Tarasha

welcomed into the cameras control room by three

different dead bodies. Two half unclad ones and a fully

clothed one. One of them bent to examine the bodies

while the others spread around the room with their guns

raised high in readiness for any attack.

Ken carefully examined the lady"s body, there was a

bullet hole in her forehead. She must have been shot by a

professional because the hole was drilled right in the

middle of the forehead and she had no other wound in

any part of her body. It wasn"t a close distance shot, he

noticed as he observed the head with his gloved hands.

He stared at the rest of the body, it was only clad in

underwear, someone must have taken off the clothes.

The male dead body beside her too was only clad in

briefs, only the third, which was a man"s body was fully

clothed.

"These are our staffs, they work in this department" the

security man pointing to the two half unclad bodies knelt

beside Ken to explain. "The other man is an external

official"

"But I think I heard some noises here before we came in"

Ken said, getting up to look around.

"I heard it too, it sounded like there were some

movements" the security man joined, getting up too.

The other four men paused to listen, all standing alert

with their guns. Ken continued to pace around checking

behind and under each computer system.

"There is a secret exit in this room, only the senior

security staffs and those who work here knows the place"

The security man said as he picked a book from the shelf.

He opened it and flipped. "It should be here in the

navigation map"

Ken joined him as they checked through the book

together and discovered the secret route behind the

shelf.

++++

Tarasha used her phone"s flashlight to brighten up the

way as they rushed down the stairs of the dark escape

route. The door was fastened behind by a simple metal

lock which easily gave way.

A policeman almost b.u.mped into Tarasha as she walked

out of the escape. "Sorry, did you guys see anything yet?"

The unsuspecting officer asked.

"No" Tarasha answered briefly.

"You saw anything?" The policeman stopped and directed

the question to Benny again, breathing heavily and

wiping sweat off his face.

Tarasha moved forward, and pressed the Bluetooth

device against her ear to reduce the noise entering as she

called Cole"s name softly. There was no response, Cole

must have disconnected. Tarasha gave up trying after

several attempts.

From the look of things, they had come out to left side of

the events centre, just few centimetres to the backyard.

She moved backwards to check, she could see the

cleaners and chefs hurriedly packing up things. She saw a

staff toilet there too. She took a quick look into the nylon

bag in her hand, her cloth was still there; she heaved a

sigh of relief.

"Hey" Tarasha gestured at Benny, "let"s check the toilet".

Benny quickly used the opportunity to escape from the

policeman and followed Tarasha.

"Hey" a familiar voice called to them from the back. It was

Cole, dressed in a police uniform. Tarasha and Benny

turned back and headed straight towards him. The

officer who had accosted them at the escape entrance

looked at Cole in suspicion.

"We gotta leave quickly, you guys should enter through

the back" Cole quickly whispered to them, pointing at a

Ambulance parked far away at the front. A nurse was

opening the back door to the part meant for patients.

++++

It was five minutes to ten when Henry got to his personal

apartment. He had chosen it instead of the cameras

security commission quarters because of it"s closeness to

the event centre from where he escaped from.

The effect of the tear gas that has been dispelled by the

police outside the event centre did not allow him wait

outside the compound. He hurriedly left the

environment and joined a cab which was going in

direction of his home.

Henry didn"t like the smell that welcomed him into his

living room, not that it was bad, but it made it obvious

that no one had been in the house for days. He switched

on the bulb and searched for his air freshener, he quickly

sprayed it before turning on the air conditioner. He

finally sat down and took out his phone. His first move

was to track his smaller phone to know the location of

the Range rover in which he and Evelyn was driven to the

event. But on a second thought, he opened the dial pad

first and dialed Evelyn"s phone number again. This time,

it rang.

"Evelyn" Henry called anxiously as the call was answered.

"Henry" she called back, softly.

"Where are you? Are you safe?" Henry asked, happy that

he finally heard her voice.

"I"m fine, what about you?"

"Fine too, I was worried about you"

"I"m safe, thanks"

Henry heaved a sigh of relief before he continued.

"Where are you now?"

"I don"t really know this place but I"m in good hands"

"Just wait there, I"ll come pick you up"

"No need, don"t bother" She rejected with a strong tone.

"Evelyn" Henry called softly, in surprise of her refusal. "I"m

coming to get you" he insisted with a stronger tone. The

line went off.

++++

Tarasha ended the call and switched off the phone

immediately. She was seated on a chair opposite Benny

who was seated on the patients bed.

Tarasha took off the back cover of the phone and then

took out the sim card. She destroyed the sim card by

scratching the surface, then she broke it into two and

dropped it on the floor.

Cole who was now putting on a lab coat over his police

uniform was smiling and stealing glances at his boss

through the front mirror as he drove with Aisha seated

by his side, dressed in a nurse"s uniform. The operation

had been the most exciting for Cole and he was feeling so

fulfilled.

