TARASHA - CHAPTER 8(part eight)

written by oyin oluwatosin(youngc.c)

'Aisha Temitope Bello' The computer operator read out the name from the computer. ' She's a student of Lagos state Polytechnic'

'A student?' James echoed.

'A student...' The computer operator paused and read some words under his breath. ' the data here does not show her graduating date, she's been a student since 2023'

'That's  over seven years already'

'Yes it is'

' Find her location, that's what we need now. Inspector Robin might be in great danger' the embattled Greg put in. 'The location is more important than who she is '

'The search for the location is on already, we should get it before the next five minutes' the operator replied, taking a quick glance at Greg.

An awkward silence took over as the three stared into the computer. The software revealed the location in lesser time than the operator speculated. James quickly scribbled it on a sheet of paper.

'Can we access the security cameras there? Let's see what's happening around' James enquired.

'Sir...' The operator  began as he rolled the swivel to another computer set. 'The cameras have not been transmitting for about two hours now, I think somebody is playing with our systems again'

'Wasn't that the same thing that happened during the health minister's assassination?' James asked, raising a brow.

'Yes, it...'

'We gotta go now' James said to Greg. He tightened his fist as he turned once more to the operator. 'Please inform us immediately there's any change in location' he said to the operator before hurrying out of the room with Greg.

+++++++++

After watching them do the task on their own for more than an hour, Tarasha decided that it was time to step in. Things were already getting out of their control, they had used a wrong dose of the sedative on Robin and that couldn't keep Robin as long as they needed.

That wasn't even her main concern, there was very little that Robin could do. Her main concern was their location that had been gotten by the police server, she had a monitor over the operating devices of Cole, Benny and Aisha's phones, so she knew when something was up with their devices.

She started the car engine and wind up the windows. She began loading her guns, sticking them one after the other into her kevlar made costume. She stuck two revolvers at the side of her boots, two in the square pockets of her tight trousers and one in her top.

+++++++++

Aisha let out a scream as she staggered backwards in pain and hit her head against the left wall side of the ambulance. Robin had rolled off the stretcher to escape a quick shot from Cole. He pushed out a small first aid box with his right leg which hit Benny on the knee.

Luckily for Robin, he still had a revolver in the inner pocket of his jacket. He released two shots out towards Cole and Benny who quickly dodged and hid from his eyesight.

Robin could not do much with his injured leg, he only had the other leg to stand on and he wasn't sure he would be able to take out the two guys. But even if he had to die, he wouldn't give up without a fight.

He dragged himself up on the right leg and pointed a gun at Aisha who was just recovering from the impact of the blow. He hopped closer and placed the gun on her head motioning her to lift up her hands.

Benny appeared at the entrance again, pointing a gun at Robin. The man gave a smirk and spat out through the entrance not minding that Benny was there. The look on his eyes was that of a dying man who was ready to take several others with him.

'Do I look like someone who cares if you shoor her?' Aisha's body trembled in disappointment as Benny spoke.

'Oh well! I don't want to know if you care but I'm killing all of you and not just her alone' Robin replied as he cocked the gun.

Benny felt afraid as he heard the gun cock, he was alone trying to sound confident to Robin not that he didn't care if Aisha was shot. He braced up and still continued, 'you won't kill anyone here'

Robin smiled, he knew he had got Benny, he was a professional so he recognized the look in Benny's eyes, 'I'll...' Aisha tried to move as Robin began but he pulled her back to himself, sending in a bullet to her left foot.

Benny tried to use the opportunity to send a bullet into Robin's body but Robin was fast, he swerved quickly to the other side before the gun was shot and released a quick bullet which pierced through Benny's arm. Benny winced in pain as he hid away from the entrance.

++++++++

'Damn' James cursed as the driver of his car blared the car horn. A red Range Rover was blocking the road just a few metres before their destination.

