Love, Deception, And A Strange Letter

On the Boat

‘Ruth, why on earth would you try to hurt me?’ asked Charu totally shocked.

Abhay and Yuvaan too stared at him in utter disbelief.

Ruth stayed mum and kept staring at Yuvaan. The ever-alert cop in Abhay was shrewd enough to notice it.

‘Answer her, Ruth. Why the hell are you staring at him?’ asked Abhay in his stern voice pointing towards Yuvaan.

Charu too noticed Ruth staring at Yuvaan and cast a glance at Yuvaan to check if he had an answer for that.

The rest of the nabbed members held their heads down while Ruth continued to stare at Yuvaan.

‘Ok, if you want it the hard way, so be it,’ said Abhay and landed a heavy punch on Ruth’s stomach.

Ruth spat out and screamed in agony, ‘His father sent us to get Charu. We had no idea she’d be with you guys. We weren’t supposed to harm her; our job was to kidnap her and deliver to him.’

Even before Abhay could stop him, Yuvaan stepped forward and landed a tight slap on Ruth.

‘Are you out of your mind? Why would my Dad want to kidnap Charu? You liar!’ shouted Yuvaan.

Abhay intervened and separated Yuvaan from Ruth lest they got out of control. Charu was too shocked to say anything. She just sat down staring blankly at the floor of the boat.

‘He’s bloody lying, Abhay Sir…’ screamed Yuvaan hysterically.

SIR – What a wrong word to use with Abhay in such a wrong situation. It became a kind of trigger to invoke the ‘Hulk’ in Abhay.

Abhay’s facial features changed and he cast a deadly look at Yuvaan and said, ‘He might be lying; he might be not. We’ll decide that at the Police station. I’ll have to officially take you as well into custody as a suspect in this case for a formal interrogation.’

‘I’ll gladly come. I don’t have anything to hide,’ said Yuvaan.

‘Let’s see,’ said Abhay as they all got ready to get off the boat, onshore.

Abhay offered Charu to sit beside him in the police jeep. He himself took the driving seat and ordered his team to bring Yuvaan, Ruth and the rest along with them.

Charu looked sadly at Yuvaan who tried hard to put on a reassuring expression, however ended up with an equally sad smile. He tried hard to control his tears.

Charu couldn’t control herself and burst out into tears, unconsciously clutching Abhay’s collar. Instinctively, Abhay pulled her close into a warm embrace and patted her head gently.

In that instant, he unintentionally turned to look at Yuvaan and their eyes met. Yuvaan’s face turned red reeking of rage, sadness & jealousness. Unknowingly to both of them, tears rolled down Yuvaan’s cheek while a slight sly smile appeared on Abhay’s face.

It was a defining moment of an open declaration of Rivalry between them. It was no more a Cold war. It had erupted into a full-blown Hot war; A war to be fought to win Charu’s Love!

                                        

Abhay started the jeep with Charu seated beside him. A few minutes passed in uncomfortable silence. ‘Are you alright, Charu?’ asked Abhay in a consoling tone.

‘I seriously don’t know, Abhay. Do you really think Yuvaan’s Dad is involved? And, what about Yuvaan? He was with us throughout, right; How and why could he be involved?’

‘Anything’s possible, Charu. We cannot afford to blindly trust anyone given the weird and dangerous events that are unfolding. You heard Ruth himself revealing who sent him on his harmful mission. As far as Yuvaan’s concerned, he’s the one who arranged everything. He was with you underwater when you vanished. How could Ruth have known our exact location? Isn’t it possible that Yuvaan was communicating with his Dad through messages & sharing our location? I have nothing against Yuvaan; I am just thinking and performing my duties as a Police officer in this case.’

Somehow his last statement concerning Yuvaan seemed pretty unconvincing to Abhay himself and he felt his conscience rebuking him that it wasn’t exactly an honest one.

                                      

Meanwhile at a Cottage on the left bank of Kutta lake at the time of Ruth’s attack on Charu

From the moment the action unfolded between Ruth’s and Abhay’s team, a heavily built man of medium stature with a deep scar below his left eye stretching till his left ear, was providing a running commentary of the events unfolding on the boats, to the audience in the cottage. He was viewing the action from an excellent set of Binoculars.

‘Boss, the ploy seems to be working. This lad Ruth would certainly pass an audition for a Stuntman in the Movie Industry. Oh Man, just look at the way he managed to get hit by Charu so artistically & convincingly! He deserves extra incentives for the blows by Abhay and Yuvaan. As expected by our Old Genius here, Abhay’s confronting Yuvaan and it surely looks like he’ll take him in as well.’

The Boss rose from his seat smiling with a sense of pride and pleasure. He opened a bottle of whiskey and served in two glasses. He took one and handed the other to Vincent and said, ‘You are a Master schemer, Vincent. I am so glad you are on my side. Every move of yours seems to be falling in place.’

