CHAPTER 5, PART 1: TARASHA ~ oluwadamilare

Tarasha picked up a white napkin to wipe off part of the liquid which poured on her lab coat. She had been in the lab all night, spending hours to set up the lab which she couldn't complete as she was only able to set up the equipments she needed urgently. The rest of the time was used in manufacturing some of the important tools for her job.

She got up from the seat, holding a syringe in the right hand, she drew in part of the warm mixture from the test tube and injected into a small needlelike metal with a opening only wide enough for the syringe to go through.

She repeated the process several times; each draw by syringe filled ten of the metals. After filling about two hundred, she arranged the metals neatly into two rubber packs which could easily fit into her back pocket. It took her about two hours to complete the process of filling the pins.

Benryl was the name of the mixture she prepared, a drug in the Benzodiazepines class. The manufacture of Benryl began two years back, a result of a research and experiment carried out by her Assassin group in Russia. The drug was made to induce sleep and erase the victim's immediate past memories of two hours.

She placed the rubber pack on a shelve which she had kept the previously prepared substances.

Her wristwatch beeped, she looked at the screen as it streamed live the recording from the camera she installed in the compound of the house Chief Gab prepared for her. The time was 7am and some of Chief's men were in the compound, obviously sent by Chief to check on her since she hadn't spoken to him since the last night and she was expected to move in that morning.

She took off the lab gloves and the lab mask she wore to avoid inhaling the dangerous gaseous substance and walked out to the sitting room. She picked up her phone as she sat on the sofa and dialed Chief Gab's phone number.

'Hello Tarasha, I was about to call you. Where are you?' the call was answered with no delay.

'Yes Chief, I knew you would call me' Tarasha replied with a smirk on her face. 'Why did you send men to the house this morning'

'I couldn't reach you all through last night to inform you about the house but... '

'I was there last night, I already picked up everything I needed from the house. Thank you for providing the laboratory equipment I requested for'

'Are you the one that tied up your men? And where are you?' Chief asked with a note of frustration in his voice.

'What men are you talking about? I didn't see any of them except the lady cook which I took along with me' She replied back

'The guys I provided to work with you were found there this morning tied back to back on two chairs with their eyes blindfolded' Chief explained. 'They said a lady tired them up'

'Chief' Tarasha spoke after giving a long wicked laugh. 'I don't believe you brought those guys to work with me, I took both of them down in just two minutes'

'What? Those guys are one of the best around town, they're members of the most notorious gang in the country'

'Best? You must kidding me and they couldn't even lay a finger on me while I handled them'

'See Tarasha, they are not as trained as you, It took us a lot to bring them for you and they're very good if you would only learn how to use them'

'No problem Chief, but I don't want those ones anymore. Bring two other better guys there today, I'll work with them without testing them' she concluded and made an attempt to end the call.

'So when are you coming to the house?' Chief asked.

Tarasha paused for a while for she replied, 'I can't stay in that house Chief, it's not safe for me. I can only use it as an office for meeting with you or doing some other things'

'But what about everything I arranged there?'

'I took all I needed already, just leave the house as it is, I'll make use of it whenever it's needed. Let the two new guys wait there for me this afternoon; any other uninvited person I find there would lose his life' She answered back, issuing a serious warning.

'Am I free to be there?' Chief questioned

'Only stay there if you're one of the two men that'll be working with me' she ended the conversation without giving him a chance to reply.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

11.15am

Tarasha admired the beauty of the reception walls as she sat with another visitor on the sofa, waiting patiently for Dr Hammed. She adjusted the red tie which covered the ID hung around her neck and straightened up her shirt properly.

Dr Hammed came walking by few minutes later, he walked alongside with two other men. They stopped close to the entrance door and concluded their discussion and the men made their way out of the building. Dr Hammed turned and began to walk back when he heard his name. He turned back to see Tarasha walking towards him.

'Hey ...' He greeted as he saw, he narrowed his gaze trying to recall her name.

'Samantha Osman sir' Tarasha quickly helped him.

'Oh! Samantha, I didn't know that you were here already'

'I am sir' she replied pleasantly. 'I've been here about forty minutes ago'

'I see, sorry I kept you waiting' He apologized.

'No problem sir' she replied, bending her knee slightly as a sign of respect.

'Okay, come with me' he said and led her through a wide corridor.

They walked past several labs before they got to his office which was located close to end of the block. He opened the door and allowed her in before he followed.

'Welcome to my office' he said, directing her to the visitor's seat as he walked past the table to his seat.

'Thank you sir' she answered, looking around the office like someone who was admiring the look. She turned to the man and concentrated her gaze on him.

'Okay, let me see what you have for me' Dr Hammed said without looking up at her, as he tapped some keys on his computer keyboard.

'Here sir' Tarasha brought out a hard cover notebook and placed it on the table.

'Just a minute' he said, taking a glance at the notebook, he returned his focus to his computer.

'Okay sir'

'I'm just trying to settle the welfare issues for our guests at the conference' he explained, smiling at her. 'The two non African speakers would stay at the governor's house, so I have to make plans for our African invitees'

'Oh good' Tarasha smiled back. 'What about our minister here? I heard he's part of the speakers'

'Yes, he is. He'll be staying in his Lagos house when he comes over' he answered her question and picked up the book as he waited for the computer to process a command. 'So what do we have here?'

'It's a research on cancer and how it can be permanently cured ' Tarasha explained.

He dropped the book just after opening the cover page only and went back to his computer. He held the mouse and clicked another set of instructions before he picked the book again.

'Permanent cancer cure?' He commented as he opened the cover page again.

'Yes sir, through our local herbs' she watched as he dropped the book once again and returned to his job on the system.

'I'm sorry, I just have to resolve somethings' the Doctor pleaded with Tarasha who just smiled at him.

'Is it all about the conference?'

'Yes, I wouldn't have had time to...' He couldn't complete his statement, a Benryl pin was already used to inject the liquid into the hand placed on the mouse. His head fell back with his body into his seat as he slept off.

Tarasha got up quickly for his seat, she brought out a mobile device from her bag and used to confirm if there was any camera hidden from her view in the office. The test indicated negative, there no camera in the room and also no hole through which the happenings in the office can be viewed.

She moved the man's seat away from the computer and began to work on it, copying some of the files to her flash drive. After about fifteen minute of searching through the rest of the computer files, she was satisfied with the information gotten. She dragged the man closer to the table and placed his head on his hand beside the computer's desktop.

She got out of the building casually, making sure that she didn't raise suspicion from any one. She got a cab outside the gate and headed for her office; the house Chief prepared for her.h me' he said and led her through a wide corridor.