C.R.E.W.
Chapter-6
Come-Back
December 2014
Vikram was brutally executed far beyond our anticipations. Our hearts were not in a state of thinking for revenge now. Well, revenge of what? Nothing! It was after all a suicide. Not really though, but that is how the world will deem this situation to be! We’ve never been successful to free us of accusations and now this! Vikram was struck with that broken electric bulb in his head and consequently, he fainted. Then he was hanged leaving no footprints behind. We had no intentions even to start investigating this case. It was decided to accept this as the end for Vikram. Whereas, our doubt on Manoj skyrocketed. Not much ago, we had a usual talk with him about the current situation and the things that he was able to deduce in his private team’s investigation of the plane crash. The same day Vikram dies; a couple of hours after this, Vikram dies! Is this another fluke like Farhan’s Arabic dress? Maybe! Who knows!
Whatever the truth was, it is firm and rigid. We can’t bring Vikram back and there’s no point in lamenting for his dead body. Though our souls were intuiting not to move forward yet our minds were resisting this feeling and telling us to move on.
Some hours later, Vikram’s body was kept in an icebox and with the dawn of the rising sun that not only was welcoming us to start all this again, but it was also welcoming a new soul to be enlightened with the real truth of this world (i.e. death) that Vikram had attained. With the crack of dawn, Vikram was electrically burnt as he always wanted that. He reckoned that it results in less pollution. Ironically, this was surely not his predictable nature, but believe me, he was a damn good environmentalist. In the electric pyre, woods are not collected and there are no gas emissions either! Maybe he was right… Still, it feels so eccentric to regard a person with ‘was’, who not a long time ago, was regarded with ‘is’. I smile at these childish deductions of mine for no other reason but just to give my mind a bit of happiness to rely on.
All the rituals were done by afternoon and we left for home where we didn’t find a boy roaming around with his new phone lost in the word of technology and superhero fiction. Revisiting those memories could do nothing but provide us with more pain.
Staying at home would have done the same thing. So we decided to head towards C.R.E.W.’s office. I was a bit frightened that Aniruddh would sign up a resignation letter; keeping in mind that he said that he didn’t want to stand up again to retaliate. Decisions taken in anger are nothing but just a piece of burden for your future that you will look upon later to feel guilty about them.
It was afternoon and this time the traffic slacks. Didn’t take us much time to reach the office. It seemed to be more busy than usual. Unlike every day, no one noticed Aniruddh’s arrival. Everyone was indulged in their works with full concentration and pursuit. Aniruddh coughed a little in the deep sound of silence to gain attention. Everyone probably knew about Vikram’s demise and no one expected Aniruddh to show up today. They were a bit astonished. Everyone greeted him and then again started their work.
My heart was beating my chest harder and harder as Aniruddh moved towards his cabin. And that suspicion of mine became a truth. Aniruddh sat on his chair, opened his laptop and started writing. That was his suspension letter. Aniruddh had lost this battle against his fate. I was trying to stop him but my hands won’t move nor would my mouth speak anything. Deep down, my negativity wanted him to do so. I wanted some rest, too.
As soon as Aniruddh finished the letter, he sent it for printing and took out the new warm hardcopy of the same. With his very innocent face, he gushed, “Take a look at this!”
“Tsk! Plan Failed”, I murmured.
Aniruddh heard it and responded, “What plan?”
“Ugh! Nothing… But tell me why are you resigning?”, to be honest, for two minutes, I, too, was thinking what plan did I say about… I am becoming weird day by day. A few days ago when we went to buy Vikram a new phone, I was randomly pushed into a world of negative thoughts! I have never asked the reason for my existence nor will I ever, then, why am I thinking about this? Who knows? A human mind can never understand itself.
In the meantime, Aniruddh replied, “Whose resignation? Vikram’s death has gotten into your head…”
“So you’re not resigning, huh?”
“No! Of course, not.”
I probably imagined a lot. It was all my thinking that Aniruddh was resigning. No, he wasn’t. A stream of happiness ran in my body and I gasped, “Then what is that paper about?”
“That is a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office for an appointment with Adarsh. I’ve mailed them.”
“You wanna talk to Adarsh? He’ll probably be too busy considering the given situations.”
“He will meet us! I am damn sure”
“Any intelligent reasons?”
“This time just intuition!”
“What are we gonna do there?”, I asked in excitement.
“We’ll have an adventure…”
“What?”, I boomed and Aniruddh went out of the cabin in his style. He mostly had found his new mission. Abruptly, he came in sarcastically and clinging to the door, he said, “Don’t forget to bring the new phone we bought for Vikram”
Present Day
“So he had a plan which was unknown to me. Nothing more could have satisfied me except for the fact that Aniruddh had successfully moved on without going through any traumas!”, I was narrating.
“You know that!’, Amaira interrupted, “At night, he used to murmur Vikram’s name all those years ago.”
“Of course, he felt sad. There were too many lives Aniruddh can rely on but in the end, mostly all of them left him in the loneliest of times”, I had some tears in my eyes.
