'Aisha Temitope Bello was a student of this

school truly' the secretary began her well

prepared explanation to the officers. 'She was

admitted in 2023 and she finished her national

diploma program in 2025, since then she has

not returned to collect her ND result nor take

the Higher national diploma form'

'Is that all you have for us?' James stared at

her awkwardly as he asked.

'That's all I think you may need' the secretary

replied.

James tried his best not to let out a hiss, but

he was obviously p.i.s.sed off by the lady as she

could only dig out such little information after

delaying their investigation for more than a

week. 'Tell or show us all you've got, let us be

the ones to pick what we need'

'Okay, no problem' the secretary said and

looked into a paper. She cleared her throat

before she began to mention out points.

'She was a student of the business

administration department, her matriculation

number was ND/23/FT/BA/35. She finished the

ND program with a distinction grade. She was

also involved in school politics and sports. She

contested for the post of the "Sports Director

2" and won, she ruled for one year with the

other sport director and they won several

trophies for the school during their tenure.

Aisha herself partic.i.p.ated in the Ladies football

team and captained the team, they came out

second place in the Nigeria Polytechnics Cup

2024. She…'

'It's okay' James stopped her after

communicating something with his eyes to

Sandra who was seated opposite him. 'Did any

of her friends come back for HND?'

'I don't know any of her friends' the secretary

replied bluntly.

'Can't you help us find out?' James inquired.

'I can but you have to come back some other

time'

'What?? Come back again?' James couldn't

believe his ears, maybe it would take the lady a

month now to help them find who Aisha's likely

friends were and if they returned for the HND

program .

'Yes, there's nothing I can do now' the

secretary replied lazily.

'Well, I think I know what's happening here'

James spoke angrily. 'You know this Aisha and

you're only trying to cover up for her'

'No o' the naive secretary seemed terrified by

James' prank.

'Then why are you hiding her and taking so long

to give us information about her?' James asked,

wondering how she quickly fell for his threat.

He had expected her to respond boldly back to

him, he decided to take advantage of the

situation.

'Okay, I will find out and tell you when you

come back by tomorrow'

'No, now!' James barked. 'Do something now'

'Excuse me' an elderly man who was the Head

of the business administration department

came out of his office. 'You can't be shouting

at here like that, what's the matter?'

'Tell your secretary to stop aiding criminals and

give us the information we need' James

answered him.

'Yes, what's the matter?' The Head of

department turned to his secretary.

'Sir, they've come to gather information about

Aishat Bello, the a.s.sa.s.sination suspect who

was a student of this school seven years ago'

'So?'

'They want me to find out about her friends'

she added.

'And she told us to come back again' James

quickly put in. 'We need to conclude our

investigation this week for G.o.d sake. We are

giving the suspect enough time to escape by

delaying the matter'

The man turned back to his secretary, he let

out a deep breath and shook his head sideways

before talking. 'How are you planning to know

who her friends were?'

'I don't know yet'

'You were not monitoring her, were you? What

you can do is to fish out all available

information about those with close matriculation

numbers to hers, they should know more about

her'

+++++++++++

**Kubwa, Abuja**

'Welcome Boss' Cole greeted as Tarasha

walked in.

'Weldone' she responded without taking a look

at him. She dragged the centre table with her

and sank into a sofa adjacent to Cole's. She

emptied the contents of the bag on the table.

'Any useful information now?' She asked Cole

before getting up.

'No, no other information' he replied as he

picked up the laptop from the sofa and placed

it on his lap. 'But I've gathered enough

information about his son'

'I'll be right back' Tarasha excused herself and

walked away from the common room. She

returned three minutes later in a blue sleeveless

top and pair of comfortable Jean trousers with

a black leather bag in her hands. She returned

where she was previously seated and removed

some of the tools from the bag.

'So what option do we have?' She asked as she

hit a small hammer on a computer gadget.

'Huh?' Cole couldn't hear as a result of the

noise from Tarasha's work.

'What's our option?' Tarasha repeated. She

began to pick out some chips from the

destroyed gadget.

'His first son is the only way we can get close

to him' Cole answered. 'The man has been kind

of surrept.i.tious of recent'

Tarasha was quiet for a moment, the man's

recent secrecy was a known fact to her. Jubril

Lawal, as if antic.i.p.ating something evil had not

been seen in public places recently. His visits

to government officials and public figures had

always been in secrets.

'Dare Lawal is a terrible womanizer and he

frequents nightclubs in the city' Cole began,

looking straight into Tarasha eyes. 'He visits

Oriental Club every third Friday of the month'

'Friday is too far, we can't wait till then'

'Maybe we should trace him from work then'

Cole said, he got up from the seat and adjusted

his belt properly. 'He is the CEO of his Dad's

retailing firm here in Abuja but he doesn't really

do anything. He closes by 4pm everyday and

most of the times chill out with friends before

heading home'

'Going somewhere' Tarasha responded to his

movement. 'Does he live with his father?'

'No, he does not but he visits his father's house

almost every week' Cole moved away the table

blocking his way. 'Please excuse me, I need to

ease myself'

'It's okay' Tarasha permitted. An alert note

sounded in her brain as she watched him walk

away, she was allowing him handle too much

already. She needed to confirm the information

he had given her before working with it, so as

not to run into error.

'I brought this for you' Aisha's voice sounded

softly as she served Tarasha wine in a

Champagne gla.s.s. She made a little groan as

she bent to hand over the cup to Tarasha, her

belly wound had not healed completely yet.

Tarasha took the cup from her silently, she

properly scrutinized the drink first, she took

another look at Aisha's face as if to ask if she

could trust her.

Aisha quickly looked away from those eyes

staring at her. Tarasha had the same look on

her face that day she was given a death scare.

