Chapter 72: the first day at work
*****
Just that day at work, Tarasha had learnt so much about
the NSCC. Luckily for her, Sylvester had ignorantly
handed over his personal laptop to her when she
promised to help him prolong a particular monitoring
session after he complained bitterly that it was too short.
He thinking that he had hidden all secret files and
protected his personal apps with passwords, he didn't
realize that the Kimberly he was working with could do
more than the project he read about.
From the laptop, she had gotten an idea of how the street
cameras were specially installed and the process laid
down to uninstall them without raising any alarm. She
learnt that the codes for uninstalling each cameras
without raising alarm or destroying them were kept in
files in hidden sections of each regional office. The file
type and what type of hidden sections referred to was
unknown to her yet, but she was very sure that the files
would be in computerized formats and they would be
hidden locations on their main control computer
systems. The PDF document from where she got this
information also stated that copies of all codes and files
used in the nation for installing and uninstalling these
cameras were contained in the Abuja office.
Tarasha recalled that Henry Paul, her neighbour was a
regional staff working in the head office. She didn't know
the capacity in which he functions but she believed that
she could get some important data from him. It didn't
take time before she got her opportunity to meet him
again.
'Hey Evelyn' someone called as Tarasha stepped out of
gate. She looked to her right side and saw Paul. He was in
front of his gate, munching some peanuts from the nylon
in his hand as he was about to enter. His white shirt and
shorts reflected the little of sun rays radiated from
above.
'Hi Paul' she smiled at him.
'How are you Evelyn?' He said, closing back the gate. He
began to move closer to her and feeding his eyes on her
thighs revealed below the bumshort. She took note
carefully of how he was looking at her and licking his lips
lustfully.
'Fine, how about you?'
'I'm fine too.' He said, half inaudible because of the
quantity of peanuts in his mouth.
'Where are you coming from?' Tarasha asked.
'From a friend's place, I went to copy a movie into my
flash drive.' He took out the flash drive from his back
pocket and showed it to her.
'What movie is that?' She asked, looking interested.
'Inseparable by Young C.c' he answered. 'I've been
wanting to get it since I saw the trailer but work did not
permit me to go to a store. So, I asked a friend to buy
online for me'
'I heard of the release too but I've not been opportune to
see the movie or trailer, I've only read the book'
'You wanna come watch with me?' He offered.
'That'll be nice' she accepted his offer joyously. 'Are you
starting right away?'
'Yes… But I could delay a little because of you'
'Thanks, I need to get something in a store next street'
'Should I accompany you?'
'No, you don't need to bother' safe rejected politely and
began to walk away slowly, to nowhere in particular, just
to buy time and make her acting complete.
'Ermm…' Paul signaled for her to wait. 'What about your
friends? I didn't see any of them since Friday last week'
'They traveled for something urgent' Tarasha answered.
'They'll be back soon, I believe'
'Okay, say hi to them when they call'
'Sure, I would' Tarasha smiled.
'I'll be expecting you' Paul said before turning back and
walking to his gate.
*
Tarasha was in his living room thirty minutes later. His
living room was decently decorated, not large but neat
and comfortable. Paul began to play the film after
serving Tarasha fruit juice and a pack of popcorn. They
were both seated on the opposites ends of the three
seater sofa.
One hour went by and both of them were deeply
engrossed in the film, at least Tarasha pretended to be
while she was thinking of the best way to get out what
she needed from him. She knew it would be against their
job ethics to let out the information she needed, so she
needed to do something special that would make him
give her all she wanted.
'Do you think Frank would get out of Bola's trouble?'
Tarasha tried to begin a conversation with the highly
concentrating Paul.
'Ermm… He's got to come out. That girl is evil, he may
not even be responsible for the pregnancy she's carrying'
he hurriedly answered her and returned his
concentration to the screen. He did not want to miss any
part of the thrilling movie.
