Tarasha 2 Chapter 18 Part 10 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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FLASHBACK
3am
‘I can’t still connect how they got the address of the second base and not the first one if Tomi never knew the second base existed,’ Tarasha said aloud, to no one in particular.
She, Henry and Cole were in a room where they had just finished setting up some computers and their network system. The other people who had come with them in the sleeper bus had gone to sleep in the other rooms of the building. Tarasha had insisted that she, Cole and Henry had no business with sleep until they found out how the attackers had gotten to know about the attacked base.
Cole paused all he was doing for a moment after he heard Tarasha’s words. He had the answer to Tarasha’s question but he couldn’t muster enough boldness to answer as it would make him look like the most stupid person on earth.
‘Boss, the Vice President’s children are still in Lagos,’ Henry said, diverting their attention briefly. ‘Don’t you think we could use one of his kids as bait for him?’
‘Do you have an idea of what they are doing in Lagos?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Yes, I think they came for a medical test. All of them especially James have been going in and out of the hospital in the past two days even though their father is no longer there.’
‘Find out and give us specific details, then we know the next line of action.’
There was silence for the next couple of minutes.
‘Cole,’ Tarasha called in a stiff voice and turned to him. Cole froze at the sound of his name. ‘What are you hiding?’
His heart began to beat fast. It wasn’t his first time of getting into trouble with her and he knew she might not forgive him easily for this one but it could be more difficult if he lied in response to her.
‘Yes, I am.’ He got up from his seat with his head bowed in shame. ‘A link was sent to me through Tomi’s WhatsApp account yesterday and I clicked on it,’ he said in a sad tone.
‘Can I see the link?’ Tarasha asked, squinting at him.
Cole turned and picked his phone, he unlocked it and opened the chat with Tomi before he handed it to her.
The first thing she saw was Cole’s recent chat with the number, it had been delivered but there was no reply yet. She scrolled up and found the link. She clicked on it and opened on a browser, it displayed the same warning it showed to Cole.
She returned to the messaging app after about a minute and scrolled down to read the remaining chats. Cole had sent new messages telling Tomi that the link was false and asking where she was. Tarasha clicked on the chat box and began to type a new message.
‘Tomi, where exactly are you now? We were attacked yesterday and the boss is mad at you.’
She returned the phone back to Cole after sending the message and turned back to her computer without saying a word. Henry who was looking at them also turned back after some seconds of silence from Tarasha. He stared more at her face for a while, he couldn’t read the expression on her face. There seemed to be no change even after Cole had confessed to her.
After some minutes, Tarasha picked her phone and unlocked it. She swiped down the top bar to read the new notifications. She had a new message from Chief Gab and a new mail from her colleague assassin from the Nefary Clan. She opened the message from Chief Gab first.
‘I’d be back in Nigeria later today, please keep Chief Nonso safe.’ the message read. She closed the app and opened the email from the assassin, the subject of the email was ‘Details About The Vilary Clan’.
She was quiet for some couple of minutes, pondering on what should be their next line of action.
‘Let’s focus all our attention on getting Tomi back first, after that we can continue with the plan on the Vice President’s children.’ She said to Henry and then turned back to Cole. She knew he had been standing all along but refused to pay attention to his presence. He deserved a punishment for being careless but she knew it wasn’t the right time to punish him, it would affect her workforce negatively. ‘Find a location quite far from this place and make the same people locate you there, keep me updated with every of your move’ she said to Cole before she turned back to the computer in front of her. ‘Now, we got to retrieve again the NSCC footages of how Tomi was kidnapped.’
_____
PRESENT
Location: Asipa Road
Time: 10:18am
‘F*** it!’ Carl cursed as he kicked the door in to find an empty room. He stepped in and pointed his gun to all corners of the place but found nothing and no one. ‘We’ve been fooled,’ he said with regret as he walked further in. He stopped beside the body of the man laying unconsciously on the ground. He placed a finger to feel the man’s pulse and stood up when he confirmed that the man was no longer breathing.
