~~~Elvis Richards was seated under a neatly fashioned
bamboo shed, he had a bottle and a gla.s.s of wine in front
of him. The excellent lightening in the compound made it
so beautiful and bright as it always looked in the day.
Elvis glanced towards the gate as it opened and Ken
drove in with Dakolo. He walked out of the shed and
began to proceed towards the car park where Ken was
driving to. He got there before Ken and Dakolo.
Ken hurriedly parked the car and killed the engine.
Dakolo was the first to step out, he turned at once to
meet with the Vice President who was standing by the
side.
"Good evening sir," Dakolo greeted with a bow. Ken also
joined him and greeted in the same manner. There was
no response to the greeting from the Vice President, he
just stared at them while he tossed his phone from one
hand to the other.
"Why are you guys keeping me in darkness?" He finally
spoke after several seconds of making them feel
uncomfortable with his gaze. "Why was E.G Henry
arrested without my knowledge?" He faced Dakolo and
directed the question to him.
"Sir…" Dakolo began hesitatingly, he paused to clear his
throat and put on more boldness. "We were actually
going to tell you when we see, the plan we had was that
we report to you at the end of every week not everyday
sir."
Elvis smiled at Dakolo"s boldness, he took his face off the
officer"s face and began to look to the ground, using his
sandal to rub the gra.s.ses.
"But arresting someone like Henry is different, he"s
supposed to be a part of us, he"s supposed to be part of
those trying to find the a.s.sa.s.sin and not a suspect." Elvis
looked up with a bitter frown, "I was surprised today to
find the news of his arrest on the internet, I called you to
confirm and you didn"t deny."
"We took him in for questioning sir, because we found
out that he"s been hiding a lot of details from us." Dakolo
said.
"Of course you had to do it, I only have a problem with
you not informing me immediately. What has he been
hiding?"
"He has a close a.s.sociation with someone who"s
suspected to be part of Samantha Osman"s group, there"s
about ninety percent probability that the person is even
Samantha Osman herself."
"How did you find out about that?"
"We discovered that he attended Chief Jubril"s party with
the lady," Dakolo answered shortly, willing to stop at that
but the man"s eyes demanded for more explanation. "The
lady he went with to the party is a suspect. Henry also
testified that she was nowhere to be found during the
time of the a.s.sa.s.sination. He has not seen or spoken to
her since that day."
"Interesting," Elvis bit his lips, enjoying the release of
information. "So, when did Henry leave your custody?"
"Before evening time,"Dakolo"s response was sharp. His
phone interrupted with its ringtone, he took it out and
checked the caller"s ID, Mr Sylvester. Out of respect for
the Vice President, he silenced the call.
"And what"s the next step now?"
"We hope to keep Henry in safety, he can provide us with
useful information if he lives." Dakolo stated, hoping the
man"s question would end at that.
"If he lives?" Elvis stared at him for more explanation. He
began to trek away from the park slowly, Dakolo and Ken
followed. Dakolo"s phone rang again. He checked the
caller"s ID and silenced it again.
"Why are you sounding as if he"s in danger?" Elvis
concluded his question.
"The a.s.sa.s.sin group may come for his life, now that he"s
involved with the police."
"And haven"t you made plans against that already?"
"I have, I have four officers watching him, three officers
at his house and one officer following him around, all
without his knowledge."
"Isn"t that enough? Four officers should be able to ensure
he"s safety."
"Yes sir, on a normal day when dealing with a different
group, four may be enough but with Samantha Osman"s
group, I"m afraid four may not do the job."
"So what are you planning to do now?" Elvis stopped and
asked.
"I"ve asked Mr Sylvester to convince him not to stay in his
residence for sometime."
"Where would he stay?"Elvis raised a brow.
"In NSCC house, it"s more safer there. No one can easily
break in."
"And has Sylvester been able to convince him?"
"I don"t know, he"s the one that called me some seconds
ago." Dakolo brought out his phone, hoping that the man
would allow him return Mr Sylvester"s call.
