Tarasha

more than an hour without seeing anyone or hearing

anyone talk. He rested his head on the table and began

to think about the woes he had brought upon himself

by becoming friends with Omotara. He remembered

that she tried to resist their friendship but his accursed

self was the one who continued to push even with the

embarra.s.sment and soldiers hara.s.sment she had

caused him on their first encounter. He didn"t stop

until she gave him her number and agreed to have

lunch with him. Remembering all that now, he

wondered why he still had so much feelings for

someone who had caused him so much pain and who

he had not even spent up to three weeks being friends

with. An annoying thing was that he felt a strange kind

of satisfaction that the police arrested him instead of

her, he didn"t think he would love to see her go

through the rigorous prosecution by the police

especially as she was already involved in the fraud

crime.

He thought of how he was going to escape from the

trouble he was in. He could only see two ways out,

either to spill out all he knew about her or to pretend

not to know her beyond their few days friendship. The

former would be the best option, the latter could even

get him into deeper trouble.

A flash of light came in as the door opened, three

people walked in and the last one closed the door. On

came a fairly bright light hung on the ceiling directly

above where Henry was seated. Henry could now see

the faces of the officers proceeding towards him.

Dakolo sat directly opposite him behind the table while

Ken sat beside Dakolo and the third officer took a

standing position.

"I"m not saying anything until I see my lawyer," Henry

protested without waiting to hear any word from the

officers first.

"Your lawyer is not here yet but don"t worry, you"ll

have enough time to discuss with him. We"ll grant you

bail after these few questions we"ve got for you. "

Dakolo replied in a calm voice.

"I"m still not answering any question," Henry said

stubbornly.

Dakolo smiled. "You want to make things hard for

yourself then, we will have to force you to speak."

"I"ve spoken enough to you already, I want to see my

lawyer first," Henry insisted, trying to feign confidence

even though he was scared of facing their torture

sessions.

"You"ve not spoken enough yet, you"ve not told us all

you know about that girl Evelyn Alexander." Dakolo

said.

"I told you all I know already. She"s a business woman

who came from Canada, we met and became friends.

She invited me to accompany her to Chief Jubril

Lawal"s party and I did, what else am I supposed to tell

you?" Henry began to answer the questions again

unconsciously.

"You said you never left the table at that party but she

left you for several hours and even left the venue

without you, how could a good friend who took you to

to a party do that?" Dakolo played along. "Who was the

man who you said came to pick her."

"I don"t know him nor do I remember his face. All I

know is that they were discussing business and they

went to the exhibition centre." Henry answered,

consciously omitting the first question.

Dakolo paused for a moment and stared at Henry"s

face. "Who stopped the cameras at the event centre

from working?"

"How am I supposed to know that? My job description

in the NSCC does not involve securing cameras for

event centres."

"But you were in the event centre at that time."

"Yes, I was there. Seated and enjoying the show like

other guests." Henry replied in a stern, determined

voice. "Don"t you guys understand, for someone to

have obstructed their system that day, the person

must have gotten into their control room."

Dakolo"s phone rang. He stood up and walked away

from the table before answering the call, he spoke in

low tones for few seconds before he returned.

"We"ve reinvestigated the Canadian number and we"ve

gotten the report," Dakolo continued the session,

planning a trick in his mind.

Luckily for Henry, he was absentminded and didn"t

hear the last statement immediately, it took him

sometime to process what Dakolo said, so the

response he gave was not the "shocked response"

Dakolo was expecting. "Who reinvestigated it?" Henry

asked, acting indifferent.

"You don"t need to know that," Dakolo said in a

threatening voice and got up to sit on the table. "The

important thing is that we"ve discovered who you are,

we discovered that you"re a liar and a criminal."

Henry chuckled, he didn"t fall for the trap. "Agent

Dakolo," he called calmly. "Was that the result of the

reinvestigation? Who I am? I thought it was an

investigation of number you did not an investigation

about me." Henry didn"t believe in his heart that any

reinvestigation had even occurred.

