Replied to everyone in the posts above...do check...😊😊
lines in italics are flash back..
Chapter 32 Aisha walked inside her room to find her little beauty sleeping at her usual side of the bed. She was definitely angry with them but her innocent gesture of trying to keep her mum happy wasn't unknown to her. She dimmed the lights and slowly slid beside her but her back hit into something and she jerked back. One of the little hands was stretched to her side, which held a toy gun firmly onto its fingers. Annu always kept it for her and her family's safety. Aisha smiled and placed her hand back on her.
Aisha kissed her cheek and lied down only to find the little bundle slowly cuddling into her, pushing her head into her bosom. Aisha wrapped her arms around her and kissed her hair. She looked up from her sleep and smiled at her.
'mumma,' she called again going back to being pampered by her mom in her arms,
'hmm' aisha replied,
'ap mujhse abhi bhi nalaz ho? Naani ne kaha tha apko acha lagta hai, pel apko kitna bula laga, solly mumma,' she told her with an unhappy expression and a huge pout,
Aisha held her more tight towards her,
'Aisa kuch nehi hai, mumma ko bura nehi laga, bas wo thora kam ka pressure tha isliye upset thi, sorry,' she replied,
'ap papa ko yaad kal lahi ho na?' she asked again innocently,
Aisha smiled at her. Annu looked at her mother confused. She wasn't able to understand the smile. She held her daughter close to her and kissed her cheeks.
Annu's face brighten up with a wide smile and she sat up, leaning her back on aisha's folded legs.
'mumma ap dost ke saath kam kalte ho?' she asked,
'hmm,'
'dost bohot acha hai haina?'
'hmm'
'kya hmm?? Batao na dost bohot acha hai na?'
'haan, per wo apse bohot bare hai annu, aise dost nehi kehete unhe,' she explained caressing her curly locks,
'bale hai matlab ? kitne bale?' annu asked confused,
'mere jaise,' aisha replied,
'per ap to mumma ho, fir dost, kya wo papa hai?' annu asked utterly confused at her words,
'nehi, pagal' aisha shouted making annu widen her eyes more,
Aisha cupped her face and tried to explain,
'wo papa kaise ho sakte hai? wo to..'
'Fir wo mele dost hai, mein unhe dost hi bulaungi bas,' she declared, playing with her mom's hand.
'thik hai ab chalo so jao,' aisha said pulling her to lie down on the bed.
A moment of pause followed in which aisha patted her daughter softly but annu seemed thoughtful. Annu held her palm and looked at her with a wicked smile.
'ab kya?' aisha asked her,
'mujhe dost se milna hai, mujhe kal apke saath office le chalo na mumma, she pleaded,
'nehi annu, waha kam hota hai, mein tumhe nehi le ja sakti,'
'please mumma, please please please,' she pleaded again, holding her neck,
Aisha was now confused at the next move. But the innocent pleading from her daughter couldn't be ignored so easily. She tried to convince but finally after 15 minutes she found herself nodding at her daughter, which made her happy and she slept holding onto her. Aisha too lied down hoping she would forget everything the next morning.
***************
After the long hectic day finally Sameer slumped on his bed. It wasn't new though, he was in a habit of working late hours and then returning back home with tired eyes, but today the tiredness was a bit different. The day was long and the revelations were disastrous but the sudden meet with his 'der footiya', smoothed out every tired muscle in his body. He was smiling while he turned his side on the bed looking outside at the fading darkness.
'Dooosst...' a cheerful loud voice called him.
Sameer looked carefully into the darkness of the night and found her staring at him with wide twinkling eyes. Her mouth was open, displaying her arrangement of teeth and the face was overjoyed with happiness and surprise. He smiled at her and muttered a soft 'der footiya?'
