Asad-Zoya FF: The Sun Has Set Chapter 12 Page 102 - Page 44

Come back soon.

23...24...25...26...27...28...29...Zoya's eyes followed hands of the clock in the corridor where she was waiting for commissioner Mr Das to arrive. He was late for their 9:30 AM meeting. Police headquarters was already a bustling place but upper floor where the senior officers' offices were was relatively quiet. Peons were busy setting offices and meeting rooms before sahibs arrived. One or two officers were seen leaving after night duty.

1...2...3...A. C. Das, Police Commissioner, City of Kolkata - she glanced at the glittering name plate. Cleaning staff had done their job well. She also furtively looked at right side of the corridor where just two days back she had met ACP Asad Ahmed Khan. Her Ahsaan. Last two days she had been kept mostly under sedatives because as soon as she gained consciousness she created a commotion with demand of letting her meet Ahsaan. That friendly police officer also didn't show up after first day. She wondered when she would learn to stop trusting people naively. Maybe, never. Her eyes had lighted up with hope, again, when she saw him today morning. He was a fast learner though. He hadn't given her any chance to talk about Ahsaan and quickly informed that police commissioner wanted to meet her and she should get ready quickly. She had been stunned first. He had reminded her that her wish of seeing commissioner was about to be fulfilled and she should hurry up. He had left to see her doctor without giving her chance to say 'A' for Ahsaan'.

Later during their journey to police headquarters, she had tried to ask about Ahsaan, but inspector did not share any information and asked her to have patience till she met the commissioner. She tried to make sense of the situation. She had met Ahsaan who said he was not Ahsaan and did not recognize her. The inspector who had been so helpful two days back was now keeping a distance. The police commissioner whom she badly wanted to meet was now inviting her for a meeting. The inspector had said that Ahsaan was not Ahsaan but was called ACP Asad Ahmed Khan and just a look-a-like of Ahsaan. As if it was possible. When did things become so confusing? How did her life reach this point? They were stopped at a traffic signal. Signal was red, vehicles had stopped, but engines were running, creating a quiet noise. An auto ahead of them was retching black clouds of fume. There was a beggar woman with a small child sleeping in her arms moving from one car to another. Zoya prayed that the signal turned red before the beggar woman came towards them. She should not have worried though as no one was going to approach a police jeep, but she didn't know it and she prayed, fervently. She moved her gaze inside and prayed and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the jeep moving. She closed her eyes and continued praying. She completely missed Ayaan's concerned eyes observing her. She opened her eyes only when Ayaan informed her that they were at police headquarter. She looked at the imposing building of police headquarters with some longing, some trepidation, some hope, some doubts. Ayaan opened door for her. Lost in a tangle of thoughts, she lost her footing. Ayaan tried to help her, but she had managed to hold onto the door. She composed herself and decided to concentrate on the impending meeting. Police commissioner could give her all answers that she was looking for. He would help her getting to Ahsaan. And, with those thoughts she took a seat outside the commissioner's office.

They were early. As the clock ticked and the commissioner did not arrive, she again started feeling strange uneasiness and hesitance; as if she was outside college principal's office after some mischief which was strange as she was a bright, mischievous but bright, student who never hesitated entering her college principal's office. Maybe, it was because a police commissioner was lot more than a college principal; one of the people you don't mess with. She tried to rehearse what she would tell him. How she would tell him? Why did he want to see her? He must have known about Ahsaan. Her thoughts had to be paused on the entry of the police commissioner. For a portly old main, he had surprisingly sprightly gait. He entered his office without looking at them.

"Mrs Hussain, aap baitho. Main abhi sir se mil ke aata hoon."

She just nodded.

She was again in her burkha. She had not worn burkha much back at home, but she had started wearing it lately. Not sure if burkha hid her from evil eyes of the world or she hid herself inside a burkha. It helped her to hide her pregnancy which was showing now. The veil hid her tears which would start without any warning. She liked company of the color black, as she could not bring herself to care much about colors.

"Chaliye, Mrs Hussain." She stood up with a start. Ayaan gave her an encouraging smile and lead her inside the commissioner's office.

"Aaiye, Mrs Hussaain. Main deri ke liye maafi chahta hoon. Subah subah ek zaroori phone call aa gaya tha." The commissioner welcomed her.

