Tarasha - Chapter 74

~~

**11am**

Dayo walked back into the control room smiling. For

him, learning something new was good, but learning it

from a very beautiful and intelligent lady was

extraordinary. He stared more at her face than the

computer screen when she was explaining. Her gentle

and soft way of speaking made an impact in his heart, he

watched as her sexy lips moved while she explained to

him and Sylvester.

‘Kimberly E. Alexander,’ he murmured to himself as he

proceeded to the seat he previously occupied.

He was too lost in his thoughts to notice the gazes that

were on him. Henry and the other developer had fixed

their eyes on him as he entered noisily and began to

bounce to his seat like someone who has just won the

star prize of the Young C.c’s Readers’ contest. It was until

he sat in front of the computer and looked up that he

met with Henry’s gaze.

Henry gave a chuckle. ‘What’s up with you?’

‘Nothing sir,’ Dayo answered, surprised seeing the look

on his colleagues faces.

‘How can you say nothing?’ Henry’s friend, Frank

retorted. ‘You walked out over an hour ago and returned

smiling like someone who just finished riding a hot

chick.’

Dayo smiled at the nastiness of Frank. ‘I was coming

from Mr Sylvester’s office’

‘Mr Sylvester’s office?’ They both asked in unison. Henry

faced front and continued with his work.

‘Yes,’ he replied and tried to face the computer set.

‘Hmm…’ Frank cleared his throat and gave Henry a

mischievous look. ‘Hope it’s not what I’m thinking?’ He

muttered to Henry. His voice was loud enough for Dayo

to hear.

‘What’s that you’re thinking?’ Dayo raised his head to ask.

‘Nothing really,’ he said and burst into laughter. ‘It’s just

that I’ve not seen anyone come out of that place smiling

or laughing. You’re the first I’ve seen, so I’m wondering if

the man has become a comedian overnight.’

‘It wasn’t Mr Sylvester that got me smiling. I met his new

staff,’ Dayo began. ‘She’s intelligent and beautiful. She’s

the one behind his prolongation of the monitoring time’

‘Oh! I see.’ Frank took a quick glance at Dayo as if to look

at his face for a confirmation of his words. He turned

back quietly to his work.

‘Is she really that good?’ Henry asked, turning back again

as he seemed to develop more interest.

‘Yes, she is crazily good.’ Dayo widened his eyes to

emphasize his point.

‘Did you see her work on the system?’

‘Yes, she showed I and Mr Sylvester what she did on the

system yesterday. That’s why I was there for so long.’

Dayo replied with an excited voice.

‘Okay, maybe I’ll have to see her for myself.’ Henry said

and quickly punched some keys on the computer

keyboard. ‘Is she’s still in Mr Sylvester’s office?’

‘I left her there.’

Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to the door as it

opened. Sylvester popped in his head, his eyes searching

the place. His gaze met with Henry’s. He entered and

closed the door.

‘Good morning Mr Henry and Mr Frank,’ he greeted with

a kind smile.

‘Good morning sir,’ they both replied at the same time.

‘Mr Henry,’ Sylvester called as he got to Henry’s front.

The smile on his face was replaced with a serious look.

‘Agent Dakolo just called,’ he said almost in whispers, his

voice bearing a warning tone.

Henry frowned, ‘what did he say?’

‘He’s coming here, to see you’

‘When and about what?’ Henry asked. Fear gripped his

heart at the thought of facing Agent Dakolo again. Maybe

the man was finally coming to arrest him for lying about

the Jubril’s job, but there was no way the Agent was

going to know if he was lying or not except if Sylvester

had told him. He shivered at the thought of Agent Dakolo

questioning him again, maybe inviting him for a lie

detection test this time around. Was he going to get

caught for defending Omotara, who was probably

somewhere trying to play another fraud on someone

else. The fear of being caught and labeled as dishonest

and a person who harbors criminals terrorized his heart.

