Restart 6B

Arjun, Rahane, along with Sameer and Chotu sat inside an unmarked black honda civic not 500 meters away from Ravi lodge.

Arjun was bursting with impatience. He had a hunch that this was it, it made sense, but Rahane told them to wait until he had heard from John. The older agent was in Googly, taking in the surroundings to check if it’s possible for someone to live there.

Moments which failed like lifetime, Rahane’s earpiece cackled, “This place is shady as fu ck, Boss.”

“What do you think?”

“I can’t take chance, and it will take time to check it.” Rahane sighed in annoyance. Beside him, Arjun was ready to bolt out of the car. Sameer put a hand on his shoulder before he can move out.

“We got no time.” He hissed.

“I know that.” Rahane bit out, pissed at the roadblock and time it’s taking. Behind them, Chotu and Sameer gave a look at each other.

“I have something in mind.” The senior officer spoke hesitantly.

The receptionist of Ravi lodge barely looked up at the upcoming footsteps, busy with his phone as he watched a music video. “Name, address, signature.” He pushed the record book towards the person, the pen moving away at the action.

Something heavy fell on the desk with a thud, forcing him to look up. His brain froze at the revolver, eyes slowly going up to look at the man. Arjun regarded the man coolly, but inside he was anything but that. The way he towered over the man, his jaw clenching, made him swallow.

He reached behind his back pocket to take out an ID card. The hotel owner looked down, recognition immediately filling him. He turned a few pages on the record book, gesturing at the Officer to take a look.

Arjun sighed in relief for the first time in last 35 hours. It was her handwriting, no doubt about it. How many nights he had seen her scrawling reports, or checked himself her notes?

He saw the room no- 102. Taking his gun and giving a hard glare at the owner, Arjun walked out quickly.

“They are here.” He whispered to his earphone.

“There is nothing from our batchmates.” Director Kapoor’s voice cacked through the comms as the men inside SUV heard her on the speaker phone. The confirmation just sealed what Rahane had sensed, but then his phone pinged.

“It’s Niraj, she is here.” Rahane spoke urgently, eyeing the ETF officers as they sat straight, “Let’s get in.”

This is it.

Riya’s eyes were closed, and even then she could sense Neel’s footsteps- going back, forth and back again, 8 steps each time. He was always obsessed with numbers, never forgot a date or mobile number. Riya wondered if he realized the numbers or just subconsciously doing it.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and she could feel his gaze on her, “I will go out after dark to get food.”

She nodded wordlessly, and the footsteps started again.

And again stopped after a few moments.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look at it?” His footsteps seemed to come closer, making Riya curled inwardly. Her hand rose to stop him, and he did.

“I will survive.” Finally opening her eyes, she regarded his lazily, “If you keep pacing like that, this 40 year old floor will crash.”

Her words made him snort, “More like 100 years.” Glancing at the walls, he took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, finally slumping on the mattress which croaked, “How did you know this place anyway? It’s not even upto your standard.”

So are you. She snarked in head, giving him a smile in return.

Riya decided it was time for her to move. Sitting straight, she gave him a calm look even though he looked uncomfortably at her wound.

“I lived here.”

He let out a laughter in disbelieve, “What?” Then looked around, “I don’t believe it. Is it for a case?”

“Yep.”

“Wow.” He looked at her in astonishment, “Must be tough.”

She nodded, giving a restrained smile, “The most important case of my life.” He rolled eyes at that, then got up and started to pace again. Every now and then he would look at the laptop, then outside the window and sigh to himself, his steps more forceful and quick.

“I was wondering,” She started, and Neel stopped pacing to turn to look at her, “who’s body was that in morgue?” At his silence, she started to explain, “Rahane, the agent from IB told me you might be dead. Took me to a morgue for the . . .”

He raised a hand to stop her words, “I saw you.” At her raised eyebrows he gave her a look, “Of course, I was watching you. Had to.”

Riya had many questions- since when? Did you see me crying over you? My anger? My weakness? My struggles? But she asked none of those, brushing them all aside, “Do you know who it was?”

Neel sighed again, rubbing his hands together as he launched into the story.

