The door suddenly flung open and a nurse barged in looking troubled. ‘Sir, the accident victim on ward 12B is nowhere to be found.’
‘What?’ The Doctor gave the nurse an angry look. Firstly, he was angry at how she barged into his office without knocking and he was also angry that she announced the news in the presence of visitors, worse still the people who brought in the patient. ‘What do you mean by that?’ The Doctor barked, trying to avoid the gaze from the officers.
‘We don’t know, we couldn’t just find him there anym…’ The nurse tried to explain.
‘Doctor,’ Dakolo cut in. ‘Are you saying there is no remedy for his case?’
‘Ermm… Please nurse, you may leave.’ The Doctor turned back to his guests, surprised that they were less moved about the disappearance of the second patient.
‘No known remedy for now. His brain cells are degenerating so fast.’ Dakolo heaved a sigh of frustration, Sylvester’s face was also covered with grief as he folded his arms with his chest up. ‘Please Gentlemen, you may have to excuse me now’ the Doctor said as he got up from his seat.
‘Wait Doc,’ Ken stopped him, blocking the way. ‘The lost patient in ward 12B, isn’t that the man we brought in the same day with Henry?’ Ken asked.
‘Oh!’ Dakolo exclaimed, his attention finally brought to what the nurse said.
‘No, I’m sure it’s a mix up. That’s what I need to go and clarify, I’m sure he’s somewhere around the premises.’ The Doctor replied and walked past as Ken allowed him. Ken stared at Dakolo who was still seated and was not ready to stand yet.
‘You can follow him,’ Dakolo permitted with a nod. Ken turned immediately and followed after the Doctor. He joined the man on the stairs and they both marched down quietly and speedily. Soon, they got to ward 12B and they met two nurses there, one was already cleaning up the ward while the other stood like she was monitoring.
‘What’s happening here? Where’s the patient?’ The Doctor asked. A nurse turned back to the Doctor confidently. The uniform she wore indicated that she was one of the head nurses.
‘Doctor, Good evening.’ She greeted calmly.
‘Matron, Good evening.’ The Doctor replied calmly in respect for the matron who was also an elderly person.
‘I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm, he left willingly.’ The matron said.
‘What do you mean matron?’ The Doctor squinted.
‘I saw him and a lady drive out when I was returning from Jumat service. I was surprised and I stopped the car to ask why he was leaving when he was supposed to be discharged next week. He said his sister wanted him to leave the Hospital to continue treatment somewhere else. I tried to convince him to stay but he didn’t agree.’ The woman ended her explanation with a shrug.
‘Are you sure it was his sister?’
‘Yes, he said she was his sister. Although she didn’t say anything, he doesn’t look forced to leave, his face was kind of filled with joy. I’m only surprised when I came upstairs and the nurses declared the patient missing, I thought his sister took him away with the hospital’s approval.’ The matron replied.
‘Matron, you should know we won’t approve such a patient’s departure, he was brought in by the police.’ The Doctor countered.
‘I wasn’t here when he was brought in, I only knew about his admission.’ She argued. The Doctor heaved a sigh. He took a brief glance at Ken who was watching in silence, trying to communicate something with his eyes.
‘Doctor, you didn’t tell us he had a visitor.’ Ken spoke.
‘I was going to tell you, I wanted to tell you that a family member had come to identify him and also that the person who hit him has settled the bill but I had to first break the news which concerned the NSCC chairman, he has been waiting all day for your arrival.’ The Doctor explained.
‘But did the patient confirm that she was a member of her family?’ Ken questioned sternly.
‘Yes, he was surprised at first but was very happy to see her. He confirmed that she was his younger sister.’
‘Okay,’ Ken paused a bit and licked his lips. ‘But the security in your hospital must be so bad to have enabled them leave without your approval, does that mean the other victim is not safe here also.’
‘C’mon officer Ken, you know us too well, this has never happened here before. I’m sure there’s more to it and I’ll make sure I report to the authorities.’
‘Or was it because there was no officer attached to the accident victim?’
‘There was no reason for attaching an officer to the patient, he wasn’t a criminal or someone who needed protection from danger, he only had an accident.’
‘I’m just thinking,’ Ken licked his lips again. ‘I’m thinking we should add more officers to watch over the other patient?’
