Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 49

4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 49

10:55am
‘NTV reporters are on their way,’ Tarasha heard Henry’s voice from the earpiece plugged in.
‘What position on the road are they now?’ She replied through the mouthpiece.
‘Coming from the left hand side,’ Henry replied. ‘In a car decorated with the NTV logo.’
‘Are you following them?’
‘Yes, I’m right behind them.’
‘Would you stop them or do I have to come?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Tara, I’m scared. You asked me to shoot two of their vehicle tyres and there’s no way I’m going to do it without causing an accident.’

‘F*** you Henry, I thought we talked this over,’ Tarasha replied angrily. ‘Fire at the d--n tyres and stop them from getting here.’
Henry’s deep sigh could be heard from the other end. ‘Okay, I’ll do it, I hope I do it well.’
‘Do it well, else, we’d all be in trouble,’ Tarasha warned. ‘Make sure you leave the scene immediately and change the car where the extra one is parked.’
___

10:28AM
‘Steph! What’s the matter with you?’ Madam Henrietta asked, afraid and alarmed at sound of the scream.
‘Mum!’ Stephanie screamed again, panting heavily and her eyes widening in anger. ‘Why did you burn the documents?’
‘I did it for your good, we don’t need them anymore, keeping them with us will only give room for bad memories to remain.’
‘Mum, I needed those documents and I still need them.’ Stephanie shouted.
‘You don’t need them Steph, what are you trying to do with them?’
‘Mum,’ Stephanie called almost breathlessly, now trying to control her anger.
Madam Henrietta stared at her, confused. She had never seen her angry at someone like that before let alone herself.

Stephanie kept a narrow gaze at the woman’s face as she tried to control her breath. Now, she was so sure that Madam Henrietta was working with Chief Elvis Richards and must have been the one seen at the airport the day before. The only mystery she was yet to understand was how the woman got to Abuja back before her the next morning.

‘Mum, you knew that those documents contain the proof of my father’s innocence and exposes the secrets of the Vice President but you chose to destroy them because they asked you to.’
‘What are you talking about Steph?’ Madam Henrietta asked, squinting at Stephanie’s face.
‘You know what I’m talking about Mum, don’t pretend.’

Madam Henrietta could see tears in Stephanie’s eyes as the girl spoke, she knew the girl was sure of what she was talking about. She was now also sure that she was seen with the Vice President in Lagos.
‘Steph, look at me. What are you doing with the documents? What you told me you needed were the pictures. It just happened that the pictures were in the files where the documents were…’

‘But you burnt up everything, both the pictures and the documents. Why didn’t you leave the pictures out of the fire?’
‘I told you before Steph, you do not need them. They will only cause troubles for you,’ Madam Henrietta shouted at her. She was already getting angry but was trying her best to put herself together. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, and then she continued to talk in a calm voice. ‘You don’t realize what trouble I’ve gotten you out of by burning those things.’

Stephanie could no longer speak again. Her eyes were full of tears and heart full of pain. She turned and proceeded back into the house, sobbing.
Madam Henrietta watched her go. She wondered why the girl was crying about the documents, she had never considered them as important because the lawyer that handed them over to her had told her that she could do away with them. She had checked the documents several times but had never been able to see how it incriminated the Vice President, so she wondered why Stephanie was claiming that the documents exposed the Vice President. It was unknown to her that Stephanie had gotten extra documents with the help of Dave.
Stephanie fell down flat into the bed with all her hopes of making the Vice President face justice finally gone. Madam Henrietta had burnt them with the papers. The only person who could now make the Vice President pay for his sins was Samantha Osman. But she also had troubles, Chief Nonso’s kidnap was being used to hold her back.
Stephanie’s phone which was placed on the footstool in the room began to ring. She didn’t bother to get it, she knew it was her lawyer whom she had promised to visit with the documents that morning.
The phone stopped ringing after thirty seconds and started again almost immediately. She managed to get to her feet and reach for the phone.
‘Good morning sir,’ she greeted.
‘Good morning Miss Stephanie,’ the lawyer replied in a cool voice. ‘It’s past ten already, I’m still waiting for you in my office.’
‘I’m sorry Barrister, I won’t be able to make it today anymore. Something happened here at home,’ Stephanie apologized.
‘Oh! I hope it’s not something bad. Your voice sounds shaky, hope you’re fine.’
‘Yes, I am. It’s just something little that’ll pass away soon.’ she answered, wishing she was saying the truth.
‘Okay, Please take care of yourself ma’am.’
‘Thank you.’
______

