PROLOGUE

The leaves spread out widely, gladly receiving the heat from the sun as they stuck firmly to their respective branches on the different trees. The wind contributed to the happiness of the living things as it blew heavily across the forest occasionally, making some of the lighter branches collide against the stems of taller trees and other unmoving branches.

Danjuma cleared the way for his wife who followed him happily as they took a stroll around the forest, he stopped when he got to a cleared path and waited for her to catch up with him. They smiled at each other as they continued walking through the forest hand in hand, recalling how they met for the first time in that same forest.

Ten years ago, Danjuma and two of his colleagues had come for a research on wildlife in the forest, they were inspecting a special breed of lizards when they noticed a movement at a thick bush opposite their direction, they paused to observe properly. At first, they thought it was a wild animal that hid behind the bushes and they brought out their defence weapons, ready to attack whatever it was. However, it didn't take long before a young lady in a Doctor's coat appeared, three of her colleagues who appeared to be Doctors  too followed. Lydia and her team had come to collect some special herbs for the manufacturing of drugs required to cure an epidemic disease that troubled the village close to the forest.

Danjuma got happily married to Lydia in Lagos two years after they met. They had their first boy in the same year they got married and had given birth to two other boys after. After living in Lagos for eight years, Danjuma relocated with his family to Borno State.

Nine years later, Danjuma brought his wife to that same forest on their wedding anniversary hoping to bring back good memories of the past to her which he succeeded at, as Lydia clearly showed her delight while they walked through the forest together.

'Wow' Lydia released her hand from Danjuma's grip and ran forward playfully, turning round a spot. She laughed happily as she looked at the sky, making her long hair fall backwards.

Danjuma followed after her and wrapped his hand around her body. He looked straight into her eyes, and placed a kiss on her cheeks

'Nine years ago, I was standing here when I …'

'Shhh… Quiet' Danjuma hushed, 'let's just enjoy this silence and the cool breeze'

'I …' A cry interrupted her and she paused to listen carefully. The cry became louder, it was the cry of an infant.

The couple looked at each for a moment before they traced the sound carefully. They saw a woman lying helplessly under a tree with a baby laid on a wrapper spread beside her. The couple quickly rushed to the scene.

The lady, actually a teenager was almost gasping for breath when they got to her. A faint smile appeared on her face as she saw the couple, she turned her face to look at the baby and looked back at the couple.

'Her name is…' She coughed out heavily.

Lydia knelt beside the teenager and gently placed her back on her hand, trying to calm her down. 'What happened?'

'I named her Omotara' the teenager struggled to speak.

Episode 1

The breeze blew gently on her skin through the opened window as she peeped outside. The moon lit the earth brightly, working with the well lighted streets to reveal every road and blocks on the streets. Tarasha looked up at the

shining stars, they seemed to communicate something to her which she didn't understand. She turned back into the room and glanced at the wall clock which was her only companion in the large bedroom as the tick tock sound it made was the only sound that could be heard in the house.

She closed the window and walked to her planning table; she switched on the laptop and waited patiently for it to finish booting before she clicked on a folder icon on the desktop. The folder opened, revealing a Microsoft word document which she opened and began to scan through.

She stood up a minute later, obviously satisfied with the details gotten from the document. She glanced at the wall clock again; it was fifteen minutes past 1am already. According to the information she was given to work with, the Nanl gang would move the targeted van by 3am.

She walked to the drawer and bent as she pulled it out, she didn't think she would require a lot of instruments for this job as she was only required to pick up a carton from a van that wasn't heavily secured. She picked out her favourite tool, a Walther PPK which she fondly referred to as "baby", she inserted it into the pocket in her jacket with a silencer and closed the drawer. She picked up a small black piece elastic material from the table and stuck it into her back pocket as she walked out of the house.

In no time, she drove out of the compound and hit the main road. The road was very free as it used to be at midnight, so she got to her destination in less than ninety minutes.

She parked her car at a reasonable distance from the house which was located at a T-section part of the road, in a very dark corner on the street where she was able to get a clear view of the warehouse. Not too long after, she could hear the sound of a vehicle engine being started, she glanced at her wristwatch, it was 2.58am. She quietly came out of the car through the other side and hid in the darkness, looking around to be sure no one was watching her. She sat on the car bonnet, pulled out the mask from her back pocket and wore it, the mask covered only part of her face having holes that allowed her see and talk freely. She also picked some black hand gloves from the car and put them on.

