From the author's desk: Hello everyone, Hope you are all safe and sound. Thanks for those wonderful comments and Jappies for the patience displayed.
Here is the next chapter, happy reading
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Chapter 19: Games with no rules
Part 3: The red herring
Khushi watched around Abhi’s house which was now littered with Police officials and a team of forensic experts. Abhi himself was speaking to the head of the security agency contracted for the apartment.
The last one hour has been a bizarre nightmare. The moment they realized that the girls were missing, she had hoped that the girls were playing a prank and was hiding somewhere just to jump at them for falling for it. But no. No one jumped from inside the cupboard or from behind the wall. Khushi insisted they check the terrace, despite knowing it was an odd hour to spend time in the terrace – not to mention in the middle of having their lunch. But the girls weren’t there too. Their initial queries to the security guards revealed nothing. They haven’t seen the girls going out, sneaking out or being led somewhere.
Arnav had immediately informed Abhi and Geethu. Abhi had been the first to arrive, along with Inspector Rajesh Reddy. Soon the forensic team arrived. Then there were more cops coming in. Asking the neighbors, security guards and apartment staff – checking the CCTV cameras, looking for fingerprints. Amid all this, Khushi still hoped they weren’t kidnapped. No, it cannot be so easy – in the broad day light, Right?.
“May be one of the kids fell sick- May be Anjali took the girls to the nearby clinic…”
“If that was the case, she would have informed us about it Khushi, she would have called” Arnav had pointed out. “and there is no way, she would have left her mobile behind”
He was right. Why would Anjali leave behind her Mobile?
As soon as Geethu arrived, she was also updated about everything. Khushi couldn’t help but admire the grit of the lady. For a mother who had just been told that her 6 year old has been abducted, Khushi felt Geethu was holding the fort formidably well. She looked shook but composed.
She asked some questions and effortlessly switched on her detective mode.
“Any luck with CCTV cameras?”
“We can see them going down at about 1.30 but the faces are not seen”
“What about the one on the rear end, that should have captured the faces”
“The men have masked the faces”
“Anything from the fingerprints?”
“There is only one prominent fingerprint which is not one of ours- They are still running it through the criminal database”
“What else do you know?”
“nothing more than what I already told you” Abhi told her
“Can I see the CCTV footage?”
Rajesh turned the laptop on the table and showed her the video clipping of the girls walking calmly with one masked man in front and the other behind them.
“Any more footages?”
“This is the only one that has a decent coverage. The other two cameras do not give close shots.”
“What about the one in the basement?”
“Shows a blurry image of them getting into the car” Abhi said showing her the other clipping
“We have the license plate of the car?”
“Nope”
“So, there was one more masked man on the wheels ready to take off the moment they got in?”
“there were 4” Arnav said pointing the third person in a long shot of the second and third videos.
“Why are the girls so calmly walking with these guys? What were they threatened with?”
“No clue why” Abhi said the obvious
“Whom did they come for? Why did they take all the four?” Geethu asked
“Perhaps to silence both of us?” Arnav said looking at Abhi
“Silence about what?” Geethu asked
“Arnav’s theory is that this is all related to my probe with SMJ’s involvement with missing children case and probably with Jagga’s arrest has ruffled many feathers in the coop” Abhi explained
“But how does that explain Anjali’s abduction- you are not in picture Arnav” Geethu pointed out
“That’s what stumps me” Abhi agreed
“Or we don’t know the complete picture yet” Arnav said
“What are you thinking about?” Abhi asked
“I don’t know. Tara did mention that Jagga is connected with Sandy. What if it’s the same gang?” Arnav asked
“Your logic fits ok… Unless we are missing something and this is a completely different angle.” Geethu said standing up and moving around
“Keep asking the questions, it’s helping us” Abhi told Geethu
Khushi sat there watching them discuss, and strangely, she was feeling at loss that there was nothing that she was able to do to help.
“How did the security guys miss anyone” Geethu asked.
“They were at lunch break” Abhi replied her
“There should be atleast one stand by”
“That man is missing”
“missing? Is he related in this abduction?”
“We are yet to crack that”
It was now getting more and more clear that the girls were abducted. There has been no clue about who had done the deed. There was no call yet asking for any ransom or anything.
It was then Abhi got a call from one of his team members, he briefly spoke to him and looked at others.
“We found the missing security guy” Abhi informed “Beaten and dumped in one of the changing rooms”
“Did he say anything?” Arnav asked
“He is being revived”
Rajesh came up to Abhi moments later.
“Sir, it would be wise if we can ask for a search team to be dispatched”
Abhi nodded.
“Geethu, we need you and Arnav to file a FIR. I need more people on ground and I can commission that only with a formal FIR”
“I am fine with that” She nodded.
