“You are right though. All of this shit has been unbelievable, and I am sad that poor Aditi had to pay so dearly for it. She was a nice girl though, always had her heart in the right place. Hope her soul rests in peace.”
“Amen brother” I replied.
“I never would have guessed that she hid the flash drive in a dog’s locket.”
“Aditi was something else indeed,” I added with a smile on my face.
“Sorry for keeping you, you can take rest now. Your entire body has been battered and broken mercilessly.”
I stepped out of the living room and carefully lay on my bed. Was it extreme pain or the painkillers or the alcohol but something drifted me straight to sleep. I hoped that I don’t get any nightmare but knowing my luck, I wasn’t sure. However, I was met with something different. I was at Bedrock along with all the puppies. I was feeding Dino when I heard someone’s voice.
“Police Babu!”
Only Aditi called me that. I was scared because I expected her mangled up face and her tortured body, but this time her face looked usual self-paired with an elegant black dress. She looked beautiful. It had been ages ago since I last saw her face. She was happy and kept smiling.
“Thanks, Police Babu for taking my revenge.”
“I am sorry Aditi. I couldn’t save you-”
“Shut up; I am happy here. Bedrock was my home away from home. This is the last time that I am meeting you.”
“Why?” I protested.
She smiled. “My work here is done.”
God, I missed her smile. I tried to hold her hand but then I started hearing some strange noise.
THUD! THUD!
It was as if someone was breaking down the walls of Bedrock. I woke up with a start and saw myself lying on my bed. However, there was one little problem - I couldn’t breathe. I tried to inhale but nothing; even taking oxygen from the mouth was not possible. My nerves started throbbing, and my eyes turned red. I tried again but the same result. Then I saw that Pratap was the one beating my chest. The strange noise in my dream was Pratap banging my chest. I was joining Aditi at Bedrock very soon, and I didn’t mind the thought at all. I opened my eyes again and looked at Pratap frantically pacing in the room unable to decide what to do. He couldn’t call a doctor here, and it was pretty clear that he was running out of ideas. But then something struck me, I waved my hands and caught his attention.
“What happened? I am trying to do something. Just have patience,” he muttered worriedly.
I caught hold of his hand and looked straight into his eyes.
“Ah – Ah- Ah- ”
Then I motioned my chest like something is piercing it. I repeated the same a couple of times.
“You want me to puncture your lung? Are you ki – kidding me?” he shouted with his hands trembling.
I grunted out loud in anger and nodded. I didn’t have much time. The lack of oxygen was the worst nightmare anyone could have. I figured out that somehow my lungs were not functioning properly or the passageway was blocked maybe due to excessive bleeding. Meanwhile, Pratap quickly brought a large syringe and looked at me.
“Are you sure about this?”
I nodded and gestured him to do it quickly. I hoped that he didn’t screw it up. He punched the needle inside my left chest puncturing my lung and ejected some blood out. As soon as he removed the needle, I spat some blood out of my mouth and was able to breathe.
“Ah- Ah Goddamn man,” I shouted.
Pratap looked at me and laughed. “I thought you were a goner. Now, you are sleeping in front of me.”
I followed him outside the room and sat beside him. He placed his gun on the center table and sat in a relaxed position. I looked at him and smiled. I picked up his gun and admired it. The safety was on, and I disabled it.
“What are you doing?” he asked me curiously.
“Doing what’s right!” I shouted as I pointed the gun at him.
I cocked the gun and kept my eyes on him.
“Are you fucking stupid? Keep it down.”
I didn’t say anything. But I could see him getting scared for the first time in my life. I never remembered Pratap to be afraid of something.
“I just saved your life. You lunatic!” Pratap shouted at me while I kept an expressionless face throughout the altercation.
~*~
Let’s take you back to my dream a few minutes earlier.
“Thanks, Police Babu for taking my revenge.”
“I am sorry Aditi. I couldn’t save you-”
“Shut up; I am happy here. Bedrock was my home away from home. This is the last time that I am meeting you.”
“Why?” I protested.
She smiled. “My work here is done.”
“I miss you. I am sorry that I always disappointed you.”
“I always loved you, Police Babu,” she said in a heavenly voice.
“I love you too. Pratap and I were just talking about you,” I replied with tears in my eyes.
“Ahem-ahem. I know about that. That’s why I came to you to make you realize something.”
“What?” I questioned her inquisitively.
“How many people know how you got the flash drive, Police Babu? About Bedrock or about Dino?”
I started grinding my brains and told her that no one except Ajeet’s henchman knew about it. “But why are you asking me about it?”
She pinched my cheek. “You are so naive, then how does Pratap know about it?”
I realized that it was indeed true. How did he know that I retrieved the flash drive from Bedrock?
“Pratap is dirty too, right?” I asked.
“I don’t know about it. I only know what you know. Remember I am a part of your imagination; think of me as your inner self.”
THUD! THUD!
“Where is this voice coming from?” I shouted.
Her lips turned into a line. “It’s time to open your eyes.”
She bent towards me a little and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I opened my eyes, unable to breathe.
