Daya along with Nikhil reached at the
place from where the bubbling sound of
the river was being heard...
Nikhil worriedly muttered
once,:'ssir...magar aap ko goli laga
hai...'
Daya interrupted cuing him,as
someone's footsteps were being
heard...Peeping ahead, he saw
somebody,going towards a cave with
furtive glance...Daya cued Nikhil and
followed him,tiptoeing...Coming beside
the cave they crouched themselves
covering with big grasses..The goon
entered into the cave and then within
two minutes went outside and glancing
mystically around him, he slowly
vanished again into the dense
forest...Daya waited with
patience,though the racking pain of
his shoulder was getting burgeoned in
every moment and he perceived that he
wouldn't get much time to rescue the
hostages...As he entered into the
darkened cave which was poorly
illuminated by some candles, he heard
the repressed sobs whimpers of
women...and getting deeper he
discovered almost twenty five women
there including Ishika who were badly
gagged...She grunted seeing both
Nikhil and Daya..:'sssiiiir...'
The women roared with scare and some
of them with relief after realising
that CID reached there to rescue
them...
Nikhil cutting the thread made Ishika
free while Ishika described how she
had been chloroformed and how she had
been forced to stay in damp,without
having proper food and water...
:'ssir...woh log sab aurat me se dus
ko le ja ke kuchh kaam karate
hain..shayaad...nadi ka patthar se
hire dhoond ne ka kaam...'
Daya and nikhil made everyone free by
that time and stated with
urgency,:'aap log pichhe se nikal
jaiye saab...aur sab ekkathhe hoke
intezar kijiye...in badmasho se
nipat lene ke baad...hum aap logo ko
shahar tak paucha denge...The women
filed into a line as approached towards
the back door...goons almost plunged
from the front and started firing
further and this time Daya got the
second bullet in his left upper
arm...He groaned in pain but kept
shrieking...:'pichhe se bhag jaiye
saab loooog...' another bullet
touching the side of his chest went
passed...His shirt was sopping with
blood and he was scrabbling for
support...
Nikhil yelled with
scare,:'sssir...aap...tthik...'
Just in that moment Abhijeet along
with the team,entered into the place
firing at the goons...and the goons
were sidelined by the unrelenting
attack of the CID team...Daya with a
painfully contorted face,
spluttered,:'nnikhil...ttum aur
Ishika ja ke...un...un...auroto
ko...samhalo...'
:'nahi ssir...aap ka halat thik nahi
hai...' protested nikhil being
frantically worried...
:'ttum jaao nikhil...is se pehle...'
excruciating pain made him stopped and
he felt as if everything in front of
him getting blurred...
Daya was being taken to nearest
hospital and in the ambulance he was
accompanied by Abhijeet Shreya and
Nikhil...Shreya though made every
effort to conceal her emotion but
failed as tears were streaking
profusely down her cheeks...She kept
gazing at the senseless face of Daya
which seemed to be painless and a
child's innocense as if imprinted over
it...Daya's words were as if echoed as
she closed her teary eyes...:"pyar
hume zindegi ko khushi khushi jeena
sikhata hai...' She sobbed silently
as a sharp twinge of pain stabbed at
her heart and she murmured within
herself,:'yes...I deserve this
pain...' She tried to wipe her tears
furtively and stared outside with a
pensive look but couldn't concentrate
on anything as streams of thoughts
were flooding her mind making her
restive...:'kya abhi khush hun main?'
she asked it to herself...:'kya mujhe
aisa lagta hai...ki...agar mere daya
sir mera nahi ho sakta hai to...Anila
ki bhi nahi rahe?' She startled and
with a scary face turned opposite to
look at the face of Daya...
Abhijeet was calm enough but he was
not far gauging what was going on in
Shreya's heart and mind...Maintaining
an impassive expression over his face
he was venturing to gloss over the
inconvenient facts of the whole
situation...
Shreya's mind kept cogitating about
him unremittingly,:' ye to main chaha
nahi...is se to ye achcha hai ki
Daya ssir khushi khushi...Anila ke
sath rahe...Chahe woh kahi pe bhi
rahe...kisi ke bhi sath rahe...magar
bas zinda rahe...' A lump was
disturbing her thrusting it way down
her throat; she turned her face away
further and kept her morbid glance
upon the moving objects...
