Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 52

Episode 5 years ago

Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 52

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**Saturday; after several uneventful days **
~~Abuja, Nigeria ~~
11am
The shock and grief that came with the news of Jubril Lawal’s assassination was still very fresh in the African atmosphere. The streets were flooded with people rushing the newspaper vendors to get their copies so as
update themselves on the latest discoveries surrounding the death.

Journalists also flooded the street to get the farewell speeches from the citizens whose lives have been affected in one way or the other by Jubril Lawal.

Everyone had something good to say about Jubril, from his charity works to his service and commitment to the nation’s growth, they all had felt his impact in one way or
the other.

None except for a middle aged man expressed doubts in the man’s integrity and commitment. The middle aged man after praising Jubril for his visible works, paused before talking about the likely cause of his death.

‘It is possible that the man had an evil secret hidden with some people and they had to come and demand for his life. And it is also possible that the murderers are just enemies of the country and they killed Jubril because he
refused to agree with a selfish plan of theirs’ the man had said while being interviewed by a journalist from the national TV station.

‘I really don’t have much to say anymore, all I know is that he was a good man’ Mallam Jefa said into the mic with a sad face.

‘All right, thanks for speaking with us’ the reporter said and left Jefa’s presence to face the camera alone.

~~
Dakolo glanced at the beautiful buildings as they drove through the streets of Abuja. The cab man took his time to tell Dakolo the names of every street and what they did in every magnificent building that they passed by.

The cab man was never silent, no wonder he didn’t put on the radio in the car, he himself was doing the job of a radio.

‘Sir, so why have you come to Abuja? Business? Pleasure?

Both? Or none?’ The cab man asked as he took a glance at Dakolo seated at the back.

‘I’m relocating’ Dakolo replied him, enjoying the man’s jolly nature.

‘Relocating?’ The man stared at him. ‘What about your family? Where are they?’

‘My wife and kids are in port harcourt, they would join me after the school session ends’
‘Wow! That’s a long time, why didn’t you wait for them to finish the session?’ The cab man adjusted the front top mirror so that he can see Dakolo’s face from there.

‘I couldn’t wait, I was transferred at my place of work’ ‘Oh! I see…’

‘Yeah. So what about your wife and kids?’
‘They’re all here in Abuja. My wife runs a mini restaurant and my two kids are in college’

‘Good’ Dakolo said with a chuckle.

~~
Jefa turned back to the road, he picked out the piece of paper from his chest pocket again. ‘Tara works in Elymax
hotel’ he read out the words which he had written down after the first day he had the encounter with his younger sister.

Several days had gone by and Jefa had made the decision to meet her and explain things to her. What delayed him was his lack of proof. The Omotara he saw had now developed into a big girl, she looked highly educated too
and he believed that she would not just accept his stories if he had nothing to show as proof. Now, he was bringing a picture and a diary with him. A picture which contained the whole family’s image as at that time in it. The diary
was their mum’s. He had taken the diary from his mother’s room and hid it behind in his trousers, planning to read it after the celebration of Omotara’s birthday that night, but he never had the chance to read it on that day.

His parents were killed and he and his remaining younger ones were abducted on the same day. He later found the picture in the middle of the diary on the day he opened it.

He hoped that Omotara would be able to recall by seeing the picture and even the diary, which their mum had always warned them not to touch anytime she brought it out.

Deep down inside, he wished that Omotara would be a person of influence in the country; perhaps an influential lawyer or a friend to one who would be able to fight their cause for them. He was still hungry for revenge, he was
tired of seeing the faces of the perpetrators of the evil that was done several years ago to him and his family and several thousands of other Nigerian families and kids, now in government offices parading themselves as saints and nice people.

He waved down a taxi and bent over to look inside. A man was already sitting comfortably at the back. ‘Elymax hotel’

‘Elymax? That’s where we’re going to’ The taxi man replied, giving him a surprised look.
‘May I join you?’ Jefa replied indifferently, already trying to open the front door.
‘Okay, if you can pay five thousand naira’
‘What? For what? I’ll pay you two thousand’
‘No, I can’t take anything less than three thousand’

‘I’ll pay you two thousand five’ Jefa said and entered into
the cab without waiting for a reply.


