TARASHA Episode 16 Pt 6 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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Tarasha watched from afar as they lifted the accident victim, she got out of the van to have a closer view. some of the people who had stopped to help were already rolling the remnant of the bike away. Tarasha confirmed the victim’s face just before he was dropped into the car, he was still alive but unconscious. She was sure it was that same man she had an encounter with in the Catholic Church premises and during the police investigation.
Tarasha’s eyes had met with Jefa’s as the road got clear. That was the reason for the accident. Jefa could not concentrate on the bike he was riding again and had crashed into Don’s car.
She wanted to move closer but stopped as she saw Ken discussing with someone else. She turned and began to walk back to the vehicle. She saw a phone, scattered into parts just beside the tyre at the driver’s side, it was most likely for the accident victim. She stylishly picked up the pieces and entered into the car.
Ken handed over a car key to the man he was discussing with and turned to join the car. The man Ken was discussing with turned also and Tarasha saw his face, she recognized him to be Inspector Dakolo, she had seen his face once on TV after the execution of the Rivers State Governor.
She watched as he entered into his car and started the engine, he then engaged himself in a phone conversation. After using a minute altogether, he zoomed off. Tarasha felt like following after him to his destination and probably take him out also. She turned on her car but turned it off again at another glance towards the accident scene. It was more important for now to follow the man who Henry said claimed to be her brother.
The car carrying the victim finally started and drove off in the opposite direction. Tarasha followed after.
~~~
9am
Dakolo and Ken sat quietly, their moods were not quite far from sober as they watched Henry lay lifeless on the hospital bed. His eyes was still wide opened but he wasn’t seeing anything nor was he making any movement. The doctor said he was still unconscious and wasn’t sure of it he’ll bounce back to consciousness or pass on from there. It’s been two days now and there seemed to be no improvement in the situation.
It was obvious from investigation that Henry was not a drug addict but it was still under question if Henry had placed himself on the drip, nothing around reflected that he was forced to. He was the only one in the house at that time and there were no broken doors or windows to prove that someone broke in. The best conclusion was that Henry had decided to take his life slowly, maybe to avoid further embarrassment from the police.
One confusing thing that still bothered Agent Dakolo’s mind and stopped him from making a conclusion was their inability to locate where Henry had gotten the poisonous drip from. They had visited everywhere that the trailer saw him stop and none of them could be the place the drip was sold at. Another assumption could be that Henry had it in his car before that day. But that’ll mean Henry was already preparing to ki*ll himself, Dakolo didn’t think that was possible.
‘Agent,’ Mr Sylvester called as he walked into the room with a Doctor, the one in charge of treating the two patients that was brought in by the police.
‘Mr Sylvester,’ Dakolo replied, he couldn’t stand the look in Sylvester’s eyes as it made him feel guilty of Henry’s plight.
‘So your investigation has finally landed Mr Henry here,’ Sylvester accused.
‘Excuse me sir,’ Ken tried to come in but Dakolo stopped him by raising up a hand.
‘Mr Sylvester, our job has to be done, regardless of who it involves. Let’s just hope and pray that Henry recovers quickly’ Dakolo said.
‘And I pray he recovers,’ Ken quickly chipped in stubbornly. ‘He’ll have a lot of explanation to make about his relationship with the assassins.’
‘Gentlemen please,’ the sixty year old Doctor pleaded. ‘Here’s not the place for that, he needs no disturbance.’ The Doctor said and turned to examine Henry, he turned back after some few minutes and announced, ‘he’ll regain consciousness very soon, I believe.’
‘Wow! That’s good news!’ Dakolo exclaimed.
‘Yeah, but there might be some complications.’ The Doctor said in a sad tone, adjusting his thick lenses as he spoke.
‘What complications?’ Dakolo and Sylvester asked in unison.
‘I don’t know for now, we’ve extracted samples of the poison from his body and we’re still performing some tests on them, we hope to come out with some useful results soon.’ The Doctor replied without too much of hope in his voice.
