He was known only by his codename Victor.
Fear was his weapon and anonymity his asset..
His junior officers whispered tales of his ruthless and daring heroics while his seniors put up with his unconventional and often barbaric tactics, only because...
Misha tried her best to concentrate and listen to what her English professor was explaining, but it was an effort just to keep her eyes open. To keep herself awake and distract from the boredom of an uninteresting class, she opened her notepad again, and slowly withdrew the postcard, for the umpteenth time.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The postcard had a cute picture of Snoopy dressed as Sherlock Holmes, that she happened to notice and pick up from the pot plant in front of Victor's apartment. But it was the neatly printed, emoji filled short note attached at the back, which kept her in a good mood on that otherwise dismal day.
To,
Ms Snoopy 🧐
Hope you won't miss me too much while I am away.
But if you ever feel like you can't live without talking to me,
feel free to call me anytime.
You know where I am >> just a phone call away. 😉
Yours truly
Mr Holmes 😎🕵️♂️
Xxxx-xx-xxxx
That arrogant prick and his bloody cheek!! Misha cursed him one more time, before hastily pushing the postcard back inside the notepad as the class was over. She was glad to get out of the class and go home. Today was the last day of college, before the term holidays started. But unlike other students who were busy discussing which movie to go to, she rushed off home, as she and her Nani had an early evening train to catch.
====
Victor paced back and forth restlessly in the departure lounge, as he waited for the boarding announcement of his flight to Mumbai. That emotional outburst with Nanda Sir, so closely followed by the heated conversation with Ashwin left him disturbed, even though he wasn't willing to admit it.
Just like he would never admit to his aviophobia and how the very thought of strapped to a seat in an metal box, thousands of feet up in the air scares him shit, every time, even after all these years of air travel. He had learnt new methods to overcome this fear, and thankfully, over the years, he had developed tolerance to stay in his seat quietly during the flight, but still suffered from extreme anxiety, especially during take-off and landing.
Soon, he sat down in the plane and managed to survive another terrorising few minutes as the plane took off, by filling his mind with any diversion that would take his mind off his current position. And he thought of Anosha Malik, who was the best person to understand him outside his job as an agent, and who taught him coping methods to overcome his fears. Gradually, his mind relaxed. Once the take-off finished and seatbelt sign was off, he rushed to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his sweaty face. Just as always, he followed Anu's advice and did few minutes of deep breath exercises and listened to soothing music, which helped calm his thudding heart, and once he felt normal, he returned to his seat with an impassive face. A girl with an overtly made up face was in the next seat, and Victor smiled inwardly at her inept attempts of feigning disinterest towards him. He ignored her completely and spent the rest of his flight going through his plan thoroughly, making sure he had all the bases covered, every check and counter checks that were necessary, to meet Sharath Nair in disguise or find out what he was up to.
