Chapter 43: chapter 43

MADHAVThe place smells foul and bad. There is not enough lighting in the place for me to see even my own hands. I had been to this jail exactly two times and both times I hated this place. My hate for this place remains the same as I follow the jail warden to the cell where the man I am going to meet is kept. Noghot Jail is known for its notorious inmates. It is the most secure jail in our country. It houses criminals who have committed many crimes. There are a lot of rules and protocols here. It is not easy to get access here. But, I got it using Vikram’s influence. The jail warden is a middle-aged man in his early forties. His eyes are alert as he takes me to the inmate’s cell that I am about to meet.“What was your business again with him?” he asks in a casual tone. I never told him why I was meeting the inmate in the first place. He is fishing for information. “It is confidential, sir,” I reply as politely as I can. I am not a great fan of jail wardens. My dislike for them is partly due to the one I had to face when I was sent to juvenile.“Yeah, sure it is,” he mumbles stopping before a big iron door. There is a small square-sized hole at eye level. The warden peeps into the cell through the hole. He turns to me with a serious expression, “He is awake but you have permission for only half an hour. Finish your business quickly. Not a second extra will be given.”“Okay,” I say deadpanning. “Is the cell bugged for sounds?” “Huh? Every cell of our jail is bugged for security,” the warden explains.“Well, then, I have a jammer that will jam the signals from this cell for the duration I am inside,” I say.The warden opens his mouth to protest but I cut him off, “I have permission to that, Sir. You can refer to the letter that I brought along with me if you want.”“Okay, I will come again in 30 minutes exactly, not a second extra. A guard will be watching you,” the warden says.“That will work for me,” I reply.“Okay, then, have fun with him,” the warden says opening the door. It opens with a loud creak. The cell is dark and has a smell of loneliness and despair. The inmate looks up from the book he is reading. His once handsome and lovely face has become ragged and dirty. The clean-shaven chin is now with an untidy beard. The once famous medical genius is now the most notorious criminal.If my hunch and the shreds of evidence are correct then the prep who is trying to harm Sruthi is Raj, the inmate sitting before me. He is born a genius with a thirst for knowledge. He saw medicine as a science of study and experiment rather than a tool to save human lives. Six months ago, Vikram’s spies tipped him off about weird things happening in an asylum. I was assigned to further investigate the place and the findings I found were shocking. The inmate Raj was trying to modify the patient’s genes admitted in the place for his research. He was injecting them with harmful chemicals that changed the very nature of their human body. None of what he was doing came under the records. It was his pastime. Many patients’ bodies cannot take the high dosage of chemicals. There were many sudden deaths reported by the hospital. This is what first grabbed Vikram’s attention.Raj had the political support of a few ministers and the law can do nothing to him. So, I was sent to capture him without any of his allies knowing it. It was an easy mission. All I had to do was act as a mentally ill patient and I got a seat there. Once, I was in, I recorded all the activities there and executed the trap I set for him. Like a rat greedy for food, he came and got caught in my trap. He was arrested and brought before justice. But, I knew that giving him the jail sentence wouldn’t stop him and his crazy ideas. Because the man has lost his mind. He was so obsessed with the results of his research. He was convinced that he was working for the greater good and that sacrificing the lives of a few people was worth it. In short, he was living in a delusional world. He is the only person who is alive after knowing my identity as Deathwhisper.I warned Vikram that keeping him alive is dangerous because the man not only knows medicine but he is a master manipulator. I have seen him manipulate people to do things. But Vikram wanted to keep Raj alive to gather evidence against the corrupted ministers in the cabinet.“It is good to see you again, Madhav or should I call you Deathwhisper,” he says with a smirk.I have him pinned against the wall with my hands around his neck in seconds. His eyes widen in shock. If he thinks that I am here for a chit-chat, then he is wrong. I am here for a serious business. 'Promise me that you will return to me safe and sound.' Sruthi’s words keep playing in my mind like an old broken tape recorder. My gut feeling keeps telling me that I shouldn’t have left her. I want to return to her as soon as possible.“WHY ARE YOU TARGETTING SRUTHI?” my voice is an angry growl.Raj’s eyes widen in surprise before a look of cunningness replaces it. He is not shaken by the murderous look in my eyes. “You think you can just waltz in here and demand answers?” he asks with a sneer. Ignoring his attempt at taking control of the situation, I tighten my grip on his neck. His breaths come short and he tries to push me away but I slam his head into the wall. He moans in pain as blood oozes from the wound.“I have other ways to gain information if you don’t tell me now,” I warn in a cold voice. “But do you have another life?”“I am not the one doing those attacks on her,” he answers weakly.“Oh! Nice try. But, all evidence points to you,”  I answer.“What evidence do you have?” he asks.“Your dark web id is ‘Octopus’. All the men hired to kill Sruthi were hired using that ID. What do you have to say for that?”He laughs. “How do you think that I would carry out communication from this jail cell?” I smile in return, “Don’t give me that bullshit. I know criminals here are allowed to use the internet once a month.”“Ha! We are allowed to use the surface web but not the dark web.”“You may have asked someone else to hire the men using that ID.”He laughs, “Our browsing histories and everything we search on the internet is recorded and monitored. The warden would know if I did communicate with someone. You can ask him.”“Stop lying,” I snap getting angry at him. “I am not lying Madhav,” he answers with a shrug. “I mean what I say. I am not using that ID now.”“Then who is using it?”  I ask.“How would I know that?” he asks with another casual shrug.Dammit! He is lying. Don’t trust him.“You are on a goose chase here. I am not the person you are searching for. I advise you to go to your wife as soon as possible. I wouldn’t leave her at a time like this,” he says in a sympathetic tone. Something about the way he says it sends chills down my spine. I am not afraid of him. No, I am scared that Sruthi is all alone in the capital and I am twelve hours away from her. If something happened to her, then I wouldn’t be there to save her. God! The woman barely knows self-defence. Her brother has entrusted her in my hands and I irresponsibly left her. I need to get back to her. My gut keeps warning me that something bad is going to happen.In split moment I decide what I must do. Some people don't deserve to live in this world. I am hundered percent convinced that Raj is the man trying to attack Sruthi. Taking him out of this world is the only solution to all the problems. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