Chapter 1: The Dark Shadow
Starbucks, Juhu
Avni tapped her finger on the table lightly. She had been waiting in the Joggers Park Cafe for the last two hours and Rhea had not shown up yet. The fourth mug of Coffee she ordered for Rhea arrived a few minutes back. She glanced around checking for any familiar or unusual face. The park seemed to be filled with Strangers with happy faces, the perfect kind of place which Avni loathed to be around. But she didn't have much choice about the place, Rhea was very much fixated on a 'crowded' place.
Rhea was Avni's elder brother Mr. Amol Mehta's coworker and best buddy. Since Avni had added Amol as a brother in her Facebook profile, It was easy for her to connect with her. It did not take much time for her to arrange this meeting.
Avni needed to meet Rhea at any cost today. She was running out of time. She spotted Rhea walking down the walkway in her formal attire with a model like panache. Avni waved and managed the most friendly smile she could ever manage.
"Hello, Rhea" Avni stoop up to shook Rhea's hand. Rhea ignored and directly went for a hug.
"Oh Sweetie, I have been longing to meet you since forever...Nevermind." Rhea sat down placing her purse and her ID card on the table.
"On the way to the office, so early?"
"Yes dear, I need to leave for Japan today to attend a 4-day conference. Before that few last minute calls to attend."
"I am starving, let's order something. What would you like to have?" Rhea did not even try to mask her hurry to leave this little meeting.
"Well, I ordered coffee for you...Just like the way you like...strong with no sugar" Avni nodded at the steaming hot Coffee.
"...and the waffles are on the way." Avni didn't want to waste time either.
"Aww, Amol might have told you. Thank you, dear..." Riya blushed and reached for the Coffe mug.
Avni nodded with a mischievous smile.
Nowadays facebook tells you everything you need to know.
"See Avni, It is really nice meeting you, but I don't understand why you can not talk to Amol directly about it" Rhea got into the matter without delay.
Hearing Amol's name filled Avni with an unpalpable feeling of abandonment and desperation. Her fist tightened with range and she exhaled forcing a smile on her face, seeing the waiter coming with their waffle order.
"Rhea, I just want to meet Bhayya. After Papa and Mama, he is the only one left in my life. I don't have anyone else." Avni trailed her words bringing in the right amount of quiver and moved sideways to give way to the waiter to put the tray down.
"Aww, baby...Don't you worry." Rhea cooed looking at the delicious waffles.
"Amol cannot come down from Malaysia now. He is in between a deal. But I agree that it is high time you resolve the issues between you and your brother and I will help you do that. Don't you worry darling." Rhea reassured Avni noncommittally.
"All I want you to do is let him know I want to mend our relationship. I want to have a normal relationship with him, Rhea" Avni sighed.
"I will talk to him, Avni" Rhea murmured while hurriedly finishing off the Coffee.
Avni dug up the red box she got along with her and placed it on top of the table.
"Will you please give it to him? It is our mama's. He will know what it is."
It pierced her heart to no end to let go the only thing her late mother left her, Ayesha's pendant. The tear that loomed around the corners of her eyes were real and she blinked to let it vanish.
"Why can't you give it directly?" Rhea raised an eyebrow.
"I may have to leave for Delhi soon. I have a Visa interview lined up."
Rhea nodded with a smile.
"Brainee one you are! Ivy College admission and all. Congratulations."
Avni was amused, what she told her brother two days back reached Rhea so soon. They are constantly in touch. Avni forced herself into a cheery mode "Let's take a selfie.". She tripple-clicked the home button to open the camera on her iPhone. Rhea bent forward with a hokey smile and faced the camera with Avni.
"Say cheese..." And the selfie was done.
Avni quickly got back to her phone and got to work without losing even a sec of time.
"These kids, they have no life other than Social Media..." Rhea murmured reprovingly. After a few quiet seconds, Avni looked up to see Rhea had finished off her meal and was picking up the red box and her stuff from the table.
"Oh! I am sorry, got caught up in a message. You are leaving already? Let's chat for some more time." Avni looked on.
"I will let Amol know this Avni. He will call you back by this weekend. Don't you worry, dear? Now I have to hurry, I am getting late for a meeting." Rhea got up and placed a gentle peck on Avni's cheek. She was about to leave and as if had a second thought, she paused and invited Avni for Lunch
"Let's catch up once I am back from Japan. I will message you once I am back and we all can meet for Lunch. Let me coarse Amol as well."
Avni's face lit up involuntarily and she nodded happily "Sure." Avni returned the cheek kiss and looked on as Rhea ambled towards the parking area.
Avni smirked as Rhea disappeared from her sight.
Everyone is ready to help a damsel in distress.
