TARASHA- CHAPTER 8 (part seven)

written by oyin oluwatosin(youngc.c)

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Knock! Knock! A male attendant with a cap covering his face knocked on the door of room 108. A man opened the door slightly, bringing out only his head.

'What?' He barked angrily at the attendant for disturbing him.

'Sorry, I need to check your bathroom. We got an alarm, it seems the plumbing system is faulty' the attendant replied.

'Everything is okay here' the man said and tried to close the door. The attendant stopped the door from closing with his legs.

'I still need to check it to be sure' the hotel staff said to the furious man.

'What the hell is wrong with you? I said nothing is wro...' Benny did not allow him continue, he looked around the corridor to check if anyone was coming as he pushed the man inside with the door, he closed back the door with his feet. The man who was only clad in his boxers fell down inside the room. Benny brought out a gun and pointed it at the man after closing the door.

He placed a finger on his lips to order the man to keep shut after which he brought out an handkerchief and covered the man's nose with it.

Benny proceeded straight to the window with his bag strapped to his bag, he took off the bag after confirming that the window gave him a perfect view and offloaded his tools. He rolled down the curtains and  quickly set up the sniper and the grenade launcher. He wasn't sure of the one that would be needed.

'I'm set Cole, are they anywhere close?' Benny spoke into his Bluetooth device.

'You're just in time, they arrived a minute ago' the reply came immediately.

Benny opened the curtains but couldn't see anyone inside the warehouse compound. He couldn't see outside the gate from the window until he climbed the bed, he could see police buses and some people's heads outside the gate.

He got down the bed and used the telescope attached to his sniper to continue the viewing.

All he needed was for the officers to enter into the warehouse compound or the building, they had set up automatic guns in several points in the building that would be triggered when a bullet hit a point in the main control of the set up. Benny only hoped that his main targets, Robin Kahn and inspector James would lead the entourage in so that they wouldn't be able to escape their deaths.

Well, one thing was sure; they would not escape that scene without any injury and even if they escaped their deaths there, they would not escape death in the second stage of the plan.

He reset his sniper and focused it on the red spot of the automatic guns control point on the roof of the warehouse.

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Robin decided that it was time to go in after several minutes of shouting in orders without getting any response. They had launched in several volleys of tear gases and still couldn't find anyone coming forth.

He organised the men with inspector Segun and Tony by his side, twelve police officers set in to enter the building at once. James who was double minded had to agree hesitatingly with Robin's plan as he didn't want to be labeled as rebellious, he was lucky as he was ordered to stay with Greg with the other officers outside the compound.

'1, 2, 3 go' Robin shouted and the lineup officers released several gunshots at the gate, bringing it down. The twelve entered into the building the compound at once, spreading out as they had planned.

Tony led the way to the entrance of the warehouse, he broke the lock of the wide metal door with two bullets from his gun, inside of the warehouse was very dark.

'What can you see?' Robin shouted, moving closer to join Tony.

'Nothing, its dark' Tony replied, 'I believe no one is here, the tear gas would have sent them out'

'We have to go in and check, where are the torchli...' A gunshot sound startled them. It came from the left from they couldn't figure out where it was from or where it hit.

A sound like that of a whirlwind dominated the surrounding, the police officers began to shout and tried to scamper for safety as metallic guns implanted in walls began to spring out.

A rain of bullets filled the compound and several police officers dropped immediately. Others who had been hit at one place or the other dragged themselves behind walls and sections where the automatic guns couldn't spread their reach to.

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Benny laughed loudly as he watched the police men round around helplessly in confusion. It looked like Inspector Robin had also been hit, he was seen holding his belly as he hid behind the opened metallic door of warehouse. He brought another gun from his pocket as the one he held before had fallen off his hands during the struggle, he began to aim at the several locations where the automatic guns were.

Benny left the window with a crooked smile on his lips and returned the snipper and other arms into their bags. He arranged his ruffled uniform properly and cleaned off sweat from his face, ready to walk out of the hotel as he had fulfilled the first part of the plan. 

