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Maya and Julie were always best friends. They have been best friends since they were born. One day, they were playing a game of tic-tac-toe in Maya's house.
"Your turn, Julie." Maya said having fun. Julie puts a cross down.
"I win!" Julie smiled. The girls laughed together and decided to play again. Julie puts a cross and then Maya puts a circle, then Julie puts a cross and she began to confess that she won.
"I win again!" Julie cheered having fun. But, Maya didn't look happy.
"You cheated, Julie!" Maya shouted.
"No I didn't!" Julie argued back.
"You took two turns!" Maya bawled angrily at her friend.
"No I didn't!" Julie bawled louder and angrier at her friend.
"Julie, I don't want to play with you anymore!" Maya screamed looking away.
"And I don't want to play with you anymore!" Julie yelled.
Maya and Julie suddenly got into a fight. They turned their backs on each other and decided to not be best friends anymore. Julie's mother arrived and was ready to pick up her daughter.
"Julie Darling, say goodbye to Maya." Julie's mother reminded her.
"I am NOT going to ever talk to her." Julie shouted ignorantly pointing to Maya.
"And I am NOT going to ever talk to her, she's NOT my best friend anymore." Maya yelled pointing to Julie.
Maya sighed. Julie just left the house without saying goodbye to Maya. Mum began to notice that Maya and Julie began to not get along together.
It was time for dinner. Maya was feeling miserable even when she came to the dinner table.
"Is there anything wrong, Maya?" Dad asked her.
"Maya just had a fight with Julie." Mum answered.
"Julie and I fought, but I miss her a little bit." Maya sighed downheartedly.
"Do you want to speak to her then?" Mum smiled.
Mum grabbed her mobile phone and began to ring Julie's mother.
"Can Maya speak to Julie please?" Mum questioned Julie's mother. Mum now passed the phone to her daughter.
"Hi Julie," Maya spoke unhappily. "I miss you being a friend."
"Me too, I think we should be best friends again." Julie replied miserably.
"I am very sorry for saying that you cheated. Even if you did." Maya said.
Julie grunted and just switched off the phone.
"Julie switched off the phone." Maya said. "That does not work. But I can find another best friend."
At school the kids were playing their favourite games. Kyle and his best friend Jim were playing chess together. James and his best friend Desmond were playing with the lego together. Julie was drawing by herself. Maya was fixing a jigsaw puzzle by herself. There came Vivian who wanted to play with the jigsaw puzzle.
"Of course Vivian you can play with the jigsaw. Julie is not my best friend anymore. So you can be my best friend." Maya smiled grabbing Vivian's arm.
"But, my best friend is Penny." Vivian told her. Penny came to Vivian and Maya didn't look happy seeing them having fun together.
Drawing alone, there came Claudia approaching the felt tips.
"Claudia," Julie said. "If you like, we can be best friends."
"But, my best friend is Molly." Claudia told her. Suddenly they began drawing together. Julie sighed.
Suddenly the teacher Ms. Merry came over to Julie, because she was alone.
"Julie, are you ok?" Ms. Merry asked with concern. "It seems to me that you look bored." Maya rapidly came over to Julie. Ms. Merry looked at her. "Why don't you play with Maya?"
"I was about to do that." Maya said. "I was about to ask her to play with me."
"Good, you two were best friends for a very long time and I'm sure you are now." Ms. Merry smiled.
"We are not. I was mad at her yesterday." Maya frowned.
"Me too, but we miss our friendship. Do you know one way we can be friends again?" Julie questioned Ms. Merry.
"Well, the only way to become friends again is to apologize. Especially when you did something to make each other mad." Ms. Merry smiled. "So you should apologize now."
"Only when she apologizes first." Maya said pointing to Julie.
"No, only when she apologizes to me first. " Julie said pointing to Maya.
"Well girls, when I count to three you say 'sorry' at the same time." Ms. Merry smiled. "1........2...........3!"
"I'm sorry!" The girls apologized together. Ms. Merry beamed at them.
"Now you two are good friends. Right?" Ms. Merry said.
Julie asked Maya to draw together. But, Maya wanted to play with the jigsaw puzzles.
"But I want to play jigsaw puzzles." Maya said.
"No drawing is better!" Julie beamed.
"Jigsaw!"
"Drawing!"
"Jigsaw!"
"Drawing!"
All of a sudden, Julie had an idea. She drew both her and Maya together with a label that says 'best friends forever'.
"Julie, this is a lovely drawing of us. You are my best friend in the whole wide world!" Maya smiled happily.
"And Maya is my best friend in the whole wide world!" Julie beamed at her best friend.
Ms. Merry felt glad that the girls were best friends again. Best friends can have little fights too.
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‘I don’t remember her name’ Dr. Hammed stated for the umpteenth time

He was sweating in the air conditioned room though he was putting on very light clothes, the endless sessions of interrogation which started on Saturday had begun to wear him out.

At first, it was the EFCC who started questioning him on Saturday, their lists of questions never seemed to end. Several of the officials would come asking questions, most which he didn’t have answers to, they would leave after they had threatened him and didn’t get results, only for a superior to to show up in a space of two to three hours with another set of questions when he thought the session had ended.

He had already sworn to return all the monies he had stolen and kept in both foreign and Nigerian banks after the officials at the EFCC cracked him, so that his judgment in the court would be tendered with mercy.  He now wondered why the police were after him again, he returned to his house from the EFCC’s headquarters only to be welcomed by a letter from the police criminal investigation department inviting him for another session of interrogation.

‘We heard that you had an unusual experience on Friday after the Unilag girl visited’ An Inspector whose name he found out to be James asked, another dark skinned inspector was standing close to him.

‘I didn’t have any unusual experience’ the man countered.

‘But you slept off during working hours’ James focused his eyes on him and smiled mockingly. ‘Or is that how you sleep off lazily at work?’

James pushed a button with his statement and it was visible on Dr. Hammed’s face, he wished he could land a heavy punch on James’ face but his situation would only worsen if he acted stupidly.


‘Sorry sir’ James apologized calmly, ‘but we only want to help you, if you just tell us the truth , it would make our investigations easier and we would stop disturbing you’

‘I slept off truly’ Dr Hammed finally gave in. ‘I think I took something poisonous that day’

‘Did you found out what it was you took?’

‘No, I didn’t have the time. I’ve been very busy’

‘But was sleep the only effect it had on you?’

‘No’ the doctor stuttered for a while. ‘It came with loss of memory, I didn’t remember some of the things I did before I slept off’

‘Like two hours before you slept?’

‘Yes’ the doctor glanced at his face suddenly. ‘How did you know the duration of time?’

‘Calm down sir’ James said and stood from the table he was sitting on. ‘Some of our men had a similar experience like that recently. For how long did you sleep that day?’

‘I don’t really remember, but I slept until someone woke me when it was almost closing hours’ He paused, licked his lips and continued. ‘But my eyes were still very heavy when I got home that day, I slept off without even taking dinner till morning the next day’

‘Hmm, maybe you were poisoned with the same substance as our men’ James stated, he returned to his former position on the table. ‘They slept from evening till early the next morning when they were found’

‘Incredible! Someone must have played far on me’ the doctor exclaimed, covering his lips with his two hands.

‘You said you slept off after she visited?’ James pushed further immediately, taking advantage of the man’s new mood.

‘I don’t know when she visited, but everyone said I didn’t come out of the office for several hours after I went in with her’

‘You see, you need to remember her name so that we can trace her, she might just be a very dangerous criminal’ James emphasized.

Dr Hammed remained silent for some minutes, he cracked his brain furiously for answers. ‘I saw her name on a notepad she left in my office on Thursday, I don’t really remember but I know her first name was not a Nigerian native name’

‘Try harder sir, you can remember’

‘ I’m trying, I don’t just know what happened to me. Since then I’ve been forgetting things very quickly’

‘Well, our only hope for now is her name’

The doctor scratched his head, looking at James’ face, a feeling of regret suddenly took over him. He regretted the day he submitted his application to Derl Pharmacy, the day he was promoted and started to work closely with Dr Daniel Umaru and the day he succumbed to doing dubious deals with Dr Umaru.

Now, he was going to loose all he had gathered all his life, both the ones gotten legally and illegally. The case had prompted EFCC to investigate deeper and they dug out several other dubious deals that Dr Umaru had done, including his name in the ones he didn’t even know about. There was no way out for him, the only thing he could get was a very short prison sentence and that was why he decided to give up all his assets.

‘Her name is Samantha Osman, she’s a 300Level pharmacy student of the University of Lagos’ Dr. Hammed recited suddenly, his face glowed as he spoke.

‘Samantha Osman, 300Level pharmacy student of Unilag’ James repeated, scribbling it into his notepad.

‘Yes, that’s it’ Dr Hammed affirmed.

‘Good’ James smiled as he glanced at the details written down once again. ‘Do you also remember now if you saw her do anything suspicious when she went into the conference room with you?’

‘No, I didn’t see her do anything there. She only helped me move something from my office into the room’

‘Alright, I think it’s okay for now’ James got up from the table again. ‘Thank you for your cooperation, we’ll get back to you if we need any other help from you’

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

**07.11.2030**

*5.30am*

Cole’s mouth was left agape as he watched Tarasha silently from the window exercising her body, he was counting the number of pushups she was doing and she just got to two hundred without struggling or showing any sign of tiredness.

He couldn’t hold it anymore, he closed the curtains and rushed outside to join her. She was already dusting off herself when he got outside. He was so disappointed as he hoping to see more action from her when he got outside.

‘Good morning Cole’ she greeted first, ‘how are you?’

‘Good morning Boss, I’m fine’ he replied, with a note of disappointment still hidden in his voice.

‘Why did you stay there peeping for so long instead of coming to join me?’ Cole was taken aback by the questioned.

‘How did you know I was peeping?’ He asked.

‘I saw you’ she replied smiling, ‘even if I didn’t see you, I feel it when a pair of eyes watches me’

‘Wow! But you didn’t towards the window side at all?’ He was confused.

