Tarasha dropped the gun slowly and took a glance at the
door and back at Cole. She turned and walked to the
door, holding the gun in alertness. She peeped through
the door hole and saw the person knocking, she clenched
her left fist and gave an evil chuckle as she tightened her
grip against the door. Part of her felt like opening the
door and gunning him down immediately, the other part
felt like opening the door to embrace him. She stood
back and paused for a while.
'Answer the door, you should know how to handle him.
Return his phone to him. If he asks' she said to Cole as
she hurried back into her room. 'Come with me' she
motioned Benny to follow pack the rest of the devices
and follow her, leaving only Henry's phone.
Cole heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He made a sign of the
cross as he walked slowly to the door, whoever was at
the door was his saviour. He peeped through the door
hole but didn't recognise the person at first. He opened
halfway and tucked out his head.
'Hello' Henry said with a smile, trying to peep into the
house.
'Yes, what can I do for you?' Cole answered. He searched
the guy from head to toe with his eyes, then Henry's face
came into his remembrance. He stepped out.
Henry scrutinized Cole's face for a while and
remembered him clearly as the driver who drove them
to the birthday party.
Henry cleared his throat and began. 'Good morning, I've
come to see Evelyn'
'Evelyn?' Cole pretended as if he didn't hear properly. He
would have loved to say, 'please come in, she really
needs you, that day she felt like dying after you left her.'
But he couldn't try it, majorly because of the tensed
atmosphere that the device he had taken in carelessly
just caused and he was also sure that the Boss wouldn't
want to see Henry.
'Yes, where is Evelyn? The lady I accompanied to that
party'
'What party?' Cole feigned ignorance.
'Come on, you drove us in a Rover to late Chief Jubril's
party and disappeared when the party ended in a
disaster' Henry defended himself in a strong tone.
'That was business, she was my client and only hired me
for that evening' Cole answered back.
'She's only your client?' Henry asked.
Cole shook his head in affirmation.
'I need to see her' Henry added immediately, unshaken.
'I don't know where she lives or where she is now. It was
her first time of hiring me, so I don't have much details
about her'
Henry paused for a while and stared straight into Cole's
eyes. 'You're not saying the truth' he slammed. 'Just tell
me where she is, I need to see her for something
important'
Henry paused as someone opened the door and poked
out her head. She looked to Cole and then to Henry's face
and back to Cole, her eyes expression asking for who
Henry was.
'I want to see Evelyn' Henry quickly said. Aisha feigned
ignorance and gave him a strange look. 'Or you may
know her as Tara' Henry quickly added.
There was an expression of shock on both Aisha and
Cole's faces. They mistook the Tara he called to be a short
form for Tarasha. But Cole could recognize that Henry's
intonation was different and the way he called it made it
sound like a Yoruba name.
'Tara or Evelyn, she doesn't know her' Cole replied,
arguing for Aisha.
Henry shook his head in disbelief. He had caught the
shocked expression on the faces and was more
convinced now that they were lying. 'Why are you guys
hiding her? I need to see her for something important',
he repeated.
'Mister, we don't know her. I told you already that she
only hired me for the party and that's all' Cole slammed.
Aisha sighed and entered back into the house.
Henry shook his head and licked his lips, thinking of what
else to say. 'Okay, I've been on the road trying to locate
this place for some hours now, can I at least come in to
have a drink? Maybe a cup of water' Henry pleaded.
'I don't allow strangers into my house' Cole replied.
Henry gave a smile. 'I'm not a stranger' he retorted. 'You
know, I could be your client too and a very regular one at
that'
'Sorry sire, I've really got some other things to do' Cole
attempted to turn back.
'Okay, can I have my property?' Henry said, perceiving
that Cole was going to remain adamant.
'What property?'
'My phone, the one I forgot in your car' Henry asserted.
Cole kept mute. 'Don't try to feign ignorance with that'
Henry warned. 'It led me here and I know that it's in this
house'
Cole stared at him awkwardly for a while. He turned back
and walked into the house locking the door immediately.
Henry quickly took out a bug from his pocket and
attached to the top edge of one of the pillars in the
balcony.
Cole returned a minute later with the phone, not noticing
anything, he handed it over to Henry immediately.
'Thanks' Henry stared at his phone with a smile. 'You
work with her right?' He asked another question that kept
Cole dumbfounded for some seconds.
'I think its time to leave sire, you're taking too much time
here' Cole said with a serious tone.
'It's okay, I'll leave' Henry said, tossing his phone from
one palm to another. 'Tell her, I only came to pick her up
for service today. I'll be back some other time, we still
have loads of stuffs to discuss' Henry said and turned to
take his leave.
'Don't return here else I'll do something terrible to you'
Henry could hear Cole threaten as he approached the old
weak gate. He paused and stared at the compound. The
place was neat but it looked very old, like a deserted
place that was being renovated. There was a blue car in
the compound and a mini van. There were also very old
building bricks arranged in one corner. Henry wondered
what a modern looking guy like Cole was doing in such
an environment. Henry cleared his throat and walked on.
