Part 3
"You are my refuge,
my sanctuary from everything that would harm me."
Director V.K Singh was not an emotional man. It seemed as if
emotions and those highly overrated feeling had said their goodbyes on his
first day at the CBI headquarters itself.
But, the general was not deterred. If his love for the country and his
passion for protecting it came at this cost, then he was ready. Tears/
sympathy/ kindness/joys, these things did not belong to this profession. And
V.K Singh had accepted this way before he decided his career. And not only him,
but each and every new recruit into the central bureau of investigation had
accepted the director's indifferent attitude without any questions.
But something was amiss today, a strange sensation had
tugged at his heart without giving any
prior notice. The air itself had been carrying a dying note of desperation, a
suffocating sadness looming around the 15 CBI officers as they made their way
towards the mighty parliament house through the crowd of citizens and media
persons. There had been mothers begging for their help, men pleading for
immediate action, young children wailing, yearning for their parents to hold
them in their arms again, but sadly V.K Singh and his fellow men were as
helpless as the crowd was at the moment.
The security men clad in khakhi uniform ushered them inside
the massive board room with grim faces. Even before the ministers inside,
currently involved in a grave discussion, took notice of these men in uniform, Singh
spoke in an urgent voice, we can't do this sir. It would be foolish to bow
down to their baseless demands. Sir, if this terrorist is released today, there
will be cold blooded murders in the future!. We can't risk the country's life
this way!"
The whole room was quite now, the men taking in every one
with a skeptical expression. Exactly a minute after the long silence, the vice
president spoke up in a gruff voice,
"So what do YOU propose Mr. Singh? We let those 139
passengers die this way, while we sit here and watch like dummies. Did you even
see the crowd going mad outside?"
"Sir, leave this case to us. We assure you that those
innocent lives will not suffer, not today and not even in the near future"
The prime minister had had enough now. He could not sit here
with folded hand while those monsters shoot down the passengers one after another.
It was against his principals. His instincts told him that now was not the
moment to hand over this responsibility to the police. What could they do after
all? And who will be answerable to the country after this? He got up from his
chair and faced the general.
"In case you have forgotten director V.k SINGH we had
already given this responsibility to your men 24 hours ago after getting the
warning regarding an impending attack. And we still haven't got any damn
results. So you tell me, where are the
results? Where are the brave CBI officers you had promised not long ago who had
the situation under control? Where are they GOD DAMNIT?"
"They are on the plane sir!"?
...
Three men armed with
the AK-47s and shotguns take a commercial airplane on hostage. They kill the
co-pilot, and threaten to kill the pilot himself if their demands were not met.
But how, just how did they get the darn GUNS on the plane? There could be two
possibilities, either the airport security has been crashed by a traitor, or
there is a mole in the plane itself which is pretty obvious. We can't start
fighting, or the mole shoots the pilot killing everyone in due course, unless
we find the mole himself! Rudra racked his brain, still clueless after
almost 90 minutes of poor helplessness.
I have to save these people at
any damn cost. But how? He scanned the faces of the frightened airplane
crew right in front, anxiously glancing at each other. He has to be someone from the crew, there is no explanation of the
guns otherwise. But the aviation staff won't yield that much power. The
co-pilot is dead, and the pilot is as helpless as he is. The second officer
perhaps? If the flight engineer chooses
to join hands with the terrorist, then getting the guns on the board is almost
a child's play! But then, am I completely sure about it?think rudra, think!
Rudra Pratap
Ranavat had never faced such a situation before. With the culprits right before
his eyes, he could not do anything more than bow down in defeat. But would that
be justified? Will he give up this soon? The CBI had put weeks in this mission.
On 20th march 2014, they had received this piece of information from
the American intelligence, that there was a certainty that the aviation
industry would be under attack in the coming weeks. Hours of sleepless nights
were put in for this mission by the officer . Not one, but every other
individual in the CBI headquarters, rank holder on not, had lived on nothing
but coffee and stale food to trace the direction of the terrorist attack. Did
he have the power to disappoint them? Did he have the courage to trample upon
their efforts? And suddenly he knew his answer. He won't give up.
If this had been his ideology the day the rumors of the
impending disaster were rubbished, almost a week ago now, he would have never
dared to step on the plane against the generals strict orders. There was no
turning back from this point. Rudra was ready to face the do or die situation
once again in his life.
************************************************************************************************************
Around 10 minutes later, the second officer got up from his
seat. There was a brief conversation between him and the leader of the
attacking group. His outstretched hands were hinting towards the restroom, but
rudra's eyes were no amateur to miss the slightest hint of nervousness in his
voice. Far ahead Aman seemed to be noticing the same thing. He turned towards
the major waiting for the instructions earning himself a nod in return. It was the time for action now.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Parvati was still reeling under the after effects of the
sudden and unexpected kiss an hour ago. He had done that to send a crisp
message to the assaulter of course, but somehow his presence next to her still
made her utterly conscious. Time and again, he had protected her in unforeseen
circumstances, and yet those months of sheer ruthlessness managed to cloud her
judgment regarding her protector. Hey bholenaath, why did I have to meet him in
such malicious circumstances? Why couldn't he be like aman bhaiya instead,
polite and generous?
No matter how much she made herself understand, paro's heart
had already registered the officer's humanity when he had come to rescue
her. But she trusted him, even after the
hardened emotions that greeted her after her parent's death. Yes she did trust
him. Had it not been for him, she would have died months ago. And today, she
gulped remembering the unfortunate moment.
Paro's heart somersaulted inside her chest. She had
forgotten to say thank you yet again. He deserved that much. She turned to him
with yet another resolve twinkling in her eyes only to find him unfastening his
seat belt.
