[b] Chapter 12 part 6
Tarasha could see the car closing in on her and she was sure that she would be overtaken before she got to the junction. She rolled down all the windows and took out her revolver in readiness, she placed it on her lap and focused back on the road and the mirrors.
The Zenvo was right behind her, it was only a matter of seconds before it got to her front. She held up her gun and suddenly hit the brakes hard.
Dave was taken by surprise as he never expected her to hit the brakes. The bullets hit the car unexpectedly and shattered the glasses causing him to loose control. The gun in his hands dropped as he struggled to control the wheels, but the bullets kept coming and he had to bend his head. He ran the car off the road and the right side tyres entered into the drainage just before it got to the junction, making the car slant upwards with the left side up.
Tarasha took a few seconds to observe the Zenvo. She reversed the car about five metres back and halted. Then she stepped out of the car holding an extra gun in her hands. She continued shooting at it as she walked forward. She was determined to end the life whoever was in it. But as she got two metres close to where the car had fallen, she began to hear sounds a vehicle coming from behind. She stopped and looked back, she could see the headlights of a vehicle coming afar off.
‘Damn it!’ she let out a painful sigh. Cole had told her that the other cars pursuing her were far off and she wondered how this one could get to meet them so quick. She turned back and proceeded into the car hurriedly, she drove on to the junction and turned into the new road. She sped off on the free expressway.
*
*
Abuja
‘What do we do now?’ Henry asked Cole in low tones, his eyes still full of fear.
‘We just have to wait for some minutes,’ Cole replied gently and then placed his forehead on the table.
Henry got up and began to pace around the room, his heart beating fast and his lips trembling. All he could imagine were the bad things that could have happened to Omotara, she had asked them to crash the NSCC cameras and the communication lines and there was no way they could see her or talk to her anymore, that means they would not know whatever happened to her.
‘When do we open back the systems?’ Henry stopped to ask Cole.
‘I don’t know for certain, but we have to give her enough time to do away with the guy trailing her.’ Cole replied without looking up.
Henry continued pacing around and making noisy sounds with his breath.
‘Calm down man, worrying isn’t going to change anything.’ Cole said to him.
Henry paused for a while and stared at Cole. He tried to reason the words said to him but he still couldn’t calm himself. He continued to pace around with his arms folded across his chest.
The door to the control room opened gently and in came Tomi. Cole’s eyes met with hers, he could tell she hadn’t slept yet.
‘You guys are still working?’ she asked, with her eyes fixed on Cole after taking a glance at Henry.
Cole wanted to ignore her but he decided to reply on a second thought. ‘Yes,’ he said and looked up, shaking his legs slowly from side to side.
She walked closer to him and sat on the seat beside him. She was in her night gown which wasn’t covered properly, Cole could see everything underneath. He wondered if she had been at his room waiting for him like she was fond of.
‘What’s the matter?’ Tomi who was now looking at Henry asked Cole.
‘Well, we don’t know what’s up with the boss right now and that’s why he’s seems worried.’ Cole replied her.
‘Can we put it up back now?’ Henry asked, returning back to his seat.
‘No,’ Cole said in a strong tone. ‘It’s not up to an hour yet, it’ll take her up to ninety minutes to keep them totally off track.’
Henry heaved a sigh of frustration, he shook his head and then placed his forehead on the table.
____
Anambra.
1:05am
Dave winced in pain as the SSS officers laid his back to the ground. He fastened his right hand palm to the left upper region of his back where a bullet had entered in between his shoulder blades. His palm was soaked in blood already. Blood was also dripping down his head where he injured slightly. It would have been a worse situation if he didn’t have his seatbelt on.
‘Just leave me here, keep following her.’ he managed to say to one SSS officer who was putting on a similar mask like his.
‘No Agent, we can’t leave you here like this. We have to take you for treatment with the car.’
‘No, go after her. You call the ambulance to pick me up here.’
‘There are no signals, we stopped getting directions from the Security Cameras office. We were coming from the front and we got to know it should be this direction when we heard gunshots.’
‘Oh shi*t,’ Dave cursed. He was in pain but he was still determined not to let Tarasha go. He closed his eyes as a gentle breeze swam across his face. He heaved a sigh of frustration, he knew for sure she had escaped again.
‘Careful,’ the SSS officer cautioned the other security officers as they lifted Dave into the car.
*
*
1:58am
Udoka Estate.
Martin Ekwueme sat at the edge of the bed where he had been for over thirty minutes waiting for his host to return. He had been awake for more than one hour and did not make any attempt to escape. He discarded the thought the only time it had crossed his mind for the fear of making a futile effort. He was sure she was somewhere around the place or that she had other people around and could be testing to see what he would do. The hunger he felt when he woke up forced him to take the meal she had served him since afternoon which he refused. Since then he sat at the edge of the bed, taking his time to think about his life and his family’s, and spent more thinking about what Samantha was going to do with him.
Tarasha walked into the house at 2:15am. It had been another work for her to go through the security at the estate gate but she did without killing anyone but only leaving them with minor injuries and in an unconscious state. She also injected into their bodies the substance benryl to make them totally forget their encounter with her and make them unable to explain their ordeal when they woke up the next morning.
Martin Ekwueme’s mind skipped a beat as he heard the sound of the keys working at the door, he knew Samantha was back for him. Soon she entered and closed the door. She stopped behind the door to look around the room, it was just the same way she left it. She looked at the man’s face, he was also staring at her. The look on his face showed he had been expecting her for long.
As she proceeded towards him she noticed he kept his gaze on her face but it was no longer a look of delayed expectation, he seemed to be interested in something on her face. Then she realized that her face would still full of the temporary marks and sweat left by the mask she had just taken off. She wiped her face with her hand and sat at the other end of the bed.
‘I see you’ve been doing fine in my absence,’ she said with a wry smile as she sat at the other end of the bed.
He still continued to stare at her face in silence. He wondered where she was coming from and what she had been doing that made her sweat so much. But the strange thing about it was that her face was the only part of her body sweating profusely. He watched as she wiped off the sweat and stared back at him. Her face still looked innocent and young like that of Tracy his last daughter and for a moment, for a moment, he doubted again that she was really Samantha Osman.
‘It’s midnight already, you should rest more now, we would continue by morning.’ she suddenly changed her mind and got up from the bed.
She proceeded to the door and was about to turn the knob when he said something.
‘Are you really Samantha?’ he repeated when her expression showed she didn’t hear him the first time.
She stayed for a moment but didn’t turn or say anything in reply. Then she opened and the door and walked out without giving him a reply.
