by UD Yasha
His body started shivering. Just then, Radha ran across the floor and joined by my right elbow. She had a key in her hand and said, ‘I found this on the guard who was shot by Shukla.’
The keys were small, so I realized they must have been for the handcuffs on Coutinho. As I was unlocking them, Coutinho raised his head ever so slightly. He put his hand on my head.
‘Siya,’ he said, his voice barely coming out. ‘It’s you, right?’
‘Yes, it’s me,’ I said, unlocking his hands and legs.
I lay him on the ground and was about to start performing CPR, when Coutinho spoke again.
‘I…I don’t have…have much time,’ he said.
‘We’ll get you to a hospital,’ I said, pumping his chest
‘Stop, stop,’ Coutinho said. ‘Your father…’
I froze at the mention of dad while the gunfire around us got louder. But I knew I had to move because I saw that the bald guy was now just two columns away.
Coutinho heaved loudly and blood came out of his mouth.
‘What about dad?’ Radha said, now next to him. She was applying pressure on the gunshot wound but the blood flow didn’t seem to slow down.
I got up as the bald guy came closer. Rathod behind him but not yet close enough to tackle him down. I was in the same line of attack as the bald guy, so Rathod could not shoot him either because if he missed, either Radha or I would get hit. I also couldn’t shoot the bald guy for the fear of hitting Rathod if I missed. The only other remaining guard was nowhere to be seen, so I thought that Shukla had taken him out.
‘I need to tell you something,’ Coutinho said, his hand tapping my leg.
I watched the bald guy closely, knowing that he could shoot Coutinho or us at any moment. I was torn between protecting Coutinho and hearing what he had to say. Either way, I couldn’t afford to lose him. The bald guy was just five feet away now. I realized he didn’t have his gun on him.
‘Your father and I…we were working together,’ Coutinho said. ‘But Siya, I couldn’t…I couldn’t,’ he started coughing. Blood spurted out of his mouth.
At that moment, I knew exactly what Coutinho was going to say because I had heard it before---in the morning when all this had started, at the Stan Mills factory. It all came crashing back at me. A piercing headache blinded me for a beat. I remembered that it wasn’t dad at Stan Mills, but Coutinho. He had saved me from Jane Doe and an assassin.
The blood Coutinho coughed squirted on my face. ‘I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more,’ he said.
Coutinho had said the same thing to me that day in the morning. The pain I felt then was nothing to what I felt when he told me once again. Or at least I thought. The shock of hearing it for the first time had sent me into a frenzy. I was once again spiralling down. The energy from my body had been sucked out.
I wanted to know what had happened, but the bald guy jumped across and held Coutinho by his neck and pushed me away. The two of them struggled and started rolling on the ground.
Coutinho heaved loudly. He had already lost a lot of blood. He shouted as loudly as he could, ‘He loves you all. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him…’ Now every word coming out of his mouth needed a lot of effort. ‘You can pay your respects at my church. There…’ his voice faded out.
A second later, Rathod got a clear shot at the bald guy and he squeezed the trigger. He was dead in an instant. I stumbled sideways through the blood to reach Coutinho. But his eyes were shut and his breath was shallower than it had been.
‘There’s an ambulance downstairs,’ Shukla said.
Kuhad and Shukla lifted Coutinho and carried him downstairs.
Rathod said, ‘I’m so sorry for what happened. I’ll just be back. Shukla made sure we got one guard alive. He’s agreed to tell the Viper that we’ve been killed. I’ll just make sure he relays that message so we can be safe for some time.’
Radha’s hands embraced me from the back. She was shivering. I was too dazed to move. The reality of the situation hit me. Dad had died and he would never join us. My head ached and it seemed like my brain was trying to smash the walls of the skull to come out. The world around me seemed to wander away. All I wanted was to shout as loudly as I could. But no voice came out. Funnily enough, the silence of my mind was deafening.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Kuhad and Shukla took Roark Coutinho and the guard we had captured alive to the hospital as both had got hurt. We were hoping the guard could shed light on what had been happening. But we knew it was not going to be good enough to capture the Viper. We needed evidence against him.
