The lock, surprisingly, still worked! We put the suitcase back as we had found it and exited through the window. We rushed back to our official dinner spot and gulped down the food.
20:45 IST.
The phone rang. “Why are you still in the room?”
“We’re leaving now,” replied Anna evenly. “The monthly call ends at 9 p.m., which means by the time NL sir and Aruna ma’am leave the building it’ll be 9:15 – 9:30. We will leave now and wait outside, by the entrance of the Faculty Block, till we see them exit.”
A second’s silence. “Don’t forget Dr. Venkataraman and Sarla are in our custody. If you want to see them again, alive, you need to get the vaccine out of
Dr. Venkataraman’s safe within an hour. I’ll call later with further instructions.”
We stepped out of our room, armed with anything we thought might be even vaguely useful. The khurpee and the Nizam’s jewels were in Anna’s handbag. Raima cross-slung her pink-and-yellow Power Puff girls’ purse, filling it with paperclips (from Anna’s work reports), every lock and key we had and, hold your breath, her nail-art set (at which even Sid couldn’t resist a grin). Even at a time like this, Raima still managed to look super stylish.
We made our way to the Faculty Block, making sure we took the most well lit paths. This way, Spy would see we were on our way to the Faculty Block.
“Let’s go around the back of the building, where there are no lights. Otherwise, NL uncle and Aruna aunty may spot us,” said Sid, as we were nearing the entrance to the Faculty Block. Loudly, while gesturing prominently, like one of those Kathakali dancers.
We huddled together, in the darkest part, behind the building.
“Okay guys, we now have a 15–20 minute window before the kidnappers expect us to enter the Faculty Block,” said Anna.
This was it. The next 15 minutes would decide whether Venky sir and Sarla would live. And us.
Sid pointed to the humungous adjoining two-storey building, the Academic Block. The checked grilled windows made the building look like a high security prison. How apt! The lack of lights, because it was holiday time, only added to its eeriness. Much as I hate to admit it, the Faculty Block seemed way friendlier.
“What are we going to do once we find the room?” whispered Raima. No answer. I looked around, narrowing my eyes, hoping to spot Spy in the darkness. Actually, no, I didn’t want to spot him. I only wanted to convince myself that we had lost him. Or better still, he wasn’t following us.
We followed Sid in single file, stepping where he did. He would know where heaps of dry leaves or loose stones lay scattered. Anything that would make noise. Maybe it was our slow and deliberate pace, but the Academic Block was further than it looked.
Like the VIP guest house, each room opened onto an open corridor, which faced the front lawn. We entered through the side entrance. Room 3 was on the first floor. Normal people would have started numbering rooms from the ground floor, but this was ISIC. So the numbering started from the first floor. Beat that!
While the main staircase led from the middle of the building, narrower staircases had been positioned at either end. We crept up the side staircase, stopping a few steps short of the first floor landing.
I gestured to the others to wait as I bent low and tip-toed up the last few stairs, using the parapet wall as a cover. Three men sat outside the third door, a low table between them. In the light of a powerful torch, I could see them playing cards.
“There could be more men inside,” Raima whispered, as I described the scene to the others. True. It wasn’t merely a matter of magically getting rid of these guards. We didn’t know how many more kidnappers were inside the room.
“Some way or the other, we have to rescue Appa,” said Sid, his jaw set, rubbing the sweat off his palms.
“Don’t worry, we will rescue him,” whispered Varun, patting Sid’s shoulders. That’s absolutely what we’re dying to do Varun, I thought. But how?
Images zoomed in my head. Each time I’d reach the same conclusion – in movies they had guns, Varun-esque movies had Van Diesel type superhuman-strength rescuers, Sherlock Holmes had Scotland Yard to do his leg-work, Harry Potter had spells. We had – well, none of that. At all.
“Think, Kavya,” said Raima. “You’re really good at this.”
Fortunately, Anna took charge. “Let’s think logically. We need to make the guards disappear. Then, we need to enter the room. Invisibly, because there could be other members of the gang inside.”
