"Mission successfull" said Sanyukta cutting off the suspense.
Vidushi and Sahil, who were holding their breath, let it go while Parth sighed in relief. First stage clared.
That was an excellent start, good for everyone's moral.
"Congratz guys" Sahil hit Randhir's shoulder in a fit of euphoria.
Wrong move.
The gesture earned him a glare with a silent threat... which Sanyukta easily deciphered as remove you hand this instant if you know what's better for you.
And apparently she was not the only that got the message.
Sahil coughed, muttering apologies and immediately removed his hands. The little scene amused Sanyuta. She found it funny that despite the loyalty and family-like bond they shared, there was still a strong hierarchy between them. They had accepted a hierarchical order in which everybody had its place and which needed no further justification. Randhir was the leader and the rest were below him, end of discussion. What he says, goes, no argument. This distribution in power also reflected the degree of responsibility each of them had. No wonder Randhir always got mad when things turned wrong... his decisions held consequences, not only for himself but for the whole gang. One wrong step and they could all go down... One wrong step and they could all die...
And at this moment Sanyukta realised that Randhir being strict was not just for decoration... it was really needed ! He couldn't afford to be lenient or lax... if you looked closely enough, it was like he was the... the fatherly figure in this gangsters' family, binding the family together and maintaining the order.
Sanyukta smiled at the thought.
Talking about fatherly emotions she went back to the topic that occupied most of her thoughts these days : them. She decided then and there that this man was going to be the father of her children ! She frowned at her thoughts, scarily, nowadays these were the only thought running in her mind. Was she becoming like those typical clingy girlfriend that had only marriage on their mind ? she thought in horror ...Eww !...No !...No it wasn't that. ...It was not about marriage in itself. Actually she knew why she was having those thoughts. Because she was deeply madly in love with this fabulous man and she wanted to tie him to her as soon as possible. ...No escape possible ! She had him on her grip now and she didn't intend to let him go ! Not now, not ever !
He was hers !
"Thank god it went well" said Vidushi, bringing Sanyukta back to reality.
"Yeah, so where is it ?" asked Parth, extending his hand.
"Um... where is what ?" asked a confused Sanyukta, she had gone so far in her dreamland that for a second, she forgot the topic they were discussing.
"Sanyukta..." came Randhir's stern voice. "...we don't have time for your white rabbits, just give him the recorder." he added.
Oh ! Yeah, the recorder ! she chided herself for her lack of reactivity.
"What rabbits ?" asked Vidushi frowning.
LOL.
"Nothing !" Randhir immediately cut her off, before a repeat of the earlier scene took place. Sanyukta chuckled. It was fascinating how much you could achieve with a mundane topics such as white rabbits. ...As always, it was all about the right set of words at the right moment,... just like Vardhan Sir had taught her.
Setting her philosophical thoughts aside, Sanyukta reached her neckpiece and extracted the micro recorder that was set inside and gave it to Parth.
The gangster and Sanyukta turned towards the two other persons present in the room.
"Did you check everything ?" asked Randhir looking at her Parth and Sahil.
"Yes boss" affirmed Parth. "This is Sunita from Running News" he said gesturing to a petite woman, nervously standing there, adjusting her glasses.
"And this is Rahul from Global COM" he pointed toward a middle aged man.
"We made the necessary verifications boss" added Parth.
"Hmm" nodded Randhir.
"You know why you are here, everything has been explained to you, right ?" Randhir questioned the journalists.
The man replied positively while the woman nodded. Her lack of words was a clear giveaway of her inner state, she was nervous. She was fidgeting. ...The question was why she was nervous ? ...Was she simply intimated by Randhir impressive presence or ...was  there something else ?
"Hmm... Parth" Randhir signaled Parth to give them the recorder.
Parth extended his hand and was about to give the crucial piece of material to the journalist when Randhir's call halted him.
"Wait !... Vidushi go get Sanyukta laptop" he instructed the girl standing behind him. Without asking questions, Vidushi executed her boss' order.
Randhir then looked at Sanyuka "Make some copies, save some and spread a few on internet" he directed her. He was not going to take any chance with this solid proof they had. A video could altered, or reworked, they couldn't afford anything to go wrong at this point. He was going to secure every step to insure their success.
***
At last Parth gave the micro recoder to the journalists.
"How much time before the news is telecasted ?" Randhir demanded.
"Hum.. about an hour Sir" replied the man.
Sanyukta chuckled internally at the journalist's choice of words. Sir. ...As if the devil was some company's head and he had asked his secretary to bring a file or schedule a meeting... And the secretary, with all the due respect he had for his exemplary superior, had politely replied "Yes Sir, right away Sir"... Hilarious !
