Chapter 13
John, Jeffrey and Kevin were seated in the front row of the Courtroom while Karan sat in the witness box. The Courtroom was swarmed with reporters, families of victims and people who weren’t even directly connected with the case or the incidents that shook the airport and the town and led to deaths of 54 individuals and injured 124 others.
The Judge looked at Karan for a moment and then began:
“On the basis of the evidence produced, the court finds Mr. Karan Khanna guilty of causing the explosion at the Airport and sentences him to Life Imprisonment.”
A week before…
“Finish your soup or else I’m not going to talk to you!” John scolded Karan. They were in their house.
“I’m fine.”
“You almost died yesterday!”
“Calm down. It’s gonna be alright.”
“Dad’s coming”
“What? Why?”
“You know why! He’s worried about us. I tried talking him out of it but he wouldn’t listen.”
“I’m not surprised” Karan smiled. “Like son like father.”
"Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
“NOT in your case” They laughed.
The door bell rang.
John opened the door to find two policemen waiting outside.
“May I help you Officers?”
“We’re here to meet Mr. Karan Khanna. Is he available?”
“What is this about?” John started to get worried.
Karan walked up to the door and greeted the officers. “I’m Karan. How may I help you?”
“You are under arrest for the bombing of the airport yesterday.”
“What! I didn’t do anything!”
“Hands behind your back please and turn around.”
“But officer, he didn’t do anything! John protested.
“Let the Courts decide that. Hands behind your back and turn around. Don’t make me repeat it.”
Karan did as he was told and one of the officers handcuffed him.
“It’ll be alright” said John. “I’ll get you out of there.”
“I didn’t do it.” Karan told John.
“I know that and we’ll prove it.”
Chapter 14
Day 1 of Karan’s arrest…
Jeffrey had to take a flight to a nearby town and then travel by road as the airport was closed for repairs. When he reached the house, John was sitting on the stairs crying. Damien was trying to console him.
“What happened?” Jeffrey asked. “Where is Karan?” His voice grew tense.
Damien filled him in with the events and the allegations. They tried getting Karan released but his arrest was non-bailable.
Jeffrey sat down next the John and tried consoling him.
“It’ll be alright. I’ll make a few calls.”
They went upstairs. Jeffrey made a few phone calls to his friends but the general opinion was that getting Karan out of this would be difficult. The Police seemed to be very sure that he was the terrorist and his Asian ethnicity didn’t seem to help matters.
There is only one person I can rely on who can help Karan, thought Jeffrey and made his last phone call.
Day 2 of Karan’s arrest
John refused to have his breakfast. Jeffrey was mad at him for refusing to eat anything. Damien had stayed over to comfort John.
The door bell rang. Jeffrey opened the door.
“John, I think we have our best bet here.” Jeffrey told John who stared at the plate in front of him filled with food that had now gone cold. John looked up.
“Kevin?” He was surprised but otherwise neutral.
“How’re you?” Kevin asked.
“Not good. My Karan is in prison Kevin and his chances of getting out seem nil.” John startedcrying.
“I’ll do mylevel best to get him out.”
“Will you?”
“Yes. You’re still my best friend and I’ll do everything possible. I promise.”
Kevin freshened up and left for the Police Station where Karan was being held. He met the Police Officers who frowned at a white man helping an Asian terrorist. Kevin tried hard to work through that. They revealed that they found multiple evidences against Karan. There were phone records of calls from his phone to a terrorist group in Pakistan. They also found remains of some parts of the bomb used in the stall where Karan worked. They were still looking for more evidence but they seemed sure that whatever they had found so far was enough to put him behind bars for life. Kevin knew at that moment that getting Karan out of this mess would be an impossible task.
I made a promise to John, and I’m going to die trying to keep that promise.
He tried getting their permission to speak to Karan but they refused to permit him without a Court Order. He tried explaining that it was already evening and the Courts were done for the day and he would have to wait another day for the permission and that the hearing began the day after but the Policemen did not seem to budge from their stand. They had found their guy easily and wouldn’t let anybodyprove otherwise.
That night Kevin and Jeffrey discussed the evidence. Kevin tried hard to keep major facts from John so as to not to worry him further. Damien agreed to keep John distracted as much as he could.
Jeffrey sighed when he heard the full account of the evidence the Police had against Karan.
“Do you also believe he is innocent?” Kevin asked Jeffrey. “Cos I need to know if fighting against so many people and the government is worth it”
“Yes.”
“And that yes isnot just because Karan is your son’s love?”
“No. It isn’t that. I have met Karan a couple of times earlier and spoken to him over phoneseveral times. He is a good kid. He would never do this to John. Moreover, he has no reason to. His family is well off in India. He is happy here. There has never been any history of abuse of any of his family members by anybody. I personally got his family checked out through my sources when John told me he had said ‘yes’ to Karan.”
“Karan proposed?”
“Yes. He did. Almost a year ago. And John immediately said yes. He didn’t bother telling me before saying yes.”
“Ok. I’ll do everything I can. But…”
“But?”
“Getting him out of this seems difficult. Would John forgive me if I fail?”
“If you honestly did everything you could, then yes.”
