Cole could not hide his astonishment at the

excellency of Tarasha's edifice . Things in the

house were either controlled by Tarasha's voice

or just a simple touch from her. From the gate

of the house to the car park and the doors,

they all responded to a simple whistle or a

word.

Her medical lab was also well equipped with

equipments, someone who did not know her

would mistake her for a real medical doctor but

a closer look at the equipments and drugs

nearly arranged on the shelves suggested that

the lab was only meant for treating injuries,

both simple and deadly ones.

'Help me get that cylinder' Tarasha's voice

jolted him. He turned back to see her pointing

to a cylinder on the retort stand. 'There's a

napkin there for you to hold it'

Cole picked up the hot cylinder with the napkin

on his hand and proceeded towards Tarasha to

hand it over. Aisha laid on the bed unclad

except for her pant and bra as Tarasha cleaned

the bullets wounds and applied antibiotics to

prevent possible infections. An intravenous fluid

bag was hung at the other side and the fluid

pa.s.sed through the IV lines slowly into her

veins.

'Is she going to make it?' Benny said as he

came closer to them. His wound had been

treated and his arm was already bandaged.

'We can make her live again but not without

complications' Tarasha replied in a tone that

sounded like a professional Doctor's. 'The bullet

touched some organs in the body and some

liquids have been spilled'

Cole heaved a sigh.He felt a pang of guilt.

Aisha was not supposed to be involved in the

operation, she had only come to a.s.sist him and

Benny after he pleaded with her. Now she had a

bullet stuck in her stomach which would result

into complications that won't allow her enjoy

life anymore.

'Has the bullets been removed?' Benny asked

another question.

'No, removing the bullet might cause more harm

for now' she replied. She took time to dress the

wound on Aisha's body after which she covered

her with a piece of white cloth.

She led them out of the medical lab to a large

room afterwards. The place looked empty until

Tarasha brought out a remote control device

and tapped in some commands. The opposite

wall to them split open and furnitures making

up a living room slid out of it towards them with

a plane rug underneath.

Benny and Cole could not hide their surprise, it

was well written on their face as they stood

and watched it like a miracle, they had only

seen such happen in Hollywood films. They

stood fixed to a point and didn't notice when

Tarasha went to the wall behind them and

touched a switch on it which brought out a flat

screen TV and other sitting room ornaments

from the wall.

'Are you going to remain standing?' She startled

the two guys.

They sank into the seats in a weary manner and

Tarasha took a seat opposite them. There was

an awkward silence for about five minutes.

'Are you hungry?' She said to the both of them.

'No, not yet' Cole spoke up after looking at

Benny's face for a go ahead. 'The snacks we

took earlier is enough for now'

'Okay, I got some food when I went out. Just

tell me when you are ready to eat' she said and

relaxed back into her seat.

'Thanks' Benny and Cole said in unison.

Tarasha gave a brief smile, she brushed her hair

with her hand and stared at the two for a while.

Both of them hid their eyes from hers,

wondering why she fixed her gaze on them.

A lot of things were on Benny's mind. One was

the hope within his heart that there was no

more task Tarasha had for them, this first one

almost took their lives. It had never been this

tough when he worked with Don. Well, they

never had taken operations as hard as the ones

they did now.

A confrontation with someone like Robin Kahn

would have been termed as impossible when he

worked with Don. Not that Don's group – the

Nanl gang – was not good enough. In fact, they

were arguably the best a.s.sa.s.sin group in the

nation before Tarasha came in, but what had

incapacitated them was the belief that the

Nigerian security system was much stronger

than the old times and some crimes could not

be perpetuated without being caught.

Maybe it wasn't just a belief of theirs, it was

reality. Although the level of technology in the

gang was high, no one had the knowledge of

how to deactivate the security cameras or how

to hack into the Nigerian security backup files,

they all had come to accept that the security

was unbreakable.

'We only took one of our targets' Tarasha's

voice came up again. Benny and Cole fixed their

eyes on her at once, they had been expecting

her to talk about it. 'The Nigerian inspector is

still well and sound'

'No, he couldn't have escaped' Cole argued. 'We

attached a bomb to the car that was supposed

to take him back to their station'

'He survived, someone told him about the bomb'

'Huh?' Benny's eyes widened, 'No one could

have noticed with the way we did it'

'Who planted it ?' Tarasha questioned.

