One and done

ETF office

"team, get ready, Pathan ke court hearing ke liye hum sabko nikalna
hoga."

Rathore gave the idea and walked away, not before looking at Rawte from the
corner of his eyes. Rawte sensed it, but composed his i dont care attaitude.
the team got up, gathering their stuffs and checking last moment preparations
of files papers and anything else.

Rawte was not little bit of happy the way thing are going. he wanted to try
his hand on Pathan, but sadly Rathore handed him over to local police and they
were now bringing him to court. he tried to control his temper, which is always
close to burst nowadays. maybe because he know Pathan and Sikandar is related
and none else believe there is someone out there name Sikandar. none have seen
him, he is a shadow, a myth, and myth dont exist.

"sir?"

some girly voice bring him back to reality and he looked at her. Riya, the
only female member of the team.

"chalne ka waqt ho gaya hain." she spoke softly, little
intimidated. he nodded and got up, walking past her.

Speical Squad office

(its a investigation department, more like ETF.)

Shaina Singh, the criminal psychiatrist, received a legal order from peon
and tore the envelope at once. reading the lines hurriedly, she threw away the
letter on the discussion table angrily, leaning on the chair and closing her
eyes with both palm.

Aryan Khanna, the chief of SS and her one of the closest friend saw her and
come there. he took the paper on his hand, scanned it thoroughly.

she senses his presence behind her and straigthen herself, now furious
beyond anything, "dekha tumne? ab woh iss baat ko court tak ghaseet raha
hain."

he finished reading it and kept the letter back in envelope. keeping it on
table neatly, he looked at her.

"aaj hearing hain."

"yes." she agreed bitterly. then she suddenly remembered
something and the furious angry eyes changed instantly into pleading ones.

"please, kya tum mere behalf pe court pe gawaahi doge?"

"Shai, main tumhe pehle bhi bol chuka hoon. main wahin bolunga jo sach
hain." he answered calmly.

the pleading eyes were gone, and her facial expression changed, from
painful to furious once again. she opened her mouth to say something bitter,
but closed it, then banging her palm on chair.

''sunny ko le chale?" he said. she shook her head.

"nahi. mera beta kisi court ko face nahi karega." she was
adamant. he nodded and then hesitantly kept his hand on her shoulder, patting
it softly. she shook away, now going away from him.

"god, kitna gussa karti hain." he said to himself, continuing to
look at her retreating back.

today was the hearing of Shaina's divorce case. her husband refused to let go
of their son sunny to her, thats why today is another hearing where she had to
prove she is a good mother who can take care of her child all by herself. she
had earlier also asked Aryan to give statement on her behalf that she always
take care of her child and she give him proper time, dont neglect him during
work hours and etc. but he didnt promise, as it will be a lie, they are
policemen and for case many times Shai had to stay away from home for many
days. he knew she is a good mother, but clearly lieing to the court on her
behalf is something which is against his ushool. she was furious, but didnt say
anything about it. she was thank ful that he at least will be there with her in
court.

Mumbai high court

"Aryan!!!!" Shai literally jumped on him and hugged him tight,
while he grinned widely and hugged her back, "we won! yes we won. ab mera
beta mere paas hi rahega."

"kaha tha na maine sab thik hoga." he answered back and she broke
the hug, grinning widely. there were few tear drops too, but she wiped them
away happily.

"ab sab kuch acha acha hoga." she said hopefully and he nodded.

"ab chale? sunny wait kar raha hoga." he said and hold her wrist,
now dragging her with him. she happily talked to her plan for this evening for
dinenr with sunny, and asked whether she can get 2 days off so that she can go
on a vacation with sunny. when suddenly...

"PATHAN!!!!!!!"

they both heard the animalistic
growl and ran toward the direction. the man name pathan, of course both of them
knew him being a policemen, lay upon the staircase, blood coming out of his
mouth, while the guy who punched him was dragged by some more constables. but
even those constables were less, as he break free from them and again lunged on
pathan.

Aryan rushed to the side and helped others to pull the man from pathan.
after several minutes they were successful. pathan was sent to hospital and
they all dragged the man to the waiting room in court.

"DAMMIT RAWTE!!!!!!"

rathore's furious voice rang through the room, making everyone jump. the
ETFians were already shaken to the core by their angry young man boss's animal
like outburst outside not many minutes ago, and now this. it increased their
already high heart beat, and all felt like their heart will burst if all these
dont stop now.

"you are going to be suspended. apne gusse ko kabu nahi rakh sakte
the? he was just instigating you dammit!"

"you had this last chance to behave, but you had lost it too. ab
pachtane se koi fayda nahi." he hissed.

Arjun jumped on his feet and glared hard to rathore, "mujhe iss
department ki jaroorat nahi. apna rasta main khud nikal loonga."

