Sidharth opens his eyes to darkness. It takes him a minute to register where he is. He remembers now, he is in the abandoned house. He was shot at and had bumped his head on a boulder when he had fallen down. He checks his chest. He is saved by the bullet proof vest underneath his shirt.
"So you are alive? You came prepared.", a voice in the darkness says.
"Who are you?", Sidharth asks as he tries to look for his gun.
"Your gun is with me. No use searching for it. I have the power. You can't catch me. But you will die for sure. The next bullet will pierce your head.", he says.
"I don't need a gun to catch you. And you know that quite well.",Sidharth says.
With a flash, he jumps at him grabbing the gun and both fall on the hard floor. Two bullets are fired which misses him by an inch. Two struggle to get the control of the gun. Sidharth could see him now as his face is a few inches apart from him. Thick eyebrows, curly hair, a deep cut running across his eyes and a face covered in beard. Sidharth lands a punch on the face. His nose breaks but he still does not leave the gun.
The man kicks him in his abdomen in the attempt to release himself from Sidharth's hold. Sidharth punches him again. The man has his finger at the trigger and he tries to fire again aiming at Sidharth's throat. Sidharth puts pressure on his hand, bending it so that the nozzle of the gun points at the man. Sidharth hits him again and pulls the trigger. The bullet hits the man and he leaves the gun, clutching his shoulder in pain.
Sidharth gets up and grabs the gun and aims at him.
"Sir! Sir! Aap thik hain?", Sidharth hears.
He turns his face to a few flash lights. Ranne and Gaikward along with a few constables arrive.
"Take him to a hospital. And check Ratnakar. He was unconscious.", Sidharth says.
"Apply cold compression on the chest and your head. Take the medicines on time. You are lucky that the bullet didn't hit anywhere near the lungs.", the doctor says.
Sidharth wears his shirt and nods his head.
"Doctor how is he?", he asks
"They have extracted the bullet. He is unconscious."
Sidharth comes out of the doctor's room and Bhonsale asks,"Sir, Are you alright?"
Sidharth nods his head,"Keep a tight security here. The moment he gains his consciousness, give me a call."
Sidharth returns home to find two anxious faces.
He smiles,"See I am alive. So don't start any rona dhona scenes here."
Rita ji wipes the corners of her eyes, "No one is crying here. Why should we? Sana tells him to rest now. Meri toh sunta nahi, tu bol."
Sidharth goes and wraps his arms around her. She does not say anything but rubs her hand at his back.
She breaks the embrace,"Bas kar ab. Jaa so ja. Sana you too come and rest. You must be tired from the journey."
As soon as Sidharth enters his room, Sana rushes into his arms and sobs softly,"Tum kab ayi?",he asks.
"I knew something bad was going to happen. I saw you getting a bullet. When I heard, you were shot, I took the first flight here."
"Yes. You saw me getting shot and I was prepared for it. I had my bullet proof vest. See nothing happened."
"But why did you go alone there? Agar goli kahin aur lag jati?"
"Then my dead body would have arrived now.", he says with a smile.
Sana stares at him and hits him on the chest,"Stop saying such things. Gande ho tum.."
"Ahh.. Sana dard hai. Ahiste..", he says.
Sana leaves her immediately and backs off, "Tumne toh kaha tha tumhe kuch nahi hua phir, chot kaise lagi?"
Sidharth says,"I was wearing a bullet proof vest, so the bullet didn't penetrate into my body. But the impact of the bullet does cause some contusion."
"Contusion?", she asks.
"Bruises. Samjhi.", he says as he sits down on the bed.
Sana sits beside him, "Haye kide pade uss kothe par. Bruises? Show me."
She starts unbuttoning the shirt and he tries to stop her,"What are you doing? Koi aa jayega..Baby.."
Sana looks at his face, "Yeh mere dialogue hona chahiye tha. But meri kismet mein unromantic police wala jo hai. Now shut up and show me."
