Henry hurriedly gulped down another cup of

wine in frustration. He was already getting

worked up and was wis.h.i.+ng that he never came

to the party.

The person who brought him to the party had

left him to seat alone for almost two hours

without returning. His plan to go check on her

was obstructed by someone that he wasn't

expecting who just emerged from nowhere,

the client who had given him the job of

tracking the Canadian number. He never

thought that the client could also be an invitee

at this party, he had called him earlier to give

an excuse that he was sick and needed to rest,

so he wouldn't be able to finish the job till the

next day. So how would he explain that his

sickness could allow him to party but not to

complete a job he had already received

money from.

Henry bit his lips and shook his head in regret

as he heard a roaring laughter from the man

discussing with his client at the table behind

him. The discussants rose up from their seats.

They kept on talking as that moved closer to

Henry's seat. Henry turned his face to the

opposite direction and covered it with his

hand.

'For you, it's easy na' Henry heard the second

man say to his client. 'You're Chief Jubril's PA'

'It's not that easy, people just…' His client was

saying as the moved out of earshot.

Henry's eyes widened in surprise as he

digested the information he overheard. His

client was Jubril's PA?

Justis mind flashed back to the day the job was

brought. He remembered clearly the man

saying that they had received a call from a

business partner with the Canadian number

but they were doubting if it was real or not.

Evelyn was striking a business deal with Jubril

tonight and she is from Canada. Could she be

the same person whose number was being

investigated? He thought.

His mind made another flashback. The look on

Evelyn's face when he was typing in the

number from his notepad. He had ignored that

look as nothing before, since there was no

reason for suspicion but now everything began

to make sense to him.

After she saw the number was when she

changed and started talking to him about going

with her to the party. He remembered how

she had also began to rub her hands against his

chest at that moment she was trying to

convince him. Could Evelyn be a criminal?

Could she be a fraudster?

Henry poured in some wine into the cup and

gulped it down immediately. He pushed away

the plate of which he had been served.

His mind returned to how he met Evelyn, how

she had gotten him into trouble the first day.

He also remembered the day he met her and

she was hiding a briefcase. He remembered

the lie she told him about the place she

stayed, he had only gotten to know that she

was in a hotel after he tracked down the phone

number she had given him.

The kidnap. How she untied the ropes. How

they eventually escaped. The story Tarasha had

said about the pa.s.sers-by was now sounding

ridiculous to him. How she changed the story

during the police interrogation was even more

ridiculous. Henry was now positive that he was

allowed to escape because he had contacted

Sylvester and the culprits were well aware that

the police were coming.

He buried his face his palms. Dare must have

planned all these with her. He was sure of

Dare's ability to connive with an outsider to

dupe his Dad.

He looked towards the table where Dare and

his Dad were previously seated. Only the Dad

and two ladies remained on the seat. Dare and

Evelyn must have gone to have a meeting.

They must be planning to even end his life

now that had been further rubbed in by being

the one investigating the Canadian number.

He scrubbed his face with his palms and

clenched his fists. He had being fooled, used

by a criminal.

He stood up staggering, trying to search for Mr

Jubril's PA who just left the area. His phone

made several beeps. He brought it out to

check. The camera detector app on his phone

was detecting some bugs.

++++

Benny returned to the restroom again, this

time making sure that no one was following

him. He locked himself in a toilet

compartment and sat on the WC, taking out

the paper to read.

The substance given to him contained a

dangerous mixture of gases which includes

Chlorobenzalmalononitrile and other

lachrymatory gases that would turn weak

everyone that inhaled it within seconds

through a peppery sensation in their bodies

and eyes. The nose mask was for him to

protect himself while the gas was having its

effect on the other people.

After killing the Chief, he was to go out

through the backdrop which led to the stairs of

the security department where Tarasha was

and handover the extra cloth to her after

which they'll find a way to leave the venue

together.

Five minutes more for the thirty minutes

deadline. He got up and walked out to pick the

nylon bag which contained the cloth. Two other

men walked into the restroom as he walked

out to carry out the most crucial part of the

a.s.signment.

++++

The door made a creaking sound as she

entered into the room. The room was dark

except for the reflection from the screens of

the desktops. Tarasha could sight no one in, so

she went straight to the computer which she

a.s.sumed to be the master computer and sat

behind it. It was pa.s.sworded, so she brought

out a flash from her pocket and inserted it into

the USB port.

The software on the flash drive opened up

immediately and she began to punch in

commands with the use of the keyboard. Soon,

she was able to access the files in the

computer.

She paused and turned to look around, having

a feeling that she wasn't alone in the room.

