I had no answer to this question as I was puzzled too. I looked at Zayed with a blank face. “Even I would like to know this. How did you know that he had taken me here?”
“Their own toy soldier Prateek, I checked his optics and scanned for your last known location. Luckily for me, the device had recorded the coordinates of this place before going offline. The moment I saw that you were at your home, I knew that something was not right.”
Pratap adjusted his back and took support of a stool nearby. “Zayed, join my side, and I will make sure that you would never face any monetary problem in the future. I will nominate your name to the higher ups –”
Zayed scoffed and handed me the gun. “Should we kill him or let the Police capture him?”
“He is a snake and would get away easily. There is no other option than to kill him.”
“No Arjun, don’t take any rash decision. Remember I am like your older brother.”
I knelt down and placed the gun at his temple. “That’s what makes it more difficult for me.”
Tears were flowing down Pratap’s eyes. “Please don’t kill me. I beg of you; I will surrender myself to the Police. Think about Neha; I will change myself. Just give me one chance.”
“My life has been like a nightmare, and all I did was run and hide. You took my best friend, my honor, my name and now you want me to forgive you. No chance, rot in hell – you motherfucker!”
BANG!
It was a clean shot through and through. Pratap’s lifeless body fell with a thud, and I threw the gun aside. I had tears in my eyes and punched my knuckles on the floor beside his body in anger. I didn’t know that all this would end in such a mess. It was a shit-storm of a gigantic level. Zayed placed a hand on my shoulder. I owed my life to him. He helped me in getting up, and I looked at my fallen rogue brother’s face one more time. I still didn’t believe that he could have done such a monstrosity. But it was all over, I hoped.
STORM
I didn’t know what happened. The last memory that I remembered was me smashing Pratap’s brains on the floor. The taste of bile in my mouth and the guilt of killing my old friend were sending shivers down my spine. All I could make out was that someone carried me to a place with full of bright lights and people were looking at me and twisting my injured leg at all the possible angles. “Dim the lights, someone!” I shouted as I reeled out of unconsciousness.
I heard Zayed scolding someone, and then the lights were adjusted.
“Hey, old buddy! You are up finally,” he said.
I looked at him and smiled. It was nice to finally see a trustworthy face. It took a while for the pupils in my eyes to adjust accordingly. I realized that I was in a hospital bed fully covered in bandages; both of my legs heavily plastered. Zayed looked at me analyzing my injuries.
“You will live. The first six months would be critical. You will need a wheelchair as there has been a metal object placed in your kneecap to help you.”
“What is good in this news?” I asked.
“You could have been paralyzed for life or die due to excessive blood loss, but you managed to survive once again. You cheated death again, you fucker!”
He hugged me lightly after saying this, and I flashed a crooked smile at him. My eyes roamed towards the ward door and saw tons of armed police officers outside looking at me.
“I won’t run now. My job is complete.”
Zayed placed a hand on my shoulder. “I will take care of them.”
“Close the door; we need a little privacy. I will need only ten minutes. I have handcuffed him to the bed, and I take full guarantee that he won’t flee.”
“Sir, we cannot leave you alone with him.”
“I am the superior officer here, and it is a direct order.”
They had no other option but to do as he had said. I looked at him in awe.
“Officer Ali in full glory.”
“Haha, call me Zayed. I buried that name a long time ago, and I have no pleasant memories of it.”
“Okay Zayed, you did well. I owe my life to you,”
Zayed cut me short. “We don’t have that much time on our hands. We need to discuss what is next now. What is our strategy?”
I nodded. “Simple, you will help me escape from here.”
~*~
Devraj cleared his throat. He had waited for this day since ages, and finally, it had turned into a reality. In a few minutes, he had to take charge of the state in front of the Governor of the state, Rashmi Desai. His secretary came towards him and started whispering something in his ear.
“Arjun has been captured by the Police. He has been transported to AIIMS for treatment as he was in a critical condition.”
“How did he still survive?” Devraj asked almost choking him to death.
“He killed Pratap and was assisted by Inspector Zayed.”
“What the fuck have you smoked? Zayed is alive, and Pratap is dead; think twice before opening your mouth, Gopal.”
“I am afraid that it is the truth, sir.”
“Hey Bhagwan!” shouted Devraj in anger.
His oath ceremony was taking place in a few minutes, and he had heard such disastrous news. First Ajeet and now Pratap, both were killed by Arjun, and that bastard Zayed was still alive. This spelled doom for Devraj. It won’t take Arjun much longer to deduce that they all were working for him.
“Send someone quickly to the hospital and get him killed.”
“Sir-”
Devraj slapped him tightly. “You heard me.”
~*~
“I am just messing with you man” I squeaked unable to control my laughter anymore.
Zayed mock-punched me and laughed his heart out. “So, what’s next?”
“I will surrender myself to the Police and then prove my innocence in the court.”
