Chapter 18

[MEMBERSONLY] [NOCOPY]

Happy Independence Day to every Indian out there!

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Chapter 16

Riya paled visibly at his sudden question. Her sweaty hands trembled indicating that she was petrified. She clenched her jaw in a desperate attempt to prevent her teeth from clattering loudly at the fear of her boss’ unmasked fury. Shit! How could I forget about the goddamn tattoo? And why is Arjun sir blessed with such a photographic memory?, she mentally cursed her error of removing her formal shirt. 

Arjun’s question caught the team off-guard. Instantly, their eyes snapped to the lower back of her neck and they carefully observed the ink embedded in her skin. The unique design was beautiful but its connection to Sikandar turned it into the most horrendous piece of art they had laid their eyes on. As the realization dawned on them, their wide eyes stared intently at the woman in question, impatiently awaiting her answer. 

When she didn’t respond, Arjun’s temper skyrocketed. In the least amount of steps possible, he reached her and his hands clenched the soft skin of her bare upper-arms. Shaking her violently, he demanded, “Jawaab do Riya. Yeh tattoo tumhari back pe kaise aaya?” 

She winced in pain as his nails dug in her skin, causing a red patch to form on her dusky flesh under his long fingers. How was she supposed to answer him when he was glaring daggers at her? She knew anything she said would piss him further, something she couldn’t afford. So she chose to remain silent and averted her gaze to the floor.

Her silence wrecked his raging emotions. His mind flashed to her words from a few nights ago. “Aap jitna mere nazdeek aayenge, utna hi mujhse nafrat karenge,” she had told him minutes after their intimate moment. His eyes widened by a fraction and the gears turned in his head. Unwillingly, the possibility of the second option for her secrecy being true overpowered the other thoughts.

An unknown fear gripped him as he considered her being involved in something he despised. And the name ‘Sikandar’ peeked in from the sidelines. Is Sikandar the thing she is trying so hard to hide from the world?, he couldn’t help but wonder. Her pale face at the mention of the criminal, the guilty look on her face, the fear in her eyes played in front of his vision. He couldn’t lose her, not when he was starting to accept the changes in his life. And until he could name the feelings her presence evoked in him, he refused to let her go away from him.

His voice hardened along with his grip, and he shook her once again. He needed answers and her silence was only fuelling the fire in him. “Answer me, Riya. And this time, I want nothing but the truth,” he warned her dangerously. Her eyes snapped to him and she knew she couldn’t lie to him anymore.

“Sir, yeh tattoo toh maine 5 saal pehle banwaya tha. Ek tattoo parlour se,” she said cautiously.

The unsurety in her voice yet the genuine eyes that stared at him, puzzled him. He had been sure that she was somehow connected to Sikandar and the case. However, his confidence in his theory took a fatal blow in that moment. He was second guessing himself because of his faith in her. Maybe I’m just overthinking. There’s no way Riya could be related to that bas tard. And if she was, she wouldn’t hide it from me, he concluded and drew in a long breath to calm his chaotic mind.

Clearing the lump in his throat, he posed the question, “Which tattoo parlour?”

Her eyes scanned the perturbed faces of her teammates before they settled on the blood-thirsty man. She knew she had to be careful with her words or all her cards will be out in the open. "Wo...wo...wo toh mujhe yaad nahi hai?", her voice came out as a question rather than a firm statement. 

"What?", Shree spoke from the corner. 

She cleared her throat and spoke in a confident tone, "Wo actually maine tattoo 5 saal pehle banwaya tha. Toh ab mujhe exactly yaad nahi ki wo tattoo parlour kaunsa tha. Sorry." 

Arjun's face fell at her response. His arms dropped to his side. He could feel his hopes of getting closer to Sikandar crumble slowly. But he couldn't give up yet. "Riya, tumne yahi tattoo kyun banwaya?", he asked yet again. It was necessary for him to get answers.

Riya glanced at him sharply, her white face projecting the beads of sweat on her forehead. "The tattoo artist showed me a book of customized tattoos, jismein se mujhe yeh design pasand aaya," she lied through her teeth. Guilty for keeping secrets from the only man she wished knew her in and out made her curse herself heavily.

