Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

For the past hour Huda has become more and more nervous. He knows that something big is happening, because Captain Abhimanyu has been having a meeting with various senior officers of theirs for almost the past hour.

"What do you think is going on?" He asks Priya in a whisper, almost afraid that others will hear them. It's late in the afternoon, and they should all be heading home soon but they've been asked to stay back without being given a reason.

Finally the door opens and Abhimanyu walks out along with Colonel Bakshi. "Everybody I have an important announcement to make!" Colonel Bakshi tells them loudly, and the room immediately hushes, "We have a confirmed sighting of Captain Shekawat and Ms Ahluwalia in Lucknow. We will all be leaving right now, and when we arrive we will rendevous with the Lucknow police and arrest them. We've finally got them, prepare to move out immediately."

Priya glances over at Huda and sees that all of the colour has drained from his face. When he turns to look at her, the despair in his eyes is clear to see.

"Huda…" Priya whispers, and then realisation dawns on her, "You knew didn't you?" she asks him. Suddenly she remembers the way his behaviour had changed after they had driven through Lucknow on the way back from Benares, his strange smile, how he had never been bothered by any of the other sightings. "You saw them there, didn't you?"

"Priya," That one word is filled by so much desperation that it almost knocks her over, "Priya help me." Huda is almost begging her, and it kills Priya to see him this way.

"What can I do?" she asks him, "What can anybody do now?"

Right then the order comes to move out, Huda and Priya are set to travel with two other officers in one of the cars. There is absolutely nothing that Huda can do, he is completely and utterly helpless in the hour when his friends need him the most.

As they exit the building, Huda sees Bunty Chaubey standing in the doorway of his office watching them. Suddenly Huda wonders whether his suspicions have been correct, and catches Bunty's eye before he walks past. 'Lucknow' Huda mouths at Chaubey silently, 'Help', and then he's gone, unable to do anything else.

Chaubey understands, as soon as all of the officers on the taskforce have left, he immediately takes his phone and rings the Ladakh base. He asks for Alekh, and then waits impatiently, before the familiar voice comes on the line.

"Alekh, get them out of there." Is all he says, before he hangs up. He's done all he can, it's all up to Alekh now.

**

Hundreds of miles away in Ladakh, Alekh stands stricken, still with the phone to his ear. Snapping himself out of a temporary panic he immediately dials another number, one that he's learnt by heart. There's no time to head to another PCO, and Alekh doesn't care if he gets caught, his friends' safety is the most important thing to him, no matter what.

"Get Anwar for me." He tells the man on the other end of the line and waits impatiently.

"Hello?"

Alekh gave a sigh of relief when he finally heard Anwar's voice on the other end of the line.

"Anwar, this is very important." He told him, "I need you to go find Rehan and…" Suddenly the line went dead and Alkeh cursed. He knew that this sort of thing happened in Ladakh often, but did it really have to happen right now? Placing the phone back on the hook he turned to go, intending to go ask Yudi if he can borrow his mobile. Suddenly a voice stops him,

"Lieutenant Sharma, stop right there." Alekh froze, and turned around, seeing his superior officer standing in front of him along with three guards. The next thing that Alkeh noticed was that the cord of the telephone had been pulled from the wall.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Sharma." His superior announced, sounding as if he truly did regret it, "But we have orders to take you into custody. Please don't make this any harder on yourself."

Alekh considered his options, escape was impossible, and so was fighting against them. There was nothing he could do, he had failed, and now Naina and Captain Rajveer were unaware of the danger facing them.

Alekh wanted to scream in frustration but instead he allowed them to led him towards the base's cells. As they passed down a corridor, Ali and Yudi came around the corner and saw him, their eyes widening in shock. Quickly they ran over, only to be warned by the guards to stay back.

"Chief, what's going on?" Yudi asked him, "Why are they taking you away?" Ali stares at him, at the look of despair on Alekh's face, of the anger in his eyes.

"Naina." Is all Alekh can say before the guards push him to get moving again, taking him away from Ali and Yudi. The two boys freeze where they're standing, they know that something's wrong but they have no idea what it is or what they can do.

"Well call Huda!" Yudi suddenly suggests, knowing that he'll know more about anything that's happening and they run to Yudi's room to grab his mobile. Dialling the number with shaking hands, Yudi is thankful when it connects.

Not waiting for Huda to say anything, he immediately begins speaking, "Huda, thank god I got a hold of you. They've just taken Alekh into custody here, what the hell is going on?"

"Yudi," Huda's voice on the other end of the line is completely drained of any emotion. "We're on our way to arrest Naina and Captain Rajveer." Surrounded by fellow officers in the car, he can't say anything else. Hanging up the phone he sees Priya watching him, a tense look on her face.

"Alekh has been arrested." He informs her, and leans his head and against the window. Alekh's arrest means that the information probably hasn't gotten through to Naina and Captain Rajveer. They have no idea that anybody is coming for them.

Nobody can help them now.

**

Raj leaves the apartment late in the evening, heading out to get some groceries while Naina begins preparing dinner. He's just returning from the bazaar with his bas when he hears Anwar call out.

"Rehan!" Anwar calls to him, crossing the street to meet Raj, "I was just coming to see you."

"Really? It's lucky you met me on the way. Is anything wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Anwar replied, "Alekh called a few hours ago, he said it was important and I had to tell you something but then the call was cut off."

"And he didn't call back?" This aspect especially worried Raj, if Alekh had wanted to tellt hem something he would've called back quickly, unless…

"No, I was waiting to see if he would, but I decided I should come and tell you anyway."

"Thanks Anwar," Raj struggles to remain outwardly calm, even as he's begun imagining all of the possibilities. "I'll see you tomorrow at work." He tells him, despite knowing that they'll probably never see each other again.

Trying not to appear as if he's hurrying, Raj walks back to the apartment quickly, running up the stairs to their door. Letting himself in with his key, he drops the groceries on the floor where he's standing.

Naina looks up from the vegetables she's cutting and immediately realises that something is wrong.

"Naina, we have to leave." He tells her, breathless from running up the stairs. "Alekh called with a message for us, but was cut off. He hasn't called back and I just know that something is wrong."

Naina's eyes reflect her worry for Alekh but she remains calm. Putting down the knife, she quickly puts on her shoes while Raj grabs the bag that they always have packed ready, just for emergencies like these.

In two minutes they're ready to go, and locking the door behind them, they leave. Naina hasn't worn her burqa, covering her hair with her dupatta instead.

Taking her hand, Raj heads in the direction of the bus station. "I don't know how much time we have," he tells her, "We'll get on the first bus that's leaving."

Gripping Raj's hand tightly, Naina follows him through the busy streets. She prays that Alekh is safe and that he hasn't been exposed. She prays that the situation isn't as bad as they think it is.

Twenty minutes later, the officers from headquarters show up, screeching to a stop outside the apartment building. They swarm into the building, their guns out and at the ready, heading up the stairs and kicking down the door of the apartment to find it empty. Seeing the vegetables abandoned on the chopping board, Colonel Bakshi guesses that the fugitives knew they were coming.

"Alright, we're splitting into three groups!" He yells to all of the officers, "You're going to the bus station, you're going to the train station, and you will continue to search the surrounding area!" He says, dividing the group roughly into three.

Huda and Priya join the group heading towards the bus station. He's relieved that Naina and Raj are already gone, realising that Alekh's message must have gotten through after all.

But Huda knew that they hadn't been gone long, and he knew that it wouldn't be hard for the officers to find them, especially with all of Lucknow's police force looking too.

The odds were against them.

This time, nothing would save them but a miracle.