Tarasha 2 – Chapter 3 Part 9

Just as she reached twenty five metres to the car, a red sharp light shone to her face penetrating the shield and entering into her eyes. It made her eyes hot and she could not move further. Before she knew it, she was on her knees, trying to evade the light but couldn’t.

She struggled and turned her back to the light, she got up and tried to find her way back but her eyes were still hot and she staggered with slow steps. She tried to hurry up as she felt someone coming behind her, she also heard the sound of the cocking of a gun. 

It was the first time in her life since she had joined Nefary Clan that she was greatly scared. She couldn’t find her way back and she knew someone, most likely a police officer was coming for her. Now, she wasn’t scared for her life as she believed she had nothing to lose if she was shot dead at that moment, that was her assassin mentality. What really made her scared and desperate was the possibility of dying without first murdering the killers of her brother. 

She managed to cock her gun as she felt the person coming was closer to her. Then suddenly, another vehicle shone it’s headlight towards her direction, she glanced back and saw dimly, a truck driving towards her direction, she could also see her pursuer, a man with a pistol in his right hand and then the torch reflecting the red harmful light in his left. 

The man turned towards the truck and tried to aim at the bus as it sped towards him, he shot sporadically at the front glass of the truck but the bullets did not penetrate. 

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Even though he knew the glass was bullet proof, Henry still made attempt to dodge the bullet as he drove. He felt the truck hit the man but didn’t stop at that until the front of the truck hit the fence. He then reversed the vehicle and turned, he drove after Omotara. 

‘Get in here,’ he shouted as he got beside closer. She was still staggering forward, trying to run away from her pursuer and the unknown vehicle. 

‘Get in,’ he shouted again as he leveled up by her side, already swerving the car back into the road. He felt she heard him this time but couldn’t see her as she was by the side of the truck now. He quickly left the driver’s seat to the other one, he saw her struggling to open the door. 

‘Move back, I’ll open for you’ he shouted and she complied. He opened the door and pulled her into the vehicle then he closed the door and moved back quickly to the driver’s side. He could feel the vibration as a car hit the truck’s back He drove on as fast as he could, watching the place behind through the side mirror. The place was left in disarray, there was a bus that had collided with the truck’s behind, the bonnet side of the bus had been crushed. So many people had gathered into the street, by the side of the road. He tried to check the spot where the body of the man who was walking towards Omotara with a gun , who he had hit with the vehicle was but he could not see anything. 

He drove out of the street and into the main road towards the roundabout, he took a glance at Omotara. She had her head buried in her laps and her hair scattered all over. 

‘Are you okay?’ Henry asked in a calm tone. 

She raised up her head slowly and arranged her hair, there were tears on her cheeks, an effect of the light. She wiped her face with her palm and sat, staring out straight through the front glass. She consciously avoided looking towards Henry’s direction. 

Henry kept stealing glances at her face as he drove on, he knew she deliberately wanted it silent and he played along. He took a different route instead of passing the road leading to the Vice President’s office. After about forty five minutes total of driving, he brought the truck to a halt and turned off the engine. 

‘I brought a different vehicle,’ he said, taking a quick glance at Omotara before opening the door. He jumped down and slammed the door, he crossed to the other side to help her but she was out already before he got there. He pointed her to a car just in front and led the way, he stopped to look back after turning to the driver’s side, she was still standing in front of the truck and staring at it.

She quickly turned and proceeded to the car as she felt his eyes on her. She opened the door and entered first before he did. 

‘Do you have a shirt under that?’ Henry asked, referring to the top of the police uniform. 

The question brought back Tarasha to reality, she was previously lost in the world of her thoughts and serious wondering. She was still highly baffled by her slim escape from death. She could have died or probably be been captured if Henry had not showed up at the right time.

‘Do you have something under?’ Henry asked again. 

She stared at her body and realized then that she was supposed to wear something else other than the police shirt. She took off the shirt slowly and tossed it to the back seat. She straightened the black singlet she still had on and rested her back.

‘Where did you get that truck from?’ she asked after several minutes of silent driving. 

Henry flashed a look at her before answering, ‘I went to get it where it was kept.’

‘How did you know where it was kept?’ she asked, staring at him with surprise on face. 

Henry flashed another look at her, a dim smile appeared on his face. He face the road back without replying her. 

She stared at him curiously but was soon able to decipher the answer without waiting for his reply. ‘You have been tampering with the files on our systems,’ she accused. 

‘Not really,’ he took a quick glance at her, trying to suppress another smile. ‘I was bored at home and decided to only go through to help my boredom.’ 

‘How did you know where I was?’ she asked again. 

‘I tracked you when I called,’ Henry answered. ‘I got that number from the system after trying the other one you gave me several times without success.’

Tarasha stared at him expressionlessly, she wanted to ask more questions but decided to keep quiet and fish out the remaining answers she needed in other ways other than asking.

‘I heard on news flash about your threat to the Vice President, that was when I started searching for another number I could reach you with,’ Henry said after a brief moment of silence. He took a longer stare at her. She did not return his stare but he could read from her body language the desire to hear him speak more about how he found her. ‘I couldn’t connect to your original number but I found a list of several other telephone numbers you’ve used or you’re planning to use. After trying a couple of phone numbers without reaching you, I decided to copy the numbers and get out of the house, I kept on trying the numbers as I drove in this car to the Vice President’s office.’

‘But then you were so desperate to stop me from killing the Vice President that you went ahead to get the truck?’ She cut in.

‘No, I wasn’t desperate to stop you.’ Henry replied calmly. ‘I didnt come out of the house to save the Vice President, I came because I had a feeling you may get into trouble.’

She stared at his face deeply for a while as if to verify if he had spoken the truth. She turned her face back in silence and heaved a deep sigh. 

‘What were you going to do there?’ Henry broke the silence.

She turned her face to stare at him again, this time she was trying to see if she could confide in him. ‘I was going to meet the Inspector General,’ she finally said. He flashed a look at her, his eyebrows squeezed inquisitively. ‘I wasn’t going to ki*ll him, I was going to abduct him first.’ she added. 

‘Abduct him for what?’ Henry probed.

‘I need him to reveal the names of the other people who were with him that day he molested me,’ she said in a low voice.

Henry could feel the pain in her voice, he glanced at her and saw her rubbing her left eye with a finger but there was no tear, the only time he had ever seen her cry was the day she told him the story of her parent’s murder.

Henry was speechless, no meaningful word seemed to form in his mind. 

‘Did you see the Vice President when you were driving towards me?’ Tarasha asked.

‘No, I didn’t see him. I only saw the man pointing the torch and walking closer to you.’

She heaved another sigh, ‘That light worked like the gas I used for the office at the maximum security prison, I don’t know that they have those kind of mechanism in the Nigerian Police too or do you know if they had a foreign officer working with them?’

‘No, there’s no way I’ll have that kind of information.’ Henry replied her with a frown.

‘Then where could they have gotten that torch from, or who was the man who attacked me with the torch?’ she asked thoughtfully, not expecting any answer from Henry. 

‘What matters now is that you’re okay,’ Henry said.

‘That’s what matters to you,’ she replied in a sharp tone. ‘My life does not matter to me now, what matters is killing all the basta*ds that deserves to die.’ Her wristwatch vibrated again and the screen showed the danger colour.