Tarashs the brutal assassin Part 2 Episode 6

**Tuesday Morning**

Sylvester sat behind his table, brushing up some of his previous works. Something surprising had happened the day before. It all started from the moment Dakolo asked about the report of Chief Jubril’s job, Henry did not reply with a straightforward answer.
Dakolo did ask, ‘what was the result of your investigation?’
Henry who was obviously not suffering from catarrh before that moment sniffed in and rubbed his nose like someone who was heavily disturbed with cold. ‘The man has not come to collect it’ Henry gave an answer which surprised his two listeners.
Dakolo slanted his face slightly and stared into Henry’s face. He wasn’t expecting an off point answer like that from the brilliant Henry, his detective mind quickly suggested to him that Henry was trying to hide something. ‘I know’ Dakolo persisted, ‘but what I want is the report’
Henry stared still for some seconds without a reply. ‘I have it with me’ Henry answered, still trying to conjure what kind of answer would be accepted by the Agent.
At this point, Dakolo was quite sure that Henry was trying to hide the truth but he still decided to keep his doubt unknown as he could be wrong, he didn’t want to wrongly suspect or accuse the honorable Henry.
‘What was the result? Was the number really Canadian?’ Dakolo made his question more specific.
‘Yes, it was. The calls they were receiving was from Canada’ Henry finally gave in and lied to cover up Omotara. He could see the unhidden surprise on the face of Sylvester who he had once told that the number was cloned and the calls were being made from Africa.
‘Hmm’ Dakolo paused for a moment, still staring straight into Henry’s eyes. He took a brief glance at Sylvester as if to confirm Henry’s words from him but the look on Sylvester’s face was that of a person who was just hearing the report too. Sylvester tried to help Henry cover up too.
Dakolo returned his gaze to Henry’s face, still trying to deduce if Henry was  hiding the truth. He shook his head, smacked his lips softly and rubbed his palms together.
‘Let me leave you guys to continue with your work for now, I’ll be back to give and get more information’ Dakolo had concluded before getting up to pack his load.
Back to Sylvester. He was still wondering why Henry told a lie to the Agent as he arranged his table. Or did Henry give him the false report earlier? Whatever it was he would have loved to find out immediately but with the look Henry kept on his face after Dakolo had left, he couldn’t summon enough courage to ask.
‘Alexander Kimberly’ he pronounced as his eyes met the file dropped by Tarasha the day before. He selected it and took out the papers inside. The first was her curriculum vitae, followed by copies of her certificates from school, then some copies of the reports of her personal projects as a developer and software engineer.
He began to read the report and soon found the contents interesting. She seemed intelligent and competent. ‘She may be good for the job’ he said to himself on a second thought. He continued to read through the reports and found some details that astonished him. He was forced to check her curriculum vitae again to confirm which university she graduated from. It was a London university. He returned to the report again and continued to scan through, getting more surprises as he read through. At a point, he began to doubt the authenticity, it was possible that she had copied from the works of a successful developer.
He was still engrossed with the reports when his phone rang. He picked it up and checked the caller, it was an unsaved number. He answered the call and a familiar voice sounded.
‘Good morning sir, it’s Alexander Kimberly’  the voice introduced.
‘Oh!’ He sighed, he was just considering her files and here she was already calling his number. ‘Miss Kimberly, how did you get my phone number? I don’t remember giving it to you’
‘I got it from your office yesterday sir’ she replied. ‘I saw it on the calender too’
He sighed again. ‘Okay, what can I do for you?’
‘I’m at the reception now and I asked to see you but I was told that you’ve asked that I should not be let in’ she answered.
‘Yes, I’m not expecting anybody today’ Sylvester replied tiredly. ‘And why are you here again? I didn’t ask you to come’
‘Yes, I’m sorry about that sir but since we couldn’t talk yesterday due to the circumstance that played out, I thought it okay to come back today’
Sylvester rested his forehead on his palm which was placed on the table. ‘You shouldn’t have come’
‘I’m sorry sir, I apologize for any inconvenience’ she said sharply, as if the reply had been rehearsed. There was a short pause, Sylvester could not be heard saying anything. ‘So should I come to your office?’ She asked after waiting without hearing his voice. She was sure he was still online as she could hear little sounds of his intake of breath.
‘I’ll call the Secretary first’ Sylvester accepted reluctantly. Well, not really reluctantly, he was already wishing and itching to interview the applicant who presented such a mind-blowing personal project.
Six minutes later, Tarasha was in Sylvester’s office seated in the same seat she sat the day before. She was dressed in a black skirt suit and blue inner shirt. The attachment on her hair had been changed but she still made the hair in the same style, done to fall at both sides and cover her ears and cheeks.
Sylvester took some minutes before he finally gave her attention. ‘Why didn’t you stay back in London to get a job?’ He asked, staring into her curriculum vitae.
‘My parents wanted me to come back to Nigeria. I’m their only child’ Tarasha replied.
Sylvester paused and rolled his swivel back a little. ‘These projects’ Sylvester lifted the papers for her to see. ‘You handled them on your own? Or someone else joined you’
‘Yes, I carried out every single one on my own’ she replied with a smile. ‘I still have the files with me’
‘If that’s true, it means you’re good.’ He complimented.
‘Thank you sir.’ Her smile broadened.
‘For now, the vacancies are closed’ Sylvester announced bluntly, returning the papers back into the file. Tarasha’s smile diminished. ‘I promise to call you once we have another opening’ he said, handing her property to her.
Tarasha didn’t collect it immediately. It took some encouraging looks from Sylvester before she took it from him.
‘Can I work as a volunteer?’ She asked after a moment of deafening silence.
‘Volunteer?’ His eyes widened in surprise.
‘Yes, I just feel I have something to do here’ she continued convincingly. ‘Especially with our recent security problems, I think I’ve got something to put in’
Sylvester placed a finger on his lips as he tried to reason. Taking her as a volunteer seemed excellent to him, but what if Henry thinks he employed her as a full staff? He gave a brief smile and clapped his hands together. Even Henry had said he was the Boss, so he wouldn’t owe Henry any explanation.
‘Okay’ he smiled. ‘You’ll do some personal jobs for me, when would you like to start?’
‘Start?’ Tarasha widened her eyeballs to express her joy. ‘I can start now, I’m ready’
‘Are you sure?’ Sylvester folded his arms and rested back.
‘Yes, I am’ she replied briefly.
Sylvester gave a crooked smile. He was going to have an intelligent person work for him, for free. He started to think of his abandoned projects that he needed to work on.
++++
~~Elvis Richards Residence, Asokoro, Abuja ~~
Elvis Richards laid in the bathtub filled with warm water, he had a pipe in his mouth. That was his perfect thinking place when he had a serious difficulty, in the bathroom. He could either stay thirty minutes thinking under the shower while having what was supposed to be a brief bath or deliberately set himself up in the bathtub. But it had been years since he did any of those, because for a long time, he had not been faced with any challenge which got him so perplexed as this one.
Though when he became the Vice President, he had promised himself to stay away from police and criminal matters, he couldn’t keep his promise as the recent assassinations involved two of his closest, old-time friends and business associates. Thinking about all the assassinations and the mode; that is how they were killed when they weren’t even vying for any position or contending for any post. He began to think that this dangerous assassin, Samantha Osman could actually be their nemesis, his nemesis.
After the day he and the President had met with the heads of all security bodies, he had become more conscious of this thing, Nemesis. Or how could you explain how his two close pals were killed? Without any concrete or suspected reason.
The meeting had opened his eyes to see more clearly, that’s why he quickly agreed to work with the security bodies and bring in his experience to help them defeat the assassin. But he still lacked absolute trust in the security system. Being once a part of the system and a notorious one at that, he concluded that the system could not be trusted as there could be one like him who would be the one perpetrating the crime and also fighting it, like he did during his time of service.
All these troubles, just for his past. He wished he could erase it totally and be a new man, but it wasn’t possible. The effect of the atrocities committed by him, Nasiru Attahiru – the Senate President,  the late Jubril Lawal, the late minister of health and some others who had been dead for a longer while would still be felt for generations to come.
One thing that still got him confused and considering if it wasn’t nemesis was the second victim of assassination, the Rivers State Governor. The Rivers State Governor was never a friend or associate of his, so he couldn’t connect the man’s assassination to his close pals’ deaths. Or maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe some serial killers had just been released into the countries of the world and had unfortunately chosen his two friends.
Anyway anyhow it was, he had to be prepared for anything. Now that he had joined forces with the security bodies, he needed to also seek some other alternatives.
He stepped out of the bathtub and took the towel from where it hung. He covered his nakedness with the towel and began to proceed out of the bathroom.
He stopped at the entrance as he remembered an option. Don. That was the topmost assassin in the country. Of course, the topmost before Samantha Osman was revealed.
Several years ago, Don was known as a trainee under Scot, an assassin who used to work for Chief Elvis and his friends. Scot was a dreaded cultist during his days in the university, he was always used several by politicians to carry out political assassinations and violence. Seven years after leaving school, Don Daniel headed the same cult he had left. Don graduated from school and joined Scot in the assassination job but be proved to be wiser and cleverer than Scot. Don later killed Scot after they had a disagreement and took over Supremacy.
Don had a large network of assassins under him and he also was connected with others who were working on their own. Chief Elvis was sure that Don would know who Samantha Osman is. She may even be an assassin under his control, he thought. He was going to contact Don before deciding what step was next.
Chief Elvis finally stepped into the room and closed the bathroom’s door. He had a meeting in the next three hours to prepare for.
++++
~~Same day, 4pm ~~
Henry was returning to the office in his car after driving out to get something in a computer gadgets store. He had been moody all day, barely talking to anyone in the office. He couldn’t get his mind off what transpired in the office the day before. He wondered if he had made the right choice in lying to protect Omotara or if he had just gotten himself into trouble. He also wondered where Omotara was now and if she had decided to take his advice to get a decent job.
He let out a deep breath as he turned at the roundabout point and faced the road which led to the office. A median was separating his lane from the opposite direction lane. There was an unusual traffic jam on the lane but the other was free. Henry sighed as he  queued behind a taxi, just few metres to the office.
As the cars began to move slowly, he saw a car which looked familiar drive by through the opposite lane. At first, he couldn’t tell where he had seen the car but in a moment of seconds, realization hit him. It felt as if he was punched hard in the stomach. It was the same blue car he saw in Omotara’s compound, he could recognize it by the scratch on the bonnet.
He wanted to turn and follow after the car immediately but there were cars already behind him and he could not fly over the median. He poked out his head through the window immediately and looked back, he couldn’t see the car anymore.
