A Backfiring Plan

How could I have trusted him so blindly, thought Charu reflecting on Abhay’s deeds. And to think of it, she was on the verge of falling in love with him. She felt so bad for Yuvaan and desperately wanted to help him out. Right now, he was the only person she could trust. She had to free Yuvaan and with his help they had to stop the deal Abhay was planning on with the Mafia boss.

Using her connections, she secured a bail and managed to get Yuvaan out of custody.

‘I am so sorry, you had to go through all this because of me,’ said Charu.

‘It's ok. Tell me what’s the latest development,’ said Yuvaan.

Upon hearing about Abhay’s upcoming deal with the Mafia boss, Yuvaan exclaimed, ‘Wow, some criminal police officer, this guy is. Think of it, we were seeking his help all this time!’

‘So, do you have any plan, or do we need to figure it out?’ asked Yuvaan.

Charu smiled and said, ‘Well, I have something on my mind. I love your thirst for action.’

‘Allright, let’s go get him, then,’ said Yuvaan cheerfully ruffling her hair.

~

As per their plan, Charu started keeping an eye on Abhay’s movements and Yuvaan on the submarine den. 

‘Just observing him isn't helping. We need to figure out a way to tap his phone,’ said Charu.

‘Well, some progress at my end. I have observed a pattern in the Boss’s movements and daily activities. He spends most of his time of the day in the den, but he comes out to the city during night and frequents a lounge bar almost thrice a week, ‘said Yuvaan.

‘Atta boy… that’s definitely some info. We’ll have to catch him in this lounge bar and manage to send across a message that'd make him suspicious of the originality of the ‘Khopesh’ sword that's with Abhay,’ said Charu feeling proud of her spontaneous scheming prowess.

‘Charu, he’s a mafia boss. He’d be surrounded by his bodyguards. How do you think we’d get a word with him?’ asked Yuvaan.

‘Oh, Yuvaan. How can you be so naïve? We don’t need to speak with him to get the message across,’ said Charu winking her left eye repeatedly trying to tease him.

‘Ok, smart lady gangster. I admit, you’ve got the better brain amongst us. Now, could you please stop winking,’ said Yuvaan trying to control his blushing.

The revelation of the true nature of Abhay had cleared Charu’s confused mind & heart which so far had been fluctuating between Abhay and Yuvaan. She now felt a newfound clarity & affection bonding with Yuvaan. Was she falling in love with him? Well, she was almost getting there.

 ~

‘Hi Yuvaan, I figured out a way to tap his phone. Let’s catch up at the City mall for lunch and I’ll explain.’ – the message beeped on Yuvaan’s phone.

‘Phew, this lady simply never quits. What an amazing personality,’ thought Yuvaan. He knew he was falling head over heels in love with her. He’d go to any extent to help and win her love. With Abhay out of the picture, he had a straightforward chance, and he wouldn’t let anything come in between him and Charu.

(Oh, poor Yuvaan. Do you really think Abhay would be out of the love triangle so soon? Think twice!!)

At the City mall, they met at their regular joint. Charu seemed all worked up and pretty excited. ‘I did it. Now we can listen to all his outgoing and incoming calls.’

‘How on earth did you manage it?’ asked Yuvaan wondering what she had been up to.

‘The technology these days, you know. Anything’s possible. As he’s still unaware that we are aware of his true self, I went to meet him casually, today. He was a bit miffed knowing that I had bailed you out. So much for his acting skills, he still was portraying so much concern towards my welfare. It was hard for me to act naturally and not come across. At one point, I had this uncontrollable urge to slap his face. Nevertheless, I found a reason to ask for his mobile and while he was away for a few moments, I installed this spy-ware app on his phone. It has an option to hide it, so it stays hidden. Now it’s spy game on.’

Yuvaan listened with rapt attention and particularly savored the moment when Charu mentioned her urge to slap Abhay. (Only love has this unique quality of creating stupidly enjoyable moments.)

‘Perfect, master planner. Take a bow, Lovely lady gangster,’ said Yuvaan literally bowing to Charu.

‘Lovely lady gangster! Hmmm, I’ll take that compliment, but enough of these complimentary snacks, order some heavy lunch. I am famished,’ said Charu making an expression that had ‘Just-arrived-from-a-famine-stricken-area’ written all over it.

 ~

 It took 17 calls from Charu to wake Yuvaan from his slumber.

‘Do you take sleeping pills or drugs before you sleep?’ blurted out Charu.

‘I slept late. Tell me what’s up so early in the morning?’ asked Yuvaan still semi-asleep.

‘We have to catch the Boss at the Lounge bar tonight. Abhay’s planning to meet him tomorrow for the ‘Khopesh’ deal,’ said Charu rushing her words.

‘Ok, I just hope he runs into the Bar tonight.’

‘We’ll meet at that Lounge bar at 6pm sharp,’ said Charu and hung up.

Charu met Yuvaan who was waiting at the entrance. ‘You look gorgeous,’ said Yuvaan.

 ‘Well, Thanks. I had to dress up for the occasion. It’s not daily that you get to be in the same space with a Mafia boss.’

