Elvis Richards was seated under a neatly fas.h.i.+oned

bamboo shed, he had a bottle and a gla.s.s of wine in front

of him. The excellent lightening in the compound made it

so beautiful and bright as it always looked in the day.

Elvis glanced towards the gate as it opened and Ken

drove in with Dakolo. He walked out of the shed and

began to proceed towards the car park where Ken was

driving to. He got there before Ken and Dakolo.

Ken hurriedly parked the car and killed the engine.

Dakolo was the first to step out, he turned at once to

meet with the Vice President who was standing by the

side.

'Good evening sir,' Dakolo greeted with a bow. Ken also

joined him and greeted in the same manner. There was

no response to the greeting from the Vice President, he

just stared at them while he tossed his phone from one

hand to the other.

'Why are you guys keeping me in darkness?' He finally

spoke after several seconds of making them feel

uncomfortable with his gaze. 'Why was E.G Henry

arrested without my knowledge?' He faced Dakolo and

directed the question to him.

'Sir…' Dakolo began hesitatingly, he paused to clear his

throat and put on more boldness. 'We were actually

going to tell you when we see, the plan we had was that

we report to you at the end of every week not everyday

sir.'

Elvis smiled at Dakolo's boldness, he took his face off the

officer's face and began to look to the ground, using his

sandal to rub the gra.s.ses.

'But arresting someone like Henry is different, he's

supposed to be a part of us, he's supposed to be part of

those trying to find the a.s.sa.s.sin and not a suspect.' Elvis

looked up with a bitter frown, 'I was surprised today to

find the news of his arrest on the internet, I called you to

confirm and you didn't deny.'

'We took him in for questioning sir, because we found

out that he's been hiding a lot of details from us.' Dakolo

said.

'Of course you had to do it, I only have a problem with

you not informing me immediately. What has he been

hiding?'

'He has a close a.s.sociation with someone who's

suspected to be part of Samantha Osman's group, there's

about ninety percent probability that the person is even

Samantha Osman herself.'

'How did you find out about that?'

'We discovered that he attended Chief Jubril's party with

the lady,' Dakolo answered shortly, willing to stop at that

but the man's eyes demanded for more explanation. 'The

lady he went with to the party is a suspect. Henry also

testified that she was nowhere to be found during the

time of the a.s.sa.s.sination. He has not seen or spoken to

her since that day.'

'Interesting,' Elvis bit his lips, enjoying the release of

information. 'So, when did Henry leave your custody?'

'Before evening time,'Dakolo's response was sharp. His

phone interrupted with its ringtone, he took it out and

checked the caller's ID, Mr Sylvester. Out of respect for

the Vice President, he silenced the call.

'And what's the next step now?'

'We hope to keep Henry in safety, he can provide us with

useful information if he lives.' Dakolo stated, hoping the

man's question would end at that.

'If he lives?' Elvis stared at him for more explanation. He

began to trek away from the park slowly, Dakolo and Ken

followed. Dakolo's phone rang again. He checked the

caller's ID and silenced it again.

'Why are you sounding as if he's in danger?' Elvis

concluded his question.

'The a.s.sa.s.sin group may come for his life, now that he's

involved with the police.'

'And haven't you made plans against that already?'

'I have, I have four officers watching him, three officers

at his house and one officer following him around, all

without his knowledge.'

'Isn't that enough? Four officers should be able to ensure

he's safety.'

'Yes sir, on a normal day when dealing with a different

group, four may be enough but with Samantha Osman's

group, I'm afraid four may not do the job.'

'So what are you planning to do now?' Elvis stopped and

asked.

'I've asked Mr Sylvester to convince him not to stay in his

residence for sometime.'

'Where would he stay?'Elvis raised a brow.

'In NSCC house, it's more safer there. No one can easily

break in.'

'And has Sylvester been able to convince him?'

'I don't know, he's the one that called me some seconds

ago.' Dakolo brought out his phone, hoping that the man

would allow him return Mr Sylvester's call.

