Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 57

Episode 5 years ago

Tarasha - Season 1 - Episode 57

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Tarasha dropped the gun slowly and took a glance at the door and back at Cole. She turned and walked to the door, holding the gun in alertness. She peeped through the door hole and saw the person knocking, she clenched
her left fist and gave an evil chuckle as she tightened her grip against the door. Part of her felt like opening the door and gunning him down immediately, the other part felt like opening the door to embrace him. She stood back and paused for a while.


‘Answer the door, you should know how to handle him.

Return his phone to him. If he asks’ she said to Cole as she hurried back into her room. ‘Come with me’ she motioned Benny to follow pack the rest of the devices and follow her, leaving only Henry’s phone.

Cole heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He made a sign of the cross as he walked slowly to the door, whoever was at the door was his saviour. He peeped through the door hole but didn’t recognise the person at first. He opened
halfway and tucked out his head.

‘Hello’ Henry said with a smile, trying to peep into the house.

‘Yes, what can I do for you?’ Cole answered. He searched the guy from head to toe with his eyes, then Henry’s face came into his remembrance. He stepped out.

Henry scrutinized Cole’s face for a while and
remembered him clearly as the driver who drove them to the birthday party.

Henry cleared his throat and began. ‘Good morning, I’ve come to see Evelyn’

‘Evelyn?’ Cole pretended as if he didn’t hear properly. He would have loved to say, ‘please come in, she really needs you, that day she felt like dying after you left her.’



But he couldn’t try it, majorly because of the tensed
atmosphere that the device he had taken in carelessly
just caused and he was also sure that the Boss wouldn’t
want to see Henry.
‘Yes, where is Evelyn? The lady I accompanied to that
party’
‘What party?’ Cole feigned ignorance.
‘Come on, you drove us in a Rover to late Chief Jubril’s
party and disappeared when the party ended in a
disaster’ Henry defended himself in a strong tone.
‘That was business, she was my client and only hired me
for that evening’ Cole answered back.
‘She’s only your client?’ Henry asked.
Cole shook his head in affirmation.
‘I need to see her’ Henry added immediately, unshaken.
‘I don’t know where she lives or where she is now. It was
her first time of hiring me, so I don’t have much details
about her’
Henry paused for a while and stared straight into Cole’s
eyes. ‘You’re not saying the truth’ he slammed. ‘Just tell
me where she is, I need to see her for something
important’
Henry paused as someone opened the door and poked
out her head. She looked to Cole and then to Henry’s face
and back to Cole, her eyes expression asking for who
Henry was.
‘I want to see Evelyn’ Henry quickly said. Aisha feigned
ignorance and gave him a strange look. ‘Or you may
know her as Tara’ Henry quickly added.
There was an expression of shock on both Aisha and
Cole’s faces. They mistook the Tara he called to be a short
form for Tarasha. But Cole could recognize that Henry’s
intonation was different and the way he called it made it
sound like a Yoruba name.
‘Tara or Evelyn, she doesn’t know her’ Cole replied,
arguing for Aisha.
Henry shook his head in disbelief. He had caught the
shocked expression on the faces and was more
convinced now that they were lying. ‘Why are you guys
hiding her? I need to see her for something important’,
he repeated.
‘Mister, we don’t know her. I told you already that she
only hired me for the party and that’s all’ Cole slammed.
Aisha sighed and entered back into the house.
Henry shook his head and licked his lips, thinking of what
else to say. ‘Okay, I’ve been on the road trying to locate
this place for some hours now, can I at least come in to
have a drink? Maybe a cup of water’ Henry pleaded.
‘I don’t allow strangers into my house’ Cole replied.
Henry gave a smile. ‘I’m not a stranger’ he retorted. ‘You
know, I could be your client too and a very regular one at
that’
‘Sorry sire, I’ve really got some other things to do’ Cole
attempted to turn back.
‘Okay, can I have my property?’ Henry said, perceiving
that Cole was going to remain adamant.
‘What property?’
‘My phone, the one I forgot in your car’ Henry asserted.
Cole kept mute. ‘Don’t try to feign ignorance with that’
Henry warned. ‘It led me here and I know that it’s in this
house’
Cole stared at him awkwardly for a while. He turned back
and walked into the house locking the door immediately.
