The Three Musketeers - last part p12

Hi,

Now that our couple is headed to the ultimate pilgrimage of BT land ...Mt. Abu..... What if they meet and figure out what actually happened...but before they do anything foolhardy , sensible Rano intervenes and tells them to plan each step and trap Meera into confessing. On the side they can also look for the prodigal son...who is the local cricket sensation ( too much of cricket around!) and the family reunites. The three Musketeers planning everything out carefully and then executing the ultimate sting operation.

So I am starting the first part...and you guys can add the next part...but lets try and keep on track...no reincarnations...no coming back from the dead...and no new baddies...lets focus on getting Meera Mai ...who btw is very sharp!

And last but not the least....Bugging...telephone tapping....hiring detectives, involving police...all things any half decent investigation requires are going to be used.

Part I

" This is becoming interesting, if I weren't trying to catch my children's killer ...I would actually feel I am part of a Hitchcock thriller." thought Jai as he watched Meera follow his car. He couldn't stop himself...he quickly dialed Bani's number..." what is it...is everything alright?" she replied on the first ring.

" Everything is going as planned...the cat is out on the prowl...looks like we are closing in on our first goal. She thinks I am having an affair and wants to catch me red handed." he said.

" Be careful, you know how shrewd she is...if she suspects anything ....Mr. Walia I can't loose my children or you...please be careful..." he could hear her sob. Cursing Mohan and the day he brought Meera into his life, Jai tried to lighten the mood " You know Bani , its kind of romantic ...us and these clandestine meetings....this is what we missed when we intially met...there was no romance till the day you accidently got drunk!"

He could imagine Bani blushing and his mind moving down memory lane....." Mr. Walia...enough of this....get here in one piece and then we'll talk about romance ...clandestine meetings indeed!" she disconnected the phone with a smile on her face.

As Jai saw Meera still following him...he thought back to the night in Mt. Abu when his life came back to him and how he couldn't recognise her... "Meera you are going to pay for everything" he promised himself.

Hey ABCD i like it...


Flashback….

Bani couldn't believe what she was hearing. It can't be true...Meera...Meera hated her all along. She put up a false front just to please Jai. This can't be happening to her now. Not now...she can't lose Jai now...what about their children? She can't take them away from Jai again. NO! She won't let this woman take away what was hers...what rightfully belonged to her children. Bani carefully put Atharva down in the crib and advanced on Meera. Her eyes blazing hatred...rage filled her heart against the what this woman had just told her she was going to get her husband at any cost.

Meera watched Bani walk towards her. A smirk played on her lips. This slip of woman was going to fight her...well...well. She never expected that. She expected her to run like she always had done before. Run with her tail between her legs. Both stood facing each other, eye to eye not moving.

Breath hissed out of Bani's mouth, "Get Out of This House Meera. You Are No Longer Welcome Here." Each word intoned with deliberate force, a pause filled menace separated that miniscule space.

Meera's head threw back as she laughed, "You want me to get out. That is funny. We will see who run from here." With sudden move Meera grabbed Bani by her hair and pulled her to the crib, "Look at them you silly fool...look at them. Do you want them to live? Do you want Jai's babies to see their father's face? If you don't then fine. I can deal with them when I am done with you." Meera rained her fist down on Bani. But the next one was caught in an iron grip by Bani. The threat to her babies had made her insanely mad now. Bani twisted her fist down, spitting in Meera's face, "You think I will let you touch my babies while I am still alive. You are nothing but a mad woman, a woman who refuses to accept the reality, a woman who is chasing what can never come true. Jai will never love you...you hear...Jai will never love. He is mine...he will always be mine."

