Tarasha

Maitama, Abuja.

In a s.p.a.cious room, with four windows which were well covered with curtains. The walls were well padded and soundproofed, the ground was made of dark marbles and long black leather sofas were placed at the walls all around, the only break was the opening for the door.

A bright florescent bulb at the middle totally eliminated darkness from the room, a medium sized rectangular shiny metal table of 5m by 3m was directly under the bulb and about six laptops were placed on the table. Cole and Aisha wer seated beside each other at the table and operating different laptops. Cole frequently paused to look into Aisha"s laptop and give her brief instructions before returning to his.

The door flung open and Tarasha walked in with Henry following slowly behind. Henry seemed surprised to see Aisha and Cole in the room, he stared around the place for a while before turning to Omotara.

"Where did you get the money to set up this place in just two weeks?" Henry asked, his surprise was visible on his face.

"Do I need money?" She said in reply. "There are other things that have purchasing power and that"s what I use."

"Things like?"

"Things like the name Samantha Osman," Tarasha answered jokingly as she began to take a stroll round the room.

"How do you mean?"

"Hunmn… I walk into a store, introduce myself as Samantha Osman and plead with them to release some of their goods to me with the promise of paying later," she answered.

"I don"t still understand," Henry said with a frown. "You mean you walk into a store, introduce yourself as Samantha Osman and they allow you take things on credit?"

"Ermm… Not really. Most of them never accept, that"s why you"ve been hearing news of stores robbery recently but they ain"t really robbery, borrowing is a better word." she said as she approached the narrow side wall. She pushed a b.u.t.ton on the wall and the wall below the sofa gave way for a large screen. Henry stared in awe, he wondered how she had been able to fix such mechanism and several others she had been showing him in just two weeks.

"So you"ve been stealing from stores?" Henry asked in bewilderment.

"No, I"ve not been stealing, the news just reports them like that. What I really do is take goods on credit, but I"ll truly pay back." She said in defence.

Henry fixed his eyes on her face, perplexed while she moved away slowly. His facial expression was like that of a person who had seen an alien drop from the sky.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Didn"t you do the same with the hospital that treated you when you escaped the bomb?" Tarasha turned to him and asked.

"Oh!" Henry exclaimed, widening his eyes, he remembered that he had not even returned to pay the hospital.

"And you"ve even forgotten about it, you"ve not paid them yet." Tarasha added immediately as if she could read his thoughts.

"Ermm… But at least I didn"t leave the doctors handicapped," Henry said with a smirk and proceeded towards her. "You always dislocate the joints or break bones of those you borrow from."

Two weeks had pa.s.sed so fast. During those two weeks, both of them had only met with each other once, that was six days after visiting Jefa"s grave. Tarasha had come to intimate him about her efforts in buying several properties and making some quick investments which will produce money for her in the long time fight against her family"s enemies. She also warned him of the dangers of coming out of the place where he had been hidden. She successfully ignored the question when he asked her about her plans for punishing the enemies. The rest eight days had gone without Henry seeing or hearing from her when he wanted to, even when he tried to reach her on phone, the call would be answered by Cole and he would only tell of her absence. Two days to the end of the fourteen days was when Henry discovered the way to reach her. After enduring loneliness for several days, he tried summoning courage to leave the place to get some computer gadgets which he wanted to use, that was the day he realized he was under close watch. He had not yet stepped out of the gate when he got a call, Omotara"s voice sounded from the other end when he answered. She warned him to get back into the house, that the cap he was planning to use in disguising his face would not suffice. She asked him what he wanted and after he told her, she promised to get it and deliver it to his doorstep. An hour later, Aisha appeared at the house with the gadgets he asked for.

She was laughing hard as Henry approached her with the look of a defeated child. Cole and Aisha were already taking side glances at them.

"You were right Cole, the Boss is in love with him." Aisha said in whispers to Cole.

"Huh?" Cole feigned a shocked expression. "What do you mean by "You are right"? Did I tell you anything?" He asked back, making his voice as low as possible.

Aisha took another quick glance at Henry and Tarasha, hoping that their attention had not been caught by their side talks. Henry looked their way that moment and his eyes met with Aisha"s, she quickly looked away.

"What are they doing?" Henry stopped before Tarasha and asked.

"Getting information and mapping out some already made plans," she answered.

Henry stared at the duo sitting at the table for close to two minutes in silence, a worried look appeared on his face as he turned back to Tarasha.

"Omotara, I don"t know why you kept me solitary for two weeks and I don"t know how long you may be gone after you drop me back today. We really need to sit somewhere quiet and discuss some important things." He said.

"What are the things we need to discuss?" She answered him with a less serious tone.

"I"m still a wanted man, I can"t continue to live like a fugitive. All I want to do is help you punish all those who have a hand in Uncle Jeffery"s death before I surrender myself back to the police."

A serious look finally appeared on Tarasha"s face, she took a brief glance at Cole and Aisha and then motioned for she and Henry to leave the place. They walked out of the room and entered into another one arranged as a proper living room. Tarasha balanced herself on the three seater sofa and rested her arms on the armrest. Henry sat next to her seat.

"Do you really want to go back to prison?" Omotara began after both of them were properly seated.

"No, I don"t want to but I have to." Henry answered. "It would be right thing for me to do."

"Then what will happen to me?" She asked in soft tones.

Henry leaned back, staring thinly into her eyes, he wasn"t expecting the question and had not thought about it.

"Do you really think it"s because of avenging my brother"s death I brought you out?" She continued. "I don"t think I need help for that…"

"You took me out because my stay there was a threat to your safety," Henry cut in.

"No," her eyes widened in surprise. "How could you think of that?"

Henry paused for a while and leaned back forward, "Isn"t that the reason?"

Omotara uncrossed her legs and rose up to her feet and turned her back to him. "If I was thinking about my safety, I wouldn"t have taken you of prison. I would have come there to send you out of this world."

Henry could feel the hurt in her voice as she spoke, he rose up slowly and stood behind her. He let out a breath before placing his hands on her shoulders, she allowed him turn her to face him. He rubbed his hands on her cheeks softly, "You"ve changed a lot," he said with a light smile. "I believe you must have had to admit somethings after Uncle Jeffery"s death."

"Yes, I did." She replied him. "During these few weeks, I"ve had to admit that I still have feelings resident in me. I"ve never felt like dying when I see somebody else die, the last time I felt like close to that was when my parents were killed, I also had similar feelings when I killed the boy I first fell in love with. But the heaviness I felt when I saw my brother in his pool of blood was totally different from what I ever felt; it was more than the previous ways I ever felt." She paused to take in a deep breath. "And that"s why I swore after burying him that I"ll go after everyone that was involved in his death."

Henry pulled her closer to himself and engaged her in a warm embrace. It lasted for more than two minutes. Omotara suddenly pulled away, "Do you still love me?" She asked, staring into his eyes.