“Damn! Pratap was like an elder brother” I thought to myself while he tried his best to save me.
~*~
We had a scuffle and Pratap overpowered me in a second as I was fragile and almost all my body parts were hurt or aching. He pointed the gun at me and shouted. “Are you seriously out of your mind Arjun? We are like brothers. I am trying to help you out here, and you are pointing a gun at me.”
“How did you know that I got the flash drive from Bedrock?”
“Um- you told me about it today,” he replied.
“Why are you lying? I never told you about it.”
He stood up still pointing the gun at me. “You are hallucinating. All the trauma is acting upon you now. You need to sleep and think this with a clear head.”
“I am not making this up. Just tell me the truth. You were in cahoots with Ajeet, right?”
Pratap didn’t say anything for a minute. “What difference will it make whether I agree or disagree? We would still be in the same position here.”
“It would make all the difference to me, you bastard,” I shouted.
Suddenly, his facial expression changed for the worst. He broke into hysterical laughter.
“Yes, I was with Ajeet this whole time.”
I clenched my fist and swung it hard across his face. Next thing I know; I was lying on the floor face-first. Then I was dragged and tied to a cold chair. I was getting in and out of consciousness.
“Good morning, sleepyhead!”
I looked around me. It was my house only; he had chosen the storage room to interrogate me.
“Why did you do this Pratap?”
He punched me hard, and I spat blood on my white vest.
“I ask the questions and not anyone else here. Tell me where did you hide the flash drive?”
“When did you sell your soul to the devil?”
He punched me again. “You too are stubborn like Aditi. She lost her life because of
it.”
I looked at him angrily. How could I have been so blind? He was there that day when Ajeet had killed her. He was the other guy that I had suspected about.
“You look so cute, trying to figure out everything. Let me help you. Yes, I had ordered Ajeet to kill her when I came to know that she was of no use to us. I arranged the accident of your car when you were coming to meet me with Akshay and Zayed.”
“Why? We were coming to you anyway?” I asked with tears in my eyes. It was a lot to take in.
“I couldn’t afford to leave you and Zayed alone for a long time. He had his suspicions toward me, and I knew that both of you were determined to solve this mess at any costs.
“Why? Pratap, Why?”
“Darwin’s theory of evolution – survival of the fittest. All this started as a side business, but then I started making some serious money out of it.”
“Why was Aditi killed?” I shouted.
“She had come too close with her investigation. It could have been horrendous for all the parties involved. Hence, she was stopped,” he said with pride in his voice.
“You disgust me.” I spat on his face.
He wiped his face and slapped me hard across the face. It felt like a lightning bolt had struck me.
“I helped you survive; I let you escape from the Police, and this is how you repay me? Zayed was able to catch you after months but had I tried to do it, I would have caught you within days.”
I scoffed. “Why did you leave me then?”
“I was afraid about the information you knew, whether you were able to find anything at Aditi’s house. And it paid off; you did manage to retrieve the flash drive.”
“You forgot all the years of our brotherhood just for money and saving your ass?”
“I would do it in a heartbeat again, don’t love being stuck in a cop’s meager salary,” he replied without any shift in his expression.
“You killed Akshay and Zayed, just to get to me?”
He laughed out loud. “Akshay was a mosquito. I wanted to kill both of you, but you survived again. I envy your luck.”
“Did you also kill Shikha? I will hunt both you and Devraj down, I promise.”
“You don’t know shit yet. This is just the tip of the iceberg. You don’t even have the faintest idea who all are involved, but for the record, I didn’t kill her.”
I didn’t say anything and tried to loosen up the rope but to no avail. I was sure that if I been in the prime of my health, I would have taken him out.
“Tell me, where is the flash drive or I will kill you right here and right now and no one will bat an eye. Heck, I will get a medal for this too.”
“The bank video? You cooked it up, right?” I asked.
“Hahahahaha, it was all you. Do you even know that Delta Solutions had made many serums in the past? One such serum was a mind susceptibility serum which was tested with great results. You were the first test subject.”
I was dumbfounded, the ground quivering beneath my legs, ‘Could it be true?’
“What was there in the locker room and why was I chosen? When did you give me the serum?”
“Easy there, tiger. This will be the last question that I will be answering today, and then you give me the location of the flash drive. We needed leverage over you, hence the video. There was a top-secret asset in the locker which you procured for us. After your wife’s death, it was damn easy to pass anything to you. Heck, you drank everything you laid your eyes on.”
“So it was always the plan to frame me?” I asked stupidly.
“Indeed, do you think that we were so stupid that we didn’t see a mobile phone in Aditi’s pocket? We wanted you there. I wanted you to escape from there. It was all planned. I am the mastermind, and a flash drive can’t decide my future.”
I felt a verbal paralysis at that time. I didn’t know what to say. This was all too sudden and shocking for me to wrap my head around. The nightmares and visions were bearable, but this level of backstabbing was intolerable. Even Brutus from Julius Caesar looked like a saint to me.
“Arjun, start speaking now. Where is the fucking drive?”
“I will never tell you.”
He didn’t waste any time and kicked me in my broken leg and enjoyed watching me wincing in pain.
