03:02

by Mainak Dhar

  I could see a lot of heads nodding and even Suri did not look like he was going to press the issue. But he did offer one last weak objection.

  ‘All this bloodshed. What will happen when things go back to normal and we have to deal with the law?’

  Nitish stood up.

  ‘There may not be a normal for a long, long time. If this was caused by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere, it would be even more destructive than the solar flare I thought it might be. All electronics are fried, and if someone engineered this as an act of terror, they will be taking advantage of it now. After all, we don’t know how it happened yet, but someone shot the pilot, didn’t they? In that chaos, will things ever get back to normal? Even with peace restored, I have no idea how many months or even years it would take for a country like ours to recover from a nuclear explosion that has an electromagnetic pulse impact.’

  I could see the terror in everyone’s eyes. The crisis we had confronted was bad enough when it was unknown. To now have the knowledge that it was a conscious act of terror, involving nuclear weapons, and that we might be stuck in our current state for a long time, was a lot for people to take in. Still, we had more immediate problems to deal with. It was one thing to handle a single thug in unarmed combat, another to face a gang—armed, and possibly with guns—coming our way in the darkness. I looked around, hoping someone would have a better idea of what to do, but realized that they were looking at me. I was relieved when General Lamba came to my rescue, otherwise I would have just stood there dumbly, exposed for the failure of a leader I was.

  ‘Son, if they come with guns, you’ll need one of your own.’

  I didn’t know what he meant but then he went up to his apartment and came back a few minutes later with a small package in his hands. As I unwrapped the soft cloth covering the contents, I saw a small .22 pistol inside. The General cupped my hands over the gun.

  ‘I’m too old now to have a steady hand, and I suppose you haven’t touched a gun since your NCC days but I guess this is better than nothing.’

  Pandey was now at our side. ‘Sir, I doubt they have too many guns or are very comfortable using them. I spoke to Ismail and Akif and the doctor and his wife. The men at the hotel were not carrying any guns. That’s not to say they won’t bring out any guns they have, but it’s something.’

  I looked down at the gun. I had just killed a man with my bare hands. Was I now going to have to shoot another dead or be killed trying? Is that the kind of world we had descended into in just a few days?

  Pandey whispered into my ear, ‘Sir, don’t worry if you don’t know what to do. The best officers I served under told me that often they were as unsure as the rest of us, it was the confidence and hope they projected that made the difference.’

  I wanted to tell him that I was not an officer, but a desk-bound executive. My days of marching and dreaming of being in the Army were in a life I had left behind long ago. But it seemed like that life had caught up with me. Baba used to tell me not to listen too much to my uncle. He would tell me that the glamorous side of Army life—the uniforms, the medals, the marches—were only a façade. There were scars, and not just the ones that could be seen, that soldiers picked up in combat. Scars he had seen his father and brother deal with. He had cautioned me about being too enamoured with a life spent on the frontlines, but now it seemed those frontlines had sought me out. I wondered how Baba was dealing with this, and what he would have made of me with a gun in my hand, with me having killed a man. I took a deep breath and faced the group.

  ‘More than fighting this gang, what we need to do first is to warn the other societies. Not only can we help them prepare for an attack, but if all of us work together, then we have a much better chance of deterring them from coming at us again. They may think they’re strong, but we’ve already seen that they will turn away when they see we’re prepared.’

  It was a little lie, since I had no idea how their leader would react to his brother having been killed, but it seemed to restore a bit of confidence in everyone, and that was good enough for now.

  It was seven in the evening and I guessed we still had time before the gang made any moves, so we set out as fast as we could. Our group included Mrs Khatri and General Lamba, both to represent the two societies and add the voice of age and experience which would hopefully sway our neighbours to join us; Nitish, to help with their generators if they required it, which seemed likely since only one other building in our immediate neighbourhood still had any lights on; Pandey and me, to provide some semblance of security if the gang did show up; and Ismail and Akif to impress upon the others just how real and brutal a threat the gang presented based on what had happened at the Meluha.

