Danger is everywhere. We don't invite them, or walk right into them. We just cross paths with them.
-
the explosion happened some 200 meter away from the crime scene ETF found, nobody was injured but everyone was spooked and police was around to look for anything suspicious. suddenly a normal day with bizarre crime scene was turned upside down as the crime journo of team puked on the ground and behind her stood awkwardly the IT head and commando with water bottle.
now they all could see where was the body and guts that was missing from the first crime scene.
Even Liza and her team were having hard time to be indifferent to scene and examine everything. they don't know, and maybe won't know, if the man or woman was alive when the bomb went off or not. they won't know if this was some suicide bomber. the bomb was so powerful that all they could find pieces of body, the crime scene was all but some metals and blood and guts.
Director was here and so the last remaining member of the team, and of course, she had to look unaffected when everyone was not doing too well in that department. she kneeled side by side with forensic team, looked over the whatever remained evidences, frowned, already forming theories when rest of them were too busy to control the urge to vomit all over the place and contaminate the crime scene. Her eyes were glued to the vans as forensics left the crime scene and rest of team behind and Director was going over possibilities with the team.
"It looks like some terrorist organization work, but why exploding a bomb this much powerful in middle of nowhere?" Sameer was saying to rest of them "the amount of blood we found in last crime scene indicated the person, whose . . . " he paused, eyes going over crime scene, "remains, we found here, was already injured enough or possibly dead. that doesn't explain why the bomb didn't explode earlier? why exploded later?"
"you don't think someone was watching the first crime scene do you?" The Director asked, trying to be calm but all could see she was assuming the worst, some lunatic after her team.
"Maybe it was time bomb." the second in command answered, "maybe it was the plan, to gather attention. I think we should put the city on orange alert, and keep an eye on everything."
they went through every possibility for the next 20 minutes, and then left for ETF. in the discussion room they talked for some more time, and Rawte could see the restlessness which was in Riya since the crime scene on full alert until she could not take it anymore and excused herself rather rudely, earning the suspicious and disapproving looks.
as if she cares.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting the remains of bomb from forensic department was piece of cake, really, but ACP Mukherjee could not manage to get them out of the lab and be alone with them. there was no possibility of radiation from the pieces, neither they were toxic, yet Liza won't let her take any risk by taking them away from lab. so she had all the remains of bomb, a far off table with every equipment of the lab, and total silence to work with.
still she would have liked a room with the bomb pieces only.
she was itching to get her hands on the evidence since they left the crime scene, and the impulse was growing by second. now the impulse had died down and all she had was a steady determination, to get everything from these remains.
when everyone was busy to check their urge to vomit at the sight, she noticed at the first glance, rather interestingly, that the bomb pieces were not as damaged as it should be. sure, it had fallen apart and pieces and wires were all over the place, but when the body was so badly damaged that they can barely get a single finger from it, the bomb had survived. it should not have happened. it just doesn't add up.
the only reason she is camping into forensic lab because she truly believes she can help with her work experience in bomb squad and try to find more about this bomb. right now, as her eyes glance over the table, every inch of it hidden under metallic pieces and wires and coffee mugs, a notepad with various diagrams and ingredients names and composition pattern written on it, several papers curled into ball and lying all over the floor, a single pencil in between her fingers, her figure bracing itself against the table's edge, she felt oddly accomplished. yes, she did figure out some things about this thing.
she glanced around and frowned, then looked at clock. funny, she didn't remember time passing this much that its 3 in the morning.
she looked back at the table, going over all the info her mind stored. for once, it was not normal bomb, like the law enforcement encounter every now and then. the metal was different, stronger, to endure bigger impact. the chemical compound was ten time complicated to make sure nobody in the 500 meter radius survive. she was estimating the bomb to leave an impact at least till 2 KM area, enough to kill 200 people and injure several hundred others.
but there was only a tiny confusion.
