Tarasha 2 Chapter 13 Part 2 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
NIS UNDERGROUND FACILITY
4pm
‘How do you plan to go?’ Lizzy asked.
She was in the dressing room with Dave where both of them were discussing in low tones. Dave sat on a high stool while Lizzy sat in front of him on a lower chair with comfortable backrest.
‘The Chairman has got more eyes on me than I thought, I just kept meeting with different agents as I went out today.’ Dave replied.
‘Did they see you?’
‘Some did but acted like it was a coincidence.’
‘So, it means you’re not traveling to Lagos anymore?’
‘I can’t say for now, Dan isn’t helping matters too.’
‘You can’t blame him, his job is at risk and he also can face imprisonment for defying orders.’
There was silence for some seconds. ‘What about the picture I sent you yesterday, have you done anything about them?’
‘Yes, but I couldn’t do much. Yesterday was Sunday, I had to take a rest and visit the hospital after the meeting with the Chairman.’
‘So the Chairman fixed a meeting for you guys on a Sunday?’
‘Yes, it was quite urgent, so it is understandable.’
‘It’s odd though… So your work on that picture I sent to you; the list of drugs, have you gotten anything reasonable from it yet?’
‘No, not at all reasonable.’ Dave said and laughed briefly. Lizzy squinted at his face, wondering what the cause of his amusement was. ‘All those drugs in the that list, they were drugs which have been banned by the World Health Agency, I don’t really know what Samantha could be doing with it.’
‘Hmm… Strange.’
‘Really strange and funny!’
The phone in Dave’s pocket began to ring and he stepped down from the stool to a take out the phone from his trouser pocket. He glanced at the phone’s screen as he positioned his bum back on the stool, the caller’s number was an unsaved one.
‘Hello,’ he said into the phone as he answered.
‘Hi Agent David James,’ a female’s voice sounded through the phone.
Dave was taken aback at the sound of his full name and Agent title. He took the phone away from his ears to check the screen again if his Truecaller app had identified the caller but it still had not.
‘Who’s this?’ he asked as he put the phone back close to his ear.
He didn’t hear anything else except for a giggle and the call ended.
He stared at the phone’s screen for some seconds after the call ended, hoping the caller would call again or that the application would reveal the identity of the caller but none of that happened.
‘Is there any problem?’ Lizzy asked.
‘No problem,’ Dave replied as he dialed back the number. The network service replied that the number was unreachable.
‘Are you sure there’s no problem?’ Lizzy asked again on seeing the troubled look on his face.
‘The person who called me right now referred to me as Agent David James,’ he said to Lizzy.
‘Uhmn… And how is that supposed to be a problem?’ Lizzy asked with a shrug.
‘I’m supposed to be a secret agent, no one should know I’m an agent.’
Lizzy chuckled, ‘Couldn’t it be one of our colleagues that called you?’
‘No, it isn’t. I’ve never given anybody in the Agency this number, it’s a temporary number I use for work.’
‘Are you sure you didn’t forget giving it to another agent?’
‘No, I can never make that mistake, it’s my temporary work line.’
‘So, how is it possible that someone knows you as an agent with it?’
Dave stared blankly at the wall. That was the question he also needed an answer to.
______
BASE B
Control room.
‘The location is untraceable, tightly secured.’ Henry said to Tarasha who sat beside him. Tarasha and Henry had switched seats, she was sitting on the one he used to seat and watch from when she was working and he was seating on hers.
‘Is it the location that’s untraceable or the device?’ Tarasha asked without looking up, still busy with the phone she had just used to make the phone call.
‘It’s the location right now, we can’t tell if the device itself is also secured.’ Henry replied.
‘I’ll be surprised if the device isn’t secured, it would mean it isn’t his main line.’
‘Exactly, but why didn’t you wait for him in Lagos? You don’t know if he would have showed up to see the girl.’