The car had made a careless u-turn and almost caused an accident, they expected that it would drive off as soon as it turns but the driver halted in the middle of the road, obstructing cars from passing on the lanes. What had saved her from the wrath of the police was a "L" tag behind the car.

'How can someone park a car on the road like that?' Greg barked angrily. 'Are there no road safety officials in this estate?'

'There are' James answered him, 'but they stay at specific points and moreover the driver is a learner'

'A learner should not hit a busy road' Greg barked on.

'This place is not a busy road, we are in an estate, there's only one car beside us' James said staring at the Lexus Jeep beside them. The driver was a middle aged man dressed in Yoruba native attire, Agbada.

Two uniformed officers jumped down from the police van which followed the car and hurried forward to clear the road.

The officers hit their guns on the car to get the attention of the driver, the windows were all winded up, two road safety officials in their yellow and black uniforms also came to join them.

The driver was bowed down, her head was on her laps. One of the police officers tried to force open the door to the driver's seat but it was hard and not opening. The driver made no movement still.

'Get out of the way' Greg surged towards them angrily. He tried to force open the door but couldn't so shifted backwards and stood in a parallel line to the door. He aimed at the door lock carefully and shot at it, the door gave way finally. He rushed towards the driver with an intention of pulling her out and driving the car out of the way.

The sole of the shoe on the lady's right leg hit his face as he moved to touch her, Greg fell to the floor with his face bleeding. She removed two guns from the both sides as she came out of the car, her face was covered with a mask.

+++++++++

The bullet which had missed Robin's body got into Aisha's stomach, she was bleeding and losing strength rapidly. Robin only noticed it when she began to slowly drop from his hands. He tried to pick her up but her legs couldn't stand anymore, he began to lose hope gradually, his plan of escape to use her as an hostage was failing already. His legs were also becoming weaker, he had to place his right knee on the ground.

He ran out of luck when Cole finally appeared at the entrance, pointing a gun at him. Cole did not waste time in releasing two bullets, one which entered into his chest and the other into his head. He fell flat and rolled out of the ambulance with a thud.

Cole quickly rushed towards Aisha and picked her up, he carried her and dropped her on the ground, close to the car. He brought out a shirt from the car and tore it into pieces , trying to use the pieces to hold Aisha's wound from bleeding.

'She's going to die if we don't get out of here quickly' Cole shouted at Benny who was dragging himself towards them.

Benny rushed to open the gate quickly and Cole drove the car out of the compound.

'Where are we going to get treatment now? We can't go to the hospital' Benny commented as he joined Aisha at the back seat of the car.

'If we can't go to the hospital, a doctor can come to us' Cole answered him, he took a glance at the clock in the car. 'The street cameras would be alive in one minute'

Sounds of several gunshots from the back startled them. Cole and Benny stared backwards to see a lady in gun battle with the police.

++++++++++++++

A bullet entered into Greg's head, keeping him on the floor permanently. Bullets were also sent into the bodies of other officers who were at that side of the car.

Tarasha bent to escape the bullets coming from the back. She entered back into the car and pulled it back, she didn't need to start the engine again because it was never switched off. 

She took a quick turn and rushed in direction of the police cars, sending out bullets to them from the front mirror.

Inspector James was out of the car already, he was hiding behind and sending bullets to the attacker. He watched as bullets were sprayed out from the range Rover as it approached them, eighty percent of his men, most of those who came out of the police van were down already.

He jumped and landed on the car's boot before the range Rover hit the car, he had a clear view of the lady and quickly sent two bullets her way.

She rolled out of the car before the bullet was delivered. James moved forward, climbing the top of the car as he released more bullets from the gun. The lady was out of sight already.

Tarasha rolled carefully but with speed under the Hyundai sonata police vehicle and came out from behind, she first dealt with the remnant of the officers that came out of the police van before turning to the officer who was on the car. A bullet hit her back as she turned.

+++++++

'More backup is needed at Gravl estate' Sandra relayed James' request to the superintendent.

