Tarasha

"Boss" Cole called softly, taking a glance at Tarasha who

was seated on the first black leather sofa. The whole team

was in the living room, Cole and Aisha was seated on the

tiled floor close to the plasma TV , busy with their pads

playing the "Full Time Murder", a b.l.o.o.d.y game created

by Cole. Cole was seated on the three seater sofa working

on his laptop and Tarasha was also doing the same where

she was seated.

Tarasha stood up and dragged herself and her laptop to

the three seater sofa. "They"ve responded to our e-mail"

Cole looked up as she approached him.

"What"s in their reply?" Tarasha asked and dropped her

laptop on the left side as she sat close to him, her body

resting on his. She rested her elbow on his lap as she bent

forward to look into the laptop.

" Re: Donation of three hundred bags of rice to Atta"s

foundation

With joy and gladness of heart did we receive your email,

we"re glad that we have such pa.s.sionate people like you

who would extend an helping hand to promote a good

course whose root isn"t even in their home country.

We"ll be glad to receive your representatives here at our

head office in Katsina, Nigeria. And like you offered in

your email, we would also be glad to work with you on

other projects.

Thanks

Management

Atta"s Foundation "

Tarasha sat up and licked her lips softly. "One step

accomplished. We"re going to need new fleet of cars and

customized shirts for this new task. Benny would be in

charge of that" she said to Cole. She looked towards Aisha

and Benny who were still engrossed with the game and

turned back to Cole. "Three hundred bags of rice would

cost about two million naira, Aisha would handle the

buying of the rice. Please note this" she said and glanced

towards Aisha again.

Cole looked away from the laptop to Tarasha"s face and

frowned. "Do we have enough money to run this

operation?"

"No, and I don"t think the Chief can provide up to thirty

percent of the funds, we"re going to need almost a

hundred million"

"Yeah… That"s what I"m saying"

"But it"s our strategy and we don"t have to get all the

monies from the Chief. Waiting for him to raise the

money would take a long time" Tarasha spoke with a very

careless tone that made Cole stare at her like he had seen

someone fall from the Jupiter. Where were they

supposed to get the monies from, if not from the client

who gave them the job.

"Then he has to wait then" Cole a.s.serted.

"Yes, it should have been so but I can"t wait for finish the

jobs" Tarasha stated, mindful of the fact that she was in a

hurry to complete the jobs and leave the country.

"Then what do we do?"

"Nasiru Attahiru would fund his death by himself" she

replied.

"How?" Cole widened his eyes in surprise.

"That"s where you come in" Tarasha placed her legs up

the chair and positioned her self like an Hindu

meditating, facing Cole directly. "Your job now is to

search all his bank accounts and check how much we

have there. I"m sure we can get a lot more than we need

from his accounts"

Cole squeezed his face bitterly. "I can search his bank

accounts but how do we take the money from there

without being caught? The banking system is very

secure…"

Tarasha interrupted him with a light slap on his cheeks.

"How are we going to get caught?"

"Erm…" He stammered, touching his cheek with his hand.

"They"ll be able to track our IP and even the bank account

we"re transferring it to"

Tarasha frowned at him, disappointed with the way he

was reasoning. "Did the Camera security system locate

our IP?"

"Oh!" Cole pressed his palm against his forehead and

exhaled. His brain had not told him that they could also

hide their IP address like they did to the cameras system.

He removed his palm from his forehead and stared at

Tarasha. "But they"ll still be notified of the transaction and

they may freeze the account we"re transferring the

monies to"

Tarasha pouted her lips and stared at him for some

seconds. "Then we ensure that they are unaware of the

operation"

Cole stared at her, still confused, he had not done such a

job before.

"We"ll carry out the process on their own server; this will

ensure that that don"t know that there"s an intruder.

Then after hacking their server, we disable the

notifications settings for his account and do our transfer,

then we delete the records from their database

immediately. We"ll repeat the same process for every

bank account of his. That way, there"ll be no record of

transaction, they"ll just discover later that money is

missing in the account" Tarasha explained but Cole still

looked confused.

"Okay, I"ll do it myself." Tarasha said after seeing that Cole

wasn"t going to understand easily.

Cole gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, I"ll learn it"

"What you have to do now is to search all his bank

accounts" she said as she got up from her seat, she

picked up her laptop and was about to leave to her

former position. She remembered something and turned

back.

"Cole" she called. He looked up from his laptop. "I noticed

that most banks here in Nigeria uses the Wincorf Nixdorf

to operate their automated system"

"Wincall…" Cole stared at her amusingly, he had never

heard about whatever it was the bank was using.

