Episode 19
"Do your best. If you find them, I will give you a big prize." Suresh left the police station with a lot of frowning on his forehead. It was not as if he only depended on the police. Actually, he had scant respect for these khaki-clad guys, whom he thought were worthless. Suresh could never forget the favours he received form Rajan. He would never have passed the exams with flying colours, had it not been Suresh writing the papers by his side in the university. He was extremely glad that Rajan had agreed to join hands with him.
Therefore, he himself had engaged the best private investigative agency in the country, the Ravenous Eagles. While coming back from the police station in his SUV, Suresh rang Somnath, the head of the Ravenous Eagles in Southern India.
"Any updates? It's been ten days that you have taken the job!" The tone of Suresh was business like.
"A good news Sir! We are closing in. Can't tell you at the moment, as the news is still unconfirmed. Please, have some patience. I will call you." The connection was cut from the other end. But, at last, there was a hint of smile on Suresh's face. He rang Rajan's elder brother.
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400 meters! Rajan's experienced eyes quite easily assessed the perimeter of the squarish ground. That meant he had to run 4 km nonstop!
"Oh God! Please help me!" Rajan knew it was an impossible task for him to accomplish, and he didn't want to be beaten either.
Rajan thought that 1 km was the most he could run at a go. He was highly apprehensive of being kicked by that heartless animal. So, after two and half rounds, he started to feel butterflies in his stomach. But, he himself was astonished to see he felt no shortness of breath or any cramp in the leg even after 5 complete laps.
"How come?" He wondered! Was the God helping him? He was glad. He completed 8 rounds without any hiccup. The animal like guy was announcing the rounds with a lot of disdain in his voice. He made it very clear that he didn't enjoy the fact that Rajan was finishing the job flawlessly.
But, during the middle of 8 round, Rajan started to feel a lot of discomfort in his body. Suddenly, his legs started to revolt, his lungs started to collapse. He was huffing and puffing like a steam engine. He was praying to the Almighty to give him enough strength to finish the task.
"You have successfully completed 9 rounds. That's incredible! Here comes your last round."
The Bengali guy announced this with no cheers in his rude voice.
Rajan was happy to know that. But unfortunately, his body was not cooperating. Rajan didn't understand that it was not the God, but it was the continuous hard work of a fortnight that was paying the dividend for him. But, his body was not prepared enough to run 4 km nonstop. He needed a break of at least 10 minutes.
Rajan's legs showed red flags after the half-way mark in the last lap, and Rajan fell on the ground like a lifeless object. The failure might have given him a bad taste in the mouth, but his exhausted body got a new lease on life. He stayed on the ground motionless for 5 minutes. He would have loved to stay like that for few more minutes, but the masked Bengali appeared on the scene.
"You have failed!" He announced, this time cheerfully.
"Water! Can I get some Water?" Rajan was having the thirst of a desert. Even a drop of water at this moment seemed to be priceless to him.
"Water? Ha ha! Yes, you can have a little bit of it. But, you will receive 10 extra kicks for that. Do you accept?" The masked guy showed the bottle he was holding in his hand. He might have masked his face, but a sinister smirk could be felt in his voice.
Rajan's body was worn out, but his mind was not. Rajan quickly looked at the bottle and estimated that there was not more than 50 ml of water in that run-down, dirty bottle. It appeared to Rajan that the bottle might have been picked from a bin, and it was filled with water from a puddle. Rajan had been a hygiene-freak for the last so many years. He would have puked to see it in a normal time. But, he himself was shocked to notice a dramatic change in his attitude.
"I agree. Please give the bottle to me."
"Ha ha!" The masked guy handed the bottle in Rajan's hands.
Rajan didn't take more than perhaps a nano second to open the bottle and pour the content in his one thousand-years-of-thirsty throat. Even this 50 ml of dirty water seemed like ambrosia to him.
Rajan's happiness didn't last for more than 5 seconds. A heavy kick in his butt again brought him back to his time of agony. From the 9 more kicks that came in no time on his buttock, chest, head, arms, legs and even in his groin, it appeared that the Bengali guy might be an expert in martial arts.
After the harrowing nonstop running, this was too much for Rajan to withstand. He was writhing in pain, and started crying loudly. This made the Bangali guy to stop for few moments. He, too, was sweating. He opened two upper buttons of his blue denim T-shirt, and said,
"Oh! Did the kicks hurt?"
"Yes, very much! Please don't beat me any more." Rajan tried to touch the feet of the Bengali guy to plead mercy.
"Wow! What a cute gesture! My heart has really melted. But you know what?"
"What?" Rajan asked eagerly.
"The word mercy does not belong to anyone working in this hell. I am sorry sweetie!"
The guy kicked 10 more times on every parts of Rajan's body to fulfil his words.
Looking at the sorry face of Rajan, the Bengali guy said,
"When I whistle, you must start running to complete the last round. Any more breaks, you will again get 10 more kicks. You have only 30 seconds to compose yourself."
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To be continued on Saturday night
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