Abhimanyu was pacing around the grand entrance. It had been hours since Dylan Shekhawat and his daughter left. His Rolex wristwatch told him it was nearly lunchtime. There were many things that demanded his attention- party documents, the upcoming Gala, BlueFreddie, the enemy, his mind was affixed on one girl.
" About time they got home." he grumbled.
The yellow Beetle entered the driveway.Abhimanyu narrowed his eyes as Man Singh and Rivannah clambered down, chatting amiably and laughing at something. He fought the urge to snort in disbelief. Man Baba had never been a fan of Rivannah.
Abhimanyu narrowed his eyes and stared at Man Singh meaningfully.
" Ahem." Man Singh cleared his throat, " I didn't notice you here milord!"
" Wait for me in the study." he said passively, " There is something important."
Rivannah was grabbing her stuff from the backseat.She hummed a folk tune she's heard a guitarist play, her lips were curved into a satisfied smile. A small packet slipped from her hands, rolling into the gravel of the driveway. She bent down to pick it and her hands collided with almond coloured palms.
She raised her head, to find Abhimanyu just inches away from her, his grey eyes affixed on her face. A faint red painted her cheeks and she stood up. Abhimanyu held out her packet, a coy smile playing on his lips.
" Did you have fun?"
" Yes." Rivannah nodded, hiding behind her dark hair, " What did you do?"
" Figuring out how to find BlueFreddie." Abhimanyu teased.
"Did you find him yet? When can I meet him? Did he say anything about the attacker?"
"Yes, no and no. You are not meeting him." Abhimanyu sighed," He's dangerous and he wanted you dead. I'm not going to serve his victim on a silver platter. You'll just have to be patient and trust me."
" Then why did you bring me to Goa?" Rivannah snorted.
" Because I can."
Rivannah's jaw dropped in surprise. She tore the parcel from his hands and glared murderously at the back of his head. Oblivious to her fury, Abhimanyu strolled inside the house. She hurried behind him, wanting to give him a piece of her mind.
" You told me BlueFreddie was here." she pointed out.
" But I never said you'll get to talk with him." he chimed.
" It was my father who got attacked." Rivannah grumbled," It is the Rathore family's vengeance to take. I won't be at peace until I talk to BlueFreddie. Especially if he leads me to the enemy."
" I am doing everything for the Rathore family. I'm scheduled to meet him tomorrow. I will naturally tell you everything he knows." Abhimanyu reassured her, " Until then, you're forbidden to go outside. It's for your own safety. If you have any grievances, well, I couldn't care less."
" You can't keep me caged. I'll tear this whole place down." Rivannah threatened.
" Do whatever you like, Rivannah." he snorted, " As long as you're inside these walls."
Abhimanyu went past her and slammed the door of his study behind him. He didn't want to compromise Rivannah's safety. He brought her along to Goa for his own selfish reasons, but he won't push his luck further. It was already benevolent to let her on her own for a few hours.
Man Singh was sitting on the visitor's chair and looked at him eagerly.
" I have to go to a Gala dinner tomorrow." Abhimanyu explained, " Radhika Shekhawat will go with me. Please send some flowers to her house in the morning."
Man Singh nearly choked on his own spit. He couldn't understand why Abhimanyu, who disliked immoral and debauched woman, would try to court Radhika.The story of the siren was replaying in the back of his mind.
" But-why-your-highness?"
" Her father has dealt with BlueFreddie before. She'll help me gain an audience with him." Abhimanyu frowned.
" Your name is enough, milord." Man Singh urged, " We are already placing our men in the casino.There is no need to rely on someone else!"
" The Gala is couple-entry only, Man Baba."
" It's fine! I can go with you!" he pleaded, trying to protect his prince from the charms of the vile woman. His indifferent lord had truly fallen under some kind of bewitchment.
" A couple implies the company of a woman."
" Then take Rivannah." Man Baba retorted, " She'll do just fine. Nobody knows who she is.Being seen with Radhika Shekhawat would be bad for your political image!"
" You're worrying about nothing." Abhimanyu rolled his eyes.The thought of taking Rivannah made his heart tickle, but he firmly rejected it.He could tolerate Radhika for hours, but he couldn't compromise her wellbeing even for a moment.
Man Singh pursed his lips and bowed his head in obedience.He observed Abhimanyu's blank expression with horror and foreboding, while his superstitious mind cooked up elaborate theories. It was just like Rivannah had said. The sirens cast a spell and enamour unsuspecting men. There was no way his Highness would try to court Radhika on his own.
