TARASHA Episode 14 Pt 4 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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**NSCC Head Office, Abuja**
Except from the sounds made by the tap of the fingers on the keyboard, no other sound could be heard in the computer room as the three developers worked. Only one out of the three invited for the interview passed and was made to start the job immediately. A new house and an advance pay was given to him. Henry had to invite an additional person, his friend who was also a good developer and software engineer to join the team for a short while.
The three developers worked in silence, sitting on three different rows, they communicated with each other when necessary through chat messages.
The door flung open and Sylvester walked in, holding a file in his hands. He walked straight to where Henry was seated and placed the file on the table beside the system Henry was working on. Henry glanced up to him and returned his face to the screen immediately.
Sylvester released a breath. ‘We need to talk, you’ll be going with me to the meeting tomorrow’
Henry turned up his face slowly to Sylvester. ‘Yes, you will’ Sylvester reiterated. ‘I spoke with the IG today and he insisted that you should be in the meeting when I told him of how I’ve been working with you’ Sylvester dropped the file and began to walk out.
‘What? What am I supposed to do in the meeting? We’ve not gotten a solution yet’ Henry murmured.
‘That’s the more reason the IG wants you there’ Sylvester paused after opening the door and turned to him, attracting the attention of the other other men working. ‘He believes that you’ll talk more convincingly to the President and others in the meeting’ Sylvester said and closed the door.
Henry picked up the file from the table and opened it. He stared into it for some seconds and muttered some words before getting up hurriedly. He held the file in his hands and hurried after Sylvester.
~~
**8pm**
‘Ouch!’ Aisha exclaimed as Tarasha defeated her the sixth time that day. She was surprised at the way Tarasha was handling the game even though it was her first time of playing it. She had thought it would be easy to defeat her like the Ludo game, not knowing that Tarasha was good at computer games especially the ones which involved bloodshed.
Cole and Benny were both seated on the three seater sofa smiling and staring into a laptop together. Cole took his eyes off the laptop for some seconds. He just couldn’t help but smile again, Benny looked at his face to see what was the cause of the smile and joined too as they both shook their heads funnily and stared at Aisha’s smooth and shining head, the lightening in the room made it reflect like a mirror. Her backhead had a round slightly protruded shape which made it look as if a mold of fufu was gummed to the back.
The gate bell receiver sounded, startling all of them. They stared at each other’s faces, the look on their eyes communicated the question in their hearts without them voicing it, they wanted to know which out of them was expecting a visitor.
Tarasha dropped the game pad and got up, she straightened her short Ankara gown. ‘I’ll get it’ she said and began to proceed out of the house.
She peeped through the hole before opening the gate. ‘Paul’ she said with a smile, standing in the middle of the smaller entrance.
‘Hi, Evelyn’ Paul greeted with a smile, wrapping the fingers of his both hands around each other.
‘Good evening Paul’ Tarasha replied, still standing in the middle of the way.
‘I came to check on you’ Paul said, trying to look into the compound. ‘We closed early at work today’
‘Oh! I see. Thanks’ Tarasha gave a forced smile.
‘Can…I’ Paul made the gesture with his hand, asking for Tarasha to let him in.
‘Okay’ Tarasha reluctantly gave way and he stepped in slowly. She closed the gate and pointed him in direction of the house. He delayed, taking time his time to feed his eyes on everything in the compound first.
‘Do you guys close so early at the NSCC office?’ She asked. He was still staring at the vehicles and the tree in the compound.
‘Huh?’ Surprise was clearly written on his face as he turned back to her. ‘How do you know I work in the NSCC?’
‘I saw the ID card on your neck this morning’ she answered.
‘Oh! And you could read what was in it within that short while?’
‘I’ve seen the ID card somewhere before, so I recognized it immediately I saw it hung on your neck’
‘Okay, although I work in the head office, I’m a regional staff. We work on shifts most times’ he responded and they began to walk leisurely towards the house entrance.