Zayed nodded in agreement. However, there was something that was bugging him down for quite some time. “Should we address the elephant in the room now?”
I knew what he was talking about. I was delaying it for later, but I didn’t have much time. “Let’s see the contents of the flash drive.”
Zayed plugged the drive on a laptop and gave it to me. There were two folders in the drive – Alchemist & Shield.
“Aditi already knew about Project Shield?” I asked with my mouth hung open.
“Seems like it. That girl was something else. Allah snatched her from us too early,” he added wiping a tear from his eyes.
“She would be happy to see us continuing her work here.”
Zayed double clicked the Alchemist folder, and it was flooded with files. “I have a good feeling about this,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes.
There were tons of classified documents present inside. All of the research by Alchemist Co., their meetings, analysis, the technology they had used and developed, everything was inside.
I jogged my mind for a bit. “I have heard the name Alchemist before.”
“This was the same organization that had set up their plant in Vindhyachal,” replied Zayed.
That was it. I remembered all the research that I did when I was trying to find out about Ali. “What exactly did they produce there?”
“Pharmaceuticals.”
However, both of us were proven wrong after a minute. We opened the classified documents one by one and found out that they were trying to develop a polymer. Not just any polymer though, this was the same that was used by Delta Solutions in making their tech and the bloody serum.
“It means that both Alchemist and Delta were working together? Does it mean that Shikha was working for the bad guys and Aditi was investigating it?” I shouted in desperation. This was getting messier by the second.
“Keep your voice down,” whispered Zayed, “We don’t know anything yet about your theories.”
There was a handwritten document, and both of us identified the handwriting in an instant. It was Aditi’s.
We opened the document and saw a name Karan Batra and two snapshots
below the name. Both of the pictures were captured from two different websites – Alchemist and Delta. Karan Batra was the COO of both the companies. Aditi had circled his name with a question mark at the right.
There were transcripts and CCTV logs scattered all over the folder. They were too many, and we didn’t have much time with us.
“Aditi managed to gather all this?” Zayed questioned.
“I doubt that this looks like a compilation in the making for a long time. Fetching all of this information from their system would have required some very sophisticated hacker which Aditi couldn’t have known about. Small time hackers couldn’t have cracked it as Shikha used to say that her company’s security was like a digital stronghold, so Alchemist couldn’t have been any different. No, I believe this started as an inside job.”
The CCTV and video logs were more than a hundred and were chronologically sorted by the date. We tried our luck and played them randomly. We didn’t get much as all the videos just showed the workers working in the plant. However, one of the video’s thumbnail caught my attention. It was a very well-known figure – who was going on all the TV screens in the city right now.
~*~
Meanwhile, Devraj was asked to repeat a set of words after the Governor Rashmi Desai.
“I, Devraj Singh, do swear in the name of God and solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as a Minister for the State of Delhi and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
~*~
We played the video file, and it started with the camera facing a grey door. It seemed to be Devraj’s voice inside having a heated discussion with another person. Thankfully, the person with the camera outside could hear the conversation, therefore, we could hear it.
“We are screwed up. This is serious, Devraj Ji,” a man was expressing his concern, breathing heavily.
“Control yourself, Bulbul. Have you lost it?” Devraj shouted back, “Why are you concerned about a stupid reporter?”
“From what I have heard Suresh Tripathi is far from stupid. I did my research; he is notorious and always sticks his long nose in people’s business.”
“You stupid prick,” Devraj retorted, “If you had done your research, you couldn’t have ensured that he doesn’t breathe near the premises? You are the fucking CEO of the company Bulbul, and I need to remind you of the sensitivity of the work that we are doing here?”
“Ya Khuda! Bulbul Mehra, the CEO of Alchemist? We didn’t even get a whiff that he came back in town after the plant inauguration,” Zayed said in panic.
I shushed Zayed to listen to the conversation and said, “Are you seriously talking about Bulbul, did you get a whiff of Devraj that he came before his humanitarian visit?
Zayed bit his lip and shook his head. The person holding the camera sighed in the video.
Bulbul continued after a moment of silence in shame, “I didn’t think that he would break inside our secured facility. I underestimated him, and now he has seen the inside and maybe all our work. If he tells anyone-”
“No,” Devraj cut in, “We can’t risk it. All of the hard work would be in vain then. Pack your research; we are done here. We have to clear out.”
Somebody knocked two times on the door, and our cameraman turned left so that we could see a man in neat formals whom I immediately recognized.
“Shit, it’s Aurobindo, one of the lead scientists from Delta Solutions. He was present at the Devraj’s event,” I murmured.
“Damn it! Why aren’t they opening the door?” Aurobindo asked the cameraman annoyingly who put up their hands in a puzzled expression, revealing a couple of bangles on each of them beside the folded-up sleeves of a lab coat. This meant that our camera wielding person was a woman.
Devraj slammed his wrist on the table, “Oh, this couldn’t have been more careless. Where is Suresh now?”
