Hello forumwasio!
I decided to post chapter 3 sooner than I planned to!! Please excuse the typos, I will edit soon. Won't talk much and spoil the experience. But this chapter is the most difficult chapter I ever had to write because the emotions are 💔ing and I wanted to do my best. Bohot writing and rewriting ke baad yeh chapter tayyar hua hai 🤓
Part 3: Disinterring the Past.
“The first thing I noticed when I regained my consciousness was the silence. The next was blood and then the fire.”
Sakshi calmly held her comatose father’s hand, “I was in so much pain, Arjun. I still cannot tell if the pain was from the wounds or from losing everyone.” Her voice quivered as her mind forced her to recall the night of terror her family had endured.
Arjun could feel the agony she was trying to repress. He was sitting on the opposite side of the bed next to Ex-DGP of Mumbai, Anand Rane.
To the world, DGP Anand Rane was as dead as his entire family who fell prey to a fatal fire that consumed his house nearly six years ago. Arjun’s unsullied memory reminded him of his days in academy where his trainers sung praises of the brave man who was now bed-ridden in the state of unconsciousness.
“What happened?”
“Sikander happened.” she seethed.
Arjun’s head jerked up in shock. The burning anger in her eyes betraying the stone-cold expression on her face.
“My brother, ACP Sanchit Rane had recently been promoted as second-in-command at ETF – Delhi,” Sakshi exhaled deeply to rein her anger, “I was in college and preparing for my IPS exam, here, in Mumbai with my Aai and Baba.”
She wanted to be a cop.
“Baba was in-charge at the CBI and he was investigating a high-profile murder of a political figure who turned out be a key link in a drug trade. After a lot of digging, he and his team figured out that the package was going to land in Delhi. So, obviously, he asked the country’s most elite officers to intercept the package and arrest the peddlers. And that’s how my brother and his team at ETF - Delhi got involved.”
“They caught them, not knowing that one of those peddlers was Sikander’s right hand man.” Sakshi straightened her back, “Sikander, back then, was just a wanna be. He was new, impulsive and smart, also had a craze for leaving a mark. Sanchit bhai and his team rained hellfire on him not knowing anything about this man. They were fighting a ghost. No name, no face, no voice.”
Arjun knew this all too well.
After all, he had done the same.
Fought a ghost who was known to be non-existent. He paid a price and seems like ACP SanchitRane had too.
“He came for your family.”
“He came for revenge.” Arjun frowned but she continued, “Bhai and his team foiled his drug deals and caught a whiff about his possible involvement in flesh trade. He went berserk after they started investigating. Bhai and Rudra were a part of encounter squad and they shot down many of his men. So, Sikander came for revenge. What he did there, was his first taste of victory over the law, Arjun.”
Silent tears ran down Sakshi’s face but she did not break. He could see that she was living through that experience all over again. It broke his heart to think of the torture a 21-year-old college kid went through. To be robbed off the innocence and left exposed to cruelty of such kind. To watch light, leave the eyes of your loved ones. And to be left alone to live with that pain for the rest of your life.
Arjun stood up,walked over to her side and gently held her shoulders before pulling her into his arms. She stayed still but her warm tears soaked his shirt, causing his heart to twist in pain.
“He left us for the last. He made Bhai and me watch as he tortured our parents. We cried and begged, Arjun.” Finally letting out a sob, “He didn’t stop! He had a knife, he said it was his favourite kind. He stabbed each of us and then tried to burn us thinking that we were all dead.”
Arjun’s hold tightened as Sakshi’s legs gave out and she fell onto the floor, taking him with her. All he could offer her was his silence and his presence, hoping that it would be enough. And soon, her gut-wrenching sobs quaked her body.
He didn’t know how long they sat there for. His one hand caressing her hair, other around her shoulder and his chin resting over her head. Eventually, she stopped crying and bunched his shirt in her fist.
“It never goes away.”
“Never.” She affirmed.
“Every time you close your eyes, it is happening all over again. You are living through that pain all over again.” Arjun breaths in exhaustion.
“Even in my dreams, I beg him to stop but he still hurts them. And he laughs. He laughs as we bleed out.”
“You are brave, Sakshi. You stand here, challenging your fate.”
“When I woke up, there was fire everywhere and I realized that Baba was still breathing. I’m not sure how, but I managed to pull him out of the fire and eventually Rudra made it to the bungalow. The last thing I know, I fainted as he held me in his arms and woke up in the hospital after being kept in a medically induced coma for 18 days.”
As minutes ticked by, Arjun’s mind raced to seep all the anguish she has poured and in that moment, he realized why she was so keen to be there for him.
For the first time, he realized that she didn’t pity him like the others did.
She empathized with him.
She was grieving with him.
She actually felt his pain and understood his anger and aloofness.
The weight on his shoulder grew heavy as she fell asleep in his arms with his shirt still clutched in her fist. He quietly lifted her sleeping form in his arms and took to the room across the hallway. The normal thing to do would be to tuck her in and step out, but a part of him did not want to leave her alone. Not when she was so emotionally taxed tonight.
Who are you lying to, Rawte?
Because truth to be told, it was Arjun who did not want to be left alone. And knowing that there was a chance she could have died that night, it made him think what would have happened to him had they not met the way they actually did.
So, he just sat there, with his back against the headboard and Sakshi’s head resting on his lap with fingers entwined with hers. And for the first time since his Roshni died, Arjun falls into a dreamless sleep.
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Two days later.
Sakshi entered his cabin, again, without knocking on the door but found him lost in his thoughts with her case file in his one hand and the other twirling the pen continuously, “Chalein, Arjun?”