'Handle that' the man replied her in a gruff voice without bothering to take a look at her. He had too many problems of his own and wasn't ready to be troubled this afternoon by any state problem. Moreover, he had decided to wash his hands off this "Samantha's case", since the country did not trust him enough to handle it and had to allow a foreigner do the job.

'Thank you sir' she said as she walked out of his office. She almost bumped into the computer operator who was about to enter the superintendent's office.

'Sorry' the operator apologized with a brief smile.

'It's okay' she said and made her way to leave.

'Are you going to join inspector James?' He asked

'Yes' she answered and turned back impatiently, wanting to hear if he had any information that may be useful.

'The cameras are up already, I think you need to see something before leaving' He said and pushed her arm gently, trying to motion her towards the computer room.

'No' she refused, 'Inspector James wants the backup immediately and I'm going there now'

'I've given commands for more backup already and they are on their way' the operator continued. 'I need someone working on this case with the inspector to monitor with me because the cameras are not working fine yet'

'You can communicate with me if there's anything I need to know' she said as she walked away hurriedly. 'I'm going there now'

'Okay, good luck' he said as he watched her leave. The cameras were not working properly yet and he wasn't sure that the videos would be stored in their database, that was why he wanted her to monitor with him.

'Sir, the location has changed' his Junior's voice startled him.

'Huh? For how long?' He questioned.

'About ten minutes ago'

'Ten minutes ago?'

'Yes sir'

'Are you crazy? Why are you just reporting now?' He blasted as he followed behind the junior.

++++++++

Another bullet hit Tarasha's back as she made her way to enter the police van. She threw a grenade in James' direction to distract him before starting the engine.

The van was driven off as James jumped down from the sonata and it blazed off in flames.

He felt as if his legs were broken as he landed in pains, he still managed to turn back to see the direction that Tarasha was taking. He laid flat on the floor as sounds of police sirens drew closer. His phone rang.

'The direction has changed, they're on the way to Lekki' a voice came through.

James was to weak to respond, he closed his eyes and turned his head to the left to spit out first. He opened his eyes a minute later to find Sandra standing by his side.

'Are you okay sir?' She asked with concern in her voice.

'Yes' he said, only audible to himself. Other officers came down from their vehicles to check the injured ones. A call ordering for ambulances was made to the headquarters.

‘That way, she went that way’ James managed to say, pointing in the direction Tarasha took.

‘Call the fire service’ Sandra ordered a junior officer, as she stared at two cars in flames. The driver of the car that was beside the police vehicles had fled when he heard the first gunshot and he couldn’t reverse the car because of other cars who were coming to join them. His Lexus was also affected by the explosion from the grenade.

Sandra walked back into the car and led the police vans in pursuit of Tarasha after making sure that James was being taken care of. She maintained contact with the computer operators and they gave her directions to where Aisha Bello was.

+++++++

Cole’s phone rang just when they were few centimetres away from the gate of the house. He glanced at the screen and saw the caller ID. He quickly parked at one side and answered the call.

‘Boss’

‘Where are you?’ Tarasha’s voice came through

‘At home, we’re about driving in’ Cole replied.

‘Don’t drive in, meet me at Obalende. I’ll give you more directions later’

‘Boss’ Cole said in a pleading manner. ‘I’m not sure we can get there, Benny has a bullet in his arm and Aisha is also badly injured. We’ll get into trouble with the police’

‘Okay’ Tarasha said after letting out an audible sigh, ‘Just keep driving, drive to anywhere you think is safe. I’ll meet you there, don’t just stay at the house’

‘Okay Boss’

‘And one more thing’ Tarasha said in a sudden manner, ‘throw away Aisha’s phone. Now.’

‘Okay’ Cole responded, his eyes widened as he nodded his head in agreement.

‘Take out Aisha’s phone’ He said to Benny who was already waiting for him to relay the details of the call.

