Chapter 11
A/N: Hey guys! :D This is the last chapter of the story. :( :D I'll give a detailed author's note in the next chapter.
So for now, happy reading! :D
Abhijeet and Daya entered the bureau. The moment Daya swung the door open, sounds of laughter and happy talks hit them whole, until the two of them entered and saw the cause of the commotion. ACP Pradyuman had returned to the Bureau in excellent spirit after his mysterious mission. Abhijeet could only assume that it must have been a success.
Walking towards them, Abhijeet and Daya greeted everyone, and shared in-depth details about the solving of the case, until everyone felt the hectic schedule of the past few days hit them with a sudden force.
Taking seats in a semi-circle, the last of their laughs dying away, Abhijeet now spoke.
"Sir, aapko batana chahiye tha na, hum log aake aapko pick-up kar dete."
"Nahi Abhijeet, main tum logon ko surprise dena chahta tha, aue toh aur mere driver lene aaya tha mujhe. Tum logon ke waise hi itne problems the toh socha ki aur pareshan na karu."
ACP Pradyuman put a strong stress on the word 'problems' which Abhijeet suspected was definitely directed to him. Shaking his head in mild amusement, Abhijeet put back his concentration to what was being spoken around. He knew that now the moment was close - any moment now, and that one life-altering decision on which his life depended would be taken place.
"Chalo chalo abhi sab, paperwork ho gaya hai na sab ka?" Everyone nodded in an affirmative. ACP Pradyuman continued.
"Toh aaj ka day sab log off le lo. Case pe bohot mehnat kiya hai tumne sab, ek chutti toh banti hi hai."
Everyone looked happy. While Freddy headed home to spend time with his wife, Vivek and Kajal decided to meet Tasha's parents and see how they werw doing. Sachin left to spend the day with his friends, which only left Abhijeet, Daya and ACP Pradyuman. An awkward silence now prevailed in the Bureau. Daya gave a hesitant look to the two of them, before heading out of the Bureau, while Abhijeet suddenly found his shoes very interesting.
"Toh kya faisla liya hai tumne?"
Abhijeet removed an envelop from his coat pocket and handed it over. ACP Pradyuman gave him a hard and scrutinizing look, before taking the envelop from his hand. Abhijeet chanced to take a look at him. Even though he had thought this out since weeks, now that the moment had come, he could not bear to face it. There were so many thing he wanted to tell his father figure, but he could not find anything suitable to say. Looking at him now with tears threathning to break through, he gave one final nod to him, before rushing out of the Bureau, oblivious to a Daya who was waiting right outside the door.
Abhijeet's house:
Abhijeet paced around his living room in a fury. He could not understand what had gotten him this rattled up, but he felt a molten lava of rage overcome him. He did not know what he expected to hear from his boss when handing his his resignation - that his boss would downright refuse, or perhaps offer him words of sooth and calm, but nothing of the sort happened. All his boss did was stare at his hard enough, giving him the feeling as though he was being thoroughly X-rayed, but that only enraged him more.
If he had to be honest with himself, he had expected several tearful farewells, every officer holding him back from taking such a stupid and chivalrous decision, which was nothing but his doom. It had barely been 4 hours in hus house, and he already felt his head burst and hammer hardly inside him, being confined by the lonely walls of solitude of his house. Strangely enough, his head had started pounding severely, and he could not think of any other reason of that to happen, except that the stress of the past few days, along with the several incidents of the past few days were finally weighing down on him.
Walking desperately, trying to clear his head off these unplwasant thoughts, Abhijeet's eyes fell on the medicine cabinet and realized at once that the reason that the headache may have recurred was due to the fact that he hadn't taken any of his doses for the day. Rushing to the cabinet, he quickly gulped down his medication, along with his usual antidepressant, in hope to rid his mind of these tormenting thoughts.
It was only after he gulped down the tablets and plopped himself on the couch that he felt something odd. He felt as though he had made a grave error by doing something immensely stupid, but somehow, he could not get what it was, even though he felt the answer hovering right above him.
It took him some minutes before he rook his mind off the topic, the answer seemingly going further and further away from him. He had switched off his mobile from any communications, which he half contemplated to rectify, before the doorbell went off. And suddenly, he was overcome by the strongest of foreboding, that if he opened the door, something bad was bound to happen. After considering the door for several moments, he reacted on the better off his judgement, and got up to open the door.