He heard a noise coming from the angle of the room where the toilet was as he opened the door to go out, he turned back to check but stopped again when he heard another voice approaching, some of the hotel officers were coming that way. He walked out and closed the door gently, taking the opposite direction, he made sure not to look back until he was out of sight. Cole must have been waiting for him in the ambulance, it was time to execute the second and final part of the plan.

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**30 minutes later**

'Hmm...' Don laughed somehow bitterly, tapping his feet on the ground as he faced the TV screen reporting a breaking news. The overrated Robin Kahn had just led his men into disaster. Seven police officers including Segun and the foreigner Tony had been confirmed dead already. Segun was unlucky to have one of thefirst set of bullet spray right into his stomach, another one hit his forehead as he dropped on one kneel from the impact of the one that entered his stomach, he died instantly. Tony who was at the opened entrance could not escape death also, not less than four bullets pierced his body in three seconds.

The others were hit by bullets in several parts of the body. Robin Kahn had also been lucky, he was hit by two bullets. The first one went into his laps while the second only scratched the left side of his belly. He escaped death but was badly injured.

Reporters claimed that the officers had run into a bait of Samantha Osman. They thought they had found her location, only to be deceived by her and lured to a place where guns had been set up from them.

That was the first time those kind of guns would be used in Nigeria, no one including the government was even aware that the machine gun was in the country. The only places the brand had been used were in Russia where it was made, China and USA.  No wonder Robin did not plan for something like that.

'She almost killed Robin Kahn' Don muttered under his breath angrily. He used the remote control to switch off the TV after which he smashed it on the ground. He got up from his bed and put on his shirt.

Tarasha was already taking away his business, he had to stop her, she had already taken Chief Nonso who was his major client. Some of his other clients had also began to ask him if he knew the Samantha Osman, she would take all his clients soon if he does not take any drastic step. So he thought.

He turned back to the TV on a second thought, he had already smashed the remote so he proceeded to the place it was hung to switch it on. The news was still on, medical practitioners were seen carrying bodies on stretchers into emergency ambulances. He hissed and was about to switch off the TV again when he saw something unusual.

There was Cole and Benny, lifting a body in a stretcher into an ambulance. His mouth was left agape. These guys had become something else in just few weeks that they started working with Tarasha, how on earth were they able to disguise as medical officials without the police taking note.

He hated them more, they had betrayed him. They changed their lines and cut off all communication with him after they started working for Tarasha, they even avoided him when they coincidentally visited the same clubhouse.

An idea struck his mind, he quickly walked to the bed and brought out a laptop from a black bag. He sat on the bed and started typing into it hurriedly. The stubble device locator was connecting fast, collecting data from Aisha's phone'

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James was feeling greatly agitated as he reflected on all that had happened, his spirit had told him that it was a trap all along. 'Who on earth was behind this?' He asked himself. If the criminal could entrap Robin, then his life was not safe anymore. He thought of resigning as fear beclouded his heart but he discarded the thought with great grief in his heart. He remembered when he was a boy and used to dream of being a superhero, protecting people's life and getting the bad guys. His father who was also a police officer before he died told him that joining the police force was the only way he could protect and save people if he did not want to be a medical doctor. He being an action loving person decided that the life of a medical doctor was not for him, he choose to enroll in the police academy.

A tear dropped off his eyes on looking up again to see the ambulance that was in front of their car. The ambulances were moving at a faster pace and ignoring traffic signs because they had to get the victims to the hospital quickly. He remembered Segun, a young man with a bright future in the police force, his life has just been truncated due to carelessness of a so called international special agent.

He wiped off his face with an handkerchief and tried to stay calm, the junior officer seated by his side at the back seat was already looking at him pitifully, he was a man and wasn't supposed to be caught crying.

From almost giving up, his mind changed. He was more determined now to nail the culprit as he remembered the sight of Segun's dead body before it was carried into the ambulance.  He decided in his heart that even if it would take his last breath, he would kill the assassin first.

A phone call delivered him from his disturbing thoughts. He checked the screen, officer Dakolo was the caller.

'Hello ...' He answered at the car shook, trying to obey the traffic warder's sign.

'Hello James, are you okay?' Dakolo voice carried a note of deep concern.