Tarasha gave a gasp of astonishment. "You don"t know

Wincorf Nixdorf?" She exclaimed loudly in unbelief,

placing her left hand on her waist. Aisha and Benny

turned back to look at them. She rolled her eyes and

exhaled before returning with her laptop in her right

hand to sit on the sofa she was sitting before. She sat

quietly and opened up the laptop, Aisha and Benny were

still staring at her.

"Boss" Benny called softly, dropping his game pad on the

floor. Tarasha looked away from her laptop to him. "You

said you were going to explain to us the strategy and why

we have to go to Katsina"

Tarasha"s shoulders dropped. "I would, when the right

time comes. For now, some of the strategies are

changing, if I find a better idea, we won"t have to travel to

Katsina. But just keep in mind that Mrs Attahiru is the

weakest link by which we can get to her son, the Senate

President" she explained and turned her face back to her

laptop.

"Okay, thanks" Benny said and turned back to the TV

slowly. He picked up the game pad and remained

motionless for a while. He turned and glanced briefly at

Tarasha again, wondering what kind of person she was.

At times she could be so sweet and talk to them like a

mother, explaining things calmly and she could become

a tough boss in the next moment.

Tarasha looked up from her laptop after some minutes

and began to look at everyone else in the living room.

She took a minute to look at Cole who was busy with his

laptop and another minute for Benny and Aisha who had

returned to their game. She stared more at Aisha.