What happened after the door opened, Abhijeet did not register fully as he recoiled back in shock and stumbled several steps backward, so that the unknown person now entered Abhijeet's living room, until the light of the room fell on his face fully, bringing about the same features in the light as he had 14 years back. Abhijeet felt like he was being thrown into a new nightmare now, his biggest fear standing right in front of him - Dilip.
Abhijeet could not think of anything to say. Surely, this was all a big mistake. This must just be another hallucination, even though in his heart of hearts, he knew that wasn't the case. And that's where the dangling answer reached him. He had mixed his medications again.
"Tum... tum..."
"Zinda hoon main."
"Nahi... nahi... tum... maine tumhein... nahi..."
Abhijeet felt something great overcome him now, the strength of which weakened him completely. He felt his knees buckle below him dangerously, which hit the ground hard. The last thing that he could remember was his name being called out repeatedly in the distance, before he succumbed to the great pain in his head, which felt like ot was to burst any moment.
It was a cold wet night, except in the dingy, dim-lit room where Abhijeet paced around impatiently. Two rookies brought Dilip inside the room roughly, and forced him to take a seat on the chair, while binding his hands and feet. Abhijeet signaled the two of them to leave the room momentarily, and shut the door.
The moment the door swung shut behind them, Abhijeet hurried over to Dilip and spoke to him very swiftly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"ACP Dandekar ne tumhein sab samjha diya hai?"
"Haan. Unhone mujhe samjha diya." There was a very unhappy and uneasy look on Dilip's face, and Abhijeet noticed the bitter tone he tried to suppress. "Maine Anjali ko bhi iske bare mein bata diya hai. Humne sagai todh di hai."
Abhijeet felt a sense of guilt wash over him. He had been told this at the very start of the mission, and had half-heartedly accepted Dilip's fate too, for the greater good, but throughout the mission, Abhijeet had misgivings about the decision taken by his senior. He was in no position to contact him, but he had developed an alternate line of course over the time. And this was it - to do what's right or to do what's easy?
Sighing, Abhijeet cleared his throat, and his two rookies entered the room. And he smiled. For there stood in front of him Sub. Constables Hariya and Kalpesh, disguised and undercover like Abhijeet.
"Humne unn dono ko kisi bahaane se bhej diya hai. Humaare paas sirf 10 minute hai."
Abhijeet smiled. Perhaps this was not going to be that difficult after all. Getting into his element, he winked at Dilip who took it as his cue to begin. Sitting on the table opposite the fully bound Dilip, Abhijeet started toying with his gun playfully, while he took on a sharp, demeaning tone.
"Kis ke liye kaam karta hai tu? Police ke liye kaam karta hai? CID ka aadmi hai tu? Bol!"
"Main tujhe yahi pe zinda gadh dunga! Sach sach bata... sach batayega kiska mukhbir hai toh kuch dino ke liye jeene ka mauka mil jayega tujhe."
"Main teri dhamkiyon se darna wala nahi. Aaj nahi toh kal sabko marna hi hai. Toh phir aaj hi maar de mujhe!" Abhijeet gave out a sneering laugh.
"Maut saamne khadi hai aur tujhe darr nahi lagta... theek hai. Main toh tujhe kuch dino ke liye jeene ka mauka de raha tha."
"Nahi chahiye mujhe tera mauka. Thhukta hoon tere mauke par."
"Itna masti! Teri yeh himmat! Yeh le!"
Even though Abhijeet had held the gun on Dilip's temple, when he took aim, he shot at the mirror opposite. The mirror broke instantly, revealing another mirror, with blood already splattered on it. And Abhijeet emptied the entire magazine, into the air, with a satisfies smirk. Things were going by perfectly.
Abhijeet now walked towards the mirror and spoke in a seething tone.
"Abhijeet se panga..." Giving a disgusted look around, he muttered with loathing.
" Bahar jaake phek ke aao use!"
Dilip understood at that moment what was Abhijeet's intention had been. Looking at him with gratitude and affection, at the same time looking frightened and stricken, they shared the slightest of eye contact, before he feigned death and allowed himself to be disposed off, though not before blood was put accurately on what was supposed to be the entry of the bullets.
Abhijeet felt himself getting slapped awake. Looking around, he realized that he was no longer in the dingy room, but was fallen and spread eagle-like on the floor. But that was not all. He found Daya's face swimming inches from his own, his face looking white and scared.