‘Why? The three officers watching over him are enough, even too much. He doesn’t even need someone to watch over him since it’s a case of self poisoning. He’s paralyzed and not mentally stable, he can’t even try to leave here.’ The Doctor retorted. Ken gave a chuckle which later turned to a faint smile, he stared at the man like he just heard a kid chatter about a very important topic.
‘That guy needs protection, serious one.’ He said. The Doctor paused and placed his hands on his waist, staring at Ken to give more explanation to why the protection was needed but Ken disappointed him and turned away, exiting through the door without saying any other thing. ~~~
**flashback; four hours ago**
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha waved at the cabman as he drove off. She turned to face the black old gate, she took a look at the neighboring houses, it was a perfect picture of the description she had been given. She proceeded further and pushed the smaller door, it opened and she stepped inside. She stared at the house in the compound, it was a bungalow. She could see the entrance to a flat at the front view and another at the side view, she began to proceed towards the first entrance, confused as she had never seen the type of house setting.
A pregnant lady who had seen her approaching through the window came out of the front apartment before Tarasha got to the balcony.
‘Hello, what can I do for you?’ She asked with an unwelcoming face.
‘Good morning,’ Tarasha paused and greeted with a smile. ‘I came to check for someone here, he’s called Mallam Jefa.’
‘Mallam Jefa?’ She called out with a surprise note in her voice. ‘No one ever asks of that man!’ She exclaimed as she placed a hand on her waist tiredly and thrusted out her belly. ‘I don’t know if he’s around because I’ve not seen him for a long time now but you can check,’ she closed her door and began to walk down the balcony. Tarasha stepped away for her to pass.
‘He stays at the two room apartment at the back,’ she described the way for Tarasha with her hands.
‘Thank you,’ Tarasha appreciated and continued in the direction where she was pointed. In less than a minute, she got to the apartment described to her. She took a glance around the area before taking out her tool from the bag to open the door.
She took out her torchlight from the bag and turned it on to brighten up the dark room, leaving the curtains closed so as not to arouse suspicion. She began to search round the walls, pointing the light to every corner to check if there were pictures. Only cobwebs were seen on the wall, no pictures, calendars or photograph. She proceeded to the centre table and bent down to check some books under. The first she picked out was an old one which looked familiar. She got up with the torch stuck in her mouth and wiped the cover of the book with her hand. A picture fell off from it as she opened. She bent to pick the picture, it was an old photograph of a family. Tears formed in her eyes as she focused the torchlight on the picture and saw the faces of her parents and siblings once again.
**Fast Forward ~~~Two hours later **
Dressed in an Hausa native wear, Tarasha approached the reception at the hospital. The scarf on her head was neatly tied and the powder on her face moderate. A liittle tribal tattoo on her left hand and a big female bag to match the colour of her clothes. ‘Good afternoon nurses,’ she greeted pleasantly.
‘Good afternoon, how may we help you?’ A very slim nurse answered her.
‘I came to see my brother who had an accident on Wednesday, ‘ Tarasha replied.
‘What’s his name?’ The nurse asked, opening up a register.
‘Jeffery but he’s known as Mallam Jefa,’ Tarasha answered. The nurse stared at another nurse who was also listening and they made faces at each other before she turned back to Tarasha.
‘What’s your name please?’
‘I’m Omotara’
‘Omotara?’ The nurses asked surprised that the name was a Yoruba name.
‘Yes,’ Tarasha smiled faintly, noticing the surprise in their faces. ‘I’m Yoruba, I was only born and bred in an Hausa land like Mallam Jefa.’
‘Okay,’ the slim nurse muttered, still unconvinced. She took out a file under the desk and stepped out from behind the reception. ‘You have to wait first, you may have your seat.’ She said pointing Tarasha to the empty seats behind.
‘Thanks,’ Tarasha replied and complied. The nurse left and returned in five minutes time without the file, she stood by the walkway and signaled for Tarasha to come. Tarasha quickly got up and followed as the nurse led the way. She leveled up with the nurse on the stairs.
‘Sorry for the reception, but we had to be sure you were really his sister. He actually told us that he has no one who was going to come and ask of him.’ The nurse apologized.
‘No problem, I understand.’ Tarasha smiled.