Working according to his plan with the boss two days

before the main day, he had driven out the Range rover

after the security man had accosted him in the park and

returned the car to where it was rented from. After that,

he went to hire the ambulance and lab coat from the

gang he had contacted the day before. Their choice of an

ambulance was for the reason that they could easily

escape with it and also disobey traffic signals.

They"ve had a successful operation, everyone had played

their parts excellently and the team had come out

victoriously. But something was wrong with the look on

the Boss"s face, Cole observed.

"Boss" Cole called, knocking the transparent gla.s.s in the

middle of the part.i.tion.

Tarasha did not speak but stared at him in response. The

look on her face had the message for him to say what he

wanted to.

"Did we miss out anything?" Cole asked, taking another

quick glance at her.

"No" Tarasha replied briefly. "We did well" she added

when Cole continued to look at her for more

explanation. She continued with fixing back her phone.

"Okay, you don"t look like you think we did well" Cole

continued.

"True" Benny joined in the conversation. "I wanted to

say…"

Tarasha looked up with a frown. A frown which warned

Benny not to speak further, he refrained quickly.

"You wanted to say?" Cole who didn"t see the frown

continued.

"Would you shut the h.e.l.l up and face the road" Tarasha

slammed at him.

A deep sudden silence enveloped the vehicle as a strange

kind of tension gripped their hearts.

Even Tarasha herself could not understand. What kept

coming to her mind was Henry. The kisses which were

supposed to be a part of her job and long forgotten

immediately after the operation began to play back into

her mind the moment they left the premises of the

operation. Her several attempts to wave off the thoughts

proved futile and the pictures kept coming back to her

head, stronger and clearer.

In her mind, she could see him again, standing

speechless in front of his room as she turned to face him.

His face shine brightly like the sun, emanating a kind of

glow that brought a strange smile to her lips and

happiness to her heart.

He fed his eyes on her body and then paused to stare into

her yes, the flame in his eyes was strange to her,

revealing a kind of pa.s.sion she had not seen for a long

period of time. What it was, she couldn"t still explain.

Then, he moved closer to her and mumbled some words.

He placed his hand around her waist and continued to

stare into her eyes. She placed her hands on his shoulder,

returning his stare. Their lips met. She broke away

shortly, the mission was not yet accomplished then, she

couldn"t let the strange pa.s.sion consume her.

The mind drifted to their journey to the events centre, in

the Range rover. The silence. How Henry was trying to

avoid speaking with her. How his body shook when she

rested a hand on his knee. He tried to explain but she

covered his mouth with hers. Her hormones rushed

through her body as she felt the soft touch of his lips

again.

"Boss, Boss…" Cole broke into her thoughts, knocking and

looking through the part.i.tion window. "What"s next?"

"Huh?" Tarasha"s body vibrated, feeling embarra.s.sed as all

eyes were on her. The bus had been stopped right in the

compound of their initial lodge when they landed in

Abuja and they were asking her a question which she

didn"t hear because she was lost in thoughts.

"Boss, you said we"re not going to stay here tonight, that

we"ll only get here to pick something" Cole said.

Tarasha who was still lost eyed both Benny and Cole who

were staring at her wickedly and hissed. She didn"t know

what to say or do as she couldn"t remember again her

earlier plan.

"Who said we"re not staying here tonight? "She said with

an intimidating voice as she opened the backdoor and

dropped off the bus.

Benny was staring at her strangely as he stepped out too.

He didn"t understand what was going on.

"We are staying here for tonight" Tarasha said and walked

straight towards the house. Now she was wishing that

moment she had with Benny never ended. She wished

she could go back to play the Evelyn role again but the

mission was over, she had to return to her default

a.s.sa.s.sin settings.

Aisha who had been silent all through the journey

stepped out from the front seat and followed

immediately after the boss to open the door because she

had the keys with her.

Cole stepped out after switching off the inner lights of the

vehicle. He was smiling as he joined Benny at the back of

the ambulance. Benny gave him a cold stare. "What? Why

are you laughing? Do you know what"s wrong with the

boss?"

"Yes, I think I do" Cole whispered back. "She feeling sad

because she"s going to miss someone here in Abuja"

"Going to miss someone in Abuja? Who?"

"Someone I saw her kissing pa.s.sionately today" Cole

replied, taking off his doctor"s coat.

"Oh!" Benny"s eyes since brightly in the dark, his interest

arising more. "Who was that?"

"Never mind" Cole managed to say while he flung away

the coat. He dipped his hands into his pockets to pick out

what was there. "We will all know when the time comes"

he said as he walked away, leaving Benny to stand alone

in the dark.

Cole hissed as he brought out an handkerchief and a

small Nokia phone from his pocket while walking away.

The Nokia phone was the one he picked from the

backseat of the Range rover before returning it to the

owners.