Everyone was waiting outside, as Daya
had been taken to operation
theatre...ACP and Salunkhe sir
reached there with grim expression
over their faces and sought
information about Daya's
condition..Within five minutes of
their arrival, Anila rushed there with
a contorted crying face and grizzled
sobbing her heart out,:'ssir...itni
bari baat ho gayaa...aur aap log
mujhe ekbar khabar nahi kiya? kyu
ssir? woh to main bureau pe phone kiya
to pata chala mujhe...'
ACP's face pervaded with a mixture of
contrition and sympathy and he
apologised gently,:' Sorry
Anilaa...magar hume hi khabar milne
me der huyaa...pata nahi ki...' he
looked at Abhijeet angrily and then
looking at Anila further added,:' hum
ko inform karne me itna time kyu lag
gaya in logo ko?'
Two doctors stormed out of the
operation theatre and informed,:'goli
nikal diya gaaya...magar khoon ka
intezam kijiye...bohut khoon beh gaya
hai...24 ghanta observation me rakhna
parega patient ko...' they vanished
quickly leaving behind the baffled
team and ACP now summoned Abhijeet by
the parlance of his eyes..
Abhijeet and ACP distanced themselves
from the team discussing about
something while Nikhil headed towards
blood bank along with ...
salunkhe: tumhe pata hai Nikhil daya
ka group O positive?
Nikhil: yes ssir...
Anila,shrinking with anxiety stood in
a corner..Her teary eyes were gazing
at the shining floor of the hospital
and the black streaks under her eyes
were indicating that she hadn't slept
well since some days ...Shreya stared
at her sympathetically and wished to
comfort her by saying some consoling
words but abruptly something akin to
stubbornness sprung up inside her and
she got to her feet with a complacent
gesture and coming in front of
Anila,stated in a scornful
manner,:"ACP sir ko aise blame karne
me tumhe sharm nahi aya? How could you
be so dare?'
Anila didn't make any reply but
silently sobbed burying her face in a
pillar...
Shreya further attacked her,:'sun ne
me aya ki tum kabhi police ki naukri
kar chuke ho...' she paused waiting
for Anila's reaction...Anila
perceiving the fact replied in a
trembling voice,:'jee...'
Shreya added in a supercilious
tone,:"ek police ho ke pata nahi tumhe
ke Daya sir jo bhi kaam kiya
hai...uske liye garv mehsus karna
chaiye...ansu bahana nahi...'
Now Anila turned her face towards
Shreya; kept gazing at her intently
with heaps of astonishment and then
commented with wavering voice,:'ttum
to abhi bhi police ho...' she paused
and then came back making Shreya
staggered and embarrassed,:'to phir
ttum kis ke liye itna royi?'
Shreya felt awkward as she couldn't
expect such a question from Anila and
darting her eyes here and there in an
effort to assuage the churning anger
inside her she further censured Anila,
:'ek police ho ke ye tumhe pata nahi
hai ki seniors ke sath kaise baat kiya
jata hai?' rasped Shreya indicating
further Anila's attitude towards ACP
sir...
:'shreya...' Anila almost
pleaded,:'kya thori shaanti me baith
ke...duya kar sakti hun main...?'
Shreya,looking at her kind yet subdued
face felt bad about her being rude to
her...She with hesitating and
trembling hands touched Anila and
brought her near the bench to offer
her seat...:'baitho...'
Anila, sitting there, broke the curb
she made upon her vehement emotions
and ended up sobbing pathetically
covering her face with her
palms...Shreya,with much
reticence,kept her palm over her
swinging hair murmuring once,:'chinta
na karo...Sir shayad...thik ho
jayenge..'
One nurse came out and asked,:'aap log
CID se hain? Senior Inspector Daya ka
...' her words were interrupted
as Shreya hastened,:'jee haaa...'
Nurse informed,:'patient ko do ghante
me bed me transfer kiya jayega...tab
tak aaplogo ko intezar karna
parega...'
She left and now Shreya further looked
at the stooping face of Anila who was
looking visibly upset and worn
out...She suggested Anila
peremptorily,:' Daya ssir se milne tum
pehle na jaana...un ko...tumhe dekh
ke taqleef ho sakta hai...woh...'
she paused as Anila looked at her at
once with astounding eyes but she
didn't utter a single word and perhaps
her silence indulged Shreya for adding
more,:' woh...tumhe dekh ke...react
kar sakta hai...'
A rueful smile hovered at Anila's lips
and she further leaned against the
back of the bench maintaining the
stifling silence between them..