Dil Beparwah | ✔

fourteen

||CHAPTER 14||
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┊V A R U N┊

Steam from the piping hot tea rose up, meandering as I blew the earthen pot. It warmed my face as I brought it to my lips, listening to the rain splattering on the tin roof of the roadside tea stall, waiting.

"It's been twenty minutes," Kriti glanced at her watch. "What if he doesn't show up, Sir? What if he is double crossing us?"

Across the busy road was the bus stop. A speeding auto came to a whirring pause and I nodded in its direction, watching intently as a lanky, bony guy clambered off the shared rickshaw in a hurry, locking gazes with us as he paid. I tipped the earthen pot, slurping the remainder of the tea before aiming it at the heap near the stall. "He's here."

The guy crossed the road, not caring much about the heavy drizzle, heading towards us. "Sorry ho," he said in a thick Marathi accent. "Wo saab ne nikalte waqhat dekh liya merko, manhoon time lagla."

"Kaunse saab ne? Raman Oberoi ne dekha tumhe?" I pulled out a  red plastic chair, ushering him towards the rickety wooden bench.

"Naahi o," he glanced down, pointing at the cleaning staff logo on his uniform. "Merey sir ne."

"Kaam hua?" Kriti asked, jutting to the point. "Kisi ko shaq hua kya?"

"Naahi, toh floor aaz malach milalela hota." He tugged at his disheveled, brown tinged curls, bashful for some reason. Then, glancing around, he popped the buttons of his olive jumpsuit and fished out the flash drive I had given to him three nights ago—one that I had gotten coded by a friend in software for special purposes. 

But he did say that it might not work when plugged into a system with high security. Hence, I could only hope that the data dating back to the year we wanted wasn't backed-up. The chances were slim, but we had to take it. "Sab hai isme?"

The guy nodded, dangling the pen drive from its string. "Jo jo saal bola thha aapne, woich dala. Zyada time nahi thha."

I took out three, slightly used notes of two thousand from my wallet, offering it to him. The agreed amount. The janitor raised four fingers, the flash drive in the other hand. A silent negotiation.

Sighing, I flipped my wallet open and I pulled out a fresh note, handing the bundle to him. He rolled the notes in his sweaty palm and let me pluck the red flash drive from the other.

A nod and a sleazy salute later, he was gone. Kriti and I walked to my car, parked a small distance away. Once settled inside, I twisted the key in the ignition and pulled a lever to start the wipers. The slight drizzle had turned into heavy drops pelting on the windshield as I swerved my Ford into the lane. The mere thought of traffic and blocked roads had me pissed.

Meanwhile, Kriti had already inserted the flash drive in the USB port of her laptop, waiting for it to boot. A minute passed, then another. The sky was turning darker, a full blown shower blocking the roads. Honks, signal lights and noise of the rain intensified.  Kriti's fingers flew over the keyboard, and we waited for a few more minutes. And then her face twisted in a sinister smirk as she tilted her head. "I take my words back, Sir."

With one hand on the steering wheel, and the other toggling the air conditioner, I let out a chuckle. "Is it as glorious as we hoped?"