Dakolo bit his lips and got up from the table angrily. It

was obvious the trick didn"t work for Henry but instead

of Henry"s confidence to show innocence to Dakolo, it

further proved how hardened Henry was. "Release him

to the lawyer after telling him the terms of the bail."

Dakolo said to Ken before storming out of the room.

~~

5pm

"Thanks," Tarasha said as she paid the filling station

attendant and closed the fuel tank. "Hey! Please" she

called back the attendant who was about going to

attend to someone else.

"Yes," the lady replied her impatiently.

"How do I get to Ordoz Palace road from here?" She

asked.

"You"re almost there, just drive straight down and ask

again."

"Oh thanks," Tarasha said and turned to enter into the

van. She put on her seatbelt and drove out of the filling

station. She had been trying to follow the map to

locate Henry"s house for over thirty minutes now and

she was almost getting confused, thinking that she

wasn"t on the right track. She got to the road and

drove straight down as directed. Soon enough, she

needed not to ask any question again as she recognized

the street. She also located his house without stress.

She kept driving several metres away until she got to a

suitable place to park the van. She halted the vehicle

and stepped out. She straightened her black shredded

Jean trousers and her black shirt. She began to walk

back the several metres to Henry"s apartment.

Henry"s apartment was a duplex that was rented for

him by the NSCC when he joined them. The house had

a high fence surrounding it like most of the houses in

the area.

As an observant person that she was, she noticed a guy

taking a stroll down the road like her too. From the

way he was dressed and how he comported himself,

Tarasha was able to decipher that he had been asked to

keep an eye on Henry"s house. She saw him staring at

the gate as she pa.s.sed, she played along too and

strolled by without stopping in front of the house to

raise suspicion. As she pa.s.sed the gate, she noticed two

more persons. That was when she began to think about

tryng to attack Henry in his house, it may not be the

best strategy to use, she would need to make another

plan ready in case this one doesn"t work out.

She took a fifteen minutes walk to no destination and

then returned to her van. Another idea came into her

mind, it was still possible that her first strategy works

fine.

~~~

Henry finally returned to the NSCC office with his

lawyer at exactly fifteen minutes past five. His lawyer

drove them in his car.

"I would have preferred that you go home straight to

rest," the dark skinned, big eyeballed lawyer said for

the umpteenth time.

"I have a job I need to round up," Henry insisted.

"It"s okay," the lawyer finally gave up.

The car was brought to an halt in the same park where

Henry and Tarasha"s car were parked, under the same

shed as Tarasha"s but had two cars separating them

from Tarasha"s car previous position.

Henry quickly stepped out of the car without waiting

for the lawyer to turn off the engine. He proceeded to

where his car was and still met it there but the blue car

he had placed a tracker on had been driven away and

the s.p.a.ce was empty. He felt a bit of joy in his heart as

hopes of finding Omotara again began to rise in his

heart but all his hopes were dashed in few seconds,

after his eyes met with the tracking device on the floor.

He walked towards the parking s.p.a.ce to confirm and it

was really it. He wondered how it got detached from

the car, no one could have noticed it where he hid it

except he was seen while doing it. Or maybe he didn"t

fix it properly. He bent down to pick it up and check, it

was obvious that the tracker did not fall off itself but

someone had detached it.

"What"s that?" His lawyer asked as he appeared at his

back.

"Nothing," he replied and hid the tracker in his palms.

He turned and proceeded to his car. "I"m going home."

"I thought you wanted to work in the office."

"I changed my mind." Henry said, searching his pockets

frantically for his car keys. He then remembered that

he left it on his table in the office.

~~~

6.30pm

Tarasha had driven round the street to check the

position of Henry"s house and how possible it was for

her to get in through the back. Luckily, there was. The

building on another street whose compound backed

Henry"s house was a paper company that already

closed their activities for the day by five pm. Although

the company had provision for two security men to

man the gate overnight, she was sure that it would be

easier to pa.s.s through them than facing the spies that

the police had placed in front of Henry"s house. All she

needed now was for the day to get a little bit darker.

