Death and Dishonor

by Abhimanyu Saxena

  My phone started vibrating. I picked it up. Someone cleared throat on the other side.

  “Arjun! We know you are here inside the society. We have surrounded the perimeter. Please come out with your hands above your head so that we can avoid these unnecessary hassles.”

  I could recognize that voice anywhere. “Chaudhary Ji,” I sighed.

  Of all the people they could send. ‘This could mean only one thing – the phone call was a distraction, and his men were looking for me already,’ I thought as I got up swiftly and a sharp thorn gashed my right knee. I stifled my groan, ‘Great! Now I am trickling blood, easier for them to track.’

  I should have expected this, but in my defense, I didn’t have time to predict these things. Brijesh Chaudhary was one of the senior Inspectors in our department with a lot of experience and had the best tactics ready when it came to hostage negotiation and handling fugitives. He loved the extra challenge of giving the culprit a head start on his run by announcing himself with sirens and megaphone, but I knew he would keep it quiet this time; otherwise, it would turn out against him with people panicking.

  He was in charge of my training when I had started. I was partnered with him and followed him in his cases when I was a rookie. I had learned a lot from him. It was time to give it back, no offense to him.

  It was pointless waiting in there now as I could feel them coming, so I made an attempt to exit the park swiftly, but my suspicions proved correct. A living, breathing GPS was tracking me from his balcony, he shouted instantly, “Hurry, he is leaving the park.”

  “Please don’t make this hard than it already is,” Chaudhary ji’s confident voice spoke on the phone, “I have known you for a long time, and you are a good, honest and law-abiding person. If you really believe that you are innocent, then you should not run. Surrender yourself, a lawyer will be appointed for your case, and you can prove your innocence.”

  “Chaudhary Ji, if you have known me for a long time, then you know I would not do anything like this. But seeing as you were sent to apprehend me, then I guess some people really want me taking the fall for this. They will make sure I don’t get a chance at clearing my name once I am in the deep dark hole of a prison.”

  I crouched alongside the park wall and reached one of the big trees which shared space with the buildings. It was very dark there in the tree shade as the building had no lights on. But I could see some lights switching on and people coming out of their balconies upstairs in some nearby buildings, attracted by that man’s shouting. I was trickling a drop of blood now and then, but I didn’t tend to it. I thought I would use this to lure them one by one.

  They came out of the park one by one, and I saw Chaudhary leading them himself. He signaled them to fan out and search for me.

  “Don’t be foolish, Arjun. This is absurd. You know that you will be given a fair trial. You are just attracting more suspicions with these conspiracy theories that you are making up.”

  “I will be the judge of that, thank you. I will see you on the other side, sir,” I cut the call. I took out the SIM card and broke it, then threw it away with my phone.

  One of them arrived under the tree shade where I was hiding, I knocked the gun out of his hand, swept him out of balance and held him in a choke hold till he fell asleep.

  I took his Glock which had a silencer on, no surprise there, and kept it in the back of my jeans. I thought of hiding his unconscious body, but another two constables might have seen it as they were approaching towards me.

  I noticed the gate of the flat. Slowly I pulled the gate open and went inside into the parking space. It was nearly pitch-black except the lighting at the start of the stairs which faintly lit the parking area. I could see only two cars on my left side. I went ahead towards the stairs and turned right. Before the stairs started, there was a small room on my right which housed the building’s water supply motors. I noticed that the grilled door had broken from the hinges and was just put weakly back in the frame to make do until they repaired it.

  With some effort, I pulled it clean of the frame, went inside and held it in place. The light in the stairs wasn’t much bright, hence the small room was dimly lit. I saw the torch flashes of the two constables headed my way. Once they were in and directly in front of me, I pushed the door with all my might and bashed them with it. They both fell on either side. The door clanged and stood against the stair guardrail. The one on the left recovered fast, I blocked his attack and punched him down. Then I got a knee in the back from behind. Staggering, I turned and picked up the door and threw it on the second guy. It banged on him with a loud clang, and he was knocked cold from its weight. The first guy grabbed me from behind. I pushed him away by elbow attacks to his abdomen and head, then turned and kicked his head. His head hit the wall, and he dropped.

