Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 18

5 years ago

Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 18

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**Lagos Nigeria, 12pm**

Chief Gab stood up from his office seat to take
off his suit, he hung it behind the seat and
loose his tie as he sat back into the swivel. He
heaved a sigh of relief as he rested his back
and hands on the support, the rotating chair,
turning him from side to side. He had gotten so
much good news that day. At first it was
Tarasha who called him very early in the
morning to inform him that the job would be
finally executed that day, then just some
minutes after Chief Nonso also called to tell
him that one of their illegal business deals had
yielded millions of naira.

His phone rang for the third time that day,
disrupting his thoughts, the caller was his friend
Nonso. Gab wondered what the reason was for
the call, they had just discussed some few
minutes ago and he didn’t expect Chief Nonso
to call him again so soon.
‘Hello’ came Chief Nonso’s impatiently, with a
hoarse voice
‘Hello Chief’ Gab replied.
‘Where are you now?’ Chief Nonso asked a silly
question.

‘We spoke some minutes ago’ Gab reminded
him, ‘I’m in my office’
‘Switch on your TV now’ Nonso said with a note
of urgency. ‘There’s something you need to see
on AIT’
‘Ehen’ Gab got up from the seat immediately.
He headed for the section of his office where
he received visitors, still placing the phone on
his ear. ‘What’s there?’ He asked Nonso.
‘Have you switched on the TV?’
‘Yes’ Gab sat on the sofa, dropping the remote
control beside him.
‘See for yourself, I’ll call you later’ Nonso said
and the line went off.
“… the identity of the imposter is unknown yet
but the police are after her and would surely
get her soon” A reporter was saying. An
airplane was shown and some bodies were
being carried out from it into special
ambulances. A young pilot was also shown
being escorted away by some police officers.
“The Governor and the suspect is yet to be
found, it is greatly feared that this is a case of
kidnap but the police and other security officials
are working hard and they promise to find the
Governor and bring him back safely before the
end of the day. I’m Nwanko Vivian reporting
from Rivers State, AIT news” the reporter
concluded. A newscaster heaved a sigh and
continued with the other news headlines.
Chief Gab gave an evil simile as he picked up
his phone and swiped in the pattern. He opened
his notification bar and saw several messages
from different news apps. They all carried the
same breaking news of the governor’s kidnap.
He opened the Punch newspaper app and read
the article in details.

* Aviation School, Port Harcourt. 12.30pm *
Inspector Dakolo sat on a stool facing the
distressed Jude who was made to sit on a more
comfortable chair with a back and armrest.
They were in the schools security room with
two other officers and some of the school’s
security men clad in their yellow and black
uniform. Jude was still in his pilot’s uniform but
he was unrecognizable in it, he looked like
someone who was the only survivor in a
nationwide war.

Dakolo was already looking stressed out
himself, his neatly tucked in shirt had flown out
and the waistcoat was unbuttoned too. Apart
from the disfigured ID card he had found in the
plane, he found no other useful lead.
‘You have to tell us everything you know about
this’ Dakolo warned, ‘you could be in serious
trouble and charged to court for being an
accomplice in the crime’
‘Where’s my sister?’ Jude asked, ignoring
Dakolo’s threat.
‘I told you before’ Dakolo slammed, ‘your sister
is fine, she’s safe with the police’
‘Where’s she?’ Jude pushed further,
unintimidated by Dakolo. He said amidst tears,
‘If she’s dead, then I’ve lost everything already’
Dakolo got up from the stool, making a phone
call, he realized that Jude wasn’t going to say
anything until he was sure his sister was safe.

‘Hello officer, where’s she?’ Dakolo spoke into
the phone. He took a look at Jude after some
seconds of silence ‘please give her the phone,
her brother wants to speak with her’
Jude collected the phone hurriedly, his hand
shaking as he placed it on his ears. Tears
flowed down his eyes as he heard his sister’s
voice, ‘are you okay?’ He asked and waited for
a reply and heard a soft voice reply ‘yes’ before
he continued. ‘I promise I’m never going to
allow anything bad happen to you again’
Jude spoke with his sister for few more
seconds before he handed back the phone.

