The Eighth Night [Now published on Amazon]

Part 5

June 20, 2022

"Hey!"

Vikrant emerged in Swadha's peripheral vision as he walked in her direction. Swadha gave him a tired and taut smile.

"Oh, hi!" She gestured at the vacant seat in front of her. "Please sit down. Would you like to have something? The canteen boasts of amazing cold coffee."

"I will take your advice on that and go for it."

He arched his eyebrow as he noticed the exhaustion in her sunken eyes. "Long shift?" Swadha sipped her coffee to help keep her eyes open and mind alert for the next several hours as Vikrant ordered his own cold coffee. "Eighteen hours down, six to go, and the case isn't really helping my sleep."

Vikrant received his order in a matter of a few moments. The drink was already prepared in advance because of its high demand. He sipped, looking around for any eavesdroppers. The canteen was empty except for a few other interns like Swadha, too fatigued from their shifts to care.

"Well, we found some new information. We were looking at the mobiles active that night in the hostel's area and we found two stolen sim cards being used in that location, that had interacted with one another. So, I guess, the kidnapper is not acting alone and the fact that they are using stolen sim cards shows they have extensively planned this."

Worry spread across her features as her grip on the weak plastic cup holding her coffee almost crumbled.

"So, there's a gang who has enmity with the college and, so far, with our batch. I don't know who it could be or why they are doing this. I just hope they aren't being tortured or raped or killed."

Vikrant noticed her visible discomfort in the topic. "That's the worst part—the uncertainty. We are uncertain about the kidnapper, the motive, and what the kidnapper going to do next."

"Any idea about who stole the sims?" she asked, her eyes appearing as desperate as she felt.

"No, I mean, it is usually a network of people who maintain a constant supply of these stolen sim cards underground. Even if we catch the person who stole the sim cards in the first place, he would only tell us about his boss or his contact or his dealer. The chain isn't short. The government has already committed many resources to this case. They don't want to conduct such an extensive investigation."

His own frustration was palpable in his tone as he remembered his senior asking him to cut down on the man-force and resources. Her nostrils flared in annoyance as her eyebrows came together to form a frown. She slammed the cup on the table between them, denting the bottom of the plastic.

"Seriously? Someone kidnapped three students. It has been almost two months since the first kidnapping and the government is asking us to take it lightly? Just wow!"

It was not something she had not expected. Having worked in the government setup as an intern, she was aware of the skewed supply demand relationship but the fact that someone had her friends holed up somewhere and they could have been torturing them made her hope against hope that the government would not give up.

"See, I am not saying that it is right but what usually happens in big cases is that the media and social media pressure gets so high that the law enforcement has to pump all its resources to save its face but no one knows about this case. Media is like a double-edged sword. While, in certain ways, it is a good thing that the media is not aware of our case, in other ways, it is not." Vikrant was not proud of his explanation, but he knew it was worse to give false expectations to the woman in front of him than the harsh truth.

"There you are. And look who is here—Mr. DSP." Lekha joined in, but there was no hint of enthusiasm or joy on her face.

"Hello, Dr. Khanna." Vikrant did not take his eyes off Swadha as he said his greeting. Swadha seemed to struggle to keep her emotions in check.

"Lekha..."

"It's actually good that you are here, officer," started Lekha, unintentionally cutting off her friend. "Bhavani's mother is meeting the dean. She wants to approach the media and give a press release about the situation because she feels like you guys are not doing enough." Her sour expressions contrasted with her usual happy-go-lucky demeanour.

"We should just let her go ahead, then. Government and law enforcement were missing pressure. Let's just give them that!." Swadha's firm voice and her indifferent mask conveyed her annoyance to Lekha and Vikrant. She got up.

"You would not want that, Swadha," said Vikrant, getting up with her. Swadha was walking towards the administrative block to speak with Bhavani's mother, not bothering to hear him out. She increased her pace, ignoring Lekha's struggle to catch up with the two of them.

"It will be a mess. People would stop coming to the hospital because they would feel unsafe, and this is a tertiary care government setup. It will cause so much chaos and panic; the media personnel will hound all of you." He caught up with her.

"Just a few moments ago, you said that the government is planning to divert the resources from this case because of the lack of pressure from media and now when we have the chance of doing that, you are stopping me," she spoke as she walked. "We might be working on this together, but our loyalties are different. My loyalty is to my friends and your loyalty is to the government. I won't ask you to join me, but don't stop me either."

Vikrant rolled his eyes in exasperation. He caught her wrist and pulled at her arm, effectively stopping her. She turned to glare at him as she struggled to free her wrist from his vice-like grip. He knew she would escape from him if let go of her hand, so he held tight.

"This is not the time to be emotional, Swadha. Our loyalties might appear different, but our primary loyalty is to the justice, and I know that. I know how these things work. If we tell this to my senior, he will immediately divert the resources back. But if it is out in the media, it will fixate . It would have been a different ball game if the media were abreast of the beginning of the case. You want to save your friends, right?"

Swadha exchanged a look of consternation with Lekha before she nodded.

"You will. I promise you, but you need to trust me because I know this game better than you. So, do you trust me?"