Arjun looked up from the file and nodded, “Haa, Chalo.” He stood up and tucked the gun behind him and followed her out. This was the first time he was meeting Rudra, her ex-fiancé and frankly speaking, he had no idea what to expect. Sakshi had very clearly stated that he saved her life more than once and the only reason she was alive today was because of ACP Rudra Singh Randhawa.
Sakshi, who was then Sanchi, had given her statement once she was brought out of her coma and hadn’t wasted anytime in filing a FIR against Sikander. As he kept reading the contents and sequence of events, he was left numb and blank in his mind.
After driving in silence for few minutes, Arjun began to asked her the questions he was desperate to find answers for. Not just as an honest police officer, but also as the man who had fallen in love with this woman. And that man would not allow him to interrogate her as if all her tragedy was just another case for him to solve.
He knew that they can help each other find justice for the dear ones they have lost.
Finally, he dared to ask her the one thing he was dreading, “You never mentioned Rudra or your engagement. What happened?”
“He was Sanchi Rane’s fiancé and the person sitting here is Sakshi Anand, Arjun. We were childhood sweethearts.” The sudden stiffness in Arjun’s shoulders went unnoticed as she stared out of the window, “He was my brothers’ best friend and later on, his colleague at ETF. Everyone knew about us since the very beginning but Rudra is a Rajput, his family was conservative about dating. So, after many discussions between our families, it was decided that they would get us engaged and later on, whenever we were ready, we would get married. I was 20 years old then.”
“And then the tale twisted in the worst way possible.”
“Yes. Complications arose and Bhai had to send Rudra undercover in Sikander’s den.” That took Arjun by surprise and it brought a sad smile on Sakshi’s face, “When we were attacked, I sent an SOS to Rudra. But it was impossible for him to make it on time.”
“The file said that Sikander’s goons attacked you again, twice in fact.”
“Yes. When the FIR was filed, he realized that someone had survived and he left behind a witness who could pave way for his jail trip. The first time, I was on my way to police station to identify one the goons who accompanied him to my house.The second time was soon after, but this time, Rudra was ready. He created a fake crime scene to ensure that Sikander believed that I am dead. Then, he made me disappear and took Baba and me to Delhi with him.”
“Then why did the engagement end?”
“Because each day I lived, I counted it as another day Sikander believed my fake death. I was diagnosed with PTSD and DIG sir was Baba’s friend, he insisted that I should not join the police force for the sake of our safety.” Sakshi sighed, “So, in a single night I lost my family, mental stability and my dream. I knew that until Sikander was caught or shot dead, I would continue to live while looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. I could not ask Rudra to go through that, Arjun. Being with me could put his life in danger.”
“But why would he care? Sikander is a psychopath. As you said, he has a thing to leave a mark. Exactly the reason why he left me alive... To live with the pain for the rest of my life.” Flashes of the memory when Sikander’s knife sliced through the tattoo on his forearm came in front of his eyes just as they reached their destination.
“Because you have not seen what he looks like.” And saying so, Sakshi opened the door of the SUV to get off.
Arjun was stunned into silence and mechanically walked over to the other black SUV parked at a distance.
The last thing he expected was to meet an eyewitness who had seen Sikander’s face.
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One week later.
“Don’t worry about backup. We at ETF are ready when you are.” Arjun assured.
“They cannot know about this, at least, not yet. We have a lot of work to do before we nail him down, so, lesser the people know the safer Sakshi is, ACP Rawte.”
“Call me Arjun, please.”
“Only if you call me Rudra.” To which Arjun just nodded.
“My informers have positively confirmed that Sikander does not stay in India. He is only here when he needed to settle business. In fact, Sikander is just an alias. His actual name is still unknown.” Sakshi informed the two as she placed two mugs of coffee and a glass of tea on the table.
“When was the last time he was in India?” Arjun questioned while examining all the evidence Rudra had provided him with.
“15 months ago, as per my intelligence, he settled a score with Inspector Jaswant Khera of Kolkata Police.” Making Arjun’s eyebrows shoot up, “He was corrupt. And greedy.” Rudra clarified.
“So, the question is - How do we reach Sikander?” Sakshi asked.
Arjun took a sip of his chai, “We don’t.” his eyes still on the evidence board.
“What?”
“We cannot operate outside Mumbai, Sakshi. Outside the Indian border is a distant dream.”
“We are doing this off-the-books anyways. But Arjun is right. We cannot go searching for him. His circuit is like a goddamn mine field. One wrong move and it blows in our face.” Rudra rested his palms against the table.
“So, we have to bring him to us.” Arjun’s statement made the two turn towards him.
“But isn’t that too risky? We cannot push our undercover officers into something like this.”
“There are less messier ways to do it, Sakshi.” Rudra assured, he was looking straight into Arjun’s eyes and he understood what was cooking inside his mind.
“We need to identify targets and start tracking Sikander’s entire circuit gradually, which means we start with Delhi. We have to make sure that all his businesses end with him.” He tilted his head to look at the sketch Sakshi had hung up on the board, “If ETF cannot know about this, Rathod will demand solid proof when the time comes. I cannot let my team take a fall for us… in case we fail.”
Rudra nodded in agreement, “I understand. I can assure you, the officers who are undercover in this circuit right now are the best you will find in this country, Arjun. They won’t fail, neither will we.”
“Okay guys! Can you stop talking as if I’m not here? Rudra, the moment you have another ACP on board, you start to side-line me? Care to explain what you guys are talking about?” Sakshi demanded.
“Gang wars.” The two ACPs replied in union and turned to look at each other with a evil smirk plastered on their face.
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