“This is outrageous, arresting me first, bringing me here,” Devraj burst out and pointing at Zayed, he said, “Do not trust this cop, your honor. He is supposed to be dead, right? He must have faked it, but it makes you think why he would do that. Arjun killed ACP Pratap Singh-”
“SILENCE!” The judge announced.
However, Zayed asked for permission to speak something.
“To clarify on the baseless accusation that our CM made, it was I who shot ACP Pratap when I saw him about to kill Arjun at his residence. He was about to pull the trigger and thus warranted my actions as an act of defense.”
I looked at him in shock. He was taking the blame to get me free. I had killed Pratap, but Zayed had spun a story around it. I wondered about the gun or my fingerprints on it but he winked at me quickly, and I realized that he would have taken care of it.
Devraj became quiet, and the prosecutor was grabbing his forehead, his mouth open. The defender faced the judge again and said, “Your honor, before you start, I would also like to summon all the witnesses from the Shangri-La event again to stand ready if any testimony is required to post the evidence perusal.”
“Permission granted,” the judge responded.
The witnesses were escorted into the hall, and they were asked to sit on the stretch of empty seats available inside the hall as everyone else waited. Some of them were looking scared wondering why they had been summoned again and nearly all of them looked curiously at Devraj, wondering why the CM had to make a presence. The defender said to the judge, “Your honor, you may begin.”
The judge went over the audio of Devraj’s confession which shocked everyone for about an hour ending in several gasps of horror from the witnesses when the part about him paying them came up. It all ended giving them enough reason now not to hold their tongue, and they spilled whatever they had witnessed about Arjun’s character that night at the event which was completely opposite of what had been portrayed all over the news.
“Arjun managed to save us all by helping us evacuate quickly,” a middle-aged man said.
“We would not have survived if it weren’t for him,” a woman sobbed.
“We were all pinned down with our fellow officers, good officers lying dead. We were fighting a losing battle, but Arjun sir managed to disable the test subject,” one of the constables said. “Being gravely injured and getting beaten every second didn’t stop him to disregard his life and avert a great danger to the capital, the same one which incriminated him and made him a fugitive.”
I just stared at him blankly, unable to believe that he could still have those thoughts about me after months of destruction done for my character. I was starting to feel a bit dizzy, being so overwhelmed by those testimonies. I was jolted back to consciousness when someone added another bit of information.
“His personal secretary was the one who approached me to keep quiet,” the man said, “I remember that guy from the event, can’t forget his face.”
The following testimonies agreed with that fact that the secretary had approached them or in some cases, paid them directly to forget the facts. Even some of the people sitting who had already testified nodded their heads in agreement.
Devraj began mumbling again, “No, no, n-this is all a sham. The truth is being ignored, and I am being framed here. How-how can you not understand? These people are a lying bunch that you have got; the audio is all cooked up and fabricated nicely. I have an alibi; I was in my chambers late after midnight completing some work. My assistant knows that he was with me the entire time.”
“Let’s verify that, shall we?” the defender said and within half an hour, his secretary, Gopal Rao was summoned. Devraj was gritting his teeth as he looked at him.
“So, Mr. Rao, can you tell us where our Hon’ble CM was after midnight last night?”
Mr. Rao smiled weirdly and then said, “Why, at his chambers, of course. I myself left him there before heading to my own home.”
“We have proof that you didn’t go to your own home last night. You were at a brothel. Why are you lying, Mister?”
Gopal panicked, and his face had turned white out of fear. This was the right time to knock it out of the park.
“Tell the truth or else –”
“Sahib, please forgive me. I am not a rich person like Devraj Sahib. I dropped him at his home after the work was done. I don’t have any clue what happened afterward.”
He burst out in tears, and Devraj was breathing fire. The prosecutor frowned looking at him. The defender and Zayed smiled.
“Now, we have one more surprise for you, your honor and this will be the last person that I call to the box today. Please, can we have him here?”
Zayed looked at me and smiled as the hall doors opened again and there he was, the man sent to finish me at the hospital. Gopal couldn’t stay dumb anymore, and his eyes turned big.
One by one, the killer and Gopal both confessed, revealing the truth that it was indeed Devraj who had ordered my murder in the hospital and Gopal had himself paid the killer. The prosecutor called Tia upon the witness box and thought maybe she could save his case.
“He never forced me to do anything. I helped him because I knew he was telling the truth and he himself told me to contact the Police so that I am not dragged into this mess. He is wrongly accused of all the crimes.”
“Your honor, I rest my case,” the defendant concluded.
The prosecutor couldn’t say a word and just sat there in defeat.
