Death and Dishonor

by Abhimanyu Saxena

  “This is ridiculous,” she dropped her spoon on her plate, “You have an army of officers under you who can keep our city safe. I am sure you can coordinate from home.”

  He scoffed and said, “And what about their Holi? My officers can’t celebrate with their families, and I will be having the time of my life, is that it?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said in a low voice. “I understand that you have a lot of pressure on you as you have taken up Arjun’s case, but he is innocent and will not harm anyone. Bechara, he will be alone too because of all this shit. Remember how we used to bash together every year on Holi?”

  “Do you still really think that he is innocent? I am not so sure anymore. We have to take extra measures to ensure people’s safety,” Pratap said boldly.

  “What? When did you change your opinion about him? You are his best friend. How can you even think that he could do such acts?”

  “How can you not?” Pratap said sharply, “He was coming to me with answers, he had sorted it out with Zayed who I think started believing that Arjun was innocent. Everything was going good, then what happened. Zayed got blown up along with my best friend’s partner in crime, Akshay Mehta.”

  She raised her eyebrows. Pratap continued, “Yes, it got me too. We found out that he was Aditi’s brother. It killed me when I faced their parents. One can’t imagine how shattered they are, both of their children dead.”

  Neha sat and stared back in silence. Pratap said, “I want to believe that Arjun is innocent, but he is giving me reasons daily to think otherwise.”

  She bit her lip, then said, “But there must be reasons; his side of explanation that you haven’t even got a chance to hear. I refuse to believe…”

  He got up before finishing his plate, “That is enough, Neha. This is my case now, and I will handle it accordingly. You don’t need to let me know how to do my job. I have to go now, don’t wait up for me.”

  He left, and she just sat there looking at her plate, unsure of what was to come.

  ~*~

  Satyendra Singh, the present Chief Minister of Delhi, looked at the small number of people that had joined to listen to him. He had perspired and drank two bottles of water in half an hour. The writing was on the wall, the numbers were not in his favor, and not due to any of his fault. He was a simple man who wanted to change the city for the better, but his opponent breathed fire. There were hordes of people lined up whenever Devraj spoke, and everyone knew that the city would elect a new CM this election. Deep down, Satyendra knew it too. He was never the gifted speaker. He represented the minorities and was chosen by his party in order to gain the votes and trust of the minority section. No one had ever believed that he would be the CM, but it had happened. His tenure was peaceful, but the emergence of Devraj had changed everything.

  “Thank you all for coming here,” he added in his soft low pitched voice.

  The grey colored safari suit looked elegant on him as he adjusted his spectacles. He was touching seventy years in age, and this was one of the major factors that the public was not favoring him. Devraj was about twenty years younger than him and had a more aggressive approach.

  “This will be my last speech before the coming State elections, and hopefully you all will choose the right candidate for the position. I don’t believe in talking too much or mouthing bad words or personal attacks about someone like Mr. Devraj, but instead, I believe in working. I wanted to talk to you all earlier as well, but I was busy in making the policies, and agenda for my next tenure. I heard Devraj had announced earlier that he would be working with the late Inspector Zayed, bless his soul, to get rid of Arjun Rathore. Please let me know in which authority are you appointing someone or working with a Govt officer. Devraj can share his ideas for the betterment of the city with us, but he has no power or authority as of now to do anything. It is our job, and we are capable enough to do it. I have assigned ACP Pratap Singh to this case who will personally oversee it. He has already exceeded expectations in the past, and is a very good police officer.”

  The small bunch of people that were listening to his words were pretty vocal about it and voiced their cheers and applause. This was the first time that their leader was getting aggressive, and they loved every bit of it. The murmurs stopped when Satyendra started speaking again.

  “I won’t talk about his nephew Ajeet, who has been accused by the Public Enemy Number one Arjun of killing the reporter girl. We are better than Devraj and their party, and we intend to create more flyovers, new Metro routes, more hospitals, schools, and we will promote the tourism heavily. Lastly, I want to address the fact that Arjun is still at large. He has been giving the Police a tough time because he has no law and order to abide. He can do anything, and stoop to any level, but our Police System cannot. However, I have been assured by the ACP that this will all be over soon, and he is on top of it.”

  Another round of applause broke the silence as the CM had stopped to drink a glass of water. The age was catching up to him. He had a bad feeling about the results of this election, but he had tried everything, even taking a few jabs at his opposition.

  “I would urge one and all to come vote for us to make this city prosper to the heights of success. Jai Hind!”

  He descended the podium and was escorted to his helicopter by Commandoes. He looked at the crowd one last time and took a deep breath. He wanted to do so much more, but the dirty game of politics wasn’t letting him do anything,

  ~*~

  I somehow managed to scrape myself off that payphone and reach the bunker in the heavy downpour. I had to jack a ride and drive in pain, but I couldn’t risk collapsing and getting caught. But I didn’t wanna do anything though as everything here reminded me of Akshay, and the others that had fallen because of me. I had my demons from the beginning, but this was an abomination. In the back of my mind, there was a thought that was getting intensified.

  ‘What if I didn’t want to solve this mess, irrespective of the consequences?’

