Tarasha 2 Chapter 5 Part 9 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Why are you not resting like you should be?’ the young doctor in charge of Stephanie smiled as he walked in.
‘I can’t rest Doctor, I just can’t rest.’ Stephanie replied. She looked alarmed.
‘Why can’t you rest?’ he asked with a frown formed on his face as he stopped before her.
‘One of your doctors came into this room not too long after the police left,’ she began to explain, now looking towards the bed. ‘He said he was the Doctor in charge of the patient that was previously in this ward and that he forgot something under the bed, he removed it.’
The frown on the doctor’s face deepened, ‘What did he take?’
‘He showed me something I don’t really know, he said something like he used it to monitor the patient.’ She replied.
The doctor walked silently to the bed and squatted to check underneath. He raised up his head after checking for over thirty seconds. ‘I can’t find anything there,’ he said as he turned back to Stephanie. Then he stared straight to the wall and narrowed his look. ‘I’m not aware there was any patient here before,’ he said as he turned his face to her again. ‘But I’ll confirm, I think I may be wrong.’ He got up to his feet and dusted his palms. Then he applied pressure on the top of the mattress to check if it was rigid enough. A nurse- the nurse who do collected the tray from her colleague in the lab- walked in at that moment with a stainless steel tray and injection tools in it.
‘The bed is okay, you can come lay on it.’ the doctor said as he sighted the nurse walking in.
Stephanie stared at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering if he was sure of what he was saying. He met her gaze with a reassuring look and gestured with his hands, encouraging her to stand up.
‘What took you so long?’ the doctor said, turning to the nurse and giving way for Stephanie to move to the bed. ‘I was already thinking of coming to get it myself.’
The nurse curtsied apologetically but did not mention any word. She dropped the tray on the patients drawer beside the bed and stepped aside.
The Doctor moved closer to the tray, he took out the ampoule and raised it high to observe it under the light. He stopped for a second and turned to look at the nurse, she looked away immediately, shakily, hoping the doctor had not discovered that the ampoule had been changed or had a different mixture from the one expected.
The doctor turned back to Stephanie who was already staring anxiously as the recipient of the medication. The doctor picked the syringe and tore off the nylon. He took off the cap of the ampoule and inserted the needle, drawing out the liquid into the syringe.
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_Abuja_
All day Henry had remained at the work table, looking for a safe way to crack the security and get into the underground. He had several sheets of paper flying around the table which he had jotted so many codes on and tried to draw up a solution from. After several hours of trying, he still had found no way or made any progress. He was only more sure that there was a way he could crack the security and enter into all the hidden places but he didn’t know if there was a way for Tara not to get an alarm on his breaking in and if there was any way by which he would not be trapped underground when he successfully breaks in.
He decided to stop temporarily on his attempt to get in and try something else like finding the stream for the monitor cameras that could be there, he was sure there had to be.
He relaxed back into his chair for a second and then began to arrange the papers flying about neatly.
______
**Lagos**
Don pushed the gate open slowly and carefully, he entered into the compound trying his best to make no noise. He held the gate for the others to walk in after him and then closed it back gently.
They all took out their guns as they faced the house from the gate, Don signaled for Stone and the other to walk beside the fence wall by the right side while he followed the left. They continued to march forward slowly, looking around carefully till they got beside the main building. Stone and his partner paused and stared at Don for instructions on the next step. Don stared back at then without any clue of what to say. He remembered that Rex had asked them to attack first but he didn’t ask how they should. He decided to take the bull by the horn and began to march towards the balcony of the building, he gestured for Stone and the other man to come closer to the balcony but wait behind the wall.
He walked the large balcony noiselessly and to the direction of the door, he stopped and stared at the handle for a while before he turning it. Surprisingly, the door gave way with a very little sound. He pushed open a bit and peeped in. There appeared to be no one in the large living room, the lights were off and it looked unarranged and deserted.
Don held the door ajar and turned back to call on Stone. ‘Stone, come up.’ he said in whispers.
Stone’s head popped out from behind the wall almost immediately and Don made a hand gesture for him to climb up the balcony. Stone turned back briefly to call the other guys and both of them climbed up the balcony without wasting any time.
From the back left side of the building came out Tarasha after they had climbed up, she walked to the front and stopped behind the wall where Stone and the other guy previously hid themselves. She peeped and saw three of them standing in front of the door, Don whispering something to the two others. Then the men walked into the house slowly and closed the door behind. Tarasha stepped up the balcony and walked straight to the door.
Rex stood under the shadow just behind the fence outside the gate watching the activities in the compound from his device. He saw how Don led the boys to the building and frowned at Don’s tactic which was amateurish to him. He also watched Don peep into the house, he expected that something would have happened at that instant but nothing happened. He already began to conclude in his mind that Tarasha and her partner could have left the place after he saw Stone climb up with the other man but then he saw a masked lady putting on a black jacket on a bum short, approaching from the backyard left side. She peeped from behind the wall and then climbed up the balcony after Don and the two others had entered. She walked towards the door and stopped in front to listen for about ten seconds. Then she opened the door and entered into the house.