He hissed and shook his head in pity for himself. He was just hallucinating, he thought.
Sylvester was in the ground floor reception leaning with his two hands on the desk when Henry walked back into the office. It was too late for Henry to turn back as he had already met with Sylvester’s gaze.
‘Mr Henry’ Sylvester gave a mischievous smile, aware that Henry had been trying to avoid him since morning time.
‘Good afternoon Sir’ Henry greeted reluctantly, trying to fake a smile.
‘Good afternoon’ Sylvester replied, extending an handshake to Henry. ‘I checked your office and met it locked, I thought you had left already’
‘No I went to get something in the computer store’ Henry said.
‘Alright.’ A lady with Sylvester’s brief case arrived at the scene
Henry looked at him in surprise. ‘You’re going home?’
‘Yes’ Sylvester answered him happily, adjusting his shirt. ‘I’m done with everything I need to do today and I’ve even done part of tomorrow’s work’ he said full of smiles.
‘Are you sure you got the whole day covered?’ Henry’s eyes widened, wanting to know Sylvester’s new source of happiness and speed.
‘Yes, I’ve got all the app processes running. I’ve extended the monitoring time to sixteen hours. So I can monitor from anywhere I am.’ Sylvester handed over his phone to the lady holding his brief case, he turned once again to Henry. ‘We’ll see tomorrow’ he said before walking away.
Henry stood still and watched as Sylvester walked out of the building, wondering if the man knew what he was saying. He shrugged and continued his walk to his office, happy that Sylvester didn’t ask him about the day-before’s event.
++++
‘We are really sorry about the unfortunate incident and we’re trying our possible best to bring to book the perpetrators of this crime. We’ll make sure everyone involved in this pay heavily’ Dakolo said to soothe the woman’s heart in preparation for his questioning. Ken was seated beside him in silence.
Chief Mrs Jubril was seated on the couch opposite them, she was putting on the native black Yoruba attire. A young lady in black was seated by her side, also wearing a black cloth but a very short gown which exposed her thighs with the way she was seated. She was placing her head on Mrs Jubril’s  shoulder. With the resemblance on their faces, one could boldly say that the lady was Mrs Jubril’s daughter but she wasn’t, she was Dare’s niece who lived outside the country with Mrs Jubril.
Mrs Jubril sighed and twisted her lips in a pitiful manner.
‘Ma, we need you to give us every information that’ll be helpful to us in our investigation’ Dakolo continued. She nodded in agreement. ‘We’ll ask very few questions’ he said and collected a tablet device from Ken. He turned on the screen and entered the password.
‘When did you arrive in Nigeria for the party?’
‘I arrived just the day before the party’; she answered. ‘With her’ she added, gently stroking her the girl’s hair.
‘Have you been suspecting anything or was there any threat you heard about before coming?’
‘No, we had no suspicions’ the woman answered and tightened her scarf. ‘Why should we have any suspicion? We are not wicked people, so we don’t expect anybody to harm us’
‘What about after you arrived? Did he tell you about anything he was contending for? Or anyone he had a disagreement with?’
‘No’
‘And you didn’t notice anything suspicious? Whether in his behaviour, words or countenance’
‘No, he was the same Jubril, always business minded. Even on his birthday, he was preparing to complete a business deal’
‘What kind of business deal?’
‘Ermm… He talked about a girl from Canada’ the woman paused and squinted, trying to remember correctly. ‘A girl from Canada who was a friend to Dare’
‘He didn’t say anything more about the deal?’
‘No, he only talked about the girl’
‘What did he say about her?’
‘Nothing serious. Except for how Dare was interested in her but was slow in taking steps’
‘Okay’ Dakolo said and quickly typed in something on his device. ‘Do you know if the lady showed up that night?’
‘Yes, she did. She was accompanied by another man’
‘Another man? Was he also invited for the party?’
‘I don’t know’ she shook her head in negative. ‘Except for two of my friends that I personally invited, I wasn’t involved in sending out the invitations’
‘Okay. But did Chief Jubril later get to meet with her’
‘No, he was supposed to meet with her after the programs lined up had ended and after the cake had been cut but he mentioned playfully at a time that Dare was with her and it looked like they were proceeding to somewhere quiet’
‘Dare was with her and they were proceeding to somewhere quiet’ Dakolo repeated in low tones, thoughtfully.
‘Was there any other person who the Chief was supposed to meet with?’
‘I’m not aware of any other’
‘Okay, Dare’s body was found in the security room.’ He said slowly as he stared straight into her eyes, careful not to strike any emotion but he was unsuccessful at it, the colour on her face was already changing. He decided to rush up the questions to get the maximum possible response. ‘Do you know what he went there for?’
‘No o, I don’t know’ she replied, tears already forming in her eyes.
Dakolo turned to the young lady beside the woman. ‘What about you? Do you by chance know how he got there?’
‘No, I didn’t even know he got up from his seat’
‘Weren’t you seated close to your mum?’
‘I was but I got up to take pictures’ she replied, swinging backwards the hair which covered her face.
‘You took pictures?’ Dakolo’s eyes widened in surprise. He took a quick glance at Ken and a smile formed on the lips of the both of them.
‘Yes, I couldn’t wait to get the pictures from the centre’s camera so I began to take pictures and little recordings of the presentations’
‘Did you take pictures of the guests too?’ Dakolo asked impatiently.
‘I took some shots of the whole guest from where we were seated but only personal pictures of distinctly dressed guests’
‘We need to see those pictures, we need to check them for signs of any strange person amongst the guest’
‘I have them in my device upstairs’
‘Alright, you’ll get it and send all of the pictures to me before we leave’ Dakolo said with a stern face. ‘All of the pictures’ he reiterated. He licked his lips and rubbed his finger against his forehead, staring at their faces in the process. He wondered if it was the right time to ask the next question, but he had to do it anyway. ‘Did you see the killer’s face?’
‘The killer’s face?’ Mrs Jubril broke down and began to sob, wailing and cursing the killer.
‘What is happening here?’ A gruff voice sounded. Dakolo and Ken stood up immediately in respect as the Vice President walked in with two of his security officials by his side.
‘Officers’ the Vice President hailed.
‘Good evening sir’ Dakolo and Ken greeted in unison, bowing in respect.
‘What have you come to do here?’ He asked as he extended a handshake to Dakolo.
‘Doing our job sir’ Dakolo smiled as he replied. ‘We’ve came to get some few important details’
‘I see’ Elvis smiled back. He turned to miss Jubril and the young lady. ‘Aduke, bawo ni‘ he asked Mrs Jubril how she was faring in Yoruba language. She was already quiet.
‘We’ll be taking our leave now sir’ Dakolo bowed as he announced.
‘Officers, hope I’m not the one sending you away?’ Elvis took a look at them before proceeding towards the couch where Mrs Jubril was seated.
‘No sir, we are actually through with our questions’ Dakolo answered.
‘Okay then, farewell’ Elvis waved them bye.
‘Thank you sir’ Dakolo said and then turned to the young lady who had already gotten up from Mrs Jubril’s side. ‘We’ll be coming back for the pictures tomorrow morning’ he whispered.
The two officers made their way out immediately, Dakolo giving orders to Ken as they moved, they were to visit Debo, Chief Jubril’s PA for more questioning.
*****
Just that day at work, Tarasha had learnt so much about the NSCC. Luckily for her, Sylvester had ignorantly handed over his personal laptop to her when she promised to help him prolong a particular monitoring session after he complained bitterly that it was too short. He thinking that he had hidden all secret files and protected his personal apps with passwords, he didn’t realize that the Kimberly he was working with could do more than the project he read about.
From the laptop, she had gotten an idea of how the street cameras were specially installed and the process laid down to uninstall them without raising any alarm. She learnt that the codes for uninstalling each cameras without raising alarm or destroying them were kept in files in hidden sections of each regional office. The file type and what type of hidden sections referred to was unknown to her yet, but she was very sure that the files would be in computerized formats and they would be hidden locations on their main control computer systems. The PDF document from where she got this information also stated that copies of all codes and files used in the nation for installing and uninstalling these cameras were contained in the Abuja office.
Tarasha recalled that Henry Paul, her neighbour was a regional staff working in the head office. She didn’t know the capacity in which he functions but she believed that she could get some important data from him. It didn’t take time before she got her opportunity to meet him again.
‘Hey Evelyn’ someone called as Tarasha stepped out of gate. She looked to her right side and saw Paul. He was in front of his gate, munching some peanuts from the nylon in his hand as he was about to enter. His white shirt and shorts reflected the little of sun rays radiated from above.
‘Hi Paul’ she smiled at him.
‘How are you Evelyn?’ He said, closing back the gate. He began to move closer to her and feeding his eyes on her thighs revealed below the bumshort. She took note carefully of how he was looking at her and licking his lips lustfully.
‘Fine, how about you?’
‘I’m fine too.’ He said, half inaudible because of the quantity of peanuts in his mouth.
‘Where are you coming from?’ Tarasha asked.
‘From a friend’s place, I went to copy a movie into my flash drive.’ He took out the flash drive from his back pocket and showed it to her.
‘What movie is that?’ She asked, looking interested.
‘Inseparable by Young C.c’ he answered. ‘I’ve been wanting to get it since I saw the trailer but work did not permit me to go to a store. So, I asked a friend to buy online for me’
‘I heard of the release too but I’ve not been opportune to see the movie or trailer, I’ve only read the book’
‘You wanna come watch with me?’ He offered.
‘That’ll be nice’ she accepted his offer joyously. ‘Are you starting right away?’
‘Yes… But I could delay a little because of you’
‘Thanks, I need to get something in a store next street’
‘Should I accompany you?’
‘No, you don’t need to bother’ safe rejected politely and began to walk away slowly, to nowhere in particular, just to buy time and make her acting complete.
‘Ermm…’ Paul signaled for her to wait. ‘What about your friends? I didn’t see any of them since Friday last week’
‘They traveled for something urgent’ Tarasha answered. ‘They’ll be back soon, I believe’
‘Okay, say hi to them when they call’
‘Sure, I would’ Tarasha smiled.
‘I’ll be expecting you’ Paul said before turning back and walking to his gate.
*
Tarasha was in his living room thirty minutes later. His living room was decently decorated, not large but neat and comfortable. Paul began to play the film after serving Tarasha fruit juice and a pack of popcorn. They were both seated on the opposites ends of the three seater sofa.
