Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 106- Under Control

CHAPTER 106

UNDER CONTROL

Chitra had a love-hate relationship with the art of Emotional Manipulation. She liked the actual job- when she wasn't thinking about the consequences, liked the starry gazed they stared at her with, liked the unflickering attention she was able to capture. She liked the power. But the aftermath of it came with the realization of conseuqences and empathy and that left her with a dreadful doubt on her morality. Karan- unexpectedly- had helped a lot with letting her navigate, never letting her feel she was weak for having such doubts. But it was still a struggle.

None of that mattered at the moment, though. She had a job, and she needed to get it done. She tilted her head, staring up at the older guy, ignoring the disgust that crept up as he stared at her. Sid had found a couple of those ear pieces in his bag, dismissing it as something he had worked on with Sanket when asked, giving them to the two girls. It worked with satellites rather than whatever technology mobiles worked with, so they worked well enough, now that their mobiles were nothing but metal boxes. Somewhere, Koel was doing what she was doing, in her own style. Sid, Suman ji and Prem ji were listening, and she wasn't sure if the entire thing embarrassed her or assured her. Maybe a bit of both.

She lightly tugged on the strings of the man's hoodie, meaning to look idle, but the act itself was flirty enough to make him swoon. She looked up, and sure enough, he was leaning closer. "So... aap kya karte hain?" She asked casually, as they start walking back. Convincing him to drop her to her room was easy enough.

He tensed a little, looking down at her, but she only smiled up, curiously. "Dhanda", he answered.

"Kis cheez ka?"

He tensed a little more, pausing. "Keemti cheezon ka." She tilted her head, nodding and letting it go. For now. She took a wrong turn, intending to keep him with her longer under the pretense of being lost. Not weaponry then, probably. He didn't seem to want to lie to her, so something twisted. "Tum kya karti ho?"

"Student", she said. "Solo trip par yahan aayi thi. Just a little getting away after the exams, you know. Bas, kal chali jaungi." She tucked her hair behind her ear, letting him get a glimpse of the expensive earrings. Monami had wordlessly handed it over to her, when she had asked.

He hummed. "Hum bhi."

She asked him twisted questions and he replied with twisted and half-truth answers, clearly a grunt. The higher ups would have caught on. She was becoming obvious with the last few questions. But he only answered more, offering her more and more information, merely laughing when she admitted she had lost her way and started to guide her.

She opened the door to her room, waiting and then eventually, stepping out and running over to Sid's room. He opened it, letting her pile in. Koel was there, but the other three still weren't.

"Maine beech mein jaakar cameras check kare the", Sid filled in as she took a seat. "They are turned off manually. Matlab, peeche se. They can be turned on."

"The control room is somewhere on the ground floor", Koel said. "Probably wahan se."

"Dhanda", Chitra repeated. "I don't think it's arms or ammo." They all hummed their agreement, going over the conversations and trying to deduce something. Their 'dhanda' was clearly illegal, but exactly how dangerous were they?

There was a knock and they all tensed. Another knock. A quiet pattern and they relaxed slightly. Sid swung the door open, letting the three in. "We found a room", Parikshit ushered out, eyes wide. "Wahan par khoon aur ropes the."

The words rang alarm to the rest, and they stared at them with wide eyes. Monami wordlessly held up a finger, dipped in blood, just as freaked out, reaching for a tissue and cleaning her finger. "They are running a flesh racket?" Koel muttered in horror.