An Imperial Affliction

Chapter 38- When love is in excess

+

Weeks of countless visits to IT and to his senior's cabin, Rahane was done waiting.

The organizations were busy with Haqqani issue and it was pretty much done deal that he would be transferred to his home country in next couple of weeks. Tension was everywhere and time was up for them, now they awaits for the actual ritual. This felt like another failure, and Rahane had realized that if there was something which can even remotely have chance to stop this mess, it was to find Sahay. The moment Sahay tells them it was Haqqani, they will have reason to stop this transfer, build a strong case and find whatever the heck these terrorists were planning in the shadows.

On the other side of the mess, Delhi serial killer style killing have completely stopped all over county, and even though the perpetrator remained at large, the public was happy that there was no threat- at least, for now. Rahane was almost obsessively following up this case, now that he had realized it was all for Sahaay, and when the last body fell and this eery silence stretched on, he had a bad feeling. Hence, he had to do what he had to do. Put all his juniors on this case, gather information on the victims, and adding his brilliant idea to match their prints with Victim database, both in India and outside country. Juniors were not happy, all they wanted was to have a pie on the big juicy case of Haqqani and brainstorm on it, and their senior has put them on a serial killer case meant for pesky police. But of course, none going to say this in front of him, whose mood had soured considerably to the point that he was always on the edge thanks to coffee and had bloodshot eyes by staring into computer screen.

But God helps those who helps themselves, and his idea showed good work- or bad, depending upon the result. The last victim's prints matched Neel Sahaay's fingerprints when his 'body' was found in car blast, and he knew it was not really him in past, but reports confirmed someone had given DNA samples and access to his apartment to match the prints.

ACP Riya Mukherjee, the then- Girlfriend of Sahaay.

And once again, all his paths lead to her.

He slumped on his chair, running fingers through hair as he stared at the computer screen. What if the last body was really Sahaay's? That would mean this was truly the end of all his work, and they will never know what was going on. Why he faked his death, what he did, for whom? Why he returned now? Exhaling a frustrating breath, he spun around in his chair, closing eyes to go over all the things he had gone through the moment he knew about this whole mess. Him going to delhi, surviving shoot out, losing his team mates, his vow in front of his agent's grave, all that was for nothing.

Opening his eyes, he read through the reports on the last body found in mumbai once again. It was still rotting away in a morgue near Juhu. He knew it was fruitless, he has already given up, but a part of him probably wanted to see it for himself. To find closure.

He picked up his phone and typed a message.

The lunch was excruciatingly long and painful, to say the least. Arjun found himself checking his watch occasionally, wondering when this will end and what is the acceptable time to excuse himself from the restaurant. He was majorly silent, humming and agreeing to Sakshi and tried to ate his food- emphasis on try, because he concentrated more on drinking water. If this was a drink, he would have been on the floor by now, drunk out of his mind.

Sakshi, to her credit, stopped after a while, smiling to herself as she pushed her hair behind ear in nervousness, "Arjun?" When she got his attention in the form of a nod, she continued, "Thank you, for coming to lunch. This meant a lot to me."

"No need for that." He wiped his mouth with a tissue, avoiding her eyes the whole time, "Thanks for the lunch, actually. The food is . . . great."