Chapter 1
Zoya was in hiding. She had been the only eye witness to a high profile murder a few weeks ago. The police had put her in protective custody until the trial but the killer had found out about her safe house and sent his men to make sure she didn't appear in court.
It had been just blind luck that Zoya happened to glance out the attic window whrn she saw three men sneaking up the hill behind the house where she was supposed to be safe. She had been looking around at the old things that were stored in the attic when she had come across a small hidden cubby hole behind a big chest. She would have never found it had it not been partially open when she moved the chest over by the window so she could get a better look at the things stored in there. She peered inside and saw an old rag doll, a small doll house, a stuffed bear that had seen better days as well as some paper and crayons. She could see something twinkling in the back and crawled inside to see what it was. Managing to crawl on her hands and knees she had enough room so that she could sit with her legs folded and her shoulders slumped over to keep from cracking her head on the ceiling of the little room.
It was a small silver locket with an old picture of a man and woman inside. This must have been the parents of the little girl this necklace probably belonged to, she thought. Her thoughts taking her back to her own parents who were no more with her and were a blur in her memory. She managed to turn around and still clutching the locket crawled back out into the attic room. She walked over to the attic window so she could get a better look at the locket when she glanced outside and saw the men climbing up the hill. She ran over to the pull up ladder and hollered down at the three men who's care she was in, telling them about the three men. One of the men came to the ladder and told her to pull it up and stay put then she saw him hurry towards the back of the house where the kitchen was.
How had they found her? Nobody was supposed to know where she was except for the three men downstairs, their captain and three men in the justice department. What if they managed to get inside the house? Scared to death she looked around quickly. Her footprints were all over the place where she had walked in the thick dust that was on the floor. She grabbed one of the old blankets she had found up there earlier and hurriedly swished it back and forth across the floor wiping out all of her footprints. That was a stupid thing to do she realized, as the dust was floating around in the air. Anyone coming up there to look would know that someone had been there, and was probably still there.
She glanced over at the wall where the little hidden room was and quickly crawled back inside, closing the door behind her. She jumped hitting her head on the ceiling of the little room when she heard gunshots. They seemed to go on forever before the noise stopped. She hadn't realized how badly she had been shaking until the house became quiet again. She could hear the drop down ladder being lowered and then heard footsteps walking around in the attic. She's not up here she heard someone yell. Then there was another voice saying that she had to be hiding up there somewhere. She heard things being tossed around then held her breath when she heard a voice close to her hiding spot.
"I'm telling you she isn't here. They must have moved her or this was just a diversion."
"Shit! The boss is going to be very angry!"
"Maybe she got out when we were busy with the cops downstairs. She's probably hiding out in the woods somewhere."
"Come on let's fan out and see if we can find out if she was here or not. You two check the woods and we will look around the grounds to see if we can find a trace of her, but I have the feeling this was all a setup and she was never here to begin with."
"What about all those women's clothes and stuff in the bedroom, she must have been here?"
"All that could have been staged so that we think she was here. Leave all that, just go take a look in the woods and we'll check outside."
Zoya could hear them climbing back down the ladder but she didn't move. She wasn't sure that one of them hadn't stayed behind just in case she was hiding where they couldn't find her. She wasn't sure how many hours had passed but she still stayed locked in the little room. No one would know anything was wrong till morning anyway when the men were supposed to make a check in call to their captain. Then, she knew someone would come and check to see what was the matter. She could then safely leave the little room. Feeling tired and drained she grabbed the little teddy bear and rag doll making herself a little pillow, she lay down and stretched her legs out. She didn't even remember closing her eyes until she woke up needing to use the bathroom.
She had no idea how long she had been sleeping but her bladder needed to be emptied soon or she was going to have an accident. Carefully she opened the door just a crack, listening to see if she could hear any sounds coming from downstairs. It must be morning she thought because she could see that the room was lit with the morning sunlight coming through the only window. Carefully, she crawled out of her hiding space and quietly took a few steps over to the window so she could look outside. She looked as far as she could in all directions but saw nobody. The ladder was still in the down position and she peered slowly over the edge to see if she could see anyone moving around down there.
She saw the blood first then she saw Ali's body laying in the corner where he had been shot and killed. She had to grab her mouth and fought to keep the puke from spewing forth. She climbed down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible just in case someone was still around. She was careful not to step in any of the blood that was all over the place. She made her way over to where Ali was and checked to see if he had a pulse but in vain, he was dead. She felt the bile rising in her throat again then bolted out the front door where she emptied the contents of her stomach in the bushes by the porch. When she had calmed down enough she made her way back inside the house to check on the other two men. She found them both laying in pools of blood in the kitchen. She checked to see if they had a pulse and was saddened that both men were dead. She knew that Ali had a family with two small children. These men had lost their lives trying to protect hers.
She made her way into the bathroom where she emptied her bladder and washed her face with cool water. She sat down on the edge of the tub and cried. After she had a good cry she glanced at her watch to see what time it was. Ten o'clock, why hadn't anyone come to check on the men, to see why they hadn't made their morning call? What was going on? Her heart began to race again, something was terribly wrong with this whole situation. Zoya took a deep breath to clear her head, she needed to think and she had to be level headed to figure this out. The men who had killed the cops guarding her had known where to find her. That meant someone had told them where she was. Only seven people knew where she was hidden and three of them were dead. That left the three men in the justice department and the police captain who's men lay dead outside the bathroom.
One of the remaining four had to be working for the man she was supposed to testify against. That was the only logical answer as to how the killers had been able to find her. Zoya no longer felt that she would be safe if she remained in police custody. She had been an only child, both of her parents had died years ago. She had been married for just over six months, but the marriage had ended over three years ago with her husband throwing her out of the house for another woman. She had no family so there was no one they could go after to try to buy her silence. The only choice they had was to silence her.
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
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