culprit as all the vehicles halted in front of a dark

tanned coloured gate.

'There are two buildings in the compound, the two are

former ware houses. The one at the left is empty while

the one at the right is not, we stay most times at the

warehouse on the left.'

Ken took an Ak 47 and jumped out of the van. 'Spread

out boys, take positions.' He shouted his orders. The

remaining officers in the same van as Ken pushed out

the handcuffed culprit and he led them to the gate.

The officers from the two other vans also spread out

like they were asked to, only one officer was left in

each van. By this time all motorists and pedestrians

were already out of sight and the shops and stores

around were closing up at the sight of the mult.i.tude of

officers.

Soon, the officers broke into the compound and

raided the whole place but to their disappointment,

they were only able to come out with a few weapons as

members of the gang had fled the place before their

arrival.

'I told you that you were only wasting your time,' the

culprit said in a mocking tone to Ken as they

proceeded to the station in their vehicles.

Ken gave him a searching look, restraining himself

from landing him a slap. 'We'll get all of you,' Ken

replied back.

'Most of our men aren't even in town and you can

never get the boss, Stainless. I'm sure he's gone far

already.' The culprit continued in the same tone.

'Stainless?' The name sounded familiar to Ken. He

nodded and remained quiet for sometime, trying to

remember where he had heard the name before.

'Yes, Stainless.' The culprit replied confidently after

thirty seconds.

'Stainless is your boss?'

The culprit paused and chuckled, a smile appeared on

his swollen face on seeing the change in Ken's face and

tone.

Ken now remembered who Stainless was, in fact,

perfectly well. Stainless was a culprit who had once

been nabbed by him but was set free on order from

the Inspector General and replaced with another

criminal. Stainless was also an a.s.sa.s.sin and a drug

dealer, one whose name was mostly noised about for

criminal activities during the election period.

'But what were you people doing in that house? What

was your mission there?' Ken barked.

'I told you I don't know anything about it, I was only

asked to stay where you met me.' The culprit replied.

He had already given up his hopes of not being

imprisoned, he knew that there was no escaping for

him in the case.

'Don't worry, you'll confess when we treat you the

right way.' Ken threatened and got up from the seat,

walking towards the entrance of the van as he held the

handrails. He wondered what connection the Stainless

team had with Samantha Osman, or could it be that

Samantha Osman was part of Stainless' gang? Several

questions like this continued to pop up in his mind

until his phone rang.

He took out his phone and answered immediately,

'Agent sir'.

'Officer, where are you guys now?'

'We're heading back to the office.'

'What did you find?'

'Nothing, all the men were gone before we got there.'

Ken answered.

'Okay, I'll meet you at the office then.' Dakolo said and

the call ended.

