Tarasha

covering his face knocked on the door of room

108. A man opened the door slightly, bringing

out only his head.

"What?" He barked angrily at the attendant for

disturbing him.

"Sorry, I need to check your bathroom. We got

an alarm, it seems the plumbing system is

faulty" the attendant replied.

"Everything is okay here" the man said and tried

to close the door. The attendant stopped the

door from closing with his legs.

"I still need to check it to be sure" the hotel

staff said to the furious man.

"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? I said nothing

is wro…" Benny did not allow him continue, he

looked around the corridor to check if anyone

was coming as he pushed the man inside with

the door, he closed back the door with his feet.

The man who was only clad in his boxers fell

down inside the room. Benny brought out a gun

and pointed it at the man after closing the door.

He placed a finger on his lips to order the man

to keep shut after which he brought out an

handkerchief and covered the man"s nose with

it.

Benny proceeded straight to the window with

his bag strapped to his bag, he took off the bag

after confirming that the window gave him a

perfect view and offloaded his tools. He rolled

down the curtains and quickly set up the sniper

and the grenade launcher. He wasn"t sure of

the one that would be needed.

"I"m set Cole, are they anywhere close?" Benny

spoke into his Bluetooth device.

"You"re just in time, they arrived a minute ago"

the reply came immediately.

Benny opened the curtains but couldn"t see

anyone inside the warehouse compound. He

couldn"t see outside the gate from the window

until he climbed the bed, he could see police

buses and some people"s heads outside the

gate.

He got down the bed and used the telescope

attached to his sniper to continue the viewing.

All he needed was for the officers to enter into

the warehouse compound or the building, they

had set up automatic guns in several points in

the building that would be triggered when a

bullet hit a point in the main control of the set

up. Benny only hoped that his main targets,

Robin Kahn and inspector James would lead the

entourage in so that they wouldn"t be able to

escape their deaths.

Well, one thing was sure; they would not

escape that scene without any injury and even

if they escaped their deaths there, they would

not escape death in the second stage of the

plan.

He reset his sniper and focused it on the red

spot of the automatic guns control point on the

roof of the warehouse.

+++++++++

Robin decided that it was time to go in after

several minutes of shouting in orders without

getting any response. They had launched in

several volleys of tear gases and still couldn"t

find anyone coming forth.

He organised the men with inspector Segun and

Tony by his side, twelve police officers set in to

enter the building at once. James who was

double minded had to agree hesitatingly with

Robin"s plan as he didn"t want to be labeled as

rebellious, he was lucky as he was ordered to

stay with Greg with the other officers outside

the compound.

"1, 2, 3 go" Robin shouted and the lineup officers

released several gunshots at the gate, bringing

it down. The twelve entered into the building

the compound at once, spreading out as they

had planned.

Tony led the way to the entrance of the

warehouse, he broke the lock of the wide metal

door with two bullets from his gun, inside of the

warehouse was very dark.

"What can you see?" Robin shouted, moving

closer to join Tony.

"Nothing, its dark" Tony replied, "I believe no one

is here, the tear gas would have sent them out"

"We have to go in and check, where are the

torchli…" A gunshot sound startled them. It

came from the left from they couldn"t figure

out where it was from or where it hit.

A sound like that of a whirlwind dominated the

surrounding, the police officers began to shout

and tried to scamper for safety as metallic guns

implanted in walls began to spring out.

A rain of bullets filled the compound and

several police officers dropped immediately.

Others who had been hit at one place or the

other dragged themselves behind walls and

sections where the automatic guns couldn"t

spread their reach to.

++++++++

Benny laughed loudly as he watched the police

men round around helplessly in confusion. It

looked like Inspector Robin had also been hit,

he was seen holding his belly as he hid behind

the opened metallic door of warehouse. He

brought another gun from his pocket as the one

he held before had fallen off his hands during

the struggle, he began to aim at the several

locations where the automatic guns were.

Benny left the window with a crooked smile on

his lips and returned the snipper and other

arms into their bags. He arranged his ruffled

uniform properly and cleaned off sweat from his

face, ready to walk out of the hotel as he had

fulfilled the first part of the plan.

He heard a noise coming from the angle of the

room where the toilet was as he opened the

door to go out, he turned back to check but

stopped again when he heard another voice

approaching, some of the hotel officers were

coming that way. He walked out and closed the

door gently, taking the opposite direction, he

made sure not to look back until he was out of

sight. Cole must have been waiting for him in

the ambulance, it was time to execute the

second and final part of the plan.