Henry quickly took out a bug from his pocket and
attached to the top edge of one of the pillars in the
balcony.
Cole returned a minute later with the phone, not noticing
anything, he handed it over to Henry immediately.
‘Thanks’ Henry stared at his phone with a smile. ‘You
work with her right?’ He asked another question that kept
Cole dumbfounded for some seconds.
‘I think its time to leave sire, you’re taking too much time
here’ Cole said with a serious tone.
‘It’s okay, I’ll leave’ Henry said, tossing his phone from
one palm to another. ‘Tell her, I only came to pick her up
for service today. I’ll be back some other time, we still
have loads of stuffs to discuss’ Henry said and turned to
take his leave.
‘Don’t return here else I’ll do something terrible to you’
Henry could hear Cole threaten as he approached the old
weak gate. He paused and stared at the compound. The
place was neat but it looked very old, like a deserted
place that was being renovated. There was a blue car in
the compound and a mini van. There were also very old
building bricks arranged in one corner. Henry wondered
what a modern looking guy like Cole was doing in such
an environment. Henry cleared his throat and walked on.
He got into his car which was parked by the road beside
the house and settled in the driver’s seat, leaving the
door opened. He took his tablet device from the back
seat and unlocked it. He opened up an application to
monitor the bug he just planted. After some loading, the
streaming began, he could see Cole just turning back into
the house. He dropped the tablet on the right seat and
closed the door. He wasn’t sure Evelyn was in the house
but he was sure that the driver and his wife or girlfriend
knew her. But the bug he just placed there would help
him confirm that.
He took in a deep breath and remained in silence for a
while. He could hear some singing from around the
corner, a church was having the Sunday service.
His previous plan was to pick Evelyn and convince her to
follow him to his own church’s service but since he
didn’t get to see her, he decided to attend a church
nearby while he monitored the bug. He closed the door
and started the engine.
~~
After waiting for sometime after Henry walked out of the
gate, Cole opened the door slowly and entered back into
the house. Tarasha was seated on the arm rest of the
three seater sofa, her short gun was still in her hands, she
stared straight at him. There was an awkward silence of
over five minutes. Cole couldn’t move and Tarasha kept
an undecided look on him.
‘Why did you take the phone?’ Tarasha finally asked.
Cole felt stupid. He knew he shouldn’t have taken the
phone at all or he should have told her about it when she
didn’t ask. But the reason he was so interested in it was
the special technical qualities the phone seemed to have.
Little did he know that the owner of the device was also a
technical guru who was capable of delivering them to the
police by just that simple mistake. Cole could not answer
the question, words refused to come out of his mouth.
Tarasha narrowed his gaze at him sternly. But Cole still
felt little bit relieved. At least, she wasn’t looking like she
was still going to still kill him.
Tarasha stared back to the gun in her hand. She felt like
punishing Cole for what he had done. A bullet into his
right arm wouldn’t have been too cruel for his
punishment but she considered the new tasks ahead and
the fact that she might still be the one to treat the bullet
wound. She offloaded the gun and dropped it on the
chair, one of the two bullets rolled to the ground.
‘So it was Henry right?’
‘Yes’ Cole answered. Tarasha let out a breath and her
shoulders fell. Henry could interpret the look on her face
as a wish that she could see him. He felt the temptation
to smile, but rebuked himself and stayed calm.
‘Can you check if he’s still anywhere around?’ She said to
Cole as she got up and walked to the front window. Cole
opened the door and walked into the compound. He
stared around the compound for a little while before
proceeding to the gate, he opened the unlockable gate
and peeped outside. Except for some building workers
walking around, he could only see tyre marks on the
sand. He closed the gate and returned into the house.
‘He’s gone’ he said to Tarasha who had already come out
to the balcony. She was searching everywhere with her
eyes. ‘Where did he stand?’ She asked.
‘Here’ Cole answered, standing on the same spot Henry
stood.
‘That guy is a crazy technician and developer, his
knowledge of this place could mean danger for us. We
need to leave here soon’
Tarasha kept looking around. She saw something at the
top edge of balcony pillar, it was hidden behind the
cobwebs. She felt stupid as she stared straight into the
bug before discovering what it was. She detached it from
the wall and dropped it on the floor, crushing it with her
foot.
