Crush - KarEena

Chapter 33

It was eight o'clock the following morning before Haseena left the hospital. Karishma was outside waiting for Haseena in her car with the engine running. She leaned over and opened the passenger door for Haseena.

They had timed her departure to coincide with Santosh's press conference so the media would be occupied and Haseena could make a clean getaway. As they pulled away from the hospital, they saw news vans lining the street and a cluster of reporters and cameramen surrounding the lobby entrance.

"What is she telling them?" Haseena asked

"That the department pulled off a flawless sting operation, with the cooperation of MGS Hospital personnel. One of the city's most notorious criminals, one Ramesh Redi AKA Ricky Roy, died from gunshot wounds he received while resisting arrest"

Before turning him over to paramedics, Haseena had heroically worked to keep his heart beating. She had ridden in the ambulance with him to the emergency room, but upon their arrival, he was pronounced dead. Karishma had personally escorted his body to the morgue.Haseena had then insisted on examining Karishma, even ordering a CAT scan to check for internal bleeding. Karishma had told Santosh not to hold back, to make their fight look authentic. Santosh had taken her at Karishma's word. Karishma felt like a punching bag, but

Haseena's examination had turned up nothing worrisome.

"Santu is going to try and keep your name out of the story," Karishma told her

"I will appreciate that"

"But it might be unavoidable, Haseena"

"If it's unavoidable, then I'll deal with it"

Their destination had been predetermined. She wouldn't be returning to the house in which Roy had died. Once they were headed east on the interstate, Karishma reached for her hand, "I died a thousand deaths while he was holding that knife on you"

"I was afraid that something had happened to detain you, that you and Santosh wouldn't be in place. When I got home, I was tempted to look in the kitchen pantry and under the bed to make sure you were there"

"Hell couldn't have kept me away"

"It was a daring plan, Karishma"

"I just thank God it worked"

She had resolved that she and Haseena had no hope of a future until the problem of Roy was resolved. In other words, until he was taken out of the picture. And that had been the key phrase: out of the picture. Her mind had snagged on those four words. It occurred to her that if Roy was out of the picture, and Santosh was out of the picture, she would make a move on Haseena.

"The toughest part of the plan for me was the necessity of placing you in danger"

"But I was already in danger"

"That's the conclusion I finally drew. And you were going to remain in danger unless and until I forced Roy's hand," Yesterday morning, she had got up well before dawn, called Santosh, and outlined the plan. Santosh had liked the idea, made a few suggestions of her own, and put things into motion.

"How did you convince Santosh that I wasn't the seductress she believed me to be?" Haseena asked

"I didn't have to. Roy did that when he killed your horses. Actually, I think Santosh had made up her mind long before that and was just being mule-headed. Believe me, Haseena. If she hadn't been totally convinced of your innocence and her misjudgment, she would never have pulled this sting. And by the way, she sends her apology for all the ugly things she had to say about you to convince Chintu Kichlu,"