  As it turned out, our neighbours needed little convincing on the last part. Of the five societies we visited in an hour, all of them had heard the screams from the Meluha and the two Turkish men’s testimonies made most of them go pale.

  Where it was more complicated was getting any of them to help us handle the gang. One of the largest societies in the neighbourhood was the Glen group of buildings and all the residents gathered down to meet us, complaining about the lack of electricity and how tough life had been in the last few days. Of course they welcomed Nitish’s offer to help, though he quickly concluded that their generator was essentially old junk and beyond repair, with its circuits fried. When we began to talk about the gang, several of them spoke up together. It was like Suri had found a dozen kindred souls all at once.

  ‘We really don’t know when the lights will come back on. We cannot take the law into our own hands,’ someone said.

  Another, an old grey-haired man looking rather ridiculous considering the circumstances because he was wearing a suit, stepped forward. ‘Young man, I am the managing director of a large company, and there are others here with respectable jobs and positions. Three of the members of our society are senior officials in the government. We cannot start behaving like roadside goondas and fight with gangs. You still have no real proof of what happened. What that pilot told you is not conclusive. You yourself said he has been shot and is in bad shape. For all we know, he is delusional and the authorities are setting things right as we speak.’

  I thought to myself that it was just as well that they didn’t know I had already killed a man and replied, ‘Sir, we’re not asking for any of you to fight the gang. Just that we all coordinate in setting up watches to dissuade them from entering our street, and in case they do decide to attack any of us, to provide early warning.’

  The man looked at me over the bridge of his glasses and I could see the look of barely-disguised contempt. ‘We will lock our gates and sit tight as law-abiding citizens should.’

  I wanted to shout that the world had changed. That we could not count on anyone else to impose law and order on our behalf; and that as long as we lived in the circumstances we found ourselves in, we were in charge of our own safety. Mrs Khatri and the General also tried but in vain, and finally we accepted defeat and went on to the next building.

  Two societies were a bit more receptive to our ideas and finally we had a makeshift alarm system put in place by Nitish with a lot of ideas from the General. Each participating building would have a patrol of at least three able-bodied men up at night, carrying flashlights. If they saw any sign of the gang, they were not to intervene, but turn on their flashlights and blow as loudly as they could on whistles which each patrol party was to be equipped with. We hoped that would be enough to dissuade the gang.

  Ten at night and I was sitting near the guard cabin, unable to sleep. Pandey, Subin and Prashanth were leading the patrol, but I found myself unable to rest. Megha came up and sat beside me, handing me a cup of hot tea as she did so. I accepted it gratefully.

  ‘How’s the pilot?’

  ‘Dr Guenther is looking after him, and says it’s still touch and go. How are you doing? You look terrible. You should get some sleep.’

  I looked at her. Now showered and changed into cloth
es she had borrowed from one of the residents, Megha looked nothing like the fatigued doctor I had first seen.

  ‘If the gang comes after us, it’s my fault.’

  Megha cut me off sharply.

  ‘If you’re going to place the blame on someone, then it should be me. If I had submitted quietly to that beast then maybe you wouldn’t have had to fight him, right?’

  That caught me off guard. I had seen her spirit when she had faced off against the thug to try and protect her patients and I saw that again now. Perhaps even more than how she looked, that made her someone I was starting to get drawn to. I caught myself at that thought. With all that was going on, being attracted to someone should be the last thing on my mind!

  ‘Sorry, you’re right. What do you think I should do?’

  Megha held my hand and looked straight into my eyes. ‘You need to finish what they started. That’s the only way this neighbourhood can be safe again.’

  That was when a whistle began blowing from somewhere down the street.

  I peered over the gate. All the torches in the societies that had decided to help were on, and so were the lamps and torches at our own wall, bathing the street with beams of light. I thought I saw some movement, but then it disappeared in a dark patch near the Glen group. I cursed them for not having helped out, but there was nothing we could do about it.