She stepped out of her car and sat on the bonnet to

take fresh air. Several people were returning from

work to their houses in their cars and commercial

tricycles while younger people sometimes could be

seen in pairs and larger groups walking leisurely.

Tarasha ran her hand through her hair as the soft

breeze landed on her face. She glanced around the

area where her car was parked, the drivers of other

cars were either in their cars or had left the cars there

but none was seen hanging outside like she did. She

decided it would be better to take a walk than to

remain on the bonnet. Her phone rang as she opened

the car to take it out.

"Hey Cole," she said after answering the call.

"Boss," Cole was half panting. "It all went well today."

"Where are you?" Tarasha asked, ignoring his last

statement on hearing the sounds of him panting.

"At the football pitch," Cole answered.

"This evening? I thought you should be resting." Tarasha

replied, surprised at his boldness to tell her that he was

on the football field.

"No boss, it"s been a long while and I wasn"t sure if I"ll

get the chance to do this soon again."

"Okay, so what"s up?"

"She agreed," Cole said with a note of excitement. "We"ll

be returning to Abuja for a meeting scheduled with the

Vice President on Friday. I just got the email inviting us

seconds ago and I thought I should tell you first."

"Bravo!" Tarasha applauded as she closed the vehicle"s

front door. "Excellent job so far, but hope there was no

complication in anyway."

"No, there wasn"t."

"Good."

"Boss, would you like to read the email? Should I

Forward it to you?"

"No, don"t bother. I"ll read it directly from the

mailbox."

"Okay, boss. That"s all for now."

~~

6.30pm

Jefa was attending to his customers in the shop when

his phone vibrated in his pocket, there was an

incoming call. After serving a particular set of

customers drinks, he took out the phone and checked

the missed calls log. The number that called him was

unsaved in his phone but he recognized it, it was

Henry"s. Thoughts of Omotara raced back into his

heart immediately and he felt a sharp pain in the chest

at the thought of never seeing her again. He considered

calling Henry back but remembered his decision

earlier that day to stay away from Henry and anything

else that could unite him back with Omotara so as to

avoid the disaster that may follow. Henry began to call

again as he wanted to put it in his pocket. He silenced it

and went ahead to pocket the phone. Barely one

minute later, it began to ring again. He silenced it again

by tapping the volume b.u.t.ton without removing it

from his pocket. It rang for the fourth time and he

took it out of his pocket, he couldn"t resist the urge to

answer it anymore.

"h.e.l.lo," he spoke into the phone.

"h.e.l.lo sir, have you heard any word from Omotara?"

Henry"s voice sounded impatient, the car horn and

hoots heard was an evidence that he was on the road.

"No, why do you ask? She doesn"t know me."

"It"s possible she might have tried to contact you

already. I told her about you, so don"t say that she

doesn"t know you."

"Erm…. Anyway I want us to stop searchin…"

"Sir…" Henry cut in. " If she ever tries to contact you, tell

her to stay out of town and remain in hiding for now "

"What do you mean?" Jefa asked in a serious tone.

From the way Henry sounded, it was obvious that

Omotara was in a sort of danger.

The call ended without Henry answering. All attempts

Jefa made to reach him after proved futile as Henry did

not answer his calls until later, Henry sent a text

message that he was driving and would call later.

~~

7.30pm

With the black bag strapped to her back and her hand

gloves on, Tarasha raced towards the high fence

separating the company from Henry"s compound and

climbed it. She rolled into Henry"s compound and

made sure she landed with the lowest possible noise.

She detached the rope hanging around her belt and

dropped it on the floor. It was the remains of what she

had used to tie up the security guards in the paper

company.

She had injected into their bodies Benryl which will

make them sleep off for several hours and even forget

totally what happened before the sleep but she still had

to tie them up and cover their mouths with tapes in

case she spent more than the time she planned to.