‘I didn’t have to look there with my physical eyes, every part of me including the physical and non physical pays attention to the environment’

Cole shook his head, he tried to assimilate what she said but ended up greatly mystified. He wondered what it would be like if Tarasha comes against him, he’ll definitely be hopeless and helpless. Tarasha’s fear increased in his heart rapidly.

‘I noticed you’re the one who wakes up very early amongst the three of you’ she disrupted his thoughts.

‘Yes, I wake up most times before Benny and Aisha does’ he responded.

‘That’s good’ she said and began walking towards the well, Cole walked with her. She suddenly turned and faced him. ‘You have to learn very well from this operation henceforth’

He stared at her face, the look on her face sought more explanation to what she started.

‘I have an assignment for you’ she continued, ‘You have to complete the first operation we did’

‘The first operation? Didn’t we finish off the minister already?’ He asked, puzzled.

‘Yes, we finished off the minister but did not eliminate every trace’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Listen carefully’ she said sternly, ‘we left some traces that would be used to find us in the minister’s operation and it is possible that we are discovered sooner or later’

‘What? Why? How?’ His heartbeat increased

‘Calm down Cole’ she said and took three steps further before going on with the discussion. ‘If anyone is going to trace that murder successfully, it must be a very competent officer’

‘But…’

‘Shh…’ She hushed, a smile gradually appeared on her face. ‘Don’t be scared Cole, it’s only a game, my favorite game and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too’

‘How? I don’t understand’

‘Its a game between myself and the police’ she said and then gave a wicked smile. ‘You, Cole will be my avatar for this first round’

‘Boss, you’re only confusing further’ Cole was beginning to get frustrated.

‘I want to weaken the security system in the state’ She walked further to the well and picked up the fetching bucket. ‘The trace is only going to lead a competent officer and his team to our trap and you will single handedly handle them when they come. Ot would be done in a way that would pount directly to you’

‘I’m still confused’ he said.

‘Don’t worry, you’ll understand later’ she said, drawing out water from the well. ‘Go in and wake the others, it’s time to reveal or mission here to you guys’

Cole’s mind was greatly troubled as he walked away slowly into the house, he tried to figure out what she meant. She mentioned that he was her avatar in the game, that might possibly mean that she was playing games with him and his life was in danger.

She also said that she didn’t eliminate all traces in the last operation so that the police could trace them and she’d set him up to face the police. That was something he had never done before, he never singlehandedly handled a police team before, he was only good at escaping when the police pursued a group of them and not when he was the only one being pursued.

How on earth was he even going to escape if a team of ten to twenty officers were sent to him? He wasn’t even supposed to escape, the purpose of the game was to weaken the police force, that means he had to defeat the team.

The thought alone sent shivers down his spine and he quickly uttered a prayer that moment. ‘Lord, if it is your will, let this cup pass over me’. But he wasn’t Christ neither did he follow Christ, so God would not answer his prayer. He resolved in his mind to run away if she insisted on setting him up with the police.

**
Tarasha walked in after ten minutes to meet Cole, Benny and Aisha already waiting for her in the sitting room.

‘Good morning Boss’ Benny and Aisha greeted.

‘Good morning’ she answered and took suitable seat which faced three of them. ‘I hope you guys are ready for today’s job’

‘Today’s job?’ Aisha spoke lazily, yawning. ‘I thought we did everything already. We cleaned the house, cleared the bushes and …’

‘Shut up’ Tarasha scowled angrily, making the jovial girl shocked. ‘Are you crazy? Do you think that’s all we came here to do?’

‘I’m sorry ma’ Aisha replied in low tones, greatly terrified. She wondered what went wrong and why Tarasha who was friendly with them the day before had suddenly become cold.

Tarasha got up swiftly, her frown changed into a smile surprising her audience more.

‘Are you scared?’ She asked laughin loudly, mocking Aisha who was shaky already. ‘I’m not angry, I was only teaching you something, learn to switch your mood as it pleases you, don’t let your feelings control you. So it’s time to switch to the work mode’

Aisha heaved a sigh of relief, her rapidly increased heartbeat speed returned to normal. The two guys just watched in awe, wishing they could switch modes like that too.

‘We’ll start real work today’ Tarasha interrupted their thoughts. ‘We must drop our target, Kelechi Edwin before the end of the month’

