Tarasha 2 Chapter 14 Part 9 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Tarasha dashed out of the room immediately she saw the grenade land on the floor. Thick smoke from the grenade rushed out from the opening and filled the atmosphere, blocking her from seeing as she tried to fire at Rex. A bullet hit the top of her shoulder and another hit her back as she made her way to the exit.
Rex stepped back and held the wall tight as the grenade exploded, causing the whole building to vibrate.
_____
The bullet hit the window behind Henry and Tomi as the vibration caused by the grenade shook the whole place. Stainless landed on the floor with his butt and Tomi fell on Henry’s body.
Henry was the first to get up after the vibration ceased. He took out his gun immediately and charged towards Stainless. He held the gun with his two hands and pointed it at stainless who was just trying to get up and pick his gun that had fallen to the ground.
‘Don’t move or I’ll sh00t,’ Henry threatened and Stainless stopped in his attempt to pick the gun. He placed both knees on the ground slowly and raised his hands the air.
*
‘**** it!’ Dave cursed, holding onto the gate for support as the ground vibrated. He was able to stand without falling because the intensity of the vibration was not felt much at that distance. He waited about ten seconds to observe before he stepped in through the gate. He stopped some steps away from the entrance and looked at the building for a while, trying to see the fire from the bomb that sounded, he could only see some smoke rising out from the ceiling of the building at a particular side. Six police officers stepped into the place with him, all holding long guns. .
‘We can’t go in like this, we’re not sure what weapons or arms they have.’ Dave suggested to the police officer who seemed to be the leader of the team.
‘Why do you say so Agent? We brought enough weapons to tackle them,’ the police officer replied.
‘Enough weapons to tackle bombs?’ Dave questioned.
‘We have a explosive detector with us, it’ll detect the explosive based on its power and alert us before we move out of its safe distance.’
‘Let’s go in together then.’
*
Tara managed to get up from the floor in the corridor which the vibration had thrown her. She could hear sounds of Police vehicles as she proceeded towards the room where the Inspector General was kept, limping on her right leg.
She stepped in and found Henry still pointing his gun at a man kneeling on the floor. She took out her gun and pointed at the man, she was about to sh00t him in the head when her eyes met with Henry’s eyes. She uncocked the gun and hit the man’s back head with the butt of her gun.
‘Has Cole gone out yet?’ she asked as she proceeded towards the bed where the Inspector General was still laying.
‘Yes, we killed those three men,’ Tomi answered her.
‘We gotta leave here now, the security officers are around.’ Tarasha said and bent to pick something from under the bed. She rose up and walked to the window behind.
‘What do we do about him?’ Tomi asked, pointing at the Inspector General.
‘There’s no time to do anything about him, we’d just leave him to be taken back home by his men.’
‘What?’ Henry and Tomi exclaimed in unison.
Tarasha turned and stared at Henry’s face for a moment. ‘Are we not sticking to the plan of not killing? That’s the only option we have now.’
She stared for some more seconds at his face before turning back to the window. She folded and stretched her right leg twice to ease the pain in her leg from the fall. She took down a side of the window. ‘Let’s get out of here before it’s too late.’
*
Rex turned out of the corridor slowly and hurried back towards the living room. He was sure that two of his bullets had hit Samantha and he knew she wouldn’t be able to move fast with two bullets in her body and with the impact of the bomb. He planned to turn to the backyard and enter through the backdoor as the easiest way he could get to her which was the corridor was in fire already.
He began to hear voices as he got to the living room, he rushed to the window and checked, he saw five officers and a SSS officer already moving closer to the house. He turned back, he knew they were going to waste his time. He had no option than to pass through the corridor which he had turned back from.
He hurried back through the corridor and slowed down to carefully walk pass the exploded place. Some objects which had been displaced were burning on the floor and the fire was spreading fast to the ceiling.
He had brought that kind of grenade specially, it produced less burning and more vibration and what he really needed was the vibration and the smoke released to distract Tarasha. He began to take one step after the other as he stepped into the new corridor, looking around to see where Tarasha was hiding, he was sure she couldn’t have gone far because his bullets had hit her.
____
5 mins later
Tarasha, Henry and Tomi got to the road after escaping through the back gate. There was very little activity on the road compared to the usual but they could see a vehicle coming closer from behind. Tarasha stood at the centre of the road and raised her hand to stop the vehicle. The car screeched to a halt just in front of her.