One hour went by and both of them were deeply engrossed in the film, at least Tarasha pretended to be while she was thinking of the best way to get out what she needed from him. She knew it would be against their job ethics to let out the information she needed, so she needed to do something special that would make him give her all she wanted.
‘Do you think Frank would get out of Bola’s trouble?’ Tarasha tried to begin a conversation with the highly concentrating Paul.
‘Ermm… He’s got to come out. That girl is evil, he may not even be responsible for the pregnancy she’s carrying’ he hurriedly answered her and returned his concentration to the screen. He did not want to miss any part of the thrilling movie.
‘He is responsible, she couldn’t have lied to her father’ Tarasha said but got no reply. She turned her face back to the screen, taking time to think of the best possible way to distract him.
‘I’m feeling sleepy’ she announced after another five minutes. He took a glance at her and gave a “I don’t believe you” look.
‘Sleepy?’ He asked to be sure if that was what he really heard.
‘Yes’ she replied. Without waiting for his response, she turned and laid her head on his lap placing her legs on the arm rest she was resting on before. She made sure her backhead was placed in between his legs, to have contact with his manhood. She felt him shiver as she stretched and pressed down with her head. He stared at her face for a while.
She was beginning to get his attention now like she wanted. She waited for some minutes again before taking her next move. She began to rub his bare knee with her palm gently.
‘What do you do in the office?’ She turned her head to face him as she asked. Her hand left his knee and went under his shirt on his belly.
‘I…’ He squirmed and swallowed, signals were being sent through his whole body. She had to pause to enable him give her an answer. ‘I’m a regional staff like I told you. I’m the assistant to the regional coordinator here’
‘What are your responsibilities?’
‘My main responsibilities are to watch over the streaming, cut and save files and also convert the video files into other formats for reporting’
‘Are these the only things you do everyday?’ She continued rubbing her hand on his abdomen softly.
‘Yes, basically’ he replied, his chubby body shivering.
She raised up her head and got up to sit on his lap. ‘Are you also involved in installing the cameras?’
‘Yes, but that does not happen often.’
‘How do you install the cameras? Do the NSCC have special processes for theirs’
‘No’ he paused and stared into her face thoughtfully for a while. ‘Why are you asking?’
‘Nothing darling’ she smiled and pushed his chest backwards, taking off his shirt. He didn’t resist. ‘I’m interested in working in the NSCC, that’s why I’m asking’
‘Oh! You…’ He vibrated all over as she placed her lips on his nipple. She stopped and look at his face. ‘Do you know how to install the NSCC cameras?’
‘Yes, it’s the same way you install every other security cameras except that the NSCC has a special code to install and uninstall it, if one tries to uninstall with another code, it raises an alarm in the office’ 
‘Those codes, how do you get them?’
‘It’s manufactured by developers and they sell it to us, then we protect them using IVC solution.’
‘How do you use the codes?’
‘The codes are used to connect each camera to our monitoring system. You know the cameras are wireless, so since no wires connect them, the codes makes the connection’
‘I know that, what I mean is that how do you install the code into the cameras?’
‘Okay, that happens during production. Each camera is made to have a code that have been bought before packaging and installing them’
‘Hmm…’ She paused and licked his nipples for some seconds again. ‘Are the codes always long?’ She stopped again. She could see disappointment on his face, he was getting tired of the questions already and wanted her to complete the job which she had started on his body. She could already feel his hard manhood touching her bum underneath.
‘No, the codes are always six characters’
‘And how are six character codes stored?’
‘We use the Nitex Pad in the IVC for keeping them on our main system. It’s a very secure tool’ he said impatiently, his body already vibrating for action.
‘Nitex pad’ she mumbled under her breath as she got up and pushed his chest to lay straight on the sofa. She touched something on her back pocket as she sat in between his legs and began to dip her hand under his shorts.
Paul had lost all his senses at this time, all he wanted was to consume the lady in front of him and he didn’t realise that he had just done something which was against the ethics of his job. He had given so much information, well , he never thought he was giving it to someone that could do any harm.
He laid there anticipating what’s next when an alarm sounded. Tarasha got up hurriedly and took out a tiny device from her back pocket.
‘Oh! It’s time to use my drugs’ she announced, looking very worried. ‘I have to rush home now’ she said and adjusted her top hurriedly. She tightened back the button of her bumshort which was loose and began to proceed towards the door immediately.
‘Are you coming back?’ He shouted behind as she opened the door.
‘Maybe’ she replied and walked out, closing the door with a loud bang.
Paul felt stupid and miserable as he got up and picked his shirt which she had flung to the floor. His manliness was still hard and yearning. He hissed as his eyes met with the TV screen. Just now, his expectations had been raised beyond measure and dashed again within minutes when he was already feeling close to heaven. 
~~
9am, next morning.
Dakolo and Ken were driving out of the Jubril’s house. They had asked some more few questions which included the names of Jubril’s close friends and addresses, they got the names of two of his friends who were also at the party and decided to visit I one immediately. They got the pictures as planned the day before. The young lady had helped them to categorize the pictures into two folders; one containing the guests in the party which she knew were family friends of theirs and the other containing those she did not know. The latter had more pictures in it.  All their questions had to be answered by the young lady as they didn’t see Mrs Jubril all through their stay. She was said to be slightly indisposed with fever.
Ken sped off as they drove out of the gate while Dakolo tried to view the pictures. He started with the pictures of the Jubril’s family friends but couldn’t recognize any one as hard as he tried except for two notable ministers in the country. He gave up on trying without getting to the last picture in the folder. He decided to wait until they got to they got to Chief Jubril’s PA who should be able to identify the guests.
In thirty minutes time, they got to Lanre’s office, he was a friend to Dare and was also an attendee of the party. He was asked several questions about Dare and the newly found friend, Alexander Evelyn.
After answering other questions to the best of his knowledge, Lanre also stated that there was no suspicious movement Dare was involved with until he met with the new friend, Evelyn. He was said to have changed and stop clubbing frequently like he used to do. Lanre told them of how Dare started looking miserable after some days of strange happiness but refused to talk to his friends about anything, but they were able to guess that it was either that he was jilted by the girl or he found out that she was dating someone else. Apart from that Lanre had nothing more to say.
After thanking Lanre, the policemen found their way out of his office and headed for Debo’s house. They got there twenty minutes later and were ushered into his living room. They began the interrogation at once.
‘Apart from that lady, Evelyn, was there anyone else Chief Jubril was supposed to meet?’ Dakolo began.
‘No, she was the only one’
‘Did you see her when she came in?’
‘Yes, from afar. I saw her front view for the first time that day’ Debo said thoughtfully. ‘But it was from afar, I can’t even remember how she looks like’
‘Then how do you know it was her?’ Dakolo pushed.
‘I heard Chief Jubril talk about her to his family, they were making jest of Dare immediately she walked in with another  guy’ he answered carefully.
‘Who was the guy?’
‘I don’t know him either, I couldn’t see his face clearly’ he paused and cleaned his eyes. ‘The truth is I’m short-sighted but asides from that, the only reason Chief Jubril recognized her from that distance and wth the kind of lightning was because he knew her face very well before. He didn’t know the guy too’ Debo explained.
‘Was the lightning poor?’
‘No, but we couldn’t see people far off’ because of the very bright lights and performers at the stage in the middle.
‘Hmm…’ Dakolo hummed under his breath while scrolling through something on his device.
‘…the lady and the guy were both putting on blue clothes. They were distinctly dressed’ Debo quickly added as he remembered. ‘The guy was putting on a shiny blue suit while she was on a short blue gown’
Dakolo suddenly looked up. ‘Would you recognize them with the clothes if you see the pictures?’
‘Yes, I remember what they wore but it’s a pity there are no…’
‘There are pictures’ Dakolo cut in. He stood up and collected the tablet device from Ken. He swiped it open and went to sit on the arm rest of the couch Debo was seated on. Debo was surprised on hearing that there were pictures, he didn’t believe until Dakolo opened the larger folder and began to scroll through the pictures.
‘Tell me if you see them here or if you see any other strange person’ Dakolo said to him.
The both of looked into the device intently for minutes, Debo readily identifying those he knew in the pictures.
‘Here he is’  Debo finally said in a loud voice after ten minutes. ‘Here’s the guy who came with her, in the blue suit’.
~~
Henry took a glance at the clock after waving at the security men as he drove in through the gate, it was twenty minutes past nine am. He had overslept and ignored the alarm when it rang, waking up later by eight o’clock, the exact time he was supposed to resume work. He decided not to rush as he was late already by the time he woke. It would be his first time of getting late to the office, and it wasn’t that he was going to be chastised by anyone.
His eyes met something in the rearview mirror as he killed the engine. It took sometime for the picture to finish processing in his brain. He opened the door and turned to look at it, there was a blue Camry parked at the parking space at the opposite side. The car park was constructed to have spaces for cars at the left and right side and a space in the middle through which vehicles drive in and out.
The blue car could have been for anybody else but the plate number was what looked familiar. He got out of his car and banged the door unconsciously. Locking it again with the control in his hand. He almost ran into another vehicle that was trying to occupy the space beside his car.  He apologized to the driver and crossed to the other side, to inspect the car that got his attention. It was the same car he thought he hallucinated about the day before.
He turned to the front of the car to check for the mark on the bonnet. He couldn’t find it but there were signs of repainting at the exact spot the mark was supposed to be. He scratched his head and heaved a sigh. His heart began to beat fast as he circled the car. Was Omotara really in the same compound with him? He asked himself.
He began to walk slowly away, rolling his car keys in his hand. He decided to take a last look when he got behind the car. ‘AA689-GGQ’ he read the plate number to himself again. He moved closer and squatted behind the car, touching the letters and numbers on the plate, just to assure himself that the number he was seeing was real and not a part of his hallucinations.
He got up and walked slowly to the front of the car again, taking a peep inside. He could see football magazines and newspapers at the backseats. That got him a little bit confused. He was a hundred percent sure that Omotara wasn’t a lover of football, so maybe she wasn’t in the compound as he thought or maybe the car was brought in by one of her male accomplices.
He paused and let out a deep breath, thinking of what he could possibly do to find out who brought in the car. He took a glance at the security post, he thought of going there to ask but that would look strange and may raise unnecessary security scare. A better idea came to his mind, he turned back and walked to his car.
++++
**Katsina, Katsina State**
Benny and Aisha waited patiently for Cole in the car as they were set to embark on their first visit to the Ata’s Foundation. Benny had grown miraculously old overnight, he had his hair cut lowly, his slightly greyed hair made him look like a man in his late fifties or early sixties. His beards were also grey and sturdy. He had a dark pair of eyeglasses on his face. Aisha who was looking different already only added some makeups to make her face lighter than it was. There were both dressed in black suits.