I was still overwhelmed and didn’t exactly realize that it was time for the verdict. The judge put down some papers that he was looking at and looked at the court, “In the light of today’s session which produced the confession and the witnesses’ testimony about the events, adding to our previous evidence of late officer Ajeet’s confession and officer Zayed being alive, it proves that Ex-officer Arjun Rathore is not guilty in the murder of reporter Aditi Mehta and has been framed in this conspiracy extensively. It does not, however, give him freedom from all the charges while being on the run. The court will give its final verdict on Wednesday next week, but it grants Arjun Rathore permission to be bailed until then.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. The judge continued, “After examining the audio evidence which incriminates Mr. Devraj Singh for a vast conspiracy concerning Mirzapur and his association with a company using illicit methods, planning and causing widespread unrest orchestrated by the accused and its potential leading to his part in the framing of Arjun Rathore along with hearing the testimony of Mr. Singh’s secretary and the person accused of the attempt to murder of Arjun Rathore that the same was ordered by Mr. Singh himself, the court orders to build a case against him to be in session after next week.”
~*~
I was about to be seated down in Zayed’s car after Zayed had managed to get me away from a horde of media. Zayed had somehow managed to drive away to pick me up as they had surrounded his car as well. A jeep of officers was going with us when I saw Devraj being taken by the officers.
“Wait for me.”
I rushed my wheelchair past the car and media towards Devraj and a couple of officers.
“I need to talk with him for a minute.”
They nodded, but Devraj was not pleased. “What do you want now?”
“Why me? Why did you kill Aditi? Why going to all these lengths to frame me?”
He smiled. “Aditi had to be killed. She knew too much, and she had a reputation of one of the reporters who could change the outlook of the entire country. I couldn’t screw up the Election Season with a mere reporter. Pratap suggested your name as the perfect fall guy. He called from Aditi’s mobile and set you up there. With your erratic past and reckless living, you were the star born to play this role.”
I wanted to kill him but controlled my emotions. “Did you kill Shikha too?”
He scoffed. “No.”
“And what about the bank locker?”
“I see that Pratap spilled all the beans before dying. Y
es, you emptied a bank locker once.”
“What was in it?” I asked.
“A thing which could shake the entire nation. A flash drive could get so many people killed, now imagine what that asset could do? You can’t even imagine it.”
I opened my mouth again but was stopped by him. “You were the one who emptied it; you should know more about it.”
“I don’t remember anything, and I certainly don’t have it!”
Devraj scoffed again. “As if I believe. You have not seen the last of me Arjun.”
I looked at his face. “You have failed this city and the people who elected you. What have you achieved by the Project Shield and the beast that you unleashed? What good will come out of those serums that Delta Solutions have prepared?”
“Hahahahaha, you amaze me. Do you seriously believe that I would do this for the people? I have never cared about them. I do whatever is right for me and do you think that I wanted the Project Shield? No, I am not the biggest fish in the pond, heck I am one of the smallest. You have got yourself tangled up in the wrong pond kid.”
“We will see to that!”
The smile vanished off his face instantly. “You acted upon revenge and made matters worse for yourself.”
“Revenge is everything!”
~*~
“I saw your face inside,” Zayed was smiling, “We really did it.”
“I still can’t believe it, and it was all you, my friend. You did it,” I put my hand on his shoulder.
I said after a pause, “Now what about all the other shit we found about the Delta experiments?”
“Somehow, I have a feeling that this is bigger and in a way, everything is connected. It was all connected to Alchemist, which had caused mayhem in the city. We can’t trust our police and judiciary system just yet with this sort of thing. I know a guy who can help us. I can even bet he might have something already on this front.”
“What more could he have than us?”
“He works for RAW. Only he could have something more.”
EPILOGUE
A week later
I couldn’t sleep last night. I was used to all the storms in my life that I couldn’t fathom the calm. I liked storms, at least I knew what the next moment would bring, but it was an altogether different ball game with calm. You never know what shit happens the next second. Zayed had asked me to reach Central Secretariat by the noon, and I decided to make a surprise visit to Father John.
“Sweet child of mine. How are you coping up?”
“I haven’t had a drink for more than a week, so it is difficult to let everything sink in.”
John smiled. “You are on the right track child; we all are here to support you forever. But I always had my doubts whether you would be able to quit drinking.”
I looked at him and took a deep breath. “If I was sober, maybe then I could have reacted quickly, and Aditi would be alive.”
“Stop this self-blaming tendency of yours. Pratap had fabricated that call to lure you. Even if you had managed to reach a little earlier, you would still have to witness that inhuman act. Poor girl!”
“I still don’t believe that all of this is finally over.”
He kept his hand on my shoulder. “Son, every dark cloud has a silver lining; a yin to every yang; positive to all the negat-”
I hugged him and felt a little peace. “Don’t start with your sermons, old man!”
He caressed my hair. “I will never understand you son; you have one of the most dynamic personalities that I have ever seen.”
“I will take it as a compliment.”
He smiled and hugged me again. Out of all the darkness and the backstabbing, I had found a father figure in John, a friend in Zayed, an old bud in Dino and an affectionate soul in Tia.
