An Imperial Affliction

Chapter 43- It doesn't really matter

"You, Sameer, Rahane and Chotu go to Ravi lodge." Madam Director ordered, pointing at the men, "Take your agents with you, Rahane." He nodded at that, then turned to John.

"You go with rest to Googly. Check the area."

The men moved out of the conference room.

Riya stepped into the familiar room of Ravi lodge, footsteps halting as all the memories rushed to her. How many countless nights she had spent here- planning, strategizing, asking questions to herself, blaming herself. Forgot to sleep, forgot to eat, forgot to live. Only agonized about her situation and plotted revenge. Trying to dig deep.

Neel stood behind and the sense jerked her into present. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she moved aside to let him in.

"I can't imagine you living here." She told him a story of how she lived here to catch a criminal. "Shady don't even cover it. Did you notice how the receptionist man did not bat an eye at your blood soaked shirt."

The man downstairs knew her, and it might have shown on her face that he pretended to not know her, silently took their details and handed over the key. Riya was tempted to slip a paper- Call the police!- but like Neel said, it was a shady place. He might not do it to save her.

Riya shut the door behind her and Neel immediately sat on the bed which creaked annoyingly. He opened the laptop, sighing at the screen in relief, but then frowned. He looked around, and then let out a groan, "Shit."

"What?"

"I forgot the power cord." He stood up abruptly, looking outside as if wanting to go, but knowing it will be risky to do so, "Laptop is going to die soon."

"Is there any need for it?"

He looked at her as if she had asked a stupid question, "Ri, the government is after me. They might have found out my IP address and the location I am now currently. I installed a jammer into it, it will block all trackers, comms or any other way they can find me. If the laptop dies, we are in danger."

At his little speech, something stirred inside her. Fuck. But before she could agonize over it, Neel stood right in front of her, reaching out to touch her wound. She almost jerked backward, earning a look from him.

"Just trying to check."

"I will just," She motioned to the washroom and tried to give a smile at his nod, "I will check. Don't worry."

"Let me know if you need extra bandage." She nodded and shut the door over his words, immediately collapsing against the door and trying not the hypervent. Putting a hand over her mouth, her eyes filled with tears, but then she closed them, took a deep breath and pulled the hand off her mouth. Wiping off the tears quickly, she stood in front of mirror, took a look at her face and splashed water on it.

She was back to where she started, and maybe it's a good thing. She can finish it here.

She traced the black bracelet with her finger tips, yanking it off her wrist and shaking it, hoping it's not dead. Niraj had said it was durable, but she was unconscious for a long time and not sure what it had endured. If it was dead or it was Neel's jammer which was blocking the signal all along.

Suddenly, the vision turned black and she felt herself almost falling down. Quickly holding on to the wash basin, she tried to balance her by breathing deeply. Once again, she looked at her face, then down to her injury.

When she pulled the shirt, she winced at the bloody mess. The bandage was soaked, and it was put on haphazardly. When she tried to pull the bandage, it stuck to the skin. She knew about injuries and felt like it's most likely infected.