Soon, Cole appeared and opened the door to the driver’s side. He was also dressed in a black suit and had grown a miraculous moustache too. He was made to look older than his age but not as old as Benny was, he looked like a man in his late thirties. 
His phone began to ring as soon as he settled in the car.
‘Hello boss’ he answered the call.
‘Are you set?’ Tarasha’s voice sounded at the other side.
‘Yes, we are about to drive off’
‘Disguised?’
‘Yes, but not from the house like we planned’
‘Good, make it go smoothly and keep me connected always. I want to listen live to all of the discussion.’
‘Got you boss’ Cole replied and the call ended. He dropped the phone and took out a tiny recording device which he clipped behind his tie.
‘Let’s go’ he said and took a glance at Benny by side and Aisha at the back before starting the car engine.
+++
Dakolo stared at the man dressed in a blue suit in the picture, lines of disappointment began to show on his face as he recognized the person in it. Henry E.G. Dakolo could still recognize him even though his head was bowed in the picture. He was seated alone, pouring wine into the cup.A female bag and another bottle and cup of wine was at the other side of the table.
‘He looks like someone I know’ Debo said, contorting his face like someone who just swallowed a bitter pill. Ken got up from his seat to join them. 
‘Okay’ Dakolo said and swiped to the next picture as he saw Ken approaching. Three other pictures which contained Henry’s image showed up as Ken joined the view but luckily, Henry’s face was not shown at all in the new pictures. It was obvious that the photographer was more interested in the cloth he was putting on than his face.
‘Well…’ Debo began after pausing to recollect some information from his memory. ‘I remember seeing this man closely that day. I saw him when I went to discuss something with someone sitting close to his table. He was sitting alone then too.’
‘So, you saw him very well?’ Ken asked.
‘No, not very well. I was seated at his back’
Dakolo felt a need to hide Henry’s identity for the time being. He didn’t want to believe what his detective mind was suggesting to him, that Henry could be one of the assassins.  After scrolling through all the pictures, Dakolo and Ken returned to their seat with the device.
‘I visited the NSCC’s office like we planned the last time’ Dakolo began after a brief moment of quietness. ‘I spoke with Henry and he told me that the number was really Canadian’
Debo shrugged. ‘I don’t really need that information anymore. I don’t know how Mrs Jubril intend to run the organization’
‘Do you still have the number?’ Dakolo asked.
‘Yes, but in the office’
‘We’ll need to get it as soon s possible, please’  Dakolo said and paused to type in something into his device.
After asking some more questions, they left Debo’s residence and headed back to the office. In the car, Dakolo was unusually quiet. He kept thinking of the possibility of Henry being a member of the Samantha Osman’s group. Maybe he was even the one in charge of disrupting the cameras system for the gang operations. It had to be. That was why no solution to the problem had been found with all the efforts of the other people in the NSCC. Or how could you explain how Henry was the man who accompanied the suspected Alexander Evelyn to the party? The same Evelyn who was suspected to be Samantha Osman. But he had thought Henry was a patriotic citizen, committed to nation building and development. It was hard to believe that Henry is actually a part of the assassin group.
A thought came to his mind on remembering Henry’s past association with Dare. He also recalled that the reason for all the recent killings were still unknown. Could it be possible that it was no political killing? That the assassins were embarking on a personal vendetta? It could be. And it could also be possible that Henry may have found out that Evelyn Alexander was an assassin and only decided to help her because Chief Jubril and Dare were his enemies.
There were two options in Dakolo’s heart now. It was either Henry was part of the Samantha Osman’s gang or he helped the gang in carrying out Chief Jubril and Dare’s assassinations.
Somehow, Dakolo still felt the need the need to dig further personally. A third and strong option was developing in his mind. He had a soft spot for Henry which grew ever since the time the grave injustice was done to Henry’s family. He decided to hide the picture which showed Henry’s face for sometime.
He took the tablet device from the backseat. He swiped it open and clicked the gallery option. He pretended like he was just taking another look at the pictures while be transferred it to his own personal device. He deleted the picture from the device afterwards and spent some more time with it before returning it back.
+++
‘You’ve not still told me the program you used to elongate the monitoring time of the system yesterday’ Sylvester said to his new volunteer staff. She was sitting behind his table with the laptop he had given her to use.
‘Sir, I didn’t use any special program, I only changed the settings of the same program you were running with’ shereplied him.
‘But how come I never saw that option in the settings area?’ he got up from his seat and began to make a turn. Tarasha answered with a shrug. He stood still when he got beside her and bent to look into the laptop. ‘Can you show me where it is?’
‘Sure.’ She clicked open the software and waited some minutes for it to load.
A knock sounded on the door. ‘Come in’ Sylvester picked up the door control and turned to the door to click unlock. Someone pushed open the door and walked in.
‘Good morning Mr Sylvester’ Dayo walked in briskly.
‘Good morning Mr Dayo’ Sylvester turned back to receive him. ‘How are you doing today?’
‘Fine sir’ Dayo said, taking special interest in the lady who had Mr Sylvester bending over to look into her laptop while she was comfortable seated. He thought it was one of their junior staffs who had such effrontery.
‘Alright, how may I help you?’
‘Sir’ Dayo turned his look back to Sylvester. ‘I noticed that you made some changes to the system yesterday. It shows that you can actually be receiving notifications offline for over twelve hours now’
‘Sixteen hours precisely’ Sylvester corrected with a bold smile. ‘And I’m not just receiving notifications, the signal would still be strong for the sixteen hours offline duration’
‘Interesting’ Dayo’s eyes lit up. ‘That’s what we’re talking about, bright innovation’ Dayo commended.
‘Yeah’ Sylvester flashed his teeth brightly, resting his bum on the table.
‘I actually came to see if I could learn the new method from you, I may need to combine something of such in my new project’ Dayo presented his real reason of coming.
‘Ermm… ‘Sylvester’s smile diminished, now he knew the reason for Dayo’s commendation. He had wanted to take the credit for Tarasha’s work, that’s was part of the reason he wanted to learn how Tarasha did the job.
‘I didn’t really do it myself’ he finally confessed, after realizing he had no choice.
‘Oh!’ Dayo gave him a naughty kind of look. Sylvester could interpret the look as a silent way of saying “I thought as much, I knew you weren’t so intelligent”.
‘Who did it?’ Dayo asked when Sylvester remained speechless.
‘She did… We did it together’ he replied, pointing to himself and Kimberly.
‘Wow!’ Dayo exclaimed, trying to take a peep at the lady’s face but she would not still look back.
‘She’s my new personal staff, Kimberly’ Sylvester introduced. That was when Kimberly finally turned back, she got up from her seat and smiled at Dayo. ‘This is Dayo, he works with Henry E.G’
‘Nice to meet you sir’ Kimberly said cheerfully as they shook hands.
‘My pleasure’ Dayo replied, still holding her hand in his. He wondered silently why she wasn’t looking back until Sylvester introduced her.  ‘So how did you do it?’
‘I was about to show him when you came in’ Tarasha replied and sat back on the seat.
‘Okay’ Dayo said and joined Sylvester as they both looked into the laptop to learn grim Kimberly.
+++
2pm, same day.
‘Afolabi David, Audu Noah, Sunny Nkem, Nwakolo Ezekiel’ Ken read aloud, looking into the computer screen. ‘All found dead, in the same event centre’
‘And these guys are also the suspected kidnappers of Henry George?’ Dakolo asked, taking a glance at Ken.
‘Yes, Afolabi David is the head of their gang’ Ken answered.
‘Where were their bodies found?’
‘Their bodies were found in the security department, the same place Dare’s body was found. The same type of bullets were found in their bodies’ Ken expatiated, pausing from time to time to look at the screen.. ‘According to the report we got from the investigation, these guys were part of the security officials provided by the Jubrils for the event’
‘Hmm… How do we connect this?’ Dakolo muttered.
‘Henry E.G stated that Dare was the only person he suspected. I think Henry was contending for something with Dare and he got threatened’ Ken said.
‘With this, it’s highly possible that Dare was behind the kidnap’
‘Well, sir. One case solved already’ Ken said with a smile on his face. ‘The kidnappers have been discovered. It’s a pity that they are late already.’
‘Yes, but there’s still a lot more to this’ Dakolo said thoughtfully.
Henry’s face popped up in his mind again, he took a deep breath. Now it has been discovered that not only was it Henry’s long time enemies that were killed, even his recent kidnappers were also killed. Henry was looking more dangerous to him. Very soon, he’ll have no choice than to spill it out to Ken. He already had a strategy in mind to use once he fully verifies Henry’s personal involvement in the assassinations. Although, Henry’s involvement have been verified enough according to police standards, he still needed to do more verifications because of his long time emotional attachment to Henry.
Don stared around the large living room in awe, astonished at the excellency of interior decor. His eyes met with the President’s picture on the wall and the Vice President’s beside it. The Vice President looked a little bit younger in the picture but not as young as when Don had first met him. That was over ten years ago. Don was still under training then. He remembered how surprised he felt when he saw Elvis who was then the Inspector General of Police, notable for his harshness against all sorts of crime, come to patronize his boss. Since then, Don had stopped trusting anyone, no matter the level of innocence displayed by them to the public.
Don kept on wondering what job the man had for him that was so urgent that an order for his immediate return from Cameroon had to be made. A question arose in his heart. How did the man get his contact? He asked himself. Even when he had tried his possible best to cut off all connections with Nigeria for the short time he was planning to stay in Cameroon. He discarded the question with a brief smile. He remembered that Elvis Richards used to be a crook who had contacts with several other crooks. Once a crook, always a crook.
One thing he admired about the man was his ability to keep people so faithful to himself, no one had ever come out to mention his name or implicate him in a crime. Don thought he had not been so lucky in that aspect; he felt betrayed by Cole, Aisha and Benny.
Don stood up in respect as Elvis Richards walked into the living room. He was dressed casually, in a blue shirt and black shorts which stopped above the knee, a pair of black leather sandals on his foot.
‘Don’ Elvis gave a crooked smile, noticing the great change in Don’s look, it wasn’t the same Don he knew. 
Don smiled back. ‘Your excellency’ he hailed in a coarse voice and bowed. ‘Good afternoon sir’
‘Good afternoon, thanks for honouring my call.’ Elvis offered him an handshake.
‘Anything for your Excellency ‘ Don replied as he received the warm handshake.
‘Please have your seat’ Elvis said and sat on the couch close to Don.
