Mirage #4 NEW NOTE Pg 146 18/2/2013 - Page 43

"What do you mean they are gone?" Ramcharan Das barked furiously over his phone, his eyes seething with inferno. He should have known that Shyam was upto no good. But he didn't have a choice either. Shyam had been the easiest to infiltrate from the Maliks gang.

"I don't know Bhai, how did that b*stard find out the location. And that too, he attacked when the men were asleep. They were hardly prepared for the attack." Shyam replied, wiping off the sweat from his brow. His plan had backfired. Aman's family was out of his clutches and now, he didn't have any bait to lure Arnav into his trap.

And on the other side, Das was mightily pissed off with him. "Bhai, you don't worry. I'll do something." Shyam tried to convince him, but Das disconnected the call without responding back. He knew he had to let go of Shyam. That boy was as good as dead since Arnav Singh knew of his intentions and the entire Malik gang would now be after him. Was it time to retreat back to Guwahati? He was still pondering over his options when he heard someone knocking at the door.

"Ramcharan Das!" Das craned his neck towards the door at the voice. "We meet again." Abbas announced with a crooked smile on his face. "And I have someone for you." And Das looked up to see a young girl being dragged into the room, pulled by her hair. Her mouth and hands were taped and he could clearly see her struggling to free herself from the elder man's grip.

"This is Khushi Gupta. Arnav Singh's fianc." Abbas said and the drug peddler's lips curved upwards in an evil smile at the sight of his backup plan.

o0o

"Bhai, did you get information about where he is?" Aman asked, disconnecting the call he had been conversing for the past two minutes.

"No, looks like those men informed him about us and now, he has gone into hiding. I guess he never expected us to rescue your family at the last minute." Arnav replied, staring at the doors of Shyam's house. They had driven all the way to his house to finish him off but when they had arrived, they had found it locked. "Coward! Doesn't have guts to come face to face with me." He sneered, clenching his fists.

"Now what do we do? We cannot let him go that easily." Aman said, wondering where Shyam could be hiding right now.

"I asked all my contacts and told them to look for him. Someone will find him. We just have to wait. Do you think he has gone to Das for protection?" Arnav answered back.

"You mean his hideout? Bhai, if that's the case, we cannot enter there. We'll be finished. From what I've heard Das is powerful and we cannot attack him in his den. And our other rivals who live in that colony might mistake that we have come to attack them too. We are calling unwanted trouble if we step in there." Aman replied, pondering deeply over it.

"Then we need to provoke them and bring them out of their hiding. I guess, it is time to call Khalid Bhai and inform everything about it. This Das needs to be either finished or driven away from here before it's too late." Saying so, Arnav dialed Khalid Bhai's number, waiting eagerly for the elder man to lift the phone. But even after an entire minute of ringing, the call wasn't received.

"What happened?" Aman asked, seeing the disappointment on his best friend's face.

"He's not answering the call. I'll try once again." Arnav replied but once again received the same response. "Looks like we have to go and visit his house." And Aman nodded his head in approval before they started the car and sped off towards their Boss's house.

o0o

Khalid Malik stood outside the posh apartment of his younger brother, staring at the luxuriously carved teak wood doors, wondering if he should go inside. He had rarely visited his brother's house, often Abbas himself dropping by to visit him at the Malik Mansion. He wasn't even sure why he was here. All that he knew was that his younger brother and he needed to talk about certain things, things that weren't spoken about until now for the fear of the havoc that would be caused in their lives if they spoke a word about it.

The elder man leaned forward and inhaling a deep breath, pressed the door bell and waited for response. After a couple of seconds, the door slowly opened and a young woman, who looked like the housemaid, peeped outside.

"Khalid Saab," she acknowledged, opening the door wide, recognizing him instantly as the owner's elder brother. "Abbas Saab is not at home. He left early in the morning." She replied timidly, letting the unexpected visitor in.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" Khalid asked her, wondering where his brother had disappeared to in such early hours of morning.

