TARASHA Episode 18 Pt 9 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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Benny took off his hand gloves and washed his sweaty palms in the basin. He cleaned his hands dry with the hand towel, then he took out a phone from his pocket. He opened the screen and clicked on the chat application icon.
‘I’m starting the recorder I placed on the Doctor now, please do help me monitor his conversation and make sure it is transcribed and sent to me, according to our plan.’ He quickly typed into the chat box and sent to Cole. He made sure it was marked delivered before he returned the phone into his pocket and walked out of the restroom, heading to Dr Tobi’s office to wait there.
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‘Hello Mat,’ Chief Elvis spoke into the phone.
‘Hello, who’s this?’ Matvei replied in his gruff voice.
‘Matvei, it’s Elvis. Don’t you remember you asked me to call back?’
‘Oh Damn! This ain’t the time yet man.’
‘Ermm… But the time is close already.’
‘Elvis, are you really sure you want a top grade assassin?’
‘Oh! Why not? I’m sure,’ Chief Elvis stated boldly, surprised that Matvei was asking him such a question. ‘Are you not the one who confirmed that the Nefary Clan sent one of their bests down here?’
‘Yes, I was the one. I was just wondering if you’re really certain that she’s coming after you.’
‘Yes, she is. I told you before that she has already taken out the rest of my business partners.’
‘Well… I thought you won’t call back,’ Matvei paused and sniffed loudly, Elvis could tell that he was taking in a hard drug of some sort. ‘That’s why I didn’t reply you immediately nor did I send you any billing information.’
‘Please, I’m serious about the matter.’ Chief Elvis said in a pleading tone.
‘We can’t just tell if you’re serious yet, it’s too early.’
‘What are you talking about man?’
‘Humm… What of you coming to Russia to come strike the deal with us, these kinds of deals don’t just happen via phone calls.’
‘Oh Damn Matvei! You know I can’t just leave my country like that, I’m the Vice President. I can’t just move anyhow, everything about me us documented and I’ll have to answer serious questions.’
‘Then you are not be serious then, just face your work as the Vice President in you country.’
‘Come on Mat, i’m serious.’ Chief Elvis was getting angry already.
‘Then find your way here,’ Matvei said slowly and then sniffed in like he did previously.
‘Matvei, I may have to consider hiring from your rival gang.’ Chief Elvis threatened.
Matvei made a chuckle, then it turned into a brief laughter and then a sardonic and long one. He stopped suddenly and he could be heard sniffing again for about two minutes. ‘Assassins in the same gangs don’t go against each other, except on order from their Lord and that only happens when one of them becomes a rebel. You should know better man.’
Chief Elvis heaved a sigh, Matvei was putting him in a tight position of choice. ‘What do you want Matvei? You know I can’t come there.’ He spoke in a calmer tone.
‘Hmm… You’re really sounding serious, I don’t want you to disappoint me like you’ve done before.’ Matvei said and then cleared his throat.
‘I won’t Mat.’
‘Well, we don’t just want things to go out of order, we don’t release our top grade assassins anyhow. But I’ll help you ensure we release one of the best machines,’ Matvei promised.
‘Oh thanks Matvei,’ Chief Elvis sounded more relaxed.
‘But…’
‘But what?’
‘You have to make sure it is well provided for always, keep the assassin in the right condition and always make sure that there are tools available for it to use.’
‘I’m ready to do all that.’
‘And one very important thing is that you have to always think properly before you send the assassin, especially on a killing mission. You might find it hard in making it abort a mission.’
‘Yes, I have only one mission for now. And I’m already decided about it.’
‘Okay then, you have to give us some days to prepare you a machine. We’ll have to prepare a new identity for it to get into your country.’
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‘He asked you to get the rest of the samples?’ Dakolo asked Dr Tobi with a note of suspicion in his voice.
‘No,’ Dr Tobi responded strongly. ‘We need the remaining quantity, we need all we can get. We may not be able to produce the cure if we don’t have enough of it.’
‘Is that what he told you?’
‘No! Agent, what are you insinuating?’ Dr Tobi frowned, offended by Dakolo’s way of questioning him. ‘I’m a trained Doc and I know what’s happening in the lab.’
‘Calm down Doc,’ Dakolo got up from the stool and moved closer to Tobi. ‘I’m just trying to be extra careful.’ He placed a hand on the doctor’s shoulder.