‘Thank you sir’ Don replied and took his seat.
‘Don’ the Vice President called as he began the main discussion. Don fixed his eyes on the man’s face at the sound of his name. ‘What have we done to you?’ Elvis added.
Don couldn’t hide his surprise at the question. He narrowed his gaze and held his breath.
‘Why have you decided to punish some of us?’ The Vice President continued. ‘Or is there anyone who has requested that you disturb us so much like this? You know I can pay you double if you reverse the attacks’
Don looked more confused, wondering what the man was talking about. ‘I don’t understand sir,’ he spoke softly.
‘You do’ Elvis said and relaxed back. He folded his arms. ‘You went to rest in Cameroon while you sent your guys to do the jobs here’
‘What job are you talking about sir?’ Don asked.
‘The three recent assassinations that the whole country is still talking about. I don’t know of anyone else who is powerful enough to carry out those attacks except you.’ Elvis answered.
Don stayed quiet for a while, realizing that he was being credited with Tarasha’s job.
‘The police is putting much effort into that case now and I’m telling you that very soon, they’ll catch up with you. That’s why I’ve called you personally to know the reason behind these assassinations, so that you can seize the attacks before the police gets you.’ Elvis stopped and waited for Don’s reply.
Don stared silently for a moment. He licked his lips slowly and exhaled before he began to talk. ‘Are you talking about the killing of the Minister of Health, Rivers State Governor and the former minister of defence?’ He asked a question with an already known answer.
‘Yes’ Elvis answered briefly.
‘I wasn’t involved in any of these jobs, neither do I know how they were carried out’ Don stared calmly.
‘Huh?’ Elvis stared at Don in surprise. ‘You don’t know about the assassinations?’
‘Yes’
‘Then who could be the one behind it? You gang was the only one I can think of. I don’t believe that there’s another gang that is capable enough to break through all the security systems we have in place right now’
‘My gang isn’t involved in it’ Don insisted.
‘Are you sure that none of your trained boys are taking these jobs behind you?’
‘No, none of my boys can handle those kind of jobs.’ Don said the truth in his heart but refrained from saying it out. He tried to come up with a suitable answer for the VP’s question. ‘None of my boys would dare do that’ he finally said with a threatening chuckle.
‘Are you sure of what you’re saying?’
‘Yes, they wouldn’t dare do a job without my permission’ Don insisted.
‘Then who the hell could be behind these Samantha Osman’s attacks?’ Elvis burst out loudly, a confused look appearing on his face.
‘She is’ Don said in a calmer voice, staring at the floor and rubbing his palms together.
‘Who is?’ Elvis looked up hurriedly and asked impatiently.
‘She is’ Don said calmly again, unmoved by the man’s countenance.
‘Who is she?’ Elvis held his breath, mentioning each of his words slowly, one after the other.
‘Samantha Osman, she is behind the attacks’
‘Samantha Osman? Is she real?’
‘Yes, she is.’
‘But the police have tried to search for her records but found no perfect match’
‘How did that try to find her records? Was her fingerprint gotten?’
‘No, that would have solved the issue’
‘I don’t think she’s a Nigerian, the police would not still find her in our records but we can then trace it to other countries’
‘Is it possible that she’s really a part of the suspected world assassination gang? The same that has been terrorizing the US and some other countries?’
‘She’s likely a part. While I was in Cameroon, I found a lot of similarities between her operations and the other assassins in the other countries. The seem to have a central gang’
Elvis paused and inhaled a deep breath. He brushed his lowly cut hair backwards with his bare hands. ‘But the good news now is that you know her’ he stated.
‘Know her?’ His face turned expressionless.
‘Don’t you know her? You just told me some things about her’
‘I know her name and some other things about her. I’ve never seen her face and I’ve never worked with her or spoken with her’
‘Do you know who she is working for and why she’s killing those people?’
Don had to think for some seconds before answering. He was sure that the Vice President had called him for a job. Spilling every information he had now could make the man change his mind and not commit to him the job anymore.
‘I don’t know why she’s killing anyone, I guess she’s just doing the job she has been sent’ Don finally said.
‘You don’t think she’s on a personal mission?’
‘No, I don’t think so. She’s a trained killer like me and she drops anyone she has been paid to’
‘Then who is paying her?’
‘Ermm… I don’t know.’ Don lied, for personal reasons. The first reason was that he may not be taken serious if he mentions Chief Gab as her sponsor because the man was just a newly freed prisoner who was trying to gain his stability, no one would believe that he had enough money to sponsor the assassinations. Even Don himself does not know the source of Chief Gab’s funds. Another reason was that he could lose the job he was expecting from the Vice President. The man may decide to go through other ways in dealing with Chief Gab and not involve him anymore. The third and most strong reason was that letting out the identity of his client as an assassin was against his job. He was supposed to protect his client’s identity, no matter what may be; even if the client had stopped working with him, as far as the client hadn’t turned to his enemy. Letting out the identity could also cause danger for himself in the future.
‘Do you think it can be someone outside the country since she isn’t from Nigeria herself?’
‘I don’t know who it may be and I’ve not had any reason to investigate since she has not crossed my path.’ He lied again.
‘Now that I’ve brought her to your path, can you find out for me?’ Elvis asked and got up to his feet. ‘The reason I’m really getting myself involved in this is because her operations have taken out two of my close friends already. I don’t know who her next target is, my life could be in danger’
‘Yes, I can find out for you sir’ Don answered confidently. ‘But she’s very dangerous and not easy to deal with, I would require a lot of money’
Elvis turned to stare at Don’s face, he gave him an expressionless look. ‘Come on, you know money is not an issue. I’m ready to pay any amount it would require as far as you’ll find out the reason for the killings’
‘That’s a simple job sir’ Don assured.
The Vice president sniffed and turned back. He took out a pill from the pocket of his shorts and threw it into his mouth. He turned back to Don after crushing the pill with his teeth and swallowing it.
‘Can you kill her?’ He threw an unexpected question to Don.
‘You said?’ Don shivered a bit at the question but tried to conceal his fear.
‘Can you kill her for me? After you find out the reason for what she has done airway l already’
‘That won’t be an easy task sir, but it’s possible’ Don remarked. The task had been made a weightier but he wasn’t planning to back out.
‘Are you capable of doing this job?’ Elvis asked, for the first time doubting Don’s ability.
‘Yes sir’ Don replied, trying to show more confidence. ‘Like I said earlier, she’s also a specialist like myself, so it won’t be easy to drop her like any other small assassin. But it can be more easier for me now.’ He added a mischievous smile.
Elvis narrowed his gaze at him with an expression to ask what Don meant by the last statement.
‘Now, I have the federal might; I have you at my back’ Don began to explain. ‘I’m also aware that you are working closely with all the security bodies to ensure they nab this assassin. I’ll have access to the police data and investigation on her through you’
Elvis nodded slowly in agreement with Don’s proposal. ‘I’ll make sure you get everything you need. Just get this girl for me’ he said in a determined tone. ‘I want you to start the job immediat…’ He stopped abruptly as a thought struck his mind. ‘I want you to start immediately’ he continued, with his face squeezed. ‘But I want to know something’
‘What’s that sir?’ Don fixed his gaze on the man’s face.
‘You said that you don’t know about her apart from her name. You’ve not seen her before, is that?’
‘I actually know more than her name sir, I know more about her and members of her gang. As at the time they dropped the Governor of Rivers State, they were only three people working with her. Those three, I know them. They are younger assassins, but well trained and developed.’ He expatiated, consciously omitting his role played in supplying the members to her.
‘Just three?’ The man’s face showed surprise.
‘Yes, but I don’t know if they’ve increased or decreased in number now’
‘But they are led by Samantha Osman? Or she’s just the major hitman?’
‘She’s the Boss, she leads them’
Elvis nodded slowly and thoughtfully, impressed by the confidence displayed by Don in answering his questions. Even the police weren’t so sure as this about the results of their investigations. He decided to push further with more questions.
‘Is Samantha Osman the same person as that girl whose records were found?’ Elvis asked, tapping his head as he tried to remember the girl’s name.
‘Aisha Bello?’ Don suggested.
‘Exactly, Aisha Bello.’ Elvis affirmed.
‘Aisha Bello works for her, she’s not the same person with Tara…’ He stopped and cleared his throat. ‘Sorry, Samantha’
‘Okay.’ Elvis turned and dipped his hand into his pocket to take out another pill. ‘When would the estimate of your requirement be ready?’
‘Tomorrow sir’
‘Alright, get it to me as soon as possible.’
‘I will sir’
‘Okay, the boys would take you back to your hotel now.’ With that, Elvis walked away from the living room.
Like a huge construction project, an estimate bill for an assassination project like this also had to be done. Unlike other petty jobs where they’ll just name the price to the client immediately, several other considerations have to be made in this and then something similar to a bill of quantity is presented to the client.
Don rose up immediately the man walked out of sight. Though he was sure this new job would not be an easy one as he already knew Tarasha’s capabilities, he was still had a personal determination to ensure that Tarasha’s reign come to an end. He had already developed a rivalry between himself and Tarasha when she came in between his association with Chief Gab and even outsmarted him after he tried to deliver her team to the police through Aisha’s flaw. That was part of the reasons he fled to Cameroon to stay with his friend and plot his comeback.
His plotting was still going on when Chief Elvis had called for him to return to Nigeria urgently, only for him to find out that the person troubling the Vice President was the same person who sent him out of the country. He was therefore going to make use of this opportunity and make sure that Tarasha regrets coming to Nigeria.
**11am**
Dayo walked back into the control room smiling. For him, learning something new was good, but learning it from a very beautiful and intelligent lady was extraordinary. He stared more at her face than the computer screen when she was explaining. Her gentle and soft way of speaking made an impact in his heart, he watched as her sexy lips moved while she explained to him and Sylvester.
‘Kimberly E. Alexander,’ he murmured to himself as he proceeded to the seat he previously occupied.
He was too lost in his thoughts to notice the gazes that were on him. Henry and the other developer had fixed their eyes on him as he entered noisily and began to bounce to his seat like someone who has just won the star prize of the Young C.c’s Readers’ contest. It was until he sat in front of the computer and looked up that he met with Henry’s gaze.
Henry gave a chuckle. ‘What’s up with you?’
‘Nothing sir,’ Dayo answered, surprised seeing the look on his colleagues faces.
‘How can you say nothing?’ Henry’s friend, Frank retorted. ‘You walked out over an hour ago and returned smiling like someone who just finished riding a hot chick.’
