Tarasha - Season 4 - Episode 63

Episode 4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 4 - Episode 63

☆☆
April 25, 2031
Asokoro, Abuja.

2:49pm
‘Cole, look out for a pharmacy as you drive, we need to get some drugs.’ Tarasha said to Cole as he drove them home in the car from the airport. She and Dr Martin Ekwueme sat comfortably at the backseat of the car.
‘Okay boss,’ Cole nodded. He looked at the rearview mirror to look at the man’s face again. He knew it must be the man who needed to buy drugs, Tarasha had never stopped to buy drugs on the road without taking a license of representing a hospital or clinic.

His eyes met with Tarasha’s in the mirror and he looked away . He knew she had caught him observing the man and would be wondering what he had in mind.
He flashed a look at the mirror again, this time to have another view of her face but she had moved closer to the door and her face couldn’t be seen except he adjusted the mirror position. What caught his interest on her face was her new hairstyle. He hadn’t imagined she was going to cut her hair when she asked him to suggest to her a good salon in Lagos.
‘There’s a pharmacy over here,’ Cole said and moved to the slow lane of the road, he reduced the speed and put on the trafficator.
‘Where’s the list of drugs?’ Tarasha asked Dr Martin.
‘Here, just five drugs.’ Dr Martin pulled out a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Tarasha.
Cole parked at a reasonable space in front of the pharmacy and took off his seatbelt.
‘Get these drugs and three bottles of water,’ Tarasha said to him, handing him the list of drugs and a debit card.
Cole collected the items from her and stepped out from the car. ‘Can I also get myself a bottle of water?’ he asked Tarasha after closing the door.
‘The third bottle was for you,’ she replied him. He nodded and mumbled some inaudible words before walking away.
‘Who’s he?’ Martin Ekwueme asked after Cole left.
‘He’s Cole,’ Tarasha replied briefly.
‘Your driver?’
‘He’s Cole,’ she repeated.
‘Okay,’ the man stopped and refrained from asking more questions about Cole. Tarasha had already told him she wasn’t going to be answering all his questions and that he would have to either keep shut or find out some things by himself.


*
*
Twenty minutes later
‘Just take those ones in, I’ll bring the remaining with me.’ Tarasha said to Cole who was trying to overload himself with the bags in the boot.

Cole pulled the big traveling box in his right hand and held Tarasha’s backpack in his left. He left Tarasha at the boot with the briefcase and a cubic shaped bag.
‘Can I help with any?’ Tarasha heard Dr Ekwueme offer.

She let out a fake smile and said, ‘Don’t bother, just follow him inside.’On a usual day she would have said, ‘Old man, get the f*** in and stop misbehaving.’
She closed the boot and carried the bags in her hands, following the man behind at his pace.

Dr Martin glanced around, taking a good view of the house as he proceeded towards the entrance from the car park. It was where he was going to live till Samantha said she was done with him, he assumed. It looked beautiful to him but he wondered if it would be livable like a normal residence or more of an assasin’s crib. Anyone it was, he was ready to live there until it was over. Tarasha had threatened that the lives of his family members were at stake if he ever tried to betray her. She had said it lightly and indirectly, but he wasn’t going to take it lightly especially after he had watched the news on TV with her the last night and saw the recap of the blood scenes at the hotel. From that he also got to know why she repainted the Toyota Yaris they left in the compound at Anambra state. Tarasha seemed to be someone of two different personalities to him; the first a lovable innocent girl who was ready to listen and help always and the second personality, a ruthless assasin.
Tarasha followed patiently behind the slow walking aged man until they got to the corridor and she found her way to his front.
‘Where is she?’ she heard Henry’s voice as she stepped into the living room. She halted at the entrance as her eyes met with his, he was standing at the entrance of the corridor leading to the rooms. She knew her arrival must have taken him by surprise, she asked Cole to come to the airport without saying any word about her arrival.
‘Omotara,’ Henry mumbled under his breath with his eyes widely shone at her as if he couldn’t believe that she was really there.
For reasons unknown, Tarasha could not move any further from where she was and Henry also froze for sometime. Their eyes connected and something similar to an electric current surged through Tara’s body.
Henry began to walk close to her while she remained at the same spot. Dr Martin was now standing behind her and couldn’t pass because she blocked the entrance, he however didn’t say a word but waited patiently to see what was making her remain there.


Her bags dropped from her hands as Henry got closer and he didn’t not allow her say anything before he pulled her into warm embrace.

Tarasha remained stiff for a while, not knowing how to respond as it felt strange. The only time she knew how to respond to an embrace was when it was being given to her by someone she was trying to lure to his death or extract an important piece of information from. She finally realized that he was holding her tightly and one of his hands was at her back and the other close to her waist, then she responded by placing her hands at the same position his was.
‘I thought I was going to lose you,’ Henry said, finally releasing her from his grip.
She stared at his face passionately without knowing which words to respond with. Her hands found it’s way to his back and pulled his face closer by his neck to her own face for a kiss.


