Thriller The ultimate choice 58

 Episode 58

Rajan had the bitter experience of taking a forceful slap from Rod. At that time, he thought that Rod was the most powerful man on the earth. But after receiving the tiger's slap, Rajan realized that the tiger was at least twice as powerful as Rod. A big chunk of flesh got torn as a result of that slap. The pain became unbearable, but Rajan had enough experience of absorbing pain in the recent time. Rajan knew that he would not die due to bloodshed, but he would surely if the tiger managed to choke his neck with his powerful teeth, and that was exactly what Raja wanted to do.

But, Rajan as a desperate measure held the shoulders of the tiger with his arms. Raja got extremely irritated by that move. There was a tussle between the man and the beast. It didn't take much time for Raja to overpower Rajan. He got rid of Rajan's hold, and again jumped on him. This time injured Rajan was not in a position to prevent him. Rajan remembered his revered God Lord Shiva for the last time, and closed his eyes totally surrendering himself to his fate.

"Hey you! Fight with me."

The tiger's hope of killing his prey without any hassles was rudely shattered by a massive kick on his rib cage. The impact of the kick was good enough to throw the tiger 3 feet away from Rajan.

"Rajan Anna, don't waste any time! Climb to the other side. I am holding it back."

Siddharth appeared at the scene at the last moment like an angel. The tiger's claws and teeth had made some serious incisions on Rajan's body, and he was bleeding profusely, not to mention the suffering of excruciating pain. But, when the death comes to your doorstep, you don't pay attention to anything except saving your life. Rajan was sure that Lord Shiva had sent Siddharth at the crunch moment to save him. So, he could not let this godsend opportunity go because of pain. He thanked Siddharth, and somehow garnered enough strength to climb onto the lattice wall.

While Rajan was escaping to the other end, the situation was getting extremely murkier between Siddharth and Raja. From the 50-meter distance Archana couldn't understand who was having an upper hand, as both of them were rolling on the ground. Siddharth held the neck of the tiger forcefully trying to choke it, and the tiger was constantly slapping Siddharth with his paws. As a lot of of pressure was put on his neck by the powerful bloke Siddharth, the tiger was unable to bring full power to his slaps.

The tiger might not have applied full power to his blows, but they were good enough to tear Siddharth's flesh. The soil was drenched with Siddharth's blood. Siddharth was applying full pressure on the tiger's neck to kill it, but Raja being a healthy male tiger, the girth of the neck was too large to choke it to death. Siddharth understood that if he bled at this rate, he would not last long. So, he gave up the hope of killing the tiger, and as a desperate measure he released his grip on the neck of the animal only to poke his fingers on both eyes of the tiger.

This desperate effort had worked magically. The tiger rolled backwards making growls of pain. This gave Siddharth a great opportunity to escape. Even though, he was sapped of all his energy, and he bled profusely, his animal instincts to survive prevailed on his lifeless body. It was a simple miracle that he could climb up the steel lattice wall, and reach the other end. The injured, hungry tiger, too, was sapped of his energy. He didn't move an inch and lay on the ground making it easier for Siddharth to escape.

Siddharth had never been a religious person in his entire life, or for that matter he didn't have any faith in God. He believed in the concept of good work. But today, when he dropped his lifeless body on the other side from a height of 10 feet, he himself was amazed to realise that he had made it.

Archana was praying to the God, and when Siddharth made it to her side, she simply cried loudly thanking the God. Rajan, who had made it 5-minute earlier to this side was eagerly waiting to see wnat happened on the other side. His heart wanted to pray for Siddharth, but his brain wanted him to be killed.

He thanked Siddharth from the bottom of his heart for saving him from the jaws of death, but he prayed to the God for Siddharth's death. Because, he was a married man having the  responsibility of his family, while Siddharth had no family. If Siddharth died, it would not matter to anybody. But if died, his enire family would be ruined. Therefore, he was watching the life-and-death fight between the tiger and Siddharth. He was extremely disappointed when the 80 kg, almost lifeless body of Siddharth dropped on this side.

As soon as Siddharth's body dropped on Archana's side, Ranjan announced via his microphone

"Your 3-minute time starts now Archana."

Archana's worst fear had become true. This was the scenario she didn't want to see happen. But, she didn't know what to do now. Since she could not kill the tiger, as per the rules of this event, she had to kill one of the two men now.

Both Rajan and Siddharth were bleeding profusely. Rajan's injury seemed to be lesser. When the final event started, both the men were wearing tracksuits; Rajan wore yellow coloured long-sleeved jacket and a matching pant, while the colour of Siddharth's tracksuit was blue. But after the assaults by Raja, both men's dresses were torn into several pieces. Rajan ripped the remaining dresses and tied it on the places of injury in order to stop the flow of blood. He was now wearing only his underpants.

Siddharth could not do the same. Because of the more intense fight with the tiger and his constant blows on his various body parts, Siddharth's dresses were alteady torn apart. He, too, was only in his underpants. Besides, he didn't have much energy left in his body. He was lying near the lattice wall like a vegetable. His occasional pitiful groans made sure to everybody that he hadn't died.

As a shooter, it was easier for Archana to shoot Siddharth's motionless body, which was around 70 meter away from her. 70 meter, because he went to the side of the ground to save Rajan who had run diagonally. On the otherhand, Rajan, too, was standing at place near the lattice wall. The distance was around 55 meter, because he was near the centre.

But Archana didn't know whom to shoot, because both of them were her near ones. It was true that she got estranged from Rajan due to his neglect and indifference towards her. At one point of time, she even thought of committing suicide to end the meaningless relationship. At that point, Siddharth came to her life like an angel. He gave her a new meaning of life. They became close, and they decided to flee to live with each other.

While Archana was thinking all these, Ranjan announced via his microphone, 

"Your one minute is over Archana. If you don't shoot in the next minute, one of our sharpshooters will shoot you in the leg."

This announcement had alerted Archana. She had to act. But still she could not decide whom to shoot. Her attitude towards Rajan took a dramatic change after coming to this horrific place. In her first task in the hell house, she had to beat Rajan mercilessly. This incident had caused a change in her heart. She began to love Rajan again. During the torturous treatment she received here, thinking about Rajan and her children gave her the necessary motivation to carry on. Besides, how could she think of killing her own husband?

She also thought of the other option of not shooting at all. In that case, all three would die, and if she missed intentionally, she would be killed. She thought of that situation hard. Would her children be able to live without her? What would happen if Rajan decided to remarry? Would the new mother look after well her children? She closed her eyes. Suddenly, the faces of her children appeared in front of her. They were saying, "Mom when will you meet us?"

This had jarred her mind vigorously, and she quickly opened her closed eyes. She decided that she had to live. She had to live for her children. But still she didn't know whom to shoot?

Boom! The Joker was indeed a man of his words, Rajan thought. A sniper shot Archana as a warning. The bullet hit her in her left thigh, and almost knocked her off the tower. Her gun fell on the floor, and she had to hold the rim of the tower to avoid falling. The bullet injury was severe, and blood came out from her thigh like a river. Though she was not scared of shedding blood or afraid of pain, the main problem was she could no longer stand on her feet.

Ranjan announced, "The last minute has started. If you don't shoot, all of you will be dead."

Rajan got panicked. He didn't want to lose her wife. He came towards Archana and shouted,

"Don't waste time Archana. Shoot Siddharth. He is almost dead, end his agony."

But, Rajan didn't look at Siddharth or for that matter Archana did. Both of them were startled to see that Siddharth was on his feet, and he came very near to Rajan, who was about 20 meter from Archana.

"How did you come here?" Rajan seemed to have seen a ghost.

"Don't worry Rajan Anna, I have come near you to help you." Siddharth said.

Archana was struggling to stand, as the pain was too much to ignore. Watching her predicament, Siddharth shouted,

"Don't try to stand Archana. Lay down in prostrate and aim from that position. I am coming near you. Kill me. Don't think! Just Kill me."

Indeed Siddharth came closer to the tower, while Archana took position in prostrate.

Rajan was very happy to see this development. He goaded Archana,

"There is hardly 20 seconds left Archana. Pull the trigger and kill him. Kill him. Kill him."

Rajan's words sounded similar to the urging that she had heard in her bizarre dream in the underground room a few days back. In that dream, the Joker's team members surrounding Archana were hysterically telling her, "Kill him or get killed."

Archana's head started to spin. The Joker had told her to aim at the head of her target. Now, both the men were at a very close distance from her. Anxious Rajan was counting seconds and goading Archana to shoot.

"Only 10 seconds left Archu! Now or never!" Rajan became frantic. Siddharth was again lying on the ground, as he had no energy left in his body. It was indeed a miracle that he came so close with his lifeless body. Archana closed her eyes once more to say a prayer to the God. When she opened her eyes, there was hardly 5 second left in the clock.

Boom! She made her ultimate choice, and she shot her target with utmost precision. The bullet penetrated the head, killing her target instantly. Everyone present in the crowd cheered loudly. Even Ranjan announced over his microphone,

"Bravo! What a shot, and what an ultimate choice!"

But, Archana lost her consciousness, and she fell on the floor.

Since then she had lost her mental balance. Killing her own husband gave her such a rude shock that she could never overcome. The Joker's men cremated the dead body of Rajan in Hindu ritual. This was done as per the earnest request of Ranjan, who even cried secretly on his friend's death. Siddharth was immediately taken to the hospital. But, he lost one of his legs due to severe injury.

                                   ______________________ End ____________________

Thriller The ultimate choice 57

 Episode  57

The apprehension of the last scenario becoming real was cluttering Archana's mind with chilling sensations. She was constantly praying to the God, and telling herself that she had to kill the tiger in her first five shots. In the last minute, she started warming up to prepare herself to climb the wooden stairs. She estimated that she had to climb 2 to 3 stairs at a time to reach the top quickly.

