Randhir was standing in the meeting room when Parth came in followed by Sahil and Vidhushi.
"You called us" Parth spoke up gaining Randhir's attention, who indeed showed them a few papers. Parth picked them up and looked at them closely, "Raghav is up to something and till now whatever had been his course of activities we didn't find much of a solid lead to expose them"
Sahil and Vidhushi nodded while Parth eyed him, "What about the various evidences that we collected from his places of dealing?"
"They're not solid reasons to get an upper hand over him, he has too many connections to be concerned by such little evidences but ..." Randhir gave them his account transactions which were hefty and frequent, "these were retrieved by Sanyukta"
The trio looked up at him making him bite his tongue, "She gave them to you?" Parth asked, he doubted she had just gave them out of kindness.
"Ummm not really." He said clearing his throat, recalling the way he stole them from her.
"Is she working for us?" Sahil chirped in, exited at the notion.
"Actualy... I met Sanyukta... twice, at the same places I went after Raghav and on a bit scavenging I got to know she is chasing him as well. I managed to steal these from her"
"You stole them from her ?! " asked Sahil flabbergasted.
"Yes" said Randhir sharply, scowling at him. "Any problem ?" he raised his eybrow.
"No boss, no problem, no problem at all" scurried Sahil, sensing the warning in his boss's voice.
"So is it the reason why she will work with us?" Vidhushi asked him coming back to the main topic.
"Not exactly... But some situations rose and turn of tables lead her to stay with us... and she will not work for us but with us..." Randhir spoke carefully choosing his words, "And as it happens...For the outside world she is supposedly... my girlfriend" he finally told them anticipating their reactions.
Parth and Vidhushi looked puzzled whereas Sahil almost choked his breath hearing that Randhir consented her to be his girlfriend. Randhir rolled his eyes at Sahil's reaction.
"Your girlfriend ?!" exclaimed Sahil. "Do you understand what it implies ?" he asked incredulous. Being attached to their boss in any way could be dangerous !
"I know !" he cut him, glaring at him.
He then informed that she will stay with them and help them further in this from now on.
"So what will be her role?" Vidhushi asked.
"Anything we want her to be... But primarily she will provide us the concealing part as in looking for the deepest information and other things..." Randhir smirked.
"After all she's FALCON" he added.
"As you wish..." Parth nodded.
***
Whilst they were discussing their next move, Randhir received a call. He attended it and came back with some news. "We have a plan to follow" he told gathering them back.
"Raghav is throwing a party at Hard Rock Cafe, tonight. It's basically for finalizing their next consignment. My source told me he will also be trafficking a few children right after the deal from Borrivilli west" Randhir told them.
"I'll be there" Parth assured him about taking care of those traffickers at Borrivilli
"Vidhushi you accompany him there" Randhir informed, "Sahil you will take care of their locations and keep Parth informed..."
"Sure" Sahil nodded
"And me and Sanyukta will try to get our hands on Raghav at the club" Randhir dismissed the meeting and everybody started preparing for the plan.
***
Randhir came out in the corridor once everybody left, he found Sanyukta's room open signifying she wasn't there. He went downstairs to fetch himself a glass of water and fonnd the kitchen empty as well. He finally seeked Sanyukta strolling in the garden. He approached her quietly.
"Who takes care of the garden?" Sanyukta asked without even turning her head towards him stopping Randhir in his tracks.
Randhir thought for a minute if she really premonitioned him coming, "It's our kaka taking care of these"
"I thought so... not that I am underestimating your gardening capabilities of course" She added for safety purposes, kia pata kab angry hojaye, better be safe than sorry ! ...Even though internally she totally doubted he had green hands, just imagine the big bad gangster with a pot of flower in one hand and a gun in the other... she giggled at the image.
"Tonight we're going to Hard Rock Cafe... Be ready" came Randhir's voice behind her.
She turned toward him wondering if she heard him right, her confused expressions told him she had not understood the meaning behind his words.
"I'm not asking you for a date" he rolled his eyes.
She just looked at him with a blank face. Randhir sighed and clarified the situation.
"Don't get your hopes high..." Randhir told her in a matter-of-fact way, "I'm not taking you on a date"
" Puh-lease ! As if I'm dying for your company" Sanyukta mocked him. Boys lined up to go on a date with her and see the audacity of this one...Chal haat, hawa anede, she dismissed him in her mind.
"I would never want to be seen in public with a barbarian like you, I have a reputation you see" she said to satisfy her ego. Big fat lie, on the contrary, being seen in public with an attractive man like the devil will only raise her price on the "bachelorette" market !
