"What the hell does he think of himself?" she shook her head in exasperation and utter annoyance. After disconnecting her call for more than 5 times in the past one hour he had now switched his cell off. Sometimes Kabir Sharma was such a mess to deal with. Ananya closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to compose herself.
"Miss Kashyap aap please apne Manav sir ki story par dhyan deejiye...I can help myself" he had told her off and stormed out of his cabin slamming the door behind him. The echo of his harsh words would still make her heart sting with pain. It had all begun last evening when Khalid had barged into their meeting and almost commanded her to work with Manav on an important lead. Ananya never understood why Khalid loved to pitch Manav and Kabir against each other when he clearly knew the latter would sweep away with all the thunder at the end. May be he did not want his territory to be monopolized by one man and it was fair enough from his standpoint but only till she was not used to accomplish the task. And whenever Khalid would try and reduce her to a bouncing ball between his Karan and Arjun, Ananya literally felt like smacking him hard in his face.
"But I am already working on Kabir sir's story and we are pretty close" she had tried to put forth her best argument but gave in seeing Kabir not object to it. Which was pretty obvious in case of Khalid, as Kabir was not a person to waste his time on explanations knowing they would fall on deaf ears. He had collected back from her all the research papers and clues she had jotted down and asked her to send Richa in.
There was a time Ananya would feel absolutely agitated and frustrated if Kabir would try and replace her with someone else. But over the past few months, she had begun to understand him and his ways much better. He may let her go and pursue her dreams individually while continuing to accomplish his own with others, but she was no longer replaceable in his team. And she knew it too. Over the time, Ananya had bonded amazingly well with Laxman and Tarini while working on many nerve-wrecking and dangerous criminal and political stories with Kabir and had somewhere become an indispensable part of his' gang. So many times they would be working on leads no one from KKN even had the slightest idea about. And though there had never been a single case the two of them managed to solve without being at loggerheads with each other at least once, they still managed to get the best out of each other taking KKN to new heights of glory each time. But as much as they attracted everybody's appreciation and praise for their hard-hitting stories, the two of them would often end up receiving the wrath of the rich and influential. And one such recent incident had been when Kabir had received a life threat post one of his sting operations exposing some of the big pharmacy giants and their behind the scene fraudulent activities. His sting had resulted in dozens of arrests while many unlicensed dealers faced police investigations. And it was not long ago when Kabir started receiving these calls and texts, threatening to destroy him.
"Sir I think you need police protection" she had said in a tone filled with extreme worry which he returned with a cool and unaffected smile. "Maine koi joke mara hai kya...there's nothing to laugh about it" she gave him one of her sternest looks.
"Ananya relax! mujhe kisi protection ki koi zaroorat nahin hai...aur waise bhi ek sipahi apne seene pe medal lagata hai, aur goli bhi wohin par khata hai; hum reporters hain, agar ek aad pathar hum apne sar pe kha lenge to bhi kya"
Her eyes flew open with a jolt. She could feel a pang of concern constrict her chest.
"Is Kabir sir OK? If yes why is his cell switched off? And why isn't he back to office...its 8:30 already" her heart raced as a dozen thoughts splashed her mind almost in a second. Totally charged by this sudden realization, she instantly unlocked her phone and checked his "last seen"...it was sometime in the morning. She was breathing heavily now. God forbid if any of those callers tried to harm him. She instantly cursed herself for the stray thought. With an intense worry clouding her mind she stood up from her seat and walked over to Ronnie in a jiffy.
"Tune Kabir Sir ko kahin dekha hai..." she almost twirled Ronnie to make him face her, voice strained with fear.
"Maine dekha hota to Malvika ko na bata deta...tab se poore office ke chakar laga rahi hai, sabse poochte phir rahi hai kabir ke bare mein...par woh hai ki uska kuch ata pata hi nahin hai " Ananya s heart shrunk in the confines of her chest as Ronnie's words sank in. Somehow his reply had triggered her worst fear..."If he was not coming even for his show...he is surely in some deep trouble" Ananya felt a sharp sting of tears behind her eyelids. She didn't know what to do, whom to approach. Most of them in the office did not even know about the threatening calls he had been getting since a while now. He never took them seriously and even stopped her from informing inspector khurana about them. Feeling totally exhausted, she slumped into the chair behind her, covering her face with her hands.
"Ananya itni chinta mat kar...woh aa jayega" Ronnie kept a hand on her shoulder.
"Ronnie tujhe pata hai na..." she looked up and sighed. "This is not as simple as it seems...I don't know but I am really worried yr...what if..." her tone quivered even at the thought of something happening to him. "Main janti hoon ki pichle kuch dino se, woh mujhse kuch to chupa rahe the. He used to be so lost and ekdum ukhde ukhde se rehte the. And that sudden irritation...pichle kuch maheeno se unhein kabhi mere manav sir ke saath kam karne se problem nahin huyi. Phir aaj achanak itna gussa...Aur kyun? Just because I read one of his files!!He just snatched it from me...maine kabhi unhein itna defensive hote hue nahin dekha. Aise kaun se case pe kaam kar rhe hain woh ki kisi ko kuch bata kar nahin ja sakte...there is definitely something wrong...I don't know what but I am really scared...kahin unhein kuch..." her voice cracked with despair as a quiet tear rolled down her face.
"Ananya tu usse ek baar phir se call karke kyun nahin dekhti...may be just" Ronnie tried to reason out.
"Yeahh.." she murmured weakly and reached out for her phone. But as soon as she looked down at the screen her heart did a massive flip seeing five missed calls from Inspector Khurana. She immediately returned the call counting on her heart beat. "Please please god just let him be fine...please Kabir sir ko theek rakhna" she constantly murmured in her heart until inspector khurana answered her call from the other end.
"Ananya tum kahan ho" the strained voice over the phone already made Ananya fear something terribly wrong.
"Inspector khurana...aap itne pareshan kyun hain? sab theek to hai na" she paused, fighting for air, as the fear of the unknown coursed through her veins.
"Nahin Ananya...sab theek nahin hai." Inspector khurana fumbled and paused for a moment. "Ananya Kya tum abhi Safdurjang hospital aa sakti ho? Kabir...he has been shot...use goli lagi hai" was all he could say and then the line went dead.
Ananya stood frozen at her spot as the phone slipped out of her hand. Inspector Khurana's words had sliced past her ears and lodged themselves in the centre of her heart. Giving upon all the little strength that held her together till now, she instinctively dropped to her knees, hot tears rolling down her face. Something had shattered and ripped within her.
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Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Debate Mansion