'No problem, you'll call him later.' Elvis replied,

disappointing Dakolo.

Dakolo returned his phone back into his pocket, waiting

for what else the man has to say but Elvis didn't speak

immediately. He began to take slow steps again.

'I want you to keep me updated always, I won't like to be

surprised again like I was today.'

'There's no problem sir.' Dakolo voiced impatiently,

itching to leave the man's presence.

'Wait!' The man suddenly turned to them calmly, with a

crooked smile. 'Why are you so much in a hurry?'

'We don't want to leave any chance for the a.s.sa.s.sin

group at all, we don't want to make any mistakes. We

want to ensure that Henry is somewhere safe as soon as

possible.'

'But aren't you taking it a little bit far? You just arrested

him today, even the media hasn't verified his arrest. How

do you think they'll find out? Or are you suspecting

there's a mole working with you?' Elvis suggested. Ken

shrugged in partial agreement.

'Mole?' Dakolo and Ken took quick glances at each other.

'We don't think there's a mole sir,' Dakolo answered. 'But

we think if the information can get to the press which we

didn't give by ourselves, it can also get it to these expert

a.s.sa.s.sins. Henry may have even let out the information

himself unknowingly.'

'It's okay, you can leave.' Elvis said and walked away

immediately.

Even before the man finished talking, Dakolo and Ken

had turned and began to proceed to their car.

`

Elvis entered into the living room to meet the eagerly

waiting Don and the Inspector General. Both of them

rose up from the sofa immediately they sighted the Vice

President.

'Henry E.G has a close a.s.sociation with a suspect' Elvis

said to Don as he continued walking. 'I don't know if

that'll be of help to you.' He concluded and proceeded

up the stairs, leaving Don and the IG.

Don picked his car key from the sofa where he was

previously seated and walked out of the place after

bowing to say goodbye to the IG.

+++

8.05pm

The gate opened as Henry tapped a b.u.t.ton on the remote

control in his car, he drove in with speed and stopped in

the middle of the compound. He took off his seatbelt

before turning off the car engine, he wasn't ready to park

the car in the right place today. He opened the door to

the driver's side but remained inside and relaxed back

for about two minutes. He finally got out after taking his

phone from the backseat and proceeded to the left side

of the fence drunkenly, the reflection of light from the

two neighboring compound brightened his way enough.

He tapped two b.u.t.tons on the wall and the compound

security light came on. He returned to the car and locked

the doors properly before proceeding to the house.

The house was dark as he entered, he closed the door

and began to search the wall with his hands for the bulb

switch. He tapped the switch but there was no light, he

left the particular switch and moved to the wall at the

other side, he tapped the b.u.t.ton and there was no light

also.

Unsuspicious of anything, he believed that something

must have gone wrong with the connections in the house

or at the main control point. He took out his phone and

pressed the power b.u.t.ton, he began to find his way with

the little light shown as the phone booted. He was able to

get to the first sofa on the left and he sank into it tiredly.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, a slight headache

began to disturb him.

He opened his eyes suddenly as he heard sounds of some

movement. He turned on the flashlight of his phone and

pointed it to his front but saw nothing. He wondered

what it could be, Rats? c.o.c.kroaches? He wondered but

none of them could be accommodated in his house due

to proper cleaning and fumigation that takes place

frequently, at least he had seen the doc.u.ments of the

previous cleanup that had been done before he moved

in. The movement must have been heard in his

imagination, he concluded.

~~~

8.10pm

It was over two hours now and Jefa had not heard

anything else from Henry, his heart was greatly troubled

as he couldn't imagine what kind of trouble Omotara was

in. He wasn't stable enough to go to his business place

that day, all efforts made to reach Henry back proved

abortive.

His earlier decision was to stay away from Henry and

Omotara but with the panic at hand, he couldn't go by

that decision. After several minutes of contemplating, he

picked up his phone and dialed Henry's number again. It

was still switched off. He couldn't take it any longer, he

got up from his seat and put on his s.h.i.+rt. He proceeded

towards the door and wore his palm sandal placed

beside the doormat before hurrying out.

