An Imperial Affliction

Chapter 21- All is riddle

"I do." He said, and hurried, "Of course I do. I deny this all. I am a clean person. Really."

Liar, his inner self said and he told it to fuck off.

"Are you?" The Man countered, intimidating him with his piercing gaze and the way his frame is facing him, "We know all about it, Mr. Jamal, no point of denying. The Tea stall through which you send IDs and receive money? The meeting point behind that bar? The places you make these IDs? We know all about it."

Then why are you asking me, was his inner question, but he bit his tongue.

And he called him Mr. Jamal. IB or not, it's pretty good to hear his name sounding like that.

"All we want," The Man continued, "are the names of the people you helped. You can side with us. If you agree to help us, we can assure your safety, give you new place to live and new identity, far away from this life of yours. If only," He paused, head cocked to a side, "you help us. Give us the names."

Ha, like he was going to fall for that. IB or not, they can't offer deal like this. New identity? With his luck, he might have helped people so far off his radar, like dangerous people, those who have ears in all places. Who knows, Mafia with limb cutting habit will be really on his ass then.

"No." He said.

"No?" The Man repeated, eyes wide with mock surprise, "Which part? The fake ID thing or not giving names?"

"Both." He blurt out, "I didn't make fake IDs for anyone. You are mistaking me for someone else."

If there was any other Man, he would have laughed, but this man sighed in frustration, "Why don't you cut the crap and save us both time and effort? We know everything, Mr. Jamal."

He doubted that, "You don't have anything on me."

"We have." The Man pressed, and then the girl appeared before them, handing over him a file. He took out something from it and put it in front of me, "Remember this Man?"

Of course, he said to himself. Turned out to be a homophobic serial killer. Police got him from airport, he was about to flee.

"We actually got your name from him." The Man leaned back on his seat, "So, ready to give up?"

No doubt now.

What are the chances here? If he doesn't give up, then, well, these bouncers are not for display. He never liked to be beaten or tortured. If he does give up, the odds are he would be killed on his way to WitSec. Both side looks nasty.

"I will give you some time to consider." The Man got up, looking at him calmly, "We will meet soon."

Obviously.

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"So," The Man sweated profusely as the words flowed at him, "ready to give your confession?"

Well, he should be. Not every day the ETF Director handles interrogation.

But this case was special. The man made a very crucial mistake of going behind the Director's back and call someone higher to save himself. To his misfortune, he called Raghu sir, who, though looked like a loyal dog obedient to powerful people, was a Lion in disguise, carefully planned his every step and made the prey fall into his traps. True to his form, he called the Director and told her to do everything in her power to get this SOB off his back.

So she did. The Team did.

Senior Officer Sameer Rathore and ETF Director Aisha Kapoor was handling the investigation, the former ranting something about the illusion of control. Others monitored the interrogation through PCs, while Second in Command Rawte along with ACP Mukherjee stood a little bit away from the team, watching the interrogation through glass wall, talking simultaneously.