by P. G. Van
“Stay where you are, Narmada,” he ordered.
Narmada took a moment to fight the sunken feeling and tried to gather herself. She looked around and saw the knife Neelambari was using to slice the apple on the floor a few feet from her.
The three other people in the room waited staring at the door, and she slowly reached for the small knife. A few moments passed, and they heard a knock on the door.
“Security code?” the older man demanded.
“Daddy,” a weak woman’s voice came through the closed door.
“Sonia?” Raj called out.
“Daddy, Raj… open the door.” She sobbed.
The two men scrambled to open the door, and Narmada watched as the doors flew open.
Neil stood outside, a barrel to a young woman’s temple, his eyes in search of the almond eyes. His eyes lit up when their eyes clapped.
“Hunter, please don’t hurt my sister,” Raj pleaded.
“Ask your men to stand down, or I will blow her brains out,” Neil commanded his eyes riveted on Narmada’s face.
“You will pay for this, Hunter,” Raj’s dad threatened.
Neil took his eyes away from Narmada to look at the older man and the woman in front of him. “If you have any sense, you won’t threaten me when I have a gun to your daughter’s head.”
“Who are you?” Narmada was surprised to see the way Neelambari was reacting to Neil’s presence, but she didn’t have time to process it.
Narmada quickly moved toward Raj and placed the knife on his throat and looked at Neil. Raj squealed, Neelambari ran to stand behind his father, and the older man stood rooted to his spot. The scene didn’t seem to affect him as he stood in his spot putting on a calm front.
“Why did you come back?” Narmada growled.
“I’m sorry, I want you.”
“Fuck you, I don’t want you,” she yelled, looking at Neil while digging the knife closer to Raj’s throat.
“Daddy…” the woman wailed, but Neil ignored her.
“Narmada, I love you. I’ve been stupid not to realize and accept it.”
“I hate you… go away. I don’t want to go with you.”
“Baby…” he crooned and something inside her melted. “I promise to give you everything you need, I’ll never let you go.”
“Oh my God… please go with him,” Raj’s sister begged in a shivering voice.
“Will you ever leave without me?” Narmada’s lips curved up.
“Never, I won’t. I want you,” Neil pleaded.
“Okay, Raj’s dad here has a gun in one hand, and I don’t know what this woman here is planning to do.” Narmada gave Neelambari a glare.
“You know I can blow your head and your sister’s head within a second. Don’t try anything funny,” Neil warned, giving the older man a long glare.
Narmada kept an eye on the other two in the room as she moved toward the door dragging Raj with her.
“Everybody stay where you are!” Neil shouted into the large living area looking at the men with their guns pointed to the floor.
“Narmada, come here… I got your back.” They both moved toward the entrance with Raj walking toward the door.
“I will deal with you when we are out of this mess,” she snarled at him.
He smiled wanting to kiss her lips until they were swollen, but he knew better.
“Where’s your fancy bus, Raj?” Neil demanded.
“Please don’t take them. I will ask security to stand down,” Raj’s father called out from the room entrance.
“Stay where you are! If anyone follows us, I will blow their brains out,” Neil issued another command as they got closer to what looked like a garage.
“Open it,” Raj commanded to the guard who stood shell-shocked by the door.
The large garage opened to reveal a massive bus.
“Narmada, get in and start the engine,” Neil ordered.
“I don’t know how to drive a frigging bus,” she snapped.
“Yes, you do. Get in and have Raj show you how to start the engine.” He held the woman to him, his eyes scanning for movement.
Raj got into the bus and turned it on without a fight. He even offered to drive it, but she knew better. “Thanks, just sit down.”
She turned to look at the back of the bus that looked like a mini apartment before putting the bus in gear. She watched as Neil moved toward the bus, his back to the door. She watched in horror when his foot started to slip down the first step, and in the next second, Raj’s sister slipped and fell to the floor.
As if that was the opportunity the shooter was waiting for, a shot was fired, and she saw the blood splatter from Neil’s shoulder. Narmada’s heart took a nose dive to her stomach, but she put on the brake and went to him. He had managed to pull the woman to cover him, but his gun was on the floor.
She went past him to grab the gun off the floor.
“Narmada…no,” she heard Raj plead as she took aim at the man who shot at Neil from the balcony above them. She pulled the trigger, and saw the man grab his arm.
Narmada felt her body being pulled into the bus as she continued to fire at the empty balcony. “Let’s go.”
“Your fucking dad shot at him, I am going to shoot you two,” she pointed the gun at the two people who sat on the floor of the bus hiding their heads in their arms.
“Narmada, give me the gun and start driving.” Neil sat in the passenger seat groaning in pain.
“We need to go to the hospital.” She watched him put pressure on his wound.
“It’s a flesh wound. Let’s go.”
Narmada took the wheel and maneuvered the giant vehicle out of the driveway and down the hill on the private driveway. Neil held the gun with one hand pointed toward the siblings as he gave her directions.
