"I'm sorry ACP Arjun." The minister said firmly, meaning any talk after that would be useless.
Arjun casted one last glance at the DIG for support but his lower head proved his helplessness. This was a lost case, even Arjun knew it. But still he hoped that somehow the minister would agree on releasing those 3 criminals and saving her would be this easy.
But sacrifice was a mainstay which made them the saviors. They were bound to sacrifice anything to protect the citizen; whether it's their own life or others.
But then again, "never giving up" attitude was one of the virtues which made their khaki uniform shine and invincible.
And he would be damned if he gave up.
Not only he'd save her life but he'd save all those innocents whose deaths would be a mere accidents showed by the media under ministry's influence.
"In that case sir, main apni team member ya kisi bhi masoomo ki jaan khatre mein nehi chod sakta. Main woh sabkuch karunga jo main kar sakta hu." Standing firm and tall, Arjun dictated his words making the other men tensed.
"Jai hind." He saluted and walked out, not waiting for their respond.
------
The water they dropped on her felt like needles on her skin.. she coughed, spitting out some water and tried to rub her skin only to realize that she was strapped to a chair.
With much effort and biting down some pain, Saakshi lifted her head an inch and immediately growled seeing the person grinning at her.
She struggled to get her hands free so she could strangle that evil to death but soon her remaining energy faded out and she stopped, panting heavily.
He just laughed and held her face roughly. Saakshi flinched and faced the other way in disgust.
"Don't touch me!" she glared at him.
That made him mad and he held her by the hair, pulling it back to make her cry out in pain. Her head throbbed as her hair started ripping from the skin and this made him grin. "Little pesky Saakshi." He said in a sinister way, pressing her jaw way to hard.
"Itni nafrat? Ek samey pe toh issi chehre pe marti tthi tum." He sluggishly said, tracing her temple.
Saakshi took the chance and spitted on his face before saying, "Ab iss shakal pe thook ne ka mann karta hai."
And that gave her two more slaps on the face and gush right above her left breast. She bit her lower lip to absorb the pain but it was too much. But not so much to break down in front of that bas***d. She would rather die.
She weakly smiled when he planted another blow on her face. "Maar na chahte ho na? Maar daalo. Go on."
"Sahi kehti hai." Saying so, he planted the gun right on her forehead and she locked her gaze on him. If she was gonna die, she would face it bravely.
But he never pulled the trigger. "Teri kismaat acchi hai ki main tujhe maar nehi sakta. Par kal subah tak.. kal subah tak teri maut toh nischit hai."
"Do you really think I care?" She grinned. He stared at her in surprise and then left the room dictating how he was going to give her a horrifying death.
And Saakshi grinned as a goon silenced her using a duct tape.
------
"Sir, kuch hua?" Aisha asked as soon as he entered the building and walked straight to Shree's booth.
He sighed, taking his hat off and it was enough to let the team know. "Shree." Arjun asked. "Kuch pata chala?"
"Abhi tak toh exact location pata nehi chala par I'm working on it." Shree replied, momentarily looking away from his screens.
"Hurry up." Arjun urged, to which Shree nodded.
"Sir, kuch mila hai." Chotu came running. "Mere ek informer ne bataya ki Malad ki ek warehouse jo ki bohot dino se bandh para hai waha pe kal raat se kuch activities note ho rahe hai."
"It's possible they have taken the hostages there." Arjun mused. "Chotu, take a back up, a group of commandos, bomb squad or whatever you need, bas corner them from the shadows. Hum abhi hamla nehi kar sakte." Arjun said.
"Par kyu sir?" Aisha asked. "Agar unhe pata chala ki humhe khabar ho chuka hai toh sayed woh koi kadam uthale. And we can't take a chance." Arjun replied and Aisha nodded.
Hours passed away like mere minutes and it was almost evening. The whole office was fizzing, no one left that evening trying to help with their best efforts. And Arjun was proud like never before.
Less than some hours were left and they only had one exact location traced which was now under Chotu's observation.
There were two more left and then there was her.
Right after 11 pm, they got another mail containing a similar video message, only this time, there were sounds.
-----
And Arjun never felt this much helpless.