‘S--t! He has seen my face’ she cursed. ‘Didn’t you see
this?’ She barked angrily at Cole.
Cole stepped back in fear and gave way for her to walk
back inside through the door. He followed after her. ‘We
need to leave here immediately’ she said, walking
hurriedly. ‘I don’t know how much time we have left’ she
picked the gun and the bullet on the sofa. Cole was
standing still, he didn’t understand why they had to leave
but he couldn’t summon courage to ask like he would
have done normally. As far as he was concerned, Henry
was there only for her. They had covered all tracks on
their last operation, so there was no way it could be
traced to them. Henry had come to discuss his love issue
with her and that was all.
‘Why are you standing there?’ Tarasha returned back and
stared at him. She had taken off her top and had only her
bra and pant on.
‘That guy’ Cole began, moving closer to her slowly,
carefully choosing his words in his brain first so as not to
infuriate her again. ‘He said he came to pick you for
church service’
Tarasha stared at him awkwardly. Her anger was
beginning to arise again.
‘He knows your name’ Cole quickly added.
‘What do you mean?’ She narrowed her gaze at him.
‘He called you Tara’
‘What??’ She exclaimed, more like a whisper, looking
shocked. ‘Where the hell did he get that from?’
Cole stared at her in surprise, surprised that she was
surprised. He thought she was the one who told him the
name since he assumed they had begun a love affair.
‘Whatever, we need to leave here now’ Tarasha said and
moved closer to the sofa, she picked the bullet on the
floor.
‘I think you’re in love with him’ Cole mustered enough
courage to say as she turned back. He held his breath
anticipating what could befall him.
‘What??’ Tarasha turned back angrily, it was as if Cole just
stirred the devil in her. Cole could see her anger in her
eyes and he began to tremble immediately. He began to
step back slowly as she proceeded towards him. There
was no gun in her hands and the door was still opened
for Cole to run outside but he knew his attempt would be
fruitless. So he knelt down in an attempt to plead.
A knock sounded on the door.
‘Evelyn, come on, I know you are in there’ Henry’s voice
rang in.
…


Dakolo posed in front of the mirror to check his dressing
and make sure that nothing was out of place. His well
fitted black suit made him look smart as usual, he was
wearing a white shirt under and a dark blue tie. He took a
small comb from his box which he had already arranged
and combed his medium height hair forward. He
returned the comb and straightened up his jacket, he
looked into the mirror once more before picking up his
box and phone. His phone rang just in time.
‘Agent Dakolo, are you at the Rivers’ airport already?’
Officer Ken’s voice came through.
‘No officer’ Dakolo smiled, ‘I’m already in Abuja, I’ll be in
the headquarters in few minutes time’
‘In Abuja already?’ Officer Ken exclaimed in a surprise
tone. ‘Are you at the Abuja airport then?’
‘No, I’m not. Don’t bother about me’ Dakolo smiled. ‘I
know my way around, I’ll meet you in the office. Is the IG
there already?’
‘No, he isn’t but he’ll be with us in few minutes also’
Officer Ken answered.
‘Okay, until we see then’ Dakolo ended the call and
opened the dial pad for a new call. He dialed the cabman,
Clement’s number.
‘Where are you now?’ He asked.
‘I just drove in’ Clement answered.
~~Twenty five minutes later ~~
Dakolo and the cab man drove into the large compound
of the police headquarters after thorough searching at
the gate. Dakolo was seated in front with him and they
chatted all through the journey like friends until they got
to their destination.
The cab man who was surprised when Dakolo asked him
to turn into the police headquarters was more surprised
on seeing several high ranked police officials stop to
greet Dakolo as they drove into the gate. It was his first
time of entering the place but his surprise robbed him of
the chance to notice the other beautiful sites in the
compound. He began to stare at Dakolo’s face
suspiciously.
Dakolo smiled on seeing his confused look. ‘Sorry, I
didn’t tell you I’m a member of the police force’
The cab man glanced at him, the look on his face
expressed his demand for more explanation.
‘My younger brother is the contractor really, it was his
business card I gave you’ Dakolo explained further. ‘My
promise to get jobs for you when you go back to your
carpentry work is still on. I’ll ensure that my brother
works with you’
The cab man stared at him more awkwardly without
saying any word. He drove as he was being directed by a
police officer into the garage. After about two minutes,
they finally parked the car.