Ayaan helped her with her chair and she took a seat. Ayaan took a seat next to her. She looked around the office looking for Ahsaan and was disappointed not seeing him there. A peon came inside and kept a tray on the table.

"Aap kya lengi, Mrs Hussain? Chai ya coffee?"

"Jee...kuchh nahi." Her stomach was in knots and even thought of food was nauseating, though her pregnancy-related nausea had reduced a lot in second trimester.

"'Kuchh to lena padega. " The commissioner gave a friendly smile. Zoya looked at Ayaan and he uttered, "Main chai loonga." Upon realizing that he wasn't even asked yet, he looked at the commissioner and then at the peon and then looked down.

"Main bhi...Chai loongi." Zoya spoke.

"Very well. Sukhiram, sab ke liye chai bana do."

Next few minutes no one spoke as peon poured tea for everyone. After he was gone, the commissioner took a big sip of his tea and started.

"Mrs Hussain, Darjeeling...haan? Chai se to aapki gehra rishta hoga."

"Jee. Main tea estate main hi badi hui. Mere dadajaan tea estate main kaam karte the. Unke baad mere Abbu. Abbu ke jaane ke baad bhi main aur Ammi estate ke paas hi rahe. Aur mere shauhar bhi tea botanist hain, mera matlab hain chai ke paudhe ke specialist hain." She realized that she was rambling and she took a big sip of her tea and then bit her tongue as hot liquid burnt her mouth.

"Paani pee lo." Commissioner noticed.

"Jee, shukriya." She had few sips of water and after putting the glass down she decided to tell whatever was in her mind before nervousness again took over.

"Commissioner Sahib, aapko to pata hoga ki mere shauhar laapta hain. Char mahino se. Unhe dhoondhte dhoondhte main yahan tak aayi aur unse mili bhi. Per sab keh rahe hain ki woh Ahsaan nahi hain. Unka naam kuchh aur hain. Unka pesha kuchh aur hain." She glanced at Ayaan who had tea cup in his hand but he wasn't drinking. "Aisa kaise ho sakta hain, Commissioner sahib? Ahsaan ka naam kaise badal sakta hain? Mujhe kuchh samaj main nahi aa raha ye ki Ahsaan khud kyon aisa keh rahe hain ki woh koi aur hain? Unhe samjaiye, commissioner sahib. Meri madad kijiye. Mera unke alawa is duniya main koi nahi. Khuda ke liye meri madad kijiye. Ahsaan ko bula dijiye, please." She broke down.

Ayaan looked worried from her to the commissioner. The commissioner signaled to wait and so both the officers allowed her to cry in peace. She was feeling embarrassed that she broke down before a police commissioner and quickly gathered herself.

"Mrs Hussain, main aapki madad karna chahta hoon aur is liye aapko mere kuchh sawalo ke jawab dene padenge."

Zoya nodded. The commissioner asked questions about who she was, what she did, her background, her family, Ahsaan, their meeting, how they got married, her mother and she mustered patience and answered. Commissioner had signaled Ayaan and he was taking notes.

"Sir, jab Ahsaan mil chukka hain to in sab baaton kya jyada matlab nahi hain, hain naa?" She ended up asking.

The commissioner smiled at her and then said, "Mrs Hussain. Zoya. Keep going. Last time jab Ahsaan ghar se nikala, kya usme koi badlav tha?"

Zoya started at his face frustration clearly showing on her own but that smiling face didn't give any leeway. She glanced at Ayaan whose face also said Keep talking'.

"Ahsaan ko phir se Kolkata ki lab main aana pad raha tha, aur woh hamesha ki tarah raat ko nikale..train se. Din main kam nipta ke ko dusri subah tak vapas aa jaate the."

"Kaun si?"

"Budhwar raat ko Darjeeling se Kolkata aanewali ek hi train hoti hain." Zoya gave name of the train.

"Hmm..."