She pushed her scooter aside and stepped towards him, just to be stopped by Aisha, who pulled her towards her in a jerk,
'Annu, yaha kya kar rahi ho?? Maine mana kiya tha na? tum meri ek baat kyu nehi sunti?' she scolded the girl with angry eyes,
'main apka wait kal lahi thi na mummy, naani to so gayi ta..ble pe, mein chupke chali ayi, agal uth jati to? Wo thak gayi hai na?' annu explained making a serious concerned face, with big wide eyes,
'annu?? Ye masak nehi hai, itni raat ko koi raaste pe ghumta hai, agar gir jati, chot lag jati to?'
'uff mummy, i am stong gal,(author's note read strong),' she explained,
'annu, andar chalo abhi ke abhi,' aisha shouted at her and pulled her by her arm.
'pal dost,' annu spoke up, struggling to escape from aisha hold,
'kaun dost?' aisha asked her, completely forgetting the presence of Sameer there,
Annu pointed at him and that's when Aisha realized her ignorance to him. Annu jerked her hands of aisha and ran to him, holding him tight by his legs.
Sameer was a silent viewer of the drama between the mother and daughter. He was amused at the bond and the similarity both shared. He wasn't wrong when he had first thought his der footiya' resembles Arjun, coz somewhere Aisha was also similar to him with a quick rising anger and loads of arrogance.
Annu, that's the name he could guess aisha was calling her during their conversation. He tried to save the poor little girl from her mother's wrath but stopped himself when aisha was furiously glaring at her. Moreover she wasn't wrong too. It wasn't safe for her to roam about the place in this dark hours.
He felt a bit out of place when Aisha started dragging her towards the house and he turned to leave. He had just taken two steps towards the car when two tiny hands wrapped around his legs stopping him on his track. He smiled and leaned his face back to look at the little beauty down his leg and found her looking at him, with a wide smile brightening up her face in the dark. He turned and kneeled down to her,
'der footiya,' he smiled,
Aisha was looking at the two faces alternately with a bewildered expression.
'Dost'? when did this happen??' she thought
'"Der futiya' matlab??" she had unknowingly voiced out her thought,
'Aisha wo..' Sameer tried to reply back a bit embarrassed at the name but the little monster was quicker than him,
'uffo mummy apko ye bhi nehi pata? Inna hai, del foot,' she replied exactly showing aisha the measurement as Sameer had explained her in the day, placing her right palm on her forehead.
Aisha was amused and confused at her daughter's gesture, specially when she stepped towards Sameer and held onto his hand, voicing softly,
'dost tum meli mummy ko jante ho?'
'haan wo...nehi matlab..' Sameer looked at aisha for a reply and she came forward,
'Sir, ye meri beti hai akansha, aur annu ye mere boss hai, Sameer uncle, dost nehi uncle bulao,'
Sameer looked on while the little beauty frowned at her mummy and then looked at him.
'per ye to mele dost haina? Uncle kyu bulau?' she said narrowing her eyes on him,
'annu...ab sir, sorry wo, ye larki..' aisha apologized to Sameer glaring at her daughter's gesture but her daughter wasn't into all this at all. She was pretty happy to find her dost' again and was trying her best to pull him inside their house, pushing him with her small head.
Aisha looked on while Sameer faced a tough situation to convince this little angel. Finally aisha pulled annu to herself and bend down on her knees to explain her.
'Annu, unhe jane do, bohot raat ho gayi haina? Unhe ghar jake rest lena hai, aur tumhe bhi to sona hai, chalo,' aisha told her, but annu pouted and looked at Sameer.
Sameer too sat beside her and held her face in his palms. He too tried to explain her similarly like aisha but she wasn't at all convinced.
'fil kab aauge? Mummy to roz late se ati hai,' she said making an intense sad face,
Sameer looked at aisha. Her face was flushed and she was trying hard to hide her embarrassment. He looked back at annu and found her holding onto her mumma's leg and looking at him, with a pout and sad eyes.
