Capítulo 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.
Capítulo 74: kill the man and bring me the girl
~~
**11am**
Dayo walked back into the control room smiling. For
him, learning something new was good, but learning it
from a very beautiful and intelligent lady was
extraordinary. He stared more at her face than the
computer screen when she was explaining. Her gentle
and soft way of speaking made an impact in his heart, he
watched as her sexy lips moved while she explained to
him and Sylvester.
'Kimberly E. Alexander,' he murmured to himself as he
proceeded to the seat he previously occupied.
He was too lost in his thoughts to notice the gazes that
were on him. Henry and the other developer had fixed
their eyes on him as he entered noisily and began to
bounce to his seat like someone who has just won the
star prize of the Young C.c's Readers' contest. It was until
he sat in front of the computer and looked up that he
met with Henry's gaze.
Henry gave a chuckle. 'What's up with you?'
'Nothing sir,' Dayo answered, surprised seeing the look
on his colleagues faces.
'How can you say nothing?' Henry's friend, Frank
retorted. 'You walked out over an hour ago and returned
smiling like someone who just finished riding a hot
chick.'
Dayo smiled at the nastiness of Frank. 'I was coming
from Mr Sylvester's office'
'Mr Sylvester's office?' They both asked in unison. Henry
faced front and continued with his work.
'Yes,' he replied and tried to face the computer set.
'Hmm…' Frank cleared his throat and gave Henry a
mischievous look. 'Hope it's not what I'm thinking?' He
muttered to Henry. His voice was loud enough for Dayo
to hear.
'What's that you're thinking?' Dayo raised his head to ask.
'Nothing really,' he said and burst into laughter. 'It's just
that I've not seen anyone come out of that place smiling
or laughing. You're the first I've seen, so I'm wondering if
the man has become a comedian overnight.'
'It wasn't Mr Sylvester that got me smiling. I met his new
staff,' Dayo began. 'She's intelligent and beautiful. She's
the one behind his prolongation of the monitoring time'
'Oh! I see.' Frank took a quick glance at Dayo as if to look
at his face for a confirmation of his words. He turned
back quietly to his work.
'Is she really that good?' Henry asked, turning back again
as he seemed to develop more interest.
'Yes, she is crazily good.' Dayo widened his eyes to
emphasize his point.
'Did you see her work on the system?'
'Yes, she showed I and Mr Sylvester what she did on the
system yesterday. That's why I was there for so long.'
Dayo replied with an excited voice.
'Okay, maybe I'll have to see her for myself.' Henry said
and quickly punched some keys on the computer
keyboard. 'Is she's still in Mr Sylvester's office?'
'I left her there.'
Everyone's attention suddenly turned to the door as it
opened. Sylvester popped in his head, his eyes searching
the place. His gaze met with Henry's. He entered and
closed the door.
'Good morning Mr Henry and Mr Frank,' he greeted with
a kind smile.
'Good morning sir,' they both replied at the same time.
'Mr Henry,' Sylvester called as he got to Henry's front.
The smile on his face was replaced with a serious look.
'Agent Dakolo just called,' he said almost in whispers, his
voice bearing a warning tone.
Henry frowned, 'what did he say?'
'He's coming here, to see you'
'When and about what?' Henry asked. Fear gripped his
heart at the thought of facing Agent Dakolo again. Maybe
the man was finally coming to arrest him for lying about
the Jubril's job, but there was no way the Agent was
going to know if he was lying or not except if Sylvester
had told him. He shivered at the thought of Agent Dakolo
questioning him again, maybe inviting him for a lie
detection test this time around. Was he going to get
caught for defending Omotara, who was probably
somewhere trying to play another fraud on someone
else. The fear of being caught and labeled as dishonest
and a person who harbors criminals terrorized his heart.
He began to consider if it was really worth it to take the
risk hoping that Omotara had changed for a better
person or to give up and confess to the Agent with an
apology. He was sure that with an explanation, the Agent
who was also like a brother to him could help and cover
him up.
'I don't have that detail, he's coming to see you
personally and he'll be here in fifteen minutes.' Sylvester
replied.
'Okay, thank you sir.'
+++++
Jefa returned from the market sweating heavily. Of
course that was expected due to the stress experienced
in the busy local markets on the market days that comes
up in an interval of five days.
A tricycle had brought him and his goods from the
market. He first stopped at his store to drop the goods
meant for business which was eighty percent of what he
bought. Now he had come home with foodstuffs and
other things he bought for home use.
He sank into the weak sofa tiredly and let out a deep
breath. Everywhere was silent, except for the sounds of
the fan blades which were just accelerating. Jefa closed
his eyes to rest a little but soon sank into a deep sleep.
~
The day was bright and sunny. The sidin singing heard
from every corner of the street was enough to announce
to an alien that it was Sunday and churches were having
their morning services.
Jefa was seated in the passengers side of the white Range
Rover, Omotara was driving. They both looked happy,
dressed in matching white native attires. Jefa was moving
slowly to the sound of the worship song being played,
Omotara was miming along.
They got into the church compound and Omotara
followed the directions of the Traffic Marshals and
stopped where they instructed her to. She switched off
the AC and killed the car engine. In few seconds, both of
them stepped out of the car. It was Thanksgiving Sunday,
they could hear the Thanksgiving hymn being led by the
choir and sang by the large congregation. Omotara held
with her her tablet device which contained a Bible and
writing applications while Jefa preferred to go with a
paper Bible, a pen and a notepad.
The ushers welcomed them warmly and handed them
the Thanksgiving leaflet before directing them to the
available seats. They got comfortable seats close to the
centre of auditorium and dropped their Bibles and
gadgets on the chair while they joined the congregation
to complete the hymn being sang.
