sounded on the door.

'Evelyn,' she heard Fatima call outside.

'I'm coming,' she answered in a singing tone.

'Please, take your time. I just wanted to find out if you're

okay.'

'Thanks,' Tarasha answered. She waited for sometime

until she noticed a stop in the sounds of moving

footsteps outside. She picked the two remaining metals

in the sink and hid them back under her gown.

She wanted to start proceeding out into the room when

she remembered that she still had an instruction to give

Cole.

She searched the back of her gown for the receiver and

speed dialed Cole. It took sometime for the connection

to be accepted.

~~~

'What are you trying to do?' The muscular guard asked in

a terrifying voice. He continued to squeeze Cole's fist in

his big hands and pus.h.i.+ng him backwards. Cole struggled

to resist and open his palms so he could get the pin out

else he'll be the receiver of the contents. Tarasha had

emphasized that he stuck it into the man's neck but that

doesn't mean it would have any effect when it enters

through another part of the body. The only difference

was that the former would cause the tranquilization to

happen immediately.

Cole managed to hit the man's the man's arm with the

other fist but that made no effect on the man. The guy

pushed him backwards swiftly and dished him a heavy

blow on his face. Cole's body spun thrice in a fast motion

before he fell to the ground. The pin had fallen already,

where it dropped was not known to the both of them.

Cole began to see stars as his left cheek hit the floor. The

device attached to his belt beeped twice. He managed to

turn and accept the connection. The attacker also heard

the beeping and bent to search Cole's body.

~~

Tarasha could hear Cole heavily panting at the other side,

she knew at once that something had gone wrong.

'Cole,' she called and got no reply, except for his

continued panting and then a gruff voice. She knew Cole

was listening , so she gave him another instruction. 'Cole,

if you're in trouble with the man, try to stay conscious

and keep him busy and with the lowest possible noise. I'll

come for you if I can.'

She sat back on the water closet and brought out her

phone hurriedly. She opened the tracking application

and Cole's tracker. In less than ten seconds it displayed

his direction and point in the house. Tarasha stood up

and pushed the flush b.u.t.ton, it was time to get out of the

toilet and act fast. The only problem she would have now

navigating through the house especially as she was a total

stranger in the house, she'll be easily stopped by any of

the guards or workers. She raised up her gown and

brought out a small flat purse of the same colour with

her gown, from the inner pocket, she had plenty of the

tranquilizing pins in the purse. She clipped it to her cloth

at the belly side and proceeded outside into the room.

Waiting for her outside was what and who she needed,

Fatima was still seated on a stool, engrossed with her

phone. Another young girl in a maid's uniform had just

entered into the room.

Fatima gaze was placed on Evelyn as she stepped out

from the toilet. She slowly got up from the stool and

began to walk towards Evelyn. 'h.e.l.lo, are you okay now?'

Fatima asked Evelyn.

'Ermm… A little better,' Tarasha answered, squeezing her

face like someone in pains.

The maid got to where Fatima was previously seated and

paused. Tarasha gave her a searching look, more

interested in her uniform than anything else.

'Do you need anything? That's why I called the maid,'

Fatima said, seeing Evelyn's interest in the maid.

'Ermm… Maybe I need some water, but first…' Tarasha

continued talking and walked past Fatima who was

coming to her. In a tired manner she walked, like a

pregnant woman who was going in for labour.

She got close to the maid and paused. Then she turned

back and made a smile at Fatima which got Fatima

staring at her in confusion. Then she placed her hand on

the maids shoulder and then moved her hand to the

maid's neck. The maid fell down.

Fatima eyes widened in shock as she saw the maid fall

but she couldn't tell what really happened. Too shocked

to speak or make any sound, she stared at Evelyn in

horror.

Tarasha turned and placed her eyes on Fatima's face

making funny looks at her to confuse her more. She

knew better than to walk close to her, Fatima could

scream and alert others in the house. She carefully

opened the purse attached to her belly side and took out

one of the pins. Then she tightened it in between the tip

of her thumb and his the nail of the index finger. She

raised it up and launched it straight to Fatima.

~~

Cole still felt a little bit relieved after Tarasha spoke to

him. There was still hope of Tarasha coming to help and

join hands with him to defeat the man even though she

emphasized during their preparation that one of the

reasons for the separate cars they had all came in was to

give room for everyone to escape if there was any

mistake by a party. She also stated strongly that anyone

who made an error in carrying out their tasks would be

made to face the consequences alone.

At the same time he was still not was sure how possible

or quick it would be for Tarasha to locate him by the

tracker because the house was not a familiar place to

them. It would take someone who was familiar with all

the rooms in the house to locate him fast and easily.

The guard had underrated Cole in someway, he was

searching Cole's body without protecting himself from

attack. Cole could see the man's chest and face

unprotected from attack. He mustered up strength and

stamped his feet on the man's face. The man staggered

back and held on to his eyes with a soft groan. Cole

managed to get up and tried to follow up with a kick on

the side of the man's belly but it had very little effect as

Cole's kick weighed very little.

Soon, his opponent had recovered and they were both

facing each other, the man had an evil smirk on his face

while Cole had a serious and disturbing face. The man

rolled his neck in the right and left direction, making a

cracking sound, then he raised his head up and his fists in

readiness to take out Cole.

Cole though was feeling pains in his body joints and

bones summoned courage and decided not to give up

without a good fight. He raised up his fists too and began

to bounce. The man's evil smile deepen at his gesture but

that didn't disturb Cole, even if the man was going to

break his bones, he wouldn't make it an easy task for

him.

An idea crept into his mind, he remembered some of

Tarasha's words to them during one of their preparation.

'No matter how big and tough an opponent looks, even if

his body seems too hard to be weakened, there would

always be a soft spot. It only takes the right value of the

right strike at the right place on his body to take him

down.' She had said. Although she was speaking to Benny

that day, he knew could apply it in this situation. The only

problem now was to find that right place and the right

value of the right strike to apply, that was even if he had

enough strength in his arms and legs for the intensity of

the strike required.

