TARASHA Episode 17 Pt 11- Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Tarasha made her way out of the room again carefully, this time she went in direction of the study. After walking for one minute, she was able to locate the study, it was locked and there was need for an access card to unlock it. She quickly rolled up the tight skirts and took out two screwdriver- like metals, she began to unscrew the access panel. ~~ Three minutes had passed and Benny had not gotten any message from Tarasha. His heart began to fear at the thought of leaving Cole in the explosion that was about to rock the house. He began to think of anyway possible to reach Cole and help him out. He took out his connection device and punched in Cole’s code. He fixed the earpiece in his left ear, just as it was about connecting, the Senate President returned to the living room. ‘Your friends have not still returned?’ Mr Nasiru asked with a worried look on his face. ‘Sir, I’m not very happy with what is happening.’ Mr Alfred replied in a sad tone. ‘I’m really sorry sir,’ Nasiru tried to calm him, ‘but do you know of any substance that the both of them may have an allergy for?’ ‘I’m not aware of anything,’ Mr Alfred said angrily, he took a glance at his wristwatch, four minutes was gone already. ‘They’ve been eating well since we got to Nigeria and they’ve not been selective of anything.’ ‘Ermm… Maybe I need to check out on them.’ Nasiru said and was turning back. ‘No sir,’ Mr Alfred stopped him. ‘I think I have to call the office first.’ ‘No please, don’t do that.’ Nasiru pleaded, ‘it’s just a little thing that we can sort out.’ ‘No, I’m not calling to report you, I’m calling the medical unit to find out if they had any previous case or records like this.’ ‘But are you sure that’s the right thing to do?’ Nasiru asked in fear, not wanting for his relationship with their foundation to be destroyed. ‘Yes, don’t worry. They’ll be no problems.’ Mr Alfred said and got up. ‘I need to get to the car and take my second phone. Please can you show me the way?’ ~~~~ The guard flung Cole out of the toilet to the floor outside mercilessly, he stepped out of the toilet and closed the door. Cole felt his body weaken more as he landed on the floor, his head almost hitting the wall. For some seconds he left his eyes closed and opened it again when he didn’t hear sounds of the man’s movement. He saw the guard standing in front of the toilet’s door, staring at him. Cole took his gaze away and turned his neck to another side and there he saw the tranquilizing pin he had wanted to use earlier. It was not out of his hand reach but he felt too weak at the moment to stretch forth his hand and he wouldn’t even want to do it while the man was staring at him. The guard started taking slow steps closer to him, Cole tried to turn but couldn’t, he felt the metals in his pockets again. Then he saw something, something which he could use. He remembered his boss’ saying that anything could be a weapon. Some hope returned to him and he managed to dipped his hand into his inner pocket, acting as if he was grabbing his stomach in pains so that the man wouldn’t suspect anything. He gave a very faint smile on seeing the man’s shoe lace carelessly loose and dragging on the floor. The guard kept marching to him with slow steps. He stopped right in front of Cole face, close to the wall and squatted, staring straight at Cole’s face. ‘Who sent you?’ He barked. Cole turned his face away but the man turned it back to himself and added a slap. ‘I said who sent you?’ He barked again. Cole’s fingers by this time already touched the metals he needed, a tiny rope clip and a short knife. He stretched his free hand and placed it on the guard’s left shoe. The guard glanced at the movement but took it for granted as he believed that Cole was too weak to do anything dangerous to him. ‘You won’t talk?’ He shouted once again. ‘She sent us,’ Cole finally answered, still doing his work on the man’s shoe. He had gotten a hold of the lace and held it softly. Then he noticed something else on the man’s left shoulder, there was kind of swelling which wasn’t on the other side. To Cole, it looked like the man had a dressed wound there. ‘Who is she?’ The man asked in low tones, mentioning the words one after the other. Cole stared at his face and gave a smile, bringing confusion to the man. ‘Even if you ki*ll me, you can’t cause our mission to be aborted. She never fails and won’t fail this either,’ Cole said, with the hope of buying more time. ‘Who the hell is she?’ The man slammed and stood to his feet to take out something from his pocket. With that Cole removed his hand from the inner pocket and clipped the man’s shoe with the metal clip, he mustered enough strength to get up and drag the clip, making the man fall to the ground with a thud. Immediately, Cole followed up by driving the knife into the man’s shoulder where he noticed the swelling. The man responded with a loud groan that echoed round the room. Then Cole turned to search for the pin where it was, he located it and carefully picked it up. He drove it into the man’s neck at once. ~~ Tarasha had just picked the book and was about proceeding out of the place when she heard some voices approaching. With what they were discussing, they had seen the door left ajar. ‘The study is not locked?’ A coarse voice expressed the owner’s surprise. ‘How come? The man never leaves it open.’ The accompanying voice said. Tarasha quickly hid herself beside the door. Someone pushed the door open a little and closed it back. ‘What may have happened to the access panel?’ ‘Maybe the man is trying to change it,’ the accompanying voice replied. ‘Whatever,’ the hand drew the door close again but it still went ajar. Tarasha waited until she heard their voices and footsteps no more. She quickly opened the door and peeped, there was no one else in the corridor. She stepped out and looked left and right, it was time to set up the other bomb and leave the place. She started following the route where she had come from. Her connection device beeped. ‘Cole,’ she called. ‘Boss,’ Cole spoke in a low voice. ‘Speak up Cole, have you gotten away from the man?’ ‘Yes, he’s down. Cole tried to raise his voice. ‘Ermm…’ Tarasha delayed the reply as she thought of the best step to take now that Cole was free. ‘Boss…’ Cole called when he heard nothing again from the other end. ‘Cole, find another security guard whose clothes you can use and take the clothes.’ ‘Huh?’ Cole sounded surprised, he wasn’t expecting such an order now that he just had a hard time defeating one guard. ‘Cole,’ Tarasha chuckled, noticing his surprise. ‘If you could defeat the the man’s personal security official, you can take out anyone else.’ She added to encourage him. ‘Sh*t! One is here already.’ Tarasha heard Cole mention before the connection was cut. She took out her phone and dialed Benny. ‘Where are you now?’ ~~~~ ‘I just finished timing the bomb and I’m about to leave with Aisha. The Senate President is walking at the front of his house. I’m waiting for Aisha so that we could both take the escape route.’ Benny replied Tarasha, watching the Senate President and his wife standing in front of the house while Aisha was coming towards the car from the house. ‘How many minutes has it run for already?’ ‘Just one,’ Benny answered after glancing at where the bomb was placed in the car. ‘So that means it took you nine minutes to go out of the house?’ Tarasha questioned, in something more like a scolding manner. Benny was quiet. ‘Set the time to thirty minutes now and return into the house, I’ll send something into your phone for you to show the man.’ She ordered and the call ended. Benny stepped back into the car and picked up the detonator, he entered in the password and stopped the reading, then he set it afresh for thirty minutes. ‘What’s happening?’ Aisha asked as she got near the car. She had been in darkness all the while since it was only Benny the boss was communicating with, the only thing she knew was that Benny gave her the signal to follow him when he was going out to the car. ‘Nothing,’ Benny smiled and stepped out, then he closed the door. ‘I’m just following the boss’ instruction.’ ‘But you’re not telling me anything.’ ‘Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.’ Benny said and grabbed her by the arm and they both returned into the house. ~~ Cole rose up to face the new guard who just entered. The slim guard was staring around the room with great awe of the disarray in the place. He took a glance at the Chief’s personal bodyguard laying lifeless, his face clearly showed his shock on seeing the man down. He raised up his head and stared at Cole with a frowned face. Cole rushed to the guard as the man’s hand made way into his pocket. He landed a kick on the man’s belly and the man staggered backwards, his body closing back the door. ~~ Nasiru and his wife began to walk back slowly into the house with their guests, there was an unvoiced tension and unusual silenced amongst them. Benny took out his phone and unlocked it, he clicked on the chat application and opened the conversation box with Tarasha. She was already typing in a message. ‘Show the pictures I send you to the man,’ the message entered as they stepped into the living room. ‘Okay Boss,’ Benny replied and proceeded with Aisha to the three seater sofa to sit. Another message came in shortly, ‘is his wife still with you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Make sure that she and her husband does not leave there but show only the husband the message.’ ‘Okay Boss,’ Benny answered and the messages paused for a minute. ‘I think I need to go check your colleagues now,’ The Senate President said after he saw that the guests were seated for a while. His wife was seated at the opposite sofa to them. ‘No need sir, I have a message for you.’ Mr Alfred said and got up. ‘What message is that?’ Nasiru answered reluctantly and walked back to Mr Alfred who was also walking towards him. ‘Here,’ Mr Alfred clicked on the loading picture. An blurry image first appeared and it became clearer in few seconds. ‘What?’ Nasiru screamed out loud on seeing the photo. There was his daughter Fatima tied to the bed, with an explosive device around her body. Aisha and Mrs Nasiru got up immediately in shock as they heard the man’s scream. Two of the guards also came into the living room from different directions. ‘Calm down mister,’ Mr Alfred said to the man in a low voice, ‘we don’t want to harm her if you’ll cooperate with us.’ ‘Yes, I would cooperate.’ The man said nodded his head in agreement, almost in tears already. ‘Now tell your guards to return, assure them that there’s no problem.’ Benny said to his ears. ‘Go back everyone, everything is fine.’ Nasiru ordered immediately. ‘Correct,’ Benny smiled. He checked his phone again, there was another text message and more pictures. ‘Tell the man to sit with you as if nothing happened and wait till I come.’ ‘What’s the matter?’ Mrs Nasiru stood at her husband’s front and asked. ‘Nothing o, nothing.’ Mr Nasiru sang back like a terrified child, his body trembling all over. ~~ Tarasha climbed down the bed after attaching the bomb to Fatima’s body, then she started to pull off the maid’s uniform. After a minute, she had stripped to her underwear and was proceeding to pick her previous clothes, her connection device beeped. ‘Cole,’ she called as she answered. ‘Boss, I’m in the security guards uniform now.’ ‘Do you have a cap with you?’ ‘Ermm… I will take the cap now.’ ‘Better, meet us in the living room. Connect me if any one confronts you. And if you get there before me, ensure that the target and his wife does not leave there.’ ‘Okay boss,’ Benny said and the connection was closed. Tarasha began to put on the clothes hurriedly, she turned back to Fatima who was staring at her, tied to the bed with the bomb attached to her body. She was too terrified to scream or move as Tarasha had threatened that the bomb would go off it unnecessary movements were made or if there was any attempt made to detach it. ‘Sorry baby,’ Tarasha said with a smirk, ‘sometimes, the children partakes from the Father’s sins.’ ~~ ‘What do you want from me?’ Nasiru asked from Mr Alfred, now seated but still trembling. ‘Calm down mister, you’ll find out soon.’ ‘I said what is the matter?’ Mrs Nasiru shouted at her husband in an angry manner. Benny gave the man a threatening look to warn his wife. ‘Will you sit down woman,’ Nasiru shouted back at her. ‘Something is clearly wrong, I’ll alert the security’ She said and began to hurry away. Aisha followed after immediately to stop her. ‘No madam, you can’t do that.’ A man dressed in the security’s uniform walked in from the corridor of the inner rooms and stopped at her front. ‘Cole!’ Aisha exclaimed as she saw the security man’s face. ‘Yea baby, I’m with you.’ Cole winked at Aisha and took out something from his pocket. ‘Who the hell are you and what authority do you think you have to stop me?’ Mrs Nasiru tried to push Cole away and proceed on but Cole pushed in a pin into the side of her neck. She felt dizzy immediately and collapsed into Cole’s hands, he carefully placed her on the floor. ‘Please don’t hurt her,’ Mr Nasiru screamed and stood up. ‘Get seated man,’ Cole took out a gun and pointed at the man, ‘she’s not dead, she’s only taking a nap.’ Up to five security officials rushed into the scene at once, two from the same place Cole came from and pointed the guns at Cole. Then Benny got up and held the man neck, he pointed his gun to the man’s head. ‘Tell them to drop their arms or you and your daughter would be killed.’ All the men directed their gun focus to Benny now. ‘Drop your guns,’ Nasiru said to the men. They slowly began to comply. ‘Hello Senate President,’ Tarasha came in from behind the guards. She walked to the man’s front and stood. Then she took a quick glance at her men, Cole, Benny and Aisha before returning her gaze to the man. ‘Come on Benny, treat the Senate President with respect.’ She said in a tone of mockery. Benny slowly took off the gun from the man’s head. Cole bent down and began to pack the guns of the security men. Tarasha took out her phone from the bag she had carried with her upstairs. She turned on the screen to check the time. ‘We only have fifteen minutes to get out of this house,’ she announced loudly. She took out a timer from her bag and showed it to the man, it was at thirty minutes and twenty three seconds, counting down. ‘The bomb on your daughter’s body would be going off when this time counts down to the end. The place where the control point of the bomb will require fifteen minutes drive from here.’ She said, staring at the man’s face squarely. ‘Well, fifteen minutes if there’s no traffic.’ ‘Who are you?’ The man managed to mutter, squeezing his face bitterly. ‘Hahaha, you’re asking questions?’ Tarasha laughed out loud. ‘I will do you the honour of replying.’ She cleared her throat and folded her arms. ‘Your people call me Samantha Osman.’ The man’s face fell, a tear dropped from his eyes. ‘I’ve been expecting you, but please spare my daughter and my wife.’ ‘Only you can do that now, just follow us quietly and tell your security officials to remain calm until you return.’ She ordered. Cole, Benny and Aisha kept staring at their boss in surprise. This was not their initial plan, what she was doing was far from their plan but they had complete trust in her.