‘He’s a very efficient and trained agent, he would have been suspicious and I wouldn’t have gotten him easily if I waited there for him, so many people would have had to die again. The only way it would have been easy was only if he had come in when I was in the nurse’s apartment. Besides, I don’t really think we should give him much attention anymore, I’ll just ki*ll him straightaway if I do.’
‘But what if he comes our way again?’
‘He cannot get any special information like he got from that nurse again, if he’s ever going to come our way again, it would be like every other security Agent who would, and he’d die like the rest of them. What made him come so close to me was my mistake of not cleaning of every trace I had with that nurse and I won’t let that happen again’ she said, staring at the computer system while Henry stared at her face. ‘I need take some rest now.’
She got up to her feet and proceeded towards the door, almost bumping into Cole at the door.
‘Good day boss,’ Cole greeted and moved away for her to pass.
‘Why did it take you so long to come in? We saw you when you got to the gate,’ Tarasha said to him.
‘I’ve gotten into the house for sometime now, but Tomi delayed me in the Living room.’
Tarasha stared at his face for a while with her lips pouted. ‘How was your assignment?’
‘The first went well, I delivered the file to her and I believed she must have given it to her father. I followed her on all the way to the Presidential Villa.’
‘What about the second assignment?’
‘The Inspector General, Agent Tim and another man I don’t know are in a secret meeting with the Vice President in his second quarters at this moment.’ Cole answered.
_____
CHIEF ELVIS RICHARDS PRIVATE QUARTERS, ASOKORO.
‘She’s getting more dangerous, she sent someone to my daughter this morning.’ the Vice President said to the hearing of his guests – the Inspector General, Police Agent Tim and the NIS chairman.
‘What? And where is Vivian now?’ Chief Rikau was the first to react.
‘I told her to finish off whatever she was in the country for quickly and return to the States as soon as possible.’ Chief Elvis answered.
‘She wasn’t hurt?’
‘No, she wasn’t and that’s why I’ve asked her to rush up whatever she’s doing here. I’ll make sure she leaves the country before Wednesday.’
‘Sir, I think we need to ask her some questions before she leaves, it’ll do us a lot of good.’ Agent Tim suggested.
‘No, you’ll spare her all the questions, you can ask me what you want to know. I don’t want to get the girl involved in this.’
‘Okay, so I believe you’re going to tell us her experience as she relayed it to you sir.’
‘Yes, they only asked her to tell me to stop hiding and told her that they had some documents to release to the public soon that’ll dent my image.’
‘That’s serious and strange!’ one of them exclaimed. The Vice President’s words left all of them greatly surprised.
‘But sir, what kind of documents are they planning to release?’ the NIS Chairman asked.
‘That, I don’t know. They didn’t tell her,’ Chief Elvis lied. ‘But I strongly believe now that those who are sponsoring Samantha Osman are those who don’t want me to be the President come 2032.’
‘Hmm…’
His guests all stared at each other thoughtfully, his assertions were making sense.
‘So, you think those who are behind her are those in the opposition party?’ Chief Rikau tried to confirm.
‘Not only those in the opposition, it could also be those in my party. There are enemies everywhere.’
‘That’s true… But who are those you suspect?’ Inspector General Rikau asked.
‘I can’t really point to anybody but I’m sure there’s somebody somewhere and that’s why I called this meeting, I want you all to also give attention to this in your investigations. Let’s watch carefully everyone that declares his interest to contest for President whether directly or indirectly.’
‘Yes, I think we really need to focus on that.’ The IG supported. ‘Right now, the only campaign poster that has gone up in the streets are yours but other aspirants are campaigning online already too.’
‘It doesn’t matter whether online or not, every aspirant right now is a suspect.’ The Vice President stated.
20 minutes later.
Agent Tim and the NIS chairman had left. Inspector General Rikau was alone in the Vice President’s sitting room in his wheelchairs, his host had briefly left him there to get something upstairs.
‘Chief Rikau,’ the Vice President called as he trotted down the stairs.
Chief Rikau turned his wheelchair towards the direction of the stairs, ‘You called me sir?’
‘Yes, I did.’ The Vice President said, walking back to the Living room with a file in his hand. ‘I had to let the others go first, there’s something I want to show you.’