~~~
‘Hello, who’s here?’ Tarasha shouted around the store. A woman who was dressed as a cleaner came out from the shop behind.
‘Good afternoon,’ the Lady greeted, giving Tarasha a searching look. ‘How may I help you?’
‘I’m Miss Kimberly, an officer of the Nigerian Health organization.’ Tarasha displayed an ID card for proof, she returned it into her pocket when she was sure that the woman had seen it well. ‘I’m here to check this man’s outlet, we are aware that he sells food and drinks here.’
‘Ermm… Madam,’ the cleaner scratched her hair. ‘Mallam Jefa has not opened the store for some days now.’
‘Mallam Jefa, is that his name? And he’s not opening today also?’ Tarasha enquired.
‘Yes, they always call him Jefa. I don’t really know if he’s opening today, I seriously doubt it.’
‘Okay, does anyone know where he lives?’
‘Yes, there’s someone here that chats well with him.’ She pointed to a big hairdressing salon nearby, ‘let me get him for you.’
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha said with a grin.
Her phone rang as she quietly waited for the Lady to return. Cole. She bit her lips slightly before answering.
‘Hello Boss, we’re about to go in’ Cole’s voice came anxiously from the other end.
‘Relax your nerves Cole,’ Tarasha replied calmly. ‘Tell the others too. Relax, discuss your suggestions and plans with conviction and confidence. Make him see that you’re capable of organizing the program. Also make him see reasons why you need to have more meetings, why you need a more suitable environment to discuss and let him agree to your own terms.’
‘Okay, thank you boss.’ Cole said and the call ended.
~~
‘Come in Gentlemen,’ Nasiru Attahiru, the Senate President welcome his guests warmly.
‘Thank you sir,’ Mr Alfred said as he took the hands of the man in his his.
‘You’re welcome,’ Nasiru smiled cheerfully as he took the hands of the younger man and then the lady. ‘Have your seats please,’ he said before settling into his own chair.
‘Thank you sir, it’s nice to meet with you sir.’ Mr Alfred began with a smile. ‘We’ve actually been looking forward to this moment.’
‘It’s my pleasure. My mother have spoken a lot about you and told me how passionate you are to help the less privileged in this country but…’ Nasiru paused and stared. ‘I thought it was supposed to be four of you?’
‘Yes, we are four but the fourth person has gone on a special errand to the business capital of the country, Lagos. She was sent to visit the slums and ghettos and get some pictures and interviews which she can send to the headquarters in Canada. She didn’t go with us to Katsina also.’
‘Oh! I see,’ Nasiru’s face brightened up.
‘Yes, she’ll be joining us once she’s through.’
‘That’s okay, so let’s get to the main points of the meeting.’
‘Yes, thank you sir.’ Mr Alfred adjusted himself and cleared his throat. ‘Our first purpose of coming here has already been achieved, I’m sure you saw the pictures of the program and report of what we did.’ He paused to see Nasiru’s response, Nasiru nodded in affirmation.
Mr Alfred touched his lips with his handkerchief before he continued. ‘That was our main purpose for coming but on further study of the country, we noticed that we have people with enough capabilities to keep these programs running extensively and we thought of a way to foster better participation of these people. Now, we’ve discovered that when calls like these are made, what most of them do is to send donations without making their presence well felt.’ He paused again to see if he was making the desired impact on the man, he was. ‘We’ve decided to make this happen by organizing conferences which we’ll disguise to the public as a meeting for the elites, we’ll use this meeting to inspire the attendees and give them reasons why they should be passionately involved.’
‘Hmm… I get your point but our people here are stubborn. I’m still thinking of someone who can really get them to listen quite attentively in a conference. And it might not also be easy to assemble them together.’
‘Sir, what if we invite someone like Mcklin Daves and Ray Gates?’ Mr Alfred asked.
‘What?’ Nasiru’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘You can invite such people?’
