Tarasha 2 Chapter 19 Part 9 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Somewhere in Mainland, Lagos.
Time: 05:08AM
‘If the boss’ claim is true, then could it mean Samantha works for the Vice President?’ Carl asked aloud, directing his question to no one in particular. He was seated before a large screen in a dark room, on the screen were pictures of the dead bodies of the three siblings; the first son by the right, daughter in middle and the last son by the left. Eric and Lizzy were seated somewhere behind Carl in the room and they all had taken some time to analyze the deaths of the three siblings. They concluded it was a well planned operation; everything was completed less than thirty hours before any one could even think the first and second deaths were connected.
‘I knew it, it wasn’t an accident,’ Lizzy spoke out loud. ‘She was seated in front of a computer and was going through some recorded footages.’
‘How?’ Eric asked. He got up from where he was seated and walked towards her.
‘Here,’ she zoomed in a picture. ‘This man tampered with the solar system which powers the street lights, he did before night fell.’
Eric squinted as he looked at the very blur picture.
‘They must have wiped out the NSCC footages, these are just some already caught up in the cache, that’s why they are blur.’
‘It only shows us that someone was there, it doesn’t show us the face.’ Eric commented.
‘Could have been one of her men,’ Carl joined. ‘She has quite a number of new people working with her now.’
‘I still don’t get how she could be working for the Vice President,’ Eric said with a confused look. ‘Past reports says she had tried on several occasions to ki*ll him.’
‘But she failed,’ Carl put in. ‘Why didn’t she fail in her attempts to ki*ll the previous victims?’
‘Her attempts on the Vice President were too real and close to be regarded as made up.’ Eric noted.
‘I don’t believe either that the Vice President pays Samantha, but the boss seems convinced about it.’ Carl said.
‘That man is in a very bad state now, you can’t expect him to make valid conclusions.’
‘Whether or not he is right, it all points to the fact that we need to get Samantha real quick.’
There was silence for a while and Eric returned to his seat. A phone rang.
Lizzy took out the phone and answered the call, it was the NIS Chairman calling from the other end.
‘Special Agent Elizabeth,’ the chairman saluted.
‘Good morning sir,’ Lizzy greeted in an official tone, wondering why the Chairman was calling her so early.
‘Have you started work on the Chief children murder?’
‘Yes sir, I have but no other agent was assigned to work with me.’ Lizzy complained even though she knew the Chairman must have ensured the case was assigned to her because he knew she was already working in that direction and she also had external people working with her.
‘I know, start reporting updates on the case progress and I would ensure another agent is assigned to you when the time is right.’ the man replied.
‘Okay sir.’
‘I called to ask you about Agent DJ, he’s not been seen around for a long time. Do you know his whereabouts?’
‘No,’ Lizzy answered and got up to her feet. She had really been concerned about Dave but decided not to bother herself since Dave also never showed concern for her when he ought to, he only was concerned about Stephanie George. ‘I stopped communicating with him when he started lying about his location to me.’
‘Huh?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you no longer work with him?’
‘No, I think we lost that connection with each other.’
‘So, what happened between both of you.’
‘Dave is very intelligent sir, he could have sensed that the information we shared together was used against him.’
‘But you only stopped working with him few days ago, or probably some weeks ago.’
‘Yes, it’s enough time for him to have suspicions.’
‘Well, I would say don’t reach him for now. Sometime ago we noticed his presence in Abuja, but his hotel room was claimed to be found empty without him paying the hotel officials or taking some of his things away. Something could have happened to him but we’ve not been able to trace him in any way.’
‘Oh!’ Lizzy felt some fear in her mind as she heard that something could have happened to Dave. She immediately felt the urge to reach him even though the chairman asked her not to.
‘Always remember to feed the office with updates girl,’ the man said in a conclusive tone.
‘Okay sir.’
Lizzy hung up. She saw Eric and Carl staring at her, obviously waiting to hear what she needed to tell them about the call. ‘That’s the NIS Chairman,’ she explained to them. ‘Office matters.’
‘Oh!’ Eric and Carl said in unison and returned to the work.
Lizzy picked up her phone. Her mind was no longer at rest. She searched for Dave’s number on it but realized that the phone it was stored on wasn’t with her.
____
Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 07:47AM
‘Hello,’ Cole said into the phone after answering the call. He continued to stir the tea in his hand, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he walked to the dining.
‘Cole, it’s me Nicholas.’ a voice replied from the other end.
‘Nicholas?’ Cole sounded surprised. He quickly dropped the tea on the table after sitting and held the phone with his hand. ‘Where the f*** have you been?’
‘I escaped that night but I lost my phone in that building and I haven’t been able to reach you since then. I just found your number in one of the old emails we exchanged.’
