It's Called: Freefall

Chapter 19

Amar switches on his comms as per the plan. Rubai was now out of the building with her team and listening in closely.

After taking the suspiciously empty stairs Meghna and Amar reach the bunker. The door to surveillance room was wide open. They find LUCIFER sitting on a chair in the middle. Behind him, in the dark there was a man standing. They couldn't see his face properly.

LUCIFER was waiting for them, like a predator waits for the prey after laying the trap. Why wouldn't he? He had laid a trap and they had walked right into it. On the screens behind him, Meghna could see Kabir taking the victims out of building safely. The whole place was now surrounded by Indian army and police. At least there was a silver lining to all of this.

Amar had a different state of mind. His whole focus had zeroed in on LUCIFER. He couldn't believe that it was the same man he knew as "Mamu". It was the same man that had comforted little Amar, who had supported him through his life. The pictures in his head were soon replaced by a man with the same face who had captured and tortured thousands of women and kids, caused fatal tragedies all around the world, orphaned kids, destroyed families. It was the same man that had captured Meghna and hurt her. Amar was filled with rage.

"Amar beta-" LUCIFER started, very calm,

"SHUT UP!! You don't have any right to call me that!" Amar seethed.

"Oh! It's pathaan now isn't it? Oohhhh I'm scared." LUCIFER sang without an ounce of remorse in his voice.

"And is that Meghna? Hello child, so we meet again." He smiled as if he had met with an old friend and continued, "I've seen you struggle to come close to me for a decade dear. And you finally succeeded! Yaay!" He cheered.

Meghna gave him a disgusted look.

"But it's so sad. You came all the way here to catch me, and it's the last day of your life." LUCIFER was putting up a performance for them.

"Don't think that for a second LUCIFER, this place is surrounded, you won't get out of here alive." Meghna charged at him with her gun.

The man from the shadows stepped out, with his gun raised. Amar was surprised looking at Ajay's face.

"Oh yes. You know him Pathaan. He's your little buddy from your circus."

"Ajay."

"It's all business Pathaan. Nothing personal. Hope you understand." Ajay responded with a cold tone.

All the while, Rubai was connected with Amar over the comms. She heard the exchange.

"Got it pathaan." She confirmed over the comms.

Hearing that Pathaan leaps forward to attack LUCIFER, at the same time Meghna tackles Ajay. They get into a wrestle fight. The little break before coming down the stairs had helped them recuperate a bit. After a while, Meghna manages to put Ajay in a triangle choke and knock him unconscious. She scrambles to find her gun that had fallen somewhere during the hassle.

By now LUCIFER was kneeling on the ground, his face bloody and the trigger clutched in his right hand. Amar had his gun pointed at him,

"You won't be able to do that AMAR. You won't be able to kill your 'Mamu'". He gives a sinister laugh as Amar's hand shakes before pulling the trigger.

"He can't, but I can." Meghna is about to pull the trigger when Amar stops her.

"Meghna no! You don't have to have his blood on your hands."

The split moment of distraction was enough for LUCIFER to set off the trigger. Meghna caught her movement in her peripheral vision.
"No!" She screamed and knocked him unconscious with the blow of guns grip.

She looked up at the screen. It read 00:00:59 in bold red.

"Amar we need to hurry. We only have a minute to get out of here."

Amar grabbed her hand and they ran towards the stairs. They were 3 storyes under the ground. They knew they won't make it.

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I

t was time up, and the charges started blowing up on the top floors.
Outside, Rubai looked at Kabir helplessly as the building started collapsing,
"That's what he told you before right? That he wasnt planning on coming back?"
"Yes. He told me not to wait up." Kabir answered.

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Amar and Meghna had barely made it to the empty landing after climbing the first set of stairs. The building had started to come crumbling down around them.

They looked at each other, still holding hands and panting.

"This is what we get isn't it? For ever thinking we could make it work?" Amar asks.

"Who says we didn't? We're together, I wouldn't have it any other way." Meghna replies with a dry chuckle.

They still had their sense of humour even in the dire situation like this.

Suddenly a block of ceiling falls, pushing them into a corner. Amar had pushed Meghna on the inner side, covering her with his body.

"You know we're going to die here." He says, lifting his head at looking at her.

"No. This is what living feels like." She manages to give him a smile.

Amar looks at her, caressing her cheek with his left hand, he moves a strand of hair aside. Their pupils had dilated, maybe it was the dark, maybe the fear of dying, maybe something else.

Meghna's eyes dart from his eyes to his mouth, and Amar bows down at the same moment, to capture her lips, pouring every bit of love he has for her. Meghna returns the kiss equally reverent.

The building groans and the ground rumbles beneath their feet and soon they're enveloped by clouds of dust.

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Author's note: this is it, this is where it all started, I had this moment stuck in my head for the last 8 months. Finally sharing with you all the actual first chapter I wrote feels like an absolute labour of love. 🫶