Tarasha

A lady dressed in black suit and a sky blue shirt underneath was seen approaching the reception with confident steps. She had an unusual big designer handbag in her hand.

"Good morning officers," she greeted the men behind the desk. There was a certain seriousness their faces carried and a very tense atmosphere around them. Some officers walking out from the reception could also be heard discussing in low tones. The subject of discussion for the whole facility was the news of one of their Chief Security Prison warders who was abducted in his house the day before.

"Good morning, what can we do for you?" the officer asked.

"I"m barrister Jeffrey, lawyer for Henry Ekene George," she replied, brushing the hair which covered her eyes backwards.

"Barrister Jeffrey," the officer repeated, taking a glance at his colleague. "Is he expecting you today?"

"Yes, he should be. He asked his sister to get a lawyer for him." she replied.

"Okay, but you know his case is a special one and you have to see the Agent responsible for his case first," the officer said to her, opening a file.

"Yes, I know."

"You"re lucky you won"t have to wait because he"s around," the officer said and picked up the landline receiver and dialed, he spoke for about a minute, taking occasional glances at her face. "We"ll take you to him in a minute," he said to her after dropping the receiver.

She nodded and smiled in appreciation and stepped a little distance back, she raised her hand and turned the head of her wrist.w.a.tch.

_________

"Is there anywhere else they operate apart from those two places?" Don barked at Benny who was looking confused and speechless.

They were in a large room, the room was empty except for some chairs and some daggers and metal weapons scattered on the floor. Rex was seated on a chair at the opposite angle to where his men were dealing with Benny, he seemed to be engrossed in his thoughts and unconcerned with what Don and Stainless were doing.

Benny was looking very weak and sick, he had been reduced to a shadow of himself due to lack of proper feeding and exposure to mosquitoes and bad weather. He was feeling feverish and very weak but he didn"t wish to recover, he wished for his death to come quickly.

How Don and Stainless had found out Tarasha"s two operation places was a mystery to him, they told him that he had revealed it but he refused to believe them as he couldn"t remember giving them the information. Now, they were asking for another possible location from him.

"Answer me man," Don said pulling Benny violently by the chin. "Or you want us to force it out of you like we did before?"

"You guys are fools," a voice answered Don from behind. Don and Stainless turned back to see Rex moving closer to them, he was putting on an armless black skirt and a black shredded trouser. He had a pistol in his hands which he was loading as he approached.

Benny looked at the face of the strange man, he had heard the voice before but only seen the figure from behind. Rex had a striking resemblance with someone he knew but he couldn"t just place who it was.

A devilish smirk appeared on Rex"s face as he stared at Benny, then he slowly raised the pistol. Benny closed his eyes and mumbled some words in antic.i.p.ation of his long awaited death. Two quick shots were released into his chest, his body fell off the chair lifelessly.

Rex tucked back the pistol into his pocket and turned to Don and Stainless. "Both of you are fools," he reiterated. "You guys still believe that he has useful information?" he asked staring at them in disbelief. "He"s very useless already, you don"t expect her to still use the locations he knows. You"ll just fix yourself into a trap."

Don and Stainless"s shoulders dropped in shame as Rex scolded them. Stainless proceeded to the door and poked out his head, he whispered some thing to the men outside and two people entered back with him, they lifted Benny"s body and carried him out of the room.

_____

"How come Henry has never mentioned your name?" Dakolo stared at her skeptically. He was seated opposite the barrister at a table in the visitor"s lounge, the same place Tarasha had met with Henry two days ago, the only difference was that there were no inmates and guests, it wasn"t visiting hours. Only Dakolo was seated with the lawyer, three other officers were standing at different points in the large s.p.a.ce, two officers manned the exit.

"I"m not sure he knows my name, except his cousin has told him about me," she replied confidently. "It"s the first time I"m working for him, I"m his cousin"s friend and lawyer."

Dakolo gave a doubtful smile. "We"ll have to confirm from Henry first," he said and got up from his seat, walking towards the exit of the place. "Keep an eye on her," Dakolo muttered to the officers at the exit. "Don"t hesitate to take her down immediately if she tries anything."

Dakolo walked briskly with one officer and a warder following behind him. In no time, they got into the building for solitary cells, Henry"s cell was the last on the block. It was a small cell, well cemented and neat. He was seated on the floor and facing the wall like a monk meditating, he didn"t look back or move even when he heard the padlock at the door being opened noisily.

