ARIYA SS: Dil De Diya...Chapter8 LAST page 29 - Page 12

Chapter 5

Arjun wasted no time in telling Sameer about his findings on Riya's relationship status. He was so happy that he couldn't contain his happiness. He wanted to present his heart out to her as soon as possible, but he wasn't getting the time. The whole week was busy with cases and tiresome field works.

It was Saturday morning and the ETF team was busy with their office work when all their phones buzzed at a time.

They all immediately assembled in the conference room to discuss about the new emergency case.

Some terrorists had attacked St. Peter's Primary School and taken control over it. They held the students and teachers of the school as hostages. They had killed the security guards of the school, but hadn't demand anything yet. The Media had already got this news. This was a really sensitive and high profile case as the lives of kids were involved. So the commissioner decided to hand it over to ETF.

Rathore briefed the case to the team. The name St. Peter's Primary School caught Arjun's attention. He had heard or read that name somewhere just recently. He tried to recall it and in an instant it clicked in his head. St. Peter's Primary School, it was Aaliya's school. That means Aaliya is one of the hostages! Arjun was numb. An unknown fear gripped him. His forehead creased in tension and his got heart filled with worry.

Rathore noticed it and was about to ask Arjun, but just then someone barged into the office and knocked on the conference room door. All heads turned to look at the door. Everyone except Arjun were shocked to see her there. Somehow he had anticipated it. She looked stern and there was a firmness in her. Shree was the first one to get out of the shock.

'Ri!!!', Shree called confused.

Riya had been in touch with Shree since she left ETF five years back. But since almost more than a month she cut the complete contact with him. She changed her number, she deactivated her FB account. She just vanished from his life. And today seeing her here all of a sudden he was hell shocked.

Riya looked at Shree and Chotu and gave a slight smile. She remembered all her old ETF days, and the masti and fun time she spent with both of them. But she brushed all these thoughts aside. Now was not the time.

'Riya tum yaha?', Rathore asked finally getting out of the shock.

'Sir', she said and without any invitation walked straight towards Rathore. She stood in front of him and held out an envelope to him.

Rathore looking confused took the envelope from her hand. Arjun followed her every move. Although he was also a bit confused about the envelope thing, he had a slight idea about it. Rathore after reading the contents of the letter inside, looked at Riya. She stood there composed with a firmness on her face.

'Okay', Rathore said to her.

'Team', he said looking towards everyone. As soon as Rathore announced "Team" to everyone, Arjun's doubt was confirmed. 'Miss Riya Mukherjee humare sath iss case par kam karegi', Rathore said.

'Par Rathore..', Arjun tried to object but Rathore cut him off.

'She has permission from commissioner sir to specially work on this case', Rathore said firmly and it silenced Arjun. Even though it was risky he didn't protest further because he knew her reasons to do this. It was the matter of her daughter's security.

One hour earlier:

As it was Saturday, it was a holiday for Riya. She had dropped Aaliya to the school and now was busy with the household chores. It was 9.30 in the morning. She cleaned the kitchen, made a coffee for herself and sat in front of the TV. She flipped through the channels when a headline of BREAKING NEWS caught her eye. She stopped and listened carefully.

'Khabar mili hai ki St. Peter's Primary School me kuch aatankvaadiyon ne hamla kar diya hai', The coffee mug dropped from Riya's hand on listening to the reporter. Her eyes widened in fear. 'School ke bacchon aur teachers ko un logo ne bandi bana liya hai. Par unki mange kya hai, yeh ab tak pata nahi chal paya hai.', the reporter said. Riya looked at the screen and observed that the reporter was indeed standing before the school building. It looked deserted except the police officers outside the building.

Aaliya! Riya was scared. What if something happens to...? the thought itself made her tremble. NO! She is fine. I know she is fine. Her heart assured her, but still she was scared out of her wits.