‘Thanks’ Dakolo said, bringing out his wallet from his
jacket’s inner pocket. He began to count. ‘Since you
know everywhere around, I’ll be calling you often, hope
you’ll be available’
‘I’ll try’ Clement answered less enthusiastically. His focus
was more on the cash Dakolo was counting. Dakolo
finally counted triple of the fare and handed it over to
him.
‘Oh! Thanks’ Clement received the money joyfully. ‘Just
call me anytime, I’ll be available to take you anywhere’ he
said.
Dakolo smiled and got out of the car. A crowd of highly
ranked officers had come to welcome him, the IG was
also there. A junior officer took out his box from the
back seat.
‘Agent Dakolo’ the IG saluted on seeing him. Dakolo
saluted back and received the man’s handshake with his
two hands to show curtsy. ‘Welcome’
‘Thank you sir’ Dakolo replied with a smile, also
responding to the greetings from other officers.
The Inspector General, Rikau Waziri was dressed in dark
suit too, he also had a white shirt under but was without
a tie. Aged 51, Rikau was of average height and a very
dark complexion. He had a bald head, his face had scars
on it, a result of several fights he had engaged in when he
was younger. The rest of the officers were dressed in
their uniforms.
‘Why didn’t you tell us the exact time you were coming?
We were making arrangements to come for you at the
airport’
‘I had to come earlier to do something sir’ Dakolo said
briefly. He took a back glance at the cab man who was
just driving off and smiled.
‘It’s okay’ the IG said and they began to proceed into the
main building. ‘Hope your journey wasn’t stressful’
‘Not at all sir, it was stress free’
‘Good’ the IG smiled as they climbed up the short stairs
into the building. Dakolo looked around, surprised at the
number of officers who were present at the office on a
Sunday morning. Officer Ken noticed his surprise.
‘They all have to be here because of the security issues
we’re having right now’ Ken explained with a smile.
Dakolo nodded and smiled. The crowd of officers began
to decrease gradually as they walked past the several
offices and sections. They finally got to a room with the
tag “H 4”. Ken brought out an access card and opened
the door. It was a room where top officials held their
meetings. The remaining three officers and the IG
entered the room with Dakolo.
The room which was painted white all through was not
too large but conducive enough for a meeting. There was
a rectangular table in the middle and ten chairs were
round the table. Light refreshments had been served on
the table already. The IG took the seat at the front corner
which was the short side of the table while the four
others took two seats each at the left and the right.
Inspector Ken and Agent Dakolo took the seats closer to
the IG. The meeting began.
‘So what’s the way forward now?’ The IG asked after a
short recap of the situation.
‘I’m thinking we need the help of some agents’ Dakolo
said. Everyone stared at him for more explanation. ‘I
mean a secret agent’ Dakolo stated further.
‘Does that mean you think you can’t handle it?’ The IG
asked. ‘Cos that’s the reason we brought you here’
‘I’m not saying I can’t handle it, in fact I would have
loved to but we need someone who wouldn’t need much
struggle to disguise as an assassin ‘ Dakolo explained
more but his listeners still did not understand except for
Ken who was shaking his head thoughtfully.
‘I think I get his point’ Ken put in, redirecting all stares to
himself. ‘Agent Dakolo’s face is already known in the
country for nabbing top criminals and assassins, it would
require extra work and would need a lot of disguise
techniques for him to act as a secret agent, his face is
known already’
The IG shook his head slowly and thoughtfully in
agreement. ‘So what do you think we should do now? I
really wish Dakolo is still a young man we could send as
an undercover like we used to do’ he said smiling at
Dakolo. Dakolo smiled back. ‘Well, we have some of our
officers we could still send’
Dakolo gave a slight hiss which expressed his
disagreement, ‘our boys have not been trained enough to
handle this kind of cases. They’ll definitely cause more
troubles for us. Even myself wouldn’t have been able to
carry out this kind of job if it had come when I was still a
secret agent. I have more experience now, both on the
field and technically’
‘So what do you suggest now?’ The IG asked. ‘Can Ken?’
The IG turned to look at Ken. ‘Or any of these two?’
Ken shook his head slightly in disagreement. ‘Do you
think it would work like that?’
