Tarasha – Chap 4 (Part One)

Tarasha took a sip of juice after she pasted a copied text from the internet to a word document titled “Nnamdi Okafor”. The first page of the document served as the title page which had the name “Nnamdi Okafor” boldly typed in the middle of the page. “Minister of Health” was typed below the name but not in a font as bold as that of the name.
The information sent to her by the Chief for the job only contained the address of the man’s house, office and some of his family members. It also contained a brief history of the man, his companies, assets, his business associates and high profile friends.
She felt the data provided wasn’t enough for her to work with as she would be stupid to ust attack and ki*ll the man in Abuja, the country’s capital where the man’s businesses and main house was located; she had to start seeking for more information.
The internet provided her with so much in just few hours, she had learnt that the man would be coming to Lagos State for a conference in ten days time. She also discovered that the Hosts of the conference was Derl Pharmaceutical Industry; largest medicine producing company in the country and that they were also inviting other popular health practitioners from outside the country. The conference was scheduled to take place in Eriental Conference hall, Ikeja Lagos.
Since the organizers of the conference were Derl pharmaceutical company, Tarasha concluded that they would also be in charge of the welfare of their guest speakers of which the minister was one. She decided to visit the company’s headquarters in Lagos the next day, Thursday.
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Her phone rang just as she saved and closed the document, a look at the phone’s screen showed that it was Chief calling.
‘Hello Chief, where have you been?’ She asked as she answered the call.
‘Hi, I went out to meet someone. I just saw your missed call now’ Chief replied.
‘Okay, I wanted to discuss something with you on Skype’
‘What’s it about? Can we discuss now?’
‘Just, I’ll log on immediately’ Tarasha ended the call.
The first thing she did was to put on her mask, then she opened the Skype software on the laptop; the Chief already sent a connection request.
‘Hi Chief, you’re looking very happy today’ She commented cheerfully immediately the video came on.
‘Thank you Tarasha, I met with some old friends this morning and we had a very nice discussion’ the Chief replied with a smile.
‘That’s cool Chief, let me go straight to the point now’ Tarasha said and faced the webcam directly. ‘I’ll be moving into the house you prepared for me very soon, precisely next tomorrow’
‘Wow!’ Chief Gab exclaimed happily. ‘Wow! Wow! What made you reconsider your decision?’
‘I didn’t reconsider my decision, it was my plan all along to move in there later’
‘Oh! Well, so what plans do we have to make for you now? The place is well decorated already, I’m sure you’ll like it’
‘I believe that the kind of  place I would like to stay was already communicated to you before I came to Nigeria’
‘Yes, we have five large empty rooms in the house, two sitting rooms, two rooms rooms already designed for sleeping and we have a work room there also with three computers’
‘Okay Chief, what I need there now is a laboratory; I’ll send you a list of equipment, gases and the chemicals I need there’ Tarasha explained. ‘It has to be set tomorrow so that I can start the job’
‘Tomorrow? What kind of lab do you want?’ Chief was surprised at the request. ‘Hope you don’t need so many things because I don’t think it will be possible to set up a standard lab before Friday’
‘That’s why I’m telling you right now; once you get the list in your email, start working on getting them’ Tarasha replied calmly. ‘And also remove every camera you may have installed in any part of the house, I’ll reinstall them myself’
‘Tarasha, I can’t assure you that the lab is ..
‘I’m not negotiating Chief, the lab must be ready unfailingly by 12am on Friday morning’ She interrupted. ‘I’ll also need some of your men to start working with me now, so select two of your men; they must be intelligent,fast drivers, with good IT knowledge and also very good gun users’
‘Selecting men for you is not a problem, I can give you twenty if you want but…’
‘Chief, I need two guys not twenty; I’ll tell you if I need more’ she said, standing up from the seat. ‘You’ll have to excuse me now, please make sure everything is set up by Saturday. Have a pleasant day’
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‘Don Don’ Chief Nonso spoke at last, after staring at the man seated behind his table for some seconds. ‘This joke you’re telling now is not funny at all, maybe you should try another’
‘I’m serious Chief; I’m very sorry, we’ll try to recover your goods as soon as possible’ Don replied, his face showing remorsefulness.
‘Are you kidding me? How can you tell me a girl outsmarted your boys?’ Chief Nonso replied him in an angry tone. ‘Why did you send learners to carry out a job for me?’
‘No Chief, the guys weren’t learners. I don’t just know what happened to them’
‘What the hell are you talking about? You should have told me you weren’t capable’
‘You know I’m very capable Chief, this is not the first time I’m working for you’ Don answered back, anger was gradually welling up in him. ‘Why are you talking like this?’
‘What kind of question is that? And do you know how much it costs? And you know how much the country frowns at Vinil? Apart from that, it is a very dangerous and Illegal substance, if the police finds it, I’ll be in serious trouble’
‘We’ll get it back for you Chief or we’ll refund the money’ Don said calmly, trying to keep his anger under control.