'He is responsible, she couldn't have lied to her father'
Tarasha said but got no reply. She turned her face back
to the screen, taking time to think of the best possible
way to distract him.
'I'm feeling sleepy' she announced after another five
minutes. He took a glance at her and gave a "I don't
believe you" look.
'Sleepy?' He asked to be sure if that was what he really
heard.
'Yes' she replied. Without waiting for his response, she
turned and laid her head on his lap placing her legs on
the arm rest she was resting on before. She made sure
her backhead was placed in between his legs, to have
contact with his manhood. She felt him shiver as she
stretched and pressed down with her head. He stared at
her face for a while.
She was beginning to get his attention now like she
wanted. She waited for some minutes again before taking
her next move. She began to rub his bare knee with her
palm gently.
'What do you do in the office?' She turned her head to
face him as she asked. Her hand left his knee and went
under his shirt on his belly.
'I…' He squirmed and swallowed, signals were being sent
through his whole body. She had to pause to enable him
give her an answer. 'I'm a regional staff like I told you.
I'm the assistant to the regional coordinator here'
'What are your responsibilities?'
'My main responsibilities are to watch over the
streaming, cut and save files and also convert the video
files into other formats for reporting'
'Are these the only things you do everyday?' She
continued rubbing her hand on his abdomen softly.
'Yes, basically' he replied, his chubby body shivering.
She raised up her head and got up to sit on his lap. 'Are
you also involved in installing the cameras?'
'Yes, but that does not happen often.'
'How do you install the cameras? Do the NSCC have
special processes for theirs'
'No' he paused and stared into her face thoughtfully for a
while. 'Why are you asking?'
'Nothing darling' she smiled and pushed his chest
backwards, taking off his shirt. He didn't resist. 'I'm
interested in working in the NSCC, that's why I'm asking'
'Oh! You…' He vibrated all over as she placed her lips on
his n----e. She stopped and look at his face. 'Do you
know how to install the NSCC cameras?'
'Yes, it's the same way you install every other security
cameras except that the NSCC has a special code to
install and uninstall it, if one tries to uninstall with
another code, it raises an alarm in the office'
'Those codes, how do you get them?'
'It's manufactured by developers and they sell it to us,
then we protect them using IVC solution.'
'How do you use the codes?'
'The codes are used to connect each camera to our
monitoring system. You know the cameras are wireless,
so since no wires connect them, the codes makes the
connection'
'I know that, what I mean is that how do you install the
code into the cameras?'
'Okay, that happens during production. Each camera is
made to have a code that have been bought before
packaging and installing them'
'Hmm…' She paused and licked his n-----s for some
seconds again. 'Are the codes always long?' She stopped
again. She could see disappointment on his face, he was
getting tired of the questions already and wanted her to
complete the job which she had started on his body. She
could already feel his hard manhood touching her bum
underneath.
'No, the codes are always six characters'
'And how are six character codes stored?'
'We use the Nitex Pad in the IVC for keeping them on our
main system. It's a very secure tool' he said impatiently,
his body already vibrating for action.
'Nitex pad' she mumbled under her breath as she got up
and pushed his chest to lay straight on the sofa. She
touched something on her back pocket as she sat in
between his legs and began to dip her hand under his
shorts.
Paul had lost all his senses at this time, all he wanted was
to consume the lady in front of him and he didn't realise
that he had just done something which was against the
ethics of his job. He had given so much information, well
, he never thought he was giving it to someone that could
do any harm.
He laid there anticipating what's next when an alarm
sounded. Tarasha got up hurriedly and took out a tiny
device from her back pocket.
'Oh! It's time to use my drugs' she announced, looking
very worried. 'I have to rush home now' she said and
adjusted her top hurriedly. She tightened back the
button of her bumshort which was loose and began to
proceed towards the door immediately.
'Are you coming back?' He shouted behind as she opened
the door.
