by UD Yasha
‘I’m walking towards you but don’t worry I’m going to stay away,’ I said.
I did not go near her, because the last time I had tried to she had broken down. She was silent now but still in the same position as before.
‘I know you are afraid. I know something bad has happened to you. I am going to make sure you do not ever get hurt. Do you understand that?’ I said.
Natasha did not respond.
‘I’m going to stay here. You can take as much time as you want. I’ll keep waiting for you until you’re ready. I’m not going to leave you, Natasha. I’m here only to keep you safe.’
Natasha still did not move. I felt a hand on my back. Rathod was calling me. I did not understand what he was saying. I shifted my focus on Natasha again. I had promised her she could take as much time as she wanted. But I needed to know she was able to understand me. I waited for five minutes watching her. She had not moved even a bit.
‘Natasha, if you can hear and understand me, please convey that to me in some way,’ I said.
She said nothing. Just as I was starting to lose hope, she tapped her leg once.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I’m waiting. Take your time.’
Rathod returned ten minutes later with a glass of water. I shook my head. I went up to him and whispered in his ear, ‘She’s responding to me. But she’s very scared. I don’t want to break her trust by doing something other than what I promised.’
I looked at Natasha once again. I leaned forward to confirm that I was not imagining things. She tapped her foot once. Is she trying to say something?
‘Are you calling me?’ I said.
She tapped her foot again.
I made sure to walk slowly without making any sudden movements. ‘Alright, I am coming near you. I am not going to touch you. I will be standing away.’
She tapped her foot once again.
I was getting through to her. Somehow, I needed to maintain whatever trust that had been established between us.
I stopped four feet from her. ‘What do you want to tell me?’ I said.
Natasha looked up at me. Her eyes were a deeper shade of red than earlier. They had swollen up more from the last I saw them twenty odd minutes back. Thankfully, she was not crying anymore. I considered that to be a good sign.
‘I’m here for you, okay?’ I said.
Natasha tapped her foot again.
‘Do you want to go somewhere safer?’
Natasha tapped her foot again.
I was not sure what the tap meant. But she seemed to be getting along with me. I took the tapping of her foot to mean a ‘yes’. I was winging its meaning. I felt better, knowing that she was okay. She seemed to be breathing alright.
‘Let’s go to a safe place,’ I said. ‘Come with me.’
Natasha’s body began shuddering like she was being electrocuted. Seeing her like that made the hair on the back of my neck stand. Seriously, what had she experienced in her life? She looked at me, wiping her tears. Her breaths were short and loud. I waited. She got better ten beats later. I tried not to look scared.
‘You can take your time,’ I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.
A thought entered my mind: if I was so affected by just seeing her shiver so violently, what would she have felt herself?
‘I’ll wait here,’ I said.
Six heartbeats later, she got up and walked up to me. Her gaze met mine. Her face was expressionless. I needed to take her away from the villa. She would have bad memories of being held there. I took a step towards the door. Natasha followed me. I smiled.
‘Don't worry. I'm going to make sure nothing bad happens to you,' I said, hoping that I would be able to follow through my promise because this girl did not deserve any more pain or suffering.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I walked with Natasha down the stairs. She held the railing tightly and was always half a step behind me. I realized she wanted to be as close to me as possible without making contact with me. I was okay with that. I was thinking about something else. Natasha would have to be introduced to Radha and Rahul. I hoped that Rathod had taken Jaggu some place Natasha could not see him.
As we reached halfway, I said, ‘Let’s rest here for a minute.’
I sat on the staircase. Natasha sat a step above me.
I turned to her slowly and said, ‘I need to tell you something. But before that, I need you to know that I will always have your best interests at heart. I am going to be here for you.'
Natasha tapped her leg. I had noticed that through this entire process, her mouth was partially open and her eyes did not bear any expression.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I am going to take you with me to a safe place. To go there, we need to sit in a car.’
Natasha did not move.
‘You don’t want to?’
Still nothing.
‘I live far so we need to use the car to get away from here. Is that okay?’
Natasha tapped her leg.
‘I came here with my sister and her fiancé, along with the man you saw in the room earlier. They are my friends. They would also protect you. I have told them to be friends with you as well. Is that okay?’
Natasha tapped her leg again.
She flung her arms towards me. I was taken aback. I had only been scared of children once in my life—the first time when I had held a seven-month-old baby. It was my client’s child. She had stepped out of my office and her baby girl had started crying. I was too afraid to hold her then, but I had eventually managed to pick her up and rock her in my arms. Now the same feeling came over me with Natasha, even though she was much older. I did not want to cause her any discomfort by not holding her properly.
I closed my eyes for a beat and wrapped my arms around her.
We stepped out of the villa together. Everyone was waiting for us some distance ahead. I wondered what had happened to Jaggu. I was sure Rathod would not leave him behind without getting some answers from him. I turned on the torch of my headband and followed Radha, Rahul and Rathod who were walking twenty feet ahead of me.
Even before we reached the car, I heard Natasha snore ever so gently. I got into the car, being careful all along. Once I was inside, I brought her forward to one side by supporting her head with my right hand and her back with my left.