He had started feeling sad for this little angel but didn't know how to control the situation. Finally he spoke up,
'main ab se koshish karunga ki apki mumma late na ho, per ek condition hai,'
'con...d...' she tried to speak but couldn't,
'apko bhi kuch karna hoga, karoge?' he asked and looked at aisha, who now was getting more puzzled,
'haan,' she shouted at the top of her voice, clapping her hands,
'to ab se tum, itni raat ko, aise akele yaha nehi ghumogi, promise?' he told her and she seemed thoughtful, Aisha was watching them amused,
A moment of pause, in which annu looked at aisha who too nodded her head approving with Sameer. Finally her face lite up, she had decided.
'okay mein nehi khelungi..per mumma ke saath ap bhi jaldi aaoge, thik hai?' she said and forwarded her palm,
Sameer agreed and shook hands with her. Finally it was time to retire. Again a hearty bye dost' made his day.
Sameer drove back quickly and retired for the day smiling all the way in his sleep.
*************
The morning was another busy morning with some more progress in the case. Arjun and Rathore had just entered Arjun's cabin after interrogating Chauhan's manager jagdish. It wasn't too pleasant.
Rathore and Arjun had visited Chauhan early morning. Chauhan was a perfect business person and knew how to deal with tricky situations. He did reply to their questions about his business and his official outings, but there wasn't much helpful information.
According to him his car was kept in the garage for servicing while he was away for some business meet. The rest of the business here was normally managed by his manager , 'jagdish', during his absence and according to him jagdish was at mumbai on the day, his car was found in goa.
The manager jagdish was called and questioned. Though he answered almost all their questions quite calmly but Arjun seemed quite doubtful about the truth. Chotu was appointed to keep a check on his moves and also clarify the truth behind his statement.
Chotu called up later in the day informing about his presence in mumbai on the particular day, the car was found in goa. Jagdish had reached the office in the morning and was there till the late hours. In between he had gone out for about 3 hours which he claims to have gone to meet the lawyer and then a dentist.
Chotu had checked with them and indeed it was true. He had appointments with both of them fixed the earlier day. The office staff also confirmed that he had come back after 3 hours and settled in his cabin and didn't come out before late night. He had even asked them to not disturb him, while he was in a conference meeting with some important client.
Arjun asked shree to get the call details of Chauhan and jagdish. Shree came in with the call details and gave a copy to both his seniors. Shree went away to his work leaving both of them together.
The call details did show that jagdish had spoke to the lawyer and the dentist a day back. But there was an unknown number whom he had called the very day during the morning hours. The call lasted for about 12 seconds and instantly after that call he made a call to chauhan, which lasted for 2 minutes 34 seconds.
During the time when he was away from the office he had called in a private number several times and quite frequently. Though the calls hardly lasted for a couple of seconds, but the frequency of the calls indicated some trouble.
Shree had already checked with the owner of the number. The first one belonged to car servicing garage. Their regular service centre, they had called the shop a number of times earlier too. Almost every month a call was made to the shop and according to chotu's information everytime the call was made chauhan's car was send for servicing or repair.
The second call was to a private untraceable number. Chauhan's call list indicated last call from Jagdish was when he had left to meet the lawyer. There wasn't any call after that.
Rathore called up the lawyer and checked with him. As they had suspected, Jagdish didn't meet the lawyer, though he had an appointment with him. He had met the dentist, about 2 hours before he reached back to his office.
'matlab Jagdish car ki delivery lene gaya tha,' arjun exclaimed, breaking the long silence between them
'Jagdish khud gari nehi leke jayega, kisi se zaroor karwayega,' rathore spoke up,
'quite obvious rawte, shaq uspe directly aa jayega, the question is goa mein kya transfer kar raha hoga?'' rathore replied,
'electronic showroom hai rathore, its quite evident, electronic chips, gadgets. Bomb design mein bhi electronic chips were present remember? waise bhi electronic goods ka whole sale business hai Chauhan ka, its quite easily available from him.'
