The Jugni

by Gagan Saini

  “So, you are Jugni, we asked you to come alone!”

  “I came alone with no weapons.” She showed her hands. “Why did you want me?”

  “Will tell you soon, why are you in such a hurry.”

  Zahid gathered some energy and said, “Just run away, Jugni don’t worry about me.”

  The boss pressed the gun against his head harder said, “Shut up, not a single word should come out of your mouth.”

  Simar said, “Okay, take me and let him go.”

  One man came and handcuffed Simar. She asked again to let him go.

  The boss laughed and said, “What made you believe that we are going to spare him; he is a nuisance as you are.”

  He was going to shoot Zahid in the head and she said, “Stop! Please don’t kill him, he hasn’t done anything wrong to you.”

  “He will die tonight and then it’s your turn.”

  She said in a sarcastic tone, “Almighty up there is watching you, he will punish you.”

  Back in the control room, Sid realized it was for him. He aimed at the man with a gun via a drone positioned at that floor. Before the man could speak anything else, a bullet came and hit him right in the middle of his eyes. Everyone in that room got bewildered.

  Simar said to all other men, “The Almighty God punished him; you should surrender if you don’t want to die.”

  No one put their guns down. Simar said, “I guess my speech is not going to help.” She twisted her wrists and the chain of handcuffs broke. She looked at the men who stood with their guns pointed at her.

  She asked all those men in a cheeky manner, “Will you shoot a girl with empty hands?”

  One man said, “Yes, you are not a girl, you are a ghost.”

  She raised her hands in the air and said, “God, please give me something; I don’t have any weapon to fight all these men.” The men looked each other as nothing happened. She was surprised, then she realized she had made a general request. She said again, “Please, I need a bow and arrows.” Those keywords activated the weapons system in the bike standing outside. A covering lid slid backward from the oil tank area of the bike.

  A folded bow was lifted out of the bike with the help of robotic leaver. The bike located Simar in the building and dispatched the bow up in the air. Before it reached Simar, the bow unfolded, and a string took its place. It ready for use as it reached Simar’s hands.

  All men got surprised when God really sent a bow for her and it landed right in her hands. She held her bow towards one man as if she was going to hit an arrow. He did not do anything as there was no arrow, he rather laughed. In the bike, the processing was still going on. The platform which dispatched the bow was already inside and an arrow was being lifted out from the bike. The arrow was sent off in the same manner. The arrow had its own set of sensors in it. It detected the position of the bow and Simar’s hands. The man was still laughing and Simar had an arrow in her bow now. His laugh froze. Not only he, but all the men got scared and there was a brief moment of silence.

  Zahid said loudly, “Yes, she is a ghost with her one arrow she can kill all of you and your bullets can’t even touch her.”

  One man standing at the back got scared and ran away. One after the other all ran away, except one who was at the aim of Simar. The men who ran told others on their way out to run away as well. Soon the building was empty.

  The man at Simar’s aim started crying and said, “Please spare me, I was not going to shoot you. Please don’t kill me I will be a good man from now on.”

  Simar asked, “Who sent you?”

  “I don’t know, we are just contractors. We don’t have any information.”

  “Where were you guys going to deliver me?

  “I swear to God, none of us knew that. The boss was the only one who knew it. He was the one who was dealing with them. Please let me go.”

  Simar relaxed and lowered her bow. That man ran away and never looked back. She moved to Zahid and asked, “Are you alright, Zahid?”

  “I am okay.” He looked at Simar as she untied him.

  “That’s good.” She went to the man on the floor and checked his pockets. She found his cell phone.

  “Take this phone Zahid and call the police.”

  “What about you.”

  “I am going back.”

  “Everyone should know that you saved me, some people think you are evil.”

  “This is not the right time Zahid. People are raising questions about the efficiency of the police. If the word goes out that I saved you, people will lose trust in police.”

  “But Simar…”

  “We will talk later Zahid, bye.” She placed the phone in Zahid’s hand, looked into his eyes and left. Zahid looked at her leaving as he dialed the number of Mr. Sinha. Sid recalled his toys and all the drones flew back.

  Sinha sent the police and paramedics straight away. He wanted to see Zahid as well, so he left the police headquarters. Media personals gathered outside the headquarters, followed his car.

  Mr. Sinha reached the spot and looked around. There were so many dead bodies, and many were arrested alive. He went into the ambulance and saw Zahid being dressed upon.

  “Are you okay my son?”

  “Yes Sir, I am absolutely alright.” The paramedic was finished with the dressing. Sinha asked him, “If you don’t mind can I talk to him in private?”

  “Yes, sure Sir, he is okay for now, but he needs to go to the hospital later on, to rule out a concussion or any other internal injury.”

  “Sure, I will take him to the hospital.”

  The paramedic left the ambulance. Sinha looked around and made sure there was nobody.

  “Zahid, there are so many men. How did you manage to get rid of them?”

  “I did not do anything, Sir.”