"I don't know. He didn't say anything." She said, rushing to the kitchen to bring some coffee for the elder man.

"Then, I shall wait for him here." He replied sitting down on the plush leather sofa.

The entire room was filled with unnerving silence and getting a bit uncomfortable with it, he decided to get up and stroll across the room, his eyes taking in every little bit of details. Walking towards the table at the corner of the room, his eyes fell on a set of papers lying on top of it. Curiosity taking over him, he took those papers in his hand and began reading them. They were some legal documents of his business.

Brushing it aside, he was about to turn around, when suddenly, his eyes fell on a name scribbled on a sticky note.

R. Das- 9672766221

Rangeela bar, Alibaugh Road.

Khalid's eyes widened at the sight of the name scribbled. R. Das. No, it couldn't be.

Ramcharan Das? But why would his brother have that drug peddler's phone number and address? Maybe it was another person.

But Khalid Malik had been in this underworld business for more than thirty years now and he could smell even the faintest of trouble and his experience with people was now telling him that everything was not right in his paradise. His shrewd little brother might be on to something. Was Abbas in some sort of trouble?

He had no idea, but he had to find out as soon as possible.

To find out more, Khalid was about to call up one of his men, when he noticed the missed calls on his phone and realized that it was in the silent mode since morning. Sighing out loudly for his forgetful memory, he checked the list and noticed that there were atleast five missed calls from Arnav. Wondering what was up with him, he decided to call him back. For a minute, Khalid feared wondering whether Arnav had come to know the truth about his father. Had Khushi not been able to withhold it from him?

Feeling a bit apprehensive, he decided to go ahead with the call, ready for whatever was about to come.

With two rings, the call was picked. "Hello Arnav, you called me up?" he said with a serious tone, not wanting to disclose his inner feelings.

"Khalid Bhai, we need your help right now." He heard Arnav reply and something about his voice conveyed that the boy was in deep trouble.

o0o

"Shyam?"

"Das Bhai?" Shyam asked in a terrified voice, afraid of the drug peddler's reaction. After he had come to know that there was a high possibility that Arnav was after his life and with Das abandoning him at the most crucial point, he had run away to his cousin's house in Chandni Chowk. Since nobody in the gang had known about the existence of this particular cousin, he felt it would be safe to reside with him until he could devise another plan for his safety.

"Redeem yourself. I have one last task for you. Can you do it?" he heard Das's voice over the phone.

"Yes Bhai, I'll do it." Shyam replied eagerly, knowing that only Das could protect him now. "What is it?"

"I want you to come out in the open, so that Arnav locates you and then, I want you to lead him to our new place of action. He is going to come after you to extract his revenge, but keep yourself alive until you reach there. After that, I'll take care of him. Can you do it?" Das asked, knowing very well that Shyam would do it after weighing on his only option left for his safety.

"Yes, Bhai." Shyam replied and disconnected the call. This was indeed his last chance. Maybe if Das had some other plan to finish off Arnav, it would be better than staying in hiding like this from Arnav for the rest of his life. Someday, they had to die and it would be good for him if Arnav was the first one to end up in hell.

He turned around to grab his car keys, but suddenly clenched his fists over the edge of the table as rage spiraled inside him. What had his fate reduced him into?

He couldn't let Arnav win. That man deserved to be tortured, finished and sent to ashes. That same man who reminded about him about the failures in his life everytime he saw his face.

Arnav Singh stood for everything in life that he either feared or despised. He was that man who stole his success every single time, who made him feel like an utter failure in his life. The man who opened up deeply engraved wounds of his past. And Shyam Jha, leaned back his head, closing his eyes as the memories of his past flashed in his mind.

"You are nothing but a failure. You don't understand the meaning of responsibility. I wonder what sins I had done in my past life to have a good for nothing son like you!"

"Mr. Sharma's son is working in an MNC in USA. He is earning millions in a year. He has also retired leaving all his responsibilities to his son. What have you done? Nothing! Is this why I had invested so much on your education?"