“Even if we don’t have a properly tied up plan, let’s go ahead. This is our only chance,” said Sid. Made sense. But we didn’t have even a loosely tied up plan.
“Kavya, there are just three men outside, right? We could overpower them.” Even Sid, who was the most desperate of us to rescue Venky sir, dismissed that. Seriously, what we really needed now was magic. Like if we were masters of illusion. Illusion – the word hit me from all directions. Raima clutched my arm, “What is it, Kavya?”
I spewed out a jumble of words. The others stared at me, unable to utter a word. “Kavya, this is the looniest, stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Sid finally.
“Wacko, to the power of infinity. You really outdid yourself this time Kavya,” said Raima.
But both Sid and Raima readied themselves anyway. Varun shrugged. “Let’s start.”
“Sid, you’re sure the classrooms aren’t locked?” double-checked Anna.
“Nothing is locked in ISIC. The rooms will only be bolted.”
Hope so! We took off our shoes as we assigned roles. Absolute silence and surprise were key. Also, we had very little time before the kidnappers called again. Raima, Anna and I crept downstairs, shoes in hand. We unbolted the second room from the landing and set it up. After which, the door was left wide open.
The door to the first room unbolted noiselessly. We huddled inside, by the side of the door and shut it.
In Sid’s words, curtains up. Act 1, Scene 1.
Chapter Sixteen
I battle the massive army of the War Lord
My heart thumped as I imagined the scene outside.
Varun and Sid were chosen for this part since they were the tallest. Crouching behind the staircase parapet, raising their hands, they would flash the Nizam rings. To the guards, it would seem as though precious stones were floating above the staircase. Assuming the darkness hid Varun and Sid’s hands. Intrigued, the three guards would drop their game of cards to investigate.
As the guards neared the staircase, the jewels would drift down, beckoning them to follow. The boys would leave one ring on the lowest stair and the other on the ground floor landing to entice the guards downstairs. As the guards walked down, Varun and Sid would hide with us, in the first room.
So far, sheer dumb luck stood by us.
Raima, Anna and I had laid out a trail of jewels leading into the second room. The prize – the two elaborate Nizam necklaces, were bewitchingly spread out at the end of the room.
I leaned over to peep through the glass portion of the closed door. The guards were on the last stair. One of them pointed to an earring that lay near the entrance to the second room. Gleaming in the darkness, the earrings looked even more grand and tantalising. Striding towards the jewels, the guards grabbed them. Greed and curiosity prevailed over common sense. The guards entered the second room.
“Now,” hissed Anna urgently, shoving Varun and me. Timing was everything. Anna and Raima held the door of the first room open as Varun and I raced up the stairs. We had maybe a maximum of 5 to 10 seconds. Clutching the side of the stairway, ignoring my strained feet and furious panting, I propelled myself up the stairs. Varun reached a second or two before me and started unbolting the door to the first room on the upper floor.
As Varun and I whizzed out of the first room on the ground floor, the guards entered the second room, on the ground floor, drawn by the necklaces. Sid rushed out of the first room and shut the doors of the second one. Anna and he held the doors shut as
Raima bolted it from the outside and locked it with all possible locks, trapping the three guards inside.
Raima, Anna and Sid would then hide in the first room, on the ground floor.
Thump, thump…the banging grew louder.
“Open the door,” the guards shouted in Hindi. Louder and louder.
“Hurry,” I said as Varun fumbled with the bolt of the first room on the upper floor. We barely managed to close the door as footsteps shuffled outside.
“Where are Vicky, Jas and Raghu? Where are they shouting from?” boomed a voice. I knew that voice. The War Lord – spelling total annihilation if he found us. Varun and I huddled further against the wall, praying fervently that he wouldn’t notice that our door wasn’t bolted from outside.
“Downstairs,” said an unfamiliar male voice.
Footsteps thundered down. A tiny, tiny crack to rescue Sarla and Venky sir opened. Assuming we had planet-loads of luck. If we failed, we were all totally doomed.
