Thriller: The Ultimate Choice

It's good to see your curiosity, Mistt. The next episode is coming within a couple of hours.

 

Thanks Aunty for your comment!

 

Episode 49​

Though the picture quality was very poor, Roy had no problem in understanding what was happening there. He could see that Rajan came out of his room. He was being escorted to a place by a masked man. Initially, Roy was very reluctant to share the details of their investigation method with the cops, but now this being a joint operation with them, he had no other option. Therefore, he briefly narrated the scene to Srinivas.

They had left the main town 10 minute back. The landscape was completely rural now. There were agricultural fields on both sides of the 12 feet wide pitch road. The lush greenery, the smell of coriander, the beautiful, yellow, eye-soothing mustard flowers made Srinivas, who hailed from rural area, a bit nostalgic for a moment. Had it been a time of leisure, he would have definitely brooded with dreary eyes sitting right there in the coriander field.

However, his momentary trance was rudely broken by the crashing sound of a sudden brake. Furiously, he looked at the police driver. The driver shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards the front. Indeed, the pilot car of the local police also made a sudden brake which left him with no other option.

Srinivas, Khan and Roy quickly got down from the car to enquire about the reason for this sudden stoppage at this crucial juncture. There was hardly 10 minute left before 4 PM. They could not afford any stoppage now.

When they got down, they were amazed to see that a big, white, bull with sharp, fearsome curved horns and with a huge hump was sitting majestically on the road. It was ruminating without paying any hiddance to the repeated loud sound of honking. Mukherjee, the local OC, and four other constables from the local police were trying hard to remove him from the road without getting any results.

Srinivas was helplessly looking at his watch, while Roy threw some water from his waterbottle on the body of the bull. This action had caught his attention, as he stopped ruminating and angrily looked at Roy, but didn't move an inch.

Boom! Everyone one was startled by the sound of a gun shot, and the dangerous looking bull quickly fled from the place.

"There was no other option guys! Let's move! There is only 5 minutes to 4." The team leader of the Andhra STF, Khan placed his revolver back to the holster after firing a bullet in air to scare the bull.

"How much time will it take to reach there from here? Have they started the final competition?" Srinivas asked eagerly.

There was a clear sign of discontentment in Roy's face. Srinivas could clearly see that his whitish face had turned red. There were few beep sounds of incoming messages on his phone.

"We have almost reached the place. Look at the turn around 500 meters from here. The compound lies after the turn." Roy replied trying to maintain his composure, but the discomfort in his voice was noticeable.

"Is there a problem? What's the update there?" Srinivas asked anxiously.

"Well! Yes! No!" Roy again fumbled.

"What yes, no? Is there a problem? Cough it up man?" Khan seemed to be in a no-nonsense mood.

"Well, our guy has lost connection and it appears that they have removed him from their membership a few minutes back. So, no live updates from now onwards from that source! But, not much to worry about that because I got the GPS coordinates of the field where the three competitors were present before the loss of connection."

Roy announced as the cars stopped before the front gate of the large compound.

Khan was extremely disappointed, as they were completely depending on the live feed from Roy's colleague. Had he apprehended this, he would have arranged drones. But there was no time to quibble over this at the moment, as it was 4 PM.

The two AK 47 wielding, wearing-a-steel-coloured-uniform Gurkha guards didn't seem to be too perturbed by the arrival of 20 policemen and 5 other guys. Khan showed them the warrant, and asked,

"Do you have licence for these guns?"

The Gurkha guards paid no attention to Khan's querries, and one of them rang someone from his mobile phone. Being an SP of a district, Khan was accustomed to getting respects from these kinds of petty guards. But these two guards neither saluted him, nor answered his question. However, Mukherjee came to their rescue by answering,

"Yes Sir! They have valid licenses."

That answer didn't placate Khan's mood. Inspite of seeing the warrant from the magistrate, the guards were not letting anybody to enter the premises. Khan pushed one of the guards angrily.

As his surname suggested, he was indeed a true descendant of Pathans; six-feet tall, strongly built, not too muscular though, erect body, crew cut hair and a well-shaved thin moustache, but the most prominent point that everyone noticed was his fearsome eyes. All his subordinates and even his colleagues and seniors feared his penetrating looks. He was a man with no-nonsense attitude. His record of closing cases had been exceptional.

