++++**Tuesday Morning**
Sylvester sat behind his table, brushing up some of his
previous works. Something surprising had happened the
day before. It all started from the moment Dakolo asked
about the report of Chief Jubril"s job, Henry did not reply
with a straightforward answer.
Dakolo did ask, "what was the result of your
investigation?"
Henry who was obviously not suffering from catarrh
before that moment sniffed in and rubbed his nose like
someone who was heavily disturbed with cold. "The man
has not come to collect it" Henry gave an answer which
surprised his two listeners.
Dakolo slanted his face slightly and stared into Henry"s
face. He wasn"t expecting an off point answer like that
from the brilliant Henry, his detective mind quickly
suggested to him that Henry was trying to hide
something. "I know" Dakolo persisted, "but what I want is
the report"
Henry stared still for some seconds without a reply. "I
have it with me" Henry answered, still trying to conjure
what kind of answer would be accepted by the Agent.
At this point, Dakolo was quite sure that Henry was trying
to hide the truth but he still decided to keep his doubt
unknown as he could be wrong, he didn"t want to
wrongly suspect or accuse the honorable Henry.
"What was the result? Was the number really Canadian?"
Dakolo made his question more specific.
"Yes, it was. The calls they were receiving was from
Canada" Henry finally gave in and lied to cover up
Omotara. He could see the unhidden surprise on the face
of Sylvester who he had once told that the number was
cloned and the calls were being made from Africa.
"Hmm" Dakolo paused for a moment, still staring straight
into Henry"s eyes. He took a brief glance at Sylvester as if
to confirm Henry"s words from him but the look on
Sylvester"s face was that of a person who was just
hearing the report too. Sylvester tried to help Henry
cover up too.
Dakolo returned his gaze to Henry"s face, still trying to
deduce if Henry was hiding the truth. He shook his head,
smacked his lips softly and rubbed his palms together.
"Let me leave you guys to continue with your work for
now, I"ll be back to give and get more information"
Dakolo had concluded before getting up to pack his load.
Back to Sylvester. He was still wondering why Henry told
a lie to the Agent as he arranged his table. Or did Henry
give him the false report earlier? Whatever it was he
would have loved to find out immediately but with the
look Henry kept on his face after Dakolo had left, he
couldn"t summon enough courage to ask.
"Alexander Kimberly" he p.r.o.nounced as his eyes met the
file dropped by Tarasha the day before. He selected it and
took out the papers inside. The first was her curriculum
vitae, followed by copies of her certificates from school,
then some copies of the reports of her personal projects
as a developer and software engineer.
He began to read the report and soon found the contents
interesting. She seemed intelligent and competent. "She
may be good for the job" he said to himself on a second
thought. He continued to read through the reports and
found some details that astonished him. He was forced to
check her curriculum vitae again to confirm which
university she graduated from. It was a London
university. He returned to the report again and continued
to scan through, getting more surprises as he read
through. At a point, he began to doubt the authenticity, it
was possible that she had copied from the works of a
successful developer.
He was still engrossed with the reports when his phone
rang. He picked it up and checked the caller, it was an
unsaved number. He answered the call and a familiar
voice sounded.
"Good morning sir, it"s Alexander Kimberly" the voice
introduced.
"Oh!" He sighed, he was just considering her files and here
she was already calling his number. "Miss Kimberly, how
did you get my phone number? I don"t remember giving
it to you"
"I got it from your office yesterday sir" she replied. "I saw
it on the calender too"
He sighed again. "Okay, what can I do for you?"
"I"m at the reception now and I asked to see you but I
was told that you"ve asked that I should not be let in" she
answered.
"Yes, I"m not expecting anybody today" Sylvester replied
tiredly. "And why are you here again? I didn"t ask you to
come"
"Yes, I"m sorry about that sir but since we couldn"t talk
yesterday due to the circ.u.mstance that played out, I
thought it okay to come back today"
Sylvester rested his forehead on his palm which was
placed on the table. "You shouldn"t have come"
"I"m sorry sir, I apologize for any inconvenience" she said
sharply, as if the reply had been rehea.r.s.ed. There was a
short pause, Sylvester could not be heard saying
anything. "So should I come to your office?" She asked
after waiting without hearing his voice. She was sure he
was still online as she could hear little sounds of his
intake of breath.
"I"ll call the Secretary first" Sylvester accepted reluctantly.
Well, not really reluctantly, he was already wishing and
itching to interview the applicant who presented such a
mind-blowing personal project.
Six minutes later, Tarasha was in Sylvester"s office seated
in the same seat she sat the day before. She was dressed
in a black skirt suit and blue inner shirt. The attachment
on her hair had been changed but she still made the hair
in the same style, done to fall at both sides and cover her
ears and cheeks.
Sylvester took some minutes before he finally gave her
attention. "Why didn"t you stay back in London to get a
job?" He asked, staring into her curriculum vitae.
"My parents wanted me to come back to Nigeria. I"m
their only child" Tarasha replied.
Sylvester paused and rolled his swivel back a little. "These
projects" Sylvester lifted the papers for her to see. "You
handled them on your own? Or someone else joined
you"
"Yes, I carried out every single one on my own" she
replied with a smile. "I still have the files with me"
"If that"s true, it means you"re good." He complimented.
"Thank you sir." Her smile broadened.
"For now, the vacancies are closed" Sylvester announced
bluntly, returning the papers back into the file. Tarasha"s
smile diminished. "I promise to call you once we have
another opening" he said, handing her property to her.
Tarasha didn"t collect it immediately. It took some
encouraging looks from Sylvester before she took it from
him.
"Can I work as a volunteer?" She asked after a moment of
deafening silence.