‘But haven’t you called his hospital yet to confirm if he’s really one of their lab scientists?’ Tobi retorted.
‘Yes, we have called the Government City Hospital in Capetown,’ Dakolo took off his hand from the doctor’s shoulder and turned back, taking three steps before he turned again. ‘They’ve confirmed that they have an official named Dr David, they even sent us some of his passports and it’s really this man you brought.’
‘Then why are you still doubting his authenticity or sincerity,’ Dr Tobi raised a brow.
‘Exactly! That’s it, at doubt his sincerity, anyone could be used. Any silly mistakes could totally take out Henry and that will be all, that will be the end of an intelligent young man.’ Dakolo replied.
‘But why would anyone attempt to murder him? He’s been a help and a source of joy to the whole nation,’ Dr Tobi asked, looking confused.
‘He’s been a help to the whole nation but has been the nightmare to so many bad people whom he helped stopped their evil agendas, these people could be the ones after his life. They may want to ki*ll him so as to be able to continue perpetrating their evil deeds and they’ll be no one to stop them and even if there’s anyone else who tries to come up like Henry, the person would be scared not to end up in the same way.’ Dakolo stopped and moved closer, he placed his hand on the doctor’s shoulder again. ‘Have you heard of Samantha Osman?’ Dakolo asked in a soft voice, looking straight into the doctor’s eyes.
The doctor nodded in affirmation.
‘She kidnapped the Senate President last night, are you aware?’ Dakolo asked, even though he was sure the Doctor must have read it in the news. The doctor nodded again. ‘Henry knows a lot of secrets about her, some secrets that can destroy her and put an end to her evil works. That’s why she’s after him, she tried to render him totally paralyzed and brainless but thank God the police showed up. In a hurry, she left and forgot that bottle with the cure and I believe that she’ll be coming after it. That’s why we’ve got to be extra careful.’ Dakolo stopped again and turned back, he ran his fingers through his hair before he continued talking in a determined tone. ‘We have to keep Henry alive and return him to his normal state to help us defeat Samantha, else she’ll wreck more havoc in our nation.’
Dr Tobi shoulders dropped as he took in a deep breath, Dakolo had succeeded in pulling him to his side but he still trusted the lab scientist.
‘But Agent, we have to make this clear.’ Dr Tobi said in a soft tone.
‘What’s that?’ Dakolo turned back and asked.
‘Even if we are able to mix up the cure, it may not return the patient back to his normal state. He may have lost his memory and his vision may be impaired, there are some other things which we’re not able to see now.’ Dr Tobi explained.
‘Hmm…’ Dakolo heaved a deep sigh, he placed his palm on his lips as he pondered deeply on the doctor’s words. ‘Well, just do your best and allow God do the rest. That’s the most important reason we should protect the rest of the liquid.’
Dakolo proceeded back to the stool where he was previously seated, he picked up a nylon bag and took out a small bottle, less than half filled with the liquid. ‘This is it, it’s not much anymore, you have to preserve more than you’ll use now.’
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** Six minutes later **
‘Which officer could that be?’ Tarasha said into her phone, still busy with the laptop in the room.
‘It’s the popular Agent Dakolo,’ Cole replied her from the other end.
‘That one?’ Tarasha asked in a rhetoric manner. ‘We’ll have to get him out of the way soon. Now, send the transcribed conversation to Benny, he should change to plan B; you and Aisha has to come in then.’
‘Okay Boss, I’ll do as you say.’ Cole said and the call ended.
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Cole got up from the bed immediately the call ended and walked out of the room.
‘Aisha,’ he called out as he moved towards the kitchen.
‘Yes,’ the response came from behind. Cole turned back and saw Aisha coming out from the room where the Senate President was kept.
‘Feeding him?’ Cole asked.
‘Yes, I went to drop his food.’
‘Okay, the boss just called now and gave some instructions. You have to go into town to get some things, I’ll join you there.’ Cole said. He dipped his hand into his pocket and took out a piece of paper and a MasterCard. ‘Here,’ he handed it over to her. ‘That’s the list of what to get.’
Aisha took the card and paper, she unfolded the paper and quickly read through the list.
‘What do we need all these for?’ Aisha asked with a confused look.
‘We have to become journalists tonight, we’ve got some questions for the Doctors and officers.’ Cole replied.