‘Okay sir,’ Chief Rikau said and turned again towards the middle of the living room where the Vice President was now. He stared inquisitively at the man and the file in his hands.
Chief Elvis dragged the footstool near the centre table to chair beside the Chief Rikau. He sat on the chair and placed the file on the footstool. ‘Here, Samantha’s messenger did not only threaten Vivian, he gave her these documents to give to me.’
Chief Rikau moved closer to the footstool and picked the opened file. He began to go through the contents of the documents.
‘In there are our request letters for some of the drugs we distributed years ago and evidences of their ban by the World Health Agency,’ Chief Elvis explained as he watched his friend go through.
‘But how did she get all these?’ Chief Rikau asked in a troubled tone.
‘I can’t tell for sure but the evidences of ban are even the most surprising. The documents are supposed to be properties of the drug agencies alone and never meant to get to outsiders.’
‘How then in the world did these documents get to Samantha?’
‘She must be working with someone who has them or who has the key to the places they’re kept.’
‘And who could that person be?’
‘I only have one person in mind and I think that is why Samantha Osman went to Anambra state,’ the Vice President said thoughtfully, taking in a deep breath.
________
9pm
POLICE AGENT, JAMES ELVIS RESIDENCE
James took off his seatbelt after turning off the car engine. He picked his phone from the passenger’s side and unlocked it to check the time, it was past nine already. He stretched his hand to the backseat and picked the white nylon bag containing the food he got from a restaurant as he drove home. He opened the car and stepped out, he took a look around the compound before closing the door.
The cold wind blew on his body as he proceeded into his apartment. He could also feel droplets of cold water touching his skin. He could tell for sure that it was going to rain that night.
As usual, most of his neighbours were in doors watching TV with their families that night. Except on days when he comes home after ten pm which was the time the gate was locked for the day and he had to bang loudly on the gate, he rarely sees more than one neighbour when he comes back at night and most of those he sees were usually men, the only way he knew that there were women in the building was their voices he heard from their individual apartments and of course on Sundays when he would see them dress and leave for church early in the morning.
He got to the second floor where his apartment was and took out his keys from his pocket. He put in the keys and turned it, he noticed it opened without the normal hard clicking. He closed it again and removed the key. He put the key back in and turned it again, it still opened the same way. He hissed and pushed the door open, wondering how the original lock he had bought just within few months of his stay in Abuja got faulty already.
He closed the door and reached for the bulb switch. To his surprise, the lights revealed a lady seated in his living room with her legs crossed comfortably, she had a pistol in her hands which she rolled with a finger playfully. She didn’t look towards his direction nor did she act like she was aware of his presence even as he stared at her.
James tried to play first, his hand quickly found it’s way too his belt side where his gun was hung but she had cocked her gun and pointed it at him before he could even detach his pistol. He took his hand off from the pistol slowly and raised the two hands up in surrender, his food nylon still hanging on the left hand fingers. She got up from the seat and walked towards him slowly with her gun still pointed at him.
She stopped beside the centre table of the living room and stared straight at his face. ‘Get in,’ she said, motioning him in with her gun. ‘Take off your gun and put it down,’ she ordered.
He obeyed and moved away from the entrance, he stopped at the front of his television when she signaled to him. He placed his gun and the nylon bag of food on the floor and put back his hands in the air.
‘Push your gun here,’ she ordered.
James obeyed at once, he kicked it with his toes gently to her and she stopped it with her foot. ‘I’m here on a peaceful mission, not to fight you. I hope you cooperate with me.’ she uncocked her gun and lowered the hand holding her gun.
Both of them stared at each other’s faces for a while. James tried to see if he had ever seen her before but he hadn’t, her face was completely new to him. His eyes scanned her body from head to toe. He took note of everything she was putting on, her clothes, her wristwatch, jacket and even the hair she plaited.
‘Who are you and what do you want from me?’ James finally spoke, after putting his hands down.