she heard the bomb went off after the first crime scene was discovered, and if the team's theory is right, it was timed to set off like that. but she could not get anything to indicate it was a time bomb, and naturally, time bombs don't have these much complexities as there are already so many. if someone triggered it manually . . . it's not possible also, the first crime scene indicated the person was already dead or fatally injured, and the DNA matched from both places. the dried blood indicates 6 to 8 hours had passed before the person was injured, in no way he or she can survive this long, and for what? blowing him/herself?
it doesn't make any sense, and yet, she felt she was overlooking something.
the pen moved faster in between her fingers.
she spent several other hours on floor, sitting against the wall and staring into nothing as she went through everything over and over again and tried to make sense how someone can upgrade a time bomb to make it so much powerful, and well plan the entire sequence, finding the first crime scene, and then the perfect timing to explode it when ETF was already there. the possibility that, someone was targeting the team, also crossed her mind, but then, why not explode in the warehouse itself and finish it once for all? why this trailer? unless, there was bigger plan behind all this.
her focus was snapped when her nostrils filled with divine smell of Mc D's coffee and she found the Director on her eye level, kneeled on floor and holding the familiar red mug out for her.
she took it, and sighed as the drink reached her taste buds, "looked like you had a wild night with metals." the Director remarked dryly, taking in the scene. she hummed in response.
"Now pack it all, ATS will be here shortly." she said, bracing herself for her reaction. the ACP didn't disappoint, the coffee mug stilled right before her lips and she frowned, clearly displeased.
"I understand I have spent over 12 hours in here, but when did this happen?" she inquired, lowering the mug and staring at the Director which bordered on temper.
"ATS handles this sort of things." the Director replied, "We came to a conclusion that the explosion in warehouse was probably a test for a bigger attack, and ATS is perfect for this."
"Your team was called for that crime scene, not ATS." the former replied, now glaring. the Director sighed.
"There might be plans for several other blasts. we might have been stumbled upon something big."
"So we need to investigate it rather than shifting departments."
"Its not a competition to see which department can solve the most complicated cases." the Director replied sternly, "it's their territory, we did what we could, now we let them take over."
"I didn't pull an all-nighter just to make it easy for them." the ACP said bitterly, "and screw the office politics. I don't know why you are not handling it." she finished as she got up the floor, all thoughts and accomplished feelings from last night gone in an instant.
"Because it's the right thing to do." the Director followed her, trying to make her understand.
"Oh sure." the other replied sarcastically, "If you don't mind, I have to clean up since another department will be here to take away the hard work I put into it. I need space."
the Director scowled, pondering if she should say something to make the ACP realize, then decided against it. one of the flaws of ACP Mukherjee, and she had way too many of them, is that she is nearly blind when she is pissed. and now, everything the Director will say is going to be wasted. she nodded once and left the lab, leaving the officer alone in there.
the ACP glared into the table as she heard the door was being closed, like she would like nothing but to put a hole into the innocent table. then she spilled the coffee all over the evidences, unnecessarily ruining them, then put them all haphazardly into plastic bags w/o labeling them. she took the pencil and notepad from the table, not ready to give her hard work to ATS, when her department won't work on it anymore.
even if there is a possibility of bigger terrorist planning.
she was always selfish when it comes to things close to hers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The team watched as the ATS took everything they worked on the crime scenes through the glass wall of discussion room, the assistant head shaking his hand with the Director. nobody looked pleased with this development, but nobody dared to question the Director. probably it was for best to hand over this case to ATS, since it most likely involved a lot of dog hunts. ETF don't handle terrorism cases. It's not their territory.
someone should specifically note down what they supposed to handle and what not.
"why calling us if we can't work on this one?" Shree grumbled, and Chotu nodded his head sympathetically.
"I agree. I get it, ATS should handle it, but why we were called first? It's hard to watch some other department taking over what was our development." He said.
"Now they will take away the credit." Sakshi added sadly.
"it's not about credit." Sameer said, "it's about satisfaction to finish what we started."
"I nearly faked the bomb evidences." ACP Mukherjee unexpectedly chimed in, eyes on the door even if she was not really staring. all looked at each other, taken aback.