‘Thanks and one more thing,’ the nurse glanced at her with a serious look on her face. ‘Are you guys in good terms?’
‘Of course, why do you ask?’
‘It was a shock to him when I said that you are here to see him,’ the nurse said. Tarasha chuckled.
‘It’s been a long time we saw and we didn’t separate on a good note also,’ she replied with a smile.
‘Okay, he needs a lot of strength and more importantly rest now. We also found out that he’s been worrying a lot recently, so it would be better not to do something that’ll complicate his situation.’ The nurse advised.
‘Thanks, I’ll do everything possible to ensure he gets the care that he needs.’ The both of them remained in silence for the rest of the walk.
Tarasha was taken away by her own thoughts. Even with all the proofs she got from Mallam Jefa’s house, she had still not accepted that he was her brother. It could just be a trap for her. During her training, she had been taught how to recognize such traps. It was all wrapped around one thing, Emotions. People tend to always give special care and attention to their families, especially in her own case where they had been separated by bad circumstances. The enemy is always aware of this and may try to come in through it. So she was prepared, she had her weapons all under her clothes, in the pockets of the underwears, she even had a small improvised explosive device in her car that’ll distract and disrupt the whole process in the hospital if this was a trap for her.
They got to ward 12B after walking for two minutes. The nurse opened the door for Tarasha to walk in first. Jefa was seated with his bare back turned to the door, a bandage was around his head and his right hand. The nurse waited for some seconds to see if Jefa would react to their presence but he didn’t turn back or move. Tarasha also stood still in the middle of the way without saying any word. She realized there was tension between the two and decided it was best to leave them alone. She opened the door and quietly walked out.
After the nurse had gone, Tarasha began to take slow steps forward. Her body trembled and she paused as she heard her name.
‘Omotara,’ Jefa called in a soft voice. The voice did not sound familiar to Tarasha, she wasn’t even expecting to recognize his voice since the last time she heard it was when she was eight.
‘Who are you?’ Omotara replied, in a low but strict voice. Jefa looked back, taken a bit back by the question. He thought she had accepted that he was her brother and that was why she came to him but then he also knew she was intelligent and wouldn’t accept like a gullible person.
He stepped down from the bed slowly and turned his face to her. His eyes were full of tears. Omotara was unmoved. There was no resemblance on his face to Jeffery, her elder brother. She took out the diary and picture from her bag and displayed it to him.
‘Where did you find…?’ She stopped abruptly, the look on his face was familiar. He gave a brief smile with his weepy face as she twitched hers.
‘Omotara,’ he called again, he turned to the other side of the bed and sat in it. ‘You still have your childhood face and I believe you still have some of the behaviors,’ he began, with his smile broadening. Omotara folded her arms and stared at him, waiting for him to flop so as to take the next step. She also ensured that she remained conscious of her environment.
‘The top you wore on Wednesday was like the cat woman’s and I also saw your black gloves,’ he paused and laughed briefly. ‘No one wears gloves during hot weathers except they’re obsessed with cat woman.’ His remembrance of her love for cat woman sent down some electric currents down her body, that secret was only known to her family members as it was only at home she did practice the dressing and moves of the character. But another thought struck her mind and she felt like killing him that moment. He must have gotten the information from her mother’s diary which was found in his possession. He was definitely intelligent and wanted to play on her emotions. With her clenched fists and gritted teeth, she stared at him angrily like a lion waiting to pounce on it’s prey.
Jefa unaware of what was going through her mind, began to proceed towards her slowly, in pains as his whole body ached at every step he took.
Omotara dipped her hand into the improvised pocket of the dress, her hand touched the handle of the knife. She searched around with her eyes to see if there was anyone hiding around. She took the knife in between her fingers, ready to take out Jefa if he made an attempt to attack her. She dropped the bag from her other hand to the floor. Jefa halted as he noticed something on the hand which she dipped into the pocket, he gave a bold smile and used his hand to wipe his forehead.
‘So you still love tattoos?’ He said with a broad smile, fixing his eyes on the point where the tattoo was. Omotara took a quick look at the tattoo and returned her gaze to his face, wondering what was amusing him. ‘Do you remember that Catwoman tattoo you drew with your blue Biro on your belly when you were seven?’ Jefa continued. ‘Mom would have flogged you if I didn’t keep my mouth shut but you never kept your side of the deal.’