She was standing in a live landmine, fighting for balance; one wrong step and she would be.. he didn't even want to finish that line.
The captor said he was bored with the slow processing thus he added up some spices so ETF would work faster or else, they would gladly let her die.
"Shree, iski location pata karo. Pichle wala video aur yeh wala video dono alag alag jagah se bheje gaye honge." Arjun said. Bit shaken by the turns of events, the team shook of the negative vibes immediately and got to work.
"Par sir, isse locate karne mein ghanto lag jayenge. Pehla wala bhi abhi tak trace kar raha hu." Shree sighed, clearly frustrated.
Arjun softened up and said, "I know shree but it's the best shot we've got."
"It's just.. Saakshi pata nehi kabtak.. aise.." Shree murmured sadly, glancing at the paused picture on the screen.
Frankly, even Arjun didn't know how she'd survive so many hours standing on that activated bomb. She was weak, hurt and tired. It won't be so unreal if her knees gave up or she fainted.
No, Arjun refused to even go there. She won't give up. She can't give up or else he would hunt her down even in the paradise to blow her head off.
She wasn't allowed to die on him, period.
"Usse kuch nehi hoga." Arjun found him uttering absentmindedly. And his team repeated while he stared at her picture.
"Shree, play the video."
This time Arjun noticed something he didn't last time.
She was talking to him.
-----
Saakshi balanced on the roller, careful not to trip and grinned back to him who was sitting on a table, turning off the camera.
"Yeh tumhari akhri Galti tthi Mohit."
Mohit handed the camera to one of his accomplices who got on a computer to send off the message.
"Accha? Care to explain how?" Mohit asked her with confidence.
"Tumhari pehli galti.. ki tumne ACP Arjun se dushmani mor li. He won't stop at anything. Ab tak toh woh tumhara kabar bhi khod chukka hoga." Saakshi smirked, watching him frowning.
"Woh tera do taake ki ACP mera kuch bhi nehi bigar sakta. Ek mohra hai bas.. aur kuch nehi. Jab mujhe jo chahiye who mujhe mill jayega main usse bhi teri tarah maar dungi." He snarled which made her smirk even more.
"tumhari dusri galti.." Saakshi murmured, pointing at the landmine she was standing at. "Maine ek kadam bahar rakkha aur boom!" she mocked him. All the other goons backed out in fear and Saakshi laughed, suddenly feeling keyed up.
Mohit got paled and he backed out too. "You will do no such thing."
"Oh I will. Trust me, when the right time comes, I'll gladly step aside and die, taking all of you down with me." Saakshi spoke with force, pointing at each of them before zeroing on Mohit.
"And I promise you that."
-----
She was not just fidgeting with her hands, she was talking to him through sign language. She was pretending to be wobbly and holding her hands up in a position from where he could make out the gestures she was doing.
Once Shree zoomed in, Arjun could read out the letters she was doing with her fingers. She put correct gaps between each word so none of the goons could make sense of them.
Shree put out a sign language syllable reference picture from the net and put it along the display while Liza, Aisha and Arjun got ready with pen and papers.
"Usne apni ungli kidnapper ki taraf kia hai, iska matlab woh humhe uske bare mein kuch batana chahti hai." Said Liza.
"It's a C" Aisha murmured, writing it down.
Liza : "O"
Shree : "Double L"
"College." Arjun spoke up. "She meant college."
"College student?" Aisha asked.
"Nehi.. woh sirf yeh batane k liye itna bada word nehi act karegi." Shree muttered and Liza nodded in agreement.
"You are right." Arjun stated. "Usne college bolne k baad khud pe point kiya. So iska matlab he must be from her college. Saakshi kidnapper ko jaanti hai."
"Shree." Arjun called out but Shree cut him, "I'm on it."
They waited for a few minutes but then Shree looked at them with a confused look plastered on his face.
"Kya hua Shree?" Arjun asked.
"Sir.." he glanced at everyone before answering, "Saakshi Anand ki koi records hi nehi hai."
"What?" asked a bewildered Arjun.
Cricket
Udne Ki Aasha
Veer Hanuman
Anupamaa
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