"Subah pahonch ke phone karne ko bola tha, per koi phone nahi aaya. Woh jab kam main masaroof ho jaate hain to baki sab bhool jaate hain." A shadow passed on her face. "Is liye maine ya Ammi ne jyada fikar nahi ki. Us raat main phone lagaya to woh out of coverage aa raha tha. Mujhe fikar ho rahi thi, per Ammi pareshan naa ho is liye kuchh kaha nahi. Woh kya hain naa ke Zarina auntie ke US chale jaane ke baad, Ammi thoda udaas sa rehti thi. Unki itni purani dost. Ahsaan ne jimma le rakha tha Ammi ko sambhalne ka. Nahi...unhone kuchh kaha nahi tha, bas aise hi...sham ko kam se vapis aane par Ammi ke saath baith kar kaam ki baatein karte, Darjeeling ki, bagan pe aanewale chhote-mote problems ki, aur Ammi yaad karti woh din jab Abbu zinda the. Aise hi aake, sham ko din bhar ki baate sunaate." Zoya's face had strange longing as she talked about Ahsaan and her mother. "Ahsaan ki Ammi guzar chuki thi, shayad isi liye Ammi ke saath unka itna gehra rishta, itni jaldi jud gaya." She paused a moment looking faraway. Ayaan cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Dusre din subah jab woh nahi aaye ya naa uska phone, phir Ammi ne khud phone lagaya. Ab woh switched off ho gaya tha. Humne socha battery dead ho gayi hogi. Humne news channel lagaya. Peechle kuchh dino se baarish bandh thi, per mausam ka koi bharosa nahi. Per raste sab saaf the. Train waqt pe chal rahi thi. Main bhag ke bus stop gayi thi. Kalkatte se aanewali har bus ke saamne khadi reh kar unka intezaar kiya per woh nahi aaye. Is aur Ammi estate manager se milne gayi thi. Wahan pata chala ki woh agle din lab main pahonche hi nahi the. Per maine apne haatho se unhe soil samples bag main rakhte hue dekha tha. Woh bata rahe the, is baar kaun se test aur kyon karwane the?"

"Woh kuchh aur saman leke nahi gaya? File? Laptop?" Ayaan asked and then immediately looked at the commissioner who seemed eager to know the answer.

"Laptop to hamesha saath rehta tha. Kai bar files bhi hoti thi. Jaisa maine kaha har baar se kuchh alag nahi tha."

"Hmm...phir?" The commissioner asked.

"Estate manager Chatterjee Sahib ne Kolkata kuchh aur phone lagaye, jahan pe estate ke logo ka aana-jaana rehta hain. Per kisine Ahsaan ko nahi dekha tha. Dusre din subah humne police station main report likhvayi." She seemed drained now.

Ayaan wanted her to stop, but commissioner won't have time for another meeting. It had already been half an hour and he seemed in no hurry. Ayaan was not able to gauge the commissioner's intentions. He sounded really sympathetic, made appropriate noises and gestures to keep the conversation going, but it was a fact that he won't be spending this much of time with this woman if it was a simple case of a missing person. Plus, he was having some doubts about Zoya's missing husband as well. His employment record was missing as the room that stored such files had flooded in one of the storm. Tea estates cared about state of the art laboratories but not much about fancy computerized HR system. Floods were common in this area, so Darjeeling police had found nothing suspicious in it. Being an orphan, he didn't have relatives who attended their nikaah. What both he and commissioner thought lapse of judgment on Zoya's mother's side was a plus point in Dilshaad's mind - he had no one in this world. He would make his own world in Darjeeling with Zoya on the very tea estate where Zoya's grandfather and father had worked.

"Aur aapki maataji..."

"Ammi seedhiyon se gir gayi thi. Upar Ahsaan ke kamre main pata nahi kyon gayi thi." Zoya's eyes again got moist. She looked down and few tears fell in her lap. "Woh to hamare ghar main shift ho gaye the, per unka upar ka karma jyon ka tyo tha. Woh der raat tak wahan kaam karte the."

"Aur ye kab hua?"

"Dhai mahine pehle..."

"Unhe aapki pregnancy ke bare main pata tha?"

"Jee." She looked down again tightly clutching folds of her burkha.

"I see." The commissioner was in deep thought.

"Aapke paas Ahsaan ki aur tasveerein hain?"

"Jee. Unhe tasveerein khichwana bilkul pasand nahi tha. Binu ne nikaah ke din jabardasti kuchh khinchi thi. Ye rahi woh tasveerein..."