Randhir clenched his fist, here we go again, back to the high and mighty bitch. Pata nahi isko kis baat ka gamand hai ! He decided to let the matter slip for this time, he had a mission to focus on.
"Raghav will be there finalizing the deal so..." he sarted.
"Got it... What time?" she cut him. To which he scowled.
"8pm I guess" He spoke on a confused note as his source never informed him the time.
She looked at him incredulous, he didn't know the time ? Sometimes she really wondered how he got so far without being killed...
"Yaar ek baat batao, honestly han..." she started.
"Are you really one of Mumbai's top gangster ? ...Sometime I really doubt it !" she finished voicing her inner thoughts.
He looked at her for a second and took out his gun, unlatching it.
"What about a demonstration of my capabilities ?" he said slowly advancing toward her.
Sanyukta's eyes grew wide, ...umm this was not how things were supposed to go, that was not in the script... she quickly composed herself, saying herself that a good actor was an actor who could adapt to unexpected situations !
She laughed nervously and said "Umm...that won't be necessary, I totally trust you..." she said flashing a fake award winning smile ! ...Liar liar liar, pants on fire ! ...hey have you ever wondered what would happen if a liar's pants did actually catch fire ?...I believe the whole human race would be extinguished by now ! ...But coming back to the topic, the truth was that she didn't trust him, nah...not one bit ! As a matter of fact she wouldn't even trust him with her toilet paper roll... What ? yeah that was really not a sexy comparison but sorry at this moment, with the sight of the gun, nothing else came to my mind...
"You would do good to remember who's the boss here " he said breaking her chain of thought.
"Of course...Sir !" she said emphasing on the word sir and bowing down.
"It's funny how coming out of your mouth, the word "Sir" sounds more like an insult than a sign of respect" he said disapprovingly.
Sanyukta on the other hand was glad he felt that way, because if she had to be totally honest, when her tongue was oh so gracefully saiying "sir", her mind was screaming "pathetic fool". But she couldn't say that out loud now, could she ? The devil had his damn gun ready for work, all he had to do was pull the trigger and boom...no more Sanyukta. And despite her brave front and bold actions, she wanted to live a few years longer at least...
Sensing that she could not irritate him further without putting her dear one and only life into danger, Sanyukta moved forward, she leaned in and whispered "It must be 10pm... Because they don't even open at 8" she went away leaving him fisted and throwing mental curses at her. Why does she acts super smart all the time ?!!!
***
10pm, Hard Rock Cafe
The music was deafening and the crowd was just swaying madly with the people getting high up on their places. The glasses clicked and the smoke filled the atmosphere. The only color visible was blue. With so less of visibility and the crowd gathering up Sanyukta and Randhir made their way through the entrance slowly, Randhir kept his hand securely around Sanyukta's waist taking her with him to a less crowded corner. Sanyukta was first suprised at the gesture but they had no choice if they didn't want to lose each other. They looked in the various directions when Randhir found Raghav in a corner, he excused himself from her hoping to chase him alone without letting Sanyukta get into this, he didn't want any kind of disturbance.
"You stay here I'll get a drink for us" he told her and went away.
Sanyukta squeezed herself on the nearby couch waiting for randhir's return. 5min...10min...15min... she kept on waiting for him but the guy just disappeared. Sanyukta got tired of waiting and moved into the crowd, she eavesdropped on a guy's conversation, the guy was talking about a deal which included Raghav, she got alerted and planned to chase him. The guy made his way towards the restrooms and Sanyukta followed him, completely forgetting the fact that Randhir had told her to stay as he will be back.
Both were used to work alone, it was always them and their own plan, they both had their own way of doing and dealings with things, never needing anyone's help... but they forgot that today they were not alone...
Sanyukta chased the guy and landed up on the stairwell which led downstairs to a dungeon kind of hallway. Randhir came to the same stairwell and carefully masksed himself from the cctv cameras present in the niches. Though he carefully took steps, a sudden movement almost got him trapped as he accidently opened a wrong door full of people. Randhir made a swift movement but couldn't stop himself from alerting them that something was wrong. A few men paved their way out from the room while Randhir hid himself behind the nearby rack.
He slowly paved his way through it when it was clear to move ahead and walked in the hallway. Somewhere in between, the alarms blew up, much to his surprise. He rushed back to the stairwell unsure of the reason of the activation of the alarm.