That was it. Omotara’s knee trembled and gave way, she fell and sat on the ground. She was broken. Only Jeffery had seen that tattoo and had promised to keep his mouth shut on the condition that she’ll help him request for something from their father but like he accused, she never kept her part of the deal. Her eyes were full of tears as her whole body trembled. She made sure no tear fall off her eyes by wiping off her face with part of the headscarf. She could see Jefa’s legs right in front of her. She looked up to his face. Jefa stared into her eyes passionately, unknowingly transferring the pains which were in his eyes to hers. He tried to squat and touch her shoulder but winced in pain without success. Omotara got up and picked her bag, she took out a polythene bag. She avoided his gaze.
‘Please, change into these clothes.’ She handed over the bag to him and walked out of the room without taking another look at him. Ten minutes later, she returned already changed into another set of clothes, this time a Yoruba native wear. The tattoo on the hand had also been cleaned off. Omotara took a look at Jefa and realized he needed help in completing his dressing. He had only been able to change his trousers successfully but had not been able to put on the top because of his arm and head injury. She walked closer to him and took the top from him, she then helped him to carefully fix in the top. Jefa kept mute and raised no questions, having faith in his sister’s instructions.
He kept staring at her eyes as she helped him wear the top but he noticed she tried avoiding his eyes, he was only able to get glimpses occasionally.
‘We have to go now,’ Omotara said and helped him up from the bed. ‘We’ll take the other stair case down.’ Jefa obeyed without questions, he struggled to fix his legs into his sandals but she quickly bent down and helped him put it on.
‘Okay,’ Omotara said after successfully fixing the sandals. Her eyes met his as she raised up her head. He was staring at her lovingly. She took away her eyes and sniffed in, unable to describe her feeling at that particular moment. As he took a step, she felt he was trusting her too much and she was taking it for granted. She needed to explain her actions to him.
‘I want to get you to another place,’ she finally spoke as she held his hand and he continued to take slow steps. ‘Somewhere where I’ll be able to watch over you myself.’ ~~~
**Present**
Agent Dakolo and Mr Sylvester were still seated in the Doctor’s office quietly when the Doctor and Officer Ken returned. Sylvester was still in a very pensive mood. Dakolo, due to the nature of his job and experience had been able to shake a little off the impact the news had on him.
‘Where’s the patient?’ Dakolo asked the Doctor as the man returned to his seat.
‘He left with his sister,’ the Doctor replied, after settling into the swivel. Dakolo glanced at Ken and Ken nodded in confirmation of the Doctor’s words, Dakolo did not bother to raise any other question.
‘So about Henry’s case,’ Dakolo cleared his throat and continued, ‘is he going to remain like that for the rest of his life?’
‘Agent, like I said before, there’s no remedy yet. Some part of his body structures have been rendered useless and his brain is fast degenerating.’ The Doctor answered in a sad tone.
‘Degenerating? Is there nothing you can do to stop the degeneration?’ Dakolo asked.
‘We’re doing all we can and all we should but it doesn’t seem to be producing much results.’
‘I don’t understand.’ Dakolo stared at the Doctor with a confused look.
‘You see the mixture had gone a long way in circulating around his body with his blood, the liquid is what is responsible for the degeneration.’
‘Is there no way you can remove the liquid from his body?’
‘Except we remove his blood too. It has mixed with his blood and flows through the veins with the blood. There’s a way we can still purge it out and that’s why we are conducting several tests on the remaining liquid, we could get another mixture that’ll be able to nullify the effects or help him excrete the poison.’ Dakolo hissed. ‘But let’s still thank God he didn’t receive the whole contents of the drip bag, that would have been the required quantity to initiate the full reaction. His brain degeneration wouldn’t have been slow like this and we would have faced more difficulties in getting the liquid as what would have only been traces which we would get from his blood samples.’
Dakolo heaved another sigh of frustration. Several years ago, his thoughts would have been to fly Henry to another country for medical treatment but this was 2031, Nigeria was one of the countries with the best medical facilities and he also expected that the Doctor would have suggested it if there was need for Henry to be transferred.
‘Can we see him now?’ Dakolo asked, after some seconds of total silence.