  I called out to Pandey. ‘They’re near Glen.’

  I could hear General Lamba’s gruff voice in our neighbouring society, asking people to get down. I had been hoping the gang would go away once they realized we were on to them, but it certainly did not look that way. I heard shuffling noises in the street, coming closer towards us. Megha was standing right by my back and I turned to her.

  ‘Get inside the building, now!’

  She gripped my arm. ‘What about you?’

  ‘You had it right. I have to end this one way or the other. These thugs think of us as soft targets, people content to live in their comfortable homes, not willing to get their hands dirty. If we don’t stand up to them today, they’ll be back again. Now, please, get to a safe place.’

  Her grip on my arm was tight. ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’ll help if I can.’

  I noticed that she had a bottle of soda in her hand. ‘Remember, I’m pretty good at throwing bottles,’ she said, smiling weakly.

  She was scared—her eyes told me that—but the fact that she was there for me, trying to put up a brave front, and trying to help, gave me just the motivation I needed.

  ‘Pandeyji, Megha’s got an idea we may want to use.’

  Pandey took a look and grinned. He pottered off inside the building and was soon back with a handful of bottles that he passed around. I could see that Nitish was also outside now, and Ismail and Akif, as were at least a dozen other residents, all carrying bottles. Then, of all people, Suri came out carrying two empty beer bottles. He walked up to me. ‘I was wrong. We can’t keep hiding forever. I will be brave as long as the effect of these two beers last, so tell me what to do.’

  I grinned back and asked everyone to sit down, backs flat to the walls. Just then a loud voice boomed out in the night.

  ‘Which fucker here killed my brother? Come out, otherwise we’ll just come in and look for ourselves.’

  I put my finger to my mouth and everyone was silent. The street outside our two societies was bathed in light, but the gang was still in darkness, hidden in the black patch in front of the Glen group. Not dumb at all, but then their leader was angry and, as my sensei had never tired of reminding me, anger makes one do dumb things. We waited and then he shouted again.

  ‘Are you all fucking deaf?’

  Then a loud boom and a flash of light and one of the windows in our building shattered. A few people cried out in alarm and I could hear some kids start crying in the meeting room downstairs. We had put everyone there and in the gym, so that nobody could be shot through a window, and while they were safe for now, I couldn’t blame anyone for freaking out. I was within an inch of losing my nerve. Practising in the NCC with blank ammo and firing at static targets is one thing, but being shot at by a real gun is quite another. The little pistol in my hand was barely bigger than my palm, and was something the General had kept as a hobby, not to kill anyone with. Indeed, at long range, it was pretty useless, but at least the General had maintained it well, and it was better than having no guns when facing someone with a rifle.

  I could feel Megha next to me as we waited for a few more seconds. Pandey held up one finger. The old soldier in him had had the instinct to grab a glimpse when they fired and he had seen only one rifle. At least we now knew the odds against us. It was a waiting game, and we knew that if we waited long enough, we would win. As soon as the sun started coming up, the gang would be deprived of their cover. Besides, we had nowhere to go and were in no hurry. We could wait as long as we wanted.

  The leader shouted a few more profanities and it was clear that he was losing his cool. He fired two more shots, shattering windows and causing more alarm, but doing no real damage. I was now at the wall, next to Pandey, the gun in my hands.

  ‘Pandeyji, should I take a shot at the muzzle flash if he fires again?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Chances are you’ll miss and he’ll know for sure we have a gun. We lose our element of surprise. Piss him off some more. Make him do something stupid.’

  I didn’t have to do it, because Megha shouted out, ‘Your stupid brother was brave enough when it came to raping unarmed women, but he died like a pig when someone fought back. Are you a coward like him that you’re hiding in the dark?’