'I'm fine' James gave a short reply, inhaling deeply.

'I heard all that happened' Dakolo continued, 'I was supposed to join you guys next week for the operation, why didn't you wait'

'The Oyinbo man was impatient o' James replied, referring to Robin as "Oyinbo", a Nigerian pidgin word for foreign or white.

'I would have loved us to do this together, I know we can but the authorities have decided to leave everything to the foreigner' Dakolo continued sadly. 'I've been transferred to Abuja already, I'm only coming drop my report in Lagos next week'

'No problem sir, I will do it' James said in a determined tone. 'I will get the culprit'

'I'm with you, you can reach me if you need any assistance. Just be careful and stay safe' Dakolo said before ending the call.

James stared at the phone's screen for several seconds after the call before deciding to return it into his pocket. He was about to when it vibrated, he had a message from an unknown number.

"The criminals are still with you, in ambulance 2 with Robin Kahn" the message read.

James eyes widened on seeing the message but he decided to act carefully not to fall into any trap again. He quickly dialed another number.

'Where is ambulance 2? Can you see it?' James said into the phone.

'Ermm... It's out of sight sir' the reply came.

'Are you not the one supposed to be monitoring them?' James barked.

'Sir... I believe they had to hurry up to save Inspector Robin's life'

'Idiot' James cursed. 'You're not even sure, locate the ambulance and get back to me in one minute'

Another message had entered before James ended the call. It read "The bomb in your car explodes in 90 secs"

'Hey! Stop' he commanded the driver. 'Everyone get out of the car

'I can't stop here, it could cause an accident' the confused driver replied panicking James. 'We can stop when we get under the bridge'

'Park here' James said pointing at a space of some metres distance from a mall where signboards of no parking were placed. 'We can't go that far'

'There's...' The driver tried to argue again.

'The bomb in this car would explode in 50 secs' James said glancing at his wristwatch.

The driver quickly obeyed on hearing the last statement. The three officers in the car jumped out immediately and tried to stop other cars and passersby from coming close.

They stared at the car in awe for the next two minutes, nothing happened. Other cars coming behind had passed already, some turned back to run while some waited at far distance from the car. The security officials of the mall had also come outside to see but they maintained a reasonable distance.

'Sir, nothing is here' the office driving the car said as he walked closer to the car, angry that James had raised a false alarm. 'Let me che...' He was saying when the explosion came, his body was flung away violently, the car went up in flames. People around the area scampered for safety as several body parts of the car flew in different directions.

James heart was beating faster under the bridge where he stood, this was the second time he escaped death that day. His phone vibrated again and in came another SMS. He ignored the SMS first and dialed the number, he got a response from the network service that the number does not exist.

The text message read this time, "I'm sending you an HTML file of a device locator now, it would give you the Assassin's location"

James quickly dialed the head office to make a report of the happenings. After that he dialed another person in the ICT team to inform him of the expected information.

A call came in immediately he ended his. 'Ambulance 2 is nowhere to be found, it's not at the Force hospital' the voice said and the call ended immediately.

"Hey!" He shouted as he tapped a bike man who was under the bridge also watching the incident beside him.

'Sir' the man replied the officer with respect.

'I need your bike' James pushed the man off the bike and climbed it, he threw a paper at him before driving off'

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'Cole hurriedly drove in the ambulance into the former office which they had abandoned. The program he used to deactivate the street surveillance cameras would crash soon, so they had just twenty minutes to finish off the operation.

Benny who was the one that opened the gate came back to the ambulance to join them as Cole parked the vehicle. Aisha also came out of ambulance interior leaving the door ajar

The trio discussed something between themselves in low tones, placing glances on the sleeping Robin in the vehicle. The came to a conclusion for Aisha to do the job.

She brought out a syringe from her doctor's coat pocket and removed the nylon seal. She brought out a tube and drew in the liquid content from it into the syringe. She took a glance at Robin once again before climbing into the vehicle.

She rolled up his sleeve to find a good point to inject the man. She was about to place in the needle when a blow landed on her face. Robin was awake and conscious of his environment.

...to be continued