Tarasha 20 The Pilo

his hotel room. He quickly rushed to the mirror

to check if his disguise was still in order, the

knock sounded again.

'Come.. in.. ' he answered, forming a weak voice.

The door was opened before he could finish

talking; three police officers barged into the

room.

'Good afternoon sir' one of the police officers

greeted politely on seeing the old man.

'Good morning' the old man corrected.

'Sir, didn't you hear the alarm that was sounded

some time ago?' The officer went straight to his

point. 'Everyone was asked to come out of their

rooms, there's a criminal lurking around'

'I heard it, but what could I do?' The man replied

in a pitiful voice, he took a glance at the other

officer who was searching the room. 'I came out

and tried to use the elevator but it was locked, I

had to come back into my room. I can't use the

stairs because of my bad leg…'

'There's nothing here ' the officer searching

around interrupted.

It's okay sir, you'll be allowed to go downstairs

soon but in the meantime, don't hesitate to raise

alarm if you find anything strange' the officer

concluded and they walked out of the room in a

hurry.

+++++

Officer Dakolo and the rest of his team in the

control room fixed their gazes on the screen as

the surveillance tapes were played. The first

tape played showed the back view of the young

man walking to the elevator and then another

one was played that showed the front view, the

video was zoomed and a screen shot of the

man's face was taken. Another one was played

and it displayed the criminal in the elevator, the

viewers were watching intently, then the criminal

faced the camera and pointed a gun straight at

it. The bullet was released and the streaming

stopped immediately..

'D--n!' Dakolo cursed under his breath, he

turned to the manager. 'He was headed for floor

3 right?'

'Yes he was' the manager replied.

'Let's see more of the tapes' Dakolo demanded.

Several other clips were played but there was

none that showed the same young man leaving

the elevator or entering any room.

+++++++

'Where have you been Lovina? Everybody has

been waiting for you' Aisha said as she

approached Lovina who gave her a confused

look.

'I had some problems' Lovina replied hesitatingly,

trying to answer the stranger politely.

'Its best you go change immediately, it's only

five minutes to the flight' Aisha advised, glancing

at her wrist.w.a.tch.

'Oh! That's true' Lovina confirmed from her

wrist.w.a.tch.

'Your uniform is there' Aisha pointed to a

different changing room, in an attempt to

mislead her but Lovina surged forward, half

running and walking towards three girls who were

her coursemates. Cole and Aisha hid behind a

wall to listen to them.

'Where have you been?' One of the girls scolded

her as she ran towards them, the police officers

followed slowly, one of them looked back for

signs of Cole and Aisha. The girl turned to the

other two girls who were looking shocked, their

arms were folded. 'I told you that girl wasn't

Lovina'

'But who was she? ' another girl with a roughly

bleached skin spoke, looking stunned. 'Their

backview and hair are the same'

'I don't know' the black third girl joined. 'I only

suspected that something was amiss when she

didn't turn back to greet us when we called her

name'

'Even Jude was not looking well, he couldn't

respond to us' the first girl added again.

'Has the plane taken off?' Lovina asked, she

sounded frustrated.

'No, but they were about to when we left there'

'I have to go and stop them now, that imposter

would be in serious trouble' Lovina said and she

raced towards the pilots' lounge where Jude and

Gloria went into the runway from.

'Stay back' Lovina shouted at the police officers

who stood at the entrance, some other students

and lecturers who had seen Lovina also came

closer.

Lovina pushed opened the slightly opened door

and entered the room where Jude and Gloria had

their last discussion. The door was jammed by

the last of the three friends who came in.

'D--n!' Lovina cursed on seeing the plane

through the transparent gla.s.s wall. It was

already moving . She proceeded towards the

other exit that led to the runway and struggled to

open the door but her struggle was fruitless, it

seemed the door had been locked from outside,

one of her friends joined her in the struggle while

the two others tried to open the door they came

in through. It couldn't open also, they had been

trapped.

++++++++

'What are we going to do now?' Cole looked

frustrated, looking to Aisha for answers. 'The

plan B has failed'

'I don't know, I think we should just get out of

here immediately' Aisha replied, she looked

around and saw several eyes staring at them

already. 'Let's leave here before we get into

trouble too'

Aisha began walking furiously out of the school's

airdrome and Cole joined her hesitatingly. 'We

can't leave the boss here, she might need us to

escape'

'Can't you see that people around are suspecting

us already?' She asked, increasing her pace. 'We

might not be able to escape ourselves if we stay

here any longer'

'The car is here' Cole pointed to a black car

parked alongside with other cars outside the

airdrome.