“Ok” Arnav consented too.
As Rajesh took Arnav and Geethu aside, to get the FIR formalities done, Khushi looked around with worry.
She was more worried because the gang after Tara was merciless – and if it was this gang- then why should they take Anjali and Riya too? Was it to stop Abhi’s investigation? Then why was Anjali also kidnapped? How was Anjali involved in this? Or was it to silence Arnav? Or was this totally a different gang with a completely different objective?
“Here are the toys” one other officer gave the bag of toys to her.
“Any fingerprints?” She asked him
“Yes, we collected a few. We should be able to run it in our system to find a match”
As Khushi put the toys bag on the table, she saw Inspector Rajesh Reddy coming in and throwing a quick glance into the hall and spotting where Abhi was, moving towards him. Abhi was with the guy who was running him through the CCTV cameras in the security lounge
“Sir, Can I have a few words with you in private?”
Abhi excused himself and walked a few meters away from the crowd.
He happened to be in the hearing distance of Khushi
“Sir, you wanted to include the rescued girls in FIR?”
“Tara and Tanu? Ofcourse Rajesh. You can get a signature from Khushi, she is their guardian”
“Sir, but this will backfire on you badly. You may have to answer the officials on why you kept them in your house”
“I know, But I will face it. Given that the alternate option is not to include them – but my work ethics won’t allow it”
“Sir, we will definitely search for those girls too, but please let me not include them in the FIR. I just got the FIR done from Arnav Sir and Geethu Mam”
“No Rajesh, I will take the responsibility” Abhi said, patting Rajesh’s back.
Khushi felt guilty. She brought the girls here. And now Abhi will face the consequences because of her.
Abhi caught her looking at him apologetically.
“I am sorry” she said
“This is not your doing, don’t apologize Khushi”
“I had a major part in it, I convinced you to do this. Now the girls are missing and…”
“Khushi, I am more worried about the girls safety than enquires at work”
“It’s so hard to believe… Arnav ji had called Anjali at 12.30 and within 2 hours – what could have happened? who did it? And why?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. It could be any of my professional enemies or Arnav’s even. We cannot rule out that the gang after Tara could have done this”
“If this gang is the same one that you are after – and it is the one that is after Tara – and it is the same gang that blackmailed Anjali… We may not know the missing link now, but somehow, who ever it is – is right now scared- because you are moving closer to them and in a way want to stop you”
“I like the way you are thinking”
“otherwise, I don’t have any explanation to why would they take all of them”
“that’s the puzzle that we need to solve. Thanks Khushi”
“Sir” A forensic expert drew Abhi’s attention to blood stains on the corner of the sofa.
“Could be one of the girl’s blood” the forensic expert said. “Looking by the way the sofa has been positioned now crossed- looks like one of the girls fell against it”
“or was pushed against it with force.” Abhi said bending down. “There are a few strands of hair sticking to the sofa”
Forensic expert collected the two strands
“Looks like Anjali’s” Khushi said. “It’s long and straight. The other two girls have a curly hair. Riya has a shorter hair”
Abhi nodded.
“It could be yours too” Abhi said “We don’t have to way to say that it was there before or recently when someone was pushed against it. Test the blood group and let us know”
“What does this say?” Khushi asked Abhi “What if it was Anjali’s?”
“Nothing much Khushi. We know they were kidnapped, We noticed that the girls went down quietly after the intention of abduction was revealed to them, there are CCTV snippets of them walking with some men- which show they were upset but calm. There has been struggle before that and this only proves that our inferences are correct.”
Abhi pushed the sofa to its actual position.
That was when Khushi saw the magnetic slate peeking out from under the sofa. She picked it exclaiming as she saw that something was written on it.
“What is this?”
Abhi read it out loud “Leapfrog?”
As Arnav and Geethu came in, they were updated about the recent find.
“Anjali left us a clue?” Geethu exclaimed.
“It could be her password” Arnav said “It was one of her favorite toys when she was younger. She picked up one for Riya too this morning…”
Excitement kicked in as Arnav took out Anjali’s phone and tried typing Leapfrog.
“Not working” he said to the other three who were expectantly looking at him.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would she write leapfrog”
“It could be something the girls were playing with” Abhi suggested.
“Wait there is something else written on the backside” Geethu said pointing out at the slate at Khushi’s hand.
“Try this”
Arnav tried that on Anjali’s phone and this time, it worked.
“Wow”
“Thank God”
“What is in it?”
“Any call that may have come perhaps…” Arnav said “We are still not sure if these guys came for the girls or Anjali- the way she walks so calmly in the CCTV snippets… I have a feeling she left this mobile on purpose- I only wish this gives us some clue”
There were no calls, no messages, no videos – nothing that would help them.
