But I needed to speak to Riya immediately. I needed to find out if Jay was in America. I turned round and dialled her number.
‘Hi, Riya!’
‘Hello, Tara. So good to hear from you again.’
‘Hey, listen, I am at La Guardia right now, just boarding a flight to go to San Francisco. I had a quick question.’
‘I can’t hear you clearly, Tara. Should I call you back?’
I looked at my watch. I really would miss my flight at this rate and Mr Kapoor would throw a fit.
‘You know what Riya, I am kind of running late. It might be a good idea if I called you once I landed in California.’
‘Is everything okay, Tara?’
‘Yeah, yeah all is well.’
And I hung up, racing back to the flight kiosk. In a way, after our weird conversation the day before, I was glad Riya sounded normal today.
‘Hi, I wanted to check to see if the flight to SFO will be leaving now?’
‘I am sorry, Ma’am. Due to Superstorm Shrek all flights to SFO have been cancelled today.’
Oh my God. Clearly I had not been listening to the announcements. Or paying heed to the weather forecasts in New York that seriously. What would I do now?
‘Do you have any idea when I can catch the next flight?’
‘Not before tomorrow at least. You can check in the evening.’
I made my way back to where I had left my luggage. I pulled out my phone and emailed AK, remembering to copy Sailesh on the email—might as well get over with the unpleasant bit of informing them that I wouldn’t be getting on a flight. I then picked up my luggage and walked outside.
I took a cab back to my service apartment. It was raining very heavily now and visibility was low. This was not good I thought bitterly. I hadn’t called my Mom since I had landed in the States and I made a quick call to her, assuring her I was doing fine. What lies one has to tell one’s parents.
When I reached the apartment the receptionist was surprised to see me back so soon. I explained things to her and said I would need the apartment for a couple of more nights till the weather improved and I could go to SFO. Since most residents had been asked to evacuate the building due to the storm warning, I had to sign some kind of paper stating that I was staying at my own risk. I got done with the formalities. Next I made a call to the travel agent in my office, asking her to arrange a flight for me as soon as she could.
Then I went upstairs and lay down.
43
HE SAW HER entering the apartment and smiled at his good fortune. Superstorm Shrek had happened at the right time. His time was running out and he had to act fast. He saw his phone buzzing. He picked it up. He heard what the other person had to say—it was driving him nuts; he hadn’t gone so far to back out in the end. He cut the line, then threw the phone on the floor. Then he picked it up and in his anger smashed it against the wall. It was still intact. So he walked towards it in fury and stomped on it till it was broken into pieces. Tonight was his night and he did not want any interruptions whatsoever.
He went towards the bar and pulled out a bottle of beer. He took a couple of swigs and wiped the streak of alcohol dripping from his mouth. Then he stumbled over to the couch with the bottle and sat down. He had switched off all the lights. Since this was Manhattan he let the lights from the other buildings illuminate his apartment. He closed his eyes and reflected on his life and how pathetic it had become. Nobody understood what it was like to be abandoned. He looked outside the windows at the rain that increased with every passing minute. He cursed under his breath.
He didn’t realize how long he had been lying on the couch but he felt some movement and he knew who it was. He could feel the all too familiar anger welling up inside him. Nothing and nobody could stop him—not even . . . her!
I never realized how long I had been lying down on the bed. It must have been several hours. I pulled myself together and went towards the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and found there wasn’t much to eat. I pulled out a container of yoghurt and ate a couple of spoonfuls. Then I went to the living room and turned on the TV: the headline news was the storm.
I decided to go take a shower. I entered the bathroom leaving the television on. Midway through lathering my hair the electricity went off. Damn the storm. Manhattan was not used to power outages, but from what I had heard in the news, if the storm got severe, they would turn off the power as a precaution so there wouldn’t be any casualties. I quickly rinsed my hair and cautiously made my way out of the bathroom. It was evening by now. I went to the bedroom and picked up my cell phone to use the light to get to the kitchen. I opened some drawers and finally found a candle and some matches and I lit them. I put on a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Even though it was only August I was feeling unusually cold. I realized my cell phone battery was pretty low so to conserve it I switched it off.
I really didn’t know what to do. With such a massive storm raging outside there was no guessing when power would be restored but I decided tomorrow morning I would have to make my way out of here if things didn’t get back to normal. I sat down and pulled out a book that I tried reading unsuccessfully by the light of the candle. After a while I started feeling drowsy. I closed my eyes and just when I was about to doze off I heard a crashing sound coming from the apartment above mine. I woke up with a start. I wondered if I had imagined it. I closed my eyes once again trying to get some sleep. Again I heard some more noise. I stood up silently, wondering what was going on upstairs. Maybe I could go downstairs to the reception and report what was going on in the apartment above mine but that meant dealing with the unhelpful staff and they had made me sign that note. So I decided I would wait and watch.
On the floor above he realized he had made too much noise. Tara would probably be on the alert. Let her be. He smiled. Then with a kick of his feet he brought the chair down; it fell with a crash. And a woman screamed loudly.