Bani used all her strength to push Meera to the ground. Somehow she had to stop Meera from getting up and doing harm to her children. A quick flash around her yeilded nothing she could use as weapon. She needed something to even at least temporary disable Meera, so she could flee from here with her children. She needed to get to Jai at the other end of the house. Bani spied the heavy brass murti at the end of the room. She dragged Meera towards it. Wrapping her hand around the murti Bani lifted it up. But Meera realizing what Bani was upto, suddenly jerked free and moved away. Bani stepped but Meera kicking her leg out and toppling her. Bani crashed on to the marble floor, knocked out briefly. Through her fuzzy mind she could hear Meera laughing. She could also hear Jai's voice shouting for her. A clatter of heels rang on the floor as Meera ran out of the room. Bani opened her eyes and groggily stood up. She moved towards Atharva, now was her chance to escape out of her and run for safety. She picked up Atharva and ran towards the glass door leading into the back garden.

She ran blindly towards the front of the house. Halfway she suddenly found her duppatta being pulled from her. Meera's voice crooned, "Run Bani run...run like a mouse....you can't escape me how far you run."

Bani did not turn but ran, she had to get to Jai. She had to get her baby to Jai. She did not get far when she found a hand reaching out and grabbing her. Bani twisted and swerved trying to escape her. She ran blindly not realizing she was running towards the ravine. Her breath now coming out in gasp as she struggled to keep going, her legs hurt but she had to go on. A scream rang out as Bani hit a rock and tumbled over the edge. Fear took over as Bani flew through the air, Atharva clutched tight to her chest. Meera peered over the edge and laughed as she spied the Bani's body going down. She threw her head back and laughed, oh this was much better than she thought, her job was taken care of Bani herself.

"Meera!" Jai's voice boomed in a distance. Meera panicked, she can't let Jai find anything out...not now. She quickly threw the dupatta over and drew fear on her face, "Jai...Bani."

Jai reached her, "Meera have you seen Bani. I can't find her and Krishna is really crying. I thought I heard a scream."

Meera pointed at the edge of ravine. "Bani..."

Panic filled Jai, what was Meera trying to say. He ran over and gasped as he recognized the dupatta caught in the rock below. No, Bani can't have fallen down. She knew the gardens too well, she would never have been careless enough to get so close to the ravine. Involuntary a scream rang out from his throat, "Bani..."

Before long Nattu, Pushkar, Adi, Ranveer and rest of family were all stood by the ravine, all of them shaken at the thought of Bani fallen at the bottom of the ravine. It was Nattu who snapped out, "Bhaiya, you call the police. And in the meantime, let me and the others go down and search. I will pray to God with his grace somehow bhabhi survived."

Adi shook Jai still standing immobile. "Jai. Snap out of it Jai. Phone the damn police. Rano."

"Ji papaji." Rano came to Adi.

"Is there another way to get to the bottom of the ravine beside going down this way?" Adi asked.

"Yes papa, but it not close. There is a road which run to the river."

"Ok Nattu, Pushkar and Ranveer go all three of you and start looking. I will wait here for the police."

Adi took hold of Jai and told everyone to go inside. He dialled the police and waited for their arrival.

XXXXXX

Half an hour later, Nattu parked the car close to the edge of the river. The three of them stood peering in the dark. "We need torch, do you have any?" Ranveer asked. "I have to check in the back, there is an emergency kit in the back. Nattu opened the trunk and unzipped the small bag shoved in the corner. Luckily for him there were two large torch. He pulled them out and handed one to Ranveer. "Ok let's go." The three of them set off at a hurried pace towards the direction of the house. Half an hour later they stood at the bank and stared at the soggy cloth floating in shallow waters, caught in between rocks. Ranveer waded in and pulled it out. "It's a blanket, just like the one Krishna was wrapped in." Nattu stared at it and stared at the swift flowing water."

"We have to split up, someone should look on the other side, just in case they drifted to the other side."

"I will go." Ranveer volunteered. "I think the water is not too deep, if am careful I should be able to get across easily. You two go downstream."

Nattu and Pushkar watched as Ranveer made his way to the other side. Both of them then set off down the bank, peering over the water and the edge looking for any sign of Bani. An hour later, exhausted from the walk, they rested. Nattu slumped against the tree, "I can't believe this, she can't have gone far. The water is not as fast flowing here as it was back there."

Pushkar who had been quiet up to now, "Yes but if was knocked out when she fell, she is going to be carried away. We would have found her now, if she had somehow pushed to the edge into the shallow waters."

