Tarasha 2 – Chapter 1 Part 7

Henry had slept off minutes after the meal the last night, he woke as early as 5am the next morning. There were now some changes in the room, a television set and a decoder had been set up for him. There was also a very small fridge kept in a corner of the room. A drawer had also been introduced to the side of the bed, a laptop was on the drawer. A doormat had also been placed at the entrance. A look at the door suggested that he was locked in.

After mumbling some words of prayer, Henry rose up from the bed slowly and stretched his body, he still felt pains at some of his joints. He proceeded first towards the door and confirmed it kicked, so he turned to the TV and switched it on, he also turned on the decoder and returned to the bed with the remote control. Seconds after,  the decoder loaded completely, he switched to the network news station purposely to see if there would be any report about his escape. He only watched for few minutes when he saw his name been written in a statement in the news flash. Just as he expected, he had been declared wanted already. 

His eyes remain fixed to the television but his mind travelled far away. His name had been spread all over the nation as a criminal and that grieved him but he was feeling more grieved when he thought of Jefa’s exit. He wished someone would tap him and wake him up from the unpleasant dream. But No, this was reality.

____

‘We’ll take some weeks off, not to rest but to strategize and to properly build structures,’ Tarasha was speaking to Cole and Aisha in the living room of the new house. The morning still smelt of freshness but for them, it was already work time. 

‘We have two main targets now,  the Vice President and the Inspector General.’ Tarasha said to them. ‘After strategizing and putting up of structures, we’ll know the one to go for first, but I’m sure we won’t ki*ll the both of them immediately because only they can reveal who our next targets would be,’ Tarasha paused and took in a deep breath. ‘One thing I assure you is that many more people still have to die.’ She waited to see of they had listened to her attentively, ‘Do you have any questions?’ She asked.

‘Yes,’ Cole responded swiftly. ‘I heard you mention Don Daniel day before yesterday and I thought he’ll also be one of our targets,’ Cole said. 

‘I don’t think Don should be counted as one of our targets, he’ll surely be taken down along the way. He doesn’t look like a worthy target to me. It’s just that now I understand why he’s been trying to tail me, he was working for the IG all these while.’ 

‘Okay and the IG is using him as an external hand for the police?’ Cole asked. 

‘No, the IG is using him for something personal. Something I’m yet to grasp yet.’ she replied, staring blankly at the wall as she began to take slow steps around the room. She tried to capture Don’s face in her mind, he had never really being like a threat to her, she believed it was only for her mistake Don and the Inspector General had been able to access the house and ki*ll her brother.

Cole and Aisha remained quiet but Tarasha could sense they were hiding something, they still had questions in their hearts. She knew the possible questions they had bottled inside them and weren’t bold enough to ask. One of those questions was how the enemies penetrated her so well to hurt her without her receiving any alarm or prior warning about it.

‘Now we won’t let our guards off anymore, they got to ki*ll my brother because when I visited Henry at Kuje Prison.’ she began suddenly again. ‘They don’t allow phones and devices to be taken into the prison visiting hall, so I wasn’t alerted when the enemies gained entrance into the house.’  She closed her eyes as she recounted the sad experience. She also had refused to check her phone after the talk with Henry that day, all that was in her mind was to get home and fulfil Henry’s wish; that is to leave the country with her brother. She felt tears form in her eyes but she fought back, not wanting to look weak before Cole and Aisha.

Cole and Aisha watched their boss being so emotional for the first time ever, she had partly answered some of the questions they had in mind. She had given them an idea of the drama that ensued on the day she dismissed them from working for her, only to call back for them few hours later. She also revealed the nature of their next set of tasks and answered the questions about the person whose grave she had visited with them two days ago. They also knew now, why she did not let them return to the house in Asokoro, because she was hiding her brother there. But they still had many questions left unanswered, one of the questions was why Henry who they had made several attempts to ki*ll was rescued from the prison and now kept with them. Since they were unaware of Henry’s presence in  Tarasha’s house for days, they couldn’t comprehend the situation, all they could think was of their boss’ weirdness and wonder about her recent emotional change.

____

It was 7.15am when Henry began to hear a noise at the door to his room, someone was opening it from behind. He quickly sat up, hoping it was Omotara this time. 

The noise seized for some seconds but the door refused to open, Henry was about laying back in the bed when the door creaked slowly and his hope materialized, Omotara entered. She closed the door and stopped at the entrance, they both stared at each other’s faces for some couple of seconds. 

She was the first to break the silence, ‘Good morning Henry,’ she said as she threw the keys to the top of the drawer beside the bed. 

‘Good morning Omotara,’ Henry answered with the same tone, rising up to his feet.

‘Have you had your bath already?’ She asked, giving him a searching look. 

‘No,’ he replied flatly. ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’

‘I’m here now, would you go and have your bath?’ She said, folding her arms.

‘Tara, we need to talk.’ Henry gave her a look of seriousness, ‘What you… What we did yesterday was grievous…’

‘Is that all?’ Tara cut in. 

‘No,’ he replied stubbornly. ‘Why did you bring me to a new house? You said at the prison that Uncle Jeffrey was killed by a team led by the Inspector General but you still haven’t explained to me how it happened I don’t understand what is going on.’

Tarasha narrowed her gaze at him and stared at him quietly for close to a minute, ‘What would you do if I grant you an explanation?’

‘What would I do?’ Henry asked, staring at her with an unbelieving look. ‘Don’t you think I deserve an explanation considering the fact that it was your story about his death that made me agree leaving the prison with you? Or did you lie about his death?’

Tarasha chuckled and gave no reply, she kept staring at his face, there was just something in his eyes that always made her calm. He wanted an explanation but she wasn’t ready to start telling him a long story of how Inspector General Rikau was the same man who killed her parents and molested her when she was eight because she didn’t understand yet why Rikau was still after them and why he came for her brother, leaving a note behind in which he promised to come for her. 

‘Have your bath and dress up, I’ll like to take you somewhere,’ she said before turning out of the room.