On the opposite end of the field were waiting Rajan and Siddharth. After warming up for a while, they had taken their respective positions to run. The Joker had provided them with starting blocks. They placed their feet there in set position. The two participants were placed at a distance of 20 meter apart on each side from the centre point of the baseline. The cage of the tiger was placed at the centre point. It would be opened after the first participant passed the 20 meter mark. The 20-meter mark was drawn on the field with white colour.

Looking at the body language of the tiger, it appeared to Rajan that the tiger must have been trained to hunt his prey in this manner. Otherwise, wild tigers are shy animals, and they always hunt stealthily. Rajan was praying hard to the God for not letting the tiger to choose him as his prey. Rajan thought Siddharth was younger than him, and he could sprint harder to beat the tiger in the race. So, Rajan thought if somehow the tiger didn't choose him, and once he crossed to the other end, he had a chance to survive.

Of course, Rajan would have loved to see all of them emerging as survivors, but Rajan had no faith in Archana's shooting abilities. Actually, he could not believe his ears when the Joker was spelling out the stipulations of this game.

From the body language of Siddharth, it didn't appear that he was thinking too much. His face showed no tension or no emotion.

Ranjan's voice could be heard via a microphone,

"Candidates, ready, set," and after waiting for a second, he fired a pistol shot in air.

Everything happened very quickly after that. Rajan and Siddharth ran as fast as they could for their lives. Siddharth was slightly, about 1 meter, ahead in crossing the 20 meter mark, when the 2-days hungry tiger was unleashed from the cage.

Rajan was on the right side of the tiger, while Siddharth was on its left. The tiger took 2 seconds to choose his prey, giving both the men 10 more meter of advantage. Siddharth was running straight, but Rajan ran slantwise to make more distance from the tiger after crossing the 20-meter mark.

This dilemma of the tiger gave Archana some precious moments to climb on to the top of the tower. But, she had to take the gun from the floor and unlock the safety catch. It was a similar type of gun with which she had practiced in the last couple of days. She looked at the other end to see what was happening.

Even though Rajan ran slantingly to make a longer gap between him and the tiger, the tiger, Raja, preferred chasing the shorter, slower and fatter Rajan. He started running towards Rajan at such a brisk speed that made Archana totally puzzled. She was not prepared for hitting targets having such a brisk speed. The tower where Archana was standing was placed at the middle of that side's baseline. Had Rajan ran straight like Siddharth, it would have been easier for Archana to shoot the tiger. But for whoever's sake, Archana didn't understand, Rajan was trying to run towards the corner of the lattice wall.

Archana knew there was not much of time, and she had to act. She had been trained how to time and direct her shots in order to hit moving targets. As Archana practiced with a similar type of heavy long range gun, she didn't hesitate any more and pulled the trigger targeting the rib cage of the tiger. Raja was not prepared for this assault, and he couldn't react. But, to his good luck and Archana's agony, the first shot missed the target by at least 1 meter.

The tiger stopped for few moments, and tried to understand where the shot came from. Had it been a wild tiger, it would have definitely fled. But from the reaction, it was evident that Raja, too, had been trained by the Joker's team for this life-and-death drama, and the Joker must have told a lie that he was made hungry for only 2 days. Archana estimated that the tiger hadn't eaten anything for at least 7 days.

Without wasting any time Archana, shot the static tiger. Archana was more comfortable at hitting static targets, but to her utter dismay the tiger jumped forward as soon as Archana shot. This time Archana's shot was on the money, but as the tiger had moved afer hearing the gun shot, she missed her target for the second time.

The tiger didn't waste any more time, and it increased its speed tremendously to come within a jumping range of 8 meter of Rajan. Now, the lattice wall came in between the tiger and Archana. Siddharth had reached the wall, but he didn't climb it. He was looking at Rajan and the tiger.

It was true that the trainers had imparted good training to Rajan on both high jumps and long jumps. Rajan wanted to make a jump to reach the lattice wall, but the tiger's roar from such a close distance had a severe panick attack on him. Suddenly, he found that his legs were paralysed. When he looked back at the tawny eyes of the tiger, he was almost hypnotized.

Meanwhile, Archana fired two more shots to the tiger. But, the luck was not favouring her, as both the bullets hit the steel portion of the lattice wall. Archana was left with only one shot, and she searched for a perfect opportunity to kill the tiger.

Watching his dumbfounded prey with numb legs, Raja jumped on him with glee. Archana knew that this was her last chance to kill the tiger before he killed Rajan. Making a silent prayer to the God, she fired her 5th bullet to the jumping tiger. She didn't know whether her prayer worked or not, but the lattice wall didn't come as hindrance this time. 

Rajan had lost all hope. Not only his legs became numb, but also his mind was not working. He had never seen such a ferocious animal prowling on him from such a close range. The tiger  jumped on the hapless Rajan, but Archana's 5th and the final shot allowed for killing the tiger had a dramatic effect on both Rajan and the tiger.

The shot hit the left hind leg of the tiger, and the impact of the bullet made him miss his target  partially. Raja's paw missed Ranjan's back, but just scratched it. But, Rajan got back to his sense immediately. He observed that the bullet had made a serious injury to Raja's left leg. Blood was gushing out of the injury, and Raja made growling of severe distress.

Siddharth could have easily reached the other end. But, he was waiting for Rajan. Watching the injured tiger Siddharth shouted,

"Don't waste any time, Rajan Anna. It will pounce back with more vigour. Climb the lattice wall."

Indeed, Rajan got slighty relaxed watching the injured tiger lying on the ground. Siddharth's words made sense to him, and he started climbing the lattice wall turning his back towards the tiger. But, Raja had not eaten anything thing for more than a week. He was in no mood to let his prey escape so easily, and who doesn't know that an injured predator is more dangerous than a normal one? Despite the injury, Raja recoiled himself and jumped on Rajan who could climb just 8 feet on the lattice wall.

Due to his injured leg, the paw could not severely injure Rajan, but it made sure that Rajan fell on the ground. Rajan didn't expect this as his face was turned away from the tiger. He was again startled to see the tiger in front of him. The tiger again growled before forcefully hitting Rajan on his shoulder with his right paw. Even though Rajan was alert this time, he could not evade the blow.

To be continued on today night

Thriller The ultimate choice 56

 Episode 56

If she doesn't shoot any one of you, our sharp shooters will fire a shot at one of her legs after 2 minutes as a sign of warning. If she doesn't shoot despite that, all three of you will be killed by our sharp shooters, and if she shoots but fails to kill any of you, our sharp shooters will kill her. Rajan and Siddharth will emerge as survivors in that case. How's that? Ain't it fair and funny?"

The Joker paused for a moment to see the reactions of the participants. There could not be any more crooked definition of fairness, Siddharth thought. Archana had already started to weep, thinking about the last three scenarios. She prayed hard to the God for making the first scenario successful. But, she knew that her task was cut out, because she was not given the opportunity to practice of hitting targets from a height, let alone killing animals with gun shots.

It was true that the Joker's team had provided her heavy long range guns to practice at moving targets for the last two days. They taught her how to aim at moving objects. For practicing purpose, they threw balloons in air, and Archana had to target those. The distance was around 50 meter or so.

After two days of hard work, Archana achieved accuracy up to 40%. But, even a child can understand that hitting a slow-moving upward balloon from ground and killing a fast moving  tiger from up is not the same. This arrangement didn't look fair to Archana. Before she was going to complain, the Joker said,

"Archana you might be thinking that you didn't get a fair deal; the job assigned to you is too difficult. Well, that's not the case dear. You are hitting 4 out 10 at a distance of 50 meter or so. 4 out 10 means 2 out of 5. That means you should kill two tigers in 5 shots. But you have got only 1.

And, I must tell you Archana, you have no worries about killing the animal. If you hit the vital body parts of the animal with your .45-caliber bullet, it's going to die then and there. Try to target the head.

You might say that the distance of your target is longer than what you had practiced, or you might crib because you have to shoot from a height. Well, when you appear for a tough entrance examination, do you get common questions? No, most of the questions are uncommon in those exams. If you know the basic concept, you can always improvise. As a matter of fact, shooting from top is easier to target. Maybe your first couple of shots will go haywire, but from the third shot you can always adjust.

So, Archana we haven't done injustice to you or for that matter to Raja. Raja, too, has been trained in MP how to evade bullets. So, don't think that killing him is going to be a cakewalk.

I am done with explaining the rules for the final. If you have any questions, you may ask now." The Joker looked at Archana.

"Why do I have to climb the tower? Why can't I be present on the top from the beginning?"

Archana asked, because it would have given her more time to aim at the tiger. Also, the more the tiger came towards the 16-feet tall lattice wall, it would become more difficult for her to hit it because of the steel lattice wall.

"When Rajan and Siddharth will start running towards the wall, you will start climbing up the stairs. The tiger will be let loose after 3 seconds, assuming that Rajan and Siddharth will cover 20 meter in those 3 seconds. You will try to reach the top in that time to have a good aim at the tiger from the baseline of the other side, which will be 100 meter away from you.

In case you are late by few seconds, it doesn't matter as you can even target the tiger through the lattice wall. Everything about this game depends on luck. If your luck favours you, you will be able to hit the tiger through the gaps of the lattice wall, as each gap of the lattice is around 30 square centimetres, enough for a bullet to pass. However, if the great Satan doesn't favour you, that will be a different prospect. You will miss your target even from a 20 meter distance. Now, Rajan do you have any question?" 

The Joker pointed towards Rajan. Rajan was thinking about the speed of the tiger. He said,

"Dear Joker Sir, why don't you give us at least 30 meter advantage from the tiger? Because, my estimate is that the tiger will catch up when we will be around 30 meters distance from the baseline if we get only 20 meter gap."