He began to consider if it was really worth it to take the

risk hoping that Omotara had changed for a better

person or to give up and confess to the Agent with an

apology. He was sure that with an explanation, the Agent

who was also like a brother to him could help and cover

him up.

‘I don’t have that detail, he’s coming to see you

personally and he’ll be here in fifteen minutes.’ Sylvester

replied.

‘Okay, thank you sir.’

+++++

Jefa returned from the market sweating heavily. Of

course that was expected due to the stress experienced

in the busy local markets on the market days that comes

up in an interval of five days.

A tricycle had brought him and his goods from the

market. He first stopped at his store to drop the goods

meant for business which was eighty percent of what he

bought. Now he had come home with foodstuffs and

other things he bought for home use.

He sank into the weak sofa tiredly and let out a deep

breath. Everywhere was silent, except for the sounds of

the fan blades which were just accelerating. Jefa closed

his eyes to rest a little but soon sank into a deep sleep.

~

The day was bright and sunny. The sidin singing heard

from every corner of the street was enough to announce

to an alien that it was Sunday and churches were having

their morning services.

Jefa was seated in the passengers side of the white Range

Rover, Omotara was driving. They both looked happy,

dressed in matching white native attires. Jefa was moving

slowly to the sound of the worship song being played,

Omotara was miming along.

They got into the church compound and Omotara

followed the directions of the Traffic Marshals and

stopped where they instructed her to. She switched off

the AC and killed the car engine. In few seconds, both of

them stepped out of the car. It was Thanksgiving Sunday,

they could hear the Thanksgiving hymn being led by the

choir and sang by the large congregation. Omotara held

with her her tablet device which contained a Bible and

writing applications while Jefa preferred to go with a

paper Bible, a pen and a notepad.

The ushers welcomed them warmly and handed them

the Thanksgiving leaflet before directing them to the

available seats. They got comfortable seats close to the

centre of auditorium and dropped their Bibles and

gadgets on the chair while they joined the congregation

to complete the hymn being sang.

Few minutes later, they were seated and other segments

of the service began. Several Thanksgiving verses were

read from the Bible and different categories of people

are called out to dance round the church and give their

Thanksgiving offerings. Omotara and Jefa stood up and

joined the group when the coordinator called out those

who surrendered their lives to Christ in that year. They

had their Thanksgiving envelopes in their hands as they

danced to the front of the altar with the other people in

their category.

The dancing paused when they got to the front of the

pulpit and very few people with outstanding testimonies

were called out to share with the rest of the

congregation. They dropped their offerings and began to

dance back to their seats, Jefa noticed that Omotara was

distracted. She had seen something and slowed her

dance steps. She was flashing her teeth happily at

someone. Jefa glanced at the choir stand and saw Henry

seated in front of the keyboard, flashing his teeth back at

them happily. He took a hand off the keyboard and

waved at them. Omotara and Jefa waved back and faced

front.

Just before they passed the front row, they saw another

familiar face seated on the second row. He was a

government official who had once done them evil, he

was shaking his legs to the beat of the song being played.

Omotara smiled on seeing him but Jefa was indifferent.

Reason being that Omotara had forgiven him and other

offenders since she repented but Jefa was still trying to

completely forgive them. He silently prayed and

confessed words of love under his breath.

The government official looked up and met with their

gazes. His smile diminished, in fact, he was visibly shaken.

Omotara and Jefa ignored him and kept dancing back to

their seats.

The church service ended two hours later and some

church members began to depart to their homes

immediately while most began to greet themselves and

break into groups. Omotara politely excused herself

from Jefa and made her way to the choir stand to meet

Henry. She met him about standing up from the

keyboard. There were three people arranging chairs in

front of him, they were those who wanted to learn how

to play the keyboard.

‘Hi,’ Henry greeted with a smile on seeing her. He excused

himself from the learners and proceeded towards

Omotara.

‘Hello,’ Omotara replied his greetings, with a smile too.

