Tarasha 2 – Chapter 3 Part 8

‘Aisha, why has your direction changed?’ Cole spoke into the phone. There was no response from Aisha heard, the only thing he could hear was the horning of cars. ‘Aisha, are you there?’ he spoke again. This time he felt a vibration on his wrist. The screen of his wristwatch had turned red, signaling danger. 

‘What could be wrong?’ he asked himself as he cut the call. ‘Why did she need help so quick even without getting to the Bolevian garden yet?’ he asked again as he stared at the wristwatch screen closely. 

‘Oga, pull over he said to the driver who was already peering at him through the rearview mirror. .

‘Huh?’ the cab man replied with a frown, Cole’s words sounded more like a command to him which he didn’t like. 

Cole rested his palms on the backrest of the car and used it to lift himself to the passenger’s side beside the driver.

‘What are you doi…’ the driver had not finished talking when Cole took him out with the butt of his gun. 

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Tarasha increased the speed of the car after the call, she was just two streets before Metro now and was fast approaching the Inspector General. She had to suddenly slow down as her Android device vibrated on her lap. She took a quick look at the caller’s ID. It was an unsaved number but she recognized it. She wondered why Henry was calling at that time and how he even got the number of the sim in the android phone. She ignored and it soon stopped ringing. She was about to speed up again when it began to ring again. She heaved a sigh of frustration. If the call continues, it was going to disturb her use of the device. It stopped ringing again and started after a space of five seconds, it started again. She finally swiped the green icon hesitatingly and placed it on loud speaker.

‘Henry, you shouldn’t be calling by this time.’ she said in a scolding manner.

‘Omotara, where are you?’ Henry asked, ignoring her first remark. His voice was full of fear and concern.

‘Henry, don’t disturb for now. I’m working, I’ll get back to you later.’ she said in a bid to end the call.

‘Tara, please don’t do it.’ she heard him say as she was about to end the call.

‘Don’t do what?’ she thought at first that he was asking her not to end the call.

‘You have a meeting with the Vice President by 8pm…’ 

‘That?’ Tarasha cut in. ‘I think you shouldn’t interfere,’ she snapped and ended the call. 

She was annoyed with Henry’s behavior as she drove on, she remembered Cole once warning her about him and how he could cause danger. She knew Henry must have broken through the security of one of their computer systems and gotten the sim number from it. She became more pissed off as it occurred to her that he could even be tracking her now since the device he called her with was not protected, it couldn’t be used to track if it was protected itself.

She had not driven too far when her wristwatch vibrated and the screen light turned red. She raised her hand closer to her face to have a better view of the message displayed. 

The alarm was from Aisha and it signified she needed help, she shook her head with an unhappy sigh, disappointed that Aisha could be requesting for help so early in the mission. She turned off the wristwatch screen and continued driving, she believed Cole was able to provide the assistance needed since they could communicate directly to each other.

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**Meanwhile, somewhere on Rael University Campus**

7.37pm

‘Hey! Good evening,’ Stephanie George replied another student’s greeting with a pleasant smile and wave. A frown returned to her face immediately after the greeter walked away. She continued checking the time on her phone from time to time and would stare around to see if there are any signs of the person she was waiting for. She had been waiting for more than an hour and had called twice to ask him where he was to which he replied that he was stuck in traffic jam and was still coming to meet her.

Stephanie was beginning to feel uneasy, it was already dark and she wasn’t used to staying out at that time alone. She and Taofeek, another top executive of the SWAD had planned to have a night view around the hostel which she was standing in front of. Complains and cries about the devastating state of the hostel from the students had caught their attention and the SWAD had decided to come to the school’s aid to renovate the facility but they had to check for themselves to confirm the problem. Stephanie and Taofeek who were top officials of the SWAD would be given unlimited access to any part of the facility and that would enable them to make a budget and estimate of what is needed. 

Soon, a car pulled up to the curb at the other side of the road directly opposite the gate. Two guys stepped out of the car, one from the passenger’s side at the front and the other from the backseat. They waited for a bike to speed pass the unbusy road before they crossed. 

Stephanie could see them coming towards the gate, she wondered who they were. To her they looked like some of the rich spoilt brats on campus and she concluded that they had come to pick a girl or some girls for a party. 