44
MR KAPOOR SAT in his apartment his blood boiling. He couldn’t take it any longer. He read Tara’s message to him. She thought he was in California but he had never left to begin with. There was unfinished business in New York City which he had to take care of first. Only if he had been strong and had not succumbed.
He picked up the phone and dialled a number.
‘Hello. It’s me. We need to meet and it can’t wait.’
He put down his phone and looked at his reflection in the mirror: he looked pathetic.
I stood in stunned silence not knowing what to do. Strangely, the fear that had been consuming me for all these days seemed to want to find an outlet. I wanted revenge, revenge for the trauma I had been going through. Then, as if to silence all my doubts, I heard a woman scream loudly. That was it. I had to find out what was happening upstairs. If a killer was on the loose, so be it. I switched on my phone and gave a quick missed call to my mother. I knew she was sleeping now and would not see my call, but if anything were to happen to me, at least she would be able to trace where I was last.
I picked up the candle and the large kitchen knife and made my way up the stairs. I reached for the door and noticed that it had been left slightly ajar. I walked inside carefully. I looked around the living room which was empty. I cautiously made my way towards the bedroom.
‘Hello?’
The man had his back to me. He was facing the window. In the light of the candle his silhouette looked familiar. A cold shiver made my hair stand on end but I stood my ground.
I strengthened my grip on the knife and called out again. Then I cautiously began to walk towards him.
Suddenly he turned. But before I could call out to him, I heard another voice.
‘Jay!’ a woman’s voice boomed across the room. Stunned, I turned around.
Mr Kapoor stood on the balcony of the fifty-first floor. Leaning over he looked down at the traffic. It was raining heavily and he was getting drenched but he didn’t care—that was the least of his worries. If he leaned a little
further, he would tip over and that would be the end of his miseries. He closed his eyes and reflected on all that he had been going through. It was easy to succumb now. As he stood in a daze, wet in the rain and his fingers gripping the railing, suddenly there was a knock on the door. That jolted him out of his reverie. He made his way back to the room.
‘Aryana? What are you doing here?’ Jay asked coldly. ‘I have asked you to stay out of this.’
‘Jay, no,’ she replied. ‘It is time . . .’
But before she could finish her sentence, there was the sound of a sudden hiss and the next moment Jay was lying on the ground writhing in pain. Aryana immediately went over to him and the next thing I knew, she had collapsed right beside him. I cried out, knocking myself against the bed and my knife flew out of my hand.
A great big snake was slithering across the floor and Jay moaned out, ‘It’s all over.’ In the light of the candle I could now make out the outlines of a cage with its door open. In panic I fled out of the room with Jay calling out after me, ‘Tara! Tara!’ Aryana had succumbed to the snake bite faster than Jay. I was too stunned for words.
When I reached the bedroom door I banged it shut, my head in a whirl. I held onto the latch and could feel the snake hit against the closed door. Oh my God. Was Jay dead now? Aryana too? I was safe for the moment but I needed help right away. It was a huge snake, of what variety I didn’t know, and it was dangerous.
I held my ear against the door and tried to listen to the sounds inside. Eerily everything had gone quiet. Luckily for me, someone in the adjacent apartment just opened a door and I screamed out loudly. A couple came running inside. I explained to them, as briefly as I could, what had happened inside and that a snake was on the loose and that the authorities should be notified immediately. They nodded and the man left, the women standing by me to give me company.
I was still holding on to the door latch like my dear life depended on it. So it was Jay stalking me? But why in the world? And had he murdered the Sardarji and Anita back in Delhi? But what did he want from me?
As I stood disoriented, some more people walked into the room. The cops had been notified they assured me. And I walked over and sat down on the carpet in a heap. What a relief it was.
We were waiting for the police to arrive when I decided I should take a quick look around the room before they cordoned off the area. I lit a candle. By its light I walked over to a chest of drawers. The bottom drawer was locked. I hastily rummaged through the top two drawers looking for a key. After about five minutes I found it! I put the key in the lock and it opened. Everyone was busy with what lay behind the closed door and no one was paying any attention to me. I softly opened the drawer and looked inside.
In the light of the candle I could make out some files crammed with papers. I quickly lifted them out and skimmed through them: they were the missing files from Project Emerald.
45
IT WAS DARK so I gingerly stepped out and slowly started walking down the stairs. There was a noise behind me and I stopped to listen. A familiar chill ran up my spine. But all was silent and I started walking down again when instinctively I felt someone behind me and turned around. A figure cloaked in black stood there but before I could react the person gave me a hard push and I rolled down the stairs.
I don’t know how long I had been lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. When I regained my senses my head was pounding. There was a woman standing over me, pointing a flashlight.
‘You ok?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I had a nasty fall. It’s very dark,’ I lied.
‘I know. I was starting to get worried you weren’t responding and I was thinking I might have to get help.’
I tried standing up but I think my fall had made me twist my ankle.