'Maybe' she replied and walked out, closing the door with
a loud bang.
Paul felt stupid and miserable as he got up and picked his
shirt which she had flung to the floor. His manliness was
still hard and yearning. He hissed as his eyes met with the
TV screen. Just now, his expectations had been raised
beyond measure and dashed again within minutes when
he was already feeling close to heaven.
~~
9am, next morning.
Dakolo and Ken were driving out of the Jubril's house.
They had asked some more few questions which
included the names of Jubril's close friends and
addresses, they got the names of two of his friends who
were also at the party and decided to visit I one
immediately. They got the pictures as planned the day
before. The young lady had helped them to categorize
the pictures into two folders; one containing the guests in
the party which she knew were family friends of theirs
and the other containing those she did not know. The
latter had more pictures in it. All their questions had to
be answered by the young lady as they didn't see Mrs
Jubril all through their stay. She was said to be slightly
indisposed with fever.
Ken sped off as they drove out of the gate while Dakolo
tried to view the pictures. He started with the pictures of
the Jubril's family friends but couldn't recognize any one
as hard as he tried except for two notable ministers in
the country. He gave up on trying without getting to the
last picture in the folder. He decided to wait until they got
to they got to Chief Jubril's PA who should be able to
identify the guests.
In thirty minutes time, they got to Lanre's office, he was a
friend to Dare and was also an attendee of the party. He
was asked several questions about Dare and the newly
found friend, Alexander Evelyn.
After answering other questions to the best of his
knowledge, Lanre also stated that there was no
suspicious movement Dare was involved with until he
met with the new friend, Evelyn. He was said to have
changed and stop clubbing frequently like he used to do.
Lanre told them of how Dare started looking miserable
after some days of strange happiness but refused to talk
to his friends about anything, but they were able to guess
that it was either that he was jilted by the girl or he found
out that she was dating someone else. Apart from that
Lanre had nothing more to say.
After thanking Lanre, the policemen found their way out
of his office and headed for Debo's house. They got there
twenty minutes later and were ushered into his living
room. They began the interrogation at once.
'Apart from that lady, Evelyn, was there anyone else Chief
Jubril was supposed to meet?' Dakolo began.
'No, she was the only one'
'Did you see her when she came in?'
'Yes, from afar. I saw her front view for the first time that
day' Debo said thoughtfully. 'But it was from afar, I can't
even remember how she looks like'
'Then how do you know it was her?' Dakolo pushed.
'I heard Chief Jubril talk about her to his family, they
were making jest of Dare immediately she walked in with
another guy' he answered carefully.
'Who was the guy?'
'I don't know him either, I couldn't see his face clearly'
he paused and cleaned his eyes. 'The truth is I'm short-
sighted but asides from that, the only reason Chief Jubril
recognized her from that distance and wth the kind of
lightning was because he knew her face very well before.
He didn't know the guy too' Debo explained.
'Was the lightning poor?'
'No, but we couldn't see people far off' because of the
very bright lights and performers at the stage in the
middle.
'Hmm…' Dakolo hummed under his breath while
scrolling through something on his device.
'…the lady and the guy were both putting on blue clothes.
They were distinctly dressed' Debo quickly added as he
remembered. 'The guy was putting on a shiny blue suit
while she was on a short blue gown'
Dakolo suddenly looked up. 'Would you recognize them
with the clothes if you see the pictures?'
'Yes, I remember what they wore but it's a pity there are
no…'
'There are pictures' Dakolo cut in. He stood up and
collected the tablet device from Ken. He swiped it open
and went to sit on the arm rest of the couch Debo was
seated on. Debo was surprised on hearing that there
were pictures, he didn't believe until Dakolo opened the
larger folder and began to scroll through the pictures.
'Tell me if you see them here or if you see any other
strange person' Dakolo said to him.
The both of looked into the device intently for minutes,
Debo readily identifying those he knew in the pictures.
