FF-The Gods Must b Crazy-Note on page 7..please re

Rathod and Arjun walked into the office next morning, to the sounds of Shree and Chottu chatting. They seemed to be arguing about some new gadget that Shree was planning on getting. As they walked by the couch, Rathod stopped, and took 2 steps back. Arjun had meanwhile not made those 2 steps forward, and now they both stood staring down at her.

Mira was lying contently on the couch, hands half crossed over her chest, her face peaceful. She was longer than the sofa, so her feet, with their brilliant green sneakers were slightly perched higher over the armrest.

Rathod- Is she...is she actually sleeping in my office?

Shree- Sir...yes sir...She said she was going to catch up on some sleep since...

Rathod- Is she out of her mind???!!She's sleeping when she should be working!!! What the hell is wrong with her!!!!

Arjun stared down at her in disdain. She was worse than an irresponsible teenager

Chottu- Sir, actually, she finished all the reports already.

Rathod- Kya? Saare ke saare?

Shree- Hanh sir...think she was at it all night, see...she brought it in this morning...

He handed Rathod the files, which he skimmed through. They were right, it was all done. He and Arjun just had to review and sign it.

Chottu- she handed these in, and said she was going to take a nap, as there was nothing to do anyway...so...

Rathod silenced him with a look, but didn't say anything further. He wanted to reprimand her, but wasn't sure if he should, given that she had finished her work, and that the couch was put there, to take breaks.

Arjun took the files from Rathod, and flipped through the pages. He carefully looked through it, trying to find at least a tiny error. He patiently looked through, his face getting grimmer, as he couldn't find any fault. Then suddenly, his eyebrows perked up. He closed the file and looked down at the sleeping form. "This report has errors Rathod"

Rathod frowned "What?" He half snatched the file back and began thumbing through it rapidly.

Arjun- Mira.

They all saw that she didn't as so much as stir.

Arjun called louder "Samaira!!!" Shree nudged her arm softly from one end. The bandage on her forehead peeked out from beneath her side bangs as she slightly shifted in her sleep and then settled back with a sleepy sigh. Her hair also moved to reveal that she had 2 earphones plugged into either ear. No wonder she couldn't hear. Arjun was royally pissed, while Rathore closed the file perplexed and looked down at her.

Arjun- Shree!!! Utao isse!!

As Shree stepped forward to shake her awake, Rathod stopped him. He steeped around the couch, onto the other side. Her gun was on her hip holster and as she had turned, it was exposed to anyone's reach. Rathod slowly and quietly put forward his hand, to pull out her gun. His hand had barely touched it, when her left hand caught his in a swift move. Her right hand came around equally fast, and she grabbed the gun and jumped over the couch, letting go of his hand, and pointing the gun at him with both hands. It took her a second to register who she was pointing her gun at. She pulled down her earphones, and looked around. Shree and Chottu had their mouths open, Arjun folded his arms across his chest and stared at the scene, jaw set.

Rathod looked at her, face expressionless. She slowly lowered her hand, and presented her gun to Rathod, placed on both palms. Her hands stretched forward, as if it was an offering, she bent her head, and said in the softest whisper. "Please don't fire me..."

Rathod felt the corners of his mouth twitching, but he saw that Arjun was giving him an incredulous glare. So he cleared his throat and said "Holster your weapon. I guess I should give you credit for not letting someone get to it, even in your sleep. However, if I find you sleeping during office hours again, I will have you transferred to a desk job in the lab."

As Mira put her gun back, she looked at him, with a shocked 'You wouldn't' look. Rathod saw that and replied "I would." Mira quickly apologized.

Mira- I am sorry sir, it won't happen again...

Arjun- Hanh, waise bhi...you've so many other mistakes you have to try out, so repeating the same one again could be boring for you.

Mira looked at him, hoping the urge to throw the entire couch on his head wasn't reflecting on her face. No, she hoped it was. Even if she couldn't do it, at least he should see she how badly she wanted to.

Rathod- Enough Rawte...you were saying there's some error in the report... Mira- That's not possible.

Arjun- Really? Over confidence is not an admirable trait.

Mira- Confidence is. I am confident that there isn't any mistake in the report. I take my work seriously Sir.

Arjun- Yes, we just saw how serious.