The Joker nodded his head in agreement with Rajan and said,

"Yes Rajan, you have a valid point. But why will you run straight? Haven't you seen the video of the impala? Don't you remember how it ran? You will have to run like it; twisting, turning, leaping and bounding. Both of you have been trained well to do these manoeuvres. And yes, we have to give the tiger a fair chance to hunt also. That's the reason for this stipulation. Now, Siddharth do you have any question?"

The Joker looked at Siddharth. Siddharth said,

"Dear Joker, please stop this circus. If you are so much worried about your hungry tiger, and if you want to see one of us dead, I am ready to offer myself to the tiger. Let there be a fight between the tiger and me. If he wins, he will eat me. But, if I win, you will have to free all of us. Are you game?"

As soon as Siddharth posed the question, there were clanking sounds of unlocking of safety catches, and all the ten guards pointed their guns towards him.

The Joker raised his hands, and the guards lowered their guns. The Joker said,

"By now you should have known Siddharth that insubordination here means death. You have taken a lot of pain and you have suffered a lot to reach here. Don't be foolish to think that you can save the lives of Archana and Rajan by sacrificing your life. If we see any such attempt like you offering yourself to the tiger, the other two will be killed along with you. So, let the competition take its natural course, and let the great Satan decide the winner. Do you get it?"

The Joker's voice sounded like thunder.

After spending around 3 months in this despicable hell, Siddharth knew very well what the Joker meant.

The Joker said,

"Enough of talking folks! Let's move to the action arena."

It was 9-50 AM, and 5 cars were used to take the participants and other people to the action area. Indeed the playing field looked completely different. Archana had read about the ancient Roman amphitheatre. She thought had there been sitting places, the ground could have been called an amphitheatre.

Archana noted that at least 10 cameramen were present on temporary towers erected at different places and 5 drones with cameras were flying in the sky. The sides of the playing field were surrounded by 20-feet tall steel lattice walls, making it sure that no one could escape from there.

They reached the ground at 9-55 AM. Before sending each contestant to his or her place, the Joker said,

"You will get 3 to 5 minutes before the competition starts. Try to concentrate and focus on your job. I hope the last situation doesn't arise. But, if it arises, it will be Archana's ultimate choice to decide the survivor. Best of luck folks! Let's have fun!"

The dignitaries went to their seats situated on different towers constructed on the perimeter of the ground, and the candidates went to their respective places.

                              _________________________________________________________

Archana was instructed to stand near the base of the tower on one side of the field. The Joker had announced that sharp at 10, a pistol shot would be fired by Ranjan, and the competitors would have to jump into action. After watching Siddharth's clips, Archana was confident that he would be able to come to this side. But, she was extremely worried about Rajan. She hadn't have a chance to watch Rajan's progress in physical fitness here. The old picture of unfit Rajan was still vivid in her mind.  

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 55

 Episode 55

"What about the preparation of the candidates, Ranjan?" The Joker seemed to have ignored the question completely.

"Very good, Sir! These two days have been like goldmine for trainers like us. Archana can now hit moving objects with almost 40% accuracy. Ranjan and Siddharth have also done very well in sprinting, long hump and high jump. I am sure the final event is going to be a superhit."

"You know the plan Ranjan!?" Nigella whined again.

"Oh no Nigella, I don't know. Joker Sir hasn't revealed the plan to anybody yet."

"Friends, the final programme will start at 10 AM tomorrow. Hold your breath till then and let it be a surprise to everyone." The Joker announced.

                      ____________________________________________________________

It was 17th March 9-30 AM in the morning; the D-day for the trio had finally arrived. Due to yesterday's Nor'wester, the weather was very pleasant. There were few scattered white clouds in the blue sky, while the sun was blazing brightly. The breeze was very mild.

Before the beginning of the grand final, the Joker met all the contestants in the open ground floor of the 10-storeyed building. This time he was surrounded by 10 guards armed with the most sophisticated lethal weapons. As usual, Nigella was standing beside the Joker holding his wheel-chair.

Rajan, Siddharth and Archana were standing in front of the Joker. The trio were not allowed to speak, but form their body language it appeared to everyone that they were dying to interact with each other. They got very emotional being so close to each other after so many days.

"No need to be emotional folks! This is not the place and definitely not the time. Because all three of you are standing at the jaws of death." The Joker warned them.

"But you said we have a chance of surviving." Rajan blurted.

"Stop, you idiot! When the Joker Sir is speaking don't interrupt. You will speak only when you are asked to do so."

A masked guard warned sternly, pointing his gun towards Rajan.

The Joker resumed his speech,

"In the previous editions of our megahit show Survivor, there used to be only one survivor or sometimes none. But this year, we have changed the rules. I am sure this is going to be more interesting than the previous editions of this show."

The Joker paused for a few moments. But, Archana's heartbeat increased in anticipation of a good news. Rajan also started to pray to the God for hearing something positive. Only Siddharth's body language remained pococurante. Archana couldn't gauge whether he was at all listening or not.

"To make things more exciting we have decided that this year there can be any number of surviors. To make it simpler, there can be 1, 2 or 3 survivors. If that seems to be a good news to you, you need to know the flip side of the condition, too. There can be zero survivor also."

The Joker again paused for few seconds. Archana and Rajan looked at each other. Siddharth was not looking at anyone.

The Joker resumed,

"All three of you have been trained well for this grand finale. Archana has been trained to kill, and you two have been trained to save yourselves.

Don't get startled Archana. If you become nervous by just hering the news, I am afraid none of you will survive. Because, the key to survival of you guys depends on your hand."

"My hand?" Despite the embargo on speaking untowardly, the words came out of Archana's mouth spontaneously.

But, the Joker didn't mind, as he continued,

"Yes, your hands! Now, all of you listen carefully, because I am going to tell you the rules for the ultimate test. But before that I must intoduce to you another character who will play a very vital role in this competition."

The Joker made some signal to someone in front. Archana couldn't understand what other character the Joker was talking about, because both Ranjan and the Joker himself had told her earlier that there were only three participants who had cleared the fourth stage. Rajan also could not figure out who the fourth character was going to be. Siddharth showed no reaction again.

But, they didn't have to wait too long, as a ten-wheeler big truck stopped in front of the building, facing the rear side towards them. When the tailgate of the truck was opened, Archana's heartbeats almost stopped, and her eyes popped out in astonishment.

Grrrmm! The growl and the odour caught Siddharth's attention also. He could no longer remain insouciant, as what he saw was indeed frightening. There was a steel cage in the truck, and inside the cage was a very restless royal bengal tiger. It was moving briskly from one side of the cage to the other, and making roars.

"Here is the fourth character for ya! If you are curious about him, let me inform you that this 5-year old alpha male has been in our custody in our den in MP. He was brought here 5 days back. You might have heard the disturbed barking of our agitated dogs on the day of his arrival. But later on that day, he was placed at a safe place in one of our underground hideouts. We have kept him hungry for the last 2 days.

Now you might wonder what is he doing here! Okay, without wasting any more time, let me tell you what the competition is going to be. We have partitioned the playing field into two halves, each having a length of 50 meter each, and separated by a 16 feet tall lattice wall made of steel. The tiger cannot jump over it, neither can he climb it. But, the humans can.

The tiger named Raja, Rajan and Siddharth will be in one half, while Archana will be in the other half. The hungry tiger will love to hunt one of Rajan or Siddharth or both to satiate his hunger. The task for both Rajan and Siddharth will be to come to the other half as early as possible. Both of them will have an advantage of 20 meters in front of the tiger. In other words, the tiger will be let loose from the base line, while both Rajan and Siddharth will be at a distance of 20 meter from him. Please remember the speed of a tiger is almost twice as that of you.

So you have to run very hard for the remaining 30 meter. But if that is a worrying news for you, there is also a good news for you, too. The tiger is not going to target both of you. He is experienced enough to pick his target. So, one of you can easily climb the lattice wall and move towards the other side.

Now, what is going to be Archana's task, and why does everything depend on Archana? We have made a 40-feet high wooden tower like structure on the baseline in the half where she will be standing. There will be no walls or roof on the structure. Archana has to climb the wooden stairs very quickly to reach the top. Her long range gun will be kept on the floor. This gun is loaded with only 10 bullets.

Her task is to kill at least one of the three. Obviously, she would like to kill the tiger. If she kills the tiger, all three of you can get out from here scot-free. But, to kill the tiger she can exhaust only up to 5 bullets. If she shoots the 6th bullet to kill the tiger, our snipers will shoot her in the head, and later on both of you will also be shot down. In other words all of you will die.

In case the tiger kills both Rajan and Siddharth, Archana gets out from here as the winner of this year's show. If the tiger kills one of them, and the other one comes to this half, he and Archana will be declared survivors for this year, and they can go home.

There is not much of complication in the aforesaid cases, but the situation will become a little scary in the last case when both Rajan and Siddharth cross to Archana's half. In this case, Archana has to kill one of the two. She will get only 3 minutes to fix her target after both of them enter her side, and she will have 5 bullets, assuming that she exhausts 5 bullets in trying to kill the tiger.

To be continued on Sunday night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 54

 Episode 54

Suresh was very happy to see the resoluteness and the sense of responsibility in Srinivas. But, Roy seemed to be a tad sceptical, as he said,

"That mission has been aborted Srinivas. What you are going to do is completely unofficial. You have seen the fiendishness of this frigging agency. I think you are taking a huge mortal risk."

"Don't give a lecture Roy. You tell me if you have got my back or not! I don't care going all alone, and I don't balk at sacrificing my life for the sake of performing my duty."

