Tarasha 56 I Must Find Her

Jefa's narration of the Danjuma's family disaster and how

he got separated from the rest of his siblings. There was

no difference between Jefa's account from Evelyn's.

Henry could also see the same pain and torment that he

saw in Evelyn's eyes . But apart from the pain in Jefa's

eyes, there was something else that Henry couldn't

understand. It was the thirst for revenge.

'So you think Evelyn does not recognize you?' Henry

cleared his throat and began after listening in silence for

a long while.

'Omotara' Jefa corrected.

'Sorry, Omotara' Henry smiled softly.

'I don't think she knows who I am but I believe she felt a

connection when she saw me' Jefa answered.

'Why didn't you speak out then? You didn't say anything,

you could have called her by her real name, Omotara'

'I didn't know what to do' Jefa sniffed in, more tears

began to fall off his face. 'I was so overwhelmed with the

shock of seeing her, I didn't know if I was ready to come

back into her life. I was afraid to speak, I didn't know

how she would feel about me now, I couldn't protect

them as their eldest brother, I failed' Jefa began to sob.

'Wipe your face please' Henry said and stretched out his

hand to hold Jefa's palm. He waited for Jefa to comply

before he continued. 'So what do you intend to do now?'

Henry asked.

'I want to see her' Jefa stated clearly, still wiping his face.

Henry paused for a while and closed his eyes as he

inhaled deeply. He opened his eyes and stared into Jefa's.

'I don't know where she is now' he said. 'She doesn't

work here in Elymax, she only came to stay here for a

while. I don't have any idea of her whereabouts'

'No, no, no' Jefa's body vibrated in fear, the fear of not

seeing his sister again. He couldn't stand the regrets that

would follow him all his life when he remembers that he

didn't take the opportunity immediately when he saw

her.

'I came here to look for her also and I've not gotten any

clue yet' Henry added. He took out a folded paper from

his pocket, he opened it up and stared into it. That was

Evelyn's details which she provided to the hotel. It was all

fake. She claimed to be a visitor from Canada, including

a fake house and Street address. Henry felt no hope of

seeing her again.

'I must find her' Jefa said to himself, loud enough for

Henry to hear.

'We can find her' Henry joined excitedly suddenly

remembering something, he took out his Android phone.

He unlocked the phone by drawing the security pattern.

He clicked on an application which began to process.

'I can get access to everybody's database in the country

as far as I've got their real names' Henry boasted with a

rea.s.suring look to Jefa. 'I once worked in the National

Citizens Affairs and we have the details of every citizen

who is above the age of eighteen'

Henry could really gain access, illegal access though. He

would have to hack into the country's online database.

The application was taking time to load. 'So where have

you been all these years?' Henry asked, trying to while

away time.

'It's a long story…' Jefa was about to begin.

'Okay, okay' Henry interrupted, the application had

finished booting. 'What did you call her full name again?'

'Omotara Danjuma' Jefa answered.

Henry typed in the name and clicked a command which

began to process. Several options began to appear, in

thirty seconds, there were over twenty options with

middle names and it was still loading.

'Humm… Could you tell her middle name so I can

narrow down my search'

'Omotara Cindy Danjuma'

Henry cleared the search and added the third name, the

search process began again. This time only four options

appeared. Henry clicked on the first option and it began

to load. After sometime, it showed an error page. Jefa

stared into the phone intently, though he didn't

understand what Henry was doing.

'Oops! Inaccessible' Henry read aloud to himself. That

means that he couldn't access the details from his IP

address even if he could access the site. He smiled to

himself. Other Nigerian developers were growing fast

too, they have been able to add more security to the

database. But it wasn't something that could stop Henry

permanently, he only needed more time.

A phone call from Sylvester interrupted. 'Please, I have to

answer this' he said to Jefa before answering. 'h.e.l.lo sir'

'Mr Henry, where are you at?' Sylvester's voice came

hastily from the other end.

'Somewhere around town' Henry answered, surprised at

the question.

'Please, we need you in the office right away. We have

some urgent questions to answer' Sylvester said. Henry

could have refused but Sylvester's tone sounded really

urgent.

'Okay, I'll be there in few minutes time' Henry replied.

'We'll be waiting for you please' Sylvester said and the

call ended.

'I have to go now' Henry said to Jefa who was already

staring at him expectantly. He stood up immediately.

Jefa stared at Henry with a pity face, looking like his last

object of hope was about to disappear.

'Can I get your phone number too?' Henry asked after

handing Jefa his business card.