"Agent Dakolo, what do you want again?" Henry spoke up after Dakolo and the officer entered.

"What"s the name of the lawyer you asked your cousin to get for you?"

"What lawyer?" Henry asked, still not turning back. But the sudden movement of his head was enough to tell he was surprised by the question.

"Didn"t you ask for a lawyer?" Dakolo continued, observing closely. "I"m aware your cousin was here two days ago and you discussed about your lawyer with her but it seems who we have here today is an impersonator."

"My lawyer is here?" Henry asked, finally turning back. He knew it could be none else than Omotara herself.

"Yes, someone is claimimg to be your lawyer. She has some files as evidence, we want you to confirm the name before we allow her see you."

"Ermm… But I don"t know her name," Henry blurted out, not wanting to complicate matters as he wasn"t sure what name Omotara had told them. It was quite obvious that he wasn"t expecting any lawyer.

"You don"t know your lawyer?"

"Yes, it"s a new lawyer."

"But you knew the gender," Dakolo pointed out doubtfully.

"Ermm… Yes, I just guessed it should be a woman."

"Hmm…" Dakolo paused for some seconds. The look on Henry"s face had now changed from hostility to anxiety. Dakolo stretched his opened palm towards the officer who came in with him. A phone was dropped into it, the same phone Henry used to make the call to Omotara the day before. "I won"t deny you access to see your lawyer but I won"t allow her escape either, if I find out she"s your gang mate." He said with a smirk and began to punch some b.u.t.tons on the phone. "I"m aware you spoke to your sister with this phone, I"m dialing her number again and we"ll place it on loudspeakers. I want to hear her confirm the name of the lawyer."

Dakolo dialed the number and handed it to Henry as it began to ring.

"h.e.l.lo Tara," Henry said into the phone.

"Henry, have you seen Barrister Jeffrey?" a strange female"s voice replied.

"No, but the police would soon allow me see her." Henry replied, taking a glance at Dakolo"s face. He didn"t recognize the voice but he had to play along, he believed Omotara must have designated someone to answer the call.

"She"s my friend and a very good lawyer, I"m confident in her, please do cooperate with her." the voice said again.

"Thank you Tara," Henry replied and stretched the phone back to Dakolo without taking his eyes off Dakolo"s face.

Dakolo collected the phone and gave it to the officer also without taking off his eyes from Henry.

"You"ll come with me," Dakolo said and then turned to make a signal to the officer. The officer stepped forward with an handcuff and fixed it on Henry"s willing hands. Then they led him out of the cell to meet his lawyer.

*

Henry fixed his eyes on the lady seated as he entered into the large hall, of course, she wasn"t looking so different from what he saw the day before, she must have only changed her wig and reduced the makeups.

He proceeded towards the seat, followed by Dakolo and the officer. Thirty seconds after he sat down, Dakolo was still standing behind without showing any signs of moving soon. Henry turned to look, Dakolo had his eyes fixed on the lawyer"s face, sizing her with his eyes suspiciously.

"Good luck," Dakolo said almost in whispers before turning away.

Henry looked around the Hall while Dakolo walked out, he saw the officers standing at different sides.

"Shh.." She hushed him as he wanted to talk, placing a finger on her lips. "This table is not too convenient for me, let"s move to another." She said aloud and got up from her seat, Henry followed her and they moved to another table.

"You"re supposed to be gone with Uncle Jeffrey, what are you doing here? And where"s he now?" He asked in a low voice immediately after they settled at the new table

"I came to get you out of here," she replied, without regarding his comment about Jefa.

"You don"t get? I don"t need to get out of here." Henry replied.

"Don"t make things difficult for us Henry, just place your hands on the table and allow me start with taking off the handcuff," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Omotara, please don"t do this, don"t waste your time trying to get me out. What you should do is get Uncle Jeffrey out of this country and make him happy."

"Uncle Jeffrey is dead," she said coldly.

"Huh?" Henry"s eyes widened in shock of the news. His heart beat speed increased and his cold currents were sent down his body.

"Place your hands on the table, my team is waiting for me," she said in a commanding tone but Henry was still too shocked to respond.

She stretched her hands to him and gently dragged his hand to the table softly, pretending like she wanted to hold his palms. Taking careful looks at the officers around, she carefully rolled down something attached to her wrist under her sleeves. and it was an electric key attached to a sling.

"No, I don"t want to go." Henry said aloud, raising his hands from the table and attracting the officers" attention.