The Sunderban Mystery #wattys2016 #mystery #thriller

The Sunderban Mystery Part 5

They entered a small room and they literally dropped us on the floor. I screamed in pain. And even though we were gagged, I still could hear the echo of my scream in the empty temple. Soumak groaned. They left us alone in the room and went outside. I slide next to Soumak. I could see he was struggling to free his bonds. But the rope was strong and the knot was impossible to open. Eventually he stopped struggling. He was breathing hard. I glanced at him. He was now lying with his face up towards the ceiling.

As we lay there, I could hear the smugglers outside. There were probably 10 or 12 of them. Three of them were standing outside our room and smoking beedis (small Indian leaf cigarettes). And I could clearly hear them laughing. I was terrified at this moment. Just a day back, I was in Kolkata. And now I was in this situation and there was no hope of any help from anywhere.

I felt a nudge from my right side. It was Soumak. He was trying to say something. He was rolling his eyes. I tried to convey that I could not understand anything he was trying to say. He groaned slightly. And he said something. Then in frustration he rolled over. He was indicating towards his hands which the smugglers had tied. It had become loose. He was constantly trying to un-knot the rope. I immediately understood what he was trying to say. I rolled over backwards and I tried to reach his hands. I slowly gripped the rope that tied his hands and tried to loosen it. It was tough but I could feel that the rope was a giving away slowly. While we were busy working on this, we suddenly heard footsteps. The smugglers were returning back. Soumak and I quickly turned to our previous position. And we maintained some distance from each other. We didn't want any suspicions raised. Three men entered the room. I could see the face of the man who was supposedly their leader. He was along with them.

"Well my boys. How are you two? Are you enjoying your stay here?" the man asked rhetorically.

"What should we do with them?" A well built man who was standing to the right of their leader, spoke. "Do we take them with us and sell them?"

"No. They are too old for that. I don't think they will buy these boys. They need younger boys. But I can try. Maybe strike up a deal or something. If they don't take them then we dump them in the sea."

"Carrying them will be a task. We already got a lot of materials with us. Don't you think that they will slow us down further? We have to reach by day after tomorrow." The strongly built man said. He had many scars on his body and hand. It ran down from his forehead and all the way to his chin in a straight line. He was hurt badly once.

"Yes, yes. That is true. I think it's better to kill them now then. We can't leave them. Or else we will be in trouble. Oh very well. Kill both of them and dump them. Maybe the animals will get them."

I was panicking now. He just wanted us dead. And he said in such a cold blooded way. I could feel that there were beads of sweat on my forehead now. And I was suddenly feeling very cold. I was almost shivering.