FF - 100 Seconds To Live CH - 5 , PG - 27. - Page 11

CHAPTER - 5

[ PRESENT ]

The driver was driving as fast as he could and Anna looked constantly at the back to check whether they were following them or not.Anna turned and found out that those people were no longer following them and on seeing that Anna gave a breath of relief for sometime but again was tensed thiking about Indira.Sana asked,"Anna maasi where's my mama?"Anna replied,"Don't worry sweetheart,mama will be just fine and she will come back to you."The driver asked about where they wanted to go and Anna asked them to take them to New York.After a long journey,they finally reached New York and by that time,Sana fall asleep.Anna asked the driver to take them to a cheap hotel and so did the driver.Anna picked Sana up in her arms,paid the cab driver and checked in to the hotel.She took the cheapest room and then after getting into the room,locked themselves inside.After some time,Sana woke up and asked for her mother but Anna replied that she didn't come yet.Sana made a crying face and asked,"Meri mama kabhi nehi aayegi?"Anna replied,"No baby mama will come you just don't worry and don't cry.You're mama's brave girl na?Wipe your tears!!Let me order some food for you.You must be hungry na."Sana replied,"After mama comes,I'll have my food."Anna rubbed her head and said,"When mama will come and see that you haven't take your food and was waiting for her all along won't she be sad for you?Do you want to make mama sad?"Sana nodded her head and asked,"If I had my food mama will be happy?"Anna replied,"Yes mama will be very happy thinking that you are a big girl.Now smile."Anna ordered some food for Sana and then fed her.After that she too ordered food for herself and then asked Sana to sleep for sometime.She then made Sana asleep and then tried to contact Indira but her phone was switched off and Anna grew more and more tensed for her.

It was almost midnight when Sana suddenly screamed and woke up on the bed.Anna,too,immediately woke up and put on the light and asked,"What happened Sana?"Sana started crying and said,"I want my mama,bring back my mama.Maine dekha ke meri mama ko vo bad man le gaye aur phir mama kabhi nehi aayi."Anna hugged the crying Sana and said,"Don't cry baby,Anna maasi is there na,don't cry.I'll bring back your mama.Let us wait for her till tomorrow and if she didn't come by tomorrow morning,we'll call the police and will ask them to find mama.Is that okay?Now come on wipe your tears."Sana wiped her tears and said,"Agar mere daddy hote na to us bad man ko na bohot maarte.But my daddy is lost na but mama says he will come to me one day.Do you know my daddy's name?"Anna lied to her,as instructed by Indira,"No mama never said to me about him.Now lie down and try to have some sleep otherwise you will feel sick tomorrow."As Sana lied down,Anna called Indira again but as usual it was switched off.Next day,in the morning,after Anna woke up,she tried to call Indira but it was the same reply.She ordered breakfast for Sana and woke her up and then took the number of NY police from the room service.Sana,while having her breakfast asked,"Mama aayi?"Anna disappointedly nodded her head.Sana said,"Call the police and ask them to search my mama."Anna then called the police and gave them the address of the hotel.

While Sana was having her breakfast,Anna reluctantly stood in the balcony of their room as her brain was totally jammed after yesterday's events and it was becoming difficult for him to think rationally.While she was standing closing her eyes on the balcony,suddenly she heard a big car pulling its break so hard that it made a scratching sound.She looked over her balcony and found that those goons got down from the car alongwith the wounded driver who dropped them here.Anna understood that those people had beaten the driver and got to know there whereabouts.Anna immediately ran inside and then pulled Sana from bed and then took her inside the washroom and said,"Listen baby those bad people are here.They might try to hurt you so stay here and don't come out until and unless I ask you.Dont open at any cost,do you get that?"Sana was so scared that she nodded her head like a keyed doll and then Anna asked her to lock the door from inside.She came out of the washroom and locked the main door from inside and put the chairs and even pulled the table in front of the door.She hid in one corner of the room pinning herself to the wall and was taking heavy breath and it was so clear that she was hearing the sound of her breath and even her heart beat and she even was sweating very badly.Sana,on the other hand was hiding at on corner of the washroom under the wash basin and was trembling in fear.Suddenly,shocking Anna,almost frightening her,there was a knock on the door.Anna,out of fear,was about to scream but covered her mouth with her hands.Those knocks gradually increased and converted from knocks to beating the door.The beatings increased and Anna realized that those goons had now started to push the door and so the chairs and the table started moving.Anna felt like crying in fear and chanted the name of Jesus,so that the police come as soon as possible.But it was a real bad day for her since those people,were ultimately successful in banging the door to break.Those men came inside and Anna fall face to face of them.The main leader asked,"Where's the girl?"Anna stammered,"What're you...taling about?Wh-whi-which girl?"The man laughed and said,"Which girl...ya..."He slapped Anna very hard on the face and she fall on the floor and she screamed aloud.The man pulled her up by pulling her hair and then again asked,"Wheres that girl?"Anna screamed in pain and replied,"I don't know about any girl,,,Iam tellin' ya..."The man pushed her again forcefully and then her head banged on the wall and blood started oozing out Anna's head and she was badly injured.The leader ordered his men to search for the whole room and so did the men.At last they started knocking the washroom and from inside Sana was so scared that she started crying covering her mouth.One of the goons said,"Boss it's locked from inside that means the girl is inside."Ann,on hearing somehow managed to get up and dragged herself towards the washroom door and screamed,"No!!Please don't!!Kill me instead but spare that child.She's mere a child.Please don't harm her,I beg of you."The men pushed her away and started banging and pushing on the door.Anna suddenly saw a knife on one the goons back and she pulled out that knife and made a scratch on that man's face,whom it belonged.She pushed away those men and covered the washroom's door and warned,"Don't you dare come near the door...otherwise I'll kill you."One of the men asked,"What to do now boss??"The leader ordered,"Kill her and get the girl!!"The goon without thinking shot Anna fatally two-three times and on earing the sound of firing,Sana screamed from inside covering her ears.Anna still fought for some seconds and then finally succumbed to her injuries.They removed her dead body and was about to bang the door again,at that moment they heard the siren of the police jeep and so they immediately decided to fled away from there.When one of the men asked about what to do about the girl,the boss mentioned that they know other means to get what they wanted and soon fled from the back door.