‘Why not?’ Dakolo and the IG asked in unison.
‘We’ve been actively involved in this assassination case. I
mean the three of us’ he said looking at the other two
seated. ‘We’ve been involved in the chasing and
interrogations, do you think it can still work with us?’ Ken
said in a bold voice, dismissing every perception that he
was afraid to take the task.
‘You’ve spoken the truth’ Dakolo said after thoughtfully
considering his reply. ‘This assassin group members are
intelligent and dangerous. I’m sure they’ll just play along
even if they recognize anyone sent as the undercover and
it would turn out as a disaster for us’
‘So we don’t have enough strong and trained men in the
force that can handle this?’ The IG joined, getting
irritated that they were making the matter sound so big.
‘Sir, it’s not about being strong here’ Dakolo said calmly.
‘Of course, strength is important but what we really need
is an intelligent personnel. Very intelligent one who
would match the intelligence of this assassin group. You
know I can’t really talk about the manpower of the group
but I know they are intelligent. Most of their strategies
have been technical; they disrupt all our technical
security facilities, keep us in darkness and then carry our
their assassination, that’s what they’ve been doing’
There was silence for a while. ‘So you think that the
assassin group is not really tough in physical strength?’
The IG broke the silence.
‘Yes but I may be wrong. But one thing I’m sure of is that
their technical and developing abilities and intelligence is
where they’re stronger’
‘No’ Ken disagreed gently. ‘Except the assassin group that
killed Chief Jubril USA different from the one who that
carried out the other two but if we are saying they might
be the same, which is really likely, it would be wrong to
say they are weak physically’
Dakolo turned and stared at Ken, so did everyone else.
‘Yes sir, he’s right’ one of the two other officers finally
broke his silence. ‘The group that carried out Chief
Jubril’s assassination was definitely not weak physically.
Their knowledge of the usage and control of guns is mind
blowing, this is evident in the number of security officials
and police officers found dead in the events centre’
‘Thank you’ Ken supported. ‘None of their bullets were
wasted’ Ken added, looking at the two officers faces for
support. ‘Their bullets got into their targets at delicate
parts of the body and most of the victims did not receive
more than one bullet. This shows that the group is a
specially trained one and they’ve mastered the art of the
use of guns. I believe only intelligence wouldn’t fight
them, they’re complete, we need to be complete more
than that to defeat them’
There was another awkward silence. Dakolo now
remembered James telling him about his gun battle with
the suspected lady who had blocked them on the road
while they were on their way to save Robin Kahn.
‘You’re right’ Dakolo began again in low tones. ‘How
could I have even thought that they had no physical
strength, considering how they finished off Robin Kahn
and his men?’ Dakolo paused and swallowed. ‘I also
visited the warehouse where Robin and his men were
misled to when I was in Lagos. You need to see the way
their apparatuses were set up professionally’
‘You see, those guys are experts’ Ken put in briefly.
‘James also told me of how a single lady of the group also
engaged he and the rest of the rescue team on their way
to help Robin. She took out almost all the men and even
escaped with their own vehicle’
‘So that means we need a stronger and complete team to
match them else we would just be going round in circles
and keep losing our men’ Ken added.
‘No matter what it is, we have no option than to stop the
group’ the IG said in a determined voice. ‘And it would be
nice if we capture their boss alive’
‘Yesss’ Dakolo stressed the word, as it he had just
remembered something. ‘Talking about the boss. It is
widely believed that the group is headed by a lady named
Aisha Bello who disguises as Samantha Osman but with
the latest assassination, the report says a man carried out
the job’ Dakolo paused to look at their faces
Inspector Ken coughed and joined. ‘As far as I’m
concerned, this assassin group we are dealing with is a
large one, I believe they should have up to twenty or
thirty in the group. It’s surely a large cooperation. So we
can’t be sure that Samantha Osman is the boss, she
might just be one of their major hitmen. The real boss
could be in their headquarters and just be giving the
orders from there’
Everyone paused to reason with Ken. Dakolo took in a
breath and shook his head. ‘I agree that Samantha
Osman might not be the real boss but I don’t think the
group is a large one. We should have able to get one or
two of them if the group was so large’
‘Now, we need concrete details’ the IG said in a tone
which expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the
meeting was going. ‘All what we’ve been talking about
since are our opinions about them, no one has concrete
details’
‘And Agent Dakolo’ The IG faced Dakolo squarely. ‘You
said we need secret agents and undercovers, does that
mean that you have suspects in mind already’
‘N…no…’ Dakolo stammered as he tried to answer.