The Gurkha guard probably didn't expect this as he fell on the ground. But immediately, the other guard unlocked the safety catch of his gun and pointed it towards Khan. The STF jawans were battle-hardened, who had been fighting battles with insurgents for long time, and they too pointed their guns towards the two guards. The clanking sound of opening of safety catches of guns made the situation extremely volatile. The other Gurkha guard also took no time to be in position pointing his gun towards Khan. Khan and Srinivas, too, pointed their revolvers towards the guards. Mukherjee didn't know what to do. He looked here and there helplessly.

Before the situation went out of hand, a Jaguar made a sudden appearance out of nowhere. An old man accompanied by none other than Ranjan got down from the car. Ranjan raised his hands, and the Gurkha guards immediately took their arms down, and saluted the guests.

"Hello Mr Mukherjee! What's the matter? Why so many police personnel?" Ranjan asked innocently.

"Who are you?" Khan asked Ranjan.

"Oh me? I am Prasun Das, the personal secretary of Mr Lakhotia. He is the owner of this property." Ranjan pointed his finger towrads a frail, old man, whose face was covered with beards; he was wearing black sunglasses, and a hat. Mr Lakhotia was wearing coat, pant and shoes, his hands were covered with gloves.

Roy took a picture out of his pocket and was trying to match it with Mr Lakhotia. Srinivas showed the warrant to Mr Lakhotia, who immediately passed it to Ranjan.

"What an extraordinary imagination! You think we have abducted people here and you need to search the property? Holy crap!" Ranjan shouted.

"Let us in! We have proofs that you are running an illegal reality show here." Srinivas said.

"Of course, please come in! But be prepared to face libel in the court for trying to falsely implicate us. We will see you in the court on Monday." Ranjan warned.

There was definitely a show of confidence in his voice, which confused the cops.

"Come with me. I have the accurate GPS coordinates where the illegal activity is going on." Roy led the team with him.

When they came to the football ground running behind Roy, they were taken for a surprise, as the place was empty barring a few cows who were happily eating lush green grasses.

"Ha ha! Are you sure you are searching a man or are you searching cows? In the latter case, I must tell you that these cows are legally owned by Mr Lakhotia." Ranjan's smiled sarcastically.

That was a huge loss of face for Roy and others. Only Mukherjee's face seemed to be glowing. He heaved a sigh of relief.

To be continued on tomorrow night

 

Yes Mistt, very disappointing! But, the cops are not going to let the matter go out of their hand so easily.

 

Thanks RS for your comment! Please wait for a couple of hours to get the answers.

 

Episode 50​

"We will search the entire premises. They must have changed the plan and hid the captives somewhere else." Roy was in a no mood to give up.

"Oh really? What captives? What hiding? Do you think we are playing hide-and-seek with you? Stop wasting your time and most importantly our time. Your time may be cheap, but our time is precious."

Ranjan again mocked the cops.

Ignoring the taunt, the cops searched the entire premises meticulously for more than an hour. Ranjan let the cars of the cops in. At 6 PM, the outside became dark. But, Ranjan switched on the lights. The surroundings dazed with bright LED lights. But the cops found nothing.

"How long are you going to bore us? I know you worthless guys have a habit of wasting taxpayer's money. I know you guys are good for nothing and you feed on innocent people's blood by taking bribes. But, now give up and f*** off from here. We will see you in court."

This time Ranjan's insulting words got under Srinivas's skin. Khan, who too was an honest police officer, got extremely agitated. Srinivas said,

"Don't forget, we haven't searched your ten-storeyed building yet. We will surely find Rajan and his wife there. By the way, do you have the NOC from the municipality for this mansion?"

"What a stupid police officer you are! You have come here without doing your homework! I wonder who recruits this kind of a**holes as IPS officers!"

This disgusting comment made both Srinivas and Khan point their guns towards Ranjan. The driver of the Jaguar, who was accompanying the team, was taking the video of the incidents in a sophisticated camera. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Are you trying to scare me, eh? That's what you are worthy of! Scaring people to the shi* and extracting money from them! Okay, tell me what amount of money do you want to leave this peaceful place?"

Ranjan made a signal to the driver, and he immediately switched off the camera.

This made both Srinivas and Khan angrier, but Roy's timely intervention saved the situation. Roy said,

"Relax guys! He is trying to rub you the wrong way! Just ignore him, and let's search the building. I am damn sure we will get them there.

In the meantime, Ranjan showed the NOC of the blue print of the ten-storeyed building.