"No problem, you"ll call him later." Elvis replied,
disappointing Dakolo.
Dakolo returned his phone back into his pocket, waiting
for what else the man has to say but Elvis didn"t speak
immediately. He began to take slow steps again.
"I want you to keep me updated always, I won"t like to be
surprised again like I was today."
"There"s no problem sir." Dakolo voiced impatiently,
itching to leave the man"s presence.
"Wait!" The man suddenly turned to them calmly, with a
crooked smile. "Why are you so much in a hurry?"
"We don"t want to leave any chance for the a.s.sa.s.sin
group at all, we don"t want to make any mistakes. We
want to ensure that Henry is somewhere safe as soon as
possible."
"But aren"t you taking it a little bit far? You just arrested
him today, even the media hasn"t verified his arrest. How
do you think they"ll find out? Or are you suspecting
there"s a mole working with you?" Elvis suggested. Ken
shrugged in partial agreement.
"Mole?" Dakolo and Ken took quick glances at each other.
"We don"t think there"s a mole sir," Dakolo answered. "But
we think if the information can get to the press which we
didn"t give by ourselves, it can also get it to these expert
a.s.sa.s.sins. Henry may have even let out the information
himself unknowingly."
"It"s okay, you can leave." Elvis said and walked away
immediately.
Even before the man finished talking, Dakolo and Ken
had turned and began to proceed to their car.
`
Elvis entered into the living room to meet the eagerly
waiting Don and the Inspector General. Both of them
rose up from the sofa immediately they sighted the Vice
President.
"Henry E.G has a close a.s.sociation with a suspect" Elvis
said to Don as he continued walking. "I don"t know if
that"ll be of help to you." He concluded and proceeded
up the stairs, leaving Don and the IG.
Don picked his car key from the sofa where he was
previously seated and walked out of the place after
bowing to say goodbye to the IG.
+++
8.05pm
The gate opened as Henry tapped a b.u.t.ton on the remote
control in his car, he drove in with speed and stopped in
the middle of the compound. He took off his seatbelt
before turning off the car engine, he wasn"t ready to park
the car in the right place today. He opened the door to
the driver"s side but remained inside and relaxed back
for about two minutes. He finally got out after taking his
phone from the backseat and proceeded to the left side
of the fence drunkenly, the reflection of light from the
two neighboring compound brightened his way enough.
He tapped two b.u.t.tons on the wall and the compound
security light came on. He returned to the car and locked
the doors properly before proceeding to the house.
The house was dark as he entered, he closed the door
and began to search the wall with his hands for the bulb
switch. He tapped the switch but there was no light, he
left the particular switch and moved to the wall at the
other side, he tapped the b.u.t.ton and there was no light
also.
Unsuspicious of anything, he believed that something
must have gone wrong with the connections in the house
or at the main control point. He took out his phone and
pressed the power b.u.t.ton, he began to find his way with
the little light shown as the phone booted. He was able to
get to the first sofa on the left and he sank into it tiredly.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, a slight headache
began to disturb him.
He opened his eyes suddenly as he heard sounds of some
movement. He turned on the flashlight of his phone and
pointed it to his front but saw nothing. He wondered
what it could be, Rats? c.o.c.kroaches? He wondered but
none of them could be accommodated in his house due
to proper cleaning and fumigation that takes place
frequently, at least he had seen the doc.u.ments of the
previous cleanup that had been done before he moved
in. The movement must have been heard in his
imagination, he concluded.
~~~
8.10pm
It was over two hours now and Jefa had not heard
anything else from Henry, his heart was greatly troubled
as he couldn"t imagine what kind of trouble Omotara was
in. He wasn"t stable enough to go to his business place
that day, all efforts made to reach Henry back proved
abortive.
His earlier decision was to stay away from Henry and
Omotara but with the panic at hand, he couldn"t go by
that decision. After several minutes of contemplating, he
picked up his phone and dialed Henry"s number again. It
was still switched off. He couldn"t take it any longer, he
got up from his seat and put on his shirt. He proceeded
towards the door and wore his palm sandal placed
beside the doormat before hurrying out.