Unknown to them a few feet away, in the growth, a figure lay clutching a small body close to her. Bani strangled her moans, the pain that shot through her legs as she tried to move it a little was excruciating. But her face, it felt as if it was smashed, it hurt like hell. Athrava whimpered in her arms, cold from the water, the blanket long lost. Bani had her arms around him, trying to keep him warm. She closed her eyes. She did not know how she survived the fall, but someone must be watching her, someone wanted her to live. The rustling and sound of hushed voice had her alert. Someone was about. Who could it be? She peered into the dark, trying to make out the figures. There were two of them. One of them stopped and she could see the beam of light from the torch. Pushkar's voice rang out, "Look Nattu. There are fresh marks on the mud here."

Nattu looked at the drag marks on the muddy edge. And then into the bush, he shone the torch into bush. Bani gasped as she recognized Nattu and Pushkar. "Nattu..." she managed to call out hoarsely.

Nattu stilled, "Did you hear that?" "Bhabhi?" he called out softly. Both he and Pushkar lunged through the growth and stopped dead as they saw Bani on the ground ahead. "Oh God bhabhi what happened?" Nattu stared at the face, all bloodied and swollen, deep lacerations stood out with the blood congealed and turned black.

Nattu gave Pushkar the torch as he kneeled down and took Atharva from her hand. He could feel Atharva shivering from his wet clothes. "Give me your jacket Phuskar." Pushkar took his jacket off and gave it Nattu who took off the we clothes and wrapped Atharva in the jacket. Nattu passed Atharva to Pushkar and turned his attention to Bani, tears rolling down, "Don't worry bhabhi, we'll take care of you. Bhai will take care of you." His concern now was to get Bani to hospital as soon as possible.

Bani moaned and screamed as she tried to move her legs, "My legs they hurt Nattu. I can't move them."

"We have a car, we can take you back to the house. I will call bhai so he can call the doctor." The minute Nattu took his phone out, Bani flailed her hands trying to knock the phone from him, crying out in pain as the movement shot sharp pains down both her legs and face burned in agony.

Bani screamed almost hysterically, "NO! You can't tell him. You can't take me back. Meera will kill me. She will kill all of us...she will kill my babies."

Nattu looked at her baffled, trying to soothe her, "What are you saying Bhabhi? Why would Meera want to kill you?"

Fear and dread went through Bani as she remembered what had occurred few hours ago, "She wants Jai. She wants to kill me so Jai would be hers. How do you think I fell? She was trying kill me when I ran from her." Tears welled up again and Bani couldn't stop herself from crying. "Take me away from here Pushkar. Take me anywhere but back home."

Pushkar motioned Nattu to take Atharva and Pushkar knelt down, "Don't cry Bani. We won't take you home, but you and Atharva need to see a doctor." He picked up the discarded clothes of Atharva and then ripped part of Bani's salwaar. "What are you doing?" Nattu asked.

"We have to gave them a false trail. We can't leave the clothes here, if they find them, they will figure out she is alive." Pushkar went and flung the clothes in water. Nattu peered over to the other side. "Can you see Ranveer?" Nattu asked.

"I think he's moved further ahead." Pushkar said as he bend and picked Bani up.

"Lets go back to the car and I will take Bani to the hospital. You can wait for Ranveer to come back. But Nattu don't say anything to Ranveer until we get to the bottom of this."

Both of them hurried back to the car. Pushkar laid Bani on the back seat and passed Atharva. "Stay here I will be back. Make some excuse up if you have to." Half an hour later Pushkar dropped Bani at the hospital with Atharva, asking the doctor to take care of them and he would be back. He drove back to the spot where Nattu was waiting and breathed sigh of relief seeing Nattu alone.

"Can you see him coming back?" Pushkar asked.

"I called him ten minutes ago and he said he is coming back. Apparently he spotted a piece of Atharva's clothing."

Pushkar rubbed back of his neck and looked worridely at Nattu, "I need to go back to the doctor Nattu. Have to make some sort of excuse for me to slip away."

