Samsaara : Malakh-ul-maut

4. A Punch In Time, Saves Nine

***** A few hours back *****

I had the general lay of the land from the morning when I had spied on them. All that was left was to retrieve the animals. But I had a few obstacles ahead of me. Six to be precise.

When I had seen the people I was up against, they seemed to stronger than I was. I was certain a straight forward attack would mean I would lose. Especially without the use of my core. One on one would be the only way for me to win this. And to accomplished this. I needed to employ every bit of trickery that I could conjure up.

There was some preparation to be done and I had the entire day to do this. After a few hours of sleep, I was ready to deal with them. Meanwhile Jerry was stationed near the warehouse monitoring their movements to ensure they won't move the animals during the day as I had no way to ascertain if they had another vehicle.

My first stop was a hardware shop where I procured a long roll of jute wire. Then bought some firecrackers and finally a little bit of petroleum jelly. And before the next step, I must add, do not, I repeat, DO NOT try this at home (or outside).

At home I melted the petroleum jelly and soaked the rope into it absorbs it completely. Then I passed the rope through the powders extracted from the firecrackers to create a makeshift fuse.

Then I cut the fuse into a short length to determine the time it took for it to burn from one end to another and then cut a length that would take five minutes to burn from end-to-end. The rest of the flash powder from the crackers was placed into an open box with some cloth soaked with the rest of the petroleum jelly. Then I took a roll of duct tape and an extra handkerchief. And kept it all in my ruck-sack

Then I had a small appointment with the Head of the Department at the veterinary college. I reached the veterinary college just as he was about to leave. His office was the same as before, and so was he.

Logan said, "Oh! Rishaan. I'm surprised you are here already. Case solved?"

I said, "Well, partially. I have found the culprit but I am yet to retrieve the animals. But I can't tell you more until I finish the mission. Hope you can be patient until then."

Logan replied, "Well, then may I ask what brings you here?"

"Yes, I need to ask you a few questions, if that's alright with you," I said.

"Sure, have a seat," he said.

"Have you noticed any anesthetic chemicals going missing from your hospital?" I asked.

"No, why do you ask?" he replied.

"Well, some has been going missing and you have not noticed it," I said.

"Alright, I guess I have more than just animal being stolen from here," he said.

"Isn't it strange that a Head of the department has no clue about medicines going missing? Especially Ketamine which is used as a narcotic. Surely such substances are usually accounted for and documented well," I replied.

"I don't know why you find it strange, I have a lot of responsibilities. There are so many animals that require my care. I can't keep a track of every medicine being used," he replied.

"Yes, that brings me to my next question. You wear a very expensive pair of leather shoes. And they never seen to have even a speck of dust on them, never a drop of water, never a strand of hay or a straw of grass. Do you ever go out to the stables and enclosures and actually treat any animals?" I asked.

He seemed clearly frustrated at my questions and rebuted, "Are you asking me questions or is this an interrogation?"

I replied, "It is a simple question, definitely not an interrogation. You can choose not to answer it and I can choose to let everyone know what I know."