She stared at face in silence for a while, then she put on a smirk. ‘I’ll tell you who I am if it’s necessary when I tell you my message to you,’ she replied. ‘There’s a file on the compact disk jacket behind, it’s for you. I want you to deliver it to your father after going through it carefully.’
He stared at her face for a while, trying to look back carefully, not sure if she had an ulterior plan for him. He finally located the file and picked it. He opened and scanned through them.
Tarasha waited patiently for him to go through the documents and watched the reaction on his face from time to time.
‘Now, you’d have to sign receipt of these document, you’ll find where to sign on first paper there. There’s a pen and an ink pad for fingerprinting in that CD jacket too.’
James opened back to first page and scanned through the paper he was supposed to sign. He closed the file and looked up, staring at her face.
‘You have to sign it,’ she insisted in a strong tone.
He narrowed his look at her face for a while before opening the file again, he turned to take the pen and ink pad behind, he then signed and printed his thumb on the spaces made available.
‘Good,’ she smirked and stretched her palm out. ‘Bring it here slowly.’
James obeyed and walked forward. She raised her palm to signal stop to him when he was moving too close. He stopped and stretched the paper to her. She gave a wry smile as she collected it. He stepped back to his previous position while she briefly scanned through to see if he signed properly.
‘James Elvis, I believe that you are a police officer with a difference and you’d not give room for deadly criminals to roam the streets freely. Those documents contains the reasons Vice President Elvis Richards should be in jail. Those are the first sets of documents to start his prosecution, he’s also a spearhead of many other crimes whose evidences you’d get when you start doing a positive work with this.’
She stopped talking and gave him sometime to assimilate all that she had said. He just stared at her in silence, she couldn’t tell what was running through his mind.
‘So when will the prosecution begin?’ she asked in a kind of mocking tone.
‘You should head it since you have the proofs that he’s a criminal, just take him to court’ James said to her.
‘I thought you would like to make some more investigation as a police officer before taking him to court and that’s why I’m here to give it to you,’ she replied.
‘If you really sure of this,’ he said, raising up the file. ‘Why are you bringing it here instead of the police station or headquarters?’
‘I wouldn’t trust any Nigerian officer with this case, you are the only one I can trust and that’s why I brought it here to you.’ She put on a smile again.
There was a brief silence.
‘What do you really want?’ James asked, his eyebrows gathered together. ‘And who are you?’
‘I want Chief Elvis Richards prosecuted for his crimes, I want him to answer for the blood of the many innocent ones he used in making money and building his business empire.’ she replied him. ‘And my name is Samantha Osman.’
James heartbeat began to move faster than it was before even though he wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. The face he was seeing didn’t look like that of the Samantha Osman he had seen before.
She took in a breath as she hung the gun by the side of her trouser. ‘I’ll like to take my leave now Inspector if you won’t mind,’ she said and began to walk towards the door.
The Inspector stood still in readiness for her and began to plan an attack as she drew nearer. She stopped when she got to the point he was waiting for her to get to before attacking. She turned her face to him and gave a mocking smile, as if she knew his plan. ‘Well, don’t complicate matters. You only have twenty four hours to start work on it,’ she said before proceeding forward.
James remained frozen to the same spot, not knowing whether to go after her or just seat and study the file she brought to him. He didn’t for a second doubt the evidences she brought against his father. He had always suspected his father’s hands were not clean but he didn’t just know the crime his father was involved in, even long ago before Samantha Osman came into the picture. But what she was telling him to do was impossible. Investigating the crime further wasn’t a problem to him even though it scared him that he’ll find out that his father was indeed a criminal, the problem he had was ensuring his father goes to jail, that’ll be the most difficult challenge that he would ever come across in his career.
____
10:45pm
‘I’m on my way now to Olusegun Obasanjo way, don’t keep me waiting.’ Tarasha spoke into the earphone receiver with the two eartips in her ears. Her hands were on the steering wheels and eyes straight on the road as she drove. There was a counter reaction expected from the Vice President and they were about to cater for it that night.
…to be continued