~~ Lagos, Nigeria ~~
11am
Laughter filled the room as the two friends joked and chatted happily. Chief Gab was in his casual native wear seated on the sofa in the middle of his large living room while Chief Nonso was seated on the sofa opposite to him, in a more official wear; his black trouser was
matched with a black waist coat on a blue shirt.
‘You know I’ve been really thinking of something new’

Chief Gab interrupted the laughter, taking a sip of wine from the glass cup in front of him.

‘What’s that?’ Chief Nonso wiped off the tear formed in his eyes as a result of the heavy laughter and paused to listen.

‘I’m thinking we are being too harsh in judging some of these people’

Chief Nonso cleared his throat. ‘Why do you say so?’

‘We could just make Tarasha leave them alive after decapitating them; in a way that they’ll be able to see our success after we finish our plans while they are suffering’ ‘Hmm… That sounds like a good idea’ Chief Nonso heaved a sigh and gave Chief Gab a stare. ‘Chief’ he called
calmly.

‘Yes’ Chief Gab who was busy with his iPad looked up to see the serious look on Chief Nonso’s face. He narrowed his gaze as if to ask Chief Nonso what the matter was.

‘You’ve not still told me the reason we have some people on our list. I don’t understand why we are punishing some of them yet’
‘I think we talked about this before’ Chief Gab replied,

standing up from his seat. He took the wine bottle and proceeded to the bar to take another wine bottle.

‘Yes, Chief Onwuli said before his death that you’ll explain to before we begin but when I asked you, you said you’ll tell me soon. I’m wondering why the “soon” is not yet
here’

Chief Gab walked back to his seat with a bottle of wine, he dropped it on the stool and walked to the flat screen TV to switch it on. He turned back to the sofa and returned to his former seating position without hurrying,
not minding Chief Nonso’s eyes which was escorting him all about, awaiting his response.
‘If we don’t take care of these people, they’ll come back for us when we rise again’ Chief Gab finally said, looking
straight in his friend’s eyes. Chief Nonso was already getting pissed off.

‘Several years ago, Seven of us were involved in a certain illegal businesses. Five of us were politicians. At that time, we were all successful, but we wanted more ; we wanted
to lay up riches for our kids, we didn’t want them to suffer like we did’ Chief Gab paused his story to pour wine from the bottle into the glass cup.

‘We were friends; secret friends, nobody knew our association. Four of us were in the ruling party, ADP as at the time we started working together. One was in the
strongest opposition party, PCP while the remaining two including the minister of health who was dropped recently were not involved in politics then . Two deflected from the ruling party to the strongest opposition party before the next election on seeing that there were little chances of victory for the ruling party at
the polls. The remaining two of us remained faithful to the ruling party. The election year came and we were defeated at the polls. The new government came in and
began to investigate corrupt deals of the past
government. Although, ours was not really a political crime; meaning it didn’t involve stealing or mismanagement of country’s fund kept in our trust, the crimes commission began to look into the personal lives of some politicians. This got us scared and the seven of us held an urgent secret meeting, we concluded that we
would stop all illegal deals after we concluded the hanging fake drugs consignment and do our best to cover up our track. But unknowingly to I and Onwuli, my friend who was in my party, our counterparts in the new ruling party and the other two non-politicians had other plans. The only one out of the them who didn’t agree to
their plans was found dead mysteriously several days after the meeting; I didn’t know it was connected to our meeting then’

Chief Gab took another pause and took a sip of the wine.

He put back the cup on the stool and refilled it. ‘Unluckily for me, I was the one in charge of the execution of the last fake drugs consignment. Some of our secret documents were released to the police. The late minister of health was the NAFDAC chairman then, he didn’t show
me pity at all. Jubril Lawal was the head of the law enforcement agency that handled my case; neither he showed any pity. I was indicted, found guilty in court and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for a crime that we all committed. Onwuli and his whole family were murdered when he tried to speak out for me’

Chief Gab paused and stood up, taking the cup of wine with him. ‘The last time I went to Onwuli’s family grave, I swore that I was going to repay everyone of them even if
it was going to take my last breath’

Chief Nonso heaved a deep sigh as he stood up and stared straight at Chief Gab. He now understood why Chief Gab was bent on seeing the death of everyone on the list. Chief Onwuli’s family’s murder was a very gruesome one.