Eric and Lizzy stepped in after him with pistols in their hands. Lizzy walked in hurriedly towards the point Tomi was previously tied to. The chair was on the floor and the ropes had been cut into pieces also.
‘Damn it! You guys were so careless, you spoilt everything,’ Lizzy complained bitterly. ‘There’s no way we’re going to get through to Samantha through Victor anymore.’
‘Why?’ Carl asked her in a calm voice.
‘That girl must have told Samantha Osman everything and Victor would now know who I am.’ Lizzy replied.
‘It’s possible she doesn’t remember anything to say to them.’ Eric put in.
‘How?’ Lizzy asked, turning to Eric.
‘We mixed her food with some liquid to make her forget,’ Eric replied, glancing at Carl for confirmation.
Carl shook his head sadly, ‘She refused to eat that food. I didn’t anticipate this, I would have injected her or forced her to eat.’
Eric let out a sigh.
‘The whole plan has been messed up,’ Lizzy said and proceeded to the door angrily.
‘Hey, relax.’ Carl said and pulled her back by the arm. ‘We’ve not lost yet, all we need to do is do some more work on the other guy in the team. Remember we’ve got some hold on him?’
_____
Time: 12:15pm
Cole stopped at the door and made a sign of the cross before he turned the knob. He pushed the door in slowly and poked his head in first before he stepped in. Tarasha was seated on her plastic chair with her back turned towards the door facing Tomi who was seated at the edge of the bed and facing the door directly.
Cole swallowed in as his eyes met with Tomi’s. He closed the door gently and paused for a moment. Tarasha and Tomi were sitting quietly and it seemed they had stopped talking when they heard him enter. He drew in a breath. He wondered why Tarasha had instructed for him to report to her immediately he returned to the house. He began to walk slowly towards them and stopped beside Tarasha, just a metre away, He glanced at Tomi’s face again before he finally fixed his gaze on Tarasha.
Tarasha did not look towards him or act like she noticed his presence. She remained in her silent mode with her eyes staring downwards. She looked like she was deep in thoughts.
‘Boss…’ Cole’s called and paused to clear his throat when the word didn’t come out clear. ‘Boss,’ he called again but she gave no response. ‘I got them there,’ he continued to give his report however. ‘And they left some minutes after they found nothing.’
There was silence for about two minutes. Cole was scared by the silence. He expected her to say a word at least, whether to dismiss him or give him further instructions. But her silence made it seem that she was mad at him and the look which Tomi was bearing on her face made it seem worse. Tomi was staring at him like he needed much pity.
‘Boss, I see you are here with Tomi. I hope… I hope you didn’t find it difficult to…’ Cole stammered as he talked, not being comfortable with the silence but he still couldn’t find enough words and the right ones to articulate himself. ‘Ermm… Did you find the guys that…’
Cole had to swallow the remaining words with a gasp as Tarasha pulled out a gun and pointed at his forehead. He opened his mouth in shock as he saw her cock the gun.
She finally turned her face to him. ‘Get the hell out of here and find out your girlfriend Patricia’s location,’ with that she uncocked the gun and lowered her hand. She got up from the seat and made her way out of the room.
Cole stood there for a while, unable to close his mouth still in shock and as he wondered what Patricia had to do with the situation. He stared at Tomi’s face. She heaved a sigh as their eyes met and turned away to lie in the bed.
‘Tomi, what has Patricia got to do with this?’ he finally found his voice after a minute.
There was no reply from Tomi.
‘Can’t you hear me? Why is the boss asking that I locate Patricia?’
‘Why don’t you ask the boss yourself and stop disturbing me?’ she replied and flashed an angry look at him.
Cole stood there speechless. He didn’t know what to think. Could it be that Tomi had lied against Patricia in order to turn the boss against him and her (Patricia)? But he also knew that it would be an impossible task for Tomi to have convinced Tarasha with a lie. That only left it with one option; that Patricia was an enemy and was only using him to get to Samantha.