  “But the police came just now, who did it? Any other secret force intervened? From the number of people, I guess it might need a whole battalion of the army to get rid of them.”

  “No army did this sir, only one person did that.”

  “What?” Sinha said in a bit high tone, then he realized that he spoke too loudly. He said again in a lower voice, “Only one person got rid of those many men?”

  “Yes Sir, that’s what I am saying.”

  “Who did it?”

  “They asked for Jugni, she came and did this and rescued me.”

  “So, you mean to say that Jugni myth is not a myth, she is real. She is a real person and she came to rescue you?”

  “That’s what I am saying.”

  “As far as I know, the only girl who could do this was Simar. Did she look like Simar?”

  “Couldn’t see her properly Sir, it was a chaos inside and I couldn’t open my eyes properly.”

  “Anyways, we will discuss this later. Media wants to see you. Be very careful with your words.” Sinha looked at Zahid with some expectation which he couldn’t ask verbally.

  Zahid and Sinha stepped out from the ambulance. Media people rushed to them. Zahid talked to them and answered their questions. He gave the credit to the police for his rescue. Simar watched this live on TV from the basement and smiled. Sid Said, “Really? Did the police save him? You and I did nothing?”

  “Come on Sid, don’t be a kid.” They both laughed.

  She was not the only one watching this live. The whole city watched this including those four friends.

  Sam said to other three who looked disappointed as well, “Our plan went unsuccessful, what do you guys want to do next?”

  “I guess we should try something else to get rid of Jugni and until then, we should postpone our plan,” replied Junaid.

  Rohit said, “But everything is ready.”

  “Yes guys, we should not postpone our mega plan on a little problem like Jugni,” Rana said with a bit of restlessness.

&n
bsp; The four of them discussed this for quite a long time and then agreed upon going ahead with their plan as per the schedule.

  Sinha dropped Zahid in a hospital and appointed a few security persons for his safety. When he returned to the headquarters, the entire department was celebrating. It was a big win for them that one of their officers was rescued safely. One lady constable came and offered sweets to Sinha. He took one and headed to his office. His conscience did not allow him to join them as he knew the truth that the police did nothing.

  He entered his office, closed the door and sat in his chair. With the chair tilted back, he looked at the ceiling and thought about the happenings of the day. He moved his eyes from the ceiling downwards. He moved his head around thinking when his eyesight got stuck at something.

  He noticed the table on the other end of the room was empty. It had the parts of a big gun which he had a discussion about with Zahid and the other intelligence officers. He ran to the table. He looked at it and everywhere in the room, but he did not find anything. He opened the door of his office and looked at the people eating and gossiping. He looked at everyone’s face and tried to figure out who could do that. He called one senior officer to his room.

  “When I left to see Zahid, this table had the parts of that gun. It’s not there anymore.”

  “Sir, I was present all the time outside, nobody entered your room.”

  “But it’s not there; someone from the office has stolen it. Check the CCTV recordings since I left.”

  “Sure, Sir will do it.”

  Sinha started thinking again and tried to find out the connection between Zahid’s kidnapping and the missing parts of the gun.

  In the hospital, doctors had done an Xray and CT scans and there was no fracture or any other internal injury. After a few stitches and bandages, he was allowed to go home. The security people wanted to come with him, but he refused.

  He went straight to Sid’s tuition center. Simar and Sid were busy finding out people behind this whole scenario.

  Simar saw Zahid coming and she said, “Zahid, you should not be here, you should rest.”

  “Thanks for your concern but I was kidnapped yesterday, and I want to find out why.”

  Sid said, “They wanted her not you.”

  “That’s the point Sid, they wanted Jugni not Simar and how do they know by kidnapping me they will get Jugni?

  “Yes, this is a valid concern.”

  “But my question is, why did they want me?” Simar said.

  “I can sense there might be something going to happen, and they think you might interrupt their plans.”

  Something struck in Zahid’s mind and he said impulsively, “I don’t know if this is related to all that or not, but police have found something.”

  Sid asked, “What it is that?”

  “They found some parts of a big gun. I was coming from a meeting with Mr. Sinha and the intelligence people about that gun when I got kidnapped.”

  Simar asked, “What gun you are talking about?”

  “It is a very advanced anti-aircraft gun, Hydra 7, and there are only a few in this world and those too are an older version. It is the first of its kind.”

  Simar said with concern, “Why is such a sophisticated gun in this city?”

  Sid asked Zahid, “Can I see the photo of the parts you found?”

  “I don’t have the photos, let me ask Mr. Sinha to send me the photos.” He took his phone out and called Mr. Sinha. After asking about his health and other things Mr. Sinha asked him the reason for the call. He told him that he is studying the gun at home and needs the photo of the parts they have in the office. Mr. Sinha informed him with some shame that those parts have been stolen. After a little more talk, Zahid hung up the call. He was thinking something and didn’t say anything. Sid asked, “What happened?”

  He looked up and said, “Those parts have been stolen from the police headquarters.”