"Hmm...Inform us when everything is ready" he ordered them.
He then looked at his gang members. "Meeting room now".
***
The gangsters and Sanyukta hurried up in the meeting room shutting the door behind them. The dim light inside was fuelling the already anxious atmosphear, worry was clear on everyone's face.
While the last success had given hope, it was clear that what was coming now was going to determine their future. ...In less diplomatic words, it was going to determine whether they lived ...or not !
Ranhdir retreived a marker and a paper from the shelf on the side and put them on the table in center of the room, where the whole gang had gathered.
"Well guarded entry followed by a long corridor" Randhir voiced boom authoritatively, while he draw a map to support his words."Two doors on the right side...at the end of corridor is a security check with two guards..." he drew two crosses indicating the guards. "...then an elevator secured by iris scan..." He removed his eyes from the map for a second and looked up at his gang members.
They all nodded in understanding, allowing him to pursue.
"...on the second floor, there is one door and an alley ending on another gate, which is this time, secured by a control panel..." he briefly looked toward Sanyukta and said "we have the password" to which she nodded.
His eyes roamed on the finished map, his mind calculating and forming strategies.
"Sanyukta and I beleive there is around 50 men" he finally said.
"That's a lot" Sahil expressed his concern.
"Yes and we are only 4" interjected Vidushi.
Four and a quater, Sanyukta was about to retort, but thought better of it... It was not really the time for such futility.
"Right, Parth contact Ranvijay and Sudhir, expose them the situation and ask them to come right away" he instructed Parth, sending him away.
"That makes 6 against 50...still a suicide mission" Vidushi said.
Randhir aknowledged her worry and looked towards Sanyukta.
"Miss Falcon here told me she could provide us with some skilful assassins" he said looking pointedly at Sanyukta. "Mind telling us how do you know such people and who they are ?"
Um...well, thought Sanyukta ingternlly. About that... She had a feeling what she was going to say next wasn't going to setlle well with Randhir...
She scratched the back of her head. "About that... It's not like I really know them... much less who they are" she laughed awkwardly. That awkward moment when the only thing you know on a test is ...your name and the date !
She saw Randhir's vein twitch on his forehead. Before he could say anything Sanyukta cut him off. "But it does not matter !" she said hurriedly.
Randhir took a deep breath "How could it not matter ? HOW can we trust perfect strangers ?" he uttered calmly.
God, swore Sanyukta. Him being calm was even scarier than when he was yelling at him. Those piercing brown eyes were pinning her on the ground with such intensity.
"Let me show you" she only said retrieving the laptop she had kept with her after making copies of the proof they had gathered earlier.
She switched it on and hurriedly typed on the keyboard, opening a few tabs.
"Just like in the mortal world there is an underworld.. there is an underworld for the digital world"
"What ?!" frowned Sahil. They had all gathered around Sanyukta looking at the screen.
"It goes by the name of the dark web or the deep web. It is not indexed by search engines, you require specific softwares, specific configurations and authorization to access it...It is not available to every tom dick and harry... It is a dark place...a place where you can find anything and everything you want... kind of a black market...stolen bank ids and passwords...fake passeports... drugs... po*nography... and even live murder !" she finished her gory explanation.
"Liver murder ?! Wow...wth ?! No sh*t ! W*F " Sahil exclaimed surprised.
"Sh*t ! Such thing really exists ?" asked Vidushi gasping.
"Yes it exists indeed, believe me" replied Sanyukta calmly. Being in the field for years she had learned that one could find anything and everything he wanted on the web as far as you knew where to search and had money to pay. Internet was really a dangerous place !
"...And we are going to use that ?" said Sahil, emphasizing on the word that as if he still didn't believe such thing could really exist.
"Yes, we are going to hire hitmen there" sanyukta answered him.
"...You say that you are going to hire hitmen there ?" Randhir repeated after a pause, talking for the first time since she submitted the idea. He had never heard of such thing. It had taken years for him to build up his relationships and his name in the underworld. In his world everything worked through strongly build connections. You had to make your presence known... you had to make an impact to rule over the other... Public appearances and face to face meeting were a must to maintain your image and relationships... Keeping in mind this information, this whole idea of virtual underworld was a bit hard to digest...
"Yes that's what I said" Sanyukta replied frowning. "Are you turning into a parrot ? ...why do you keep repeating what I say ?"
Randhir glared at her. His mouth opened but no words came out of it. He glared some more...if the daggers that were being shot in her direction were anything to go by, it was safe to say he didn't like the joke... may be he didn't like parrots ? Oh...well !
