by P. G. Van
“Abhay, do you think Senanis had something to do with the massacre and why would they want to kill Raidu.”
“Dev, there is more to it but we need to stay on Rana’s search.”
“I agree… did you get more information on the police officer.” Dev asked.
“The name of the police officer who arrested the pig is John Wesley. Find out what you can, and I will try to get as much as I can from the police records,” Abhay instructed Dev. Dev came to the city when Sabitha called to tell him about Raidu. He was going to work with his technology team.
The clue the goon had given Abhay in his anger about how his brother was the reason for his arrest, gave him the next clue.
“How is this police officer going to help us? What about what Raidu told us.”
“This is the man who brought the goon down. I’m sure he’ll know something if Rana was the reason this pig was arrested, and also about Raidu. There is more to know and dig up, but we need to stay on course until we find Rana,” Abhay reasoned.
“Got it. Also, my team is close to generating a new set of images of Rana at different ages, and we will soon start the matching. It’s gonna be a while because we have to comb through tons of images and videos.” Dev was hopeful but also getting impatient.
“We will find him, Dev, we surely will.” Abhay looked at the picture of his youngest brother.
“I know it’s only a matter of when.”
“Any other information on who shot Raidu?” Abhay knew Dev has had multiple teams investigating, and that’s why he suggested he go back to work closely with them.
“I’m sending Sabitha’s team of investigators to find out more about Raidu. I think we should stay on Rana’s trail,” Dev suggested, and his brother agreed.
*****
“Neil, whose house is this?” She stepped into the living room after showering and putting on comfortable clothes.
He looked up from his phone as she walked toward him. He was seated at the dining table and set the phone aside as she put her arms around his neck looking down at him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, her eyes boring into his.
“My friend’s house.”
“Oh…”
“Get comfortable, we are not going anywhere for a few more days. I can’t take the risk of you being recognized. I’ve already messaged Raj about the delay.”
Shock waves passed through her body, and she pulled back to look at him, “What the fuck?”
“What?” He shrugged.
“Really, after last night, you are still talking about taking me to that moron,” her voice blared in the small apartment.
“Narmada… last night…”
She didn’t let him finish. “I will kill you if you tell me it meant nothing.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand, I am not the man you want.”
“Really, how come you didn’t lecture me last night?” she spat.
He ran his fingers through his hair and turned away from her. She looked at him through angry tears. She stared at him, his back to her, and when she was about to say something, she noticed something on his t-shirt. It was a blob of red, and her eyes widened when she realized it was blood.
“Neil, you are bleeding.” She forgot what they were talking about and how angry she was with him and reached for his t-shirt.
He caught her hand before she could reach for his t-shirt. “It’s nothing.”
“Neil, let me look at it. What happened?” She ripped her hand away from his, and he immediately put his arms around her pinning her hands to her side.
“I need you to calm down so we can talk.”
“Neil, let go. I want to check it,” she growled.
“There’s nothing to check, it’s just a nick,” he assured her, but something about his tone told her he was lying.
“Neil… let me go.” Her voice was calm but firm.
She lifted the hem of his t-shirt and looked at the scars that were etched on his skin. “Who did this to you?”
He pushed her hands away covering his chest.
“Why do you need this life? Why can’t we be together?” She was angry and felt the sting in her eyes.
“Narmada…” he pleaded gently wiping her eyes.
“Why, Neil, after everything you did for me and even after I’ve told you how much I love you, you still talk about taking me to that moron?” She sobbed.
“I have to, I need to. It’s my duty to…”
“Duty to turn me in?” she barked interrupting him.
“My duty is to kill every soul who was behind ending the life of the man who saved me from that hellhole. My duty is the safety of the family of the man who came to become the father I never had,” his voice resonated in her ears.
“What about me? Do you not love me?”
“I got nothing but duty in my life.”
“Liar,” she spat.
He took a deep breath. “I’m not what you want.”
“I know what I want. How do you get to decide what I want?” She seared him with her eyes before turning away from him.
Narmada was devastated, but she was not going to let him see her cry, she was too proud to let him see her cry. He made her feel strong and want to fight back, but all she could think about was to hide in a corner and cry.
She was scrunched in a corner on the floor, her knees pulled into her chest, her eyes burning from the tears she refused to shed when she heard the door opening. She felt his presence in the room moving toward her, but she did not move.
“Narmada.” His voice was soft.
“Go away, I don’t want you here.” She pushed him away.
“I want to talk to you.”
She looked up at him, her eyes blazing. “Really, now you want to talk to me?”
“Yes.” It was a plea.
“Fine, before you tell me what you want to tell me… I need to ask you some questions.”
“Narmada…”
“No, Neil. You can talk to me only if you are responding to my questions.”