‘Yes, of course. He should be awake.’ The Doctor replied and stood to his feet. He waited for the other men to get up and followed behind them as they walked out of his office. He locked the door. ‘This way,’ the Doctor said to Dakolo and turned who were facing the opposite direction. ‘He has been transferred to another ward.’
‘Okay,’ Dakolo, Ken and Sylvester turned and followed the Doctor. Seven minutes later, they got to the new ward. Two officers were in the corridor while one was seated inside the ward. The three officers were the same ones asked to keep an eye on him at the house. Henry’s clothes had been changed to white top and trousers, his eyes was open and liquid from a drip was running into his veins. Henry’s face twitched as he saw the man staring above him. He made no other movement and had no expression on his face.
‘Henry,’ Dakolo called. Henry blinked his eyes and turned his gaze to the Doctor as if he didn’t hear anything.
‘He’s only conscious but his brain cannot really process things, especially communication. The Doctor explained.
‘Is it that bad?’ Dakolo asked.
‘It happens,’ the Doctor replied, ‘to several mentally challenged patients. The door opened and a younger Doctor came in. He proceeded towards the turned gazes of the men and greeted the elderly Doctor first.
‘Good afternoon Sir.’
‘Good afternoon,’ the elderly Doctor replied and then turned to Dakolo. ‘Meet Doctor Tobi, the new Doctor in charge of Henry. And here’s Agent Dakolo and Officer Ken,’ he said turning back to the Doctor. ‘Officers in charge of the patient. This is Mr Sylvester, the patient’s Boss at the NSCC.’
‘Good afternoon Sirs,’ Doctor Tobi greeted with a warm smile.
‘Good afternoon,’ his greeting was replied reluctantly.
‘You’ll be relating with Doctor Tobi directly from now on. As you can see, my office is quite some distance to this new ward.’
‘It’s okay Doctor,’ Dakolo said, examining the new Doctor with his eyes. The elderly Doctor’s phone rang, he checked the screen and exclaimed,
‘Oh! Gentlemen, you have to excuse me now.’ He said before rushing out of the ward, leaving the officers and Sylvester with the new Doctor.
‘Sirs, I made an important discovery.’ Doctor Tobi stated, attracting attention to himself after several seconds of silence.
‘What’s that?’ Dakolo asked, less enthusiastic about knowing the discovery.
‘It’s possible that the patient did not place himself on drip,’ Doctor Tobi stated.
‘Huh?’ Dakolo and Ken’s eyes widened, they showed more interest now. Sylvester looked interested too on seeing the officers new interest in the Doctor’s conversation but he was lost on what they were talking about. ‘There were traces of some sedative gases in his blood, it’s possible that somebody drugged him first before placing him on drip.’ The Doctor explained. Ken and Dakolo stared at each other in silence, wondering how possible that was. There was nobody else in Henry’s house on that day they had checked and there was nothing that suggested that someone had being in the house with him. The officers who followed and monitored him also saw no one enter the compound with or after him.
Kindly like our Facebook Page POBSONLINE.COM for more amazing stories
~~~~~
Jefa laid on the bed wondering how Omotara had so much knowledge of medicine. She even had a room in her house that was well arranged with a bed for the purpose. Omotara continued in silence to clean and redress his wounds which were exposed while they escaped from the hospital. She felt like saying soothing words anytime he groaned or made an uncomfortable noise but she decided against it, preferring to maintain the silence between them. She knew that he had so many questions running through his mind, so, breaking the silence and talking to him would only give room for the questions which she wanted to avoid.
Finally she was through with her redressing and cleaning, she packed up the tools and returned them to the shelf. Jefa was absent-minded and was still seated slantingly, thinking that the treatment was still going to continue. Omotara stared at him, unwilling to break her silence but she had to tell him to rest his back. One more thing that she had to do was to ask him what kind of food he would like.
‘You can lie down now,’ she finally said, walking towards him. ‘What kind of food would you like to take?’ Jefa smiled and sat upright.
‘What are you going to take too?’
‘Nothing,’ she lied, ‘I’m not ready to eat now.’
‘Okay, you bring me food when you’re ready to eat too’ Jefa said and rested his back in the bed.
‘Come on,’ Omotara moved closer to him and stared at his face which she had been avoiding all through. ‘You really need to eat something now for your medication to work.’