  But it was too late, the commotion was enough, and I could already see more flashlights from outside the gate, the first guy who entered saw me looking from behind the wall and started running towards me. I stepped back, then grabbed the guardrail with one hand and balanced my other hand on the door hinge of the small room and timed a kick to his face just as he reached, then put the grilled door as a barrier to block them. I went upstairs and crouched against the wall on the first landing. When I saw them approaching the grilled door, I fired a few rounds at their feet.

  They started shooting immediately. I could feel the bullet impacts on the guardrail in front of me. I slowly crouched my way up the second flight of stairs, panting and hearing them move the grilled door away. I saw three of them start their ascent slowly along the stair wall. I closed my eyes for a moment and whispered, “No, I can’t get caught, for Aditi’s sake.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw their faint shadows as they might have reached the middle of the stairs. I took a deep breath and ran down the stairs, held the top of the guardrail and using my feet against the wall, I swung around and leaped upon the first guy’s chest, pushing him upon the others. They all fell like dominoes as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I ran and slid towards the car far from me and bumped into it. To my horror, the car alarm rang, piercing the silence.

  Two of the guys recovered and started firing at me, causing the alarm in the second car to go off too. I could now hear shouts outside the gate. ‘Awesome, now the whole cavalry’s gonna come inside.’ I blind fired at the two guys and injured one of them. Taking advantage of this diversion, I holstered the gun and exited through the gate. I raced into the unknown, hoping to reach the society gate. My luck was with me until Chaudhary came out of nowhere and cut me off, “You are under arrest for the murder of Aditi-” his words drowned, and as I felt the cold hard handcuffs starting to snap on my hands, something snapped inside me.

  I nudged my hands forcefully and turned back to face him, knocking the cuffs out of his hands. He screamed into the night as one of my knees found his privates, “Remember that I taught you, kid, you can’t escape me.” He fell to the side, and I sat on top of him, grabbing his collar. “Yes, I remember,” I punched his face hard. “I also remember that you taught me well,” I punched him again. He started bleeding from his jaw. “Very well,” I started with another punch, but he moved aside making me hit the hard concrete ground.

  “Aarrghhh!!” He pushed me to the ground, but I got up, jerking my hand which had just taken a hit. “So it has come to this,” he said in a taunting voice. “Defeat your maker!” I heard a horn honk in the distance. He looked at the direction the car horn might have sounded from, then looked back at me with a crooked smile, “think you’re gonna make it your ride boy?”

  “You are not my maker,” I said, flexing my broken hand into a fist. And he launched himself towards me with a battle cry. I dodged his blow, knelt down and punched the left side of his abdomen. He grabbed me by the neck and pulled my head to his side. I tried to break free, but his grip was too tight.

  Instead, I put my arm around his back, sweeping his leg and pushing him down with me, headfirst onto the ground. H
e turned, and I noticed that he had started bleeding from his head from where it had cut open. I picked him up, he threw my arms aside and landed two good ones on me. I recovered just in time to stop the third one in mid-air. We were both straining, giving each other everything we got as I saw the other officers in the distance who we left earlier, rushing towards us.

  “It’s been fun, Chaudhary Ji, but its time for me to go,” I gave him a head-butt. He staggered back, feeling a little dizzy. I grabbed his head and brought it down to meet my knee. “Don’t worry, old-timer. You will live,” then I stepped back and sealed the deal with a roundhouse to his face. He dropped onto the ground, knocked cold.

  ‘I need to move,’ I said to myself as the constables were just meters away with their rifles. I picked up my Glock which had fallen off in the fight and ran like hell, the officers running after me. I reached around the bend and saw the gate just a few hundred meters away, blinking lights shining on the other side. The guard was opening the gate for a car.