“Please let us go,” Raj’s sister begged after a two-hour drive in the bus.
Neil looked weak, and Narmada was starting to get worried as the darkness enveloped them. “We need to lose this vehicle.”
“Yes. We will switch soon. Is there enough fuel in the bus?”
“Half a tank.”
Neil pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “I need a vehicle at location twenty-seven in the next hour.”
“Who was that you talked to?” Narmada asked looking him press down on his wound.
“Let’s talk later.” He turned around to look at Raj and his sister. “I have nothing against you two so don’t make me hurt you. I want both of you to lay on the floor with your eyes shut and not another word until this bus stops.”
Narmada heard the siblings whimper as they took their positions on the plush rug that covered the floor of the bus.
“You okay?” He reached out to graze his fingers on her hand.
She slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me. I’m still pissed.”
“I’m sorry, I know it was wrong of me to leave you and go.”
“Narmada…” Raj’s voice interjected.
“What do you want, Raj?” she snapped.
“Is he… is he your… err lover?”
She blushed looking at Neil.
“Shut up, Raj. Didn’t he say no talking?” she snarled.
*****
“I sent you a picture, Abhay.” Dev was on the phone for the tenth time that day with his older brother.
“What is this picture?”
“Look at the kid standing next to Narmada Senani, the girl in the center. This was a picture she had posted six years ago on her online profile.”
Abhay frowned looking at the image of a young man looking away from the camera. “Is that him?”
“The imaging algorithm says it’s him.”
“What is the link between Rana and the Senanis?” Abhay shook his head in disbelief.
“Raidu is a Senani, but he claimed to have taken Rana to the orphanage not to the Senanis?” Dev wondered.
“Doesn’t add up, Dev.”
“I have one more item that doesn’t add up, Abhay.
Rana’s image got a hit on the cameras in the motel where Raidu was staying before he was shot minutes before our investigators found him,” Dev stated sending shock waves through Abhay.
“Was he looking for Raidu, too? If Rana remembers Raidu, what else does he remember?”
“Abhay, based on the footage, Rana may have been the one who shot Raidu… but kept him alive. Our best bet is to find Narmada Senani. Did her father get back to you?” Dev asked curiously.
“The Senanis were not available to talk, so I talked to his assistant. He told me they are all away, mourning.”
“Oh…”
“He claimed to know nothing about the attacks when I pressed him about the incident,” Abhay said softly.
“That’s bullshit!” Dev scoffed.
“I know. Run the imaging software on Narmada Senani. We might find out something,” Abhay suggested before ending the call.
Where are you, Rana? What are you up to?
CHAPTER 20
“You two stay down. We will be right back. We will be switching cars,” Neil issued a command while signaling to Narmada to move. He winced as he stepped out of the bus and leaned on Narmada as they walked toward a thick patch of shrubbery.
“How long do you think they will wait before they realize we aren’t going back for them?” She laughed helping him into the SUV hidden behind the shrubbery.
“Not long, but they have enough fuel to drive no more than fifteen minutes,” he said weakly as she put the seatbelt on him. He reached out to brush his lips on her cheek.
“I love you,” he whispered making her heart leap in her chest.
“You are an asshole.” She held his face in her hands and gave him a hard kiss. She walked around to the driver’s side.
“Stay down, you two,” she called out before shutting the car door and driving onto the highway.
“I am going to pass out in another ten minutes, but I will be fine. Just drive on this highway until you see signs for Miyyapur. Take the first exit and follow the signs to the police station.”
“No… we need to go to the hospital… now.” She was worried he had lost a lot of blood already.
“Narmada… remember to take me to the police station,” he ordered.
“Keep talking to me, don’t pass out,” she pleaded.
“I will try not to but don’t panic if I do, it’s normal. You will need to drive for approximately two hours from here.
“I can drive faster.”
“There is no hurry. Just go to the police station,” he insisted weakly.
It was getting dark, and she was freaking out, but she followed the instructions and stayed on the highway watching for the signs to Miyyapur. She passed through small towns and noticed people were stopping and staring at the vehicle. Neil was asleep, and she didn’t want to wake him up. She kept driving on the road until she pulled up behind a slow-moving fuel tanker. The tanker was moving slower than usual as it passed through another town.
She looked at the reflection of the vehicle she was driving on the rounded metal surface tanker. She gasped in surprise when she caught a better view of the vehicle when they passed under the streetlight.
“What the heck?” The words rolled out when she realized she was in a police vehicle, clearly marked as a special category vehicle. She understood why she got the looks from the people on the streets as she passed through the towns.
Was Neil a cop?
With newfound confidence, she looked on the dash for the switch that would turn on the siren lights. She fired up the sirens and got the big-ass fuel tanker to get out of the way, along with many other vehicles on the highway.
An hour into her high-speed driving, she started to see signs for the place Neil had mentioned. She looked at Neil and knew he had lost a lot of blood. Her eyes caught the bright red cross symbol. She ignored his instructions and decided to pull into the hospital, the siren blaring through the night.