‘Well…’ The Chief replied in a calmer tone now, as he relaxed and swerved playfully in his swivel chair. ‘Thank God I didn’t rely on your bunch of lazy men, I’ve gotten the substance kept somewhere safe’
‘Huh?’ Don looked straight at him, his eyes widened in shock. ‘You have it with you?’
‘Yes, we only tested your ability and you failed’
‘Chief! You sent us an errand and you also came to attack us too?’
‘Yes, it was a test to know how capable you are and if you’ll be able to handle the other jobs. But I see you can’t, since just a Lady can defeat your guys’
‘No Chief, it’s not like that. I’m capable and I’ve got a lot of other capable guys; you know that I’ve never failed you. It’s just that those guys messed up that day and they paid for it already’
‘It’s okay Don, you should be more careful next time’  Chief said, using his biro to give a caution signal as he rested his hands on the table. ‘And you even went too far, how come you dropped everybody at the warehouse? ‘
‘Chief, don’t mind me . I was just mad at the guys, I thought they played tricks on me’
‘It’s okay’
‘Thank you Chief’ Don replied, a bit relaxed now. ‘But you’ve not said anything about that Lady you sent to them’
‘She’s Tarasha, I don’t know her as much as my friend Gab, but he says she’s a specially trained professional from Russia and she’s very deadly’
‘Come on, the fact that she outsmarted those two stupid guys doesn’t make her deadly like you’re describing’ Don said mockingly. ‘And I’ll also like to remind you that I was trained in Russia too’
‘Well, I’ve not forgotten that but I still think she’s really deadly’
‘Anything you say Chief; maybe you should even bring her to work with us since you say she’s quite good’ Don suggested.
‘She’s not quite good, she’s more than good’ Chief Nonso corrected with a serious look on his face to buttress his point. ‘And  she can’t work with you; that’s even part of the reason I called you here this afternoon. I need you and to provide two of your strongest, most intelligent men that would work with her’
‘Work with her? What assignment did you give her?’ Don questioned, with a look of disappointment on his face. ‘You don’t believe in me anymore?’
‘No, It’s not like that. I didn’t give her any job of mine, Gab did. I have another assignment for you already’
‘Well, there’s no problem. How soon do you need the men?’
‘Let them report to me today so I can tell them what to do’
‘Alright, I’ll send them immediately I get back to my domain’
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‘Hey guys, there’s a new project for us’ James stated as he walked into the office, while the two other occupants worked on their computers.
‘Welcome sir, what’s it about?’ Segun replied, stopping his work to pay full attention this Boss.
‘Welcome sir’ Sandra joined
‘Thank you’ James continued as he took off his suit jacket and hung it on his chair. ‘There’s a conference coming up on the thirtieth of this November and we’re in charge of the security for the whole event’
‘What kind of conference is it sir?’ Segun asked, showing great interest.
‘It’s an health conference organized by Derl Pharmaceutical Industry in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and it would take place in the Eriental Conference Hall’ James explained. ‘Some dignitaries from other countries would be attending the conference to give speeches, so our job begins two days before the conference because most of the foreign guests would arrive in Lagos that evening’
‘Wow! That’s some work, we’ve not handled a big conference as this before’ Sandra commented.
‘Yea, but we’ve handled some other big ones; so we would do well with this also’ Segun responded to Sandra’s statement before he turned to his Boss again. ‘So who exactly is coming for the conference?’
‘Well, Ken Benson and Lee Yung Cho are the only foreign speakers and the Federal government already made special security and welfare plans for them, so our main job is to provide security for the  African guests’ James expatiated. ‘That includes Ghana’s Minister of Health, The Nigerian Minister of Health, Lagos State Commissioner of Health and some others’
‘So many high profile people amongst them, why didn’t they inform is earlier?’ Segun queried, with a frown on his face.
‘The job had been given out before, it was just transferred to us; so all the men that had been trained for it would also report to us this evening’ James answered.
‘Thank God’ Sandra added, as she heaved a sigh of relief. ‘I thought we’ll just have to start preparing our men’
‘No, all that has been done already’ James replied work an assuring smile. ‘The job is a easy one for us’
‘Great’ Segun face beamed with smiles. ‘So what’s the next action, when will we meet the guys?’
‘This evening, they should be on their way to the barracks now’ James answered, glancing at his wristwatch.
‘Okay ‘
‘Yea, now this is how we are going about it’ James said with more seriousness in his voice now, he made sure that he was being paid attention before he continued. ‘I’ll handle all that pertains to Ghana’s Minister of Health and the other Nigerian guests while Segun would handle the Nigerian Minister of health and Sandra, the Lagos State Commissioner; that shouldn’t be a hard job, the commissioner is still in his state’
He paused and looked at their faces to confirm again if they were giving him attention. ‘We are not expecting any causality but we have to be on guard and do this properly; if we make any little mistake, it can make the IG and the government loose trust in our team. Hope you know that?’
‘Yes sir’ they replied in unison.
‘Good, details would be forwarded to you in some minutes and would always be updated as soon as necessary. So get ready for this’ James concluded with  a smile and rested his back on the chair.
…to be continued