  I started running, looking straight ahead, freedom getting closer with every passing moment. I had almost reached the car, now halfway in through the gate when my trip was cut short by something burning through my leg, and I lost my balance. One of the constables chasing me had taken a shot at my leg, and I spiraled off into the car’s windshield, which cracked. I blinked slowly and remembered that I had the gun in my right hand, which I couldn’t feel right now. I guided my left hand to take it from there and pointed it directly at the first officer which I could make out through my blurry eyes.

  BANG!!

  I hit his left shoulder, and he fell. The silhouettes behind him raised their arms at shoulder length. I rolled over my right hand off the car as multiple rifles started firing at the windshield where I fell from. I opened the driver side door with my left hand and crouched behind it just as the windshield shattered. I saw the car driver take most of the first magazines; then the firing was ordered to be stopped as a few bullets smashed the headlights and they found that they had killed an innocent. I dragged his body out and sat inside. Turning on the engine, I reversed the car out of the entrance and drove off.

  I was bleeding all over the car from my wound in my left leg where I was shot, and the blinding pain in my right shoulder suggested that I had dislocated it when I smashed onto the windshield.

  I found a piece of cloth on the car dashboard, which I bit into while I placed my left hand on my right shoulder. I took a few quick breaths.

  POP!!

  “FUCK!” I let out, panting as my shoulder popped back into place and the pain subsided a bit. ‘Now comes the hard part’ I thought to myself as I opened the glove compartment and looked inside. Apart from the numerous documents and a bit of cash, I found nothing which could help me. “Damn it!!” I needed something fast to stop the bleeding. I remembered that there was a 24X7 store nearby, about two kilometers from my current position.

  I put the cash in my jacket’s inner pocket, and wrapped the cloth tightly around the wound, then started the engine. I sped off on the way to the convenience store, driving as fast as I could with my left hand as I still couldn’t feel or move my right hand.

  Few minutes had passed which felt like forever and still, there was no sign of any 24X7 store. I feared that I might have lost my way, taken a wrong turn or perhaps there might be no store. I could already hear sirens from afar, as the streets were quiet. It also hit me now as to where would I go if I survive this. I couldn’t go to my home; cops would be waiting for me. There were only two people whom I could trust at the moment, Pratap and Alan. It was obvious that I couldn’t go to Pratap, and Alan was far away out of the station on a string of joint missions with the ATC squad, completely unaware of the shitstorm I was in.

  Finally, I took a left turn and there it was in the distance.

  I came to a halt outside it and stumbled out of the car. It was not a very big store, but it should have what I needed. I entered and saw a man in his mid-twenties manning the counter, listening to music with earphones on. There was no one else in the shop. He removed the earphones in shock when he noticed me and then saw the gun in my hand.

  “Oh my lord!” He went to dial something on his phone. “Stop,” I pointed the gun at him. He dropped his phone in fear, whimpering, “Please don’t hurt me.”

  I went towards him, lowering the gun a bit, “I won’t, just need a few things. Also, need you to shut up about this incident and clean up after I leave,” I indicated to the blood that I was trailing. “Pick up your phone and give it to me. I will keep it for now so that you don’t do anything stupid.” I kept his phone in my pocket and saw a landline on the counter as well. I went and disconnected it.

  “I need a first aid kit, some painkillers, few energy bars and a bottle of water. Hurry!” I barked.

  He brought all those things to the counter. I emptied the small bottle of water along with a few painkillers then and there.

  “Where is the restroom?” He pointed to his right. “Take me there.”

  I entered the restroom and sat on the floor, then removed the cloth from my leg to let out a fresh trickle of blood. I opened the first aid box. Inside, there were gauges, Band-Aids, a small scissor and a bottle of Dettol but I went for the bottle of rubbing alcohol, opened the cap, and splashed it down on my face, hands, knee and the leg wound.

