Chapter 20

THE SAMPLE SECRETS

Daya after cutting the call lingers around the factory for sometime to follow the manager once he wakes up. He didn't have to wait for too long since the guy just came out within an hour.

He then went about his usual routine of checking the warehouse and the lorries which come there.

And then he got a call. The caller id made him tensed and he rushed to a abandoned corner to take the call.

Manager: hello sir... yes sir everything is going smoothly here... What sir? No no sir no trouble... I didn't see anyone sir; other than that income tax officer nobody came sir..no CID ...ok sir I will come tonight sir..ok sir thank you sir.

After the call ended, he called one of his assistants and discussed something seriously. Then he pretended to give him some, work and sent him off.

Then the manager took off in his car. And Daya followed. On the way he called Abhijeet and informed his plan. Abhijeet fearing Daya's safety sent Sachin to follow Daya to help him. So Sachin along with Jaywanti and Nikhil rushed behind Daya to help him.

IN FORENSIC LAB

(last we saw the whole team was having a reunion)

and then ...the man of the hour entered with his usual flair;

Chitrole: wow wow wow... such a cozy gathering here huh? That too without me??? I thought you guys were too ashamed to show your faces to me that you all have disappeared

Pradyuman: ah? If there is even a trace of happiness, this guy will come to ruin it

Chitrole: what did you say Pradyuman?

Pradyuman: no sir, we were just waiting for your arrival so that we can interpret the results together

Chitrole: such sweet lies .. anyways Dr. Tarika, did your husband bring something useful atleast this time?

Tarika glared at Chitrole for his jibe at her husband but nevertheless, she has to do her duty.

Tarika: Sir, the mud sample brought by the team this time is from a new location.. it must be from that part of the city which has a water body nearby.. preferably a river. So I cross checked the samples from the control samples available in the lab for preliminary investigations and it matches to this particular area sir... And she goes to the computer to project the map on the big screen.

The team views this information with a new found determination.

Abhijeet: Thank you Tarika ji...now we are one more step ahead in finding this place. (They both share a cute smile) Ok team! Lets's get moving !! We have another land of acres to survey.

Chitrole : for your sake Abhijeet I hope this is the place at last; otherwise...

But Abhijeet just grimaced at the Commissioner (Chitrole) and after a swift smile to Pradyuman, leaves the lab with his team. Atlast, he is gonna nab this gang. Hopefully ... at last ...

IN ABHJEET'S CABIN

"Ok team listen up ...", Abhijeet started. This time the plan should be perfect. They had always gotten leads in this case before. But none had solid proof or was trustable. This time it was different and they all knew it. So the plan had to be perfect. And it was. Yet there was one trouble ... a quantitative one;

Kavin: your plan is perfect as usual sir, but we don't have as many members in our team as needed to execute this plan.

Dushyant : only 4 of us are here... you had sent Sachin, Nikhil and Jaywanti to follow the manager. Freddy and Pankaj are elsewhere under your orders. Only you, Kavin, Vineet and myself are present. How will we execute this plan sir?

Vineet: And sir, don't we need some female officers ?

Abhijeet: you guys are all right, we need more members. I think that can be arranged by our DCP sir (Pradyuman) but before I put the petition, once again introspect whether the plan is perfect.

And so they did, they discussed the plan over and over again to point the flaws. Finally when they put it in front of Pradyuman and Chitrole, our Chitrole sir was the first one to sanction it. With the promise of more new able and competent officers Abhijeet and team started their new mission - to find the bodyfarm and the gang responsible for the human trafficking.

TIME 11:30 pm

Venue: The river bank

The warehouse manager finally reaches the place his boss had instructed to come to aka the body farm. This is yet another forest area near a river and the manager started searching for something as soon as he reached the banks of the river.

Daya's team: Daya, Sachin, Nikhil and Jaywanti

Daya and team silently follow the guy carefully not to make any noise. Thankfully it was a windy night that their footsteps and dry leaves crushing under them didn't make conspicuous sounds. Their shoes became muddy due the clay soil, the same which they had found earlier, they walked slowly to not slip in it.

The manager finally found what he had been searching with a torch. It was a tree and it had a marking. A diamond carving on the trunk and it seemed like a door to a small safe inside a tree. There was a handle like projection from the diamond and the manager pulled it. Inside it was kept a walkie talkie. The manager activated it, informed the opposite party of his arrival and awaited for orders. It came in 2 minutes. After approval from his boss and reassuring that he was not being followed, the manager started walking towards the jungle searching for trees with a diamond shape on it.

The more they went deep into the jungle, they discovered that nearly all the trees in that area were marked with different shapes. There were even different kinds of diamond shape. Yet manager seemed to know where he was supposed to go. It was easy to get lost in that jungle even if you follow only the diamond trees. And easier to get caught while trying to follow the manager; because you have to follow the manager closely to not get lost.

"Thank god it was windy" thought Daya. And they moved further into the jungle, following the manager, not knowing what was the destination.

TIME 11:30 pm

Venue: The warehouse

Kavin's team: Kavin, Dushyant, Ishika, Vineet

The warehouse which the team raided earlier had lot of lorries and some cars going in and out. Since the manager had kept good records of the stuff happening in the warehouse, it was impossible for the team to arrest anybody to interrogate yet it was useful in some way. The team Nikhil and Jaywanti had taken photos of the vehicle movement register surreptitiously, while Abhijeet did the same for the records of the employees movement registers. And Kavin had taken up the job of checking them through for clues, helped by Vineet, Nikhil and Jaywanti.

And of course, as they had expected, they had gotten a lead. And pushing through this lead was the job of Kavin's team ...

Kavin: Ok team, let's get going!

All : yes sir!

TIME 11:30 pm

Venue: The river bank

Abhijeet's team : Abhijeet, Kajal, Vivek, Divya

Abhijeet and team reach the river bank which Tarika had mentioned and they too like Daya's team discovered the trees and the different shapes on it. After poking around a bit, they too found the tree with the compartment (which had a walkie talkie earlier) and obviously it was empty. Not knowing which of the symbols to follow, they started walking along the river bank.

And they walked for like another 1 hour to realise the fact that ..

The more they walked, the more dense the forest became; and they had noticed that the trees were orderly. Like they had equal gap in between them. And the more they walked, they felt as if the mud is starting to get loose; like freshly dug mud. But it was well set between the trees ...

And another 15 min walk in to the woods showed a path with bumps on the way ….. the sound of plough and someone digging up the mud was heard from down below... the familiar stench which lingers around in the forensic mortuary and the postmortem examination room ...

It took only a fraction of second for Abhijeet and his team to realise on what they were standing; after 4 years of search ... finally ...