The painful words of his father pierced through his veins as he lowered his head in shame.

"Shyam Jha! Get out of my house right now! Don't show me your face again."

The memories of his past still hurt him, as the voice of his father still boomed in his ears.

"Shyam Jha is it? Since you are new to this place, you will work under Arnav Singh. Do everything that he says. You shall not question his any order."

He could still hear Khalid Malik's voice when he first joined the Malik gang.

"Arnav Singh is the best man of my gang. You won't find a professional like him anywhere. Everyone! Cheers to this boy. Even at the age of 23, he's the most hardworking and responsible amongst us."

Khalid Malik had announced, at one of their celebration parties, as all people in their gang heralded the young boy as the future leader of their gang.

"You are nothing but a failure."

"He's the most hardworking and responsible."

"Ahhh!" Shyam banged his fist on the table, gritting his teeth furiously. Only he knew how much he despised that man.

No, he couldn't let him win. Arnav Singh had to die. That b*stard didn't even have a place in a respectable society. Then how could he let him win and take over the Malik's money, when he had struggled for it for the past few years.

Today would be the end of Arnav Singh and he would see to it himself. And determined to take it ahead, he picked the keys lying on the table and stormed out of the room.

o0o

Arnav looked at his mobile seeing a familiar number flash on his phone as they were on their way to Khalid Maliks' house . Stopping the car on the roadside, he lifted the call. "Yes?"

The voice on the other side began to fill him with an important piece of information. Arnav nodded his head. "Yeah, that will do." He replied and disconnected the call.

"What is it?" Aman enquired curiously.

"Shyam. He's been traced at Chandni Chowk. We are going there." Arnav announced and sped off his car.

Within ten minutes, they reached the spot where his informer had spotted Shyam Jha. They saw him getting inside his car. Both the men were seething with fury at the sight of the man who had caused the entire mess in their life and wanted to finish him right then and there. But since it was crowded area, they decided to follow his car stealthily and corner him in some less crowded area.

The journey was a bit longer than they had expected. Shyam had driven to the highway and was heading out of the city.

"Where is he going?" Aman asked, wondering what that man was upto.

"I don't know." Arnav replied and realizing that this was the perfect moment, he pressed the accelerator and began to close in the distance between them. Suddenly, he noticed that Shyam took an exit and was now heading towards some interior deserted area. "Aman, where does this road lead to?"

"This road goes to the Kalwar hillside." Aman replied and they drove deeper into the muddy road that was surrounded by huge wild trees on either sides of it. Suddenly, the road opened to a plain ground and Shyam's car halted right in the middle of it.

Just then, Arnav heard his phone ringing once again. His eyes were still focused on the car ahead of him while he lifted the call and heard Khalid Bhai's voice.

And then, he saw them, as a huge number of cars came into the ground towards Shyam's car and stopped beside him. Their sheer number was enough for Arnav to know that something was not right. "Khalid Bhai, we need your help right now." He stammered as the doors of those cars opened and men stepped out of them one by one.

"Where are you?" he heard Khalid Bhai's voice.

"Kalwar hillside, 2 kms from the main exit. Bhai, its Das's men. They are here." Arnav said and the phone dropped from his hand as he saw Shyam step out of the car and walk towards Ramcharan Das, with a wicked smile on his face.

"Arnav Bhai." Arnav felt a warm hand on his shoulder and looked sideways to find Aman with a reassuring face, his one hand already on the trigger of a revolver and Arnav knew what he had to do. They were not cowards. They were going to face their enemies and pull them down and emerge victorious.

Arnav could still feel the cold cartridges lying in his pocket from the earlier shootout. Inhaling a deep breath, he grabbed the revolvers from the backseat of the car and tucking two of them in his belt, he slowly got out of the car, stepping into the battlefield, while Aman followed bravely after him.