‘How about the urgent vacancies? Have you got people to occupy them?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Yes, we have two more people working with us now. The team is being led by Henry Ekene George? You know him?’ Paul paused and asked, staring into her face.
‘I’ve heard about him so many times, people say he’s a guru’ Tarasha replied.
‘Yes, they say he’s a guru but he has not been able to provide us a solution to the current problem’ Paul said as they stepped on the balcony.
‘What about you? Why didn’t you apply for the vacant position? I’m aware that the post is higher than the regional staff position you occupy now?’ Tarasha paused at the door, placing her hand on the knob.
Paul smiled. ‘I’m not a developer or programmer, I would have loved to. What I do is oversee and ensure that nothing strange is happening in my region. I make a report and summary of any crime or unusual occurrence that takes place during my working hours.’
‘Alright, but all the vacant positions are occupied already?’ Tarasha asked and was about to turn the knob.
‘Wait!’ Paul stopped her. ‘I didn’t ask you about your flatmates’ he said in whispers. ‘Are they your siblings or friends or…’
‘Why do you worry?’ Tarasha asked with a smile.
‘I’ve seen two guys come out of this place and I don’t know if one of them is your boyf…’
‘You have nothing to worry about’ Tarasha cut in and opened the door.
He walked in, following behind her like a timid child. Everyone in the living room looked towards their direction. The TV was still on but had been switched to the station airing the national news.
‘These are my friends’ Tarasha said as she ushered him to one of the one seater sofa by the left.
Paul waved and smiled at all of them before he sat down. Tarasha took the seat beside him and crossed her legs. ‘So what should I offer you?’
‘Anything nice’ Paul answered with a smile, staring at her thighs which were clearly revealed the way she sat.
‘Anything nice?’
‘Yes’ he shook his head like a frog in response.
‘Please Khadijat, could you help me get the juice called “anything nice” for our guest’ Tarasha joked, making everybody chuckle.
Aisha got up at once. ‘Okay, I’ll get him a good fruit juice’ she said before leaving.
Paul’s eyes followed Aisha as she stood up and began to walk away, her shining head was what got his attention.
‘Strange’ he muttered as Aisha walked out of sight.
‘Strange’ Tarasha chuckled, ‘but she loves it that way’
‘Oh… ‘
“An important meeting with the President have been scheduled for tomorrow morning to discuss the current security problems in the country. In respect to the growing assassin gang and assassination attacks that begun in the country sometime close to the climax of last year, representatives from all security bodies would be present to discuss the way forward with the President. We believe that a valid conclusion would be made tomorrow on this issue…’ The female newscaster’s voice was heard as Cole increased the volume with the remote control. Everybody in the room had turned to the TV. Aisha had also returned with a pack of cold fruit juice and a transparent glass cup on a tray, she placed it on a stool and put it in front of the visitor.
‘Representatives from the NSCC would be there also, the chairman Mr Sylvester and Henry E.G would be there’ Paul began, talking in a manner as if he had been asked by Tarasha. Tarasha seemed less interested but he continued. ‘The vice president would be the one working closely with Henry E.G and the newly employed developers, due to his experience in that line and being the pioneer of the system in Nigeria’
‘Oh! The VP would be working with the new employees?’ Tarasha asked, now more interested in the topic.
‘Yes’ he said after taking a sip from the glass cup. ‘I overheard the chairman saying something like that’
Tarasha paused for a while and thought deeply while staring at the TV. ‘Is there still space to employ one more person?’
Paul was surprised by her question, the glass cup made noise as he dropped it on the stool. ‘I don’t know. Why do you ask?’
‘Ermm… Nothing really’ Tarasha covered up with a smile. ‘I just love your job, I wish I could work in the NSCC’
‘Oh! I’ll tell you when there is any vacancy available again’
‘Thanks’ Tarasha said with a light smile. ‘What time is the meeting tomorrow?’