'Here he is' Debo finally said in a loud voice after ten
minutes. 'Here's the guy who came with her, in the blue
suit
Chapter 73: hello Boss
Henry took a glance at the clock after waving at the
security men as he drove in through the gate, it was
twenty minutes past nine am. He had overslept and
ignored the alarm when it rang, waking up later by eight
o'clock, the exact time he was supposed to resume work.
He decided not to rush as he was late already by the time
he woke. It would be his first time of getting late to the
office, and it wasn't that he was going to be chastised by
anyone.
His eyes met something in the rearview mirror as he
killed the engine. It took sometime for the picture to
finish processing in his brain. He opened the door and
turned to look at it, there was a blue Camry parked at the
parking space at the opposite side. The car park was
constructed to have spaces for cars at the left and right
side and a space in the middle through which vehicles
drive in and out.
The blue car could have been for anybody else but the
plate number was what looked familiar. He got out of his
car and banged the door unconsciously. Locking it again
with the control in his hand. He almost ran into another
vehicle that was trying to occupy the space beside his
car. He apologized to the driver and crossed to the other
side, to inspect the car that got his attention. It was the
same car he thought he hallucinated about the day
before.
He turned to the front of the car to check for the mark
on the bonnet. He couldn't find it but there were signs of
repainting at the exact spot the mark was supposed to
be. He scratched his head and heaved a sigh. His heart
began to beat fast as he circled the car. Was Omotara
really in the same compound with him? He asked
himself.
He began to walk slowly away, rolling his car keys in his
hand. He decided to take a last look when he got behind
the car. 'AA689-GGQ' he read the plate number to
himself again. He moved closer and squatted behind the
car, touching the letters and numbers on the plate, just
to assure himself that the number he was seeing was real
and not a part of his hallucinations.
He got up and walked slowly to the front of the car again,
taking a peep inside. He could see football magazines and
newspapers at the backseats. That got him a little bit
confused. He was a hundred percent sure that Omotara
wasn't a lover of football, so maybe she wasn't in the
compound as he thought or maybe the car was brought
in by one of her male accomplices.
He paused and let out a deep breath, thinking of what he
could possibly do to find out who brought in the car. He
took a glance at the security post, he thought of going
there to ask but that would look strange and may raise
unnecessary security scare. A better idea came to his
mind, he turned back and walked to his car.
++++
**Katsina, Katsina State**
Benny and Aisha waited patiently for Cole in the car as
they were set to embark on their first visit to the Ata's
Foundation. Benny had grown miraculously old
overnight, he had his hair cut lowly, his slightly greyed
hair made him look like a man in his late fifties or early
sixties. His beards were also grey and sturdy. He had a
dark pair of eyeglasses on his face. Aisha who was looking
different already only added some makeups to make her
face lighter than it was. There were both dressed in black
suits.
Soon, Cole appeared and opened the door to the driver's
side. He was also dressed in a black suit and had grown a
miraculous moustache too. He was made to look older
than his age but not as old as Benny was, he looked like a
man in his late thirties.
His phone began to ring as soon as he settled in the car.
'Hello boss' he answered the call.
'Are you set?' Tarasha's voice sounded at the other side.
'Yes, we are about to drive off'
'Disguised?'
'Yes, but not from the house like we planned'
'Good, make it go smoothly and keep me connected
always. I want to listen live to all of the discussion.'
'Got you boss' Cole replied and the call ended. He
dropped the phone and took out a tiny recording device
which he clipped behind his tie.
'Let's go' he said and took a glance at Benny by side and
Aisha at the back before starting the car engine.
+++
Dakolo stared at the man dressed in a blue suit in the
picture, lines of disappointment began to show on his
face as he recognized the person in it. Henry E.G. Dakolo
could still recognize him even though his head was
bowed in the picture. He was seated alone, pouring wine
into the cup.A female bag and another bottle and cup of
wine was at the other side of the table.