She opened her eyes when Rathod started the car. I was afraid of her beginning to shake once again.
‘It’s just the car starting,’ I said.
Natasha said nothing. She stared at me with her emotionless eyes. I wondered what she was thinking. I wondered if she knew anything about her captor. I had been so preoccupied with making her feel comfortable that I had not even thought about why Manohar would have taken Natasha. Wasn’t he supposed to be innocent? And not just that, but why had he then told me about Sitaram Mule, when he knew that we would come here and rescue Natasha?
Radha passed her phone to me. She had typed something out on it. The screen brightness was the lowest it could be. In addition to that, she had activated night mode that further blunted the brightness.
I read the message.
Jaggu is in the trunk of the car. Rathod sedated him and put him there. He wants to ask him more questions. Here’s what he has told us so far. Manohar brought Natasha to the villa a month back. It belongs to his friend Vijay Krishnan.
The usual caretaker of the villa is a man called Hardik Shah. He has worked for the Krishnan family for many years. They trust him. He had to take leave because someone died in his family. Jaggu is Hardik's nephew. He is here as Hardik’s replacement for fifteen days. Rathod spoke to Hardik on the phone. He confirmed the story. Hardik also told Rathod that Manohar had got Natasha to the villa to protect her. He had given strict instructions on how to treat her. When Hardik was around, she was well-taken care of.
Apparently, she has been scared from the first day. Hardik described what we saw. He told Jaggu how to take care of Natasha but he seemed to have not gotten it. Instead o
f love, he used force and locked her up in the room.
Also, Rathod checked the rest of the vila. It was empty. There was no sign of Natasha’s mother Sumeira Gill. Rathod is also trying to get in touch with Vijay Krishnan.
Rage bubbled through me. I wanted to kick Jaggu in the balls. The very next instant, Natasha moved a bit in my arms. Before I panicked I realized she was just turning in her sleep. I did not know what made her feel secure with me. But I was glad that a child as sweet as her was finally feeling safe—like every child should.
We reached home at almost five thirty in the morning. The night air was still cool. Rathod dropped us home and left. He was going to take Jaggu back to his place and lock him up there to keep his arrest and our visit off the grid.
Shama opened the door for us. Atharva was behind her. Natasha was still in my arms. She was hugging me tightly. Radha had already informed them what had happened and that we were bringing Natasha back with us.
Shadow was waiting for me at the door as well, putting on display his best behaviour. He has a strange way of being perceptive. He sensed he could not welcome me in his usual way. So, he just rubbed his nose against my leg when I came in.
‘Maa’s awake,’ Shama said.
I carried Natasha upstairs. Shadow followed us. I wondered how maa would react on seeing her. As I opened the door to maa’s room, Natasha woke up in my arms. She looked at me quizzically.
‘We’re at my house,’ I said with a smile.
Even maa was up and sitting on her bed. Her eyes glinted in love and care.
‘This is my mother. We love her very much,’ I said, sitting next to maa.
Natasha’s attention was elsewhere. She was staring at Shadow, who was looking back at her with earnest eyes. I did not have to wait to find out if Natasha was scared of dogs. She stretched a hand in Shadow’s direction.
Shadow had received training to be a therapy dog after we had adopted him. He had played a big role in my recovery. He had gotten along well with maa. And now, he was working his magic with Natasha as well.
‘Do you want to play with him?’ I said.
Natasha smiled for the first time, revealing her crooked teeth. Her eyes lit up. Shadow started licking her face. She danced with her hands while sitting on the floor, enjoying every bit of Shadow’s love attack on her.
I said, ‘Is it okay if I go downstairs for a bit?’
Natasha tapped her foot.
Just before I got up again, Shadow took full advantage of me being at his height by licking my face. I stroked his head and walked out. Just before closing the door, I saw Natasha also stroking Shadow’s head. First in a circumspect way and then with more confidence. She was a bright kid. I was surprised but glad that she had opened up so much already.
I remembered that maa had an appointment with her psychiatrist Dr. Pande in a few hours at ten AM. It was almost six o’clock already. I knew maa would have waited for us all night and not slept. So, I texted Dr. Pande, asking him if we could reschedule it for the evening.
I went downstairs. Everyone was waiting for me. Atharva rushed towards me.
‘When I saw the news…it…it was bad. I was very afraid,’ he said.
‘I’m here, completely fit,’ I said, grinning. ‘Thanks for staying back home with maa and Shama.’
I let out a yawn. ‘Guys, we need to get some rest. We need our sleep. Let’s discuss the case in the morning. Before you go to sleep, just remind yourself that we won today. We rescued a girl. We lost a brave man in Manohar but he would have been proud of us for rescuing Natasha on time. Let’s make him even prouder now by rescuing Rucha Sinha and getting to the root cause of all of this. ’
As everyone went to their bedrooms, I stepped out of the house and got the black file that had dad’s name in it. I took the file upstairs and put it all the way back in my cupboard’s drawer. My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Dr. Pande, telling me he would come home for his appointment with maa at nine PM.
