| Dark Devotion |

40

A B H I M A N

"All preparations are ready." Aditya informed me as we entered my office.

"Good." I replied, taking a seat on the couch.

My gaze swept over the various files and pictures scattered on the table. I was now convinced that each attack was connected, but the lingering questions were how and why.

"So, you're confident he's got something to do with this mess?" Rishabh asked and sprawled on the couch.

"I found a microphone in the pendant of her necklace." I replied. Rishabh sat up straight and looked at me in surprise.

"And you think he did it?"

"I know it was him. He told her she forgot it in the hospital. She wasn't wearing the necklace once we got to the hospital. When we went back to clean the house, it was nowhere to be seen, so either she lost it in the woods, or they grabbed it before we would notice." I explained.

"And suddenly it just happened to have a microphone in it." Aditya added.

"Do you still have the necklace? Maybe I can trace its origin, find out where it was purchased, and identify the buyer." Rishabh said.

"I broke it."

He gave me a blank look.

"And why would you do that? A magnet would have done the job just fine to disconnect any signal."

"I didn't want to take any chances." I shrugged.

"We underestimated the bastard." Aditya sighed, and I nodded in agreement. Devendra was an eager man, and his eagerness knew no bounds. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

"I still don't understand how he got Koreans to work for him. They don't work with anyone." Rishabh pondered.

I rubbed my jaw as I examined the pictures of the ones we had identified. "Mihir." They both looked at me when I let out a humorless chuckle.

"It's that shitface, Mihir." I said as I looked at Aditya.

"When you were with her at Devendra's house, she went with Mihir to Koreatown. He must have some kind of contact with Koreans."

"That's fucked up. Didn't they grow up together, and now he's trying to kill her?" Rishabh scoffed.

I took another look at the pictures while they discussed. I grabbed a particular one as I examined it.

"... I'm going to stuff a knife up his ass -"

"Mihir is not trying to kill Ira." I cut off Rishabh. "He might be being used."

"How can we be sure of that?" Rishabh asked.

"Because he's in love with her." I revealed. Ira had told me everything about it at the safe house, not wanting to keep any secrets from me.

"I fucking knew it." Aditya scoffed.

I put the pictures in order on the table for them to see.

"The drive-by shooting at the church, Mihir, was not there. At some point, Devendra disappeared and left his men behind as a show for us. Roberto said he had a phone slipped into his bag when he was trapping the streets. It was most likely Mihir who did it or had someone else do it to avoid getting caught."

"It would make sense. Mihir is respected on the streets, and he's deeply connected." Aditya commented.

"Shit. Devendra tried to kill Ira so soon?" Rishabh frowned as he focused on the pictures.