"Volunteer?" His eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes, I just feel I have something to do here" she
continued convincingly. "Especially with our recent
security problems, I think I"ve got something to put in"
Sylvester placed a finger on his lips as he tried to reason.
Taking her as a volunteer seemed excellent to him, but
what if Henry thinks he employed her as a full staff? He
gave a brief smile and clapped his hands together. Even
Henry had said he was the Boss, so he wouldn"t owe
Henry any explanation.
"Okay" he smiled. "You"ll do some personal jobs for me,
when would you like to start?"
"Start?" Tarasha widened her eyeb.a.l.l.s to express her joy.
"I can start now, I"m ready"
"Are you sure?" Sylvester folded his arms and rested back.
"Yes, I am" she replied briefly.
Sylvester gave a crooked smile. He was going to have an
intelligent person work for him, for free. He started to
think of his abandoned projects that he needed to work
on.
++++
~~Elvis Richards Residence, Asokoro, Abuja ~~
Elvis Richards laid in the bathtub filled with warm water,
he had a pipe in his mouth. That was his perfect thinking
place when he had a serious difficulty, in the bathroom.
He could either stay thirty minutes thinking under the
shower while having what was supposed to be a brief
bath or deliberately set himself up in the bathtub. But it
had been years since he did any of those, because for a
long time, he had not been faced with any challenge
which got him so perplexed as this one.
Though when he became the Vice President, he had
promised himself to stay away from police and criminal
matters, he couldn"t keep his promise as the recent
a.s.sa.s.sinations involved two of his closest, old-time
friends and business a.s.sociates. Thinking about all the
a.s.sa.s.sinations and the mode; that is how they were killed
when they weren"t even vying for any position or
contending for any post. He began to think that this
dangerous a.s.sa.s.sin, Samantha Osman could actually be
their nemesis, his nemesis.
After the day he and the President had met with the
heads of all security bodies, he had become more
conscious of this thing, Nemesis. Or how could you
explain how his two close pals were killed? Without any
concrete or suspected reason.
The meeting had opened his eyes to see more clearly,
that"s why he quickly agreed to work with the security
bodies and bring in his experience to help them defeat
the a.s.sa.s.sin. But he still lacked absolute trust in the
security system. Being once a part of the system and a
notorious one at that, he concluded that the system
could not be trusted as there could be one like him who
would be the one perpetrating the crime and also
fighting it, like he did during his time of service.
All these troubles, just for his past. He wished he could
erase it totally and be a new man, but it wasn"t possible.
The effect of the atrocities committed by him, Nasiru
Attahiru – the Senate President, the late Jubril Lawal, the
late minister of health and some others who had been
dead for a longer while would still be felt for generations
to come.
One thing that still got him confused and considering if it
wasn"t nemesis was the second victim of a.s.sa.s.sination,
the Rivers State Governor. The Rivers State Governor was
never a friend or a.s.sociate of his, so he couldn"t connect
the man"s a.s.sa.s.sination to his close pals" deaths. Or
maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe some serial
killers had just been released into the countries of the
world and had unfortunately chosen his two friends.
Anyway anyhow it was, he had to be prepared for
anything. Now that he had joined forces with the security
bodies, he needed to also seek some other alternatives.
He stepped out of the bathtub and took the towel from
where it hung. He covered his nakedness with the towel
and began to proceed out of the bathroom.
He stopped at the entrance as he remembered an option.
Don. That was the topmost a.s.sa.s.sin in the country. Of
course, the topmost before Samantha Osman was
revealed.
Several years ago, Don was known as a trainee under
Scot, an a.s.sa.s.sin who used to work for Chief Elvis and his
friends. Scot was a dreaded cultist during his days in the
university, he was always used several by politicians to
carry out political a.s.sa.s.sinations and violence. Seven
years after leaving school, Don Daniel headed the same
cult he had left. Don graduated from school and joined
Scot in the a.s.sa.s.sination job but be proved to be wiser
and cleverer than Scot. Don later killed Scot after they
had a disagreement and took over Supremacy.
Don had a large network of a.s.sa.s.sins under him and he
also was connected with others who were working on
their own. Chief Elvis was sure that Don would know who
Samantha Osman is. She may even be an a.s.sa.s.sin under
his control, he thought. He was going to contact Don
before deciding what step was next.
Chief Elvis finally stepped into the room and closed the
bathroom"s door. He had a meeting in the next three
hours to prepare for.
++++
~~Same day, 4pm ~~
Henry was returning to the office in his car after driving
out to get something in a computer gadgets store. He had
been moody all day, barely talking to anyone in the
office. He couldn"t get his mind off what transpired in the
office the day before. He wondered if he had made the
right choice in lying to protect Omotara or if he had just
gotten himself into trouble. He also wondered where
Omotara was now and if she had decided to take his
advice to get a decent job.
He let out a deep breath as he turned at the roundabout
point and faced the road which led to the office. A
median was separating his lane from the opposite
direction lane. There was an unusual traffic jam on the
lane but the other was free. Henry sighed as he queued
behind a taxi, just few metres to the office.
As the cars began to move slowly, he saw a car which
looked familiar drive by through the opposite lane. At
first, he couldn"t tell where he had seen the car but in a
moment of seconds, realization hit him. It felt as if he
was punched hard in the stomach. It was the same blue
car he saw in Omotara"s compound, he could recognize
it by the scratch on the bonnet.
He wanted to turn and follow after the car immediately
but there were cars already behind him and he could not
fly over the median. He poked out his head through the
window immediately and looked back, he couldn"t see
the car anymore.
He hissed and shook his head in pity for himself. He was
just hallucinating, he thought.