“Thanks uncle. It means a lot to me,” Arjun is humbled on hearing Mr. Saxena’s words and puts on his sunglasses to hide his tears. Without more ado, he starts walking out of the house.
“Papa! Mama, please stop him,” Riya shrieks, and runs after him. Shanti follows her to watch from the balcony above as they race down to the front courtyard of the house.
“Arjun! Please don’t go like this!” Riya tries to obstruct his path. Arjun doesn’t respond. He walks past her. Riya runs behind him again, blocks his way and holds her golden bangles out in front of him.
“Do these mean nothing to you? Why don’t you take them with you as well if have to leave?”
“I cannot take them. If Ma gave them to you... these are her bangles, and only she can take them back. Moreover, I hope I can trust that you will take better care of my grandma’s memory than I ever can. I couldn’t even take care of my parents, Riya!”
Listening to those grim words, Riya does not have the heart to stop Arjun. She is still and silent for a moment, but then suddenly speaks, just as Arjun is walking away.
“Arjun! What is ₹2 crores? Tell me!” She turns around to look at the balcony and ensure Shanti is far away not to hear this, “It’s the money to kill you isn’t it? Uncle got shot because he was driving your car, wearing your Ferrari cap and your sunglasses? That is the reason you are getting away from our lives too, right?” She tugs at Arjun’s arm, demanding an answer but gets no response. “Tell me Arjun! I can call Krish and ask him about it.”
Arjun doesn’t reply, and continues to walk to get into his car. Riya hesitates and cannot make up her mind what to do next. She makes one last desperate dash towards him as he is about to enter the car.
“Arjun! Arjun! Please don’t go!”, she then speaks in a gentle hushed tone, as if speaking to herself in despair, “I love you, Arjun!”
Arjun pauses, but pretends he hasn’t heard her last words. He gets into the car revs up the car engine and starts off with the screeching sound of the tires. His mobile starts ringing immediately. It’s Riya, but Arjun doesn’t respond. He curses himself for having let things between them progress to such an extent. A message beeps on his mobile, “I know you love me too Arjun, that’s why you are going away from us. But please don’t do this Arjun! Please!”
He picks up his phone to text Riya, “I’ve always looked upon you as a good friend…a really good friend. That’s it! Now it’s best for everyone that we never meet again… ever. Bye Riya.”
His phone beeps immediately. It reads, “I’ll wait for you … forever!”
“Damn, this stubborn girl!” Arjun tells himself as he chucks his phone to the side seat and races on.
All the Pain… No Gain
Over the next few days, RAW agents and special police continue raiding several known mafia locations in Mumbai. A massive stealth operation to locate the hitman sweeps through the underworld, disrupting the balance of power, putting several petty gangs and thugs behind bars. Arjun leaves no stone unturned to find the killer. Every nook and corner of Mumbai is turned upside down in the search. But the hitman still eludes the administration.
Meanwhile Arjun’s dad is still holding on to a single thread of life, continuing in a state of coma. Kamla has recovered from her wound, though still in the state of shock, unable to communicate with anyone. Puja has stayed along with her parents at the secure private hospital unknown to the outer world. Arjun met his parents at the hospital but returned immediately to his new home. He had a clear mission… to capture the killer. Riya made a few attempts to contact Arjun but with time, her calls and messages diminished, as she realized that Arjun was serious about what he had said.
However, the silent pain of separation, of an unfulfilled and unproclaimed love stung Riya and Arjun alike. Arjun has managed to tide through by keeping himself busy with work and the mission at hand. Riya on the other hand, has fallen into a deep pit of depression. She has not been to the MBA class since Arjun’s last visit, and keeps to her room, silent and lost in her thoughts. She cannot bear the isolation from her best friend Puja who has not called them. Her number is completely unreachable from the outer world. Can years of friendship, love and relationship die a feeble death after this horrible incident? Sometimes, Riya felt a horrible sense of despair; she wanted to shout at someone, shout her pain out at the top of her voice till her lungs hurt. Instead, she became silent, to the extent of acting as if nothing had happened at all. The whole family tried to put on a brave front, for each other. She would try to smile and act normal during the day, and sob into her pillow through the night.
