CHAPTER 16: TANYA'S TURN.

Victor should have seen the look on Tanya's face, it was the look that expressed negative feelings of anger, betrayal, loss and uncertainty. Tanya had said nothing all these while they had been driving.

"Okay, I can't blame your anger," he said.

"Where are we going?" She said, looking at the side mirror beside her.

"Somewhere safe for people like us. I've been there several times in cases like this, your father and I. It's a place we can hide under the law." He seemed to be praising the place. "You need to rest, we're going to Africa, Nigeria precisely."

"The mosquitoes?" She asked, indifferent.

"There are battalions of them, but we should rather worry less of the mosquitoes than the people themselves. Your dad, in his genius self has provided a safe place for us."

"Start talking, what do you know about my family." She looked sternly at him.

"Your family is a really complicated one someone like you won't understand unless you have a calm mind."

She sighed out of the window. Her life was about to change for real.

"Your father had trusted me, it's your turn now. I'll never let you down," he reached for his pocket. "Your genius father anticipated a day like this, so he entrusted a me with this note." He handed her a neatly folded piece of paper.

She took it and wiped the tears that came from memories of her father. His handwriting remained the same, she tried to hide the smile that evolved from the way he had always written his "T.Y." She had always told him to put his full stop on the line, he would not listen. The note echoed his cool voice.

"The world is full of strange places and strangers hold the key to our livelihood..." She heard his cool voice in her head, it was a shame he died.

Seconds later, she squinted her face. What was this she was reading? Her brain seemed to stretch out at what she was reading. She managed to hold her surprise but had already screamed "Tina!" before she realized.

She had been played all this while. It was Tanya's turn to realize. She folded the note into her pocket as her brain fired many thoughts, it would ache her soon and she realized she needed to rest. She could not believe she had been so deceived, she grinned.

Things just got complicated and Tanya's turn would be significant.

Somewhere -some hours later- a voice sounded over a phone, it had an accent. The receiver puffed on a cigar.

"Laura failed, the girl got away." It hung up immediately.

Hours later, Victor was ordering train tickets for himself and Tanya. She had been playing her fingers around the note her father had written, Victor noticed.

"Busy station, eh?" He looked around. He had not expected a reply. "Anyway here's yours." He handed her one of the tickets he had bought, Tanya collected it. "It's a one way ticket." He adjusted the cap on his head.

"To mystery." Tanya said some moments later before entering a train. Victor had grinned, she was right.

Seconds later, they all jerked backwards as the train sped its course across the city.

Miles away, a phone vibrated and someone vibrated to consciousness. He hugged his helmet and scrambled for the vibrating phone on a disorganized table. He took the phone and picked it.

"The girl got away, Malik failed." A voice said over the phone and hung up immediately.

The receiver grabbed his helmet and ran to his waiting motorcycle.

"I should have gone instead!" He grunted as he sped his cycle across a road that looked forgotten.

It was too late. Their train was already speeding towards oblivion. Soon, they would be on a plane to Lagos.

And a whole new story would start or rather, be continued.