TARASHA Episode 13 Pt 1 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Tarasha dropped the gun slowly and took a glance at the door and back at Cole. She turned and walked to the door, holding the gun in alertness. She peeped through the door hole and saw the person knocking, she clenched her left fist and gave an evil chuckle as she tightened her grip against the door. Part of her felt like opening the door and gunning him down immediately, the other part felt like opening the door to embrace him. She stood back and paused for a while.
‘Answer the door, you should know how to handle him. Return his phone to him. If he asks’ she said to Cole as she hurried back into her room. ‘Come with me’ she motioned Benny to follow pack the rest of the devices and follow her, leaving only Henry’s phone.
Cole heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He made a sign of the cross as he walked slowly to the door, whoever was at the door was his saviour. He peeped through the door hole but didn’t recognise the person at first. He opened halfway and tucked out his head.
‘Hello’ Henry said with a smile, trying to peep into the house.
‘Yes, what can I do for you?’ Cole answered. He searched the guy from head to toe with his eyes, then Henry’s face came into his remembrance. He stepped out.
Henry scrutinized Cole’s face for a while and remembered him clearly as the driver who drove them to the birthday party.
Henry cleared his throat and began. ‘Good morning, I’ve come to see Evelyn’
‘Evelyn?’ Cole pretended as if he didn’t hear properly. He would have loved to say, ‘please come in, she really needs you, that day she felt like dying after you left her.’ But he couldn’t try it, majorly because of the tensed atmosphere that the device he had taken in carelessly just caused and he was also sure that the Boss wouldn’t want to see Henry.
‘Yes, where is Evelyn? The lady I accompanied to that party’
‘What party?’ Cole feigned ignorance.
‘Come on, you drove us in a Rover to late Chief Jubril’s party and disappeared when the party ended in a disaster’ Henry defended himself in a strong tone.
‘That was business, she was my client and only hired me for that evening’ Cole answered back.
‘She’s only your client?’ Henry asked.
Cole shook his head in affirmation.
‘I need to see her’ Henry added immediately, unshaken.
‘I don’t know where she lives or where she is now. It was her first time of hiring me, so I don’t have much details about her’
Henry paused for a while and stared straight into Cole’s eyes. ‘You’re not saying the truth’ he slammed. ‘Just tell me where she is, I need to see her for something important’
Henry paused as someone opened the door and poked out her head. She looked to Cole and then to Henry’s face and back to Cole, her eyes expression asking for who Henry was.
‘I want to see Evelyn’ Henry quickly said. Aisha feigned ignorance and gave him a strange look. ‘Or you may know her as Tara’ Henry quickly added.
There was an expression of shock on both Aisha and Cole’s faces. They mistook the Tara he called to be a short form for Tarasha. But Cole could recognize that Henry’s intonation was different and the way he called it made it sound like a Yoruba name.
‘Tara or Evelyn, she doesn’t know her’ Cole replied, arguing for Aisha.
Henry shook his head in disbelief. He had caught the shocked expression on the faces and was more convinced now that they were lying. ‘Why are you guys hiding her? I need to see her for something important’, he repeated.
‘Mister, we don’t know her. I told you already that she only hired me for the party and that’s all’ Cole slammed. Aisha sighed and entered back into the house.
Henry shook his head and licked his lips, thinking of what else to say. ‘Okay, I’ve been on the road trying to locate this place for some hours now, can I at least come in to have a drink? Maybe a cup of water’ Henry pleaded.
‘I don’t allow strangers into my house’ Cole replied.
Henry gave a smile. ‘I’m not a stranger’ he retorted. ‘You know, I could be your client too and a very regular one at that’
‘Sorry sire, I’ve really got some other things to do’ Cole attempted to turn back.
‘Okay, can I have my property?’ Henry said, perceiving that Cole was going to remain adamant.
‘What property?’
‘My phone, the one I forgot in your car’ Henry asserted. Cole kept mute. ‘Don’t try to feign ignorance with that’ Henry warned. ‘It led me here and I know that it’s in this house’
Cole stared at him awkwardly for a while. He turned back and walked into the house locking the door immediately.
Henry quickly took out a bug from his pocket and attached to the top edge of one of the pillars in the balcony.
Cole returned a minute later with the phone, not noticing anything, he handed it over to Henry immediately.
‘Thanks’ Henry stared at his phone with a smile. ‘You work with her right?’ He asked another question that kept Cole dumbfounded for some seconds.
‘I think its time to leave sire, you’re taking too much time here’ Cole said with a serious tone.
‘It’s okay, I’ll leave’ Henry said, tossing his phone from one palm to another. ‘Tell her, I only came to pick her up for service today. I’ll be back some other time, we still have loads of stuffs to discuss’ Henry said and turned to take his leave.
‘Don’t return here else I’ll do something terrible to you’ Henry could hear Cole threaten as he approached the old weak gate. He paused and stared at the compound. The place was neat but it looked very old, like a deserted place that was being renovated. There was a blue car in the compound and a mini van. There were also very old building bricks arranged in one corner. Henry wondered what a modern looking guy like Cole was doing in such an environment. Henry cleared his throat and walked on.
