+++++++++

'Good afternoon your highness' Dakolo curtsied,

after leaving the group of officers studying the

dead bodies to approach the King.

'Officer!' the king barked like an angry dog.

'What is this I'm hearing? The Governor was

found dead in this river?'

'Calm down your highness' Dakolo eyes was full

of grief as he talked. 'It is a very sad

occurrence your Majesty, very sad'

'Oh!' the King wailed, 'how can this happen to

us?'

Dakolo led the King to the ambulance where

the Governor's body was kept. At this time

more security officials were already arriving to

escort the body back to town.

'Eh Oh!' the King broke down again, he closed

his eyes in horror as he saw the Governor's

body laying lifeless.

Dakolo closed back the door to the vehicle,

'We'll be leaving now, we have to report to the

headquarters as soon as possible'

'Yes, I know o' the King replied, him and his

entourage looked bereaved. 'May G.o.d be with

you officer'

'Amen, thank you your highness' Dakolo

answered as he took a turn to the right side of

the vehicle to take a seat in front.

The Police vehicles and ambulances drove

away from the scene not too long after, leaving

the villager's behind in a pile of dust. Several

thoughts ran through Dakolo's mind as they

drove back to Port Harcourt, he didn't like the

way the criminal was found dead, he wished to

have caught her alive. He felt greatly

enervated.

+++

Cole and Aisha hid under another tree with the

villagers and watched as the police vehicles

and ambulances sped past hurriedly. They

waited till the cars were out of sight before

they came of their hiding place and hurried to

the point that their car was parked, several of

the villagers followed them heading for their

various places of abode while some stayed

back and still continued to gossip about the

incident.

Cole looked like he had just lost something very

important as he walked tiredly to the car, the

information they had gotten suggests that

Tarasha was dead but he still hoped and

believed that she could be alive. Aisha was

more concerned about leaving there safely, she

knew from when Tarasha had announced their

mission that it was only a suicide attempt, she

secretly thank G.o.d that only Tarasha was gone.

The two with their worries did not notice a

woman dressed in a village attire following them

until they got to the car, they thought the lady

would walk past after they stopped at the car

so they didn't pay any heed to her when they

finally noticed. Aisha opened the door to the

right front seat and entered in a hurry. Cole was

about to open the door and enter when he

noticed that the village lady was also trying to

open the back door.

Fear surged through his body as his eyes met

with hers, shrills were sent down his spine. He

was too shocked and couldn't open the door

anymore.

'Stop staring at me and open the door' Tarasha

slammed

'Sorry Boss' Cole said and quickly opened his

door first. He released the lock to the

backdoor.

Aisha was startled on hearing that voice; she

quickly jumped out of the car and stared at her

Boss in awe. Tarasha entered into the backseat

without giving both of them another look, Cole

and Aisha stared at each other in shock for

some seconds before they could recover and

enter back into the car.

Cole drove off immediately without saying a

word, he and Aisha occasionally glanced at

Tarasha fearfully through the front mirror. He

was full of mixed feelings, he felt happy and at

the same time also scared and shocked. Aisha

on the other hand was feeling greatly terrified,

she already thought that the end had come for

their pompous Boss.

'Take another route' Tarasha said calmly,

breaking the awkward silence. 'The police just

went that way and it's not safe for us to pa.s.s

there at the same time'

+++++++++

**8.30pm**

Dakolo drove home quietly in his CRV jeep,

meditating on all that happened that day. In just

one day, he dealt with three linked cases. The

first was a case of attempted murder, the

suspect had escaped after being pursued into

an hotel. His investigation had led him to the

airport only for him to meet a case of

impersonation; someone had disguised as

Lovina and boarded the plane in Lovina's

stead. The third case was one is kidnap which

later turned into a.s.sa.s.sination.

He had thought that the a.s.sa.s.sin had died with

the Governor when the two bodies were found

in the river, only for him to get back to town

and find out that the dead lady was one of the

flight attendants. That means the imposter who

carried out the a.s.sa.s.sination escaped, only G.o.d

knew how she did it.

Since he came into the state in the year 2029,

the rate of crime had drastically reduced, even

petty robbery and pickpocketing had been

curbed, so the murder of the Governor came as

a big blow to him and to the other top security

officers in the state.

He blared the car horn impatiently as he got to

the gate, the gate man responded accordingly

and he was allowed entrance in few seconds.

'Daddy!' his three kids called happily as they

scampered out of the house to welcome their

Dad. He carried the youngest one into his arms,

trying his best to smile as he hugged the two

other.

'Daddy, what did you buy for us?' The youngest

kid whom he carried asked him. He smiled as

he stared back into her face, she was a girl of

about two to three years of age and was in her

first year in Nursery School.

'Daddy was very busy today dear, the shops had

closed when I was coming home' He replied in

a pleading tone. He gave a smile at their mum

who was just coming out of the house.

'Daddy, hope you bought my gift?' The eldest

son asked hopefully. He was a boy of seven

years old but looked too big for his age. His big

stature and heavy weight instilled fear in his

mates and even seniors who tried to bully him.

'Oh!' Dakolo suddenly remembered that it was

the boy's seventh birthday and he had promise

to get him a good gift when returning from

work. He had no excuse to give the boy, or

rather, the boy was too young to understand

his plight. 'I ordered for it already, I don't know

why they've not delivered it yet' He lied,

feigning a very serious voice.

