The Teak Forest

Chapter 7

Day 3, 07:48:39 AM

Ram

Prabu was the first to arrive at the meeting tent, which was surprisingly punctual for a drunkard, I and Shankar arrived next then everyone else arrived and took their seats.

"it's still surprising that Veera didn't kill your wife...yet," Prabu started. He cleared his throat as soon as he saw my expression change. He looked down at the map and pointed at a place.

"That's where you lost her, Right?" He said. I nodded in response. The area where Pavi was kidnapped was surrounded by water and Large mountains with thick foliage.

Prabu marked out the possible locations near the water bodies where they could've taken her.

"They couldn't have gone far as of now," He said scratching his eyebrows. "The rain yesterday would've made their journey a living hell, So they must've set up camp somewhere," He took out a red pen and circled a huge area, which seemed to be centered around a waterfall.

"Knowing Veera he must've taken her to the waterfall, so the sound of the water falling would mask the gunshots or--" He trailed off.

"Shankar, prepare everything necessary, We are searching around the falls, now," I slammed my fists on the table and up. We can't afford to lose any more time.

"SP saar (sir)? Are you really going to go there? knowing Veera, He usually prefers to hit two birds with one stone," He said in a mocking tone. I turned back to him.

"Maybe he's trying to lure you in by picking an obvious location?" Prabu raised his eyebrows.

"Do you think I'm scared of him?" I scoffed as I left the tent, and he followed me.

"He's not scared of you either," He said in a smug tone.

The police officers were loading supplies into the jeep as I got on. I plugged the key in and started the jeep and rested my hands on the steering wheel. "Who's side are you on?" I asked him.

"I'm on your side, I'm just giving an officer-to-officer advice," He shrugged. "I'll shut my mouth if you want to, then later don't blame your death on me," He said silently.

"I'm not gonna sit here and suck my thumb hoping that he will return my wife," I glared at him. "I need to jump into action,"

The jeep was fully loaded and Shakar sat at the back, and Prabu joined us. Two other jeeps followed us through the rough terrain, The birds fluttered away from the trees as our jeeps drove past them. Even though it was a bright full morning, it didn't look like that inside the forest. A tall canopy of trees covered almost all the sunlight entering the forest, Small streaks of sunlight emerged here and there but that was it. The fog was another issue, the fog grew denser and denser as we ventured deeper and deeper into the forest and it was getting hard to see. The constant fear of something jumping out of the bushes and attacking us grew as the atmosphere around us got eerie. The forest was quiet except for our jeep's veering sounds, is this what calm before the storm feels like?

The fog became way too thick for us to drive safely anymore, So we started to trek with our lights out. Shankar suggested that we go back to the camp but I refused. It's not his wife who is kidnapped, it's mine. The ground was muddy and uneven due to the downpour yesterday, the mud got thicker and thicker as we started to hear a river flowing nearby.

"We could use the river to find the waterfall," Prabu said taking a lead, he walked faster than us since we were literally dragging ourselves through the mud.

"SAAR! You got to see this!" He yelled from the bank of the river. We hurried towards the bank and spotted Prabu who was untying a man from a tree. He was pale and lean.

"Veera stole his boat, it seems," Prabu said.

I got a bottle of water and poured it into his dried mouth, I held his face still and asked him my questions.

"Who did this to you?" I asked him feeding him more water. He was unstable but I wanted my answers

"V...Veera," He stammered. I motioned for Prabu to hold him and fished Pavi's photo from my pocket and held it straight toward his face. "was she with her?" He nodded shakily. "Is she okay?" I asked him. He didn't reply, he was too weak. "Is she okay?" I snatched the collar of his shirt. "Answer me!" Shaker pulled me back, preventing me from hurting him.

Prabu took my place, "We are here to save you, friend, just tell us what you know," He asked him.

He whispered something into Prabhu's ears.

"She was with him," Prabu said to us. "Do you know where they took her?" he asked him.

"E...ast," The boatman with his feeble voice.

"How do you know?" Prabu asked. The man whispered something. "He told you?" he asked with a confused expression.

Why tell him where he was headed?

"Veera is nuts," Prabu concluded. "First he ties the boatman, then tells him where he's headed?" he said, confused just like the rest of us.

"Are we searching for him? Or is he searching for us?" He mumbled. "What else did he say?" Prabu asked. The boatman raised his head and a tiny smirk formed at the edge of his mouth.

"The Police can't even keep up with the whereabouts of his gun" He swallowed. "How will he find Veera?" he said. "tell them, that they can't even find my foot dirt,"

I checked my gun sling, it was empty, I ran my hands through my hair frustratedly that I almost pulled them out.

"How can you be so irresponsible?" Shankar snarled. "if he kills someone with that gun, you're done," He scolded me. I swear I had it yesterday. I remember tucking it in my pocket.

"Enough!" I sat down on a rock trying to wrap my head around the situation.

Shankar commanded the other officers who came with us to get some medical attention to the boatman, they lifted him up, put him in a jeep, and drove away.

"I told you so," Prabu said as we walked back to the jeep. "He's luring you in,"

If he thinks he can lure me in, I can lure him in too. Two can play that game.

He just has one gun, I have twelve.

Are we searching for him?

Or

Is he searching for us?