by P. G. Van
They drove on the narrow village roads, endless greenery on both sides. He talked about the brief time he spent in the area before going on a hunt for the killer and turning him into The Hunter.
Neil pulled into the parking lot of a school.
“Let’s go,” he urged taking her hand and pulling her with him.
“What are we doing at the school?” She looked into classrooms and caught the curious looks from the kids. He led her into an office and barged into the principal’s office.
Neil’s mom looked up at him from behind the desk and smiled at them. He let Narmada’s hand go to take his mom into his arms.
“You deserve a proper hug, Ma. I missed you.”
The older woman teared up as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around. “My silly child.”
“Narmada, come here.” He gestured.
When she got closer to him, he pulled her to him. “Ma, this is Narmada, the woman I love, my best friend, and the only other woman who knows how to care for me.”
Neil’s mom smiled at them. “God bless you two.”
“Ma, we are not married. I have no idea why Joe cooked up that story, but she is the one I want to marry,” he declared planting a kiss on Narmada’s cheek.
Narmada fought back tears of joy as he pulled her and his mother into his arms.
Neil’s mom wiped her eyes and laughed. “You showed up to tell me you are not married?”
“I just wanted to give you a proper hug. Where’s Sarayu?” Neil inquired about Joe’s toddler.
“She is in room eighty-seven. I’ll let them know you are coming.” Neil’s mom laughed almost knowing what he would do.
“See you later, Ma.”
“Neil, what got into you?” She laughed.
He followed the signs to the room Joe’s child was in and led her into it. He looked around for a moment and spotted his niece playing with a ball. He went into the room nodding at the teacher.
“Give your uncle a real hug, sweetheart.” He held the chubby toddler like she was the most fragile doll.
He came back to where Narmada stood smiling at him.
“Narmada, will you marry me? I can’t wait to make our own babies.” He pecked her cheek, holding the baby securely.
“Yes, Neil, I will marry you.” She smiled looking into his loving eyes.
“Can we start working on babies tonight?” he whispered making her blush.
“Let Sarayu get back to her play, and we can talk about babies later.” She laughed.
She watched as Neil gingerly placed his niece back on the playmat after kissing her affectionately. She had never expected him to be so affectionate with everything he had been through.
*****
Neil and Narmada were in the middle of a farm when her phone beeped. He looked at her with a surprised look on his face.
“Don’t look at me like that, Joe helped me find my phone,” she teased.
“I thought you had cut off all ties to civilization to come live with me on a farm.” He nuzzled her neck.
“Dream on… we should go back home,” she urged.
“What’s the hurry?” he crooned nipping her cheek.
“Neil, move that hot ass of yours. We need to go.” She pulled him off the haystack where they spent the past few hours talking about everything.
“Fine… let’s go… wherever we need to go.”
Neil drove through the tall gates of the house and frowned at the half dozen cars in the compound. He looked at the people standing by the cars and noticed Joe’s official vehicle parked next to the cars.
“Is Joe having a party?” Neil wondered.
“Neil, don’t be mad,” she whispered taking his hand in hers.
“For what?” He smiled leading her toward the entrance.
Neil stepped into the large living area and looked at Joe and a few others who were in conversation with him. His eyes fell on the man sitting next to Joe.
They all stood up and looked at Neil and Narmada.
“Dad…” The word rolled off Neil’s lips when he saw the man standing next to Joe. Abhay looked at his youngest brother and smiled at his reaction. He was told by many of his people that he was a spitting image of his father.
“Neil!” Dev called out walking to put his arms around his younger brother.
“Dev…” Neil said inadvertently like he knew who had his arms around him. Memories came crashing down as if the floodgates were lifted.
“We finally found you… thank you, Narmada!” Dev looked over at the woman standing behind his brother.
Neil stood next to Dev looking at Abhay. Everything that didn’t make sense at that point made total sense. He wasn’t convinced even when Narmada pieced it together over two weeks ago, but at that moment, it was too obvious who he was—he was Ranadeep Singham.
