TARASHA Episode 16 Pt 5 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Henry, what are you doing? You need to answer the gate now, you may be in serious danger.’ Dakolo said into the phone. He got no reply or response. ‘Hello… Hello.’
He took the phone off his ear and placed the call on loud speaker. ‘Hello Henry,’ he called again. Still there was no response. After some seconds, sounds of movements were heard and the call ended.
Ken and Dakolo glanced at each other. Could it be that Henry had decided not to speak with the Agent but just to waste his airtime? Dakolo stared at the phone’s screen for a while, contemplating if he should call back immediately, give it sometime or just give up on calling until they got to his residence.
Maybe Henry wasn’t even worth the struggle, Dakolo thought. They were trying to save him from possible danger and he was ignoring their calls. But Dakolo still felt a strange kind of fear in his heart for Henry.
‘We still have twenty minutes more to get there,’ Ken said to him, as if reading the thoughts of his heart.
‘I know,’ Dakolo replied. ‘I don’t really know why Henry is acting like a kid,’ He added bitterly.
‘He’s a young man,’ Ken chuckled. ‘He can act like a kid sometimes.’
‘I think I should call the officer at the gate again,’ Dakolo stated.
‘Sir, there’s really no need to get worked up on this issue. Let’s just leave it since we’re almost there already.’ Ken discouraged.
Dakolo stared at the phone’s screen for a while before reluctantly dropping it.
~~
Tarasha cut the call and flung the phone away. She squatted and placed the intravenous fluid bag carefully beside the school bag. She then dragged Henry by his belt and carried him to the three seater sofa. She made him lay flat properly. She walked to the dining table and picked a chair from the place. She returned to the school bag and picked it up with the IV bag. She got back to Henry’s side and placed a knee on the ground. She took out a syringe and a small bottle from the black school bag and drew out the contents of the bottle into the syringe. She turned to Henry and straightened his right hand, trying to select a vein.
She released the contents of the syringe into his blood cells through the vein. In two minutes, he’ll be awake but very weak, the victim had to be awake for the contents of the drip bag to work properly.
She had carefully weighed several options and selected this as the best way of sorting out Henry’s mess. She thought of taking him out with a gun or another weapon, that wouldn’t waste so much time but she thought Henry didn’t deserve to die yet, somethings from him like his fingerprints, thumb signature might still be needed by her in the future, especially now that she was working with the NSCC. Getting into his house early was what strengthened her choice, she saw machineries and apps in one of his rooms that could only be opened by his voice, she also found out that the upper floor was not also accessible until he placed his fingers on the lock. She then thought of his work in the NSCC, it was possible that he had also configured some programs that same way, killing him would may make those programs inaccessible for life and that may cause some obstruction in her job also.
She looked up and a sudden fear gripped her as her eyes met his eyes. The injection had worked and he was now conscious again but temporarily paralyzed. He had that innocent look that her first love used to have until the day of his death. She wasn’t killing him, but what she was about to do wasn’t too different from killing him. It would render him totally useless to himself, only his body would be alive but his brain and mind would be dead. The liquid she was about to pass into his body from the intravenous fluid bag would do the damage to his brain and make his paralysis complete.
After arranging the drip bag and making the contents flow into his body, she would go back through the back door and repair it before leaving, so as to give no one a clue that someone entered through the door.
She coughed as she remembered something, that sofa where he laid. It was the same place they had both sat some weeks back when she told her story to Henry and he listened with great care and attention. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to do what she had to do.
She got up and proceeded to the dining area, she drew out a dining chair and took it with her. She placed it beside Henry and hung the drip bag on the chair backrest. She took out a bottle of mentholated spirit, nylon of cotton wool and a roll of plaster from her bag. She straightened the drip line and inserted the needle into the same vein she had just used before, she held the needle firmly to his hand with the aid of the plaster.
His eyes was still opened when she got up and began to pack back her things into the bag. After a minute of packing all other things except the small bottle of liquid from which she drew out the first mixture she injected into Henry’s body, she bent down to pick the small bottle but couldn’t as her eyes met his again.
He couldn’t lift a finger, move his lips or even make an expression with his face but she could see utter disappointment written on his face, she got up slowly to her feet like someone who had been caught stealing without picking the bottle. For the first time in several years, she felt afraid and tears began to form in her eyes. She closed her eyes, tightened her fists and let out a deep breath. She released the valve in the drip bag and the liquid began to run down in drops.
Henry wasn’t aware of what was going on, he couldn’t feel the needle in his vein nor could he see Omotara’s face anymore. He could only see her legs moving. He also saw the dining chair placed closed to him but couldn’t lift up his head to see the drip bag placed on it. He could see the drip line but still couldn’t see that it was leading to a vein in his hand.
Tarasha closed the bag and placed it behind her. She stood, unable to move for a moment, she stared at him in pity, but there was nothing she could do.
A sudden noise brought her back to her senses, someone was hitting the gate violently, that was when she realized that the person ringing the bell at the gate must have resorted to applying force now since there had been no response. It was time to go. She touched the valve control on the drip bag once again and the liquid began to flow more rapidly.
~~
‘Don’t you think it’ll be dangerous to walk into this place like that?’ An officer asked another one beside him as they watched from a car the other two officers trying to force the gate open.