"Don't misunderstand me Srinivas. Of course, I got your back. But, all I am saying is that we can't achieve our goal by acting impulsively. I told you and Suresh Sir that we will raid the place day after tomorrow if our meeting with the CM does not yield any result. But, we need more men and more arsenal for that. They are coming by tomorrow." Roy tried to explain.

"That's spoken like a man! Every hour is very important. We can't wait so long."

Srinivas was going to say something more, but his phone rang. From the expression of his eyes it became evident that he didn't expect the caller at this time. He hurriedly attended the call.

"Hello Mrs Mathur! What's up?"

The caller, Mrs Mathur, said something over the next two minutes that made Srinivas's face turn completely bloodless. He was standing while attending the call. After disconnecting the call, he sat on the bare floor with a thud. He threw the mobile phone on the sofa. This reaction from a seasoned IPS officer didn't augur well to either Roy or Suresh.

"Any bad news?" Suresh enquired.

After spending few days with Srinivas, they knew that Mrs Mathur was his neighbour. It was hard to even look at Srinivas's face. The face turned white and he gave a complete blank look with popping eyes.

Roy offered him a glass of water, which he drank. The weather was very pleasant in the evening. But, Srinivas was sweating profusely. It didn't evade Roy's astute eyes that tears were building in the corners of Srinivas's eyes. But, since brave men don't cry, Srinivas was holding back his emotions.

"What happened Srini? Please tell us." Suresh goaded him in a soft voice.

"This can't happen. I talked just an hour back to her. She was absolutely healthy. How can this happen? How?" Srinivas's rant seemed slightly incoherent to Suresh, but Roy had not much problem in understanding it, because he overheard the conversation that Srinivas had just mentioned.

"What happened to your wife?" Roy's raised voice almost sounded like screams.

Suresh got up tensely from the cot. Roy pulled Srinivas from the floor and made him sit on the sofa.

"Anju suffered a massive heart attack an hour ago. Now she is on life support in the ICU." Srinivas muttered. 

"Don't waste any time. There is a flight at 8-30 PM. If you leave now, you can catch it. I will recommend Suresh Sir to go with you. Don't worry about this case, as we will closely monitor the situation. I will meet the CM tomorrow. If possible both of you can join us when we undertake the rescue operation."  Roy suggested.

Suresh agreed with him, and he left for Hyderabad with Srinivas, who looked like a shadow of his former self. He was a broken man.

                                            _____________________________________________

"Ranjan, you evil genius! You have again cleared the road for us."

There was no one more happier that Xi at that moment. The short-stature Chinese guy hugged Ranjan tightly.

The Ravenous Eagles guys had placed jammers and other anti-bugging devices in the hotel Paradise. The cook, who gave Srinivas his mobile phone, was given clean chit by the local cops. However, on Srinivas's insistence he was removed from the hotel temporarily during their stay.

But when technology does not work, manual methods become handy. The guy staying at the top of the room where Srinivas was staying was Joker's man. A couple of waiters were also hired by the Joker. They had been constantly eavesdropping on Srinivas and Roy. Besides, the mobile phones of Suresh's and Srinivas's wives were compromised by the satanic spying software. This software helped the Joker's team to listen all the conversations they made with their wives.

"Why does everyone give credit to me, when I know my contribution is minimum? The credit goes to our evil doctors who by the grace of the great Satan could prepare such an amazing drug. This drug tastes like an antacid but it coagulates blood in a very slow manner, and within couple of hours the patient suffers massive heart attack without getting any prior symptoms. The good feature of this drug made from herbs is that it can't be detected in post mortem report of the victim."

Ranjan tried to clarify.

"You are being too humble Ranjan. Wasn't it your idea?" Praises were manifested in Nigella's eyes.

"Yes Nigella the cruel idea was mine, because this Srinivas guy was hell-bent in invading our property last night. Had he done so, either we would have to kill him, or at best captivate him. In both the scenarios, the police would have got enough reason to hunt us. We didn't want that.

However, full credit goes to our team in Chittoor. The maid servant in Srinivas's house very carefully changed the file of antacids with our deadly drug which also looks like the same brand of the antacids. By preparing very spicy food, the cook made sure that Srinivas's wife Anju, who takes antacids regularly, had to take it. The maid servant again changed the file with the original file after Anju took it. No one will suspect her."

"Indeed awesome planning, Ranjan! But, do you have any back up plan if the capricious CM readily orders an investigation into this case and the police decides to raid our place?"

The Joker was slightly worried about this aspect, because the CM of WB was an honest man who could not be controlled by others. He did what he thought was the best, and sometimes he took decisions impulsively.

"Whether he would eventually order an enquiry I can't predict Joker Sir. We have to assume that he would, and that's why we are vacating the place and leaving for Sudan after tomorrow's final event. But up to tomorrow, we have no problem. Sabbir is there to take care of it. You tell Sabbir."

Ranjan passed the question to Sabbir. Sabbir, the literary blue-eyed handsome Arab billionaire, said,

"Don't worry Joker Sir. The Ravenous Eagles guys are supposed to meet the CM at 5 PM. But, that meeting will not take place today or for that matter tomorrow."

"But how? Please tell us how?" Though Sabbir sounded extremely confident, Xi was still tensed.

"An old building will collapse today at 4-00 PM in his own constituency in Kolkata leading to deaths of many. And tomorrow, my man in the ministry will ensure that they don't get any appointment by influencing his PA so that we can peacefully complete the reality show and escape from here."

Sabbir seemed to have made a soild, unassailable blue print. The Joker nodded his head showing his approval to the plan.

"But what about the final event Joker Sir? You haven't yet disclosed to us what it's going to be."

This time Nigella complained pouting her lips and enlarging her hazel eyes. This gesture of Nigella felt like a Cupid's arrow to Sabbir. But, Nigella being the Joker's consort, he could not make any advances. Otherwise, he would have definitely proposed her long time back. However, it didn't escape Sabbir's eyes the adoration of Nigella towards Ranjan. Sabbir had a gut feeling that Nigella loved Ranjan, and he couldn't figure out how a beautiful lady could fall in love with a gay person!

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 53

 Episode 53

Rajan remembered very well that a car had appeared on the scene at an electric speed, and someone very strong from the car dragged his body inside the car in a jiffy. The same guy or someone else had put a handkerchief soaked with chloroform on his nose, and he lost sense. But, he hadn't heard any sound of barking. Was Ranjan concocting a story to hide something?

Looking at Rajan's face, which was full of disbelief, Ranjan tried to divert the issue by saying,

"The good thing is that you get two more days. Two more days to eat, sleep and breathe, and most importantly prepare yourself to survive in the final test! I can't stay with you now, as I have other important works. You can see over there wait a couple of instructors. They will impart you some vital training for the last stage. Train hard to survive the last onslaught."

Ranjan pointed towards the ground where indeed two masked men were waiting for Rajan. Ranjan went back to the hell house.

                            _________________________________________________________

"I can't believe this! Is Barrackpore outside India? How is this happening in our sovereign country?" Suresh anguished.

"Indeed this is incredible! They are more powerful than we had imagined. They have the cutting-edge technology. I think we have to directly meet the CM and also contact the defence ministry of the Indian government." Roy agreed with Suresh.

After the huge embarrassment yesterday, the searching mission was officially aborted by the Andhra police. Khan would have to face an enquiry for the murder of the bull, which had communalized the environment. The post mortem report would surely exonerate Khan if the bullet inside the bull was different from Khan's. But after watching the freaking drama organised in such a flawless manner, the cops apprehended that the freaking agency might have used the same kind of bullet.

Very strangely, some of the WB police constables said that they had seen Khan firing at the innocent animal from his revolver. A few locals, who had not been at the spot, ganged up to testify against Khan. So, Khan was rather unceremoniously sent off to home till the investigation was over. He might be called later on here to face enquiry. All other STF personnel also went back with Khan. The lone exception was Srinivas, who stayed with Suresh, and of course, the Ravenous Eagles members also stayed.

Yesterday night was full of events: they didn't know how it passed after coming back to the hotel Paradise. Today, they had done a thorough analysis in the morning, and came to the conclusion that there had to be secret bunkers and tunnels in the premises. It required a lot more time to find the hiding places. But, they knew the judicial magistrate would not issue another search warrant until they showed him something concrete.

That was why they flew an ornithopter in the afternoon to film the events happening in that condemned place. That little spybird could send pictures for only 5 minutes, and there was nothing substantial in that, as Rajan was not on the playing field at that time. But suddenly the connection was lost, as a GPS spoofer took it down. The uav fell down on the hellish premises, and was lost for ever.

Not perturbed by the loss, Roy sent two more very powerful drones from two different directions, this time at an altitude of more than 3 km. Over the last couple of years, these drones had given excellent results in every occasion. So, Roy was pretty sure that these two trusted and tested drones would collect some incriminating evidences.

Roy was sure that the RF jammers or GPF spoofers would not work at that height. But, Roy could not estimate that this hellhounds had got hold of a sophisticated High Power Microwave device and High-energy lasers. Their drone detection rader didn't take any time to detect the conventional drones at high altitude, and destroyed them within minutes.

Monetarily the loss was huge, but more shocking was the loss of face one more time. Roy got a very nasty message on his phone, which later was tracked to have been sent from Morocco, threatening to harm his family if he didn't close the case.

After two back-to-back failures, they decided to meet the CM of WB with evidences that they had gathered previously. They sought appointment, and it was granted at 5 PM tomorrow.

Suresh was extremely apprehensive of the fate of his friend. He wanted more direct action from the Ravenous Eagles guys. Roy promised him they would raid the place, if the meeting with the CM failed. The Ravenous Eagles guys had been constantly keeping a close watch on the premises of the property. As no body came out or no body came in, Roy guessed that Rajan and Archana were still alive.