"How you were going to fake it?" Chotu asked, a curious smile on his face. she snapped her eyes to look at him, frowning.
"It's easy." she waved her hands, and of course, it was the exact same time Rawte entered the room and paused hearing the next words coming out of her mouth, the team too busy to notice his entry, "Just go to store room, there is always some machine. break it and you have metallic pieces and wires."
"And we can always get blood from lab." Shree supplied, "perfect evidence . . . until they test it and finds out it's not real, of course."
"Are not you quite the team?" all of them jumped when they heard Rawte's voice, annoyed and disapproving, "If you are done, let's get back to work, shall we?"
"What work?" the crime journo asked. the second in command didn't even look at her, but answered nonetheless.
"Paper work."
Everyone groaned, "I better head to apartment." ACP Mukherjee got up, unnecessarily faking a yawn which everyone understood, a fake, "an all- nighter and forensic lab, not a good idea."
"the smell and all." Sameer replied, understanding her perfectly, to which she flashed a smile. Rawte shoot them both an irritated look, but didn't say anything when she walked passed him toward door.
at the same time Chotu switched on the LCD, and everyone was glued to the screen as there was a breaking news and a piece of paper was on display.
3 MORE TO GO. LETS SEE IF ETF CAN STOP THEM.
the paper was white, the letters were typed. they can't say anything else from it.
"well, there goes your sleep." Sameer commented, which was obviously pointed to ACP Mukherjee.
"well," she sounded curious, even if that's possible in that situation, "that means I can finish what I started."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ATS was off the case, and the Director's worst nightmare came true. some lunatic was after her team.
the maniac, on the other hand, taunted the team after every 5 hours by sending a note. note, not email or sms. first time, they were delivered by a pizza guy, and time after that he or she found new ways to send note.
the first 5 hour mark was passed with barricading the entire city, leaving every law enforcement to spread every corner of the city and search for anything suspicious. they were already doing that, after the first blast, but 20 hours and a note later, there were more police on street, more officers in civil dress, and people were on full panic mode.
"He had to send the first one to a freaking media house!" Rawte was frustrated, "if not anything, people panicking and accidentally stumbling over something might blow the rest of three off."
"Media can help, you know." Sakshi took the comment by heart, hurt evident in voice.
"Sure, they are helping so much." he could not help it, "asking every time we head out that how can we let out a maniac like that! as if it's our fault."
she was shut up after that, and the Director had to step in, "okay, calm down everyone." she eyed all, "let's go through the 2 notes again."
the team encircled around the table, staring down at the notes.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, RED IS ALWAYS THE DANGER. TIME IS PASSING.
SO BRAVE AT THE FIRST, UNKNOWN TO THE SECOND. THREE ARE WAITING, HURRY!
"what's does this mean 'SO BRAVE AT THE FIRST'?" Chotu asked, "the media house note mentioned 3 more bombs, and only one exploded by now. what does this first one means?"
Every one of them jumped when ACP Mukherjee cursed aloud, running fingers through her already messed up hair.
"Care to explain?" Rawte asked, frowning. she took a deep breath, bracing herself as both of hands held onto the edge of table.
"it all fits." she started, staring hard at the notes, "when i was going through the bomb evidences, i was sure i was missing something. now i know what."
she straightened herself, "remember that bus stop bomb?"
everyone's eyes widened at it, "you think that was the first?"
"It fits." she replied, "time bomb can't be that much powerful. it had to blow off manually, which is impossible, or by some trigger."
"So," The Director started, "this maniac was already targeting us? but how can he know you guys were supposed to be in that bus stop that day?"
"or maybe," Sameer countered, "we stopped it and it triggered him? or her?" he eyed the women in team as he corrected, "the way this person is going after this, seems like lunatic. Lunatics don't come out and challenge unless someone provoked them, which we did, by stopping the first bomb. that can be co-incidence, but the second bomb? It's not."
"So he was near the crime scene?" Chotu asked, eyes widening, "he watched us inside that warehouse and . . . " he trailed off.