Sidharth starts to laugh and Sana finds a blotch of red swelling on his chest. She softly touches it,"Is it really painful?"
Sidharth winces a little,"This is nothing. I have had my share of wounds when I was in ATS."
Sana kisses him on his chest softly and Sidharth cups her face,"I have missed you." He tilts his face to kiss her when they hear,"Tu Sanu ki kaan kyu pakda hai?"
Sidharth leaves her as Sana moves back,"Where? No. We were just..you know talking."
It's Ruhani standing at the door with her doll in her hand,"Baat karte waqt thodi na koi aise hota hai. Sanu is he pulling your ear?"
Sana starts to laugh,"No..bache.."
Ruhani comes closer and stands in front of him. Sidharth smiles and picks her up and makes her sit on his lap. She looks at the bruise on his chest and runs her tiny hands over it.
"Dard ho raha hai?", she asks in an almost inaudible voice.
Sidharth shakes his head to say no.
"Why haven't you slept yet?", he asks.
Ruhani says,"Tu nahi aya tha na, I was waiting for you. I had to answer to Maa and Sanu."
Sidharth looks at Sana,"She has given you a nice name Sanu. Acha mere liye koi naam nahi hai Kya?"
She gets down from his lap and gives him a shy smile.
"What? Tell me?", he asks again.
She signals Sana to come closer and whispers something in her ears and runs away out of the room.
"What did she tell you?"
Sana smiles at him and says,"Sidhi."
Sidharth looks surprised listening to her. His eyes go misty listening to the name his father used to call him,"How? She.."
"I don't know. Maybe she had heard it from Maa. Let her call you whatever she feels like. She really loves you..", Sana says touching his arm.
"I know that..I know.."
"Rajan Yadav aka Raja, the famous contract killer. Tujhe toh Bihar police dhund rahi hai, aur tu yahaan hai. Why?", Ranne asks.
Sidharth stands in the front leaning on the wall. They are in the hospital room. The man arrested the night before is in bandages and his hand cuffed to the bed.
"Bol ya dun ek!", Bhonsale screams.
Raja smiles, "Hume supari mila tha. Isilye yahaan aye hum."
Ranne asks again,"Kiska?"
Raja keeps mum, only smiles looking at Sidharth.
Bhonsale slaps him hard, "Bol varna goli mar denge. Hospital se bhag raha tha, encounter kar diya bol denge."
Raja still gives him that devilish smile and stays quiet. Bhonsale raises his hand when Sidharth stops him.
"Bhonsale stop. Tuje meri supari kisne di thi?", he asks.
"ACP tum dimag se teej ho toh tumhe yeh bhi pata hoga ki hume pooch ke koi fayeda nahi hai.", Raja replies.
Sidharth comes closer and looking into his eyes,"Aur yeh tu bhi janta ta hai, we know how to extract the information from prople like you. But the thing is you don't have any information. Everything happened over phone. Advance money was paid in cash, maybe left in some bag outside your room or something like that. You alone are only going to jail for this. And you are smiling for your stupidity. Nice!"
He turns to leave but then stops, "Waise tere friend oh sorry your old friend cum foe, Chandra is here in the Yerwada jail. Tujhe achi company miligi."
He leaves with a smile while Raja's face turns pale.
"But Sir, I know he knows about the murders there. We need to keep him in custody and interrogate him. I can break him down there.", Sidharth says.
He is in the Commissioner's office. The Commissioner says,"If you think that Bhide knows something then call him to the headquarters for questioning again. Don't keep him in custody. I am getting pressure from the higher authorities. You know his brother-in-law is the MLA. They are in the ruling party. I have already received call from the Home Minister's office."
Sidharth says,"Sir, please let him be in custody for a day, I will.."
"Sidharth, let him go now. I don't want to hear anything from you.", the Commissioner interrupts.
"Sir, Bhide ko chod denge toh main culprits ko pakad nahi payeinge. Raja too didn't say anything. Let us grill him, he will definitely say something.", Gaikward says.