'He looks like someone I know' Debo said, contorting his
face like someone who just swallowed a bitter pill. Ken
got up from his seat to join them.
'Okay' Dakolo said and swiped to the next picture as he
saw Ken approaching. Three other pictures which
contained Henry's image showed up as Ken joined the
view but luckily, Henry's face was not shown at all in the
new pictures. It was obvious that the photographer was
more interested in the cloth he was putting on than his
face.
'Well…' Debo began after pausing to recollect some
information from his memory. 'I remember seeing this
man closely that day. I saw him when I went to discuss
something with someone sitting close to his table. He was
sitting alone then too.'
'So, you saw him very well?' Ken asked.
'No, not very well. I was seated at his back'
Dakolo felt a need to hide Henry's identity for the time
being. He didn't want to believe what his detective mind
was suggesting to him, that Henry could be one of the
assassins. After scrolling through all the pictures, Dakolo
and Ken returned to their seat with the device.
'I visited the NSCC's office like we planned the last time'
Dakolo began after a brief moment of quietness. 'I spoke
with Henry and he told me that the number was really
Canadian'
Debo shrugged. 'I don't really need that information
anymore. I don't know how Mrs Jubril intend to run the
organization'
'Do you still have the number?' Dakolo asked.
'Yes, but in the office'
'We'll need to get it as soon s possible, please' Dakolo
said and paused to type in something into his device.
After asking some more questions, they left Debo's
residence and headed back to the office. In the car,
Dakolo was unusually quiet. He kept thinking of the
possibility of Henry being a member of the Samantha
Osman's group. Maybe he was even the one in charge of
disrupting the cameras system for the gang operations. It
had to be. That was why no solution to the problem had
been found with all the efforts of the other people in the
NSCC. Or how could you explain how Henry was the man
who accompanied the suspected Alexander Evelyn to the
party? The same Evelyn who was suspected to be
Samantha Osman. But he had thought Henry was a
patriotic citizen, committed to nation building and
development. It was hard to believe that Henry is actually
a part of the assassin group.
A thought came to his mind on remembering Henry's
past association with Dare. He also recalled that the
reason for all the recent killings were still unknown.
Could it be possible that it was no political killing? That
the assassins were embarking on a personal vendetta? It
could be. And it could also be possible that Henry may
have found out that Evelyn Alexander was an assassin
and only decided to help her because Chief Jubril and
Dare were his enemies.
There were two options in Dakolo's heart now. It was
either Henry was part of the Samantha Osman's gang or
he helped the gang in carrying out Chief Jubril and Dare's
assassinations.
Somehow, Dakolo still felt the need the need to dig
further personally. A third and strong option was
developing in his mind. He had a soft spot for Henry
which grew ever since the time the grave injustice was
done to Henry's family. He decided to hide the picture
which showed Henry's face for sometime.
He took the tablet device from the backseat. He swiped it
open and clicked the gallery option. He pretended like he
was just taking another look at the pictures while be
transferred it to his own personal device. He deleted the
picture from the device afterwards and spent some more
time with it before returning it back.
+++
'You've not still told me the program you used to
elongate the monitoring time of the system yesterday'
Sylvester said to his new volunteer staff. She was sitting
behind his table with the laptop he had given her to use.
'Sir, I didn't use any special program, I only changed the
settings of the same program you were running with'
shereplied him.
'But how come I never saw that option in the settings
area?' he got up from his seat and began to make a turn.
Tarasha answered with a shrug. He stood still when he
got beside her and bent to look into the laptop. 'Can you
show me where it is?'
'Sure.' She clicked open the software and waited some
minutes for it to load.
A knock sounded on the door. 'Come in' Sylvester picked
up the door control and turned to the door to click
unlock. Someone pushed open the door and walked in.
'Good morning Mr Sylvester' Dayo walked in briskly.
'Good morning Mr Dayo' Sylvester turned back to receive
him. 'How are you doing today?'