Cole couldn’t contain the thoughts as he walked out. He went straight into the newly arranged computer room. There was nobody else there. He took out his extra phone and located Patricia’s phone number there. He dialed it several times but the call wasn’t answered.
*
Tarasha rested her head well on the pillow and took out her phone. She opened the browser and opened the saved pages list. She clicked on the first news page she had saved since nine o’clock in the morning.
INSPECTOR GENERAL AND OTHERS FREE FROM ABDUCTION AFTER A HEAVY GUNWAR.
The Inspector General of police, notorious criminal Stainless and some yet to be identified men have been rescued by the police from a building in Ikeja, Lagos.
Sounds of gunshots exchange was said to have filled the area in the late hours of the night yesterday, after which a part of the building was set ablaze. The residence of the area claimed that the police did not show up at the crime scene until two hours after the gun war had ended. However, the police command claimed that they had been there from the onset and they had been the ones engaging in the gun war with the men who occupied that building.
Four dead bodies were found in the building and they have been identified this morning as the bodies of Okonkwo John, Zubair Afeez, Onipade Juwon, Ohimen Akpos who are notorious thugs and hired killers in Anambra, Kwara, Ogun and Edo states respectively.
The Inspector General of Police was found in one of the rooms at the other side of the burning building with two other men while the notorious criminal, Stainless who is wanted for troubling the nation’s capital for a long time was found unconscious at the door to the room the Inspector General of Police was tied in.
The police are yet to give an official statement on this yet, but an officer who pleaded anonymity has told our sources that there seemed to have ensued a disagreement which led to a fight between the assassins found dead in the building. Our sources have tried to reach the police state command but to no avail. Investigations are still on to find out what these notorious assassins were doing in the same building and why they had the Inspector General there.
In recent times and since the arrival of Samantha Osman and her group, there has been an increase in the activities of assassin groups and clashes. There have also been an increase in the number of kidnaps happening around the country; two doctors were reported to have been kidnapped from their homes at midnight this morning.
____
Location : Presidential Quarters, Lagos.
Time: 12:30PM
‘Answering you that question doesn’t help us move forward,’ Rex said adamantly to Chief Elvis Richards.
Elvis Richards stared at him. His eyes were swollen even though he had slept for some hours after talking to Doctor Musa. Rex had come to meet him at the Presidential quarters and they were having a discussion in a secret room. Elvis Richards had asked Rex if he was a part of those rescued from the attacked building the night before but Rex had refused to answer him. Rex was expecting him (Elvis Richards) to talk about recruiting more assassins but from their conversation, he could tell that the man knew nothing about the new assassins.
‘So when are you going to ki*ll Samantha Osman? Or do you think I need to get someone else to do it?’ the Vice President asked Rex after some few minutes of silence.
‘No, give me just two more weeks and I’ll end it before the end of the fourteen days, if I do not end it, I would return all the funds you ever provided and the monies you paid.’ Rex replied.
Elvis Richards gave him a quick stare. He was surprised that Rex could say such words. It only meant Rex was also now as determined as he was to end Samantha’s life.
‘So what do you need me to provide for you now that you are starting all over?’ Elvis Richards asked.
‘The first thing we ought to do is silence Stainless in the police cell or get him out,’ Rex replied.
‘Hmmm…’ the vice president sighed thoughtfully. ‘I may not be able to get him out but I can order for his silent death.’
‘I also need two capable hands to assist me and I need a set of computers and network accessories to get started,’ Rex added.
‘I would provide all that for you,’ Elvis Richards said promisingly. ‘Just make sure you don’t fail this time,’ he added.
‘I won’t,’ Rex replied confidently. Rex had a plan that could turn out to be perfect if he got the necessary materials and the workforce he needed. He had followed the news and read every article which talked about the last night’s attack. There was someone who hadn’t been mentioned and counted by the police amongst the men found in the building. It was the man who had brought all the hostages together in the room.