"So, this was your entire plan to set me up huh?" Arnav asked calmly, looking at Shyam. He carefully gazed at Das, taking in the sight of the drug peddler clearly. The only time he had seen him was in photographs and indeed, he looked even more vicious and cunning face to face.

"Arnav Singh! The man who dared to go and gun down my men in Guwahati. Applause for that guts." Das clapped loudly, as he stepped forward. "It's a pity you are not on my side. You would have been so useful to me."

"I owe my allegiance to Khalid Malik. I'm not a traitor, unlike some others." Arnav replied, looking at Shyam with disgusted eyes.

"Your confidence impresses me with every passing second. I like it. It's a shame that you have to die before your time. You would have been quite an asset in my gang." Das said, reaching out for his gun in his pocket.

"And your over confidence amuses me." Arnav smirked, as he immediately pulled out his gun and pointed at Das's head. "I was thinking about finishing that traitor off first, but you seemed to have invited your turn before him. Then, so be it."

Arnav was about to pull the trigger and fire the bullet into Das's head, but suddenly, the sight of a yellow salwar kameez in the background caught his eyes and he felt his entire arm paralyze as his eyes slowly focused on that familiar face. She was being brutally dragged by the men and made to forcefully stand on the ground, her mouth and hands taped firmly.

"Khushi!" her name escaped from his lips as his hand stretched out to reach her. It was a moment filled with confusion, panic, fear, rage and protectiveness all at the same time. His legs involuntarily ran to her rescue, but he was stopped by a huge arm on his chest, pushing him backwards.

"One move and she's dead." Das warned him straight forwardly.

"Leave her alone. Don't involve her in this mess." Arnav shot back at him.

"Aww.. lover boy. Now we are talking, aren't we?" Das smiled, as he stepped forward to hold Arnav's collar.

"What do you want?" Arnav roared,withholding his fists that wanted to smash the drug peddler's face, right at the minute. But he controlled, fearing Khushi's life.

"A simple deal. You reveal everything about Malik's business and then, we shoot you down and your lovely girlfriend lives."

F*ck! How had this happened? How had they reached his home and located her? As far as he knew, no one really knew about Khushi. So how did she end up in their hands? Had they already harmed her? No, his mind shut out those horrifying thoughts as he refused to accept her being hurt in any way.

Within a matter of few seconds, things had spun out of control and turned complicated. If Khushi wasn't in the picture, he would have ruthlessly gunned down every single man in front of him, but with her presence, he knew that the game was half lost already. They had attacked on his weakness, his Khushi, the very reason why he had always kept away women from his life. His nightmare was coming alive, as he saw his world crumbling down in front of his eyes.

Khushi felt her heart leap with hope at the sight of Arnav. Somehow, in his presence, she didn't fear anyone. He was her strength and with him around her, she knew she was safe and could fight even the toughest battle. But the drug peddler's words had changed everything. His condition had shocked her to the roots and for the first time, she truly hoped that Arnav didn't love her enough to jeopardize with his life and offer his life for hers.

And tears of helplessness streamed down her eyes.

She had no idea of why she was captured like this. But she could make out that Arnav was being blackmailed amidst all this and they were using her as bait.

However, what puzzled her even more was the involvement of Abbas Malik in all this. Why was he doing this to his own son and his own brother? She looked sideways and found the man sitting silently in the car and enjoying the whole fiasco happening in front of his eyes. He had a sinister smile on his face and then, it dawned upon her what a vicious man he was.

He was betraying his own brother, playing with his life.

Maybe just like how he had played with Arnav's mother's life.

And now, he was playing with his son's life too. How could he? She had to stop him. But how could she? Her mouth was gagged and taped and there was no way to tell him what a big mistake he was about to make.

Hey Devi Maiyya! Help me. Khushi did the only thing possible from her right now. She prayed. And as if the Goddess herself had decided to intervene to save her, she heard bullets fire at her direction and before she knew it, a huge chaos had erupted.

