The Rules Of Pursuit

2.The Factory

The dilapidated factory building stood eerily infront.

"Give me your phone," the stranger said extending his hand. I was too scared to move. This was it. This was where I would be probably left half dead, after he had his way with me. I should have never believed that email.

All the Whatsapp Forwards that caution you about such emails came swimming back to my mind. My parents had always warned me never to get in a car with a stranger.

I thought of making a run for it. However, I didn't know where I was, moreover this serial rapist had a car, not to mention that I was never a good runner in the first place. The only thing I could do, was plead for mercy.

"Wh-why do you need my phone?" I stammered.

"Agency policy." He shrugged. "Listen kid, I don't have all day, so hurry up."

I shakily handed him over my phone. He grabbed it and switched it off, then removed my SIM card from the back, before pocketing both my phone and SIM card.

The stranger climbed out of the car and waved me to follow him. I knew I was doomed. I had just handed over my last weapon to him. Now even the cops won't be able to trace me. I slowly opened the door and stepped out of the car.

He stretched his back and looked at me, casually.

"Welcome to the factory."That was all he muttered before walking towards the back of the building. 

I stood rooted next to the car. Realizing that I had obviously not followed him, he turned around and looked a little perplexed.

"Is there a problem?" He asked from a distance. I once again calculated my chances if I ran. He must have noticed my expression of panic because the next second, he burst out with laughter.

"Don't worry Ms. Banerjee, I am not going to rape you," he guffawed. A slight relief swept over me. I smiled sheepishly before hesitantly following him.

This building was in shackles. The Stage II had taken place in a sports arena with atleast seventy participants. The arena too was a little far from the city, but not isolated like this factory.

We entered the rundown factory building and climbed up a flight of crumbling stairs. He stopped infront of what looked like an elevator. I wondered how he planned to use it, because the building obviously had no electricity.

The collapsible iron door of the elevator squeaked when he closed it behind us. The stranger pressed the elevator buttons in quick succession, as if entering a combination, and immediately we were pulled down. It was so sudden, that my gut lurched.

After what felt like five minutes, the elevator halted to a stop, and the stranger slid the iron door open while a set of metal doors beyond it, automatically parted. I stepped out of the elevator on a brightly lit corridor, completely baffled.

We walked down the corridor and passed through another set of swinging metal doors, and my jaw dropped at the sight that awaited.

There were men and women wearing formals, seated in cubicles in a large hall, their eyes glued to the screens on their tables. A woman with a long bob sat at a reception right next to the metal doors.

The dilapidated factory was merely the front below which the state headquarters of R&AW was situated! The stranger wasn't a serial rapist after all! He was a field agent of R&AW!

"You took quite a lot of time Anwar," The woman at the reception called out at my companion.

"The package Sujata, was not really cooperative you see." Anwar smirked jerking his head towards me.