‘I was just planning to come and greet you and your

brother before you leave.’ Henry gestured for them to

walk to the back.

‘No, don’t bother.’ She refused politely. ‘Don’t keep your

students waiting, I’ll extend your greetings to my brother’

‘Hehe’ Henry chuckled. He was staring at something

behind her. She glanced back to see.

Jefa was walking towards them, making funny faces. She

gave way as he moved closer and had a handshake with

Henry.

‘Good morning sir,’ Henry bowed in respect.

‘Good morning Henry,’ Jefa replied. He placed his hands

behind him and took glances at the faces of both of

them. The way he was looking at them made Henry bow

his head in shyness. ‘When are you guys getting married?’

He threw a surprising question.

Omotara stared at her brother with her mouth agape.

‘Married? Who told you we are planning to get married?’

She asked.

‘I don’t need an Angel to tell me that, I can perceive it in

my spirit.’ Jefa replied with a smile. He turned to Henry

whose face was still bowed. ‘You’re the man, talk to me.’

He said and gave Henry a playful jab on his arm.

‘Brother, come on leave him and let’s go.’ Omotara said

playfully and grabbed her brother’s arm. ‘You bring a

wife to the altar first, then you can now talk about me.’

She held Jefa’s hand and turned to look at Henry’s face.

‘We’ll be leaving now, I’ll call you when we get home’

‘Let me see you…’ Henry tried to offer.

‘No need,’ Tarasha cut in. ‘Go back to your students.’ She

gestured with her eyebrows for him to look back. He

glanced back to meet the eyes of his waiting students all

fixed on him.

‘Alright then, we’ll talk later.’ He said and waved them

bye. Jefa offered him another handshake before turning

back to leave.

Henry stood on the same spot and watched them walk

out of the auditorium holding hands together. The smile

on his face was that of a proud man. He was proud he

had being able to help the two of them become better

persons. Now they looked happier than they used to be.

In ten minutes time, Omotara was already driving out of

the church compound with her brother. The plan was to

visit the nearest Mr Biggs outlet and take a meal there

since they couldn’t wait to eat before coming to church

in the morning.

They spotted the closest one and stopped by to take the

meal. In another thirty five minutes, they were on their

way home. It was after fifteen minutes of driving that

Omotara began to notice a black Lexus 2031 model Jeep

following them from behind. She kept mute and said

nothing to her brother, wanting to verify first in order

not to make a false alarm to the unsuspecting man.

‘Where’s this you’re going?’ He asked when she took a

route which doesn’t lead to their home. She didn’t reply

him, but he could see that her eyes were fixed on the side

mirror. He looked back to check what it was. ‘Are they

following us?’

‘Definitely, they are.’ She replied.

‘What? Who could that be and why…’ He paused while

counting the number of men in the Jeep, two men were

seated in front while one was at the back. ‘Three of them,

why are they following us?’ He asked no one in particular,

he was sure that Omotara was quite as confused as he

was.

The roads was in that estate was not too busy with cars

that day as it was Sunday. So there was no car

obstructing the Jeep from them. Omotara increased the

speed of their car. The trailers increased theirs too.

Soon, they began to hear gunshots from behind.

Omotara did all she could to hasten their escape but it

was futile. The two tyres at the back of the car were

deflated wth bullets by the men. Omotara’s driving skills

helped her bring their car to a stop, else it would have

resulted to an accident, but maybe an accident would

have been better.

The Jeep caught up with them and two men came out.

One of them remained in the car, it was the same

government official they had seen in the church.

The two scary looking men came out with their guns in

their hands. They pulled Jefa and Omotara out of the car.

The government official soon came to join his boys.

Other motorists and pedestrians on the road has turned

back and fled on seeing what was happening.

‘Kill the man and bring me the girl.’ He commanded in an

evil tone and turned back to the Jeep.

One of the men cocked his gun and pointed it straight at

Jefa’s forehead. Jefa could hear Omotara screaming and

begging for pity as the bullet was released.