‘Mehn, you’re crazy, I’m glad you’re alive.’ Cole said with a very brief smile. ‘ So where are you now?’
‘Hiding somewhere in Badagry?’
‘Who else have you made contact with?’ Cole asked, he continued stirring the tea with his right hand while holding the phone in his left.
‘None yet.’
‘Okay, I will get back to you once I report to the boss.’
*
Time: 07:57AM
‘We should have something interesting to see on the news this morning,’ Cole turned on hearing Tarasha’s voice, she was walking into the living room. ‘Have you read the news this morning?’
‘Not yet boss, Good morning.’ Cole greeted. Now he was busy with some slice of bread and the tea.
‘The Vice President has replied to the allegations.’
‘Oh! Interesting,’ Cole chuckled.
Tarasha picked the television remote control and settled on the three seater. She turned it on and waited a few seconds as it processed, she switched to the news station, the broadcast was about starting. Cole changed to a seat where he cold watch the television from and continued eating.
The news broadcast began and the newscaster started with reading the headlines and as expected the Vice President’s reply was oen of the headlines. After reading for about fifteen minutes, the newscaster began the news about the Vice President.
VICE PRESIDENT ELVIS RICHARDS DENIES SAMANTHA OSMAN’S ALLEGATION ABOUT KIDNAP OF DOCTORS.
Vice President Elvis Richards through his social media handles has denied knowing anything about the kidnap of Doctor Musa and Doctor Reuben. However he affirmed that he truly had childbearing problems which he and his wife knew of and both agreed to get children through another way. He said that the DNA results were done to clear some issues arising between he and his children and he was not surprised by the result.
Through a series of tweets and facebook posts, he blasted the hospital management and the doctor in charge for allowing such sensitive personal information of a patient out to the public and he also warned bloggers and the public to desist from sharing unverified news. He complained that Samantha Osman was out to spoil his name and tarnish his image and was so sure that she kidnapped the doctors and she did it at such a time as this to accuse him falsely.
He pleaded with the security agencies to investigate deeply and make the world know the whereabouts of the doctors. He further reassured the nation and the world that he is committed to the path of integrity and focused on making the nation a better place and would not let anything distract him. In his words, ‘The enemies who are trying to stop me from contesting in the next elections are the sponsors of Samantha Osman and they will never be able to stop me because I am God’s chosen one. They will all be put to shame.’
President Emeka has also reacted to the news through his spokesperson and he urged every Nigeria to remain calm. Thorough investigations on the matter have begun and the police hopes to reveal the whole truth soon.
‘Interesting,’ Cole commented after the reading finished.
Tarasha reduced the volume of the television.
‘I didn’t expect him to accept the allegation so easily,’ she said aloud. ‘But now that he has, he might get some sympathy from the public since our claims that he kidnapped the doctors are mere speculations.’
‘Boss, I think this could be a really good time to strike,’ Cole suggested after few seconds of silence.
‘Not now, I have a plan already,’ Tarasha replied.
There was silence for about a minute. Cole wondered what plan she had but he was rest assured that he would know about it at the right time.
‘Boss, Nicholas called me. He survived the last attack we had,’ Cole spoke.
‘Nicholas? One of the seven men?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Yes.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘He said he just found my number in one of the emails we exchanged long ago and he decided to call me. I told him I needed to tell you about him before getting back to him.’
‘Okay, so are you sure it’s the same Nicholas who was working with us?’
‘Yes, it was his voice and accent.’
‘That’s not what I mean,’ Tarasha corrected. ‘Are you sure he’s still the same Nicholas on our side?’
‘Ermm…’ Cole thought for some seconds. ‘I can’t say.’
‘Ask and find out what he wants, if he still wants to continue working with us, select a different location and ask him to meet you there.’
Four Hours Later
‘Cole,’ Nicholas’ voice echoed in the building. He paused and looked around, the place was broad and empty and there were no signs of life around. He took some steps further and called again, ‘Cole’. He turned towards all corners of the building and shouted the name but there was no response. He checked his wristwatch, he had arrived there early, ten minutes before the time Cole asked him to arrive and now it was forty minutes past and Cole was nowhere to be found.
‘Cole!’ Nicholas shouted again, turning around to see everywhere in the building. He picked out his phone and dialed Cole’s number again, it rang like it had been ringing but wasn’t answered.
Nicholas heaved a sigh. He closed his eyes, thinking of what to do. He wondered why Cole had asked them to meet there without showing up. His eyes were still closed when he hear some sounds. He opened his eyes and turned back to see Cole standing close to the entrance behind with a faded crooked smile on his face.
‘Cole,’ he called in a soft voice, heaving sigh of relief.
‘Nick,’ Cole called back.