She had got them printed after Ahsaan went missing. Good that she did, one copy of those photos was on Ahsaaan's laptop which went missing with him and other copy was on her own battered phone which she dropped very often. And, last drop had been fatal. Now the phone could be used only for talking.

She handed those photos to commissioner. Those were typical wedding photographs - guests, feast, friends/neighbors dancing around and few of the groom and the bride - many of them with their face covered; the groom's in sehra and the bride's in veil. There was one though - when they both had looked at each other's faces in mirror. Aah...there was one more with Dilshaad giving her blessings. Yes, Zoya was right. She was married to a man who looked just like ACP Khan.

"Aapke paas inki soft copies hain?"

"Is phone main hogi...pata nahi...kuchh din pehle gir gaya tha." She looked at her phone helplessly.

"Inspector Khan, inme se jitno main chehra dikh raha hain, unki copy karva lo."

"Yes, sir." Ayaan took photos and put them in a file. Zoya wanted to protest at those photos being taken away but no voice came out.

"Beti, aapne doctor ko dikhaya hain? Unse regular checkup karvati hain?"

"Jee." She sniffed at first. Then few tears dropped. And then few more. She took a large gulp of air and looked up.

"Commissioner Sahib, main nahi jaanti ki Ahsaan ne kyon apna naam badal liya hain? Unki kya majboori hain ki who mujhe pehchaan nahi rahe? Per aap please unse kahiye ke woh ye sab chhod de. Kya woh aapke orders pe ye sab kar rahe hain? Ahsaan yahan kaise ho sakte hain ek ACP banke?" She held her head in her hands.

"Mera unke alawa is duniya main koi nahi. Is bachhe ka koi nahi. Aap meri madad kijiye. Ahsaan ko bula dijiye."

"Alright." Both Zoya and Ayaan got startled hearing the response.

"You will meet ACP Khan in few hours' time and hear him out."

"Ahsaan..."

"Dekhiye Zoya, hum jise jaante hain uska naam ACP Khan hain. Aur aap unse milengi."

"Per who Ahsaan..."

"Jaise maine aapko suna hain. Aapko unhe bhi sunana chahiye. Yehi wajib hain, kyon? He needs to say his side of the story."

Zoya clutched edge of the table and said loudly. "Ahsaan ko aisa kya kehna hain? Ke peechle chaar mahino se kahan the? Kyon mujhe chhod ke yahan chale aaye? Kyon Ammi ke intequal ke waqt woh mere saath nahi the? Kyon mujhe pehchaanne se inkaar kar rahe hain?" She was almost shouting.

"Kya woh koi museebat main hain?" Her voice suddenly dropped. "Commissioner Sahib, sach sach bataiye. Kya woh koi museebat main hain aur is liye mujhse duri rakh rahe hain? Please unki help kare."

"Ahsaan ke baare main kuchh bhi unusual, ajeeb sa yaad aa raha hain? Koi phone call, koi visitor? Koi documents jo who bahot sambhal ke rakhta ho?"

Zoya indeed gave a thought to the question and then started nodding in denial. "Unke estate ke kaam se related bahot saare documents hote the. Jis pe maine kabhi dhyan nahi diya. Aur woh abhi bhi unke kamre main mil jayenge. Aur kuchh ajeeb to maine nahi dekha. Naa...Kya Ahsaan kisi museebat main hain?" She was really anxious now.

"Relax, Mrs Hussain. Bine koi sabut ke fikar karne ka koi matlab nahi. Ok?"

She did not relax.

"Main suggest karoonga ke tum Darjeeling vapis chali jaao ya phir agar Kolkata main koi rishtedaar ho to unke yahan..."

"Bas Ahsaan jahan kahe..."

"Mrs Hussain...", commissioner started but then stopped. "3 o'clock. Bring her back to my office." He looked at Ayaan instead.

"Yes, Sir. Chaliye, Mrs Hussain...," he immediately held back of Zoya's chair, but Zoya held onto arm-rests.

"3 baje Ahsaan se milwayenge?" She asked looking into the commissioner's eyes.

"Zoya, 3 baje aap ACP Khan se milengi."

"Mujhe Ahsaan se milna hain...," she again raised her voice.

"Main aapko Ahsaan se milwane ki puri koshish karoonga." He met her eyes. She kept staring back defiantly till tears of anger, frustration and pain dropped out and she had to look away.

