A Man among Wolves

Chapter 29

Iniyan placed the ice pack gently on the wound. Carefully asking if the pressure was okay, he began massaging it. The area became glistening wet immediately.

Balaji watched Iniyan massage the bullet wound. It was to be done every few hours and at first, Balaji had insisted on doing it by himself. But Iniyan wouldn't let him. The kind and devoted man couldn't bear to see his employer do something by himself, when he was right there to perform his duties.

"Did you eat?" Balaji asked.

"No, sir. I am on a fast today."

"Oh yes, I forgot."

A few drops fell to the floor from his leg.

Balaji's mobile phone rang.

As it was custom, Iniyan immediately exited the room.

Balaji picked his phone and attended the call, checking once if the doors were bolted.

"Sir?"

"Balaji," The voice was desperately concerned. "I heard the information."

"Yes sir?"

"Is it all attended to?"

"Yes, sir," Balaji replied. He explained to ease the caller's anxiety. "The evidences would point to Gurumoorthy and Selva murdering each other. We could easily use them all to strengthen the case against Agilan. That he sent Gurumoorthy to kill Selva, who is a key witness in this case. Everyone knows Guru is his lap dog. So, suspicion would strongly rely on Agilan and Agilan alone in this incident. But that AKS Wine Shop must be checked up. An investigation would reveal more evidence that we could use-No, not with the Police-with our men first..."

"Hmmm," His Party Leader sighed. "Agilan won't come out, right?"

Balaji knew that he knew the answer himself. He was just asking him to seek reassurance, from someone he can actually trust.

"He won't, Sir." Balaji continued. "What he has done is a non-bailable offence. So, until the trial, he wouldn't be let out. Then, if we pile up the evidence I have procured and the evidence that we," he hesitated a bit, "have 'arranged' yesterday, it would tighten the knot. If your advocate is able enough like you say he is, we can spin this to make sure the knot is around Agilan's neck quite literally. A death sentence. Even if not, we could run this news in all of our connected channels, popularising who Agilan was and in turn, what that party stands for-We can destroy their reputation. That will ensure a victory for us!"

There was another relaxed sigh on the other line.

"Thank you, Balaji! You have done a fantastic job."

"Thank you, Sir." Compliments aside, Balaji got right into the matter. "Am I getting what I asked for?"

"Oh yes" The voice crackled seriously. "We have had three party meetings and they are fine with you standing at Chepauk Constituency. Listen, I could only convince them to say yes because you promised to take Agilan down. So..."

"That is already done, isn't it? When do I file my nomination?"

"Uh, just a few days from now. We have to make sure that it doesn't raise many eyebrows when you join the party officially and get nominated as MLA candidate soon after this whole business with Agilan!"

"Definitely, Sir!" Balaji frowned, scratching his cheek. "That could be worked out. We could use some news as a distraction and orchestrate these acts such that people forget what we need them to forget."

"Ha! True, that is. We could do that. Anyway, congratulations are in order. You got what you wanted."

"Actually, I haven't, sir! Not yet! We will have this conversation after the elections."

After a gentle exchange of greetings, the call ended.

Balaji touched his wet knee absently.

This whole issue must be made infamous, in order to stack public opinion against Agilan and the political party he works for. They would have to run it in the channels every now and then and maybe conduct debates about it. The debaters can be arranged, no problem. There were many outliers in all the parties who would be ready to appear on TV and spew garbage loudly for money. That could be done easily!

Since an attempt was made on his life, Balaji ought to paint himself as the figure of sympathy. It would help him in elections too. A sit-down interview must be arranged and he would have to make it convincing...

When all these are set and done, the waves would be strongly in their favour. Their opponents wouldn't have their right-hand man and fundraiser for campaigns. This time, they wouldn't have a chance. They can only watch with their hands tied, as their reputation gets destroyed among the public by repeated reruns of this news.

Balaji Rangan would become M.L.A and his party leader would enter the Chief Minister's Office happily once more.

Balaji ran his fingers through his hair. All thanks to Selva. He had been an unexpected thorn in the whole issue. Albert and Gugan had been brainless fools to involve that kid into this mess. That whole incident at the junkyard was a ploy to lure those two goons and get rid of them. But they had dragged Selva into it. And he proved to be an even bigger fool, fortunately for Balaji, when he refused to kill him.

That's when the weak link gleamed in front of Balaji's eyes. So, he pursued the lead and managed to get him before he got killed. Then, it had just come down to convincing him. But he asked too many questions. A tad too smart for a young driver. He was an educated guy, wasn't he? It was Balaji's own mistake in underestimating him.

All it took was a lie. A lie about Anbu and his wife had made this whole thing possible.

Thankfully, Selva didn't ask for proof for Anbu's death. He had believed the news and that broke him.

But he fled the house and created a confusion in the plans. Fortunately, they were keeping tabs on everything related to Agilan. So, AKS Wines and Selva came up, followed by Gurumoorthy...

It had been simple for Balaji after that.

Balaji remembered Selva's corpse, lying sprawled below the tree, blood spraying out of his head. Parts of his brain on tree trunk that were slipping down in the moisture, along with the blood.

A man among wolves, Selva had called himself.

Balaji's face split into a wide grin as he moved the wheelchair towards the dressing mirror in the room.

The poor boy thought he was a man because he didn't do those 'horrifying things' that Agilan's men did. No, 'didn't' wasn't the right word. He couldn't. That made him human, in his words. The kid thought he was a man since he couldn't sell drugs, engage in political wars in the background and kill people. He thought he had empathy. He thought he was a man because he couldn't be a predator like the wolf...

But in reality, man was a predator. What was man with just empathy? He would live submissive, codependent lives. The world would be filled with men like Iniyan and Selva. Men who refuse to eat to satisfy some godly being. Men who would cry for a dead puppy...What was man without his predatory instinct? What was man without the readiness to sink his metaphorical teeth into another man, if it served him. That was the quality a man needed to survive in this modernized, globalized jungle. Survival of the fittest was still the axis this world rotated around.

No, Selva was mistaken. He wasn't a man among wolves. He was just a sheep in a man's clothing. A weak, bleating sheep.

Balaji looked at his own face in the mirror, looking at the bags below his eyes. He needed sleep.

"A man among wolves..." He repeated to himself as he whirled his chair away from the mirror.