Tarasha - Season 3 - Episode 92

Episode 4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 3 - Episode 92

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‘Good morning sir,’ Steve greeted in a hoarse voice as he entered into the office.
Mr Sylvester raised his head and rose to greet his guest. ‘Good morning Mr Steve,’ he replied, offering him a handshake. ‘Please have your seat.’
‘Thank you, Mr Sylvester.’ Steve said as he settled into the visitor’s seat.
‘I hear you’re a personal investigator and you need our help on a case,’ Mr Sylvester said.
‘Yes, I do need to access your database and get some really old footages.’
‘Can I know the firm or agency you work for?’ Mr Sylvester requested.
‘Oh! Yes, sure.’ Steve said, still trying hard to maintain his hoarse voice. He took out an identity card from his pocket on his shirt and displayed it to the man.
‘Ermm… Okay,’ Mr Sylvester said after examining the card for about twenty seconds. ‘Your agency is a new one, I believe but I can see the Nigerian Security registration seal on it.’
‘You are right, it’s a new agency.’ Steve replied him with a smile.
Mr Sylvester was not smiling. The look on his face turned from straight into a frown.
‘Is there any problem?’ Steve asked, noticing the change in Mr Sylvester’s demeanor.
‘No, there’s no problem.’ Mr Sylvester said, trying to cover up with a smile. ‘It’s just that I feel like you’re someone I’m familiar with and your…your voice,’ he paused. ‘It’s sounds like someone’s who has worked here before.’
‘Oh!’ Steve chuckled. He looked a bit shaken. ‘That’s strange.’
‘Yea, strange indeed. Anyway, I think we should go straight to the reason you’re here.’
‘That’s right. I’m here to get some footages caught in 2028,’ Steve said.
‘Oh! That’s quite some work to do,’ Mr Sylvester’s eyes widened. ‘The footages for what place do you need exactly?’
‘The place is Helpers Street in Gwagalada.’
‘Helpers Street?’
‘Yes, Helpers Street. There was a murder that happened there in 2028.’
‘Well, you’re lucky. Helpers Street is one of the first places the NSCC had their cameras in Gwagalada, so it’s certain that we should have what you require.’ Mr Sylvester said with a brief smile which was quickly replaced with a straight face. ‘But there’s a problem.’


‘What problem sir?’
‘All our staffs are occupied right now and your request would take a very long time to process, I don’t think any of our workers can afford to spare so much time now.’
‘Well, sir. I think I can work it out myself. All I need is be given access to the database here and I’ll be able to do it on my own. You may just need to put me under close observation for trust issues.’
‘I’m not really sure you can handle our system, Mr Steve. It takes a lot more than just cutting and matching up clips and videos.’
‘Sir,’ Steve said with a smile and paused, placing his hand on Mr Sylvester’s table. ‘I specialize on programming Security camera apps. That’s my main responsibility in the firm where I work.’ he explained, bringing out his Identity card again for the man to see the position he held in his firm.
Mr Sylvester confirmed from the ID card and let out a breath. He placed a stern look on Steve’s face and relaxed back briefly in his swivel, folding his arms and then sat upright again almost immediately. ‘Mr Steve, that’s not the only problem we have.’ he began to explain with a sad look. ‘You’re well aware that this commission is a government funded one and the government is not interested in providing free services to the private commissions. Even our operations here are underfunded. So, I’m sorry to tell you that we don’t have all the softwares you require for it. They cost quite some cash and the government is not ready to fund us yet.’

‘Sir, I’ve got all the softwares I need with me. I don’t need to use any of your materials or funds from the government. This operation is funded by my agency,’ Steve explained.
‘Oh! So all you need is access to our system, right?’ Mr Sylvester put in.
‘Yes sir.’
‘That shouldn’t be anything difficult,’ Mr Sylvester said, rolling his chair backwards. He rose to his feet and picked a key on the table. ‘Please, come with me.’ he said and motioned towards the door, he opened it for Henry to step out first and followed after.
Thirty minutes later
Henry was uncomfortable for the first few minutes he used in the computer room, he could feel the eyes of his former colleagues piercing through him as they watched while he worked. He was very careful enough to keep the voice tube under his tongue without letting it slip up at anytime and with the his manual attempt of using another voice, it was certain that they wouldn’t be able to recognize his voice. But Henry still had the fear of being caught in his mind, especially when any of them stares at him for long after he spoke.
Mr Sylvester was the first to leave him in the computer room and fifteen minutes later, another followed. Dayo, the last person still waited for about ten minutes more before he left also.