“Noooooooooooo!” I shouted.
“I can make this a living hell for you and I have all the time in the world. It's better if you start cooperating.”
“Is it something related to Mirzapur?”
This time Pratap had a puzzled expression on his face and finally smiled a little. “My brother has done his research. Yes, it is related to Mirzapur. I did a lot of dirty work there for Devraj. All the major tests and research done by Delta Solutions was done there only.”
“Pratap, I always trusted you, and it hurts to say, but I will finish you.”
He laughed and looked at me in awe. “I will fucking cut you into million pieces and feed them to dogs at Bedrock.”
With this, he cocked the gun and placed it on my forehead. “Give me the location right now.”
“Over my dead body,” I replied and instantly regretted it.
“That can be arranged.”
BANG!
He shot a bullet in my right knee, the same leg which was covered in the makeshift plaster.
“AHHHH!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!”
I bled profusely. The kneecap was blasted open, and I could see my bones and torn muscles inside. The way my blood was flowing out, I was sure that my death was near.
“Do you want me to shoot at your other leg too?”
“Do it if yo- you can. I won’t give you the drive even if I die.”
Pratap looked frustrated. “Always the martyr! But I know your weakness. That’s the disadvantage of being good; you always try to do the right thing. But I am not the good guy; I am the big bad wolf who will kill Tia and John next. I know you care about them.”
“Shut up you asshole! Don’t even think of touching them.”
The smile faded off his face, and he placed the gun on my other leg. “I didn’t like your tone. Let’s make you a cripple.”
BANG!
A bullet had been fired, but I didn’t feel much pain. Maybe I had crossed my saturation point. My body did not register all the pain and suffering after that. Did I die? I would not have minded dying an hour ago, but it was a different ball game now. I wanted to kill that sick bastard Pratap. Alan would go mad thinking about all the stuff that had happened here. Then I saw Pratap’s face. His eyes were bulging out with shock as he covered his shoulder. I could see his white shirt covered with his own blood. Someone had shot a bullet at him. I moved my head up and looked at the attacker who stood near the door of the room. It was none other than Zayed. His face was unrecognizable now with a huge scar just below his left eye and his gathering beard. He was the silver lining amidst these dark clouds. Pratap turned around and tried to shoot him, but Zayed was lightning fast and shot a bullet at his leg making the ACP fall on the floor.
“GODDAMMIT! Yo – you ar – are still alive?” Pratap managed to speak.
“Yes, sir! Mohammed Zayed reporting for duty,” he said with a smirk on his face.
He came near Pratap and kicked his gun away. Without wasting any more time, he quickly untied me.
“You are in the worst state right now. It looks like you would die any second,” he said in a tense way.
“It also feels like it. Just cover my torn up knee with a cloth to stop the blood flow.”
Zayed pulled a handkerchief and tied it around my knee. “What to do with him? Should I arrest him?”
“He was kind enough to answer many questions, let’s return the favor first.”
I moved towards Pratap, who was still lying on the floor bleeding slowly.
“That’s right bitch! Zayed was alive all this time. I knew that someone from the inside was involved in all this shit and I had kept him hidden.”
Pratap seemed unable to digest that b
it. He said, “But we found the body with a few articles on it proving-”
“-conveniently placed on another man’s body who attacked us.” Zayed finished his sentence and looked at me, smiling as I looked back at him, remembering something.
I stirred slowly, pulling myself off the seat to attend to the people in the front seat. I couldn’t believe I had been in another car accident. Through mind-melting pain, I somehow managed to get to Akshay, who was already gone. I don’t even remember if I had time to grieve. I saw smoke coming out of the hood of the car and tried to wake up Zayed.
“Wha-? ARGHHH!! Somebody hit us,” he screamed, then looked sideways at Akshay. He was bleeding from the head a little amongst other bruises.
“He is gone,” I croaked, pushing the door at my side open, “We have to get out, this car’s about to blow.”
“Damn it, my door’s stuck,” Zayed shouted, struggling to open it and gasping for air as smoke filled the truck.
Suddenly there was a large whirring sound, and as I got out, a man with a chainsaw came from behind and struck the jammed door with all his might, making us both flinch. The door fell down, but as Zayed began to get out, the man launched himself with the weapon again at him. He was the same man whose truck we had stolen. I stopped him and tried pushing him away, holding his weapon hand, and in the scuffle, the whirring chainsaw slashed his head when we were at the back of the truck. The tools in the back got painted by his head, and his motionless body dropped at my feet.
“Holy fuck,” we shouted in unison.
“What will we do now?” Zayed asked unable to see the dead body.
“I have an idea,” I said to him as we picked his body up, “Let’s plant him on your seat.” We did the same, and I continued, “This attack was not an accident, and if we are working together now, there is a huge target already painted on your back too.”
Zayed nodded gravely, and I continued, “Put a few of your belongings in his pockets so that they can identify him as you because dental evidence is out of the picture. We are declaring you officially dead. Just go into hiding now and try to locate the flash drive. Keep me posted.”
“How did you manage to come here?” Pratap enquired.
Death and Dishonor Page 31