Mirage #4 NEW NOTE Pg 146 18/2/2013 - Page 25

"Aman, where are you right now?" Arnav growled over the phone, trying to control his spiralling temper.

"Arnav Bhai, I'm at the headquarters." Aman lied. Little did he know that Arnav had been secretly following him all along the way.

"Meet me at Exit 65 immediately." Arnav ordered his best friend. Lies! Once more Aman had lied to him. He had left Arnav with no other choice than to deal with him the hard way.

"But why?" Aman asked curiously, wondering what was going on.

"We have some unfinished business." Arnav replied back before disconnecting the call. Luckily, since his bike was out for repair, he had brought along his car with him and now, it looked like it was indeed going to be useful. Starting the engine, he sped off in the opposite direction, using the alternate and the fastest way to reach exit 65 that headed towards the National Highway for Rohtak.

From Aman's brother, he had only come to know that his whole family had been held hostage for the past three months and that Aman was being blackmailed by Shyam. But why was it, he couldn't figure it out. However, he was determined to find it out before Thursday and do the best he could to rescue his friend's family.

Deathly silence hung around them, as they stared into the oblivion, avoiding each other's gazes without uttering a single word. Khushi didn't know how long they had remained silent, but she was too shocked at the revealation to react to it.

"I think I should call Arnav." She finally spoke, breaking the unnerving silence between them. Khalid didn't try to stop her. He was too overwhelmed and numbed by what he had learnt in the past few minutes. How else could he react, knowing that the son of the woman he had loved the most, who was presumed dead until now, was that same Arnav who he had been living with for the last decade?

His Aarti's son? A part of her own blood, left for him so that her presence wouldn't be missed? What had his cruel fate conspired with his life?

As Khushi rung Arnav's number, she was responded with the service message that the user was outside the network coverage. "I can't reach him." She declared sitting down on the couch, trying it once again.

"I didn't know he was Aarti's son." Khalid spoke looking at her, his eyes lost in an entire different era. "He was there with me all these years and yet, I couldn't recognise him. His eyes, he has his mother's eyes. He was just like his mother, innocent, kind hearted, loving and look what I've turned him into. Aarti would never forgive me for this."

For the first time, Khushi sympathised with the elder man, feeling sorry for him. The gravity of the revelation was so immense that she couldn't fathom it. "Atleast he was with his father all these years. He had you, he wasn't alone." Khushi consoled him, holding his shoulder.

"I'm not his father." Khalid replied, looking at her.

"What? But you said, you loved his mother." Khushi replied in utter confusion.

"He is my younger brother's son. Abbas Malik's son." Khalid declared, letting out a sigh as she stared at him stupefied at the latest revelation.

"Arnav Bhai, why did you call me here?" Aman asked, peeping inside the car.

"Get in." Arnav barked and his friend relented silently and sat in, and within a minute, Arnav shifted the gear to drive mode and sped off.

"Where are we going?" Aman demanded frustrated with Arnav after only receiving back silence from him. For the next thirty minutes, neither of them spoke until suddenly Aman eyes fell on the direction boards above the roads and instantly realised that they were heading to Rohtak, his home.

"Why are we going to Rohtak?" Aman panicked, looking sideways. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Arnav felt enormous fury ignite inside him and he pressed the break pedal hard, causing them to jerk forward with the sudden change in inertia and swiveled the car at the edge of the road, stopping at a muddy patch.

"Why didn't you say anything Aman?" Arnav demanded through his gritted teeth, grabbing Aman's collar. "Why are you lying to me? You call me Bhai right? Every Diwali you take me to your house. Why? Because you consider me a part of your family, don't you? Then why are you hiding things from your brother?"

"What are you talking about?" Aman spoke frightenedly trying to avoid Arnav's eyes.

"Aman, don't pretend. Why didn't you tell me that your family is kidnapped and Shyam is threatening you?" Arnav screamed loudly, shaking him violently.

Aman felt his entire face pale as the words hit him. How had Arnav come to know?

"Why is that bloody rascal behind you? Why are you letting him control you?" Arnav added, letting him go, trying to calm himself.

Now it was Aman turn to burst out.