Srinivas wanted a night adventure tonight into the property. He wanted to invade there secretly at late night. Roy discouraged him, as he knew the Joker's team would be on their toes. As Srinivas was determined to rescue the Rajan couple by himself tonight by making a foray into the hell house, Roy had to accompany him as he knew there were enormous threats to Srinivas's life. Also, it would be a good reconnaissance tour for him before actually raiding the property with his team.

                ______________________________________________________________

It was 6 PM in the evening. The trio of Srinivas, Suresh and Roy were sitting in Suresh's room. The mood of Srinivas was extremely sore because of an incident that happened a few minutes earlier. His favourite wrist watch, which was gifted by his wife was broken into pieces in an incident which was bizarre.

Suresh had ordered coffee and snacks for them over phone. A waiter, a young guy, around 20 years age, was bringing it in a tray. At that time a phone from an unknown number came in Srinivas's phone. The guy on the other end was saying something about this case. But Srinivas could not hear it properly. The voice was getting interrupted and distorted. Srinivas thought it might be due to poor signal of the mobile network inside the room. That's why he was coming out hurriedly to the lawn.

The passage of this seedy hotel was hardly 4 feet wide. Even then Srinivas saw the waiter coming towards Suresh's room, and he moved sideways to avoid him. But, suddenly a kid, who might be son of another boarder came running from behind. He tried to avoid Srinivas by moving left. He avoided Srinivas,  but he directly hit the waiter. The waiter fell down and the tray hit Srinivas's watch. The old watch could not bear the impact and was broken into pieces.

The incident looked so natural that Srinivas had to believe that it was an accident. Both the waiter and the young lad were so innocent that he could not get angry at them. Looking at Srinivas's long face, Roy said,

"Don't think over this incident too much, Srinivas. Let's discuss about tonight's plan. Do you stick to your decision of sneaking into there, or should we wait to see the CM's decision."

"Well Roy, you will not understand this. A lot of good memories were attached to this watch. That's why I am a bit morose. But, work is work. I haven't come here as a tourist. I have been given the responsibility of rescuing the kidnapped husband-wife duo. The CM had pinned a lot of hope on my abilities. I can't go back empty-handed, and I can't waste time either."

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 52

 Episode  52

As a desperate measure, Archana pointed her gun towards the fleeing Joker. The Joker had handed her a revolver. But Archana couldn't understand how it became a heavy, long range rifle. Archana lifetd the gun after some effort. But, how could she point it towards the Joker, as he was continuously changing directions? Archana was taught how to fix target on static objects, but she didn't know how to shoot moving targets.

Suddenly, her dream was broken and she was utterly surprised to find herself blindfolded and muffled. Her hands and legs were tied by ropes, too. She struggled hard to disentangle herself from the ropes for a while only to find that it was impossible. She screamed but no sound came out of her mouth, as a rag was put in her mouth.

After her futile efforts of 15 minutes, she sat still. She calmed her mind and tried to assess her position. From the cold feeling on her feet, she guessed that she was sitting on a metallic base. She hit the floor with the knuckles of her hand, and yes, the sound was metallic. She tried to roll on the surface only to find that the perimeter of her enclosure was very short. The air she breathed was heavy and suffocating.  Now, she had no problem in understanding that she had been kept in a metallic closed cage type of thing. From sounds coming from various ends it appeared to her that a few more people were also immured like her.

She tried to remember how she got stuck in such a precarious situation. In her early days in this hell house she was tied and starved for a couple of days. But after she agreed to obey the Joker's commands, she had never been subjected to this kind of harsh treatments. She remembered that around 3-40 PM in the afternoon, a masked man took her to a football ground in the back side of the building. She reached there at 3-50 PM. She saw both Rajan and Siddharth were also present on the same ground. Watching her beloved people after so long, she became extremely happy. She didn't know why she was taken there, but she waved her hands towards them. But, as they were in the opposite side of the ground they didn't notice her.

But suddenly, the Jaguar car came towards her and someone extremely powerful lifted her inside the car. Before she could understand what was happening, the powerful guy anesthetized her, and she found herself in this dicey position.

She sat there for half an hour thinking what to do. Suddenly, she sensed a very sweet faint smell and within few seconds lost her consciousness again.

                                       ___________________________________________________

"Oh Ranjan you are genius man, simply genius!"

Xi's enthusiasm knew no bound after the grand show machinated by Ranjan. He knew the progress of investigation of the Andhra cops took a nosedive. They would require at least a week to recover from the mess they had been put in.

"He made a mistake, but now he has compensated it."

The Joker opined. They pinpointed the moment when Ranjan got casual, leading to his face recognition by the Ravenous Eagles sleuths. They had no problem in detecting the customer who had betrayed them. They had not just kicked him out of the membership at the crunch moment, but on the same night he was killed in Omdurman by the assailants sent by Angra Mainyu, the name of the Joker's company. His all electronic gadgets had also been confiscated by the Joker's men. The police in that city was completely in collusion with Angra Mainyu. They made sure that there would be no investigation into the murder.

Ranjan bowed his head and said,

"The mistake was all mine, but the credit goes to our team. Without our team work, we couldn't have done it."

The plan might have been hatched by Ranjan, but indeed team work was necessary for its successful execution. Three cars came at a lightning speed to yank the three participants into the cars. They knew there would be not much of a resistance for Archana and Rajan, but Siddharth being a different kettle of fish, they had to again shoot a dart on his arm to make him go to sleep. The other two were anesthetized inside the car.

All the other members of the house, except the Lakhotias and a few Indian attendants, were sent to the hidden underground bunker earlier. The Ravenous Eagles guys had no chance of finding it, because this underground bunker was situated 30 feet below the surface, that too in a place that was extremely hard to suspect. This underground hiding room was beneath the swimming pool. Archana, Rajan and Siddharth were tied, blindfolded and muffled. They were placed in steel containers in a separate room.

The important items of the house had been hidden in other underground bunkers earlier. The Joker had made this place an amazing place for playing hide-and-seek with the cops . There were 15 underground rooms at different places in the premises. There were various hidden tunnels and other important things in this arena.

"Whatever you say, your plot to implicate Khan was awesome!"

The praises coming out of Nigella's luscious lips sounded real sweet to Ranjan. Nigella's look was full of adoration for Ranjan. Had Ranjan been not a gay, he would've tried to decode the meaning of the body language of Nigella. He said,

"The credit again goes to our team. They had gathered all information about Khan in a very short time. This shamus, Khan, has been a brute of a guy, and he had a number of incidents in his career when he had shown extreme arrogance. That's why it was easy to trap him, and convince his higher authorities about his involvement in killing the bull."

"Now, we get at least 7 days. But, we will end this competition within a couple of days. We will have to pack up from here for a while after that. We will shift to Uganda, an extremely safe place for us."

 The Joker announced.

"But why two more days, Sir? We should start packing up right now." Xi as usual was fearful.

"No Xi! Archana needs further training of hitting moving objects with heavy long range rifles. She needs a fair chance to survive. I give her two days. On the third day morning the ultimate final test will be done."

Everyone agreed happily with the Joker.

                        _____________________________________________________

"You must have been wondering hard what happened yesterday afternoon!"

Ranjan and Rajan were walking towards the practicing ground. It was 5-30 AM in the morning, and even in the middle of March, the weather was very pleasant.

"Yes, I really didn't get what happened yesterday! Was there an emergency situation?" Rajan asked, as he knew nothing about the search operation by the police.

"Indeed, there was an emergency situation. You have seen the pitbulls. But, we have some other breeds as well, like fox terriers, hounds etc. One of the black hound, whose name is Khan had became mad a week ago. We would have ended his agony yesterday, but he apprehended something and fled. He was coming towards the ground. That's why we saved you from the situation. But, in the process you got a head injury. Now, everything is alright!"

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 51

 Episode 51

Srinivas and Khan looked at each other confoundedly, as nobody understood what Ranjan meant. At that moment, Mukherjee came into the room hurriedly holding his phone in hand.

"Sir, we have to leave immediately. More than thousand angry people are protesting outside this property for arresting Khan Sir."

"But why?" The indomitable Khan's voice seemed to have trembled a bit.

"They are alleging that you have killed Bhola, the popular Brahma bull of this locality, whom people revered as Nandi avatar. You have hurt their sentiments, and they want you to be arrested. Else, they would themselves vie for your blood."

Mukherjee passed the information that he received from the IC of the police station. Indeed, some kind of clamouring could be heard coming from outside the gate.

"But I didn't kill the bull. I fired in air just to shoo it away from our path. You all have seen that."

"No, I didn't see anything, Sir. But that's not the point, because a short video that shows you killing the bull has become viral in social media. You can see it yourself."

Mukherjee offered his phone to Khan. The cops were amazed to see that indeed a very short video of 30 second got viral. The video showed the scenes of the cops when they were trying to shoo away Bhola from the road. The video focussed on Khan. It showed Khan taking out his revolver. The next scene showed Bhola down with bullet injuries.

"It's clearly doctored. It doesn't show me shooting the bull." Khan announced.

"It doesn't matter Khansama! Who cares what you actually did! The people believe that you have done it, and that's what matters. I am pretty sure they are baying for your blood. If our watchmen, whom you also bit, open the door, you will see what is called the people power! Shall we open the gate?" This time Ranjan's voice showed great conviction which no body could ignore.

"What he is saying is right, Sir. The people of this place are very violent in nature. Anything can happen if they manage to enter here. We should leave immediately. Also, the IC wants to meet you for investigation related to the killing of the bull." Mukherjee submitted humbly.

Khan would have punched Mukherjee in the face, had Srinivas not intervened at the right time. Srinivas, too, had faced a lot of difficult law and order situations in his career. He was experienced enough to understand that the people protesting outside were indeed very angry. He had no problem in understanding that someone had manufactured the video to instigate them against Khan. Communal feelings had been stoked very purposefully.