She didn't see anyone so she turned back to

the computer to hurry up her work. Her target

time to use in the cameras security room was

five minutes and she had used three minutes

already. She had to hurry up and hide before

other security officials start find the dead

bodies on the corridor.

She felt another movement around and got up

while a certain command was loading. She

looked around again as she walked towards the

window. She rolled up the blinds and the

opened the gla.s.s. She could hear the soft

music playing from the hall. She closed back

the window and took off her Bluetooth

earphone. She punched in some commands on

it and made a speed dial before returning it to

her ear.

'Cole… Nixus Fortrem, 8453. Stop the whole

system from working and then redirect to you.

Make sure you handle the street cameras too'

she said briefly and ended the call. She had

given Cole the code to direct the footages

from the cameras captured from that moment

to his device.

She then returned to the computer set. All the

data recorded in the last two hours had been

successfully extracted into her flash drive and

deleted from the main computer.

She ejected the drive and closed all

applications on the system. She returned it

back to the start page and the turned to leave.

Audu came out from behind a shelf and stood

by the door with a mean face, clapping his

palms together continuously with a pistol in his

hands. He took a sharp turn back and jammed

the door.

'Who are you?' Audu asked softly but with so

much sternness as he started walking forward

in slow motion.

'Let me go and your life would be preserved'

Tarasha warned with a smile, after some

seconds of silence.

'You can't go anywhere, other security officials

would be here in the next five minutes. They

heard the gunshots and they're alert already'

Tarasha chuckled. 'The last time I checked, the

walls here are soundproofed'

Audu raised a brow. 'Oh! Intelligent' he

exclaimed. 'That's what gave you the

confidence right? Well, for your information,

we aren't the real guys in charge of security

here. Dare only got them out of here by a

false alarm and they are on their …'

'I don't have time for silly talks' Tarasha

slammed and began walking closer to him

without fear.

Audu raised up his gun and pointed it at her.

She paused.

'One last chance, don't try to stop me and your

life would be preserved'

++++

The beeps continued on Henry's phone. He

rested his palm on the chair handle shakily and

opened the app. All the cameras in the hall

had been stopped from working. That was

strange. Such things don't happen until after

events. He returned his phone into his pocket

and turned to leave.

It beeped again, continuously. He brought it

out from his pocket with a loud hiss. The

cameras were up again. An error in

transmission, he thought.

Suddenly, loud screams and shouts erupted

from the back of the hall. A very small ball was

rolling from the back to the front and emitting

a strange coloured smoke.

The screams became louder. Shouts of

'Bomb!!!' filled the air. People began to

scamper around but they couldn't go far as

they dropped few seconds after inhaling the

smoke. Only a few people who were close to

the exit made it out before inhaling enough

quant.i.ty that could take them out.

Henry struggled to remain standing but his

strength failed him. He fell on one knee

shaking the table violently in the process. The

bag which Tarasha left on the chair fell to

Henry's side on the ground, it was partly

opened. Henry dipped his hand into it to pick

out the nose mask he saw.

Before he could cover his nose with the mask,

the gas had already taken so much effect on

him but he was still able to move his head

though his vision was blur.

He turned his face to the other side, every

other person in the hall was down too. Some

had fainted while some were bleeding from

the nose but a bulk of them just had their eyes

s.h.i.+ning brightly without even seeing anything

as they laid helpless on the floor.

Someone was marching forward. Henry saw

the shoe, he raised up his head, the man was

also putting on thick dark gloves and a black

bag was strapped to his back. He tried to look

at the person's face but the mask worn made it

difficult for him to see the face. But that black

suit. Henry had seen it before, on that same

day.

The masked man walked straight to where

Jubril and his wife was laying down helplessly.

Even the bodyguards that were supposed to

protect them had fallen to the ground and

were just staring helplessly.

++

Benny got to Jubril in no time and dragged

him up by the collar. There was no time to

waste, he was sure that the security officials

were already coming to the hall with a

solution.

He took out a short knife from his pocket and

slid it deeply into the man's throat. Blood

gushed out speedily. Benny did this making

sure that the fluid did not spill on any other

part of his body except his hand which was

protected by the glove. He made sure that the

windpipe was separated into two before

dropping the body.

He rushed through the backdrop exit as

instructed by Tarasha in the message and

pulled off his suit jacket and beards to remove

the disguise. He continued to follow the

directions given to him for escape.

He got to the floor landing of the stairs where

Tarasha was supposed to wait for him but she

wasn't there yet. His body began to itch. He

could hear noises from the hall of policemen

who had gone in with their own masks. He hid

below the stairs as he took off his Bluetooth

earphone and tried to connect to Tarasha. She

wasn't answering. He tried Cole.

…