"No. Raja knows nothing. There are some big names involved in the crime. This MLA and maybe many others. This Raja was given contract to kill me. They would have never revealed his identity to him, I knew he had no idea who had given him this contract. And Bhide, we knew we could not keep him in custody for more than a day.", Sidharth replies
"What to do sir?", he asks.
A crowd gathered outside the headquarters as Sidharth arrives in front of the gate. They start throwing stones at his car, screaming against CBI and ACP. Police intervene stopping them as the car enters the premises. Just as he gets down, Bhide gets out. He smiles at him and coming closer he whispers,"Tune mere pe haath utha kar thik nahi kiya. A lot is going to happen to you. Just be careful."
He pats on his shoulder and leaves with his brother.
"Sir, the initial autopsy report of the bodies that we had exhumed. There is lot of pressure there. I am hearing that the staff at the forensics department will be going on strike to demand the investigation of the death of their fellow colleague. I managed to get this out.", Kambli says.
Sidharth looks at the reports and says,"Arrange for a press conference, today. This is the only way to do it."
"Sir, What has been found in the case of the deaths of the sex workers?"
"Do you think more transgenders have been killed?"
"What is the involvement of the contract killer Raja?"
"Why did you leave Tukaram Bhide? Is he not involved in the case? It was his house where the women were killed."
The journalists ask questions.
"I will answer all your questions. Yes Tukaram Bhide's house was used to hold and perhaps kill the women. He will be questioned again soon. However a case of taking grant from Government for the school that does not exist has been registered against him."
"Raja was given the contract to kill me. We are trying to find out more about it. Regarding the deaths of transgenders, we haven't found any bodies yet. So we can't say anything with surety."
"What I would like to share with you about the case, is very vital. The police investigating the prior deaths had not made any effort to look deeply. There were no autopsy done on the bodies. But we had exhumed a few bodies and the post-mortem conducted on them as well as on Chayya and Reshma shows similarity. It hints on something more than just murders. The report claims that a few vital organs like kidneys and livers were missing. What we are dealing here is racket, organ trafficking."
Sidharth's phone rings, it's the Commissioner.
"Jay Hind Sir!"
"Sidharth what is this? You didn't talk with me and called a press meet. You don't understand I have to answer to authorities above me."
"Sir, you gave me this case but perhaps you didn't trust me. If you want, I can leave the case Sir."
"What do you mean?"
"If I can't make any decision regarding the case then I shouldn't handle it. Sir, you know very well, for me all cases have equal priority and no one, no politician or anybody can stop me from finding the truth. The people who are putting pressure on you are involved somehow in this racket. If you stop me from doing my job because of them, then I should leave the case now. However Sir, I will call another press meet and tell the reason for my exit."
"Sidharth, are you threatening me?"
"Sir, who am I to do that? I am your junior, I can't even think about threathening you. I want your support. As police officers, its our duty to protect innocent people and give them justice. If we succumb under pressure then we should leave our job."
The Commissioner stays silent for a minute,"Sidharth, I will take care of the higher authorities. You do what is needed. But keep me posted about the case. And stay safe."
Sidharth puts down the phone. There is a smile on his face. He picks up the file when the door opens and Rita ji enters the room.
"Sid!"
Sidharth leaves his chair and rushes towards her. Soon his men enter the room too. Ritaji's saree is dirty, there are scratches on her hand from which blood is coming out and her hair all disheveled.
"Maa! What happened? Are you okay? Bhonsale get a doctor now!", Sidharth says as he holds her and makes her sit on the chair.
Bhonsale runs out as Kambli gives her a glass of water. After drinking it, she says,"Ruhani! They have taken Ruhani. Sid, please do something. Find her, get her back please.."
Keep reading for finding out the truth behind the deaths. Give comments and vote for the chapter.
Let the suspense continue..
I am actually disappointed as my dear friends are not reading or voting for the updates. Your reads, votes and comments encourage me to write better. Should I stop?
Upset me..😥