Henry added more to his speed after the last man left, he wished he would finish before any of them returned. He knew they couldn’t leave him alone for long there. There were a couple of software disks on the table which Henry had installed in the presence of the NSCC men but he had not installed the most important one required for his own mission. The ones he installed in their presence was for retrieving footages of several years past from the virtual storage world. He took out a CDX disk from his bag and slipped it into the disk space on the CPU. The disk was read and the software installation process began in less than twenty seconds. Henry kept staring back at the door anxiously, hoping that no one would enter at that time.
The whole software package installed in one minute and he ejected the software disk before he clicked the command to run the installed program on the system. He put the disk into the jacket and put it back into his bag. The application he opened on the system had finished booting and needed a registration process before he could continue. The door flung open at that moment and Henry quickly minimized the application.
Without closing the door, Mr Sylvester walked straight to him briskly and stopped by his side. He adjusted his glasses and stared at Steve’s face for a second, then he turned his gaze to the system screen. Someone else entered from behind and closed the door.
‘That software you installed, the last one.’ he began in a serious tone. Fear gripped Henry’s heart at once, the men could have found out about his installation of the software whose kind was prohibited and should not be installed in any of their systems. Mr Sylvester’s hand reached for his mouse and he moved the cursor to the task bar, the app Steve was previously using had disappeared from the bar.
‘I’ve installed lots of applications today sir,’ Steve put in, looking up at Mr Sylvester’s face.

‘Yes, I know but he told me about one you just installed.’ Mr Sylvester said, looking towards Dayo who stepped forward.
‘Yes, I saw something like FRCappers, from the description I saw on the system, it’s a software for automatically collating and joining videos where the same items are spotted.’
‘Oh! That?’ Steve heaved a sigh of relief. ‘It’s here,’ he took the mouse from Mr Sylvester and maximized a window.
Mr Sylvester and Dayo watched intently while Steve took them on a quick survey of the app.
‘Wow, wow, wow!’ Mr Sylvester exclaimed at the end of the quick survey. ‘We need this here,’ he continued. ‘Henry E.G was working on developing one for us when he was here. Who developed this or where did you get it from?’


‘Ermm…’ Steve stammered as the question caught him unawares. ‘I don’t really know,’ he said, scratching his palm gently as he tried to come up with a lie. ‘I think they got it from the US.’
‘You are not sure? I thought this was your main responsibility in the agency you work,’ Mr Sylvester questioned, raising a side of his lips.

‘Ye…Yess, Henry stammered. ‘I didn’t order for this myself, my direct boss did it.’
‘Oh! So, how do we get it for our system? We need it here also.’
‘I don’t know how much it is but I can find out for you,’ Steve offered.
‘Please do, I’ll like to get a feedback on it before you leave. I believe you can make a call to settle it,’ Mr Sylvester said. He continued to stare in awe at the interface of the application.
‘I’ll do that sir,’ Steve said. He waited a while with his hand on the mousepad before speaking again. ‘If you won’t mind sir, I’ll like to do some other things with the computer.’ he said as he minimized the window which Mr Sylvester was not done staring at.
‘Oh! Of course, just make sure you get a positive feedback for me.’ Mr Sylvester said as he stood straight, realizing he had spent more time than necessary on checking the app, he was already disturbing Steve’s work.
Steve watched until Mr Sylvester walked out, he turned back to the computer and placed his finger on the mouse without doing anything. He was still waiting for Dayo who was standing close to leave the place. After waiting for almost one minute, he turned to face Dayo who didn’t look like he was planning to leave soon. ‘If you don’t mind please, I’m always not too comfortable with someone staring behind me while I work. It makes me loose concentration most times.’
‘Ehen! Okay,’ Dayo said and began to shift away reluctantly. Steve waited until he heard the sound of the door. He glanced back briefly and turned back quickly to the computer to complete his work.

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