‘Pleasure to be of service, Boss. You know why I am doing all this at my age. I have the only person in my family at stake and I can’t afford to falter. I’ll deliver to you what I promised. I won’t fail. You please keep your end of the deal,’ said Vincent raising a toast.

‘I know how much you love your lad, Vincent. You don’t worry about him. I’ve got the best doctors in the world treating him and he’s under 24x7 observation at the most advanced and expensive medical facility in Europe. As I promised, no matter the cost, I’ll have it covered. The cost for his treatment is your remuneration in this deal. Don’t worry, if I rake in more than I expected from this deal, I’ll fill in some incentives for you and your lad.’

‘Thank you, Boss. I assure you there’s a bigger picture than what we are envisioning.’

‘Now tell me what to do with this Double-crosser?’ asked the Boss pointing to Yuvaan’s Dad seated and tied to a chair.

‘He needs to be kept here for some days. Based on Ruth’s statement, the cops would try to contact him. Upon unable to contact him they’d assume he’s absconding. That’ll further strengthen the case and Abhay’s suspicion of Yuvaan. With their focus diverted, Charu will be left alone for a while. Since she knows that Ruth and his mother work for me, she’ll come straight to me to gather more information. We’ll have only Charu to deal with and that’s when we proceed with our next move,’ said Vincent as excitedly and proudly as a Chess champion explaining his winning moves on the chessboard.

‘Boss, I had no intention of double-crossing you. How would I even dare to think of it? I was just checking how much the sword would fetch in the Black market. Haven’t I played my part loyally in the robbery of the Sword? Please don’t harm me. I’ll have my contacts deal with you directly. I don’t even want my share. From what they’ve been telling me you’ll make a killing by selling the ‘Khopesh’ sword. I still don’t get why we are after Charu when we have the possession of the magnificent, antique sword,’ said Yuvaan’s Dad hoping to renegotiate his pitiable and vulnerable position.

The boss laughed out loud and looked at Vincent as if prompting him to reply.

Vincent nodded in consent and slyly smiled at Yuvaan’s Dad and said, ‘When you have a Golden key which is the only thing that opens a Box full of Diamonds; would you sell that Golden key without attempting to open it the Box full of Diamonds? The key can always be sold once the box is open, isn’t it?’

‘Metaphorically, very well explained, Vincent,’ said the Boss clapping his hands. He pulled the sword out of the cupboard and brandished it in wild glee, ‘As Vincent says, this ‘Khopesh’, however magnificent it might be is just a ‘Golden key’ and Charu’s the only one who can lead us to the ‘Box of Diamonds’, this ‘Khopesh’ opens. We are waiting for Charu to realize and discover her true self and find out into which lock this key goes; and where’s the lock hidden. She has to crack it on her own and she will, eventually. And won’t we be in her vicinity when she does?’

                                       ~

The same day – Night-time at Charu’s Home

An air of melancholy surrounded Charu while she retired to bed early, pondering over the events that shook her completely. Physically and mentally tired, she dozed off instantly.

But such was the phase she was going through, even sleep wasn’t relaxing, anymore.

She had a wild dream in which she was wandering all along, like a madwoman amidst the Mighty Pyramids in Egypt. Every pyramid seemed alike and she was tapping the entrance of each pyramid with a sword in her hand. At a particular pyramid, she heard a voice asking her to come inside. She slowly went inside crawling on her knees and saw Abhay trying to mummify Yuvaan’s body while he was still alive. He started shrieking on seeing her and sought her help. Abhay was in his police uniform and carrying on with his process without the slightest feeling of remorse on his face. She suddenly heard someone calling out her name from outside. ‘I have to go... I have to go…’ she kept repeating the words and started crawling outside with all her force even while Yuvaan was shouting vociferously for her help.

The next morning, Charu woke up with a throbbing headache. ‘Oh, Merciful God, will these nightmares ever end?’ she mumbled to herself.

The maid entered her room to sweep the floor and said, ’Charu Ma’am, a courier addressed to you was delivered yesterday. Did you check it out? Oomen sir wasn’t home, so I happened to collect it.’

‘A courier for me! Please get it along with a cup of strong tea,’ said Charu wondering what the courier contained and who it was from.

The maid got her the courier and a cup of tea. Charu took a sip and opened the courier.

It contained a one-way flight ticket from Kochi to Cairo for the same day, departing at 7:20 pm from Kochi and 10:30 am arrival time at Cairo, the next day. It was a 15hours flight with a 6hours connecting flight wait at Sharjah. Strangely, the courier didn’t have the sender’s details. It contained a letter, though.

“Hi Charu aka Sheryl, meet me at Hotel Marriott Mena House, Cairo at 6 pm tomorrow if you seek enlightenment.

 I need it, too. This is neither a prank nor a threat. You are looking for some answers and so am I. 

Sheryl Varghese - The Sword - MV02FK09; Ring a bell? 

Looking forward, let’s get to the bottom of it. 

Regards, VK.”