|| PART 23 ||
Virat's pov from the time he hangs up his call with Manvi and kids:
"I got to go baby. Will talk to you later." I hang up as a really tall young man was waiting to receive me.
"Mr.Vadhera?" He extends his hand.
"Hi! You are?" I shake his hand.
"Good morning. Thanks for coming down here. David was very insistent to meet with you as soon as he got back his consciousness. I am Mr.Burns son-in-law, Peter Cunns. Please call me Pete."
I smile. Nobody can be more insistent than David Burns. The man knows how to get things done. "Nice to meet you Pete. How is David now?"
"Better than most days. Please this way, he is waiting for you." He leads me through a long corridor, which has a pleasant sunny view of a beautiful garden.
"What exactly happened to him?"
"He slipped into a coma after a very nasty accident a few years ago. The doctors were finally able to revive him."
"Is he going to be ok?" I ask Pete as we were walking through a series of stairs.
"There is hope, but that's all we have at the moment." He says. Pete was calm and composed. He pointed me towards a door and said he would meet with me later.
I knocked the door and walked inside. Was it a study or a bedroom? I wasn't sure. But, Burns was on a wheel chair with an IV line running and a nurse behind him.
"Virat Singh Vadhera!!!" he smiled widely, making his face split into hundred different wrinkles. He looked genuinely pleased to see me. He looked old, pale and thin. But his eyes had the same spark as always. Seeing him like this is hard. This guy was the reason I am so successful today. He had been a mentor, a guide and a teacher to me, when I needed the most.He stood by me like a rock and now, it is heart-breaking to see him this weak.
"Hello old man! Good to see you!" I greeted him equally pleased.
"What's up with all this heavy machinery?" I asked him playfully pointing out at the huge life support system by his bed, oxygen cylinders and what not.
"The going got tough..I wasn't tough enough to get going." he replied with a small smile. The man had a philosophical explanation for every damn thing. I wondered why I got a call from him all of a sudden. This does explain it - he doesn't have long.
"Please, make yourself comfortable." He says as he points the nurse to wheel his chair to his desk. She rolls him to the desk and disappears closing the door behind us.
I look around, it was a huge room with too many books and too little sunlight. Almost immediately a photograph catches my attention. I walked towards it and took it in my hands and looked at it curiously. I looked back at David with a puzzled face.
"Reminding you of someone?" he asks.
"Yes, who is this? She looks a little like Manvi - atleast her smile."
"Umm..does she?" he looked at me speculatively. I gazed back at him with a curious face.
"Nothing mysterious about it. She is my daughter."
"Ohh? She looks Indian?"
"I and my wife, adopted her when we went to India, about two decades ago. Payal was five years old then."
"I didn't know that. That's very noble of you. She is beautiful." I put back the picture and sit in front of him, looking around.
"Umm..She is." he smiled a sad smile.
"Where is she now?" I try to focus on the old man, it is hard to hear him.
"With her mom." He pointed towards the ceiling. "..I will be joining them soon." He replied matter-of-factly.
Oh God! "I am so sorry. What happened?"
"She died in a freak accident."
"That's..such a shame." I dint know what to say. I had no idea his personal life was so tragic, he never liked to talk about it. This explains. I feel like today is the day of revelation.
He didn't say anything for sometime.
"I am guessing you are not associated with the Triad anymore." I ask.
He is surprised.
"Yeah, I know. I looked up a few things." I answer.
"Peter did not want me working anymore. He is very protective of me after the accident. He did not even want me to meet with anyone from there." He looked so sad.
"So, what do I owe the honour?" I ask him, trying to get him off the topic.
He looked away dreamily and then suddenly he smiled a sweet smile. "Manvi always reminded me of her."
"Aha! I always knew there was some ulterior motive to your fondness for Manvi." I smiled. That did the trick. He laughed and waved his hand weakly, asking me to shut up.
"How is Manvi?" he asks.
I smiled back. "Peachy! Thanks for asking about me by the way." I reply with a hurt face.
"What's to ask? You look good - much happier than you deserve to be. Your arrogance has only exponentially increased, so has your cheekiness."
I laughed loudly. "That should make you happy!"
"I always liked that about you. You remind me of how I was in my younger days."
"Aww, you can't be that old." I chuckled.
He shakes his head. "I wonder how that innocent kid deals with you. You don't deserve that angel at all."