'Oh!' the boy hummed as he folded his arms

and wagged his head back into the house in

disappointment.

'Don't worry, I promise that it would be here by

tomorrow' Dakolo shouted, trying to console the

sulking boy.

'How are you dear?' The wife gave him a peck

on the cheek as she took his suitcase from

him.

'Fine' he replied, and dropped the little girl to

run into the house with her older ones.

'A lot has happened today and I know you must

be so tired' she said as they walked into the

large and well-furnished sitting room.

'Come on, it's not time for TV, got to your beds

now' she scolded the kids who walked away

hesitatingly.

Dakolo sank into the sofa, loosening his s.h.i.+rt

b.u.t.tons. His shoe released a stinking stench as

he took out his legs, he quickly took the shoes

away from the sitting room. His wife had

already returned with a gla.s.s of cold water

before he came back into the sitting room.

'Take this' she said as he sat down.

'Thank you' he gulped down the water hurriedly.

'You really need to have a good bath' his wife

said as she collected the cup from him, her

eyes searched all over him body. 'You should go

take your bath while I serve the food' she said

and helped him up.

'What about Lydia?' Dakolo asked about the

maid.

'She's feeling sick, so I allowed her sleep

early'she replied.

Dakolo smiled as he held her hands, his wife

was the loveliest and kindest person he had

ever met. He recalled when he first met Angela.

He had been chosen to lead a security team for

an event for which she was the head caterer.

Her natural beauty and simplicity had attracted

him and he didn't waste time in approaching her

to get her contact although he told her at first

that he only needed the contact for business.

Dakolo and his wife paused as his phone rang,

he took it out from his pocket and checked the

screen. He mumbled inaudible words before he

picked the call. 'h.e.l.lo Officer' he said

'h.e.l.lo sir, John Obiano just came out of his

unconscious state' the officer announced. 'It

seems he knows the person who is Samantha

Osman'

'Yes' He responded excitedly, motioning his wife

to go on with his bag into the room, he sat back

into another sofa. 'What did you find out from

him?'

'He couldn't really talk to us and the Doctors

advised against it, so we couldn't really find out

much '

'Okay then, we should be able to get vital

information from him by tomorrow'

'Yes sir'

'Alright, just make sure that he is safe' he said

before cutting the call. He was happy with the

recent development and his mood became

livelier. He was about o get up from the seat

when he remembered something, 'James' he

mumbled under his breath.

James was one of the most competent officers

that Dakolo had trained and worked with. He

recalled that James had called him to tell him

about a certain case in Lagos which involved

the same name 'Samantha Osman'. He dialed

James number to confirm.

'h.e.l.lo, Good evening sir' James voice came

through

'Good evening Officer James, how are you

doing?' Dakolo replied his greeting.

'Fine sir, how is your family?'

'Thank G.o.d, they're all doing fine'

'Thank G.o.d' James said cheerfully before

changing into a more serious tone. 'We saw in

the news all that happened in Rivers today'

'Hmm, Well' Dakolo continued after letting out a

deep breath. 'That's why I'm calling you,

concerning the Governor's death'

'I'm all ears sir'

'Okay. Erm… You called me last week and

mentioned a particular name "Samantha

Osman", am I correct?'

'Yes sir, Samantha Osman'

'Well, that name just came up here also' Dakolo

continued, 'we found her ID card in the plane'

'Her ID card? What type of ID card?'

'Her office ID card, we were able to decipher

that shewas a journalist but the name of the

news media and her pa.s.sport had been

sc.r.a.pped off'

'Hmm… I think that is still traceable'

'Yes it is, I only want to find out if you have

similar information concerning her'

'No sir' James gave a negative reply. 'The

Samantha here was a fake, she used a student

ID card to get information from the pharmacy'

'And what else have you gotten about her?'

'Nothing yet' the reply came slow, James

envisaged that Dakolo would be disappointed.

'There's no matching records in the school's

portal'

'Okay, thank you. I'll update you when

necessary' Dakolo concluded and cut the call,

his wife was already standing before him.

'I think you should allow me keep your phone

for now' she said, giving him a serious look. 'At

least they should let you rest'

+++++++++++++++++++

Benny stood out on the corridor, patiently

awaiting the arrival of the rest of his

colleagues. The news that day had been

confusing. It started with a report of the

Governor's kidnap, then changed to rumors of

his death. Later that night, the news media had

reported that the body of the Governor had

been found dead with the perpetrator. Benny

didn't believe that Tarasha could be caught, he

was very sure she wouldn't be caught. If she

could give him clever ideas to escape the

police then she couldn't have been caught by

the police herself, so he thought.

His face lit up as he saw signs of a car coming

towards the house. In less than two minutes,

Cole had driven in and parked with Tarasha and

Aisha. Tarasha was the first to come out of the

car, she walked into the house after greeting

Benny with a pat on the shoulder and a smile.

Benny smiled back hut his smile was short

lived; after he remembered that he failed at his

mission. He was expecting her to scold him.

Cole and Asiha walked wearily to Benny and

paused. They stared at each others faces in

silence for a minute before walking into the house.