11:25AM
The event had begun. Cole stood at his rightful position under the tent adjacent to the one under which the Vice President was seating. The officer who had previously occupied his position had been tied up and put in the boot of a car.
He stood alert like he saw the other security officers do and listened to everything being said by speakers of the event.
Thirty minutes later, his eyes located two people with media houses tags among the other journalists and photographers. The first person he identified there was Tarasha. A wig was covering her low cut hair and her face was faintly made up. The plans she had recited to him that morning began to play back in his mind. Her own job in the events centre was to get close to the Chief Security officer of the Vice President and attach something to his cloth while Cole’s job was to stand among the security officers and go back in one of the escorts cars which followed the Vice President to the place.
The second person he saw was Agent Dave James who was expected, also standing among the cameramen. Cole wondered for a bit why they all had to choose disguising as news media cameramen.
His fingers reached for the switch of the communication device and he connected to Tarasha.
‘Hello Boss, I just saw something.’ He said into the mouthpiece attached to the collar of his shirt.
It took sometime before Tarasha replied. She had to step back a little from the other journalists not to attract suspicions while talking.
‘What did you see?’
‘Agent Dave James is right there with you guys,’ Cole replied.
‘Huh?’ Tarasha replied. She had not noticed Dave James yet, she had been focused on covering every part of the event to make her appear hardworking like the other cameramen there.
‘Yes, I saw him now. He’s on a little disguise, an attached beard to his jaw and a moustache.’
‘Representing Desert Reporters right?’
‘Yes, Desert Reporters.’
‘Okay, I want you to put an eye on him and report every of his movement to me.’
Tarasha joined the other cameramen after the conversation. There were not too many of them, only seven media houses were invited and represented. Tarasha had made sure Henry give a report of his job before going into the events ground. Henry had shot at the tyres of the car and it resulted to a fatal accident which he didn’t wait to see.
She noticed Dave James immediately she joined the men again. He was just as Cole described his appearance. She began to monitor his every movement to see what he was up to.
_____

Rex watched the event in silence from the corner where he sat under the fourth tent. Dressed as a medical student of Rael University and holding one of the invitation letters, he had been at that corner fifteen minutes before the program started and had been watching since then but had not seen any sign of Tarasha. He was however sure that she was there or was going to join sooner.

12:55PM
The time finally came for the Vice President to speak and lead the doctors to the ceremonial opening of the hospital. The different cameramen lined up at the provided position, covering every part of the Vice President’s speech.

The man finished with his speech and led the team of doctors and dignitaries to the main entrance of the hospital where a decorated ribbon line was used to block the entrance.
Five of the cameramen positioned themselves well beside the dignitaries in order not to miss any part of the ceremony. The security officials were not left out also, Cole was one of them. They left their positions to guard the dignitaries and the Vice President.
‘Boss,’ Tarasha heard the Cole’s voice from her earpiece.

‘Speak on,’ she mumbled carefully.
‘Dave James has left you guys, I think he’s looking for something else.’
‘Okay, have you found what he is looking for?’ she asked. She had also noticed that Dave James had stopped moving with the other camera men but decided to focus on her own assignment of attaching the piece to the Chief Security officer’s body. She had positioned herself where she was sure the officer would pass when it was time to follow the Vice President down the hospital.
‘I don’t know precisely, he’s just looking around. I think he’s expecting us to be around.’
‘Put an eye on him.’
___