‘There’s no group or real person we suspect yet’
‘Then why do we need an undercover if there’s no
suspect?’ The IG slammed.
‘We might locate a suspect group very soon’
‘Then we should be focused first on locating the
suspected group, then we can come back to finding a
secret agent to do the work’
‘We are working on that already. There’s a NSCC agent
who’s tracking them already. I’m also thinking that we
could recruit him as a secret agent’
The IG gave a chuckle. ‘How do even you think that
would work?’
‘The agent is extra intelligent and we’re also going to
provide strong backups for him’
‘Who’s this person?’
‘Same guru we all know. Henry Ekene George

‘Evelyn’ Henry called again when he got no response the
first time. He placed his own palm against the door and
noticed it was slightly opened. He pushed it gently and
poked in his head first before stepping in.
Cole was still standing, not knowing if he should run or
still continue to plead or if there was no need for the
both anymore. Tarasha was standing also, she was mute,
the bullet she picked on the floor was still held loosely. It
was until she caught Henry’s eyes searching round her
body that she covered the bullet in her palm.
‘I’m sorry for intruding’ Henry broke the silence
apologetically on seeing Evelyn half unclad, ‘I’ll just wait
outside for you’
‘You can wait inside’ Tarasha said with a stern voice. ‘Sit
here’ she pointed at the sofa by the wall side and turned
to walk into her room.
Henry and Cole stared at each other for some seconds.
Cole let out a breath and made a strange eye movement
at Cole before walking away, following the same direction
Tarasha took. Henry moved forward and took the seat,
staring around the house.
Tarasha inserted back the bullet into the gun and tapped
her nose with it. She was undecided yet as to what to do
with Henry, it was either she killed him that moment or
fall for the strange feeling that she was having again. The
feeling that returned that moment he entered and she
saw his eyes again. There was this calmness that drove
out from her heart it’s previous occupier, anger.
She finally dropped the gun on the bed and turned to the
wardrobe. She took out a jacket from the hanger and
remove two short knives from it.
**Few minutes later**
The silence between the duo was really awkward as
Henry drove them in his car to the church. They drove
into the church garage and parked. The Pastor’s message
was already on and could be heard from the speakers
placed outside for the security and Marshalls. Henry got
out of the car first and turned to the other side to open
the door for Evelyn. She didn’t come out immediately
but was staring at the whole place. She stopped and
stared at Henry’s face, he gave her a reassuring look and
she stepped out slowly, in her shredded blue Jean
trousers and black top.
++++
‘Henry Ekene George’ the IG shook his head thoughtfully.
‘The chap is an intelligent one really, but I don’t think he
can do this’
‘I believe he can’ Dakolo insisted. ‘He’s determined to nab
this assassin group, it shows in the way he’s been
dedicated to stopping their manipulation of the camera
system’
‘Well, I think we should have a concrete detail of the
assassin gang first before we can continue with the
undercover plan’ the IG said, waving his hand to signal
that the undercover case was closed for the time being.
He placed his arms on the table and rested his chin on his
palms. ‘We would have a meeting with the President this
coming Friday and we have to be ready to give him
detailed plans. So we just have two days to fix the game
plan, so we’ll be meeting again tomorrow. Let’s go back
now and work, think and make researches and personal
investigations, tomorrow we would return to pour out
our ideas and fix the plan’ he said in conclusion.
****
Jefa stretched and turned to his left side on the bed,
forgetting the injury he had sustained on his belly that
side. He winced in pain and scowled, he sat up in the bed
After yawning several times, his eyes was opened enough
to see. The pounding headache brought to his
remembrance the fight that occurred the last night. It
was so violent that nobody in his shop including himself
escaped unhurt.
He closed his eyes and groaned as he stood up, he walked
to the cotton and rolled it up thereby allowing the
entrance is sunlight into the room. He scratched his bare
back and returned to sit in the bed. His spoilt phone was
on the stool in front of him. He picked it from the stool
and tried to power it on but his attempt was fruitless. He
dropped it back; his promise to call Henry that morning
had failed. The business card given to him was also lost in
the struggle, which meant that the only way he could see
Henry now was to go to his house.