‘You really need to eat something too else you break down,’ Jefa countered. She sighed.
‘I took something in the morning,’ she lied again.
‘I took something this morning too,’ he replied adamantly.
‘Okay,’ Omotara finally gave in. ‘What do you want to eat, so I can get it for the both of us.’
‘You can get anything for me to eat as far as you’re going to bring a chair and sit in front of me and we eat together.’ Omotara shook her head in frustration at the new condition. He stared at her, she knew he wasn’t going to change his mind.
‘Okay,’ she said and turned back immediately. She walked out of the room, closing the door softly. The first thing she picked up in the sitting room was her phone. She clicked open the browser and began to type some words into the search engine. The search results displayed and she selected an option. Soon, a page which displayed a list of restaurants in the area popped up. She picked the car keys from the centre table and proceeded out of the house.
All through the drive to the restaurant, she was wondering how her life would be now that she had a brother. She thought of calling one or two of her co- assassins to ask for suggestions but she discarded the thought, she already knew that their advice would be to kill him, except if he was also an assassin with a rigid heart, that way both of them may be able to work together without anyone bringing in emotions.
She returned with two plates of fried rice after thirty minutes. Jefa was still awake when she entered back into the room. He sat up on seeing her bring out the plates from the bag. She dragged a chair closer to his bed and dropped the plates on it. She went out twice to get a small table and tray and also two bottles and cups of water. She finally settled to eat.
Jefa was the first to begin with the food. He had taken about three spoons already before noticing that she wasn’t eating. He paused and stared at her. She quickly began to eat to avoid queries from him. They finished the meal in silence and Omotara began to pack the plates and cleaned the place. After taking out other plates and cleaning the place. She returned to pick the last bottle and cup of water that Jefa used.
‘Tara, we need to talk.’ Jefa finally broke the long silence.
*****
The air in the hospital in everyway was disgusting to Don as he trudged up the stairs. He couldn’t wait for the cursed man to recuperate and give him time to go about his own business. He just got to the landing when he heard someone trying to stop him. He turned back to see a nurse running after him.
‘How may I help you nurse?’ He asked impatiently.
‘Sir, I’ve been trying to stop you from the reception. The patient has left with his sister.’ She said, still gasping for breath.
‘He’s gone?’ Don eyes widened in surprise.
‘Yes,’ the nurse replied.
‘Oh! Thank goodness he left by himself.’ Don heaved a sigh of relief.
‘Yeah, but you need to see the Doctor.’
‘Of course, is he in his office?’
‘Yes, he should be by now. The officers just left him.’
‘Thanks, what do I do with this?’ Don asked stretching forth the polythene bag containing food which he brought.
‘Ermm… You can give it to someone else.’
‘You can help me do that,’ he quickly handed it over to the nurse and walked away. He had to see the Doctor immediately and then go on with his plan for the day. He needed to check Henry’s house for traces, or any material which could lead him to Samantha Osman.
~~
‘Tara, we need to talk.’ Jefa repeated again when he got no response the first time. Omotara paused and turned back tiredly.
‘You can’t have a discussion now, you need to rest.’
‘I know I’m feeling sleepy already, I just thought I should mention it you.’
‘It’s okay, we’ll talk later.’ She said she walked out of the room. She got to her room and walked straight to the wardrobe. She took off her top and shorts, leaving her black bra and pant on. She took off a black strip clothing material that was fastened to her thigh, it had a knife in it and also had space for a pistol. She wanted to draw out a towel from the hanger but her eyes met with the black bag which she took to Henry’s place. She took it out and threw it on the bed. It had been unopened since the last day she used it.
She opened the bag and emptied the contents on the floor. A pistol, two short knives, an extra drip bag and so many other medical materials fell off. She separated the gun and knives and placed them on a stool, then she drew out a brief case from under the bed and opened it. She began to arrange the medical materials into it. After two minutes of carefully arranging all medicals except the drip bag, there was still a space left on the brief case. She paused as she tried to remember what was supposed to be there. After trying for some seconds without remembering, she was about to close back the briefcase before the missing item flashed back into her mind.