Varun and I sprinted to the third room along the corridor, where the guards had been seated. We had at most a minute before the kidnappers found Sid, Raima and Anna. And, from there on, about 30 seconds more to find us.
The third room wasn’t locked from outside. In the rush to investigate the banging, the kidnappers hadn’t locked the door. Varun and I glanced at each other, and braced ourselves. Were there any more baddies inside?
We threw open the doors. In the middle of the room, seated on chairs, bound and gagged, were Sarla and Venky sir. And, miraculously, no one else.
“Wait, we’ll break the lock,” yelled War Lord.
We had seconds before the kidnappers smartened up. I untied the gags while Varun set about untying the ropes. Rough coir ropes had been used and the knots were expertly tied. Raima’s delicate nail scissors was of no help.
“There is someone else around. Find them.” In the silence, the War Lord’s voice floated upstairs, clearly and easily.
“Hurry,” urged Sarla. If only Raima had been here. She’s a natural at stuff like untying knots.
Varun and I traced the turns of the rope and started tugging through the knots. Even if we got Sarla untied before the kidnappers returned, that would be enough. She would know how to handle them. Then again, there were five of them.
Thud. Thud…they were trying to break the lock.
“Go upstairs first,” ordered War Lord. Damn!
A drop of blood escaped from my fingers as I fumbled with the rough rope. One knot came off. Slowly. Then another. Varun started off on Venky sir’s ropes. I unravelled two more knots. You’d think the kidnappers were tying a T-Rex given the number of knots they had made.
The last knot on Sarla’s rope came undone. But the rope had been looped around multiple times.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
Sarla was finally free.
Sarla jumped out of her chair and helped Varun untie Venky sir. The sound of shoes hitting the floor closed in.
“Kavya, help Varun,” ordered Sarla as she took position behind the open door.
“What…” before the man could utter another word, Sarla stepped out from behind the door and yanked the man into the room. The element of surprise worked in her favour.
But only for now.
“Hurry, I really could do with Venky’s help,” she yelled as the man regained his composure.
One more knot to go.
The man hit out at Sarla.
A chair banged as he lurched forward to grab Sarla. As the last loop of the rope untangled, Venky sir jumped out of his chair to help her.
“Go down,” gasped Sarla, trying, at the same time, to both ward off the man and pin him down. “We’ll take care of this animal.”
Varun and I flew down the stairs.
The commotion on the first floor made the War Lord realise that something was going on upstairs. Worst case, he needed new captives. He gave up trying to free his guards. He threw open the door to the first room as Varun and I reached the ground floor.
“You,” thundered War Lord. “I am going to make you completely regret not carrying out my instructions.”
He shoved Raima to the end of the room and tried to clutch Sid and Anna. Both flailed their arms wildly, pushing him away. Raima stumbled, barely managing to avoid banging her head on the floor.
In the split second that Varun and I glanced at each other, we wordlessly decided. This was not a time for elaborate plans. “Raima, run!” I shouted.
“Now,” yelled Varun. We charged at War Lord, our arms extended. Sid and Anna gripped his arms, shoulders, whatever they could. Together, the four of us pushed him inwards. War Lord was taken aback with the force. But he was far too experienced to stay stunned. As he straightened up, the four of us rushed out of the room.
Raima slammed the door shut. War Lord was already at the door, pushing it open with the strength of a monster. Raima couldn’t hold him off on her own. Sid, Varun and I put our weight against the door. War Lord still managed to push it outwards. I summoned every tiny bit of energy that I had to keep the door shut. War Lord was the Hulk in disguise. For sure.
In the nano-second that we managed to get the door fully shut, Anna drew the bolt.
I looked up the stairs to see Sarla and Venky sir rushing down. They stopped when they saw us.
The seven of us collapsed on the staircase, wordlessly. What a day!
War Lord kept banging on the door, though with much less force and frequency. Sarla stood up and strode down the staircase. “Quiet! Game over, Manish. The cops are on their way.”
Venky sir opened a room door at the other end of the floor - the staff room - and called the police.