~~~~
10.45am
Henry started the car engine and began to drove out of
the church premises. He glanced at Evelyn’s face but she
didn’t glance back, she had been mute all through the
service,even when they were being attended to as first
timers by the church officials. Henry had answered
almost every question for her, making her look like a
deaf and dumb person. She didn’t even stretch her hand
to take the Bible gift they handed to her, Henry collected
it for her.
Henry was not too surprised by her reaction to the
activities in church, knowing that she wasn’t someone
who believed in God nor wanted to hear the name
mentioned.
‘Did you learn anything new today?’ Henry finally broke
the silence after driving out of the church’s gate.
‘I’ve never heard such hogwash in my life’ she replied
bluntly.
Henry felt bad at her reply but he smiled. ‘Thats no
hogwash but reality’ he said.
Evelyn remained quiet. ‘Those things you heard were
real, though they may sound impossible to the natural
ears’ Henry added.
Tarasha glanced at him. ‘So you believed a god died for
you?’ She asked, smacking her lips together.
‘Yes, I believe’
‘Do we still have st*pid people who could die for
someone else?’ She asked mockingly
‘Come on, don’t talk like that’ he scolded her.
‘Hehe’ she made a brief laugh. ‘It’s pathetic that
intelligent people could believe such tales by moonlight.
When we were kids, we were forced to believe those
stories but now everyone should be less stupid. I used to
think people get wiser as they progress in age’
‘Evelyn!’ Henry called, she kept quiet. ‘Jesus Christ’s death
on the cross is not a tale, it happened for real, on this
earth were you live’
‘Yes, haha’ she scoffed. ‘The stubborn Jewish Messiah was
killed by his people for disturbing their peace, that’s what
we should do to those men we see on those platforms
now who wants their followers to live by what somebody
else wrote thousands of years ago’
Henry shook his head, struggling in his mind to figure out
what to say. ‘For the preaching of the cross is to them
that perish fooli…’ He tried to quote a scripture but she
interrupted.
‘Foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power
of God. First Corinthians one verse eighteen’ she
completed the verse for him.
Henry was dazed, he stared at her with his mouth agape.
‘Where did you learn that from?’ He asked in amazement.
‘I’m sure you didn’t learn it when you were still a kid.’
She gave no answer. ‘That means you must have left
Christianity not too long ago, for you to quote a “not so
popular” verse’ Henry added.
She still gave no response. If only he knew the amount of
Bible, Qur’an and other religious books scriptures she
had in her head, he would keep quiet and stop talking
about God to her. She thought. Studying religion and
religious patterns were also part of what she learnt
during her training in the Nefary Clan.
‘Why did you leave God? Did you feel frustrated about a
particular situation and you thought he could not help
you out?’
Tarasha chuckled. Henry was sounding more like a joker
to her now. ‘God loves you and fee always wants the best
for you’ he continued.
‘Oh! Shut up’ she burst out angrily. ‘I guess that’s why he
also kills those who do not serve him. And he even sends
his servants to murder the ones who still serve him
faithfully anytime he’s really blood thirsty’
‘God is not a murderer’
‘But I’ve seen him murder a lot of people and he’s still
good at killing today.’
‘No Evelyn, God does not kill. You didn’t see him murder
anyone; he didn’t kill your parents’
‘Oh Yes, he didn’t murder them himself. He sent his
faithful followers to do it’
‘Those people lied, God did not send them. He loves us so
much and wants the best for us’ Henry was talking with
so much passion that he almost ran down a pedestrian
crossing the narrow untarred road. He quickly recovered
and they continued the journey in silence. Now few
metres away from Tarasha’s Lodge.
‘Why did you come to look for me?’ Tarasha asked and
stared into Henry’s face. The look on her eyes was cruel,
immediately the atmosphere changed.
‘Can we stop to talk somewhere or do you think we can
talk in your house?’ Henry replied calmly.
‘That’s not the answer to my question’ Tarasha slammed.