The police arrived and the officer,who came with them was Natasha.Natasha went to the counter and showed asked the manager,"We just received a call,from one of your boarders named Annabel...Annabel James.She probably came here last night.Can you tell me her room number?"The manager checked the register and informed the room number.Just then,a person from the room service came running to them.With a horrified expression,in a horrified tone,he said,"Sir...sir...sir...room no 402...sir...blood everywhere...Please come quickly."On hearing that,Natasha,alongwith the police force and the manager reached that particular room,which was of Anna and found her lifeless deadbody on the ground covered with blood.Natasha asked the cops to bring the necessary equipments and then carefully stepped inside.She put on her gloves and then asked the room service boy,"Where were you when this incident happened?"The boy replied,"I was downstairs."She said,"There are plenty of rooms in this floor of the hotel and the door too seemed to be broken.No one heard all these sounds?"The manager replied,"Actually this is a very cheap hotel and also its off season so the number of boarders are very less.In this floor,only she was the boarder alongwith that child."Natasha asked,"Child???Which child?"The boy replied,"She brought a child with her may be her daughter and she looked very scared while coming and then we gave her this room.Actually she came from Philadelphia...we had a known driver who used to stay in Philadelphia and he brought them here so we thought she might be from there."Natasha searched everywhere in the room and found their clothes and said,"But the child is not here."The manager replied,"May be the killers took her away."Natasha smiled sarcastically and said,"Strange!!A woman is murdered and a child is being kidnapped and you people don't know anything."The manager and the boy lowered their head.Natasha then inspected the body and her purse and found out her identity card and some money with that.She asked the cops to seal the area and to send the body to the morgue.While viewing each and every corner of the room,suddenly she heard someones shrugging sound.She searched for the source of the sound and got that it was coming from the washroom.Natasha quickly knocked at the door and asked,"Is anybody there?This is police!!"The shrugging sound turned into crying sound and then Natasha understood that it was of a child and guessed that it might be the girl with Anna.She softy said,"Hey please open the door!!I'm not gonna hurt you.I'll help you out.Don't be scared please open the door."But Saanvi inside was too much scared to reply and Natasha thought that she might be stuck and so she,with the help of other cops,broke inside and on seeing them,Saanvi squeezed more within herself and uttered,"Mama!!"Natasha carefully walked towards her and said,"Its ok we've come to help you.We'll get you back to your mama."She said to herself,in mind,"Kaha se lekar aau iski ma ko,bichaari to mar hi gayi abhi abhi.Phir bhi isey ye abhi bata nehi sakte aur shaayad isne murder hote huye dekha ho.Ye eye witness o sakti hai."Natasha tried to go near her but Saanvi was very scared and so at last,she had to show her identity card to her and then said,"See we are police,you called us in the morning and so we came here."She gave away her hand and then Saanvi slowly held her hand and came out from under the wash basin.She hugged Natasha and said,"Mama!!"She patted her back and said,"Its ok!!Just calm down.We're there for you!!Come with me!!"She then enquired whether the body had been taken away and after that she picked her up in her arms and came out of the washroom.