Where are you going?' she said with a note of alarm in her
voice.
Rudra's bulging eyes reflected pain and confusion and that
look reminded her of those times in her childhood when she would forget to
carry an important assignment in school. She was definitely worried now.
Where are you going?" she repeated, a little louder this
time, and his hands immediately covered her mouth.
"Shhh...you wouldn't want them to know my intentions. I am
trying to save you all here. I'll be back in no time, I promise that to you"
The words hit her hard with immense force . He was leaving her here alone after all.
The dreadful fear had managed to seep into her veins. She was frightened, not
only for herself but for rudra as well. Almost in a reflex, her fingers dug
deeper into his forearms, she wouldn't let him go.
'nahi ...hum aapko nahi jaane denge. Kitne saare hathiyan hain
unke paas. Aapko kuchh ho gaya toh? Hum kya karenge aapke bina? She was almost
blabbering now (no, I wont let you go. Look at the weapons they are carrying.
What if something happens to you? What will I be able to do without you?)'
'Paro, I am not leaving you alone. Ghar nahi jana chati kya
(don't you want to go back home?) don't you want to get away from these
monsters? This is important Paro.'
But parvati was in no mood to budge. The fear of being left
alone was nothing new to her. It had reared its ugly head 6 months back as
well. And those horrid memories which had scarred her for life came rushing
back to her, this time with an even greater force.
The distant sound of
coughing from bapusa's room made this decision even harder. She wanted to stay
at home, near her bapu sa tending to him but maasa just wont let her. As she
checked her bag for the umpteenth time now, making sure nothing was left out, the
gnawing intuition in her head did not leave her for even a single second. And
with that paro went to confront her mother in another failed attempt of
compelling her.
She found her in the
kitchen, stirring the pot which contained the magical kadha for bapu sa's
fever.
"maasa. Please let me stay. How long will you be able
to complete all the household chores all by yourself? This college trip isn't
important, I tell you. I will go some other time, I promise. I will help you in
taking care of bapu sa this time." Her voice gave away the desperation and
longing but went unheard this time as well
Her mother turned to
face her. The look of barely contained fury made paro flinch. Why was she this
hell bent on sending her away? She thought. I had missed many other outing as
well!
You are one stubborn
young lady Paro. I have told you the very same thing many times, yet you force
me to repeat this again and again. This is the last excursion from your
college. After this you will have to take up a job, and then marry as well. Who
knows whether you will get time to go out and enjoy yourself?'
Somehow paro was not
able to make sense of anything that her mother was saying. Job? Marriage? Would
that keep her away from going out?
maasa, is everything
all right. Tell me you aren't hiding anything from me.'
Her mother turned away
this time, looking for something among the containers in the shelves right
above the stove in a desperate attempt to hide her features.
I will take care of
your bapu sa Paro, she said with her back towards her daughter.' Don't make me
loose my temper yet again'
And with this Paro
knew, that no amount of convincing will make her mother change her decision,
well until...
After a few quick
goodbyes, she left for the trip. She returned though, after one hour of hiding
in the nearby park. She would tell them that the she had missed the bus. And
they would have to take her back, after all they knew how clumsy she was,
right?
She found the door
ajar, which frightened her. Her mother was never this careless. Paro quickly stepped
inside the foyer and tip toed to the living room ready to wound any intruder
who had made his way inside.
And then there were
those screams...one she would never forget all her life, the ones which
belonged to her mother. She had been too scared to move, but her maasa needed
help. Was something wrong with bapu sa? It was fairly easy to discover their
source, as their humble abode managed to accommodate only two rooms inside. It
was her baapu sa's room, the one she had scrubbed spotless just in the morning.
It was not sparkling though; rather it was in a mess. And there lying fairly
lifeless on the bed was her bapu sa, her mentor and her best friend since her
childhood. His white kurta was stained red and there were men, no monsters
around him laughing and mocking her wailing mother near his body. Her mother
was the first one to notice her thankfully she thought and her eyes registered
shock, fear and then pain in a swift motion within the next fateful seconds.
her shook her head violently screaming no, hinting her to run away but Paro, it
seemed was too shocked to respond. Her feet remained rooted to the spot, her
features frozen. And then her mother lifted herself up and attacked one of the
assailants in an attempt to cover her daughter's unmoving form at the doorstep.
She was stabbed though and the next thing that Paro knew was that she was
running. The cars whisking past her, strangers cursing her under their breadths
and neighbors calling out her name but, nothing registered in Paro's head. She
had to run, till her legs gave away and the huge lump in her throat died and
till, those emotions had hardened into a solid mass, one which would never
break until the death of her parents was avenged.
But they had left right? She had been not able to save them,
nor was she able to get away to the place where they resided now. She won't let
rudra go though. She could not loose him. Tears welled up behind her eyes and
stung bitterly.
"nahi jaane denge apko hum( I won't let you go anywhere!) She
said firmly unaware of the sympathetic eyes of the others passengers riveted
towards them.
"I don't have anyone other than you. "
As rudra grew aware of the attention they were getting and
the figure of the second officer moving ahead, he had the toughest decision of
his life made in the spur of the moment. Looking beyond parvati's delicate
features which were scrunched up in excruciating pain at the time, he mustered
enough courage to blurt out in a menacing voice.
'Nahi, kuchh nahi lagta mein tera. Jo the who chale gaye( no,
I have no relation with you. Those who had are long gone now!)'
With that he unfastened his set belt and went after the
officer with aman following close behind.
And paro remained rooted to her seat like she had had months
ago, gazing lifelessly at her sanctuary's retreating form.
Edited by HappilyLost - 10 years ago
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