"He wanted to challenge us." Shree supplied, "that's why these notes started to drop. but we have nothing to go. these notes don't say much, and we can't be dependent on police to find the rest of bombs."
Rawte picked the first note, "He knows about the orange alert."
everyone eyed him, "So?" Sakshi asked.
"How does he know?" he asked, eyes going back and forth to Riya and Sameer.
"is not it standard procedure after every terrorist threat?" Sameer replied. the former shook his head, now meeting the lady, and looked like she was the only one getting him.
"Nobody was supposed to know about it, when we were talking about it there were not much people around us except ETF and local police." he went on.
"You can't possibly suggest . . ." The Director trailed off, exhaling a sharp breath.
"It's either people from crime scene, or someone at IA office." ACP Mukherjee commented. the Director shook head.
"Do you realize how impossible that sound? IA office? why some lunatic who work at IA will drag us through hell?"
"because it's a lunatic, Aisha!" that was the first time Mukherjee addressed the Director with first name, and anyone had barely any time to grasp as the latter hurried, "there is no reason why a lunatic will do anything! you might think everyone is sane and goody two shoes, but they are not." she forced herself to lower her voice, her tone grave, "sometime they let us down."
once again, the words felt like much more personal than the case at hand.
The Director looked taken aback, but then composed herself as she ordered everyone to pull up a list of people present at crime scene, possible suspect and employees at IA office. everyone scrambled off, Sakshi went off to her office to see if any new note popped, or anything new she can get which can help the case, the Director went off to give upper level news of development, and ACP Mukherjee braced herself against the table again, inhaling and exhaling breath, brooding over everything.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
when ETF team had termed the lunatic as lunatic, they didn't, even in their wildest dreams, think what this lunatic will do to live up to his title.
he kidnapped one of them and put a bomb belt around the person's waist, then left the member in middle on city and informed all media houses to do the live streaming.
now they knew what this lunatic was capable of doing.
when they reached near the member, who were sitting on ground, limbs were tied behind with ropes tightly, they found another note attached to the member, taunting them.
YOU TAKING TOO MUCH TIME, SO LEFT A GIFT. 2 MORE TO GO.
"Son of a bitch." Rawte crushed the paper and threw it away, as Sameer and Chotu untied Sakshi, who looked unfocussed and scared out of her mind, tears running down her face. he looked at her, then at the bomb in her waist, and then around him. the lunatic really chose his place well, first bus stop, now a housing apartment in middle of city. it was the thickest place population wise and media were everywhere along with police, bomb squad already making their way toward the team. they kneeled down as the ETF backed off, thinking about next course of action.
"This person doesn't want anything, just want to play with us." Director said, "it makes him even more dangerous." she sighed, "where are we on the list?"
Shree did some quick tapping on his tab, "everyone look clean enough, both in IA office and crime scene."
"there has to be some way!" Rawte exploded at the poor IT head, "now it's not the time for dead end."
"He is not the lunatic, so watch it." ACP Mukherjee used her quiet angry tone, glaring him down. he opened his mouth to say it's not at all a good time to cross him, when Sameer intervened.
"Guys, let's not make a scene here." He warned, "Police are already searching the area as we speak, if there is any other bomb, or suspect, we will know instantly."
"You go to the bomb." the Director ordered to ACP Mukherjee, who went w/o another word. Sameer and Chotu hurried to team up with local police to evacuate the place, Shree went over his list once again, and Rawte stood with Director as they watched bomb squad and ACP Mukherjee near the crime journo, touching the device lightly and checking, as if it can explode by a little more pressure.
it took another hour for the whole neighborhood to evacuate, and they could hear law enforcement and media people arguing at the BG as the former tried to shoo them away. finally they gave up and backed off, and the place was totally empty, no civilians visible, only police, ETFians, bomb squad and other law enforcement agents. they could also hear the crime journo blabbering that how last night, when she was returning from office, she felt someone gripping her from behind and then all she could remember was darkness, on the verge of nervousness.