After having breakfast with John, I started to travel via Delhi Metro. It felt weird when almost everyone looked at me in awe or shock. Some would love me, some would hate me, some would fear me and so on. Suddenly my mobile started vibrating. It was a call from Zayed. I picked it up instantly.
“Where ar- are you?” he asked.
The voice was breaking a lot inside the Metro, and I had to guess what he said multiple times.
“I will reach there in a bit,” I replied to the top of my voice.
“I fo- found something,”
I kept my index finger on the other ear and diverted all my attention towards this call so as to hear each and every word.
“It’s abo- ab Alan-”
The call disconnected and I could see no network connectivity on my mobile. What could he have regarding Alan? I was in no mood for any surprise having seen two old brothers turn against me and killed those who I loved. After a while, I reached my destination. As soon as I stepped outside the Central Secretariat Metro Station, I pulled my mobile out of my jeans pocket. I was about to dial Zayed’s number when I saw another name flash on my screen. Tia was calling me.
“Why is she calling me?”
I was hesitant to pick it up, but eventually, I decided to talk to her.
“Hi!” she said in a whisper.
“Hello, how are you?”
There was a sniffle at her end and then the sound of deep breaths. “Tia, are you okay? Have you been crying?”
“Sorry Arjun, I messed it up. I knew that I shouldn’t have let you on and then ditch you, but I have got no other option. Baba has done so much for me. I cannot let him down after he woke up from his coma. Do you know, he even resolved my fight with my sister Su.”
She sounded happy and sad at the same time. “It’s alright Tia. This is the start of your new life. Make it memorable.”
“How can I make this right Arjun?”
I chuckled. “You can’t but, it’s okay. It is life.”
She wiped her tears and thanked him. “Now have you reached the station?”
“Yeah, but how do you know about this?”
She giggled. “I have my sources. I can also see you. Grey t-shirt and denim, nice dress code for meeting a RAW agent.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked trying to locate her.
“I will go with you guys. Zayed is coming in five minutes. You have my esteemed company till then-”
A series of unfortunate events unfolded in the next few minutes. A black Sedan screeched to a halt and took a sharp turn. It stopped right in front of me, and as soon as the gate of the car opened, there were rounds of bullets fired at me wildly. I tried to hide but multiple bullets contacted my body, and I fell on the floor immediately. My mobile slipped from my hand, and I couldn’t hear any sound from Tia’s end. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a group of people gathered across the road.
“Fuck!” I shouted. Was Tia okay? I didn’t know anything. However, my mystery shooters didn’t give me much time as another bullet hit me in the stomach and I lost all my energy. This was it. I managed to escape and kill all my enemies but was lying in a pool of my own blood at a Metro Station.
Finally, a woman stepped out of the car with an SMG in her hand, dressed in black leather pants and shirt. She knelt down towards my bloody body and rummaged her fingers in my jeans pockets. She took the flash drive out and kept it safely with her. I was helpless at the moment, and I couldn’t do shit to stop her. All of my old wounds were bleeding profusely, and there were tons of new ones. This was one of those times when you know for sure that you won’t survive it. Finally, after all my efforts, I finally raised my eyes to see her face.
“Miss me?”
The light inside my eyes began diminishing. It was time to sleep. I had run enough. This was my calling, my cue to close my eyes and lay quietly forever. It seemed too poetic for her to end me. If I hadn’t seen her face, then I would have never guessed it right. My dead wife Shikha stood there with a gun in her hand looking at my lifeless body with a smile plastered on her face.
She pointed her gun at my head and pressed the trigger. All was lost!
BANG!!!
About the Author-
Abhimanyu Saxena
Abhimanyu’s profession can be known as a Software Engineer, but his one true love is creating new worlds in the reader’s minds and writing something that he would enjoy reading himself. He has written over 100 short stories in his school, and the love for writing has increased to ten folds since then. He loves the control over his characters when he writes and loves killing them off (a big fan of George RR Martin). There is hardly any second when something is not brewing up in his imaginative mind. He loves being the mastermind of it all; always trying to create an entertaining story.
Apart from writing, he enjoys reading, listening to music, partying with friends and much more which cannot be fathomed by a few words here (mysterious introduction – check).
He can be contacted on [email protected]
About the Co-Author – Tanmoy Basak
Here’s a little conversation anecdote to know about our Co-Author:
Co-Author: “Now we proceed to the next scene, where we see that the horizon of this beautiful place is zooming out from the character as he stands looking at it in the morning calm.”
Author: Wait a bit there! We see?
Tanmoy’s profession can be known as a Cloud Specialist in IT, but those clouds don’t just house technical complexities and algorithms. Time and again, it forms creative ideas in its mist. But it doesn’t just stop there. From creating light and dramatic moments to executing a well-crafted action scene, the ideas in his head float out as a feel of a motion picture around him, immersing him in the experience. He wants that feel to surround the readers too, setting them afoot in an alternate reality which has a soul of its own.
Apart from writing, he enjoys the company of his friends, loves visiting the hills and is an avid online gamer.
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