Few minutes later, they were seated and other segments
of the service began. Several Thanksgiving verses were
read from the Bible and different categories of people
are called out to dance round the church and give their
Thanksgiving offerings. Omotara and Jefa stood up and
joined the group when the coordinator called out those
who surrendered their lives to Christ in that year. They
had their Thanksgiving envelopes in their hands as they
danced to the front of the altar with the other people in
their category.
The dancing paused when they got to the front of the
pulpit and very few people with outstanding testimonies
were called out to share with the rest of the
congregation. They dropped their offerings and began to
dance back to their seats, Jefa noticed that Omotara was
distracted. She had seen something and slowed her
dance steps. She was flashing her teeth happily at
someone. Jefa glanced at the choir stand and saw Henry
seated in front of the keyboard, flashing his teeth back at
them happily. He took a hand off the keyboard and
waved at them. Omotara and Jefa waved back and faced
front.
Just before they passed the front row, they saw another
familiar face seated on the second row. He was a
government official who had once done them evil, he
was shaking his legs to the beat of the song being played.
Omotara smiled on seeing him but Jefa was indifferent.
Reason being that Omotara had forgiven him and other
offenders since she repented but Jefa was still trying to
completely forgive them. He silently prayed and
confessed words of love under his breath.
The government official looked up and met with their
gazes. His smile diminished, in fact, he was visibly shaken.
Omotara and Jefa ignored him and kept dancing back to
their seats.
The church service ended two hours later and some
church members began to depart to their homes
immediately while most began to greet themselves and
break into groups. Omotara politely excused herself
from Jefa and made her way to the choir stand to meet
Henry. She met him about standing up from the
keyboard. There were three people arranging chairs in
front of him, they were those who wanted to learn how
to play the keyboard.
'Hi,' Henry greeted with a smile on seeing her. He excused
himself from the learners and proceeded towards
Omotara.
'Hello,' Omotara replied his greetings, with a smile too.
'I was just planning to come and greet you and your
brother before you leave.' Henry gestured for them to
walk to the back.
'No, don't bother.' She refused politely. 'Don't keep your
students waiting, I'll extend your greetings to my brother'
'Hehe' Henry chuckled. He was staring at something
behind her. She glanced back to see.
Jefa was walking towards them, making funny faces. She
gave way as he moved closer and had a handshake with
Henry.
'Good morning sir,' Henry bowed in respect.
'Good morning Henry,' Jefa replied. He placed his hands
behind him and took glances at the faces of both of
them. The way he was looking at them made Henry bow
his head in shyness. 'When are you guys getting married?'
He threw a surprising question.
Omotara stared at her brother with her mouth agape.
'Married? Who told you we are planning to get married?'
She asked.
'I don't need an Angel to tell me that, I can perceive it in
my spirit.' Jefa replied with a smile. He turned to Henry
whose face was still bowed. 'You're the man, talk to me.'
He said and gave Henry a playful jab on his arm.
'Brother, come on leave him and let's go.' Omotara said
playfully and grabbed her brother's arm. 'You bring a
wife to the altar first, then you can now talk about me.'
She held Jefa's hand and turned to look at Henry's face.
'We'll be leaving now, I'll call you when we get home'
'Let me see you…' Henry tried to offer.
'No need,' Tarasha cut in. 'Go back to your students.' She
gestured with her eyebrows for him to look back. He
glanced back to meet the eyes of his waiting students all
fixed on him.
'Alright then, we'll talk later.' He said and waved them
bye. Jefa offered him another handshake before turning
back to leave.
Henry stood on the same spot and watched them walk
out of the auditorium holding hands together. The smile
on his face was that of a proud man. He was proud he
had being able to help the two of them become better
persons. Now they looked happier than they used to be.
In ten minutes time, Omotara was already driving out of
the church compound with her brother. The plan was to
visit the nearest Mr Biggs outlet and take a meal there
since they couldn't wait to eat before coming to church
in the morning.
They spotted the closest one and stopped by to take the
meal. In another thirty five minutes, they were on their
way home. It was after fifteen minutes of driving that
Omotara began to notice a black Lexus 2031 model Jeep
following them from behind. She kept mute and said
nothing to her brother, wanting to verify first in order
not to make a false alarm to the unsuspecting man.
'Where's this you're going?' He asked when she took a
route which doesn't lead to their home. She didn't reply
him, but he could see that her eyes were fixed on the side
mirror. He looked back to check what it was. 'Are they
following us?'
'Definitely, they are.' She replied.
'What? Who could that be and why…' He paused while
counting the number of men in the Jeep, two men were
seated in front while one was at the back. 'Three of them,
why are they following us?' He asked no one in particular,
he was sure that Omotara was quite as confused as he
was.
The roads was in that estate was not too busy with cars
that day as it was Sunday. So there was no car
obstructing the Jeep from them. Omotara increased the
speed of their car. The trailers increased theirs too.
Soon, they began to hear gunshots from behind.
Omotara did all she could to hasten their escape but it
was futile. The two tyres at the back of the car were
deflated wth bullets by the men. Omotara's driving skills
helped her bring their car to a stop, else it would have
resulted to an accident, but maybe an accident would
have been better.
The Jeep caught up with them and two men came out.
One of them remained in the car, it was the same
government official they had seen in the church.
The two scary looking men came out with their guns in
their hands. They pulled Jefa and Omotara out of the car.
The government official soon came to join his boys.
Other motorists and pedestrians on the road has turned
back and fled on seeing what was happening.
'Kill the man and bring me the girl.' He commanded in an
evil tone and turned back to the Jeep.
One of the men cocked his gun and pointed it straight at
Jefa's forehead. Jefa could hear Omotara screaming and
begging for pity as the bullet was released.
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