TARASHA Episode 17 Pt 9 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
She began to return the tools she put in the sink. A knock sounded on the door.
‘Evelyn,’ she heard Fatima call outside.
‘I’m coming,’ she answered in a singing tone.
‘Please, take your time. I just wanted to find out if you’re okay.’
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha answered. She waited for sometime until she noticed a stop in the sounds of moving footsteps outside. She picked the two remaining metals in the sink and hid them back under her gown.
She wanted to start proceeding out into the room when she remembered that she still had an instruction to give Cole.
She searched the back of her gown for the receiver and speed dialed Cole. It took sometime for the connection to be accepted.
~~~
‘What are you trying to do?’ The muscular guard asked in a terrifying voice. He continued to squeeze Cole’s fist in his big hands and pushing him backwards. Cole struggled to resist and open his palms so he could get the pin out else he’ll be the receiver of the contents. Tarasha had emphasized that he stuck it into the man’s neck but that doesn’t mean it would have any effect when it enters through another part of the body. The only difference was that the former would cause the tranquilization to happen immediately.
Cole managed to hit the man’s the man’s arm with the other fist but that made no effect on the man. The guy pushed him backwards swiftly and dished him a heavy blow on his face. Cole’s body spun thrice in a fast motion before he fell to the ground. The pin had fallen already, where it dropped was not known to the both of them.
Cole began to see stars as his left cheek hit the floor. The device attached to his belt beeped twice. He managed to turn and accept the connection. The attacker also heard the beeping and bent to search Cole’s body.
~~
Tarasha could hear Cole heavily panting at the other side, she knew at once that something had gone wrong.
‘Cole,’ she called and got no reply, except for his continued panting and then a gruff voice. She knew Cole was listening , so she gave him another instruction. ‘Cole, if you’re in trouble with the man, try to stay conscious and keep him busy and with the lowest possible noise. I’ll come for you if I can.’
She sat back on the water closet and brought out her phone hurriedly. She opened the tracking application and Cole’s tracker. In less than ten seconds it displayed his direction and point in the house. Tarasha stood up and pushed the flush button, it was time to get out of the toilet and act fast. The only problem she would have now navigating through the house especially as she was a total stranger in the house, she’ll be easily stopped by any of the guards or workers. She raised up her gown and brought out a small flat purse of the same colour with her gown, from the inner pocket, she had plenty of the tranquilizing pins in the purse. She clipped it to her cloth at the belly side and proceeded outside into the room.
Waiting for her outside was what and who she needed, Fatima was still seated on a stool, engrossed with her phone. Another young girl in a maid’s uniform had just entered into the room.
Fatima gaze was placed on Evelyn as she stepped out from the toilet. She slowly got up from the stool and began to walk towards Evelyn. ‘Hello, are you okay now?’ Fatima asked Evelyn.
‘Ermm… A little better,’ Tarasha answered, squeezing her face like someone in pains.
The maid got to where Fatima was previously seated and paused. Tarasha gave her a searching look, more interested in her uniform than anything else.
‘Do you need anything? That’s why I called the maid,’ Fatima said, seeing Evelyn’s interest in the maid.
‘Ermm… Maybe I need some water, but first…’ Tarasha continued talking and walked past Fatima who was coming to her. In a tired manner she walked, like a pregnant woman who was going in for labour.
She got close to the maid and paused. Then she turned back and made a smile at Fatima which got Fatima staring at her in confusion. Then she placed her hand on the maids shoulder and then moved her hand to the maid’s neck. The maid fell down.
Fatima eyes widened in shock as she saw the maid fall but she couldn’t tell what really happened. Too shocked to speak or make any sound, she stared at Evelyn in horror.
Tarasha turned and placed her eyes on Fatima’s face making funny looks at her to confuse her more. She knew better than to walk close to her, Fatima could scream and alert others in the house. She carefully opened the purse attached to her belly side and took out one of the pins. Then she tightened it in between the tip of her thumb and his the nail of the index finger. She raised it up and launched it straight to Fatima.
~~
Cole still felt a little bit relieved after Tarasha spoke to him. There was still hope of Tarasha coming to help and join hands with him to defeat the man even though she emphasized during their preparation that one of the reasons for the separate cars they had all came in was to give room for everyone to escape if there was any mistake by a party. She also stated strongly that anyone who made an error in carrying out their tasks would be made to face the consequences alone.
At the same time he was still not was sure how possible or quick it would be for Tarasha to locate him by the tracker because the house was not a familiar place to them. It would take someone who was familiar with all the rooms in the house to locate him fast and easily.
The guard had underrated Cole in someway, he was searching Cole’s body without protecting himself from attack. Cole could see the man’s chest and face unprotected from attack. He mustered up strength and stamped his feet on the man’s face. The man staggered back and held on to his eyes with a soft groan. Cole managed to get up and tried to follow up with a kick on the side of the man’s belly but it had very little effect as Cole’s kick weighed very little.