However, Arjun caught on to her act this time. He realized she was still trying to hide something and that thought only served the purpose of frustrating him more. And he refused to back off from her case. Determination strengthening with her secrecy, he swore he would find the reason behind her hesitation and fear, by hook or by crook.

“Riya, please yaad karne ki koshish karo ki yeh tattoo tumne kahan se banwaya tha,” Sameer requested her after several long minutes of uncomfortable silence. She merely nodded half-heartedly, waiting for the focus to shift from her. Despite her best attempts to block out her surroundings, she could feel Arjun’s hot gaze burning into the back of her skull, and she shivered.

Facing the tired faces of his team, Sameer spoke in a stern voice, “I know tum sab bohot thak gaye ho. But we have a crucial case to solve. Did anyone find anything interesting?”

Lisa, who had shared her discovery with the technical expert, began, "Sir, jab Shree aur Sakshi uss Rajat ke ghar investigate karne gaye the toh unhe ek bottle mili thi. Maine uski jaanch ki aur uss mein mujhe ricin poison ke traces mile hain. Iska matlab saaf hai ki yeh poison import nahi hua. Balki that poison was created in Rajat's lab." 

Nobody flinched an inch, already accustomed to the shocks they've been receiving for the past few days. Ever since Sikandar's case has been in line, they knew they should expect the unexpected. 

"Rajat's lab was sealed since x-zora fiasco. That means this poison was created before that. In short, it was Rajat who created this weapon, maybe as a backup in case their x-zora virus idea failed," Shree concluded her statement. 

Sameer nodded as the remaining members processed the information. Rajat was a great scientist and creating a deadly poison was not a huge task for him. But what puzzled them was that why did Rajat's gang members wait around 2 months after their initial failure to introduce this poison in the human body? 

Realizing that there was more information to be revealed, Sakshi turned to the injured officers and asked, "Pathan ke adde pe kya hua tha guys?" 

"Bohot kuch," it was Chotu who answered. When everyone's gaze shifted to him, he continued, "Humne plan ke according Pathan ke adde pe attack kiya. Hum unke main room ke bohot kareeb pahunch gaye the lekin achanak wo log alert ho gaye. Aur fir hume unse ladna pada." 

Aisha took over from where he left, "Shootout mein hum sab injured ho gaye. Achanak Riya bhagti hui humare paas aayi aur usna hume wahan se nikalne ko kaha. Thank God she saw a goon planting a bomb in the hideout. Uss building se nikalne ke do minute ke andar-andar blast ho gaya." 

Concern reflected in everyone's eyes. "Did you find any clue?", Arjun asked after a moment of silence.

Nodding in positive at his response, Aisha spoke up, "Riya ne bataya tha ki use clue mil gaya hai, which is why we left in the first place." And with that, Arjun spun around to face the frightened face of the woman he was so close to murdering.

Startled at receiving the spotlight once again, Riya stared at the curious yet hopeful eyes of her friends. She sighed tiredly, knowing she'll have to disappoint them once again, "Maine jhooth bola tha Aisha." 

"What?!", resounded the voice of seven mouths. They stared at her as if she's grown a second head. 

Startled, she jumped slightly, her eyes trained on the carpeted floor. "Jab maine bomb mein time dekha toh main bhagti hui Aisha aur Chotu ko alert karne aayi. Lekin Aisha toh bina saboot liye uss jagah se nikalne ko taiyaar hi nahi thi. So I told her that I found a clue," she hurried to explain herself. 

Suddenly, the temperature of the room dropped. Riya shivered as she felt a pair of eyes glaring at her. Without having to face the direction of the source, she knew it belonged to the man she was hopelessly attracted to and maybe even loved. But her courage left her at the prospect of staring him in the eyes, fearlessly. 

Timidly, she forced her gaze to shift towards him, her heart hammering in her ears. Two brown orbs glowered back at her and she could read the anger concealed behind them. But she wasn’t sure if he was angry at her or her wounds, not that she wanted to know. 