“We took care of him!” replied Bulbul in a low voice.
Aurobindo outside knocked a few more times, and Devraj screamed, “Oh, come in, already!”
The grey door was pulled open, and the camera lady was let inside followed by Aurobindo with her who whispered to her, “Let me do the talking.”
Devraj looked a bit younger, but he still had the same spark in his eyes that he had now. Zayed instantly remembered the other guy as Bulbul from their meeting at the inaugurations. He was a bald man with a huge belly and always had a grim expression on his face. It was clear that he was intimidated by the strong presence of Devraj.
“What is it, Aurobindo?” Bulbul asked. Devraj’s attention, however, was on the woman and he said, “You look lovely as ever, dear.”
“We can’t leave yet,” Aurobindo replied.
“What? Why?” Devraj asked.
“We are at a very delicate stage in our current phase, and every step involves our critical analysis and calculations. This polymer is very sensitive and unstable in the creation process, and any delay or setback could cause a fault big enough that we would have to start over again. That is why my team is working without sleep at times. It would be very difficult if we start again, Bulbul. These reactions are so unpredictable that the next time we are attempting them; the result might be completely different. No, we need to finish this phase so that we can halt the production at a stage where we have made it a bit stable.” Aurobindo finished, and the other two men looked at each other with grave expressions.
Few videos files down, there were two files which had been renamed as important. Zayed asked to play them.
“What happened now? Why were you scared shitless on the call?” Devraj asked, after entering the room. This time, the camera appeared to be somewhere on the wall behind the desk where someone was sitting whose back we could see.
“Please do something, we have to finish up and pack up from here,” Bulbul’s voice replied, and it was shaking a bit, “After what happened last night, it is a matter of hours now.”
“Stop talking in circles,” Devraj shouted, “What happened last night?”
“Somebody was at the plant’s doorstep but was asked to leave by the guards. She didn’t look happy though, made threats while a cop took her away. I bet Suresh knew her and told her everything.”
Devraj was frowning at him with widened eyes, then said in a menacing voice, “Who?”
“Aditi Mehta.”
Devraj had to sit down in shock. He said, “In the flesh?” Bulbul nodded.
He looked at Bulbul across the desk and continued, “We have to finish and leave quietly. Aditi has a screwed up reputation. With her involved, the clock has already run out. We cannot take a risk at this time and expose all others in the network.”
Bulbul nodded. “How do we pack up all of this and leave quietly? If this leaks to the media, we won’t be spared by the higher-ups or the people of the city.”
Devraj thought about it for a minute. He paced around in the room scratching his beard. “Who said you would do anything quietly? Leave this to me. I will fix everything by tonight.”
“What will you do?” asked Bulbul.
“This country loves to fight amongst themselves, and I will make sure that they have a reason to do it. You will have a nice distraction and can flee away from here. These fools will be busy killing each other, and we can sneak out.”
The color faded off Bulbul’s face. “Don’t create too much heat or attention towards us and I hope that there won’t be too much blood on my conscience.”
“Hahaha, I won’t promise you this. You have to understand Bulbul, common people are like pawns in our hands. We have to use them to move ahead, they can get killed, but the King should always stay safe.”
~*~
The oath-taking ceremony was going on with full force ahead.
“I, Devraj
Singh do swear in the name of God and solemnly affirm that I will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as a Minister for the State of Delhi except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister.”
~*~
There was another video clip from the same day which had Devraj in it. We played it, and he appeared to be ordering a couple of guys. They were all standing with their faces clearly shown by the hidden cam. Zayed knew the two guys.
“Those bastards were local goons Laxman and Mangal at Mirzapur. Both of them were brothers, and they died in the riots at Vindhyachal.”
“Listen, you mongrels and listen carefully. Create a distraction big enough so that my workers can complete their work and run away without generating any heat or getting noticed.”
Laxman sounded concerned. “What do you mean by distraction?”
“Blow up places, kill people for all I care. I just want results; I don’t give a fuck about any other thing.”
Both Zayed and I exchanged horrific looks. The whole riot and the blasts at Vindhyachal were a brainchild of Devraj’s dirty mind. However, it meant another thing. We had enough evidence to incriminate the Chief Minister of Delhi directly.
“Hook, line, and sinker baby,” Zayed exclaimed gleefully.
“This should be enough to get him behind bars, right?”
“Inshallah!”
Another folder inside was named Trials, and I opened it and saw loads of videos. “What’s this?”
Soon I realized what it was. All the test subjects and trials for the serums were recorded for their behavior. They were strapped to a chair and then injected with the serum. Their eyes would bulge, veins burst open, excessive bleeding and deaths in the videos.
“What the fuck!” I shouted in disgust.
“They were way out of their line. This is unethical and unlawful. They have to pay for this.” Zayed was shaking his head, then he noticed something on the screen and said, “Hang on! Can you pause it?”
Death and Dishonor Page 32