Nicholas proceeded towards him and stopped right in front of him. Cole offered him a handshake.
‘How did you do it?’
Nicholas cleared his throat, he knew Cole meant to ask how he escaped that night.
‘I was attacked and they left me probably thinking I was dead, I crawled away from where I was wounded, the darkness helped me to hide myself.’ Nicholas explained, deliberately not mentioning the fact that it was one of the hostages that attacked him, he knew Cole would question him on how the hostage got free enough to attack him and that may cause Cole to ask him more questions or even arouse suspicions.
‘So, how did you get to Badagry?’ Cole asked.
‘I got into the next compound and I was lucky to find some clothes still hung outside the building. I changed my blood stained clothes and left the place, then I found my way to the bus stop and did some pick pocketing, with that I was able to get to Badagry.’
Cole remained calm and fixed his gaze on Nicholas’ face so sternly as if he was trying to examine if he was saying the truth or not.
‘So who else knows that you are here?’ Cole asked. He took a look around the empty warehouse as he took out his phone from his pocket.
‘No one knows, just the two of us, except you told someone else.’ Nicholas replied.
‘And you’re sure you were not being followed as you came here,’ Cole pressed further.
‘No one followed me,’ Nicholas said in a confident tone.
Cole dialed Tarasha’s number on his phone. ‘Boss, I got him here, he’s alone.’
‘Bring him over,’ Tarasha instructed from the other end. ‘But look out for people following you.’
___
Location : PRESIDENTIAL QUARTERS, LAGOS
Time: 02:15PM
‘Rex, Samantha is destroying me already, can’t you see?’
Rex was quiet.
‘I need to know what you are doing about it, I really need to know.’
Rex flashed a look at his face but did not reply immediately. ‘I’m preparing a bait for her, I’m sure she would fall when it is ready. I would tell you how you need to get involved when you need to.’
‘When would that be Rex? It’s taking too long, I don’t know what else she has in store.’
‘I don’t what she has in store either, all I know is that she would go down in a matter of days.’
The Vice President shook his head in frustration. There was another long silence.
‘I would be returning to Abuja tomorrow morning, the President called for me.’
Rex looked at his face. ‘You should have told me that earlier,’ he said, then took out a cigarette and lit it.
___
Location: Tarasha’s New Base, Lagos.
Time: 3:00PM
Tarasha was in the control room, watching the videos made by the Inspector General when she got the notification of a new email on her phone. She paused the video and opened the email. It was from a Nefary queen.
The device is still at the airport but I’m monitoring and would let you know when anyone comes to make claim of it.
Tarasha had sent some data to a clan sister of hers in the US to help check the possessor of the device at the airport and the sister had replied to tell her the airport authorities found it and were waiting for the owner to make claims.
She closed the email. There was another message on her work email. There had been a new update on the security website Cole hacked into the last time. She turned back to the computer and minimized the video player, she opened the email application to read the message on the desktop. After that she logged in to the security website. The police were yet to detect that information about the Inspector General’s travel out of the country was gotten by a break in into the website and were still sharing information through the website since it was one of their most secure platforms.
‘The Presidency has made arrangements for the Vice President to arrive in Abuja tomorrow morning, please make your own arrangements to this effect.’
The message was from the Abuja Headquarters and it was supposed to only appear on the dashboard of the Lagos State Headquarters but Tarasha’s team had access to it as they were able to break into the site.
She wondered what to do with the new information. She knew it would be more difficult to get into the Presidential Quarters in Lagos than it was getting into the State Staff House in Abuja; there would have been an increase in the number of security officers guarding the quarters and those on standby ever since the news of the Inspector General kidnap had broken out.
She decided to ignore the information and focus on her plans of killing him after releasing the video of the IGP’s confession. She also wanted his death to come after the IGP’s death which she had already taken care of with the intravenous fluid that was passed into his body.
A knock sounded on the door and distracted her from her thoughts. Henry walked in without waiting for an answer.
‘Hey Tara,’ he said looking around the control room as he noticed some changes in the arrangement of the computers.
‘Hey,’ she replied him.
‘I just returned, should I hand over everything to the doctor?’
‘Yes, you should.’ Tara replied.
Henry looked around for a while. ‘I also need to talk to you.’
‘Okay, what do you need to talk to me about?’
‘Ermmm… I think I should see the doctor first.’
‘As you wish,’ she shrugged and turned back to the computer. Her phone began to ring as she turned. She picked it up and answered, ‘Cole, what’s up?’
‘I’m in the house, with Nicholas.’
‘Bring him over to the computer lab,’ Tarasha replied. She put the phone down and turned to the system to close the running applications.
In the Medical Lab
Fifteen Minutes Later.
