11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “Diana is Kidnapped?” he asked in an even more confused tone!!

  The web was never ending.

  “Didn’t you have dinner with her in the evening?”

  “Yes I did. She then wanted to have Bread Omlette. I took her to the local road side shop, we had, she suddenly fainted. A BMW came nearby and offered to take her to the hospital... “

  “I know all that... Weren’t you with them?”

  “No !!”

  “Are you sure?”

  “100% sir”

  “Why didn’t you then get along with her in the car? Don’t you have the basic courtesy to go along with your friend to check her well being? Would you just allow some unknown person to take your friend away?” I was upset.

  “Someone else from the crowd came in and went along with her. I thought that was her team mate. So I didn’t bother to”

  “How could you be so careless man!! Didn’t my wife trust you and come to eat out with you? Isn’t it your responsibility to be with her and take her back safe? As a friend and a man shouldn’t you have done it?” I didn’t know what else to scream at him.

  “I am so sorry sir. I had been trying to reach her mobile to know her well being, but she was not reachable. Somehow managed to find your number from FB”

  “Hmmmm” I said.

  “Sir. Please let me know if you find her”, saying that he hung up.

  The Loser was not Raj as well. Who was he then? Darshan was the only one left and I had no clue why and how he was involved.

  “Prabhu, I think its Darshan. We will have to go find him” I told him.

  “No Rob, I think it is Raj” Prabhu said confidently.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Chapter 22

  A Friend in Need Prabhu Narrates:

  Rob had just cut the call from Raj and looked at me. He said that it could just be Darshan and not Raj. I was not going to buy the theory.

  “Why do you say so Prabhu?” he questioned me.

  “Rob, think of it. He talked to you for five minutes. He told he got your number from FB. If he had picked your number from there, he should have obviously looked at his photo that I had shared. His photo! He didn’t talk a word about it”

  “Oh yeah, my God!! How did I miss it?”

  “He is the Loser. May be he wants us to divert our focus to someone else, somewhere else and hence this call. You wouldn’t think of him as the culprit for some time now, but he is the guy. We have to go find him. Besides his motives are strong” I finished.

  Robin looked at me in the usual way he does. I had always looked upon him as my very own younger brother. The admiration we had for each other was mutual. I felt guilty for the stupid joke I made about Diana. That was the last thing I would do on earth. Ever since I said that, Robin had a suspicious look on his face every time I came up with a theory. I definitely had to save Diana to prove my worth, for my friendship, to prove that it was after all a joke. The words that we utter have us enslaved much more than our very own thoughts.

  “Makes sense Prabhu. What should we do now?” he asked me.

  “I will head to Chennai now and I will ask my dad to trace this number from which you got the call, to know his exact location and his next probable move.” saying I got into the cab when Rob called out to me.

  “What about the co-ordinates in West Mambalam?” he asked.

  “What if it were just signals reaching there and Raj operating from somewhere else entirely? Like a remote location. You can’t do that with mobile signals”

  “You sure? Because didn’t the Loser ask us to come find him?”

  “It’s a trap. As Loser he is asking us to find him. As Raj he is clearing himself of the doubt list. Don’t fall for the trap” I tried to convince him.

  “Do you think this will work?” he was still confused.

  “Rob, I will go after him, find him and call you in one hour’s time. If he is not the Loser, I will still have one hour to reach West Mambalam Warehouse and find him. But I don’t think that would be necessary” I said.

  “And Prabhu, give me that Nokia 1100” he said with a smile. I had put it back in my pocket inadvertently.

  I smiled back, threw the Nokia phone towards him and got Robin’s phone. The cab started to stretch its way towards Tambaram. I looked again at Raj’s phone number. It was a CUG number. He should have got it in any of the OMR offices. I also faintly remembered about him working in some company at Siruseri. He should be staying in and around OMR. I called my dad immediately from my phone.

  “Dad, I need you to trace a number” I told him when he picked.

  “I have already done, the number is static and is located in Chennai Padi area, with no significant activity” he responded.

  “I haven’t even given you the number yet!” I was shocked.

  “You already gave me one.” saying he recited Brindha’s number.

  “No, not that number, this is a new number” saying I gave him Raj’s number. “Dad, I will stay on call, this is urgent, find it immediately” I insisted.

  “Alright, let me feed this number in the system and monitor its activity. The system is loading, the number is being traced and wait, looks like he is doing some kind of activity using his phone”

  “Is he running away?” I got curious.

  “No, he is trying to book a cab”

  “Fantastic, feed it into my Cab monitor services page” “Where is it?” my dad asked.

  “Its just there in my system dad, the file will be on the desktop, open it and input this number and it will let you know what he is trying to do”

  “Give me a minute” saying he tried to trace the number’s activity.