With utmost care, Avni peeled off the thin glass film from Rhea's Coffee mug and put it in a tiny temperature controlled box. She double checked her iPhone album for the pictures of Rhea's ID card, especially the barcode. VR Industries security system was a trivial one for her to crack and the only barrier she found was the biometric scanner which wouldn't give away its small petty defense. All she had to do were to create the fingerprint layer for her thump from Rhea's fingerprints, create a dummy Id card with the same barcodes and then tweak the Security system to accept her Id with the barcode while authenticating Rhea.
Easy Peasy
Avni nodded in satisfaction. Now what lay ahead in front of her was the timebound part of her meticulously worked out plan. Rhea was leaving for Japan around 9 30 in the evening and Avni traced her personal mail chain of confirming an Uber pick up around 5 30. Avni got around 30 minutes after that to get to the 8th floor, to access Amol's Office and then to leave without anyone noticing the hitch. Anything more than 30 minutes would be recorded in the mainframe log and it would be a near to impossible job for Avni to erase it without anyone noticing it.
Avni created a timer on her phone, paid the bill, packed her backpack and hurried to the road to catch an auto rickshaw.
"Bhayya ..South Mumbai...Road no:10..."
While in the auto rickshaw, Avni remembered the times when she went shopping with Ayesha, the only one time they visited Mumbai.
Nothing has changed. The people, the rush, the invisibility, nothing has changed.
The auto ride triggered the memories of Ayesha and Delhi. It all started a few months back in Delhi when Avni received a call from her lawyer regarding few tax concerns for her US visa processing. She was beyond shocked to know that she owns multiple apartments in and around Delhi's most affluential areas. Though she had heard about Binami deals, she never knew her brother, Amol Mehta would use her identity for that.
Madhavi Thai who looked after Avni all this while, never dared to speak about Amol, so Avni knew only sketchy details about what happened to her family and her estranged brother. But the day, she received the call from the lawyer, fearing for the future of Avni, Madhavi Thai decided to pour out her heart about Amol to Avni, who was all set to go join Cornell University in few months. She warned Avni not to trust her brother at any cost.
Her elder brother Amol, who vanished from their lives fifteen years back, who embroiled her father Aashish Mehta in financial irregularities scam in his firm forcing him to commit suicide, who went missing on the day of her mother's subsequent death leaving little Avni to fend her life on her own, had made a spectacular come back in her life like a shadow jeopardising her future by putting her under IT scanner. But this time, Avni decided that She would not be a mere spectator.
I am going to write destinies this time. mine and Amol Mehta's destiny.
She inexhaustibly planned her each and every move. She traced each and every financial transaction of Amol Mehta, now part of VR Industries legal department, tracked Amol and his friend's movements in Mumbai. Being a certified hacker, Avni found it easy to track him online and She was more than convinced that Amol was into something shady. To give that much-needed shocker to her brother, she sold one of her binami properties in a cash deal and managed to spit the cash in different accounts.
Within a day after the deal, Amol called. Amol sounded casual on the phone and wanted Avni to come to Mumbai to sign some documents. After their talk, Avni decided to join him in Mumbai. Amol flew to Malaysia a day before Avni arrived in Mumbai in an obvious effort to avoid her. He arranged accommodation for her in his spacious and luxurious flat, but ever since he was out of her radar.
"Yes Madam, Road No:10."
Auto Rickshawwala's sound nudged her out of her brooding. All she had to do was get down here, walk few kilometers and take the residential part shortcut of Sreyas Apartments. She would be home in minutes. She hoped to finish off the work before noon so that she could get some time to polish her Breach-VR-Industries-Security plan.
***
VR Industries Headquarters, Andheri
Avni waited for the clock to reach 5 41 before swiping Rhea's fake Id card. The network will boot Avni's security path at 5 40 and will remove it at sharp 5 10 before it can be logged on to the mainframe. She got exactly 30 minutes and that's more than enough if everything goes as planned. As the lift opened, she exhaled in long breaths and adjusted her sunglasses to let go the jitteriness pooled in her tummy. Luckily, the life was empty and Avni found herself staring at the mirror in the life while the life moved up to the 8th floor without any interruption. Dressed up in a costly formal attire, she realized she looked gaudy than formal.
I am nowhere near Rhea. I am just a plain jane.
Avni bit her lip at the gaping flaw in her plan. She was supposed to dress like Rhea to avoid the CCTV and she realized no matter what she did, she could never pull of Rhea's style and elegance. Avni always thought she had the features of an below average girl and never managed to come out of that image ever. A perfect nerdy girl, who hounded and reined, the hacking underbelly of the web but almost invisible to everyone in the real world.
How silly of me to think that I can pull off a Rhea...
She scoffed at herself and made a mental note to avoid confrontation with the CCTV cameras directly and to position herself sideways to avoid the obvious differences from Rhea. She lifted her chest upwards a little and tucked into her stomach to get a more confidence oozing pose similar to Rhea.
She easily found the corner Office of legal head Mr. Amol Mehta and made her way towards it stealthily. As expected, she found his Desktop on a Mahagoni desk on the left side corner of the room and It took her less than two minutes to boot the Machine, break through his login and gain access to his private drive records. Without losing time, she copied the data in her pen drive.