She took out her gun and fired in the air to scare the driver, then she began to walk towards the backseat as she ordered the driver to get out. The man stepped out of the car and laid flat on the floor.
‘Henry, get into the driver’s side.’ Tara said as she got into the backseat. Tomi entered through the passenger’s side at the front and Henry got into the driver’s side.
*
Rex opened the door of the last room and entered carefully, pointing his gun everywhere. He saw Stainless lying on the floor motionlessly. He squatted beside him briefly and placed two fingers by the side of his neck to check if he was still breathing. He stood up after confirming Stainless was alive and walked straight to the bed. The IG turned am his neck at that moment and their eyes met. Rex cocked his gun and looked around suspiciously for a moment. He didn’t expect that the Inspector General would be the one in the bed, he had thought it was someone else.
‘They left already, they went through the window.’ Chief Rikau said to Rex, glancing at the window through which Tarasha left with the two others.
‘Was Samantha with them?’ Rex asked, staring at the window which was broken at a side.
‘Yes, she asked them to leave because the police officers were around.’ Chief Rikau replied.
‘Wasn’t she hurt? I shot her twice,’ Rex stared at the IG’s face with his face squeezed.
‘She didn’t look hurt, she was okay.’ Chief Rikau replied in his weak voice.
Rex frowned, wondering how she could have possibly dodged the bullets. He had seen her image through the smoke and seen her movements when the bullets hit her body.
The voices and sounds made by the security officers as they got closer woke him from his brief reverie. He took a glance at the Inspector General and glanced at the broken window again.
‘Please help me out of here quickly,’ Chief Rikau said in a low voice.
‘Police officers are coming, they’ll help you. I have to leave now.’
_______
‘Cole, where are you?’ Tarasha spoke into the phone, still seated at the backseat of the car.
‘I’m heading towards Kurudu,’ Cole replied from the other end. ‘Looking for an uncompleted building around we can stop by at.’
‘What about Dr Ekwueme?’ Tarasha asked.
‘He’s here with me.’
‘I hope he isn’t giving you any problem.’
‘He’s not for now, but I hope he doesn’t try anything funny when I have to go in the midst of other people.’
‘Locate a hotel and stay somewhere close to it.’
‘A hotel?’
‘Yes, one that we all can stay.’
‘We all? We may have problems getting the IG into the place with us.’
‘The IG is no longer with us.’
‘Oh! Okay,’ Cole released a deep breath, he believed that Tarasha must have killed the Inspector General to say he was no longer with them. ‘Should I go ahead to book for rooms?’
‘No, don’t book for rooms yet. You may not be able to handle Dr Ekwueme and get into trouble, just stay around the place and send us the address.’
‘Okay boss.’
Tarasha cut the call and dropped the phone by her side on the seat.
‘Has he found a place yet?’ Henry asked.
‘No, he hasn’t. But he would soon, just drive towards Kurudu.’
They continued driving in silence for some more minutes. Tarasha closed her eyes and rested back her head as she pondered on everything that happened. She knew there was something amiss and that one of them must have leaked out information to the enemy. Tomi was the person on her mind. Only Tomi had left that building since the day before, she stayed unusually long and returned home with the excuse of not getting all the drugs at one pharmacy. She wondered if it was only this incident Tomi had leaked out or if she had also leaked out her visit to Senator Garuba Ahmed and Eze Okafor. But on a second thought, she realized that only Cole could have leaked out her movement details to the enemies on the first two occasions. He was the only person who knew her every movement and was expected to keep it secret. She thought about Henry too but knew it was impossible for Henry to do something to hurt her. Tomi was still the major suspect for the enemies’ intrusion of their base. Eze Okafor and Garuba Ahmed’s cases could have been orchestrated by the Vice President.
Tarasha decided to remain quiet and act like she wasn’t suspicious of anyone until she found out more details.
*
*
‘Sir!’ Agent Tim rushed to the bed and placed a knee on the ground. ‘Are you okay sir?’
Two other men and Dave joined Agent Tim beside the bed but stood behind.
‘I’m fine,’ Chief Rikau replied weakly. He turned his face towards the window and shook his head slightly. ‘They left already, through this window.’
Dave proceeded towards the window immediately and Agent Tim signalled to two officers to follow him.