**12 minutes later**
She just finished having her bath but was still in the bathroom when she heard her phone ringing. She wiped her face with the towel before wrapping it around her body. She knew the caller would be no one else but Cole.
____
Abuja
‘She’s not answering,’ Cole said in reply to Henry, dialing the number again.
Henry was still looked deeply terrified but Cole was more relaxed. Tomi had slept off on the chair beside Cole and wasn’t conscious anymore of anything happening around her.
‘Let me try,’ Henry said, getting up to pick Cole’s phone which he had dropped on the table.
‘She’ll call back when she sees the call,’ Cole said, trying to discourage him from dialing again.
Henry ignored and dialed back, the call was answered at the first ring.
‘Cole,’ she called as she answered.
‘Omotara,’ he called with his eyes widening in surprise. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine Henry, I’ve gotten to the house now. Did you just reset the communication lines?’
‘Yes, about five minutes ago,’ he replied.
‘What about Cole, is the NSCC system also back in operation?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Handover the phone to Cole.’
Henry obeyed silently.
‘Boss,’ Cole said with a note of happiness in his voice.
‘Have you checked if the guys are still out there?’
‘Yes, I’ve checked but I can’t find them anywhere. Are you now at Udoka estate?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay, I’ll switch to the cameras there in some minutes and call you back.’
‘Thank you.’
*
*
*
*
5:30am
Lizzy yawned and stretched as she got out of the bed that morning. She sat at the edge she placed her elbows on her knees. She buried her face in her palms and managed to say a few words of prayer. Then she reached for her two phones beside the pillow and unlocked the iPhone. She swiped down the notification bar and was quite worried that there was no message yet from Dave. She opened her WhatsApp instant messenger and opened the chat with Dave, he had still not received the message she sent him the last night to ask about his trip. She was sure Dave could take care of himself and if he was going to get into trouble, it wouldn’t be on his first day of arrival at the place. She unlocked the android phone also, she was also expecting Victor’s annoying message which always come in before she woke up. She never wasted her time to read his love messages but always replied with ‘Thanks, I love you too. Have a nice day,’ or any other similar phrase.
She opened the Google chrome browser on the android phone and typed in the Nairaland url. It loaded in a few seconds. She scrolled through the updates but stopped when she got to the centre and found no topics of interest to her. She opened another tab and navigated to the desert reporters website. Her mind skipped a bit as she saw the first topic on the news portal. ‘Police and SSS battle with suspected Samantha Osman agent in Crescent Moon Hotel, Anambra – Over twenty confirmed dead, six officers injured.’
She quickly clicked on the headline and waited for it to load. She then knew the reason for Dave’s inability to reply her message or call since the last night.
The first thing she checked after the article loaded was the time it was posted, 5:32am, that was some minutes ago and it explained the reason the news had not made the Nairaland forum front page yet. The content of the news read;
‘Between the hours of 10:30pm last night to 1am, the whole Ngozika Estate area was filled with terror as sounds of gunshots rent the air causing all business centres that works till late night close early and left the roads deserted so early – this causing so much traffic jam in other areas. Our correspondent who was a guest in the hotel that night gathered that the lady suspected to be Samantha Osman lodged in the hotel five days ago with a different name and was traced to the place by a SSS agent whose identity is yet to be revealed. It was reported that the assasin exchanged gunshots with the officers and security men in the hotel building, leaving dead security officers whose numbers have been counted up to this time as twenty one and six others badly injured. The head security officer of the hotel stated the reason of her escape to be the sophisticated weapons which she used against them. He claimed that they couldn’t respond to her in the same manner she shot at them because of the fear of hurting the innocent guests of the hotel.
Our source also revealed that the SSS agent who traced her to Ngozika Estate and whose identity is still been hidden by his colleagues at the SSS is badly injured. ‘
Lizzy paused at this. Her mind began to beat faster. She continued:
‘Several of the guests at the hotel were seen this morning leaving with their luggages as early as five am.
More details to be revealed later.’
Lizzy released a deep breath after reading the article. She was greatly afraid that something terrible had happened to Dave. She picked her iPhone again and dialed his number. It rang again for several minutes but wasn’t answered by anyone.
_____
Udoka Estate, Anambra
7:46am
Tarasha had woken up already but felt too lazy to get up from the bed. She didn’t plan to do much that day, her main reason for coming to Anambra was already being fulfilled; the Doctor was in the same building with her.
The last night had been an exciting one for her, she had for some weeks never had the opportunity to race so fast on major roads and she felt good to have someone giving her a hot chase, it was a kind of exercise that she needed often.
Her phone began to ring where she plugged it to charge and that gave her the push she needed to get up from the bed. She dragged herself to the place the phone was plugged and disconnected it from the charger. Cole was the one calling her.
‘Good morning boss,’ Cole greeted.
‘Yeah Cole, morning. What’s up this morning?’
‘Been up to check the footages this morning, there’s nothing that links you to Udoka Estate.’
‘Good job man,’ she let out a smile.
‘Thank you, and I also wanted to find out if you need something else this morning.’
‘Well… I think I just need some guns and another face mask.’
‘Oh well, what guns do you need and how do I send them?’
‘I’ll send you the specifications of the guns in a text but of course you should be able to get a transporter to get them to Anambra.’
‘Yes boss but… Don’t you think you need us there?’
‘Don’t bother, I’m almost done with what I came for, I don’t think I’ll need you to come. Just send the guns and mask, I’m not sure I’m going to use them but they’ll be useful in case any unforeseen situation comes up.’
‘Okay boss, if you say so. But have you read the news today?’
‘No, I just got out of bed.’ she took the phones off her ear briefly to check the time. ‘It’s almost eight, I’ll join the news in some minutes and also read online.’
‘Yeah, I think you really need to do.’
‘Thanks Cole,’ she said in a soft voice which made her sincerity obvious.
‘I’m doing my job boss,’ Cole replied.
‘Till later.’
Tarasha ended the call and let out a breath. She walked to the wardrobe and took off her night gown, leaving her panty and bra on. She opened the bag and took out the only gown in it. It reminded her that she needed to go out to shop for more clothes. She put on the gown and proceeded to the living room where the television was set up, the one in the room had not been connected to a decoder yet.
As expected, the previous night’s event was what made the headlines at all news stations. The media houses provided the videos of the hotel taken after she left there and showed the places where the deaths occured. The dead bodies had been taken away already but the traces of blood were still on the floor and on the walls. It was also reported that an agent of the SSS was the one who traced her to that destination but the agent’s name and identity was not disclosed or known by anyone.