~~~
"h.e.l.lo Mr Sylvester, sorry I couldn"t answer your calls. I
was with the Vice President." Dakolo said hurriedly into
the phone. "Have you been able to reach Henry?"
"No, he wasn"t answering his calls. His phone is even
switched off now."Sylvester replied.
"D--n!" Dakolo muttered. "Please keep trying," Dakolo
said to Sylvester before ending the call.
"Sir…" Ken called in a calm voice, wondering why Dakolo
was in so much panic, it wasn"t that they were sure that
the a.s.sa.s.sins were coming for Henry that day, so he
wondered why Dakolo was acting like he had gotten
information that someone was going to kill Henry that
night.
"Yes," Dakolo took a brief glance at Ken.
"I think we should take it more calmly, I believe we have
capable people watching him already, they"ll alert us if
there"s any problem."
Dakolo was about to dial another number but he paused
to ponder on Ken"s word. Ken had spoken the truth but
Dakolo still had the strange feeling to act urgently, he
wouldn"t be able to forgive himself if anything happens
to Henry.
He went on to dial the number and his call was answered
in few seconds.
"Sir," a gruff voice sounded.
"Officer, where are you now?" Dakolo asked.
"In front of Henry"s house, he"s gone inside already. I"m
watching with the other officers."
"He just drove in?"
"Yes, few minutes ago."
"Can you get into his house for me? I want you to talk to
him and try make him believe that he is in danger and
shouldn"t sleep in that house tonight, it"s not safe for
him."
"Where should I tell him to go to?"
"The NSCC house is safer for him or you can tell him to
follow you to my place. I"ll just meet you on the way."
"Okay sir, I"ll try go inside the house now." The call ended.
Dakolo heaved a sigh, he glanced at Ken who was looking
less worried. He unlocked his phone"s screen again and
opened the dial pad, he scrolled down to Henry"s
number and dialed it, not really too optimistic about it.
He relaxed back and put it on loud speaker.
His eyes widened in excitement as the call went through
and Henry"s ring back tone began to play. But his
excitement was suppressed few seconds later when the
call was not answered by Henry. He tried two more times
before giving up. As he closed his eyes to relax a bit, his
phone rang again.
"Sir, he"s not responding to the bell."
Several thoughts ran through Dakolo"s mind at that
moment. Maybe Henry was not just answering the bell
the same way he wasn"t answering his calls or maybe he
wasn"t answering because an enemy was already fighting
with him in the house. It was also possible that Henry was
planning to do something.
"Try more, I"ll call you back now." Dakolo cut the call as
another idea flashed through his mind on how to reach
Henry. He clicked on the message icon and began to type
in a message.
~~~
Henry felt angry as Dakolo"s call came in the third time,
the gate bell was also sounding at the same time. He
guessed that the person at the gate was Dakolo so he
ignored the both.
The bulbs in the living room suddenly came on as he
began to unb.u.t.ton his shirt. He paused in shock,
wondering how it could have happened. He concluded
that a wire was not properly connected somewhere and
continued with what he was doing.
Few minutes later, he felt so much fear like he had never
felt as he lifted up his head and saw the back view of a
lady seated on the top of the three seater sofa backrest.
The lady got up and turned to face him, Omotara it was.
He felt the greatest shock on his life as he saw the way
she was dressed and what she had in her hands. She
wore black top and shredded Jean trousers with black
hand gloves on her hands. She was holding on her left
hand an intravenous fluid bag filled with a liquid he was
sure was poisonous, while she had on her right hand a
black schoolbag. Her nose was covered with a nose
mask.
His eyes were full of shock and utter disappointment.
Tears filled his eyes, not in fear of the death that was
coming, but in realization of the fact that Omotara was
really the deadly a.s.sa.s.sin, Samantha Osman.
She took out a bottle from the bag and sprayed the
contents, Henry slowly pa.s.sed out as he inhaled the gas.
His phone began to ring again and fell off his hand to the
floor, it fell with its screen on his toe and stopped ringing.