“One of them got hurt- we found blood on the sofa corner”
“What?”
“Just a bit, like someone was pushed against the Sofa”
“It’s probably Anjali’s” Abhi told his friend
“She will be alright” Arnav said more to himself.
Geethu took the phone from Arnav.
“I don’t understand why she would leave this password and a clue – what was she expecting us to decode?” she asked
“It would have made sense if she carried this, we could have tracked her with her GPS” Arnav paused and then exclaimed “That’s it! She left this so that we can track her position”
“Did Anjali have anything in her that can help us track?” Abhi asked
“her Iwatch” Arnav exclaimed.
“Was she wearing one this morning?” Geethu asked
“I think she was”
“try connecting with it”
Arnav opened up Find My watch to track it position.
The GPS locater took some time to trace the watch, and then the indicator on the watch blinked to show Lakshmi Nagar area.
In next 10 mins, two vehicles hurried towards Lakshmi Nagar. One was a police jeep with Abhi, Rajesh and their team and the other was Arnav’s car with Abhi, Geethu and Khushi in it.
***
Anjali looked around the room where she and Riya were tied up. Outside the room, in her visibility was the tall guy who was part of the kidnapping gang, sitting around the table with a few other men, playing cards.
The gang had earlier driven all the four of them to a deprecated warehouse where she and Riya were transferred to a van that brought her to this house. Last she saw Tanu and Tara being asked to get into another vehicle.
The lean shrewd fellow who had instrumented their abduction had gone with Tara and Tanu in that vehicle with that comical fellow Kamlesh Kabiri.
The big fellow and another few fellows brought them to this place.
“Why did you kidnap us?” she shouted at the big fellow. But she was sure was going to ignore her questions just like he was doing for the past 1 hour.
“Are you suffering from any hearing impairment?”
The man looked up, glared at her and went back to his game.
“Oh selective hearing” she continued to say.
“What did you do with Tara and Tanu?” she asked. She was not going to give up and for some strange reason, she didn’t feel intimidated by this gang.
“Who are you working for? I know you are working for someone- waiting for instructions from the top to understand what to do with me and Riya- right?”
“If you don’t shut up, I will tape your mouth” The big man said.
“If she doesn’t stop nagging, put that gun into her mouth and pull the trigger boss” someone shouted from the cards table.
“If she goads me enough, I will do it”
Anjali fell quiet.
She wondered if her brother or Abhi found out that they were missing. Was there a search team looking for them? How close they were to finding them? She wished they hurried up… She was not even successful in finding out where this damn house was.
Anjali had so many questions and none of them were letting her stay quiet. Speaking them out loud was atleast helping her not to panic.
What happened to Tara and Tanu?
Where are they now?
Why did they separate the girls?
***
The police jeep got a good time ahead of Arnav’s car as the vehicles gave way to the siren. Though Arnav tried to keep up behind them, they reached the spot only 5 mins later. As soon as Arnav parked the car next to Abhi’s jeep, they noticed that Abhi and Rajesh were standing some distance away as one other cop who was with them was pinning a man to the wall and handcuffing him on his behind.
“What is happening there?” Geethu asked stepping out of the car.
“Where is Anjali? Who is that man?” Khushi was surprised too.
“Wait here. Let me check” Arnav told the ladies as he rushed to where Abhi was standing.
“What happened?” Arnav asked his friend.
“The iwatch is on this guy” Abhi said
“How come?” Arnav exclaimed. “then he should know where Anjali is”
“that’s what we are finding out”
Seeing that Arnav hadn’t returned back to them, Geethu and Khushi proceeded towards the men.
“Where did you take the watch from?” Rajesh was asking the man
“How will I know, if you show me a picture of it, I can tell you. How will a man remember a watch? Which one? Rolex? ” The man was blabbering.
Khushi was aghast hearing that comical sing song voice. She knew him!
“Kamlesh Kabiri?!!” she called out surprised.
All the five pairs of eyes turned at her in surprise.
“You know him?” Abhi was surprised.
Khushi noticed Arnav looking at her with a bemused expression.
“Yeah” Khushi said, “He is my friend’s cousin”
“Hey Khushi, my jaanu! How are you, Long time no see?” Kamlesh shouted gleefully. He looked comical with a stupid grin despite his bruised face and his torn shirt held by the collar by Rajesh.
“Jaanu?” Arnav muttered next to her.
Khushi felt like slapping her head. Of all people, she least expected to see Kamlesh Kabiri holding Anjali’s watch. She stepped forward ignoring the stunned looks from her companions.