‘D–n!’ She cursed and stood up immediately. The ampoule. The tube shaped bottle which she used in lessening the effects of the tranquilizer she first used on Henry. That was another shitty effect of emotions, she had forgotten to pick the bottle when her eyes met with his and she saw the disappointment in his face. If there wasn’t any emotion between them, she wouldn’t have reacted the way she did. The bottle may have been seen by the police where she kept it but she still had to check if they didn’t pick it up, she had to return to his house.
~~
Dakolo was already tired when he returned back to his office. It had not been so much an hectic day but the knowledge of Henry’s illness and new condition was what brought about his tiredness. He had barely settled down when a knock sounded on his door. He shook his head in frustration and stared at the door. He didn’t feel like answering anybody but it would be unprofessional of him not to.
‘Yes, come in.’ He said hesitatingly. A young female Officer from the forensics department walked in and closed the door behind. She saluted before proceeding towards the table with a file.
‘Here’s the result of the test sir,’ she said and handed over the file to him. He took it without saying anything and brought out the papers in the file. He began to go through them. The first set of the papers were written in science and medical languages, so he had a hard time getting the meaning of the document but the last paper had the results written in layman’s terms.
‘Thanks, you may leave.’ He said to the officer and she curtsied before turning to walk away. It was the result of the the small bottle found in Henry’s house close to the sofa where he was receiving the drip. The one which Tarasha had forgotten to pick up when her eyes met with Henry’s. The result clearly stated that the mixture was used to ameliorate a previous situation induced by another mixture. It was not making sense to him any longer. Doctor Tobi had said that it was possible that someone had drugged Henry first before placing him on drip but now the mixture found in the house was a mixture to reduce the effect of a mixture. Does it mean that someone drugged him and then wanted to reduce the effects of the drug again? Maybe there was someone with him who had to flee when the police arrived, he thought.
He arranged back the papers into the file, he concluded that the Doctor would have a better explanation about the mixture. A thought suddenly struck his mind. He picked up his phone and dialed Ken.
‘Round up your office work, we’re going to visit Henry’s house now to confirm the Doctor’s opinion that Henry could have been placed on drip by someone else. We need to check thoroughly this time if there’s any hidden entrance in the house and any signs of breaking in.’
~~
Don was the first to get to Henry’s house. He stared at the gate from where his car was parked, trying to come up with a plan of getting inside. This time, there was nobody watching over the house but he still couldn’t enter through the gate or jump over the fence since it was still day time. And he didn’t want to come back at night as he had gotten information from the vice president and the inspector General that the house was being watched during night time. The only possible way he saw that wouldn’t raise suspicion from passers-by and attract the police was entering into the next compound and jumping over the separating fence but there was no way he was going to do that without hurting those in the compound. He took out his phone.
‘Hello Stainless, join me at Ordoz palace road with three other rigid boys in ten minutes time.’ He said into the phone. Three guys joined him in ten minutes time like he asked and they got into the building next to Henry’s house.
~~
‘We’ve closed,’ a voice shouted from inside the compound as Tarasha continued to bang on the gate. ‘I said we’ve closed,’ the voice shouted again, this time coming nearer. The small door hole was opened and Tarasha could see someone’s eyeball there. She shifted back and positioned herself in a way that the man would see her exposed cleavage. There was silence for a while, then the gate was opened.
‘Young lady,’ the aged security man spoke in a softer voice. He was one of the men on duty on the day which Tarasha had entered into Henry’s building through the compound of the paper company. But all the men attacked that day could remember nothing at all. The Benryl which she had passed into their bodies took every memory of the encounter away.
‘May I come in sir,’ Tarasha smiled and posed in a seductive way. The security man’s body trembled, he feasted his eyes on her exposed thighs showing below the tip of the mini gown.
‘Come in…’ He stammered and opened the gate for her.
‘Audu, na who be that?’ Another security man who was seated at the far end of the compound shouted. They were two seated together, their shirts were flown open and they had bottles of beer in front of them. Like the last time Tarasha had come, none of them had guns by their sides, they always kept it in the security room since it was barely used.
‘I dey come,’ the man with Tarasha shouted back. ‘Fine girl, what do you …’ He turned to ask Tarasha but couldn’t complete the question as she stuck a pin into his neck that moment. He fell to the ground. The other security picked up their rods and began to charge towards Tarasha. She motioned towards them without fear. The first one made his strike but she dodged it and gave him a jab in his belly, he groaned and staggered backwards hitting the back of his head against the face of the other one rushing forward.