"Well, as a matter of fact, your innocent kid has two other bratty little kids to deal with." I give him my phone with a picture of Manvi, Ria and Nikki. He puts his glasses on and looks at it lovingly for a few minutes.
"How lovely! I would like to meet them all, before I die." He sighed.
"Then I still have a few years to get them here." I reply.
He suddenly becomes very grim. "You better not mess up this time." He says giving me back my phone.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't be naive with me son. I know what you have been upto."
"I have been upto a lot of things, which ones specifically?"
He pushes a large envelope in front of me.
I look at the envelope and his face - which stayed expressionless. I opened the envelope carefully.
So, they end up here!!! - The pictures with me and Meredith. They were disgusting and cheap. I look at each one of them. I don't reply. I kept the envelope in my bag.
"Do you want to explain yourself?" he asks me in a no-nonsense tone.
"Not really. All this is old news and not true."
He gives me another envelope. "This is for Manvi."
What now? I open it warily. It is a document, his will which says eighty percent of his huge estate, his shares in different companies and organizations all over the world, which accounts to a staggering mind-numbing figure, running into several hundreds of billions of dollars goes to Manvi, after him."
I get the shock of my life and almost fall off my chair! "What the f**k!!!! Are you out of you mind?"
"Don't swear in front of me son." He scolds.
"Look, I appreciate the gesture, I really do - I know you like her and all, but sorry, she cannot accept this. And it's not like we are short of money." I push the envelope back to him.
"That's not your decision to make. This automatically goes to Manvi after I pass away. I just wanted to let you know."
"When did you make this will and who else knows about this?"
"How does it matter?"
"It f**king matters because Manvi has been repeatedly attacked ever since she came back into the country. And it was like banging my head against the wall to find out why. THIS IS A CLEAR MOTIVE!!!!"
"I have no one son. I see my daughter in that girl. My soul will rest in peace knowing that she is benefiting from me. And I don't think this has anything to do with any attacks. The only other person who knows about this is my son-in-law, and he has enough money to live in space for the rest of his lifetime."
My head was going in all sorts of directions, contemplating what all this could mean. The crazy old fool!! What do I do with him? My gut instinct was telling me that this isn't a good thing.
Everything always comes down to money or love. This is the fact of life.
~~~
I bid goodbye to Mr.Burns. I had this weird feeling in my heart that I am not going to see him again. If everything gets sorted out, I will try to bring Manvi and the kids to meet with him pretty soon. Randy was waiting for me outside. I give him my laptop bag and ask him get the car.
"Mr.Vadhera?" Pete comes to send me off.
"Please call me Virat."
"Virat. How did the meeting go??"
"It was nice seeing him after a long time. I will try to visit him again. You are doing a good job taking care of him Pete."
He smiles.
"Can I ask you something?" I just wanted to throw a stone into the water and see what kind of ripples it creates. Pete seems like a nice guy but I just didn't want to lose this opportunity to test the waters. Is he as loyal as Burns thinks he is?
"Yes sure, anything." He smiles.
"If you don't mind, what kind of an accident was David in?"
"Urm, a helicopter crash. Engine failure."
"The same kind his daughter, I mean, your wife was in?" I ask narrowing my eyes.
He looks at me bewildered. He is stammering and nervous. I could see right through him. It was not a ripple, it was a holocaust. Helicopter crashes don't run in families. There is something big going on here and Burns cant't see it because he is blinded by his love for his daughter.
My head is spinning as I am contemplating the situation I am in right now. There is atleast two dozen security people in the house and when I had walked past the corridor, I had seen a room which had a switch board with the latest intelligence tracking system. I need to get out of here. I don't have enough people on me. I quickly excuse myself and don't look back. I slip into the car that was waiting for me at the door.
I make two phone calls: one to cancel the rest of my meetings that day and the other to my IT guy, Ben.
"Ben, this a secured line?"
"Yes sir!"
"Listen to me carefully, I need you to find out everything about Mr.Burns estate and will. When did he change it to Manvi's name. Find his hospital records. I need to know the exact date of his accident. Relate both the dates. Also, I want all the information about Peter Cunns - Every single little detail - Work and personal. This is extremely urgent!!!! Keep everything aside. Call me back with information ASAP. And if you are done with all this, try to find specific information about the accidents Burns and his daughter, Payal were in."
"Are you looking to find anything specific sir?"
"Yes. Peter Cunns. I have a feeling he caused both the accidents." I hang up.
"Randy, is anyone following us?"
"No sir."
"Good. Try to shift lanes as much as you can and keep a watch out. We might be followed."