  I couldn’t bring them back whatever may I do. I could live like this – all this running and being branded as a convict. I was able to cheat death, but my friends, and family were not. All of my thoughts drifted away when I heard rushed knocks on the bunker door. I instantly reached out to the back of my jeans and retrieved Zayed’s gun. It was Tia.

  “Arjun, are you alright?” she asked hugging me.

  “Sadly yes,” I whispered letting her in.

  “You don’t look alright. You are cut up and bruised everywhere. Let me take a look at them.”

  “It can wait, Tia,” I added monotonously.

  “I saw the news and came here straight. Tell me what and how it happened.”

  I took a deep breath and poured a glass of bourbon from Akshay’s collection. “I fucked up again. I had a flawed plan, and both Akshay and Zayed are dead because of me.”

  “Zayed’s death is a good part though, right?”

  “Even if we hadn’t clarified anything, I am not a killer. He was an honest cop who was just doing his job. He didn’t deserve to die. He was Ali, whom all of us were trying to find. He had an idea about the flash drive also, but everything is ruined because of me.”

  “You didn’t do it intentionally. Come here,” she added and hugged me again.

  “I don’t think that I can continue on a path like this. It looks like the whole city is a Death Garden, and I am the gardener here.”

  “You have to continue otherwise all these sacrifices would be pointless.”

  She was trying her best to cheer me up, but I was back to my miserable self. Her cute yellow top and blue denim jeans made her look like a minion. It changed my mood feebly, but I guess I wasn’t motivated enough.

  “Make sure that all of the losses are avenged, and Ajeet is killed or captured by the Police where he will be tried by the judicial department.”

  “It’s not just Ajeet. There are moles everywhere. Zayed was right – the whole system is corrupt.”

 
; “About that – I have some news.”

  I finished my drink and poured another.

  “I knew that you were very busy these last few days, and I hated myself for being of no help to you. All I did was spending time with Baba at the hospital. I had to use different get-ups so that nobody noticed me. Vijay helped a lot. So, I got to work, and today I finally made some breakthrough. I caught hold of Sid and kicked his balls. Your wife’s mobile finally got decrypted. Here you go,” she threw the mobile at me.

  I turned it on, and some strange dialog boxes started popping up on the screen.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “The phone is heavily encrypted, so we have set up a function at the start-up which decrypts it, and it will get powered up automatically.”

  I didn’t understand much, but I acted like that I knew what she just spoke. At that moment, all of the boxes on the screen vanished, and a symbol replaced them.

  ~*~

  It became transparent, and the main screen opened up. I tried finding something, but it was futile. The symbol looked familiar, but I couldn’t recollect my memories as they were pretty screwed up.

  “Did you find anything in this?” I asked.

  “Some messages, here is the transcript.”

  She handed me an A4 sheet of paper with great pride. I started reading it thinking that this would be the breakthrough that could turn the tables in our favor. However, there was nothing much on it except a couple of messages which horrifyingly suggested that some stalker was harassing Shikha. How can she not tell me about it? I was a cop, for god’s sake. I would have kicked that stalker’s ass.

  “Can you meet me?”

  “Stop messaging me. I don’t know you. I will contact the Police if you don’t stop.”

  I placed the paper on the adjoining couch. She used to tell everything to me, but I never even saw this mobile in our house.

  “I cannot shake that symbol from my mind. I know it somehow,” I added, straining my brains.

  “You cannot shake that symbol because you do know it. Where did Shikha work?”

  “Delta Solutions, but what is the con-”

  “It’s the symbol of the company – Delta Solutions” replied Tia.

  “Alright,” I added taking a sip of my second drink.

  “That’s not all Arjun; you do remember the torn piece of paper that you had. The documents that Aditi’s mom gave to you, and amidst the fight with Police, you lost the folder except for one torn small piece of paper which had a triangle on it. It was not a triangle; but a part of the symbol of the company where she worked.”

  It was a lot to sink in. It meant that Shikha was torn up in something. Was her death a mere accident or was it a murder? But why was Aditi investigating her company?

  “I know you must be having many questions in your mind, but I don’t have anything apart from this. I tried to investigate Delta Solutions, but they don’t have much online information, which is the only place where I excel.”

  “I have to investigate this company,” I added.

  “Not right now, we will have to do something once the time is right. The manhunt is vivid currently in the city with the elections just around the corner, but yes, they are persons of interest.”

  I nodded. I was done with my impulsive actions. I always reacted, and things never got my way. I had to investigate this company, but not right now.

  “Nice work Tia, almost all the secrets are uncovered now - the mobile, the triangle shaped logo, and Ali. Now ‘Follow your heart’ and the flash drive is left. Ahh! I forgot the new questions that arose – why was Aditi investigating Delta Solutions and the texts on Shikha’s phone.”

  “You are forgetting one more thing,” she scoffed.

  “Oh! Yes, indeed, what had Aditi uncovered which got her killed?”

  “Shikha’s bank locker that you never heard of. As per that time stamp you saw on your trip to the bank, it was emptied out by someone after her death.”