Ken turned back and stared at the culprit who was

staring into the air absent-mindedly. He had to find a

way to hide his part played in the previous case of

stainless else he would be asked questions as to how

Stainless was out in the streets still carrying out his

criminal activities when he had already been sentenced

to death by the court of law.

~~~

'But Don, you didn't tell me that we were going to meet

with Samantha Osman.' Stainless queried Don who was

sitting on the couch comfortably and sipping from the

wine gla.s.s.

Don took a glance at Stainless and then returned his

focus to the television screen. He saw how furious

Stainless was, pacing round the living room as he

gulped down contents from the wine bottle

occasionally.

'…two of the men were seen to have escaped while two

others were caught and one shot dead by the police

officers.' The reporter continued. 'We're yet to confirm

what the culprits were searching for in Henry E.G's

apartment, who happens to be on admission in the

hospital for an undisclosed condition. This is the first

time suspected a.s.sa.s.sins from the deadly Samantha

Osman group has been caught and we hope that by

this, the police would be able to find quality

information and lead to the head of the a.s.sa.s.sin gang

herself. The police officers have also raided the

operation house of the gang and found nothing there

except for some few weapons. It's Jamiu Sado and I'm

reporting for TVC.' The reporter concluded. Videos of

the raided operation house of the stainless gang was

shown after the reporter stopped talking. Videos of

Henry's house, his neighbours and the paper company

were also shown, then the breaking news transmission

ended

'They even think my boys are from Samantha Osman,'

Stainless complained bitterly, placing his hand on his

forehead.

'Isn't that better than tracing it to you?' Don said in a

less concerned voice and stood up.

'But they already traced it to me already, they were at

my caban.'

'But they didn't find you or anything implicating,' Don

said harshly and sat down again.

'My problem is you didn't tell me that we were coming

to meet Samantha Osman, you only told me that you

wanted to ransack someone's house.'

'I didn't know that she was going to be there, weren't

you there when I came to ask if you were hearing the

strange sound.'

Stainless looked at Don for a moment and shook his

head, Don wasn't apologetic at all. He was still speaking

to him with the same bossy att.i.tude he always used

when they were under the same masters. Although

Don was far better than Stainless in his pattern of

execution since their younger days, Stainless always

wanted Don to treat him as an equal now that they

both had their separate gangs and were doing quite

well.

For Don, it was different. Stainless was the next after

him when they were in the same gang, so he still saw

Stainless as his junior every time. Even their works had

quite differentiated them. Don had executed some

high profile jobs and had never been behind the police

bar for any while Stainless had been caught by the

police on his first attempt on an high profile job.

'Let me even tell you now, the reason why the Vice

President got my number from you was to bring me

down to tackle Samantha Osman.' Don revealed and

paused to stare at Stainless's face.

The shock on Stainless' face was obvious, he now

understood the reason why the vice president kept on

referring to Samantha Osman during his call and why

he refused to reveal the reason he wanted to contact

Don.

'Or are you scared of her?' Don asked with a crooked

smile.

'Scared?' Stainless thought for a while before replying.

'Why should I be scared of someone I have no

business with.'

'But you have a business with her now, she has seen

your face.' Don said with a tormenting smile.

Stainless body trembled at the thought of Samantha

Osman coming for him. He had developed a fear for

her since the day he got the news of her first

operation. He first thought she worked with or for Don

but later dismissed the thought when he heard about

the connection of her operations with other

a.s.sa.s.sinations outside the country and when he also

got news that Don had left the country. The fear grew

to the peak after he heard how she defeated Robin

Hood without making mistakes.

'That girl does not look like the Samantha,' Stainless

argued, remembering the face of harmless looking girl

he saw at the entrance when he went to warn Don

about the police.

'Hehe,' Don chuckled, 'you're judging by her

appearance? Did you see the way she went off the

fence, can you be as swift as that? That's a well trained

personnel.' Don said, making a mocking face at him.

Stainless took in a breath and turned away from Don,

he took another gulp from the bottle.

'Now that she's also after you,' Don got up and walked

to Stainless' front. 'You can join me to find her or stay

back till she comes for you.'

Stainless continued to stare at Don, biting his lips with

utter disgust written on his face. He wondered why he

had allowed money becloud his sense of reasoning. He

had at one time vowed not to join Don for any

operation again when Don had cheated him and his

boys with their pay but because he knew that the vice

president was the one Don was running errands for in

Abuja, he decided to go because he knew it would

involve huge payments.

He opened his eyes widely as something came into his

remembrance. He fixed his gaze on Don with an

accusing look. 'How did you know she is Samantha

Osman? Are you friend with her? You were discussing

with her before I came.'

'Why shouldn't I know?' Don asked back, surprised at

the question. 'But I wasn't discussing anything with

her.'

'Why didn't you think it was someone else? Maybe

another lady who's an a.s.sa.s.sin.' Stainless' look turned

into a suspicious one.

Don stared at him in disgust, trying to find a suitable

answer for the question. 'Of course, I've been on her

case for sometime now, so you don't expect me not to

know how she looks.'

'You're a liar Don,' Stainless accused, he took out his

gun and pointed it at Don's face.

'Hey homey, what's the matter with you?' Don's eyes

widened in surprise, but he was still confident that

Stainless could not shoot the gun. 'We're supposed to

be planning together not quarreling.'

'F**k you Don,' you never make a good partners.h.i.+p.'

Stainless barked. 'You are a deceptive dog.'

'Be careful man, don't insult me.' Don warned.

'Fool, you deceived me and you're deceiving the Vice

President. I'm gonna submit your d--n a*s to him

after I finish you off.' Stainless threatened and c.o.c.ked

the gun.

'Come on,' Don shouted in a pleading manner on

seeing the Stainless' seriousness. 'I'm not deceiving

anyone.'

'Then tell me how your girlfriend works with her, she's

on the wanted list of the police. When I saw her

pictures on the news, I thought it was the Nanl Gang

who carried out the attack but on a closer look, I

concluded that the Samantha must be working with

the Nanl Gang. It was after the a.s.sa.s.sination of Robin

Hood that I started to doubt your involvement because

I knew you ran away to Cameroon.'

'Which girlfriend are you talking about?' Don was lost

for a moment.

'Aisha! I think you still feel I'm joking with you.'

Stainless said and began to fasten his grip on the

trigger.

'No, don't. I'll tell you everything, just put down that

gun homey.' Don said in panic but still managed to

keep a bold face on.

'I'm not your homey dummy, I don't roll with b------s

like you anymore. Stop calling me that and start talking

now.'

'Okay, the truth is that I gave her some of my men

including Aisha to cook for her.' Don began. 'Samantha

is working for one of my clients and they paid heavily

for them.'

'So you and Samantha works for the same client?'

'Yes.'

'Well, I don't believe you, you gave your girlfriend to

another a.s.sa.s.sin?'

'No, Aisha was supposed to be my spy there.'

'And then what happened?'

'Tarasha threatened her…'

'Huh?'

'Sorry, Samantha threatened her and she got afraid.

She's working faithfully for her now.'

'Interesting, that means you were not able to manage

your followers. You had traitors like you in your gang.'

Don was speechless, in his mind he had totally

surrendered but he didn't allow it show on his face. He

knew Stainless had enough reasons to kill him, he had

deceived and cheated him on numerous occasions but

he always thought stainless would not have the

boldness or will to do it but with the rage now showing

on Stainless' face, he knew anything was possible.

'Let's resolve this amicably, put down your gun.' Don

finally found his voice, he still continued to speak

boldly.

'Fool, go rot in h.e.l.l.' Stainless finally pulled the trigger.