At exactly 3 o'clock, the screeching sound of the opening gate was heard. Tarasha changed her position and bent down by the side of the car as the opened gate now revealed a vehicle whose front lights shone brightly, illuminating the compound.

She watched as the van was driven outside the compound and the gate closed. She noticed that his two men seated in the van, one of them spoke as they got close to her car. She couldn't make out what was been said but she knew they were talking about her car as the driver looked towards her direction.

After they drove a little bit far past her, she got into the car and waited for them to make a turn at the junction before she started the car engine and pursued after them.

'Look, isn't that the car we saw parked a by the road side now?' The driver of the van asked after spotting the car racing after them through the side mirror.

'Yes' one of his companion answered him, "looks like a Lady is the driver"

'A lady? What does she want at this time of the day?' The driver was amazed, he made space for her car to pass beside the van.

'I've got something of mine in your van' Tarasha shouted as she already levelled up with them. "Park your van and let's talk"

'Are you crazy wo…' The driver couldn't complete his question as one of the van tyres deflated at that moment. He struggled with the steering wheel but was able to avoid an accident since the van was on a low speed.

'What happened?' The other guy asked the driver.

'I don't know' he replied as he opened the door and came out of the vehicle. Tarasha's front car light shone brightly into his eyes.

He was vexed and he approached the car in anger where it was parked behind them, the car light was turned off as he got closer. The Lady came out and faced the opposite side, waiting for him.

'What on earth do you…' A blow landed on his face he staggered backwards, almost falling.

He charged towards her but she dodged his attack and sent him another blow on his stomach. Tarasha held his head before he recovered and hit his head on the car bonnet which sent him sprawling on the floor with a loud cry.

The other man in the car was already rushing towards her with a iron rod but she bent down making him miss his target and almost falling down. Before he could make another attempt, she sent his legs off the ground with a sliding kick that made him hit his head on the floor, after which she hit his head his head with the butt of her gun, knocking him out.

She picked up the other man who was already bleeding through the nose and dragged him to the back of the van.

'Open it' She commanded as she placed a gun at the back of his neck.

'The key is in the car' he replied shakily. She escorted him as he walked to the driver's side and picked the key.

'Get me the carton labelled "D" ' she ordered as the man busied himself with the key.

The man switched on his torchlight and begun to offload the neatly arranged cartons. It wasn't too long before he saw the carton labelled 'D'.

Tarasha made him carry it to her car boot then she knocked him out with the butt of the gun and drove off after making sure nobody saw them.

She checked her time as she parked car in her compound, it was 3.50am already. She left the carton in the boot and walked into the house. Before she laid on the bed, she sent a text message to an unsaved number from her phone.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*10am, same day *

'Damn! You idiots' Don exclaimed angrily as he scattered the objects placed on his table. He picked his gun and walked closer the two men kneeling at the front of his table, there were other five mean looking men standing in the office.

'So you two mean an ordinary lady knocked out both of you?' He continued angrily.

'Sir… I… I…' One of the men kneeling down stammered, he was the driver of the van.

'You what? And you still laid helpless till the police found and arrested you'

'We are sorry sir, we promise to get her and recover the carton' the other man replied, fidgeting all over.

'Idiot, what did she look like? Can you recognize her?'

'No, she was wearing a mask, we didn't see her face'

'Idiot, how do you intend to get her?' Don barked angrily.

'We …' The man began to speak but couldn't continue as Don fired bullets into the chests of the both men.

'Dispose them off' he ordered the men in the room.

Four of the men carried the bodies outside, two carrying each one. The remaining man who seemed to be the next in command walked closer to the table as Don walked back to his seat.

'We should have sent more capable men' Don said as he sat down.

'We were not expecting any attack and this isn't the first time of sending both of them on errands like this, they've never failed'

'So how did this happen?'

'It must have been well planned, I think we were played'

'Played? Do you think Felix can play a trick on me, knowing the kind of person I am?'

'I believe that the carton was returned to that warehouse, no one else knew about the transaction'

Don picked up his phone and dialed a number, placing a stern look at the man standing at his front as he waited for his call to be answered.

