Hearts Crossed

4

Nisha had been working at the hospital for almost a year now. She has a good heart, and she had wanted to become a doctor for the purpose of helping others. Unfortunately, some people choose to become doctors only to help themselves. The head of pediatrics was one such doctor. Nisha wanted to help every sick child who came to the hospital, but if the family couldn't afford it, the hospital didn't let them be treated. Nisha was only there for her clinical, so she couldnt make a bold move.

Nisha couldn't. Doesn't mean someone else couldn't as well.

Through her contacts in the hospital, Nisha got names and addresses of all the rich sponsors of the hospital. And then the game began. She got herself a red outfit with a hood, got a mask to hide her face, and different color hair wigs just to be safe. She would observe a target for a while, then, she would get in their cars and wait. The best was when she could hide in a back seat, but sometimes her targets would ride two seater cars; still, she made it work. As soon the target would get in the car, Nisha would hold a scalpel to their throats and threaten them with what they loved. She would make them drive to ATMS, and take out quarter amount of cash in their accounts. These were rich people, so that quarter amount was a lot of money for one regular person.

Her list also gave her info of families who had been rejected. Nisha would get their addresses and leave them enough money that they could comfortably get treatments started. Sometimes she work also leave notes, suggesting different hospitals so no one could make the connection with her hospital.

Unfortunately for her, robbery was a crime, regardless of intention. And such a high profile case could only be given to a high profile officer. ACP Ritwik Sheikh was hot on the trails of Rubina Hood. He had made the connection that the red hood the victims reported seeing was the same red hood who some poor families had reported seeing. ACP Sheikh was a good man; he understood that the poor families needed the money more than the rich, who most likely had insurance for robberies. Ritwik had a personal dislike towards penny pinching rich people, but as a police officer, he disliked thieves.

"Sir, why is this a case, sir? You know un logon ke liye ye sirf mamuli si rakam hai," his constable said.

"Baat paison ki nahi hay, Ali. Ameer hain to kya hua? Unko safe feel karne ka haq nahi hai?"

"Lekin sir, Rubina Hood ghareebon ki madad kar rahi hay. Phir hum uske piche kyun bhaag rake hain?"

Ritwik sighed. "Main bhi insaan hoon. Dekh sakta kun ki uski intentions acchi hai, tabhi maine targets ko yeh nahi bataya ke unka paisa kahan jaata hai. Lekin, usko koi haq nahi ke woh auron ki safety ko khatre main dale. Agar usne ghareebon ki madad karni hi hay, to woh qanoon ke daire mein reh kar kare. I hate people take the law into their own hands. I hate them."

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"Love ka to pata nahi, lekin yeh meri zid ban gai hai," the man reclined back, a criminal smirk on his face.

His friend laughed. "Yaar, Annu. Tu kitna kamina hai."

"Kamina nahi. Spoiled. Abh mujhe aadat ho gayi hai. Jo mujhe chaahiye, woh main le kar hi rehta hoon. Chahe aik raat ke liye hi sahi!"

The drunk boys laughed. Annu got to his feet and walked to the window, looking out.

"Prerna khud nahi aayi to kya hua, uski bua se khareed lein ge," he scowled at a bad memory. "Mujhe ruswa kare gi? Abh dekhna. Kaise main uski izzat bhi utaarta hoon, our zamane mein ruswa bhi."

__________

After almost a year at the company, Prerna had made a reputation for herself. At first, she was punctual, but then her bua started to give her a headache. Mr. Bajaj noticed her work was good, and told her she didn't need to be punctual as long as he knew where she was. Prerna had rarely made friends with anyone due to the team looking down on her for being too desi, and now Mr. Bajaj's favoritism towards her made them like her even less.

One weekend, Rishabh Bajaj was working from home when he got a call from his secretary.

"Miss Sonia, weekends maine apko chutti ke liye diye.."

"I'm so sorry, sir," Sonia's scared voice said. "Mujhe nahi pata main kisko call karun, lekin abhi to bohot bari problem hai sir."

Rishabh took the phone off speaker and held it to his ear as he focused. "It's alright, Sonia. Tell me what's the problem."

"Sir, woh mere college mein aik ladka tha, Anurag Basu. Sir, woh Prerna ke peeche parda hua tha, aur abh woh apne friends ke saath Prerna ko zabardasti lehenga pehna ke kahin le gaya hai. Aur, bua bhi saath gayi hain. Sir, woh aurat bohot kharab hai, aur pata nahi Prerna ke saath kya karein."

"I'll look into it Sonia. Mere police mein kuch contacts hain main unhe bhi involve karta hoon. Don't worry, we'll find her."

Rishabh said goodbye and hung up, contemplating what to do. It was true, he had friends in the police, but Mohini Basu had bigger connections. No one would go after Anurag, but Rishabh couldn't sit on his hands. He got up and went to his car, driving off as he asked some lawyer to help him find out where Mr. Basu could have taken Prerna.

It was going to be a long night, that would change many lives.