Tarasha took time to brood on the situation, wondering how she was traced to the place. Then she realized it must be through the credit card like she had been suspecting, the SSS Agent must have gotten the details from someone or a company she paid money with the credit card to. She wondered who or where could be the source of the Agent’s information. She had to find out so as to ascertain that there were other things which couldn’t link them to her from the same source. She also needed to know who that SSS agent was before she leaves the state.
She reached for her phone and dialed Cole’s number, she instructed him to destroy the card details and cancel the connections to the bank. She was still wondering how the credit card was traced to her when she heard a sound from behind. Martin Ekwueme was walking to the living room. She put her legs down from the three seater, for she was sitting with her legs crossed on the seat and her back resting partially on the armrest and partially on the corner of the backrest.
The man ambled to the living room and sat in the one seater close to her. ‘Good morning… Samantha,’ he greeted.
She didn’t honour him with a reply immediately. She stared at him wondering if she wasn’t making him too comfortable around her by not inflicting pains on him.
‘I’m greeting… Samantha,’ the man said to her, thinking she was lost in thoughts.
‘Good morning old man,’ she replied coldly in a bid to remind him that she wasn’t his friend.
‘You didn’t close the doors of my room,’ the doctor said with his eyes full of surprise.
Exactly! Tarasha thought, that was the reason he was becoming so free with her, maybe he was thinking she was a nice girl he could joke with.
‘I thought you’ve been a good boy, you didn’t give me troubles last night, so I’m just treating you as one – a good boy.’
The man chuckled and scratched his chin with his finger. ‘What if I tried to escape when you went to sleep?’
‘You wouldn’t have made it out of the door alive,’ she answered him sharply with a wicked smile, pointing with her brows to the door which led out of the living room.
The cheerful look on his face disappeared, he seemed to be thinking deeply as he kept his gaze on her face.
‘You don’t stare at me anyhow, I could kill right away.’ she threatened the man, meaning every word she said.
She felt she had become feeble. Before she came to Nigeria, she had never had an hostage who was so bold to talk to her like that, they would always tremble at her presence. But like she had previously admitted, she started to become weak when she didn’t kill Jefa and allowed herself to love him and when Henry had also been allowed to resurrect her feelings. She felt she was loosing all the ‘values’ she got from the Nefary clan and needed to get back on her feet if she wished to be successful in her mission.
‘I’m sorry if I angered you,’ the man made a sincere apology and looked away. ‘It’s just that… I’m close to eighty and I’ve seen different young girls like you, you look too beautiful and innocent to be Samantha,’ he said, looking up at her face again with a smile. ‘I’m not scared of death anyway.’
Tarasha was deeply infuriated. She gritted her teeth. She would have pointed a gun at him if she had one by her side. The man was taking her for granted.
‘I’m sorry but whenever I look at your face, you remind me of my daughter and some of those young nurses at the hospital.’
Tarasha wanted to punish him for continuing despite seeing that she was angry but something struck her mind and her muscles relaxed as he mentioned ‘nurses’. She remembered Jumoke instantly. She had sent money to Jumoke using the traced credit card, could it mean that the SSS agency had traced her to Jumoke and extracted the information from the nurse.
‘I’m hoping you kill me very soon, I’m tired of this life.’ the man bursted out with a sudden change in countenance. ‘Kill me already, I’m tired of waiting for the judgement of my sins.’
She gave him a side look and lowered her brows at him. ‘I’m not here to judge you, I’m not here to kill you. I only need some information from you.’
‘No, you have to kill me quickly. I’ve been expecting you. I’ve seen you in my dreams even though in the image of a man, I know you would kill me soon, why the delay?’
Tarasha stared at him in silence as he let out his frustration wondering what the cause of his sudden mood change was.
‘I’ve lived my life for the last twelve years after I retired regretting all my past deeds and wishing I could correct them. I’ve done everything I could to feel fulfilled. I engaged myself in charity activities, tried to help the poor with my hospital but I still feel my life is a waste.’ the man continued to vent out his frustration, tears were rolling down his eyes now.
Tarasha saw an opportunity to make use of him through his emotions. ‘But why did you do those things you did in the past? You are a brilliant doctor who had a good future, was it because of money?’
The man’s tears increased, he dropped from the chair and sat on the floor. ‘I was covetous, I was in a hurry to make money and secure a good life,’ he said, sobbing and coughing. ‘When I tried to stop, those men came again and threatened me into it, I joined back and lost my conscience, I became an animal.’
The man’s face was soaked in tears like that of a baby. Tarasha felt it funny but tried to suppress her laughter. Strangely, she felt no pity for him in anyway like she had been feeling recently.
‘Wipe your tears Dr Martin,’ she said. ‘You see, I think there’s still one thing you need to correct in life if you want to ever feel forgiven.’ she said to get the man’s attention. He reduced his sobbing and wiped his face with his palm, he stared at her waiting for what she wanted to say. ‘Those men who made you do evil, some of them are still alive today and occupying high positions, doing more evil under the guise of developing the nation. I’m out to fish out all of them and punish them and it’ll be easier if you would work with me, you’ll also be doing the world a great favour and that way, you could make an amendment to your past sins.’
The man’s lips trembled. He stopped crying totally and stared blankly at the ground. Tarasha knew she had gotten him, he was on her side.
....................................................................................
Chapter 12 part 7
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Dave inhaled the cold air in the ward deeply as he opened his eyes. He looked to his left and saw a man putting on the SSS top seated by his side. With the inscription on the shirt, Dave could tell that the man was a very senior official of the service.
‘You’re awake,’ the man said and got up from his seat to move closer.
‘Yea, Good morning sir,’ Dave said and managed to seat up. He felt pains at his back as he rested it against the headboard. He was without a shirt because of the plastered wound behind him. He also had a plaster on the left side of the head. Luckily for him, the bullet that got into his body narrowly missed the bone at the shoulder plate, making his injury less severe.
‘Good morning Agent. I’m Godwin Anyim, assistant director of the State Security Service in Anambra state.’
‘Oh!’ Dave smiled and raised his hand to make a salute.
The man smiled back briefly and then put on a serious face, ‘Agent, why didn’t you reach us early last night to provide support for you?’
Dave sighed. ‘I never knew I was going to need support, it came unexpectedly.’
‘But you should have reported to the SSS office first when you got into Anambra.’
‘Sir, I don’t work for the SSS, I work with the SSS. My direct Agency doesn’t have an office here, so I’m not obligated to report to any other organization.’
The man was silent for a minute. ‘So under whose covering were you working in this state?’
