TARASHA Episode 18 Pt 6 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
This report looks quite similar to this,’ the clinical pathologist, Mr Albert said to doctor Tobi.
‘Sir, who was the person who brought this other sample?’ Doctor Tobi asked in reply.
Both of them were standing behind the long lab table, they were tripod stands, pipettes and several other laboratory apparatuses on the table in front of them. There were also some other people in the large laboratory, mostly young Doctors, standing at the left end of the lab.
‘It was brought by a Doctor from Capetown South Africa. He said he discovered the liquid here in Nigeria with his friends,’ Mr Albert replied him.
‘When is he coming back?’ Doctor Tobi asked.
‘I don’t know but he said he’ll call me later. He had to leave because he had an emergency,’ Mr Albert said.
‘Okay, I need to find out from him what else he has found out about the liquid. I want to run some more tests on it, it seems that it’s going to be the antidote to the situation of one of my patients.’
‘But since when have you gotten this sample?’
‘Just this morning, it was sent to me from the forensics team of the police headquarters.’
‘Ever discovered anything like this before?
‘Not really, but traces of the liquid were found in the blood samples of the patient. I think it’ll be a cure for his situation.’
‘But there’s a notable difference between the two samples, the one you brought seems to boil faster than this other one.’
‘Yes, that just shows that there’s something in this one which is absent in yours.’
‘Of course, that’s what it shows.’ Mr Albert said. Both of them stared in silence for a short while. ‘You said the sample was brought by the police? Mr Albert broke the silence.
‘Yes.’
‘That means you’ll have to get back to them before you take any step, especially before altering the chemical composition of the liquid.’
‘Hmm… Okay sir,’ Doctor Tobi replied, pondering in his heart whether to follow the man’s suggestion or not.
Alright then,’ Mr Albert began to take off his hand gloves. ‘I’ll wait for the young man’s call and get back to you immediately I get it.’ He said and patted Tobi at the back before walking away.
Doctor Tobi remained still staring at all the instruments an liquids which were before him. The sample brought to him could partially cure Henry’s situation if used properly but he also needed to be careful in administering it, so as not to waste or use it wrongly or inefficiently. That’s why he had to wait for the stranger whom the clinical pathologist said had a similar sample of liquid.
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‘Congratulations Chief,’ Chief Nonso smiled broadly as he walked into Chief Gab’s sitting room.
‘Chief Nonso,’ Chief Gab looked up and dropped his legs from the footstool. ‘Yes, congratulations to us.’ He got up and walked to his friend to have an handshake and also briefly hug each other.
‘Wow! It’s easier than I thought.’ Chief Nonso said, all smiles as he took the seat next to Chief Gab.
‘Yeah… All we are waiting for is the news of the Nasiru’s death which is going to happen soon.’
‘Ah!’ Chief Nonso stressed in a relaxed manner. ‘That’s inevitable, the news of his death would soon fill everywhere.’
‘Yeah… So what would you like to drink?’
‘Nothing really, I’m in a hurry.’ Chief Nonso said and sat up. ‘I have to go back to the office as soon as possible, so I’ll appreciate if we could go straight to the reason you called.’
‘Okay,’ Chief Gab cleared his throat and readjusted his seating posture to a more serious one. ‘I may need to leave this country soon, I need to go and hide somewhere.’
‘Huh? Why?’ Chief Nonso questioned with a serious look.
‘Tarasha called me yesterday and she actually warned me to be careful, she said that Elvis is already aware that she’s coming for him.’ Chief Gab explained.
‘Hmm…’
‘Yeah, and you know that they all believe that I’m out of the country and sick somewhere in Benin Republic.’ Chief Gab said in a kind of questioning manner.
‘Yes,’ Chief Nonso replied.
‘And you also know that Elvis has volunteered himself to work with the police on Tarasha’s case?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. My fear now is that Chief Elvis may reveal to the police some of our connections and they may name me as one of theirsuspects. That would make them start to trace me and they would find out with time that I’m here in Nigeria, hale and hearty.’
‘Hmm… I get you.’ Chief Nonso took in deep breath and squinted as he pondered on the situation. ‘We really need to do something drastic about it, ‘ he said after some few seconds of silence.
‘Yeah, thank you. That’s why I’m thinking that I leave the country silently to another African country apart from Benin Republic that I can easily get to without the use of an airplane.’ Chief Gab suggested.
‘Okay, so which country are you thinking about?’
‘Any country would be good, we just need to make sure that they are not able to trace us or our movements at all.’
‘Hmm…’ Chief Nonso paused to think for a while, he placed an elbow on his knee and his chin on his palm. ‘But what about Tarasha now?’
‘I’ve not spoken to her about my plans yet but I have an appointment online with her later tonight and I’ll reveal it to her.’
‘Okay… But how do you deal with her from there?’
‘That’s simple, we’ll continue using technology since she doesn’t even like coming face to face with me.’
‘Alright then, let the arrangement begin.’ Chief Nonso said and relaxed his back on the backrest of the sofa, staring deeply frontwards.
+++
‘What other businesses did you do with your group, the heavy seven?’ Tarasha asked, accompanying the question with another huge blow to the Nasiru’s face. The man fell off the chair with a loud scream. His face had already been battered, his mouth was swollen and blood was dripping from his lips. Tarasha pulled him up to the seat again and straightened his face.