" You want to say something, Baba?" Abhimanyu arched a brow.
" No, of course not, Your Highness." Man Singh shook his head. He had made up his mind to call his village's infamous mystic and ask if his lord could be exorcised.
*
Rivannah clicked the keys of her laptop furiously.She had never been so angry. She wished she could kick Abhimanyu down a cliff or something. Just when she saw his good qualities and redeemed him, the arrogant Prince gave her yet another reason to keep him in her bad books.
" Who pissed you off?" an amused voice resonated in the room.
She was in a Skype session with an old friend from MIT Boston.Kyra Mehta was one of the most acclaimed hackers in the campus.(She once hacked a NASA satellite on a dare) They were good friends, having been roommates for three years.
In her boiling fury at being told to 'stay inside the walls', a light bulb flashed in her head. BlueFreddie was a hacker and ran a dark web system. He must keep massive information in some sort of database. If someone could hack into that and extract who paid BlueFreddie to attack her father...then problem solved. She would know who the enemy is before Abhimanyu ever could. All the while being inside his walls.
" A blithering idiot." she grumbled.
Kyra came to her mind the moment she thought of the word 'hack.' She quickly called her old friend and explained the situation. Rivannah knew her zany friend wouldn't hesitate to pull up her sleeves and take up the challenge. Kyra made her living out of catching cyber criminals in the USA.
" Is he at least hot?" Kyra asked eagerly.
" Only if you like assholes."
" Well, I'm the biggest fan of assholes." Kyra quipped, " That sounded more dark than I intended it to."
" He's not a standard asshole. He's a royal pain in the ass, K."
Rivannah missed her friend and her life in the States, where there were no rules and restrictions of a royal household.She let out her wistful sigh and suppressed her yearning. Her enemy was more important.
" Well, I'll take your word." Kyra scrunched her nose, " This BlueFreddie guy has a conspicuous website but it needs a username and password. If I can somehow figure out- oh, voila!"
" You're in?" Rivannah exclaimed.
" As a user only. Let me track his IP address, real quick." Kyra whistled, " That's some high level firewalls he has installed. Are you sure this guy belongs to India? He's the real deal, Riv."
" I don't want you to get in trouble. You should leave before he notices you."
" Oh, please." Kyra rubbed her nose, " Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di toh mai apne aap ki bhi nahi sunti." (Once I give a commitment, I don't even listen to myself)
Rivannah smiled wryly at Kyra's filmy dialogue. Kyra was a jolly and dramatic Salman Khan fangirl. Her walls were plastered with huge posters of his movies and photoshoots.
" Aha! I found him! He's in Goa!" Kyra shrieked, before calming down, " Wait, you already knew that. Let's see if Mr. BlueFreddie has better security on his PC. If forgot to ask, how are the beaches, Riv? Any swoon-worthy guys with six packs?"
" Can't really say. I haven't visited one." Rivannah admitted, before chiding, " I don't check out guys, you know!"
" Yeah, how can I forget that?" Kyra chortled, " You're Miss Goody-two-shoes. Honestly, the only person you ever crushed upon was Rajvardhan Kapoor. Pity, he was our senior and left college early!"
" My life's changed, K." She said sadly, " It's not going to be same ever again. All I want is to talk to my father now. But he's hiding and the phones can be tapped. This is the longest I've went without hearing his voice."
" You will get over it. You're the strongest girl I know." Kyra said proudly, before swivelling her chair to the side, " Oh, I'm in, Riv! I've gotten into his PC! Here, I'm sharing the screen with you!"
Rivannah peered into her laptop screen to see the unfamiliar desktop. The wallpaper was a common-looking sunset over the sea. The folders were named in weird numbers and alphabets, like a complex system.
" There aren't any folders named murders, assassinations, kidnappings etc." Kyra sighed.
" Check for folders before 19th August." Rivannah said raptly, " That's when the attack happened. Could look for the words Jai Mahal and Raghavendra Rathore in all the documents?"
" OK, I'll run the word search. BlueFreddie isn't using his PC right now, thankfully. We don't have much time before he finds something amiss." Kyra tapped on the screen, " No, there are zero results."
" Try for Ram Prasad. He's a supplier of assassins." Rivannah offered.