‘I got direct permission from the NIS Chairman,’ Dave replied.
The man chuckled. ‘Talking about the chairman, he called this morning and asked that you reach him as soon as you wake up.’ the man said and turned back to take Dave’s phone. ‘Here’s your phone, you also have a couple of missed calls.’
Dave collected the phone and unlocked it, he opened his call records and found the names of those that tried to reach him – Lizzy, Daniel and Inspector Dakolo. He exited and quickly searched for the chairman’s number.
He took in a deep breath before dialing the number. He knew he was in trouble with the chairman already. There were only two options; either he was suspended for a week or two or asked to withdraw from the case totally. He had only gotten permission for interviews and was supposed to have called to inform the head office immediately the game changed.
‘Dave,’ the chairman’s voice sounded through the phone’s speaker.
‘Good morning sir.’ Dave replied.
‘Dave, what happened to you?’
‘Sir, it came suddenly. I…I didn’t…I never expected to meet her here,’ Dave stammered.
‘And why didn’t you reach the office before taking any action?’
‘It was too sudden sir, I acted proactively.’
There was a few seconds silence. ‘You also never wrote in your reports that you were tracing Samantha through her credit card.’
‘Yes sir, I wasn’t sure if she was that person, I needed to make confirmation and that is what I was trying to do when…’
‘Shut up Dave!’ The man slammed. ‘Don’t you know who you’re talking to?’
Dave remained silent. He folded his lips in as his eyes met with Godwin’s.
‘Don’t ever take me for a fool and tell me stupid stories, is that clear?’
‘Yes sir, I’m sorry sir.’
There was another brief silence.
‘When are you going to be discharged from the hospital?’ the chairman asked.
‘I don’t know yet sir, I’ve not seen the doctors this morning.’
‘You should find out and book the next flight available to Abuja as soon as possible. You can continue with your treatment here.’
‘I’m sorry sir… But don’t you think I need to still do some work here before returning?’
The Chairman was silent for a moment. Dave was afraid he had made the man angrier.
‘If you have to do that, ll send Daniel to you, he’ll take the next available flight there. Do make sure you don’t do anything till he comes.’
‘Okay sir,’ Dave replied and gave a sigh of relief. He never thought the man would agree for him to stay and continue on the case.
‘Be careful Dave, be very careful Dave’ the man said in a tone which depicted more of threatening than warning.
‘Phew!’ Dave forced out a breath from his mouth as he dropped the phone. He closed his eyes, partly in frustration. Making any of his team members join him was something he dreaded. It meant he wouldn’t be able to cover his activities from the corrupt chairman and the police anymore but it was a better option than the case been withdrawn totally from him.
He stared at the SSS man’s face for a while. The man was back on his seat and scrolling through his phone without paying any attention to him. Dave opened his call records again and dialed Lizzy’s number first. She picked the call at a ring and he apologized for not having the time to call her the previous night.
‘Come on, hope you’re fine.’ she replied to his apologies.
‘Yes, I’m trying. I got a bullet beside my shoulder though.’
‘Aww! Sorry about that,’ Lizzy expressed her concern in a sad tone.
‘Thanks Lizzy, so how are you?’
‘I’m doing good. How long will you be in the hospital?’
‘I don’t know how long they plan to keep me, but I don’t want to stay here till tomorrow.’
‘Dave, please take care of yourself.’ she said in a pleading tone.
‘Don’t worry about me Liz, I’ll call you again soon.’
He ended the call and dialed Inspector Dakolo’s number. As usual the Inspector was requesting if he had any information contrary to what the news had reported that morning, not knowing that he was a part of those who made the news. He replied with a negative answer to the Inspector’s disappointment.
______
‘I don’t know what you would like to eat, I’m going to get food from the eatery along this street,’ Tarasha said to the man who was still seated in the same spot she left him in the living room.
The man turned to look at her where she stood behind the chair. He suddenly remembered that he didn’t know the exact location he was. He had been indoor since the day before and had not seen outside the place.
‘Where are we?’ he asked and waited for a reply but she gave no answer.. ‘Are we still in Anambra?’ he pressed on.
‘Yes.’
He got up slowly and sat on the sofa. ‘I have a time table at home which the maids use in preparing my meals, I don’t really choose what I like to eat, so I can’t tell you what to get for me.’
‘Well, I got some groceries from the store yesterday but your breakfast might come late if we have to follow your timetable this morning.’ she said. She hoped he would not insist on following the time table because she wasn’t ready to cook. She had learnt how to prepare some Nigerian dishes from Aisha and Tomi but didn’t like to prepare them herself even though she enjoyed eating.
‘I don’t even remember what’s on the timetable for today, you can get me anything to eat, I’m really hungry.’ the man replied.
‘Okay, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.’ she said and walked away.
He drifted back to the realm of thoughts as she left him alone. He considered her offer again. Was it really the opportunity he had to finally right his wrongs? He asked himself. And what if his wrongs could not be righted? But it was still an opportunity to help the nation like she had put it, and it could just be his last opportunity to do something good for his people.
*
*
NIS Office, Abuja.
Lizzy was already preparing to leave her office when Victor’s call came in. She wondered if he was also in Anambra with his boss or if he was still in town. She didn’t hear from him the last night and even in the early hours of the morning which was unusual. She sat back and relaxed in her seat to answer the call.
‘Good morning Victor, how are you today?’
‘I’m fine, how about you?’
‘I’m fine too, hope you slept well?’
‘Yes, I did. Did you?’
‘I did too. So are you at work already?’
‘Yes, I am and I’m even preparing to go for a delivery now.’
‘Oh! Okay. I’ll call you later then.’
‘Okay, bye.’
‘I love you Pat.’
‘I love you too,’ she replied, shaking her head in disgust.
She hissed and tossed the phone into the bag after the call ended. She then rose from the table and adjusted her skirt.
‘One of those old men, right?’ one of her office mates hinted, talking about her conversation.
‘No, an annoying young man actually.’
‘Which case is that?’ the office mate asked.
‘It’s an old case,’ Lizzy answered reluctantly. She picked up her bag and hurried towards the door. ‘I’ll see you guys tomorrow,’ she said, her shoes making noise as the soles came in contact with the ground.
*
*
The door to Cole’s room opened just as he ended the call. He sat at the edge of the bed facing the door directly. As expected, Tomi was the one who entered without knocking.
‘So that’s the girl right, Pat?’ she stood at the door with her hands on her waist. She was putting on an apron and had just finished from the kitchen.