Onwuli was made to see the bodies of
each member of his family including the young ones chopped into pieces by the murderers and himself was given a poison that killed him slowly. Onwuli was a saviour to Nonso, being the one who helped Nonso survive a life threatening disease and also brought Nonso’s family out of pain and distress.

Chief Nonso let out another deep breath as he
remembered the promise he made to Chief Onwuli seconds before the man gave up the ghost. Chief Onwuli had made him promise to stand by his friend, Gabriel in prison and also help him when he comes out. He also made the promise to assist Gabriel in whatever he does
to take revenge for Chief Onwuli’s death.

‘So you see, we are delivering judgement to those who deserves it’ Chief Gab added, smacking his lips as he took
in another sip.

‘None of them deserves to be left alive, they should all die’ Nonso said, giving a determined stare at Chief Gab. ‘I think we should even increase their pain, make their
death as horrible as Chief Onwuli’s’
‘Yes’ Chief Gab agreed. He took another sip from the cup before speaking again. ‘And I’ve been thinking of something else’
‘What’s that?’
‘How to get rid of Tarasha after we finish all the enemies.


She seems to be very powerful and fearless, she might become a threat to us in the future’
‘So, what’s your plan?’
‘I don’t have any yet. I fear her myself’
Chief Nonso smiled. He gave Chief Gab an awkward look.

‘So you mean that with all the wisdom you’ve used to organise the big men’s destruction, you’re afraid of a little girl?’
Chief Gab hissed in reply first before thinking deeply on Nonso’s statement. He spoke again after a some seconds of horrible silence. ‘You’re right, no matter how powerful
she seems to be, she is a small girl and she does not have the wisdom we have’

‘Exactly… She will just fall into a little trap set for her, we only need to be very wise’
…


11. 08 am
Henry drove quietly, in a solemn manner, listening to songs from the new album of veteran artiste, Asa. Her genre of music was the perfect one for his mood right now.

He had not remained himself since the day of the event.

Several things had played down his memory in the last two days; including the pictures of the assassin and how he walked up to Jubril Lawal and murdered the man.

But the strongest of the pictures were of Evelyn’s face. He kept seeing her in everything he did, even when he closed his eyes.

He tried to figure out what really happened between them, the passion he felt when she placed her head against his chest and when they kissed. Was it love or just lust was feeling? Maybe both. At the point they kissed, he had the lust for her whole body, he could already see her
wrapped around himself, both of them unclad, he
squeezing her boobs in his hands. No, it had to stop if it was lust, he had determined in his heart, knowing that nothing borne out of lust would last. But he also felt something more in his heart, in his spirit. The desire to see her well even if he couldn’t have her body, the desire
to see her happy. There was something in her eyes when he stared into it, something that showed him that she wasn’t happy although she always performed well in her bid to hide it.

Where she was now, he had no idea. Her line had been switched off since the last time he tried it, so all his attempts to track it were futile. He also tried again to get the customer’s information of her sim by hacking into the database of the network provider but there was still
no information there. It had either been deleted or the information never existed. He couldn’t conclude yet.

Oh! And the Canadian number he was supposed to investigate. He finally concluded the investigation, though the client was no longer interested nor did was there any
call to ask for it. The Canadian number was cloned, it had not even been issued out to any customer by the network provider in Canada. Henry found out that the user was in Africa because on tracking the last conversations restored from the backup of the network
provider of his client’s line, he could deduce the
maximum possible distance of the Canadian number, which was a distance within Africa.

All these discoveries were confirming Henry’s fear but he still refused to admit it. Evelyn claimed to be from Canada and was doing business with the late Jubril Lawal,
it must have definitely been her number the man was investigating. Or how else could he explain that Evelyn only began to insist that he followed her to the party after she saw the number in his jotter? And what else was the explanation for her unregistered and now unreachable Nigerian line? It meant she must have destroyed the line since her mission had ended.


But with all these proofs, Henry still choose to believe that he was mistaken, he didn’t want to see her that way.

He couldn’t get himself to think of her as a criminal. To him, she was someone who was in need of great help and he believed he could give her that help.

He remembered her outburst the first time he called the name “God” and attributed God to be a loving person while conversing with her . The pain he saw in her eyes
that day was too much for a young woman like her to bear. She needed someone to show her love; real love and not one of sexual attraction.
Then he recalled her sharing the story of her family’s death with him. Going through such an horrible experience would most definitely affect one’s future and even control it if one finds no help.