"We need a clipper" she said with a chuckle before she

closed her laptop and got up from the seat.

~~~

3pm

"Her lips are not that big" the man corrected the artist

who was making a sketch of his description. "Yes, perfect

now"

The interrogation room was brightly lit up now, an artist

had a standing drawing board erected before him while

Ken was seated on a chair close to the interrogation desk

and staring from there. They had gone to the man"s

office to search for the credentials of the new employee

but they couldn"t find it. They had to resort to making a

sketch of her face from the man"s description.

"Is this how she looks?" Ken walked closer to the man and

the artist.

"Yes" the man replied.

They all turned back as the door to the interrogation

room opened, Dakolo walked in and closed the door, he

had left briefly to pick up a file in his office.

"Do we have the drawing now?" Dakolo asked as he

approached them.

"Yes" Ken answered.

Dakolo stopped when he got close to the artist and stared

into the sketch.

"Is this her?" He asked the man under interrogation.

"Yes, she looks like this"

Dakolo shook his head doubtfully, he opened the file that

was with him and took out a picture containing Aisha

Bello"s image. He tried to compare the drawing with the

picture but there was no real resemblance except for

some slight ones he was careful enough to notice.

"Some of their facial features look alike" he said as he

handed the picture to Ken.

"Aisha Bello" Ken muttered as he stared at the picture and

did his own comparison. "They don"t look alike in any

way to me"

Dakolo collected the photo back and turned to the man.

"I"m not satisfied with this yet" he said, giving the man a

stern look. "You couldn"t find the credentials in your

office?" He asked for the third time since the Man and

Ken had returned.

"Yes" the man replied in a tired voice.

"We searched everywhere in his office, her credentials

were missing in the files" Ken supported the man.

"That further proves that she must be part of the a.s.sa.s.sin

gang and your company would be in trouble if we don"t

find her" Dakolo a.s.serted, making the man tremble in

fear. Dakolo moved closer to the drawing board, the

artist had finished packing his drawing materials into the

bag and was about to leave. He removed the pins holding

the drawing sheet to the board and handed over the

sheet to Dakolo.

"What"s her name again?" Dakolo asked the man, staring

at the drawing.

"Khadijat is her first name, I don"t remember the last

name"

"Khadijat" Dakolo muttered. He handed over the drawing

sheet to Ken. "Let"s trace the name on the citizen"s

directory and see whose picture matches it"

~~

**Three Days Later (Thursday)**

Now, all is set for the trip to Katsina on Sat.u.r.day. Tarasha

and the team would book two cars from the transport

firm. As usual, Benny and Aisha would go in one while

Cole and the boss in the other.

Tarasha came down from the car as she got to the gate of

the house. She was about to walk in when someone

greeted.

"Hi" a man who came out from the next compound

greeted.

"h.e.l.lo" Tarasha turned back to answer.

"Yeah" the guy smiled sheepishly. He had a somewhat fat

body and a round head, his chubby cheeks and light skin

colour made him look like a cartoon character. He wore

a red tie on a white shirt which was properly tucked into

his black trousers. He had the NSCC ID card hanging on

his neck. "I noticed that you guys just moved in and I

thought I should say h.e.l.lo and welcome you to the

estate"

"Oh, thanks. That"s nice of you" Tarasha smiled back at

him.

"You"re welcome. My name is Henry Paul" he said,

extending his hand to her for a handshake.

Henry"s picture flashed back into Tarasha"s mind as she

took his hand in hers. This Henry Paul was a complete

opposite of Henry; fat, chubby and light skinned and

worst still, an ugly face round face. "I"ll call you Paul, you

can call me Evelyn" she replied.

"Oh! Nice to meet you Evelyn. I hope to invite you over to

my house for a meal one day"

"Well, let"s see how it goes" she smiled.

"Okay, we"ll see later then" he said to Tarasha and waved

goodbye. She waved back before proceeding to enter the

house and open the gate from behind.

She drove into the compound and parked the car beside

the van. The s.p.a.ce in the compound wasn"t a large one

but it could take two to three cars. There was a short tree

at the left side which provides a shade for them to sit

outside during sunny hours.

Benny had come out on hearing the sound of her car

driving in. He helped her to close the gate.

"Thank you" Tarasha said to Benny as she stepped out of

the car with a box of clipper in her hands. She looked

over the fence to the compound by the left from which

the chubby guy had come out from. It was a larger than

theirs. In it was a one storey building of four flats.

"Take this to Aisha" she gave the clipper box to Benny.

Benny smiled as he took it from her and began to walk

inside the house. He couldn"t stop smiling as he imagined

how Aisha would look like on skin cut. That was part of

the team"s conclusion on the best way to disguise her

since her face and name was still on the police wanted

list. She needed a different method of disguise apart

from the makeup method she used for the last job.

~~

**NSCC Head Office, Abuja**

Except from the sounds made by the tap of the fingers

on the keyboard, no other sound could be heard in the

computer room as the three developers worked. Only

one out of the three invited for the interview pa.s.sed and

was made to start the job immediately. A new house and

an advance pay was given to him. Henry had to invite an

additional person, his friend who was also a good

developer and software engineer to join the team for a

short while.

The three developers worked in silence, sitting on three

different rows, they communicated with each other

when necessary through chat messages.

The door flung open and Sylvester walked in, holding a

file in his hands. He walked straight to where Henry was

seated and placed the file on the table beside the system

Henry was working on. Henry glanced up to him and

returned his face to the screen immediately.

Sylvester released a breath. "We need to talk, you"ll be

going with me to the meeting tomorrow"

Henry turned up his face slowly to Sylvester. "Yes, you

will" Sylvester reiterated. "I spoke with the IG today and

he insisted that you should be in the meeting when I told

him of how I"ve been working with you" Sylvester

dropped the file and began to walk out.

"What? What am I supposed to do in the meeting? We"ve

not gotten a solution yet" Henry murmured.

"That"s the more reason the IG wants you there" Sylvester

paused after opening the door and turned to him,

attracting the attention of the other other men working.

"He believes that you"ll talk more convincingly to the

President and others in the meeting" Sylvester said and

closed the door.

Henry picked up the file from the table and opened it. He

stared into it for some seconds and muttered some

words before getting up hurriedly. He held the file in his

hands and hurried after Sylvester.

~~

**8pm**

"Ouch!" Aisha exclaimed as Tarasha defeated her the sixth

time that day. She was surprised at the way Tarasha was