"Bhai! I didn't tell you because I feared your anger. Once you lose it, you cannot control yourself and I cannot afford it." Aman shouted back, as he finally let himself break down. He was tired of it, tired of handling everything all alone without a support, tired of trying to save everyone's life. He was exhausted to death and couldn't shoulder the burden anymore.

"Aman?" Arnav stared in shock as he found his friend weeping in front of him. Aman had never cried, atleast he couldn't remember any instance in the past and now, when he did, he was too shocked to react.

"Bhai! Shyam wants to kill you and he has been blackmailing me to help him, holding my family hostage for the last three months. He's the traitor. He has been working with some Ramcharan Das who wants to pull down Khalid Bhai. But before that they want to take you down." Aman confessed, burying his face in his hands as he let out all those tears of guilt wash out of him.

Arnav stared in horror at his friend as the revelation dawned upon him.

He was the target. They were planning to kill him. His best friend, his brother was planning to kill him?

Everything fell into pieces. The puzzle was complete. That was why Shyam was seen in Guwahati. He was working for that drug peddlar Ramcharan Das.

"Bhai, I'm so sorry. I was scared and I didn't know what to do. I was behind all those attacks on you. They forced me to reveal your schedules at gun point telling that if I didn't cooperate, they would kill my family. He said he would rape my baby sister." Aman shattered completely, letting out every bit of information he had hidden from Arnav all these months.

"I handed the gun to you that day, praying that you would defend yourself atleast. And when you called me saying that you were badly injured, I felt like killing myself for what I did. That day at Shimla, I directed you to that antique shop so that you could collect the package that contained a gun to defend yourself. That was the only thing I could do Bhai! I'm sorry. I have failed you." Aman cried out.

"Aman..." Arnav held his friend's shoulder, trying to console him. Yes, he was angry but the current plight of his friend moved him. Aman had done all this for his family. Wouldn't he do the same if it was Khushi? Ofcourse, if any day there came a situation in which he had to choose between his friend and Khushi, it would always be Khushi. How could he judge his best friend then?

"Aman, look at me. Don't cry like this. Calm down. We will sort it out one by one. I promise." Arnav assured him, holding his hand.

"Bhai, I tried everything I could to deflect you from their aim. I tried to steal that Kashyap file from you and hand it over to them, thinking that Khalid Bhai would be angry at you and kick you out of the gang so that your life will be spared. That's why I was angry at you when you told me about your other plans for that file. I lost my cool because I was dying thinking about ways to protect you and you were making it hard for me. I'm sorry it reached till this stage. I thought if I told you everything, you would get angry and mess it up for me. I cannot afford to lose my family." Aman said, looking up with bloodshot moistened eyes.

Arnav felt his entire form engulf with a creepy chill thinking about how he would have been tortured and killed if he didn't come to know about this plan right now. At one side, he wanted to thrash Aman black and blue for even thinking about plotting his murder, but on the other side, his entire helplessness tore his heart.

"Aman, we will save your family. That is our priority right now. That's why we are going to Rohtak right now to meet your brother. He will be useful to locate your family. Don't worry." Arnav assured him once again, as he turned to face the road.

"Arnav Bhai, I'm really sorry. Even God won't forgive me for this." Aman pleaded, with guilty eyes.

"I'm not God. I'm your best friend and friends forgive each other, don't they?" Arnav faintly smiled at him. "Now, we are going to your house." he said as he drove forward to join the main road. He had no idea how they were going to plan all of this but he somehow hoped he could do it before it was too late.

"Arnav's phone is still unreachable." Khushi said in an exasperated tone, as she dialled the number for the seventh time.

"Did he tell you where he went?" Khalid asked, taking out his own phone.

"I don't know." Khushi replied wondering if she should tell him that Arnav had gone stalking after Aman, but then decided it was not the apt time. After hearing the entire truth from Khalid Bhai, her head was reeling. This was one huge mess and she couldn't handle it.

Arnav! Where are you? She murmured to herself, wondering how he would react to all this. How would he feel when he would come to know that the world that he was desparately trying to run away from was his origin? That he was a criminal's son?

Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about him. It was too painful to see him breakdown everytime like this. Just when he would try to gather the shards of his life and join it all together, he would be shattered once again. How could life be so cruel to one person? Why did Arnav have to suffer all this?