Cole knew instantly that she had listened to his conversation on phone but still decided to feign ignorance. ‘Which girl are you talking about?’
‘The one you just spoke to on phone,’ she replied and folded her arms across her chest.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he replied with a hiss.
‘I heard all you said on phone, stop lying to me.’
‘You shouldn’t be going around listening to other people’s conversation, don’t you have work to do?’ Cole slammed, trying to turn the tables.
‘Just shut up, I came to tell you breakfast was ready. You should be ashamed of yourself, always jumping around from one girl to another.’
Cole stared at her face for a moment and then burst into hysterical laughter. She stared at him thinly, wondering what the cause of his sudden madness was.
‘Girl, I believe you know I’m well aware of the many guys that have entered you back and front. And you know we don’t hide things from each other, I’ve heard stories on how you ride for several hours tirelessly. You shouldn’t be the one educating me in sticking to one girl, after you’ve been laid by every man that knows how to talk. Now stop acting like I’m the only one who has access to what you have there,’ he said with an evil smile, pointing with a finger to her chest and down to her privates.
She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Her face clearly showed her embarrassment and anger. She turned and stormed out of the room without saying any other thing.
He laughed to himself after she walked away. He stopped laughing when a thought flashed through his mind. He decided it was time he had to stop eating her food. With the way things were, she was likely to poison him as soon as she gets the right opportunity.
________
10:45am
Udoka Estate, Anambra.
‘I brought you some clothes from the mall,’ Tarasha said as she walked into the room unannounced. The man was lying in the bed but wasn’t asleep. He sat up slowly and his eyes followed Tarasha to the wardrobe in which she dropped the bag of clothes. ‘I also bought you an antiseptic soap, a sponge, toothbrush and toothpaste. I know you must be feeling unclean the way you are now.’ she closed the wardrobe and proceeded back towards the door. ‘You have enough time to rest after your breakfast, we’d have to do some work together after lunchtime.’ she said and walked out without waiting for a reply.
The man rolled out of the bed slowly and slipped on the slippers by the bedside. He walked to the wardrobe and opened to check what she had bought. After checking all what she came with, he wondered if he was still in abduction or if she had already accepted him as a co-worker.
*
*
2:30pm
Defence Hospital, Anambra
‘Doctor, just dress up the wound. I need to leave here once my colleague arrives.’ Dave said to the Doctor standing in his ward who had just administered some injections to him. Two nurses were in the ward with them.
‘I know you have to get back to work but I’ll advice that you let us watch you till tomorrow afternoon.’ the doctor replied him.
‘For another twenty four hours?’
‘Yes, so we can monitor the wound and ensure its going to close up soon.’
‘I can always come back for you to check me, but I can’t stay here for another twenty four hours. I have some things to do tonight,’ Dave stepped down from the bed and put on his slippers. ‘Excuse me Doc, I’ll like to use the restroom.’
‘I’ll give you sometime to reconsider your decision Agent,’ the doctor said as he watched Dave walk to the toilet. He signalled to the nurses with him and they proceeded out of the ward together.
*
35 minutes later
Agent Dan had arrived with Godwin the SSS director. Another chair had been added to the ward, Dan and Godwin were seated and facing Dave who was sitting in an upright position at the edge of bed.
‘The chairman is mad at you and he wants quick correction,’ Dan said to Dave.
‘I know, but you think he would still place me on suspension?’ Dave asked in a sad tone.
‘I honestly don’t think so,’ Dan replied. He bit his lower lips slightly and placed a thin stare at Dave’s face. ‘That’s what he should have done but I think he was stopped.’
‘Stopped? By who?’
‘I don’t really know but the bottom line is that they think you’re doing well on the case and should not be stopped yet.’
‘And do you know if the police has taken any action with the information available especially the credit card details?’
Dan was yet to answer when the door of the ward flung open and the Doctor walked in with a file in his hands. Everyone in the room turned to him.
‘Agent, you’re free to leave when you like.’ the Doctor stopped beside Dave and handed an A4 sized paper to him. ‘Show them this at the reception, the nurses would give you the drugs I recommend for you.’ the doctor paused a little. Dave was scanning through the paper. ‘Agent, do not involve yourself in strenuous activities or exercises yet, you may open up the wound again.’
‘Thank you,’ Dave said in reply. The doctor turned and courtesied silently to the other agents seated before he walked.
________
‘Have you had lunch?’ Tarasha asked the doctor as she walked into the living room. She had a can of spray paint in her right hand and a license plate of a car in the left hand. From the little stains on her top and jeans trousers, he could tell that she had just finished spraying a car.
‘Yes, I took the plates and tray to the kitchen already,’ he replied and returned his gaze to the television. The news was being read.
She walked to the store in the house and dropped the things she had with her, then she went outside again and returned with a can of spray primer and a masking tap. She didn’t return until fifteen minutes time. She had changed into an armless black top and a blue jean bum short and also carried a laptop with her when she returned.
‘Can we work now?’ she asked as she proceeded to the man’s seat.
He sat up and watched as she approached him. She dragged a footstool with her and placed it beside him.
‘I have a couple of documents here detailing the importation of some drugs into the country between 2010 to 2016. I made some research and discovered that these drugs were banned in the US during that period,’ she said as she opened a document. ‘But the confusing thing here is that the importation was approved by the Nigerian drug agency then. I don’t understand this, ‘ she stopped and looked at his face. ‘You confessed to work with them in the business, so I believe you should have an explanation.’
The man didn’t appear to be listening to her. His focus was fully on the document she opened. ‘Where did you get this from?’ he asked, referring to the article.
She closed the laptop screen on seeing that he wasn’t paying attention to her. ‘I asked you a question first, how did they get this importation and many others to be approved?’
The man sat, he released air from his mouth and looked the other way. ‘The drug agency Chairman at that time was a part of Elvis Richards team, I can recognize his signature in that document you opened but I never knew a document like that existed.’
‘But people bought this drugs, if they’re really fake, how come there were no deaths credited to them?’
‘There were several deaths, an example is the patient that doctor Danjuma treated which led him into trouble. But the way those drugs were; they weren’t really fake or expired. A more proper way to describe them is calling them substandard, they did lesser than they were supposed to do.’ the doctor explained.
‘And no investigation was ever carried out?’
‘During the early days, the drugs and vaccines were only acquired and used by low funded hospitals and some petty pharmacies. Our hospital had to get from them when we suddenly ran out of supply and needed those drugs urgently.’
‘How long did the substandard drugs business last for?’
‘I don’t really know how long they’ve been operating before I met them, but the operations stopped totally in 2015.’
