Arhi FF:Mirage Note pg 158 for next thread link - Page 16

Arnav went to his bedroom to change his clothes. He was going to meet Khalid Bhai in half an hour. He had already been up in the morning, flexing his stiffened muscles after lying three days continuously on the bed. By now,  he was so used to getting shot and the pain which followed it, that he would recover faster than every time before.

He went towards his cupboard to pick up his shirt, when he heard Aman enter the room. Suddenly he remembered something and turned around to face him.

"Aman! Can you exactly tell me how did I end up here in the house? All I can remember is being shot and escaping from them. Everything else seems vague and unclear."

"Oh! You called me from someone's phone. A little later a girl spoke to me telling about your whereabouts. She said you were badly hurt and couldn't talk on the phone." Aman spoke trying to recollect the details of that day. "And see that white shawl over there." He continued pointing at the shawl on the tableside which had now been cleaned and kept neatly folded by the servant. "I think it was hers. She used it to tie up your wound to minimise the bleeding."

Arnav went and picked up the shawl, feeling the smooth material with his fingers. Though he couldn't remember the events exactly, he could faintly remember some woman's hand across his face, her faint voice ringing in his ears. He kept it back down on the table and resumed dressing up.

o0o

Arnav stepped out of his black car, followed by Aman and entered a huge mansion located in the outskirts of Delhi. It was being highly guarded by security on all sides of the house, with access to only limited people inside it.

The guard at the door greeted them with a 'Salaam' to which they replied back and pushed aside the huge door to let them in. After passing through a long narrow dimly lit corridor, they entered a huge spacious room with a big wooden intricately designed table at the centre and a dozen chairs on either sides of it.

They could see men already occupied in their places. All eyes turned towards Arnav when he occupied his seat beside the main seat on the table. They continued to stare at him like they saw a ghost until the owner of the house strode in and sat on the main chair at the table.

"Good Afternoon everyone! Sorry for calling you all in such a short notice but we have a new mission in our hands." He spoke in a thick bass voice. Commotion erupted on the table as everyone started talking to the people on their sides hearing this piece of news.

He took the remote lying on the table and switched on the screen in front of him on the other side of the room. A picture of a middle aged handsome faced man appeared on the screen.

"This is Mr. Hari Kashyap, a prominent businessman of Delhi. He is the owner of Kashyap Exports & Shipping. Aged 55. Divorced. Lives with his only daughter. He has access to every politician in the government. His net assets are estimated to 1500 crore rupees.  Now, our friend, Mr. Ajit Goenka has promised us 10 crore rupees in return of his dead body. He told me that this Hari Kashyap has some classified documents which may lead him to end up behind the bars for the rest of his life. Now we don't need to know more about their rift. What we need to focus on is our task. We give him the dead body, he will hand over us the money." He paused when he saw someone enter the room from behind him.

"Shyam! It's time you arrived!" he exclaimed as Shyam entered the room with a file in his hand and sat down next to Khalid Bhai, handing the document over to him. He glanced at the contents of the file.

Meanwhile, Arnav who had silently been listening and pondering over the new mission, lifted up his head to notice the arrival of Shyam. For a second, he felt like he saw a shocking expression on Shyam's face. But soon, it was replaced by a sneer, which made him feel uncomfortable and queasy for unknown reasons. He turned away his face to concentrate on the screen once again.

Khalid Bhai resumed with his narration. "Now this Mr. Kashyap here isn't easily accessible. He is guarded by tight security 24x7 and has bodyguards who accompany everywhere.  But Shyam here has found out a way to attack him unguarded. Everyday, he visits this one particular cafe outside his office at around 10:00 am for a cup of tea."

The screen in front of them now showed the image of an open air cafe. Mr. Kashyap was seated on one of the tables at the corner with a newspaper in his hand, sipping a cup of tea. Bodyguards stood beside him with weapons in their hands.

"Exactly opposite to this cafe is the Regal tower. It's a seven storey commercial building. From the top of that building, one can get unhindered vision and access to where he sits. And we have also found out that he only occupies this particular table everyday. Now we won't have much time to carry out our task.  He will be available only for fifteen minutes. If we miss this opportunity, we would have to wait until the next day and then chances are we may not get such a better opportunity once again like tomorrow. From my secret sources, I have come to know that he will be back in the city tonight. So we can carry out our task tomorrow morning."