Abhay slowly moved closer to him with a small smile on his face.
Neil took a step toward him to put his arms around him, tears of joy filling the brothers’ eyes. “I know who stabbed Mum. I remember everything now.”
CHAPTER 22
Shock waves rippled through everyone in the room. Narmada could not believe her ears. Neil sounded different, his language was different, his accent was more British when he talked to his brothers about their mother.
“Rana, what do you remember?” Dev was the first one to react.
“At the temple, Dev… everything was quiet until Mum was stabbed.”
A series of gasps filled the room, and an eerie silence made its way into the air.
“Who is it?” Abhay demanded.
“Jaipal Mathai, President and CEO of Mega Constructions,” Neil declared looking at Dev.
“What? Why would this person stab Mum?” Dev growled.
“He was a goon in his past life, Dev.” Abhay’s face was as cold as death as he walked closer to where Dev and his youngest brother stood. Abhay slowly reached out and put an arm around his brothers. “We are just glad you made it out alive.”
“Rana, thanks to you, I got a hug from Abhay.” Dev laughed pulling his brothers closer.
The three brothers pulled out slightly, and Neil looked at Joe. “Abhay and Dev, I’m sure you met my brother, Joe.”
“Joe, we are eternally indebted to your family for taking Rana in as your own,” Abhay declared.
Joe put his arm around Neil. “Just don’t take him away from us.”
“We are family, Joe.” Dev smiled.
Abhay turned to look at Narmada and smiled at her. “Thank you!”
Narmada smiled fighting back tears as Neil came to put his arms around her. “Did you call them?”
She nodded looking into his eyes. It took a lot of convincing to have Joe give her Abhay’s contact information.
“Thank you.” Neil kissed her tenderly on her forehead.
“Rana, this is Anika, my wife, and Sabitha, Dev’s wife.” Abhay turned to look at the women who stood quietly watching the brothers interact.
Neil smiled at the overly familiar face of Anika and noticed the obvious bump. “Congrats, Anika and Abhay.”
“Thank you, Rana, it’s so good to meet you. Your brothers have been looking tirelessly for you since we found Raidu in San Francisco.” Anika smiled.
“Rana, you need to congratulate, Dev and Sabitha, too.” Abhay smiled at Dev.
“Congrats, Dev and Sabitha,” Neil cheered.
“Give me a hug, brother, I’m not Abhay.” Dev pulled Neil into another hug and Sabitha watched them silently. Dev looked happy, and it made her heart somersault.
“Narmada, come here,” Neil gestured and added, running an arm around her shoulder. “This is my best friend and my future wife.”
Anika cheered as the group closed in to congratulate Neil and Narmada. Her excitement seemed to have gotten the baby excited. She held her tummy and sat down on the sofa.
Neil was the first one to see her wince in pain and rushed to her side. “Anika, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. No o
ne ever warned me about these Singham babies. Strong kickers.” Anika smiled.
“Can I feel the baby?” Neil’s voice was tender.
The group gathered around the expecting mother as she took Neil’s hand and placed it on her tummy. He waited patiently but no movement. “I don’t feel the baby.”
Anika smiled at Neil and slowly raised her eyes to look into the eyes of the man she loved. Her heart flipped, making the blood rush through her veins making the baby move in response. It was something she had noticed early on in her pregnancy.
“I felt it… I felt him… I felt the baby. Thank you. I missed Sarayu’s kick,” Neil stated turning to look at Joe.
“Do you mind if we call you Rana… or do you prefer being called Neil?” Anika asked as Neil waited for another kick.
“You can call me Rana… I’m sure that’s what Abhay and Dev prefer.” He turned around to look at his brothers.
“Neil, did you call Abhay Dad?” she winked.
“I didn’t mean to. I thought it was him…”
“Rana, what do you remember from that day?” Anika asked like she couldn’t contain herself.