‘But I’m still wondering how they could operate at all, how come no report or investigation was made?’ Tarasha asked with a confused look on her face. She opened up the laptop again.
‘I’m aware that after the Danjuma’s incident, they began to repackage the drugs into similar containers of well known pharmacies in Nigeria. Several of these pharmaceutical companies were shut down by the new government that came in in 2016 because the substandard drugs were found in their names and containers . I think it must be the reason for the end of operations in 2015.’
‘So, do you think we can get proofs for all these?’
‘Well…’ the man sounded not sure. ‘We might get some proofs but we have to visit some locations in Lagos.’
‘Okay,’ she said and opened back the laptop.
There was silence for the next two minutes.
‘But sir… Do you have anything else you think we can use against Elvis Richards?’ Tarasha asked after the silence.
The man who was still reading through the documents Tarasha opened on her laptop stopped and leaned backward. He closed his eyes for a moment as if to recall something. Then he opened it again. ‘I have some documents in my house at Nnewi, if you’re ready we can go there to get them.’
‘Oops! That reminds me, your family has officially declared you missing. What do you want to do about them?’
The man stared at Tarasha blankly. Sadness overwhelmed him. He didn’t know what to do. He had expected that she would tell him what to do instead of asking.
‘How did you know they are looking for me?’ he asked.
‘I heard it being said when I went to get paint earlier and I’m also with your phone, you’ve gotten a lot of messages already,’ she replied and took out his phone from the laptop bag. ‘Would you like to speak with your son?’ she asked as she gave it to him.
‘What would I tell him?’ he replied.
‘Tell him not to worry about you and to make sure the rest of the family is also calm. Also assure him that you’ll be back soon, let him know you’re just taking a short break somewhere.’
....................................................................................
Chapter 12 part 8
...........................................................................`
8pm
Crescent Moon Hotel
‘These clothes are very useless to us,’ Dan said flinging back the clothes to the bed.
‘I wasn’t expecting her to leave anything useful behind though, we just had to come so that we could write a complete report.’ Dave said to him.
‘Well… Let’s get out of here, you need to get some rest.’ Dan said, proceeding towards the door.
The were in the room previously occupied by Tarasha. It had been locked since the last night by the other SSS officials and nobody was allowed to enter. Both Dave and Dan had SSS tagged masks on their faces which covered only some parts of their faces just to make them unrecognizable when seen without the masks. The masks looked more like helmets. The head security officer of the hotel was there with them, standing, with his back resting against the wall beside the door and watching while the agents ransacked the room.
‘Officer Clement, I do need to thank you for your time and patience. I’m sorry about the loss of your men and the disruption of your normal activities.’ Dave said as he turned towards the door. Dan was already out and walking away slowly.
‘It’s okay, we could have made history if we got her yesterday,’ Clement replied in a rather low tone.
‘Yea we could have,’ Dave sighed. ‘But it’s sad that she still got away.’
‘We made a good trial at least, I think we put in our bests, she was just too ready.’ Clement stopped to lock the door after both of them stepped outside. Dan had stopped at the front of the lift and was waiting for them.
‘The vehicle she got away with hasn’t been located anywhere, I heard the owner was at the police station to make report.’
‘Yes, the SSS general was at the station when he came, so he told me about it when he came here. But we’ve driven the Chevrolet you left at the front of his house to the SSS office for repair of the door.’
They began to walk towards Dan.
‘I hope there’s no other problem with the Chevrolet?’
‘No, there was no scratch on it.’
‘What about the owner of the Zenvo ST1? Has anyone come to ask about it?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Well, I think I saw the owner of the Chevrolet that afternoon when I drove in. Those cars are expensive, I trust their owners to come very soon.’
‘Yea… But that Chevrolet,’ Clement stopped walking. ‘A police Inspector was here this morning, they said it was likely owned by a kidnapper.’
‘Kidnapper?’
‘Yea.’ Clement affirmed. They continued walking towards Dan but at a slower pace. ‘A wealthy Doctor was said to have left his residence with a girl in that car and didn’t return home that night. So they traced the car and found out it came here yesterday afternoon but didn’t know where it went to from here, they couldn’t find the footages.’
‘What’s wrong with these NSCC guys these days? Their system crashed when we needed them last night and that is what has been happening for the past few months,’ Dave said, wondering what Mr Sylvester and the others were doing at the headquarters. He knew they must have been trying the number he submitted to them.
‘They just need to improve, I believe it was the overload and unusual collection of the footages that crashed it last night.’
‘But isn’t that what they’re meant for?’
The man gave no reply.
‘So, that girl kidnapped the old man?’ Dave asked.
‘No, the officer called back this evening to ask if they had come for the car. He said it wasn’t a kidnap. The old doctor called them in the afternoon to tell them he was fine and he just needed a break from his family and that’s why he went with her.’
‘Hehe,’ Dave chuckled. ‘I thought the man was her father when I saw them together yesterday. I was wondering how that kind of young girl was riding that expensive car, but I believe the wealthy doctor must have gotten the car for her,’ Dave said in a light tone. The picture of the girl on low cut appeared in his mind again and he continued to marvel at her beauty even though she now seemed more like a runs girl to him.
Three of them stepped into the elevator and the door closed.
*
*
9:12pm
Tarasha’s Residence, Udoka Estate.
‘The rain has just begun heavily,’ Tarasha said as she walked into the man’s room.
‘I can hear the sound,’ the man replied, buttoning up his shirt, one of the new shirts Tarasha had gotten from him.
‘I brought this for you, you might need it.’ she said as she passed a blue cardigan to him.
‘Thank you,’ he collected it gratefully. ‘Are we leaving right away?’ he said, noticing she was fully dressed up in her usual black on black.
‘No, we’ll wait for the rain to subside a little, it’s quite windy now and I won’t like to drive yet.’
‘Okay,’ he said and began to put on the cardigan. He said something which wasn’t audible because of the cardigan covering his voice as he wore it.
‘What did you say?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Why are you on black?’
‘Dark colours are good for dark periods of the day,’ she replied.
He looked at her face and nodded in agreement.
‘I want to believe your security officials at the place won’t give us trouble,’ Tarasha implied.
‘I’ll try to make them not to, but let’s be prepared for them. I’ll prefer if there’s a way we can go in without going through them, they know my family has been looking for me and may want to raise an alarm even if I tell them not to.’
Similar Updates - TARASHA
‘I’ll take care of that, we can help them sleep for two hours and forget all that happened when they wake.’
‘I have two guards there and two relatives, are you going to inject them all benryl?’
