Leap of Faith

Behind Enemy Lines

I eyed the house in front of me over the rolled down windows of the cab. It was eerily quiet afternoon with occasional cars driving by.

"Excuse Miss, that will be twelve pounds," the cab driver snapped my attention back at him. After giving him, the money I slowly walked towards the gate. The long wrap skirt was annoying, making my steps falter. I had removed the shirt to show off a black top underneath. I tied the wrap skirt over the staff skirt I wore earlier. Here I was facing the riskiest place I could enter. I took a deep breath and put on an haute face. The weaker I looked, the more it will be difficult to persuade him.

The red-bricked mansion was indeed a remarkable sight. Large Iron Gate obstructed half the view. As soon as I moved towards the security booth, the automatic gate creaked opened. Confidently I took the steps into the enemy area. I was conscious, as I knew perfectly well that he was watching me.

I made cursory glance around, drinking the surrounding, surprisingly found no trace of any human being. That was odd considering he might had a bunch of vigilant security men. The thought started to make me feel uneasy and nervous. I was involuntarily blinking my eyes to match my accelerated heart rate.

What if he kills me? He may have sent all men away to clear the plausible crime scene. Nobody knew I am here, well except Shweta and Riya. And it is probably not a good idea for them to open their mouths after my murder. What the hell! Can he really kill me?

Up until then, I was ignorant to some extent to the possibility of him killing me. Though now the fact was sinking into me, he just might hurt me. That way, he might be prying Aayan's doom. What was I thinking? I smacked my subconscious back to the task.

When I approached the heavy front door, I adjusted my sling back to one side to knock. Then I saw the door open, Vikram standing on the other side of the threshold. He wore a casual gray sweater and dark jeans with a blank expression signalling me to follow him inside the house. As he turned to get inside, I kept my hand on the bag. 'Everything will be fine', I repeated the mantra in my head repeatedly.

"Drink?" he asked in his neutral tone. There was a small kitchen with a counter at the left end of the huge living room.

"Water will do," I said keeping the nervousness out of my system. His living room reflected black and white shades. No extra furniture and no gaudy area, simple yet rich. The gray drapes obstructing the light, I had to strain my eyes a little to adjust to the light.

"So tell me, why did you choose to meet me here in my house?" Vikram asked as he handed me a glass of water. His eyes narrowing just a little around the edges.

"I can't take a risk to be seen in public, now can I?" I replied with confidence. "Already Aayan had appointed men to watch on me."

I drank the half glass, suddenly realizing my throat had gone dry. I put the glass on the kitchen counter involuntarily adjusting my bag again. I saw a knife at the other side of the counter through my peripheral sight.

"Very clever indeed." He paused twitching only a muscle on his impassive face. "Now the question remains, are you up for it?" His eyes watching me like a hawk, I was feeling more and more like a prey with every second passing.

"I am not comfortable here. Can we go to some other room?" I asked holding his gaze showing no discomfort.

He studied me for next minute then said, "Sure. Follow me."

He started to walk towards the staircase, with his back on me. I started looking frantically for anything that might give me some sort of clue. I could see a few abstract paintings around the stairway wall. Nothing personal. No family photo.