+++++Henry hurriedly gulped down another cup of
wine in frustration. He was already getting
worked up and was wishing that he never came
to the party.
The person who brought him to the party had
left him to seat alone for almost two hours
without returning. His plan to go check on her
was obstructed by someone that he wasn"t
expecting who just emerged from nowhere,
the client who had given him the job of
tracking the Canadian number. He never
thought that the client could also be an invitee
at this party, he had called him earlier to give
an excuse that he was sick and needed to rest,
so he wouldn"t be able to finish the job till the
next day. So how would he explain that his
sickness could allow him to party but not to
complete a job he had already received
money from.
Henry bit his lips and shook his head in regret
as he heard a roaring laughter from the man
discussing with his client at the table behind
him. The discussants rose up from their seats.
They kept on talking as that moved closer to
Henry"s seat. Henry turned his face to the
opposite direction and covered it with his
hand.
"For you, it"s easy na" Henry heard the second
man say to his client. "You"re Chief Jubril"s PA"
"It"s not that easy, people just…" His client was
saying as the moved out of earshot.
Henry"s eyes widened in surprise as he
digested the information he overheard. His
client was Jubril"s PA?
Justis mind flashed back to the day the job was
brought. He remembered clearly the man
saying that they had received a call from a
business partner with the Canadian number
but they were doubting if it was real or not.
Evelyn was striking a business deal with Jubril
tonight and she is from Canada. Could she be
the same person whose number was being
investigated? He thought.
His mind made another flashback. The look on
Evelyn"s face when he was typing in the
number from his notepad. He had ignored that
look as nothing before, since there was no
reason for suspicion but now everything began
to make sense to him.
After she saw the number was when she
changed and started talking to him about going
with her to the party. He remembered how
she had also began to rub her hands against his
chest at that moment she was trying to
convince him. Could Evelyn be a criminal?
Could she be a fraudster?
Henry poured in some wine into the cup and
gulped it down immediately. He pushed away
the plate of which he had been served.
His mind returned to how he met Evelyn, how
she had gotten him into trouble the first day.
He also remembered the day he met her and
she was hiding a briefcase. He remembered
the lie she told him about the place she
stayed, he had only gotten to know that she
was in a hotel after he tracked down the phone
number she had given him.
The kidnap. How she untied the ropes. How
they eventually escaped. The story Tarasha had
said about the pa.s.sers-by was now sounding
ridiculous to him. How she changed the story
during the police interrogation was even more
ridiculous. Henry was now positive that he was
allowed to escape because he had contacted
Sylvester and the culprits were well aware that
the police were coming.
He buried his face his palms. Dare must have
planned all these with her. He was sure of
Dare"s ability to connive with an outsider to
dupe his Dad.
He looked towards the table where Dare and
his Dad were previously seated. Only the Dad
and two ladies remained on the seat. Dare and
Evelyn must have gone to have a meeting.
They must be planning to even end his life
now that had been further rubbed in by being
the one investigating the Canadian number.
He scrubbed his face with his palms and
clenched his fists. He had being fooled, used
by a criminal.
He stood up staggering, trying to search for Mr
Jubril"s PA who just left the area. His phone
made several beeps. He brought it out to
check. The camera detector app on his phone
was detecting some bugs.
++++
Benny returned to the restroom again, this
time making sure that no one was following
him. He locked himself in a toilet
compartment and sat on the WC, taking out
the paper to read.
The substance given to him contained a
dangerous mixture of gases which includes
Chlorobenzalmalononitrile and other
lachrymatory gases that would turn weak
everyone that inhaled it within seconds
through a peppery sensation in their bodies
and eyes. The nose mask was for him to
protect himself while the gas was having its
effect on the other people.
After killing the Chief, he was to go out
through the backdrop which led to the stairs of
the security department where Tarasha was
and handover the extra cloth to her after
which they"ll find a way to leave the venue
together.
Five minutes more for the thirty minutes
deadline. He got up and walked out to pick the
nylon bag which contained the cloth. Two other
men walked into the restroom as he walked
out to carry out the most crucial part of the
a.s.signment.
++++
The door made a creaking sound as she
entered into the room. The room was dark
except for the reflection from the screens of
the desktops. Tarasha could sight no one in, so
she went straight to the computer which she
a.s.sumed to be the master computer and sat
behind it. It was pa.s.sworded, so she brought
out a flash from her pocket and inserted it into
the USB port.
The software on the flash drive opened up
immediately and she began to punch in
commands with the use of the keyboard. Soon,
she was able to access the files in the
computer.
She paused and turned to look around, having
a feeling that she wasn"t alone in the room.
