Maya's Revenge

Terror Threat on Delhi Police Helpline

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Neha woke up from her sleep. She sat on the bedside, tied her hair, and took a few deep breaths as she cupped the bun of her hair. She looked at the mirror right in front of her and stared at herself for a few moments. She was beautiful, in fact, very beautiful. She sometimes failed to understand how she was able to maintain herself so well all this while growing up with immense hardships. She had come a long way from being a homeless street kid to an NIA Sub Inspector. She got down on the floor and started her push-ups, one, two, and three, all the way to 50. She stood up, looked at herself in the mirror again, standing sideways. She was figure-perfect. Probably 34/26/34. She always thought maybe she could become a model too. But then she could not find and kill him, if she were a model. She could only find him and kill him by being in a law enforcement agency.

She turned on her phone's music and began her morning routine: morning yoga, followed by 50 push-ups, followed by 50 ab crunches, 50 jumping jacks, and 10 minutes of mindful breathing. She had followed the same routine since the day she joined the NIA 3 years back directly as Sub Inspector after clearing the staff selection commission exam. Although a sub inspector in NIA can be responsible for doing field work, Neha had been mainly doing desk jobs and handling NIA court activity for the Delhi Branch. She had grown frustrated but then she knew she was capable and her time would come. She got ready for the day in her uniform, and before going out, she took a final look at the room. She locked it and went down the stairs. An NIA jeep was waiting for her. As she came out into the open, she realised there was a slight drizzle. She put on her NIA jacket, which she was proud of. It gave her a sense of achievement and an assurance that she was on track. Before getting into the jeep, she put on her dark glasses and instructed the driver to begin. Her house was just 30 minutes' drive from the NIA headquarters, but the traffic in Delhi meant it would take her at least an hour to reach there.

"Madam Jai Hind, there is a new case that has come up. Sharon madam, had informed us late last night. "She is waiting for you at the office," Brinda, the constable sitting at the back, said. "Was there a briefing"? Neha asked, not bothering to look back at Brinda. Brinda tried to sound casual in her answer, but Neha could sense that Sharon had briefed in her absence. She was aware that bitch was envious of her and the rapid attention she was getting from the seniors in the NIA. (Date 2-October) First, there was the Delhi mall terror threat, where she helped find crucial clues that led to the busted terror module and a sleeper cell planning a series of bombings in Delhi. Her name had reached the newspapers. On top of that, a commendation from the NIA Chief further annoyed Sharon.

As their jeep merged into the Delhi traffic, she was lost in thought in memories of the Delhi Terrorist attack enquiry. It was a day just like today, and she had been at her desk running through her emails. She hated doing desk jobs and, in spite of her repeated requests, Sharon, the Delhi NIA branch head, had forced her to sit at the Delhi Branch, citing reasons like, we already have field teams; who is going to do the file work and so on and so forth. She had agreed, after many requests from Neha, that if a field requirement came in and there were no field agents available at the time, she would send Neha out. On that day, there was a call from Delhi Police, requesting help from the NIA. Someone, purportedly from the JEM, had called the Delhi police helpline and informed them that there was a bomb that was supposed to go off in one of the large malls in Delhi The Delhi police helpline gets such threat calls on a daily basis, and most of them are hoax calls. Normally, the NIA does not get involved in the day-to-day operations of the Delhi police, but this had something to do with JEM, and the government had tasked the NIA with handling JEM-related cases. Sharon felt this was the right time to let Neha go out to the field and show her field skills. She knew 100% that it would be more of a ride to the call centre followed by call tracing, and in the end, it would turn out to be a wild goose chase. At least she would be able to show that she had been fair to Neha by giving her a chance at attempting field operations. On that day Jayant, who was the Inspector for the Delhi Branch and the SPOC at NIA for the Delhi police, was on leave for half day and as per the protocol, NIA was supposed to be at the Delhi police premises to look at the evidence first hand and meet any suspects if necessary. Sharon thought it was the right time to let Neha get on the field and get rid of her nagging requests.