“You are impossible,” Arjun hissed venomously before spinning on his heels and storming out of the conference room. The door banged shut behind his back, shaking the walls of the place to emphasize on the short-tempered cop’s mood.

Everyone flinched at the harsh sound and sighed in relief when the storm was out of their line of vision. However, their joy was short-lived when they faced their equally livid chief. 

Realizing that his expressions were scaring his team, Sameer managed to speak gently, “Riya, I can understand why you did it but you shouldn’t have lied. Tumne aaj ek jagti umeed ko tod diya.”

Guilt flashed in Riya's eyes for disappointing her mentor. But she had a mission to complete and if she was required to lie for it, she would. 

Sparing a glance in the direction Arjun had retreated, she smiled softly and looked at the other ACP. "Sir, I didn't completely lie," she began, "Bomb dekhne se pehle maine do logon ko kehte suna tha ki unka boss 2 hafton mein waapis aa raha hai." 

The malicious glint in her eyes went unnoticed as her lie attracted the attention of the officers. Their eyes widened considerably and Sameer screamed, "What?! Tumne pehle kyun nahi bataya?" All the secrets were starting to take a toll on his patience.

She hesitated before saying, "Sir, main yeh sab Arjun sir ke saamne nahi kehna chahti thi. Aap toh jaante hain unke gusse ko. Agar unhe sach pata chalta toh wo pata nahi kya karte." 

Sameer nodded in understanding, realizing that she was right. An angry Arjun was the hardest to deal with, especially when the murderer of his wife was in question. Checking his wrist watch, he noticed that the team needed a short break as it was very late. "Team, if you want you can rest in the lounge. We will continue this discussion in a few minutes," he announced before leaving for his cabin.

On the other hand, Arjun was pacing the length of his cabin, annoyed with the turn of events. He didn’t understand why Riya was hiding such important details from him and the thought irritated him further. She could be in danger for all he knew and his trust in his own self told him that he wouldn’t be able to save her. His hand clenched tightly around the half-filled glass of water.

Whipping out the phone from his pocket, he urgently dialled a number. The call was immediately received as the person on the opposite end knew it wasn’t a wise idea to infuriate the cop. 

“Hello sahab?”, came the reply from a man.

Without beating around the bush, Arjun roared into the receiver, “Kuch pata chala?”

The irritation in his voice petrified the man. He gulped audibly and answered the question posed at him, “Nahi sahab. Madam ne apne khabriyon ke ilava kisi se baat nahi ki. Maine unka peecha bhi kiya lekin wo kisi se mili bhi nahi. Na toh unki roz ki zindagi mein kuch alag hua aur na hi kuch gadbad hai. Maine madam ke kabriyon ke baare mein pata kiya toh wahan bhi koi jhol nahi hai. Mujhe lagta hai ki aap madam pe be-matlab shak kar rahe hain.”

His last line tore the thin sheet of control Arjun had established over himself. “Tumhe sochne ke paise nahi milte,” his voice was dangerously low, “Tumhe jitna kaha jaaye utna karo. Riya pe nazar rakho. Kuch toh hai jo wo mujhse chhupa rahi hai. Mujhe kisi bhi keemat pe wo raaz janna hai. Agar tum yeh kaam nahi kar paaye toh...samjhe ya samjhaun?”

The man almost dropped the phone at the unmasked threat in his tone. He, somehow, managed to stutter out the words, “Samajh gaya sahab.”

Just as Arjun was about to hang up the phone on his informer, he spoke loudly, “Sahab ek aur baat hai jo mujhe aapko batani thi.”

“Bolo.”

“Aap Manu ko jaante hain na? Wo chhoti-moti chori mein kayi baar jail jaa chuka hai. Usne bataya ki Sikandar ka ek aadmi, Imran, aaj-kal Andheri mein hi hai. Address milte hi main aapko bhej dunga sahab-”, he had barely finished his sentence when Arjun flung the glass to the wall, harshly.

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