Realization hit them as she walked away, Tarasha had brought them on a suicide mission. Killing the governor of Rivers State in office, with the quality of security surrounding him was an impossible mission
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**Twenty minutes later, with the receptionist, in the junior Pharmacist’s office***
‘Do you recall any student that visited Dr. Hammed last week?’ James began the questioning section.
‘Student? Dr. Hammed rarely has visitors’ the receptionist replied, narrowing her eyes, she struggled to remember those who visited the past week
‘But a student visitor was with him in his office last week’ James pressed on. ‘Precisely on Monday’
‘Yeah! That’s true!’ She exclaimed, remembering a certain pharmacy student who visited. ‘There was a Unilag girl who was here to see him last week’
‘Who’s she? Was that the first time you saw her here? Do you know what she came for?’
‘No, I saw her for the first time on Thursday the previous week, she came asking about Dr. Daniel Umaru and I told her that he doesn’t have her time’
‘So?’
‘She was making trouble with me when Dr. Hammed saw us, he then asked her to come back on Friday to see him’
‘What did she want to see want to see Dr. Umaru for?’
‘About the conference and I told her to check our website for more information but she insisted on seeing the Doctor’
‘Hmmm, the conference’ James glanced at Segun who nodded; it seemed they were making progress already. ‘Did you suspect anything unusual about her?’
‘No, she was just a stubborn University student’
‘Nothing unusual happened when she was here?’
‘No except on Friday when Dr. Hammed slept off during work hours, that was very unusual of him’
‘He slept off after meeting with her?’
‘Yes, he slept off after she left his office and…’ she paused, she narrowed her gaze. ‘We had to remind him about a lot of things when he woke up’
‘How did you know that he forgot a lot of things’
‘I know’ she sounded confident. ‘For example, he came to ask if some of our clients which he was expecting to visit him came that day, whereas they met him when he came, he even followed them out to the reception when they were leaving’
‘You saw him come down with them?’
‘Yes, he came down with them and went back to his office with Tarasha’ she affirmed. ‘I was surprised when he came down several hours time to ask if I had seen any of the clients or if they had call to inform us that they were not coming anymore’
‘Interesting’ James nodded slowly, thinking deeply about all he heard and trying to draw a conclusion from it.
‘You said she is a student of Unilag, what’s her name and what course does she study?’
‘She didn’t tell me’ the receptionist lied, not remembering if the Unilag girl mentioned her name. ‘But she’s a student of pharmacy’
‘Okay, thank you very much. We’ll get back to you if we need more information and please, don’t hesitate to provide us with any you remember’ James concluded.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
**5pm**
Benny grouched within himself as they drove past the developed areas of Orugbum, he glanced at the compass application on Tarasha’s device; they were still on track, now very close to their new lodge. He wondered what kind of job they came to do, which required a desolate place like this to work from.
At five pm, they finally got to the place which the compass was indicating; it was a large bushy compound, with a hold rickety house in the middle. A water well with several green plants grown on it was at the left side of the house. They drove in through the widely opened rusted black gate.
Cole and Aisha also drove into the compound in a Benz after Benny brought the truck to a halt at a far distance from the house. The vehicles couldn’t go close any further because of the thick bushes that had grown in front of the house.
Tarasha was the first to jump down from the truck, she placed her both hands on her waist, turning round as she surveyed the place with her eyes. She walked to Cole and Aisha, demanding that the boot of their car be opened. Her request was granted immediately, Cole came out of the car to join her, Benny was also trudging towards them.
Tarasha brought out three tools bags from booth, dropping them on the floor. She opened one which contained machetes and some other clearing equipments.
‘I believe you know the reason we need this now’ she said smiling, motioning Cole and Benny to grab their tools. ‘Make a clear path to the entrance of the house
Benny and Cole obeyed the order while Tarasha opened another bag, a bigger one. She brought out some satellite devices and scattered them on the floor, carefully selecting the ones she needed . Aisha came to join her.
‘We’ve got no foodstuffs here, start making a list of everything we need. Someone would go to the town with you to get them’ Tarasha said to Aisha. She picked up another machete and put some of the devices in an empty bag, then she proceeded to the various sections of the compound she had already selected to install the GPS and network devices, clearing the way with the machete as she walked.
They all converge where there vehicles were parked after completing their tasks. All looked dirty except for Aisha, who as a result lost confidence to talk them about eating seeing their condition.
‘We need water ‘ Tarasha stated an obvious fact.
‘I have only little water here’ Aisha said, she opened the car and brought out a 100cl bottle of water
‘We need more’ Cole said sharply after taking a glance at the bottle.
‘There’s a well over there’ Benny joined, pointing to the left side where the well was.
‘What do we use to fetch from it?’ Cole questioned.
‘Let’s check the house’ Benny replied him, ‘we may be lucky to find something to use’
With that, the group proceeded into the house except for Cole who went to first inspect the well.
The entrance door gave way easily to a soft kick from Tarasha. The sitting room had been taken over by cobwebs, dusts and several other impure particles. The black turned grey old fashioned sofas had already become a habitat for little flying insects. Red headed lizards, cockroaches, ants and rats of various sizes were also seen sprinting in different directions for safety as the group walked in.
A look of disgust appeared on Benny and Aisha’s faces while Tarasha remained indifferent. The chaotic condition of the house was little compared to several other situations she had experienced during her training, so it didn’t mean much to her.
‘The water in the well is so dirty, I don’t think… ‘ Cole was saying as he walked in through the entrance, he stopped abruptly on noticing the condition in which the house was. He gave a prolonged whistle and stood dumbfounded, forgetting temporarily about the need for water.
‘Huh? What tha hell is wrong?’ Tarasha slammed glancing at their faces one after the other, she turned to Aisha. ‘Where’s the list I asked you to make?’
‘Here is it’ Aisha handed a piece of paper to her.
After scanning through the list, she spoke out, ‘by now you guys should understand why I asked us to bring a lot of things you thought are going to be useless. I’m going to town it some of the things we need, you guys should clean up this place for us to sleep tonight’
‘I thought you said I’ll go with someone’ Aisha cried as Tarasha folded the paper and tucked it in her pocket.
‘Yea, I changed my mind. I’m going now, you stay with Cole and Benny and help them clean this place’ Tarasha smirked, she stretched out her palm to Cole, demanding for something.
Cole understood and handed her the car keys before she could voice out her demand, ‘are you going like this, you look dirty?’
‘I can clean up with the water Aisha has’ she answered. ‘I’ll get more water for everyone’s use tonight’
‘Tonight?’ Benny stressed, ‘you’re talking about tonight only, does that mean we’re leaving here tomorrow? Won’t we use water for the rest of our stay here?’
‘We’ll have to dig out a new source of water tomorrow or better still clean up that old well’ She replied calmly, smiling as she looked at their faces.
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‘How on earth were three officers like you abducted so easily? I wondered where you got your training from’ James slammed at the three ex-officers seated before him. The guys had been dismissed from the force that morning, for incompetence and neglect of duty.
The trio stayed quiet, looking deeply grieved while James hurled insults at them.
‘You guys are most incompetent fellows I ever came across in the force’ he hammered. ‘Imagine, you don’t even remember a single thing that could help us with the investigation’
They remained mute with their heads bowed. Segun shook his head on contempt before he spoke, ‘there’s no need wasting time on this folks, I think we should just let them go and focus our investigation on something else’
James nodded in agreement, he stepped back gradually and turned, then he walked out of the room with Segun following closely.
‘I still think there’s something we can get from those guys’ James spoke as they walked the corridor.
‘I don’t think so, sir’ Segun retorted, ‘the doctors already confirmed they had memory loss’
‘But at least, they should remember what occurred before they were drugged’ James argued.
‘No, tests revealed that the impact of the drug on them was much and they lost memories of everything that happened two hours before they were drugged’
‘Well’ James sighed, he punched in the code to their office door and entered with Segun, he glanced at Sandra’s seat which was empty. ‘Where’s Sandra?
‘With the IG’ Segun answered sharply.
James halted before his desk, ‘I think the EFCC headquarters is our next place of visit now’
‘Yes’ Segun gave a short reply.
‘Just pick anything you need’ James said, picking up a pen and notepad. ‘We might be out for the rest of the day’
‘Sure’ Segun replied, he picked his phone and car key from his desk. ‘I’m ready sir’
‘Okay, let’s go’ they matched out of the station and proceeded to Segun’s car in the park. They drove out without wasting much time.
The Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC had immediately arraigned all the government officials involved in the planning of the dubious deal with late Nnamdi Okafor, using the video as the proof. Officials of the pharmacy which included Dr Hammed had also been invited to the headquarters for questioning.
‘I think we should head for Derl pharmacy first’ James suggested, making Segun halt to make a u-turn to the opposite direction.
They drove for another fifty minutes before they got to the Derl pharmacy headquarters. Entrance into the pharmacy was allowed by the security guard immediately the police officers flashed their ID cards.
James stepped out of the car first and walked into the pharmacy building, he was already discussing with the receptionist before Segun joined him.
‘Good morning, I’m Inspector James’ he displayed his ID card to the lady.
‘Good Morning sir, how may I help you?’ She replied politely.
‘I need to get some information from you, I hope you’ll help me’ James said without facing her, his eyes searching round the pharmacy.
‘Yes sir, I’ll try my possible best sir’ She answered.
‘Good, I need to know everyone that was in charge of the health conference that was supposed to come up last Saturday’ he began.
‘Ermm’ she stammered and gave a light frown. ‘I’m not really in the position to help you with that but I can show you to someone who can’
‘Please do immediately, thanks’ James said and stepped a little backwards. He and Segun whispered something to themselves as they watched the receptionist pick up the landline and spoke to someone briefly.
‘He will be here shortly’ she said to the officers, motioning them to the waiting area.
‘Thank you’ James replied, but advanced towards her instead of going to sit down. He continued questioning, ‘what about those doctors that were caught in that viral video? Where are they now?’
‘I don’t know where they are now but I know they’ve been fired already and invited by the EFCC for questioning’ the receptionist confirmed.
‘All of them?’
‘Yes’ she replied and looked towards a middle aged man approaching.
‘Is that the person you called?’ James asked, looking in the same direction.
‘Yes, he is the one’ she affirmed.
‘Good morning officers’ the man greeted as he approached them.
‘Good morning sir. I’m Officer James, officer in charge of the minister’s murder case’ James introduced, displaying his ID card once again.
‘Officer Segun’ Segun displayed alongside with him.
‘You’re welcome officers’ the man gave a faint smile. ‘Please let’s go to my office’
They took the elevator to the eighth floor, after which they walked another one minute to the office.
‘How may I help you gentlemen?’ He asked as he ushered the officers to the two visitors seat.
‘Like I said before, we are here in connection to the murder of Minister Nnamdi Okafor’ James started. ‘We are aware that he came to Lagos for a conference organized by your pharmacy’
‘No, the conference was being organized in conjunction with the ministry of health which the man controlled’ he corrected.
James smiled and continued, ‘we are also aware that he was in a meeting with the commissioner of health for Lagos state and some of your pharmacists that morning of the day he was murdered’
‘Yes, there was a meeting that held in our small conference room’
‘Were you aware of the meeting beforehand?’
‘Yes but only the senior pharmacists were in attendance’
‘The video of the meeting has gone viral, how did that happen? Why did your company release the video?’
‘We did not release any video neither did we know that the meeting was been recorded, it took us by surprise when we saw the video’ the man answered slowly, thinking deeply before he mentioned each word, he was being careful not to say anything that could further cause damage to the company’s name.
‘But you had a camera installed in the room? Who are those in charge of the cameras?’ James pressed further.
‘No camera was installed in that room, we only bring in cameras when there’s a meeting that we plan to air’
‘So you didn’t plan to air that?’
‘No, it was supposed to be a preparation meeting for the conference’
‘Then how was it recorded if you guys had no camera there’
‘I’m still confused about that, I personally checked the room after I saw the video but I found none of our cameras there’
‘Could it be that one of the participators did the recording?’ James queried.
‘No, I don’t think so. All of them were implicated in the video’
‘That’s true’ James thought deeply for a while. ‘Can we see the room where the meeting held?’
‘Yes for sure’ the man got up immediately. He removed a key from his drawer and led the way. ‘It’s on the tenth floor’
They used the elevator once again and got to the conference room in no time. James and Segun eyes wandered around the ceiling carefully, trying to locate any hidden camera.
After some minutes of searching, Segun got tired and spoke up. ‘I think the camera has been taken away from here’
‘Yea, I’m thinking the same too’ James added, looking at the pharmacist’s face for answers.
‘I don’t know about that’ the man gave a frown.
‘What about the cleaners and other people that gained entrance into here before and after the meeting?’ James asked.