He reached for the phone he had taken from the man and hidden in his pocket since the last night, he took it out and unlocked it. He navigated to the profile and found out that the owner’s name was Nick.
He remembered that he had hit Nick until he fainted the last night and left him in the same room with the Inspector General and other hostages. The news had also reported that Stainless was found unconscious at the entrance to the same room. No other person except Nick could have attacked Stainless. It meant that Nick had recovered early and was able to get out of the building, except if the police and news media had only skipped reporting about Nick in negligence.
‘Ayo, where are you?’ Elvis Richards said into the mouthpiece of his phone. ‘Come and meet me at the quarters behind the main building.’
_____
Time: 3:30pm
‘Aargh!’ Henry exclaimed angrily and he turned and got out of the bed angrily. He proceeded to the table where his ringing phone was on. It was the seventh time the phone was ringing and he had hoped it would stop, only for it to start ringing again at the point he was already going back to sleep.
He picked the phone and checked the screen. The caller’s number was unknown. He silenced it and waited for the incoming call to end before he silenced the phone totally. He checked the total seven missed calls, it was from the same number. He didn’t know who the caller was but he wasn’t interested in knowing yet until he had enough sleep. He was about to drop the phone back and return to the bed when a text message popped in.
‘Hey! Don’t you want to see your mother again? Why have you refused to call back since we met?’
He squinted and read the message again. He felt suddenly weak and unable to move. He didn’t know what the message was all about but he remembered he had made up his mind to try reaching his mother on the planned trip to Abuja with Cole, only for him to wake up on a day after and hear that he had fallen into coma before the day of the planned trip.
The sender of the message was the same number calling him. He reopened the call history and dialed back the number.
‘Hello,’ he said into the phone.
‘Hey Dude! What the hell is wrong with you? Why don’t you wanna answer the calls?’
‘I was asleep,’ Henry replied.
‘You’ve been sleeping for how many days?’
Henry didn’t understand the question, he didn’t know what to answer.
‘How long have you been sleeping? Why have you refused to get in touch like you promised?’
Henry was feeling more confused.
‘I think I should call you back,’ he said and cut the phone without waiting to get a response from the other end.
He stood on the same spot, wondering what the man on the phone was talking about. He didn’t remember promising to get in touch with anybody and didn’t even remember talking about his mother with anyone. He returned to the bed and sat at the edge, holding the phone in his right hand placed across his chest.
A knock sounded on the door and distracted him from his thoughts. He glanced towards the door but didn’t answer until the seconds knock. ‘Come in,’ he said, without bothering to ask who it was.
He felt relaxed and dropped the phone on the bed as he saw Tarasha step in. She stopped at the door and they stared at each other for about thirty seconds before she proceeded towards him. She settled beside him and crossed her legs with her two hands resting on the palm at both sides.
‘You’re just waking up?’ she broke the silence.
‘Yes, I just got up.’ Henry replied and faced her. ‘It doesn’t look like you’ve slept at all.’
‘I slept for an hour and half,’ she replied.
‘So, when are we taking the next steps against the Vice President now that we’ve got Tomi back?’
‘We need to get rid of every liability first,’ she replied. He frowned, not understanding what she meant. ‘We have to send all those people with us away, Stephanie George and her mother, Mrs. Henrietta, Dave James and Chief Nonso.’
‘Oh! But none of them needs to die right?’
‘Yes, they do not need to die. You would be taking Chief Nonso to his residence today. You’d go disguised, you drop him at the front of his residence and leave him in the car there.’
‘Okay… What about the others?’
‘We’ll get them away one after the other, I need to find out some things first from Mrs. Atinuke and I’m going to talk to her immediately I leave here. After that, we can decide when she leaves with her daughter and Mrs. Henrietta.’
‘Okay, I have to freshen up now.’