’11am’
Tarasha nodded her head slowly and turned away from him, she ran her fingers through her hair. If Elvis Richards was going to work with the NSCC, then his murder would be easier if she could work with the NSCC. Certainly, their plans has got to change. Her eyes met with Cole’s who was also staring thoughtfully. He was thinking about the same thing.
~~~
7pm
Henry was seated in his living room with Jefa, both of them in a kind of sober mood. Jefa had his palms covering his mouth, his elbows on his lap and his shoulders down.
‘I shouldn’t have showed up at all’ Jefa complained loudly. ‘I made her leave the place’
‘It’s not your fault sir’
‘It is, whose fault is it if not mine? I should have just left her to continue her life the way she was used to living it. Now, she may be gone forever’
‘No’ Henry objected. ‘I have this strong feeling that she would show up very soon, sooner that we expect’
‘Stop trying to console me’ Jefa shouted and got up from his seat.
‘I’m saying the truth, she would resurface soon’ Henry insisted, getting up from his seat too.
Jefa picked his nylon bag and began to walk towards the entrance. ‘Bye Henry, thanks for your help’
‘I’ll drop you off’ Henry quickly picked his car keys from the centre table and followed Jefa out.
**45 minutes later**
Jefa was back in his house, tears had formed in his eyes as he stared at his mother’s diary which was before him on the table. He wondered how his mother would have felt in heaven at the thought of him reuniting with his sister to live happily again. But no, he had blown the opportunity and she was gone again, maybe forever this time.
Was their mother’s spirit even in heaven? No, she couldn’t be. Neither could his father’s. Their spirits could not be at rest yet when their murderers were still roaming the country as free men and living as Kings. Their parent’s spirit would never be at rest, he thought, until their murderers had all died.
He flipped open the front page of the diary, he felt an urge to open to the place he stopped at the last time but on remembering Omotara. He paused and tried to recall her birth date. May 27, 2006. He traced and opened to the page.
“Today, we returned to Erin forest to mark our wedding anniversary. We found something we weren’t expecting, a teenager with a newly delivered girl child alone in the bush. The only words she said before fainting was ‘I named her Omotara’. I and my husband quickly rushed her to the clinic in the village, we hope and pray she stays alive.”
Jefa closed the book as a sharp pain pierced his heart. He could remember that day when his parents brought a new baby to the house in Lagos, he was eight years old then.
He was surprised when their mother walked into the house carrying the baby in her hands happily and he didn’t see the mother of the baby following behind. It was more surprising when their father announced the next day to him and his only younger brother as at then that the baby was their new sister.
‘How could it be?’ He had asked himself. ‘Mom wasn’t pregnant with child before, or is it possible to conceive and give birth the same day?’
Several years went by and they got so used to her, even Jefa totally forgot how she had come into the family. The baby grew up to be an intelligent young child and was loved by everybody, she even became the favorite of Danjuma, their father.
No mention of her real parents was ever made by his parents to them, he had only overheard them talking about her mother when the baby was just a month old, and from their mood that day, he could guess that they were mourning her.
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**10pm**
Benny, Aisha and Cole sat on the three seater sofa, facing them closely was Tarasha seated on a stool. They were changing the strategies. Cole, Aisha and Benny were to travel to Katsina while Tarasha would remain in Abuja and push for the NSCC job. She had explained all they needed to do to them. All was also set to extract monies from Nasiru Attahiru’s bank accounts.
Tarasha was ready for anything, she was going to storm the NSCC office prepared, prepared to face Henry and if need be the police. After checking and certifying that they had covered every track in the previous jobs, she was sure that even with all the background details Henry may have provided the police about her, they would never get any proof to link her to the assassinations.
‘You’ll be made to pay severely for any of your mistakes and I won’t step in to help you’ she warned. ‘So for anyone of you who carelessly picks up anything that looks attractive, you gotta use your brain and don’t leave any trace behind’
…to be continued
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