He got into his car which was parked by the road beside
the house and settled in the driver's seat, leaving the
door opened. He took his tablet device from the back
seat and unlocked it. He opened up an application to
monitor the bug he just planted. After some loading, the
streaming began, he could see Cole just turning back into
the house. He dropped the tablet on the right seat and
closed the door. He wasn't sure Evelyn was in the house
but he was sure that the driver and his wife or girlfriend
knew her. But the bug he just placed there would help
him confirm that.
He took in a deep breath and remained in silence for a
while. He could hear some singing from around the
corner, a church was having the Sunday service.
His previous plan was to pick Evelyn and convince her to
follow him to his own church's service but since he
didn't get to see her, he decided to attend a church
nearby while he monitored the bug. He closed the door
and started the engine.
~~
After waiting for sometime after Henry walked out of the
gate, Cole opened the door slowly and entered back into
the house. Tarasha was seated on the arm rest of the
three seater sofa, her short gun was still in her hands, she
stared straight at him. There was an awkward silence of
over five minutes. Cole couldn't move and Tarasha kept
an undecided look on him.
'Why did you take the phone?' Tarasha finally asked.
Cole felt stupid. He knew he shouldn't have taken the
phone at all or he should have told her about it when she
didn't ask. But the reason he was so interested in it was
the special technical qualities the phone seemed to have.
Little did he know that the owner of the device was also a
technical guru who was capable of delivering them to the
police by just that simple mistake. Cole could not answer
the question, words refused to come out of his mouth.
Tarasha narrowed his gaze at him sternly. But Cole still
felt little bit relieved. At least, she wasn't looking like she
was still going to still kill him.
Tarasha stared back to the gun in her hand. She felt like
punishing Cole for what he had done. A bullet into his
right arm wouldn't have been too cruel for his
punishment but she considered the new tasks ahead and
the fact that she might still be the one to treat the bullet
wound. She offloaded the gun and dropped it on the
chair, one of the two bullets rolled to the ground.
'So it was Henry right?'
'Yes' Cole answered. Tarasha let out a breath and her
shoulders fell. Henry could interpret the look on her face
as a wish that she could see him. He felt the temptation
to smile, but rebuked himself and stayed calm.
'Can you check if he's still anywhere around?' She said to
Cole as she got up and walked to the front window. Cole
opened the door and walked into the compound. He
stared around the compound for a little while before
proceeding to the gate, he opened the unlockable gate
and peeped outside. Except for some building workers
walking around, he could only see tyre marks on the
sand. He closed the gate and returned into the house.
'He's gone' he said to Tarasha who had already come out
to the balcony. She was searching everywhere with her
eyes. 'Where did he stand?' She asked.
'Here' Cole answered, standing on the same spot Henry
stood.
'That guy is a crazy technician and developer, his
knowledge of this place could mean danger for us. We
need to leave here soon'
Tarasha kept looking around. She saw something at the
top edge of balcony pillar, it was hidden behind the
cobwebs. She felt stupid as she stared straight into the
bug before discovering what it was. She detached it from
the wall and dropped it on the floor, crushing it with her
foot.
'S--t! He has seen my face' she cursed. 'Didn't you see
this?' She barked angrily at Cole.
Cole stepped back in fear and gave way for her to walk
back inside through the door. He followed after her. 'We
need to leave here immediately' she said, walking
hurriedly. 'I don't know how much time we have left' she
picked the gun and the bullet on the sofa. Cole was
standing still, he didn't understand why they had to leave
but he couldn't summon courage to ask like he would
have done normally. As far as he was concerned, Henry
was there only for her. They had covered all tracks on
their last operation, so there was no way it could be
traced to them. Henry had come to discuss his love issue
with her and that was all.
'Why are you standing there?' Tarasha returned back and
stared at him. She had taken off her top and had only her
bra and pant on.
'That guy' Cole began, moving closer to her slowly,
carefully choosing his words in his brain first so as not to
infuriate her again. 'He said he came to pick you for
church service'
Tarasha stared at him awkwardly. Her anger was
beginning to arise again.
'He knows your name' Cole quickly added.
'What do you mean?' She narrowed her gaze at him.
'He called you Tara'
'What??' She exclaimed, more like a whisper, looking
shocked. 'Where the hell did he get that from?'
Cole stared at her in surprise, surprised that she was
surprised. He thought she was the one who told him the
name since he assumed they had begun a love affair.
'Whatever, we need to leave here now' Tarasha said and
moved closer to the sofa, she picked the bullet on the
floor.
'I think you're in love with him' Cole mustered enough
courage to say as she turned back. He held his breath
anticipating what could befall him.
'What??' Tarasha turned back angrily, it was as if Cole just
stirred the devil in her. Cole could see her anger in her
eyes and he began to tremble immediately. He began to
step back slowly as she proceeded towards him. There
was no gun in her hands and the door was still opened
for Cole to run outside but he knew his attempt would be
fruitless. So he knelt down in an attempt to plead.
A knock sounded on the door.
'Evelyn, come on, I know you are in there' Henry's voice
rang in.