The Director and Second in command was standing too still, but then they jumped as ACP Mukherjee stood up with a sour expression on her face.
"it's the same, like the second bomb." she started, "much more powerful than the bus stop one."
"can't you deactivate this one?" Rawte asked rather harshly, desperate for anything. she shot him a look, running fingers through hair, an indication she was frustrated as well.
"I am not sure, and I am not willing to try."
"Why not?" he took a step to her, trying to intimidate. as usual, it had the opposite reaction as she glowered.
"I am not willing to take any risk."
"she is right." he tore away his gaze as the Director spoke, "we can't risk that. can we move her?"
"we are not sure. the lunatic did some upgradation, its better if we don't move at all." she replied, clearly irritated as she looked around, "because of that, I am guessing he increased the trigger distance as well. now the range can be as long as 3 KM, who knows?"
he looked away, his fists turning white. It's so not going well for any of them, and for some reason his all anger are directed on the ACP Mukherjee. she was supposed to know everything, she was the damn ex-officer of bomb squad. who else supposed to know if not hers?
but it was not the time for blame game, he exhaled a breath, trying to calm himself down and think rationally. Sameer and Chotu joined him.
"when the first note dropped in that media house," the Director asked, "did anyone see anything?"
"it came through courier service. the guy said he just found it in his bag, someone put it when he was not looking." Chotu informed, "there is no reason to think he lied."
"and what about her office?" Rawte asked, motioning at Sakshi, "she was attacked right outside her office, someone must have seen something."
"No luck there." Sameer didn't look too pleased, "it was too dark, and nobody was around."
the discussion was interrupted when they heard a reporter was trying to get inside, arguing with one of constables. Chotu went ahead to clear the mess, leaving them to go over more theory. when he came back, his face was stone hard.
"The reporter found this inside his car." he handed over a piece of paper, and the team braced themselves for another note.
SAME PLACE-S. 0 TO GO. WAITING.
"same places?" Shree asked, "means bus stop and warehouse!"
the team looked at each other, instantly plans were made. Shree Riya and Arjun headed for the warehouse, while Sameer and Director Aisha headed for bus stop, Chotu staying with Sakshi. they will send back anything that can help to diffuse the bomb, and diffusing bomb come first. they can find the lunatic later.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
when they walked into the same warehouse for the second time in 50 hours, Rawte found himself on edge. his senses were always on high while on work, but here, right now, he felt something was wrong, as if they walked right into a trap.
which they did, for starters. though it's not exactly a wise decision, but they can't let a lunatic go run around and place bombs just because he felt like challenging ETF. but they took precautions, they had help outside, guns, bullet proof jackets and determination to finish it once for all.
the lunatic really had a thing for public display, or maybe it's his own twisted way of humor. it all started from that bus stop, and now he put one of the two bomb there. they found their bomb right middle of the first crime scene, where used to be blood and wires earlier.
crime scene cleaners clean up well.
they all simultaneously exhaled breath, and ACP Mukherjee was the first one to walk toward the bomb, the bomb squads following her. Rawte watched from sidelines, hating every minute of it as he don't know a thing that can help them right now. after some 20 minutes, they concluded it was the same like 3rd one which was now gracing the waist of their crime journo. he watched as some silent conversation passed between ACP Mukherjee and bomb squad people, and then she was walking back to them.
"You need to leave, right now." she eyed them both. in reply he simply crossed his arms over chest, because Duh, he is not leaving her alone. Shree also gave her a look.
"Now." her emphasis was more to the IT head than the second in command. he blinked once, silently agreeing with her, which was really rare that he can actually count them on fingers, and then turned to Shree. he looked crestfallen, as if two of his parents ganging up on him.
"You guys are not leaving, so I am not leaving." the IT head was determined.
"Really, Genius, it's not a good time to argue considering I didn't sleep in nearly 2 days." she talked fast, quiet, but with enough force to make it sound sincere, not angry, "we are going to take a chance here, you should not be here for that. we will be connected through comms, you will know everything. if we get something, you can forward the info so that they can help Sakshi and stop the other bomb, alright?"
