EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Chapter 2

The city of London was beautiful in every way and it was so different from Mumbai. It was very less crowded and there weren't much people outside the airport while the airport was very busy. It was unbeatable in the cleanliness of the roads and the taxis were neatly parked in the corner of the roads. I was keen to take a picture of the city and immediately took one in my iPhone. We got into a taxi to go to London City Hotel where we have to meet Rajesh Thakur, my collegue who will get the promotion if he solves this drug case.

'Anand, show me the photo you took?' said Senthil.

I immediately showed him the photo and he said 'Anand, capturing a girl's photo huh?'

'What the hell!' I exclaimed 'That was by mistake but anyways she is looking good and she also must be an Indian.'

We reached the hotel in twenty minutes and walked inside. The decorations at the entrance was amazing and the interiors of the hotel were well furnished. Rajesh was waiting at the reception and he spotted us among the crowd.

'Hello Raj' said I.

'Hey Anand' said he.

'Did you start the work?'

'Not without you both'

Rajesh was six years elder than us, but even though we adressed him as Raj and he certainly did not take it wrong. His wife was in Mumbai with their three year old son Siddhant and he was outside Mumbai for most of the year. Just then the girl who I captured mistakenly on my phone camera arrived at the hotel and she was heading towards us.

'Oh shit' said I.

'Hello Ram' said she. I was now confused, his name was Rajesh but she called him Ram.

'Hey Aparna,' said Rajesh 'What's up?'

'Ram, would you be able to attend my concert?'

'I don't think so' said he

'Okay, there's a ticket left,' said Aparna 'Would any one of you come?'

'Yeah, I can' said I.

'By the way Ram,' said she 'Are they your friends?'

'Yes, I'm Anand' said I.

'Senthil Kumaran' said Senthil.

She walked to the reception and Rajesh started talking, 'Did you both forget your mission name?' glaring at us.

I replied, 'Yes, I haven't seen my passport and even Senthil hasn't seen it.'

'Okay, I can manage it but Anand immeadiately go to her and reveal my true identity and also that we are Intelligence Officers,' said Rajesh 'She may help us to get contacts in this city.'

I followed her on the street, Borough High Street was not too broad but the traffic flow was smooth and the snow seen on the road is visibly tampered by many pedestrians. The footpath was enogh for five people to walk side by side but even though the crowd was very high and it will be Christmas in a couple of days. It seemed that I would miss her in the crowd but I kept track of her. At last she stopped at the London Bridge and I did the same. River Thames was unbelievably clean unlike the Indian rivers and there were also boats sailing on it. Aparna went for a boat ride and I followed her to the motorboat. She saw me and asked 'M,r Anand, are you following me?' I was dumbstruck but found an answer soon. 'I wanted to visit places in London but I never knew any so I followed you all the way.' 

I knew that this answer wasn't convincing but she never asked any questions. I spoke 'The view of Thames is wonderful.'

'Yes, I use to come here every day' said she 'It gives me peace of mind.'

'Can we come here daily?' I asked.

'Yes, but I think I won't be able to come sometimes', said she 'But, I will try to come.'

I decided that this will be the time to convey the message. 'Aparna...' I stammered.

'Yes' replied she.

'What you know about Ram isn't right,' I started 'His real name is Rajesh Thakur. He is a specialist from DIA.'

'But, what about you and Senthil?' asked she.

'We have told it to you by mistake,' said I 'My mission name is Ajit Kulkarni and Senthil's name is Ashok Shetty'

'Okay, but why do you say this to me?'

'We need an important contact in London city'

'Could you explain me about your mission?'

'This is about a drug scandal,' I started 'There are many involved in it but the main suspect is an Indian, Ranvir Sharma, one of the culprits of this scandal.'

'Ranvir was arrested in May 1998. He was under trail for ten years and then he was sentanced to life imprisonment by the British Supreme Court. He escaped the prison a day later and went missing.'

'Okay,' said she 'I will try to get some VIP's with criminal connections.'

'See you later at the concert' said I as I walked down the street towards the hotel. I arrived there and both Rajesh and Senthil were waiting there.

'Did you tell her?' asked Rajesh.

'Yes, I did'

'Okay Anand, attend the concert tonight,' said he 'And Senthil, I'll brief you about your part.'

London was freezing at this part of the year. The temperature was about 3 degrees and the snowfall was heavy. The record low this month was minus four degrees. I wasn't able to adjust to these conditions as I was always living in hot climatic conditions.

'Anand,' said Senthil 'We immediately need to take bath.'

'Yes' said Rajesh as he shivered while removing his shirt.

He went inside and came out a couple of minutes later. Next was Senthil's turn and he came out within a minute. I went inside and turned the heater on. The water was boiling but it immediately turned cold. I decided to take a shower instead of pouring in a mug. I set the temperature bar to thirty four degrees and turned the shower on. But it was more cold than ever till I realized that it the bar wan't in celsius but it was in farenheit. I turned the bar to 100 degrees and then I was relieved. It took me five minutes to come out and after that I immediately put on my clothes.