NK was stumped. He reached out his hand and said, "Hi Lavanya, Welcome back to AR. I think I am going to enjoy working with you!". Lavanya looked at him and saw a guy who looked like he was fun, easy-going with oodles of appeal. When she took his hand, she felt a tingling feeling of a mild electric shock. She knew she was going to have a nice time working with NK.
*****
"Maamiji , I wanted to talk to you for two minutes", Arnav said accosting Manorama maamiji on the way to her room. He led her to the terrace and told her the truth about Shyam's demand for a swap."Maamiji I want to make sure that Khushi doesnt do anything ulta-seedha. I want to bring back di safe and sound ...But dont want Shyam to be getting to Khushi to directly negotiate. Karan is routing all phone calls to Shantivan directly to my cell phone. Incase we need to talk to you, I will call you on your cell. I have taken away Khushi's cell phone. Can you please take care of her in my absence and keep an eye on her at all times?", Arnav requested - After many days, this was the first he was leaving Khushi at home and he didnt want her to make plans on the side. "Arnav Bitwa, Jaroor. Kehne ki baat hi naahi. Ham Khushi bitiya ka khayaal rakhenge.", Manorama maami promised. After their shared worry and activities during Arnav's kidnapping, Maami and Khushi had become the best of friends.
*****
Anjali overcame a claustrophobic feeling of being swamped, with great difficulty...She could only see through small openings in the black cloth, for her eyes and even that was not adjusted properly. She felt that she was lying on her side on a bed with her feet tied together to something else and her hands tied up as well. She could hear Shyam talking to her Chotey telling him how he wanted Khushi. This was no surprise to Anjali. She and Shyam had surprised each other on coming face to face in the doctor's office - She, because she had not expected him to be waiting there and Shyam because he had expected it would be Khushi coming in to the doctor's office, whom he could spirit away out of the hospital , out of Delhi to a faraway place where only the two of them existed.
Anjali forced the worry out and talked to her baby, comfortingly..."Chotey and Karan will find us, dont worry", she said and she felt a kick in response. She decided to conserve her energy and force herself to relax and rest.
****
Arnav and Karan sat down in the latter's office to explore possibilities where Shyam could have taken Anjali. They systematically ruled out hiding spots before narrowing down to a couple of possibilities that they could whittle down further once they got hold of the cell phone records of the phone from which Shyam had called Arnav. Karan pulled out all stops and called in favors in getting the cellphone companies to cooperate with them and put a tracer on Arnav's caller. They also forwarded all phone calls from Shantivan directly to Arnav's phone while also setting up a phone tap on it so they could listen in on all calls. They then finalized Arnav's talking points for his call with Shyam.
****
She felt the black cloth being wrenched away roughly and woke up to look at a smirking Shyam. It must be around 6 PM or so now she guessed sneaking a glance at Shyam's wristwatch. "welcome, welcome to this place. Do you recognize it? This is our very own house of dreams. The flat you so wanted to come home to. Well, I did bring you here finally and I also carried you over the threshold. Are you happy? I hope you are ...because I am not. I wanted to bring Khushi here but I found you instead. Not to worry, your chotey will soon hand her over to me along with lots of his fortune to get you back! He doesn't care for Khushi as much as I do..Did you know that?", Shyam asked. He must be hallucinating and has turned into a psycho, Anjali thought. But she didnt show any of those thoughts on her face and kept it neutral. She didnt try telling him how her brother loved Khushi and how much Khushi loved him, enough to be having kids with him. She did not want Shyam to hear that and go ballistic - She did not know what Shyam knew but was glad in some way that she had been able to prevent Shyam from getting his evil hands on Khushi when she was in this state. She just worried about her Chotey and hoped against hope that he would not be taking any wrong decision because of her, his di.
Shyam turned away and placed a meal order for pickup at a nearby restaurant. He made sure that Anjali was securely tied before leaving the flat, locking up outside.
****
Around 6:30 PM, Shyam placed the call to Arnav. "Saale saab, sab khairiyat hai? Kaisi hai meri Khushi? Aapne usse samjhadhiya ki woh meri honewali hai?".
"Pehle Di ko phone do...I want to make sure she is okay.", Arnav demanded.
"Arre, itni bhi kya jaldi hai...woh sab theek hai. Let me come to the point. I want us to make the exchange tonight at 1 AM. You need to wait at the bus-stand in Dariya Ganj near the mosque.".
"1AM? Do you even realize that Khushi has not been well. Why should we meet at this ridiculous hour?", Arnav asked trying to buy some time till the call tracers worked their magic.
"Haan saale saab, hum sab jaante hai. Aap yahi kehna chaahate hai na ki Khushi abhi pregnant hai? Koi baat nahi, hum sambhaal lenge unhe. Baache ko bhi dekh lenge. Aap shaayad unke pehle hue honge, par main unka aakhri rahoonga,", Shyam promised ominously as Arnav wondered how Shyam knew the information about Khushi's pregnancy. Di would not have told him, he instinctively felt.
"Yes, you must be wondering how I know all this..Arnav Singh Raizada, you sit up in your Ivory tower...Do you even realize how ordinary people survive? Do you know how much a compounder's salary is? How he makes ends meet?", Shyam derisively asked.
"Anyway, 1 AM, Dariya Ganj. Dont forget.", he said before signing off.
Arnav along with a couple of Treadstone folks was at that time simultaneously checking out the possibility of Shyam being at a farmhouse near the outskirts of Delhi. Kamala's phone had had a few calls placed from a house near a tower there. However, even though Shyam had probably been using that place over the past couple of weeks, he was no longer there and nor was di. The Treadstone control team called both Arnav and Karan simultaneously and confirmed what Karan had just discovered - Shyam's latest call had come from the vicinity of the flat he and Anjali had been building in Greater Kailash, South Delhi. Karan and Arnav had decided to split and conquer - Karan had chosen to reconnoiter around the flat area whereas Arnav had drawn the straw for the farmhouse.
One of Karan's team members had asked the security watchman whether his "friend" Shyam Jha lived there. The watchman had said that Shyam ji had been in his 8th floor flat most of the day. It was almost time for the watchman's break and when his attention was diverted, Karan and his two team members slipped into the building.
*****
I hope everyone likes and enjoys this edition of "Trial by fire". I thank all my readers for your encouraging words, your PMs and Likes. Please continue to comment and share what you liked about the story, the writing so that I can improve and continue to provide an entertaining story.
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