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He rushed towards her all of a sudden and tried to grab her arm but she bent down, dodging him as she stabbed his thigh. She turned to his back and stabbed him again on the waist. She was about to make a third stab on his other thigh when the third man’s strong hands grabbed her from behind and turned her towards himself. He landed her a heavy blow which made her stagger backwards. He followed her and grabbed the hand in which she had the knife, he tried to take it from her but she held it tight in her palm, not ready to release it.
He sent her another blow on the face and she fell to the ground, the knife also fell off. Then he hurried towards her and held her two hands together in his right hand, he searched her body to check if she had more weapons on her. He pinned her hands to the ground with his after confirming that there was nothing else on her body, then he tried to drag up her gown but the struggles with her legs did not allow him succeed. He took a quick look backwards to call for support from the other injured men. The slender one who was already wounded on his shoulder and stomach was already moving towards them, he covered his bleeding belly with a palm.
‘Move!’ he said as he grabbed Omotara’s hands which was previously pinned to the floor and kept it in position with his right hand. He began to unbuckle his trousers. ‘Hold her legs for me,’ he ordered the hefty man who obeyed immediately. The slender man was still desperate to have his way with her before anyone else.


Omotara’s legs were held firmly and she could not make any more struggle except to shout which she began to do immediately, but the men looked less concerned about it , it appeared that they were confident that no one was going to respond to her no matter how loud she shouted.

Her gown was torn from the top instead of being pulled up from below. The man started for her little b-----s first and his fingers found its way to the straps of her bra. He was about to cut off the straps when a kick from outside sent the door of the room down to the floor.
It was the junior queen who entered, she was with a gun in her left hand and a wooden plank in her right. She started first with the third man who was injured on the thigh and waist. The plank landed on his head and he who was already standing up landed back on the floor with a thud. The two other men were distracted and surprised at Tarasha’s act but she didn’t stop, she moved closer to them and hit the head of the slender one with the wood before sending in a bullet to his back. The other one got on his knees immediately and raised his two hands in the air to plead for mercy.

Tarasha (the queen) threw down the wood and uncocked her gun, she put the gun into her pocket hurriedly. She took a glance at Omotara and the narrowed her gaze at the girl who was already on her feet with her shredded clothes on her body. She turned her face back to the third man who still had his knees on the ground and his hands in the air, ‘Tell Tom I’ll come for him.’ she said to the man and turned back to Omotara. ‘Let’s go,’ she stated briefly and turned, she proceeded towards the door without wasting time. She stopped at the entrance and turned when she noticed that the teenager wasn’t following her, she narrowed her look at the girl and noticed the fear in her eyes. ‘Come, you’ve scaled past death.’ she said with a reassuring tone and stretched her palms forth widely to receive the girl.

Omotara moved with slow steps towards the queen still trying to cover her body with her torn clothes. She placed her palm in the opened palm of the queen and the queen sq££zed her hand softly and gave a smile. She took off the torn clothes from the teenager’s body, leaving only the bra and pant.

‘Let’s go,’ she said as she held Omotara’s palm in hers and began to lead her away hurriedly.
The fear in Omotara’s heart disappeared as she followed the queen. She placed her gaze on the queen’s face and then searched around her body, she noticed the queen now had a very small carton in her back pocket, she concluded in her mind that the carton was what the queen took from the man who she went away with while sending her to be molested by the three men. It wasn’t Omotara’s first time of seeing girls being sentenced to death in that same manner in the Nefary City or being punished by having to go several rounds with a sex starved Lord, she had once being a victim of the latter. She knew the pain in it and couldn’t imagine how it would be when it was a sentence to death.


She ignored the coldness of the ground against her bare feet as they hurried past the large main walking hall, she also ignored the men’s stare which was much more now that she was only on pant and bra.

____________________
**Present**
The picture of the junior queen slowly faded off her mind and was immediately replaced by hers. She saw herself in that building where she had gone to rescue Cole and Aisha, she could hear the scream of the girl clearly again. She saw herself hurry through the corridor and into the room where the cultist was trying to molest Stephanie. How she rescued Stephanie played in her mind again just like the junior queen rescued her from the men, then she remembered how she looked at the queen again without trust in her eyes, it was the same way Stephanie looked at her several years after.
A sharp pain in her bum brought her out of the realm of memories. Her eyes opened and she found herself laying on her side in a bed. Her vision was still blur at that moment but she noticed two men standing and discussing something some metres in front of her. She turned back to look at the face of the lady who had just taken the syringe needle out of her bum.
‘You have to stay calm and let me attend to you,’ the nurse said to her with a frown. ‘Thank God you’re awake now, I’ve given you drugs to calm you but you wouldn’t just stay calm, maybe you can control yourself now that you can hear me.’
‘Is she awake?’ Tarasha heard a male’s voice ask, it sounded so much like Henry’s. She turned to look at the person and confirmed he was the one. There was joy in her heart on seeing him alive again and she also still alive. She still remembered how she was captured but had totally forgotten how she was rescued.


‘Yes, she is.’ the nurse who had walked away with a tray replied in a muffled voice.
Tarasha noticed she still had only her briefs on but a towel was now wrapped around her body. She tried to sit up as she saw Henry walking excitedly towards her but she only made a groan and couldn’t muster enough strength to sit.

‘Omotara, you’re awake.’ Henry said, beaming with smiles as he took her palms in his. ‘I’ve been so worried about you.’
Tarasha tried to put on a smile but she couldn’t tell if what she did was a smile or a frown., she was too weak to even control the movement of her facial muscles.
‘It’s not time for that,’ the nurse warned as she walked back to the bed with the tray in her hands. Two fresh ampoules, a syringe, a roll of bandage, two small scissors of different sizes and a nylon of cotton wool were in the tray.
Henry stepped back some distance from the bed and folded his arms as he watched with a smiling face, Cole stood behind him with his arms also folded but with an expressionless face.

Tarasha looked away from their faces to the surrounding, she felt a bit alarmed as she observed that they were in the medical lab in her facility.

‘Please lay down properly,’ the nurse said to Tarasha.

–15 minutes later —
‘For how long will Omotara keep sleeping? ‘ Henry asked aloud as he and Cole walked down a corridor.
‘You’re not supposed to direct that question to me,’ Cole replied blankly. ‘Tomi is doing all to make her sleep so that the medications can work, you should be glad she fell asleep again.’
‘Well, I’m just anxious to see her well again.’ Henry said.
They continued until they got to the control room. Henry opened the door and allowed Cole walk in first before closing the door. Cole proceeded straight to the control system, he took off his shirt and stared a minute at the already dressed wound on his back before sitting.

‘I just have this feeling that someone is coming after us right now,’ Cole said as he tapped the space bar on the keyboard and the desktop screen came on.
Henry glanced at his face with a worried look, ‘Who do you think is after us? That guy Rex?’
‘I don’t know; I think Rex finished his work after delivering the boss to the Vice President and Inspector General.’ Cole answered as he began to type on the keyboard.
‘What if he works for them full time?’
‘I don’t think he’s a kind of assassin that’ll work full time for anyone, he works on contract basis just like Tarasha. ‘ Cole said.
Henry heaved a deep sigh and stared at the ground thoughtfully for some seconds, he raised his head up to meet Cole staring at him.