“Okay, I will answer anything you ask me if you eat this.” He stuck a bowl of what looked like sautéd mixed vegetables.
“No way… it’s too healthy for me.”
“It’s all I’ve got. Eat, because I know you are pining to ask me questions.”
She quickly took a few bites and put the bowl away. “Okay, how did you get all those scars? I know how you got the one on the side.”
“Some from my training and others while on a job,” he said softly.
“What training?”
He took a deep breath. “The goon… he trained me… trained me to endure pain, and he would from time to time stab me.”
She gasped unable to digest what he told her. “No.”
“As I said, something about you makes me human, feel vulnerable, and I…” his voice trailed off and looked at her blankly.
“Why didn’t you run away?”
“I got stabbed every time I tried to run. The last time I was caught, he told me he would stab my friends. So, I stayed.”
“Who is this idiot, and how did you get out?”
“He is in prison, and he is alive because he is behind bars. I got out of it when I put him behind bars with the help of a police officer.”
“Who is the police officer? Is he the man you talked about?”
“Yes, he was the Deputy Inspector General, and he caught me pulling off a job and took me to the police station.”
“How old were you?”
“Maybe… twelve.”
“What do you mean job?”
“I was out pulling off a job for the deal the goon made with other goons.”
“You started killing people when you were twelve?”
“Do you understand why you don’t need someone like me in your life?” he interjected.
She ignored his comments. “So, what happened?”
“The DIG knocked some sense into me and set me up to work for him in return for gett
ing all the kids in the warehouse freed, and the goon killed or in jail for the rest of his life.” His voice wavered like it was too painful for him to talk.
She looked at him in silence watching him steady his breath before he spoke again.
“Four years, the best time of my life. I finally had a family because the DIG adopted me and took me in as his own. He hired teachers to homeschool me and just when I thought things were looking up… the fucking bastards killed him. They killed him because of me.” He clenched his jaw.
She moved closer to him and hesitantly put her arms around him. Her anger was no match to the pain she saw in his eyes, and it made her stomach clench. “I’m sorry.”
He slowly brought his arms around her. “My hunt for the killers started that day, and I’m still hunting.”
“Why did you come to work as my bodyguard?”
“Three years after the DIG was killed, I had the support and the ability to go after the men who potentially had him killed. The DIG pulled off the biggest bust in the entire police department with the information I got him, and there were too many people who wanted him dead.”
“Why did you kill our neighbor six years ago?” she asked softly taking in the warmth from his embrace.
“He was the head of the snake, and every goon who was arrested worked for him in some form. I knew he was the one the DIG was after so I started with him. I tried to get a job at his house but did not and ended up as your bodyguard.” Holding onto her gave him the strength he needed to keep talking.
“I’m glad you came, Neil. You were my first friend and the reason I still have friends in my life.” She pulled away to look into his eyes.
He went silent on her, and she gave him a few moments before continuing. “Why did you leave?”
“I had to…”
“Why?”
“You were getting too close to me. So close, I forgot what I was there for and ended up staying even after my job was done.” His voice was rough.
“I hated you for leaving without saying goodbye,” she growled.
“I had no choice.”
“Did you get everyone you suspected as the DIG’s killer?”
“I thought I did until I pulled a job for one of Raj’s contacts. He tells me he knows who killed the DIG.” He took a deep breath to steady himself.
“How do you know he is not lying?”
“He showed me proof… a conversation between two people planning the attack on the DIG. I am convinced I got to everyone, but I can’t take a chance…”
“And that’s why it’s important for you to take me to Raj,” she finished for him.
He nodded.
“If you know you got everyone, who else could have done it?” Her voice was a whisper.
“The network that was busted was a worldwide one that had its nucleus here… those bastards may still be out there.” He gritted his teeth.
“How long can you keep doing this?” It was a question he had never asked himself, and it sent a shudder through him when he heard her words.
“I… I don’t know.”
“Are you willing to do this for the rest of your life?”
“If that’s what keeps innocent people safe, I’m okay to do it. I have no one in this world for me, and I can go on.” He sounded angry.
“Neil… you have me, I am yours. Stop this madness because no matter how many people you kill, the man you loved as a father is never coming back.” Her voice was calm yet insistent.
“I can’t…”
“Yes, you can… let me be yours, and I will take away all of your pain.” She gently kissed him on his cheek fighting back the tears.
“I can’t,” he declared roughly and pushed her away. “I can’t walk away from my duty.”
He swiftly got off the floor and started walking away from her.
“Neil… you can go kill every soul out there, but before you tell me you don’t love me, look me in the eye and say it.”
He turned to look at her as she walked to him.
“Say it, and I will do what you want me to do. I will go be Raj’s wife or mistress, thinking about you for the rest of my life.”
“Stop,” he growled.