"Yes sir."
"Are you armed?"
"Yes sir."
"Good"
"Get in touch with the pilot and tell him to leave at the scheduled time, without us. I want to see what happens. Tell him to make sure he has safety landing parachutes or something. I am sure he is trained to take care of himself if 'engine fails'"
"We are not flying back sir?"
"Hell no!"
"We should get rid of all the tracking devices in the car - phones, GPS everything, after Ben calls."
"Yes sir."
My phone rings. I should give the guy a raise, he is too good. "Ben!"
"Sir. I mapped all the data you asked me to find out. Mr.Burns changed his will in Oct 2010, two months later he was in a helicopter crash. Information about his daughter is going to take time because it is very old. Peter Cunns operates mainly in Europe, he has a huge business in steel, sources say he might have ties with mafia there. He also has a long standing affair with Tanya Shekhawath, our European CEO."
Tanya?
Karan's sister, my ex!
f**k!
Burns-Peter-Tanya-Karan-Meredith!!
HOLY f**k!!!!
Is Tanya involved? But we broke up on good terms?! My head was exploding with information. There were dots everywhere. I just need to join them. What's the connection? Why? What do they want? Is it all about the money?
"Ben, I want all the information about Tanya's whereabouts, day-wise in 2010, especially during the public issue time."
"Yes sir."
"Anything else sir?"
"Yes, get it touch with Blanco and increase the security at home. I want the whole house under lock down. Send some of them to school. Keep your eyes open. Flag anything out of the ordinary. I am going to call you back after I reach the city. I would need an immediate briefing with all the information." I hang up.
Right now, single point agenda, I have to get home safely, without anybody's help. Nobody can know how and where I am. We get a rental car under false name and leave our car behind. We destroy our phones and GPS in the car and take out old-fashioned road maps. I search for country roads as I want to avoid the highway. We have to drive back to New York outside the radar. Cunns is a dangerous man! And I know too much about him.
He is not going to keep quiet.
~~~
It was night time, about 10-ish, we were driving non-stop with only two quick stops for fuel. I made sure I didn't use any credit cards, as that would leave a trail. We were about an hour away from the city. I was driving. Randy looked grim. He was watching the rear view mirror with all his concentration.
"Do you have kids?" I ask Randy.
"Yes sir. A daughter."
"Wonderful!! how old?"
"10 years sir."
"Whats her name?"
"Ollie, Olivia sir." He smiles.
"Kids do that to you, don't they? You think about them and your face spilts into a big smile."
"Yes Sir. Ollie is amazing." He grins.
I grin back proudly. So are my munchkins!! I miss them so much right now. I am sure they will give me the third degree after I show up. Manvi must be going nuts. But, I don't want anything leading to them. Atleast, until I am there. I have no idea about how deep rooted his network is. I mean Manvi was shot at a day after she arrived. It is freaky.
Sorry baby, I couldn't call. I don't want to pull you into all this.
It would be a good idea to take Manvi and kids and go underground, just disappear from all this for a few days, until I deal with these douche bags.
"SIR!!" Randy alerts me. There were three cars following us from behind and three more pulled over on the road.
"How the f**k do they even know?" I accelerate to the maximum and zoom past them. Bullets come raining in, we both duck, but I don't slow down. The glass behind us cracks. There were six different cars behind us now.
We are very under-armed and unfortunately, I know they will get to us.
Randy opens the sun roof and takes aim. He shoots at the tires and gets two of the cars off the road. I try to focus on driving. The tension was nerve-racking. We are driving at almost 140 mph. It's only a few more minutes and we will hit the city. I repent taking the country road all of a sudden, there is not a single other car on the road. These sleazeballs wouldn't have dared to show up this openly on a highway with cop patrols. The sound of the bullets keeps going up.
"SHIT!" I hear Randy. He took a bullet, blood was oozing out. He collapses on the passenger seat.
This is not good!!! We are so vulnerable.
And then one of the car tries to pass us from the right. I maintain my speed. I feel a bullet crack past the glass on my side, I bend but it hits me - on the right side of my chest and another on my right shoulder - two deep drills - the right side of my body goes numb. I look down and I see blood and I feel a deep nerve-twisting pain in my body - I couldn't balance the car anymore. I try to slow it down, we will not survive if we crash at this speed. I somehow get it below 60. The car swerves off the road and we go tumbling down, the airbags shoot up..
...
...
...
...