+++++++++++

**30 minutes later**

"Hmm…" Don laughed somehow bitterly, tapping

his feet on the ground as he faced the TV

screen reporting a breaking news. The

overrated Robin Kahn had just led his men into

disaster. Seven police officers including Segun

and the foreigner Tony had been confirmed

dead already. Segun was unlucky to have one

of the first set of bullet spray right into his

stomach, another one hit his forehead as he

dropped on one kneel from the impact of the

one that entered his stomach, he died instantly.

Tony who was at the opened entrance could

not escape death also, not less than four

bullets pierced his body in three seconds.

The others were hit by bullets in several parts

of the body. Robin Kahn had also been lucky,

he was. .h.i.t by two bullets. The first one went

into his laps while the second only scratched

the left side of his belly. He escaped death but

was badly injured.

Reporters claimed that the officers had run into

a bait of Samantha Osman. They thought they

had found her location, only to be deceived by

her and lured to a place where guns had been

set up from them.

That was the first time those kind of guns

would be used in Nigeria, no one including the

government was even aware that the machine

gun was in the country. The only places the

brand had been used were in Russia where it

was made, China and USA. No wonder Robin

did not plan for something like that.

"She almost killed Robin Kahn" Don muttered

under his breath angrily. He used the remote

control to switch off the TV after which he

smashed it on the ground. He got up from his

bed and put on his shirt.

Tarasha was already taking away his business,

he had to stop her, she had already taken Chief

Nonso who was his major client. Some of his

other clients had also began to ask him if he

knew the Samantha Osman, she would take all

his clients soon if he does not take any drastic

step. So he thought.

He turned back to the TV on a second thought,

he had already smashed the remote so he

proceeded to the place it was hung to switch it

on. The news was still on, medical pract.i.tioners

were seen carrying bodies on stretchers into

emergency ambulances. He hissed and was

about to switch off the TV again when he saw

something unusual.

There was Cole and Benny, lifting a body in a

stretcher into an ambulance. His mouth was

left agape. These guys had become something

else in just few weeks that they started working

with Tarasha, how on earth were they able to

disguise as medical officials without the police

taking note.

He hated them more, they had betrayed him.

They changed their lines and cut off all

communication with him after they started

working for Tarasha, they even avoided him

when they coincidentally visited the same

clubhouse.

An idea struck his mind, he quickly walked to

the bed and brought out a laptop from a black

bag. He sat on the bed and started typing into

it hurriedly. The stubble device locator was

connecting fast, collecting data from Aisha"s

phone"

++++++++++

James was feeling greatly agitated as he

reflected on all that had happened, his spirit

had told him that it was a trap all along. "Who

on earth was behind this?" He asked himself. If

the criminal could entrap Robin, then his life

was not safe anymore. He thought of resigning

as fear beclouded his heart but he discarded

the thought with great grief in his heart. He

remembered when he was a boy and used to

dream of being a superhero, protecting people"s

life and getting the bad guys. His father who

was also a police officer before he died told

him that joining the police force was the only

way he could protect and save people if he did

not want to be a medical doctor. He being an

action loving person decided that the life of a

medical doctor was not for him, he choose to

enroll in the police academy.

A tear dropped off his eyes on looking up again

to see the ambulance that was in front of their

car. The ambulances were moving at a faster

pace and ignoring traffic signs because they

had to get the victims to the hospital quickly.

He remembered Segun, a young man with a

bright future in the police force, his life has just

been truncated due to carelessness of a so

called international special agent.

He wiped off his face with an handkerchief and

tried to stay calm, the junior officer seated by

his side at the back seat was already looking at

him pitifully, he was a man and wasn"t

supposed to be caught crying.

From almost giving up, his mind changed. He

was more determined now to nail the culprit as

he remembered the sight of Segun"s dead body

before it was carried into the ambulance. He

decided in his heart that even if it would take

his last breath, he would kill the a.s.sa.s.sin first.

A phone call delivered him from his disturbing

thoughts. He checked the screen, officer

Dakolo was the caller.

"h.e.l.lo …" He answered at the car shook, trying

to obey the traffic warder"s sign.

"h.e.l.lo James, are you okay?" Dakolo voice

carried a note of deep concern.