Now, it is the time to give you a lesson, Amol Bhayya.
A sound of hurried footsteps from the lobby froze her on the spot. Her porcelain face whitened with fear.
This was not part of the plan.
As per the swiping records, the last employee leaves by 5 30 and the maintenance crew didn't come till 7. Avni estimated the number of people in the group be Five and quickly plucked out the USB which got the 100% data transferred.She switched off the monitor in a hurry and now She got less than a minute to cover few feet distance towards the fire exit and there was no way she could do it without drawing attention. Avni decided to hide and decided on the tiny gap between Sofa and the file drawer next to the door, She calculated that in the event of an unpleasant disclosure, she could make a leap, open the door and escape via the fire exit within a Minute.
With a vehement push, someone slammed open the door and stomped towards the Mahagony desk placed in the middle. From the small slit between the curtains, Avni could see a tall muscular figure towering over the desk. An inexplicable dread crept up in her heart like a dark shadow. Two suit-clad fellows and two bouncers accompanied the man and they blocked Avni's view of the Man, still, the shiver lingered in her heart.
"I want both of you to go through each and every file in here, even the ones in the dustbin" A voice ordered.
"I want to know how much the damage he has done. No one can fool Vidhyut Ragini Pandit and no one ever lived after trying it." The voice murmured. The man scattered around the room as he commanded. Vidhut towered over the table with a scowl on his face.
How can it be possible?
As per her data, Vidhyut Ragini Pandit was away on a business trip to London and he was not supposed to be back until next week.
Though she didn't have anything against Vidhyut, Avni decided against revealing herself now. Avni sensed the imminent danger, she needed to make a move before they reach the file drawer and after accessing the bouncers she made a note that she did not stand a chance with them in a direct confrontation. All she had left with was 'Run'.
Avni's cheeks turned beet red with the rush of adrenalin and She quickly draw a map of Pan B in her head. Even before, she moved her leg muscles to make a dash towards the fire-exit, Vidhyut silenced the man in the room. Avni held her breath while Vidhyut pointed towards the cooling fan of the Desktop processor, which was still running and his hands automatically switched on the Monitor. Avni cursed herself for the slight slip, she could have used the power button to shut down.
Vidhyut stared at the monitor and he guessed the obvious. In a jiffy, he dialed the security at the reception and roared.
"Lockdown the building, Don't let anyone in or out."
He pointed at one of the bouncers and whispered something. He left the room in a hurry towards the lift. An alarm started blaring indicating the building lockdown.
Avni felt the sweat drops beading on her forehead.
Now, this can not be done without attracting attention.
Her sharp brain refused to cower. She navigated to the Security control board of VR industries in her iPad and flipped on the fire alarm on the 6th floor. This would give her a precious 7 to 8 minutes before someone realizes the hoax. As expected, all five of them rushed out, Without wasting any more minutes, Avni covered her face with a peach scarf and got ready to dash out towards the second fire exit which opens towards a small dark stair which would land her near the private executive parking.
Unable to believe in her luck, she stopped in the middle and looked back at the Mahagony table. The black Lexus smart access card key forgotten by Vidhyut was lying on the table and she grabbed it on her way. The fire exit-entry did not open manually despite her fake fire alarm owing to the building lockdown. She punched codes to lift the building lockdown on her screen. As soon as the blaring stopped, she smashed the glass window to access the manual lever to open the fire exit and in few seconds Avni found herself standing in a vast private parking lot with only one car in front of her.
Vidyut's all-new exported Lexus RX SUV and she gripped the smart card key tightly.
If only I could drive it under different circumstances.
While racing towards the exit, she spotted a red mini cooper behind. avni could recognize the black outfit of one of the bouncers on the driver seat. She pushed her feet frantically on the accelerator and cursed herself for panicking at the sudden intrusion of Vidhyut Ragini Pandit. The sheer name of him invoked a spine-chilling effect on her. She had seen his eyes and it looked really menacing. She wished she did not mess with him inadvertently.
Too late
She took the right turn and scanned for the mini cooper behind. It was trailing five cars behind her. A dashing Lexus and Mini Cooper on Mumbai roads would attract maximum attention and that's what she wanted to avoid the most. She took a sharp left and entered the way which said, Police Station this way.
The land behind the police station had been a place where they abandoned old vehicles and Avni gauged she could manage a sneaky escape on that grounds from the mini cooper which was right behind her. She had hidden a Maruthi with a fake number among the abandoned vehicles as part of her escape plan.
Avni always comes with a Plan B
Happy with herself despite slight slips, Avni steered sharply to the compound and unexpectedly hit the brake pedal in order to avoid hitting the array of vehicles lined up in front of her. All she could think right before the SUV rammed into the first vehicle was.
f**k...
And the dark shadow surrounded her completely.
Edited by sree07 - 7 years ago
Fan Fictions
Anupamaa
