The room reeked with rotting stench.
Shreya pressed the handkerchief against her nose, trying hard not
to grimace. She wanted to go out from that chamber and fill her lungs with
fresh air. She wanted to be away from the dead body that laid on the carpet,
staring blankly at her with his cold eyes. Five years had passed since she
joined Crime Investigation Department, yet the foul smell of the deceased still
churn her stomach.
“Are you okay, Ma’am?” Tushar, her subordinate officer asked.
She nodded bleakly and inspected the corpse. Three men draped in
plastic coats and disposal gloves were busy in playing with the body. The Forensic
Team. One of them craned his head as she inched near.
“Did you find anything worth telling?” Shreya asked, her voice
bearing an authority. She removed her handkerchief and the horrible smell
instantly send a jolt of dizziness. She felt her head heavy.
The forensic guy shook his head. “It seems this man was dead
more than a week ago.”
Shreya could not stop her left brow from raising. “A week?! And
no one knew in this damn hotel that a dead man occupied this room?”
“That’s not my job, Shreya,” the forensic man snapped.
“Suspicion and investigation are your department. Lab is my place to work while
crime scenes are yours.” He sounded little bit offended. “I tell what dead
tells me.”
Squatting near the huddled forensic men, she examined the face
of the unfortunate. To her, the dead seemed to be in his early thirties. His
now pale and lifeless face suggested he had once a handsome young life. The
black suit he wore and the hotel he booked his room were enough to say he was at
least a man with a million in his account.
The smell was getting fouler. I need to get away from here or I’ll puke over it. “And what this
dead tells you, Ashish?”
Ashish’s eyes brightened at the question. “No scars of any
fight. No gash that means this man was probably poisoned. See here.” With his
translucent gloved hands he carefully tilted the dead man’s head. “Can you
notice anything?”
Shreya squinted her brown eyes at the area where Ashish was
pointing. For a moment she could not make out anything else than the pale skin.
She stared harder and then she noticed an outline of whitish smudge dripping
from the insensible lips, flooding his cheeks. She knew what it was, but forced
herself to remain silent. This was one of the lesson she learned in her
course of service. Never deduce and speak from someone’s point of view,
professionally. Especially from the perception of a man. Their ego seemed
vulnerable even to the simple statement. Words
wages wars, she smirked at the thought. Luckily, no one noticed her
smiling. Her handkerchief was well guarding her lips again.
“The foaming at his mouth purely indicates he was overdosed with
poison. If you ask me, which you surely will, I’ll say it was a slow poison,”
said Ashish, satisfied with his own justification.
“Any theories how was he poisoned?” Shreya heard her voice
muffled. The handkerchief was barricading her words.
“Theories have no place in forensic, Shreya. We say what…”
“…dead tells you,” she completed. “Set up your temporary lab in
this room. Strict orders from high authorities, news of this death must remain
suppressed. Whoever this man was, he must be of high importance.”
“Or may be a threat?”
“Can’t say anything right now, Ashish.”
“Okay, that’s why you order us to wear these hotel clothes. Blending
with crowd so no one suspect us. Brilliant idea, Shreya!”
“Clever attempt, Ashish, but praises don’t impress me. Now start
your work.” With that she rose on her heels and stormed out of the room,
leaving the forensic man baffled with her stern answer. She did not want to
sound rude, but being a lone woman working with a team of men she always felt
little insecure. Finally, I’ll breathe the
freedom of freshness.
“Ma’am,” Tushar called her in the passage. He was disguised as a
room attendant. “The manager is waiting in the other room. The man is stubborn
to reveal anything, saying it’s against his protocol.”
“I know how to deal with such people, Tushar. Escort me to him.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
They walked over the marble floor that shone brightly in the
sunlight filtering from the grand balconies and wide windows. Using an
elevator, they descended at the ground level. When the lift pinged and the metal
doors slid open, Shreya could not shift her attention from the grand bronze
statue of Lord Ganesh set in the centre of the main hall. It was indeed, a
sight to behold.
“This way, Ma’am.”
Shreya turned her feet towards the direction where her
subordinate was aiming. She felt someone
tugging her formal pant. Her sleek black hair flowed as she spun around to see
who dared to do such misconduct. A little girl in pink dress was looking at her
with hopeful eyes. A stuffed teddy bear embraced in her small arms. Kneeling
down at the girl’s eye level, she asked calmly, “How can I help you?”