Amaira took a deep sigh and said with the most realising voice, “Memories can never make you laugh! In the end, you always cry at them…”
I, for some reason, had no reply. I nodded to make sure that I didn’t ignore her but we knew that we, both, were the victims of the same pain.
We, now, had a break for an hour or at most two. I slept to assure my speedy recovery. Then, following everyone’s acceptance, I (in a giddy relief), planned to pop the discussion again. All of this was bringing nostalgic emotions to our minds though we were beginning to feel the radiance of the silent pain hidden in the corollaries of Vindicta.
With the cliche start, I began the narration again.
December 2014
My eyes lingered on Aniruddh especially noticing his way of a new-found confidence that had probably filled his veins with a new pugnacious fluid that will keep fuelling him until the end. In a state of bewilderment, I continued to follow Aniruddh, who by now had huddled all the employees together. He screamed, “Supriya Sharma! Who’s she?”
Among the crowd, I could hear the tapping of some valiant footsteps which were accompanied by the arrival of a lady who was charging towards the front in the crowd. The lady, in my view, had hardly lived a quarter of a century and clinging to her characteristics, she seemed to be modest and decent by judging from her first look. With a traditional south-Indian colour, her pendants and necklaces seemed to have a bit of Sri-Lankan touch with her nose similar to that of Aniruddh’s.
She replied to Aniruddh, at the top of her patriotic voice, “Aye, Sir!”
“You are the one who topped the examination?”
“Yes, sir”
“Your marks are one among the highest marks ever achieved in this examination. You are aware of that, aren’t you?”
“I am, sir!”, Supriya’s voice faded.
“Prove it to me, then!”
“What do you want me to do, sir?”
“Research”, Aniruddh said with a relaxing voice, “On Manoj Singh Tiwari. I want every single ounce of detail that will be useful to us!”
“You suspect him for the betrayal despite the appreciable deeds that he has done for this department.”, Supriya expressed herself.
Aniruddh sighed, “Situations, young girl, situations…”
Aniruddh didn’t wait for an answer because he was not willing to explain everything that had happened with Vikram. He was finding his way out of the crowd while Supriya had called out his name and snapped, “How do we know, it’s not you? The betrayer?”
Aniruddh halted the same instant. Turned back and calmly replied, “I appreciate your bravery. I know everyone in this office fears that the real impostor after Farhan is me. That’s obvious because of the situation that is handed to us. You came forward to ask… Though your question was insane yet your behaviour was eccentric.”
“That didn’t answer my question, sir”, Supriya snubbed while emphasizing the word ‘sir’.
“Tell me one thing. Where does your heart seek comfort?”
“What am I supposed to answer to relate it with the given question?”, Supriya was boldly expressing herself out though she knew that this was a transgression.
“Tell me the innate feeling!”
“I would probably answer- fulfilling my own expectations would comfort my heart.”
“I am the same as you. As of now, I can do nothing to prove myself innocent. But whatever I am doing will be fulfilling my expectations till the end.”, Aniruddh sighed with pain, “I hope to answer your question at least before hunting that Zayhan guy.”
This was not an answer that would satisfy me at all. This instance confirmed to me that Aniruddh has not recovered from Vikram’s death. My assumption had been sliced apart. I don’t know why I could notice Supriya’s eyes that were filled with loyalty. After such a question, was she regretting her transgression or did she understand what was going on?
That is a question that will remain a paradox.
Out of nowhere, I could see a man running towards Aniruddh and he said, "Sir, Mathew has sent more information on that Zayhan guy!"
"What?", Aniruddh shrieked.
"In short, he says that the terrorist group that he is spying on is an element of the one which we are hunting!"
"I get it! So, all of our assumptions weren't a fluke. That day when Ajay died, the ignorance of many weapons that could have been used by the terrorists was pre-planned. We got truly lucky that the group that we tried to spy on has a connection with GTO. It was, as I thought, a way to attract me."
"But why would someone do that?", the man was confused.
I interrupted in between, "Two reasons! They wanted to make themselves noticeable in front of the world. What could have been more auspicious than to raise the Indian-Pakistan issue? The second is just an assumption. They would want someone like Aniruddh capable of destroying one of their elements."
"Huh?"
"Yes, it is prevalent that maybe their elements have one goal but different methods to achieve that."
"Didn't clear me out, Abhinav", Aniruddh glared at me.
"Mm… Lemme give an example", I murmured for a bit and then continued again, "Take it in the essence of political parties. The parties seek to achieve one common goal that is the development of the country. But what policies they believe in make them different from each other and that's what they fight for… Now, relate this. Maybe one faction of that whole group radically opposes the other faction. Then this may be a possibility!"
"Possibility?", Aniruddh sneered, "It may be the truth! I mean it's so convincing. I didn't expect that deduction from your part!"
"I wish you had expected.", I chuckled.
"Apparently not", Aniruddh was being sarcastic.
The man started again, "Sir, one more thing. The code words also stated that some amount of gold is being carried to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for some reason. That too without any security!"
"That deems to be important. I Will look at it later with a free mind. I've got some work to do right now."