  I sighed. I had forgotten about it completely. “Fucking hell!” we still don’t have anything.

  “I kind of figured it out too, and trust me it is damn interesting.”

  “My life is interesting enough. You have already done more than enough though.”

  She smiled and started connecting the HDMI cable from her laptop to the LED TV. “Watch it for yourself. Grab some popcorn, and enjoy the show.”

  It was the CCTV footage inside the bank. Tia had somehow managed to break into the camera and got the desired footage. At that point, a man started walking towards the reception. He was tall and looked familiar from the back. He had worn a white shirt and black trousers.

  “Who is he?” I asked.

  “You know him already. Just wait for a minute.”

  After a minute, the person was guided towards the desired locker. Tia fast-forwarded the clip a little till that person came outside with a small wooden box in his hand. It was not the box which had my attention, but the face of the person that had caused me to bite my tongue. I knew the person all too well. The stubble on his face, the dark swollen eyes, and boyish charm – I had known him all too well.

  “This cannot be possible!” I muttered.

  “That’s what I thought at first,” Tia replied.

  “Who has edited this? We need to find him or her, and maybe we get some answers.”

  “The thing that intrigued me was that I de-interlaced the video layer to see any masking or any edit signatures, but I didn’t find any. This video is untouched.”

  “How can it be?” I shouted with my mouth still open in shock.

  The person was none other than yours truly – the great Arjun Rathore in his complete glory.

  BEDROCK

  “Did you go there earlier as well?” Tia asked me suspiciously.

  “Are you mad? I never knew about the bank before. I am telling you that this is some screwed up shit. Someone was targeting me, and ensured that he had ample proofs to show that I am the true criminal.”

  “What was in the locker?”

  “For the love of God, I DON’T KNOW!” I screamed out loud.

  She bit her lip and quickly took out the first aid kit that she had brought with herself.

  “I don’t need it.”

  My mood had taken a nose dive for the worst, and I had already drunk three glasses of bourbon in quick succession.

  “Please Arjun, we will think of something. Can I please clean your wounds first?”

  I nodded and allowed her to cleanse my cuts one by one. The gashes and the scars on my face pained like hell when she applied a swab of cotton with spirit on it. However, I didn’t flinch once, had to show myself strong in front of her. After some minutes, my face was filled with Band-Aids and tapes.

  “Any more cuts that I can tend to?”

  I smiled. “You have done enough. There is a gash on my chest, but I will take care of it myself.”

  “Let me take a look at it. I can do this, at least. How will you manage to do this on your own?”

  I nodded and took off my shirt. My wounded chest was at display, and Tia started applying ointment on one of the cuts. As soon as her hand touched my chest, I felt an electric current run through my body. Her delicate hands made me go mad, and I couldn’t think properly.

  “Is it paining a lot?” she asked.

  I didn’t reply and looked her straight in the eyes. I didn’t know whether it was the alcohol or her hands on my bare chest, but I forgot all the pain and sufferings at that moment. All I needed was her. I instantly tilted my head to the right, and our lips touched. She was taken by surprise but kissed me back. The taste of her lips and her scent was making me mad. I slid my tongue into her mouth and started to explore her mouth. She moaned loudly and dug all her fingernails at my back. We paused for a second to catch our breaths and started making out again. I picked her up and took her to the master bedroom. Once inside, I threw her on the bed and laid on top of her. My hands started exploring her entire body, my lips nev
er leaving hers. She was ecstatic too as her breath had become irregular, and moans were louder. I removed her yellow t-shirt and started kissing her neck.

  AHHHHHHH!

  She bit my lip until it started bleeding a little, and slid her tongue in my mouth. We had no control as we had tormented the state of the bedroom. I slid my hands to her belly teasing her, and never leaving her lips. I unbuttoned her jeans and slid it down her knees. She rolled me down and sat on top of me. I caught hold of her hair and pulled them lightly. In return, she bit my hand, and I loved it. I placed my hand on her chest; her heartbeat was chaotic. I was about to proceed ahead when I saw a tear in her eyes which shifted the entire paradigm.

  “What happened? Why are you crying?” I asked placing a hand on her cute cheek.

  “Nothing,” she replied and started wearing her clothes.

  “Tia! Tell me please.”

  “There was one more news that I came with, but I could not find the courage to tell it to you.”

  I took a deep breath. “You can tell me anything.”

  “Baba fixed my marriage with Dr. Vijay.”

  I wanted to punch someone. I clenched my fist in anger, and she noticed it immediately.

  “I am sorry Arjun; it was my fault. I shouldn’t have fallen for my urges.”

  Her tears didn’t stop, and I felt like crying.

  “Tell him that you like someone else,” I replied after thinking for a while.

  “I cannot do that to Baba. He has just got up from the Coma; I have tormented him enough; I don’t have the strength to cause any more pain to him.”

  I nodded and tried to put on a fake smile on my face. “So was I a time pass? Or a booty call?”

  She started crying out loudly. “It was never like that Arjun; it’s all my fault.”

  “It is alright. I am a lost cause.”

  She started sobbing loudly, and I handed her my handkerchief. “All the best for your future ahead, and wish you happy married life.”