“Pa…pa,” the girl babbled. “Pa…pa.”
“Do you want to be with your Papa?” Shreya guessed.
The little girl nodded, her little ponytail swayed playfully.
Shreya scanned the hall, hoping someone would be approaching to
fetch this lost fairy. Unfortunately, everyone seemed too busy with their work.
She called a free room-attendant and told him to find the little girl’s father.
“Ma’am,” Tushar said in urgency. “We must hurry.”
Shreya unheard his words as she looked at the room attendant
carrying away the little girl.
“Ma’am.”
She turned back. “Let’s go
But Tushar was smiling, his eyes enjoying something behind
her.
“What?” she asked puzzled.
“Your little fairy was rescued from loneliness. See.”
Shreya glanced back and found a woman dressed in white, her back
to them, taking the little girl with her. Something glimmered at the woman’s
right hand. A silver bracelet. A smile curved Shreya’s lips as the little girl
embraced the woman, giggling. Atleast,
someone is happy today.
Tushar ushered her to a door when his phone rang. He picked it up and Shreya heard rasp voices
from the phone.
“Okay, I’ll be there in
moments. Keep searching.” With that, he ended his call. “The search team had
retrieved something terrific from the crime room. I must see it, Ma’am. The
manager is waiting inside this room.” Then he paused for a moment. “He is
little rude.”
“Don’t worry, Tushar,” Shreya assured. “I have taken care of
many scoundrels. He is just a manager. He won’t be a big thing to deal.”
“Well, he is a big thing, literally.”
Before Shreya could ask what he meant, with a coy smile he left
her and dashed towards the dead man’s room.
With a heavy sigh, Shreya gawked at the door before opening it.
The room was small with a table and two chairs. The presence of the manager made it more confined. He was attired in black suit, the brim
of his pocket carrying his name tag.
“So Mr. Kashyap Darji, I heard you are denying to co-operate
with us, even though we disguised ourselves on your request,” Shreya said
sternly.
“I want to talk to the one who is leading this investigation,”
demanded the agitated manager, crossing his bulky yet muscular arms.
“And you are talking to one. I am assigned to this case,” she
answered, sitting in the chair.
“What?!” Mr. Kashyap seemed baffled. “A woman? Crime scenes are
no place to work for a lady. Go and call someone to whom I can consider
commendable.”
The comment pinched like a knife in her heart. She wanted to
yell and kick this man. Suppressing the bubbling anger within, she spoke with
gentleness. “Where a man can work, a woman can surely excel, sir. Now tell me
why aren’t you revealing the dead man’s name?”
“I am not going to tell you!”
“Please, cooperate, sir.”
“I told you I’ll not speak.”
“As you wish.” She stood and made for the door, unbolted it and
pulled a little. Turning her neck, she glanced at the manager. “You left me no
option. I’ll go in the main hall and tell your customers that there is a murder
in this hotel. I’ll show them my ID and my gun to support my claim. By the way,
Mr. Kashyap, thanks for providing these hotel clothes to my team. I’ll make
sure everyone return it back after a wash. Have a great day, ahead.”
“No wait!”
Shreya smiled to herself before spinning to the manager,
shutting the door gently. “So will you speak now?”
“You are a wicked woman!”
“I am going to the hall now.”
“Stop! You’ll ruin our reputation! Okay, I’ll speak.”
Shreya could see fear over the manager’s face. It amused her how
a threat to reveal a secret could compel someone to do anything. “I am waiting
for your answers, Mr. Kashyap.”
Helpless by the circumstances and tricked by the woman’s
intellect, Mr Kashyap slumped his shoulders. “Vishwaraj is one of the reputed
five starred hotel of the country. Apart from providing luxury to the revered
people we offer them something which our competitors fears to give. We provide
them complete privacy.”
“You mean to say there are no CCTVs,” Shreya ventured.
“Definitely there are cameras! But not in one section where we
propose the complete secrecy. You know famous people have their own dirty
secrets.”
“And he had allotted a room in that private section.”
Mr. Kashyap nodded. “Please, clear this mess before it affects
the reputation of my hotel. I’ve sacrificed many things for it.”
Shreya could now comprehend why high authorities of her
department solely told her to investigate this case as undercover. They must be the regular customer of
Vishwaraj. And also she understood why anyone didn’t discover the death. From
the seriousness and gravity of the manager’s words, she could wager no one
would dare to disturb anyone until they were called. Then how could they find
it after a week? Stench. The bloody
stench must have attracted their attention.
