Episode 46
"Who told you that? As a good police officer you should have known that the slave trade has ended only in paper. The volume might have reduced significantly, but it's still happening in more than 10 countries in the world, and the profit in this trade has been humongous."
"Oh really? But, what makes you think that we can't defeat them? Laser guns are still at the experimental stage, and the microwave technology? That's pure crap, Sir! You should know that. The Chinese media had floated that just to intimidate our brave soldiers."
"So, you don't believe me! I have talked to Khan last night. He is more obstinate than you, he didn't even give me a patient hearing. Since you don't believe me, I have a spoiler for you. You are going to find nothing. If you don't find Rajan, will you believe me?"
"That I will ponder about later on." Srinivas cut the call and jumped down the stairs to meet Khan after handing over the phone to the cook.
Others wanted to know what happened, but Srinivas didn't disclose anything to them. He begged some time and took Khan with him to the lawn.
"What Khan, you didn't tell me about Shivashankara Sir's call?"
"Oh! So, it was him trying to get into your head to stop the operation? Why did you give him so much time when we have no time to waste? I didn't tell you anything because I thought he took huge amount of bribe from the notorious gang."
"Okay, I got it. But, he said something at the end that made me think. He said we would return empty-handed. What do you think?"
"Oh Sri! Don't listen to the naysayers. When the will is strong, the world bows before you. No more talks. Have you looked at your clock? It's only 25 minutes to 4 pm. We have to barge in to the place to save the victims."
"Okay, let's move."
Within a couple of minutes, the 10 resolute cops of Andhra police, 5 top personnel of the detective agency and 10 local policemen set off for a rescue mission in 3 Scorpios and one Tata Sumo.
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The Joker had already informed Archana that the final test would be held at 4 PM today. No doubt, the tension was too much, but by now Archana had learnt how to calm her mind. After the horrible experience that she underwent in the fourth stage when death had almost embraced her, she had understood the real meaning of life. She had become more god-fearing, her faith in the religion had increased even more. She thanked the God for every second she lived. So, last night when she went to sleep, she told herself,
"Let me forget all the tensions. I will do my best to pass the test and live. Let the God be on my side. He will help me in my hour of crisis. So, I will not think about it tonight. I will enjoy my sleep, and leave my fate in the hand of the Almighty."
She uttered these words a few times doing her "nadishodhan" pranayam. The words and the pranayam had helped her to calm her nerves and let her sleep peacefully in the air-conditioned room.
As she was hale and hearty having no diabetic tendencies, generally, she never woke up before 5 AM in the morning in this house. But, she had a bizarre dream last night. She saw Siddharth, sitting in a chair tied by a rope, screaming for help. In the early days after her arrival at this hellish place, she had tried hard to think about what happened to her when she left home alone. She needed to fix a few things with her parents regarding her children. After doing that she left her home to meet Siddharth at their pre-planned place at a cafe shop at T K street. Siddharth was supposed to be present there, and from there they would have gone to their dream destination at Simla to live peacefully.
But Simla was a distant dream, she didn't even reach the cafe shop. Within a 5-minute walk from her house, someone from behind held her tightly and put a handkerchief soaked with chloroform to her nose. She lost consciousness and when she found it, she was here in this deadly place. She thought about Siddharth for a day or two. But because of the torturous treatment she received here, her each and every moment had become a virtual hell. Somehow, she totally forgot about Siddharth.
As per the instructions of the Joker, she had to beat Rajan to pulp at the the first stage of her tests. The anger and the hatred she had grown for Rajan began to fade after that. Slowly, she had started to forget about Siddharth, and Rajan had once again started to take place in her mind. She forgot all the ill-treatments she received from Rajan.
After watching the bizarre dream, she woke up from her sleep to notice that it was 4-45 AM in the morning. She noted that her heart was pumping very hard and she felt extremely thirsty. She got down from her cosy bed and drank a full glass of water.
She thought about the dream. Why did she see this? Siddharth, what happened to Siddharth? Why did she see him as another captive in this hell house? Was Siddharth also captured by this abominable gang? If not, Siddharth should have found her by now. He was mad about her, he sacrificed his career for her.
While Archana was in her trance, the monitor suddenly switched on, and for a change the frigging face of the Joker didn't appear. The screen showed few clips. Archana's eyes popped out to see that how Siddharth was captured. There were two masked men following him on an empty road. Siddharth was walking briskly on the street as if he had a very important work to do. Suddenly, he turned back and punched one of the masked man on his face. What a blow! The masked man lost his sense and fell on the ground like a lifeless object. Archana realized that Siddharth had apprehended that he was being followed by few hostile men.
The other masked man was startled by this incident. He was holding a handkerchief, and Archana was sure it was soaked with chloroform. This man took a few seconds to react. The other man was supposed to hold Siddharth, and he was supposed to put the handkerchief on Siddharth's nose. The momentary discombobulation of the masked man was good enough time for Siddharth to make him go to sleep. Archana understood that the camera was probably placed on the button of this man. As he fell, the picture was distorted for a moment. But within a second another camera from a long distance showed that Siddharth was trying to bring the first masked man back to his sense.
He slapped the man on his cheeks few times. He even spat on his face. After a few minute's effort, the masked man woke up. Siddharth tried to yank the mask out of his face. The masked man screamed at full throttle, but the mask didn't come off. Meanwhile, the picture became closer and closer. On one time, Siddharth looked straight into the lens, but it appeared that he didn't care. He asked the unmasked man,
"Who are you? Why are you following me?"
There was no answer. Siddharth forcefully turned the man and put his left knee on his neck. He tried to untie the thread of the mask. Siddharth understood that he needed a sharp edge to cut it, as the knot could not be disentangled.
The man was gasping and groaning, as Siddharth's strong knee was choking him, but he didn't say anything. Giving up the hope of unmasking the guy, Siddharth in a stern voice said,
"Will you speak up or will you die?"
To be continued on tomorrow night
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