++++++++

Tarasha wrist.w.a.tch beeped as she piloted the

plane alongside Jude, she knew at once that

someone had entered the room but she was

indifferent about the situation, everything was in

control already, Lovina's uniform had even been

infected with dangerous substances by Tarasha

and would cause severe itching to anyone who

wore it.

She didn't infect only Lovina's uniform but

several others that she found hung in the

dressing room. This was done to stop anyone

who tried to subst.i.tute Lovina and even Lovina

herself in case Benny failed.

+++++

'That Tarasha is just too full of herself' Aishat

commented bitterly as they drove out of the

aviation school. 'Why didn't she let us do the

planning together?'

'She's a professional Aisha' Cole said

thoughtfully, 'I believe she has other plans'

'Professional my foot' she stamped her fingers, 'a

professional that'll soon be caught as an

imposter'

'She won't be caught' Cole spoke confidently as

he drove, he paused and waited for the right time

before turning into the road. 'I believe in her'

Aisha bent to look into his eyes as if to ask if he

is mentally stable, 'just don't drive to Orogb.u.m,

we need to stay somewhere else and plan on

leaving this state immediately'

'Oh!' Cole exclaimed as he remembered

something, he turned to look at the back seat.

'Please bring that phone for me' he said to

Aisha.

'What?' She gave an inquisitive look as she

handed the phone to him.

He ignored her question and placed the phone on

his lap, using his left hand to swipe through. He

opened a GPS application and waited for it to

load. After successfully loading, it displayed a

map and a revolving sphere appeared, under it

was written "searching for target 0%".

'What are you doing?' Aisha asked again.

'Wait!' He hushed her.

'Just don't drive to Orogb.u.m, I can't picture

myself sleeping in the police cell' she folded her

arms in a stubborn manner.

Cole smiled as he glanced at the phone's screen

again, 'it displayed "searching completed, one

target found" and a red blinking dot appeared on

the map.

'What?' Aisha was getting angry as she couldn't

figure out the reason he was smiling happily.

'The plane is moving already' he answered

happily, 'we'll pick her up at Onne'

'Huh?' She asked with a doubtful tone

'You heard me right' he increased his speed

rapidly and zoomed past slow driving cars before

him.

++++++++

Jude watched in awe as Gloria controlled

everything perfectly. Right from the takeoff time,

he had been expecting her to look confused and

watch him fly the plane but the reverse was the

case, she flew the plane while he watched. He

wanted to ask her questions but his mouth only

opened and closed, no words could come out of

it.

He was full of regrets for being so careless and

unsuspecting of Gloria. He remembered the day

they chatted in the lecture room, he had found

several of the year one students having practical

on the runway after he left her to meet with

John Obiano. He wondered why she wasn't

involved in the practical but he dismissed the

thought of her being an unserious student, he

concluded that the lecturer must have divided

the students into batches for the practical and

that it wasn't her batch's turn.

'Who are you?' He asked in low tones, finally

finding his voice.

'Take control Jude, I'm going to ease myself' she

ignored his question, getting ready to stand up.

Jude glanced at the time, they had spent only

ten minutes on air. He looked back at her to ask

another question, but the look on her face had

changed, her entire look had changed. The

Gloria whose face once radiated the spirit of

friends.h.i.+p and peace now radiated evil. The

colour of her skin was also changing, it was then

Jude fully realized that he didn't know who he

was dealing with.

'Ok' he said fidgeting all over, scared to look

back at her face.

She walked slowly out of the c.o.c.kpit, a blow

knocked out the first air attendant who came

forward from the cabin. The noise attracted the

other attendant and she appeared to find her

colleague lying on the floor. She looked up at the

pilot that was supposed to be Lovina but No, the

Lady in the pilot's uniform looked like the devil's

incarnate. The disguise makeup on Gloria's face

was already fading, that made her face and

hands show two different colours; one of the

real Tarasha and the other Gloria.

The air second hostess was silenced too but

after letting out a slight scream. Tarasha saw

the hostesses' kits bag and checked to confirm if

her parachute was there.