"Arnav!" he said turning towards him, while all other faces including Shyam's turned towards both of them. "I know you are just recovering from your unfortunate injuries and your hand isn't fully functional. But you are the only person who can shoot him down from such a long distance. You are the reason why Mr. Goenka approached us. Otherwise, he would have gone to our rivals. This time I will send Shyam and Aman to assist you with this task. They will help you out with everything you need." He said and paused awaiting his reply, while the whole room stood silent.

"But.. I..." he said unsure of whether to accept this task or not, especially after the attack on him. He wasn't sure he could trust Shyam anymore to work with him.

"10 crores. All is yours. You get to decide how much you are going to share with Shyam and Aman." Khalid Bhai said. He knew Arnav would easily agree for such a big amount, especially when there were no conditions attached.

Arnav deeply pondered over the offer. This was the biggest offer he had received. Maybe this was the time to impress Khalid Bhai and rise in the ranks. Afterall, Khalid Bhai had been talking about handing over Bangkok's business to someone. And that would be the perfect opportunity for him to start a new life, away from homicides and assassinations.

"Fine! I'm ready. But I need more information than this. And I need security too. After the attempt over my life, I need assurance that I will not be attacked once again." Arnav declared in a stern voice.

"As I said, don't worry. Shyam and Aman are going to be there with you. And it was unfortunate that someone attacked you. I tried to find out about them. They didn't belong to any of our prominent rival gangs. Maybe they wanted to send out a message to me through you. I have made sure they have got their reply. But even I don't understand how did they manage to find you. Afterall this was supposed to be a secret meeting."

Arnav looked at everyone's faces at the table, finally ending up on Shyam's face. He refused to look at him, excusing himself by looking into the file on the table. Arnav wasn't too sure about Shyam's intentions. He had always behaved nicely with him. But after finding him going through his personal locker in his room, he had been shocked with this suspicious behaviour. And it was always known, one could never trust anyone in this criminal world.

"I will make sure I find out who attacked me and will see to it, he sees hell throughout his life." Arnav spoke through his gritted teeth, in a furious voice.

"You three may take leave to discuss about your task. Tomorrow, I will be awaiting your call after your mission is successful. In the meantime, I have something else to discuss with the others." Khalid Bhai said, while the three got up from the table and went to another room to discuss the plan of action.

o0o

It was late at night, when Khushi heard the cell phone ring. She had been lying on her bed reading a novel. She rolled over and picked up the phone that lay on top of the bedside table. Lavanya's name was flashing on the screen.

"Hello Lavanya." She spoke lifting the call.

"Khushi! Big problem. I need your help." She heard Lavanya's worried voice on the other end.

"Papa has returned home tonight. And I have been invited by Karthik to his friend's party in a farmhouse in Shimla day after tomorrow. And you know, Papa won't give me permission to go to the party with him. Karthik's friend has even asked us to stay there till the weekend. He said it would be so much of fun as so many people are going to be there. Please do something Khushi! You know he listens to everything you say. He likes you a lot and trusts you. Can you please come up with an excuse so that I can go there? Please Please Please! You are my best friend right? I will do whatever you say. I will give you whatever you want. But can you convince Papa?" she said literally begging her friend.

"Lavanya! Don't worry! Chill! I'll come up with something. Afterall, Ain't I your best friend?" she said cheering her up. "Just tell me when do I have to come to meet him."

"Khushi, Papa is always in a good mood when he has his daily dose of tea in his favourite cafe. I think we should go and meet him there. Chances are he will agree to your request. Come to my house tomorrow morning. We'll go there together." Said Lavanya.

"Ok then! I'll meet you tomorrow. Until then Good night! Bye!" Khushi said to which she heard a 'Goodnight' and a 'thank you' on the other end.

Khushi glanced at the mini clock on the table. It was already 11:00 pm and thus decided to retire for the night. She opened her drawer to keep the novel inside it, when she noticed the neatly wrapped handkerchief inside it. She took it out and opened to see the disfigured bullet lying inside it. She had instant flashbacks about that night five days ago. She could still feel herself shuddering remembering those horrendous screams and howls of pain.

She quickly put away the handkerchief back inside and switched off the table lamp and lay down on her bed, with the last image being the blood stained face of that man.

o0o

Lavanya and Khushi got down from the car and went towards the cafe where Hari Kashyap sat with a newspaper and a cup of tea in his hand.