'Jaise ki aap dekh sakte hai, police ne school ko gher liya hai. Par kyuki yeh bacchon ki jaan ka sawal hai, police bhi koi action nahi le pa rahi hai. Khabar mili hai ke Commissioner sahab ne yeh case ETF ko dene ka faisla kiya hai', the reporter announced.

Riya switched the TV off and stood up. She knew what she had to do. She got changed in a minute and rushed out of the house. She immediately got into her car and drove towards the commissioner's office. After all she was an ETF officer once, she couldn't just sit and watch her daughter's life in danger. She would do whatever possible to save Aaliya and all the kids there.

Riya was a great and an efficient officer before she left ETF. And though she had distanced herself from ETF, she never distanced herself from the officer within her. In all these five years she never stopped her training and practicing while she was in USA. After all it was her dream to be a police officer. So how could she just leave the dream. She was still the same efficient ETF officer Miss. Riya Mukherjee, that she had been five years back. In fact, even better now.

So she didn't have much difficulty to convince the commissioner and getting the permission from him to work on this case. As soon as she got the permission, she straight away rushed towards the ETF office.

[Okay, I don't know if this is practically possible or not, but I needed Riya to join for this case in my story. So please bear with me]

Present:

The ETF team reached the school. The police officers there briefed them about the situation till now. Commissioner also reached there. Just then Rathore's phone buzzed showing an unknown number. The team got alert and they clustered together to hear the call as Shree connected it on the laptop.

'Helloo.. .ACP Rathore!', a rough voice on the other end said with attitude filled in it. 'Pehchana?', the terrorist asked.

'Kaun ho tum? Aur kya chahte ho?', Rathore roared in anger.

'Altaf yaad hai?', he asked.

Altaf! 'Altaf ko toh ETF ne hi che mahine pehle giraftar kiya tha', Arjun hushed to Rathore.

'Haa yaad hai, wohi jisko ETF ne giraftar kiya tha', Rathore answered in the phone.

'Good. Kafi acchi yaadasht hai!', he said sarcastically. 'Hume Altaf teen ghanto ke andar yaha chahiye, humaare sath, bina hathkadiyon ke... Varna tum toh jante hi ho ki hum kya kar sakte hai'.

'Tum jo bhi ho, bach nahi paaoge', Rathore warned him.

He laughed evilly and said, 'Shayad tum bhool rahe ho Rathore, bacchon ki jaan humaare hathon mein hai. Aur mujhe yakeen hai,... ki tum humaare ek aadmi ke liye, in sab ko qurbaan nahi karna chahoge' and the call went dead.

Arjun's blood boiled in anger at the terrorist's threat and he balled his fist in frustration. But then Aaliya's face flashed in front of him and he calmed himself down.

'Ye Altaf toh wohi hai na, jise humne Mumbai me terror activities failane ke liye pakda tha?', Arjun asked Shree.

'You are right sir, Altaf iss organization ka leader hai. Bohot se illegal kamo me involved hai. Drugs mafias se bhi contacts hai uske aur Mumbai me illegally arms smuggle karta hai. Pichle saal Mumbai me jo blast hua tha, usme bhi isika hath tha. ETF ne isse che mahine pehle pakda tha aur agle hafte isse phasi hone wali hai Sir', Riya answered giving all the information she gathered in those few minutes during the call.

Arjun and Rathore looked at Riya proudly. Even after five years she was as efficient as she had been then.

'Rathore bacchon ko kuch nahi hona chahiye', Commissioner said.

'Don't worry sir, hum bacchon ko kuch nahi hone denge', Rathore said looking at his team.

'Aur jaha tak ho sake, hume iss Altaf ko unke hawale nahi karna hai', Commissioner said.

'Hum puri koshish karenge sir', Rathore said and the commissioner left.

'Shree', Arjun turned to Shree. 'I am sure in logo ne yaha ke cameras deactivate kar diye honge, kya tum school ka security system hack kar sakte ho?'