handling the game even though it was her first time of

playing it. She had thought it would be easy to defeat her

like the Ludo game, not knowing that Tarasha was good

at computer games especially the ones which involved

bloodshed.

Cole and Benny were both seated on the three seater sofa

smiling and staring into a laptop together. Cole took his

eyes off the laptop for some seconds. He just couldn"t

help but smile again, Benny looked at his face to see what

was the cause of the smile and joined too as they both

shook their heads funnily and stared at Aisha"s smooth

and shining head, the lightening in the room made it

reflect like a mirror. Her backhead had a round slightly

protruded shape which made it look as if a mold of fufu

was gummed to the back.

The gate bell receiver sounded, startling all of them. They

stared at each other"s faces, the look on their eyes

communicated the question in their hearts without them

voicing it, they wanted to know which out of them was

expecting a visitor.

Tarasha dropped the game pad and got up, she

straightened her short Ankara gown. "I"ll get it" she said

and began to proceed out of the house.

She peeped through the hole before opening the gate.

"Paul" she said with a smile, standing in the middle of the

smaller entrance.

"Hi, Evelyn" Paul greeted with a smile, wrapping the

fingers of his both hands around each other.

"Good evening Paul" Tarasha replied, still standing in the

middle of the way.

"I came to check on you" Paul said, trying to look into the

compound. "We closed early at work today"

"Oh! I see. Thanks" Tarasha gave a forced smile.

"Can…I" Paul made the gesture with his hand, asking for

Tarasha to let him in.

"Okay" Tarasha reluctantly gave way and he stepped in

slowly. She closed the gate and pointed him in direction

of the house. He delayed, taking time his time to feed his

eyes on everything in the compound first.

"Do you guys close so early at the NSCC office?" She

asked. He was still staring at the vehicles and the tree in

the compound.

"Huh?" Surprise was clearly written on his face as he

turned back to her. "How do you know I work in the

NSCC?"

"I saw the ID card on your neck this morning" she

answered.

"Oh! And you could read what was in it within that short

while?"

"I"ve seen the ID card somewhere before, so I recognized

it immediately I saw it hung on your neck"

"Okay, although I work in the head office, I"m a regional

staff. We work on shifts most times" he responded and

they began to walk leisurely towards the house entrance.

"How about the urgent vacancies? Have you got people to

occupy them?" Tarasha asked.

"Yes, we have two more people working with us now. The

team is being led by Henry Ekene George? You know

him?" Paul paused and asked, staring into her face.

"I"ve heard about him so many times, people say he"s a

guru" Tarasha replied.

"Yes, they say he"s a guru but he has not been able to

provide us a solution to the current problem" Paul said as

they stepped on the balcony.

"What about you? Why didn"t you apply for the vacant

position? I"m aware that the post is higher than the

regional staff position you occupy now?" Tarasha paused

at the door, placing her hand on the k.n.o.b.

Paul smiled. "I"m not a developer or programmer, I

would have loved to. What I do is oversee and ensure

that nothing strange is happening in my region. I make a

report and summary of any crime or unusual

occurrence that takes place during my working hours."

"Alright, but all the vacant positions are occupied

already?" Tarasha asked and was about to turn the k.n.o.b.

"Wait!" Paul stopped her. "I didn"t ask you about your

flatmates" he said in whispers. "Are they your siblings or

friends or…"

"Why do you worry?" Tarasha asked with a smile.

"I"ve seen two guys come out of this place and I don"t

know if one of them is your boyf…"

"You have nothing to worry about" Tarasha cut in and

opened the door.

He walked in, following behind her like a timid child.

Everyone in the living room looked towards their

direction. The TV was still on but had been switched to

the station airing the national news.

"These are my friends" Tarasha said as she ushered him to

one of the one seater sofa by the left.

Paul waved and smiled at all of them before he sat down.

Tarasha took the seat beside him and crossed her legs.

"So what should I offer you?"

"Anything nice" Paul answered with a smile, staring at her

thighs which were clearly revealed the way she sat.

"Anything nice?"

"Yes" he shook his head like a frog in response.

"Please Khadijat, could you help me get the juice called

"anything nice" for our guest" Tarasha joked, making

everybody chuckle.

Aisha got up at once. "Okay, I"ll get him a good fruit juice"

she said before leaving.

Paul"s eyes followed Aisha as she stood up and began to

walk away, her shining head was what got his attention.

"Strange" he muttered as Aisha walked out of sight.

"Strange" Tarasha chuckled, "but she loves it that way"

"Oh… "

"An important meeting with the President have been

scheduled for tomorrow morning to discuss the current

security problems in the country. In respect to the

growing a.s.sa.s.sin gang and a.s.sa.s.sination attacks that

begun in the country sometime close to the c----x of last

year, representatives from all security bodies would be

present to discuss the way forward with the President.

We believe that a valid conclusion would be made

tomorrow on this issue…" The female newscaster"s voice

was heard as Cole increased the volume with the remote

control. Everybody in the room had turned to the TV.

Aisha had also returned with a pack of cold fruit juice

and a transparent gla.s.s cup on a tray, she placed it on a

stool and put it in front of the visitor.

"Representatives from the NSCC would be there also, the

chairman Mr Sylvester and Henry E.G would be there"

Paul began, talking in a manner as if he had been asked

by Tarasha. Tarasha seemed less interested but he

continued. "The vice president would be the one working

closely with Henry E.G and the newly employed

developers, due to his experience in that line and being

the pioneer of the system in Nigeria"

"Oh! The VP would be working with the new employees?"

Tarasha asked, now more interested in the topic.

"Yes" he said after taking a sip from the gla.s.s cup. "I

overheard the chairman saying something like that"

Tarasha paused for a while and thought deeply while

staring at the TV. "Is there still s.p.a.ce to employ one more

person?"

Paul was surprised by her question, the gla.s.s cup made

noise as he dropped it on the stool. "I don"t know. Why

do you ask?"

"Ermm… Nothing really" Tarasha covered up with a smile.

"I just love your job, I wish I could work in the NSCC"

"Oh! I"ll tell you when there is any vacancy available

again"

"Thanks" Tarasha said with a light smile. "What time is the

meeting tomorrow?"

"11am"

Tarasha nodded her head slowly and turned away from

him, she ran her fingers through her hair. If Elvis

Richards was going to work with the NSCC, then his

murder would be easier if she could work with the NSCC.

Certainly, their plans has got to change. Her eyes met

with Cole"s who was also staring thoughtfully. He was

thinking about the same thing.