'He's not picking' he announced to the waiting ears of his subordinate.

'I told you' the man said boastfully.

'Go get my stuff for me and bring Felix down here in two hours' Don ordered in a gruffy voice.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tarasha rode speedily on the free expressway, the breeze making her jacket fly backwards. She loved the attention she got when she occasionally sped past cars, the look on the drivers' faces was always a questioning look of how a lady should be riding so crazily. But it was her hobby, that was the way she relaxed. She slowed down a little bit when she looked at the side mirror and noticed someone waving and calling.

'Hey' Henry shouted, slowing down the powerbike speed as he levelled up with her.

'Hi' she replied him.

'I'm Henry, can we stop and talk a little?' Henry asked, increasing his speed to level up again as she increased hers first.

'What do you have to say? I don't have enough time to stop and chat'

'Sorry for disturbing but are you new around here? I've never seen you with us at the bike riders association'

'What bike riders association?' She asked, increasing her speed again.

'Nigerian bikers association, you don't know about it?'

'We'll… other time' was what the guy heard due to obstruction by the breeze before she sped off.

He concluded that she must have said to him that they'll talk some other time. But how were they going to meet again, they didn't even see each other's faces as their helmet concealed their faces

He decided to race after and catch up with her, but even after rapidly increasing his speed and riding crazily for some minutes, no trace of her nor her bike was seen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

'It looks like we have someone who's still alive here' Inspector James summoned other officers to where he squatted, a wounded body was laying in front of him.

'He's still breathing' an officer who also squatted beside him added.

'He needs medical attention immediately, take him to the hospital' James said to the medical officers approaching with a stretcher, as he stood up from his position and gave way for the officers to carefully carry the body.

He watched as they carried the body into an ambulance and sped off. He looked around and saw the medical officers packing the already dead bodies into their vehicles.

'The manager of the warehouse is missing and there are no traces of him or his body around the place' he said to his colleague who was standing beside him.

'Yes' came the reply, 'we can't tell if he was taken away by the attackers or if he was killed and dropped somewhere else'

'That's possible, but we have to confirm first that he's not at home or somewhere around town. We have to reach members of his family and his friends'

'I've sent men to his house already, they'll be back with a reply soon'

'Good' James turned and looked around the warehouse again, the look on his face turned to a more confused one. 'I'm just wondering what kind of people attacked this place'

'I wonder too and it doesn't look like anything was stolen, all the packaged goods are still intact', the colleague added.

'I don't think those who carried out this attack are thieves, I believe they came on a different mission'

'Yeah, that's true'

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

'Felix Felix' Don taunted the already tortured man as he walked into the large room. 'I see you're playing games with me'

'No Don, I swear. I don't plan the attack on your boys'

'Then where is my carton?'

'I don't know, we arranged the carton with the other cartons and labelled it differently according to our plan'

'Who else knew about this our deal?'

'No other person knew, even the men that packed the cartons didn't know that there was anything different in it' the man.

'Who did you send to do the repackaging after it landed in your warehouse?'

'I did the repackaging myself , I removed it from the beer carton and packaged it in the tin milk carton'

'Who saw you while you were doing it?'

'No one did'

'Hmm, then why is it that it was that same carton that was taken from my boys?'

'I don't know sir , maybe someone here knew as about our conversation'

'Huh? Someone here?' Don barked loudly and stared fiercely at his men surrounding them, who all shook in fear.

'Yes, someone in your organization must have leaked out the secret'

'Them?' Don gave a short laugh and stopped to stare wickedly at his men again. 'These ones dare not sell me out, most of them weren't even aware of the deal'

'Then, maybe you…'Felix stammered out of fear.

'Maybe I?' Don barked as he brought out his gun and pointed it at Felix. 'Now, tell me where and who you took it to'

'I swear, I don't know anything about this. Believe me, I did everything according to the plan and made sure no one was aware' Felix answered, shaking terribly at the sight of the gun.

'Okay, stand up and get out of this place' Don lowered his gun.

'Ehn?' Felix eyes widened in shock, not believing that Don would allows him go.

'I said get out before I change my mind'

'Thank you Don' Felix picked up his shoes and stood up from his kneeling position. He straightened up his shirt and headed for the door immediately, he was about to open the lock when he bullet went in through his head.