‘We can call the cleaners and ask’ he answered, bringing out his cell phone.
‘Please do’ James joined Segun who was still inspecting the large table and chairs.
Twenty six people appeared ten minutes later in their cleaners uniform, most were middle aged women, only four young men and two ladies were among them.
‘Come inside properly’ Officer James ordered.
‘Which of you cleaned up this place in preparation for the meeting held last Thursday?’ the pharmacist asked the cleaners the first question.
‘It was the both of us’ a woman came forward shakily, pointing to one of the young men.
‘Only two of you entered here on Thursday?’ James asked, putting up a tough look.
‘Yes except for me’ another woman stepped forward, she was the head of the cleaners. ‘I assigned both of them to do the job and I monitored them properly’
‘Which job are you talking about?’ James squinted.
‘Cleaning the place of course’ the woman answered confidently.
‘Okay, where was the camera hidden?’ James question took the cleaners a little off balance, he smirked at the look on their faces, he loved the effect he had on them except the cleaners’ head who was looking indifferent.
‘I mean the camera used to record the meeting’ be reiterated when he got no answer.
‘There was no camera when I inspected here that day’  the head replied.
‘But there was a video’
‘Maybe one of the guests brought it in and took it out when he was leaving’
‘No, none of them could have done that. The video implicated all them’
‘Well, there was no camera found here before or after the meeting that day’
‘When last was this room used before that Thursday?’ James asked more. ‘Was it on that Thursday you started cleaning it?’
‘No’ she answered. ‘We started cleaning here on Wednesday’
‘No prior entrance before Wednesday?’
‘There was, I came here with only Dr Hammed on Monday’
‘So are you telling me you don’t know when a camera got into this place?’
‘No, there was no camera brou… Ermm’ the woman paused, suddenly remembering something. ‘There was a young lady who came in with Dr Hammed that morning’
‘Young lady? Which young lady?’
‘I don’t know her, I’ve not seen her before’ the woman answered and shook her head in doubt. ‘She couldn’t have brought in any camera, she was wearing a tag, I believe she’s a just a student’
‘Just a student?’ James queried, a scornful smile appeared on his face.
‘Yes and she didn’t bring in any camera because I found none here after that day’
‘Then how was the video recorded?’ James barked angrily.
‘We don’t know’ the woman bounced back, refusing to be intimidated.
‘Three of you will have to report to the station this evening for further questioning, I’ll make sure you pay if you had a hand in this’ James threatened as he scribbled something into his notepad. ‘You can all leave now’
‘I think the receptionist would know about the student, we should ask her’ Segun suggested after the cleaners left.
‘Hmm nice suggestion. We would, let’s go’ James tucked back his pen into his pocket. He looked around for the last time as Segun and the pharmacist proceeded outside, he followed after still searching with his eyes.
‘Wait! What’s this? ‘ James’ eyes caught something at the door, a tiny and flat black device stuck to the frame of the door, camouflaging with the black colour of the frame.
‘Wow! Wow! ‘ Segun exclaimed, his eyes widened as he saw the bug in James’ hand.
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Tarasha inhaled a huge quantity of the the moisture filled air as she parked her bike close to the bush, she removed her helmet and hung it on the bike. She gently brushed back part of the long hair which covered her left eye with her hand. She looked right and saw another bike approaching, ignoring it she began to walk slowly towards the narrow path of the bush which probably led to a village.
After riding the expressway for about two hours she decided to take a break, walking around the bush a little. She surged forward through the narrow path, playing with the leaves as she moved.
She suddenly stopped midway on hearing the sounds of some movement behind her, she looked behind her, nobody was there. She took another two steps and paused, she bent to pick a stone. She turned backward and aimed something at the left side of the bush.
‘Yaaay!’ Someone moaned and came out from the bush, using his hand to massage the part of his forehead where the stone hit him. Tarasha ignored and kept walking forward.
‘That was cruel’ he shouted at her.
‘What was cruel?’ She stopped and asked, without turning back. ‘Why have you been following me?’
‘Huh? Did you look now I was following you?’ He trotted closer , still rubbing his forehead.
She turned back and proceeded out of the bush path without looking at him. He paused and stared at her before following.
‘Your bike started following me from the Solid Quarry junction’ Tarasha stated, heading for her bike. His bike was parked just behind hers.
‘Huh? You knew? Why didn’t you stop then?’ He was perplexed, his shoulders dropped as he stood still after getting out of the bush part. He wondered why Tarasha did not take a look at him, he walked further closer to her.
‘What?’ Tarasha growled, offended as his hand was on hers resisting her from putting on the helmet.
‘Why are you shy? You can’t even look at my face’ he mocked.
‘Shy?’ She took his hand away and wore the helmet.
‘If you aren’t shy, then why are you hiding your pretty face? You don’t want me to see it clearly?’ He taunted.
She ignored him and sat on the bike, after wearing her gloves well she started the engine. She attempted to ride off but he stopped her, standing at the front with the front tyre in between his legs.
‘Come on, I won’t hurt you. I just want to have a little chat. Let’s get to know each other’
She raised her head and stared into his face through the helmet transparent cover. She spoke in a harsh voice, ‘Your name is Henry and you’re a rider, I have no time for your association’
She pushed him with her right hand gently, but powerfully enough to make him stagger backwards. She reversed the bike and drove off, narrowly missing him as he jumped away quickly.
He stood still watching as she raced off, wondering what type of girl she was. Her declaration of his name affirmed to him that she was the same girl he had met on the same expressway some few weeks ago.
Since that day, he had been riding through that location every Sunday evening, hoping to  meet her again. Now that he had the opportunity, she didn’t give even listen to him, rather she put up a wild behavior.
Maybe she was scared that he was dangerous or that he might harm her. But he was just a rider who wanted to make friends with a female rider who he viewed to be very skillful. He wished she could see that his intention was pure.
He heaved a sigh and headed for his bike, he bent to dodge a nylon of sachet water thrown at his direction as an inter-state passenger’s bus sped past. 
He tried to picture Tarasha’s face in his mind as he sat on the bike, putting on the helmet. He didn’t get a very clear view but he could conclude with the little he got that she was pretty and had a light skinned complexion.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Officer James’ James stood up from the cell’s cold rigid floor as he heard his name. He saw a uniformed warder with the approaching with Officer Segun.
He moved closer to the room bars, the warder opened the door and motioned him outside. Segun saluted him,trying fruitlessly to hide the look of pity in his face.
‘You’re free to go, officer James’ the warder said, handing over his clothes in a nylon bag to him. 
**few minutes later**
Segun drove in the black Camry, with neatly dressed James at the front seat with him. He glanced occasionally at his boss, trying to figure out the right way to begin a conversation.
‘You said Oga is waiting for me?’ James began, using Oga to refer to his immediate superior.
‘Yes, he says he wants to speak with you as soon as you’re out’ Segun answered.
James heaved a sigh and paused for a moment before talking again.
‘What about Emeka?’ He asked of the stout officer who drove with him in the jeep that picked the Ghanaian minister.
‘He should also be released today’ Segun replied.
‘So he was put in detention too?’ James posed a rhetorical question. ‘What about Officer Tunde and the others?’
‘Officer Tunde is dead o’ Segun voice was full of pity. ‘He was found dead in the car, the others were found drugged in the mechanic workshop beside our office’
‘So there’s no way to find out if Tunde was a party to the assassination?’ He questioned without expecting an answer, he rubbed his palm on his forehead and on his face.
Silence reigned for the rest of the journey to the station. James immediate boss was standing in the compound with his hands at his back, facing the station building. James’ eyes met with his when the man looked back as they drove in. The man turned well to face their direction and watched as they drove the car to a halt and stepped out.
‘Good afternoon sir’ James and Segun saluted, waking towards the man.
‘How are you James?’ The man responded and extended his hand to James. ‘Well done Segun’
‘Fine sir’ James replied, taking the man’s feeble hand in his.
They began walking slowly into the station as they talked.
‘James, the truth is I’m really disappointed in you’ the man continued with a note of regret in his voice. ‘I didn’t believe something like that could happen when you’re in charge’
James bowed his head in shame, avoiding the look on the various officers’ faces as they walked through the opened offices to the man’s office.
‘What were you thinking when an escort car suddenly disappeared and then reappeared? Why didn’t you stop to check?’ The man reprimanded loudly as they moved away from earshot. ‘This shouldn’t have happened to a officer of so much experience and training like you’
‘I’m s…sorry sir’ James replied almost in whispers, trying to find his voice. ‘I was only trying not to disturb the minister’s comfort’
The man punched in the pass code to the office door and metal door slid gently open. He took off his suit jacket and hung it before taking his seat.
‘Sit down’ he said to James who still remained standing, waiting for the order.
‘Thank you sir’
‘There’s more work now, the killers have to be found before the end of next month, that’s the deadline given to us by the commissioner’ the man explained. ‘That means that there’s no rest for you, you have to get to work immediately and you must not fail’
‘I will not fail sir’ James replied, swearing under his breath to do everything possible to nab the killers within the given time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Damn! Slash his head dude’ Cole exclaimed excitedly, punching the buttons on his joystick as his avatar stood over Benny’s after taking it down with a uppercut, it stood over the opponent drew out a sword. Cole sat on the rug close to the TV, in order to have a close view and enjoy the game. Benny was sitting on a stool not far from Cole at the other side, eyes glued to the TV screen with the other game pad in his hand.
‘Never’ Benny retaliated; his avatar sent a heavy kick to Cole’s, making it stagger far behind. He smiled as his avatar stood up and charged towards Cole’s avatar in rage but Cole was faster, he dogged Benny’s attack, returning it with a heavy kick.
‘Hey guys’ Tarasha walked into the sitting room, dividing their attention.
‘Welcome Boss’ Cole replied, he paused the game and stood up. 
‘Good afternoon Boss’ Benny greeted, also getting up to his feet. ‘We’ve been expecting you’
‘Been trying to get something done’ she replied and took a seat. ‘We’re leaving for Rivers this week’
‘Rivers?’ They asked simultaneously, surprised.
‘Yes Rivers, we have a job to do there’ Tarasha continued. ‘Which of you knows the city very well?’
Both stared at each other for a moment before Benny spoke, ‘I’ve only been there once’
‘That means we have more work to do’ she crossed her leg and leaned on the chair arm. ‘Cole would get some geographical and street maps of the city for us to study’
‘Okay, but what job is it? Who’s the target now?’ Cole curiosity pushed him to ask.
‘I’ll keep that to myself for now’ Tarasha denied him the answer. ‘Let’s focus on getting there first’
‘Why don’t you want to tell us?’ Benny interrupted. ‘It would help us in guiding, you know we are used to the country more than you are. Or are you scared that we’re going to sell you out?’
Tarasha narrowed her look at the guys and gave a long wicked laugh. She suddenly stopped and asked, ‘where’s Aisha?’
‘Humm’ Aisha answered with a shaky voice before any of the two guys could respond. She appeared with a bottle of wine and three glass cups from the corridor leading to the other rooms
From the way she appeared swiftly, one could easily conclude that she had been listening silently to their conversation and was shocked to hear Tarasha ask about her.
‘Good afternoon’ Aisha curtsied.
‘Hi, where have you been? And where did you go on Friday night?’ Tarasha asked with a frown.
‘I went to my boyfriend’s place’ she gave an already prepared answer, ignoring the first question.
Tarasha smiled and turning back to face the two guys, she took a sip from the wine Aisha served her. ‘We’ll leave on Thursday with two vehicles’
‘Huh?’ The surprised trio exchanged glances and returned their focus on Tarasha
‘Why land transport? Port Harcourt is a long distance from here’ Benny questioned.
‘How many hours journey is it?’ Tarasha inquired.
‘I’m not sure, but it shouldn’t be less than seven hours’ Benny replied.
‘Which of you can fly a jet?’ She paused, staring at their faces to get an answer. She continued when she got none, ‘I can fly a jet but we won’t be able to use it for to travel for this operation because there’s no personal landing space for us to use’
‘We could get one to use, if you talk to Chief Gab, he can provide one for us’ Cole suggested
‘No’ Tarasha objected, ‘ that would announce our presence, it would make us exposed to the authorities’
‘True’ Benny whispered, aligning his thoughts with hers.
‘We’ll go in two vehicles, a truck which would carry some cartons of books with our instruments hidden in them’ Tarasha elaborated on the plan. ‘I and Benny would drive in the truck while Cole and Aisha would follow in a car. We’ll buy another car when we get there’
‘Have you gotten a place for us to stay when we get there?’
‘Yes, there’s a building prepared for our use in Oro…ro…gboom’ She struggled to pronounce the town’s name, she brought out a tablet device and scrolled through. ‘Latitude 4.79071, longitude 7.01174’
Cole got up from his seat and proceeded to where Tarasha was seated, he placed a knee on the floor and bent to have a study the map on Tarasha’s device. She handed the device to him.
‘Orogbum’ He pronounced correctly, staring at his Boss’ face. ‘It is very close to Port Harcourt’
‘Its Okay, does anyone of you have questions to ask?’ She got up from her seat, collecting the device from Cole.
‘For how long would the operation last?’ Cole asked.
‘I don’t know yet, it depends on how fast we are able to come up with ideas’ she gave a quick reply. ‘Any other question?’

