Tears began to form in Henry's eyes as he listened to
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
reassuring 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. 'Hello 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 password. 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 passed 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 space
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 passworded?' 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'
~~
'Hello 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 analyze 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 assuring 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 assassination during the time of assassination and
two hours after it'
'Which one are you talking about?' Sylvester still looked
ignorant.
'Chief Jubril Lawal's assassination 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 assassination 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 God 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 document 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.
'Hello… 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 God 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'