‘Yes, I’ll tell you. Let’s just go somewhere and talk’
‘We don’t have anything to discuss about’
‘We have a lot to talk about’ Henry retorted. He parked
beside the gate of the house. ‘We have to talk about you’
Tarasha who had been feeling irritated by his discussion
of God during the ride was getting more impatient. She
began to prepare in her heart slowly to use the knives
tied round her legs under the shredded Jean. Her heart
began to beat faster, something that had not happened in
years even when she had to kill tougher people. But she
had to end it all that day, else Henry would be her
downfall, what she wanted now was to get some
information from him.
‘How did you get to know that my name is also Tara?’ She
enquired, expecting a simple answer. She was thinking
that he had seen it somewhere around her when they
stayed in the NSCC house together.
‘I’ll come to that’ Henry answered.
She crossed her legs and rubbed her palm on the left
foot, her fingers touched the two knives hidden in an
inner pocket under the shredded Jean. ‘Let’s drive into
the compound please’ she said to Henry. He agreed and
started the engine. Her plan was to lure him inside and
force out truths from him since she was anticipating that
he may be stubborn.
‘There’s no gateman here and the gate does not open
automatically’ Tarasha said to Henry when be began to
push the horn for someone to open the gate.
Henry got out of car and went to open the gate. Tarasha
felt like bringing out her knives, in readiness to inflict
pains on him but her mood changed again as he
returned to the car and stared at her face for some
seconds, there was this fire in his eyes that always
seemed to calm her down.
He drove the car into the compound and stopped it
beside the van.
‘Why did you come to see me?’ Tarasha asked again.
‘Calm down Evelyn, I’ve been searching for you since we
parted last week’
‘I know’ Tarasha cut in impatiently. ‘So go straight to the
point, why have you been searching for me?’
Henry took off the seat belt with a frown on his face, he
didn’t like the way the conversation was going. ‘I was
worried about you. I did not know if you were in safe
hands’
‘Alright, I guess you can now see that I’m in safe hands’
she said and opened the door. Henry held her arm.
‘I love you Evelyn’ he said, looking straight into her eyes.
She took her eyes off immediately, trying to avoid
sparking off more emotions. Her heartbeat was
increasing. That moment was the best to strike him dead
according to the training she had got but she couldn’t
just get herself to do it.
‘Thanks for loving me’ she said and tried to step out
again. Henry gripped her more firmly.
‘Evelyn, we need to talk about you, us, your future and
mine’
‘You don’t know me Henry, you want to plan my future
for me?’
‘I know you’
‘You don’t, if you do you’ll leave here right now before I
change my mind and do something bad to you’
‘I know what you can do. I saw that bullet in your hand,
so I was expecting that you may come out with a gun’
Henry said without fear in his voice.
She paused and stared at the floor, thinking of what to
do. ‘Get out of here immediately’ she stepped out of the
car forcefully and began to walk towards the building.
Henry opened the door by his side and placed a leg
outside, he stood from his seat and rested his arm on the
top of the car. ‘I know you well Tara, I know who you are
and what you do’
She paused at the balcony and turned to stare at him.
‘Who is Tara?’ She asked, trying to pretend.
‘You are’ he insisted.
It was getting out of hand now and she was getting more
infuriated. It seemed he wasn’t going to leave. She bent
and took out the knives from her trouser. She turned and
began to proceed towards him, she was going to drain
out every drop of liquid in his body.
‘Omotara Danjuma’ he called softly making her freeze in
shock, the knife in her left hand cut through the skin on
her palm.
Her eyes widened, she was convinced now that he was
sure of his claims.
‘I met your elder brother, Jeffrey’ he added.
~~~
Jefa walked back into his two room apartment after
visiting the phone repairer’s shop. He took off his sandals
and dusted his feet on the foot mat at the door before
proceeding to sit down. His living room was not too large
and beautifully decorated but it was arranged in a neat
manner despite the old furniture used. The TV was also a
very old one, it was neat too and free from dust even
though Jefa rarely used it. His eyes met with something as
it wandered around, the diary and the photo on the
centre table. He got up and went to pick it up.
He stared at the photo for a while, a brief smile formed
on his face. He wiped off the small particles of dust on
the photo and dropped it back on the table. He took the
diary and returned to his seat. He closed his eyes and
inhaled deeply, he was about doing something that he
had never done. Their mum had told them during her
lifetime that the diary contains secrets that they were not
matured enough to handle. He flipped it open.
…