Charu showed some pamphlets that she had got. The pamphlet grandly depicted the ‘Khopesh’ sword, its history, and a grand auction about to take place in a week at the Fort Kochi museum.

‘How did you manage these? I guess you got them printed on your own. So, we are here to advertise this auction using these pamphlets. Cool, but what if they inquire about the auction and find out its fake news?’

‘You see, the point is to create an element of doubt in the Boss’s mind. That’ll buy us some time. If the Boss’s men have to inquire what’s the instinctive thing they’ll do?’ asked Charu.

‘Of course, the pamphlet has the Museum’s number on it. They’ll call it up,’ said Yuvaan.

‘There you go…’ giggled Charu. ‘Those aren’t the Museum’s numbers. I’ve set those numbers. All the calls get diverted to me and I’ll confirm that the auction is taking place.’

‘Cunning Lady Gangster…’ sighed Yuvaan. ‘What happened to the ‘Lovely’ part?’ asked Charu teasing him.

‘Come on, we’ll meet the manager and seek permission for placing these pamphlets on the tables,’ said Yuvaan.

The permission was sought and with the help of the waiters the pamphlets were placed on all the tables. Now they just had to seat at a table and hope the Boss turned up.

Luck was in their favor, albeit a couple of hours late. The Boss arrived with a couple of his henchmen and sat at a table reserved for them.

‘That’s our guy,’ whispered Yuvaan.

Charu glanced at the Boss and her expression changed as if she’d seen a ghost.

‘Oh my God! It can’t be him!’

‘Do you know him?’ asked Yuvaan baffled by her expression and comments.

‘Are you sure he’s the Mafia boss? He’s the father of my classmate & close friend at NYU Law School.’

‘Oh God, where is this leading to? Did you ever happen to meet him?’ asked Yuvaan.

‘Thank God, I didn’t, I only saw him in the pictures she showed me,’ said Charu.

They then noticed the Boss reading the pamphlet and keeping it in his pocket. He seemed to be disturbed and was speaking animatedly with his henchmen.

‘Let’s head out. I think we hit the bull’s eye there. We can expect some calls landing in tomorrow,’ said Charu and they hastily made their exit.

 ~

As expected, a call came in inquiring about the ‘Khopesh’ sword and the auction. Charu answered as effectively as an helpdesk executive at the Museum would do.

Charu and Yuvaan were expecting the deal to break off, however something unexpected happened.

Nothing untoward with regards to the deal was happening. Everything was happening unaffected. Abhay got a call to come to the submarine den to close the deal. Charu and Yuvaan were closely following him in their vehicle. At a certain spot, Abhay took a sudden left and drove towards a tree in the distance. Charu and Yuvaan parked aside and observed from their binoculars. Abhay dug a hole near the tree and kept something inside it and drove his vehicle back to the main road and started driving towards the submarine den.

They both waited for a while and drove towards the tree where Abhay had dug and hidden something. They couldn’t believe their luck when they found the ‘Khopesh’ sword in the pit.

‘Why on earth would he hide it here and go to make a deal with the deadly Mafia boss?’ asked Yuvaan utterly shocked.

‘Who knows how these deals go and why do we care? By sheer luck, we got what we were looking for, although I couldn’t have guessed we’d get it so easily,’ sighed Charu and hugged Yuvaan tightly.

She then loosened her embrace and looked at him straight in the eyes, her arms still around his waist. She then gently kissed him on the lips. There it was, their first kiss, under a tree far away from the city and the magnificent ‘Khopesh’ in a pit near their feet.

‘This is it. Let’s get the hell out of here before he changes his mind and comes back rushing,’ said Charu and picked up the Khopesh.

Yuvaan was still stoned reeling under the effect of the most passionate moment of his life; so far…

 ~

Charu woke up late after a sound sleep. A relaxed sleep following an evening laced with a romantic kiss and luck favored victory. She noticed a notification from the spy-app.

It was an incoming call to Abhay from his higher officer.

‘What went wrong, Abhay? This was totally your plan, right? How did you mess it up?’

‘I had planned it perfectly, sir. I had the original sword restored to the museum and had news circulated in the mafia circle that it was a duplicate. I was on the verge of closing the deal and handing the duplicate to this mafia boss. It would have been a perfect case of ‘One stone – Two birds’ if he had tried selling it in foreign markets as they would have killed him on the spot. But somehow, he became suspicious. He was mentioning about some auction at the museum and stuff. I don’t know where he got that info from. As of now, he said that the deal’s off and he’ll call me if he has a change of mind. To make matters worse, someone who followed me stole the duplicate sword that I hid.’

Charu listened in silence and was dumb found when she noticed another beep.

This was an outgoing call from Abhay to his Dad.

‘Hi Dad, I was so close of getting rid of the mafia boss who was becoming a threat to Charu. You know how much I love her, right? He was even after Yuvaan’s life as he noticed him helping her. To keep Yuvaan in safety and divert that mafia boss, I falsely kept him in custody, but Charu somehow bailed him out. I just felt like sharing this with you, Dad. But one thing, Dad, come what may, I will protect Charu with all my strength and figure out why they are after her and the Khopesh.’

(What did we say earlier, Yuvaan?  Do you really think Abhay would be out of the love triangle so soon? Think thrice!!!)