They trio exchanged gazes in silence, not having any question.
‘I’m sure that you guys are trained enough to keep all we’ve said here to yourselves’ she admonished with a serious look on her face. Turning to Aisha, she added with a contorted look on her face ‘no one else should hear about this, including your boyfriend’
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*7am
The news of the minister’s death was greeted with great shock and grief throughout the country and the African continent as a whole. Unemployed youths and adults remained indoors that morning, fixing their gazes on the TV screen as circumstances surrounding the minister’s death were being unveiled. Workers who rushed to their offices also had their earphones stuck to their ears, listening to the news reported on the various radio stations.
At first, the country’s news stations reported that the minister was shot by unknown gunmen in his residence and had been taken to the hospital ,immediately many well wishers and patriotic citizens  began to offer emergency prayers to God for the preservation of the man’s life. It was till morning time that it was divulged that the man died immediately after been shot by escorts of the Ghanaian minister. The country’s president also took to his Facebook page to pay tribute to the late minister.
‘Excellent job done!’ Chief Nonso exclaimed, his face beamed with smiles as he gave Chief Gab a high five and took his seat beside the man in the three seater sofa. ‘She delivered at the set time’
‘Yeah’ Chief Gab replied happily, keeping his focus on the TV screen. ‘The job was done neatly’
‘That girl is good, she did it in a way that the street cameras did not capture anything’ Chief Nonso continued.
‘Shhhh!’ Chief Gab hushed, he increased the TV volume with the remote control. The Lagos state commissioner of police was being interviewed by some journalists.
“The tragic loss of the honorable minister came as a shocking news to everyone of us in this nation including the security forces. What is  more painful to us is the fact that he died in the hands of our supposed trained security officials. But we are doing our best to capture all those responsible for this great offence and we promise to arrest the killers as soon as possible”
“How do you intend to find them?” A journalist posed a question. “We are aware that the security cameras failed at the time the murder took place”
“No, the security cameras were perfectly in shape” the commissioner lied. “We only had a little network issue with the transmission but we’re already working towards recovering the files”
“How long will that take sir?” Another question was thrown at the minister.
“I have to go” the commisioner ignored the question, he was being led away hurriedly by the junior officers guarding him.
‘Hahahaha’ Chief Gab laughed loudly, he tuned down the TV volume. ‘The commissioner looks so confused’
‘He is really confused’ Chief Nonso stood up to pick the bottle of wine on the center table, he removed the cover and poured the liquid into two glass cups.
‘Let’s toast to our success’ He handed a cup to  Chief Gab who stood up merrily. Their glasses met and they took a sip before returning to their sitting position.
‘One gone, three more to go’ Chief Gab said as he settled back into the seat. ‘I’ll send Jubril’s details to Tarasha today’
‘No, not Jubril yet’ Chief Nonso opposed, he dropped the glass cup on the table. ‘Let’s take down Kelechi Edwin first’
‘Why Kelechi first? Chief Gab asked with a surprise tone. ‘Don’t you think we should still leave him to enjoy Rivers State money a little before he dies? I don’t even understand why you want him down yet’
‘Come on, he has enjoyed enough already’Chief Nonso retorted. ‘He’s gaining the trust of so many people already, they are beginning to like him for governing Rivers State very well’
‘Well, that shouldn’t be our problem, the people loved you for governing Abia Statements well during your tenure’ Chief Gab argued.
‘It is our problem if he continues to gain so much fans, he’s done ten times of what I did in my right years in just six years of governing’
‘Well…’
‘I should have done better Gab, but remember that I couldn’t abandon you…’.
‘Don’t remind me of all that Nonso’ Chief Gab cut in. ‘I would have done the same, if you were in my position’
‘I know and that’s why I decided to help you, that’s why I saved so much from Abia. I knew we will need it some day’ Chief Nonso replied calmly, trying not to heat up the situation.
‘Okay, what are you saying now? I don’t really understand why Kelechi should be the next’
‘Simple, it is very obvious with the way things are going that he would succeed the president if something is not done’ Chief Nonso explained. ‘I won’t be able to beat him at the Party’s primaries, so if we take him down now, nobody would suspect be like they would if it happens close to the election period’
‘Okay’ Chief Gab prolonged the word as he nodded his head in realization. ‘You should have explained better. We have to take him out first because he’ll definitely step in your way’
‘Yea, that’s what I’m saying ‘
‘Okay, Kelechi is it then’
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*9pm*
Cole laughed loudly as he read the several comments of the previously grieved Nigerians, who now turned around to insult the late minister after seeing the video of the man, where he connived with the Lagos state commissioner and other organizers of the conference to defraud the federal government.
The video circulated easily and quickly without need for special publicity since the minister’s death news was still trending on the internet that day. It received more than six thousand views in less than one hour after Cole uploaded it with a new YouTube account. Most of the viewers were those redirected from Google search while they surfed to find out more about the minister’s murder.
Now the video has reached over a million views in just five hours. Various social networks and forums like nairaland.com and LindaIkeji Blog also aided in the video spread; several comments on these forums revealed that the people were more shocked to discover that the minister was corrupt than they were at his death. Even the President’s tribute speech on TV that evening was slightly changed to a speech warning other government officials from involving themselves in corrupt deals.
However, the police authorities vowed to track down the person behind the YouTube account, stating that they were positive that the YouTube account had a connection with the killers. They also encouraged that anyone who witnessed the crime or had any useful information should waste no time in releasing the information to the police.
More reports on various news platforms disclosed that the police officers accused of carrying out the assassination were found laying unconscious in a mechanic workshop, tests conducted on them proved that they were drugged. The policeman who drove the Camsol used for the crime was later found dead in the same car, parked at the front of an abandoned guesthouse.
‘Cole’ Benny called, walking into the sitting room with a bottle of beer. ‘How ya doing man?’
‘Hey, you’re back’ He placed his tablet device on the table and sat up. ‘Where have you been?’
‘Around town man, remember Boss says we can flex if we want to. She only warned us to be careful’ Benny replied, he sat on another chair close to Cole and bent to take off his shoes. ‘Where’s Aisha?’
‘She’s gone out, she’ll be back tomorrow morning’ Cole answered, standing up to take the beer. He walked up to the mini bar in the sitting room to pick a cup.
‘She’s gone out?’ Benny asked like he didn’t hear the first time.
‘Don’t worry Benny, your food has been prepared’ Cole laughed as he took a sip. ‘I know that’s what you’re worried about’
‘Better’ Benny’s face brightened up, he stood up and picked his shoes.
‘I’m thinking of hitting the club tonight, are you in?’ Cole inquired.
‘What kind of question is that?’ Benny gave him a funny look, he glanced at Cole’s phone ringing on the table. ‘You know I’m always in’
Cole walked to the table and picked up his phone with his left hand, the cup of beer was in the right hand.
‘It’s Boss’ he whispered to Benny before answering the call. ‘Hello Boss’
‘Hey man, whats up with you?’ Tarasha greeted in a friendly manner.
‘Nothing much Boss, what about you?’ Cole replied
‘Same here, I’m just trying to get used to the country’
‘Oh! Lagos is cool, you’ll find it lovely’
‘Maybe you should have taken me out, instead of staying indoors all day’ she said.
‘Huh? Me? Take you out?’ He was a bit surprised hearing her suggest that he should take her out.
‘Isn’t that better than staying in all day like you’re also new in the country?’ She continued.
‘Ermm…’ Cole stammered, he cleared his throat, trying to gain more confidence. He finally did and asked, ‘would you like clubbing tonight?’
‘Oh! Not tonight, maybe some other time’ she turned down his offer.
‘Okay’ he replied in a low tone, disappointed.
‘Where’s Aisha?’ She demanded, ignoring the note of disappointment heard in his voice.
‘Huh?’ The question met him unprepared, it was her first time of ever asking about Aisha. ‘She went out’
‘Alright’ Tarasha said with a concluding note, ‘rest well, our job continues on Monday. Goodnight’
‘Goodnight Boss’  the call ended.
Cole was lost in deep fantasy for a moment, he wondered what it would have been like clubbing with Tarasha, he wondered how it will feel having her on the same bed with him.
‘What did she say?’ Benny’s voice jolted him to reality.
‘Nothing’ he returned sharply. ‘She only said she’ll like me to take her round town next time’
‘You??’ Benny asked with jealousy showing in his eyes. ‘I’m sure she was joking with you?’
‘No man, she was serious’ Cole laughed, noticing the jealousy in Benny’s voice. He stopped abruptly after something came into his mind, a confused look appeared on his face. ‘How the hell did she know I was indoor all day?’
Benny hissed and walked away, leaving Cole to figure out things for himself.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
**30.11.2030**
*6am
Don got up sluggishly from the bed with a blanket tied round his body and opened the window curtains to have a view of his men working in the compound downstairs. He caught a glimpse of Aisha in his kitchen through the slightly opened door as he slumped back lazily into his bed, she was wearing one of his shirts on her pant.
His eyes met the trousers and boxers he scattered on the floor last night, when he couldn’t control his urge on seeing her, after she had gone away for over a week. He remembered pleading with her to come spend the night with him that weekend, his pleading wasn’t in vain as he had been compensated with several rounds of sex.
‘Hi Don’ Aisha greeted, walking into the room with two cups of hot liquid in her hands.
‘Hi’ he responded, getting up to pick his clothes on the floor, he got into another boxers.
She dropped the cups on a stool and sat on the bed, waiting for Don to join her.
‘I made some… ‘ she was saying when Don gently pushed and laid her on the bed, covering her body with his.
‘No coffee is sweater than you’ he said and dragged up her shirt, revealing the upper region of her body.
‘No Don, it’s okay already’ She resisted and rolled away. ‘I have to leave soon, I didn’t take permission to come here’
‘Do you have to now take permission to come to me? Remember I sent you there’ Don grumbled.
‘Come on, you know I have to work by rules of the job’ Aisha retorted. ‘She has warned us against going out frequently to avoid suspicion from the neighborhood’