Rex smiled to himself devilishly, he was a hundred percent sure the lady was Tarasha. He pocketed his device and proceeded to the gate with quick steps. He stopped at the entrance of the gate and took out a tiny piece of rubber from his pocket, he attached the rubber to the space between the main gate and the part of the gate fixed into the fence blocks. Then he opened and entered without any fear of making noise with the gate. He closed it back and removed the rubber from it’s place of attachment. He charged towards the door, hundred percent sure that it was finally Tarasha’s time to die.
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__Ikeja, in a restaurant beside City Gate Hospital__
He was seated at the table alone, had barely touched his plate of fried rice and chicken but had taken the cold soft drink past half of the bottle. His gaze lingered around the restaurant for a while before settling on the TV screen, the volume was low so he had to make do with the visuals alone. A Nigerian Music video was being played and as usual there were unclad girls dancing around the well dressed men. He hissed and looked away wishing he could change the TV station to another where he could watch more inspiring music.
‘Dave,’ a female’s voice called his attention as the owner of the voice settled into one of the two empty seats at the same table. She was putting on a simple white top and a blue jean skirt. Her hair was neatly packed to the back but she was without makeup and accessories except for just a small ear ring. Her name was Jumoke, the nurse who deceived her colleague and helped a man to change the ampoule from which Stephanie who injected. Sitting before her was David – the name she knew him with – the man she helped to change the ampoule and the same who dressed like a doctor and claimed to have a patient previously in the ward Stephanie was presently.
David was quite younger than Jumoke. He was strikingly handsome too and that was what had attracted Jumoke to him. They had met seventeen months ago at the City Gate Hospital where she worked. David had rushed in with a bullet in his arm and requested for treatment. As the normal order was, the hospital refused to treat him until there was a police report. Jumoke had secretly helped him to cover the wound that day to reduce the bleeding and minimize his blood loss before he got the police report. Two days after being treated, the police had taken him away as a culprit involved in a gang robbery. Only for him to show up two weeks later outside the hospital while Jumoke was already leaving for work. He asked her out but she was refused at first. She refused for two reasons. The first was that she didn’t want to be associated or seen with a criminal and then because she saw him too young to take her out. But then he was able to convince her that he wasn’t a criminal and had been proven innocent already, showing her evidences that he only happened to be a victim of circumstance. She had replied to him, saying that she only helped him because she saw him like a younger brother and that it should be left that way, he didn’t need to take her out to appreciate what she did. But he refused to listen and after much insistence, she finally budged. After the first, they went out a couple of times and got into an unholy romance but she didn’t care anymore as she enjoyed what was going on between them and hoped it could continue. Just three months after them being together, he came to her with another bullet wound and she was forced to help him secretly treat it. He came up with another story to cover up and she didn’t argue even though she didn’t believe him totally. After six months of their undefined relationship, he disappeared mysteriously with all contacts cut off, leaving her with a broken heart. He only reached her three months later via email and promised to come back soon for her. Since then she didn’t see or hear from him until he showed up at the hospital that morning after seventeen months and began to ask questions about Stephanie George and Samantha Osman from her.
‘Oh! You’re finally here,’ he said, turning to her with a smile.
‘Yes,’ she replied as she dropped her bags on the floor just beside her. She didn’t return his smile but looked tired and worried.
‘You’re looking so stressed out,’ he commented on her looks, his eyes running down from her face downwards. ‘What would you like to take?’ he asked, his voice showed deep concern.
‘I don’t really want anything, I’ll eat when I get home.’ she replied with a sigh.
He stared at her face deeply for a while. ‘You’re not looking bad but at the same time not as radiant as you used to anymore, what happened?’
‘I think we should go straight to why we are here, there’s no time for pleasantries,’ she snapped impatiently.
‘I still think you should take something first before we start to talk, you look very tired.’ he insisted.
‘No I’m not taking anything. I look tired, not hungry, so better start talking.’ she bounced back.
‘Okay then, you’ll have to force me to talk.’ He folded his arms and rested back.
She sighed and hissed, knowing he was not going to proceed if she didn’t yield to his demand. ‘Okay, I’ll order for a bottle of water.’ she said and looked towards the reception to summon a waiter.
‘No, you need food, not water. I was waiting for you to come so we can eat at the same time,’ he said bringing her attention to the plate of food on the table.
She hissed again. The waiter was already close to he table. ‘What would you like me to get for you Ma’am?’
‘A bottle of water should do…’
‘You need food too…’ he cut in to remind her. The tone of his words carried the warning that he wasn’t going to proceed if she didn’t eat.
‘Okay, get me the same thing he’s eating.’ she finally said to the waiter who was still there waiting for the complete instruction. The waiter glanced briefly at the table before he bowed slightly and turned away.
The two at the table remained in silence until the food was brought, even after it was, they ate without saying anything to themselves.
