TARASHA Episode 18 Pt 1 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
***Hello guys, this episode has not been properly proofread, Do try ignore the errors *** Tarasha tried her best to avoid the stares she was getting from the rest of the team as Cole drove them out of the house in one of the Senate President’s cars. Except for the Senate President’s eyes which were staring in fear, the others were expecting an explanation for their new change in plan. But Tarasha wasn’t ready to talk much, they would understand the new plan as time goes on. ‘Park there,’ Tarasha pointed to a small empty space as she ordered Cole who took a glance back and then pulled over immediately. ‘Everyone should step out.’ She added. She started by stepping out first and then the others followed her. Cole who was still in the guards uniform was the last to step out. ‘Our car is parked six metres away from here, we’ll leave this here and get into that.’ She explained and then held the Senate President’s hand in hers, she began to lead the way. ‘Come on smile, we ain’t flogging you.’ Tarasha said to Nasiru who gave a forced smile immediately. Before leaving the Senate President’s house, Tarasha had promised the guards that the man would be returned to them before twelve noon the next day. She also made Nasiru force his guards not to report to the authorities or alert the guards outside. It was also easy for them to drive out of the house because Cole was putting on a guard’s uniform and the cap to cover his face, the guards outside all thought that the Senate President was going somewhere not too far with his guests as the man was made to smile at them and promise to return soon as they drove out through the gate. They got to the car in less than one minute, Tarasha took out the keys and handed it over to Cole. She and Aisha entered into the backseat with the Senate President in the middle. ‘Drive to where Benny’s car was parked,’ Tarasha said after Cole started the car engine. ‘When we get there, Benny and Aisha would get into the car and follow us. We may need to go different ways later on but you can always locate this car with the tracker.’ In five minutes time, they got to where Benny’s car was parked, Benny and Aisha did as they had been instructed. They cars followed closely behind each other, they kept driving straight forward without making any turn for twenty minutes. Tarasha was quiet, so was the rest of the team where they were. Only Nasiru had begun to shiver uncomfortably and Tarasha noticed. ‘What’s the matter?’ She asked, even though she was sure why the man was trembling. Nasiru’s lips vibrated for sometime without making any word, then after forty seconds he was able to find his voice. ‘It’s past thirty minutes already and the bomb hasn’t still been deactivated,’ he said half stammering. Tarasha smiled and stretched her hand to pick a device behind them, on the screen were two timers not reading and regulators beside them. She typed in a password and turned on the first one which had six minutes left and used the regulator to increase the time to twenty minutes. ‘I turned off the bombs before, thank you for reminding to switch them on.’ She said with a smile before returning the device. Nasiru’s trembling increased and he started mumbling words to himself, Tarasha listened carefully and found out that he was reciting words from the Quran. She laughed in her heart and sat properly, she stretched out her hands and began quote some prayers from the Hisnul Hasin loudly. Nasiru paused and stared at her in shock. ‘You’re a Muslim my daughter,’ he said in a shaky voice. ‘Who the hell is your daughter? Don’t you get that no God is going to come save you here?’ Tarasha slammed. ‘The gods you serve are murderers themselves, more brutal than the ruthless assassins ever.’ The man was shocked at her words and decided to remain silent, even Cole glanced back at Tarasha after she spoke. Nasiru dipped his two palms in between his knees, he shut his eyes and kept making prayers in his heart. After sometime he stopped and summoned more courage to talk. ‘Please you can ki*ll me or do anything you want with me but don’t harm my family. My wife and daughter are still in the house.’ Tarasha chuckled, ‘who told you I was going to ki*ll you? I know your life doesn’t mean anything to you, that’s why I want to take the lives of those that mean much to you.’ Tears rolled down the man’s cheeks and he rubbed his palms together in a pleading manner, ‘please don’t do that. Punish me for whatever offence I must have committed against you. I know I’m a man with multitude of sins and blood in his hands, please punish the offender and leave the innocent ones to live.’ Tarasha pulled her bag from the back and opened it. She began to search in it for the book she had taken away from the study in the man’s house. ‘Wipe off your face now and keep quiet until I ask you to talk. If we’re stopped by the police or anyone else on the road, consider your wife and your daughter gone.’ She said to the man. Nasiru quickly wiped off the tears and cleaned his nose, he sat properly and relaxed his back. ‘Good,’ Tarasha continued after he was settled, she had found the book but she hid it under her bag on her lap. ‘Now answer my questions quickly,’ she paused and checked the bomb timing device at the back, six minutes was gone already. ‘You have twenty three more minutes to answer my questions and save your wife and daughter, hope you would cooperate.’ ‘Yes, I will.’ The man nodded in agreement. ‘Good boy!’ Tarasha smiled and smack her lips. ‘The Vice President called you on phone while we were in your study, what was your discussion about?’ Nasiru took in a deep breath and sniffed, ‘he called to inform me that Don, one of our boys was almost caught by the police today.’ ‘Your boy, how is he your boy?’ Tarasha asked, sounding more interested in the conversation. ‘He used to work for us several years ago but we stopped calling him for…I mean I stopped calling him for jobs, I had no need of his services again since I stopped the bad activities we were once involved in.’ ‘Hmm… ‘Tarasha chuckled, ‘we’ll come back to those your bad activities. But why did you call him back?’ ‘I didn’t call him back, Vice President Elvis did. He called him when he…’ Nasiru paused and drew in another deep breath, staring at Tarasha’s face in fear. ‘He called him back when we got scared of your presence in Nigeria, he saw that you have taken out all the remaining people that we used to be work together and we were expecting that we will be your next targets.’ Nasiru continued with his face and voice full of regrets. ‘Elvis has always been the one who has the boys under direct control, so I don’t know much about their activities apart from what he tells me. I just know that he called back Don to find you before you get to us.’ ‘Interesting!’ Tarasha licked her lips like she was enjoying his story. ‘So you brought Don for Samantha Osman?’ She asked, staring at his face, he nodded in agreement. ‘Then what was he doing in Henry E.G’s house earlier today?’ ‘We got to find out that Henry worked closely with you, so he tried to get to Henry, so that he could get to you through him.’ ‘How did you find out that Henry worked closely with Samantha?’ Tarasha asked, putting on a serious look. ‘We get our information directly from the police, Chief Elvis is working with them on your case.’ ‘On Samantha Osman’s case you mean?’ Tarasha corrected him. ‘Yes, Samantha Osman. Are you not her?’ Nasiru asked. ‘I am, but I’m so many people also.’ Tarasha paused and faced the road. ‘Take the left turn,’ she said to Cole and then picked out her phone. ‘That’s out of town boss,’ Cole stated in a bass voice. ‘Yes, I know. We’re going back to the first house we landed in Abuja.’ She replied. Cole spoke back no more and he turned as he was ordered to, he took a look at the side mirror to see Benny who was driving behind them, he made some signals to him with his fingers. ‘Aisha,’ Tarasha spoke into her phone. ‘You and Benny should go back to the hotel where we came from, gather all your loads and tell me when you’re through gathering them.’ She ended the call and began to search for something in his bag. He would need to blindfold the man so that he would have idea of where they were going to.’ ~~~ 11.30pm Agent Dakolo hissed severally as he stretched and turned round the bed to look for his phone which was ringing for the second time, he finally found it, the call was from the office. He shook his head partly in annoyance as he sat up. He had been busy all day and worked overtime. Now, it was time to rest and someone was still disturbing him from the office. He was very sure in his heart that it was a matter that could wait till the next day. ‘Hello,’ he said as he answered the call reluctantly. ‘Agent Dakolo, there’s an emergency right now.’ A female voice came through, Dakolo readjusted himself as he heard the word ’emergency’ and noticed the urgency in her voice. ‘We just got a call from the Senate President’s mansion that the man has been abducted over an hour ago by a group whose leader claimed to be Samantha Osman.’ ‘Damn!’ Dakolo cursed as he flew up from the bed, not waiting to hear what the caller still had to say. He proceeded at once to the wardrobe to select the clothes he would put on. ‘Are you still there sir?’ He heard a shout from the phone he dropped on the bed as he tried to button his shirt. He picked up the phone again, ‘sorry, I didn’t hear the last thing you said.’ ‘They implanted a bomb around the Senate President’s daughter’s body. She’s still tied to her bed as at now and can’t move until the bomb us deactivated and removed.’ The female voice repeated aggressively. ‘Shi*t! Thank you, how many men do we still have left in the office?’ ‘Less than ten sir.’ ‘Okay, mobilize them into two vans. Let them take all the highly sophisticated weapons with them. But first, mobilize the head of the anti-bomb squad.’ Dakolo ordered before ending the call. He dialed Ken’s phone number immediately, it took sometime for the call to be answered. ‘Agent sir,’ Ken’s sleepy voice spoke. ‘Ken, the Senate President has been abducted by Samantha Osman. They’ve also installed a bomb around his daughter’s body, meet me there as quick as possible.’ ‘Yes sir,’ every note of sleepiness had been eliminated from Ken’s voice by the news. ‘Make sure you carefully take note of anything you see on your way.’ Dakolo added before ending the call. ~~~ 11.30pm Tarasha and Cole and Nasiru had arrived at their first Lodge in Abuja, the same place they had to leave when Henry found out about it. The Senate President was sitting in the three seater old rickety sofa while Tarasha sat on the sofa opposite his. The place had become so dusty again within the brief period it had not been occupied by anyone. ‘Mr Nasiru, what would you like to take?’ Tarasha finally broke the silence. Nasiru shook his head in negative, folding his arms like someone who was freezing in the cold. ‘Tell me, so that I would tell the rest of the team to get it from you on the way.’ Nasiru still gave no reply. Tarasha got up, taking her bag along with her, she was still dressed in the same gown she wore the the man’s house. She sat close to him on the arm of the sofa the man was seating. ‘Since, you don’t want anything. I guess you’ll like to speak up before I blow up you daughter and the whole house.’ She threatened, bringing out the timing device. She had prolonged the time to two hours. ‘I’ll tell you anything you want,’ Nasiru finally spoke, realizing that his daughter still had the bomb tied around her body. ‘Good,’ Tarasha smiled and took out a book. She wiped off the sweat forming on her forehead, cleaning the makeup with it. That part of her face began to show its real colour. She took out the book from her bag, ‘these books documents some of your secret deals, isn’t it?’ ‘Yes, it does.’ ‘And all these people whose names are written here,’ she pointed to the part of the front cover where the names were inscribed. ‘They were in your group?’ ‘Yes, we all did illegal businesses together peacefully until some of us change political parties.’ ‘How many of them are still alive?’ ‘Two of us… Ermm maybe three. I’m one of the persons alive, the vice President is also alive, you killed thre…’ He cut short his statement as his eyes met with hers, he noticed that the colour on her forehead had changed. ‘Who is the third person alive?’ ‘Gabriel, I’m not sure if he’s really alive. The last I heard of him was when he was released from prison, it was said that he suffered from stroke and had run to hide himself in Benin Republic.’ ‘Hmm… Why didn’t you help him? Wasn’t he your former business partner?’ Nasiru paused and sniffed in mucus, he took a deep breath and stared at Tarasha’s face, trying to find the best way to answer. ‘Gabriel is our enemy.’ ‘Our? What do you mean by our?’ ‘He betrayed us; I, the Vice President, Chief Jubril, Chief Nnamdi and Kelechi Edwin. He betrayed us.’ ‘How did he betray you?’ ‘Ermm…’Nasiru began to stammer as he couldn’t find words to support his accusation. ‘Hehe,’ Tarasha got up and stood at his front, then she squatted and looked into his eyeballs. ‘You’re still lying to me Mister, I guess you don’t know what I can do.’ ‘We actually betrayed him,’ Nasiru finally confessed. ‘Elvis Richards brought the idea of sending him to prison and wiping out his family.’ ‘So you wiped off someone’s family and sent him to prison?’ Tarasha got up slowly, ‘and now you’re trying to do charity up and down to cover your sins right?’ Nasiru gave no reply, tears began to drop down his cheeks. ‘Just ki*ll me now, I know I have to pay for my sins. I’m ready.’ Tarasha took her gaze away from his face as Cole walked into the living room at that moment. She walked away to meet Cole, she said something in his ears before returning. Cole returned back to carry out her orders. ‘We won’t ki*ll you,’ Tarasha said to the man. ‘We’ll keep you alive until you stop cooperating. If you cooperate till the end, we’ll let you go but drop you on another country.’ It sounded like a miracle to Nasiru as his eyes lit up with hope. ‘We’ll need you for a video tomorrow.’ Tarasha added. ‘A video, would my face show?’ ‘Of course it would,’ Tarasha replied with a short laugh. ‘Or do you prefer dying?’ ‘No, I prefer the video.’ ‘Good,’ Tarasha clapped her hands. ‘Now, get up. Let me show you the room you’ll pass your night.’ The man got up and Tarasha led him to a room, she made him sit on the bed and the handcuffed his left hand to the wooden part. Tarasha’s phone rang. ‘Hello… Okay, just come.’ She spoke briefly and ended the call. Then she dropped the phone just beside Nasiru. She bent to pull off his shoes. ‘We’ll record the video tomorrow, don’t try anything silly.’ Tarasha said before turning back. She walked out of the place leaving her phone behind. As soon as Nasiru could no longer hear her footsteps, he picked up the phone and dialed a number in a hurry. ‘Hello… I don’t know where I am now but I’m still with the assassins, you can get this location by tracking this phone call… Yes, I’m safe for now. They promised not to ki*ll me if I cooperate with them.’