'Ho jayega Sir, par thodi der lagegi', Shree answered.

'Ok, just activate those cameras again, aur waha unke kitne log hai aur unki locations, we need to know', Arjun said.

'Ha, is waqt unhe pakdna humaare liye secondary hai. Sabse pehle hume bacchon aur teachers ko waha se safely bahar nikalna hai.', Rathore said to the team.

'You are right Rathore, ek baar bacche sahi salamat ho, toh in logo ko hum apne tareeke se sambhal lenge', Arjun said with anger and disgust clearly evident on his face.

'Chotu, mujhe is school building ka plan aur blue prints chahiye. Jitni jaldi ho sake', Arjun ordered Chotu.

'Yes sir', he said and left.

'Hume inki movements ka pata lagana hoga. Rawate, tum aur Riya, go from the left side of the building and I will take a right', Rathore ordered and they left for their assigned tasks.

Arjun and Riya sprinted towards the left side of the building. Holding out their guns they carefully moved sticking to the wall. Just then someone tried to attack them from behind the corner, but Arjun swiftly covered his mouth, twisted his neck and he lay motionless on the ground without any noise. Moving forward they reached the backside of the building. No one else seemed there. They started to scan the building for any signs of movements through their binoculars.

'Sir, wo rahe bacche', Riya said pointing towards room at corner of the second floor. Though she tried to hide it, her voice somehow shook while informing this, but Arjun noticed it.

Arjun stole a sideway glance at Riya, she seemed tensed. He immediately looked through his binoculars and found the kids. He could see two masked men there.

'Waha do log dikhai de rahe hai', Arjun said.

'Wo school ka auditorium hai sir, kafi bada hai, isliye yaha se kehna mushkil hai ki waha kitne aadmi honge', Riya snapped back immediately. Arjun looked at her, but she seemed oblivious to his glare. She was still looking through the binocular.

'Rathore we found them', Arjun talked through his transmitter. 'Bacche second floor par school ke auditorium me hai. Par kehna mushkil hai ki waha aur kitne log hai'

'Ok Rawate, yaha par bhi kuch movements hai. Shree school ka system hack kar raha hai, till then keep a watch', Rathore said.

'Riya, tumhe kuch andaaza hai ki andar bacche kitne honge?', Arjun asked but didn't get a reply from her. He looked at her and found her searching intently through her binocular. Her forehead was creased with worry. Arjun knew she was looking for Aaliya up there. Even he was bloody tensed for Aaliya, but he knew she was safe till now.

Arjun placed a comforting hand on Riya's shoulder which caught her attention. She turned to look at him with an apologetic look.

'Sorry sir. Yes sir, around 120 students', she answered him quickly before he could ask her anything. He wanted to comfort her and assure her that everything will be fine, but he decided against it and remained silent.

'Sir, Rathore sir ke mobile par ek aur call aa raha hai', Shree's voice spoke through the transmitter. Arjun and Riya ran immediately back towards ETF SUV where Shree sat with his equipments.

'ACP Rathore, I hope ab tak Altaf ki azaadi ke orders de diye gaye honge aur usse yaha lane ki karwai shuru ho gayi hogi?', the terrorist asked.

'Iss process me waqt lagta hai', Rathore replied firmly.

'Waqt hi toh nahi hai tumhare pass Rathore. Ab pichla adha ghana is area ka scanning karne me bitakar, tumne jo apna aur humaara time waste kiya hai, uski kuch toh saza tumhe milni chahiye na?', he said.

'Kya matlab?', Rathore asked.

'Count five Rathore', he said sarcastically. '5...4...3...2...Boom'

BOOM

A Blast was heard and the ETF team rushed towards it.

Phew...that's it for today. I know, I know I am terrible with the cases and all.🤢 But please bear with my non sense and loopholes.

So all the jootis and tamatars are most welcome! 😉

Please leave your comments 😊