Arjun is in his new home when he receives a much-awaited call on his mobile from the department.
“Hello Sam. …Ok good. Thanks. Do I have clearance for the names yet?” he exclaims, “No?! What?! Can I at least see the case files? Ok thanks buddy.”
The mystery of the undercover agent in the operation perplexed Arjun ever since he logged into the RAW geo-location system. But for security reasons, he wasn’t authorized to know the names of the undercover agents. One of them, of course, was the deceased agent Vinod Shukla. Arjun had raised a request for access to learn the identity of the second agent but his request was still pending authorization. He knew that the identities of undercover agents are never compromised, even to top level executives in the intelligence. That’s why he had spoken personally to Lt Gen Khanna, who could, as director of RAW, authorize this request. Until today, he could only get access to view the report of the operation.
Arjun opens his laptop and keys in frantically the allocated password to look at the report files on the secure RAW login. The screen shows several navigation frames and after reading through a few documents, he clicks on an icon labeled, “Simulate trajectory”. This would be the visual report of the ballistics department that analyses bullets and explosives used during an operation, and also graphically simulates the trajectory of the weapon or ballistics used. When Arjun clicks on the file to open it, a message pops up, “Access denied. You are not authorized to access this file.”
“What! Clearly someone doesn’t want me to see this!” he thinks angrily. He frantically types some more code and runs further intelligent scripts, eager now to see the files now… by hook or by crook. The ballistic file opens eventually as Arjun manages to hack into it. It shows a simulation of a person icon falling to the ground, with the bullet tracing back towards the Jaguar car.
“That car would be the one that the ISI lieutenant general Khan was in.” Arjun tells himself.
But the trajectory shown in the simulation displays the bullet continue past the car, just missing the car’s side mirror, missing a nearby tree by a whisker, missing another car by a whisker and ending up behind a bush towards a male icon. The icon was marked “undercover RAW agent2”.
“Hmmm… That is one hell of a difficult shot!”
Arjun rocks back in his chair, his hands locked behind his head. He knows only one person in the department can take that kind of a shot. Arjun picks up his phone to speak to RAW’s lieutenant general Khanna first.
“Sir. I wanted to speak something urgently with you. … About Agent Shukla! What mission was he on? Why was he eliminated?”
“Arjun, officially I cannot tell you anything.” Lt Gen Khanna replies sternly.
“Sir, I’ve seen the ballistics trajectory of the operation.”
“You were not authorized to access that file Arjun. … Listen son, since you are asking these questions, I know you are working things out for yourself. I did expect you to find out at some stage. But just remember that I overlook several things for the sake of our country’s security. So I expect you to understand these restrictions, and appreciate my limitations too. So do what you feel you must do to satisfy yourself. But nothing gets into the records. Am I clear, Arjun?”
“Yes Sir! I understand. Thank you so much Sir”.
He puts down the phone, the mystery slowly unraveling in his mind. Immediately, Arjun calls another number,
“Hi, Krish. I need to see you urgently. Can you meet me in an hour? Ok... My old house. Thanks buddy. Really appreciate it. Ok see you there. Bye.”
Arjun makes a third call. “Hello Riya. Where are you now? Ok. I want to meet you!.... In one hour? …Ok stay inside your house. …. Yes, remain inside the house! Don’t come out… I’ll come and pick you. Ok, bye.”
As Arjun is walking out of the house, he receives a call from Rakesh.
“Hello Rakesh. … Oh! What!? Ok, I’ll start off immediately. I can meet you in about fifteen minutes at the department? Ok bye!”
Arjun leaves immediately. In another ten minutes, he reaches the headquarters and greets Rakesh outside his office.
“Hey buddy! How are you Rakesh? Please come in.”