She threw in a gum into her mouth and began to chew

softly, she placed her hands on her waist as she stared

at the building. It was time to execute the other part of

the plan. She took out her phone and dialed Henry"s

number.

Henry"s case must be solved that night.

"Can you zoom it a little?" Dakolo said to the officer

seated in front of the computer. He and Ken were

behind and viewing the screen. "It"s okay," he said and

bent to have a good look. "Alright, next."

"Looking at Henry in the picture, I don"t think he was

involved in the crime. He doesn"t look like someone

who had just murdered the Chief." Ken commented.

"He looks somehow distraught in the video, his eyes

were wandering around like someone who was in

search of something there."

"Maybe he was really there to search for the car that

brought him like he told us."

"But the range Rover was nowhere to be found. How

could his friend that had brought him along to the

party leave without him?"

"Hmm… That"s only explainable by him."

"There"s nothing to explain there," Dakolo said, biting

his lips. "That girl is Samantha Osman and she only

used him to fulfill her aim."

"True but…" Ken paused for a while to think. "There"s

still something fishy about his response to our

questions, I feel like he"s hiding something."

"He"s definitely hiding something," Dakolo agreed. "You

know he may be feeling guilty of the part he played in

the crime and may not want us to find out."

"But why should he still hide it? If he was used, he

should open up to us so that we can all nail the

a.s.sa.s.sins together."

"Hmm…" Dakolo pondered deeply on Ken"s words.

"What is he hiding and why is he still hiding it?" He

muttered to himself. "You know he may be scared of

the consequences that may follow."

The junior officer seated on the chair turned to listen

to the conversation without making his own

contribution, he had been following the details of the

crime from the first day.

"Only G.o.d knows what he could be hiding," Ken said to

himself, but still loud enough for the others to hear.

"Sir…" The junior officer finally joined in, facing Ken. "Is

it not the lady that came in with Henry E.G on the

kidnap case for interrogation that"s the suspect here?"

"Yes," Ken answered, staring at the officer in surprise of

the excitement in his voice.

"I can"t really recall her face, but I remember that the

camera in the interrogation room was on then, we

might have captured her face."

"My goodness!" Ken exclaimed with a gasp. "Do you

have the videos here?"

"Yes, I"ll search the video out in two minutes." The

officer said and turned to the computer. Dakolo and

Ken positioned themselves at his back to look at the

screen. After a minute, Dakolo dragged a chair from

the front of another computer and sat on it. "Here"s it,"

the officer opened a folder of several videos. "These

were all the videos recorded that day."

"Let"s see the exact one," Ken urged the officer.

After three minutes of playing and stopping videos in

search for the exact one, they finally found one. Henry

could be seen walking into the room behind a

uniformed officer who was ushering then, then he was

followed by Evelyn Alexander. She had an unkempt

hair on, some part of her attachment were covering

her face.

"D--n!" Dakolo cursed under his breath. "Why the h.e.l.l

is she looking down?" He threw a question impatiently,

to no one in particular.

As they proceeded to the seats prepared for them,

Evelyn Alexander raised her head up but at the same

time began to rub her palm on her face, like someone

who was just getting up from a deep slumber and

couldn"t remember where she was.

"Wait!" Dakolo shouted. "Rewind," he said, pointing at

the screen. "Pause!"

Her face was lifted towards the camera now, her left

eye was seen partially but the right eye was covered

with her palms and a part of her face, she continued to

scrub her face with her palm as if her eyes were itching

her until they got to the seat where the officer ushered

them to. Henry sat first, but she carried her chair and

turned it to the other side of the table where she could

sit and back the camera. The video showed the officer

trying to ask her why she changed the seat positioning

but she answered by pointing to her eyes and the bulb

in the room. The officers watching could decode that

she was complaining that her eyes couldn"t

accommodate the light.