"Aaiye, Mrs Hussain...," Ayaan softly said. This time she did get up.

"Inspector Khan, come back to my office."

"Yes, Sir."

Ayaan and Zoya came out of commissioner's office. Both of them without much clarity. Zoya mechanically kept walking towards the staircase.

"Rukiye, Mrs Hussain. Aap kahan jaayegi?" He paused. Where would she go? Did she have anyone here? If she had, wouldn't that person come to see her in hospital? Should he take her to his own home? He stopped his thought then and there. It was not good to get so involved in a case. But where would she go? "Main aapko teen baje ki meeting ke liye lene aa jaaonga."

"Uski koi zaroorat nahi. Shukriya." She was climbing down the stairs now. She answered without looking back at him.

Ayaan felt the snub. He stood there at top of the staircase feeling frustrated and helpless. He couldn't linger much. He needed to get back to the commissioner's office. When he came back to his office, he got surprise in form of ACP Khan.

"ACP Khan! Sir...," he saluted as per habit.

"So ACP Khan, you are meeting the lady at 3 o'clock with all the documents that we discussed."

Asad curtly nodded. His face didn't give away anything else. Ayaan kept looking from one senior office to another albeit furtively.

"Sir, I also want to talk about another interesting development that inspector Sinha has uncovered. Actually, I wanted talk about it yesterday night only but we got busy with other things."

"Ok. Let's meet in half an hour in conference room. Get Sinha to attend the meeting."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alright, ACP Khan."

Asad left the office.

"Now inspector Khan...too many Khans haan...," the commissioner chuckled.

Ayaan did not know how to react. How was the commissioner so calm!

"Please take a seat inspector Khan. To ab aapki duty...," and commissioner started talking about the direction that his investigation was to take.

Zoya stepped out of the headquarters grounds. Last few times she had visited Kolkata in search of Ahsaan, she had gone straight back to bus station to take the first bus back to Darjeeling. Today she stood there unsure of where to go.

People came and got out of the headquarters building. Few constables could be seen having cutting tea just outside the gate. Road outside was buzzing with traffic. Few meters away yellow taxis were gathered around ready to take her wherever she wanted to go. Birds created ruckus in large canopies of old trees around. A tram came in the sight and she got in.

"Ticket...ticket..," a conductor was by her side in few minutes.

She was staring out of the window.

"Kidhar jaana hain?"

Her tired eyes looked at his questioning face.

"Ticket..."

"Botanical garden?" she whispered a question.

"Tumi galat tram liya. Opposite direction," the conductor was annoyed at what he thought to be her stupidity.

"Oh...," she looked around.

"Yahan se doosre stop pe utar jao. Wahan se metro le lena." He gave her ticket.

She got down at the stop indicated still clutching the ticket in her hand. Metro train took her to the famous botanical gardens which was the place that had come to her my mind as the go to place as she felt that it was a place that Ahsaan would have liked to visit. He had visited the garden in the past. He had told her. They had also visited Darjeeling botanical garden after their nikaah on her insistence.

She walked on the leafy lanes of the garden; noise of the city left behind. Green soothed her eyes and also made her long for home and Ahsaan. She aimlessly walked in the garden, stopping here and there to read descriptions of plants and shrubs and trees. It was October but noon time Sun was noon time Sun. It bothered her. She sat on a bench that was in the shade of a large tree. Her back ached; her legs felt heavy; her heart heavier. She had wandered around remembering good times, Ammi, Binu and other friends, and Ahsaan. She was forcing herself not to think about the meeting that happened this morning or the meeting that was to happen this afternoon. The meeting with commissioner had filled her with dread instead of hope. Was Ahsaan in some danger and hence pretending to be someone else? She looked up at leafy canopy above her head. Sunlight broken down by thousands of leaves did not feel bothersome any more. Months of rains had washed of all dust of the leaves and they shined bright. When a breeze passed, they seemed to be laughing heartily at some secret joke that the wind told them. She couldn't help but smile. She turned her head to read name of the tree. Hadn't she read about this tree in one of Ahsaan's books? Or, had Ahsaan himself told her about it? She tried to remember looking at those leaves.