Arjun talks softly to the officer who escorted Rakesh, and the officer leaves the room with a file on the desk, shutting the door behind him.
“I understand the agents have taken down your report already. An artist’s sketch is being developed as well?”
“Yes, Arjun,” Rakesh responds with a nervous look.
“Ok. Before you start, can I offer you any tea or coffee?” Rakesh shakes his head in the negative.
“So tell me now, what really happened?” Arjun sits down on the chair to listen to Rakesh.
“As I told you on the phone, last night two masked men came to our house. I was out at work. They threatened to kill my family. They were asking about you and your family… asking for your address and the whereabouts of Puja, uncle and aunty. As my parents did not know anything, they were tied to chairs while these men searched the house. They searched through our phones…They had guns and knives with them … Fortunately they didn’t do anything and just left… but papa and mummy are completely shaken, Arjun. I don’t want to go through the details; I’ve said everything in the report. But I’m here…” Rakesh clears his throat and continues hesitatingly, “I am here to say something important …and I wanted to say it in person.”
“Go on, Rakesh; I am listening.”
“Arjun, I know that what I am about to say is not correct, but I have to say this. As I said, Papa and mummy are completely shocked by this incident… and I am extremely concerned as well …Actually I cannot think straight at the moment. But we have jointly decided … I have decided…”, he pauses to drink water lying on the table, “… I have decided that I need to end my engagement with Puja.”
Arjun springs up from his chair, and grabs Rakesh by his collar.
“What!” he roars in a loud threatening voice. But he immediately composes himself, “I’m sorry!” Arjun brushes up Rakesh’s shirt and tidies his collar. “I am sorry Rakesh… Please sit down.”
This is not happening, Arjun tells himself. No! Not his little sister! A person for whose happiness he could give away anything in the world …absolutely anything to see a little smile on her face. She cannot be the victim of his deeds. Arjun curses himself for being so reckless and for lacking foresight; for not having taken care of things earlier. He was yet to overcome the guilt of being the reason why his father had been shot.
“Arjun… I know your family is going through a tough time … but you see… we are not ready for this. My parents are not ready for this!”
“Ok.” Arjun returns to his seat across the desk, “Did you tell Puja?”
“No. Not yet. I don’t think I am in a state to talk to her at the moment.”
There’s a long pause and Arjun dares to break the overwhelming silence.
“You want me to do the honors then buddy?” Arjun smiles mockingly at his fate. Rakesh nods yes silently, “Do you know Rakesh that she loves you very much?”
“Arjun, I love her too! But what good is love…if there’s no life left to love one another? I will talk to her, but not now. I can’t! I am sorry Arjun; I hope you will understand. That is why I came to meet you.”
Arjun knows that Puja and Rakesh have been in love for a long time. The sinister thoughts return to haunt him; he has been the bane of his family, the reason for everyone’s pain, and now the cause for the breakup of his little sister’s engagement. Even though Arjun’s head is about to explode with these thoughts he adopts a calm and composed demeanor. Perhaps it’s for the best that Rakesh is breaking up the engagement. It will save her the despair that he is going through in his own relationship with Riya. A deep sense of pain and anguish bites into his soul that he dares not explain to anyone.
“Arjun?... Arjun!”
Arjun shakes his head, as if waking up from a coma. He suddenly gets up and extends his hand to Rakesh. Rakesh stands up awkwardly too, unable to read Arjun’s expressionless face. However, instead of taking Arjun’s extended hand, Rakesh hugs him, pats his shoulder and slowly walks out of the room.
“Take care buddy!” he says before leaving the room.
Arjun walks out with him and shuts the door behind him. He walks back to the desk and sits down for a moment. Suddenly, with a swift powerful swing of his leg, Arjun smashes into the desk with so much force that it breaks into two. He grabs one piece of the desk and flings it with all his strength on to the wall.
“Aaaaahh….” The loud shout of pain attracts the attention of his colleagues outside, as the door opens immediately and an officer and a secretary pop in.
“Sir, are you ok?” the secretary asks him.
