Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 59

Episode 4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 59

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‘You didn’t answer me yet, Omotara.’ Henry spoke again stubbornly.
‘Hey man! Is there anything you need to achieve with the answer I’ll give you to the question?’
‘No, I just want to know. Why did you decide to make yourself look like a big doll?’
Tomi and Dr Ekwueme tried their bests to conceal their laughter at Henry’s description of her but they couldn’t hide it enough, even Tarasha laughed briefly.
‘You will know the reason tomorrow morning, if you’re observant,’ Tarasha replied and turned her focus back to the TV.
There was silence in the room for the next few minutes as they waited for the evening news to begin. Dr Ekwueme replayed the day’s event in his mind and then something struck his mind as he remembered Henry calling Samantha a big doll. Henry had called Samantha Osman a different name which sounded like Omotara but the doctor wasn’t sure of what he heard. He glanced at Henry’s face and at the faces of everyone else in the living room, he knew it wasn’t the right time to ask Henry the question.
_____


6:30AM
ABUJA
Stephanie felt a bit of relief after her morning devotion and her hopes were renewed. For some reason, she believed that everything could still work out for her favour.
She reached for her phone and unlocked it. She swiped down the notification bar and found three missed calls. She wondered how she had slept so deep that she didn’t hear when the phone was ringing the night before. She dialed back the unknown number.
‘Hello,’ she said into the phone.
Silence greeted her from the other end.
‘Hello,’ she repeated again. There was no answer. She brought the phone down to look at the screen, the call was still on. ‘Hello,’ she said for the third time.


‘Good morning Steph,’ a masculine voice finally replied.
‘Good morning,’ she replied.
‘How are you doing this morning?’
‘I’m fine, what about you?’
‘Fine too.’
‘Okay… Please, who am I speaking with?’ she asked, trying to figure out whose voice it was.
There was a sigh, and before there was a response she already knew who it was.
‘Dave James?’
‘Yes, its Dave.’ he answered.
She sighed.
‘Steph, I’m really sorry for betraying your trust, I wish we could see again and talk, I’ll be able to make you understand.’
She also wished they could see and talk, she had a lot of things she wished to tell him but she still wasn’t ready to give up her stand.
‘I don’t think there’ll be need for that,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think we can work together.’
‘Steph, why are you being adamant?’ Dave asked boldly. ‘I need you and you also need me to work with you.’
‘What in the world gives you the impression that I need you?’ she asked angrily, annoyed at the fact that he thought himself so important. ‘I’ve done so many things on my own and this would be one of them.’
She ended the call immediately and flung the phone to the bed. She sat at the edge of the bed and covered her face with her palms. The phone began to ring but she ignored it, being sure that Dave was the one calling back.
She heaved a sigh as she pondered deeply. She wondered if she hadn’t taken it too far. He was truly right when he said she needed him but it also didn’t mean he was irreplaceable. She had made the choice not to work with him because of his unreliability and it meant she had to find a replacement for him.


Who could the replacement be? The question bothered her mind so much. And then she thought of Samantha Osman. There seemed to be some fear in her mind for a while but she managed to ease off her mind. She recalled that Dave had sent Samantha emails while they worked together. She racked her brain for a while and finally remembered the email address.
She sprang up from the bed and proceeded to the table where her laptop was. She was going to contact Samantha Osman directly.


9:30AM
In a fully air conditioned room, fairly lit by a short fluorescent bulb at the center, a table long enough to accommodate four people on each sides and one each at both ends of the center stood under the bulb with the chairs arranged around neatly. Both sides of the table were occupied by four men each, all of them neatly dressed in fancy black suits and black shoes. A ninth person was in the room and it was lady, seated at the front end center of the table, addressing the men while they listened carefully to her.
Cole was seated at the first seat at the right hand side of the lady and would speak occasionally when she asked him to. The lady was Samantha Osman, in a different form. She was disguised as a totally different person with no inkling of resemblance to her real self. The skin mask worn on her face matched perfectly with the colour of her skin and except one be told and showed convincing proofs, one would not believe he wasn’t seeing the speaker’s real face.
‘Excuse me Samantha,’ one of the men interrupted and raised a hand up slightly.
Everyone looked in his direction and so did Tarasha. She stopped talking to hear what he had to say.


‘How do we know if all you’re saying is true?’ the man asked. He was one of those assassins still trying hard to believe that the slender lady in front of them was the Samantha Osman he had been hearing about. The only thing that had kept him in the meeting was the money that was offered to be paid to them.


‘It’s not your business if my personal stories are true or not, your business is to carry out the instructions and get paid.’ Tarasha answered, shutting him up with her words. She took note of his face.
The guy bit his lips slightly and swallowed in.
‘You all would get details soon on your individual movements, until then, remain alert and ready.’ She concluded and got up to her feet. ‘Good day Gentlemen,’ she said before proceeding out of the meeting room.
Cole also got up after her and flashed a look at all the men’s faces before he proceeded out of the meeting venue.
Back at the base, Henry and Dr Ekwueme were having breakfast at the dining table, exchanging silent looks at each other. Both of them had questions in their minds for each other but were waiting for the first person to start the conversation.
After finishing his own meal, Dr Ekwueme manned up and began the conversation.
‘Don’t you think today’s meal is different?’ he asked as he made use of the toothpick gently.
Henry lifted up his gaze to the man’s face. ‘Well, it doesn’t taste anyhow unique to me.’ he said with a shrug.
‘I know but it isn’t the normal meal for today in the time table,’ the doctor replied.
Henry still had some food left in his plate and was trying to take the rest with his spoon but the conversation and what he had in his mind did not make him concentrate. He dropped the spoon into the plate and faced the man, placing his elbows on the table and his chin on his two palms.