Benny obeyed without any argument, he searched through Aisha’s bleeding body and brought out the phone. ‘Throw it outside the car’ Cole said to him.

Benny flung it out at once without asking the questions in his mind. Cole drove off from that point and continued in a forward direction, Benny was forced to speak up now.

‘Where are we going to?’ Benny asked in a loud voice.

‘Boss says we should not stop here’ Cole answered

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, but I think she sees danger coming’

‘Does she know I’m injured and that Aisha needs treatment immediately?’ Benny questioned furiously, he was feeling great pains in his arms. He took a glance at Aisha who was unconscious already and spoke again. ‘I don’t think Aisha is going to make it’

Cole looked back to check Aisha too, ‘there’s still hope’ he says.

‘I don’t just understand all these’ Benny complained bitterly.

‘You don’t understand what? Don’t you know that Boss might be saving us from great danger?’

‘What great danger? Ain’t we done with the task already? What we need now is treatment’ benny argued.

‘Benny’ Cole mentioned softly.

‘Yes’ He replied in a harsh tone.

‘Did you see the gun battle with the police immediately we drove out of the compound in Gravl estate?’

‘Yeeess?’ he stressed the word in a questioning manner.

‘Who do you think that lady was?’ Cole asked and paused, he glanced back at Benny who couldn’t give a reply. ‘That was Boss saving our asses from the police’

‘How are you sure it was her?’ Benny questioned, his voice was softer now.

‘Don’t you recognize her structure? Didn’t you see the lady?’

‘I’m injured, I didn’t take a good look’

‘I think Robin had a tracker on him and the police was already on our trail before the Boss distracted them on the way’ Cole continued. ‘We need to follow her instructions, I think we’ll be safer that way’

++++++++++

***Twenty Minutes later ***

‘Yes, you are at the right place’ the voice answered Sandra’s question.
Sandra looked around the place, there was nothing suspicious there. She came out of the car and ordered the officers in the other two vans to come out.

‘Check around here, the criminal is around here’ she spoke aloud.
There were three houses close to where their vehicles were parked. The officers splited into three groups and invaded the houses.

‘Yeah?’ Sandra said as she answered her call.
‘We just some videos of that place now, they left already. They’re not there anymore’

‘What?’

‘Yes, they left but dropped the phone we were using to track them. I think they realized that we were on their trail, we must have one of their informant in the force’

‘Who the hell could the informant be?’

‘I don’t know but I’m sure someone must have informed them that we were tracking them with the phone. They paused a little at that point before throwing the phone outside’

‘Where are they now?’

‘We are still trying to track them’

‘You have to be careful with your men henceforth, don’t let any more information spread to anybody except the both of us’

‘When would I get a response on their location?’

‘In few minutes ma’

‘Please hurry up before they get away’

‘Okay ma. I…’ the caller stammered for some seconds.

‘You …?’

‘I think they’re a group’ he finally said. ‘Part of the group disguised as doctors and abducted Agent Robin while another one who I think is the Boss stopped Inspector James and his men from passing through’

‘Yes, of course they’re working together’ Sandra mumbled.

‘I don’t know how many of them were in the car because the windows were winded up but it’s a blue corex 2027. I believe that they still have Inspector Robin with them in the car’

‘Then hurry up and give us the information we need’ Sandra spoke in a rather harsh manner. ‘Once you get their locations, do make sure you also get in touch with the station in the district’

‘Okay, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible’ the call was ended

Sandra’s phone rang again before she could keep it.

‘Have you caught her?’ James asked immediately she answered.

‘No, she’s out of sight totally’

‘Damn! She couldn’t have gone that far’ James started in an angry tone, he paused and continued when he got no response. ‘I shot her twice at the back so she would still be lurking somewhere around. I wonder how she was able to even drive the car’

‘We’ll wor…’ Sandra stuttered

‘I’m going after her myself’ James said and cut the call.

... to be continued