‘I don’t have to inject them for it to get into their bodies, but anybody that comes in sight will get it.’
The man replied with silence and proceeded to put on his shoes.
‘We’d leave this state finally on Friday, I hope you’re ready to depart from your family.’ she said and proceeded towards the wardrobe.
The man exhaled and inhaled deeply for a moment. He repeated the process one more time before he spoke. ‘Where are we going to from here?’
‘I can’t tell you for now,’ She stopped at the front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. She placed a palm to press down her neatly combed hair gently and rubbed her forehead with the hair cream that stained her palm.
‘How long are we going to stay? Or how long do I have to be there with you?’ he asked another question.
‘For as long as it takes to achieve the purpose we’re coming together for,’ she replied.
The man closed his eyes briefly and took in a breath. ‘Will I be allowed to make calls to my family?’ he asked as he opened his eyes.
‘I’m too not sure I’ll allow you do that, but if it’s ever gonna happen, it’ll be monitored.’
There was silence for some minutes. Tarasha turned to the other side of the bed and sat on the footstool. Both of them seemed to be waiting for the intensity of the rain to reduce.
‘Do you know why I’m taking you with me?’ Tarasha asked, looking at the man’s face.
The looked back at her with a pitiful look on his face. He nodded sideways to answer ‘No’.
‘I just don’t feel like killing you,’ Tarasha voiced out, feeling embarrassed at herself. ‘The normal thing is to kill you after extracting the information I need from you but I’ve not been moved to do that especially because you’ve not given me any trouble. But I won’t allow you return to your family until we’re done, allowing you return would be dangerous for me andit’ll be more dangerous for you because I can still come back to kill you and your family members whenever I want, no matter where you run to. But now that you’re traveling with me, I still promise you a bullet in your brain if you ever mess up.’
Tarasha closed her eyes briefly after talking. She knew something was wrong with her. Killing people haven’t been easy for her for sometime and it even became more difficult after she was saved from death by Cole and Henry. However, she didn’t tell the man the real truth. Even though she didn’t want to kill him, the main reason she was taking him along with her in a healthy manner was because she believed he could still have more information than they were going to retrieve from his house that night. She could have injected him substances that’ll make him have a total memory loss or another that’ll turn him to a dummy and render him useless even if she wanted to preserve his life.
The man stared blankly into the air. He believed every word she said. He had seen the crime scenes on the news that afternoon and knew what she was capable of doing. And maybe he still could prevent the bullet from entering into his head by helping her against her targets and at the same time ‘helping his nation’ like she had put it and by that he would totally avert the nightmares he had been having.
_______
Abuja.
‘So, you really want us to go out tomorrow?’ Cole typed into the chat box with Patricia and clicked on send.
There was a smile on his face as he scrolled up the messages again. It was her first time of ever asking him for an outing first, even though she only suggested it indirectly.
‘No, it’s not compulsory that we go out. I could come over to your house. Probably prepare dinner for us if you allow me and then we can spend the night together. I’ll leave from your place to work tomorrow.’
The smile on Cole’s face totally disappeared after reading her message. On a normal day, he was supposed to be glad that she offered to come to his home. He should have started preparations immediately for things he would do to her and with her when she comes. But the reverse was the case here.
‘But what about your parents, will they like it if you sleep out?’ Cole sent his reply.
‘They won’t know where I slept. I could just tell them I have to work late that day and that I’ll be sleeping at the staff’s quarters.’ her reply came in.
Cole heaved a sigh on reading the new message. He had houses in Lagos he would have taken her to if they were to be in the state but he had never thought of having a house in Abuja even though he had the money to buy several, the reason being that their stay in Abuja wasn’t planned to be a long or a permanent place of residence.
‘I won’t like you lying to your parents just because you want to spend time with me,’ he replied, surprised at rate he had turned to a good moral adviser.
‘Why? I’m a woman and not a girl anymore, so they can’t dictate what I should do.’ she replied.
‘I know but I’ll prefer that they know me and know that you’re coming to my place,’ Cole typed and sent. He really wished the argument wasn’t going to continue. He didn’t have much excuses to give anymore.
‘Then why are we wasting time? I think you should come to my place this weekend so that I can introduce you to my family as my boyfriend.’
Boyfriend? Cole gasped. Nobody had ever introduced him as a boyfriend in his life since he never had the chance to keep a girlfriend. And he also thought that it was only fiances that were introduced to families.
He sat up and rested his back against the headboard. He exited the messenger and opened a web browser. It was time for him to get a personal house in Abuja. He knew he would find a good one within minutes of checking.
‘Hey?’ another message entered from Patricia. She could see he had read her message but didn’t reply. ‘Are you coming to visit my parents?’
‘Ermm… Don’t you think we’re taking things too fast?’ he typed and sent.
‘Do you love me?’ she replied in less than ten seconds.
‘Yes, you know I do.’
‘Isn’t that what matters?’
Cole heaved a sigh and shook his head. He began to consider the option of going to see her parents. It wasn’t really a dangerous idea for him but it could be for her.
Getting an apartment was the solution for him. Once he finds a house and pay for it the next day, then he would be able to take her somewhere whenever she requested to go to his house.
‘Are you coming?’ her message entered before he could type anything again. ‘Please don’t say no if you really love me.’
Cole let out a breath, he felt weak. ‘Okay, this Saturday.’ he finally replied.
___
Three minutes later
‘Yeah! The dummy has finally agreed to come see my parents,’ Lizzy typed into her second phone. She was also chatting with Dave.
‘Wow! How did you go about it?’
‘I asked him to prove his love with it.’
‘Nice, so how do we make plans for him?’ the reply came in.
‘You have to arrange parents for me,’ she replied and dropped the phone to reply to Victor’s message on the other phone.
‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow,’ Dave replied.
______
April 24, 2031
10am
Crescent Moon Hotel, Anambra.
‘Sir, that wasn’t her face.’ Dave said to Clement in the security office. They were the only two persons there. Since a great number of the security men of the hotel had died days ago, the office had always been scanty with only Clement and his assistant there most of the times.
‘I don’t understand, do you mean that the face captured by our cameras was unrecognizable?’ Clement asked with a frown.
‘No, the pictures from the cameras were clear enough but we still couldn’t find her as a registered citizen of the nation or even in the guests records.’ Dave replied, shaking uncomfortably in his seat.
‘That means it’s a problem from the records,’ Clement suggested.
‘No, it isn’t. We’ve never been able to trace Samantha Osman’s records from the start.’
‘What of the records as AK Evelyn which she used here?’
