Espionage - A Short Story

I

4:30 PM, in front of Hotel Highway Inn

She inhaled the smell of the tobacco leaves stuffed inside the Gold flake kings cigarette before lighting it. The aroma of it induced variegated sensations and feelings which she felt could not be matched by anything else. She held the cigarette in between the index and middle finger with the former over the tipping paper that covered the filter and the latter underneath the rolling paper in such a way that both the fingers were bent downwards. The way she held it gave a real masculine feeling to her. She lit it, threw the disposable lighter into a bin, sucked in the smoke and filled her lungs with it, then exhaled. It felt heavenly.

“We got to discuss about your smoking!” blurted Shameel much to the chagrin of Nikita. “Do you have any idea where this would lead to? Death darling! This is nothing but suicide”.

Nikita looked into his eyes with the same mischievous look that made and will make him fall for her again and again, “I like the smell of it, Honey! I feel myself while smoking”, a pause to continue the pleasurable inhaling and exhaling and then she continued, “I feel like a man. I should’ve been born a male. Guess the chromosomes messed up big time”.

“You’re impossible! Your specimen has to be kept in a laboratory!” retorted Shameel.

This dialogue is not new to either of them. But he never understood the meaning of “I feel like a man”. Does she really mean it? ”Of course you’re not a man. You can never be one! You want to believe that you’ve all the qualities of man but the truth, my dear, is crap”. He brought his face near her and uttered the sentence that was going to have repercussions that he would regret until he lived.

“You’re just women, a weak creature. You cannot become a man just because you smoke and consume alcohol.”

She looked up at him with a reaction that asked “You really think so?” That was the moment when Shameel regretted saying that sentence. He anticipated the next to be “I’ll do it today!” As if reading his mind, she repeated it. ”I’ll do it today”.

 “No no. Please! Nooooooo”

Before he could finish the dissent, she picked up the gun from the holster and walked right into the restaurant. She moved swiftly to the fourth table, where three guys were sitting in a circular table sipping the beverage from the tin.

“Mr. Pradeep?”

The tallest of the 3 looked up. She pulled a paper out of her pant pocket and read it aloud.

“Abhinav thinks that you don’t deserve to live in this word. For someone like you who loves adventures, death will be another beautiful adventure.”

She stopped and looked at him with a cheeky face, “I think he’s a Harry Potter fan. Dumbledore says a similar sentence at the end of the first book”. Before Pradeep could comprehend what was happening, she pulled out the gun with the swiftness that trademarks an assassin and pointed it at Pradeep.

BOOM… BOOM… BOOM

II

4:15 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

Deepak circled the curls in his handle bar moustache and rested his folded arms on the circular table. He looked at Pradeep and then at his watch. “Why is he late always?”

“Says who?” countered Pradeep and Deepak fell silent at that remark. Just a minute or two would’ve passed when Ashwin joined them. A garrulous individual, Ashwin is and it didn’t take more time to show that off.

“I love these round tables. These create more intimacy than square tables. I read today morning that Louis Van Gaal has ordered all square tables to be replaced by circular ones.”

Deepak interjected. “You’re a big Show-Off. Please stop it Ash. I don’t care whether your Manchester United players eat in round or square tables.” He stopped to register his irritation and continued, “We’ve got a serious problem!” He looked at Pradeep as if to say go ahead.

Pradeep looked at Ashwin with a gaze that tacitly said those two magical words “I’m screwed”. He finally opened his mouth to reveal it.

“Abhinav knows everything!”

OOPS. Ashwin’s comprehension was wrong earlier. He wasn’t screwed, he was dead.

III

6:30 AM, Lake View Road

Mradula was sleeping peacefully. The cold temperature outside coupled with the air conditioning inside the room caused a shudder within her naked body. She pulled the blanket tight over her and when it didn’t provide the desired results, she pulled herself closer and tighter to the heat source lying next to her.

Pradeep pulled her into his blanket and caressed her hair. “How beautiful she is!” thought Pradeep. “None can give her this happiness other than me! I can’t imagine her being so happy with anyone else!”

He planted a kiss on her forehead and delve deep into an array of thought process that were self-appreciating, slightly narcissistic of having saved the girl from some unknown demon. At that moment when the thought process turned towards end result, the dreaded face of Abhinav came into his mind.

“How long can this go on without him finding out? I shouldn’t be surprised even if he had setup a spy camera here.” Listening and Reasoning are virtues that Abhinav likes a lot but never follows. He prefers virtues like killing and abusing more. Pradeep thought of all the murders that Abhinav had committed in the name of protecting his sister.

“Am I just hallucinating that I’m screwed or am I really screwed?”

The tension increased his urge for smoking. He turned back to fetch the cigarette case on the top of the closed compartment on the head of the bed and lit it. The puffs reduced the anxiety and helped him channel his thought process.

But before he could think of something productive, Mradula awoke screaming, then looked at him and burst into tears.

Pradeep caressed her neck and hugged her, “Hey baby! What’s up? Any bad dream?”