"We will have to abort the operation now. I sense, indeed, a situation has arisen outside. But, how do we go from there?" Srinivas looked at Mukherjee.

Roy was extremely disappointed. Roy understood that this notorious agency must have hidden all the people in some very secure place. They had kept a close watch on the entire boundary of the premises. They would have definitely known, had they escaped from here. That was why Roy was damn sure that this place held the key. He knew that a thorough investigation for few hours more would have definitely yielded results. But, he too got messages from his back-up team that indeed more than thousand people armed with swords and sticks had been waiting outside for them.

Roy said, "There are 3 more gates in this compound. We can move out from any one of them."

"Is this your dad's property, Mr Roy? The 3 other gates have been permanently locked for years, and we don't have the keys."

Having the upper hand in the situation, Ranjan was in no mood to lose a chance to harass them.

"Then you suggest how can we get out from here?" Mukherjee asked.

"Arrest Khan. Show him handcuffed to the people. This will pacify them. Then I will manage."

This was too much for Khan to control himself. His expert hands took out the revolver from the holster at a lightning speed, and he unlocked the safety catch pointing the gun on the forehead of Ranjan. It was not as if Ranjan didn't notice the swift movement of Khan, but he didn't react.

"So, you are the one who instigated the crowd, ha? You want me to be arrested? What will you do if I pull the trigger and unload my gun on your f###ing, shrivelled forehead?"

"Holy $$$$! You are again trying to scare me? You seem to be pretty thick-skulled guy! You are still not getting it! You have committed a great sin by disturbing communal harmony of this place. Don't get shocked if you get damnation from your superiors!"

Ranjan was not at all bothered by threats posed by Khan. In fact, there was a nice smile seen on his face.

This had further enraged Khan, and no body knew whether he would have indeed pulled the trigger or not, but indeed his phone rang. Khan looked at the phone, and that had changed his facial expression dramatically. The conversation was brief, but it appeared to everyone that someone from the other end was giving a mouthful to him.

Khan didn't say much except yes Sir and no Sir. At the end of the call, he said to Ranjan,

"I will not let you go scotfree, you scoundrel! I will surely get you. But for the moment we will have to leave. Let's go folks."

The cops and the sleuths boarded the cars and left the place hurriedly. Even though the public were protesting outside, they let them go.

                                     __________________________________________________

Archana had been living in this hellish place for few months, but she had never been taken outside the ten-storeyed building afer her one-day skinny dipping in the swimming pool. So, she was amazed to see the beautiful garden. The garden was blooming with red, blue, yellow, purple and pink flowers. Nightingales, robins, bluebirds, finches and many other songbirds were chirping in the garden making this place a virtual paradise. A beautiful rivulet with pale blue colour was flowing through the garden. Archana could see colourful fishes swimming in the transparent water.

Suddenly, four little fawns came towards her. They were so lovely. Archana crouched on the field, and put her hands on the head of one of the baby deer affectionately. She was not scared, in fact, she licked the hand of Archana. The other 3 deer were feeding on the lavish green grass.

Archana lamented why was she not taken to this beautiful place earlier! Suddenly, she found the Joker standing in front of her.

She blurted, "You can stand on your own legs! Then why do you use wheel-chair?"

The Joker seemed to be in a tart mood. He paid no hiddance to Archana's innocent question. Rather, he pointed out a handgun on Archana's head and said,

"How does it matter whether I stand on my own feet or not? You are nothing but a slave here. Your life is in our hand. If I wish I can take it any moment. And, I am going to shoot you right now."

"No, please don't do that."

 Archana pleaded as she was really scared.

The Joker handed his gun to Archana and said,

"In that case, shoot me. You have only two options either kill or be killed."

Saying this the Joker started to run. Archana noted that she was surrounded by Ranjan, the yoga instructor and few other people who pointed their guns towards Archana. They were laughing hysterically and goading lyrically,

"Kill him or get killed. Kill him or get killed."

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 50

 Episode 50

"We will search the entire premises. They must have changed the plan and hid the captives somewhere else." Roy was in a no mood to give up.

"Oh really? What captives? What hiding? Do you think we are playing hide-and-seek with you? Stop wasting your time and most importantly our time. Your time may be cheap, but our time is precious."

Ranjan again mocked the cops.

Ignoring the taunt, the cops searched the entire premises meticulously for more than an hour. Ranjan let the cars of the cops in. At 6 PM, the outside became dark. But, Ranjan switched on the lights. The surroundings dazed with bright LED lights. But the cops found nothing.

"How long are you going to bore us? I know you worthless guys have a habit of wasting taxpayer's money. I know you guys are good for nothing and you feed on innocent people's blood by taking bribes. But, now give up and f*** off from here. We will see you in court."

This time Ranjan's insulting words got under Srinivas's skin. Khan, who too was an honest police officer, got extremely agitated. Srinivas said,

"Don't forget, we haven't searched your ten-storeyed building yet. We will surely find Rajan and his wife there. By the way, do you have the NOC from the municipality for this mansion?"

"What a stupid police officer you are! You have come here without doing your homework! I wonder who recruits this kind of a**holes as IPS officers!"

This disgusting comment made both Srinivas and Khan point their guns towards Ranjan. The driver of the Jaguar, who was accompanying the team, was taking the video of the incidents in a sophisticated camera. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Are you trying to scare me, eh? That's what you are worthy of! Scaring people to the shi* and exacting money from them! Okay, tell me what amount of money do you want to leave this peaceful place?"

Ranjan made a signal to the driver, and he immediately switched off the camera.

This made both Srinivas and Khan angrier, but Roy's timely intervention saved the situation. Roy said,

"Relax guys! He is trying to rub you the wrong way! Just ignore him, and let's search the building. I am damn sure we will get them there.

In the meantime, Ranjan showed the NOC of the blue print of the ten-storeyed building.

"We need to check the two-storeyed basement first. I have a feeling that the captives might be held there." Roy, who had acquired an extensive knowledge about the things happening here, opined.

"Who is this guy in civilian dress? What is he doing with you?" Ranjan asked in a manner as if he didn't know anything about Roy.

"He is assisting us in this mission. He is our man." Srinivas tried to evade the question.

"Okay, show me your identity card." Ranjan demanded. In the meantime, the driver cum cameraman started shooting happily.

"That's none of your business man! You cannot interfere in the work of the police." Khan declared that in a stern voice.

Looking at the camera Ranjan said,

"So, you guys have brought unauthorised persons here. We will submit this in court. You think that I don't know this shadow? Since when the police have become lackeys of dicks?"

Both Srinivas and Khan became embarrassed and enraged at the same time. But, they didn't react. Instead, they followed Roy to the basement.

Srinivas was amazed to see that this kind of basement existed in India. The the first floor of the basement was large and it was meant for parking and storing. The Joker had many kinds of vehicles, but today the basement was empty.

"Seen it? Now can we go upstairs?" Ranjan asked.

Roy said,

"Bring the keys of the second floor of the basement. I am sure there lies the mystery." Roy said.

The other four team members of the Ravenous Eagles, who had been segregated into different searching teams, had been continuously inspecting things with sophisticated instruments that Srinivas had never seen before. Roy had told him earlier that these devices can detect the presence of human beings even if they are kept behind thick walls. But, Srinivas didn't believe much about Roy's claims! He had never heard or read about this kind of devices anywhere. Roy's colleagues were continuously targeting the walls and the floors. Srinivas, however, was missing his sniffer dog Jimmy.

"You have to see that, too? Do you have a plan to commit suicide en masse there?"

"Stop your BS, and give me the keys." Roy didn't pay any importance to Ranjan's taunts.

When they climbed down there, they were taken for another surprise. This place had been made as a shelter for at least 200 people. But, there was not single one present there.

"What? Why do you look like babes in the wood? Haven't you seen bunker in the movies? Mr Lakhotia has built this for future. In case of a war, this place can become a very safe home for many people. Even a Tomahawk cannot penetrate here." Ranjan made things easier for the confounded cops.

When they climbed up on the open ground floor, the other 5 teams, who had gone to search the upper 10 storeys, got down there completely empty-handed.

"Have you checked all the floors meticulously?" Khan enquired.

"Yes, Sir!" That was the unanimous answer from all.

"Have you checked the 5th floor hospital thoroughly?" Roy eagerly asked.

"What hospital, you bonehead? Looks like you have got high! What did you smoke? Marijuana?"

Roy had a very cool head. Even though, his ears had become red, he didn't react to the taunt. He waited for the answer from his team members.

Sudhindra, one his colleagues, said,

"No Roy. We didn't see any such hospital in the 5th floor or for that matter in any floor. And, yes, we have thoroughly checked with our sophisticated sensors for the presence of human beings. But, barring the family members and 5 attendants, there are none in this entire house."

It was already 8 PM. The team members were very tired by then. Mukherjee asked Khan,

"Sir, can we now call off the operation?"

But, Khan was not a person who would accept defeat so easily. Srinivas, too, was in no mood to give up. Khan said,

"You guys take rest. We shall check the upper floors."

"Enough of this fuss! You two-paise police officer might have plenty of time to waste. But, our time is very precious. So, stop $$$$ing around, otherwise I will have to kick your ass."

Ranjan was in no mood to entertain the cops any further.

This time Ranjan's taunts got under the skin of Khan. Nobody dared to talk to him in this insulting manner in his entire career. He had subdued a hell lot of gangsters. So, who was this guy compared to them? Khan tried to forcefully slap Ranjan only to find that his hands could not make any contacts with him. Ranjan swayed his face well in time.

"Boiling in rage, ha, you son of a bitch? We will show this to the court."