Considering it as his bad day Randhir aborted his plan and moved towards the stairwell. His eyes caught glimpses of Sanyukta near the hallway, he understood what went wrong... that must have been her stilettos, they must have triggered the sensitivity alarms or something else she didn't even knew existed. Why did she has to become perfectionist and enter his territory, couldn't she be satisfied being Falcon ? Poking her nose in matters above her capabilities...Randhir rolled his eyes and caught her by her wrist, dragging her with him. He was pissed at her, she had not thought one second what could be the outcomes of her foolishness. It was no playground... they were risking their life here. He didn't even want to imaging would have happened to them if they got caught...
"Run!" Randhir ordered, pulling her elbow and tagging her along with him to a safer region. Once back to the club Randhir grabbed her with him and led her outside to their car and rammed away. He was furious, once again, his mission had failed by her fault.
"What the hell happened ?" asked Sanyukta clueless. Randhir got angry at her question, she had nearly got them captured and here she was, asking what had happened. This women was going to be the death of him... how many time he had risked not only his missions but also his life to get her out of trouble... His grip on the steer wheel tightened.
"You nearly got us killed, that is what happened" he said through gritted teeth.
"What happened to the stay-here-I-will-be-back instruction?" He asked her harshly.
"Excuse me ? You told me you will be back with drinks... Even you didn't stick to your words" She retorted as he increased the speed pulling his rage on the accelerator.
"Yeah right ! and you thought it will be funny to play hide and seek with the guards" he said sarcasm coating his words.
"I was not ! There was this damn alarm..." started Sanyukta.
"Exactly my point, couldn't you stay where you were ?! ...clearly infiltration is not your thing ! " he yelled at her.
"Oh excuse me, you sure have more experience in this field, infiltrating houses, robbing and killing... yeah definitely more your area of expertise ! " she retorted back, not liking his tone.
Randhir didn't reply.
She had struck a sensitive cord. Randhir knew who he was, and till today he was totally fine with it, he lied, he robbed, he killed but there was always a reason and a purpose behind his actions... but from the day they met she constantly reminded him of his actions... not leaving one opportunity to degrade him... and deep down...deep down... it bothered him... he hated her for judging him, he hated her for not seeing what was beneath. And above all he hated the fact that it affected him while it shouldn't ! ...His foot kept on pushing the accelerator.
"Hey don't drive so fast, you'll get us killed" Sanyukta screamed at him.
Randhir scoffed. "You were not that worried about your life back at the club, playing James bond was rather funny to you, so why worry about it now...just chill" he taunted her.
"URGH SLOW DOWN" she yelled at him, now she was really cared, he was driving at nearly 220km/hrs, avoiding other cars just by few inches.
No response, no speed decreasing.
"STOP the damn car !!!" she yelled again, putting an hand on his arm. Randhir got mad at her action. Right now just the sight of her was enough to throw him in a fit of anger.
"Remove your hand" he said through gritted theeth.
"I said slow down !" she repeated her previous request without removing her hand from his arm.
"I said remove you hand before I cut it into pieces !!!!" he roared, completly rooting Sanyukta at her place.
She slowly removed her hand, scared of this furious beast. It was the second time she was seeing him this much furious, the first time was when she had accidently ruined his mission... she thought he was REALLY going to kill her, his looks burned her, she had ben terrified. And right now she was experiencing the same kind of feeling once again... and the worst part of it all was that she actually knew what this man was capable of...and that increased her fear 10 times.
***
He kept down the empty glass thudding it over the wooden slab. Maybe it was the last, because the next moment the glass shattered into pieces. He was frustrated and angry after the evening's fiasco, he needed to forget it all for a moment...he found solace in his drinks.
He leaned back over the head rest, his thought drifting to Sanyukta. He called her selfish once and maybe he was never wrong... She was selfish when it came to him... Randhir seeped deeper into her memories... She behaved good with Vidhushi, jolly with Sahil. Though she never conversed with Parth but He was sure she won't even be rude to him. But why him then...? ...the fiasco was now at the back of his mind, her words were what have grabbed his attention.
Maybe he was wrong and unwanted, his mind rationalized the past over present...May be he was always meant to be alone... His eyes welled up... It pained him when he was associated with bad... but as much as it pained him, he knew it was necessary...
He stood up... He might have been wrong all the time but she wasn't right either !
***
The door to her room creaked open, her eyes earlier glued to her screen now spotted him, Randhir stood in the frame scrutinizing Sanyukta with his gaze... She closed the lid to her laptop and rose above, settling herself on the bed upright, trying hard to read him.
Randhir came in, his body spoke clear, he was not his usual self.
He slowly advanced toward her, taking every step cautiously and sat next to her on the edge, the only source of light was the lamp near her bed. He gazed at her through his half open, bloodshed eyes, she wondered what he was doing in her room this late... That's when it hit her...he was drunk ! Precautious of his state... she flinched back a bit.