The IT head didn't look convinced, but unlike Rawte, he knew better to argue, "okay." he nodded slowly, handing over the comms. he gave one last look as he left with several other officers the warehouse, and to Rawte's utter amazement, relief passed in her face.
she cares for him.
it should not come as a surprise, because Shree always respected her and she was always more or less polite while talking to him, even defended him few times. they shared a cordial relationship.
and still, he was taken aback by it. maybe because he put her to some level where she is uncaring and stone hearted, but that assumption was crumbling right in front of him.
that moment, surrounded by bomb and death, he looked forward to see what other things he can be wrong about her.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
it was same like bus stop some weeks ago, heart beats nearly stopped, sweats were shed, there were some lip biting moments, but in the end, they managed to cut the right wire and diffuse the bomb.
"What? what happened?" Shree asked urgently in their ears, and Rawte opened his mouth to answer, while ACP Mukherjee got up from floor and ran fingers through hair, this time in relief. but then the fingers in her hair stilled, and her posture tensed. he found himself looking what she was staring, and saw a crime scene cleaner guy with a remote in his hand.
"I only want ETF." the 50 year old bald man looked around, voice calm and compelling as his eyes went on everyone, his grip on remote tight, "rest of you, get out."
the bomb squads and police looked at each other, the latter already pointing guns at the old guy. in response, his grip on remote tighten more.
"I just want ETF." he repeated, eyes going over the only 2 officers of ETF. his eyes met with them and he signaled. they all hurriedly left for the door, in his ear Shree shouted something to others.
"You diffused it." the man now eyed the bomb, then glanced at ACP Mukherjee. Rawte forced himself to get on his feet, standing some feet away from the lady officer.
"I had some help." God bless her ability to keep calm, really, as she looked unaffected, "so how this goes now? do you have gun to kill us?"
the man gave a blank smile, "and what purpose that will solve?"
"you tell us." Rawte inquired, crossing arms over chest, "we are wondering about your purpose since the first note."
the man eyed the bomb, then stared hard at his remote in hand as he spoke, "you were not in my plan. I just wanted . . . it to go off. but you had to intervene." he met ACP Mukherjee's eyes, "I heard you diffused the bomb in bus stop." he paused, "it's your fault your team is suffering."
"Nothing I didn't hear earlier." she commented dryly, "But why put the bomb in the first place? what was your plan?"
"You gave any thought to my plan so far?" the old man asked, curious. she shrugged.
"you kept us busy, but yes, I did." she replied, "a crime scene cleaner, you can't have that much money for making this powerful bomb. I am not sure if you have any knowledge in chemistry. . . " she paused, tilting head, "where did you get money?"
while she kept the man busy, Rawte moved closer, gripping the gun tucked behind him tighter, ready to shoot at the man and defend her at a moment's notice.
the man smiled hollowly, "I had savings . . . when family shrank," the smile vanished, "you have a lot of money." his eyes went out of focus for a while, then it turned on her once again, "i made those bombs."
"The upgrades were tricky."
"Yet you managed to diffuse just fine."
"Like I said, I had help." she commented, clearly realizing the time for talk is over. silence engulfed him for several moments, and he saw from the corner of his eyes police surrounding the warehouse, ready to take the kill shot. but if things go wrong, he can pull the trigger and the other two bomb can explode. though he was so far from both locations, still . . .
"You are far away from both the locations." he said, and the man jumped at his tone, as if he had forgotten his presence, "what will this trigger do?"
"I made some upgrades." the man said gravely, "when i pull this trigger, two phones near the bomb location will start ringing. It's just the matter time when someone curious enough will pick up the phone and press the call button. and . . . " he trailed off for the dramatic effect.
"You know my wife and son was killed in a bomb blast?" his voice was suddenly so small, full of unshed tears that he took pity on him, despite of what he put him and his team through these 50 hours, "they were just at the wrong place at wrong time. there was no fault of them."
