Hot balls of sweat formed on Cole’s body as he watched through the hole of the gate. He had seen Rex flinging off the white pieces of cloth from a female’s body which la!d on the floor. He couldn’t see the lady’s face from where he was but he remembered that he had seen Tarasha putting on all white that day. He watched silently while Rex and the Inspector General spoke but he had no idea what was being discussed.

He shifted back from the gate uncomfortably, something fell on his shoes from his trouser and startled him. He looked down and looked back to see if nobody threw it from behind, there was none. He picked it up, it was a small piece of tracker that was attached to his body. He opened the detachable cover and removed the micro card from the space, which will ensure the person tracking him does not find him again. He returned it into his pocket and then returned back to the gate to peep. Then he saw the car he and Rex’s team had come with, driving from afar towards the gate. He quickly turned back and crossed to the median of the road, he paused and watched carefully before crossing to the other side of the road.
He watched as the car was driven out of the gate and down the road. He continued to watch until the car turned into the side of the road he was on, he quickly hid himself behind a parked bus and continued to watch from there.


Rex’s car got to where he was in some minutes and drove past. Cole stepped out from behind the bus and watched, expecting the car to drive out of sight but it took a U-turn again into the road leading to the Computer village undergoing renovation. Cole hid himself behind the bus again, expecting Rex to drive back into the mini computer village but Rex drove past again. He came out from behind the bus, looking confused as to why Rex seemed to be going round in circles. But then as he watched on, he could see Rex slow down beside a car, the same car he had broken the window and come out from. Rex parked in front of the car and came out to check the car. He didn’t spend up to a minute before he returned into his car and drove off. Cole watched on until the car finally drove out of sight. He realized that he was the one Rex was searching for but wasn’t able to locate him because of the unconnected tracker.

He hurried out from behind the parked bus, crossed to the other side and proceeded to the gate. He peeped through the space between the opened gate and the fence and saw the Vice President’s car driving towards the gate from the center of the facility. He tried to confirm if Tarasha was still on the floor but couldn’t as the car obstructed his view, he had to leave the gate before the car got there.

________
‘Fool! Didn’t you see me drive past you?’ Stainless heard Rex’s voice sound angrily through the phone’s speaker.
‘Ermm… I didn’t s..s…see you,’ Stainless stammered in reply.

‘How would you, you were just standing like a drunk.’ Rex sounded really angry. ‘Have you gotten Cole?’

‘No, I couldn’t find him and Tarasha.’
‘Did you even see their car at all?” Rex asked.

Stainless’s reply was delayed as he tried to think so as not to give a stupid response. ‘Their car didn’t pass through here at all,’ he finally said.
‘Fool!’ Rex cursed again. ‘The car is still there right now, Cole escaped and took the tracker off his body.’

There was no reply from Stainless.
‘Meet me at our base as soon as possible,’ Rex ordered and the call ended.
Stainless hissed and sighed. He looked around for signs of Rex and Tarasha’s car which Rex claimed to be around but he saw nothing. He hissed again and then turned towards his car.
_______
Cole proceeded into the place after the Vice President’s car was totally out of sight. He walked hurriedly to the middle of the large area where he had seen the lady’s body laying. He could see nothing there as he approached but he kept on moving.
He finally got to the centre and located the point where Tarasha’s body was previously placed, there were traces of blood there and pieces of the white material. Fear gripped his heart as he saw the white jacket. That was the jacket he had seen on Tarasha earlier. His heart began to pound heavily as he picked up the jacket. He was sure of one thing, Tarasha was dead. Rex had killed her.
He tried to hold himself back but tears filled both eyes as he proceeded towards the white pieces of cloth he had seen flung around. He picked it up and checked the pockets which still had weapons in it. The jacket and the white piece of cloth dropped as his hands grew weak.
He fell to his knees and buried his face in between his laps. He thought about the emptiness of life. If the great Tarasha who appeared undefeatable could be brought down, then what was there in life? After all her strength, training, intelligence and bravery, she still died like that – just like a goat will also die- then what was the need for the struggle for power?
He rose up to his feet and wiped his face after some minutes of muttering words to himself. He looked around again as he sniffed in, he could see something like a human body straight at the beginning line of the two buildings in front. He wiped his face again as he gathered his eyebrows together and picked a gun out of the pieces of cloth, he proceeded towards the place.
It took him about five minutes to walk there and he found a man’s body laying on the floor. He bent down and placed his palm on the man’s chest to check if he was still breathing. He could feel the chest slow rise and drop.


He got up and stared at the man’s face for a while. His eyebrows gathered together again. Then he moved closer to the man’s head and touched the face with a finger, his fingertip was stained with a white substance. He then used his palms to rub the man’s face, until the real colour of the face began to show.

He rose and his eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the man. It was Henry. He stood still for a while, confused as to what to do next, his eyes blinking and head shaking. Then he froze as an idea came to his mind. He let out a deep breath and began to walk back towards the gate like a robot.

It took him another ten minutes to get to the gate. He walked to the side of the road and waited. Soon, a taxi without passengers came by and he waved it down.
‘I want to pick something inside here?’ he said to the cab man, pointing into the place.
‘What do you want to carry?’
‘A board and some buckets,’ he replied.
‘To where?’ the cab man asked.
‘Just a shop along the road,’ he answered.
‘Hope my boot can contain it?’
‘Yes,’ Cole answered after pretending to examine the boot by looking towards the back of the car.

‘Okay, I hope it’s not something too heavy, your bill is five hundred naira.’
‘Five hundred naira is okay,’ Cole replied as he opened the door to the passenger’s seat and hopped in.