Helping Abhijeet to the couch once more, he took a seat beside him, while Abhijeet rubbed him temples, which were now not hurting as bad as it was before. Someone brought him a glass of water, and he accepted it without looking at the person while uttering an inaudible 'thanks'. His throat felt hoarse, as though he had actually been laughing like a maniac in the same manner as he had 14 years back.
The moment he had sipped the water, his throat felt much better. Looking around, he eyes met Daya's, which looked much worse than the time when he had tried of shoot himself, and then travelled to Dilip, who was observing him with a curious and guilty expression. Apparently, Dilip had been the one to give him water. Craning his neck further, he saw someone sitting on the dining table, who looked like he was trying not to draw attention to himself, but on looking closer, he realized it was ACP Pradyuman.
But now that he had finally known the truth about what really happened that night, and Dilip was right in front of him to prove that he was correct, he had several burning questions to put forth. Ignoring everyone in the room, as though only he and Dilip now existed, he fired his first question.
"Uske baad phir kya hua?"
Dilip's eyebrows creased for several moments. It could be clearly seen that he had not understood the question one bit. Abhijeet realized that he needed to re-frame the question properly.
"Mera matlab hai, ek baar maine unn logon ko phek ke aane ko kaha, phir kya hua?" Abhijeet cringed while asking the question, but it was necessary to know the whole truth, now that he had unlocked part of it. Dilip looked surprised. Apparently he was under the impression that he had to start explaining right from the beginning, but now that Abhijeet atleast recollected some part of it, he looked a bit relaxed.
"Hariya aur Kalpesh mujhe jungle mein chhod aaye jahan se main bhaag gaya. Kuch dino mein tumne pur gang ko pakar liya, gang ke mastermind ke saath, aur tab tumhein CID Branch mein promote kar diya gaya, aur main files mein gayab ho gaya."
"Case kiske bare mein tha?"
"Unn dino, drugs ki bohot underground market supply chal rahi thi. Aur intelligence bureau se teen chaar links ke bare mein pata chala tha. Aur jaise ki inn cases mein hota hai, koi na koi toh undercover hona chahiye, take aur acche se samajh pade kiinn logon ki pohonch kahan tak hai. Tumne pehle 6 mahino tak undercover kaam kiy. Uske baad mujhe introduce karwaya. Par ek din, mujhe compromise kar diya gaya. Unn logon ke gang mein se kisi ko pata chala ki main ek CID officer hoon. Main kuch dino ke bachte bachaate bach nikla aur humaare tab ke ACP Dandekar ke paas aaya."
"Unhone kya kaha?"
"Unka yahi kehna tha ki agar mujhe mission aur tumhein bachaana hai, toh mujhe apni kurbaani deni padegi. Meri tab shaadi hone waali thi. Mujhe samajh nahi aa raha tha ki kya karu. Phir maine faisla le liya ki mujhe sahi raah pe hi chalna hai. Main khush nahi tha, par yeh meri zimmedari thi. Unn logon ke gang ke liye breadcrumb bicha diye, aur unhone mujhe pakad liya. Phir aage ka tum jaante hi ho."
Abhijeet nodded. But suddenly, instead of the weight going down, something seemed to constrict in his chest. It was as though at last, all the answers of his past were to open. Taking a wild guess, Abhijeet put forth his next question.
"Mere saath 14 saal pehle jo hadsa hua, kya iska iss case se koi sambandh tha?"
If he was expecting for a reaction, Abhijeet was certainly not disappointed. For at that moment, three sharp intakes of breath were sufficient enough for an answer. But Abhijeet right now only had eyes for Dilip.
"Hum mein se kisi ko bhi unn logon ke pehchaan ke bare mein nahi pata chala jisne tumhaara who haal kiya tha, par mujhe pura yakeen hai ki unn logon ne hi tumhaara who haal kiya tha."
Abhijeet gazed hard at Dilip. He in turn, looked at his knee and started speaking.
"Uss gang ka leader, Ganesh, ka ek bhai bhi tha, Danda. Unn din jab who pura gang arrest hua, tab Ganesh wahan pe nahi tha. Jab use isske bare mein pata chala, toh usne tumse badla lene ka plan banaya."
"Par tumhein yeh sab kaise pata?"