Doctor Ekwueme turned to look back as he heard the sound of the door opening. He smiled and continued his setting up when he saw that it was Stephanie. He had been enjoying the girl’s company in recent times, the only thing he didn’t like her to do was asking him questions about his work with Samantha and he always tried his best to avoid getting into that line of discussion with her.
‘Well done sir,’ she greeted.
‘Steph, please come have your seat.’
She proceeded further and sat beside him.
‘I’ve not seen you since morning,’ the doctor said.
‘Yes, I’ve been with my mother, she slept off some minutes ago.’
‘Hope she’s doing fine and taking her drugs regularly.’
‘Yes, she is.’ Stephanie replied.
‘That’s good.’
There was silence for a minute.
Stephanie looked around the lab for a minute and noticed some new things in it. ‘I saw you and Mr Henry a while ago.’
‘Yes, he brought to me some of the things I needed to use in completion of the mixture.’
‘In that carton right? I saw him bring that carton in,’ she asked, pointing to a big carton on the table.
‘Yes.’
There was another minute of silence.
‘So what would happen to Dave after the mixture is used for him?’
‘Nothing, he’s going to be fine.’ Dr Ekwueme replied.
Stephanie did not know whether to trust the doctor or not.
‘But is anything wrong with him now?’
‘He’s okay.’
‘Then why does he need the mixture?’
The doctor looked at her face, ‘He needs to get out of here, without that, Samantha would not let him leave. If Dave has to live, the only option is for the mixture to go into his body.’
‘Is it the same mixture that Samantha used for the Inspector General of Police?’
The Doctor stopped what he was doing and quickly flashed a look at her face.
‘Who told you Samantha used a mixture for the Inspector General of Police?’
‘It’s all over the internet, the Inspector General of Police was placed on drip.’
‘So, what makes you think that it was Samantha who placed him on drip? Because the media said so? Don’t you remember that the same media reported lies when you were kidnapped?’
‘I remember,’ Stephanie said. ‘And I’m aware the media tells a lot of lies but this was not a lie.’ The doctor looked at her face again. ‘I saw the pictures of the mixture in the drip bag at the hotel.’
‘So?’
‘It was the same drip bag that was here few days ago,’ she said pointing to a corner where there used to be several drip bags hung, one of the bags was missing.
‘Is it only in this lab intravenous fluids are produced?’ the doctor asked, he was already tired of the questions.
‘No, but…’ Stephanie got up to explain. ‘The drip bag missing here had a liquid in it which colour was close to yellow and the drip bag found in the hotel room with the Inspector was of the same colour, is it a coincidence that the drip bag here is missing at the same time it was found there and at the time Samantha did not sleep at home through the night?’
Doctor Ekwueme stared at her with his mouth left wide open. He got scared that he had allowed for too much closeness between he and the girl.
‘Do you know you are making very serious allegations and it could get you into trouble with Samantha if she knows you are thinking this way?’
‘Sir, I’m only stating the obvious truth. I’m in no way against whatever she does to the Inspector, I know those men deserve whatever is done to them. I’m only concerned about Dave because he was only doing his job.’
‘And thats why we are trying to make him leave here alive and healthy,’ the doctor snapped.
Stephanie heaved a sigh. She shook her head in pitiful manner, ‘All I just want to know is what the liquid would do to Dave.’
‘I can’t tell you that Steph, but I can assure you that he would not be harmed. Trust me, we are doing the best for him and for us.’
Steph let out another breath. ‘It’s okay, can you allow me see him?’
‘No, I’m not in charge of that. You can ask Samantha yourself,’ the doctor replied.
‘I only want to see him, she has not made any law that no one should be allowed to see him, has she?’
‘No, but she has not also told me to allow anybody who wants to see him do so.’
‘But the door is always open, anyone who wants to go in can.’
‘And you think Samantha would not know if anyone goes in?’
Stephanie remained quiet. She still had it strongly in mind to see Dave but she made up her mind that she would do it without the Doctor’s knowledge, to save him from getting into trouble with Samantha Osman and also to ensure he doesn’t try to stop her.
The doctor continued his work in silence. He made up his mind to make sure Stephanie found out nothing more about the mixture he was preparing, for the next few days for which the mixture was going to be ready, he was going to keep to himself.
___
Cole took off his sweat filled shirt and flung it towards the wardrobe as he entered the room. He had left Nicholas to discuss with Tarasha. He looked towards the table in the room and saw a blinking red light on the phone he left there. He walked towards the table and picked the phone to check the notification. He wasn’t expecting anything serious on it, it was the phone he used in communicating with Patricia alone. He saw the missed call signal and swiped down the notification bar to see who called him. He was expecting to see the customer care numbers but he was shocked on seeing Patricia’s name there. She had called him up to ten times.