"Who guarantees the results?" he questioned her, not at all convinced by the whole thing.
Sanyukta scoffed at his inquiry. "You are not buying a dishwasher Randhir, you are hiring assassins to kill someone, they are not going to give you a guarantee in case the wrong person is killed or the bullet hit the left eye instead of the right eye" she rolled her eyes.
Randhir scowled at her. "What I meant to say is, how do you know the job will be done ?"
"You are rather slow today Mr.Gangster" Sanyukta teased him. "I said something like the dark web is a replica of the underworld I believe" she raised an eyebrow at him. Having the upper hand was so much fun !
"All the terms and conditions that applies to the underworld applies on the dark web" she explained them. "You pay someone's services, the job is done... if it is not done, there are... consequences... it is as simple as that." She explained them the duality of these kind of transitions. Give and take, 1 or 0, black or white, chocolate cookie or vanilla cookie... as simple as that !
"And not to forget, It is not open to every tom dick and harry, you have to be someone of importance to have access. ...If you in there, you mean business ! No one messes around or they pay the price." she added . This was in all terms the underworld of the web... and to some extent, it was even more frightening than the flesh and bones version for it was virtual. ... You see me ? ...Well now you don't !
"It's all about give and take." she finished looking at all of them. Be a bitch i'll be a bitch back... gimme a kiss, i'll kiss you back ! ....or not... LOL.
"Wow ! It's...it's...ummm orginal !" exlcaimd Sahil for lack of better words.
"It's weird... it's like making a deal with closed eyes..." seconded Vidushi.
"Ehh... ...not really..." said a half defeated, half frustrated Sanyukta. It was like the baashan she just said went totally over their head... She sighed. Never mind, she didn't have time to explain how things worked in the digital world, they'll just have to trust her on that. To her, this place was as sure as the real underworld. Everyone there knew the rules and the consequences of breaking them.
"Never mind guys, just trust me on this, okey ?"
"Besides theses....guys-" she started, pointing her thumb towards her screen, "-know not to mess with Falcon" she winked, reassuring them.
When no objection came, she turned back to her screen. "Okey so how many ?" she asked to no one in particular.
"Humm okey then... make it five... with long distance shooting skills and preferably with bare hands fighting experience, could be uselful if we are disarmed" Sahil ordered. "...and also if possible, with no political background or links...and of course he has to be here in two hours top" he finished.
Sanyukta looked at him blankly for a second.
"Sahil... why does it sound like you are ordering your breakfast instead of hitmen ?" Sanyukta chuckled. "...two chocolate chip cookies and one moccaciono with caramel on top, no sugar, please" she said, imitating a person ordering at a coffee shop.
Sahil chuckled at her comment giving a thumbs up.
"I would even say double, triple thumbs up !" Sanyukta beamed enthousiastically. "...But wait... that's technically not possible, their is only two thumbs..." she thought."Oh well...i'll just to use my toes i guess !" she dismissed the problem looking at her feet.
"If you are done admiring your toes, can we get back at the problem ahead ?" Randhir reprimanded her.
"Umm yeah sorry" Sanyukta sheepishly replied. "...But for your information, I was not admiring my toes, I was trying to raise the thumb under my boot, to see if it one could give thumbs up with toes." she cleared the air. That was not something to take lightly ! She was in the middle of an experiment ! Have you ever tried giving thumbs up with your toes ? have you even ever thought about doing it ? ...probably not ! And that's exactly why it had to be tested ! It was from curiosity that experiments rose. And it was from experiment that great discoveries were made ! ...Granted giving thumbs up with toes was not the breakthrough of the century, but that was not the point, the point was : one had to be curious. Curiosity lead to experiments, sometimes good sometimes bad... And these experiments led to a lot of things... dicoveries, knowledge, experience, limits etc... etc... the point was : her giving thumbs up with her toes was not just for fun !
That being said, she went back to her task and hired a handfull of assassins keeping in mind Sahil's criteria. She pressed Enter and logged out, disconnecting every session.
"Here, done ! They will arrive at the given adress and hour" she concluded, shuttind down her laptop.
"Fine, let's get ready then." Randhir annouced. "Vidushi, update Parth when he is back"
"Yes boss"
"Go get ready, wear bullet proof body, take a few guns and knives" he ordered them. "Be back here in 45min, w will discuss the break-in afterwards" Randir commanded giving his last directions.
***
"Remove your top" said Randhir without looking at her, head in the wardrobe searching for somehting.
"Umm... sorry what ?" asked a confused Sanyukta.
After the meeting, they had all parted ways to get ready apparently. ...But mind you, getting ready didn't mean wearing fancy dresses with matching jewelleries in their dicationnary. It meant, going all commando, hiding knives and guns wherever they could. The joy !