She remember vividly how she vibrated when

Benny c.o.c.ked the gun, hot urine escaped down

the bed immediately.

**Flashback **

Benny closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger.

Aisha heard the gunshot sound. Then her body

was being carried away by unknown forces, to

heaven, she thought. Not until the bed she was

laying on hit the wall, then she realized that her

bed had been rolled away before the bullet was

released and the bullet had penetrated into

somewhere else.

Cole and Benny who were surprised turned to

look at Tarasha's face immediately, they met a

smile which made them more confused . They

could not tell the reason Tarasha acted that

script.

One of the legs of Aisha's bed which had tyres

for easy movement had been tied with a long

rope to stop its movement. Tarasha cut the

rope when she was sure that the trigger was

going to be pulled.

Benny was about to barg out of the lab when

Tarasha spoke, he paused. 'You would have

died if you didn't obey, I wouldn't have let you

live one more second'

He looked at her face for some seconds before

proceeding out of the lab, Cole followed suit.

'You'll remain as a cook with us but you'll not

be able to go out as you used to do' Tarasha

said to Aisha before leaving the lab.

Unknown to them, Tarasha had other plans. To

her, if Benny could attempt to kill Aisha on her

order, then he would do the job when she asks

him for the head of Don, his former boss.

Tarasha walked back to the living room to get

the medicines she got for Aisha. She wondered

how Benny and Cole really thought she wanted

Aisha to be killed. She wouldn't have gotten the

drugs if she wanted the girl dead, she already

knew Aisha was wanted by the police before

she set out to get the drugs. Well, if Aisha was

killed or not, her lifespan had been cut short by

the bullets already.

** Present **

'Thank you' she said with a smile and took a sip

of the wine. Aisha walked away.

Benny came in few minutes later, he was

sweating and looked dusty, the harmattan

breeze had not been nice on him.

'Good day Boss' he greeted as he dropped a

bag carefully in front of Tarasha, beside the

table where she had her gadgets.

'What do we have here?' Tarasha bent to open

the bag.

'I got all you requested for except the "Walther

PPK" revolver' Benny answered.

Tarasha hissed. 'I still have one with me I can

use though' she closed the bag. 'You can take it

in'

Cole walked back into the common room and

met Benny, he tapped him on the shoulder.

'How far?'

'I'm cool' Benny replied as he dragged the bag

away.

'What's this Boss?' Cole expressed surprise on a

look at the table where Tarasha was working

on. He was amazed at the speed she used to

convert the bought devices to her own

manufactured ones.

'This, is a tracking device that can be implanted

under the skin' she displayed a very tiny pill-like

material to him. She raised up another one that

looked like a gun, 'we use this to implant it'

++++++++

'I'll make sure they pay for it' Sylvester cursed

loudly. He sat on a stool beside the hospital

bed where Henry was sitting, a bandage was

wrapped round Henry's arm.

Henry hissed. 'It's okay, thank G.o.d you came at

the right time, it would have been worse'

'What did you do to them?' Sylvester asked

again, a question Henry was not willing to

answer.

Henry had made up his mind for a thanksgiving

service in church the next Sunday. He who had

heard several stories about the brutality of

soldiers on civilians on several occasions had

only partly believed the story. He had a friend

with a gentle nature who was also in the force,

his friend didn't look like a brutal person. Henry

concluded that only the wicked ones amongst

them were brutal to ordinary people.

The ones he had met that day were more than

wicked, they gave him only a little room for

explanation before they began to use the whips

on him. What had aggravated the matter was

Henry's ident.i.ty card that was nowhere to be

found, he could have gotten away by proving

that he was working for a security agency.

The two soldiers that addressed him wasted no

time in landing the whips six times on his body

as he delayed obeying their order to kneel

down.

'You wan go **** am?' One of the mean looking

huge soldiers had accused him of attempted

****.

'No , I saw something suspicious with her and

was only trying to investigate' Henry had lied to

save himself, but there was no ID card to

support his claim.

He received a total of six whips, three slaps

and had done frog jump for about fifteen

minutes when Sylvester came to his rescue.

Sylvester had coincidentally seen the event

through the surveillance camera's transmission.

'Take this two tablets, twice a day. This, one

tablet thrice a day. And this, three tablets every

six hours' a Doctor explained how to use the

drugs to Henry.

'Don't bother, I'll read the instructions myself'

Henry s.n.a.t.c.hed the drugs jacket from the

Doctor impatiently, he wondered why so much

drugs should be administered to him for just

something little. 'Is that all? Can I leave now?'

'Yes that's all, you can leave'

'Thank you' Henry got up and left with Sylvester

immediately.

'You still haven't told me what happened with

you and the soldiers' Sylvester troubled him

again as they settled into the car. 'I want to

know what action to take'

'Thank you for saving me sir, I don't think it's

necessary to take any action. I'll tell you what

happened later' Henry hesitatingly answered.

'We need to go back to the office now to check

for my ID card. I have my MasterCard too in the

pack'

'I'm not sure you forgot it in the office, I saw

you put it in the front pocket of your s.h.i.+rt'

'Then where could it be?' Henry searched his

pockets again. His phone rang out, interrupting

him, he didn't know where it was.

'Here' Sylvester handed over the phone to him

from the back seat. He started the car engine.

'h.e.l.lo, are you Henry George Ekene' A voice

asked.

'Who's this please?' Henry replied with a

question.

'We found a pack containing some cards in our

company, Seginet Computer International, your

phone number was on it'

'Huh?' Realization hit Henry, it must have

dropped when he almost collided into the

strange lady. He frantically searched through

his pocket for the bug, it wasn't there.