Was happiness never written for either of them?

"Khalid Bhai." Khushi called out, wiping away her moistened eyes. "Do you really love Arnav's mother?"

"Ofcourse I do. She meant everything to me. She was my first and the last love. I can never bear to give that special status in my heart to anyone else for the rest of my life." He replied, wondering where this was leading to.

"Do you love Arnav?" Khushi asked once again.

"I do. I promised his mother that I would love him like my own son. Maybe I hadn't known all these years that he was Aarti's son, but Arnav has always been like a son to me." Khalid confessed.

"Then give him his freedom." Khushi pleaded, holding her hands together.

"Khushi..." He interrupted, unable to grasp what she was saying.

"Khalid Bhai, Arnav doesn't want to live a criminal's life. He wants to be normal for once. He deserves it and only you can give his freedom to him. Set him free. He hasn't discussed it with you yet, but after our honeymoon, we are planning to permanently shift to Bangkok. Abbas..." Khushi gulped at the irony of the situation. "said he would arrange for Arnav to shift there. Khalid Bhai, would Arnav's mother be happy to see her son live this life? Please..."

Khalid closed his eyes as once again her memories flashed in his mind.

"Why won't you let me meet your son Aarti?" Khalid asked, holding her hand as they sat in the coffee shop on of the evenings after her work.

"Khalid, I don't want him to know his father or anyone related to him. I don't want him to know that his father didn't want him. I don't want him to feel unwanted in any way. He's innocent and won't be able to handle the truth. All these years, I lied to him saying that his father was away at work. He used to ask me for his photo, his name, anything. But how could I tell him that his father just used me and threw me away from his life when he was done with it? " Aarti replied in a low voice, feeling utter disgust and hatred for the father of her child.

And that day, he had decided that it was time for him to marry her and provide her the love and respect that she was denied all these years. That was the day he had decided to take the responsibility of his brother's son and give him the father's love that had been snatched away from him.

"He will never be like Abbas. He is only your son. Aarti Singh Raizada's son."

Khalid focussed on the present as a strange sense of fear gripped him.

What if Arnav would hate him after knowing the truth? How was he going to explain to him about his paternity?

Abbas!

What would be Abbas's reaction? He didn't even have an idea about Arnav. The fact that Aarti had chosen to keep his child was hidden from him.

But why was he planning to take Arnav to Bangkok when he clearly knew his elder brother needed him? Had he already come to know the truth? Everything was a mess right now, and he couldn't figure the heads or the tails. And looking at the face beside him, he was only greeted with helpless eyes pleading him for the freedom of the man she loved.

In a matter of two hours, they managed to reach Aman's house in Rohtak. Ringing the door bell, Aman shouted, banging the door. "Jeet, it's me. Open the door." He announced and soon, they heard footsteps and the door opened to reveal a frightened looking Jeet staring at them.

"Aman Bhai! I thought it was them once again." He stammered as he let the two of them inside the house.

"Jeet, How are you?" Arnav asked concernedly, holding his shoulder. The signs of the torture he had endured for the past few months was evident on his face and Arnav felt sorry for this young boy. That bloody Shyam was going to pay for every single harm he had inflicted on these innocent people, he swore to himself.

"I'm alright now." Jeet replied.

"Ok, so now we will need your help. I need some information from you. Do you remember where they had kept you captive? Can you describe the place?" Arnav asked him.

"Bhai, I don't remember the location of that place. Those men had blindfolded us when they took us and also when they sent me back. But it was a long journey. Around two hours long. We were kept in an old house in the middle of the jungle. There was no one else in the vicinity." Jeet began describing the entire experience.

"How many men were there?" Arnav asked the second question, racking his mind to come up with a jungle that was located two hours away from Delhi and Rothak.

"Around six of them. We were bundled up in two rooms. Amma and my sisters were segregated from Babu and me. We hardly got to see each other the whole time." Jeet said, trying to remember the exact details. But the terror associated with those memories was hampering his thinking. "They had guns with them, similar to the ones you both carry."

"Do you remembering seeing anything else outside the house? Any mountains or hills nearby? Or any river? Anything?" Arnav resumed questioning.