Sanyukta's eyes never moved away from him. ...What if he strangled her to death right here...He was drunk and it was of common knowledge how much he hated her...that too after what had transpired this afternoon...she knew she was not his most favorite person at the moment ! ...she couldn't not take chances !
Randhir noticed her gaze and her antics, he smiled sadly yet sarcastically...looking away...
"You are... an annoying, obnoxious, repulsive little thing, ...foolish woman ! ...But you were right..." he spoke, Sanyukta's mouth dropped at the insults, but her shock reached his peek hearing the end of his sentence, she never expected him to say such a phrase... something was not right...or an alien invasion took place and real Randhir was gone... because Sanyukta and Randhir could NEVER be right at the same moment, for it would mean they actually agreed on something...and now that was as much probable as the sky turning pink ! ...her mind travelled to other thoughts...when he interrupted yet again.
Gaining no answer from her he continued, "You were right we do bad things..."
She could see his eyes welling up as he looked back at her, "But you know... We were never bad..."
Sanyukta's mind stopped...Wow, wait pause ! wait... rewind...stop... play in slow motion...wait...Sanyukta was shocked out her mind, first Randhir tells her she was right which was very weird to begin with and then... his eyes held tears?!...she had never seen him in such a vulnerable state. He always stood proud like the leader he was... it was such a contrast... compared to the anger she had witnessed this evening...Seeing him like that stirred something in her.
Her vision softened...
"There's always a reason...but Maybe..."
"Meaning ?" she tried to converse, he was trying hard to say it but maybe even his sub conscious mind didn't knew how to say it... She could very well read the way he was trying to mouth his words... he was struggling to find the right words...
"I never wanted it this way..." he said averting his gaze, the confusion of his words was nothing compared to the pain they held...
She forwarded her hand slowly, smoothing her palm over his hand. He looked at their hands and then back towards the night sky...
"When evil over powers light... someone has to ..." he paused, his voice had hardened now.
"Someone has to take over and eliminate it !" he said without hesitation, all sadness replace by a burning anger.
"Raghav ghosh appears no less than a saint but his deeds are veiled under his mask..." he said through greeted teeth. Sanyukta sensed his anger through their linked hand before he even spoke... the pressure on her hand had increased informing her of his inner turmoil.
"He's deep down into hurting lives...innocent children are kidnapped, sold over, made to join the drug pedaling, other illegal activities..."
"Children...they are the most easiest targets you know... " his voice was soft again.
Sanyukta heard his words and in those few instants she understood a lot... her heart ached knowing he was right...
"And you can never clean until you get dirty..." he said emotionless.
He halted and looked at Sanyukta closely... Sanyukta's eyes welled up. Her hand travelled to his shoulder, pressing it assuring him. Her brain didn't have words to console him...How wrong she had been all the time...
There's always more to what meets the eyes, but maybe it's our brains that always prefers just one side of the coin...
Things happen with a reason... She was lost in her trance when she felt him getting closer to her... she tensed.
His hands travelled down from her shoulder to her waist, his head resting itself in the crook of her neck. They soon found themselves in each other arms. Sanyukta hesistantly hugged him back, caressing him, to sooth his pain.
After a moment, she felt him get drowsy on her shoulder, Sanyukta helped him up and made her way tagging him along towards his room.
She made him sleep, caressing his cheeks. She left his room and went to her own...she laid on her bed pondering over what she just witnessed.
***
Randhir came down from his room to find her sipping on coffee with newspaper in front of her. Her glasses almost settling on her nose which he thought suited her really well. Randhir walked past her and sat on a nearby chair.
Randhir held his forehead feeling a shrill pain in his temple... Sanyukta noticed him over her leaflet. She had stayed up a whole hour thinking about what Randhir had disclosed... Randhir was after Raghav because Raghav did child trafficking... but Randhir also killed... did his motives justified the killing ?...she didn't know...was life in exchange of life the only way ?...she didn't know...but she had made a decision... no matter what... She will help him ! she will help him take down Raghav ghosh...
She slowly closed her paper only to forward him another mug...
"Have it..." he took it hesitantly not knowing what exactly happened last night...He knew he went to her...But the next part was blurred in his thoughts...
"What happened yesterday ?" he asked her not beating around the bush.
"Nothing" Sanyukta said.
Randhir looked at her for any clue, but found nothing. Sanyukta had decided not to tell him what happened the day before for it will only add fuel to his anger knowing he had said so much... Besides she didn't want him to think she was pitying him...there was no worse feeling than others pitying you when you disclosed something disturbing. So she had come to the conclusion that she will stay her usual self...but she will help him !
