Episode 39
The Joker was pleased to hear that. He was fond of the brand the Macallan. He loved it raw. Taking a seep of it, he said,
"So, 7 contestants are done! Two have passed and the other five have perished. So, 3 contestants are left!"
"Yes Sir, there are 3 more contestants to face the music. But, here we will not be able to make much money. The guy who will go to the next round is the crowd's favourite. Almost 30% of them have put their bets on him to go the next round." Ranjan answered.
"This dude might have shown extreme obstinacy in the initial days, but we can't deny Ranjan that this guy is indeed good. We had to toil so hard to make the husband-wife couple eligible for the tests, but this guy seems to be ready for everything." Nigella opined.
The Joker had sometimes appeared to the viewers as a very fat, short, old man, sitting on a wheel-chair and accompanied by 4 body guards and a lady assistant. But, in real life he was neither unfit nor physically handicapped. He might have been around 75, but he had a very strong body. The lady always seen as holding the wheel-chair was none other than Nigella, a slim, tall, beautiful, young lady, who was British by origin.
"What if this guy fails in the 4th stage?" Xi asked.
Xi was one of the 5 board of directors of this company. Xi, a Chinese guy by origin, was a business tycoon. He had 20% share of this company. He was a nervous guy, and everyone here thought that he didn't belong here. But, the Joker could not ignore his wealth and his clout among the political leaders across the globe.
"Oh Xi! You are here for 5 years. Have you ever seen our plot going haywire?" There was definitely a hint of sting in Ranjan's voice.
"No, no! I didn't mean to say that." Xi knew what other people thought of him. So, he was in an apologetic mood. He loved the bucks that he received from here, which were humongous in amount. So, he generally kept a low profile here.
The Joker, too, loved his money. So, he tolerated Xi. He said,
"Haven't you watched all the episodes Xi? Haven't you noticed how agile and how smart this guy is? Honestly, he shouldn't have been here. The criterion for this year's competition was at least one attempt of suicide. This guy had never attempted any suicide. We faked his profile. He is here because he is intrinsically attached to this husband-wife couple."
"Yes, yes! I have watched all the episodes, Joker Sir. Yes, indeed this guy is good. He can run 100 meters in 13 seconds, he can jump 6 feet height effortlessly. In the 3rd stage, where he had to beat a heavy-weight boxing champion, we saw how easily he knocked out the champ in only 30 second."
Despite these utterings, the Joker knew that Xi was not convinced. He could read his face. He also knew the characters of the Chinese people. No matter how brave or how brazen they seem outward, these chinkies are extremely inconfident and equally nervous in nature. So, he said,
"To ward off all your fears Xi, this guy is smart enough to know that he has to inhale as little as possible. He is an expert in pranayam. He can do kumbhakas, that is holding breath, for 1 minute at a go. He doesn't mind shedding his blood. So, he is sure to pass the test."
"And, the other two guys who are participating in the competition have no chances of passing it. Rebecca, a fashion designer cannot even think of even shedding her blood. She even avoids blood tests. The other guy Ronaldo, an Uruguan scientist by profession, is also known to be scared of by the mere sight of blood. Also, we have neither trained them to do this, nor we will give them any hints on how to pass the tests. So, these two persons will definitely fail. Now, you can sip your drink peacefully."
Xi seemed to have been assured, as his small, greedy eyes became even smaller with hint of laughter on his pale lips. However at that moment, Joker got a call in his phone which made him frown. Everyone in the room noticed the change in his facial expression, and stopped talking.
"What?" That's all the Joker asked.
The other person spoke nonstop for 2 minutes. The Joker didn't say anything, but his frowns became deeper, the wrinkles on his forehead took the shape of a bow, his white face turned red.
"Okay".
That's all he replied. Everyone looked at him anxiously. They were curious, but they didn't say anything. Xi was dying to know about the brief conversation that made the Joker perturbed so much. But, he knew the rules of this organisation. So, he waited with bated breath for the Joker to reveal the news.
"Guys, we got a situation. We will have to investigate how it happened, but that's not our priority at the moment. As you all know that we have the local police in our control. Every month we pay them a heavy bribe. Theses doggies will never betray us. Actually, one them rang me to give the information.
The information is that our activities have come under the scanner of intelligence agencies. The Andhra police and the local police are preparing to invade our property."
The Joker stopped, creating a pindrop silence in the room. Xi got an extreme urge for going to the toilet. But, somehow he controlled himself as he must know the future couse. He had invested a lot of yuan this year.
No body said anything. The Joker asked Ranjan,
"We have to complete the competition. How many days do you need to do that?"
"A week would have been good, but I can manage it in 5 days."
"5 days? No, that would be a bit long. Can't you do it in three days?"
"Well Sir, we can even do it tomorrow. But, the final event will be a damp squib, because Rajan needs a couple of days to recuperate, and Archana also needs a couple of days to perfect her shooting skills."
The Joker nodded his head, as he was completely aware of the situation. For the last few days, Ranjan had been trying extremely hard to make Archana a good shooter, as the final round involved shooting. The technique of teaching here is completely different from normal shooting training centres. Archana had to work 12 hours a day with intermittent small breaks.
Her trainers were champion shooters. Besides them, Ranjan, who himself was an amazing shooter, trained her. But, Archana had been a slow learner. So far, her best score had been 6. Her average score was just 3.
"Okay, let us finish it in 3 days. Make sure the last guy doesn't get too much of injuries in the 4th round."
"Yes Sir, I will tweak the balance that will ensure less blood to be shed. But, tell us what should be our approach vis-a-vis the investigation agencies."
"The police inspector told me that they are suspecting that we have abducted the husband-wife couple and kept them here. As they don't have any concrete proof, they have involved some relatives of Lakhotias. They have complained that someone had kidnapped or killed the Lakhotias. The police will come here on the pretext of finding Lakhotias, but their main aim would be to find Archana and Rajan."
"That's it? Since his relatives will be there, we can't produce the fake Lakhotia to them. But, we can present the real Mr Lakhotia to them. He will sing like a canary, and the song will be written by us." Ranjan seemed to be slightly relaxed.
"You don't know human psychology, Ranjan. This guy, along with his entire family, has not seen anybody in the last decade. We have kept them as prisoner, and killed all the attendants. They have not seen sunlight in the last decade. Mr and Mrs Lakhotia and the daughter-in-law have become mad, but the son, despite our best efforts has still got some senses."
"But, why should we present all of them Sir? We will show Mr and Mrs Lakhotia. We will tell them that if they don't sing our song, we will kill their son and daughter-in-law. If you permit, we will kill the daughter-in-law in advance as a warning."
"Oh, Ranjan, they have gone mad. There is no assurance that they will obey us. Also, no body knows how will they react when they see the police after a decade!"
To be continued on Sunday night
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