~~~

Fatima collapsed within seconds and became

unconscious of her environment. Tarasha quickly took

out her phone again and switched on the screen, the

tracking application was still running. Cole was being

located to be at the left side of the house. Of course there

was no door at the left where she was, she had to start

looking for the way to the place.

She ran her hands into her hair in utter disgust about the

situation, it was the reason she hated working with half

baked a.s.sa.s.sins who made mistakes at simple tasks.

She quickly bent down and began to remove the clothes

from the body of the maid.

~~~

While Cole was still looking for the perfect place to attack

on the man's body, a jab landed on his face. He yelled as

he staggered back and his head hit the door of the toilet.

The door opened and he fell down inside the toilet.

The guard stood still with his legs wide apart and fixed an

evil stare at Cole. He dipped his hand into his pocket and

took out a phone, he began to dial a number.

Cole's eyes widened as he saw the man take the phone to

his ear, he couldn't imagine what would be the result of

the man's call if it was successful. If the other guards and

occupants of the whole house were alerted, that would

mean failure for the whole operation. He tried to get up

but his strength would not let him be as fast as he wanted

to. He held on to the door as a support and then quickly

removed his shoe.

'Jamiu…' The guard was talking into the phone when the

shoe hit his face. He squeezed his face and gritted his

teeth angrily adding a threatening look and growl at Cole.

Cole ignored his look and projected himself forward with

his head to the belly of the man, both of them crash to

the floor, Cole being the one more affected by the crash.

The phone fell off from the man's hand and scattered on

the floor.

The man angrily with a feet on Cole's chest pushed Cole

away. Cole found himself far inside the toilet again. The

guard got up immediately and charged towards Cole.

Cole turned his head up and jn a trancelike way could see

the man coming towards him, he could hear the heavy

thuds made by the man's feet on the floor. Cole closed

his eyes in antic.i.p.ation of another kick or blow that

would take him out finally, he began to say his last

prayers silently.

The kick did not come but he felt a cold hand on his

neck. The man dragged him up and raised him up with

his neck, his legs sprawling far above the ground. Cole

managed to open his eyes and stared at the man's face.

There was so much fury in the guard's eyes.

Cole's leg continued to dangle, he felt something hit his

stomach gently and heard a soft sound of a metal hitting

another. It was then he remembered that he still had

some small knives and tools in the inner pocket of his

jacket.

The man began to tighten his grip on Cole's neck,

squeezing out life gradually. Cole tried to dip his hand

into his inner pocket but was too weak to move the hand.

He closed his eyes again in antic.i.p.ation of death.

~~

Tarasha was still walking around the house in the maid's

uniform helplessly. The tight skirt of the uniform was not

helping matters, the curves of the pockets attached to

her thighs were clearly revealed underneath and she

could not walk very fast also.

She couldn't find a good way to the location the tracker

was identifying and had been brought back to the same

place she left the two unconscious bodies. The only place

that she could have linked her to the location was the

sitting room where Nasiru and others were in. But even if

she decides to take the risk, she would be noticed before

she gets to the sitting room because she wouldn't be able

to cover her face and walk quickly and she still needed to

walk past guards and maids before getting there.

She closed the door to the room and rested her back to

the wall, then she tried to connect with Cole again but the

connection wasn't accepted this time. That could mean

Cole was engaged in a fight or had already been totally

overpowered.

She took out her phone and opened the chat box with

Benny. 'Cole just messed up, if you don't get any

instruction from me in the next five minutes, take an

excuse to go outside the house and into the car with

Aisha. There's a bomb detonator where I sat, set it up to

detonate in ten minutes time while you and Aisha make

your way out of the compound following the direction of

your escape cars. There's a farmyard before your own

car , so it's better you both opt for Aisha's.' She typed in

and closed the app immediately the message was marked

delivered.

Failing the mission wasn't an option to Tarasha, Nasiru

had to die that day. She even had an extra explosive she

could couple together in case Benny failed in his task or

had already been implicated by Cole already.

Cole had failed already, so he would have to bear the

consequences of his failure even if it was death. For her,

all she needed to get outside the house and get to the

extra car on her body.