"No Bhai, it was fully covered with trees. We could hardly see anything around us." Jeet explained, getting frustrated with himself for not being useful.

"Wait!" he suddenly jumped, as something rushed to his mind. "Every morning at around 7 and at 5 in the evening, we used to hear train noise. It used to pass somewhere nearby the house. In a quiet surrounding, that was the only noisy distraction."

"That's it. Thank you Jeet. You have been really helpful." Arnav patted his back, standing up to head towards the main door, while Aman followed him. "I guess I know where your family is." He told Aman.

"What?" Aman stared at him dumbfounded.

"There is Mahapaatra jungle 60 kilometres from this place situated somewhere north of Delhi. I have been there a long time ago. That's the only jungle where the trains pass through. Now that jungle is quite huge and there are so many railway tracks that go through it. All we have to do is find out which trains are scheduled at 7 am and 5 pm. I want you to go and find it out. In the meanwhile, I'll go back to Delhi and arrange for backup. There's going to be a huge bloodbath tomorrow. They have weapons and we cannot enter their den without precautionary measures. Jeet has only seen some of the men and since tomorrow is 'the day', more men might move in to that place." Arnav explained to Aman.

"Bhai, are you sure about this?" Aman asked him, fearing for his family's safety. He knew that with one wrong move everything would be finished.

"Aman, trust me. You are in this mess because of me and I will bring you out of this mess now. Tonight, you stay here with Jeet. We will be moving in tomorrow morning at the dawn. I'll see you then. Bye!" Arnav patted him and walked towards his car, as his mind busily hatched a plan for tomorrow.

"Ramcharan Das?"

The owner of the name turned around to face the owner of the voice that called his name. "Who are you?" he asked irritated, setting aside his glass of alcohol on the table as he relaxed in one of the popular bars of Delhi.

"I'm Abbas Malik." Abbas smirked, holding forward his hand while the other man suddenly jerked from his place hearing the name. "Malik?" the drug peddlar repeated to make sure he had heard it right.

"Yes, and no need for weapons. I don't want to create any unnecessary scene here." Abbas replied, gesturing with his eyes as Ramcharan reached out for the gun in his pants.

"Why have you come here then?" Ramcharan asked suspiciously.

"To make some friends." Abbas replied as he forcefully grabbed the younger man's hand and shook it. "Coz I heard enemies of the enemies make good friends." He flashed an evil smile.

"What do you want?" Ramcharan asked, as his cunning and shrewd mind began to work intensely.

"Whatever it is, that you want." Abbas replied taking a seat beside him. "Khalid Malik dead."

"Oh!" Ramcharan exclaimed nodding his head while he smiled back at Abbas. "I see it's a case of blood turning traitors. What's in it for me?"

"I heard you wanted to rule over Delhi? I want my brother's business. You kill him and I'll shift the entire business to Bangkok and you will have Delhi all to yourself."

"But I'm already going to get that. I don't need your assistance." Ramcharan replied sharply, turning back to his drink.

"I might have something that would help you out with tomorrow's plan. A backup." Abbas grinned, while Ramcharan choked on his drink to look back at him. "How...?"

"How do I know this?" Abbas hummed. "I have my spies. Don't worry, I won't reveal it to my elder brother. As I said, I want him dead as much as you do." He added and whispered his secret deal in Ramcharan's ears.

Abbas thanked his luck that was finally favouring him as Ramcharan accepted the deal.

It had all begun with him finding out about the will. After that, somehow, his instincts had told him to send out his men to spy on Arnav and there he had discovered the entire Pandora's Box. Everything had come to his notice, the entire dirty plan that was being plotted right under his nose. Somehow, his spies had ended up stalking Shyam more than Arnav resulting in this accidental discovery that had for a minute, left him panic striken and terrorised.

Abbas knew that if his brother was going down by Ramcharan Das, he would go down too. And that's why he had decided to shake hands with his enemy and turn him into his friend. If Delhi was the price he had to pay for his survival, he was ready for it.

And that was not all that he had discovered. He had discovered a much more important secret, something that would be his trump card, something that he could hold as bait for Das. And that something had got a lot to do with Arnav's and Khushi's court marriage that would be held in two days.

Khushi Gupta.

CHAPTER 59