  I grabbed the restroom door tightly, muffling my screams as the alcohol burned through me. But the bleeding did not stop.

  I looked up at the store guy, who was standing in the doorway looking scared, “Why is the bleeding not stopping?”

  “It won’t,” he said in a quiet voice, “The rubbing alcohol can only clean the wound. That being said, it would also clean up any clots which might have formed since the wound opened. The bandages will help. I can-”

  He started to help me, but I interrupted loudly, startling him, “I don’t have time for bandages.”

  “Red pepper can help, but it will sting like a bitch. Shall I bring some?”

  “Do it,” I started to get up, but he made me sit. “You don’t need to get up, it’s just there,” he said, pointing to the nearby shelves, “You can keep an eye on me from here.” I heard the sirens getting louder as he went and fiddled on one of the shelves and came back with a packet full of red pepper, “Here, it is quite fast to stop the bleeding.”

  He poured me two handfuls of red pepper. I took a deep breath, kept my leg vertically so that the knee was upright and slammed both handfuls onto both sides of the wound.

  “AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!! FUUUUUUCK!!”

  I kept rubbing my hands a bit more, ignoring the tears from my eyes. I looked at the bloodied cloth. He took out his handkerchief, “Here you can have this.”

  “Thanks,” I wrapped it tight around the wound and got up. “Sorry about all this,” I said, handing him his phone back and some of the cash.

  I went out of the store and out of the corner of my eye, noticed the man dialing a number. I saw a jeep in the distance speeding towards the store and figured it was about time. I sat in the car and turned on the engine, but the car didn’t start. I tried multiple times, but it didn’t budge. ‘Great, I don’t think even God can save me now,’ I thought and looked back in panic as the jeep had almost caught up to me. Suddenly, something else crossed my mind. John!

  I knew where I had to go now. Expecting some miracle, I turned the key to try one last time, and it started. I drove off with the jeeps following me.

  I drove like a maniac and cocked my gun ready, getting impatient. The church was just a kilometer away from there, maybe half and I was still wasting time out here in the open.

  I could already faintly make out the tall boundary fence of the church graveyard ahead as I was nearing the first turn of this road going left. I suspected that the police jeep might be speeding to apprehend me. I reached the turn and surely enough, looking at the left, I saw police jeep lights getting closer by the second.

  I rolled down the windows on my left side and poin
ted the gun straight at the front left tire of the approaching jeep. I fired the first shot but missed.

  The jeep was almost too close now. It was like they had planned to collide with me head-on. This was my only chance. I steadied and slowed my breath down as I lined up for the second shot, which pierced the jeep’s tire.

  I pressed on the accelerator but looking at the jeep I figured it was too late. The jeep had swerved, turning around and skidding at that spot but it was still on its way to collide with me. I opened the car door and made a dive behind the car just as the jeep hit it.

  I dodged the shattered glasses from the windows as the car turned over to the side and the jeep bounced back to hit a nearby tree. I was already on my way, limping to reach the churchyard fence. I reached it and stumbled onto the fence, my leg roaring with pain again.

  I grabbed hold of the fence and limped my way forward along it.

  A few meters more.

  I think nobody had followed me from the aftermath of the collision, but I didn’t want to look behind now.

  A few meters more.

  I looked up to see the dense trees lined up along my way and they hit my face with a cool breeze.

  A few meters more.

  I looked through the fence at the graves. There was something eerie about the stillness there. I scanned the graves again, but this time I noticed a silhouette. I brought my eyes back to that location and nearly lost my grip to the fence for a second. There she was, straight from my memory and mangled up as before, sitting on top of a gravestone.

  Aditi! She smiled and made a heart with her hands. Her voice echoed through to me, though she was far. ‘Remember, Arjun! Follow your heart! Always!’ Then she vanished.

  I reached the door, knocked hard two times and fell to the floor. The church door opened and I could see John between my blinks.

  “I need a favor, Jo-,” and I fainted.