~~~

Cole, Benny and Aisha, already dressed in their disguise

form, listened to the news on TV silently, taking glances

occasionally at their boss who was sitting behind and

still making up. She was also paying attention to the

news.

'…this is the first time suspected a.s.sa.s.sins from the

deadly Samantha Osman group has been caught and

we hope that by this, the police would be able to find

quality information and lead to the head of the

a.s.sa.s.sin gang. The police officers have raided the

operation house of the gang and found nothing there

except for some few weapons…' Tarasha got up as this

part of the news got her attention.

'Hey, record that.' She said to Cole who was holding

the remote control as videos of the ransacked Gang

house was shown. Cole followed the instruction and

began to take a record of the rest of the news. 'It's

okay,' Tarasha said after the reporting ended.

Cole stopped and saved the video. He, Aisha and Benny

stared at her waiting for the next instruction she would

give concerning it but she just went back to her seat

quietly and continued with her makeup.

'After killing the Senate President, we still have a lot of

work to do tomorrow morning.' She began after five

minutes of sitting quietly. She got up and began to walk

towards them, brus.h.i.+ng her hair backwards. 'Cole

would need to find out something in an hospital for

me while Benny would locate the area that was shown

in the news; the one I asked you to record and Aisha

would…' Tarasha paused for a while, staring at Aisha's

face, she smiled. 'Aisha would stay and wait for

instructions from me.'

'Are we returning back to the house after tomorrow?'

Cole asked.

'No,' Tarasha replied sharply. They couldn't return to

the house yet, it wouldn't be right for them to find out

about her brother Jeffery. 'You'll remain here, I have

some things to clear in the house.'

'Okay,'Cole replied and got up from his seat. 'Is it time

for us to go now?'

'Yes, we'll leave in ten minutes time. Remember

everything you see can be an instrument, don't neglect

any. And make sure that we maintain eye contact

always, we'll be doing most of our communication

through the eyes especially when our hosts are there.

Once we find the escape route and the best escape

plan, we'll take the man out and leave.' Tarasha began

to explain their plan. 'Remember we'll leave first in

four different cars and park them at the four sides of

the house. Then we'll converge into the car where the

weapons are and go into the house with that,I believe

there'll be no search on us but even if there is, we have

our weaponry protected.'