" Ram Prasad." Kyra drawled, and her eyes lit up, " Yeah! Found his records. Here, look at them!"
Rivannah scanned through the excel sheet. There were various dates, job numbers, amounts transferred and dues. She skimmed the August column and her eyes widened in surprise.There was only one entry that read as, 'The Vienna project'.Ram Prasad was paid in full via bitcoins.(30 lakhs)
" Why Vienna?" Rivannah mumbled to herself. She didn't know anyone with that name.They had no relatives or acquaintances in that part of the Europe.
A sharp knock started her. She closed her laptop screen shut and hurried to answer the door. Her heart was threatening to give out. She couldn't be caught by Abhimanyu at this critical juncture. To her relief, it was Mrs D'Cruz, the housekeeper.
" Yuvraj is calling you for dinner, Princess."
" I'm not hungry. Thank you, anyway." Rivannah muttered, shutting the door immediately.
" He insists your presence!"
" Tell him, I don't want to see his face." she said venomously, " I'm inside these walls, so he shouldn't care!"
Rivannah settled in front of her laptop and opened it. Kyra's video feed was still connected and the excel sheet was displayed. Everything seemed to be organised with the alphanumeric codes.
" Most of these folders have documents or videos." Kyra said unhappily, " If I were BlueFreddie I would hide all my dirtiest secrets in the least obvious places. Like this folder named Random."
Kyra clicked the folder and opened the first document. It was the photo of an old newspaper cutting. The headline talked about the murder case of a couple in Panjim, Goa. The victims were Blue and Freddie Mascarenhas. A gang member was a suspected but the police denied his involvement. The date on the clipping was about sixteen years ago.
" This is not important, K." Rivannah scrunched her nose.
" Just give me a minute. I'm curious about this guy." Kyra pondered, opening another file. It was a low quality photo of a run down white-washed building. Through the poor pixels she read the signboard. Blue and Freddie's Cafe.
" He's using the name of his parents as an alias." Kyra whispered, opening another file.
It was another newspaper clipping, talking about the hit and run case of a prominent mafia member.The victim died before he reached the hospital. The police blamed the opposing gang for the murder.The date was four years ago.
" I don't understand what you're looking for."
" Some leverage over him." Kyra chirped, opening the rest of the files.
There were photos of a young couple, and an infant. A few them had headings written in neat cursive handwriting. Miguel's first birthday. Miguel's first steps. Miguel and Blue sitting on the beach.
" You're getting distracted." Rivannah warned.
" Oh, I'm sorry." Kyra laughed nervously, "I was just wondering what kind of past would make a cyber criminal like him."
A notification pinged in her laptop and Kyra's jaw dropped. Her hands moved over the keys in a rapid flurry. She swore under her breath.
" What's wrong?" Rivannah questioned.
" He's online. He knows I hacked his computer and now he's fighting off my code." Kyra grunted in frustration, " I won't be able to stop him for long. You need to log off, Riv. I'll be fine even if he figures out my IP address, but you're vulnerable."
" I'm sorry to get you in trouble."
" Dosti ka ek oosul hai Madam... no sorry, no thank you." Kyra winked, disconnecting the call.
Rivannah switched off her laptop and played her head on the pillow. Kyra had helped her immensely and given her an important clue.
The Vienna Project.
*
" Who are you?" he shrieked, " How dare you hack my computer?"
Miguel rapidly wrote the counter-code and disrupted the hacker's attempts. He was the dark king of cybercrime. The whole world danced in his fingertips when he typed. Nobody dared to breach his firewalls.
" I won't let you get away with this!" He growled.
He was just taking a breather after completing an assignment. A data breach into the clients of investment company in New York. He went to make a cup of coffee and returned to find his most personal files opened on his computer and his security programs showing a breach warning.
Miguel wiped the sweat on his brow and slammed his keyboard in anger. The hacker was undoubtedly very skilled. The screen flashed into black and a single notification popped up.
Zindagi mein teen cheez kabhi underestimate mat karna... I, Me and Myself .
"Fuck off, bastard!" Miguel gritted his teeth, pulling his sleeves up.
He connected his infected device to another desktop and revised the security protocols.Eventually he got the hang of the hacker's technique and demolished the control.His computer skills were top notch and unrivalled.
" I'll find whoever you are." Miguel snarled.
Rivannah seems to have found a trail to finding BlueFreddie. Will she find him before Abhimanyu?
But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!