‘Oh well! I really have to salute you guys for the Minister’s job, I wouldn’t have believed it wasn’t police officials that gunned down the man if you didn’t tell me’ Don commended as he sat up. ‘It was done neatly’
‘Thanks, but please no one else has to know how we did the job’ Aisha pleaded.
‘Of course, you can trust me’ Don took a sip of the hot coffee and mocked. ‘I’m already overrating you people,It’s not that the job was to hard though’
‘Hehe’ she chuckled. ‘Could you have done the job without leaving any traces behind?’
‘Yes I would have, I have the best team in Nigeria right now’ Don boasted.
‘No you couldn’t have done it. Do you remember that little Doctor’s job we did last?’ She asked as she took her own cup of coffee.
‘That was just an unusual error’ Don defended his team. ‘It doesn’t mean we’re not the best’
‘No, it wasn’t an error’ She argued. ‘You did your best in that job but we couldn’t just cover up our tracks, we had to poison some of our members before the police took them’
‘When are you going to find out where Tarasha lives?’ Don changed the discussion, after a moment of awkward silence.
‘I don’t know yet, no one seems to know. She just appears and disappears’
‘And you can’t try to trail her?’ Don pushed further.
‘I dare not, I won’t even go far before I’m caught’
‘That’s a lie, isn’t she human? She has just succeeded in creating fear into you. All you need to do is watch and monitor her carefully’
‘Don, please I don’t want any trouble’ Aisha said, looking straight into Don’s eyes.
…to be continued
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘It’s time to leave guys’ James motioned his team members at exactly five pm. He got into the first car, a Bently Jeep with a stout officer who sat at the driver’s seat, while the other four officers , two males and two females got into the Camsol. 
The stout man started the car engine and mumbled some words to James before they led the way out of the station compound, the Camsol followed behind.
The minister’s plane was expected to arrive in Nigeria by six pm, but it was just few minutes after five pm when James commanded his team to leave for the airport. Though the distance of the airport to the station wasn’t much, it only took fifteen minutes to drive there, James like every professional insisted on arriving the airport and getting settled very early before the minister arrives.
They had just gone a few distance away from the station when James’ phone rang, he discovered that it was a call from one of his team members who was in the other car following them. He glanced back and couldn’t find the Camsol behind them anymore, several cars had come in between them now.
‘Where are you? Why are you guys driving slowly?’ James inquired.
‘I think one of the tyres is bad sir’ the officer replied. ‘I think something sharp pierced it on the road’
‘You guys should fix it and join us at the airport as soon as possible, is that clear?’ James ordered.
‘Yes sir’ the reply came in a faint voice, the call ended.
James and his partner continued to the airport without them, they arrived at the airport not more than ten minutes after.
Before they came out of the car, James called back to find out where the rest of his men were. He got a negative reply, no progress had be made, instead more fault had been discovered in the car.
Officer Segun’s call came in when they got to the arrival hall,at exactly thirty minutes past five pm.
‘Hello Sege’ James hailed, addressing officer Segun by his nick.
‘Good day sir’ Segun voice replied cheerfully. ‘We just dropped the minister home now and we’re about to leave’
‘Okay, are you sure he’s not going out to anywhere else today?’ James asked.
‘He’s going nowhere else’ Segun answered with confidence. ‘He returned home early to wait for Honorable Mensah, he was told the plane left Ghana already’
‘Okay, we’re in the airport already to wait for him’
‘Ok sir, I just thought I should tell you I’m leaving’
‘It’s alright, just remember the job continues tomorrow. You should be with him whenever he’s going out officially’
‘Alright sir’ The call ended.
James did not hear anything from the rest of his team members until five minutes past six pm, the same time when the minister arrived, the call came in before the minister came out of the plane.
‘Where are you?’ James demanded angrily.
‘On our way sir, we’ll get to the airport in the next three minutes’ a voice responded shakily.
‘You better do or you’ll be sorry for yourself’ James snapped and cut the call. He was too angry to notice the officer’s shaky voice.
‘Welcome sir, I’m officer James’ Officer James welcomed Mr Mensah, displaying his ID card.
‘Thank you’ the minister replied, flashing his teeth, the stout officer took the man’s small luggage from an airport attendant. ‘Please take me one to Honorable Nnamdi’s house immediately
‘Oh yea sir, this way’ James motioned the man forward, and followed behind, directing the man as they walked. The stout officer hurried to the park to drive the car forward to cut short their guest’s trekking.
As they drove out through the exit gate, James spotted the Camsol car at the entrance, trying to sort out their entrance with the security officials at the gate. The stout driver waved to the driver of the other car and motioned them to turn back and follow their car.
Officer Tunde, driver of the Camsol who was the same person who communicated with officer James through the phone, drove in through the entrance first before making a u-turn to hollow the exit.
In no time, the Camsol car was following closely at the back of the jeep. James got a glimpse of them through the side mirror, he felt like coming down to discipline the juniors but had to compose himself because of the Ghanaian minister.
They drove into Chief Nnamdi’s compound after twenty minutes, the compound wasn’t a large one, the distance from the gate to the main house wasn’t far.
Chief Nnamdi was spotted sitting under a shade in the compound waiting for their arrival, with one of his guards standing beside him. He smiled on sighting the Ghanaian minister’s car drive in, he stood up from his seat and began walking slowly towards the park.
The Bently Jeep followed the direction  to the car park given by the guards, but the Camsol car made a surprise movement.
The car drove violently straight to Chief Nnamdi’s direction, clearing the two guards who stood before the man, the first gunshot from a uniformed policewoman behind, hit Chief Nnamdi’s personal guard.
Bang! A noise divided the attention of the other guards in the compound, before they could take any step, another explosion hit the house through the gate, creating an opening for the assailants’ escape and killing the armed security men at the gate. Three more gunshots were heard and the Camsol made a turn and sped out unhampered through the destroyed gate.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cole tucked back the grenade launcher into the bag and threw it at  the back seat. He sighted police officials rushing in their vans to attacked Minister’s house, two of the police cars followed the directions of the escaped Camsol. He selected a rap music album on his car’s music player before he started the car engine and drove out of Alex street.
The plan had worked out perfectly well; Tarasha, Benny and Aisha had left the office to a restaurant beside the police station before three o’clock. From there they monitored the movement of Inspector James’ team via live transmission of the police activities to their tablet device.
Cole had hacked into the police control room server undetected, through a method Tarasha taught him, transmitting the video records in the station to Tarasha’s device.
And the Camsol didn’t just develop any fault, the back tyre was deflated by Tarasha while Benny and Aisha waited for the police officials to come to request for a tyre change at the mechanic workshop compound close to the station. The four officers except the driver were induced into deep sleep and locked inside the mechanic’s shop alongside with the mechanic and his several apprentices. The driver of the car was hypnotized temporarily with a pin pierced into his arm.
Tarasha, Benny and Aisha after repairing the car, disguised and changed into the uniforms of the officers. The officer driving the car was returned to his normal state after the hypnotized pin was removed and forced to continue driving to the airport. He was also forced to keep reporting false information to Inspector James.
Cole did the job of monitoring Inspector James’ movement on the road and reported live to Tarasha, then he returned to Alex street and waited at a reasonable distance to Minister’s house from where he launched the grenade to the gate.
‘Hey, over here’ Cole shouted, motioning his three colleagues who stood at the front of the restaurant beside the police station, after returning from their successful job.
Tarasha, Benny and Aisha hopped into the car, Benny sitting in the front with Cole.
‘Good job Boss’ Cole praised, laughing widely as he pointed to a beard hanging loosely on Benny’s jaw.
‘Damn!’ Benny removed the piece of hair and flung it away.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Everything had happened too fast, it seemed like a dream to James as the police medical team tidied up a total of nine dead bodies in the compound.
It all happened in less than one minute, the Jeep that conveyed him and the Ghanaian minister was not even parked yet when he heard the explosion and gunshot sounds. They narrowly escaped the impact of the grenade, the affected area was just a few metres to the Jeep.
The Camsol car already sped out of the compound before he could rush down from the Jeep. The first thing he did was to ensure the safety of Mr Mensah by taking him far into the house.
Chief Nnamdi Okafor could by no chance survive the gunshots, his personal bodyguard was first taken down. Then two bullets was sent into the minister’s forehead and other one into his chest, he died instantly.
‘Officer James’ An elderly policeman called harshly. ‘You were here when it all happened?’
‘Yes sir’ James replied in low tones, feeling greatly agitated.
‘You were not just here, the assailants came with you’ the man added as he moved closer. ‘You brought them in, they were members of your team’
‘No… Sir’ James stuttered.
‘Nooooo?’ The officer stressed, looking suspiciously at James. ‘You brought the murderers here, you must have known about the plan all along’
Officer James was speechless, he battled within himself to stop tears from dropping off as he watched the Ghanaian minister been taken into another car which was driven out of compound immediately.
‘Are you not the one I’m talking to?’ The elderly officer snapped angrily.
‘Sir, we’ve got the signal back and the cameras are working perfectly well now’ a junior office distracted the elder, trotting towards them with a tablet device in his hand.
‘When did you say the signal went off again?’ the elder turned back to face the junior.
‘It went off by five pm and it returned few minutes ago’ he replied, the sound of his breathing was heard as he spoke.
‘That means it was switched off during the time of the operation?’
‘Yes sir, the cameras didn’t cover nor transmit anything all through. That’s why it took us time to report the incident to the headquarters’ he explained.
‘That means someone close to us must have been involved’ the man said sternly, turning back to James, he landed a slap on his face.
‘I didn’t… ‘ James wasn’t allowed to complete his response, he was handcuffed and carried away in the police van.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