Jefa called out the digits for him and Henry stored it in

his phone. 'Where are you going? Maybe I could drop

you off the way' Henry offered, taking out his car key

from his pocket.

Henry's phone beeped again. His device locator had a

notification, one of his tracked devices had just been

located. Henry ignored the notification temporarily and

walked out of the building with Jefa.

~~

The phone booted with a medium volume power tone.

Benny waited patiently for it to boot so he could see the

features in it but he was disappointed when it finally

booted, it was protected with a pa.s.sword. He flung the

phone back into the wardrobe and picked out his shorts.

He quickly changed into his shorts and left the room.

Tarasha was seated upright when he pa.s.sed the living

room, he avoided looking at her and walked out straight

to join Cole and Aisha.

'You're back again for more?' Cole taunted. Cole and

Aisha were already in the middle of a round. Cole had

taken Benny's former seating position which was

opposite Aisha so Benny opted for the available s.p.a.ce

which Cole used before.

'I'm not ready for you today' Benny replied Cole. 'I'll deal

with you both some other time'

'Okay, let's hope so' Cole said with a short laugh.

'Who's got that phone you have inside?' Benny asked

Cole.

'Which one?'

'It doesn't have a label. It dropped from one of your

trousers'

Cole hissed. 'I don't really know who has it, I picked it

from the car we rented for the last operation and I've

been expecting for the Boss to ask if it's hers. I think it's

for the guy that was in the car with us'

'Okay, but you better ask the boss. It's useless to you

anyway'

'Useless? Because it's pa.s.sworded?' Cole questioned. 'I

could flash it if I have need of it'

'Just speak to the boss about it'

'It's not hers jare' Cole sounded convinced.

'Then why are you keeping it?'

Cole paused to stare at him. 'Don't you see it's not an

ordinary kind of phone. It may be useful for something'

Benny shook his head at Cole's stubbornness. 'It's okay,

as you wish'

~~

'h.e.l.lo Chief Gab' Tarasha spoke into the phone in a

pleasant voice.

'Tarasha, how are you?' Chief Gab sounded cool and

happy.

'Fine Chief, thanks'

'Okay, how soon are we going to see again?'

'See again? Who says we're going to see again?'

'I mean about the next job'

'How many of our targets do we still have left?' Tarasha

drifted a bit and asked a question which kept Chief Gab

mute for seconds.

'Two' he finally said. 'Two main targets but more enemies

may come up along the line'

'Send me details of the two and let's see how we can take

them out together at a time'

'Do you think it would be possible that way?'

'I have to get their details first to be able to a.n.a.lyze that.

We have no options than to try it that way. Things are

getting more complicated and the country is tightening

up their security'

'Alright, I'll mail them to you now but do you know our

deal does not end with the death of the targets?'

'What ends the deal?'

'It's a two year deal'

'So you're gonna keep me even if there's no job to do?'

'There'll always be a job to do' Chief Gab sounded

confident.

Tarasha paused and took in a deep breath. 'Send me the

details as soon as possible' she said before ending the

call.

~~

Dakolo's job had began already, he was already in the

NSCC's head office for questioning. Part of the reason he

had come to Abuja before his official arriving date was to

make some secret personal investigation.

He had just seen Mr Sylvester, the head of operation in

the corporation and asked him about the steps the

corporation was taking to stop the recent security

breaks.

'While we are not a.s.suring you of finding the source of

the previous disruptions, we are doing our best to ensure

that none of it happens again' Mr Sylvester had

answered.

'But what about the one which happened recently here in

your backyard?' Dakolo had replied him.

Sylvester replied with a shocking look. 'What do you

mean? Which one happened here?'

'Oh! You're not aware that there was no transmission

from the street cameras all close to the location of the

recent a.s.sa.s.sination during the time of a.s.sa.s.sination and

two hours after it'

'Which one are you talking about?' Sylvester still looked

ignorant.

'Chief Jubril Lawal's a.s.sa.s.sination on his birthday' Dakolo

stated.

'No, nothing like that has been reported. There was no

failure from our systems that day' Sylvester refuted.

Dakolo gave a mock chuckle. 'Okay, can I see all footages

from the street that day?' Dakolo then requested.