Evelyn Alexander sat backing the camera all through

the interrogation.

"Take it back again," Dakolo ordered. The video was

rewound again to the point where her face was lifted

towards the camera. "Pause," Dakolo said. "Can you see

where she"s looking to?" He asked Ken.

"Yes, she"s facing the camera directly." Ken answered.

"Look at her pocket," Dakolo continued, pointing to the

screen. There was a blinking red light seen on her

pocket. "I"ve heard of camera detectors, I"ve never

seen one but I believe that that must be one in her

pocket."

"It is," Ken affirmed, keeping a serious look on his face.

"That"s how it works."

"Take it back a little," Dakolo ordered the junior officer

again. "Pause… Play."

Dakolo stared at Ken"s face and gave him a "I told you

look". She started rubbing her face immediately the

blinking started, she then took a glance at her pocket

and traced where the light was pointing to."

Ken shook his head in agreement. They were now

more certain that the lady was Samantha Osman or

another lady who was part of the a.s.sa.s.sin group.

"Did you see her face that day?" Dakolo turned away

from the video to Ken who was still trying to watch the

video.

"Yes sir…I can"t picture how she looks like but I"m sure

I can identify her when I see her."

"Are you sure? With the way she was unkempt?"

"Ermm… Not too sure sir," Ken scratched his head. "But

she wasn"t really unkempt except for her hair, the

excuse she gave that day was that she had to hurry out

of the house and couldn"t comb it properly."

Dakolo took in a deep breath and rested his forehead

on his palm tiredly. He glanced at his wrist.w.a.tch, it was

7.35pm. They were supposed to have left for their

various homes by that time. He got up and started

pacing around.

"That girl used Henry, she"s one of the a.s.sa.s.sins." He

said in a thoughtful manner, though loudly.

"It"s very obvious that he was used sir," Ken added.

"That means we may have to change our way of

investigating and interrogating Henry. He"s very

important to us, now that we know he had a close

relationship with one of the a.s.sa.s.sins."

"Yes sir, I agree." Ken said. He placed a finger on his lips

as he thought deeply, silence took over the

atmosphere for some minutes.

Dakolo and Ken suddenly glanced at each other as the

same thought struck their minds.

"D--n! I hope we"ve not made a costly mistake

already," Dakolo spoke first, half shouting.

"Are you thinking the same thing with me sir?" Ken

eyes, his eyes widened in anxiety.

"We"ve made a huge mistake by letting Henry go. We

might have put him in danger that way." Dakolo said

before sinking into his seat again.

"Yes, now that he has been invited for interrogation in

our office, the a.s.sa.s.sins may be after his life so that he

doesn"t spill out any information that would implicate

them."

"D--n! I have to warn him now." Dakolo hurriedly took

out his phone, he was about to dial a number when a

call came in, from the Vice President.

"Good evening your Excellency," he answered the call

after a little hesitation.

"Good evening Agent Dakolo," Elvis Richard"s voice

came through. "Where are you?"

"I"m still at the office sir," Dakolo replied impatiently,

hoping that the man would rush all he had to say.

"I want you and Inspector Ken to come and see me

now." Elvis Richards said in an ordering tone.

"Sir, we have…"

"Shhh… I"m supposed to work along with you guys but

you made an arrest today without telling me until I

found out by myself."

"Sir, it"s not…"

"Just come over with Ken and explain yourself, I"ll be

expecting you in ten minutes. It takes less than eight

minutes to drive from your office to my residence. I"ll

be waiting for you." With that the call ended and

Dakolo stared at Ken, frustration clearly written on his

face.

~~

After speaking with Jefa over an hour ago, Henry had

still not gone home. He was seated in a restaurant

where he had just taken his dinner. He refused to get

up from his seat after he finished the meal but was

staring at the television set absent-mindedly. The

temptation at first was to go into a beer parlour and

try some alcohol. He had heard about how alcohol

could help people get rid of their worries temporarily,

he was also willing to get his worries off his mind. But

he was able to resist the temptation after coming to

the conclusion that what he needed was a permanent

solution and not a temporary one.

