TARASHA Episode 17 Pt 7 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Tarasha sat quietly in the backseat of the Carera Cabriolet Porsche streaming the video from the monitor cameras in the house. She was well disguised with makeups as a dark girl and a black wig on her head, she still looked quite beautiful though.
Soon, the door to the front seat was opened and someone stepped into the passenger’s side, Tarasha didn’t bother to look up but only glanced at her wristwatch and continued to look into the device.
Five minutes later, the door to the driver’s side and the other side of the back seat opened. Cole and Aisha stepped into the car quietly. Tarasha minimized the collection of footages she was watching and opened another collection with four options. She selected the options one after the other and each showed the area where the four different cars were.
‘We’re good to go, ” she finally announced and looked up. Cole started the engine at once and drove off.
They were allowed to enter into the compound of the Senate President’s mansion without going through any security protocols. No search was conducted on their vehicle neither was any individual searched.
The compound was a very large one with several gardens in it. The atmosphere there was different as the ornamental shrubs and trees helped to purify the tensed air. The wide parking space also had several exotic cars whose colours added to the beauty of the whole place.
Their arrival was announced to the Senate President immediately they entered and he was out in front of the house to welcome them even before they parked their car.
‘Good evening sir,’ the team led by Mr Alfred greeted simultaneously. The men had only their handsets in their hands while the two ladies had small handbags with them.
‘Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,’ Nasiru greeted back with a smile. He extended his hand for a handshake to Mr Alfred first and then the rest of the team. ‘You were in Lagos when I met with your colleagues,’ Nasiru stated with a smile when he got to the new lady.
‘Yes sir.’
‘What’s your name?’
‘I’m Evelyn sir,’ Tarasha replied.
‘Oh! Nice to meet you Miss Evelyn, how was your research job and trip from Lagos?’
‘The research was fine sir and the journey was also splendid.’
‘Nice,’ Nasiru gave a broad smile.
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha bent her knees slightly in curtsy as he shook her hands again.
‘You’re welcome,’ Nasiru said and turned to the whole team. ‘I welcome you all to my home. I hope you’ll have a nice time with me.’ He said as he ushered them into the house. ‘Do you have any bag inside your car that you’ll like to get?’
‘Not for now sir,’ Mr Alfred replied.
Several guards were standing in different positions in the house but only one was following Nasiru from a distance, he was Nasiru’s personal bodyguard, huge and muscular. The guards and security officers were all dressed in the same uniforms except for the personal bodyguard who was dressed in casuals. The assassins continued to take note of their environment.
‘Meet my darling wife,’ Nasiru introduced them to his wife as they got into the main living room. The guard disappeared into the inner rooms when the guests were about to begin to exchange pleasantries with the wife, he would be called if he was needed.
‘Welcome ladies, welcome gentlemen.’ Mrs Nasiru got up from the leather sofa to greet the guests.
The living room was neatly furnished with comfortable sofas with colours and shapes of water bodies. Each chair and stool had its distinct shape which made the visitors wonder at the creativity of the designers.
‘Good evening ma,’ the visitors replied to her greeting in unison.
‘You’re welcome,’ she said once again with a broad smile. ‘We’re glad to host you to a special dinner tonight, my husband has told me a lot about you and your good works. I must commend you guys for the excellent job done in Katsina state with the Ata’s foundation and your innovative proposal also…’
‘Dearest,’ Nasiru cut in. ‘Why don’t you let them have their seats first?’
‘Oh! Pardon my manners,’ the woman apologized. ‘Please take your seats,’ she pointed them to the seats. Benny and Cole sat in the long sofa while Tarasha and Aisha took two different one seaters. ‘So we prepared both Nigerian and foreign dishes, I believe you guys would prefer the Nigerian?’ She asked with a smile.
‘Anyone you offer us ma, we’ll be pleased to take it.’ Mr Alfred replied.
‘Alright, let me prepare the table in five minutes, I’ll be back.’ Mrs Nasiru said and got up from the seat.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Nasiru began after his wife walked away. ‘I’ll like to show you some other things after the meal, I want to show you to my study…’
A young lady about Aisha’s age joined them in the living room as he was talking, she walked up to Nasiru and gave him a peck on his cheeks.
‘Dad, good evening sir.’ She curtsied.
‘Good evening Fatima,’ Nasiru greeted, looking playful into her face. He then turned to the visitors, ‘here’s my first daughter, she schools in the UK and would be graduating in two months time. She only came for a short break.’ He introduced proudly.
‘Good evening,’ Fatima sang in a playful tone.
‘Good evening Fatima,’ they replied back, the ladies singing back in the same tone.
‘These are representatives of our partners from Canada who work with the Ata’s foundation, they’ve come to join us for dinner tonight and would be spending the night with us.’ Nasiru said to Fatima.
‘That’s nice,’ she replied with another kind smile at the visitors.
‘You have to go change now and join us for dinner,’ Nasiru said to his daughter.