“Haqqani just strolled into the city, like a fu cking dumbass he was. We all saw him on tv, as your department started a manhunt on him. It was only a mater of time he was caught, or dead, and this so called mission was over. He was caught, and immediately our team was disbanded. We moved away overnight and hoped we will never see each other’s face.”

He gave her look full of anger, “But the concept of hope is bullshit.” He started pacing again, “I moved from cities to cities, keeping an eye on situation, in case my identity was discovered and police or RAW comes after me. Then there was this news of Delhi serial killer, you remember right?”

Riya frowned, “How it’s related?” To which, he let out a bark of laughter.

“Haqqani’s boss’s boss’s boss, who the fu ck knows who was he or where was he, he ordered for clean up. Like of course you would clean up if overnight your right hand man does a big ass mistake and suddenly your hands are full of liabilities. I have to tell you, it was genius though. Kill one by one, use similar MO, make it look like serial killings. Public is scared, police will be puzzled, and the killer can just rush through the victims one by one.” Shaking his head in disbelieve, he looked at her expectantly. Riya could not even hide her shocked face in that moment, but thinking over it can wait. She wanted to know things which were left untied.

“Where is he?”

“Where do you think he is?” He took a step toward her and for the first time, she felt scared, “Why do you think I am alive? Or the killings stopped?”

She could feel her heart almost jumping to her throat, “You . . . ?” Shaking head, she looked down.

She could try to comprehend him joining a terrorist gang. Try to make sense of his motivation and actions. But this, killing a life. Even if it was another killer, it was incomprehensible for her, especially when she was a cop herself and she had killed only one person in her entire career, that too to save someone else. The way he just stood there, almost proud at his achievement made her skin crawl. If only she could throw up all over him, show him her true disgust.

But even though she clenched her fists until her nails made her palm bleed, she could not swallow this intense feelings of anger and disgust towards this man who was, once upon a time, her lover. He was just another criminal, more dangerous than others but he was just that.

“You are not going to judge me, are you?” Neel asked cautiously. She could not look up, or else she would snap. Shaking head at his question, she sighed.

“How can I?” She can never, and thank whoever was up there for that. Hearing his sigh of relief added more to her anger, “You are alive.”

Neel started pacing again and said, words coming out in rush as he panicked, “I need to get out of here. Not only your department, but because of those assassins. I don’t even know if they know I am still alive, who will they send after me next. I am not at all safe in this country.” Then he looked at his laptop and kicked at the bed in frustration, “Fu ck RAW and its agents. I should have taken the charger, fu ck yaar.”

Riya raised her head, looking at his worried frame and scared expression. There was this sadistic pleasure to see him bothered, even if it was temporary was like a balm on her soul. She had gone through hell, for this man, for nothing. He can’t ever repay that, restore her old self, but the least she can do to avenge her. For herself.

She looked down at the crescent marks on her palm and spoke softly, “I lived in this hotel room for years.”

Neel looked at her in surprise as she met his gaze fiercely.

In that moment they both knew their little game was over.

“I lived here. In darkness, in this unsafe, shady, disgusting place. Jailed people, paid people, made informers, made enemies. I have tortured people. You know what does it sound like make when you break each finger at one time? The scream as it echoes? I have heard that. I have done that. I have hurt people until they could not speak. I was responsible for deaths of many innocents.”

Riya stood up slowly, her voice shaking, “For you. Because I thought you were taken unfairly away from me.”

Neel did not move or show any expression, but his shoulders went tensed as she spoke, “You know, I had this question in my head. If Haqqani faked your death, and you did not know until you were in some other location, then how come the person who bombed the car knew your face? He was yelling it was you. And then there was Nasir Jamal. Went absolute quiet when he saw your picture? Such loyalty, or it was the fear? Fear of The Magician?” She paused, her voice dropping further until it was a growl, “Is it, Neel?”

Riya’s eyes was fixed on Neel’s frame, taking in each strained lines, careful intake of breath and stillness of his form. She swallowed hard, eyes suddenly filling with tears but gritting teeth to stop any pesky emotions she felt. He was a enemy and should be treated as such.

He deserves none of her tears nor feelings.