‘Don’t bother about them, they would have gone very far already.’ the IG mustered strength to say aloud.
‘Shi*t!’ Dave cursed as he heard the man’s words and turned back. He hissed as he proceeded to the door, wondering why he didn’t come straight to the last room in the corridor. They had wasted their time, checking one room after the other even that was the logical and due procedure.
‘Agent, are you leaving already?’ Agent Tim turned and asked Dave who had gotten to the door.
‘No, I still have to look around. I’m sure that my colleagues from the SSS are also around now.’
*
5 mins
Dave met with Dan just as he stepped out of the building. Dan had come with five other SSS officials, only he was on mask.
‘Dave, how far?’ Dan approached him inquisitively.
‘They escaped,’ Dave replied with a dejected tone as he stepped down from the balcony.
‘Who escaped?’
‘Samantha Osman and her men.’
‘They were here?’ Dan looked at him in surprise. ‘But you told me you looking for somewhere to get your girlfriend’s hospital fee.’
‘Yes, I came to the GT Bank at the next street and that was where I heard the gunshots from.’
‘Hmm… Okay,’ Dan nodded his head. Dave had no idea that he was followed to the place by Dan and Dan saw how he parked his car somewhere and went into the salon. The only thing Dan did not see was who Dave went to meet and when he got out of the salon. ‘So what are we doing now?’
‘I’m leaving, we’re late. The police officers are gathering the report already,’ Dave replied, walking towards the gate.
‘Let’s leave in my car or did you bring yours?’ Dan asked in pretense.
‘I have my car parked at the other side of the road,’ Dave replied without turning back.
‘Okay,’ Dan stopped and turned back. He waited for Dave to step out of the place before he spoke to the other five men. ‘We’re going to check around and also get reports from the police officers around.’
11 minutes later.
Dave poured the rest of the cold water from bottle down his throat. He dropped the empty bottle on the backseat and closed his eyes as he let out a breath. Even though the troubles that day was something he could get commendation for, he wasn’t so happy because Samantha Osman got away again. The only thing he considered as his achievement that morning was being sure of the fact that Samantha Osman was being pursued by another assasin.
He was still lost in thoughts when his phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and checked the screen, the caller was Lizzy.
‘Hi Liz, sorry I’ve not called you yet.’ he said, remembering that he had promised to call.
‘It’s okay. How did it go?’
‘Well, nothing much achieved. But the Inspector General was rescued alive and has been taken to the hospital with over thirty police escorts.’
‘That’s something. I told you that they must have hidden the Inspector General there.’
‘Yes, you did. I’m sorry for doubting you.’
‘I take no offense.’
‘You know what Liz?’ Dave let out a breath and sat up, suddenly feeling the need to chill out a bit and ease the tension he had been facing.
‘What?’
‘Can we have lunch together this afternoon?’
There was silence from the other end for a moment. It sounded strange to Lizzy, they had done lunch together several times while working together and there was nothing special in it, so she wondered why he was asking that way.
‘Please don’t say no,’ Dave added in a pleading voice.
‘Oh!’ she chuckled on hearing him sound serious. ‘Is this a date, or you just want to buy me food?’ she asked in a joking tone.
‘Hmm…’ Dave thought for a while, not sure of what answer to give. ‘Well, let’s just say I want to chill out with you.’
‘Chill out with me? You have enough girlfriends to do that with, why me today?’
Dave laughed. ‘Two o’clock Liz, Fadel Cool Creamery.’
‘Okay, Dave. I’m free, so I’ll be there to eat.’ she stressed the word ‘eat’.
Dave laughed again. ‘Okay.’
The call ended and Dave dropped the phone on the seat. He was about to pull his seatbelt on when his phone began to ring again. This time, Stephanie was the caller.
‘Hello!’
‘Hi Dave, I’m sorry for disturbing but I don’t think I can make it this evening anymore, it could still work today if it’s a little bit earlier.’
‘Oops!’ Dave let out a sigh before checking his wristwatch. ‘It’s 11:57am now, how soon can you meet me at Fadel Cool Creamery at Asokoro.’
‘I don’t know the place.’
‘You can take a cab from where you are at Maitama, it won’t take more than 14 minutes to get you there if they take Shehu Shagari way.’
‘Okay, I’ll dress up right away and meet you there.’
‘Okay.’
To be continued