‘Yes sir,’ Alfred said with a chuckle. ‘They are all partners with our organization and they’ll be glad to inspire others to join them in such a good course.’
‘Ermm…’ Nasiru’s excitement reduced suddenly. He frowned slightly.
‘Any question sir?’ Mr Alfred asked, noticing the frown.
‘No but I’m just thinking of how possible it’ll be for us to convince them that they are really coming. And how am I supposed to be sure that you’re not just saying this to get me involved?’
‘Sir… We actually need your help to bring them down here, we are not just saying this to get you involved. In fact, you must be involved to make it work. We need the government’s support to bring those men down here. They have to be sure that there is a proper mobilization of the citizens and only the government of a country can assure them that, not the body that is in charge of organizing the conference. Once you’ve approved for us to go ahead with the planning, we’ll report to our Head office and they’ll make contact with the proposed guests. If they agree on coming, then a video showing their agreement would be sent to us. And they’ll also be involved in the video promos for the conference.’
Nasiru remained quiet for a while, pondering on all he heard. To him, the proposal sounded good and it’ll be welcomed by the government of the country as far as their organization making the proposal can keep to their own terms.
After almost two minutes silence, Nasiru took in a deep breath and began to talk. ‘Your proposal sounds good and excellent, I’m not surprised though. My mum already told me about your passion for the less privileged in Africa and I trust her judgement to be accurate always.’ He took a brief pause. ‘But I still need to know more about your organization. You know this proposal does not involve only the Ata’s Foundation but the Country as a whole.’
‘That’s no problem sir, we’ll give you any information you need about us, as much as you enquire.’ Alfred said with a smile.
‘Thank you,’ Nasiru smiled back. He rested his back on the swivel and rolled back a little. ‘So where are you lodging in this town.’
‘Elymax Hotels sir.’
‘Elymax?’
‘Yes’
‘It’s nice but I’ll prefer you guys leave there and come over to my mansion.’
‘Oh!’ Mr Alfred and his colleagues expressed their surprise at his offer.
‘Yes, I’ll like you to come today.’
‘Thank you sir, we’ll…’ Mr Alfred was saying when the younger man cut in.
‘Thank you sir, we are so honoured by your invitation to your place but we won’t be able to do that on our own.’ He said in a polite way. ‘It’s possible to come pay you visits but if we want to stay there, we have to let the office decide for us, since we are on their assignment.’
‘Ok, I understand. No problem, I hope you relay my message to them and I’ll be expecting you by tomorrow.’
~~~
3pm
Dakolo and Ken hurried up the stairs, proceeding to the Doctor’s office. They had been called to come urgently as there was a new development.
Dakolo’s phone rang as the got to the first landing. He slid it open and answered the call. ‘Mr Sylvester.’
‘Where are you sir? I’m at the hospital and we’re waiting for you.’
‘We’re on our way to the Doctor’s office,’ Dakolo answered.
‘Please hurry up.’ The call ended and the journey up the stairs continued.
In three minutes time, they got to the Doctor’s office. Dakolo took the empty seat available beside Sylvester while Ken had to remain standing.
‘Welcome officers,’ the Doctor greeted, he cleared his throat and adjusted his eyeglasses. ‘The patient is conscious now.’ He announced.
‘Wow!’ The faces of the three men brightened up at the news. They all felt relieved, all for different reasons. Dakolo for the fact that Henry who he had taken like a brother was still alive, Sylvester because Henry was still alive and the guilt he felt as a result of him being the one who invited him to join the NSCC which resulted in his troubles could now leave. Ken on his own was happy that a major suspect and eyewitness in Samantha Osman’s case was alive.
‘But…’ The Doctor said in a flattened tone that caught their attention. ‘His brain no more functions properly and he’s partially paralyzed.’
The door suddenly flung open and a nurse barged in looking troubled.
‘Sir, the accident victim on ward 12B is nowhere to be found.’
… To be continued
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