  Simar got restless, “It means they wanted that and they are going to use that gun.”

  “This is getting serious,” Sid said. “It is sure that something is going to happen therefore they wanted to get rid of you,” he continued.

  “But Sid, why me, I am only one person. If someone is doing something bad, they should worry about the police and army who are larger in number, not me.” There was a silence in the room, the three of them started thinking.

  There was nothing significant going in the city which rang any bells for the police or anybody else. The police were alert, so was Simar. Sid monitored all CCTV cameras in the city to find any leads.

  The winter session in parliament started today. Sinha had to make sure the security arrangements are on full stretch. He appointed one senior officer to investigate Zahid’s kidnap. Simar did her patrol at night but it was surprisingly quiet.

  Next day Zahid reached the police station by taxi. Everybody welcomed him back. He still had some bandages on, a couple of bruises on the face but he was able to work. After wishing everyone, he moved to his desk. One constable came and gave him some files. Everything was going just fine. Even the media had turned their attention towards the winter session in the parliament. New policies were introduced, some were happy some were not.

  Simar sat in the basement and watched her mother on one screen. She could see her mother walking around making breakfast for Jaspal. Once he left for the job, she looked at Simar’s photo on the wall for long. This made Simar’s eyes wet. “Why don’t you tell your mother that you are alive,” Sid asked.

  Before Simar could answer that question, news started appearing on one of the monitors. This was of a fire which broke out in one clothes factory somewhere in the city. The factory was big and about a hundred workers were trapped inside. This made Sid and Simar a bit sad. They couldn’t do anything because there was so much public and media attention there. Authorities were doing a good job anyways. The fire was so huge and fast that only a few people could manage to escape.

  Firstly, a few fire-brigade trucks came but they were not able to control the fire and save people, so more trucks were sent to help them out. Most of the fire trucks in the city were called to help. The fire was getting worse. Saving the lives of the people inside was getting difficult. The condition was getting worse.

  The relatives of the people trapped inside were getting restless. They just wanted to go inside and help them out. The authorities could not allow that because this wasn’t safe. The crowd was getting mad and it was a riot-like situation. Police were called upon to help. The fire brigade people were getting some success. People started getting out. But people’s aggression was not getting down. Everybody in the city watched this on TV.

  While everyone in the city had attention at the fire incident, some trucks sneaked into the city. The same thing happened at the other entrance sites of the city. There was a pattern which was common. A couple of trucks stayed just outside the city and the rest moved on towards the city.

  The fire was spreading very fast. Many people were saved but about fifty were still trapped inside in some section of the factory.

  During that whole scenario, something strange happened. Every second or third policeman on the fire site received a text message on their mobile phones. Those who received the message made some excuse to the fellow policemen and went somewhere. Mostly they went away from the fire site very fast. The same happened in the crowd as well. Those who were making the loudest arguments to go inside, suddenly slipped away quietly.

  A series of big bombs exploded in the same block, mainly outside the factory. The earth shook with the shock wave. Everything which came in the range of the explosion got badly damaged. People in close contact with explosives were not alive anymore. Others got badly injured. The blasts demolished a wall of a building which helped those trapped workers to come out. But when they came out, the scene they saw was horrible. There were dead bodie
s and injured people everywhere. Many people who saw their loved ones in that condition started crying. Police, firemen, and paramedics got injured in the blast as well.

  Due to the explosion, the media coverage was interrupted. TV channels sent more vans there for live coverage. The Delhi government was in shock. All the hospitals were instructed to help. There were a large number of causalities. All private hospitals came forward to help and sent their ambulances. People were instructed to stay away from the roads as much as possible so that ambulances could commute faster.

  Many bomb squad units were sent there to rule out the presence of any other explosives. Rest of the fire trucks in the city and more police were dispatched to that area. It was like an emergency situation in the city. All people’s attention was there, and everybody wanted to know why the factory was blasted which was already burning.

  Mr. Sinha received calls one after the other regarding this entire scenario. Public wanted to help the wounded, but it was requested to stay away until the bomb squad gives the clearance. Only ambulance people were allowed to go in the affected area and save the lives of as many people as possible. Zahid reached the site as well.

  Simar and Sid watched this on TV. Simar wanted to help but Sid stopped. He said, “There is nothing you could do there. Going there will only expose Jugni and some people might blame her for this because they don’t have anyone to be held responsible for.” Simar agreed and stayed there.

  Simar called Zahid. She asked him how the situation there was. He explained the situation but could not talk much as he was helping the injured.

  Sid watched the video just before the explosion. He noticed some policemen and crowd leave just before the explosion. If one or two might have left, then it wouldn’t be a surprise. He showed this to Simar. Simar said, “These people must have known that an explosion was about to happen.”

  Sid checked the recordings more closely and discovered that all who left, checked their phones approximately at the same time. Simar asked Sid to zoom on one policeman who left and send a snapshot to Zahid. Simar called him again.