"There are always none's fault." ACP Mukherjee's voice sounded surprisingly compassionate, which again, took Rawte by surprise, "except for the bomb maker."
"I thought after they were gone, why them? why not others?" a crazed look passed in his eyes, and the pity was gone from the second-in-command's mind, "people are always in wrong place at wrong time. why not others, why them?"
"so you took it upon yourself to blow off others?" the reasoning was so . . . idiotic, even by a lunatic standard, he really can't blame Riya for her ill-timed sarcasm. but the lunatic didn't seem faze by her tone, instead he nodded.
"But then you were in wrong place at wrong time. so i had to change plan." he finished, which sounded like conclusion from his side.
"So how this will go?" Rawte asked, "obviously you don't want anything, nothing to negotiate. why you are here and not somewhere else? why this confrontation?"
"Because my change of plan now concerned ending ETF." the man replied, the grip on his remote tighten. simultaneously both of them took out their guns and pointed at him.
"That's not going to happen." in a way, it looked they were winning, but the irritating sense of Rawte said something was wrong, and he forced himself to sound calm, "you are going to hand us over the remote. there is no need for any more plans. It's the best course of action."
"My best course of action now includes ending the team which ruined my plan in the first place!" the man shouted, for the first time looking lunatic, like they rightly titled him, "and you know what else includes in the plan? another bomb, right here!" then he gave a wry smile, "the second bomb exploded outside, and another will explode here, ending you two."
"So not in a mood to die." ACP Mukherjee commented, stealing a glance at Rawte, "give us the remote and end this now. no need for another body drop."
"I don't have anything to lose." the man replied, looking fully prepared to push the button in his hand. many things happened at once.
some well timed and well aimed officer shot the man's wrist from outside, causing the remote to fell from his hand. in response, the man let out an animalistic growl and, apparently, he was a man with gun. as he shot everywhere, causing more mayhem and trouble for everyone, Rawte jumped toward ACP Mukherjee, taking her down, so that both of them are spared from the gun shots. he shouted at Shree through the comm to let others know it's the black wire to diffuse the bomb, and he could hear Shree informing others on the other side. together, he and ACP crawled near the door, also shooting at the man. the last thing he saw it was probably his or ACP Mukherjee's bullet that hit the man on knee, and he was struggling to reach for the remote. he could feel Riya going at it, but he didn't allow it, his grip tightening on her waist. as she struggled against him, the man reached the remote and pushed the button.
there was a sound of violent explosion. everything crumbled. fire and smoke filled the air. people hurried to get away from the fire, some were lying on the ground, too hurt to move. Shree along with others were some 100 meter away from the warehouse, and he could only stare, his body and mind going numb as he realized two of his team mates might be dead inside, one his cousin, other someone he came to respect quite a bit.
The explosion might have taken his ears, was his first thought when he smelt and saw the fire and smoke around him, and tasted the dirt in his mouth, but could not hear a thing. he was struggling for breath, it was a combination of darkness, due to the remains of warehouse which fell on them, and fire, obviously a result of explosion, but hey, at least he was not dead.
he snapped out of it when he heard someone coughing around him, and then noticed. he was on top of ACP Mukherjee, crushing the woman with his weight. at some point, his hands had found their ways to her head and waist, shielding her from the impact.
he blamed it to his cop instinct, nothing else.
he tried to move and grunted in pain. he might have saved her, but his back was screaming at him. there had to be a nasty wound back there. he moved slowly, falling with a thud to the ground, his breath coming out quickly due to the pain.
"Fucking lunatic." he heard her swearing, and turned to look at her. if you ask him, she looked better, if you don't count the dirt and ashes which covered both of them. he looked over for any wound or blood, and found none.
though he found his one hand was still under her head.
"On a brighter note," his voice came out raspy, "everyone else miss the breathtaking confrontation."
she turned to look at him, and in the process their faces came much too close, which should be illegal in life threatening, under the debris, surrounded by fire situations. but she was never for the one for personal space, and she seemed unaffected by it.
