to pick his clothes

on the floor, he got into another boxers.

She dropped the cups on a stool and sat on the

bed, waiting for Don to join her.

"I made some… " she was saying when Don

gently pushed and laid her on the bed, covering

her body with his.

"No coffee is sweater than you" he said and

dragged up her shirt, revealing the upper region

of her body.

"No Don, it"s okay already" She resisted and

rolled away. "I have to leave soon, I didn"t take

permission to come here"

"Do you have to now take permission to come to

me? Remember I sent you there" Don grumbled.

"Come on, you know I have to work by rules of

the job" Aisha retorted. "She has warned us

against going out frequently to avoid suspicion

from the neighborhood"

"Oh well! I really have to salute you guys for the

Minister"s job, I wouldn"t have believed it wasn"t

police officials that gunned down the man if you

didn"t tell me" Don commended as he sat up. "It

was done neatly"

"Thanks, but please no one else has to know

how we did the job" Aisha pleaded.

"Of course, you can trust me" Don took a sip of

the hot coffee and mocked. "I"m already

overrating you people,It"s not that the job was

to hard though"

"Hehe" she chuckled. "Could you have done the

job without leaving any traces behind?"

"Yes I would have, I have the best team in

Nigeria right now" Don boasted.

"No you couldn"t have done it. Do you remember

that little Doctor"s job we did last?" She asked

as she took her own cup of coffee.

"That was just an unusual error" Don defended

his team. "It doesn"t mean we"re not the best"

"No, it wasn"t an error" She argued. "You did your

best in that job but we couldn"t just cover up

our tracks, we had to poison some of our

members before the police took them"

"When are you going to find out where Tarasha

lives?" Don changed the discussion, after a

moment of awkward silence.

"I don"t know yet, no one seems to know. She

just appears and disappears"

"And you can"t try to trail her?" Don pushed

further.

"I dare not, I won"t even go far before I"m

caught"

"That"s a lie, isn"t she human? She has just

succeeded in creating fear into you. All you

need to do is watch and monitor her carefully"

"Don, please I don"t want any trouble" Aisha said,

looking straight into Don"s eyes.