Rathod- Rawte. Baat par aao. Even I didn't find anything wrong, what is it?

Arjun smirked- I'm surprised you didn't Rathod. It's your name, she spelt it wrong.

Mira- What?

Rathod- What??

Arjun opened the file and pointed to a line. ACP Sameer Daamsingh Rathore. Mira squinted.

Arjun- Rathore, not Rathod.

Rathod- That. It's not such an issue Rawte...my name is spelt both ways in some of the official documents...

Arjun- But in the ETF files, it's Rathod. Which means...

Chottu- Which means...

Arjun handed the file to her."Change it. It's all over the documents. Change it all. And the new report should be done before today afternoon. We need to submit it before 2 pm."

Mira stared at him in disbelief, as he looked at her from head to foot, then walked away. Rathod gave up and finally said "Change it Mira..." as he too walked to the conference room.

Mira clutched the report in one hand, and muttered under her breath "Inka naam Arjun Suryakant Rawte nahi, Arjun Curtainrod Rawte, rakhna chahiye tha"

Shree- Kya??

Mira- Nahi...kuch nahi..

Chottu- Arrey Mira, we thought that today would be the end for you. As it is Arjun sir is irritated with you, upar se you pull a gun on Rathod sir?? Kya yaar...aaj kiske muh dekh ke nikal gayi?

Mira huffed out a stream of air. "At least Rathod sir didn't kill me. If it was Arjun sir, I would already be in some dusty lab by now."

Shree- I wonder why he's so irritated with you...

Mira suddenly remembered the once over he had given her. Was he finding fault in her attire again? She was dressed in more subdued tones today. A black crepe jacket over a white shirt, and blue jeans.

Mira- Guys, do I look like a drape?

Chottu- A grape?

Mira- No, a...

Shree- Why do you want to look like a grape?

Chottu- Yeah, you look quite nice. Your clothes are trendy.

Shree- And you have an awesome fashion sense!

Mira sighed "I guess I'm still not curtain enough..."

Chottu and Shree exchanged puzzled looks. Mira pulled out her laptop to change the report. Within 10 mins, she put down the new file for their review.

Rathod- So fast? Good work.

Mira smiled. Arjun suspiciously took up the file and looked through it. She had indeed changed it. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Arjun- How did you do it so quickly? Shree and Chottu helped you out didn't they?

Mira gave him an annoyed look. "Sir. There is something called Find & Replace in Microsoft Word. It takes under a minute to change all the Rathores to Rathods. It's not rocket science sir...Or...did you perhaps think I was going to type up the entire thing again? I am not that stupid sir, they did give me a gold medal after all"

She gave him a wide sarcastic smile and walked towards her chair. Rathod was immensely amused. He hadn't heard what she had said, no one did, she had whispered to him, but seeing Arjun at a loss of words, was not a usual sight for any of them. So he couldn't even bring himself to scold shree and Chottu as they tried hard to suppress their giggles. Still amused at the anger and irritation on Arjun's face, he answered the phone when it rang.

Within 25 minutes, they pulled up outside Club Mute, a hip new disco/club in the middle of the city. There was no one outside the club, except for 2 constables. It opened only at 5.30 every evening, up until 4 am in the morning, and the parties here were the talk of town. But now, a body had been found inside, and they had work to do.

The 5 of them walked inside the double doors, and into a foyer. There were no windows anywhere, and the light was all from overhead lamps and lights. A small group of people stood inside the main hall, whose one end was occupied with a long bar, with a number of bottles on the shelf and the counter. Lounge chairs, and other furniture occupied other parts, with an area left around the centre for the DJ and the dancing. This was where about 5 or 6 people stood, talking among themselves. 2 constables stood in front of the bar, behind which the body was found.

Mira stepped forward in front of the others, while they stood back in the foyer to talk to the inspector. As she started to walk towards the bar, a man came upto her from the group. He surveyed her, and smile. She looked at him questioningly.

"Hi, I'm Rishi. I'm the DJ here."

Mira smiled- I see. Mm...Good for you?

Rishi- You know what? You're hot.

Arjun heard that, and glanced up at the two of them. So did the others.

Mira- Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment.

Rishi smiled back- Can I get you a drink? The bar seems to be guarded, apparently there's a dead guy behind the bar. But I think I can arrange a drink for both of us, to get to know each other, Miss...