She needed help, she needed love. That was all Henry could think, regardless of every other thing he had found out about her.

Henry finally got to his destination by twenty minutes past eleven. The security men searched his car before allowing him to pass in through the huge gates of Elymax hotel.



The cabman zoomed off immediately after the new passenger entered. He cleared his throat and continued his conversation with Dakolo. ‘So what kind of company do you work in? What’s the name?’ He asked, looking into
the top mirror.

‘Hmm…’ Dakolo paused and licked his lips as he thought of the best answer to give the man. ‘I’m a contractor who
works per time for different companies, one of the firms I partner with has this urgent big building project here.

That’s why I had to rush down’
‘Oh! Building contractor?’ The cab asked to affirm.

‘Yes’ Dakolo answered.
‘Cool…’ The man said with a short laugh. ‘When I was young I wanted to be a civil engineer but there was no money to further my studies after college, so I had to go
through vocational training’


‘Oh! And what vocation were you trained for?’ Dakolo asked.

‘Carpentry’ the man answered with a smile. ‘I’m a carpenter’

‘Nice, but are you practising it?’
‘I was, I had to stop for some reasons. But I’m planning to go back to it once I raise enough money for capital’

‘Better, carpentry is a lucrative job. Do you make furnitures or you do roofing?’
‘I do both and I’m very good at it’
‘Wonderful, maybe I could even get you some jobs when you start’

‘Really?’
‘Sure, I can. But you’ll have to prove first that you’re really good at it’
‘Oh! That’s not a problem. Thank you sir, I’ll make sure I get your telephone number before I drop you off’


‘Okay’ Dakolo said. There was silence for some seconds.

‘What did you say sir?’ The cab man suddenly put in.

‘I only said okay’ Dakolo quickly answered.
‘Oh! Not you sir’ the cab man quickly corrected. He was facing the new passenger seated with him at the front.


‘Me?’ Jefa asked with a surprised tone.
‘Yes, I thought you were saying something to me’ the cab man replied.

‘No no’ Jefa denied strongly.
‘Okay. But hope there’s no problem sir. I noticed your mood since you entered’ the cab man spoke in a low voice.

‘Nothing, I was just thinking about a small issue’ ‘Well, okay’ the cabman shrugged.


‘Good morning miss’ Henry greeted as he approached the reception.

‘Good morning, you’re welcome to Elymax hotels. What can I do for you?’

‘I’m Henry George, from the NSCC’ Henry displayed his ID card.

‘Nigeria security cameras corporation’ the lady read aloud.


‘Yes’
‘Okay, what may I do for you?’
‘We’re investigating a particular case and I need
information about one of your guests. I don’t know if she’s still here’

‘Humm… I think I have to refer you to someone else. I can’t handle your request’
‘Alright, please do that quickly’ Henry replied and paused.

He turned to stare around the place while the lady was making a call with the landline.
‘Please come with me’ the lady dropped the call and walked out from behind the wall. She led him towards a corridor in the right direction.
They got to an office after walking a few metres and Henry was ushered in. A middle aged man on a black suit was seated in the office. The receptionist introduced Henry and left.

‘May I see your ID card again?’ The man asked after offering Henry a seat.

‘Here’ Henry took it out to show him.
‘So who’s this guest you’re investigating and what’s her crime really?’

‘No, she has not been accused or found guilty of any crime yet’ Henry corrected quickly. ‘We only need to get
some of her personal details’

‘So you want to meet her and talk to her?’ The man raised a brow. ‘We do respect the privacy of our guests here and we won’t like to give out any information
without proper verification of who needs it’
‘I don’t understand’
‘You’ve not showed us any licence yet or letter that proves that the NSCC sent you to get this information’ the man explained further.

‘Oh! I can get one now’ Henry said, bringing out his phone. ‘Via email’ he added. He dialed Sylvester’s number.

‘Wait, we can help you meet with the person if you want to’

Henry cut the call first. ‘I doubt if she’s still in your hotel’ ‘Let’s find out, what’s her name?’

‘Evelyn… Evelyn Alexander’
‘Okay’ the man began to type into his computer system
while Henry continued with his call.
‘Hello sir, could you please forward a permit for Elymax to my mailbox now? I need it in urgently’ Henry said into
the phone. He inhaled lightly after getting a positive response and ended the call.