Arjun nods and turns his back to them to hide his tears, “Can I have some privacy, please? … Thank you!” he replies sternly.
Both go out immediately, closing the door behind them. Arjun walks to the broken desk, picks it up and assembles it back to somehow put it back in place. He sits down on the chair beside it and makes another phone call.
“Puja, how are you? Papa and mummy …”
Puja immediately starts speaking on the phone, “Bhaiyya, nothing is right here. The doctors refuse to tell me anything about papa!”
“Puja, don’t worry dear. I am in constant touch with the doctors. We are getting everything done, Puja; the best treatment in the world. Everything will be fine. …Ok listen, this is an important thing. Rakesh came to me just now. Last night two masked men came to his house when he was not around and they tied his parents up. They threatened his family.”
“What! Can I speak to him bhaiyya? Oh my God!”
“Yes, you can speak to Rakesh. They are all fine. But listen to me first. Rakesh has told me… he wants to break the engagement … he will speak to you sometime soon, but right now he was very distressed himself.”
There’s a marked silence with no response, “Are you ok, Puja? … Puja!”
“Yes bhaiyya. I am fine. I don’t blame him.”
Arjun can hear her silently sobbing on the phone.
“Puja, I know you must hate me. Everything is happening because of me!”
“No bhaiyya. It’s not your fault!” she continues to speak, sobbing quietly, “I don’t need anyone, bhaiyya. Don’t blame yourself. You and I are here for each other and that’s all we need bhaiyya.”
“Do you want to speak to Rakesh?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Arjun crushes a paper lying on the desk in his fist.
“Bhaiyya, I said no. I don’t want to speak to anyone!”
“Puja, another thing… I’ve told you already that we will not meet Riya, uncle or aunty… ever again. That’s best for everyone. And once it is all over, we will move to California. Do you understand Puja?”
“Yes bhaiyya! We will go away. You don’t have to worry about me, bhaiyya. I will not speak to Rakesh or Riya or anyone!” There is a long pause as Puja desperately tries to compose herself but finally breaks down crying loudly now, “Where are you bhaiyya? Please come to me quickly! I am all alone here!”
“I will, Puja....very soon, I will. Don’t worry! Everything will be fine. I will come to you after I’ve taken care of everything here. Don’t worry, sis!”
“Ok bhaiyya,” Puja has evidently stopped crying. “You take care of yourself, bhaiyya!” Arjun puts dow
n the phone and stays there for a moment staring at the wall. He then gets up and walks out, grabs the file that an officer hands him on the way out and drives away at top speed in his car. He could feel the pain like a dagger piercing through his spine. But the pain doesn’t stop here… he was driving towards more of it.
“Come on, I’m ready for more!” Arjun tells himself, “It can’t hurt anymore.”
A strong sense of guilt and fury engulfs Arjun, as he steps on the car’s accelerator. The world around him is collapsing; all those whom he cared for are suffering because of his carelessness. His dad is fighting for his last breath in the hospital and now his darling sister has to go through the heartache of a break-up with her childhood sweetheart.
He needs to set things right… and fast.
Trick or Treat
Riya is waiting outside her house as Arjun drives in. She rushes excitedly to greet him, but she notices that he has a stern expression on his face. She stops in front of him, short of hugging him. Riya’s parents stand next to her.
“I asked you to stay inside didn’t I?” Arjun asks her coldly. Though there is stiff security in the area, unknown to everyone, from a distance a camera clicks Arjun and Riya together. Within a few minutes, another click, and more photographs are taken of the couple.
“Uncle and aunty, if you don’t mind I need to speak to Riya privately.”
“Yes beta! How are you Arjun? We are so worried about you.” Shanti responds.
“I am fine, aunty.” He pauses to look at Riya, “Should we? Please come in.”
Both enter Arjun’s home. He enters a passcode to open the new security locks that have been installed in the house.
“Arjun! How are Uncle and aunty now?” Riya asks but Arjun ignores her.
Cold Love Page 17