'I … and Aisha' Benny answered.

'You spoke to her about it on phone?' She

asked another question

'Yes, we were not together all through. I had to

communicate with her and Cole through phone

calls'

'I think the call was intercepted or maybe

recorded' Tarasha stated, she paused for a

while and bit her lips. 'Someone else has

access to Aisha's phone files and location,

that's how the police got to know where you

were'

Benny and Cole exchanged glances, they

couldn't really figure out what Tarasha was

trying to explain.

'I had to come in and stop the police, they were

on their way to meet you where you took Robin'

Tarasha continued. 'Someone was tracking

Aisha through the phone and providing them

with information'

'How could that be?' Benny muttered. It was

clear to him now that Tarasha was the one

they saw in a gun duel with the police after

driving out of the gate.

'We still need to handle that Nigerian Inspector,

he seems a little bit competent' Tarasha stood

up from her seat and slowly walked to the

nearest window. 'He could give you problems

later' she said, placing a stress on the "you"

Benny grumbled under his breath, afraid that

Tarasha would ask them to complete the task

with their injuries. Still backing them and

looking out through the window, Tarasha sensed

the fright mood of the two.

'Don't worry, you don't need to go back to him

now. You can kill him anytime you want to' she

said as she turned to face them. 'He's not that

hard, he couldn't pick a good place to fire at

me, his two bullets. .h.i.t my back'

'Huh?' Cole did not know when he stood up in

surprise . 'Two bullets. .h.i.t you?'

Tarasha smiled, 'the bullets got stuck in the

kevlar'

'Oh!' Cole exclaimed softly and sat back.

Tarasha's smiling face turned serious as she

begun an impromptu lecture. 'As a good

gunman, two of your bullets should not get

wasted. Even if the first one does not

penetrate, you should know where to fix in the

second. He should have noticed that the first

bullet did not get into my body, he shouldn't

have shot the same place twice. He should

have left an impact even if he didn't kill me' she

paused and glanced at her wrist.w.a.tch like

someone rus.h.i.+ng somewhere.

'He didn't try to shoot my head, although that

wouldn't have killed me because I had a Kevlar

wig on too but it would have been a better shot'

she paused again to see get impact on them.

'You should be able to use your eyes like a

machine, it should scan through the body of

your target like the eyes of a robot' she said

before walking back to her seat. She moved her

gaze in a slow manner from Benny to Cole and

back to Benny.

'You two would handle the surviving Inspector

when we return, we are traveling next week for

our new operation'

++++++++

James saw several officers gathered outside as

he drove into the station. He spotted Sandra

talking to a group of officers on the left field

beside the main building.

After parking the car, he relaxed back into the

seat to rest , contrary to his plan of entering

the office to take his bag and return straight

home, he spent sometime to mediate in the

car.

Though the day had been a fruitless one, he still

had good reasons to thank G.o.d for saving his

life. Two of the foreigners were dead already

and their main Boss, Robin, who was supposed

to be the superhero was nowhere to be found.

He wondered how the news headlines would be

next day. "Robin Kahn fails to lead his men and

the Nigerian force to victory" or "Robin Kahn

leads men into Samantha's Osman's trap". It

may even be " Special Agent Robin is kidnapped

– after leading several policemen in an operation

that wasted their lives". It would surely shock

the outside world.

How Samantha Osman or whoever the Lady on

the mask was escaped still baffled him. He was

sure that two bullets. .h.i.t her at the back, he

wondered how she managed to drive away so

fast that Sandra couldn't catch up with her and

even himself couldn't find her in the places he

searched. Or was she wearing a proof? No, it

didn't look like she was.

'Sir' Someone called, knocking on the car

window. It was the computer operator, Sandra

was standing at his back. They had seen his

car when he drove in.

James hesitated before winding down the

window. He had been through so much and

didn't want to continue until the next day. He

even defiled medical advice still went after

Samantha, now his body was really aching him

and all he needed was rest.

'Yinka' he managed to call the computer

operator's name.

'Sir, did you find anything useful?' Sandra

quickly put in.

'No, you?' James directed the question back to

her.

'No' Sandra answered in a low tone.

'I think we should just leave everything till

tomorrow' James said as he came out of the

car.