‘Dangerous? Why?’ The other replied.
‘We don’t know what to expect inside?’
‘C’mon, haven’t we stayed here all day monitoring the house, the only person that entered into the place since has been the owner.’
‘Yes, I know but we don’t know what he has in store for us.’
‘No matter what he has in store for us, only him can’t defeat the four of us.’
‘Hmm… I wouldn’t have bothered if it was an ordinary person o,’ the officer said in a warning tone. ‘We’re talking about someone who is related to the notorious assassin gang here. How are we sure that we are not even being watched at the moment.’
The other officer quickly glanced around in fear, his colleague had been able to transfer his fear into him. ‘Hmm… You have a point but someone has just got to find out, we can’t have a squad here. That’ll be too noticeable to all.’
‘But I don’t think we’re going by it the right way,’ the officer said and opened his door to step out. ‘We were told to monitor Henry and report any suspicious activity not to break into his house.’ He stepped out and began to match towards the road. He paused for a black car to pass before proceeding. The driver of the took a glance at him and continued driving.
~~~
From afar, Don could see the two non uniformed officers at Henry’s gate. He slowed down the speed of his car and gradually began to think of a way to get inside the house without passing through the officers. His plan was to threaten Henry and force out some information from him which could lead him to Tarasha. He continued towards the house slowly, he saw another man trying to cross the road to the other side. He guessed it was another officer. He drove past the house carefully without raising any suspicion and made a U-turn, planning to check the street behind and examine the feasibility of getting in through the back.
He wasn’t expecting that Tarasha would be in Henry’s house, his thought was that Tarasha and her crew weren’t even in Abuja again. Since Lagos was their base, he was expecting them to have returned like they always did, to plan the attack on the next victim.
There was a little bit of confusion on the street as he wanted to turn into the next street. The traffic warder at that point must have gone to sleep as all motorists were moving at their own discretion.
It took sometime for him to get a clear view to cross. A motorcycle ran into his car.
++++
‘The Agent’s instruction was that we get into this place,’ the officer in blue stated adamantly. He stepped back and hit the gate lock once again. It gave way and two of the officers stepped inside. The third officer made a signal to the one in the car and glanced around before following them hesitatingly. He hadn’t been able to stop them, instead they had talked him into following them inside.
The two officers ahead took out their guns and proceeded into the house after checking the compound to see if there was anything strange. The leader signaled to the third officer to wait in the compound.
The doors were opened so they had no problems entering the house, they passed through a couple of extensions before getting into the living room where Henry was.
‘Damn!’ An officer cursed as he saw Henry. The fluid bag was halfway already. He rushed to Henry and started disconnecting the drip line. The other officer checked around the place.
Henry’s eyes was still open wide but he was cold and still.
‘Is he alive?’ The blue shirted officer asked.
‘I don’t know,’ the colleague replied. He then placed his ear on Henry’s chest to listen to the heartbeat. ‘He’s alive!’ He announced.
‘Call an ambulance, then call Agent Dakolo.’ He ordered and began to proceed further into the house. He returned a minute later, the other officer had left Henry’s side. He was proceeding upstairs.
‘This place is locked?’ The officer on the stairs said. ‘It’s locked from outside.’
‘Okay, have you called for an ambulance?’
‘Yes,’ the officer replied, returning down slowly.
‘What of Agent Dakolo?’
‘He’s not answering his calls.’
The blue shirted officer bent down beside Henry and picked up the small bottle that contained the remnant of liquid which Tarasha injected into his veins to make him conscious. ‘Is it possible he’s a drug addict?’ He asked raising up the bottle for his colleague to see.
‘Very possible, there’s no one around so he might just be placing himself on a dose.’
‘Yeah… At the same time he doesn’t look hurt, no one could have forcefully placed him on a drip.’ He said and wrapped the bottle in his palm. ‘Please call the office again and tell the ambulance to hurry down.’
~~
‘Where the hell is the traffic warder here?’ Dakolo bounced out in anger as he proceeded towards the accident scene. The driver of the car stepped out to help the victim, some pedestrians had also come by to help him.
‘The motorcyclist was impatient,’ some people began to murmur.
‘Let’s carry him into my car,’ Don said. He was furious about what had happened because it had disturbed his journey. He would have escaped if it was a less busy road but he couldn’t try that here, he could get mobbed.
‘Wait!’ Dakolo said to the men as they tried to lift him up. He recognized the face of the victim, it was the same man who joined him in the cab on his first day of arrival into Abuja.
‘Your phone is ringing sir.’ Ken said, approaching from behind.
Dakolo turned and took his phone. ‘Ken, you have to go with this man to the hospital, make sure the victim is well treated and the man who hit him comes to the office to take down his statement.
‘Okay sir,’ Ken agreed reluctantly and handed over the car keys to Dakolo.
Dakolo took the keys and rushed back to the car, he dialed the number before starting the engine. ‘Officer, have you gotten in?’
‘Yes sir,’ the reply came promptly. ‘He put himself on drugs, I think he took an overdose.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Sir, we met him placed on drip and there was no one else with him.’
‘Have you taken him already?’
‘No, he’s unconscious and we’ve called for an ambulance.’
‘Okay, I’ll get there in the next three minutes.’ Dakolo said and ended the call. He zoomed off immediately.