** 10am **
Segun and his men stood up from their seats immediately they sighted the minister approaching with his two bodyguards. They walked closer to welcome them, one of Segun’s men collected a small luggage from the short bodyguard.
‘Officer Segun Kayode sir’ Segun displayed his ID card and bowed in respect to the minister.
‘Oh officer!’ Nnamdi Okafor exclaimed cheerfully, extending his hand to Segun for a handshake. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Fine sir, how was your flight?’ Segun asked smiling.
‘Wonderful’ the man replied and looked around like someone searching for something.
Segun was quick to figure out what he searched for and he pointed out before the man asked, ‘the car’s over there sir’
‘Ok, Beautiful’ Chief Nnamdi smiled and nodded. The party journeyed the short distance to where the cars were parked.
Segun and one of the Chief’s bodyguards sat in front of the jeep while the minister sat at the back. The rest of the party took the other car and followed closely behind.
**********
‘Welcome Boss’ Cole greeted, standing up as Tarasha walked gently in with Benny.
‘Thank you’ Tarasha answered, she took a glance at the fried rice Cole was eating and then dropped a USB device on the table. ‘We planted the tracker on the Jeep as they made their way into the airport. You’ll monitor their movement when you’re done with your food’
Cole covered his food and stood up at once, ‘I’m done already, I’ll just tell Aisha to pack away the left over’
‘Huh?’ Benny made an unnecessary sound as he opened back Cole’s food and threw the remaining meat into his mouth distracting Tarasha and Cole.
‘Sorry’Benny apologized, he gulped down a cup of water and hurried after them to the computer room.
‘I think he’s on his way to the pharmacy’ Cole said aloud after a minute, he pointed at a blinking green light moving on the map displayed on the screen, as the GPS tracking receiver App opened.
‘Ok, he’s working according to the schedule. I remember Dr Hammed told me…’ Tarasha joined in, she paused and recalled her last meeting with Dr Hammed.
**flashback: 25.11.2030 **
‘Good morning sir ‘ Samantha greeted, smiling as she took her seat in Doctor Hammed’s office.
‘Good morning Samantha’ he replied, smiling back. ‘I saw your book here on Friday and I was told by the receptionist that you came. So why didn’t you wait to see me?’
‘Sir?’ She narrowed her eyes as she stared at him in surprise. ‘I was here and we met’
‘We met? No, we didn’t. The only thing I saw here was your book in my office’ The Doctor returned the surprise look, which later turned into a frown.
‘Sir? I was here, right in your office. You told me you were a little bit tired and needed to rest, that I should return today’ She refuted.
‘Oh! I did that?’ The look on the doctor’s face changed to a confused one.
‘Yes, you don’t remember?’
‘Off course I remember’ Dr Hammed aloud, making a futile attempt in using a smile to cover up his confusion.
Tarasha chuckled.
‘I really had to sleep that day because I used a particular new drug’ He added a lie.
‘Oh! I see’ She smiled. ‘So have you gone through my work now?’
‘Yes, I did go through it but I noticed that the research is not completed yet and does not hold any valid conclusion’ he answered.
‘I’m about to complete it sir, I just thought I should share it with you so that you can help me further…’
Dr Hammed’s phone rang, he motioned Tarasha to stop talking before he picked the call.
After speaking for about a minute, he ended the call and got up hurriedly. ‘Sorry, I have to go check something now, if you like you can wait here or come back later’
‘No problem sir, I’ll come back’ She replied and got up from the seat, proceeding towards the door.
‘Please, I think I need your help’ the Doctor called back. ‘Can you help bring this bag along to where I’m going?’
‘Of course sir’ she smiled and hurriedly collected the bag from him. The Doctor carried another bag and led the way.
They took the elevator and headed for the tenth floor, continuing with their discussion as it moved
‘I’m taking this to the conference room where we’re having a meeting on Thursday and Friday before the conference’ he said.
‘Wow! I believe it’s a meeting with the speakers’ Tarasha guessed.
‘Yes you’re right. On Thursday we have a meeting with the country’s minister of health and the commissioner and the company’s board’ He continued as they stepped out of the elevator. ‘And on Friday we have a meeting with all the speakers including the foreign guys’
‘Good… ‘ Tarasha said as they walked on to the room.
**PRESENT**
‘It was then I planted the bug in the conference room. So keep monitoring them Cole, we might get helpful information from their meeting’ Tarasha concluded with Cole and turned to Benny who stood with his arms folded and his back rested on the wall. ‘The real job begins this evening two hours before the Ghanian minister arrives’
‘Yes, I know. I’m prepared already’ Benny added confidently.
‘But where’s your cook?’ Tarasha asked, raising a brow. ‘Didn’t you tell her she’s gonna work with it us?’
‘Yes, let me get her’ Benny walked out of the room and returned a minute later with Aisha.
‘Good morning’ Aisha curtsied.
‘Hey! I heard you’re a very good cook?’ Tarasha replied on a lighter mode.
‘Yes, I try’ Aisha replied back smiling.
‘Good’ Tarasha smiled, she surveyed Aisha’s from head to toe with her eyes and asked, ‘do you use guns at all? In case there’s any need to’
‘Yes, I do. I’m not a novice, I also go on little operations’ Aisha answered.
‘Okay, we’re working as police officials for this operation. “We” includes me, Benny and you, Cole’s main job is here. We will get everything we need by this evening’ Tarasha explained. ‘Our job is to secure Ghana’s  minister of health and escort him to Chief Nnamdi Okafor’s house when he lands in Nigeria’
Aisha’s mind was filled with questions as she listened, she waited for Tarasha to stop before she voiced out her concern. ‘I’ve been briefed already about the job but I don’t understand our main mission there, are we taking the job as real police officers?’
‘No, we’ll take care of the police officers assigned to the minister first. Your job there would end immediately we get to Chief Nnamdi’s house and  you’ll return here immediately’
‘So what’s the real…’ She stopped abruptly, the look on Tarasha’s face warned her against asking any more question.
‘They’re in the pharmacy now’ Cole spoke aloud, diverting their attention to him. ‘The car is no more in motion’
‘Okay, just call me once the meeting starts’ Tarasha got up from her seat and walked out of the room.
Aisha stared at Benny’s face inquisitively for a moment, she hissed and walked away when he stared back at her, pretending not to understand what she wanted.
Benny laughed loudly, watching her backside bounce as she went away, he patted Cole on the back and took a seat beside him.
‘This girl doesn’t know we’re working with someone different now’ he made jest of her. ‘She was expecting me to tell her something the Boss has hidden from her’
‘Don’t mind her’ Cole added. ‘We already gave her the rules here, she’ll have herself to blame if she messes up’
‘She won’t mess up, she’s not a kid’ Benny assured.
** Two hours later **
‘Have they discussed anything useful to us yet?’ Tarasha walked into the room, fixing her gaze on the screen, the Derl Pharmacy meeting transmission was on.
‘Not really’ Cole answered, ‘but I still think you need to hear what they’re up to’
‘Okay’ Tarasha took a seat beside Benny and listened carefully.
‘… all of these monies would be paid into your account directly and you have to transfer our own share to us within seventy two hours later’ Dr Umaru was seen explaining. Six men, neatly dressed in suits were seated at the edge of the long conference table, the minister of health was seated at the middle of the table.
‘That’s no problem’ Nnamdi Okafor replied. ‘What I’m saying is we should calculate the money now, so that there’ll be no arguments when the money is shared’
‘The total is about one billion naira’ Dr Umaru began breaking down the figures. ‘In organizing the conference, we used only a hundred million out of the three hundred million the Federal Government gave us for it’
‘That’s just two hundred million, where did we get the rest from?’ The inquisitive Lagos state commissioner put in.
Dr Umaru cleared his throat and continued, ‘we were given five hundred million for Lee Cho’s products but we are only paying one hundred and fifty million for it. We’re only buying half of the required quantity and Lee Cho is giving us at a subsidized rate. Ken Benson is also giving us his drugs at a subsidized rate, we’re getting four hundred million from his own deal’
‘That makes it nine hundred and fifty million naira’ Nnamdi put in, he stared at Dr. Umaru suspiciously. ‘I was expecting much more than this’
‘That’s all, this administration is so tightfisted’ Umaru added again. ‘Not everything we requested for was given to us’
‘It’s okay, let’s determine everyone’s share right now…’ Chief Nnamdi was saying
‘Wow!’ Tarasha distracted the other viewers, thinking aloud. She turned to Benny and asked, ‘is this not the same minister that everyone speaks of as incorrupt?’
‘He is’ Benny answered softly, looking baffled. ‘I’m as surprised as you seeing that he also involves himself in dubious deals’
‘Our country is really messed up,  even the most trusted ones are corrupt too’ Cole joined.
‘Well, I think your country people would love to see this video later. Make sure you keep a copy’ She instructed, standing up from her seat. ‘And also take note of any other information that may be useful for us’
Tarasha who was already bored walked away, leaving the Cole and Benny to watch the rest of the shocking revelation.
…to be continued
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Benny paced around the floor in the large compound impatiently with his gun in the left hand, waiting anxiously for his new boss, Tarasha. It was the first time he was going to work under a lady. He had worked with several male assassins and thugs who were well feared in the country, but he hadn’t even heard about a powerful female Assassin until when Tarasha showed up. He was the second in command to Don, his immediate former Boss who just transferred him to Tarasha.
Don did not release him to her without hesitating, in fact Don had to think about it for almost thirty minutes before he finally decided to transfer him. Thinking for that long on a small matter as this wasn’t something he had ever seen Don do for the three years he worked with him. But Don’s long thinking moment didn’t come as a surprise to him as he knew he was for sure a great asset to Don’s organization, Nanl gang. He never failed at any task and he always carried out his job within the specified time. He was also very good in convincing and mobilizing other men for tasks.
His transfer didn’t also come as a surprise to him as he saw the angry look on Don’s face when the two guys previously transferred returned that morning looking thoroughly battered. The only reason Don did not kill them after they explained was that he didn’t want to lose another two of his strong men.
He took a look at Cole, the other man transferred with him. Cole was seated on a chair with a anxious look on his face. He also had worked with Don for three years, working efficiently as the best ICT agent and fastest driver. Don had no choice than to release his two favorite men because he couldn’t face the embarrassment of his men being returned again for their inefficiency.
Benny turned suddenly at the sound of Cole’s foot tapped on the floor, he pointed his gun at Cole.
Cole looked at him funnily, ‘you better calm down my friend’
‘Calm down? I don’t want us to disappoint Don, we must not be returned like the other guys’ Benny replied . ‘I want us to be the ones to catch the lady unawares this time around’
‘She said she’ll come in the afternoon, but the time is only thirty minutes past eleven’
‘Yesssss’ Benny stressed the word, staring widely at Cole. ‘Didn’t you hear what the guys said? She told them she was coming by seven in the morning but she caught them while sleeping at midnight’