'No we won't leave anything till tomorrow'

someone objected loudly, approaching them

from behind. 'We'll do everything we can do

today'

James looked back to see the superintendent,

he felt like someone hit a hammer on his head.

The who seemed less concerned before had

just received orders from his superior,

threatening him to look into the case urgently

or loose his job.

'Do you know the magnitude of what happened

today?' The man continued, staring into James'

face. 'Three special agents from the US have

been brought down in one day'

'Two' James corrected boldly, leaving Sandra

and Yinka to wonder where he got such

confidence to correct his superior in that

manner. Of course, it was from his fatigue the

desperation to have a good rest. 'Two, Agent

Robin may still be alive'

The man bit his lips in anger but refrained from

taking it out on James because he wasn't sure

he had a better officer to handle the case if he

argued with James.

'Two' the man stuttered. 'But agent Robin is

nowhere to be found. That wouldn't be good

news if it hit the headlines tomorrow. We have

to do something to prove that we're working

and not in cooperation with the criminals'

'That's true' James said calmly, finally

reasoning with the man. There was silence for a

moment.

'I think we have a better picture of who

Samantha Osman is now' James spoke to the

waiting ears of the officers. 'Aisha Bello might

just be the real criminal'

'Yes!' Yinka exclaimed excitedly. 'I was about to

say that too. I believe Aisha Temitope Bello is

real name of the a.s.sa.s.sin who is the leader of

the group and not Samantha Osman'

There was silence for some seconds again

before Sandra spoke. 'So does it means if we

find that Aisha, we may have nabbed the whole

group?'

'Yes' James agreed, nodding his head slowly.

'We just have to be careful this time, not to run

into another trap' James concluded.

+++++

03/01/2031

Aisha Bello was declared wanted by the

superintendent himself on national TV very early

in the morning. Before seven thirty a.m ,

postals and handbills carrying her picture and

details had been spread around the nation, a

price tag for anyone with useful information

was also placed on the bills.

News of Robin's defeat and abduction had also

been dispersed within and outside the nation.

Everyone was on the look for Aisha Bello, who

was possibly the same person as Samantha

Osman.

The US authority did not believe when rumours

of Robin's defeat first got to them the day

before. Various news medium in the US had

carried it but there was no reliable source yet.

They immediately made contact the Nigerian

force but the news was denied until that

morning when the superintendent confirmed it

in an interview with the press.

'I don't think the Boss has heard this' Cole said

to Benny as they listened to the morning news,

sipping the warm tea slowly.

'You never can tell, she's unpredictable' Benny

replied calmly.

'I feel sorry for Aisha' Cole said sadly.

'She'll survive' Benny says nonchalantly.

'Yes, she will but she wouldn't have gotten

injured at all if I didn't ask her to come. It was

our task.' Cole continued, 'she was still in pains

when I spoke with her this morning, Boss has

gone to get more medicines for her'

'Well, that's true. She's in pain because she

helped us' Benny replied thoughtfully as he got

up from the sofa. 'I need to see her too'

'She's asleep now' Cole returned him with a

wave of the hand.

Benny returned to his seat and they watched

the rest of the thirty minutes news in silence.

Cole began again after the news ended. 'You

know I've been trying to figure out how the

police could have gotten access to Aisha's

phone. Do you think Aisha could have been

careless enough not to know when she ran into

an undercover?'

'That baffles me also, I tell you' Benny replied.

'She was sold out by her boyfriend' Tarasha's

voice came up. She had walked into the house

without them taking note. 'The same boyfriend

who followed her to the former office'

'Don?' Benny and Cole exclaimed in shock.

'I don't know what his name is' Tarasha replied,

dropping a white nylon bag which contained the

medicine she went to buy on the gla.s.s centre

table. 'Is she awake?'

'No, I checked her few minutes ago' Cole

replied.

'I heard she's wanted now by the police'

Tarasha said with a wicked smile, taking out a

pistol from her jeans jacket.

'Yes, her pictures are everywhere' Benny replied

sadly.

Tarasha fixed in a bullet into the gun, making

them wonder what she wanted to do. She

walked up to Benny and handed the gun to him

.

'Aisha would cause problems for us if she lives,

plant that bullet into her skull' she ordered

Benny. 'Right now!'

… to be continued