"khud ko samajhte kya ho tum? tum ek shaye ke peeche bhag rahe ho,
jitna bhagoge, woh utna hi dur jata rahega. you need help, you need
HELP!!!!!"

and with that sameer rathore was out of sight, banging the door and
flinching the ETFians more.

silence continued to rule in the room. Aryan sighed slowly and then
signaled from his eyes to others to leave, slowly slowly all started to leave.
ETFians, followed by Shaina.

"agar sympathy dikhane aye ho to bhul jao." said arjun bitetrly.
of course all knew who is he and what happened to him and his wife years ago.
he thought Aryan is in the room to give him lecture about anger management and
duty as a officer, or to sympathise with him for his loss. he dont need any.

"apne gusse ki aag aur khone ke dard mein itne bhi andhe mat bano ki
dusro ka gham na dikhe." Aryan said softly and started to walk away,
banging the door quietly behind him.

outside, Shaina with ETFians, chotu shree and riya, were standing near a
pillar, the main point of discussion was Arjun sir.

"kya punch kiya hain sir ne uss
pathan ko, aai sappat." chotu's voice was mixture of awe and fear. the
animalistic growl PATHN!!! and the facial expression of sir was enough to give
anyone nightmare.

"sir kya wakey mein suspend ho jayenge?" asked riya sadly.

"Ri, tujhe sir ki fikar hain? soch agar pathan ludak gaya to ETF bhi
phasega issmein." shree replied to riya, and the trio were scared now.
they had not seen this side.

"guys, aisa kuch nahi hoga." Shaina at last opened her mouth,
after observing everything happening before her eyes, "pathan ki injury
zyada nahi hain. he will be fine."

"aur sir?" asked chotu.

"shayad woh suspend ho sakte hain. kuch dino ke liye." she
answered. all were sad, but somewhat relieved.

"ek baat batao..." shaina started, and all looked at her
quizzically, "kya tumhare arjun sir aur rathore sir dost hain?"

"dost?" the trio said at once and chuckled, "they hate each
other. ek dusre se bohot bohot zyada nafrat karte hain." shree said.
shaina frowned, and then smiled to herself.

"apko aisa kyu laga?" asked Riya.

"kabhi kabhi apno ke gusse mein pyar chupa rehta hain." she
replied, but others didnt get what she meant.

"thank you so much then to jump on the sight and help us Mr
khanna." rathore shook aryan's hand, "i am so unfortunate and sorry
ke hum aise mile aur apko ye sab dekhna pada." he sighed sadly.

"its ok. this department is like a family, ye sab chalta hi rehta
hain." aryan answered and then looked inside room once again. he can
relate to that guy inside, after all, he also had lost his wife and child, and
still dont know who and why they were killed. he sighed to himself and turned
to leave, when the door opened and arjun came out.

rathore gave aryan a nod and walked away, now there was only arjun and
aryan there.aryan waited for him to say something, and he did, after a while.

"i remembered now...aryan khanna, special squad." he started,
not clearly meeting his eyes, "your wife and kid also..." he stopped
abruptly, looking at aryan's face for any kind of pain, but there was none, but
still the calm expression.

aryan kept his hand on his shoulder and said softly, "mujhe pata hain,
bohot dard hota hain. ek din pehle aap unke saath haste rehte ho, aur dusre hi
din woh sab jaa chuke hote hain, kabhi na wapas ane ke liye. woh ghar, jahan
roz kaam ke baad jana jaroori ban jata tha, ab uss ghar mein kadam rakhna bhi
muskil ho jata hain, saanse atak jati hain. kyu kisine unhe mara, kissne mara,
ye sawal apko pareshan karta hain, apko gussa dilata hain, you feel suffocated,
but you dont have any answers. you cant find any answers." aryan looked in
his eyes now, which were suddenly filled with tears.

"main ab bhi uss situation se bahar nahi aa paya hoon. ar na hi kabhi
aa paoonga. main haar nahi manoonga, dhhondta rahoonga un katilon ko jab tak
zinda hoon. chain se nahi baithoonga." aryan's eyes were determined.

"par in sab baaton mein apni team ke bare mein mat bhul jana. they are
your family, tum mano ya na mano, they care for you, they will be always there
for you. not because they are scared of you and you are their boss, coz they
love you, respect you, and there is no sympathy in their eyes for you. aaj
tumne jo kiya, uske baad they feel scared. apne andar ke janwar ko aise bahar
mat nikalo, aise apne team ko khud se dur mat karo. control yourself, save
yourself for the final war. ye andar ka janwar uss din kaam ayega."

aryan removed his hand from shoulder, gave him a last look, and walked
away, leaving him to ponder on his words