Manish Bhasin was like a pressure cooker. He was simply dying to pour out his story. Meanwhile, Venky sir sent the Institute security to bring NL sir, Aruna ma’am and the three PharmaGlobal researchers.
“I didn’t steal the vaccine. Really I didn’t,” Manish Bhasin repeated for the thousandth time, shaking his head vehemently. “But I knew it was immensely valuable. So when it was stolen, I thought why not extract it from the thief. With the amount of money I would have gotten for the vaccine, in the black-market, I could have bought a new identity and disappeared anywhere in the world.” Manish Bhasin decided the PharmaGlobal researchers were like “gutless mice, brainless except for their limited field in science. Basically, they have neither the guts nor the intelligence to plan the theft. The only one who could have done this was Sarla.”
Which is why Manish Bhasin moved quickly to capture Sarla and steal the vaccine from her. But Sarla wouldn’t break. During the interrogation, Sarla’s phone had rung, identifying ‘Kavya’ as the caller. The name meant nothing to Manish Bhasin, so he ignored it. It was only when we entered the Lab, asking for Sarla, that he made the connection. “I thought if the kids cared enough about Sarla to try and find her, then chances are, she cares about them too.” So, he decided to use us as bait. Four of his guards, dressed as vampires, abducted us.
Manish Bhasin was certain that seeing us being threatened would make Sarla talk. “It would have. Only, I hadn’t stolen the vaccine and had no clue who had or where it was. I had assumed you were the thief,” said Sarla.
When Sarla still wouldn’t crack, Manish Bhasin came up with a devious plan. “Your guards deliberately let us escape from the conference block last night,” I said.
Manish Bhasin nodded. “You’re smart. Very smart. The plan was to let you overhear where we had confined Sarla. In fact, I was even thinking of moving her to a more convenient location for you to rescue her. Once you rescued her, we would follow her and she was sure to lead us to the hiding place. Before we could insert a tracker chip in Sarla and drop you hints, you had figured out where we had hidden her.”
I thought back to the rescue. “The rescue was a setup too, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“Not entirely. You kids did take us by surprise. The part about us going to investigate your smoke bomb was genuine enough.” It was only
when Manish Bhasin noticed the crudely made smoke bomb did he realise what was happening. “I kept my men from rushing back to the reception, giving you enough time to rescue Sarla. I thought, even without a tracker chip, how difficult could it be to track her? So I let her go.”
Manish Bhasin assumed that since Sarla was guilty, she wouldn’t go to the police. “I expected Sarla to lead me to the vaccine by noon. But I panicked when she left the campus.”
That was when Manish Bhasin decided, “Enough games.” He called Sarla, impersonating the Institute security guard, saying Dr. Venkataraman wanted to meet her urgently and discreetly at the Academic Block. Manish Bhasin then called Venky sir, claiming to be an associate of Sarla’s, and asked him to come immediately to the Academic Block; Sarla wanted to share a startling discovery with him.
“Why Venky?” asked Sarla.
“I got a little suspicious about your closeness to him. It may simply have been out of convenience that you went to his house last night. But the first person any kidnap victim goes to after escaping is someone they trust. Of course, calling the police was totally out of the question for you; no burglar goes to the authorities as safe haven. It made me wonder whether Dr. Venkataraman, too, was part of the theft. In any case, I thought abducting Dr. Venkataraman, along with you, would increase the pressure on the kids. I wasn’t sure how close they were to you. Would the threat to your life be sufficient to make them follow our instructions?”
“Which reminds me, Sarla, why did you mention that Anna has arrived at ISIC? Wouldn’t it have been wiser to keep that a secret from the kidnappers?” asked Venky sir.
“It would have been, had the kidnappers not known about Anna. I realised Manish’s gang was keeping an eye on the kids and therefore must have seen Anna arrive.” Manish Bhasin nodded. “So you see, Venky, you were the only one who didn’t know Anna had joined the kids. I thought informing you might calm you down a little.”
The Case of the Vicious Vampires Page 11