“I told you...!” came the shrill cry of Anjali again, “you shouldn’t have left him go alone...! Look what he has done to himself now!”
Lavanya smiled as she shook her head.
She gave a small wink to Arnav who was highly amused watching his sister
getting paranoid and worried. Anjali was pacing inside the special ward, which
now held Arnav as a high security patient. The recent escapade had landed him
straight in the hospital though he had no idea how it all happened. All he
remembered was waking up to boring white walls of the highly surgical
environment of the ICU of Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai.
“Di! He is fine...” Lavanya said as she
helped Arnav get up to take his medicines, “He is alright. Sometimes you have to
face all of these when you are on duty.”
“Don’t you dare go all CBI on me!”
Anjali shrilled again, “Bloody duty! Just because you are a CBI officer too
doesn’t mean that you have to fight his case every time, Lavanya!”
“What is my being a CBI got to do with what
Arnav does?” Lavanya said with a small smile as she straightened Arnav’s
pillows, helping him lay back down again, “he heads a branch. Obviously he has
got more duties and he has to do them...”
“Ah, there you go again...” Anjali
started to admonish when Shyaam, her husband and another honest crime branch
officer, came into the ward, carrying packets of medicines. As he took a look
at Anjali, he understood she was about to start another mother argument, going
all emotional and sentimental. He chuckled as he said, “another dose ha,
Arnav?”
Arnav laughed as Anjali glowered at her
husband. Lavanya smiled as she collected all the packets from Shyaam and set
them on the table. Shyaam settled down on a stool near Arnav’s bed “how are you
feeling?”
“Good...” Arnav smiled, “this is not
much though. I was lucky I escaped in time.”
“Lucky?” Anjali’s voice broke the peace
again and Shyaam sighed, “Lavanya, please take her out and calm her down.”
“Yes boss!” Lavanya said and before
Anjali could manage a word, she steered her out of the ward.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Do you remember anything at all?”
Shyaam asked, concerned. Arnav was silent for a moment, thinking deeply about
whatever he had went through the moment he crossed the barrier of the run down
warehouse. He nodded as Shyaam perked up, wanting to listen to even minute
details that would help him find out who was responsible for whatever had
happened with Arnav.
“Their reach is huge, Shyaam. They are
going to know anyway if we start any formal investigation,” Arnav murmured
quietly.
“It doesn’t matter,” Shyaam shook his
head, keeping a comforting hand on Arnav’s forehead, “All I want to know is who
is responsible for this.”
“Are you going to go out of the protocol
for this?” Arnav asked him, slightly abashed for making his righteous brother
in law to step out of the line just to meet the ends of this investigation.
“Do we have a choice?” Shyaam asked,
knowing full well Arnav would feel bad about this, “but this is the only way we
have got.”
“I think you are right...” Arnav nodded
as he peeled a banana and popped a half into his mouth, chewing it lazily.
“Tell me everything you remember,
Arnav,” Shyaam said, the steely police determination back in his stance, “I am
going to make that bastard pay for this!”
“Relax, Shyaam...” Arnav smiled slightly
before launching into the tale that went deep into the murkiness of drugs,
mafia and women.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Light breeze blew through the window as
moonlight filtered through the window. The only noise was the soft rustle of
the clothes as she pulled them up, covering her glorious body scantily. The
soft white glow of the night shone her body radiantly and softly that it almost
appeared glassy and reflective. Her long fingers tugged at the hem of her off
shouldered dress, adjusting it above her breasts, as she stepped out of the
room, lighting up a cigarette. She smiled; a smile that was frozen in time,
never to warm again, cruel and calculating and after not so much a glance at
the sleeping man, she closed the door and went away.
Her black sleek Porsche was dutifully waiting
for her. She sat inside, revved the engine and gunned down the dark lanes of
Mumbai, going to her favourite night out destination, Sea face road, that
reflected darkness as well as a strange arrogance in the form of the brackish
waters hugging the shore. She loved the place, it was strangely her. It gave
her peace, something that she was not born with.
Cruelty and arrogance was her definition.
Arrogance exuded from her, a quality of savage masculinity but her brittleness
was because of the only fact that she was a woman. Apart from that, she was no
less than a man in any way. In fact, she was way above them in every way. She
was the queen of her reigns, the whole sprawling kingdom of the Mafia: the
world of drugs, drinks, money and brutality. She was the ruler. She was the
king. The one everyone feared.
She was what her men called her, Pluto.
A shrill ring of her ultrathin phone
disturbed the flow of rock music in her car. She put it to her ear, “Yes.”
“Boss, he is alive.”
“What the hell!” she screeched, “how did
he live? He was supposed to be really hurt.”
“Yes but looks like the fortune favours
his side,” Arus spoke timidly, fearing the molten lava that was about to burst
out.
“Looks like the fortune is against you!”
she seethed dangerously, “he is not supposed to be alive. Finish him and get
done with it! You have a day! In any case I don’t want him to live! Get the point!”
“Boss...he is in a high security ward.
The CBI has increased protection outside the hospital. It is impossible to take
him down unless he comes out of the hospital. Doing that now would be suicidal
to us and to you,” Arus explained.
Fury brimmed in her. She hit the
accelerator pedal harder than necessary and as the car pelted down the empty
streets, a steely dangerous voice echoed to Arus, “okay. Let him live for a few
days. His death is marked and I will be the one to take him down!”
“Yes, boss!” Arus muttered before
cutting the call and joining his group of burly looking men, relieved that he
wasn’t on the mission of killing one of the powerful police and crime branch
officials, Arnav Singh Raizada,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You have to be extra careful from now
on,” Shyaam warned a bored looking Arnav who was recuperating in a surprisingly
rapid way. It was not even two days since he was operated and he was looking
fine already. There was something great about this man who seemed to know the
very art of optimistic and positive healing. His confidence and determination
did wonders on his body.
“I know Shyaam!” Arnav drawled, “now cut
it please!”
“Arnav I just want you to remain on your
guard,” Shyaam said exasperatedly, “they can attack you any time.”
“I am going to be,” Arnav snapped, “I am
not a child. I can handle myself. I have been in worse situations than this.”
“Okay!” Shyaam held up his hands in
surrender, “If you know your way then I wont babysit you again!”
“What did you just say?” Arnav growled
as Shyaam chuckled and walked out of the room to join his hysterical wife.
Arnav fell back on the pillows with a
sense of foreboding warning him. He knew a storm was brewing somewhere and it
was coming his way. He had to be on his guard. He would never know from which
side the hurricane would hit him. But he knew it would. His intuitions were
never wrong.
PRECAP:
Sharma, dispatch the groups
But sir, we don’t know..
Just do as I say Sharma
But sir
Are you arguing with Arnav Singh Raizada?
No sir
You better not. Just do as I say.