Leaves though tiny did good job of hiding an elusive voice. Two pair of eyes diligently scanned those leaves to find the source of the voice. At noon, the forest was mainly silent otherwise. They could easily locate the voice on northern side, but the tree had thickest branches on that side providing a good protection to the owner of that singing voice.

Those searching eyes belonged to a pair of adolescent boys who were hidden behind trunk of another tree few meters away beyond a gurgling brook. One nudged another and whispered something in a language that was mostly tribal. The other one shushed and concentrated back on the voice. His eyes caught a blur of color amidst all green. The voice was heard again. It was followed by whoosh of a stone being catapulted which was followed by a thud. Boys ran towards their catch; soft earth and fallen leaves silencing their foot falls. They crossed the brook in tree side and reached near the bird who was still trying to flutter its wings. One grabbed it in his hands ignoring its pitiful cries, while other one proudly moved his catapult from one hand to another. Suddenly they grinned and ran in the same direction where the brook was going with same agility as the water flowing in the brook.

Inspector Pavan Sinha entered the conference room with a thin file in hands. Projector was already on and connected to a laptop. He logged in and pulled required information. He waited for the commissioner and ACP Khan to join him. When neither of them had arrived, he decided to check their offices.

He knocked on the commissioner's office door and entered even before 'Come in' could end. Sir, meeting...," he was surprised seeing Ayaan with the commissioner.

"Yes, Sinha. 5 minute main aate hain." He was dismissed.

Sinha came back to the conference room wondering what the rookie was doing with the commissioner. Wasn't he on night duty these days? Rules ki dukan ki meharbaani?

Rules ki dukaan arrived before the commissioner.

"Sinha."

"Sir." He saluted ACP Khan. "Commissioner sahib, abhi aate hi honge."

ACP Khan just nodded.

Sinha cursed under his breath and cursed some more silently when he saw Ayaan entering the conference room with the commissioner.

"So inspector Sinha, ACP Khan bata rahe hain ke aapne 'Kalna Wildlife Trafficking' case ko reopen karne ki kadi dhoodh nikali hain."

Ayaan sat straight in his seat and looked surprisingly at the commissioner and then at ACP Khan. When the commissioner asked him to join in the conference room, he was not told what was the topic of discussion.

ACP Khan's stoically looked at the photo of the murdered man that was being projected now.

Kalna a small town in Bardwan district in West Bengal had nothing to do with the case as of. The name stuck as that's where the Kolkata police's team had encountered a bitter failure and the enemy had escaped.

ACP Khan newly transferred from Bhopal to Kolkata was still settling in the new city, new environment, when a tourist from a south-east Asian country had died in a road accident. Respective country's consulate was informed. The man's body was kept in a morgue and his luggage was moved from his posh hotel room to the storage room in police headquarters. A serendipitous discovery happened then. One of the porters dropped a suitcase and out came a leopard skin and ivory which when later weighed turned out to be 5 kg in weight. This happened in the presence of ACP Asad Ahmed Khan and his sharp eyes recognized its importance that a porter would had never understood. ACP Khan's first step was to let the porter stow away the luggage as if nothing had happened. They gossiped a lot and later he went back to the storage room and retrieved the bag and informed police commissioner about it. They both were in agreement that media was not to know about the illegal parts discovered.

Illegal wildlife trade was something that flourished in north-eastern part of the country lot more than other parts. Being one of the most biodiversity-rich region, forests alive with tigers, rhinos, elephants, hundreds of bird and reptile species, thousands of medicinal plants - many still unknown to science, proximity to international borders, difficult to navigate terrain, political unrest in the region and in neighboring countries - being some of the reasons for it. Police, forest department, NGOs worked together to fight it and had made significant advances in some areas but not an inch of success in some other areas. Possibility of international organization involved in arms or narcotics trafficking getting involved in lucrative illegal wildlife trade also hung in the air.

ACP Khan rummaged through dead man's luggage and found that he had been in India for two weeks, all the time in West Bengal. Day after tomorrow, he was to leave Kolkata for interiors of rural Bengal which was nothing but strange. The man was a first time visitor of India. Instead of making a beeline towards famous sites of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur where most of the foreign tourists start their journey, he had come to Kolkata that too in monsoon and now he was on his way to rural Bengal. He had done touristy stuff. Police force's IT department found tons of photographs taken in Kolkata and other places in the state. There were many souvenirs bought. It was hard to decide whether the man was really a tourist an odd one maybe who happened to have an interest for leopard skin and ivory or more. A team made of an inspector and a constable was sent to follow the path that the man was to take. His journey details were found on his laptop. Keeping the sudden discovery secret turned out to be a very useful step now, as if the man was more than a tourist and had partners in crime, they were in complete dark that police was on their trail.

