Chapter 18

 

PART-17

 

 

They met after an hour while on their jog. They jogged together for around half an hour. They both were tired. Last night had been hectic and they have hardly relaxed. The little time they found for rest was spent seeking pleasure with love making. They talked very little since there were other officers around as well who knew that they hardly communicate cordially. They returned to their abode and reported at the base sharp at 0800 hours. They occupied themselves with their routine jobs trying to look normal as if they are clueless about last night's incidents. Around 1100 hours Naina stepped out of her cabin and went to Alekh. But he wasn't in his cabin. She sent someone to look for him and returned. 20 minutes later he reported.

 

"What took you so long Lieutenant Sharma?"

"Sorry ma'am. I was in my quarter."

"What? Wait a minute... Why are your eyes so red? Are you okay?"

"Just not feeling too well ma'am."

"Oh! Fine. Take the day off if you want."

"Thank you ma'am. By the way you called me for something.... Anything important?"

"Not really. Just that I haven't seen Huda since morning. Do you know where he is?"

"No ma'am."

"Fine... Dismiss."

 

Alekh turned to leave the room. The phone rang. Naina took the call. As Alekh shut the door he heard Naina shriek on the phone.

"What?"

 

He opened the door and came back in.

"Okay fine. I'll just be there." She hung up.

 

Naina was looking petrified. She was shaking.

"What happened ma'am?" He asked.

With moist eyes she looked up.

"There is a big problem." She answered in a shivering voice.

 

She immediately regained her composure and walked out of the room signaling him to follow her. She entered into Rajveer's room. He was still working on Major Rastogi's laptop. He looked up at her looking a bit confused.

"We have another problem." She intimated him.

 

 

******

 

The car stopped near the police jeep. The road was blocked by them and they had enclosed a small area as the crime scene. Rajveer, Naina and Alekh stepped down from the car and entered the restricted area. A car stood there and behind it laid two dead bodies. They both had been shot and both of them carried a gun each. Their blood had dried on and around their bodies. Three of them looked horrified at the sight. A police officer approached them.

 

"Ma'am, are you Captain Naina Singh?"

She nodded. She looked too shocked to answer him properly.

"I had called you up ma'am. We found an identity card with one of the body. It said that he was an Army officer. So I thought I should inform you."

"Thank you officer."

"By the way ma'am, I wanted to ask you if army is going to investigate this case solely or police should join them as well."

"No thank you officer. They both are from army so I suppose police intervention is not required. We will handle it and if we need any kind of help, we will let you know."

"Very well ma'am but there is something that might interest you."

"What?"

 

He took them to the car and pointed out towards a huge box lying inside. Rajveer opened the box. The color of those three faces faded away as the sight left them stunned. The boxes had rifles inside them, probably the ones missing from the base. But that had to be verified. Rajveer turned to the officer.

 

"May I ask if you have informed the media about the incident?"

"Not yet sir. I thought may be you would be in a better position to decide what and how much should be disclosed to the media."

"Good. Thank you very much officer. You have been a big help and we will be taking over the case from here."

"Right sir." Saying this, the officer with his men left the place.

 

"I still don't understand what Captain Huda was doing here with Major Rastogi. And what are these rifles doing here in Captain Huda's car?" Alekh raised the questions.

"Even I fail to understand that. I think I'll have to inform Lieutenant Colonel Prassana about the incident. He will tell us what should be done next. It's such a mess being created here." Rajveer seemed aggravated.

 

He called up Lieutenant Colonel Prassana explaining him the situation. After a short conversation he returned.

"Both the bodies will have to be shifted to the army hospital for Post-Mortem. We will need a ballistic report to reach on a conclusion as to what has happened here."

 

They called up for an ambulance at the Army Hospital to shift the bodies for autopsy. They confiscated all the rifles and took them to the base for verification and it didn't take them long to find out that these were the rifles that had gone missing from the base.

 

They had to wait for the ballistic reports next. Till then they thoroughly searched the quarter and the cabin that belonged to Captain Huda and Major Rastogi. They minutely went through each and everything and sealed those places. They didn't had anything against Huda but did everything to strengthen their case against Major Rastogi. That was the only way for Captain Singh and Captain Shekhawat to escape the far reaching consequences of their deeds. They utilized their days working out the ways to trap Huda and Rastogi into all of this and spent their nights drowned in the ecstasy of their love. They discovered themselves to be falling with love with each other all the more but could never draw the line between their love and lust. All they knew that there was no one between them and now they wanted themselves in each others arms.