  I heard a roar of rage as the man fired again, the shot shattering the window a few meters behind us. Megha was still gripping my arm and she was shaking like a leaf, but she managed to shout out, ‘I hit him on the head with a bottle, and he wasn’t so brave after that.’

  The man roared out, ‘I’ll gut you myself, bitch!’

  And then they came running down the street. There were five of them, four carrying swords and one carrying a .303 rifle.

  It was one thing to fight in the dojo or indeed handle a single man like I had at the hospital, quite another to face an armed gang. My hands were shaking as the gang closed in, passing our neighbours and closing in on our wall. That was when Ismail and Akif stood up and threw their bottles. Neither hit the men, but they crashed at the gang’s feet, causing them to break stride. They hesitated as more bottles flew at them, many more people in our society now launching their bottles. Megha ran towards the wall and hurled her own bottle, which landed just short of the gang. Our neighbours seemed to have got the same idea and were hurling their own bottles, and I could hear the General shout to me, ‘Aadi, make it count, boy. I just wasted some great whiskey. That bottle still had some good stuff in it.’

  I stood up now and aimed at the man with the gun. He was not the leader but would have to be taken down first as he was the biggest threat to us. The leader saw me and started to shout something to his friends. The last time I had fired a pistol was at a shooting range with the NCC, but I remembered quite enough. I lined up the sight with the man’s lower torso and pressed the trigger three times, the gun bucking up with its small recoil ever so slightly. The first shot hit him in the thigh, the second grazed his mid-section and the third went clear over his head. The .22 was hardly a killing weapon at long range, but at ten meters, it did more than enough damage and the man was down, screaming in pain. One of his friends tried to grab the rifle but I fired again, hitting the ground near them.

  ‘Stop. All of you. Stop, or I’ll shoot.’

  Their leader glared me, recognition flashing in his eyes.

  ‘I should have cut you up that day at the station!’

  He ran towards his fallen comrade and grabbed the rifle and brought it up. I fired two more times, hitting him once in the leg and missing with the other shot before my gun clicked empty. He fell to the ground and shouted as his friends scattered and ran, dragging th
e man I’d first shot with them. The gang leader shouted obscenities at his fleeing friends, but clearly their loyalties did not extend to facing an opponent who could shoot back.

  The wounded gang leader spat at me and screamed something about cutting my throat. He was clearly not yet in a mood to give up and I knew that if we let him escape, he would be back for revenge. I was out of bullets and there was only way to end this now. I ran out of the gate and towards the man as he crawled towards the rifle.

  ‘Stop!’

  He was about to grab the rifle when I kicked it out of his reach.

  ‘Stop, please. It doesn’t have to end this way. Go away and don’t bother us again.’

  He glared up at me through eyes that were glazed over from either alcohol or drugs. ‘Fuckers think you own this city because you have these fancy cars and houses. This city now belongs to us as long as the lights are out. We’ll rape all your women and kill you pigs just like at the hotel. You’ll be begging me—’

  He never finished his sentence. I kicked out, catching him on the chin, breaking a couple of teeth as he fell back. He tried to get back up and I kicked him in the chest, bringing him down again. Couldn’t he see that I didn’t want another man’s blood on my hands today? As much as I despised him, as much as I wanted to make him suffer for what he had done, I was not a cold-blooded killer. Why didn’t he just walk away? Even as that thought crossed my mind, I knew it was never going to happen.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder.

  It was Pandey.

  ‘Sir, you don’t have to do this. I will finish it.’

  Beside Pandey were Ismail and Akif. Ismail looked at me, and I saw a fierce expression in his eyes.

  ‘We have a score to settle with him as well. You don’t need to have this on your conscience.’

  Both were carrying kitchen knives, as was Pandey. They grabbed the gang leader and pulled him into the darkness. I stood there, tears streaming down my face as I heard slashing sounds in the darkness. In a few seconds they were back, their knives streaked with blood. They all stood before me and Pandey saluted.