~~~

7pm

Henry was seated in his living room with Jefa, both of

them in a kind of sober mood. Jefa had his palms

covering his mouth, his elbows on his lap and his

shoulders down.

"I shouldn"t have showed up at all" Jefa complained

loudly. "I made her leave the place"

"It"s not your fault sir"

"It is, whose fault is it if not mine? I should have just left

her to continue her life the way she was used to living it.

Now, she may be gone forever"

"No" Henry objected. "I have this strong feeling that she

would show up very soon, sooner that we expect"

"Stop trying to console me" Jefa shouted and got up from

his seat.

"I"m saying the truth, she would resurface soon" Henry

insisted, getting up from his seat too.

Jefa picked his nylon bag and began to walk towards the

entrance. "Bye Henry, thanks for your help"

"I"ll drop you off" Henry quickly picked his car keys from

the centre table and followed Jefa out.

**45 minutes later**

Jefa was back in his house, tears had formed in his eyes

as he stared at his mother"s diary which was before him

on the table. He wondered how his mother would have

felt in heaven at the thought of him reuniting with his

sister to live happily again. But no, he had blown the

opportunity and she was gone again, maybe forever this

time.

Was their mother"s spirit even in heaven? No, she

couldn"t be. Neither could his father"s. Their spirits could

not be at rest yet when their murderers were still

roaming the country as free men and living as Kings.

Their parent"s spirit would never be at rest, he thought,

until their murderers had all died.

He flipped open the front page of the diary, he felt an

urge to open to the place he stopped at the last time but

on remembering Omotara. He paused and tried to recall

her birth date. May 27, 2006. He traced and opened to

the page.

"Today, we returned to Erin forest to mark our wedding

anniversary. We found something we weren"t expecting,

a teenager with a newly delivered girl child alone in the

bush. The only words she said before fainting was "I

named her Omotara". I and my husband quickly rushed

her to the clinic in the village, we hope and pray she stays

alive."

Jefa closed the book as a sharp pain pierced his heart. He

could remember that day when his parents brought a

new baby to the house in Lagos, he was eight years old

then.

He was surprised when their mother walked into the

house carrying the baby in her hands happily and he

didn"t see the mother of the baby following behind. It

was more surprising when their father announced the

next day to him and his only younger brother as at then

that the baby was their new sister.

"How could it be?" He had asked himself. "Mom wasn"t

pregnant with child before, or is it possible to conceive

and give birth the same day?"

Several years went by and they got so used to her, even

Jefa totally forgot how she had come into the family. The

baby grew up to be an intelligent young child and was

loved by everybody, she even became the favorite of

Danjuma, their father.

No mention of her real parents was ever made by his

parents to them, he had only overheard them talking

about her mother when the baby was just a month old,

and from their mood that day, he could guess that they

were mourning her.

~~~~

**10pm**

Benny, Aisha and Cole sat on the three seater sofa, facing

them closely was Tarasha seated on a stool. They were

changing the strategies. Cole, Aisha and Benny were to

travel to Katsina while Tarasha would remain in Abuja

and push for the NSCC job. She had explained all they

needed to do to them. All was also set to extract monies

from Nasiru Attahiru"s bank accounts.

Tarasha was ready for anything, she was going to storm

the NSCC office prepared, prepared to face Henry and if

need be the police. After checking and certifying that

they had covered every track in the previous jobs, she

was sure that even with all the background details Henry

may have provided the police about her, they would

never get any proof to link her to the a.s.sa.s.sinations.

"You"ll be made to pay severely for any of your mistakes

and I won"t step in to help you" she warned. "So for

anyone of you who carelessly picks up anything that

looks attractive, you gotta use your brain and don"t leave

any trace behind"