All the men either ducked down or behind the cars as bullets out of nowhere zoomed over their heads. Arnav, Das and Aman too ducked down with confusion and then, they heard that strong loud unmistakable voice issuing orders as another set of cars rolled into the ground.

Khalid Malik, the Don of Delhi Mafia had arrived in style and he was in a mood to show why he ruled Delhi for all these years. Seizing the opportunity, Arnav scampered towards Khushi to rescue her, as shots were fired from either side.

Amidst the chaos, Khushi decided to dodge the men and ran away from them, as fast as her feet could carry her.

With her hands tied behind her back, it was a difficult task, but she knew that it was now or never. Being the only weaponless person, she knew it wasn't wise to stay in the battlefield and hence, ran into the woods, trying to get away from there as far as possible.

Arnav felt a bullet whiz past his ear and momentarily, he ducked down and retrieving out his revolver, he began to shoot down in the direction of the origin of the bullet. But that was enough to distract him, for the next moment, when he turned in Khushi's direction, she was gone, disappeared.

"Khushi!" he screamed out in terror as tears stung his eyes. Had she been? "NO!" he shrieked as he ran around madly searching for her, least bothered about the battle raging behind him.

"Bhai!" Aman screamed loudly running towards his best friend as one of the men aimed at Arnav's back. Immediately, Arnav turned around and before he could get shot, Aman pulled him down and shot at that man, knocking him on the ground.

"Aman, Khushi is not there." Arnav panicked and grabbed his friend's hand.

"Bhai, calm down. Bhabhi must be here somewhere." Aman tried to assure him as he craned his head upwards and looked all around him to find her. "Bhai, you search in that direction. I'll go this way." He added and both the men went off in search of her, their only concern, to find Khushi Gupta.

o0o

Khushi didn't know where she was heading to. All that she knew was that she was scared and vulnerable and needed to get away fromt his place. Yes, that was what Arnav would expect from her, to look after herself first. But at the same time, her heart was pounding with fear thinking about Arnav's safety. What if something happened to him?

She was busy thinking about all this when suddenly, she slammed into a hard chest. Looking up, she saw a pair of charcoal warm eyes staring at her. She didn't know whether to be relieved or scared, but she decided to opt for the first one, as he removed the tape from her mouth.

"Khalid Bhai!" Khushi gasped, as he began to untie her wrists.

"Khushi, how did you end up here?" he asked concernedly, observing all around him to see if any of his enemies had come after him.

She looked up to his eyes, not knowing how to tell him the truth, but it was as if he already knew the answer.

"Abbas Malik!" she replied. "He's after Arnav and I don't think he knows about him." And Khalid nodded his head, as the dreaded reality of his brother seeped into his brain.

o0o

Arnav ran through the woods, desperate to find a single sign of her. Where had she disappeared? Was she still with those men? Had they taken her somewhere?

He was feeling uneasy and wanted to find her as soon as possible. And thus, hurrying through the trees, he was busy looking out for her when he suddenly saw a man standing right in front of his path and recognizing him, he let out a breath of relief.

"Abbas! I didn't know even you had come to help out. Did you see Khushi anywhere?" Arnav asked in a worried voice.

But the man silently trudged forward towards him and standing a few metres away, he instantly lifted a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Arnav's head.

"What are you doing?" Arnav asked, as confusion spread across his face.

"What I should have done long back ago. How is it that a young boy, an orphan, who was picked up by my brother on his death bed, inherits half of Malik Property? 100 million!" Abbas spat on his face, his blood boiling with rage.

"What are you talking about?" Arnav asked, even more perplexed than before.

"Ahh! So you never knew about it huh? It's alright. It must have been my idiotic brother's idea. I'll take care of him later. But you still need to die. I need my property. It's mine. So goodbye boy! Enjoy your ride to hell." Abbas smiled evilly, when suddenly, he heard a voice shout at him.

"Abbas!" the voice roared. But it was too late, as a sound of a bullet being fired echoed through the silent woods.

CHAPTER 61