‘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.

The cab man looked at the side mirror for a while before he reversed the car a bit and turned into the place.

‘Just go straight,’ Cole said as they drove past the gate.
‘Okay,’ the man replied and continued silently for some seconds. ‘Do you work here?’

‘Just shut the hell up and drive,’ Cole slammed, now pointing his gun at the man.
________
2 hours later
Henry felt the gently breeze blow on his chest as he opened his eyes and yawned. He stared at the ceiling with his eyebrows gathered together, wondering where he was. He turned and realized he was laying on the backseat of a car which had the door opened at both sides. He sat up and stepped out on his bare foot, buttoning his shirt which he didn’t remember unbuttoning. He looked around and realized that he was back to the base. Then he remembered his experience at the NSCC and his encounter with the man who knocked him out. He turned to look back and stared in shock as his eyes met with Cole’s.
‘You’re awake now,’ Cole said, walking towards the car from the other side of the front yard..

Henry ignored his statement but stared at the cab and the building for a while, then he looked back at Cole again as he suddenly remembered that Cole was supposed to be with the enemy.

‘What are you doing here?’ Henry asked Cole, staring thinly into his eyes as the latter drew nearer.

‘I’m back now,’ Cole replied briefly, stopping by the bonnet of the car. He turned briefly to look at the building and then returned his gaze to Henry who was still looking lost.

‘Who brought me here and where is everybody else?’ Henry asked. He fixed his eyes on Cole’s face and noticed the dull look.
‘Everybody else?’ Cole asked, raising a brow. ‘There’s no other person here, it’s just the two of us.’

‘I mean where is Tara? Is she in?’ Henry asked and began to walk towards the entrance of the building.

‘Stop!’ Cole shouted in a loud voice, preventing Henry from moving further. ‘The security lasers are still on, your body will be cut into pieces if you proceed.’

Henry stared back at him with a questioning look. ‘Why is it on? Where has Tara gone to?’ he asked, staring keenly at Cole’s face.
Cole folded his arms and looked away.
‘I said where is Tara?’ Henry walked to him and pulled his hands.
‘Tarasha is dead,’ Cole stated blankly, looking straight into Henry’s eyes.
It took Henry some minutes to process Cole’s words in his mind. He released his grip on Cole’s hands slowly and began to laugh.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Cole asked in concern, shocked at Henry’s response.
‘Come on, stop the joke and tell me where she is.’ Henry said, tapping Cole on the shoulder as he stopped the laughter.
‘I’m not joking, she died while trying to rescue you from Rex. He killed her,’ Cole replied him in a serious tone.
‘I don’t believe you.’ Henry’s face turned cold now, with his eyebrows gathering together.

‘Better do, the Inspector General has taken away her body and I don’t know where he’s taking it to.’

Henry did not want to believe Cole’s words but the look on Cole’s face was a very serious one. He considered the possibility of trueness of Cole’s words and his knees buckled and touched the floor.