“Mr, Kashyap. I want feeds of all cameras that are installed near that ‘private’ area . Understood?”
The big man nodded.
A knock came from the door. Shreya opened it and found Tushar,
his face shrouded with fear. “You are not going to believe, Ma’am. The dead man
turned out to be a terrorist.”
“Nonsense!” Mr. Kashyap snapped. “His name is Dishant Shah, a
renowned businessman from Gujarat.”
Tushar produced several voter IDs from the bag he carried and
tossed over the table, one by one. “Venugopal Iyer, Gurpreet Singh,
Bankimchandra Lehri and many more. Names and details are different, but each
card carry the same face. The dead man’s face.”
“But that doesn’t define him a terrorist, Tushar?” Shreya rose
her doubt.
“Yes, Ma’am. But this will surely clear all your doubts.” He
emptied the bag over the table and dozens of cell phones, sim-cards, a plastic
container filled with circuits and a diary clanked on the metal surface. He
then lifted the dairy and offer it to Shreya.
She could not believe her eyes as she skimmed through its pages.
Each of its page filled with information and photographs. Few she knew while
most of them were unknown. “I don’t understand it. Who are these people?”
“Ask manager? May be he can help us?” Tushar suggested.
As the manager was busy studying the mysterious dairy, Tushar opened
the plastic container and showed circuits and wires to her. “Do you know what
it’s used for?
The realisation almost buckled her legs. Shreya grabbed the
chair to settle herself. It can’t be. It
can’t be!
“Ma’am, these are requirements to prepare…”
“A detonator, I know,” she said, her mouth felt sudden dry. “How
much time we have?”
“Less than an hour.”
“What?!” The manager and Shreya shouted in unison.
“Are you out of your mind? How can you be so sure?”
Tushar gave Mr. Kashyap a deadly stare. “Look at its last page.”
The manager did what he was told. As he flipped to the last
page, Shreya noticed the colour fading from his face. “What’s written?”
Mr. Kashyap faced the dairy to her so she could see it.
Her brows narrowed and she could make out two lines scribbled in
blue.
3rd August 2014 :: 7 pm
All will burn in flames.
Reluctantly, she twisted her arm to check the time. Her
twenty-eighth birthday gift from her parents, the silver watch, threatened her.
All she and her team had less than an hour to find and diffuse the bomb. Along
with her, now, more than six hundred fates interlaced on their success.
“Mr. Kashyap, go to the security room and allow our men to study
the camera feeds.”
Without commenting, the bulky manager departed in haste,
whispering prayers.
“Tushar, call the Bomb Squad.”
“Already called. They are on the way, Ma’am.”
Shreya could have stand there and praised her subordinate, but
could not. The clock was ticking. And she did not want to make Hotel Vishwaraj,
the last workplace of her service and life. “Chaos will break out if public
know about the bomb. We must act silently.”
“And what you propose us to do?”
“Scatter in duos. Search the most crowded place of the hotel.
Tell Ashish and his forensic team also to find the bomb. Hurry!”
Tushar started punching the number-pad of his mobile and
conveying the commands. While Shreya found herself in conundrum. Leave this dream of becoming an officer, she
could hear her mother’s voice in her head, there
is no shame to be a housewife. Or if you desire to work, then opt a job. Why to
risk your life?
Something vibrated in her palms, dragging her out from the
nostalgia. “Yes. What? Send me the screen’s photo. Now!”
“What happened, Ma’am?”
“The last person that went in the dead man’s room was a
woman. But when she came out she was
with – ”
Her phone beeped. Her eyes widened, stunning her mind
momentarily. The image showed a woman carrying someone with her. The little
girl.
“It’s she, Tushar. The girl who was seeking for her father. If
we can find her, we may have a chance to find the bomb.” She had no idea how
would this innocent life will connect with the bomb, but at least now they had
some directions to follow. “Tell few men to search for her. The women, her
mother, whoever she is, I ‘ve gut feeling that she is too a part of this
macabre plan.”
Shreya stormed out of the room, followed by Tushar who was busy
in his phone, receiving the updates from everyone. Worriedly, she checked her
watch again. Half hour remained before the blast.