She could see him stiff and lost in his own thoughts, something he was never. She understood his condition well... She tried to bring him back...the more he will think about it the more he will feel weaker. Diverting the topic is the best thing on the platter.
"Look we can argue all we want, but at the end of the day we were both at fault." Sanyukta stated, looking directly at him as if challenging him to contradict her. Yes she made a mistake and triggered the alarm but all of this would have never happened if he didn't left her in the first place !
"...I agree" said Randhir after a pause. Sanyukta was taken aback by the fact that he agreed without arguing. Agreeing with her when he was not in his senses could be comprehensible... but agreeing with her in his senses was nothing less than a miracle ! He was giving her shock after shock...If things continued that way she would soon be found in ICU ! But anyway she proceeded.
"We are both used to work alone, we have our own ways" she paused.
"Yeah go on." said Randhir, wanting to know where she was going with this.
"What I mean to say is that we both went separately... while we should have... we should have acted more as a... team..." she finished, waiting for his reaction.
Randhir thought about what she said... her and him ?... them ?... a team ? what a joke ! ...But then again what happened yesterday must never be repeated, it was not some game where they could improvise whenever they wanted, it was serious and dangerous and not only their lives were at stake but those of so many innocents as well. He sighed... may be she was right...
***
"What's the problem guys?" Sahil intervened while they passed looks to each other involved in a mental curses session.
"It's just that even if we try our level best to work together we end up ruining the whole scenario" Sanyukta concluded on their problem sharing the whole matter in front of Sahil
"That's it ?" Sahil asked amused at these two.
"That's it ?!!!... I failed to conquer Raghav 3 times because of her ! " Randhir almost shouted while Sanyukta looked offended and turned her head in the opposite trying not to look at the guy sitting in front of her in his black track pants and blue t-shirt looking every amount of sexily irresistible. "What are you thinking?" Sanyukta mentally scolded herself, you are supposed to be mad at him.
"Listen the solution is pretty much simple to what you both refer as a complicated situation" Sahil spoke yet again interfering between their series of mental cursing.
"Will you come to the point?" Randhir spoke rolling his eyes at his rather simple solution.
"You need to know each other... well surely 20 questions won't help in your case... but you definitely need to know each other better to work as a couple" Sahil spoke, that's when Sanyukta's eyes widened and his head shot up from his mug
"I meant it the other way... like a working pair" Sahil justified.
"Be specific" Sanyukta told him adjusting her spectacles.
"Be practical" Sahil told her, Sanyukta raised her brow for explanation to it.
"Well in order to understand each other better you guys need to learn and develop a rather deeper bond. As you know, since all other methods failed, you can try living in each other's space to know the other person better" Sahil spoke in a breath anticipating a blow from both sides
When both didn't say a word he pulled more courage to spread his philosophy, " It's not only about knowing each other as in favorite color and favorite dish... it more like understanding the other, understanding his body language, his thoughts, anticipating his next moves...things like that... you see ? ...you guys need to be in perfect synch" he explained them, waiting for a reaction.
When none came, he pushed his luck.
"And the best way to do that is to spend time with each other, we don't have much time as you know... so we need a fast results scheme...And I just happened to have what you need " He grinned, still waited for some response but it looked like as if they were just waiting for him to complete and then kill him raw, "I'm sure you won't like it though..."
"Will you stop running round and round... and come to the point..." Randhir now spoke before Sanyukta could say the same.
"See that's it..." Sahil spoke guessing both were in the same situation.
"Be in a same situation at the same time so that you can know each other's point of view" Sahil told them matter-of-factly way.
"How so ?" Both spoke in unison and passed looks at each other.
"Handcuffs..." Both heard and broke their stare session.
"What?" both spoke in confusion. "NO ! " both said again looking at each other,
"Hell no !" Sanyukta added, utterly displeased with the idea. That was not exactly what she was thinking about when she promised herself to help him... being trapped with the devil 24/7...No...she will lose it in less than 2 hours !
"I can't bear her for 10min...forget about an entire day...no way !" Randhir further commented.
"Look guys I just gave an idea, which according to me is the best given the situation... now it's up to you to follow it or not..."
They both looked at each other in confusion as Sahil smirked and paved his way out before they both pounced on him as their prey. Sanyukta rolled her eyes on even imagining the worst case scenario of being attached to Mr. Gangster ...while Randhir ran down his hand through his mane in disbelief. This surely was a nightmare he wanted to end.
They looked at each other, trying to figure out what the other was thinking. They hated each other, that was a fact, but their goal was greater than their hate for each other, so much depended on them... Both made up their mind, they were going to put their difference aside and try to make it work...