Tarasha quickly followed up with a flying kick to his head. The first man fell to the ground while the second man staggered backwards. Tarasha rushed towards him, bounced on the first man’s body and sent her two legs to the other man’s face. She rolled and landed on the right leg while the man still struggled to keep his feet on the ground. She charged towards him again. He swiped his rod but it was a lazy swipe, she dodged it and gave him a heavy punch on his nose. He staggered like a drunk man and fell on the side fence, he began to see stars.
Tarasha turned back to see the other man already up and trudging towards the security post. She raised up her gown and took out a gun, she fired it and a pin was projected into the man’s back. He fell down immediately. She turned again to the other man and sent the pin into his neck. He fell to the floor also. She returned the gun to where she took it from and rolled down her gown.
~~
Don and two of his men finally succeeded in getting into Henry’s house first. The other two men were in the duplex in the next compound, watching over the inhabitants of the house to keep them in silence. They broke in through the first door and Don began to search the whole house while the other guys watched as they had no knowledge of what he was searching for.
Don left the living room and proceeded to the inner rooms, he entered into the first room in the corridor. It was a small library with large windows. He turned on the light and began to search around the place. His main prayer in the library was for him to see a diary that would detail Henry’s day to day activities. He hoped that Henry was someone who kept one. He was still searching when he began to hear some strange sounds. He stopped to listen but couldn’t make out what it was. He returned to the living room to see if the sound was being made by his men. The men stared at Don questioningly as he fixed his eyes on them. They were comfortably seated on two different sofas in living room.
‘Are you hearing that?’ Don asked in low tones. The sound was quite low in the living room. The men had to listen carefully.
‘What’s that?’ One of the men asked.
‘Shh…’ Don hushed him, raising his hand up. He paused to listen again.
‘It’s coming from the back.’ One of the guys got up and walked to where Don was standing to listen.
‘There’s a paper company at the back of this place.’ He said to Don.
‘So are you saying the sound may be coming from there?’
‘Where else? It doesn’t sound like a person or animal’s movement.’ Don felt relaxed for a moment until he checked his wristwatch.
‘This is four thirty, aren’t firms around here mandated to close by four o’clock?’
‘How many firms would follow that order?’ The guy asked with a loud mocking smile.
‘Come on, get back to work and let’s leave this place.’ He said and returned to his seat. Don stood still for a while to listen again but the sound had stopped. He walked back towards the library to continue his search.
~
The door finally gave way and Tarasha walked in carefully. She didn’t bother to close the door but proceeded forward through the corridor in between the rooms. The bulb in the corridor was on. It was expected, since the police had visited the place, they would most likely leave without remembering to turn off the lights. She got halfway the corridor and noticed that the door to the first room was slightly opened. She paused and then heard a laugh.
‘Shi*t!’ She cursed silently. The police were around, she thought. Without turning, she began to step back slowly, trying her possible best not to make any noise. She was close to the door when a figure appeared at the other end of the corridor.
~~~
‘Let’s try everything we can to confirm if someone else was in the house that day or not, we have to establish that fact so that we can move on with our investigation.’ Dakolo said as Ken halted the car in front of the gate.
‘Here,’ Ken handed over Henry’s gate keys to the junior officer seated at the back. The junior officer stepped out and proceeded towards the gate to open it.
‘How come his cameras aren’t even working?’ Ken said aloud after the junior officer had left.
‘If the cameras he planted inside his house were working, we would have had a video recording of what transpired. Or did he just place them there for fun because I wonder how he was planning to get other cameras to work while his wasn’t.’
‘I believe those cameras were working,’ Dakolo said thoughtfully.
‘Maybe we have to invite an NSCC official to check what went wrong with it.’ The junior officer opened the small gate and entered into the compound to open the larger passage for their car but then he came out immediately and closed the gate gently without making any sound. He hurried back towards the car.
‘Sir, the front door is wide open’ he said to Dakolo. ‘Looks like someone is inside.’ Dakolo’s gaze widened as he heard those words. He took a glance at Ken.
‘Call the office for reinforcement, twenty more men should be enough.’ He ordered Ken before stepping out of his car. He took out his revolver. …
Download Pobsonline Android App For More Stories
to be continued