"who knew bombs bring the dry humor in our Boss?" she smirked, and suddenly he felt like it was over. the rift that came between them after that god awful evening, his ill-timed presence, that piece of paper which he had no idea what was about. he felt it was back to normal, or whatever it was before that damned evening.
and damn, it should not bring the relief in him. not a time for relief, when surrounded by fire and smoke and crushed under burnt building.
"Breathtaking indeed." she muttered, turning her head, as she coughed once more, and then tried to get up. her hand slipped rather awkwardly under her weight, and she inhaled sharply, her head falling with a thud on his hand as she cursed yet again. he was about to ask what was wrong, when both of them heard voices calling for them.
some 1 hour later, the team was together once again, some 300 meters away from the warehouse which was now surrounded by fire fighters and police, and some intrigued people of locality. Sameer was lecturing about the human civilization and its need for hospitals, which both Riya and Arjun brushed aside, as they sat on the back of medic vans and let them did the stitches. on his part, he at least used sedatives, but when Liza tried to put the sedative syringe in her arm, which had a broken bone, she brushed it aside.
beside her the Director sighed, "it's not necessary."
Liza blinked in surprise, and ACP Mukherjee smirked, "super ninja skills."
if lunatic who nearly killed them cant dampen her spirit, he was not sure anything else can.
"While I appreciate courage and totally for the female power," Sameer said to Riya, eyes narrowing, "I don't think it's good idea to feel that much pain only to show off."
"she don't feel any pain." the Director sighed once again, now explaining as several pair of eyes widen like saucers, "it's a genetic disorder, she don't feel any pain."
Like every other time, the team listened to her and didn't question how on earth she knows about it. They came to expect that she knows. That's it.
and she was right. even the medic and Liza was wincing at the state on her upper arm, and almost all of the team looked away as the cleaning of her forearm for cast started, but she looked unaffected. he was stunned, maybe that was part of reason of her reckless attitude, because she is in no position to feel any pain.
he was not sure he should feel sorry for her, which didn't feel right, or feel more fascinated by her.
he continued to stare at her unabashed as she looked at the team, hearing how Shree called others about the black wire thing and they diffused bus stop bomb and rescued Sakshi, and the conversation between lunatic bomber and them, and the shootout that followed. somewhere down the time, she felt his gaze and looked right back, never the one to back from challenge. there was no anger, or mocking. she simply held his gaze, like he did.
he didn't know how long this staring game was going on, but he snapped out of it when he head Sameer's "enjoying the view?" and found himself with a blanket on shoulder. the medics finished with him long ago.
she looked at the other officer, "can't beat yours . . . I assure you." she remarked lightly. it had the weird effect on him, he looked away to hide his embarrassment. he was not blushing, he was shirtless and naked on the upper body except for the blanket on shoulder. she was staring in his eyes and not anywhere else. he had nothing to blush.
"Me in my wife beater?" Sameer smirked. he knew what that word does to her, and she didn't disappoint. she started to laugh like that day, to which the Director stopped talking to whoever she was, stunned yet pleased with it. even he smiled softly at it.
"don't make me laugh while I am getting cast." she tried to sound stern, and moved her arm as the medic and Liza helped to wear the cast.
"You don't feel any pain so it's a moot point." he shot back. she narrowed her eyes playfully, and stood up w/o anyone's support of course, a little disoriented, but nothing she can't handle. she then notice the quiet IT head looking down and tilted her head to him.
"Your glasses are misty." she commented. he jumped at it and hurried to clear his glasses, which, Rawte knew, because of his tears. Shree always held his emotion when at work, but when someone of them is in danger, he can't stop it.
he consider her one of them.
the care is mutual.
she ruffled his hair once, a soft look passing on her face. it was gone as quickly as it came, and then she was leaving the crime scene with Chotu, telling to her she was going to sleep all night and full day tomorrow to make for the lost sleep, and his astonished inquiry about her inability to feel any pain.
He was sure she will have something interesting to say to that.
He was starting to know her well.