Rathod, Radha and I drove back home.
Silence resounded in the car. There was nothing left to say. Dad was gone. We didn’t have the evidence we wanted either. I was cursing myself for blacking out a few days back. Maybe we would have been able to save dad.
I played my conversation with Coutinho over and over again in my mind. I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more. Coutinho’s words echoed in my mind.
Another thought occurred to me. Why was there so much security to protect Roark Coutinho? If he was the person who had the evidence against the Viper, then why wasn’t he killed? It again made me think about the evidence being used as an insurance for protection. If Coutinho was alive because he threatened to expose the Viper if he was killed, then someone outside, who was still free, would be having it.
I went through all the people we had come across in the past three days. Everyone involved had been killed. Who could it be? If Coutinho wouldn’t have told us about dad’s death, I would have guessed dad would have the evidence. But dad was no more.
The train of thoughts stopped as my mind drifted back to dad. We had come so close to getting him back. I found it hard to breathe, knowing he had been alive for so many years. He had stayed away to protect us. I wondered how difficult it would have been for him—to know that his family was out there, and not being with them. A part of us wanted him to be alive but we were also prepared to face the worst.
I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more. Coutinho’s voice played again. He hadn't been able to finish what he wanted to say. I knew there was more. I strained my mind to remember what he had told me at Stan Mills.
I remember getting disoriented when he told me dad had been killed. When? The answer came to me right away. Your dad died last week, Coutinho had said. That meant a day before the Stan Mills incident. What else had Coutinho said? I remembered how he had ran away from me and gone inside the factory. He had told me something just before that. I tapped my hand on the seat. I could sense that I was very close. Something vague came to me. Go, take the woman to a secure hospital. She’s the link. Link to what?
I distinctly remember that Coutinho had used the words ‘secure hospital’. I realized I hadn’t got it then, just like it didn’t make much sense right now. I just took heart from knowing that I had put Jane Doe in my car.
My head ached as I tried to remember more.
I massaged my temples.
Radha held my hand. ‘What’s happening?’ she said.
‘I’m trying to remember what else Coutinho said at Stan Mills.’
‘Are you able to recall anything?’
I shook my head.
‘Coutinho said that we can pay respects to dad at his church,’ Radha said and teared up.
‘I find it odd that those were his last words.’
‘So did I,’ Radha said. ‘I thought he said that because he was dying and wanted us to know where he had buried….’ Her voice trailed off.
‘I know his church,’ Rathod said. ‘I saw some papers at his house and a picture of Jesus with the church name below it. I’ll call them and ask.’
Rathod made the call. He made some sounds in acknowledgement and then hung up. He said, ‘The church confirmed that someone named Aniruddha Rajput was buried in their cemetery seven days back.�
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‘I don’t understand. He wasn’t even a Christian,’ I said.
‘The church also raised the same objection. But Coutinho asked for his burial place to be given to Rajput on humanitarian grounds. The person I spoke to told me that Coutinho was well known and respected in the church so the Priest agreed. They went through the formalities that were required and buried your father at the church cemetery.’
‘Why go through so much pain?’ I said and a thought came to my mind.
How had I missed it before?
I turned to Radha and said, ‘Dad used to keep saying it to me every time I was afraid. Even when I cannot see daddy,’ I said, and then Radha joined me. ‘I will remember him and I will be okay.’
Silence.
I said, ‘It was even written in the room that had his name in the layout. I think he was kept there.’ I paused. ‘I will remember him and I will be okay. Coutinho said we can pay our respects to dad.’
‘Which is remembering him,’ Radha said.
‘Exactly. We need to go to his grave,’ I said.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Saint Anthony’s Church was on the outskirts of the city. The church itself was big and grand. Huge green courtyards surrounded it. The Priest was waiting for us when we reached.