"Ek baar tum ACP Pradyuman ke under aa gaye, tab ek din, mauka dekhte hi maine sir ko iss khatre ke bare mein bataya tha. Min bhale hi unn logon ke liye mar gaya tha, par bhes badalke maine Danda par jasoosi jari rakhi. ACP sir ne tumhein kadi nigraani pe rakha, par ek din unki gair maujudgi mein, tumhein ek random number se call aaya tha, aur tum chale gaye."
Abhijeet could feel Daya shiver beside him.
"Ek baar mujhe tumhaare haadse ke bare mein pata chala, main she nahi saka. Apna boriya bistar baandhke tumse door bhaag gaya, kyunki main tumhein yeh baat nahi bata sakta tha ki tumhaari iss haalat ka zimmedaar kahin na kahin main tha."
"Par tum kaise...?"
"Agar uss din tum mujhe nahi bachaate, toh shayad aisa kuch bhi nahi hota. Mujhe bhagaane ke baad, tumne jald se jald ACP Dandekar ko sab kuch bata diya, ar back-up ready rakhke bhejne ke liye kaha tha. Jab tumhaara bhaanda phoota, tab puri police force tumhaari aid mein thi. Isiliye sab log arrest ho paye."
"Par tumhein itna sab kuch kaise pata?"
"Daya, ACP sir aur ACP Dandekar ne mujhe iske bare mein time to time update kiya tha kyunki yeh meri iccha thi. Aur tumhaare CID Branch mein transfer hone ke chaar mahine baad hi yeh sab hua tha."
Abhijeet shut his eyes. It was too much to bear, now that he knew it all. And now that he knew the true reason for it all, he felt free for the first time in years. As though the door of his cage had been opened at long last. He felt tear trickling down his cheek - what was wrong with him anyway, crying so much these days?
He opened his eyes to see Dilip getting to his feet. He shook had with him before Dilip sighed.
"Main jaanta hoon ki main iss laayak nahi hoon, par agar ho sake, toh mujhe please maaf kar dena."
"Nahi Dilip, yeh kya keh rahe ho tum! Na toh mujhe mere faisle pe pachtaawa tha aur na kabhi hoga. In fact, mujhe tumhein thank you kehna chahiye, mujhe aazad karne ke liye."
Dilip smiled. He shook hand with Daya and ACP Pradyuman too, before heading to the door. Before leaving however, Dilip turned back and addressed Abhijeet once more.
"Abhijeet please apne decision se mud jaana, kyunki maine kabhi kisi ko kisi se itna pyaar karte hue nahi dekha hai jitna ki yeh dono tumse karte hai. ACP sir ko jo mushkilein jhelni padi hai mujhe dhoondhne ke liye..." Leaving his sentence mid-way, he left the house, leaving everyone in a reverie.
Abhijeet now understood what had ACP Pradyuman's mysterious misson been all these days. Turning to him now, who was standing just behind him, he lowered his head, and mumbled 'sorry'.
ACP Pradyuman looked at him, as though challenging him to say anything stupid, and then spoke in a gruff voice.
"Tumhaara resignation shredder mein tumhaara wait kar raha hai. Kal subah 8 baje pohonch jaana. Daya tum bhi."
Abhijeet looked at ACP Pradyuman for a moment, as though contemplating something, before he did something, he had never done, or rather, never dared to do before. He pulled his father figure into a hug, clearly taking the latter by surprise, but then began stroking his head gently. Separating quickly, Abhijeet felt his face grow hot, while ACP Pradyuman smiled, and giving a side hug to Daya, left the house, leaving the two friends alone.
Abhijeet looked at Daya, who whistled nervously before half-sitting, half-falling on the couch. Abhijeet too followed suit and sat beside Daya. There was no need to tell each other anything, neither was there the need to know anything anymore, because they understood. The demons were far gone, where they would never touch him again. Even though he knew his mother's only memory would not leave him anytime soon, nevertheless he no longer clung on to it. For the first time in 14 years, he had accepted it.
He had lost a lot in life, but then again, he had gained a name and a family in spite of all circumstances. Looking at Daya, who had now fallen asleep on the couch, Abhijeet too, fell asleep almost instantly, with one last thought in his head for the day.
A tryst with destiny was, after all, what he needed to exterminate the demons he had been battling since forever.
~The End~
