So, the army thing.
If someone asks Aisha, it led to a whole lot of nothing.
They went to base a week after the men had returned. They made teams to shadow one man each and keep an eye on their activities. They didn't take the threats seriously, and after a few weeks of waiting impatiently for something, the idea of danger felt like it wasn't coming soon enough. It was awful to think, cause no news is good news right? But none from the team liked the silence.
There was no call from Damre to Riya as well, and her brooding went worse.
They had played with the idea that, maybe, Riya's mother didn't give the correct names. But its not like they can go to her and ask, and frankly Rathore felt a headache coming thinking about facing that icy woman again. Nope, thank you very much. He guided the team and asked them for patience, and asked the same from God in private.
Then, something happened.
They got threatening letters in old fashioned ways- written in blood, confirmed by Liza and no, it wasn't Damre's blood, she had confirmed with a face as if shes going to puke anytime. So whos this mystery person whos supplying his/her blood? Is the person even alive?
They sent the letters to Central forensic lab for further clues to get, and Liza actively co-ordinated with them for faster results. They took precaution with the senior army officers, who, now took things seriously. More vetting of close personnel, random change of daily routine, always someone from ETF shadowing- they didn't everything they could think of.
One day, as Liza spoke to Riya from hundreds of mile away as she sat in air conditioned lab of CFL.
"You . . . do you want me to run a DNA test?" she didn't want to overstep, but she also couldn't comprehend Riya sitting quietly in dark when the possibility of her parentage was this close. "I am just asking, not trying to insult you."
"I am not insulted." Riya replied quietly, brows knotted together in frown. She has been running from this since she got the names- she has been functioning without the knowledge all these years, so should she continue the same? Or she take a chance and knows the truth?
And then what, what that will accomplish? Can she handle it now, amidst everything that's happening?
"So is that a yes?"
"I don't know."
Liza exhaled, "Okay. If you. . . let me know it. I am right here." She spoke quickly, "it will take some time, its 4 of them after all."
Something clicked in Riya's head.
She walked near the men who was busy in their various works, who stopped and turned to her with a question. Gritting teeth and trying to reign in her temper- god was she angry at herself!- she chewed out her words.
"I think we played to his hands. He never had any names- we have invited him here with us."
"So now what?" Shree mumbled to himself, exhausted beyond anything. So all of their efforts, all their planning and hard work, its gone. Completely vanished. And there was no questioning Riya's theory- there is a reason all the 4 officers got the letters. If Damre knew whom to target, he would have targeted the same person all these time.
"I have an idea." Chotu offered, looking at Riya first then at others, "Maybe we can implement this."
They picked one particular officer from the 4 of the list- Amit Rastogi. He lived alone, had no family or friends. A disciplined, stern man with over 20 years of experience in defence. He lived his days as if it's a flight schedule- miniscule planning for every single minute of the hours. ETF removed all securities and shadowing from the remaining three, and hyper focused on him. It was only a matter of time that a fish falls into their net.
They also knew none will attack the man in his house or work place- its too risky. They intentionally kept some blank space between his daily routine when hes out of his house- jogging, grocery, daily travelling to base. So of course, someone took advantage of that. A masked man followed the senior man one day in the early hours of foggy morning. Became his shadow, and just when he was pulling out his gun, ETF shielded him and the officer turned.
The only mistake they made was not vetting the officer properly- he emptied the entire revolver into his body, until there remained nothing. Everyone was speechless- at the violence, at his motionless face, at the shocking bursts of noises shattering the quiet of morning.
The body was taken by local police, as Riya looked on dispassionately. This just keeps getting stretched on and on, and she was exhausted deep in his bones. She looked away with a sigh.
The officer was staring at her from the other side of road.
After a few moments, he turned on his heels and walked away.
Arjun drove Riya back to city, promising her hes healthy and bandage was finally removed, so there is no way hes bleeding away in the car. The familiar silence was back in the car- the situation was grave, the day was a failure. Once again, nothing worked like they had hoped for. But, in that moment, he was at peace. Nothing mattered.
"Did you try to find out who is your father?' He asked. Riya kept looking outside the window.
"I was always a curious child. I wanted to know things- read books after books and asked teachers till I found my answers. Yet, I never wanted to know why its just my mother in house. When I went to school, I saw two sets of parents for kids- yet, I felt nothing. Its not like I didn't ask my mother. She said hes not part of us. I accepted it, didn't question it. After all these years, I wonder if knowing things is worth it. A lot of time has passed."
"Things might be different." Arjun said gently. "A good different."
"I was wondering the other day- maybe my father wanted to be part of my life. Maybe something happened which forced him not to ever contact us. Or, maybe, he wanted nothing to do with me. Liza asked me if I wanted a DNA test. I had no answers- and maybe, maybe, after everything went down, I don't want to change this. I am coward like that."
"Change is constant. And scary." He replied. He wanted to say more, but stopped.
She needed time. He needs to give her space.
YOU ARE READING
Sense & Sensibilities
Mystery / ThrillerNot to be confused with Austen's novel. Crime. Arjun and Riya, duh.