‘That’s nice dude’ A lady said approaching them. ‘But you don’t catch a trained Assassin by fidgeting all over like you are doing now. You’ve allowed your anxiety gain ascendancy over your attentiveness’
‘Who are you? How did you get in?’ Benny asked as he pointed his gun at her. Cole got up from his seat and brought out his revolver also.
‘How I got in isn’t your concern’ she smiled and extended her hand to them. ‘I’m Tarasha, your new boss’
‘Huh? Tarasha?’ Benny shook his head in disbelief. ‘It can’t be’
‘Tarasha is supposed to be on mask’ Cole added, still pointing his gun at her. ‘Don’t come close or I’ll waste you’
‘I’m working with you guys so it would be stupid use a mask’ she said. She smiled at them sheepishly but in next second sent them sprawling on the floor as she slid towards them and took their legs off the ground swiftly, their guns falling off from them as they landed thunderously.
She got up without any stains on her clothes except her shoes which she cleaned off. She picked up the guns and sat on the chair previously used by Cole leaving the duo on the floor to recover from the attack.
‘Another lesson you ought to learn is not allowing an attack keep you down; what if I was an enemy lying to be Tarasha? Would you still be struggling to stand while I send in bullets through your skulls?’
They got up faster and stood firmly, staring at her like they saw an alien that just landed from another planet. The attack was enough to prove to them that it was Tarasha but the lady sitting before them looked too beautiful and innocent to be an assassin, her voice was also too calm and peaceful
‘Why are you both staring at me like that? Won’t you tell me your names?’ She brought back the two startled men to reality.
‘I’m Be.. Benny and he’s Cole’ Benny stammered.
Tarasha smiled and handed the guns back to them, she walked into the building and they followed her. ‘I will come here always to give you instructions when there is a job, otherwise I’ll only talk to you on phone and on camera’
She walked into the living room and turned on the TV , then she sat on the sofa, crossed her legs and starting searching through the stations with the remote control.
‘Come on, have your seats’ she said to Benny and come who stood beside her like bodyguards on punishment.
They sat reluctantly on the sofa facing hers, she remained silent for some few minutes, busy with the TV after which she tossed the remote control to Cole.
‘So Cole and Benny, I believe you know why you’re here’ She began, sitting up right. ‘We have a job at hand right now and I urgently need a very good driver and someone good on computers’
Cole and Benny looked at each others faces, Benny answered her. ‘We are both good at computers and also fast drivers’
‘Okay, who’s better using computers?’ She asked.
‘The truth is… ‘ Benny replied with a sorry look, he glanced at Cole as he spoke. ‘He’s better at both than I am, but I’m not bad either’
Tarasha smiled, ‘so in what area are you better than him?’
‘I can handle guns very well’ Benny replied with a smile.
‘Is that true?’ She looked at Cole’s face for confirmation.
‘Yes, he was the major hitman in our gang’
‘Okay then, Cole will be in charge of all computer or camera works while Benny would handle the cars and be my backup at operations’ she paused and looked at their faces, they both nodded in confirmation. ‘So when I leave here now, Coke would set up the computer room to his taste while Benny would visit the store rooms for weapons and study them carefully’
‘Okay’ they replied softly, one after the other.
‘Now, one thing you guys have to realize is that you’re working for me and your loyalty should be to me and not your former boss or Chief Gab who brought you here, I just sent him an errand’ She paused and laughed. ‘And then, I hate dishonesty and unpunctuality, I hope you guys don’t have these bad qualities?’
‘No’ they replied in unison this time, Benny shaking his head softly to emphasize hos answer.
‘Good, also note my instructions have to be obeyed always, I won’t share anyone who willfully and unnecessarily disobeys’ the look on her face changed to a serious one as she stood up from the chair. ‘Now pay attention to this serious warning’
The two guys bounced to their feet and followed her as she was motioned towards the exit door, they followed hurriedly expecting to hear her give the serious warning.
She paused and turned back, the look on her face was a contorted one, the guys shivered at  her new look. She stared into their faces and spoke in a harsh voice. ‘Nobody knows who Tarasha is except you two and the maid, the day anyone finds out from you is the day you will breathe last’
They stood still and watched as she walked away, still finding it hard to believe that their encounter with her was real and not a dream. What baffled them most was the ease at which she could switch her mood easily, they wondered what it would be like to work with her.
Benny who had earlier planned to call his former boss and tell him about her, changed his mind and decided to keep mute, his loyalty was to Tarasha henceforth.
The both stood still in silence for a minute after she walked out of the gate. Then Benny turned and muttered some words under his breath, he took off his shirt and threw it on one of the sofas in the living room, revealing his heavily tattooed back.
Cole followed suit, brought out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He stopped at the entrance, stuck the cigarette in his mouth and puffed out the smoke into the air.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*6am, Saturday Morning*
Cole was the first to get up that morning, he opened the door to the room where Benny slept and peeped, Benny was still fast asleep. He closed back the door and continued walking to the parlor, he stopped again after walking a distance. Just at his left side was the computer room which he briefly assessed and arranged the last night.
His countenance changed as he noticed that the door was slightly opened, he remembered locking it with keys the last night. That arouse his suspicion, he pulled out a knife from his left side and walked slowly to the door. He opened and peeped in but saw no one, he walked in carefully scanning through all corners of the room for possible sign of an intruder. He found nothing and walked out of the room.
Benny was already awake and was at the computer room doorstep.
He yawned as he talked, ‘are you working this early already?’
‘No, it’s as if someone came in here. Or did you enter here last night after I had gone to sleep?’ Cole asked, locking the door again.
‘No’ Benny answered, giving Cole a serious look.
‘I locked the place yesterday but found it opened this morning’ Cole continued.
‘Huh?’ Benny moved back slowly, then turned and walked to the weapon store room, the place was locked. He opened to check if everything was in place and he found it to be in order.
‘Nothing here has been touched, maybe you forgot to lock up the place. Sleepy head like you’ Benny mocked as he walked to the living room.
Cole followed behind, ‘ I don’t think so’
‘You …’ Benny paused abruptly and stood up as swiftly as he sat into the chair, he walked towards the window like someone who discovered something.
He opened up the curtain and saw a figure hung upside down on the tree in the compound, she looked towards his direction. He closed back the curtain and turned back, Cole was already standing behind him, trying to have a look outside too.
‘I think she’s is here already’ Benny announced.
‘Huh? Who?’ Cole moved forward and confirmed for himself. ‘Tarasha’
The both straightened up their shirts and proceeded out of the house. Tarasha dropped off the tree when she saw them approaching, she used a towel to wipe her face and hung it around her neck.
Benny licked his lips in admiration, he stared at her exposed thighs below the tight black shorts she was putting on, her tight top only covered her neck to breast region and left other parts exposed. Benny wished his eyes could penetrate through the clothes to reveal what was behind.
‘Good morning Tarasha’ They chorused, standing at her front.
‘Good morning’ Tarasha answered, she twitched her lips and gave Benny a stern look. Benny’s body vibrated as his eyes met hers, he knew she had caught him searching her body with his eyes.
‘We got some work to do this morning’ she said and bent down to pick a pistol, a hardballer. She also laced her sneakers properly and proceeded into the house with the two others following closely.
Benny stared at the hardballer in her hand carefully, it looked like one which he had seen among the arsenal last night and arranged carefully. He cracked his brain, trying to remember if he saw the gun in the store that morning.
‘I took this from the store this morning’ Tarasha said with a smile, helping him solve the mystery. ‘And I also used the computers too, I installed a camera there so we can communicate well, at all times’
Benny and Cole looked at themselves in awe, fear surged through their bodies. They also had some form of training but wondered how Tarasha could enter into the house so silently without them waking up. Did she use magical powers to transfer herself into the house? Or how did she enter without making any noise to stir them up?
‘Cole should have noticed my presence, I didn’t lock the door to the computer room, I left it open as a sign to show you that I was around’  Tarasha explained, she walked past the living room and turned to the computer room.
She removed a flat metal from the belt around her waist and opened the door.
‘These locks do not really guarantee security anymore, that’s why places with need of maximum security makes use of cards and fingerprints locks’ she said and inserted her flash drive into a computer she switched on.
‘Only little information required for our first job has been gotten , we need to get more information and put everything else in place’ She began. ‘The job is to waste the Minister of health, Nnamdi Akofor’
‘Nnamdi Okafor’ Cole corrected her wrong pronunciation. ‘What’s the plan? Are we going to Abuja?’
‘No, he’s coming to Lagos. There’s a conference next week Saturday and he’s one of the speakers’ She continued. ‘He has a house in Lagos and he’s going to be staying there when he comes’
‘So are we killing him in his house?’ Benny questioned, folding his hands as he paid rapt attention to her.
‘I don’t know yet, that’s why we need more information’ she answered and looked away to the computer screen. She clicked on an icon and an application opened up. ‘From the data I gathered already, the official selected by the SSS to be in charge of the Minister’s security was Segun Kayode’
‘Segun Kayode sounds familiar’ Cole interrupted, trying to recall where he knew the bearer of the name.
‘The Segun Kayode I know works with Officer James, they’re on the same CID team’ James added confidently. ‘But they work on criminal cases, I wonder why Segun is involved in this one’
‘The position of the officers in charge does not matter to us, what would determine our success is if we play our roles very well’ Tarasha said and faced Cole. ‘Canyou work with this application?’
‘Yes, I’ve used it several times already but not for any major job, I only played around with it’ Cole replied.
‘Okay, hummm…’ She brushed a finger on her lips and thought about something briefly. ‘The man’s house is located at 4/6 Alex Street, Ikeja. Your job is to survey the place and locate all the security cameras around the area with that App’
She stood up from the seat and motioned Cole to sit down. She watched and smiled as Cole began to operate the software without struggling.
‘Benny and I will start a physical survey of place today’ she tapped Benny at the back. ‘You’ll pick me up at Gravl avenue by 10am’
‘Alright, no problem’ Benny swallowed as he replied, ‘I’ll go get prepared at once’
‘Ermm, I think you guys need a cook here, don’t you? Or have you eaten this morning?’ Tarasha asked thoughtfully. ‘You can get one for yourself, but make sure you pick the right person.’
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