Dayo smiled at the nastiness of Frank. ‘I was coming from Mr Sylvester’s office’
‘Mr Sylvester’s office?’ They both asked in unison. Henry faced front and continued with his work.
‘Yes,’ he replied and tried to face the computer set.
‘Hmm…’ Frank cleared his throat and gave Henry a mischievous look. ‘Hope it’s not what I’m thinking?’ He muttered to Henry. His voice was loud enough for Dayo to hear.
‘What’s that you’re thinking?’ Dayo raised his head to ask.
‘Nothing really,’ he said and burst into laughter. ‘It’s just that I’ve not seen anyone come out of that place smiling or laughing. You’re the first I’ve seen, so I’m wondering if the man has become a comedian overnight.’
‘It wasn’t Mr Sylvester that got me smiling. I met his new staff,’ Dayo began. ‘She’s intelligent and beautiful. She’s the one behind his prolongation of the monitoring time’
‘Oh! I see.’ Frank took a quick glance at Dayo as if to look at his face for a confirmation of his words. He turned back quietly to his work.
‘Is she really that good?’ Henry asked, turning back again as he seemed to develop more interest.
‘Yes, she is crazily good.’ Dayo widened his eyes to emphasize his point.
‘Did you see her work on the system?’
‘Yes, she showed I and Mr Sylvester what she did on the system yesterday. That’s why I was there for so long.’ Dayo replied with an excited voice.
‘Okay, maybe I’ll have to see her for myself.’ Henry said and quickly punched some keys on the computer keyboard. ‘Is she’s still in Mr Sylvester’s office?’
‘I left her there.’
Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to the door as it opened. Sylvester popped in his head, his eyes searching the place. His gaze met with Henry’s. He entered and closed the door.
‘Good morning Mr Henry and Mr Frank,’ he greeted with a kind smile.
‘Good morning sir,’ they both replied at the same time.
‘Mr Henry,’ Sylvester called as he got to Henry’s front. The smile on his face was replaced with a serious look. ‘Agent Dakolo just called,’ he said almost in whispers, his voice bearing a warning tone.
Henry frowned, ‘what did he say?’
‘He’s coming here, to see you’
‘When and about what?’ Henry asked. Fear gripped his heart at the thought of facing Agent Dakolo again. Maybe the man was finally coming to arrest him for lying about the Jubril’s job, but there was no way the Agent was going to know if he was lying or not except if Sylvester had told him. He shivered at the thought of Agent Dakolo questioning him again, maybe inviting him for a lie detection test this time around. Was he going to get caught for defending Omotara, who was probably somewhere trying to play another fraud on someone else. The fear of being caught and labeled as dishonest and a person who harbors criminals terrorized his heart. He began to consider if it was really worth it to take the risk hoping that Omotara had changed for a better person or to give up and confess to the Agent with an apology. He was sure that with an explanation, the Agent who was also like a brother to him could help and cover him up.
‘I don’t have that detail, he’s coming to see you personally and he’ll be here in fifteen minutes.’ Sylvester replied.
‘Okay, thank you sir.’
+++++
Jefa returned from the market sweating heavily. Of course that was expected due to the stress experienced in the busy local markets on the market days that comes up in an interval of five days.
A tricycle had brought him and his goods from the market. He first stopped at his store to drop the goods meant for business which was eighty percent of what he bought. Now he had come home with foodstuffs and other things he bought for home use.
He sank into the weak sofa tiredly and let out a deep breath. Everywhere was silent, except for the sounds of the fan blades which were just accelerating. Jefa closed his eyes to rest a little but soon sank into a deep sleep.
~
The day was bright and sunny. The singing heard from every corner of the street was enough to announce to an alien that it was Sunday and churches were having their morning services.
Jefa was seated in the passengers side of the white Range Rover, Omotara was driving. They both looked happy, dressed in matching white native attires. Jefa was moving slowly to the sound of the worship song being played, Omotara was miming along.
They got into the church compound and Omotara followed the directions of the Traffic Marshals and stopped where they instructed her to. She switched off the AC and killed the car engine. In few seconds, both of them stepped out of the car. It was Thanksgiving Sunday, they could hear the Thanksgiving hymn being led by the choir and sang by the large congregation. Omotara held with her her tablet device which contained a Bible and writing applications while Jefa preferred to go with a paper Bible, a pen and a notepad.
The ushers welcomed them warmly and handed them the Thanksgiving leaflet before directing them to the available seats. They got comfortable seats close to the centre of auditorium and dropped their Bibles and gadgets on the chair while they joined the congregation to complete the hymn being sang.

Few minutes later, they were seated and other segments of the service began. Several Thanksgiving verses were read from the Bible and different categories of people are called out to dance round the church and give their Thanksgiving offerings. Omotara and Jefa stood up and joined the group when the coordinator called out those who surrendered their lives to Christ in that year. They had their Thanksgiving envelopes in their hands as they danced to the front of the altar with the other people in their category.
The dancing paused when they got to the front of the pulpit and very few people with outstanding testimonies were called out to share with the rest of the congregation. They dropped their offerings and began to dance back to their seats, Jefa noticed that Omotara was distracted. She had seen something and slowed her dance steps. She was flashing her teeth happily at someone. Jefa glanced at the choir stand and saw Henry seated in front of the keyboard, flashing his teeth back at them happily. He took a hand off the keyboard and waved at them. Omotara and Jefa waved back and faced front.
Just before they passed the front row, they saw another familiar face seated on the second row. He was a government official who had once done them evil, he was shaking his legs to the beat of the song being played. Omotara smiled on seeing him but Jefa was indifferent. Reason being that Omotara had forgiven him and other offenders since she repented but Jefa was still trying to completely forgive them. He silently prayed and confessed words of love under his breath.

The government official looked up and met with their gazes. His smile diminished, in fact, he was visibly shaken. Omotara and Jefa ignored him and kept dancing back to their seats.
The church service ended two hours later and some church members began to depart to their homes immediately while most began to greet themselves and break into groups. Omotara politely excused herself from Jefa and made her way to the choir stand to meet Henry. She met him about standing up from the keyboard. There were three people arranging chairs in front of him, they were those who wanted to learn how to play the keyboard.
‘Hi,’ Henry greeted with a smile on seeing her. He excused himself from the learners and proceeded towards Omotara.
‘Hello,’ Omotara replied his greetings, with a smile too.
‘I was just planning to come and greet you and your brother before you leave.’ Henry gestured for them to walk to the back.
‘No, don’t bother.’ She refused politely. ‘Don’t keep your students waiting, I’ll extend your greetings to my brother’
‘Hehe’ Henry chuckled. He was staring at something behind her. She glanced back to see.
Jefa was walking towards them, making funny faces. She gave way as he moved closer and had a handshake with Henry.
‘Good morning sir,’ Henry bowed in respect.
‘Good morning Henry,’ Jefa replied. He placed his hands behind him and took glances at the faces of both of them. The way he was looking at them made Henry bow his head in shyness. ‘When are you guys getting married?’ He threw a surprising question.
Omotara stared at her brother with her mouth agape. ‘Married? Who told you we are planning to get married?’ She asked.
‘I don’t need an Angel to tell me that, I can perceive it in my spirit.’ Jefa replied with a smile. He turned to Henry whose face was still bowed. ‘You’re the man, talk to me.’ He said and gave Henry a playful jab on his arm.
‘Brother, come on leave him and let’s go.’ Omotara said playfully and grabbed her brother’s arm. ‘You bring a wife to the altar first, then you can now talk about me.’
She held Jefa’s hand and turned to look at Henry’s face. ‘We’ll be leaving now, I’ll call you when we get home’
‘Let me see you…’ Henry tried to offer.
‘No need,’ Tarasha cut in. ‘Go back to your students.’ She gestured with her eyebrows for him to look back. He glanced back to meet the eyes of his waiting students all fixed on him.
‘Alright then, we’ll talk later.’ He said and waved them bye. Jefa offered him another handshake before turning back to leave.
Henry stood on the same spot and watched them walk out of the auditorium holding hands together. The smile on his face was that of a proud man. He was proud he had being able to help the two of them become better persons. Now they looked happier than they used to be.
In ten minutes time, Omotara was already driving out of the church compound with her brother. The plan was to visit the nearest Mr Biggs outlet and take a meal there since they couldn’t wait to eat before coming to church in the morning.
They spotted the closest one and stopped by to take the meal. In another thirty five minutes, they were on their way home. It was after fifteen minutes of driving that Omotara began to notice a black Lexus 2031 model Jeep following them from behind. She kept mute and said nothing to her brother, wanting to verify first in order not to make a false alarm to the unsuspecting man.
‘Where’s this you’re going?’ He asked when she took a route which doesn’t lead to their home. She didn’t reply him, but he could see that her eyes were fixed on the side mirror. He looked back to check what it was. ‘Are they following us?’
‘Definitely, they are.’ She replied.
‘What? Who could that be and why…’ He paused while counting the number of men in the Jeep, two men were seated in front while one was at the back. ‘Three of them, why are they following us?’ He asked no one in particular, he was sure that Omotara was quite as confused as he was.
The roads was in that estate was not too busy with cars that day as it was Sunday. So there was no car obstructing the Jeep from them. Omotara increased the speed of their car. The trailers increased theirs too.
Soon, they began to hear gunshots from behind. Omotara did all she could to hasten their escape but it was futile. The two tyres at the back of the car were deflated wth bullets by the men. Omotara’s driving skills helped her bring their car to a stop, else it would have resulted to an accident, but maybe an accident would have been better.
The Jeep caught up with them and two men came out. One of them remained in the car, it was the same government official they had seen in the church.
The two scary looking men came out with their guns in their hands. They pulled Jefa and Omotara out of the car. The government official soon came to join his boys. Other motorists and pedestrians on the road has turned back and fled on seeing what was happening.
‘Kill the man and bring me the girl.’ He commanded in an evil tone and turned back to the Jeep.
One of the men cocked his gun and pointed it straight at Jefa’s forehead. Jefa could hear Omotara screaming and begging for pity as the bullet was released.
~~~
Henry ushered Agent Dakolo politely into his office, he opened the door and waited for the man to walk in before closing it. He poinresthim to the visitor’s seat and turned round his table to take his seat. He quickly cleared up some documents on his table and faced Dakolo, ready for the interrogation. 
He was prepared for Dakolo, ready to save Omotara from him but prepared to do it wisely. He was going to say everything he knows about her as a friend if they ever discovered that they were. But he wasn’t going to tell him of his personal discovery he made about her being a fraudster. He had also changed the system evidence he had for his investigation about the Canadian number. He then sold a lie to Sylvester, about how he made a mistake in the investigation, that the number was really Canadian. He knew that Sylvester did not swallow the lie but he felt less concerned about it since he had changed the system evidence. That way he could get himself out of any coming trouble as he was just a private investigator who was doing his job.