‘Can I ask you something?’ the Priest said as he took us to dad’s grave. ‘Is Roark doing well?’
‘He’s hanging in,’ I said.
The Priest smiled once and said, ‘I’ll let you be.’
The inscription on dad’s tombstone read: Loving husband and father and a brave friend. He had died on the 11th of January 2020, four days before I had got the call. I fell to my knees and started crying. Radha was right next to me. We held each other close.
I said, ‘Even when I cannot see daddy, I will remember him and I will be okay.’ I heaved loudly and wiped my tears. ‘Has the Priest left?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Rathod said.
He was standing back, giving us our space.
‘There has to be something here,’ I said. ‘There’s no other reason Coutinho would have mentioned the grave while he was dying.’
‘I only have one doubt. Why would he not directly tell us that the evidence we are seeking is actually here? Why hide it when he was dying?’
‘Even I have thought about that. He was being tackled by one of the guards while he was telling us everything. Perhaps he didn’t want to be too obvious and let him know. He wasn’t aware of the situation. He was last fully conscious just before he was shot. That was before Shukla and Radha arrived. So, he thought our backs were against the wall and the Viper’s men were in control. If he had told us that the evidence was here, there was a chance that the Viper’s men would have got here first. He didn’t know we had the situation under control when he told us.’
‘Let’s check,’ Radha said.
I could sense she was feeling a strange kind of energy that even I was experiencing. We were deeply upset that dad had died, but at the same time, we wanted to find the evidence and expose the Viper for him more than anything else.
Rathod joined us near the grave. Each of us picked sides and clawed at the soil along the grave. It was moist and easy to dig. I was hoping that the evidence wasn’t inside the casket because there was no way we would be able to dig that deep and open it without drawing any attention.
As the thoughts circled my mind, I thought my fingers hit something. Five seconds later, I saw the edge of a box started digging faster.
‘Guys, there’s something here,’ I said as more of the box was revealed.
Radha and Rathod helped me out and we dug faster together. Within a minute, we could see the entire box. It was the size of a large whiskey bottle. It was made from metal and had a seal around its edges, presumably to protect its components from rotting and getting damaged by water.
Once we had dug most of the soil around it, I picked it up. Rathod used the thin blade on his keychain to rip open the seal. I could feel my heart beating all over my body. I held Radha’s hands and opened the box.
It had a pen drive inside along with some papers. Some of the papers had yellowed.
‘The evidence we were seeking,’ I said, not able to believe that we actually had it with us. It had been the cause of so many deaths. I was deeply curious to know what was inside it. But, at that moment, my attention was drawn to Radha because I realized what the papers inside were.
Radha was leafing through some of them. Her voice choked. ‘Siya, these are letters that dad wrote to all of us for our birthdays when he wasn’t there.’
‘I don’t mean to be insensitive, but we need to get going,’ Rathod said. ‘It’s only a matter of time before the Viper realizes we’re alive. We need to see what’s inside the tape and give it to the right authorities.’
We went back to our car. Radha and I were holding hands. We couldn’t wait to read what was in the letters. But first, we had a job to do that would make dad proud and happy. We drove straight to Dr. Rastogi’s house where Roark Coutinho was being treated. We couldn’t take the chance of enrolling him in a hospital anywhere outside. Harshvardhan Kuhad had got Rahul and maa to Dr. Rastogi’s house as well. I had even asked Jay Parikh to join us at the house to secure the contents of the pendrive. We wanted to cover all bases in case the Viper got to know that we were still alive.
We gathered in Dr. Rastogi’s daughter’s room.
‘We’ll use my laptop,’ Jay Parikh said. ‘It’s secure and I’ll simultaneously back it up using Blockchain. The pen drive will be secured and it wouldn’t matter if we lost the pen drive. Its contents will also be permissible evidence in court as its back up time will be recorded.’