I realized how exhausted I was only when I hit the bed. My eyes were heavy as I pulled the quilt up to my chest. No matter what I tried, sleep evaded me for a while. Various thoughts coursed through my mind every time I closed my eyes.
I lost track of how long I had been up. My mind wandered. I thought about dad. What could he have done to end up in Mule’s book? I wondered if the book was accurate. Was it even a list of cops who had been bribed? I decided not to tell maa about it. Could she have known all those years back if dad had taken a bribe? She surely would have told me now, especially as he had disappeared within months of taking it. I discounted maa knowing. I decided I would tell Radha about it after we cracked this case.
My mind drifted again. Speaking to Zara Shroff earlier in the day had got me thinking about how my life was before I had defended Kunal Shastri. I realized I needed to get back to living fully. Seeing maa’s recovery inspired me further. I was happy with my progress in the past six months. But I needed to step up my game. Which got me thinking about Atharva. A part of him was still the same as it was when we used to go out. I was still curious about him but I did not know if I wanted to act on any thoughts.
I thought about Natasha Gill as well. Why hadn’t she spoken? Would she be able to tell us who had taken her or where her mother is? At the same time, I was deeply concerned that she had not spoken a single word.
Somewhere along the way, my eyes eventually closed and I fell asleep tightly.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I woke up at eleven o’clock. Barring Radha, everyone was up already. My eyes searched for Natasha as I walked down the stairs.
She was on the couch, playing with Shadow. They played like they had known each other for a long time. Shadow had always loved kids. He was a different dog around them, not his usual jumpy self. But more considerate. With Natasha, I could make out he was even more careful.
Right then, I smelt Rahul's tasty omelettes.
‘Just in time,’ he said. It was his favourite line every time I got up later than him.
I saw Rahul bringing the massive omelette he had made for five adults and Natasha. He always made a big omelette so that we could all have it together. He put it in the middle of the dining table and got plates and forks for everyone. Just then, Radha also came down, rubbing her eyes.
‘Good morning,’ we all said in unison, by accident.
That triggered a round of laughter that did not stop until we finished the omelette. I thought of going to my office garage but it was too hot once again to sit out for long, even with an air-water cooler.
We settled in my room again.
‘The first task on our agenda is to find out why Manohar chose to work with Sitaram Mule,’ I said. We need to know why he trusted Mule. If we figure that out, we’ll get closer to knowing what all this is about.’
‘I have got the address of his employer—Secure Point. It’s in Koregaon Park. I’ve forwarded the location to you,’ Radha said.
‘Thanks. Rahul and I will head there,’ I said and then looked at Atharva. ‘Can you please stay home with maa and everyone else? You’re the only one amongst us who has the ability to take on a hostile force.’
‘I understand. Anything that will help the team,’ Atharva said.
I turned to Radha. ‘You and Atharva have four tasks. You can divide them amongst yourselves. First, try to make sense of the files we got from Mule's place yesterday and see if you can anything helpful in them. Especially see if you can locate the building whose blueprint we found. Second, go through the laptops we found at Mule's place. Third, we haven’t completely followed through the similarities between the illnesses of Rucha and Natasha. Speak to their doctors and find out what was happening to the girls. And fourth, go through the finances of Manohar, the Sinhas and the Gills. Rathod shared them with me this morning and I've already emailed them to you.'
‘I’ll take the first two,’ Radha said to Atharva.
I continued. ‘We’re waiting to see if the data from Sumeira Gill’s laptop
can be recovered. I’ll let you all know the moment we hear from CID. I’m pushing to get a working copy of it so I can give it to Salim Khan.’ I saw the clock on the wall above my bed. ‘It’s eleven thirty right now. Rahul and I will be back from Secure Point around three in the afternoon. We’ll keep you informed,’ I said and paused. ‘Maa, Shama and Shadow are looking after Natasha. I’m surprised she’s holding up so well. Not just psychologically, but also physically. The doctors gave her a month to live. The month is almost up. But she seems to be holding up well.’
‘Do you want a doctor to check her out?' Radha said. ‘Things can go south pretty fast with life-threatening illness.'
Radha had a point. I decided to ask Natasha if she would be okay with being examined by a doctor.
I turned to walk out of the room. ‘If you need anything else, call me. Rathod is available as well.’
Rahul and I walked downstairs together. Natasha was still with Shadow. Maa and Shama were sitting at the dining table. Radha's words came back to me. Natasha needed to see a doctor soon. I was still concerned that she had not said a single word since we had got her back. She may be suffering from incredible trauma after everything that had happened to her. There had been studies that proved the impact of the environment even when the child was in the mother's womb. That's why it was advisable to speak to the tummy during pregnancy. Because the unborn child could sense the tone and mood of words. With Sachin raping his wife every day, screams and abuse would have consistently resounded in their house.
‘Hey, Natasha,’ I said, breaking step for her.
She turned to me right away.
‘I need to ask you something,’ I said.
She tapped her leg. I wondered where she had learnt that from.
‘Are you feeling okay?’
She tapped her leg again.’
‘Are you experiencing any problems?’
