Chapter 9

[MEMBERSONLY] [NOCOPY]

Chapter 07

All heads snapped in Arjun’s direction, eyes wide and jaws touching the ground. How on earth does he know this?, questioned everyone in their heads before realizing that this was the great Arjun Rawte, the man who could tell what they are thinking about. Without sparing a glance at the perturbed team, Arjun turned and walked towards the board that was proudly displaying pictures of all the dead bodies they had found in the mills.

The curiosity slowly ate away at the team and Lisa decided to finally ask, “Arjun sir, aapko kaise pata ki wo chemical x-zora hi tha?”

An arrogant smirk crawled to his lips. He turned around and rolled his eyes, ensuring to make it known that he was mocking their IQ. Though it angered every team member, they kept their temper at bay and waited for him to answer the question posed at him. Mentally chuckling at having the team riled up, Arjun kept his composure and revealed, “Uski smell se.”

Million thoughts arose in everyone’s head but they chose to stay quiet. Sameer, already frustrated at the complexity of the situation, was slowly losing his patience because of Arjun’s riddles. Thus, he settled for another taunt, “Agar yeh shabdon ka khel khatam ho gaya ho toh tum hume seedhe tareeke se bata sakte ho Rawte. Wo kya hai na, tumhari tarah hum sab raat bhar jaagte nahi hain. Kuch logon ki yahan family hai jiske paas jaane ki unhe thodi jaldi hai.”

His words hit the target and Arjun’s head snapped at him in pure fury. He understood that Sameer was taunting him for not having a family, not anymore, and it did hurt him. Those sleepless nights were not voluntary. But his mind refused to cooperate with his tired eyes, that begged it to just let them close without the fear of reliving the night of Roshni’s murder. Arjun could have fought back, could have taunted Sameer for his selfish and heartless nature, but he noticed the droopy eyes of Riya. His eyes darted towards the digital clock on the wall opposite him and the big red numbers, indicating 11:00, glared back at him.

Sighing uncaringly, Arjun said, “Ek police waala hoon Rathore, toh meri memory kamzor kaise ho sakti hai. Jab hum pehli baar uss Rajat ke ghar gaye the, toh wahan rakhi test-tubes se ek bohot strong smell aa rahi thi. Aur jab Riya ne wo virus khaya tha, tab mujhe pata chala ki wo x-zora II ki smell thi. Aaj jiss kamre se mujhe yeh bottle mili thi, the same smell was filled in the entire room. It was faint but present nonetheless.”

Seven pairs of eyes stared at him, six with admiration and one with slight annoyance. But now one question bothered them, how was that chemical still present? This time, it was Aisha who asked, “Lekin sir, uss virus ki aakhri goli toh Riya ne kha li thi. And Rajat was killed in the encounter. Toh fir itne time ke baad x-zora II kaise exist kar sakta hai?”

Arjun faced the board again, his fingers twirling the pen fashionably. The frown on his face reflected that he was deep in thought. Almost after a minute had passed, he replied, “Sawaal yeh nahi hai Aisha ki wo x-zora kaise ho sakta hai. Sawaal yeh hai ki Rajat ki lab se nikal kar uss kamre mein yeh virus aaya kaise?”

“Toh iska matlab x-zora II ke peeche bhi Sikandar ka haath tha?”, Sakshi asked, realizing what he was trying to hint at.

An eerie silence enveloped the room as the information settled in. Unsure of how to process this newly revealed information, minds ached with series of thoughts at the possibility of Sikandar being the mastermind behind the potential biological war that nearly broke out in the country. Shoulders slumped yet chests swelled in pride that their own team member was the saviour of the country.

Riya, on the other hand, was stunned at the declaration. Her face paled visibly and beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, her eyes portraying the fear she was feeling. How can they think Sikandar led the biological war? Shit! This matter is just worsening with time. I’m going to kill that commissioner for putting me in this tight spot, she thought as she mentally cursed the commissioner for ruining her hard work of years.

This information puzzled the foundation of Sameer’s disbelief of Sikandar’s existence. No, he wasn’t changing his views. But there was a little unsurety in his mind regarding the same now. His face remained impassive but a conflict was taking place inside him.

Arjun nodded, his stoic expression fixed on his face. He glanced at Sameer and said, “Yeh chemical hume wahan se mila hai jahan Sikandar ke against first lead hume le gayi. I’m sure this is the clue that commissioner sir wanted us to investigate. Toh ho sakta hai iss sabke peeche Sikandar ka haath ho.”

“Nahi iske peeche Sikandar nahi hai!”, Riya yelled, almost instinctively.