But the boys didn’t walk past her, they stopped right at her front. One of them flashed his teeth at her and placed his hands on his waist. She could perceive the smell of Indian hemp and alcohol from their bodies. 

‘Good evening, how may I help you please?’ she greeted politely after flashing a look at the both of them. 

They exchanged knowing looks and the one who smiled first let out a chuckle. She knew now that they must be one of the bad gangs on campus, but she stared at them unafraid, thinking that they had just stopped by to threaten her. And it was also some minutes to eight pm, that wasn’t a dangerous time of the night to stay outside and most bad gangs don’t carry out their activities as early as that.

She stepped back slowly as one of the boys moved closer, she stopped when her back almost touched the gate. He stopped too and flashed his teeth at her again. He placed his gaze at her brea$t region and began to smack his lips lustfully and rub his hands together, a white handkerchief was tied to his wrists.

Stephanie quickly tried to reach into her pocket with her right hand while she stretched the left towards the gate bell. The man was fast to react, seeing that she could bring out a pepper spray or another harmful substance, he quickly loosened the handkerchief on his wrist and covered her nose with it. She was able to tap the bell but couldn’t take out what was in her pocket. She fell unconscious into his hands. The other guy standing at the back quickly stepped forward to help. Both of them lifted her together and carried her into the car. 

Some students walking past who knew who they were were initially scared to raise an alarm until the car drove off.

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7.42pm

**Abuja**

‘Rex,’ he could hear the Inspector General call his name from behind. He rose up and proceeded backwards.

‘What’s the matter again?’ he asked, stopping before the Inspector General. 

‘Sorry, I just saw that lady and I thought she could be the one, I thought I should call your attention.’

Rex glanced towards the place where the Inspector General was looking towards, he could see a girl dressed in a mini skirt and a armless top. He turned back to the Inspector General with a mocking smile, ‘You are a sissy, she’s not the one,’ with that he turned back and walked round the front of the car to the driver’s side. He opened the door and entered into the car. He picked his stopwatch at the passenger’s side, he took a look at the reading and then checked the time on his phone before resetting the process. He put on his seat belt turned on the car engine at exactly one minute and seven seconds. 

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Tarasha was approaching the roundabout to Metro road when her phone rang again, the smaller one this time. Cole was the one calling. She was full of anger in her heart as she answered the call. 

‘What in hell do you want now?’ she answered the call. 

‘I’m sorry boss but I got Aisha’s alarm but I couldn’t connect to her,’ Cole replied. 

‘Then what the hell are you calling me for? Find her and help her, that’s the reason you went with her.’ she said and cut the call angrily. 

She checked the time on her phone and sighed, a lot of time had been wasted on the unnecessary calls, she needed to verify the man’s location again. She dialed the Inspector General’s number again and turned on the screen of the android device, she was able to pick the location even though the call wasn’t answered. The location was the same and she was very close to him.

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‘She’s calling again,’ Chief Rikau announced to Rex. Rex was still staring at the stopwatch, waiting for the right time to drive. 

He took a glance back to Rikau and said, ‘Don’t answer yet’. He took an Android device from the passenger’s seat and turned on the screen. 

A tracking application similar to the same one Tarasha uses was running. A map displayed covering the blank page and a large black rounded spot appeared at a point and then diminished immediately. He wasn’t still able to determine the exact location of the caller but the rounded black spot was just a sign that the caller was very close, specifically less than four kilometres from them.

‘Move to the other side,’ he said to Chief Rikau in a commanding tone. Rikau answered. Rex pulled up the passenger’s seat and took out two short guns, he also picked out a device in form of a handy torch and fixed back the seat. He opened the door and stepped out.

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7.46pm

Tarasha parked the car properly after driving past the roundabout into Metro road and then the first street. She took off the seatbelt and stretched to pick the two pistols behind at the backseat, she filled them with cartridges and stepped out of the car. She began to walk down the street gently, the street map had shown her the exact spot the Inspector General was; at the front of a two storey building which was a popular IJMB centre. 

She cocked one of the guns as she spotted the building, the lights on the signboard of the IJMB centre had made it easier. She could see a car parked at the gate of the building, the headlights were on. She was sure the Inspector General was in the car, so she proceeded faster. She crossed to the other side and began to walk straight down to the car, only about fifty metres far now. She used her police cap to shield her eyes from the light. 

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.