Neel’s face was blank even after her accusations, and even though she knew his true face ages before, was still taken aback at his smooth face. Devoid of any expression, one can even call it cold. His eyes cut through her sharply, and his entire being as he stood not even three feet away from her made her physically ill.

Her feet almost took a step backward but she willed herself to stay strong, straightening her spine.

“So, what is the plan now?” He asked softly. Something clicked in his head and he looked around, “Oh, is this place your final plan? Bring me here to hand over to your friends.” He mocked the word, almost smirking at her stupid plan if it was one.

“I don’t think anyone is coming.”

“So what you are planning to do, at your stage.” He gestured at the wound, and the next moment pulled a gun on her, “Because I have this.”

“You are not going to kill me.”

“Oh please, don’t be a fu cking martyr Ri. Use your brain. I am not going to kill you, but you do realize you being an actual hostage will increase my chance of escaping, don’t you?”

But she was done with this shit. She was mentally, physically, spiritually, done.

Fuc k this shit, she was out.

She lunged on him blindly, uncaring of the threat of gun which can very well kill her or hurt him, of her own infected injury or any preplanning she should have done before. The sudden movement caught Neel off guard, but the gun was already away from his reach as it fell under the bed, not before one of the bullets hitting Riya’s left shoulder. He was trying to go at it, but Riya was on attacking mode even with her dizziness and restrained movement of her dominant side. All the moves she had learnt, all the time she had called herself as ninja, she put all of them to work- punching him until he was bloody and breathless, until he was pinned down under her and could no longer move, she kept hitting him. A few times he tried to attack- clutching at her wound, twisting her arm, but she felt no pain. Laughed on his face, bruised battered and bloody as he looked on, horrified.

“No pain, remember?”

She kept hitting until he could not even defend himself, until her visions blurred and body screamed at herself to stop.

And suddenly, a pair of strong arms pulled her away. She distinctly heard her name being called out by different people, but she was so out of it that she felt nothing. Just wanted to reach out to the bloody mess of a man who was once her former lover, scream and cry.

The ETF and IB men entered the lodge, guns blazing, and took position outside the hotel room. Hearing the commotion inside they kicked the door down, the men stunned at the violent fight in front of them. Arjun was the first to run, his gun thrown at somewhere as he physically pulled Riya away from Sahay. Her hands were raw and had broken fingers and she was sobbing, and it was difficult to hold her close both due to her emotions and the blood which flew freely, almost drowning her into it. It took Rahane and Sameer both to held her down when she tried to reach to Neel again.

Chotu had the pleasure to handcuff Neel as he writhed in pain, “You are under arrest on the charges of espionage, terrorism and treason.” IB agents pulled the hacker off the floor as he hissed.

“I need a hospital.” He mumbled.

“The arrangement is adequate in IB HQ.” Rahane spoke sarcastically, motioning at his agents to take him away. He gave one last look to Riya, who had quietened down by now as Arjun held her in his arms, rocking back and forth as he whispered comforting words. Nodding at Sameer and Chotu, he left the room.

Sameer stared at the bloody mess in front of him on the floor. What a devastating turn this story had taken, from loving the man to almost killing him with her own bare hands. Tragedy don’t even begin to cover it. He can only pray no other heart gets broken like this. So cruelly. Sighing to himself, he turned to Arjun, who’s eyes were fixed on the woman in his arms.

“Juno, let’s move.” The former nodded at that, and then froze when he looked down at Riya. Her eyes were closed and breathing was erratic. She had became unconscious when they were busy with Neel.

Arjun panicked when she did not move at the pat on her cheek or the shake he gave her form, and then Sameer pointed out the alarming level of blood which was now soaked through his shirt. The men froze, and then Arjun was running like a maniac out of the door with her in his arms, Sameer and Chotu keeping pace behind.

Rahane had just bid farewell to the SUV which took Sahay when the ETF men rushed, with the unconscious ACP on Rawte’s arms. One look at her pale face, and he was yelling at the medic to take her. The ambulance rushed no later then minutes after, and he turned to officers.

“Go.” He motioned at them, “I will clear the roads.”

He watched the SUV rushing past, blowing dust on it’s way.