"But before that I will arrest you on the charges of obstructing police officers on performing their duties. I will cut your dirty tongue in the police station and feed it to the dogs." Though he didn't try to hit Ranjan again, he was simmering in rage.

"Time will tell whether you can arrest me or not, but before that make sure that you yourself are not arrested." Ranjan was defiant.

"You are very ignorant! You don't know the power of police. Who will arrest the SP of a district?" Khan grimaced in disgust.

"You are an SP, but that doesn't give you the licence to hurt religious sentiments." Ranjan shrugged his shoulders.

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 49

 Episode 49

Though the picture quality was very poor, Roy had no problem in understanding what was happening there. He could see that Rajan came out of his room. He was being escorted to a place by a masked man. Initially, Roy was very reluctant to share the details of their investigation method with the cops, but now this being a joint operation with them, he had no other option. Therefore, he briefly narrated the scene to Srinivas.

They had left the main town 10 minute back. The landscape was completely rural now. There were agricultural fields on both sides of the 12 feet wide pitch road. The lush greenery, the smell of coriander, the beautiful, yellow, eye-soothing mustard flowers made Srinivas, who hailed from rural area, a bit nostalgic for a moment. Had it been a time of leisure, he would have definitely brooded with dreary eyes sitting right there in the coriander field.

However, his momentary trance was rudely broken by the crashing sound of a sudden brake. Furiously, he looked at the police driver. The driver shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards the front. Indeed, the pilot car of the local police also made a sudden brake which left him with no other option.

Srinivas, Khan and Roy quickly got down from the car to enquire about the reason for this sudden stoppage at this crucial juncture. There was hardly 10 minute left before 4 PM. They could not afford any stoppage now.

When they got down, they were amazed to see that a big, white, bull with sharp, fearsome curved horns and with a huge hump was sitting majestically on the road. It was ruminating without paying any hiddance to the repeated loud sound of honking. Mukherjee, the local OC, and four other constables from the local police were trying hard to remove him from the road without getting any results.

Srinivas was helplessly looking at his watch, while Roy threw some water from his waterbottle on the body of the bull. This action had caught his attention, as he stopped ruminating and angrily looked at Roy, but didn't move an inch.

Boom! Everyone one was startled by the sound of a gun shot, and the dangerous looking bull quickly fled from the place.

"There was no other option guys! Let's move! There is only 5 minutes to 4." The team leader of the Andhra STF, Khan placed his revolver back to the holster after firing a bullet in air to scare the bull.

"How much time will it take to reach there from here? Have they started the final competition?" Srinivas asked eagerly.

There was a clear sign of discontentment in Roy's face. Srinivas could clearly see that his whitish face had turned red. There were few beep sounds of incoming messages on his phone.

"We have almost reached the place. Look at the turn around 500 meters from here. The compound lies after the turn." Roy replied trying to maintain his composure, but the discomfort in his voice was noticeable.

"Is there a problem? What's the update there?" Srinivas asked anxiously.

"Well! Yes! No!" Roy again fumbled.

"What yes, no? Is there a problem? Cough it up man?" Khan seemed to be in a no-nonsense mood.

"Well, our guy has lost connection and it appears that they have removed him from their membership a few minutes back. So, no live updates from now onwards from that source! But, not much to worry about that because I got the GPS coordinates of the field where the three competitors were present before the loss of connection."

Roy announced as the cars stopped before the front gate of the large compound.

Khan was extremely disappointed, as they were completely depending on the live feed from Roy's colleague. Had he apprehended this, he would have arranged drones. But there was no time to quibble over this at the moment, as it was 4 PM.

The two AK 47-wielding, wearing-a-steel-coloured-uniform, Gurkha guards didn't seem to be too perturbed by the arrival of 20 policemen and 5 other guys. Khan showed them the warrant, and asked,

"Do you have licence for these guns?"

The Gurkha guards paid no attention to Khan's querries, and one of them rang someone from his mobile phone. Being an SP of a district, Khan was accustomed to getting respects from these kinds of petty guards. But these two guards neither saluted him, nor answered his question. However, Mukherjee came to their rescue by answering,

"Yes Sir! They have valid licenses."

That answer didn't placate Khan's mood. Inspite of seeing the warrant from the magistrate, the guards were not letting anybody enter the premises. Khan pushed one of the guards angrily.

As his surname suggested, he was indeed a true descendant of Pathans; six-feet tall, strongly built, not too muscular though, erect body, crew-cut hair and a well-shaved thin moustache, but the most prominent point that everyone noticed were his fearsome eyes. All his subordinates and even his colleagues and seniors feared his penetrating looks. He was a man of no-nonsense attitude. His record of closing cases had been exceptional.

The Gurkha guard probably didn't expect this as he fell on the ground. But immediately, the other guard unlocked the safety catch of his gun and pointed it towards Khan. The STF jawans were battle-hardened, who had been fighting battles with insurgents for long time, and they too pointed their guns towards the two guards. The clanking sound of opening of safety catches of guns made the situation extremely volatile. The other Gurkha guard also took no time to be in position pointing his gun towards Khan. Khan and Srinivas, too, pointed their revolvers towards the guards. Mukherjee didn't know what to do. He looked here and there helplessly.

Before the situation went out of hand, a Jaguar made a sudden appearance out of nowhere. An old man accompanied by none other than Ranjan got down from the car. Ranjan raised his hands, and the Gurkha guards immediately took their arms down, and saluted the guests.

"Hello Mr Mukherjee! What's the matter? Why so many police personnel?" Ranjan asked innocently.

"Who are you?" Khan asked Ranjan.

"Oh me? I am Prasun Das, the personal secretary of Mr Lakhotia. He is the owner of this property." Ranjan pointed his finger towrads a frail, old man, whose face was covered by beards; he was wearing black sunglasses, and a hat. Mr Lakhotia was wearing coat, pant and shoes, his hands were covered with gloves.

Roy took a picture out of his pocket and was trying to match it with Mr Lakhotia. Srinivas showed the warrant to Mr Lakhotia, who immediately passed it to Ranjan.

"What an extraordinary imagination! You think we have abducted people here and you need to search the property? Holy crap!" Ranjan shouted.

"Let us in! We have proofs that you are running an illegal reality show here." Srinivas said.

"Of course, please come in! But be prepared to face libel in the court for trying to falsely implicate us. We will see you in the court on Monday." Ranjan warned.

There was definitely a show of confidence in his voice, which confused the cops.

"Come with me. I have the accurate GPS coordinates where the illegal activity is going on." Roy led the team with him.

When they came to the football ground running behind Roy, they were taken for a surprise, as the place was empty barring a few cows who were happily eating lush green grasses.

"Ha ha! Are you sure you are searching a man or are you searching cows? In the latter case, I must tell you that these cows are legally owned by Mr Lakhotia." Ranjan's smiled sarcastically.

That was a huge loss of face for Roy and others. Only Mukherjee's face seemed to be glowing. He heaved a sigh of relief.

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 48

 Episode 48

"So Hero, have you changed your mind?" Ranjan asked.

"No such luck man! I will rather die hungry than agree to obey your dictates."

Siddharth might have been weakened due to hunger, but there was no sign of abasement in his voice.

"But, why do you want to die? Don't you have any near and dear ones who would cry on your death? Isn't there anyone who would lose the meaning of life on your death? Ranjan came closer to him and crouched on the barren floor beside him. There was clearly a sign of softness in his voice which was hitherto unheard by Siddharth.

Siddharth had resolutely gone through all the torture, and two days of starving could not break his iron will. But, the rather innocuous question seemed to have slightly unsettled him. He seemed to have gulped back tears and remained speechless for a while.

Rosa, the member of the body language team, exicitedly whispered in Ranjan's hidden ear chip, "It's working, Boss! Carry on."

"Everyone dies, everyone has to die. Being a mortal you are not left with any other option. But, have you ever thought of your loved ones? What will happen to them when you die? Will they have enough motivation to live after your death? Are you sure that they will not commit suicide?"

Again, Ranjan's voice was very soft and friendly. Siddharth's body might have withstood the barbaric torture with comfortable ease, but his mind seemed a bit vulnerable. Ranjan could clearly see that the corners of his eyes had become moist. He didn't fail to notice that he had again gulped.

"There is no one in the world who loves me or will cry for me when I die. So, please kill me and end my agony." Siddharth pleaded to Ranjan, but there was not much of conviction in his voice.

"This reality show is all about death, young man. You take a wrong step, and you will die. There is not much of glory in dying here. So far, we have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, who even didn't understand what their faults were. Our master, the Joker is a very cruel guy. He doesn't give two hoots if you are killed.

Therefore, living in this despicable hell is definitely a thing that you should try. What do you say?"

"No, I will not participate in any show hosted by goons like you. For that I am ready to withstand any amount of torture. As I told you, it will be better if you kill me." Siddharth refused to listen anything.

Ranjan didn't get annoyed with his answer. In a calm voice he said,

"By now I know you are a man of extraordinary resilience. Yes, you can withstand any amount of physical torturre. But can you withstand the torture of watching your loved one being brutally abused?"

Siddharth's face turned pale for a moment. He didn't say anything, but it appeared to Ranjan that his method was working. So he continued,

"We are not good people, my dear young friend! We can do anything and everything to achieve our goal. You maybe saddened to know that we have also captured your near and dear ones in the US." Ranjan didn't say any more and left the room. He knew that this method needed time to work.

Siddharth was astonished. He closed his eyes and put his right hand on his forehead. The clip ended there.

Archana wanted to cry loudly. Watching the torture of Siddharth had ripped the peace of her mind. She tried to hide her emotions by covering her face with her palms. Her body was quivering, as she could not prevent the unrestrainable sobbing.