‘Maybe we just have to do with it because of this new environment,’ he shrugged. ‘Or do you have a problem with it?’
‘Yes, my health.’ The doctor replied. ‘I shouldn’t be taking much of these kinds.’
‘Oh!’ Henry released a breath. ‘We could talk to Tomi to make the required change then.’

‘I think the person we do need to talk to is Tare,’ Dr Ekwueme said.
‘Why her? She isn’t the one who decides what meals we have.’ Henry raised a brow.
‘But I think Tomi would take Tare’s instructions seriously,’ the doctor said, deliberately mispronouncing Tara for the second time and hoping Henry would try to correct him.
‘There’s no need to bother, Tomi isn’t that hard, I’ll talk to her, but it’s left for you to come up with the right time table.’
‘I still think we should talk to Taree…’ the doctor paused for a minute and closed his eyes like he was trying to recall something. ‘Is Tare the Yoruba name you call her?’
‘Tare?’ Henry raised a brow. Then he relaxed his shoulders and rested his back on the chair, he folded his hands and stared at the man suspiciously. ‘Does she have a Yoruba name?’
‘I used to hear you call her a particular name,’ the doctor said.
‘Her real name is Tarasha, is that what you hear me call her?’ Henry asked, trying to be careful enough. His stay for a while with the assassin team had enabled him to be able to detect when someone is asking a question to fish out information deliberately and not just for sake of knowledge.
‘No, Cole calls her that more often. The name you call her sounds like a Yoruba name.’
‘Her name is Tarasha, I call her Tara which sounds like the Yoruba version of Omotara, so sometimes, I call her Omotara too.’
‘Oh! But what kind of name is Tarasha?’
‘I don’t know what tribe it’s gotten from, but it’s definitely not Nigerian.’ Henry replied.
The man remained quiet for some seconds to ponder on the answers Henry gave him while Henry just continued to stare at him.
‘Why did you ask?’ Henry asked, leaning forward again.


‘Well, to me, she doesn’t sound like Yoruba, her accent is foreign, but she looks African. So I was kind of inquisitive when I heard you call her Omotara yesterday. And even though I have heard you called her that several times while we were at Abuja, it only caught my attention yesterday.’
‘Well, I just choose to call her that. Her name is Tarasha and her official name in Nigeria is Samantha Osman.’
‘I see…’ the doctor pondered, nodding his head gently.
Henry let out a breath and stared at the man for a while, he realized that it was the best time for him to chip in his own question too. ‘So, where did you guys go yesterday?’
‘You mean me and Samantha?’ the Doctor asked.
‘Yes.’


‘To check out some houses, she’s trying to get a link to one of the Vice President’s dead victim’s relative.’
‘Was that victim an important person?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘I don’t know who to classify as important or non-important to her.’
‘That’s true,’ Henry gapped. He rested his back again and folded his arms. ‘I have been worried because she’s been acting strangely for the past few days, even though she tries to put on a different outward show. She’s been reading a lot. I think part of what she’s been reading is one of the books you gave her.’
‘I don’t understand,’ the doctor narrowed his gaze. ‘How is that supposed to be a problem? I believe she’s only trying to gather enough information and make plans.’
‘Seeing her read is not the problem, the strange thing is that for the last two days, she puts too much of her emotion into it. I can barely get her attention when she’s reading and I can clearly read signs of sorrow or pain on her face.’ Henry said in a sad tone.
‘I don’t know the cause for that, I just think she has a soft heart and she’s trying to make the best out of the books she’s reading.’


‘You really think she has a soft heart?’ Henry asked with a wry smile.
‘Yes, I do think so.’ The doctor replied thoughtfully. ‘Behind the assassin she is, is a soft hearted person who is easily hurt and who craves for love and attention.’
‘Hmm…’ Henry cleared his throat and then let out a breath. Maybe she was really soft hearted, Henry thought. At least, he knew that she wasn’t the same person she used to be when he first discovered she was an assassin. He knew her to be a ruthless killer at first, but in the recent times, he had seen her show pity and concern where he didn’t expect her to.’
‘I have to use the restroom now,’ Dr Ekwueme said as he got up to his feet hurriedly.
‘Okay,’ Henry nodded at him with a smile.
He stared at the remnant of his food for a while, he had totally lost appetite. He picked up the plates on the table and took them to the kitchen for Tomi.
As he walked back from the kitchen to the living room, he could hear the voices of Cole and Tarasha returning. He kept his gaze at the door even as he walked to the sofa in the living room. The door opened and Cole entered first.
‘Hey!’ Cole greeted Henry as he joined in the living room.


‘Welcome,’ Henry greeted back. He turned back towards the door as it opened for a second time. He was surprised on seeing the face of the lady who entered, he took a quick glance at Cole. ‘Cole, you came with someone?’ he asked in whispers.
‘Hi Henry,’ Cole was yet to answer him when Tarasha greeted.
Henry was more shocked and he stared at the new lady’s face who was walking towards the living room. Her voice sounded exactly like Tarasha’s voice and her walking steps were exactly the same. ‘Is this some kind of joke or something?’ he stared at Cole.
Cole gave no reply but fixed his eyes on the android phone he was using. Tarasha stopped and sat beside Cole on the long sofa.
‘Do we have any message?’ Tarasha asked, ignoring the confused look on Henry’s face.


Henry stared in shock for few more seconds before he was able to recover himself. Then he remembered he had seen the face before in the underground room of one of their previous operational base. He felt stupid for having not realized that what she was putting on was a skin mask. But he could still justify his stupidity because he had never observed anyone else using it apart from what he had seen in movies.
‘Tara, you’re putting on a mask?’ he asked, now feeling more relaxed. He remembered her answer to him when he had asked why she had a haircut the previous night and he realized it was so that she could use the mask.