‘Hey, wait. Don’t try standing up. Let me help you.’
She put her arm around my waist and somehow helped me stand. I mumbled my apartment number to her and she walked me to the door. I lay down on the couch. She then left. I was so preoccupied that I wasn’t even sure if I thanked her.
There were so many unanswered questions. Who would push me? Wasn’t Jay behind all this? What was Aryana doing with Jay? Somehow things were just not adding up. I was missing something. I tried moving my body; every limb hurt. I then remembered something: where were the files I had discovered in Jay’s room? I looked around, then painfully got up and made my way up the stairs to the landing where I had been knocked off unconscious. The papers were not there.
That could mean only one thing: somebody deliberately pushed me down the stairs to get the papers. And Jay’s death hadn’t brought the case to a closure. There were still others at large who wanted me out of the way.
I was now convinced that whoever was stalking me was also after the Project Emerald documents. But what was in Project Emerald for which they would go to such great lengths? They probably assumed I knew more about Project Emerald than I should.
I carefully locked my door and lay down on the bed. At some point I must have drifted off to sleep. When I woke up I looked out of the window and could see daylight approaching. Around 6 a.m. power was restored. In utter relief I plugged in my laptop—the battery had run out—and managed to book myself a flight to India that very evening. Our HR person hadn’t mailed me, which meant she hadn’t yet booked a flight for SFO. I emailed Mr Kapoor informing him I would not be able to make the California trip. I didn’t care any more; I just had to leave New York.
I then went to our secure office network and started going over all the documents of Project Emerald. Nothing. I looked up the minutes of previous board meetings and resolutions passed. Nothing there too. I was starting to get frustrated now and then I looked up the general shareholding pattern—still nothing conclusive. But then my eyes fell upon something I had overlooked earlier.
In the last couple of months, the company had been going through structural changes amongst the senior management and every time any major board decision was taken, coincidentally shares were bought and sold. But who was giving these shareholders this information or should I say tips? I was particularly drawn to one shareholder, a company called Mystic Corp., which was taking very ‘informed decisions’.
I needed to find out more about it. My access to the system was limited. I would have to go back and check all this out in the files back in the office. I logged out of the network and I knew I had a few hours before I had to head to the airport and I knew where the answers lay. It was time to make a trip back to Aryana’s apartment.
Thankfully the water was running. I took a shower and headed out of the apartment. I noticed a lot of commotion outside. I went downstairs to the lobby and there were NYPD cops all over the place.
‘Ma’am.’ One of them walked up to me.
‘Yes?’
‘Are you Tara Bakshi?’
‘Yes.’ My heart skipped a beat. The last thing I needed was to be dragged into a criminal investigation. All I wanted to do was put this all behind me and return home.
‘It has been reported that you were the one who found the dead bodies in the apartment above yours last night. We would like to talk to you about it.’
‘Yes, of course.’ And we moved to a room on the ground floor and I gave them a detailed description of the events that had occurred the previous night, leaving out the fact that I knew both Jay and Aryana and that I had been pushed down the stairs. For I didn’t want to be entangled in the investigations.
‘Great,’ the senior officer said after hearing me out. ‘We will be in touch if we have any further questions.’
‘I have a flight to New Delhi scheduled for this evening. I hope I am free to return to my country?’
‘Yes, you are. It has been confirmed that the deaths were due to snakebite. The only mystery is how such huge snakes were sneaked into the apartment without anyone noticing.’
‘Snakes? More than one you mean?’ I asked.
‘Yes, there were eight snakes discovered in the apartme
nt. One had escaped from its cage, probably because the owner had been careless in locking it.’
This was a shocker indeed. What was wrong with Jay, I wondered. But at least I was allowed to go. Heaving a sigh of relief, I thanked them and left the room.
46
I WAS ABOUT to head out of the building when the manager walked up to me and said apologetically, ‘Ma’am, we have been instructed by the NYPD to evacuate the building for a few hours. Since there have been deaths and vicious snakes found on the premises, they want to make a thorough search. The residents have been advised to take their essentials and leave the premises. We apologise for the inconvenience but this incident is giving us a lot of bad publicity and we want to make sure nothing untoward happens again.’
‘I understand,’ I replied. ‘And anyway I would have checked out a few hours later, so I will just go upstairs and clean out my room right away.’
This was an exasperating exercise as I couldn’t wait to get to Aryana’s place. I took the elevator to the apartment. I unlocked the door and the sight that greeted me was a ransacked apartment with my stuff strewn all over. I stood stunned for a couple of minutes. I needed to get going or else I would get no time to go to Aryana’s house. I started piecing together the puzzle in my head—whatever this person was after was apparently in my possession or at least the person thought so. And he was right here in the building, following my every move.
I haphazardly dumped all my belongings into a suitcase and closed it. As I was wheeling my suitcase out, I turned around and looked back at the apartment that had caused me so much grief. And there I saw it, something I had missed earlier: a cigarette butt. I touched it and it was still warm. I ran out of the apartment.
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