‘Officers?’ Aisha’s face widened in shock.
‘Hahaha,’ Cole laughed loudly. ‘I know what you’re scared of,’ he said, pointing his index finger to her frightened face.
Aisha hissed and turned away, she folded the paper and began to walk away. She stopped halfway and turned back. Cole was still standing, staring at her with his arms folded.
‘Are you serious about it?’ Aisha asked in a frightened tone.
‘I’m not joking baby, we’ll have to interview some Doctors although only one of them is our target, we may not interview him but we are to distract him by saying nasty things about him to his superiors. We’ll get a lot of journalists to join us.’ Cole moved closer to her. ‘And we’re going to interview officers too, Agent Dakolo may also be one of them.’
Aisha eyes widened and her body trembled in shock again.
‘Calm down girl,’ Cole chuckled and used his palm to rub her nose. ‘No one would recognize you once you’re properly disguised and you remain confident like the boss has taught us.’ Cole encouraged.
‘I hope so,’ Aisha said, her face brightened up a little, remembering that they had more disguise materials to use now.
‘Maybe you need to take in some…’ Cole completed his statement with a sniff and a wink. ‘You know, to boost your confidence.’
‘Sure, I will.’ She understood him to be prescribing hard drugs for her. ‘But what about this man?’ She asked, pointing backwards to the room where Nasiru was.
‘I’ll take care of him before coming to join you, he’s gonna take a long nap.’
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**Thirty minutes later**
Benny read through Cole’s message frowning, his happiness and gladness of being the one that was to execute the job alone had diminished. Agent Dakolo was still suspecting him even after confirming that he was really Dr David. Well, maybe that was why he was widely respected and known, his ability not to be fooled easily by criminals’ tactics.
The door flung open and Dr Tobi entered with Agent Dakolo.
‘Sorry, Dr David. I had to wait for him to come.’ Dr Tobi apologized.
‘No problem sir,’ Dr David said with a smile, greeting Dakolo with a nod gesture.
‘Hope you’re not in a hurry to leave now?’ Dr Tobi asked, turning to his own seat. He motioned Dakolo to sit beside Dr David on the second visitor’s seat.
‘Ermm… I still have some hours more to use here before I join my friends.’
‘Okay, that means you’ll join me to work on the remaining part of the liquid.’
‘Yes, I will. This time, I think we should make sure it’s not mixed at all, let’s just purify it and then you administer it to the patient. It would start working immediately and help to stop every effect of the poison on him. If we have much quantity of the liquid, then we’ll have enough to completely wash out the poison from his system. ‘ Dr David said with much concern in his voice.
‘Here’s the quantity we have left,’ Dr Tobi said, showing David the small ampoule in which he had poured in some of the liquid Dakolo gave him.
Dakolo took a quick glance at Dr Tobi to see if he was doing the right thing, he confirmed that the Doctor was following the plan, then he returned his gaze back to Dr David whom he was examining before.
‘I think this should go a long way,’ Dr David commented.
‘Then let’s get to work,’ Dr Tobi said and got up immediately. Dr David rose and Dakolo rose too after him, holding Dr David from walking as he gripped the lab scientist’s left hand which was on the table.
Dr David stared at him in surprise, looking embarrassed.
‘Sorry, ‘ Dakolo quickly apologized, he released the hand and grabbed it back almost immediately. ‘Are you married?’ He asked with a forced smile on his lips, pointing to the ring on David’s finger. Dakolo was embarrassed too. He was only trying to find anything implicating on the lab scientist’s body and had seen none, only to embarrass the young man by asking about a normal looking ring.
‘No,’ Dr David took his hand away and proceeded to the door.
The three of them walked out of the office and waited outside as Dr Tobi locked his door.
‘I’ll be going now,’ Dakolo said to Dr Tobi after the door was locked.
‘Okay sir, bye.’ Dr Tobi said and began to walk away with Dr David while Dakolo took the opposite direction.
Dakolo stopped before the stairs after he had walked out of sight. He still had ill feelings about the lab scientist, even though nothing physical about him looked suspicious. He had to return now to Ken for them to continue their investigation but he had already warned Dr Tobi and the officers in the hospital not to ever allow Henry to be left alone with the lab scientist. He was sure they would keep to his instructions as they had a senior officer of the same rank with Ken leading the team.