"Remove you top your are going to wear a bullet proof body" he said throwing the said body over his shoulder.
Sanyukta looked at the body which had landed on the bed. ...Omg I was really going commando ! she realised. Until now she had only been on little missions here and there... either triggering the action scene by opening a breach or cleaning up behind...it was either before or after... she had never been in the middle of it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath... in... out... This is certainly not the time to succumb to nervousness. In... out... In... out... Taking one final intake of breath she opened her eyes.
The first she saw ? Another pair of eyes.
"Is our dear Falcon a bit nervous ?" Randhir smirked coming close to her, caging her in his arms.
"Who ? ...me ?" she said laughing forcefully. "As if ?...No..." she keep on fake-laughing... which in reality was more of a cross between an unrefined snort and a hyena laugh. "Of course not !"
"It's ok, love" Randhir cut her off saying it ever so delicately... almost whispereing it. His hand rested on her cheek, his thumbs caressing it... while his eyes were searching hers.
"It's alright to be nervous" he eased her tension by slowly rubbing her back with the other hand.
"I promise nothing will happen to you" he told her, plastering her to himself.
Tears gathered in Sanyukta's eyes. Because she very well knew he will do anything in his power to keep his words... even sacrficing himself to save her... and that's exactly what scared her. What if he died and she lived ? She couldn't even think about it, it hurt.
Before she met him, she didn't even know something was missing, but after she met him, she became aware of it... He made her realise that something was missing, that there was a gap somewhere... But the funny thing is that the moment she realised it...he had already filled it by his presence ! ...If he were to be taken away from her now... she didn't know if will be able to survive.
Chasing away the awefull thoughts, Sanyukta captured his lips in a passionate kiss. Her hands fisted themselves on his shirt, gripping him for dear life. Their was nothing sweet in this kiss, it was raw passion and primal urges. It was her need for him... it was her telling him she could not afford to lose him... it was her saying how much she loved him.
Randhir put equal fervor in the kiss, taking everything he could...Bathing in the affection of the women he loved above anything.
"Don't promise me that" she told him suddenly breaking the kiss. Her breath ragged.
She looked in his eyes conveying the distress of her heart. "Don't promise me that... promise me we will all return safely... promise me nothing will happen to you..." she said, desperation coating her words.
"Sorry love can't give you false hope... can't promise you that" he sadly smirked at her.
Sanyukta hug the life out of him, haed lodge on his neck, arms snaking him. ...Worst than a boa constrictor ! They stayef like that for a few minute, just enjoyed each other embrace.
"Randhir ?" said Sanyukta.
"Hmmm ?"
"Just so you know, if you dare to die, I'll hunt down your spirit and make your life hell !" she warned him childishly.
Randhir chuckled at her cute warning."Isn't it the other way around normally? Aren't spirits supposed to make human's life living ?"
"Is it written in stone ? " she playfully hit him. "I'm serious about it, there is a local store near my flat where you can get ouija board..." she told him smiling in his neck.
"Okey love, whatever you want." he caressed her hair."We have to get ready now"
Sanyukta detached herself from the gangster, she took the bullet proof body from the bed and headed toward the bathroom.
"You can change here you know" Randhir winked at her.
"Nah, wouldn't want to make you lose your concentration..." she winked back.
***
Sanyukta came out of the bathroom wearing the body underneath her camisol.
Stepping in the room she found Randhir ready and waiting for her. Black boots, black cargo pants, black sweatshirt, black combat mitten. A double shoulder holster is fastened on his torso while three knives are attached at the back of his pants in a black leather holder. ... Wow... And that's only the visible part ! Who knew what was hidden underneath ! ...Umm did it sound pervert ? ...Oh well ! Perversion was a bad thing...unless it concerned your man, then it was all fun and games, she chuckled.
Perverted thoughts aside, he looked as deadly as a hungry tiger.
"Come here love" his voice broke her from her reverie.
He lifted up her camisole from her waist,and before Sanyukta could question his actions, he tugged a knife on her waistband. Getting down, he hid one on her boot. He then got up and removed the chain he was waering from his neck and made Sanyukta wear it.
"This is a kunai" he showed her the hidden weapon. "If you have no weapon left, use this" he told her. Safely tucking it under her camisole.
"Okey..." was the only thing Sanyukta said.
"Let's do this !" announced Randhir. "The faster we finish this, the faster we can start the preparations"
"Preparations for what ?" asked a confused Sanyukta.
"For our engagement..." said Randhir going away leaving a stunned Sanyukta behind.