Story so far...
ETF is called to Binsar to investigate a baffling murder that gets all the more mysterious when they realize their killer is drowning his victims, who are all guilty of adultery and cheating on their spouse. The budding romance between Riya and Arjun is cut short when the news of her sister's death reaches the ETF, signifying the killer has reached Kolkata. In Kolkata, Riya decides to do something reckless and gets herself seriously injured. This gets her suspended from the case. Arjun campaigns for her to at least be allowed to view the files and succeeds. While delivering the files, they nearly kiss before snapping to their senses and hastily bidding each other adieu. And now...
Chapter 11(A): Gone Fishing
"Where the hell is Rawte?" demands Rathore angrily, when the 20th consecutive phone call goes unanswered. "What did Riya say?"
"She said he left after going over the files with her. She's on her way to the offices sir" parrots Chhotu, calling Arjun's phone again.
"Track the GPS of his car, Shree" says Rathore wearily, as Riya enters the office in a hurry. It's obvious she had rushed as soon as she'd heard that Arjun was missing. "There you are, Riya, did you find anything?"
"I came through the same route he did. There's no way he simply disappeared. It's a straight road. Unless he took a wrong turn... she said. "The building security feed definitely shows him leaving the building. I sent it to your phones"
"You saw him, or you saw his car?" asks Rathore sharply. "Him. His face, clear as day on the screen. See the footage" she responds somewhat tersely. "Can we pull up traffic camera footage?"
"We need a warrant for that" Rathore grumbles. "We can hack..." Shree begins hesitantly but a look from Rathore silences him. "I can't even get a GPS track on his phone, let alone his car" says Shree after a while.
"Which means the sim was destroyed or he's not in a coverage area" breathes out Riya, studying the map route Chhotu had blown up on the screen. "I'll have to call this in", Rathore says worriedly. "We're dealing with a dangerous set of people. I'd hate for anything to happen because of delays."
Riya refuses to analyse the implications of anything, even the adrenaline in her body pumps at a faster rate. "Can we pin point locations with weak coverage area? And start ruling out places its obvious he hasn't been taken?"
"We don't know he's been taken" Rathore says sharply. "What else could it be?" she demands, feeling her ire rise steadily. "We shouldn't make assumptions counters her boss, and Riya wants to let loose a volley of choice curse words, but bites her tongue and turns back to Shree. "Can we do what we said - it's a long shot but at least it's something?"
Shree looks to Rathore, who nods. The requested data is blown up on the projector and Riya grabs a stylus, murmuring to herself, crossing out some places, putting question marks against some others. Rathore is tucked into a corner, informing his superiors, and Chhotu is on the other corner of the room, pulling up a warrant for traffic camera feeds and reaching out to his local counterparts for access to informants. The air in the room was stiff with tension. Riya feels her vision swimming, but grits her teeth to focus on the screen in front of her. Behind her, Shree had three different laptops open in front of him, his fingers never stopped moving for one minute.
Sweat trickles down to the base of her neck. Riya casts a puzzled look around her, absently fanning herself. "Are you okay?" asks Shree suddenly. "Why are you all sweaty?"
"It's a little hot no?" Riya breathes out instead, feeling her knees quake. Shree and Chhotu look at her in confusion, but only Chhotu deigns to respond to her, saying "no..."
"Must be just me then... all this stress..." she says, forcing a smile on her face and turning away from her colleagues. Shree opens his mouth, but whatever he had to say gets cut off as Rathore enters the fray with a grim look on his face. "I've notified the police commissioner and he's given me authorization to look for Rawte." The others straighten up and visibly and wait for the ETF Chief to finish. "We have 6 hours to find Rawte, or pack up this investigation and hand it over to CBI. We are authorized to use all the resources of the local police force to the fullest extent possible and will be doing so."
"SIX HOURS? That's hardly fair" Shree grouses, and Rathore shakes his head. "It is what it is. Now, let's hope we find him within that time frame."
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The weight on his eyelids keeps them closed. It is just as well - he can feel the rope rubbing against the skin of his wrists and knows this can't be very good for him.
"You can open your eyes now, Arjun" says a voice, causing his body to freeze with an audible snap. He recognized that voice. It haunted his days, his nights and his nightmares. It was the voice of the one person who could bring him to his knees. But how was this possible?
"Open your eyes, Arjun. You know I can always tell when you're lying" teases the voice gently. A hand ghosts past his face.
His eyes fly open and are accosted by pitch blackness. "Roshni?" he gasps, looking around the empty room wildly.
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Just warming up my writing fingies... man it's been too long. But I'll promise to be regular with updates now.
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