~~~
Tarasha laid on the three seater sofa in the living room having a nap while Benny, Cole and Aisha engaged themselves with the ludo game at the balcony. Some flies could be seen in the living room as all the windows which had torn nets were opened because of the unbearable heat. But Tarasha was undisturbed, she was having a sound sleep.
Several circumstances had kept them behind after the operation. They couldn't leave immediately because the security in the capital was still very stiff. After much thinking and putting of heads together, they finally planned to leave the following Monday; that is the day after the next day.
'Ooh!' Benny exclaimed as Aisha kicked back in the last of his eight tokens the third time. He was seated on a stool, with his shirt hanging around his neck. Aisha was seated on another stool directly facing Benny and they had the ludo board placed on two six inches blocks.
Cole was seated on another block, watching and making comments. He had already gone on several rounds of the game with Aisha and they ended up with a tie in scores.
The particular game between Aisha and Benny was even now, they both had one token each left and in the players yard. The first person to get a six would get the token out to begin the race to the finishing point. Aisha and Cole laughed at Benny as he heaved a sigh of frustration.
'Homey, if you're not careful, this will be the fifth time you'll be beaten by a lady today' Cole jested.
'And that means I'll actually spell his name' Aisha added with a chuckle. ' 5 - 0, B-e-n-n-y'
'Just watch and see, I'll win this game' Benny replied with a determined tone as he poured out the dice from the dice cup. He had four and five come up, he picked the dice into the cup and handed it over to Aisha for her own roll.
Aisha stared at his jestingly as she shook the dice cup. 'Come on, play' Benny said, getting impatient.
'Two sixs' Aisha said, laughing hilariously. She rolled again after shaking vigorously. 'Six, two' she rolled out the extra turn earned by reason of the two sixs
Benny took the dice cup from her in frustration, he avoided looking at Cole who was already making funny faces at him. He shook the cup from side to side in the same manner as Aisha, watching carefully as Aisha placed her token after counting.
Aisha and Cole stared at Benny's face in suspense as he continued to shake the cup. He kept a smile on his face as if he was sure of the outcome of his new roll.
Kpaa... He landed the cup with so much force on the board and removed it. Aisha and Cole burst into heavy laughter as two ones stared at them from the surface of the dice.
'Come on, play' Benny hurried Aisha again, forcing himself not to give up.
Aisha took the cup and out she rolled again. Two sixs. Another round of heavy laughter came from Cole. Benny finally gave up, he got up from the stool with a smile of defeat.
'I'm not playing again' he announced as he walked into the house, ignoring Cole's uncontrollable laughter. 'Please, come and play one more now' he could hear Cole calling to him jestingly as he proceeded into the room. He paused and stared at Tarasha who was asleep on the couch. He wished she could always look exactly the way she was looking now; gentle, peaceful and harmless. She should really be at peace with herself after such a successful operation.
'Oooh' Benny's body trembled as Tarasha eyes popped open. She caught him feeding his eyes on her face. The gentle and peaceful face Benny was seeing seconds ago had changed into the normal Tarasha's face. He quickly hastened his steps and rushed out of her sight.
Tarasha wiped off the sweat on her face and sat up, she glanced at the wall clock, it was just twelve pm. She couldn't wait to get out of the Abuja and begin her new task. She was also now in a hurry to conclude all Chief Gab's tasks and leave the country.
And Henry's issue? She had settled it in her heart already. As far as she was concerned now , he was her greatest enemy that needs to be either taken out of her sight forever or out of the planet earth. That was her training, anything that returns emotion into her heart should not be allowed to live. People who have emotions are weak people; and weak people can't live the right kind of life. So if Henry was stirring up emotions in her, he had to be moved out of her sight forever or killed before he succeeds in making her weak. Her final resolve was to kill him when next he comes into her life.
++++
'Your sister?' Henry asked again to be sure of what he heard.
'Yes, Omotara Danjuma is my kid sister' Jefa replied.
'Hahaha' Henry suddenly burst into sudden laughter. Jefa who was startled by the outburst stared at him in confusion. 'Omotara what again?' Henry asked, trying to calm himself.
'Omotara Danjuma' Jefa answered him again, with so much conviction in his voice.
'Okay, pardon me... I actually thought you were talking about somebody else. I'm sorry, I don't know Omotara Danjuma.' Henry said, cleaning his eyes as he spoke. 'Does your sister work around here?'
'I don't know' Jefa shook his head in negative. He took out the piece of paper from his front pocket.
'Then why are you looking for her here? Did she get lost?'
Jefa read the contents of the paper to himself again. 'I heard you guys mention Elymax that day'.
'What day?'
'The day you escaped from the kidnappers. After she came to me in the cathedral premises'
Henry made a quick flashback. Evelyn was standing before the man while he knelt by the statue of virgin Mary. But he didn't hear them talk to each other. All that happened was a silent stare.
'Evelyn?'
'No, I don't know Evelyn' Jefa shook his head. 'That girl you came to meet in the catholic church, the one you I saw you with in the police office is my sister'
'Unbelievable!' Henry exclaimed under his breath. 'But you said Omotara Danjuma' Cole asked again, aloud, this time with a serious tone.
'Yes, that's her name not Evelyn'
'Omotara is a Yoruba name, I don't think she's Yoruba, she doesn't look nor sound like one' Henry retorted.
'Yes, she didn't grow up in ...'