‘Evelyn Alexander was here truly, she paid for three weeks’ the man began. ‘But she has been gone for days without any word to us, we tried contacting her through our customer’s service but the number she dropped was
unreachable’

‘Exactly… That’s why I need you to give me every information she supplied to your hotel’
‘Have you gotten the permit?’



11.47am
The forty minutes journey finally came to an end as they drove into Elymax hotels. The cab man, being someone who knew his way around the hotel needed no security man to direct him to the right place to park. He quickly located the best available space and drove his car there.
‘Here is my card sir’ The cab man handed over his card to Dakolo after he turned off the car engine. ‘You can reach me if you need to cab to take you around town’


‘Sure’ Dakolo collected it cheerfully. ‘And make sure you do contact me with the number I gave you’


‘I will’ the cab man replied, counting the Naira notes given to him by Jefa. ‘It’s complete’ he said to dismiss
Jefa and stepped out of the car afterwards. He walked to the back to open the boot. Jefa stepped out too and stared around the big building, not knowing the next
place to go, he stood still.


Dakolo also stepped out and walked to the booth. The
cab man handed over his small luggage to Dakolo and
returned to his car after exchanging some few more
words with him.
Dakolo turned and stared at the big hotel building where
he was going to stay until the next day evening when he’s
officially welcomed. He took two steps away from the
cab as he heard the sound of the car’s ignition. He turned around to look at his surroundings and then he saw a familiar face.


‘You…’ He mumbled with a smile as he huried towards the young man trying to enter his car. Henry looked up.

‘Henry George’ Dakolo finally remembered the name.


‘Oh! Special agent…’ Henry tapped his nose continuously with a finger as he struggled to remember the name.

‘Agent Dakolo’ Dakolo quickly put in.
‘Wow!’ Henry closed back the car door and walked towards Dakolo, full of smiles. ‘It’s nice to see you again’

Henry said as they shook hands warmly.
‘Yeah, after so many years. How have you been?’

‘Fine sir, how about you?’
‘I’m fine.’ Dakolo said and stared warmly into his eyes.

‘Thank you for making me proud of you. My joy knew no bounds when I saw the news of your exploits on the TV and in the newspapers’
‘Thank you sir’ Henry smiled.
‘Thank God you didn’t allow that tragic occurrence affect your life. See what you’ve made of yourself now’


‘Thank you sir’ Henry’s face continued to beam with smiles. ‘Well, I had to let that go and focus on my future.


You see, bad people get their rewards, even if it comes late’

‘Yes, you’re right. Just look at the way he and his father died, both on the same day. What a sorry life! ‘

‘Yea, although I heard the father was a generous man before his death and did many charity works ” Henry put in.

‘No matter the quantity of pure water added to dirty water, it can never make the dirty water pure. In his own case, the quantity of dirty water far exceeds the pure.

The man already had so much blood in his hands. We couldn’t just get him because he was clever enough to eliminate all possible proofs’
‘Hmm… Well, what brings you here?’ Henry asked.
‘My job’ Dakolo smiled. ‘I was transferred here to handle
some cases.’ He glanced at his wristwatch.
‘But why did you have to take a cab? Was there no
provision to come pick you?’
‘There should be’ Dakolo said. ‘I was actually supposed to
arrive tomorrow but I had to come today for some
reasons’
‘Okay, so what state were you transferred from?’
‘Rivers state’
‘Oh! Well…’ Henry was cut short abruptly by the sight of
someone walking by, the person paused and faced
Henry. Dakolo turned to see the person at his back. It was
the same man who was in the cab with him.
‘I gotta go now’ Dakolo said, handing a card to Henry.
‘Please give me a call tonight’ Dakolo said before walking
away.
‘Alright sir’ Henry dipped the card into his pocket and
turned up to faced Jefa. He walked slowly towards Jefa
who stood still with a kind of timid look. ‘You again’
Henry said, recalling him as the man from the police
interrogation and the one Evelyn was facing in the
Catholic Church premises.
‘I…’ Jefa stuttered for a while. ‘I have come to see my
sister’
‘Your sister?’ Henry asked in uttermost disbelief.
‘Yes, that lady is my sister’ Jefa said shakily.