She didn"t see anyone so she turned back to
the computer to hurry up her work. Her target
time to use in the cameras security room was
five minutes and she had used three minutes
already. She had to hurry up and hide before
other security officials start find the dead
bodies on the corridor.
She felt another movement around and got up
while a certain command was loading. She
looked around again as she walked towards the
window. She rolled up the blinds and the
opened the gla.s.s. She could hear the soft
music playing from the hall. She closed back
the window and took off her Bluetooth
earphone. She punched in some commands on
it and made a speed dial before returning it to
her ear.
"Cole… Nixus Fortrem, 8453. Stop the whole
system from working and then redirect to you.
Make sure you handle the street cameras too"
she said briefly and ended the call. She had
given Cole the code to direct the footages
from the cameras captured from that moment
to his device.
She then returned to the computer set. All the
data recorded in the last two hours had been
successfully extracted into her flash drive and
deleted from the main computer.
She ejected the drive and closed all
applications on the system. She returned it
back to the start page and the turned to leave.
Audu came out from behind a shelf and stood
by the door with a mean face, clapping his
palms together continuously with a pistol in his
hands. He took a sharp turn back and jammed
the door.
"Who are you?" Audu asked softly but with so
much sternness as he started walking forward
in slow motion.
"Let me go and your life would be preserved"
Tarasha warned with a smile, after some
seconds of silence.
"You can"t go anywhere, other security officials
would be here in the next five minutes. They
heard the gunshots and they"re alert already"
Tarasha chuckled. "The last time I checked, the
walls here are soundproofed"
Audu raised a brow. "Oh! Intelligent" he
exclaimed. "That"s what gave you the
confidence right? Well, for your information,
we aren"t the real guys in charge of security
here. Dare only got them out of here by a
false alarm and they are on their …"
"I don"t have time for silly talks" Tarasha
slammed and began walking closer to him
without fear.
Audu raised up his gun and pointed it at her.
She paused.
"One last chance, don"t try to stop me and your
life would be preserved"
++++
The beeps continued on Henry"s phone. He
rested his palm on the chair handle shakily and
opened the app. All the cameras in the hall
had been stopped from working. That was
strange. Such things don"t happen until after
events. He returned his phone into his pocket
and turned to leave.
It beeped again, continuously. He brought it
out from his pocket with a loud hiss. The
cameras were up again. An error in
transmission, he thought.
Suddenly, loud screams and shouts erupted
from the back of the hall. A very small ball was
rolling from the back to the front and emitting
a strange coloured smoke.
The screams became louder. Shouts of
"Bomb!!!" filled the air. People began to
scamper around but they couldn"t go far as
they dropped few seconds after inhaling the
smoke. Only a few people who were close to
the exit made it out before inhaling enough
quant.i.ty that could take them out.
Henry struggled to remain standing but his
strength failed him. He fell on one knee
shaking the table violently in the process. The
bag which Tarasha left on the chair fell to
Henry"s side on the ground, it was partly
opened. Henry dipped his hand into it to pick
out the nose mask he saw.
Before he could cover his nose with the mask,
the gas had already taken so much effect on
him but he was still able to move his head
though his vision was blur.
He turned his face to the other side, every
other person in the hall was down too. Some
had fainted while some were bleeding from
the nose but a bulk of them just had their eyes
shining brightly without even seeing anything
as they laid helpless on the floor.
Someone was marching forward. Henry saw
the shoe, he raised up his head, the man was
also putting on thick dark gloves and a black
bag was strapped to his back. He tried to look
at the person"s face but the mask worn made it
difficult for him to see the face. But that black
suit. Henry had seen it before, on that same
day.
The masked man walked straight to where
Jubril and his wife was laying down helplessly.
Even the bodyguards that were supposed to
protect them had fallen to the ground and
were just staring helplessly.
++
Benny got to Jubril in no time and dragged
him up by the collar. There was no time to
waste, he was sure that the security officials
were already coming to the hall with a
solution.
He took out a short knife from his pocket and
slid it deeply into the man"s throat. Blood
gushed out speedily. Benny did this making
sure that the fluid did not spill on any other
part of his body except his hand which was
protected by the glove. He made sure that the
windpipe was separated into two before
dropping the body.
He rushed through the backdrop exit as
instructed by Tarasha in the message and
pulled off his suit jacket and beards to remove
the disguise. He continued to follow the
directions given to him for escape.
He got to the floor landing of the stairs where
Tarasha was supposed to wait for him but she
wasn"t there yet. His body began to itch. He
could hear noises from the hall of policemen
who had gone in with their own masks. He hid
below the stairs as he took off his Bluetooth
earphone and tried to connect to Tarasha. She
wasn"t answering. He tried Cole.
…