Arjun started to step forward, his temper rising, when she spoke."Samaira Sharma. Thank you, but I don't drink. And especially..." She pulled out her id, and showed it to him. "Not on duty"

Rishi looked at the id carefully, and whistled. "Wow, you're a cop!!! I thought you were one of the VIP clubbies, here before the others...anyway...I'm sorry...but, I guess, it's good...I don't mind being questioned by a dashing young officer, so ask away!!!"

He grinned at her flirtatiously, and she smiled back. "That's great. In that case, we'll question you right away. Chottu!"

Chottu came up to her, and she introduced him "This is Chottu, one of our most dashing officers. Chottu, this is Rishi, the DJ. And he's super cooperative, so why don't you ask him about whatever you want to know. I'm sure he would be happy to help!!"

Chottu- Fantastic!!

She smiled charmingly at the DJ, who looked at her as if he had been slapped. Chottu grinned at her, as did Shree, while Rathore turned back to the inspector with a smile. Arjun looked away and stood there for a minute, before going to take a look at the body. Shree and Mira followed.

Arjun sent the constables away, and stood looking at the body. Rathod joined him, and after a few seconds, they left to talk to the gathered people. After Shree took a few snaps of the body, Mira turned the body over with his help, as it was face down. The man appeared to be in his 30s, and looked to be completely out of place here. He wore a cheap cotton shirt, which had worn out with a hundred washes. His pants were frayed at the ends, and had stains here and there.

Mira looked at those closely. It could be blood stains.

Shree- Mira, I'll just go take some photos of the other areas as well..you can manage here na?

Mira nodded. She snapped her gloves on, and set about examining the body. She examined the stains, it looked like dried blood. She checked his hands and feet. On his right forearm, she found a puncture wound, like he had been injected. Other than that, she found no other indications. She emptied his pockets, but the only things in there were a set of keys, and a piece of paper in which the name & address of the club was scribbled. Nothing else to identify the body. There seemed to be nothing more to do. She was about to get up, when she noticed a button was loose on the shirt. That itself was not strange, but as she looked closer, she was surprised. She unbuttoned his shirt quickly, to find that the vest he was wearing was covered in blood smears. A lot of them, and from the varying shades, she surmised, some older than the others. She lifted up the vest, but there were no wounds on his torso. Or anywhere else. Mira was confused. There were no injuries on his body to cause this amount of blood, and there was no blood around the body either. She sprayed luminal around the area of the body and put on the glasses. No blood. Then she saw that a bit of the spray had fallen on his fingertips. Positive indication of blood. This meant that he had washed off blood recently. Whose blood? She put away the glasses and reagents. At any rate, this didn't look like a natural death, or a suicide. But she couldn't explain the blood. She saw a small shard on his vest, about 2 centimetres long, and a whitish color. She carefully put it into an evidence bag and started to check if anything else was caught on his vest or clothes.

All of a sudden, a man staggered in from the back entrance, which was on one side of the bar. Mira was sitting down the far corner of the bar, her back to him. The man staggered towards the bar, as everyone watched, trying to grab a bottle off the counter. Only he seemed to be drunk, and couldn't even stand properly. He missed grabbing any bottle, instead his hand struck three of them, and they fell, causing the remaining 10 or so bottles, and a stack of wine glasses to fall as well. They all rolled towards the inside of the bar, where Mira was crouched. Those who could see her behind the bar, watched in horror, as they realised the bottles were going to fall on her head. She heard a clinking and looked up, but couldn't see what was happening, the counter was far too high from where she was crouched. Everyone was too far away to help. Rathod, Shree and Chottu didn't even realise what was happening, before Shree remembered that Mira was behind the counter.

Shree called out "Mira!! watch out!!!", and before she could react, she felt someone cover her in an embrace and shove her out of harm's way. As the bottles, and the glasses fell with a deafening crash and broke into a million pieces, her heart beat quickened as she realised what had just happened. She looked at the shattered glass in horror, and involuntarily shuddered at how close she had been to that. The hands around her, which had saved her, tried to calm her, as he felt her trembling. "You're not hurt, are you?", he asked in his familiar gruff tone.

That was when she realised, whose arms she was in...

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