"I"m fine" James gave a short reply, inhaling

deeply.

"I heard all that happened" Dakolo continued, "I

was supposed to join you guys next week for

the operation, why didn"t you wait"

"The Oyinbo man was impatient o" James

replied, referring to Robin as "Oyinbo", a

Nigerian pidgin word for foreign or white.

"I would have loved us to do this together, I

know we can but the authorities have decided

to leave everything to the foreigner" Dakolo

continued sadly. "I"ve been transferred to Abuja

already, I"m only coming drop my report in

Lagos next week"

"No problem sir, I will do it" James said in a

determined tone. "I will get the culprit"

"I"m with you, you can reach me if you need any

a.s.sistance. Just be careful and stay safe"

Dakolo said before ending the call.

James stared at the phone"s screen for several

seconds after the call before deciding to return

it into his pocket. He was about to when it

vibrated, he had a message from an unknown

number.

"The criminals are still with you, in ambulance 2

with Robin Kahn" the message read.

James eyes widened on seeing the message

but he decided to act carefully not to fall into

any trap again. He quickly dialed another

number.

"Where is ambulance 2? Can you see it?" James

said into the phone.

"Ermm… It"s out of sight sir" the reply came.

"Are you not the one supposed to be monitoring

them?" James barked.

"Sir… I believe they had to hurry up to save

Inspector Robin"s life"

"Idiot" James cursed. "You"re not even sure,

locate the ambulance and get back to me in

one minute"

Another message had entered before James

ended the call. It read "The bomb in your car

explodes in 90 secs"

"Hey! Stop" he commanded the driver. "Everyone

get out of the car

"I can"t stop here, it could cause an accident"

the confused driver replied panicking James.

"We can stop when we get under the bridge"

"Park here" James said pointing at a s.p.a.ce of

some metres distance from a mall where

signboards of no parking were placed. "We can"t

go that far"

"There"s…" The driver tried to argue again.

"The bomb in this car would explode in 50 secs"

James said glancing at his wrist.w.a.tch.

The driver quickly obeyed on hearing the last

statement. The three officers in the car jumped

out immediately and tried to stop other cars

and pa.s.sersby from coming close.

They stared at the car in awe for the next two

minutes, nothing happened. Other cars coming

behind had pa.s.sed already, some turned back

to run while some waited at far distance from

the car. The security officials of the mall had

also come outside to see but they maintained a

reasonable distance.

"Sir, nothing is here" the office driving the car

said as he walked closer to the car, angry that

James had raised a false alarm. "Let me che…"

He was saying when the explosion came, his

body was flung away violently, the car went up

in flames. People around the area scampered

for safety as several body parts of the car flew

in different directions.

James heart was beating faster under the

bridge where he stood, this was the second

time he escaped death that day. His phone

vibrated again and in came another SMS. He

ignored the SMS first and dialed the number, he

got a response from the network service that

the number does not exist.

The text message read this time, "I"m sending

you an HTML file of a device locator now, it

would give you the a.s.sa.s.sin"s location"

James quickly dialed the head office to make a

report of the happenings. After that he dialed

another person in the ICT team to inform him

of the expected information.

A call came in immediately he ended his.

"Ambulance 2 is nowhere to be found, it"s not

at the Force hospital" the voice said and the

call ended immediately.

"Hey!" He shouted as he tapped a bike man

who was under the bridge also watching the

incident beside him.

"Sir" the man replied the officer with respect.

"I need your bike" James pushed the man off

the bike and climbed it, he threw a paper at him

before driving off"

++++++++++

"Cole hurriedly drove in the ambulance into the

former office which they had abandoned. The

program he used to deactivate the street

surveillance cameras would crash soon, so they

had just twenty minutes to finish off the

operation.

Benny who was the one that opened the gate

came back to the ambulance to join them as

Cole parked the vehicle. Aisha also came out of

ambulance interior leaving the door ajar

The trio discussed something between

themselves in low tones, placing glances on the

sleeping Robin in the vehicle. The came to a

conclusion for Aisha to do the job.

She brought out a syringe from her doctor"s

coat pocket and removed the nylon seal. She

brought out a tube and drew in the liquid

content from it into the syringe. She took a

glance at Robin once again before climbing into

the vehicle.

She rolled up his sleeve to find a good point to

inject the man. She was about to place in the

needle when a blow landed on her face. Robin

was awake and conscious of his environment.