Mradula hugged him tight and kissed his chest. “Yeah” said she, looking at him with eyes full of tears. “Someone was shooting at you. There was blood, brains…” she paused to control her tears but when she couldn’t she burst out again, “Oh Pradeep! I love you! I cannot lose you”.

To lighten her, he produced a fake smile and said “You got to stop reading all those books dear, that would reduce these dreams!” She was in no mood for stupid jokes.

Pradeep pulled her even more close to him and patted her back, caressed her hair, kissed her forehead to make her feel normal and to assure her that nothing was wrong. But he knew that it wasn’t long before everything could turn mental and the dream could become real.

IV

11:45 AM, inside the Mahindra Bolero standing near Lake View Road

Eyes staring straight ahead, with gritted teeth and a face that resembled a wild animal, he uttered his favorite phrase. “I want him killed”

Although it’s hardly new to him, this day was different, the stake holders are different. This is personal, something close to his heart. There’s no room for tolerance.

“We shouldn’t be hasty, Boss” responded his aide.

He turned his head to look at his aide, the boiling face was slowly returning to his usual self. A sarcastic smile cropped up between his lips.

“I shouldn’t be hasty, right?” He laughed a bit and continued, “He comes every night to meet her and you’re using the word hasty.”

His voice was raising, “You want me to shut up and witness that bas….”, he stopped, “He deserves to get killed. Call Shameel! NOW”

V

4:30 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

Ashwin stared bleakly at the stoic Pradeep who was walking till now on the thinnest rope possible, is about to fall into the abyss.

“How did…..” Words failed to come out of his mouth for the first time. Garrulous or not, fear has this extraordinary power to suppress the words out of even talkative individuals. He cleared his throat. “How did he come to know about this?”

“I saw his car when I walked out of her house. That moment I knew he knows everything. The worst part, I guess is that he wants me to know that he knows everything”.

“WHAT!?” interjected Ashwin. There was genuine confusion on his face.

“Wait! Wait! What exactly does he know?”

“I’m guessing everything about myself and Mradula”

Just that, right?

VI

4:45 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

The manager of the hotel heard three shots being fired. There was some gap between the first and the next two shots.  He rushed to the source of the sound and it was none other than the fourth table.

Before he could comprehend the situation, a tough young masculine hand whisked him away from the scene. There were many such “tough” young men swarming the place. They were escorting another trio from the crime scene.

When outside, couple of not so tough young men were clearing another dead body. The Hotel Manager cursed the 2 dead for creating this mess. His cursing didn’t leave out their family members too. Crap! It’s going to take a lot of time to come out of this mess.

He heard sound of approaching sirens. Looks like a lot of Vehicles. All the people in the vicinity of the scene were being escorted to safety by those tough young men.

A muscular young man, with an imperial moustache and a small wart above the moustache approached the hotel manager and shook hands. Before he could talk, his walkie-talkie buzzed with some disturbance. He moved away to attend.

A minute or two would’ve passed when he came back smiling. “I’m Vincent from Special Task Forces. We’re sealing the hotel and the whole place will be sealed until our investigations are over.” Now the hotel manager understood what was happening. Why did the two idiots come to this place to get killed? Damn them!

VII

For Pradeep, everything was like walking in a dream. Right from the moment the female showed the gun at him till the moment when her head exploded. The sniper was spot on.

He shuddered to think of the flip side. Had he missed the target? Well, Mradula might’ve to start looking for another boyfriend.

Both Ashwin and Deepak were in a state of trance, not knowing what the heck was happening. Was he right in bringing them into this and jeopardizing their lives too? Well, he can argue that he didn’t know that it would turn out this way.

He along with his friends, too were escorted to safety by the forces. There wasn’t any sign of the media yet. They’d want to clear the mess before that. Pradeep saw Vincent talking to someone. Vincent looked at him and smiled. Does it mean that Abhinav has been taken care? That’d be amazing!

Suddenly Vincent’s walkie-talkie exploded into life. The color on his face was draining slowly. Had the devil escaped?

He looked at Pradeep again and shook his head this time. It meant you’re on your own now. Mission Failed.

Brrrrr…. Brrrr…. Brrrr…. Pradeep mobile was vibrating announcing the arrival of a message.

 He opened it with trembling hands. The message read: “This is what happens when you mess with something you don’t have any idea about, spion, spiare or spy”.

He was shell shocked to see the sender. When he looked up, he knew what was going to happen next. The sniper was there, he knew who was behind that.

It all made sense to him now.

“She has played with me from the beginning.”

“Did she know how to use a gun?”

“What all does she know?”

“All she portrayed to him was a façade, deep down she was something else. “

“That harry Potter like quote, I should’ve guessed it”.

“How stupid I was.”

He laughed at the irony of getting shot by the same woman who shared her bed with him the previous night.

This time 3 shots weren’t needed. BOOM

Ashwin was right in the beginning. He wasn’t screwed he was dead. That too, this time for real.