‘Tell me as soon as you’ve made all other things ready, I’ll get you disguised before you leave.’
‘Okay.’
Tarasha got up and proceeded to the door. She stopped and turned back as she placed he hand on the knob. ‘One more thing,’ she said, raising her brows. ‘You know how Tomi was kidnapped, please be careful of talking to strangers on your phone. They tricked her and could try to trick any other member of the team. So don’t give anyone sensitive information on the phone and don’t be tricked by anyone’s offer,’ she said in a warning tone before turning out of the room.
Henry heaved a sigh. Her last warning brought back to his mind the phone call he had just received. He concluded that the caller was only trying to trick him and there was no truth in what he was told.
*
‘Good afternoon doc,’ Tarasha greeted as she entered into the room. ‘Good afternoon ma,’ he also greeted Mrs. Atinuke.
‘Good afternoon,’ it was only the doctor that answered Tarasha. He had just finished giving the woman her medications for that afternoon and was about leaving when Tarasha knocked. He made his way to the door after replying Tarasha.
‘I think you should be here Doc, I’m here to ask her some questions and you could assist her in remembering.’ Tarasha said to stop the doctor from leaving.
The doctor returned and dropped the medications on the table, he sat on the only chair in the room – a one seater sofa while Tarasha sat on the bed beside the woman. He didn’t think it was the right time to ask the woman questions since he had just administered to her the drug that would make her calmer and prevent future outbursts. But from the look on Samantha’s face, she was determined to ask the woman at that moment and he didn’t think he could change her decision.
‘I want to ask you some questions ma, I hope you would give me answers,’ Tarasha began. Mrs. Atinuke turned to her and nodded in affirmation. Tarasha continued, ‘I’m totally ignorant of some of the things I’d be asking you so don’t be offended if I ask a silly question.’
‘Please go ahead,’ Mrs. Atinuke said.
‘Do you remember Mr. Lewis Andrew George?’
The woman frowned, ‘That’s my husband.’
‘Okay, and he’s Stephanie’s father right?’
The woman nodded.
‘And he also happens to be a relative of the late Dr Danjuma.’
‘No,’ the woman said, shaking her head.
Tarasha flashed a look at the doctor who had claimed that Lewis A.G was a relative to Dr Danjuma. The doctor was speechless.
‘Dr Danjuma was my elder brother,’ the woman quickly added. ‘I am the one related to Dr Danjuma, it wasn’t my husband.’
Dr Ekwueme heaved a sigh. At least, he was correct in a way. Lewis AG was still related to Dr Danjuma.
‘Do you know all about Dr Danjuma and his children?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Yes, I do. My brother doesn’t hide any secrets from me.’
‘Can you recognize any of his kids if you see them now?’ she added.
The Doctor stared at Tarasha in suspicion. He had once thought that Tarasha could be the girl child of the family but discarded the thought as a foolish one and also after Henry had said to him that her real name was Tarasha.
‘No, I don’t think so. I’ve suffered a lot in the past years, their pictures are very faint in my memory. Even if I see them as kids now, I may not recall who they are. But I can’t see them anyway, Boko Haram wiped off the entire family.’ Mrs. Atinuke said as a tear dropped off her eyes.
‘Yes, that’s sad, I read about that too.’ Tarasha said in condolence. ‘Do you know how they gave birth to all their kids? I have some information I need to retrieve with it, the enemies had some things to do with the birth and death of the kids.’
‘They are secrets which Danjuma told me, I won’t like to reveal them to anyone but I would tell you only because you’ve been good to me and my daughter.’
‘Thank you,’ Tarasha said with a smile. She glanced at the doctor and the doctor rose, knowing it was time to leave. Tarasha waited for the doctor to step out before she continued. ‘I want to get information particularly about the birth of their daughter and who she was.’
‘Omotara,’ Mrs. Atinuke smiled. She then stared deep into Tarasha’s eyes, ‘I know who she is…’