He was only a bit worried about Sylvester’s new volunteer staff. With the way her intelligence and competence was talked about. She may be able to provide evidence of the number being fake. He didn’t think it was necessary to go and see her again, after he had heard about Dakolo’s coming. He was now thinking of a way to make Sylvester stop her from working any longer with him, before she puts him in trouble.
Dakolo stared around the office quietly, not minding Henry’s eagerness for him to start the questioning. After satisfying his eyes, he turned back to Henry. He placed his elbow on the armrest of the chair and rested his chin on his palm as he stared straight into Henry’s face. 
Henry was uncomfortable, he could not understand the meaning of Dakolo’s stare but the look on the agent’s face suggested that he was disappointed in Henry for something Henry had done.

‘Henry,’ Dakolo finally began after two minutes of silence, he sat up and rested his back properly.
‘Sir,’ Henry replied in low tones, trying to avoid meeting the man’s gaze. 
‘Who is Alexander Evelyn?’ Dakolo asked his first question. 
Henry was silent for some seconds. He knew Dakolo had found out something else and that was the reason for the question. After much contemplation, he finally spoke. ‘She’s my friend.’ 
‘Your friend?’ Dakolo’s eyes widened in surprise. He was not surprised that Henry knew her but he was surprised at the endearing manner by which Henry called her his friend. 
‘Yes, my friend sir.’ Henry insisted. 
‘For how long have you known her?’ 
‘It’s not up to a month yet,’ Henry answered. 
‘That’s recently’
‘Yes’ 
‘How and where did you meet her?’ 
‘I met her in Abuja, we ran into each other in a computer gadgets store’ 
‘And you became friends since then?’ 
‘Our friendship did not start immediately, we still had other encounters after that’ 
‘When did you finally become friends?’ 
Henry scratched his head a little, trying to remember the exact time they started talking, ‘About a week or two after the first encounter.’
‘Was your encounter after or before you started investigating her?’ 
Henry raised his eyebrows, ‘investigating her? I didn’t do anything like that.’
Dakolo   licked his lips and chuckled, ‘Henry, you want to tell me that you are not aware she owns the Canadian number you were sent to investigate?’
‘The client never gave me the owner’s information, he only told me to verify the number’
‘Okay, and you didn’t get the customer’s information?’
‘I wasn’t asked to, so I didn’t go that far’ 
‘I see…’ Dakolo nodded his head slowly as he tried to process all Henry had told him and come up with a new question. Henry seemed confident about his answers, he thought. Maybe he was also a victim and Evelyn Alexander had only used him for her operation. 
‘How close were you to Evelyn?’ Dakolo started again. 
‘Very close. We got so close to each her within a short while.’ Henry replied. 
‘How close? A romantic kind of close?’ Dakolo asked, gesturing with his hands. 
‘Kind of,’ Henry reluctantly answered. ‘We got as close as that sometimes.’ 
Dakolo paused and rested his hands on Henry’s table. He narrowed his gaze and continued. ‘Are you in love with her?’ 
Henry was made temporarily dumb by the question. He didn’t know what answer to give, he didn’t even have the answer. He wasn’t sure if the passion he felt for her wasn’t something more than love. 
‘I don’t know,’ he finally answered. 
Dakolo smiled for her first time that day. He took out his Android device and unlocked it. He operated on it for few seconds before dropping it on the table. 
‘I found out from the file of your kidnap case that she was the same person that you were kidnapped with,’ Dakolo continued. 
‘Yes, she was’ 
‘And you led them all the way to her in Elymax hotel to pick her.’
‘Yes, they were disguised as policemen. They also had similar ID cards to that of the police.’
‘Why didn’t you call someone to report of your arrest?’ 
‘My phone was seized, they didn’t allow me call anyone.’ 
‘Oh true! I read that also,’ Dakolo said, picking up his device again. 
‘Your kidnap, do you think Evelyn knew nothing about it?’ 
‘She couldn’t have known anything, she was also a victim.’ 
‘But the way you escaped from them is still illogical. The explanation you gave doesn’t really make sense. You said you were unconscious?’
‘Yes, I was.’
‘And then she told you that the assassins fought amongst themselves?’ 
‘Yes.’ 
Dakolo smiled again. He read something quickly to himself from his device and dropped it on the table. The smile on his face gave way for a serious look. ‘Were you aware that Evelyn was working with Chief Jubril Lawal?’
Henry thought of lying, but that would only complicate issues for him. He decided to say the truth but hide the extra details. ‘Yes, she told me. The day before we were kidnapped, I was with her when Dare Lawal also came to see her.’ 
‘Did you know before that time that they knew each other?’
‘No, I was just getting to know Evelyn.’
‘Okay, what happened that day?’ 
‘Dare came in and met us seated together in the restaurant. He was furious and couldn’t wait, he rushed away from the place immediately’ 
‘And did she follow him?’
‘No, she stayed with me. I told her my story.’ 
‘And how did she react?’
‘Ermm… Just the way every other person would react.’ Henry replied, consciously omitting the information about her “God outburst” and her story which she also told him. 
‘Okay… When then did she tell you about her business with Chief Jubril?’
‘After I told her my story.’
‘And wasn’t that the same day you were given the job to investigate the number?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you by any chance mention to her about the job?’
‘No, I wasn’t even aware that the job was for Jubril Lawal then’ 
‘And you think she didn’t find out in any other way, before or after that day?’
‘I don’t think so, she never mentioned a word about it to me and I never did also.’
‘Okay, so you were kidnapped the next day and didn’t spend up to twenty four hours with the kidnappers?’
‘Yes.’
‘Don’t you think the kidnap is related to Chief Jubril’s job?’
‘No, the main suspects I have are Dare Lawal and Samantha Osman.’
‘Samantha Osman?’
‘Yes, then I was on her case and I thought it could be her team that carried out the kidnap.’ 
Dakolo gave a brief laugh at Henry’s last words. Henry was now sounding more like a victim of circumstance to him now. He wondered how Henry would feel if he hears that Evelyn could have been Samantha. 
‘But right now, who do you think it was?’ 
‘I don’t know’
‘We now know your kidnappers,’ Dakolo announced, he saw Henry’s face brighten up a little. ‘But they are all dead,’ he added. Henry looked confused. 
‘Dead?’ 
‘Yes, but the strange thing is that they all died in the same events centre that Jubril Lawal and Dare died. They were murdered by the same assassin group.’ 
Dakolo sighed and picked up his device again. He opened it and clicked some commands in. 

‘Henry,’ Dakolo called softly in readiness to ask the main question. He was sure in his heart of Henry’s innocence about the assassination but as a detective, he couldn’t let his heart deceive him, he must throw his questions as strict and professional as possible even if he had an emotional attachment to the interrogatee.
‘Did you attend Chief Jubril’s birthday party?’ His face had lost all his smiles, warning Henry not to try denying the truth. If Henry would deny his presence in the party, then it meant that Dakolo’s heart had been deceiving him, Henry was surely working for Samantha’s group and all his innocent way of answering questions was just an act. 
Henry stopped to think for some seconds. He thought of answering no since he wasn’t an invitee but just accompanied Omotara to the event. No one knew about his attendance, so it was better if he hid it completely. He cleared his throat. ‘I…’
~~~~~
Jefa grabbed his chest as he felt like a sword just pierced through his heart. He was panting heavily and sweating profusely despite the high speed of the fan blades. He fell on his knees, still feeling the pain in his chest, and trying to fathom what happened to him. 
It was all a dream. He rubbed his sweaty forehead with his hand and got up. He tried to stretch his body, the pain was reducing slowly. After stretching, he sat back and began to ponder what the dream could mean. This was the second dream he was having in recent times and the both dreams had ended badly. Does it mean that reuniting with Omotara will bring them ill luck? Then if that was the case, he was ready to give up reuniting with her. It was better for them to go on with their lives the way they have been living and for him to act as if he hadn’t seen her. He took out his phone and searched for Henry’s number. He stared at it for some seconds before deleting it from the phone memory. 
~~~~
‘Thank you ma,’ the visitor’s appreciated as Mrs Attahiru ushered them into her office. 
‘Please, have your seats.’ She pointed them to the three seats already prepared for them and turned to seat on her own swivel. 
‘Thank you,’ Mr Alfred, the elderly man who led the team appreciated once again. 
‘You’re welcome,’ Mrs Attahiru gave a warm smile. She was dressed neatly in a black skirt suit, looking smarter than other elderly women of her age. She had an eyeglass with think lenses on. Her dark hair was plaited neatly in a traditional style, it was obvious that the hair was dyed as it look too black and without grey strands for a woman of her age. 
‘I was glad when we were informed that we were going to have Nigerian representatives from your organization,’ the woman began with a smile. ‘It’s good to have sons of the soil relate with us. I believe you’ll be more passionate about people in your own country.’ 
‘Actually ma, we were the ones who initiated this project.’ Mr Alfred joined cheerfully. ‘We pushed in Nigeria when the organization was trying to select an African country.’
‘Wow! That’s what I’m talking about. I know you guys would have more passion for your country.’ She remarked happily. 
‘Yes ma, there are lots of needs in our country and we recognize that. That’s why we mentioned your foundation which is recognized for the good works it has carried out all over Africa.’ 
‘Nice, I hope we’ll have a great time working with you.’
‘You’ll surely do ma.’ Mr Alfred assured with a kind smile. ‘Like we agreed before ma, we’ll carry out the distribution this Saturday. We have the funds available already. All we need is to do it under the name of your organization. The bags of rice would be ready tomorrow. But I don’t know how ready your team is for inspection.’ 
‘Humm… We may not really need to do so much inspection.’ She said, adjusting her eyeglass. ‘The supplier is a partner of ours and we are sure of their quality, we’ll just do a brief overview.’ 
‘That’s okay, deal done then.’ Mr Alfred and his whole team smiled. 
‘Yes.’ Mrs Attahiru joined them. 
‘One more thing ma,’ Mr Alfred quickly added. Mrs Attahiru paused to pay attention. ‘We’ve been thinking of organizing a conference here in Nigeria in collaboration with your organization. We want to use the conference to inspire the wealthy citizens towards devoting their time to helping the less privileged in the society.’
‘Wow! That’s a nice idea.’ Mrs Attahiru’s face brightened up. ‘We’ll be glad to work with you on that.’ 