"Khushi!"Lavanya whispered, tightly gripping her friend's hand in a panicked voice, "Do you remember correctly what do you have to say? Don't mess up. My future is in your hands." She said dramatically to which Khushi rolled her eyes.

"Uff Lavanya! Don't you trust me? I will get your work done. Now let's go and don't show any signs of nervousness on your face." She said confidently pulling along her friend.

The bodyguards stepped aside letting the two ladies to go towards the seated man.

"Papa!" Lavanya called out to capture his attention towards them.

"Oh! You both!" he exclaimed looking up from his newspaper. "What are you both doing here? Got some work? And Khushi! What a pleasant surprise Beta! It's been so long after I last spoke to you. How are you doing?"

"Namaste Uncle!" Khushi greeted him and bent down to receive his blessings. "I'm absolutely fine. How are you Uncle?"

"I'm fine as you can see in front you. Except for my lovely daughter here troubling me day and night with her boyfriend. She thinks I don't know anything about it, but afterall, I'm her Dad. And I know everything!" he said chuckling causing Lavanya to frown with dissatisfaction.

Both of them sat on the chairs opposite to him and after few seconds, when they had comfortably sat, Khushi resumed, "Uncle I need to talk to you about something."

o0o

Arnav stepped into the roof top of the building along with Shyam and Aman. He had a golf bag in his one hand which contained the sniper rifle.  It had been quite easy to sneak it inside this building. With Aman distracting the security guard at one end and Shyam tampering with the security cctv cameras at the other end, it had been a smooth ride to the top.

One could never deny the importance of Shyam in the gang. He had been an expert with all sorts of equipments and computers. A mechanical engineer by profession and a software genius, it was a child's play for him to hack into any computer and retrieve secret information. If he hadn't chosen this criminal world, Arnav was sure Shyam would have headed his own software company.

But Shyam didn't want to work hard and rise up the ladder. He chose the short cut way to success. Ignoring his parent's wishes for him, he chose to work for Khalid Bhai when he was introduced to him by a common friend.

Arnav had deep inside, always envied Shyam because he had had everything possible that he ever wanted. Parents who were still alive and loved him and education to back him up. Most of all, he had freedom to do whatever he had wanted in life. He hadn't been forced to take up this life unlike him.

Arnav snapped back to reality hearing Aman's voice behind him.

"The coast is clear Bhai! You may proceed." He said and helped Arnav to set up the sniper rifle on the bipod stand. It was still two minutes to ten and Mr. Kashyap hadn't arrived yet. Shyam came and stood beside them.

"Here he comes!" Shyam exclaimed as they saw Mr. Kashyap arriving at the cafe and taking his usual seat. Bodyguards with weapons roamed beside him, in strict vigilance.

Arnav tried adjusting the lens and focus to get a better telescopic sight. He let out a huge sigh and took in a deep breath as he placed his fingers on the trigger.

"Ready?" Aman asked patting his shoulder. Arnav silently nodded a yes and looked through the lens. He was about to pull the trigger, when he saw two young girls approach his target.

"What the f*ck!" he exclaimed as the two girls blocked his direct sight to his target. "Move! Move!" he muttered under his breath hoping that they moved away. But they didn't. "Dammit!" he said getting up frustrated with this new problem and banged his fist on the wall.

"What happened?" Shyam asked seeing him seething with anger.

"Some girls are standing in front of this man and blocking my view." Arnav said through gritted teeth.

"Arnav, you can't back out. You have to do this task today itself. It will be very difficult for us to get this opportunity once again, if you miss it." Shyam said aloud furiously.

"Ok! I'll do it!" he said in an irritating tone and continued to stare through the lens. He waited and waited, but there was no sign of those girls moving aside. Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes, he saw all three of them get up and one of the girls in a short dress hugging the man.

Arnav placed his finger on the trigger and counted under his breath seeing the man move away from the table.

Three... two... one... And he finally pulled the trigger and a bullet escaped the sniper rifle, as the rifle jerked back with the reflexive impact of the bullet against his shoulder.

Buha ha ha! Cliffhanger! I'm lovin it.😉

And yes, Arnav works for the mafia. So we can call him the bad guy, but is he actually? Something to ponder about.🤓 

CHAPTER 6