~~~

'h.e.l.lo Mr Sylvester, sorry I couldn't answer your calls. I

was with the Vice President.' Dakolo said hurriedly into

the phone. 'Have you been able to reach Henry?'

'No, he wasn't answering his calls. His phone is even

switched off now.'Sylvester replied.

'D--n!' Dakolo muttered. 'Please keep trying,' Dakolo

said to Sylvester before ending the call.

'Sir…' Ken called in a calm voice, wondering why Dakolo

was in so much panic, it wasn't that they were sure that

the a.s.sa.s.sins were coming for Henry that day, so he

wondered why Dakolo was acting like he had gotten

information that someone was going to kill Henry that

night.

'Yes,' Dakolo took a brief glance at Ken.

'I think we should take it more calmly, I believe we have

capable people watching him already, they'll alert us if

there's any problem.'

Dakolo was about to dial another number but he paused

to ponder on Ken's word. Ken had spoken the truth but

Dakolo still had the strange feeling to act urgently, he

wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anything happens

to Henry.

He went on to dial the number and his call was answered

in few seconds.

'Sir,' a gruff voice sounded.

'Officer, where are you now?' Dakolo asked.

'In front of Henry's house, he's gone inside already. I'm

watching with the other officers.'

'He just drove in?'

'Yes, few minutes ago.'

'Can you get into his house for me? I want you to talk to

him and try make him believe that he is in danger and

shouldn't sleep in that house tonight, it's not safe for

him.'

'Where should I tell him to go to?'

'The NSCC house is safer for him or you can tell him to

follow you to my place. I'll just meet you on the way.'

'Okay sir, I'll try go inside the house now.' The call ended.

Dakolo heaved a sigh, he glanced at Ken who was looking

less worried. He unlocked his phone's screen again and

opened the dial pad, he scrolled down to Henry's

number and dialed it, not really too optimistic about it.

He relaxed back and put it on loud speaker.

His eyes widened in excitement as the call went through

and Henry's ring back tone began to play. But his

excitement was suppressed few seconds later when the

call was not answered by Henry. He tried two more times

before giving up. As he closed his eyes to relax a bit, his

phone rang again.

'Sir, he's not responding to the bell.'

Several thoughts ran through Dakolo's mind at that

moment. Maybe Henry was not just answering the bell

the same way he wasn't answering his calls or maybe he

wasn't answering because an enemy was already fighting

with him in the house. It was also possible that Henry was

planning to do something.

'Try more, I'll call you back now.' Dakolo cut the call as

another idea flashed through his mind on how to reach

Henry. He clicked on the message icon and began to type

in a message.

~~~

Henry felt angry as Dakolo's call came in the third time,

the gate bell was also sounding at the same time. He

guessed that the person at the gate was Dakolo so he

ignored the both.

The bulbs in the living room suddenly came on as he

began to unb.u.t.ton his s.h.i.+rt. He paused in shock,

wondering how it could have happened. He concluded

that a wire was not properly connected somewhere and

continued with what he was doing.

Few minutes later, he felt so much fear like he had never

felt as he lifted up his head and saw the back view of a

lady seated on the top of the three seater sofa backrest.

The lady got up and turned to face him, Omotara it was.

He felt the greatest shock on his life as he saw the way

she was dressed and what she had in her hands. She

wore black top and shredded Jean trousers with black

hand gloves on her hands. She was holding on her left

hand an intravenous fluid bag filled with a liquid he was

sure was poisonous, while she had on her right hand a

black schoolbag. Her nose was covered with a nose

mask.

His eyes were full of shock and utter disappointment.

Tears filled his eyes, not in fear of the death that was

coming, but in realization of the fact that Omotara was

really the deadly a.s.sa.s.sin, Samantha Osman.

She took out a bottle from the bag and sprayed the

contents, Henry slowly pa.s.sed out as he inhaled the gas.

His phone began to ring again and fell off his hand to the

floor, it fell with its screen on his toe and stopped ringing.