‘Thanks.’
‘Yeah but ermm…’ She paused as a thought came into her mind. ‘How are you planning to achieve that? You know that the wealthy people in our society may snub conferences like that giving excuses of their busy schedule. Most of them may see it as a fund raising event and just send peanuts to our account without coming for the conference itself.’
Mr Alfred smiled, ‘We are aware of that challenge ma and we have a plan to fix it already.’ 
‘Can you share the plan?’ Mrs Attahiru seemed excited. 
‘Simple! We are going to be inviting elites from other countries whose charity works have been laudable. When those in Nigeria hear of the top profile people coming, who are far wealthier than they are, they won’t be able to snub the conference.’
‘Hmm…’ Mrs Attahiru was speechless.
Mr Alfred chuckled, ‘it’s a huge program that’ll require a lot of money but we are ready to fund it. Some of our partners in Europe are also ready to provide maximum support.’ 
‘Nice,’ Mrs Attahiru was visibly wowed by their plan. 
‘We’ll need something important ma,’ Mr Alfred quickly put in, acting like it just came into his mind.
‘What’s that?’
‘This project is a huge project and we’ll need a lot of support from the government. We’ll like to meet with the Senate President who is your son and relay this plan to him.’ 
~~~
Henry stopped to think for some seconds. He thought of answering no since he wasn’t an invitee but just accompanied Omotara to the event. No one knew about his attendance, so it was better if he hid it completely. He cleared his throat. ‘I…’
The doorbell interrupted. Henry paused to check who it was on his computer. Frank it was, standing with a laptop in his hands.
‘I thought I told you I was coming to do something urgent and important.’ Frank muttered with so much disgust in his voice. ‘I’m busy Frank,’ he said into the transmitter. ‘Please come back later, or better still, I’ll join you when I’m done.’ He watched Frank leave before turning back to Dakolo. Dakolo’s eyes showed his impatience to receive the response to the question he had asked.
Henry cleared his throat as he was about to continue. ‘I…’ Henry tried to continue but couldn’t. Somehow he felt a strange kind of fear surge through his heart. One that told him that he was about to put himself in deep trouble. His head began to ache him severely, he felt as if his head was being used to play football.
‘I’m still waiting,’ Dakolo said impatiently on seeing Henry’s reluctance to talk.
‘I did,’ Henry finally said, releasing a deep breath alongside with it.
A bitter frown formed on Dakolo’s face. He felt disappointed in Henry for attending a party organized by Jubril, somehow in his heart, he was hoping that Henry would have proof enough to claim that he wasn’t in the party and that the person seen in the photo was just a lookalike or the camera position had only made their faces resemble. But he was still happy that Henry did not deny the truth, that would have showed that he was guilty.
He was also sure that Henry felt remorse for attending the party, the reluctance to answer the question already showed Henry’s disappointment in himself and regret for attending the party.

~+~
‘Miss Kimberly,’ Sylvester called as he proceeded towards her table. He had given her a space in an open office with four other occupants to stay. She was at the end corner of the office while two other tables were on the same line with hers. The tables were several centimetres away from each other, giving each occupier space and privacy.
All eyes followed Sylvester behind as he marched on to Kimberly. The other employees who were sub regional staffs had been surprised when Sylvester introduced her as a special staff who was to share the same office with them. As far as they knew, she had no specific job description or duty, some of them had began to spread rumours that she was Sylvester’s concubine.
‘Kimberly,’ Sylvester called again as he dropped a paper on the table,  ‘I want you to confirm if this number was cloned or not, can you do it?’
Kimberly took the paper from the table and looked into it. She took in a deep breath and made her acceptance known with a nod to Sylvester. ‘Yes sir, I can.’
‘How long would it take you to get back to me?’ Sylvester asked.
‘Before the end of the day.’ She replied.
‘What??’ He opened his eyes widely in shock and folded his arms, staring at her like she was an alien. She stared back at him in surprise. He calmed himself and lowered his voice. ‘Mr Henry asked for three days to work on it.’
Kimberly chuckled. ‘Yes, it’s even possible to use up to a week or more, especially when you have to contact the network providers over there. Why I can use less than a day is because I already have links there, I have links in Canada. If not, I would have needed to use three to four days too.’
‘Okay, I understand.’
‘Yes… But sir,’ Kimberly stared into his eyes. ‘I thought you said Mr Henry did it already?’
‘Yes,’ Sylvester replied with a sigh. He pulled an empty chair and sat on it. ‘He did it when the late Chief Jubril requested for it but now it’s the police that needs it. A senior agent just gave me the job to do now’
Kimberly stared at him, still unsatisfied with his answer. In just two days, she had become so comfortable with him to the extent of questioning him. She had been his lecturer for that two days, explaining to him several things which she did that he didn’t have knowledge of. ‘What about his report?’ She asked.
‘It’s with him,’ Sylvester answered with another sigh. ‘It’s just that we want the investigation to be carried out by another person.’
‘Okay, but can I still get the report? I Just need to check out some processes that would make the job easier. With that we can even finish the job in less than an hour.’
‘Mr Henry is busy right now with the Agent in his office, and he is not even aware that we are carrying out a reinvestigation,’ Sylvester explained in a very low voice. ‘The Agent wants me to keep it secret from him, so I can’t go to him.’
‘It’s okay sir, I’ll do what I can do.’ She replied and began to work immediately on the laptop.
‘Thanks,’ Sylvester said with a smile. ‘We’ll need to discuss tomorrow and conclude on the terms of your job, so that you can start fully.’
‘Huh?’ Kimberly opened her mouth in surprise, looking elated by the news. ‘Does that mean I’ve gotten a job already.’
‘Yes,’ Sylvester replied happily too. ‘For the rest of this month, you’ll work with me and I’ll be responsible for you while we try to create a space for you and sort out your responsibilities.’
‘Thank you sir, I’m grateful.’ Kimberly got up to thank him, covering her mouth with her palms to show her extreme happiness.
‘It’s okay.’

~+~
Ken and a junior officer sat in front of the computer, the junior officer scrolling through some pictures with the aid of the mouse while Ken paid special attention to the screen. After going through the pictures of Mrs Dakolo’s daughter earlier, they selected the two pictures of the blue suited man who was said to accompany the Canadian business lady to the party. The new pictures that were being examined were pictures taken by the press after the assassination had occurred. The press had come to take pictures and videos of the scene after the news of the man’s death broke out to them. This particular set of report was the one gotten from the desert reporters.
They finished viewing the pictures without seeing anything significant and moved on to the videos. After playing two videos, the third and last one was being played. A desert reporter was in front of the camera reporting the sad incident. The advanc scene was videoed was the car park.
‘It’s okay,’ Ken said when the video was about to come to an end without any useful thing seen. ‘Make sure you copy those files completely before returning the flash drive to them, I’ll need to see everything again.’ Ken ordered and got up from his seat, stretching his body.
‘Okay sir,’ the junior officer replied and clicked on the pause icon.
‘Oh!’ Ken exclaimed as his face met the screen again. ‘What’s that?’ He asked pointing at something on the screen. ‘Please play.’
The blue suited man was incidentally captured by the camera, it looked as if he was looking for something at the park.
‘Zoom it,’ Ken ordered in a loud voice. The officer zoomed the video and clicked pause. Henry’s face was shown but not too clear there. Ken couldn’t recognize who it was. ‘Take a screenshot and send it to Femi, let him search for that face and get back to me as soon as possible.’

~+~
‘How come you attended the birthday party? I could have never imagined that you’ll ever attend any function organized by Chief Jubril,’ Dakolo said in a painful tone.
Dakolo’s stare was piercing through Henry’s heart, making him feel more guilty and regret going that day with Omotara. Henry bowed his head, ashamed of himself, he couldn’t speak also.
‘You were even one of the well dressed males in the event.’ Dakolo continued. ‘What did you go there to do? To have revenge?’ Dakolo began to raise his voice in anger.
Henry took a quick glance at Dakolo’s face at the sound of the revenge allegation. ‘No, nothing like that sir, He tried to find his voice.
‘Then explain why you went to the party with Samantha Osman?’
‘Samantha Osman?’
‘Yes, that Evelyn was Samantha Osman.’ Dakolo alleged, in a bid to make Henry confess if he ever had any suspicion or was aware if Evelyn was the same as Samantha.
‘Evelyn is not Samantha,’ Henry argued, sure in his heart that he was saying the truth.
‘She is Samantha,’ Dakolo insisted with a strong note. He got up from the seat and picked his device, he unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and rolled them up.
He got beside the wall and stood directly under the air conditioner. He stared at Henry from where he was. ‘Your Evelyn is the same person as Samantha Osman,’ he stated again.
Henry shook his head in disagreement. ‘A man was the one who killed Jubril Lawal, not a lady. So we shouldn’t even be talking about Samantha Osman now in relation to Chief Jubril’s murder. Furthermore, Evelyn could be anything else; she’s not a killer.’
Dakolo gave a chuckle and walked away from the wall back to his seat. He sat down and positioned himself to face Henry. ‘Since everybody is saying that it was a man who killed Chief Jubril, then that man must be you, Samantha sent you.’
‘No, why would I do such? I can’t kill anyone neither have I come across any Samantha Osman.’

‘Damn! You did it to take your revenge of course.’ Dakolo hit his hand on the table violently, making Henry more uncomfortable and scared of the situation. ‘The man and his son were your enemies, you killed the both of them on that same day and You didn’t kill them only, you also killed your kidnappers.’
Henry’s mouth was left open in shock. He couldn’t believe that the Dakolo could accuse him of assassination. Dakolo’s phone rang, he took out his phone and stood up on seeing the caller.
‘Officer Ken…’ Dakolo spoke softly, walking slowly to the window area. ‘You… ‘He said in a shocked tone and made a quick turn to Henry, he tried to conceal his surprise. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll do that myself.’ He said and cut the call.
Henry was still perplexed by all that was happening, his heart couldn’t accept Dakolo’s allegation that Evelyn was the same person as Samantha Osman. He couldn’t agree that she wasn’t Samantha Osman or an assassin but he was quite sure that she was Omotara Danjuma, a fraudster.

He could remember well how she left him at the table that day and never returned, he also remembered that she mysteriously disappeared from the place but his feelings for her had beclouded his sense of reasoning.
Dakolo gave Henry the shock of his life when after he ended the call, he took out a key and removed an handcuff from behind as he proceeded towards the table.
‘I’m sorry Henry, this has gone beyond my personal investigation. You’re expected in our station right away. ’Consider it done.’

...to be continued.