“I love you enough to last me the rest of my life, and I will do what you want me to do for your duty, but tell me you don’t love me, and I will never discuss this again.”
“I don’t,” he growled looking away from her.
“Look at me and say it to my face. Say you don’t love me and will never think of me again.” Her eyes blazed at him.
Neil could not utter a word. He looked at her hoping she would stop challenging him, but he knew he had no fight left in him when it involved her. She controlled his every thought, every move. She had an invisible grip on him like nothing else.
She was everything he had ever wanted, the only person who saw him for who he was and made him want to kill anyone who came close to hurting her. He couldn’t help but want to be with her, draw the calm she gave him, and find his inner depths.
He gave her a long stare before turning away and leaving the room.
A sly smile formed on her face when she realized she still had hope. She was going to take advantage of being close to him, to get close to him, the next few days.
CHAPTER 13
“Hunter,” Neil snapped into the phone later that day. He had spent the entire day in the same house with Narmada but could not look into her eyes. A deep burn started in his chest every time he looked into her questioning eyes.
“Hey, it’s Joe.” A familiar man’s voice greeted on the other end of the line.
“Joe, what do you have for me?”
“Are you okay?” The man’s voice was soft reminding him of the man who gave him a taste of family.
“I’m fine. Did you find the man?” Neil was getting impatient.
“Yes, he is in a high-end private hospital with the highest security,” Joe declared.
“What?”
“Someone wants him alive as badly as your clients wanted him dead.” Joe sounded worried.
The one time where Neil had stumbled before a kill, and it was when he saw the man’s tattoo just before pulling the trigger almost a month ago. He was tasked to kill a man staying at a motel. From the day he started the hunt for the bastard who even thought about killing the DIG, it was his way of staying within the system so he could get to every single killer and kill them.
“Who are these people and how did they get him out before your team showed up?” Neil’s voice blared in the small kitchen.
“The Singham brothers are protecting him,” Joe’s voice was a hush like he didn’t want anyone to hear.
“Who are these people?”
“Neil, why did you not shoot to kill?” Joe asked the question that has been burning in his mind.
“I don’t know, Joe. I don’t why, and the only thing that was familiar was the tattoo on his neck,” Neil confessed softly.
“Where do you think he will lead you?”
Neil had no response for Joe, the brother the DIG gave him when he adopted him.
“Do you think he will lead us to Dad’s killer?” Joe wanted to understand what compelled Neil to keep the man alive.
“No… it’s not anyone that was in the compound or part of the goon’s group… this man seems to be…”
“Could this man be your real father?” Joe blurted.
“No.” Neil never thought about his biological parents. The orphanage was his home from what he could remember, and the pastors and the orphans were his family.
“Neil… why is it not possible? Could this be someone from the orphanage?”
“If it is someone from the orphanage, I don’t care for that man. Let him die.” Neil was angry for no reason, and he turned away from the window when he felt her behind him.
“I got to go,” he declared and hung up before Joe could prolong the conversation.
Narmada stood in the middle of the kitchen looking at Neil standing by t
he window. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It’s okay,” his voice was a whisper as he took in the sight in front of him. Narmada stood in front of him in a loose t-shirt—his t-shirt—her legs long and bare, and the fabric of the t-shirt loosely draped over the twin peaks on her chest.
She walked slowly toward him, her eyes trained on his. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Can I use the phone?” she chirped.
“Who do you need to call?”
“Of course, Raj. Does it look like I am going to call my parents?” she teased.
He dialed Raj’s number and held the phone in his hand with the speaker turned on.
“Hunter?” The voice was so annoying she had to try hard to keep a straight face.
“Hi, it’s me,” Narmada spoke in a seductive tone looking into Neil’s eyes.
“My sweet flower, how are you?”
“I am fine. I want to talk to you.” She sounded whiny.
“I am listening, my pure flower.”
She had to try hard not to gag on his words. “I have been thinking about what you told me, and I need to tell you something before you see me.”
Neil moved uncomfortably as she moved closer to him leaving inches between them.
“Tell me, I am waiting.”
“I am in love, Raj, and I have been for a long time.”
“In love?” The man sounded excited.
“Yes, I am in love with someone else, but that person doesn’t love me.” She faked a sob.
“Oh…”
“It took me a while, but I realized that man has no heart, and it’s no use loving him.”
“Yes,” Raj encouraged.
“I will try to forget that stone man, but I need time. Promise me you will give me time.” She glared at Neil who stood by her, his face a mask.
“Yes, darling. You take as much time as you want. I will give you your privacy at my house.”
“You are so understanding, Raj. I wish the man I fell in love with was so understanding. He was the reason I didn’t want to get married to Dev Singham or anyone else,” she rasped and noticed a sudden reaction from Neil.