‘Would you speak now?’ Dakolo said, taking
back his position on the stool.
‘I never knew her until few days ago’ Jude
began, ‘we meet very early in the morning
during the exercise hours and she introduced
herself as a fresher’
Dakolo listened with rapt attention as Jude
relayed to him how he met with Gloria. ‘Did you
ever try to confirm if she really was one of the
hundred Level students?’
‘No, I had no reason to doubt her. She was
always putting on an ID card’ Jude answered.
‘Did you ever see her with any other student?’
‘Yes’ Jude replied, stressing the word as he
tried to remember. ‘I saw her with a girl on the
day we met and when we discussed in the
class’

‘Do you know this girl you’re talking about? Do
you know her name?’
‘No, but I can recognize her if we see. Gloria
never mentioned her name ‘
‘Okay’ Dakolo paused for a while and then
continued, ‘did you ever suspect anything when
you were around her?’
‘Just on two occasions’ Jude said after thinking
for a minute. ‘On the first day we met in her
class, she was supposed to be on the practical
ground with other year one students’
‘And which day was the second?’ Dakolo asked
impatiently.
‘Two days ago’ he said thoughtfully. ‘She asked
me to explain a particular topic to her’
‘What happened?’
‘I really don’t know’ Jude looked puzzled, ‘I
don’t know how I got to my hostel that day, I
woke up feeling an headache the next morning’
‘What else did you notice that was strange?’
‘The other thing I noticed was my …’ His
volume reduced, his eyes widened. ‘My ID card’
‘What happened to your ID card?’ Dakolo pushed
on with great interest.

‘I hung it on my neck that day but later found it
in my bag’ Jude said.

‘Maybe you kept it there yourself, you said you
don’t remember how you got home that day’
‘I could have kept it in my bag without knowing,
but…’ He gave another long pause. ‘It was in a
position I never keep things; that means
someone took it off my neck and kept it in the
bag for me’
‘Why…’ Officer Dakolo’s phone rang, interrupting
their conversation. ‘Yes… What?’
Dakolo ended the call after receiving what
seemed to be a urgent message, he looked at
Jude to ask a final question. He brought out a
broken card from his pocket and showed it to
Jude, ‘ who owns this ID card’ he asked.
‘Samatha Osman’ Jude muttered under his
breath, he squinted as he tried to read the
other details. ‘I don’t know, I never came
across anyone with that name’
‘Okay’ Dakolo turned in a hurry, he signaled to
an officer to take care of Jude and for another
to follow him out.

*Lagos Nigeria, 1pm*
Officers James and Segun stood behind a
computer operator, looking into something the
man was showing them on the screen. James
had one of his hands placed on the table as he
bent to have a clear view of the screen. The
screen displayed several thin lines of different
colours which all met at the same point.
‘The person who installed the bug is a
professional, it keeps directing me to a proxy
and port in Russia’ the computer operator said.
‘Can you find out who operates from the port?’

James questioned
The operator gave a short smile. ‘The position
here has been located already’ he said, referring
to the point where all the lines met.

‘Yes, where exactly in Russia is it?’ James
interest rose
‘Grand kremlin Palace, Moscow’ the operator
said bluntly.

‘Huh?’ James eyes widened in shock, he stood
up straight and glanced at Segun who also
looked surprised. ‘Are you sure of what you’re
saying?’
‘Is that not where the Russian president stays?’
Segun interjected.
‘Yes, that’s the official house for the president’
the operator replied, he turned back to stare at
his superiors’ faces. ‘I was surprised when I
saw it first, but then I realized that someone is
just fooling with us’
James looked defeated as he stepped back and
sank into a plastic chair. He heaved a sigh of
frustration, ‘Is there no hope of finding the real
location?’
‘I don’t know yet, the criminal must have used a
powerful software to adjust the server location’
‘So what do we do now?’ Segun joined in.
‘Good afternoon officers’ Sandra interrupted
their discourse, walking into the room with a
serious look. ‘Have you listened to the news
this afternoon?’
Her question got a reply of awkward stares
from the trio. ‘The Rivers State Governor has
been kidnapped’ she announced after looking at
each of their faces one after the other.
‘What?’
‘Yes, he was kidnapped this morning by an
unidentified girl’ she continued, feeling fulfilled
as she was the first to break the news to them.
‘A girl?’
‘But he was supposed to launch an airplane
today’ Segun countered.
‘He was kidnapped in the plane’ she added
quickly, ‘the kidnapper disguised as one of the
pilots’
Interesting, I never thought such a thing could
happen in Rivers State with the level of security
that it has now attained with new IG and
Inspector Dakolo’ James commented, ‘well, we
have also a serious task before us, lets pray for
the governor and hope he’s safe’