'Fine sir' Dayo said, taking special interest in the lady who
had Mr Sylvester bending over to look into her laptop
while she was comfortable seated. He thought it was one
of their junior staffs who had such effrontery.
'Alright, how may I help you?'
'Sir' Dayo turned his look back to Sylvester. 'I noticed
that you made some changes to the system yesterday. It
shows that you can actually be receiving notifications
offline for over twelve hours now'
'Sixteen hours precisely' Sylvester corrected with a bold
smile. 'And I'm not just receiving notifications, the signal
would still be strong for the sixteen hours offline
duration'
'Interesting' Dayo's eyes lit up. 'That's what we're talking
about, bright innovation' Dayo commended.
'Yeah' Sylvester flashed his teeth brightly, resting his bum
on the table.
'I actually came to see if I could learn the new method
from you, I may need to combine something of such in
my new project' Dayo presented his real reason of
coming.
'Ermm… 'Sylvester's smile diminished, now he knew the
reason for Dayo's commendation. He had wanted to take
the credit for Tarasha's work, that's was part of the
reason he wanted to learn how Tarasha did the job.
'I didn't really do it myself' he finally confessed, after
realizing he had no choice.
'Oh!' Dayo gave him a naughty kind of look. Sylvester
could interpret the look as a silent way of saying "I
thought as much, I knew you weren't so intelligent".
'Who did it?' Dayo asked when Sylvester remained
speechless.
'She did… We did it together' he replied, pointing to
himself and Kimberly.
'Wow!' Dayo exclaimed, trying to take a peep at the lady's
face but she would not still look back.
'She's my new personal staff, Kimberly' Sylvester
introduced. That was when Kimberly finally turned back,
she got up from her seat and smiled at Dayo. 'This is
Dayo, he works with Henry E.G'
'Nice to meet you sir' Kimberly said cheerfully as they
shook hands.
'My pleasure' Dayo replied, still holding her hand in his.
He wondered silently why she wasn't looking back until
Sylvester introduced her. 'So how did you do it?'
'I was about to show him when you came in' Tarasha
replied and sat back on the seat.
'Okay' Dayo said and joined Sylvester as they both looked
into the laptop to learn grim Kimberly.
+++
2pm, same day.
'Afolabi David, Audu Noah, Sunny Nkem, Nwakolo
Ezekiel' Ken read aloud, looking into the computer
screen. 'All found dead, in the same event centre'
'And these guys are also the suspected kidnappers of
Henry George?' Dakolo asked, taking a glance at Ken.
'Yes, Afolabi David is the head of their gang' Ken
answered.
'Where were their bodies found?'
'Their bodies were found in the security department, the
same place Dare's body was found. The same type of
bullets were found in their bodies' Ken expatiated,
pausing from time to time to look at the screen..
'According to the report we got from the investigation,
these guys were part of the security officials provided by
the Jubrils for the event'
'Hmm… How do we connect this?' Dakolo muttered.
'Henry E.G stated that Dare was the only person he
suspected. I think Henry was contending for something
with Dare and he got threatened' Ken said.
'With this, it's highly possible that Dare was behind the
kidnap'
'Well, sir. One case solved already' Ken said with a smile
on his face. 'The kidnappers have been discovered. It's a
pity that they are late already.'
'Yes, but there's still a lot more to this' Dakolo said
thoughtfully.
Henry's face popped up in his mind again, he took a deep
breath. Now it has been discovered that not only was it
Henry's long time enemies that were killed, even his
recent kidnappers were also killed. Henry was looking
more dangerous to him. Very soon, he'll have no choice
than to spill it out to Ken. He already had a strategy in
mind to use once he fully verifies Henry's personal
involvement in the assassinations. Although, Henry's
involvement have been verified enough according to
police standards, he still needed to do more verifications
because of his long time emotional attachment to Henry.
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