‘Let’s do this,’ Radha said.
Rahul had joined us while maa was in a room upstairs.
The pen drive had one video and several documents. We started off with the video.
From the angle it was recorded, we could make out that it was being shot secretly. The person shooting it was in a big room with many other people who were in police uniform. There was a buzz of chatter that stopped when the door opened and a man walked in.
‘Motilal Ahuja,’ I whispered under my breath, recognizing the man who had entered the room.
Motilal Ahuja sat in front of the police officers. He circulated a file around the room. When it came to the shooter, we saw the papers in the file. It was the file on a woman named Nazia Salim.
Radha paused the video and said, ‘Nazia Salim was believed to have played a role in two bomb blasts in Jammu.’
‘And she was killed in an encounter in Mumbai a few months before Kabir Ahuja’s death,’ Rahul said. ‘We came across her while going through a lot of papers and data over the past three days.’
Radha resumed the video.
For the next ten minutes, Motilal Ahuja briefed the police officers about the encounter on Nazia Salim. Her two-year-old kid and her twenty-nine year old husband lived with her. The encounter squad, which was a different and specialized group of police officers, was going to carry out the operation. The police officers who Motilal was speaking to were going to secure the neighbourhood in case their target got away. After the meeting was done, all the police officers were dismissed.
As they were walking out, Motilal pointed at the person who was shooting the video and said, ‘Shikhar Kunte, please report to my office.’
Rathod paused the video this time. ‘Kunte worked at the Mumbai Police Headquarters and was killed on the same day as Kabir Ahuja.’
Some pieces of the puzzle began to fall in place for me. I was yet to come across anything incriminating against Motilal Ahuja but five minutes were still left on the tape.
Rathod resumed the video.
Kunte kept recording as he walked to Motilal’s office. He closed the door behind him
‘You know the protocol,’ Motilal said.
‘Yes, sir,’ Kunte responded.
‘Here’s what you need to plant at Nazia Salim’s house,’ Motilal
said and handed Kunte a bag.
Kunte opened it to reveal a host of things like blueprints of different places, pictures of various locations, bomb-making manuals, two satellite phones, a journal and pictures of three men.
‘That’s enough evidence to let people think that Nazia Salim is a terrorist.’
Kunte said, ‘I’ll do it, sir. Don’t worry.’
‘Do it by tomorrow. There’s reliable intel that she keeps a safe in her house. Its code is six-two-three. Put it all inside. Like the other times, no one should have any doubt that Nazia Salim was an extremist Muslim terrorist.’
‘Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take care of it.’
‘Make it clean like you did with Javed Shimla and Iqbal Nazir,’ Motilal said. ‘Be careful and don’t get overconfident.’
‘I will, sir,’ Kunte said and then the camera took us out of the room.
The video ended.
A cold silence played in the room for a spell.
‘He was conducting fake encounters,’ I said, not able to believe what I had just seen.
‘This guy is now the Deputy Defense Secretary of India. The so-called encounter expert,’ Rathod said.
‘At least these ones were fake encounters. Innocent Muslims being framed as terrorists,’ I said.
‘I recognized the other names he took…Javed and Iqbal,’ Radha said. ‘I remember them being amongst the terrorists who were killed by missions headed by Motilal.’
‘He built his career and rose through the ranks based on falsified evidence and fake encounters. No wonder he is killing everyone who knows about this,’ Rahul said.
Jay Parikh punched the air and said, ‘This will stop now. The video and the documents have been backed up. I’ve also set up an auto-send message to all the big news channels, not just in India but across the world. It’ll get sent unless we disable it ourselves in the next twelve hours. Only I know the code to turn it off. Let’s keep it that way for safety purposes.’
‘What do the documents contain?’ I said.
Radha opened them and started skimming through them. She said, ‘It’s proof for a money trail. It shows that Motilal paid off a bunch of people to keep them silent.’