1.45pm
**Onne, Rivers State**
Cole drove through the pathway surrounded by
bushes, following the direction given to them by
the map. He had stopped several times to ask
for directions from people but had been
misdirected twice due to his wrong
pronunciation of the address. A community
came into view as he got to a junction, he
could see several houses and people walking
by. He saw a group of people rushing towards a
specific direction, most of them were in haste
as if they got a glimpse of something very
spectacular.
He took a look at his tracking map again and
confirmed he was very close to Tarasha’s
location. The compass pointed him to the same
direction he saw people heading for, he turned
and drove slowly towards the place. Not too
long after, he got a clear view of where the
people were headed for, he parked the car at a
far distance to where people were gathered and
came out of the car with Aisha.
They followed the direction of the compass
until they got close to a river bank. A crowd of
villagers were seen gossiping around the river
with about five police vans surrounding the
place, the villagers kept a reasonable distance
from the officers.
Cole halted and warned Aisha not to move
further, they stood under a tree where some
other people were seen standing and discussing
about the matter but took care not to go close
to them to avoid raising suspicion. The villagers
were discussing in a native language so nothing
could be made out of their discussion.
After waiting for some minutes, Cole and
Aisha’s confidence grew as they saw several
other people dressed in a civilized manner like
them moving close to the scene. As they
proceeded further, not less than fifteen police
officers were seen questioning individuals or
discussing with each other and taking notes.
Cole took a look at the compass again and it
pointed to a direction where about five police
officers were gathered.
His heart skipped a beat as he realized that the
compass was leading them right in front of the
officers, the target was in an ambulance and
the officers were just at the front of the
vehicle. Aisha nudged him to give an
explanation on seeing panic all over him, she
held on to one of his arms and looked into his
face.
‘I’m afraid something terrible has happened’ He
said shakily. ‘We have to get out of here
immediately’
‘What?’ Aisha asked him as they took a
backward turn.
The compass is leading us into the ambulance’
Cole said, he drew her back as she was walking
too fast. ‘We have to walk back slowly like we
came so that we don’t attract anyone’s
attention’ he scolded.
‘Okay, you’ve not told me what it is’ Aisha
decreased her pace hesitatingly.
‘If the tracker is still on Tarasha, then she must
have been caught by the police’ Cole
expatiated. ‘The tracker is leading us into the
ambulance, that means the person that it was
attached to is also in the ambulance’
The news frightened Aisha and she increased
her pace rapidly again only to be cautioned
seriously by Cole. ‘If someone notices us here,
you’ll have yourself to blame’ Cole warned in a
low but strict voice as he pulled her back again.
A heavily built man in a native attire was seen
approaching with an entourage of guards
surrounding him, the crown on his head hinted
Cole and Aisha that the King of the town was
the one approaching. There were other men
who were dressed like him, in their native
attires too; they looked like the Chiefs. They all
seemed embattled as they hurried to the river
bank.
Cole and Aisha halted and stepped aside as the
other villagers did for their king and his
entourage to pass before going further. Cole
decided to talk to someone before they leave
the place, he looked around for someone who
looked a little civilized and would be able to
communicate well in English Language.
‘Hello sir’ he greeted a teenager politely.
‘Chai! Hello’ the shirtless young man replied ,
folding his arms.
‘Have you been here since?’ Cole asked.
‘Yes oooo’ he answered, looking very ready to
grant them an interview if they needed one.
‘What really happened?’
The boy carefully directed Cole and Aisha to a
corner devoid of passers and began to relay
what he had heard, his accent made him less
audible. ‘I wasn’t there o, but my friend said
they saw something coming from heaven with
an Umbrella. They said the strange thing
became a person before it dropped in the river’
‘Ehen?’ Aisha was getting impatient with his
long narration.
‘All the ladies that was fetching water in the
river at that time became scared and ran away
before it dropped in the river, they said that it
changed into three or four people after it fell
into the river. Some of them even say they saw
six or seven’ the boy continued enthusiastically.
‘The only man that was at the river that time
went closer and he said he noticed movement
in the river. They later brought out two bodies
from the River; one was a woman’s body and
the other was a man’s body’
So what happened?’ Cole urged him to continue.
‘They brought out the two bodies; Professor
says the woman is a pilot while the man looks
like our governor. Oga police was the one who
called the other policemen and they came into
the village some minutes later with their big big
cars’ the boy continued, describing ‘big big’ with
his hands.
‘Oh! Thank you very much’ Cole said, patting
the boy on the shoulder as he ran to join his
peers.
His heart was heavy as he turned to Aisha, ‘we
have to get out of here immediately’ she said
and began to hurry towards the car
Cole stood dumbfounded, he couldn’t accept
the fact that Tarasha had gone down so easily,
he brought out his phone again and the
compass was still referring to the same
direction. He felt a sharp pain in his heart as he
trudged after Aisha to the car.
....