Wake up jaan! You promised you will come back to me. Wake up!! I need you, our babies need you.
I hear her sweet voice. I partially open my eyes. I am lying on the ground, face down and flat out like a hawk. I feel like I am slipping away. My eyelids are as heavy as metal. I cannot keep them open. I feel something warm below me, that reaches my hands. I narrow my eyes down and I see that I am lying in my own blood.
"Arghhh!!" A piercing, throbbing pain shoots up by body. Its excruciating, every cell in my body is writhing in pain. This is good, feeling pain is good. I know my body is still responding. God!! I close my eyes, I have to get up or I will bleed to death. But, I just didn't have any strength in me.
"Viraaat!?" I hear her angelic voice from deep within.
I am lying in her lap and she is stroking my hair lovingly. "I cannot live without you jaaan!!" She tells me crying.
I gather up strength. Get up Virat! they will get to Manvi. It is only a matter of time. You need to protect her. You need to protect your love from these bas***ds. I open my eyes.I see an image of us both sitting in the car while we were going to the party. She looked so innocent and beautiful, on my chest, peacefully listening to my heartbeat. It is a heavenly feeling - the twinkle in her eyes, the warmth in her smile, her healing touch, her tender lips, her undying hope and her unfailing love.
"Please, come back by tonight"
"I will baby."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
I open my eyes and push myself up, I don't know where I got all this strength from. You are my lifeline Manvi, I need to hold on to you!
I take a few steps. I remove my shirt and tie it around my chest and hold my hand tightly with my arm to stop the blood. I look around - I am around nowhere. I see Randy lying in the car. I go and try to wake him up. He wasn't responding. I check his pulse, he was still breathing. I saw a bottle of water lying in the car and I fish it out and sprinkle some on his face. He stirs and opens his eyes. I collapse my body onto the ground, sitting by the car and open the door with all my strength. Randy wiggles out weakly.
"You ok?" I ask.
"Yes Sir!" he says weakly.
"Let's get away from here. I hear some voices in that direction." I tell him. I try to get up but I cannot. My legs were hard rocks. My eyes defeat me again. The pain is shrilling.
"You said you would come back before my bedtime." Nikki was pouting in a corner.
" I don't want to go!!!!!!!!!!! I want to stay with you and momma." I see Ria hugging me with big drops of tears rolling off her sad eyes.
"I love you papa!!!!" My sweet little kids were kissing me and hugging me and clinging onto me.
My conscious goads me.They are so small and innocent, he will kill them. Get your ass up!!! I take the water in my hand and pour it on my face. It drips down onto my body and burns at my wounds. "Arghhh!" I scream in pain. Pain is good. Pain means there is still life, there is still hope.
There was no way I could walk all the way out of this forest in this state. But I have to try; I have to try for them. I take the support of the car and get up - with an illogical and blind determination. I grab whatever I can find - trees, rocks, sticks and with their support, I drag my feet in the direction of light. There were loud voices that I could hear from a few miles away. Randy was in better state than me, he held me sometimes but the poor guy was also bleeding from his neck.
And after a few minutes, we hear something move around in the bushes. My heart races as I assume them to be those gunmen again. But luckily, it was a couple making out. The lady came out and screams seeing me.
"Please, we need help - a doctor." I mumble.
"Virat Vadhera!! You are the one missing from the chopper. I am a reporter, we are covering a college project on world environment day. A few college students are clearing up junk from the waters here."
"Help us.." I plead and collapse on the ground. She shouts for help and a couple of student come to lift me up. I cannot hear anything anymore.
Next thing I see when I open my eyes, I am in an ambulance, lying down, paramedics were attending to us. I see Randy. His face was twisting in pain.
"Hang in there Randy! You will go back to Ollie soon!" I tell him. I am not even sure if he can hear my voice.
"You think so?" he asks, there was fear in his voice.
"I believe so!" I murmur back.
My eyes close again. As long as there is heartbeat, a heart can be fixed.You are my heartbeat Manvi! I try to think about her and the kids - our bear hug when Manvi was crying the other day - my beautiful family - my little paradise.
"I love you more than all the stars in the sky!!" her words on our honeymoon, sitting in front of a bonfire on a beach by the ocean, in my arms - the beginning of our love, our hopes and our dreams - I fill my heart with those images.
I cannot die!
Not today!!
My family needs me! I have things to do!!
I cannot die! I cannot die!!! I chant in my head.
~~~
Edited by bluebolt - 12 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