‘I swear, I can’t start mentioning all. We did a lot and I’ve forgotten most of them.’ The man struggled to say with tears dropping from his eyes and his body vibrating in pain. ‘I’ve recounted the major ones I remember already.’
‘But where’s the rest of this book that has all your deals?’ Tarasha asked him, dragging him by the collar as she placed her right foot on the sofa again.
‘We used to have several copies of the book until the group split into different parties. We decided to burn it off so that we don’t keep evidence of the our corrupt deals for the police to find and use against us later in the future but every one burnt theirs except for Chief Elvis. I, late Chief Onwuli and Chief Gab discovered it in Chief Elvis’ study. When we asked him why he kept it against our agreement, he said for us to remember some details of our deals, in case we had any situation we needed to recall. Then we told it to the whole group and all concluded that we divide the book into four parts, two were given to the part of the group in the opposition party while the remaining parts were taken by me and Chief Elvis.’
‘Well… I hope you live to tell the story on another day, ‘ Tarasha said and stepped away from the sofa. She turned to Benny and made a signal for him to get the man. ‘He’s ready for the video now.’
Benny dragged the man up and led him to the sofa placed in front of the backdrop. He made him sit well before returning to where he was previously standing.
‘I want you to give a tell a summary of all you wicked acts in five minutes,’ Tarasha began. ‘A summary,’ she stressed again to emphasize. ‘Then in one minute, you’ll encourage Chief Gab to cooperate with us and give us the money we need.’
Tarasha paused for a while and moved closer to the man, she stared at his face for some few seconds and then pulled him by the little hair on his head and his and bent his face backwards. ‘Do you understand all I’ve said?’
‘Yes, but…’ Nasiru struggled to say, Tarasha released his head. ‘But I can pay you all you need if you had asked me.’
‘No,’ Tarasha made an evil chuckle. ‘You don’t have enough money anymore,’ she turned to Cole and made a signal to him. Cole understood and quickly walked away from the living room.
‘We’ve been using your money all this while, the bags of rice and other materials we made available were funded by you. We got all the money from your bank accounts.’ Tarasha continued talking. ‘And we still need you to do something for us,’ she paused and turned to Cole who just returned. Cole handed to her a tablet device. She swiped open the screen and began to punch in some commands. After two minutes, she handed over the device to Nasiru, placing it on the man’s handcuffed hand. ‘We want you to confirm all the transactions we’ve made on all your bank accounts through the mobile apps, so that the banks don’t come looking for us. ‘ she said to him with an evil smile.
Nasiru raised his hands closer to his eye and read through the several bank account statements that had been opened to him in awe, so much money had been transferred from his bank accounts without him being alerted. He began to sob silently, his hands began to shake and the device almost fell from his hand.
‘Shi*t!’ Tarasha cursed as she stopped the tablet from falling. She stared at him with a smirk and bit her lips, she placed it back on his hands, supporting it with her own hand. ‘You have to log in to your mobile apps and make your thumb print to confirm that you really carried out the transaction.’
~~~~
‘And are you sure that he’ll return to his normal state of mind if you’re able to manufacture the cure with this sample?’ Dakolo asked Doctor Tobi.
‘No, I’m not assuring you yet but I believe that his condition would be improved by whatever we are able to manufacture from the sample,’ Doctor Tobi replied him.
Dakolo turned to look at Henry who was still in the same sitting position he had been since he woke, staring blankly without responding to our recognizing any sound or his environment.
‘And what if your assumption turns it l out to be wrong?’ Dakolo turned back to the Doctor. ‘Would he have to live like this for the rest of his life?’
‘Ermm… Yes,’ Doctor Tobi stated blankly. ‘But what we have are not just assumptions, with the several tests we’ve made on the samples, I can say that they’ll be a reasonable improvement in his state.’
‘Hmm… But Doc, I made a little study about his condition after the other Doctor told us the name and I got to find out that nobody who had ever suffered from the same condition survived or came out from it.’
‘Yes, but none of those conditions were induced. In Henry’s case, the poison was introduced into his blood. It could have be possible that if we had gotten the sample earlier, his condition wouldn’t have gotten this far. The poison has eaten deep and it’s still eating deep. By next week when you come here, you’ll surely meet him worse than this.’ Doctor Tobi explained.
‘Huh?’ Dakolo widened his eyes in fear.
‘That’s the truth officer.’
‘But why don’t you start working on the sample, so that you can administer the product to him on time.’
‘I’ll start working on it as soon as possible, I’m only waiting for the other Doctor who has the similar sample.’
Dakolo took in a deep breath and placed his hands on his waist as he stared thoughtfully. ‘You know Doc, part of the reason I’m here is because you mentioned that someone else came with the same sample.’ Dakolo began in a warning tone. ‘I came with four more policemen, they’re outside and they’re going to join the other three in watching over Henry.’
Doctor Tobi stared at him and opened his mouth in surprise. ‘Yes,’ Dakolo continued, ‘the only person that could have that sample would be the same person that dropped it.’
‘But this person was from Capetown, South Africa.’
‘You believed that?’ Dakolo questioned, squeezing his face. ‘Please notify the officers here once the person comes back.’
‘Okay, I’ve not met yet but I believe I will when he returns. I’ll tell the officers and call you on phone too.’