Jumoke kept on stealing glances at him from time to time. She couldn’t deny that he had become more handsome and even increased in size. He appeared to be doing well and healthy.
‘So why didn’t you use makeups?’ Dave asked, wiping his lips with the tissue. His stare was fixed on her face.
‘I only use light makeup or none when I’m at work,’ she replied him, not looking up to avoid her eyes meeting his. There was always this uncontrollable effect that he had on her anytime their eyes met.
‘But you always use makeups when you close and you’re heading home,’ he returned.
‘I just didn’t use today. Besides, I was rushing to meet you here.’
‘That shouldn’t…’
‘Enough Dave!’ she summoned courage to look at his face. ‘Let’s get to why we’re here. Tell me why you’re back after leaving for so long.’
It was David’s turn to look away, he did for few seconds and then stared at her again briefly but fixed his gaze on the table.
‘I had something important to do,’ Dave said. ‘I’m sorry I had to leave that way.’
‘Come off it Dave!’ she slammed angrily, hitting her fists on the table. ‘You said that in your email months ago and you said the same thing this morning. Can you tell me something else?’
Dave looked around briefly to see if she hadn’t pulled too much attention to them by her response but she was less concerned.
‘Okay, it was work. I had to work,’ he said in low tones, looking into her eyes.
‘Damn it! Dave, damn it! Till today, you’ve not told me the kind of job you do.’ she cursed angrily again.
‘Hey babe! Take it easy, you’re going to get us thrown out of here.’
‘I don’t give a damn about that, ‘ she returned.
‘Ermm…’ he sighed and looked around again. They had pulled more attention already. He rose up and took out his wallet. He quietly approached the counter and paid using his debit card. He returned to the table and picked up one of Jumoke’s bag and held her hand with his other hand. ‘Let’s leave this place, I’ll tell you everything when we get to somewhere appropriate.’
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Only after several minutes of turning and turning the analog was Aisha able to locate the shadow she had been tracing. She was still outside the house at the back, where she was asked to wait by Tarasha until she was called for. She saw the owner of the shadow, it was a masked man of a size and stature she didn’t think she had ever seen before. She was still watching intently when she suddenly realized that the man was already at the front balcony of the building.
She proceeded back to the back door of the house to warn Tarasha about him even though she hadn’t been called for yet.
_
Don and the two others froze at the instant they heard the door open behind them, they turned back immediately and saw a lady step inside. Before they could raise their guns up, she had already taken down one person with a bullet into his groin and another with a bullet to his hand, making his gun drop. She followed it up with another bullet into the left side of his chest.
Don was the only one untouched. He shot at her as quick as he could but she dodged and was already hidden behind the one seater sofa in front of him.
‘Let’s talk Don, you don’t need to get killed.’ she offered from her hiding place.
‘We don’t have anything to talk about,’ Don replied, already hiding behind the three seater sofa also.
‘We do have a to talk about,’ she said and at the same time peeped briefly.
‘We don’t!’ he replied.
She paused and tried to ascertain the direction his voice came from again, she peeped briefly and discovered he was behind the sofa. She placed her knee to the ground and took out a different gun loaded with pins to induce temporal paralysis. Then she stretched her leg forward and dragged with her feet to herself the doormat. She folded the doormat neatly and held it in one hand, the gun in the other hand and rose up in quick sudden motion, flinging the doormat to the direction she observed the voice came from.
Don in a bid to dodge what was coming moved from his hiding position rushingly and his back was exposed in the process. In less than two seconds, Tarasha sent the paralysis bullet into his back.
Tarasha rose up and immediately charged towards him, but not without briefly looking at the two men she already shot to ensure they were dead. She got behind the three seater and squatted beside Don. He was laying flat on his belly with his face turned towards the chair. An entrance leading to a corridor which led to the rooms in the house was just beside at the edge of the three seater sofa. She pushed the sofa away to give more space for him to see her face properly.
She stared at him for some seconds and gave a brief smile of victory. ‘You have fifteen minutes to talk to me,’ she said to him. ‘If I don’t remove the pin at your back in fifteen minutes, you’ll remain paralysed for twenty four hours and then begin to dry up.’ she said and smiled at the ray of fright she could see in his eyes.
‘Now you’re going to be answering some questions ,’ she said and then placed her knee on the ground. She pressed a button on her wristwatch to summon Aisha. ‘I’ll like for your ex girlfriend to take the notes. She’ll join us in forty seconds.’ she added and rose up to her feet.
At the same time, the door of the living room creaked open behind. ‘Aisha, come forward.’ Tarasha said without looking behind, though surprised because she didn’t expect Aisha to show up in less than forty seconds which she had told Don. ‘Come here quickly,’ she said again as she didn’t hear any the footsteps of Aisha coming towards her.
She got greatly shocked when the curtains of the inner door two metres close to her position opened and Aisha rushed in from there instead of from behind. She looked back to check who could be at the front door but Rex had his gun focused to body already and had released two immediate shots when she turned.