She was given hardly 5 minutes before the monitor was again switched on, and this time the freaking, frigging face of the Joker appeared on the screen. His usual nasal voice sounded propitiatory as he said,

"Sorry to disract your concentration on a day when you need it the most! But as I told you previously that today will be the day of make-or-break for you. Either you will perish or you will walk out of here as a free person. In any case, you would have never known the truth of what happened to Siddharth.

I know very well that you are no longer attached to him mentally, but as a matter of fact, you cannot deny that this guy had been very close to you. That's why we decided to show you what happened to him. I am sure you are in no mood to see any more clips. So, I will briefly narrate you the after events.

Our blow hot and cold technique hadn't worked much, as this Siddharth guy is extremely obstinate. But, when we showed him your clips, where you were shown as being tortured, he finally budged. He agreed to take part in the reality show with the condition that you must be alive, and everyday we have been showing him some of your live activities."

"Why are you saying all this to me?" Archana yelled, as her nerves could not take it any more.

"Calm down, calm down! So much of anger is not good. You need to concentrate to walk out of here as a winner. I have got a good news for you. I am sure you will love to know the fact that both Rajan and Siddharth have cleared the fourth stage, and they will participate with you in the final test."

"And what will be the final test?" There was clearly a glow on her face and little bit of life in her voice.

"You will know that in due time." The monitor went blank.

Archana threw herself onto the soft bed and hid her face under the soft pillow. The Joker had not done well by telling him the news of Siddharth, she thought. She had completely forgotten about him. But now, the news had caused a great consternation in her mind. It apperaed to her that the old memories had been waiting outside the door of her mind. Now getting an opportunity, they gate-crashed into her brain flooding it with sweet memories of her romantic time spent with Siddharth.

She was also taken aback to know the deep love Siddharth had for her. She was hiding her face, but the white velvet cover of the pillow was getting wet with her uncontrollable tears.

                    __________________________________________________________

Srinivas looked at his wristwatch. In fact, he had been watching it after every 30 seconds. The cream leather analog watch was worth rupees 500 and it was around 5 years old. Almost everyone told him to dispose it and buy a more trendy one. His good friend Khan, who used a  waterproof quartz tungsten steel black gold big watch, had pulled his legs for his frugality on many occasions. But, Srini was nonchalant not just because he was frugal, but this watch had a fond memory. His girlfriend, now wife, presented it on his birthday.

"Relax Srini! We have 15 minutes in our hand." Khan quipped from the left corner ot the middle seats. Srini was sitting beside the driver in the front seat of the Napoli Black Scorpio S9. Roy was sitting in the right corner of middle row with Khan and Das, one of his colleagues from the Ravenous Eagles.

"What's the update on that hell house?" Srinivas asked Roy.

Roy was looking at his OnePlus 9 Pro very keenly. One of the secret agents of the Ravenous Eagles, Sam, got the membership of the dirty show the Survivor after winning their confidence. Sam had been working as a drug dealer in Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea for the last 5 years. Everyone related with drug trafficking knew him, and that was the reason the Joker's team didn't suspect him when he got membership of this grisly reality show. He was transmitting the real time event to Roy's phone.

The next episode will be published on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 47

 Episode 47

The other masked man, meanwhile got back his sense. So, Siddharth had to momentarily release the first man as he again put the second man go to sleep with a solid punch on his jaw. Meanwhile, the first man got up on his feet, and tried to flee. But, Siddharth was up to the task. Like a prowling tiger, he jumped on him. Again, he put him in the same position. Archana noted the picture was shown from a very close distance.

Suddenly, an old man, from the voice Archana guessed as he was not in the picture, enquired,

"What happened? Who are these guys? Why are you beating them?"

"Tell me who are you? What are you doing here?" Siddharth shot back.

The old man seemed to have been slightly surprised, but he regained his composure quickly  as he answered,

"I live here. My name is Sudesh Gaonkar. I am a retired IAS."

Looking at Siddharth's face, in which disbelief was manifested, he took out an identity card from the pocket of his shirt and offered it to Siddharth for inspection. As Siddharth was inspecting the card, the old man took out a gun from the pocket of his in no time, and shot Siddharth on his right thigh.

"You bozo! You shot me?" Siddharth quickly pulled out the dart from his leg. From his facial expression it looked that he had been badly hurt.

"I will get you." Siddharth jumped on the old man even with his injured bleeding limb.

But, he could not get him, instead he himself went to sleep. A steel coloured Scorpio appeared at the scene from no where, and all the characters vanished in the car taking Siddharth with them in no time.

In the second clip, Siddharth was seen hanging from a rope which was fastened to a hook attached to the top wall of the room. His hands and legs were tied together with ropes. There was not an iota of clothes in his body. Four stout guys were surrounding him. They had hose pipes, steel chains and sticks in their hands. The red marks and the blood oozing from his body made it evident to Archana that he had been tortured badly by these four goons for quite sometime. But, Archana noted that there was no emotion on Siddharth's face. He was neither crying, nor groaning in pain. In fact, the four goons looked fatigued and frustrated.

Suddenly, Ranjan entered the room. Though he was wearing a mask, Archana had no problem in recognising him now. Ranjan asked,

"Any progress Rod?"

The 6'7" tall black, muscled guy replied,

"This guy is made of steel, Boss! We have beaten him mercilessly for the last three days, we tortured his each and every body part, but we could not break him yet. I can't say on behalf of others, but I can't do it anymore, Boss. I have got respect for this guy."

As Ranjan shook his head in disgust, another tall, black, muscular guy said,

"I am completely in agreement with Rod, Boss. This guy must have been a secret agent of a spy network like CIA or RAW. He knows how to take pain, but not to bow down before the enemy. I, too, got respect for him, and I am absolutely sure Boss, torture will not give any results."

"Are you done Roger? Are you done?" Ranjan fulminated. His voice sounded like a tiger's roar.

"You will teach us what to do? This is the Joker's den, the most powerful man in the universe, the best son of the Satan. It doesn't matter if this method hasn't worked. We are full of tricks. We have back-up plans. Just wait and see. Now, you get out. I have to send this guy to the hospital immediately. The way you beat him, he will die in an hour if not attended right now. The clip ended.

Tears rolled down from Archana's eyes. She closed her eyes, but the bruises on Siddharth's body still appeared in front of her. Blood was gushing out from his body. Still, he didn't beg for mercy or even groaned in pain. What a man, Archana exclaimed silently. Suddenly, the third clip started.

"The first method has failed, Joker Sir." Ranjan announced the news to the board of directors.

"Hmm! We apprehended that Ranjan, didn't we?" The Joker said.

The Chinese billionaire Xi became nervous as he blurted,

"Is it true that this guy was in RAW? In that case we have made a huge mistake by selecting him as one of the contestants of our megahit show."

"Don't panic Xi. He ain't any ex-state agent. We have studied his history. He was a very good athelete up to his college days. He could have chosen sports as his profession. Actually, he was selected in the engineering college in sports quota. However, after getting a job, he has been quite detached from sporting activities. But, after watching his resistance, I tend to think that he might have detached himself from formal sports, but he exercises regularly.

Anyways, this guy seems to be bullheaded. Our research team didn't inform me about that."

Ranjan opined.

Nigella, the tall lady, asked,

"How do we cow him down, buddy? What are his weaknesses?"

"Why don't we kidnap his parents and blackmail him?" Sabbir, the ruthless Arab billionaire, suggested.

"That's a great idea." Xi almost clapped, but resisted himself at the last moment.

"No doubt that's a great idea, but there is a problem, Bro! He lost his parents early in his childhood. He was brought up in his maternal uncle's home. But in the last decade, Siddharth has gone there on only one or two occasions. His uncle is dead, his aunt is surviving. She is old, and very poor. She is angry with Siddharth, because he doesn't send her money. She hasn't even reported the abduction to the police.

So, I don't think that will work. Besides, after the kidnaps, the Andhra police must have become alert." Ranjan declared in a calm voice.

"Oh my Satan! Then what will we do?" As usual, Xi panicked. He started blinking his tiny eyes and licking his pale lips in tension.

"Why doesn't he send money to his aunt?" Nigella enquired.

"Oh, this guy has been spendthrift. His income is not that high. Previously, he used to waste a hell lot of money on his girl friend. Now, he wastes almost his entire salary on Archana."

"Got it! Got it!" The Joker interjected.

Everyone looked at the Joker eagerly. The Joker took his time, and in his usual nasal tone said,

"Friends, ain't it elementary? We selected this guy only because of his attachment to the Rajan family. It's a different matter that now we know that this guy had committed great sin by turning his back to his mentor when she was in dire need of help. But, I am damn sure this guy will yield if we blackmail him with Archana's life."

"You are a genius, Joker Sir!" This time Xi clapped and everyone laughed in agreement.

The third clip ended, and there was a little hiatus that gave Archana some time to ponder. Everything was becoming clear to her now. She vividly remembered once she was beaten with a whip for two minutes by one of the masked men. Before the beating started, the masked guy whispered in her ears,

"Shout as much as possible, I will not hurt you. But, if you don't shout, I will hurt you."

This guy even told her what to say, and indeed he didn't hurt her. There were four cameramen in the room shooting the video from different angles.

She also remembered one more occasion, when there was another shooting she had to do. That time she was groomed very rigourously by the Joker's men. A masked man held a gun on her head, and she had to scream for her life. Now, she understood why these shootings were done.

Archana's trance was broken by the sound of the fourth clip. Siddharth was lying on the bare floor of a dingy room. He was shivering in cold as he was wearing just a sando vest and  bermuda shorts. From his thin mien, it appeared to Archana that Siddharth had been starving for at least two days. He was so weakened that he just gave a glance when Ranjan entered the room, and kept lying on the floor.

To be continued on tomorrow night