That man left while Aniruddh's phone had left a notification sound. For the first time probably, I had heard that. He smiled at me and boomed, "Adarsh expected the proposal. He seeks to meet us as soon as possible. Take your ID cards. We are heading to the PMO!"
I had my ID card packed in my pocket. I still didn't know what was going on in Aniruddh's mind. Meeting Adarsh, in my view, was like meeting a bull after trying to tease him. I sighed and believed in him.
Meanwhile, when we were leaving, he roared at the people working, "Betray the dust, betray the dark! Fasten your seatbelts because probably with my return from the PMO, I will have a new mission assigned to my shoulders. The mission to remove the stigma bedecked to our chests. This time the difference is that I won't let my soldiers die because of my incapabilities to fulfil the insurmountable desire to finish that damn terrorist group. I will be my own representative now. All of this because I want to fight till the end; because I want to cling to the back of the rising dawn; because I don't want to die before finding the truth. So should you all!!", Aniruddh's voice, by now, had deepened with pain. He continued lowering his volume, "Just do one thing! Have trust in me. I don't want to lose what I've earned."
None of the employees had expected such sudden speech. For me, it wasn't a speech thingy. It was Aniruddh's rage that was flowing through his veins and vocal cords. I could notice small patches of tears surrounding his eye. I could deeply understand and feel them.
After leaving for the PMO, we rarely spoke anything. I was terrified because I didn't know what was going to take place. It took us a lot of time. Maybe a couple of hours.
Seeing the beautiful office of the Prime Minister and the Indian Flag waving to represent its uniqueness brings some courage in me.
As expected, the Prime Minister's Office was gorgeous with a glamorous atmosphere. We didn't waste much time in observing and appreciating the beauty of that area.
Adarsh Sethi was busy in some meetings when we arrived. As soon as they finished, he called us in to meet us. Eccentrically, he seemed to have no anger on us. Instead, he greeted us happily. We saluted him and then continued to take our seats.
“Hey, Aniruddh!”, Adarsh said with a very formal voice.
“Hi”, Aniruddh had the same tone.
“What was so important that you wanted to meet me? I could have called”
“See, whatever happened in Sukkur is all because of us. We should not have overlooked the betrayal.”
“I already know that! Come directly to the point.”
Aniruddh for a part of a second closed his eyes, thought for a while and then again continued, “I wanna help you. You didn’t sack us rather knowing that you had the power to!"
"What's your purpose to butter me?", Adarsh caught Aniruddh's tone.
"Oh, I think I made myself susceptible with such speech that was unexpected of me, right?"
"I don't wanna repeat it again. Come to the point"
"See, I have more plans"
"I know that!"
"How?"
"I have caught a hold of your emotions and your dedication to eradicate GTO"
"Well, I have some demands"
"Wait for a second, you just now said you are here to help me out. You shameless brat; you believe that I will hand more responsibilities in your hand after that incident?"
"Yeah, I do!"
"And mister, will you explain why?"
"Because of your older antagonists"
"Don't tell me now that Hindustan Sanrakshan Party has a hand in some way of your comeback!"
"Yeah, I mean it… The former Prime Minister, Krishna Chandra Rai and his ally Dhananjay Reddy had forced Farhan into his conditions. They wanted to defame you to clear out a vote bank for Delhi Vidhan Sabha Elections!"
"And?"
"And… The proof is Farhan's son, Ahmad, and Vikram's chats. A day before Vikram's so-called suicide, Farhan admitted that he had told Vikram the truth about Farhan being forced into such harsh conditions. Vikram never deemed these to be serious…", Aniruddh paced the story up.
"How do you think the world will believe those chats?"
"The next day my son dies! Moreover, if investigated, it could be easily proven that Vikram was electrically executed."
"Electrically?"
"Long story short- After our findings, there were pieces of bulb fragments and electric wires accompanied with some hotchpotch in the room! Will be enough to connect the dots"
Leaving aside the fake patriotic feature of Adarsh, his face had now a cunning smile that was waiting to defame the opposition party. I doubt if he seriously cares about this mission or if he ever did. We were bribing a Prime Minister! Sounds so awkward but that's what Aniruddh was handling so well with his use of words that were slowly developing pieces of greediness deep inside Adarsh.
After thinking for a while and confirming that the chats were real, he came up with a negotiation, "What is it that you exactly need?"
"Because of C.R.E.W.'s initial faults, we, agents, are so much vulnerable to political pressure. I just want you to keep KCR and DR out of my way. Don't let them interrupt! Do anything to do that"
"Will be easily done by defaming them… And?"
"And provide C.R.E.W. military assistance whenever they ask it for! Because I will be handling this mission alone this time, you will have to have trust in my team."
"What if the betrayer handles everything and didn't let me know when I have to provide assistance?"
"No chance! Because I will be taking the damn betrayer with me on the mission!"
Yes, my heart truly missed a beat and Adarsh felt a quaking in his boots for a while!
This is what is called a masterpiece
ReplyDeleteComeback is really amazing. Eagerly waiting for next chapter
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton 😀!
DeleteWhat a comeback!! This was a really good read
ReplyDeleteThanks!😁
Delete