"Don't worry, they are going to be too busy to miss you. And if anyone asks, I will make something up." When Ranveer returned they drove back to the house to find police everywhere. The family was huddled in the lounge while Jai and Adi were talking to the police.

Nattu and Ranveer went up to the Jai and Ranveer showed him part of Atharva's clothe he had found. "This is all we found Jai mama. We couldn't go any further. In the dark it's hard to see and further down it's hard to walk because of rocks."

The inspector took the clothing from Jai. "I will keep this for now. Mr Walia I will get a search party out at first light of day. In the dark there is nothing much we can do."


Late into the night while the rest of the family slept, Nattu asked Jai to with him.

Jai stared at Bani lying sedated on the hospital bed. Her face covered in bandages and her legs in plaster from hip to toe. His Bani lying battered and broken because of one person…a person who he thought was a friend.

Nattu rested his hand on Jai's shoulder, "Sorry bhai for not telling you earlier but bhabhi was hysterical about not going back home." His voice flaming with anger, "I want to kill her bhai. I want her to lie beaten and broken at your feet begging for mercy.

Jai's voice rang out cold in the quiet room, "No one will do anything to her. Meera will pay for this…she will pay dearly for what she has done to Bani. But I want Bani well before I do anything because I want Bani to see what I do to Meera."

Nattu and Pushkar shivered at the steeliness in Jai's voice. The room seem to fill with chill as silence followed his words.

Part 3

Jai abrublty turned and walked out of the room motioning Nattu to follow him. He told him to go home and tell everyone in the morning that he had to leave for some urgent work in the US, the trip that Jai had to make. " Then you come here and be with Bani while I take care of things at home...remember not a word to anyone...not even Purva or Massi. The fewer people who know...the safer we can keep Bani. And ask Puskar to meet me near the temple tonight"

Saying that he walked towards the Doctor's cabin to figure out what needs to be done to get his Bani back.

" Mr. Walia I won't give you any false hopes...your child will pull through though he may have suffered some long term damage to the liungs which we can't say now...I am not too worried about that. You wife's condition worries me." Jai could feel his heart sink as the doctor continued.

" As you have seen her face is completely shattered...while we will have to do plastic surgery ..she may not look the same as before...even reconstructive surgery will not be able to replace the broken jaw ...we will have to wait for her to recover a bit before we can assess the actual damage."

" I don't care what she looks like as long as she is ok...I can live her not looking perfect...I just want her to be ok" said Jai trying to control his emotions..." You do what you have to ...call as many specialists as you want...money is no object, if required I will take her abroad. I just need to be sure that no one...I mean no one finds out that she is here...her life is still in danger."

" I understand Mr. Walia, I will do anything in my power to save her. You know even I want the person who did this to Bani to be punished. I have seen her grow up in front of my eyes...Nishikant was my bridge partner for years...our wives were friends all their lives." said the Doctor " Oh and so you know, on your brother's request I have registered her as Neeta Sharma, so no one suspects a thing."

" Thank you doctor, I need to go home , my daughters are alone and I need to make sure they are ok." Said Jai and walked out.

Part 4

Bani spent six months in the best hospital in US undergoing reconstructive and plastic surgery to put her face back together again. Jai had been with her most of the time but it had not been easy to leave his children at home under the care of the family. Even though he knew they would be well taken care of, Jai always felt the threat from Meera, what if in his absence Meera did something to harm them, how would he face Bani? Meera never suspected anything about his long trip to US, his reason for going as business meeting accepted without questioning. Nattu and Pushkar had strict orders from Jai to be vigilant around Meera while he was away.


The only consolation had been Atharva, Jai finally got to take care of Atharva as Bani recovered slowly and painfully from multiple surgeries. Atharva was a healthy and active baby who commanded a lot of attention. From waking to playing to sleeping, Jai learnt to do it. By six months Atharva had learned to sit with support and demand attention from Jai.