He got into his car which was parked by the road beside the house and settled in the driver’s seat, leaving the door opened. He took his tablet device from the back seat and unlocked it. He opened up an application to monitor the bug he just planted. After some loading, the streaming began, he could see Cole just turning back into the house. He dropped the tablet on the right seat and closed the door. He wasn’t sure Evelyn was in the house but he was sure that the driver and his wife or girlfriend knew her. But the bug he just placed there would help him confirm that.
He took in a deep breath and remained in silence for a while. He could hear some singing from around the corner, a church was having the Sunday service.
His previous plan was to pick Evelyn and convince her to follow him to his own church’s service but since he didn’t get to see her, he decided to attend a church nearby while he monitored the bug. He closed the door and started the engine.
~~
After waiting for sometime after Henry walked out of the gate, Cole opened the door slowly and entered back into the house. Tarasha was seated on the arm rest of the three seater sofa, her short gun was still in her hands, she stared straight at him. There was an awkward silence of over five minutes. Cole couldn’t move and Tarasha kept an undecided look on him.
‘Why did you take the phone?’ Tarasha finally asked.
Cole felt stupid. He knew he shouldn’t have taken the phone at all or he should have told her about it when she didn’t ask. But the reason he was so interested in it was the special technical qualities the phone seemed to have. Little did he know that the owner of the device was also a technical guru who was capable of delivering them to the police by just that simple mistake. Cole could not answer the question, words refused to come out of his mouth.
Tarasha narrowed his gaze at him sternly. But Cole still felt little bit relieved. At least, she wasn’t looking like she was still going to still ki*ll him.
Tarasha stared back to the gun in her hand. She felt like punishing Cole for what he had done. A bullet into his right arm wouldn’t have been too cruel for his punishment but she considered the new tasks ahead and the fact that she might still be the one to treat the bullet wound. She offloaded the gun and dropped it on the chair, one of the two bullets rolled to the ground.
‘So it was Henry right?’
‘Yes’ Cole answered. Tarasha let out a breath and her shoulders fell. Henry could interpret the look on her face as a wish that she could see him. He felt the temptation to smile, but rebuked himself and stayed calm.
‘Can you check if he’s still anywhere around?’ She said to Cole as she got up and walked to the front window. Cole opened the door and walked into the compound. He stared around the compound for a little while before proceeding to the gate, he opened the unlockable gate and peeped outside. Except for some building workers walking around, he could only see tyre marks on the sand. He closed the gate and returned into the house.
‘He’s gone’ he said to Tarasha who had already come out to the balcony. She was searching everywhere with her eyes. ‘Where did he stand?’ She asked.
‘Here’ Cole answered, standing on the same spot Henry stood.
‘That guy is a crazy technician and developer, his knowledge of this place could mean danger for us. We need to leave here soon’
Tarasha kept looking around. She saw something at the top edge of balcony pillar, it was hidden behind the cobwebs. She felt stupid as she stared straight into the bug before discovering what it was. She detached it from the wall and dropped it on the floor, crushing it with her foot.
‘sh*t! He has seen my face’ she cursed. ‘Didn’t you see this?’ She barked angrily at Cole.
Cole stepped back in fear and gave way for her to walk back inside through the door. He followed after her. ‘We need to leave here immediately’ she said, walking hurriedly. ‘I don’t know how much time we have left’ she picked the gun and the bullet on the sofa. Cole was standing still, he didn’t understand why they had to leave but he couldn’t summon courage to ask like he would have done normally. As far as he was concerned, Henry was there only for her. They had covered all tracks on their last operation, so there was no way it could be traced to them. Henry had come to discuss his love issue with her and that was all.
‘Why are you standing there?’ Tarasha returned back and stared at him. She had taken off her top and had only her bra and pant on.
‘That guy’ Cole began, moving closer to her slowly, carefully choosing his words in his brain first so as not to infuriate her again. ‘He said he came to pick you for church service’
Tarasha stared at him awkwardly. Her anger was beginning to arise again.
‘He knows your name’ Cole quickly added.
‘What do you mean?’ She narrowed her gaze at him.
‘He called you Tara’
‘What??’ She exclaimed, more like a whisper, looking shocked. ‘Where the hell did he get that from?’
Cole stared at her in surprise, surprised that she was surprised. He thought she was the one who told him the name since he assumed they had begun a love affair.
‘Whatever, we need to leave here now’ Tarasha said and moved closer to the sofa, she picked the bullet on the floor.
‘I think you’re in love with him’ Cole mustered enough courage to say as she turned back. He held his breath anticipating what could befall him.
‘What??’ Tarasha turned back angrily, it was as if Cole just stirred the devil in her. Cole could see her anger in her eyes and he began to tremble immediately. He began to step back slowly as she proceeded towards him. There was no gun in her hands and the door was still opened for Cole to run outside but he knew his attempt would be fruitless. So he knelt down in an attempt to plead.
A knock sounded on the door.
‘Evelyn, come on, I know you are in there’ Henry’s voice rang in.