'Of course, I can get that for you now' Sylvester began to

punch commands hastily into his computer system. After

minutes of searching and not finding anything, Dakolo's

allegation began to seem true to him. He put a call to the

NSCC official in charge of the a.s.sa.s.sination area to report

and waited some minutes for reply. The official couldn't

find any record too. Dakolo had no other choice than to

call on Henry. Things were getting out of hand already

and he was scared that he could lose his job if it was

mentioned in the public that even he as the chairman of

the corporation had no knowledge of their recent system

failure. He silently thanked G.o.d that the police had not

released information about it to the press.

Henry arrived some few minutes later and went into a

secret room where Sylvester was waiting for him.

'Mr Henry' Sylvester got up from his seat as Henry walked

in. 'Here' Sylvester handed a doc.u.ment he just printed to

Henry after offering him a handshake. He ushered Henry

to a seat behind the computer.

'There was a breach on Thursday?' Henry asked with a

flabbergasted tone.

'Yes, I didn't believe it too when I was told ' Sylvester

joined in. 'And to think that the incompetent fools in

charge of the area did not notice anything nor did they

make any report'

Henry remained silent for some minutes and focused his

attention on the computer. 'But why was there no alert?

Or alarm raised by the system?'

'Sir, there have always been no alarm raised since the

security breaks started'

'And does that also mean that…' Sylvester's phone rang

aloud interrupting their conversation.

'The agent' Sylvester whispered before answering the call.

'h.e.l.lo… I'm coming with him already'

'Do we have to go now?' Henry whispered back.

'Yes, I'll be there with him in some few minutes' Sylvester

concluded with his call before answering Henry. 'Let's go

explain things to this man. He's a top security agent, his

report about us could cost me my job'

Henry had no choice than to smile at the sound of the

word "job" from Sylvester again. The man was always

scared of losing his job. 'Okay, let's go' Henry got up

from the seat.

Few minutes later, they walked into the room where

Dakolo was seated. Dakolo who was facing front turned

back his swivel at their entrance.

'Oh! Henry' Dakolo was first to notice.

'Officer Dakolo' Henry was surprised too.

'Agent Dakolo' he corrected.

'Sorry, agent Dakolo' Henry said with a smile.

There was an handshake between them again. 'Are you

by any chance the person I've been waiting for?' Dakolo

asked.

'I guess so' Henry replied, turning around the table to

seat behind the computer.

'So you've been working with NSCC?' Dakolo asked.

'I've actually come to help for a short time. I joined few

weeks ago' Henry answered.

Sylvester was smiling sheepishly as he watched the two

talk like people who have been friends for a long while.

He believed that things would work out easier now and

the Agent wouldn't be too mad at the corporation, and

his "job" would be secured

'Thank G.o.d I have you here, I was already thinking of

calling you in. Well, I'm here in respect of the recent

breaks in streets cameras transmission'

'I'm aware sir, I've actually been working on a program

that would stop the breaks permanently, although it may

not guarantee us the real locations of those who try to

break it'

'So, can you try locate those who did the recent one?

How come you guys were not even aware?'

'Truly, the guys monitoring the place were not vigilant

enough' Henry replied.

'D--n! They were too careless' Dakolo said. 'Has anyone

of them been queried?' Dakolo asked. He received no

answer from Henry who had turned his full focus to what

he was doing on the computer. Dakolo turned to

Sylvester for an answer. Sylvester shook in fear, not

knowing what to say, he stared at Henry, hoping he'll

come to his aid.

'Wow!' Henry exclaimed and exhaled through his mouth.

'These guys are intelligent!'

'Which guys?' Dakolo asked. Sylvester also seemed very

interested.

'The guys involved in this crime' Henry said, relaxing back

into the swivel. 'What they actually do is to deceive those

monitoring the transmission and footages. They stop the

cameras from transmitting and send signals of repeat

transmission of previous days to the monitors . So the

supervisors would not notice there was anything until

they are asked to provide the tapes'

'Interesting! So you mean there was something playing

on the screens of those monitoring it while the real

transmission had already stopped?'

'Yes, the only places that would not receive the fake

signals is here in the headquarters, in the Lagos head

office and head police cameras division. These places

have the direct servers while the others don't'

'Then why wasn't it noticed here?' Dakolo asked.

'There's no way we can monitor everywhere at the same

time. That's why branches were set up'

'So, what are we going do now?'

'We've only just found out the mode of the failure, we

can be able to find a solution now' Henry said softly. 'But

as for finding the source of the failure, we have less than

1% probability. The hacker who did this is smart and

would definitely lead one into a trap if we're desperately

trying to follow his already covered tracks. He'll just

create another track leading to his trap . That explains

what happened to Robin Kahn and his men'