“How are you involved in this?”
“In what ?” Kamlesh asked “Look Jaanu, I am a changed person now, I don’t steal things anymore”
“Oh really? Anyone can change but you”
“Don’t praise me so much! I am feeling shy”
“Kamlesh, stop joking around, if you know anything about it, this is the time to tell us”
“Jaanu, these people hit me first and then question me, Did you even realize that it could be a different person you are looking for”
“Where is that watch? We know you have it”
“Why are all of you behind a watch?” Kamlesh laughed comically before he became suddenly sober “Is it so precious?”
“Kamlesh, we need to know where and how you found it. This is the last time I am asking you nicely, otherwise I will let the police do their job”
“Just because you are asking me so much Jaanu, I will help you…Which watch? Describe it to me”
“It’s an iWatch” Arnav said “Baby pink strap- Black screen”
“Oh that! The one that I picked up from the market grounds?”
“You picked it up from the market grounds?” Khushi asked
“Is it very pricey?” the man whined “If I had known I could have asked more for it. I just sold it for 200 bucks”
“You pathetic liar, its still with you and that how we tracked you” Rajesh went to hit him
“Holy cow- a tracking watch?!” Kamlesh Kabiri exclaimed as he pointed a finger at himself “you fell for a ruse, Kamlesh Kabiri…How in the world would anyone expect a pink colour wristwatch has tracking system on it?” he went blabbering comically.
“Kamlesh!” Khushi gritted her teeth
“Yes Jaanu! Anything for you”
“Hand over that watch to us now…”
“you first ask this fellow to take his hand off my collar”
Khushi looked at Rajesh who looked back at Abhi. Abhi nodded at him. Rajesh stepped back.
“Warrey wah, Jaanu, you have so much power!”
As Kamlesh took out multiple stolen stuff from multiple pockets and finally produced the watch.
“Give me that watch” Arnav asked stretching his hand
“I spent 500 bucks to correct its broken screen” Kamlesh muttered
“Broken screen?” Arnav asked unbelievingly as took out 500 Rs from his wallet.
“No, don’t give him. He is lying” Khushi shouted
“I know he is lying” Arnav said.
“Jaanu, what happened to you? Why do you stop this good man from helping a poor fellow like me?”
“First give me the watch” Arnav said stretching his other hand
“I was thinking of selling it again – it would have fetched me at least 1000…”
“You either hand it over to him or I will color your face red with blood” Rajesh said
“Who understands a poor man’s struggle, I will take 500 for this”
Arnav gave him the money and took Anjali’s watch.
“Now you got it, let me go”
“Let you go? You didn’t tell us how you got it”
“I told you right? I took it from the grounds of the bazar”
“Don’t lie Kamlesh, think correctly and tell us” Khushi asked again.
“This is the truth Jaanu, mother promise on you!”
“This does not say that you took it in Bazar street” Arnav said, pretending to look into the screen. Kamlesh didn’t look to be tech savvy and it was a good chance that he will not know what can be tracked and what cannot be from the watch.
“You either tell us the truth or you will not see the sunlight tomorrow” Rajesh growled at Kamlesh.
“Next time, don’t take any innocent looking pink watches” Kamlesh said looking at his finger pointing his at himself.
“Kamlesh! Please, we need your help. Someone we know may be in danger. I know you steal for your living, but you are not a criminal” Khushi pleaded
Kamlesh looked at Khushi before he finally told her.
“I took it from this man’s house” Kamlesh said pointing at Abhi.
“In my house?”
“Yes, I believe it was your house. I saw your picture on the wall”
“You are one of those kidnappers” Khushi exclaimed.
***
The landline phone blared through the quiet calmness of the early morning jolting the residents of that house at Texas who had just woken up.
“Dasari Residence” Kiran said as she answered the phone.
“Hi Kiran” the voice said sweetly
Kiran stood rooted to spot.
“Shyam!” she whispered hoarsely.
“Oh yes! What have you decided?”
“I told you already that I will never do what you want. Stop calling me”
“I know you are not going to say yes easily.”
“I am not going to say yes to anything you ask ever. Don’t call me again”
“Should I then call your son then? Does he know that whom he thinks as his father is not actually his father?”
Kiran remained quiet
“Or should I call your husband? Does Mr Dasari know about his son’s real father?”
Kiran only sighed but reminded quiet.
“You have time till evening, that is until tomorrow morning, India time. Think and tell me.”
Then the line went blank.
***
To be continued
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ok, I know this looks more like a filler but if you watch closely, you will realize that the rivals have started to make their move.
I will get time to do another quick update over the weekend.
Do leave your comments! I adore them.
Stay safe and cheers till we meet again!
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