Soon, his opponent had recovered and they were both facing each other, the man had an evil smirk on his face while Cole had a serious and disturbing face. The man rolled his neck in the right and left direction, making a cracking sound, then he raised his head up and his fists in readiness to take out Cole.
Cole though was feeling pains in his body joints and bones summoned courage and decided not to give up without a good fight. He raised up his fists too and began to bounce. The man’s evil smile deepen at his gesture but that didn’t disturb Cole, even if the man was going to break his bones, he wouldn’t make it an easy task for him.
An idea crept into his mind, he remembered some of Tarasha’s words to them during one of their preparation. ‘No matter how big and tough an opponent looks, even if his body seems too hard to be weakened, there would always be a soft spot. It only takes the right value of the right strike at the right place on his body to take him down.’ She had said. Although she was speaking to Benny that day, he knew could apply it in this situation. The only problem now was to find that right place and the right value of the right strike to apply, that was even if he had enough strength in his arms and legs for the intensity of the strike required.
~~~
Fatima collapsed within seconds and became unconscious of her environment. Tarasha quickly took out her phone again and switched on the screen, the tracking application was still running. Cole was being located to be at the left side of the house. Of course there was no door at the left where she was, she had to start looking for the way to the place.
She ran her hands into her hair in utter disgust about the situation, it was the reason she hated working with half baked assassins who made mistakes at simple tasks.
She quickly bent down and began to remove the clothes from the body of the maid.
~~~
While Cole was still looking for the perfect place to attack on the man’s body, a jab landed on his face. He yelled as he staggered back and his head hit the door of the toilet. The door opened and he fell down inside the toilet.
The guard stood still with his legs wide apart and fixed an evil stare at Cole. He dipped his hand into his pocket and took out a phone, he began to dial a number.
Cole’s eyes widened as he saw the man take the phone to his ear, he couldn’t imagine what would be the result of the man’s call if it was successful. If the other guards and occupants of the whole house were alerted, that would mean failure for the whole operation. He tried to get up but his strength would not let him be as fast as he wanted to. He held on to the door as a support and then quickly removed his shoe.
‘Jamiu…’ The guard was talking into the phone when the shoe hit his face. He squeezed his face and gritted his teeth angrily adding a threatening look and growl at Cole. Cole ignored his look and projected himself forward with his head to the belly of the man, both of them crash to the floor, Cole being the one more affected by the crash. The phone fell off from the man’s hand and scattered on the floor.
The man angrily with a feet on Cole’s chest pushed Cole away. Cole found himself far inside the toilet again. The guard got up immediately and charged towards Cole.
Cole turned his head up and jn a trancelike way could see the man coming towards him, he could hear the heavy thuds made by the man’s feet on the floor. Cole closed his eyes in anticipation of another kick or blow that would take him out finally, he began to say his last prayers silently.
The kick did not come but he felt a cold hand on his neck. The man dragged him up and raised him up with his neck, his legs sprawling far above the ground. Cole managed to open his eyes and stared at the man’s face. There was so much fury in the guard’s eyes.
Cole’s leg continued to dangle, he felt something hit his stomach gently and heard a soft sound of a metal hitting another. It was then he remembered that he still had some small knives and tools in the inner pocket of his jacket.
The man began to tighten his grip on Cole’s neck, squeezing out life gradually. Cole tried to dip his hand into his inner pocket but was too weak to move the hand. He closed his eyes again in anticipation of death.
~~
Tarasha was still walking around the house in the maid’s uniform helplessly. The tight skirt of the uniform was not helping matters, the curves of the pockets attached to her thighs were clearly revealed underneath and she could not walk very fast also.
She couldn’t find a good way to the location the tracker was identifying and had been brought back to the same place she left the two unconscious bodies. The only place that she could have linked her to the location was the sitting room where Nasiru and others were in. But even if she decides to take the risk, she would be noticed before she gets to the sitting room because she wouldn’t be able to cover her face and walk quickly and she still needed to walk past guards and maids before getting there.
She closed the door to the room and rested her back to the wall, then she tried to connect with Cole again but the connection wasn’t accepted this time. That could mean Cole was engaged in a fight or had already been totally overpowered.
She took out her phone and opened the chat box with Benny. ‘Cole just messed up, if you don’t get any instruction from me in the next five minutes, take an excuse to go outside the house and into the car with Aisha. There’s a bomb detonator where I sat, set it up to detonate in ten minutes time while you and Aisha make your way out of the compound following the direction of your escape cars. There’s a farmyard before your own car , so it’s better you both opt for Aisha’s.’ She typed in and closed the app immediately the message was marked delivered.
Failing the mission wasn’t an option to Tarasha, Nasiru had to die that day. She even had an extra explosive she could couple together in case Benny failed in his task or had already been implicated by Cole already.
Cole had failed already, so he would have to bear the consequences of his failure even if it was death. For her, all she needed to get outside the house and get to the extra car on her body.