‘Yea, sure Dad.’ She said and scurried away.
‘You have a nice daughter,’ Evelyn was the first to comment after the girl was out of sight.
‘Thank you,’ the man replied with his face beaming with smiles.
‘What course is she studying in school?’ Evelyn continued.
‘She’s reading cinematography,’ Nasiru stated.
‘Cinematography?’ Evelyn asked, widening her eyes in surprise.
‘Yes.’
‘That’s what I studied too,’ Evelyn said.
‘You studied cinematography?’ It was Nasiru’s turn to be surprised.
‘Yes, I did that in Canada.’ She stated.
‘Oh! Then why are you not in the movie industry?’
‘Well…’ She shrugged. ‘Let’s say I got attracted to the pattern and passion of the charity organization.’
‘I see,’ Nasiru nodded his head slowly. He was beginning to like her, she sounded more jovial and easy to relate with than the others. ‘So you plan to work with the foundation all your life?’
‘Ermm… Yes but not as a full time staff though. At some point, I’ll have to leave them and work as a partner with them…’
‘Food is served,’ Mrs Nasiru finally returned singing and cleaning her hands with a hand towel.
‘Well, gentlemen and ladies. I guess we can continue our discussion after the meal.’ He took a look at each one of the visitor’s face before standing up.
**Fast Forward ~~ After the meal**
‘Thank you so much for the sumptuous meal,’ Mr Alfred said as they proceeded out of the dining room.
‘Come on, you’ve said that enough already.’ Mrs Nasiru replied.
‘I want to show you to my study now,’ Nasiru said and began to lead the guests through the house while the wife went there opposite direction. They continued to walk until they got to the door. He took out his keys and opened the room, then he ushered them in first before entering after and closing the door. He hurried up to their front and began to lead them round the place.
The study was a medium sized one, it had neatly arranged books in shelves and a large table with a long stool and a short chair in the middle. The shelves were broken into three sections, one opposite the door wall, one on each of the sides while the door wall had no shelves.
Most of the books arranged on the shelves in the first section were books which contained business tips and ideas, also there were business magazines and leaflets.
‘At first,’ vice President Nasiru stopped walking and turned to them. ‘At first, I thought you guys were fraudsters when my mum first told me about you. Then I sent someone to make a research and I found out that your company was real, but I still had to find out if they sent you people. That I confirmed before allowing my mother deal with you.’
Apart from Tarasha and Cole who joined Tarasha to do all the planning processes, how they got confirmed by he organization in Canada was something confusing to the other two. Only trust in the boss’ plan had made them go for the operation and carry out all her instructions without questions.
Tarasha had a link in the foundation at Canada who on Tarasha’s orders had diverted all calls from Africa to the company’s lines to another line that Tarasha would answer herself in Nigeria. It was a pity that Nasiru Attahiru could not know that the same person who he had been discussing with on telephone was in the same room with him.
‘I want to tell you the story of the Ata’s foundation and how it began,’ Nasiru began to move to the next section. ‘I always keep the keys to the study myself because of this section, I don’t like anyone using the books in my absence. It contains some personal information, even my wife doesn’t know some of the deep secrets stored in these books, especially those ones.’ He pointed to three leather cover books stacked on each other.
‘Onwuli,’ Tarasha read something to herself from the cover of the book on top as she stretched her neck to look. She knew she had heard something like that from somewhere else.
‘But we don’t have any business with those books, this is the one I want you to see…’ Nasiru continued but Tarasha’s mind was far from what he was saying. She had her mind on the three books he pointed at on which she saw the familiar word. Then she remembered where she heard something pronounced like that, it was from Chief Gab when he was trying to explain to her the reason he wanted to ki*ll Chief Jubril and the rest of his targets.
She stylishly moved closer to the books to have a closer view, then she saw some other names which she recognized, Jubril, Gabriel, Elvis, Nasiru were on the back cover too. Then the name of the minister of health who was her first assassination target was also there and two other names she had not heard about. She developed interest in the book and began to look for a way to take it with her. She knew that Chief Gab was the one whose name was Gabriel and that the book would reveal more about Chief Gab’s deal with his targets which may also help her in taking out the last target.
‘Evelyn,’ Nasiru called her name suddenly, he had seen that her mind was far away from his discourse with the others. ‘What are you thinking about?’ He asked, focusing all interest on her.
‘Nothing sir,’ she lied and tried to cover up with a smile.
‘What’s nothing?’ Nasiru did not accept her reply as it was very obvious that she was listening to him.
‘Emm…I was just thinking as a cinematographer,’ she said with a forced smile. ‘I was thinking of what it would be like making films centered on the lives of people like you, it’ll really be inspiring to a lot of young people.’
‘Hmm,’ Nasiru swallowed the lie. ‘There might really be some horror part, you know.’ He said with a shrug, ‘some of us have gone through and done some funny things too. Well, I was saying…’