‘The AK Evelyn she registered here isn’t the same as the one I thought, it is something else not Alexander Kimberly Evelyn, Dave said.
‘Okay, if you know the full for the initials of her new name, why don’t you trace through that?’
‘We’re doing that already but I’m sure it won’t lead us to her, she would have discarded the name and cleared the records like she does always.’
Dave’s phone began to ring at that moment. He politely excused himself from Clement to receive the call.
‘Good morning Agent Godwin,’ Dave said into the phone.
‘Good morning Agent Dave, you’re needed at the headquarters right away.’ Agent Godwin replied from the other end.
‘I hope there’s no problem,’ Dave replied, a frown appeared on his face.
‘It’s not a problem really, but it’s urgent. It’s about the car you used that day.’
‘The Zenvo? I thought we addressed the owner yesterday. We pleaded with him that it might take some time for the government to release us money except the car is insured.’
‘No, it’s the Chevrolet.’
‘Oh!’ Dave paused a bit. ‘Okay, but my colleague is at the office, he can address their questions for me.’
‘No, he’s tried but couldn’t answer all. You need to be here, because the owner is claiming there’s something missing in her car.’
‘Something missing? That’s not true. The only problem is the door which was destroyed.’
‘So you need to come say that yourself to the owner.’
‘Okay, I’ll be there in few minutes.’
‘We told her that you are a doctor and you only used her car to go to the scene to give first aid to the victims.’
‘Okay, that’s fair enough.’
‘Yea, we’re waiting for you.’
Dave got up from his seat immediately he ended the call. ‘I’ve got to go now,’ he said to Clement.
‘No problem,’ Clement also rose up from his own seat to see him off. ‘So what’s the direction of your investigation now?’ Clement asked as they walked towards the car park.
‘No direction yet, Samantha has destroyed the credit card I traced here.’ Dave said with a sad tone. ‘I don’t think we’ll stay up to two more days here. I’m not sure she’s in this state anymore.’
‘But what if she launches an attack elsewhere after you leave?’
‘For now, I don’t have an idea where she is or what she might be doing next. If she does anything after we leave, the men of the SSS here will take over, we’ll come back if there’s any need.’
‘Alright, I wish you goodluck with your work.’
‘Thank you sir.’ Dave gave a light smile. ‘I would like to apologise again for the troubles we caused here and for all the men you lost.’
‘It’s okay Agent, it had to happen. I just hope you help us push it and make the government provide the adequate compensation for their families.’
‘We’d try our best,’ Dave replied. He shook hands warmly with Clement again before he made his way into the passengers’ side of the car. A driver was waiting in the car for him.
Dave groaned slightly as he sat, the wound at it back was opening up because of lack of rest. He closed the door and put on his seatbelt before signaling to the driver that he was ready. Clement stepped back and watched until they drove away.
Dave took a glance at all the cars in the hotel compound as they drove towards the gate. The sounds of gunshots and the screams of men falling returned to his memory. He felt guilty for their deaths and wished he could do something to reverse it. But he knew it wasn’t his fault. He had done his best to avoid a shoot out that day but had no option other than it as he didn’t want to let Samantha go.
He tried to change his line of thoughts as he let out a deep breath but couldn’t until they got to the gate.
The security men opened the damaged gate as he approached them, Dave remembered the lady in the Chevrolet again. He wondered if she was the same person waiting for him at the SSS office and thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to meet her if she was. He began to think of words to say to her when they meet.
*
16 minutes later.
‘Agent Dave,’ Agent Godwin offered him a handshake as they met at the entrance of the reception.
‘Sir, where’s she waiting?’
‘In the lounge with your partner,’ Godwin answered. ‘I am going out already, I’ll be back before you guys leave. Remember that you’re a doctor.’
‘Okay,’ Dave smiled and let go of the man’s hand. He made his way to the lounge, hoping that Dan would have left there before he got there so that he could have enough privacy with the lady.
He was disappointed when he got to the lounge, not because Dan was still in the lounge but because the lady there was different from the one he saw in the car two days before. This one was not as beautiful as the other but wasn’t ugly as well, she had her hair plaited and all falling back.
‘Good afternoon ma’am,’ he greeted as he walked closer.
‘Good afternoon sir,’ Tarasha squinted at his face. She wondered what kind of doctor he was, the bandage on his head wasnt as neat as it should be which showed that it needed to be redressed and it was also obvious that he was a victim of a recent accident.
‘You own the Chevrolet?’ Dave asked as he settled in the seat close in front of her.
‘Yes, I do and are you the doctor who drove in it?’ She didn’t take her eyes off his face as they talked and It didn’t take long before she recognized him and remembered how he drove in with the taxi that day she was leaving. She recalled that their eyes met briefly and that he kept staring at her until she drove out through the gate.
‘Yes,’ Dave replied. He looked towards Dan with a frown. ‘Have you guys confirmed that she’s the owner?’
‘Yes, she has all the necessary documents and knows everything about the car.’ Dan answered.
‘Okay.’ Dave looked back to the lady and let out a fake smile. ‘Sorry, I just needed to be sure.’
‘It’s okay. I’m sorry I had to make you rush down from where you were. I thought I dropped a folder in the car that day but I’ve been informed that it has been found. I didn’t bring it along with me to the hotel that day.’
‘Okay, so you have no need to see me again?’
‘Yes, I’m sorry. I just decided to wait for you and apologize since they said you were already close,’ she said and got up to her feet.
Dave flashed a look at Dan to confirm and Dan shrugged in confirmation.
‘But… I thought I saw your car earlier that day in the hotel driven in by someone else,’ Dave said as he got up from his seat.
‘The SSS director and this your friend, already confirmed that i what you saw wasn’t my car, the car you saw was different.’ she replied. Her phone began to ring in her bag and she stopped to search for it.
‘Different?’
‘Yes, Agent Dave.’ Dan confirmed. ‘Her Chevrolet drove down to the hotel from Asaba, the other one you saw came from an hospital in Ngozika Estate. The car couldn’t have been in two locations at a time.’
Dave felt somehow confused. He knew it was possibly true because most Chevrolet Camaro were painted in that same color but he wondered how they had to use the same hotel that day. He however had to accept since Dan had confirmed that the cars were different. All his hopes of meeting the beautiful girl on low cut totally diminished. Not that he really felt lust for her but there was just a strange desire to get closer to the low cut lady.
‘It’s okay ma’am, sorry for stopping you again.’ Dave said to her.
‘Thank you doctor,’ she said and raised her phone to her ear as she turned. Her finger touched the volume button at the side of the phone. [/b]