“We must scatter, Tushar. That way we can cover more area. And
what’s the status of the Bomb Squad?”
“They’ve arrived, Ma’am.”
“Good.”
“Ma’am.”
“Yes?”
“It’s an honour to work with you.”
“Don’t be so hopeless. Tonight I am throwing a party at my
place. And I want you and your girlfriend to be there. Tonight we’ll
celebrate.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Now go!”
Shreya hastily took the left passage, her eyes scanning every
nook and corner of the corridors. No matter how calm and strong she sounded to
Tushar, but from inside she was terrified. Tonight
we’ll celebrate. She was not even sure whether she would enjoy her Maa’s
coffee staring at the curtain of stars ever. Or she would ever accompany her
father at evening’s stroll.
Someone thudded with her, almost sending her tripping over the
floor. Somehow, she managed to restrain herself from falling.
“Sorry, I was actually texting back to my girlfriend,” the young
boy said.
“It’s okay. Nothing to worry.”
The boy buried his head in the little screen of his phone and
continued to walk.
“Hey, boy!”
“Yeah!” His eyes refused to leave the glowing screen.
“Have you seen a women?”
“I am seeing one right now.”
“I mean, tall like me, dressed in white and had a silver
bracelet in her –”
“Right hand!” The boy completed her phrase, cheerfully.
Shreya nodded, the hope glimmering faint in her heart. “Yes,
where is she?”
“I saw her in the terrace. That bracelet, I tell you, must be
costly. May be worth a lakh. ”
“Okay thanks.” With that she ran for the elevator. She could
hear the boy shouting behind her. “By the way, name is Harshil!”
She frantically pressed ‘10’ number of the pad and the lift
began ascending. With each floor crawling up, she could feel gravity affecting
on her heart. It weighed more and more. She took out her phone and dialled Tushar’s
number, but the elevator pinged tenth time, opening the doors. Instantly, she
sprinted for the nearby staircase that led her to the terrace.
15 minutes to go!
Summer wind blasted over
her face as she opened the door. Un-holstering the gun from her coat, she
surveyed the roof.
At the far end of the terrace, she found a woman staring at the
setting sun, her back to Shreya. The bracelet shimmered yellow in fleeting
light of the dusk.
“Hold your hands up!” Shreya warned, inching near to the woman.
The woman spun around and Shreya trained the gun tighter. No
emotion betrayed over the woman’s face. “Does it matter now, Officer Shreya
Naik?”
Shreya’s jaw fell. “How do you know my name?”
“I know everyone’s name. That’s our job. To know people, their
weakness and then strike at them. But, do you know mine?”
“I don’t have time for introductions. Tell me where you planted
the damn bomb? Tell!”
“Whoa! You seemed to be in a hurry, officer. People of this
hotel know me as Isha.”
“Fake name,” grunted Shreya. “Where is the bomb?”
Isha checked her watch and smiled. “You cannot do anything now.
It’s too late. The bomb is moving between the crowds. A little life is carrying
the burden of many deaths.”
Shreya wanted to trigger the gun and bore a hole in her skull.
“Why did you kill him?”
“His attention side-tracked from our mission. That fool started
believing in words like love and justice. The little girl we kidnapped called
him Papa, and his fatherhood overwhelmed him. He started annoying me, saying we
are taking innocent lives. He became a problem and so I silenced him forever.”
1 minute to detonate!
“Give me the detonator!” Shreya yelled.
Isha took out a small rectangular device with a red button on
it. “And why should I do so? Time’s up!” She pressed the button.
Shreya shut his eyes tightly, anticipating the death.
Nothing happened.
Shreya raised her eyelids and found Isha struggling with the
detonator, pressing the button harder and harder.
“What did you do? I’ll not leave you alive!”
Before Isha could pull over her weapon, a bullet already escaped
from Shreya’s gun. Cutting the air, the bullet pierced the terrorist’s
shoulder. Isha hollered in agony, cursing Shreya for her hindrance.
Shreya took out her mobile. Tushar was in constant contact with
her, hearing every piece of their conversation. “Hello? Is she alright?”
“Yes, Ma’am. The girl is safe. And the bomb is diffused. They
had hidden it in that teddy bear!”
“Thank God. Send some men to the terrace. We have a guest to
treat,” said Shreya, sighing the reilief.
“Sure. Anything else Ma’am?”
“Yeah. Don’t be late for the party.”
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