It was until one of the attendants came to his table that

he realized he was the only customer left in the place,

the restaurant was already being locked up by the

workers.

"Sir, you have to leave now." The lady said, rapping her

knuckles on the table.

"Oh Thanks!" Henry said and took his car keys from the

table. He searched his pocket for his phone, it wasn"t

there, be remembered he had left it in the car. He

immediately proceeded out of the building and got

into his car, he drove off few seconds later.

~~

"Why the h.e.l.l isn"t he answering his calls?" Dakolo

murmured on their way to the Vice President house in

a car, Ken was driving.

Dakolo ended the call and dialed another number. It

didn"t take so much time before the officer answered.

"h.e.l.lo sir."

"Officer, where is he now?" Dakolo asked.

"He just left a restaurant and I believe that"s he"s on his

way home now."

"Where are you?"

"Following him behind, but not too close so that he

doesn"t notice."

"Make sure you don"t take your eyes off him, he may

be in serious danger."

"Okay sir."

"I"ll call you very soon again, you may need to reveal

yourself to him and stop him from going home."

Dakolo added few other things before ending the call.

"It won"t be easy for the officer to stop him from going

home." Ken spoke, few seconds after Dakolo ended the

call.

"Yes, that"s why I want to reach Henry first." Dakolo

replied, dialing Henry"s number again. "He"s still not

answering."

"Maybe you should try someone else who can reach

him," Ken suggested. Their movement was slowed as

there was a little obstruction on the road by a faulty

tanker.

Dakolo quickly took the suggestion and dialed

Sylvester"s number.

"Agent," Sylvester voice came up tiredly.

"Mr. Sylvester, you have to reach Henry for me

immediately. Try to convince him not to go to his

house, he can go to the NSCC staff house or

somewhere else where there is better security."

"Okay, I"ll try and get back to you sir." The call ended

and Dakolo let out a deep breath hopefully.

"Sir…" Ken called, "what if Henry is close to his house

already?"

The road became clear at the moment, Ken took a

glance at his wrist.w.a.tch before speeding off.

"That"s true, I should have asked their location from

the officer." Dakolo said thoughtfully. "Maybe I should

just tell the officer to stop him right away," Dakolo took

out his phone. He sighed as a call came in.

"It"s past fifteen minutes now, where are you?" Elvis

Richards barked.

~~~

Tarasha covered her nose as sparks of dust were

emitted as she drilled in the screwdriver-like metal into

the keyhole of Henry"s backdoor. The door gave way

and she returned her instrument into the bag. Her

phone beeped as she was about to enter into the

house. She took it out and put it on loud speaker.

"Agent," she heard Sylvester"s voice.

"Mr. Sylvester, you have to reach Henry for me

immediately. Try to convince him not to go to his

house, he can go to the NSCC staff house or

somewhere else where there is better security."

Another voice which Tarasha guessed to be the agent"s

voice sounded.

"Okay, I"ll try and get back to you sir." With that the call

ended.

Tarasha kept her phone back into her pocket. The

information didn"t stop her from proceeding inside.

She took a small torchlight from the side of her bag

and used it to brighten her path as she walked into the

darkness in the house.

After walking for some minutes, she was able to locate

a living room, she sat on a stool and took out an

Android device from her bag. She unlocked the screen

and opened an app. A map displayed, she smiled.

Henry was still coming in the direction of the house.

But even if he changed direction, it wouldn"t stop her

from going after him anywhere he changed direction

to, he had to be taken care of that day, no

postponement.

She got up and began to walk deeper into the house,

searching the walls with her torchlight.

~~

Henry"s was just few metres to his gate when his phone

began to ring again. He glanced at the screen, Mr

Sylvester"s ID was displayed. He took his left hand off

the steering and picked the phone, he switched it off

and threw it to the backseat.

…