As the bandages came off and the scars healed, Bani still could not look at herself in the mirror. The face that stared back was not hers, a complete stranger stared back at her, only the eyes were unchanged…those deep dark sparkling eyes, which mesmerized you. To Jai the face was still his Bani, he just wanted for Bani to be fully recovered. The physical beauty had never attracted him to Bani, it was her nature, her maturity and her compassion which had drawn him to her. And when he had reached out to her it was only his Bani, who could speak to him with her beautiful eyes. The hatred he now had for Meera lay subdued for the moment, he would wait to get his revenge and when he did Meera would have no idea of the storms that would pass through her, leaving her tossed and broken, just like Bani.

The day Bani finally got released from hospital had been the happiest day of their life. Now they could be together once more. The apartment rented by Jai was large and spacious and there was a maid and butler to look after their needs. Bani loved being free from the confinement of the hospital room. Now she could walk around, eat, sleep and take care of Atharva at her hearts content. The only pain that could not be abated was the separation from Ganga and Krishna…Jai would not even allow her to talk to Ganga or Rano, instead he had Nattu email photos of Ganga and Krishna to give some sense of peace to Bani.

After Bani's final check up the doctors, they had boarded the next available flight back to India. Neither wanted to stay away any longer, both longing to be back home, but for now for Bani home would not be Walia Mansion. For her a self-imposed exile until the threat to her and her family had been removed once and for all.

great part hun.. omg meera.. 😡 😡 .. awwwnnn JB are tooo cute.. they just love eachother sooo much.. anywayz continue soon...

first of all... whose story is this??? if it is everyone's contribution... i will also try to write a part 😃

okay... thank lord... no sign of meera yet... 😡 i wish jai to send her to hell 😡 i know he will... so atharva was with bani... interesting 😳

Hi,

Its an open story, anyone can add their take on it...we are only trying to keep a common thread so a few requests/ basic rules if you please -

no reincarnations...no coming back from the dead...and no new baddies...lets focus on getting Meera Mai ...who btw is very sharp!

And last but not the least....Bugging...telephone tapping....hiring detectives, involving police...all things any half decent investigation requires are going to be used.

Look forward to newer twists and turns!

amazing story
well written by everyone
keep it up

Part 5

After Jai settled Bani and Atharva at his mother's house, which no one was allowed to visit except on her death anniversary, he started thinking of what to do next. They were getting impatient to get their revenge on Meera, but that had to wait. There were other pressing matters. Now that the twins were nearly a year, Ganga had to have her Bone Marrow Transplant.

As decided Nattu, Puskar and Jai take turns in visiting Bani to ensure she was ok and taken care of and they get Ganga admitted to the hospital.

Bani was distraught that she could not be with her daughter at this time, but accepted that she had to sit this one out till Jai found a chance to sneak her into the hospital to check on Ganga. Bani spent her time looking after Atharva and praying.

The operation was scheduled for the morning and Jai could not sleep he so desparately wanted Bani to be there...so he quitely got up and walked out of the hospital. Meera and Massi assumed he wanted to be alone so they let him be. Rano who was with Ganga was missing her di too but had to be strong and hold her di's family togther.

A few hours later Jai and Nattu entered the hospital with a simply dressed but beaufitul woman. Puskhar was no where to be seen ( he was baby sitting Atharva!)

" Who is she" Meera enquired not happy to see a new woman with Jai. Jai, Bani and Nattu released the breath they were holding. Bani had passed the first test.

" This is Nurse Sharma, she specialises in post operative care for children who have undergone BMT. I had interviewed her while I was in the US, she is here to take care of Ganga and Krishna after the procedure." replied Jai

Meera was somewhat releived but not completely happy " but Jai why do we need a Nurse, Rano and I are here to take care of Ganga and Krishna"

" No Meera, I don't want to take any chance I know you will take care...but I ...just can't let anything go wrong. If anything happened to them I will die." Jai said trying to control his tears.

Bani turned away towards the observation window to get a look at her angels and to avoid Meera's sharp eye.

" Sir, I think I should go in and get introduced so that when they see me after the procedure they have a familiar face infront of them." said Bani in a crisp businesslike manner.

" Where have I heard that voice before" thought Meera as Jai took nurse sharma inside the special ward.

ABCD and Divan.....great work.....Did both of you plan the story? This is really good....waiting for the revenge.....please continue.....