Someone cleared his throat as their lips touched each other’s.
‘I’m sorry, but I’m quite tired, you have to allow me pass first so that I can give you all the time to enjoy yourselves.’ the doctor said.

Both of them disengaged and Tarasha picked up her bags from the road to allow the man pass.

‘Good afternoon,’ Dr Martin greeted Henry as he walked past to the centre of living room.
‘Wow! We have someone new,’ Henry exclaimed with a chuckle, his surprise causing him not to return the man’s greeting. His eyes followed the man as the man walked to one of the sofas and sat down tiredly.
‘Yes, we do.’ Tarasha replied him and attempted to proceed forward with the bags. Henry stopped her and collected the bags from her. He then carried it to the rooms while she joined Dr Martin where he was seated.
She walked to his front and stopped right there with her back turned to him. Then she turned back and squatted at the same time. He stared at her face wondering what she was up to.
She could see the fright in his eyes as her eyes met with his. She held her breath for a moment. ‘Don’t get too familiar with me, it’s dangerous,’ she said in a serious warning tone.
He nodded fearfully, holding his breath in his throat as she stared at his face coldly. She finally got up and walked away, leaving him to keep wondering what she meant by her warning. He couldn’t tell if it was connected to what he just did at the door or if it was something else entirely.


*
*
Control room
‘I want the list of all NAFDAC’s director generals from 2008 till date,’ Tarasha said to Cole who was working on another system while she worked on the master system.
Cole nodded in response and began his work. He knew what she meant when she said ‘list’, it meant a complete profile and details of each one of the director generals and not just their names.

The door to the control room opened and Henry stepped in. He was surprised to see Tarasha working already, he had expected that she would take some time to rest, probably a day off before resuming work. He closed the door gently and walked towards her. He stopped behind her chair and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at what she was doing.

Her body twitched as Henry’s hands touched her shoulders. She hoped that he didn’t notice the twitch and continued with her work without looking at him. His fingers spread around her shoulders for a while gently caressing her neck and shoulder muscles.

‘Who’s he?’ Henry suddenly stopped what he was doing and stared at a picture she just opened. Previously, she had been on the Nigeria Citizen’s directory portal and had hacked into it. She then minimized and opened an USB device connected to the computer. The file she clicked on was what displayed the image Henry was asking about. The man had a bandage around his head.
‘He’s the SSS agent who traced me to Anambra state,’ she replied, not getting rightly the pronunciation of ‘Anambra’.
‘How did you get him? I thought the news reported that his identity was unknown.’ Henry asked.

Cole’s attention had also been drawn to them from where he was and was staring at them, wishing he could see that SSS agent that was able to trace Tarasha.

‘Yes, no one knows his identity except the top Security agents. I had to go the SSS head office to find out,’ Tarasha replied.
‘Boss, can I see his picture? He could be someone I know,’ Cole said and got up to his feet.

Tarasha opened the picture back for Cole to have a view.

Cole stared at the picture for close to thirty seconds. ‘His face is familiar,’ Cole said. ‘How did you get his picture?’
‘I captured him with the back camera of my phone,’ Tarasha replied and exited the image.

‘Wow!’ Cole exclaimed and returned to his seat, imagining how Tarasha was able to take the picture boldly without the SSS guy knowing.
Henry dragged a seat close to Tarasha and sat beside her, watching as she selected the main features of the face in the picture and exported it to the citizen’s directory checker. She clicked on search by passport and relaxed back as it began to load.

‘I think I know who the guy is,’ Cole suddenly spoke again after three minutes. He had thinking about it since he saw the picture. ‘That guy is a journalist,’ Cole added.

Tarasha glanced at him without saying anything back, he didn’t sound too sure of his assertion. She looked back to the screen in front of her. The search on the citizen’s directory was slow and had only loaded two percent. ‘You’re not sure,’ she turned back to Cole.

Henry moved his chair backwards to allow her see Cole easily.
‘I am, I’ve seen him at several crime scenes with cameras and recorders.’
‘He can’t be a journalist, he was the SSS official that came after me in the Chevrolet.’
‘Did you confirm he was a officer of the SSS from their office?’
‘No, they would never confirm that. They told me he only had to use the car to pick up one of the injured officer and that he was working as a doctor close to the hotel.’ she said and looked back at the screen, it was now at nine percent.

‘I’m sure he’s a journalist, I’ve seen him with the desert reporters’ badge at crime scenes several times.’ Cole insisted.
‘Desert reporters?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’

She minimized the current window and opened another app. ‘We can get more information about him if he’s truly a journalist for desert reporters.’
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