Episode 45
Indeed, Rajan was full of questions like why was he captivated, why was his wife captivated, how could he survive and a lot more. But, as he got only one shot, he thought for a while before asking,
"Sir, can both me and my wife survive the final stage?"
That question didn't seem difficult to Joker as he readily came with an answer,
"Yes! Definitely, yes, if the great Satan favours you! No more question! Best of luck!" The monitor went blank.
But, Rajan's mind was filled with joy. The Joker had been known to be a man of his word, at least, he claimed it. When answered affirmatively, Rajan had no reason to believe otherwise that they indeed had a chance.
The word Satan, however, didn't go down well with Rajan. The "spiritual guru" had offered him to come to the satanic fold. Now the Joker had mentioned about Satan. But, Rajan was deeply religious in his mind. Therefore, he didn't have an iota of doubt that the all powerful, the omniscient, the omnipresent, Lord Shiva would come to his aid during the crunch moment. Therefore, he warded off all the negative thoughts from his mind.
As the Joker said that he was free today before the final test, he decided to pray for the entire day for the safe exit of both Archana and himself.
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Before the army of Ravenous Eagles guys and the STF of the Andhra Police set off for the rescue operation, the local OC along with nine more police personnel came hurriedly to the hotel. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the medium-sized, potbellied, dark, hairy, moustached, guy with a very cheerful expression showed a piece of paper to them and exclaimed,
"We got the order Sirs. Now, we can proceed."
Khan saw the paper, and said,
"Good! We got the warrant. Now let's move."
"But, Sir we can't move with such a large force. People will be unnecessarily scared. We have got ten, you don't bring more than 10. This an order from our SP Sir."
"Okay, let it be so. The private agency guys are not uniformed guys. So they will go with us." Khan, who had been made the head of the STF for this operation, proclaimed.
While they were finalising the nitty-gritties of the operation, Srinivas's phone rang. The caller was one of the DIG of Andhra Pradesh. He directed Srinivas to go to a solitary place. Srinivas told others to wait and went to the roof of the two-storeyed dingy hotel.
"What Sir? I am alone now and no one is present near me."
Srinivas was very much surprised to get Mr Shivashankara Reddy's, a well-known senior cop of his state, call at this time.
"Take the cook's phone and call this number immediately."
Mr Shivashankara told a mobile number before disconnecting the call. Without wasting any moment, Srinivas descended down quickly to the kitchen, lest he should forget the number.
He was surprised to see that the cook, an average-looking, middle-aged, bald guy offering him his old-modelled Nokia phone even before Srinivas could say anything. Srinivas's surprise knew no bound when the cook repeated the number mentioned by Mr Reddy just a few moments ago. Srinivas, however, didn't say anything as he climbed up the stairs.
He rang the number and Mr Shivashankara was on the other side. He said,
"You must be surprised to get my phone. I have rung you because this is very serious. Listen carefully and don't say anything until I tell you to do so.
I know what you are going to do. But, you have no idea how risky this mission is going to be. You are going take on a very powerful international gang, who has all the latest technologies in the world.
You maybe wondering how I knew all this! Well, someone very influential in our state rang me yesterday. He said that this agency does not want to harm police personnel. All they are interested in is their business, and they have a huge stake in India. But if their business interests are hurt, they will not hesitate to kill the state agents. Therefore, they have sent me a peace proposal. You leave them unscathed, and all 16 of your team will be rewarded with a hefty sum. You and Khan each will get one "khoka" and others will get amounts proportional to their ranks.
All you have to do is to go there, and give a report that everything is okay. Do you agree?"
Srinivas's head was spinning! The CM of his state had personally told him to make the mission successful, as any failure would discredit his government, and it might badly impact his party in the forthcoming polls. The CM had promised his team of both cash reward and promotion if they succeeded. Suresh Rao, the famous industrialist in the state, had also promised them of cash reward.
Besides, he thought that as a police officer he was duty-bound to rescue someone in distress. He had studied the case of Rajan and Archana in detail. Even though, he hadn't seen them in his real life, they became his relatives. He promised himself that he would leave no stone unturned until he solved the matter.
Observing the long silence, Mr Shivashankara said,
"I know what the CM or Mr Suresh Rao had told you. But don't be a fool to think that they would take the responsibility of your family when you get killed in the operation, and believe me you stand no chance against this notorious tech-savvy mercenaries. You all will be wiped out with comfortable ease. Have you heard of laser guns? Have you heard of microwave technology as a weapon? These powerful gang has all the latest weapons that the most developed nations in the world can even dream of! I will call it our good luck that they hold no enmity against our nation."
"What are you saying Sir? I don't get anything. How can we call off this important operation? What gang is this that we can't defeat them? We have the ablest police personnel in our team with vast amount of experience. We are also equipped with AK47s, grenades and rocket launchers. We can take any gang in the world. Besides, the redoubtable international detective agency, the Ravenous Eagles, is on our side."
The rise in Srinivas's voice was noticeable. He had been an honest police officer throughout his career, he had never taken a single rupee as bribe; in fact, had it been someone else, he would have already disconnected the call after giving the caller a mouthful. But, Mr Shivashankara, not only a senior to him, but also known for his impeccable service record, was someone whom he had to listen.
"Well Sri, I understand your feelings! You are one of the best officers in AP, and I am proud of you. This is specifically the reason I am calling you. I don't want to lose the 16 best policemen of our state. If you think that I have gobbled a lumpsum from this notorious agency and acting as their agent, you are sadly mistaken.
You want to know about this agency. Well, I don't have the full information. But, as far as I have gathered information, this agency is an international agency headed by very powerful mafias of the world. Smuggling, illegal arms trade, narcotics, human trafficking, slave trade, you name it, the list of this agency's activities are endless."
"Slave trade? Hadn't that ended long ago?" Srinivas had to interject.
To be continued on tomorrow night
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