'Hello Sirs' someone interrupted, a security official. 'You have to proceed into the main building please, you can stand here and have a discussion'
'Okay' Henry answered with a slow nod. He stared at Jefa's face for some seconds thoughtfully. 'Let's go in for a discussion' he said and turned back to the car to shut the door.
++++
'Thank you' Dakolo smiled as the attendant who helped him get his load to the room left. He sank into the bed and started to unbutton his shirt, also murmuring some words of prayers.
He sat up and took off the shirt completely. He flung it on the bed and laid back. His mind drifted back to his encounter with Henry several years ago. He was a junior agent in the force then and was not yet in the anti-asassination squad. He was at the office reception when Henry had rushed with a friend in tears, to report a gang of three guys who molested his sister to death. Dakolo took special interest in the case and did all he could do to get justice for Henry. But lack of funds and the culprit's father's influence did not let him go far in his fight for Henry. The culprit, Dare Lawal, was later acquitted and discharged by the court of law.
He remembered advising Henry then, to continue with his studies and not allow what happened affect his future. Now, the same Henry was known widely in the world for his exploits on the internet and for helping his country solve a severe security attack. His enemies too had been paid by nemesis in its own way.
Dakolo's phone rang. His wife. He exhaled deeply before answering. 'Hello dear... I just got to the hotel room... Thanks, I'll call you later... I love you' the call ended.
He got up from the bed to get his traveling bag. He opened the bag and took out a suitcase. He punched in the lock code and it opened. He brought out some documents and closed back the suitcase. He began to read through.
Before his arrival in Abuja, he had already began to receive messages on what he was going there to do. The new case of Jubril Lawal's assassination also came up. He was going to be working with Officer Ken on that.
Jubril Lawal's assassination was quite different from the recent past ones. Eyewitnesses had it that it was carried out by a man and he wasn't accompanied by anybody. Officer Ken had also written in his report that it was highly possible that the crime was carried out by one of the security officials of the event centres as the escape routes used were only places known to them. Several of the security officials had been arrested and kept in the police custody for interrogation. Several sessions of torture and torments had occurred within the last two days but there was still no confession to show for it'
Dakolo's phone rang again. Officer James was the one calling. 'Hello officer' Dakolo spoke cheerfully.
'Good afternoon sir' James greeted. 'How was your trip?'
'It was fine, thanks'
'Alright, thank God. Yesterday, I received my letter of transfer also'
'Transfer ?' Dakolo replied, surprised.
'Yes sir, coupled with the long overdue promotion'
'Wow! Congratulations' Dakolo rejoiced with him. The promotion had been long overdue truly. After several cases solved by James, the force still retained him as a special officer for so long, denying him the promotion and several other benefits.
'Thank you sir' James said without much excitement.
'What's wrong?' Dakolo asked, noticing the unhappy voice.
'Nothing sir, I'm really happy about the promotion part but I think the reason it's happening is because of my inability to solve this Samantha Osman's case. I overheard the IG saying that the minister wants more younger and zealous officers who are very hungry for promotion to handle the case'
'Don't think like that' Dakolo said after heaving a sigh. 'We've done our best based on the evidence gotten. Even the NSCC has a part to play in all these. If they've not been able to recover the lost footages or discover who interrupted the transmission of the security cameras, what are we supposed to use for our investigation. I believe we don't have enough data to work with'
'Sir, several years ago. Assassination cases were solved by the police without the use of the technology we use now. Why can't we...'
'Officer James' Dakolo cut in. 'Several years ago, Assassins do not use the kind of technology they use now. Several years ago, most top assassination cases like these spans for more than fifteen years, some even exceed thirty years without getting an headway. So you shouldn't compare, the police force is better now'
James was quiet.
'Don't blame yourself, we'll keep trying our best but be sure of this one thing' Dakolo paused for a brief moment. 'Good always prevail over evil'
'Thank you sir' James replied after another brief moment of silence, in a very low voice.
'So where have you been sent to?'
'Ilorin, Kwara State. I'm going to be working as a special agent in the anti-assasination squad also'
'Sounds cool... Congratulations, just keep doing your best. We'll prevail'
'Thank you sir'
After few other talks, the call ended. Dakolo returned to his work, he continued reading through the documents. He paused as he saw something.
'No recordings or videos footages found in the cameras security database. It has not been ascertained if there was any capturing or not' he read. 'Except for one photographer that is currently being interrogated, no journalist or member of the press was allowed into the event hall. Footages from the street cameras leading to and out of the event centres were also not found' he read aloud to himself.
He just found a similarity between the new assassination case to the two others, there was no video capture of the Assassination process nor the escape. Could it be that the assassin works in or has an ally in the NSCC?
'Oh shit!' Dakolo cursed as Henry's picture flashed back to his mind. He should have been the one to take Henry's card, what if Henry forgets to call him. Henry might be greatly needed now to help in these cases.
++++
A great intensity of heat welcomed Benny as he walked into the room. He changed his direction and headed straight for the wardrobe. His previous plan was to come in and lay on the bed after he couldn't stand the much beatings he got in the game from Aisha. Due to the unbearable heat in the room, he had changed his mind and decided to only change his trouser to shorts.
One of Cole's trousers dropped to the ground as Benny opened the wardrobe. He bent to pick it up. A phone fell out of the phone. He picked up the phone and checked it, it was specially customised for a user. He opened the back to check the battery and closed it back. He switched on the phone.
...to be continued
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