Chapter-1

9 months ago

aakanksha4

@aakanksha4

After just another hectic day at the ETF, ACP Arjun Suryakant Raute, was driving back to his lodge- Ravi Lodge. 

The lodge was his house, after the death of Roshni, he had no place, he could call home. So, he chose this place. Away from the chaos of the city, in the suburbs, only a few people here and there. The owner was an old lady, who had lost her husband years ago. So, in short, she was lonely, just the way he was, and so was the vibe of the place. It was not a big lodge. The ground floor was once home to the old couple, while the first floor had just 2 rooms. One, where he stayed, while the other remained unoccupied most of the times, just some visitors once or twice a year, which he didn’t mind, unless they were too noisy or too nosy.

But today was different. While he was entering the gate, he heard two female voices. One was of Mrs. Wadekar, his landlady,  who he never knew could laugh, clearly because he hadn’t ever seen her do that. She would smile to him every morning he left for work.

Initially, when he came here, she would wait for him for dinner and even bring it upstairs to his room. But when she realized his odd working hours and hectic schedules, she would keep his dinner in a hot case in his room, before he came. So she would hardly see him once a day. And never in these years , she had ever caused him any trouble, never peeping in his life. Never asking him any personal questions, about his past, present or future. She knew he was a police officer because she had seen him go to work in khaki. Yet she never interfered in what he did and how he did it. 

He parked the ETF SUV just near the stairs to the first floor, his favorite parking spot, from where he can easily vanish next morning without being noticed. 

“This one seems loud", he spoke to himself, already irritated at the constant laughter of the guest ringing in his ears. Without bothering to even look at the direction of the source of the sound, he rushed upstairs.

The day had been a busy one. Paper work in the morning and a new case in the evening, that’s how he was passing his days, clearly not living. He stepped into the hot shower to relax. A minute later, he heard some noise.

He turned off the shower to hear that clearly. It was as if someone was dragging something heavy. The cop in him instantly made him wrap the towel around his waist, and within a minute he stood in front of his room, to check if Mrs. Wadekar was in need of some help. There was no light in the garden.

Clearly the old lady had forgotten to switch on the lights. He decided to go down and check. He wasn’t that uncivil after all. He grabbed a T-shirt and started walking down the stairs.

Calculating his steps in the dark on the stairs, he walked cautiously when “Bamm!!”, he collided into someone. He caught hold of the person to prevent her from falling down while maintaining his own balance. And that is when their eyes first met.

Under the moonlight, they stared into each other’s eyes, hers were lively and his, lonely. He was in a trance, which was broken as soon as Mrs.Wakdekar switched on the garden lights. That’s when he first saw her. 

Dressed in a white salwaar suit, hair in a messy bun, eyes twinkling, face reflecting innocence and…. He jerked away his thoughts as soon as he heard his landlady say something , to which the girl broke out in a laughter. “So, it was her.”, the same voice he had heard some minutes ago.

“Arjun Beta, khana bas taiyyar hai”, the lady said while moving back into the house. And he nodded as a formality.

Not wanting to indulge in any further conversation, he turned to leave towards his room. When the girl spoke,” Arjun beta, aap please mera saaman upar tk ponchne mein meri help krenge?”

I froze at her mocking voice. I turned around to see her face and there she was, flashing her dimples. I chose to ignore and climbed a stairs or two, when I heard her say again, “Rude haan, Arjun beta!” Irritated I gave in, and picked her luggage. God! That was really heavy, “Kya hai is mein?”, was all I could ask, dragging that bag, to her room.

“LAASHHHH", she whispered in my ear. Smiling, she opened the door using the keys, dragged her stuff in, and closed the door on my face.

I stood there thinking, “Was she serious? She did seem fishy though.” I wanted to go in and investigate. The cop in me never sleeps.

After convincing myself that it was just a joke, I entered my room and banged the door. “Crazy and annoying!” I looked in the mirror and realized that I had been in the towel all this while. 

Half an hour later, the old lady brought him food. Arjun was engrossed in his file. She quickly placed it on his table and left quietly. That is how they were, there at the same place, in the same situation, but never bothering each other with the formality of words. 

The lady walked out and Arjun shifted his concentration back into the file. Minutes later, his growling stomach reminded him of the food. He closed his file and took his food to his bed. He began enjoying the food when he realized something unusual, a chocolate brownie. “What’s wrong today?”, he thought.

He savored the sweet after dinner and had to agree, this was one of the best ones he has ever had. The meal felt complete and he felt happy, he had to admit.

Tired, he called it a day and got into his bed, unaware of what was waiting for him. 

Next morning, a call from Rathore and he zoomed his SUV out of the parking. He drove as fast as he could and why wouldn’t he, the ETF had suspected foul play in a factory in the suburbs, and the intels confirmed it was a drug dealing cover-up. But most importantly, Shamsher, the lead suspect was a close aide to Sikander, the Intel read. Arjun felt emotions taking over, may be this was the link he was waiting for, the day he had been waiting for. 

Rathore, on the other hand, was too driving towards the location with Shree and Chotu, giving them pep talk about how things could turn out to be, knowing Arjun. 

They reached the spot almost at the same time. The trio looked at Arjun’s determined face as he tried to keep his emotions at bay. They planned and entered the factory, each one knowing that today wasn’t meant for mistakes. Cautiously, they entered the place but their fear had come true. The factory was deserted, everybody had left.

Arjun kicked the empty canisters in defeat. He had been hopeful all this while, only to meet a dead end. Three years since Roshni’s murder, he had been making every possible attempt to find the monster who snatched his happiness away. He had been struggling to bring his dead wife to justice. 

Rathore placed a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him that they were with him. It had been one year since he joined the ETF, and the three men were his strength. Together they had put in every effort to trace down Sikander. Rathore with his contacts, Shree with his technical skills, Chotu with his informers' network, the three men helped him in every possible way they could . And now, it was bloody personal to each one of them.

Arjun gathered the leftover courage he had and joined Shree and Chotu in searching every nook and corner of the factory. Shree found an old computer in a small room. He connected it to his laptop and began doing what he was best at. As expected all the data had been cleared, but with the help of his data recovering software, he tried to recover any recently deleted data. 

“Only 1 image deleted recently and no other data, interesting.”, Shree spoke to himself after taking the deleted image in his laptop.

He came out to find three dejected faces looking at him with minimal hope, “I've found something!”, he smiled to boost their sinking morale.

“There is one deleted picture on the system. Nothing else.” He showed the picture to them.

Arjun froze at his spot, while the other three just observed the picture.

“Looks like 24-25.”

“Some college student may be.”

“New victim?", said Rathore, while Shree and Chotu just looked on.

“I have se..en her!”, stammered Arjun, not believing how his life had changed in a day. 

“Where?”, barked Rathore in anticipation.

“She is a visitor, at the place where I stay.”

“Is she in trouble?”, Shree questioned, while the others stared at each other.

“Is she the trouble?”, Arjun said and breathed heavily.