“A few things are very clear and others not so much,” he whispered.
“What do you remember?” Abhay managed in a calm tone.
“I remember the temple, walking with Mum, and I don’t remember where everyone else was, and we were all alone when a masked man stabbed her. She fought him… she told me to run as she screamed for help. Two men came to help us… one man is Samuel Matthews… the one with the tattoo, and the other man held Mum as she collapsed.”
Dev’s anger grew when he saw the look on Abhay’s face. He had never seen his big brother look devastated.
“Samuel Matthews’s real name is Raidu, and he was part of the Senani group. He is our father’s childhood friend. He was the one who rescued you,” Abhay said solemnly.
Neil looked at Narmada. “You were right, he is a Senani loyalist.”
“Why did you shoot him, and why did you spare his life?” Dev asked.
“It was a job. I found out later it was for the same person who stabbed Mum, Jaipal Mathai. I noticed the tattoo just before I shot him.”
“What? How is this man involved with Raidu?” Abhay asked.
“We need to find out what the link is,” Dev growled.
“Jaipal Mathai knew Raidu reached India and why did he want him killed?” Abhay asked.
“Why would he want Raidu killed? Tie lose ends from the massacre?” Dev wondered out loud.
“There’s no need for him to cover up something he did twenty years ago.” Abhay’s voice was soft.
“Something is off… If Raidu contacted the Senani family for help and not to report on their men’s involvement in the massacre… they don’t need to kill him,” Anika declared.
“Anika… why do you look familiar… especially when you look like that,” Neil interjected looking at Anika’s puzzled expression. He couldn’t place her and with the questions he had over the years with the faces he saw, he needed to know.
“Neil… she looks exactly like Neelambari Prajapati,” Narmada blurted.
Sabitha was suddenly agitated. “You know Neela?”
“We saw her at Raj’s… Jaipal’s house,” Neil said remembering why he thought Anika looked familiar. She was the spitting image of the woman he had seen over two weeks ago.
“Jaipal is giving Neelambari refuge? What is the connection?” Dev raked his fingers through his hair.
“We should go get her,” Sabitha growled.
“We have too many unanswered questions,” Dev thought out loud, putting an arm around Sabitha.
“We should take them to the Singham Temple and make them talk,” Abhay declared gruffly.
A shiver passed through Dev’s spine at the mention of the temple and looked at his younger brother. Neil was looking at him like he knew what Dev was feeling.
“Joe and I have one task to do before we go after Jaipal Mathai.” Neil ground his teeth in rage. “I have a pig I need to slaughter.”
“I’d like to see that pig again,” Abhay growled.
*****
“When did you last see him?” Dev asked as he followed his older and younger brother down a narrow hallway with Joe by his side. They were at the secure jail to see the man who tortured and trained Neil to be a killer and the man who turned out to be the one to order a hit on the DIG. Joe was able to get permission to interrogate him on his father’s cold case based on the evidence Raj had given Neil.
“The day he was arrested,” Neil growled.
“I met him a few weeks ago.” Abhay gave a devious smile when he remembered the way he held the goon by his neck, his feet high above the ground.
“I want to kill him with my bare hands,” Dev growled just thinking about everything Neil was put through as a child.
“Sorry, Dev, can’t let that happen. He is mine to rip apart.” Neil clenched his teeth.
Joe led them down the dingy hallway that was way too familiar for Abhay.
Abhay took a step forward to come into the goon’s view.
“Who is it?” the goon demanded.
Abhay quietly looked into the dark cell.
“What do you want?” The goon tried to sound like he wasn’t threatened by Abhay’s presence.
“There is someone here to see you,” Abhay snorted.
Neil stepped in front of the cell right under the light.
“My hunter, you came to see me?” The goon seethed animosity.
“Get him out, Joe,” Neil growled.
“Hunter, you think you can touch me?” It was as if the goon was taking pride in his secured location.