'Bomb ke liye..Dammit, ab tak hume blast ki location aur date tak nehi pata, uske upar wo ranbir singh, kuch bhi madaat nehi kar paya,' rathore shouted throwing his pen away in frustration.
Arjun looked on while the pen rolled on the floor towards the door. He was about to get up when the door opened and the local vendor brought in his cutting chai.' Rathore too turned at the door and looked on while the man kept the tea on the table.
The man turned towards the door when something stroke him and he called him back,
'mujhe bhi ek chai dena,' he called to him,
Arjun was surprised at his sudden gesture and looked at him. The man came back and kept another glass on the table. Arjun followed Rathore's gaze and that's when he found the tattoo.
The '8' shaped tattoo on his right arm. It was summer and the man was wearing a sweaty vest only, leaving his arms naked. The man turned towards the door and Arjun looked at rathore.
Arjun instantly made a call and asked someone to keep a silent eye on his movement and quietly follow him.
'Agar yehi wo aadmi hai, then he must have some contact with sushma, may be sushma's informer?' Arjun concluded,
'hmm, lekin filhal we need to visit Jagdish again and before that the car repairing shop,' rathore exclaimed and turned to the door,
Arjun too nodded and walked out behind him.
************
It was evening and Arjun was waiting for a report from Aisha but she had suddenly disappeared from the office. Arjun wasn't in his calm self after his visit to the repairing shop. According to the owner of the shop, chauhan's car was delivered on the very day to chauhan's residence by one of his workers, prakash. Prakash was questioned about the delivery but the man was so scared he hardly could speak out anything.
After a few more threats and a blank fire from Arjun, finally Prakash confessed. He had not delivered the car at chauhan's residence. He had got it delivered near the highway where a man had received it.
Later on further questioning it was revealed Jagdish had met him a day before in a nearby shop and hired him for the work for a lofty sum of money. Arjun asked him about the man who received him at the highway, but prakash was too terrified to reveal anything. All he could say was there were two people. One of them was jagdish, the other had his face turned away with goggles covering his eyes.
Arjun was furiously glaring at him holding him by his neck. But before he could ask him more about the identity of the other person, prakash pushed them and started running for his life. The chase started and suddenly within next few minutes a bus crossed over him, killing him right at the spot.
Rathore was angry with Arjun for his harsh behavior. They had lost a vital evidence. But that wasn't the only reason for the increasing tension between them. Jagdish was interrogated in his office by Rathore and chotu.
Rathore had asked him about the call made to the car repairing shop but Jagdish completely ignored the fact in the beginning. Rathore showed him the call details of his phone and that's when he confirmed to have called to check about the servicing act.
Later on some special rathore stunts and he confessed he had hired prakash to deliver the car to him instead of Chauhan's residence and had later called chauhan to explain the absence of his car for another couple of days.
Jagdish also accepted that, unknown to Chauhan , he used to transfer electronic goods illegally from his factory for his client Natya. Natya had called him for some deal with the goods and their payments so he had to visit the warehouse along with him.
But he had an important conference call to attend so Natya had to manage the deal himself. He normally visited the warehouse with Natya and used Chauhan's car to avoid suspicion, but that day he had only taken the car from prakash and after natya left with the car, he left for office.
Natya had met him some months back and offered him a huge amount of money for each deal he delivers, but with the condition that the transfers wouldn't have any papers. Jagdish was tempted with the amount of money and agreed to the deal.
Natya always called him from a private number and placed an order for the goods he required. Mostly electronic gadgets and chips, sometimes raw materials also. Jagdish would manage the deal without any knowledge to Chauhan and thus solely enjoy the payment from Natya.
Jagdish was asked to make a sketch of natya which he wasn't quite eager to, but had to agree.
Arjun asked shree to tap his phone, so that they could get to know when Natya again calls back.
*************
done with this update..give back your feedbacks...
next update would be next weekend...or more...😳Edited by rimi_invisible - 11 years ago
46