"We need to check the two-storeyed basement first. I have a feeling that the captives might be held there." Roy, who had acquired an extensive knowledge about the things happening here, opined.

"Who is this guy in civilian dress? What is he doing with you?" Ranjan asked in a manner as if he didn't know anything about Roy.

"He is assisting us in this mission. He is our man." Srinivas tried to evade the question.

"Okay, show me your identity card." Ranjan demanded. In the meantime, the driver cum cameraman started shooting happily.

"That's none of your business man! You cannot interfere in the work of the police." Khan declared that in a stern voice.

Looking at the camera Ranjan said,

"So, you guys have brought unauthorised persons here. We will submit this in court. You think that I don't know this shadow? Since when the police have become lackeys of dicks?"

Both Srinivas and Khan became embarrassed and enraged at the same time. But, they didn't react. Instead, they followed Roy to the basement.

Srinivas was amazed to see that this kind of basement existed in India. The first floor of the basement was large and it was meant for parking and storing. The Joker had many kinds of vehicles, but today the basement was empty.

"Seen it? Now can we go upstairs?" Ranjan asked.

Roy said,

"Bring the keys of the second floor of the basement. I am sure there lies the mystery."

The other 4 team members of the Ravenous Eagles, who had been segregated to different searching teams, had been continuously inspecting things with sophisticated instruments that Srinivas had never seen before. Roy had told him earlier that these devices can detect the presence of human beings even if they are kept behind thick walls. But, Srinivas didn't believe much about Roy's claims! He had never heard or read about this kind of devices anywhere. Roy's colleagues were continuously targeting the walls and the floors. Srinivas, however, was missing his sniffer dog Jimmy.

"You have to see that, too? Do you have a plan to commit suicide en masse there?"

"Stop your BS, and give me the keys." Roy didn't pay any importance to Ranjan's taunts.

When they climbed down there, they were taken for another surprise. This place had been made as a shelter for at least 200 people. But, there was not single one present there.

"What? Why do you look like babes in the wood? Haven't you seen bunker in the movies? Mr Lakhotia has built this for future. In case of a war, this place can become a very safe home for many people. Even a Tomahawk cannot penetrate here." Ranjan made things easier for the confounded cops.

When they climbed up on the open ground floor, the other 5 teams, who had gone to search the upper 10 storeys, got down there completely empty-handed.

"Have you checked all the floors meticulously?" Khan enquired.

"Yes, Sir!" That was the unanimous answer from all.

"Have you checked the 5th floor hospital thoroughly?" Roy eagerly asked.

"What hospital you bonehead? Looks like you have got high! What did you smoke? Marijuana?"

Roy had a very cool head. Even though, his ears had become red, he didn't react to the taunt. He waited for the answer from his team members.

Sudhindra, one his colleagues, said,

"No Roy. We didn't see any such hospital in the 5th floor or for that matter in any floor. And, yes, we have thoroughly checked with our sophisticated sensors for the presence of human beings. But, barring the family members and 5 attendants, there are none in this entire house."

It was already 8 PM. The team members were very tired by then. Mukherjee asked Khan,

"Sir, can we now call off the operation?"

But, Khan was not a person who would accept defeat so easily. Srinivas, too, was in no mood to give up. Khan said,

"You guys take rest. We shall check the upper floors."

"Enough of this fuss! You two-paise police officer might have plenty of time to waste. But, our time is very precious. So, stop $$$$ing around, otherwise I will have to kick your ass."

Ranjan was in no mood to entertain the cops any further.

This time Ranjan's taunts got under the skin of Khan. Nobody dared to talk to him in this insulting manner in his entire career. He had subdued a hell lot of gangsters. So, who was this guy compared to them? Khan tried to forcefully slap Ranjan only to find that his hands could not make any contacts with him. Ranjan swayed his face well in time.

"Boiling in rage, ha, you son of a bitch? We will show this to the court."

"But before that I will arrest you on the charges of obstructing police officers on performing their duties. I will cut your dirty tongue in the police station and feed it to the dogs." Though he didn't try to hit Ranjan again, he was simmering in rage.

"Time will tell whether you can arrest me or not, but before that make sure that you yourself are not arrested." Ranjan was defiant.

"You are very ignorant! You don't know the power of police. Who will arrest the SP of a district?" Khan grimaced in disgust.

"You are an SP, but that doesn't give you the licence to hurt religious sentiments." Ranjan shrugged his shoulders.

To be continued on tomorrow night