Quickly realizing what she said, she bit her tongue and immediately regretted her actions. However, it was too late. Several pair of eyes stared at her like she had grown another head. Riya didn’t dare lift her head to look in anyone’s eyes. Mentally berating herself, she imagined all the possible questions ready to be aimed at her.

Shree, being the best friend he is, asked her gently, “Tum kehna kya chahti ho Riya?”

She racked her brain for a suitable excuse but the uncomfortable eyes were trained on her and that disabled her from thinking anything reasonable. Sprouting the first thing that came to her mind, she stuttered out, “Nahi...wo...mera matlab hai ki x-zora II ka brain toh Rajat hi tha aur wo toh marr chuka hai. Agar iske peeche Sikandar hota toh wo itni weak planning nahi karta iss shehar ko maarne ki.”

The team looked convinced at her lie. She sighed in relief and finally lifted her head. Big mistake because her eyes met the narrowed ones of Arjun, who knew she was lying through her teeth. Riya shivered under his scrutinizing gaze. It felt as if he was seeing through her and the mere thought petrified her. She couldn’t afford to let him know the truth, not now, so she quickly averted her eyes to the confused team.

Arjun, however, understood that something was amiss about Riya’s behaviour from the day she returned. And her confidence in announcing that Sikandar was not involved in the virus case further sparked his suspicions. It intrigued him that she was hiding something crucial, something dangerous, from the team and was determined to uncover the truth. But unknowingly, more than that, he was worried for her. And there was no way in hell he was going to allow her to throw herself in danger once again.

“Jo dead bodies hume mili thi, unki identity ke baare mein kuch pata chala?”, Sameer’s loud voice broke through Arjun’s chain of thoughts.

Realizing that the case was more important than any of his other concerns, Arjun quickly shook off unwanted dangerous scenarios of his imagination and focused on the board. The photographs of the severed heads were numbered and attached with a pin and thread to the corresponding bodies. A couple parallels were drawn between the photographs and sticky notes had words scribbled on them in Riya’s neat cursive handwriting.

Riya walked towards the fact board, adding more sticky notes to the previously present collage. Turning to the team, she began discussing her research, “Sir, hume uss mills se 11 bodies mili thi. Inke naam aur personal details, aapke haath mein jo file hai, uss mein hain. Inki umar 20 se 50 saal ke beech mein hai. Sab pichhle 2 mahino ke andar gaayab hue the aur inki families ne inki missing report bhi darj karayi thi. According to Lisa, they were all killed by the Ricin poison after which their heads were cut off of their body. But unki bodies mein kuch aur poisons aur chemicals ke traces mile hain jinke effect ko khatam karne ke liye inhe antibiotics di gayi thi.”

“Ricin poison?”, asked a confused Sakshi.

Lisa took charge of explaining the biological aspects of this murder. “Ricin poison, world ke top 10 deadliest poisons mein se ek hai. It leads to a very painful and slow death because it stops the protein production in the victim’s body. Following that, the organs begin failing and ultimately the victim dies by multiple organ failure. India mein yeh poison milna asaan nahi hai. Mujhe lagta hai ki qatil ne yeh poison ya toh import kiya hai ya fir usne yeh lab mein banaya hai.”

Shock registered on everyone’s face at the brutality with which the victims were killed. Why would someone want to use a deadly poison, probably imported from another country, to kill a few civilians? And if they died because of the poison, why were their heads severed from their body?, they wondered, bemused by the strange information.

Sameer scanned through the contents of the file. A question struck him and he asked, “Kya kuch common link hai jo inn logon ko jodta hai?”

“Yes sir.”, Shree responded before anyone else could. Heads turned in his direction and he turned on the projector, opening a few profiles of the victims. Facing the team, he continued, “Yeh dekhiye sir, inn logon ke beech do cheezein common hain. Pehli, inn sab ka naam ‘S’ se shuru hota hai. Aur doosri, yeh sab social workers hain. Aur 8 mahine pehle jo social workers gathering thi, inn sab ne wo attend ki thi.”

The pictures of the gathering were proudly displaying on the screen. Shree had taken time to mark the faces of the victims in every picture, highlighting the common thread that binds them. The peculiar case had the team in a fix. There were more questions than there were answers. Even Arjun was puzzled with the details for the first time. After all, this was the most crucial case for him; his reason for existing.

Suddenly, Riya’s phone buzzed indicating a message. Her face paled and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Hands shaking in nervousness, she excused herself from the team. Unfortunately for her, Arjun had noticed all the changes on her face since she received the text. And his suspicions were confirmed. Something was going on, something serious, and he knew he had to find out soon.

Riya escaped to her cabin and whipped out her phone, opening the text message with sweaty palms. One sentence, composed of some incomprehensible words, glared back at her and perturbed her.

‘I talli now. Mere ghar aana. Three weeks.’, the text read.

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