“Joe, can I have my souvenir?” Neil asked without taking his eyes off the man who trained him to kill.
Joe handed him the DIG’s gold chain sealed in a see-through plastic pouch. Neil held the packet under the light and shook it.
“Hunter, what is that?”
“You don’t need to know what this is, but I’m wondering why it is in your personal items with your fingerprints on it.”
“Someone must have left me a gift.” The goon laughed.
“Yes… I’m sure. I want to know who gave you this gift,” Neil asked and watched the goon bite his lip.
“I don’t know what you want, Hunter.” The goon’s voice wavered.
“You have two options. You tell me now, and I’ll let you live and from time to time will give you hope that you can escape, or we use the government-sanctioned truth serum and get the answers we need and by the end of it… you’ll still be here but will live like a vegetable for the rest of your life.” Neil held his gaze through the dim light and felt the weakness creep up the goon’s spine.
Abhay watched the goon go silent on Neil and took the opportunity to intimidate him. “It’s no use a pig like this living and wasting the government’s money. Just give him the truth serum, and we will be done.”
“No, please leave me alone. I don’t know anything. I was in jail when the DIG was shot.” The goon was visibly shaking.
“Really? Did I mention anything about the DIG or anything about how he was killed? The entire world was told he passed away in an accident, so goons like you don’t take pride and credit along with the rest of your kind. So… you know what happened even though you were in jail?”
“Jailer, please save me,” the goon called out in hopes of being rescued.
“Open the doors, Joe. This is the guy we’ve been hunting all our lives,” Neil growled.
Ten minutes later, the men left the dungeon area of the prison, satisfied with the information they were able to extract. The limp body of the man who trained Neil to kill hung from the metal bars of the cell, his pants tied around his neck.
“Sir, the prisoner in the isolation cell committed suicide. His body has visible bruises and scrapes. It looks like he tried to ram himself into the walls to hurt himself,” Joe spoke on the phone, and the Singham brothers exchanged looks.
Their next target was, Jaipal Mathai. The same person who executed the DIG’s murder and also killed the Singham’s mother twenty years ago.
CHAPTER 23
The Singham temple was rebuilt years after the temple massacre and the brother agreed it was the location to address the people and reveal the truth behind what happened that day.
Neil stood next to his brothers on an elevated marble platform in one of the temple courtyards. Neelambari sat on a chair to one side of the platform with the end of a gun barrel, inches from her temple. She occasionally looked up to look at Abhay, a solemn look on her face. Jaipal was in a wheelchair, his hands and legs tied up but he continued to issue threats to kill all three brothers once he got out.
They stood in front of the hundreds of people who were gathered in the temple courtyard, and thousands waited outside the temple walls waiting to hear the outcome of the meeting the Singhams called.
Raidu looked at the brothers from the crowd unable to believe his eyes. He was still recovering from his injuries but urged his daughter, Malini, to take him to the meeting.
Anika, Sabitha, and Narmada stood behind Ravi and his men, the burly men forming a perimeter around them.
“I don’t know why she is fake crying. She is my father’s sister, but I want to slit her throat,” Sabitha growled looking at her aunt.
Anika hushed her cousin. “I still don’t understand how this man is linked to Neelambari. I can’t believe the truth serum does not affect either of them.” Joe was able to get them to administer the drug on both Neelambari and Jaipal.
The Singham brothers headed out to get the man who stabbed their mother over twenty years ago. Neelambari did not put up a fight when they showed up at the Mathai Mansion, but she refused to explain why she was at Jaipal’s house.
“My dear people, we are gathered here to clear out the biggest allegation we have made against the Prajapatis. My brother and I married women from that family, but I know a lot of you are still sore about the temple massacre.” Abhay announced in his roaring voice and put an arm around Neil before continuing. “My youngest brother, Ranadeep Singham, is living proof that Harshavardhan Prajapati did not kill our mother, Arundhati Singham.”