No one asked her questions when she pulled into the emergency section of the hospital. She was impressed with the size of the facility and had not expected a huge hospital in the middle of nowhere.
“What happened, officer?” The doctor asked assuming she was part of the police department, and she didn’t correct the doctor.
“I shot him. Treat him,” she ordered.
She followed Neil as he lay on the gurney still looking like he could wake up and kill a few if needed. She had no fear because she knew nothing could kill him, let alone a bullet. He was built for it. She sat outside the operating theater waiting for the doctor to extract the bullet.
“Narmada?” A male voice interrupted her thoughts.
She looked up to find a man in his early thirties looking at her suspiciously.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“Narmada, I am Joe, Neil’s brother. Very nice to meet you.” He held his hand out.
Neil has a brother? He has a family?
She gently shook his hand. He pulled his hand away when his walkie-talkie beeped.
“Excuse me… go ahead,” he commanded.
“We have a perimeter, sir,” the voice reported.
“Move the vehicle and make it untraceable,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
Narmada was pretty sure the man had to be a police officer or some law enforcement agency.
“What happened?” the man asked softly.
“Can I see some ID?”
The man smiled and pulled out a card from his pocket. The name read ‘Joe Tiwari’ and the ID was of the Indian Police Service.
She took a deep breath. “He was shot almost six hours ago. He told me it was a flesh wound.”
“Yes, that’s what the doctor said… did he… did he not take you to his client?”
“Yes, he did but came back to get me,” she growled.
“I’m glad he did… he needs you in his life,” the man declared and walked away leaving her wondering what he meant.
She saw the doctor come out of the emergency operating theater and walk toward Joe.
“Is he okay?” she called out running toward the men.
The doctor nodded at them, and she put her hands around the elderly man. “Thank you, doctor.”
Joe smiled as the elderly doctor patted her on the back before leading them toward the intensive care unit. “He will need to be here for tonight, and we will move him to a regular room tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Joe shook hands with the doctor before turning to look at Narmada. “Neil has my team watching him. You can go home with me to change.”
“No, I’m fine.” She ran her palms over her dry but blood-stained t-shirt.
“Narmada, I will stay here with him…” His voice trailed off when she shook her head.
“Thank you, but I’m not leaving Neil.”
Joe smiled at her. “I’ll have a room arranged and get you a change of clothes.”
“Thank you!”
“Anything else I can get you?”
“A computer. I know I will be here a while, so I might as well get some work done.”
Joe smiled and nodded.
*****
“Abhay, you will not believe what we found,” Dev said as soon as his brother answered the phone.
“What?” Abhay picked up on the strain in his brother’s voice. They were still on the search for Rana.
“Based on some video footage we found, Rana was the one who shot Raidu.”
“What? How? Why?” The information sent a shiver down his spine.
“I have no clue, Abhay. Why shoot him and not kill him?”
“Did Rana recognize Raidu?” Abhay pondered out loud.
“If he did, why would he shoot him?” Dev raked his fingers through his hair.
“What did he turn into, and how is he tied to the Senanis?”
“Not the Senanis, just the girl,” Dev corrected.
“Where is this going to lead us, Dev?” Abhay wasn’t sure how he felt about the coincidences
.
*****
Neil's eyelids felt heavy, and his body ached. His vision was hazy. The room was bright, and the walls were pale. He slowly averted his eyes to scan his surroundings and saw the familiar figure sitting to one side of the room. She had changed out of the bloody clothes and was sitting in front of a computer.
He tried to move his hand, but he couldn’t. He noticed the thick cast on his right shoulder and knew the doctor had mistaken his perpetual fracture as a fresh one. He tried to clear his throat and call out, but his throat was closed.
As if she sensed his movement, she turned to look at him. “Neil, you are awake.”
She pushed aside the oxygen mask and kissed him hard on his lips. His lips felt soft against her lips, and she felt tears of joy run down her cheeks. “I’m so glad you are awake.”
Neil gently pushed her away to wipe the moisture off her cheeks. “I missed you, too.”
He looked from her to the screen, and the image on the screen sent bolts of energy through his body. The black and white image of a woman smiled back at him. He pointed at the image, and she followed his gaze to her computer.
“I was getting bored with you not waking up, so I continued working on my thesis.”
“Narmada…” he murmured, and it was like music to her ears.
She gently hushed him by running her lips over his. His other hand had the IV running, and she was quick to snap it back to the bed as they deepened the kiss.
“I love you, Narmada.”
“I love you, too, but you are not off the hook for leaving me,” she warned against his lips.
“I will make it up to you, get me out of here.” He winked.
“It’s a good thing Joe told me about your tricks.” She pushed him back onto the bed pulling away.
“I hate hospitals. Get me out of here.” It was a plea that melted her heart.
“Not happening. You need to rest for at least two weeks.” She smiled settling down on the chair next to the computer.
“Who is that on your screen?” Neil had the same feeling brew up every time he had the dream of the mother and child.