ACP Asad Ahmed Khan took an active interest in the case and collected more information about the man. The man was a businessman; owned a factory that manufactured memory chips used in many modern day smart phones. He was successful and reasonably rich. As India didn't have any treaty signed with the country he hailed from nor were any substantial proofs available against him, it was not possible to take direct help of the police of his home country to get more information about him. So, ACP Khan used all other means to know more and more about the man. ACP Khan's laptop held a network of all the people that the man knew - based on the information that he could collect and one of the supplier in China proved to be a red signal. The dead man had done business with his company in the past. The man was later arrested for his involvement in tiger parts trade. Asad had no doubt now that they were really onto something and alerted the two member team on the ground. Network of informants was activated. The team followed men that the dead man was to meet or those who came to his hotel with a hope to meet him and few of them were nabbed which meant that other side came to know that the police was onto something. This was a strategically risky move, but few arrests were to be made to know more about the trade network. ACP Khan had decided which men were to be arrested and which were to be left free - free to escape, free to run to their higher ranks, free to feel fear and do mistakes. The move had worked. One more police inspector and two constables joined from north Bengal police. They often dealt with such cases. Forest department was involved as they had their own network of forest officers, guards, and local informants. State Minister of Environment was informed and he gave a complete green signal to go ahead with the ongoing mission. As the other side was also alert now, there were casualties mostly of informants on this side and lower rank gang members on the other side. ACP Khan - a thorough man and a very intelligent man looked at the case from surprising angles and hence made surprising breakthroughs. The reputation that he had come with from Bhopal was validated. Commissioner was very impressed and gave him full power to take decisions and trusted his judgment on when to turn to him. Ripples were being felt. More and more illegal animal parts were confiscated and more and more arrests were made. All of these happened in merciless monsoons as constant low pressure in Bay of Bengal caused it to rain all the time. Rivers flooded. Forests became unreachable, but ACP Khan was relentless. He had got information that someone higher up in the food chain was going to cross border via an obscure route. The team was positioned to grab him. This was to be the biggest arrest till date. The team was ready. Backups were in place. In the last few hours, ACP Khan got another tip and decided to change the course of action and the team landed up a village near the town of Kalna. That night all 5 members of his core team died and he was discovered in a near-death state by a woman who was collecting firewood to cook evening dinner. He spent next month in the hospital recovering. His team was dead. The trail went cold since then. Later he admitted before the commissioner that he regretted his last minute change of plan. He never considered it to be a trap. Death of five police officers and near-death of one ACP had made to headlines. As ACP himself was lying unconscious in the hospital, commissioner Das had handled media and disgruntled home ministry as well as environment ministry. ACP Khan had recovered and tried to get back on the case but the commissioner had decided to lie low for few months and anyways the trail had gone cold...really cold...vanished in thin air until inspector Sinha remembered a man in a photograph.

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This is a long chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Writing this story is turning out to be such a mental exercise! And, don't get me started on all the research. Medical domain research for 'Heartbeat Warfare' feels like cakewalk now. Keep in mind that it is a made up things and facts mixed up.

So, now you know how Asad got his injuries 😉

Glad to meet you all, again!

Hope to see you all back very soon.

Can you please all be dears and tell me who all still are reading and need PMs? I can't remember all the members who had asked for PMs. Plus, I am seeing many new names in my buddy list which mainly means changed user names, so please help me identify you again. I am sending PM for this update to those that I remember. If I miss your friend who used to read this story, please tell them that there is an update.

Few questions answered, a lot more raised. I know we'll get all the answers eventually.

All that aside, what I'm most curious about is the two young boys. What's their story! Did I miss something! What is their connection!

You keep em coming kay!!!!

Mwah mwahhh Noe thank you so much for posting! Looking forward for next update!

Yay!

Is Ahsaan dead?

I hope he isn't

😔