  I had hacked the local cab websites just for fun a few months ago and never realized they were going to help me this way. I prayed that Raj shouldn’t take some other mode of transport.

  My prayers were answered when my dad responded.

  “That number is trying to book a cab and actually waiting for the surge prices to come down. He is trying OLA.” My dad said and laughed.

  His life was at risk and he was worried about the extra money. I wondered what kind of character he was.

  “Dad, thank you so much, just keep the app on, don’t close it, I will access it from my phone and take it from here.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes dad” I said and cut the call.

  He was trying to book in OLA, which helped me to locate his place. My Airtel 4G SIM was working fine even in that quirky travel and I was able to access my project on cloud and monitored his cab bookings. I tried to block his booking a few times and increased the fares a couple of times to make sure that he waited till I arrived. His location showed as some place in Kotturpuram. I thanked him for not taking the local train to Park Station. I am arriving, my boy.

  In parallel, I informed my friend Deepak to wait for me near Hindu Mission hospital to collect Robin’s phone, once my call with the Loser was to be over. Deepak obliged.

  Around 9.40 am, I reached Tambaram and called from Robin’s phone to the LOSER. Robin was in speaker on the other line already.

  “Where are you?” the LOSER asked.

  “I am very much in Tambaram.” Robin replied.

  “It can’t be. You just can’t be here. Tell me the truth, where are you?”

  “What is my phone signal saying? I am in Tambaram. Where should I come, tell me!” he insisted. I was being a silent listener.

  “If you are going to lie to me, you will not see your wife alive”

  “You told you will kill her in front of me?” he attacked the ego of the Loser. Good ploy.

  “Yes, I will. Now that you are here, find me and come to my place. I am a man of my words and I will prove it. I am not going to tell you where I am. You have an hour to track down my place. I am waiting. Best of luck” he said and cut the call.

  The LOSER’s reluctance and suspense was genuine as he couldn’t have got any thought feeds from Robin. The detector worked only wi
thin 50 Kms and if Robin had already been at Tambaram, the LOSER should have got his thought signals. Geniuses don’t like to be outsmarted. He didn’t talk about the thought detector either. He couldn’t know that we have found out about it. Robin cut his call and then called me back again to my number.

  “Yes Rob”

  “Prabhu… where are you heading now?”

  “I am heading to Kotturpuram”

  “Why in the world?”

  “That’s where we have Raj”

  “But the LOSER is in West Mambalam”

  “What if the signals are manipulated?” I asked.

  “What if the signals are real?” he shot back.

  “No, but I just traced his location through OLA”

  “What?”

  “My dad checked in my system. Raj is trying to book a cab and planning to escape out of Chennai. If I go to West Mambalam, he will escape from Kotturpuram and go out of Chennai and we will be never able to lay our hands on him or find Diana” I said.

  “Prabhu, but what if he is in West Mambalam?”

  “Relax Rob, I have got him.”

  “I am still not convinced Prabhu, I think I will head to West Mambalam” he was adamant.

  “No Rob. Raj is the LOSER.”

  “I can’t take the slightest of risks with my wife’s life in danger, I will head there”

  ”Dude, don’t drive me crazy! What do you want me to do? I could go to kotturpuram and still go to West Mambalam well ahead of time”

  “No, we don’t have time. We just don’t have that much time in our hand. We have only an hour left. I have to go find him” Rob was desperate.

  “What?” I didn’t get him.

  “I will go to the location your professor sent” he told.

  “Are you insane? I already told you. We talked about it. You have the bug in your head. He will know you are coming. Do you even know the meaning of surprise attack?”

  “To hell with the bug. I will control my thoughts. Will keep thinking only about finding my wife and nothing else and I will reach his location before he could react.”

  “You are insane. You sure you could do that?” I doubted.

  “Dead sure. And don’t throw away my phone”

  “My friend Deepak is coming to collect it, don’t worry. You can get it back from him later”

  “Careful” he said and kept the phone. He should have started his ride from there. I wondered how he was going to control his mind and keep thinking only about saving his wife. The easiest way of thinking about something is to try and not think about it. It’s famously said, the best way to make you think about elephants is ask you to not think about them.

  Deepak arrived on time and I handed him Rob’s phone. I then mapped Raj in Kotturpuram and asked my cab driver to head in that direction as fast as he could. He took the Pallavaram by-pass and reached OMR within 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Raj was trying to book OLA share, I allowed his booking and gave my number as the contact number of the driver. My cab reached his place according to the map within 15 minutes.

  10.00 Am, my watch showed. I wondered why the day was running at such a frenetic pace. The night seemed to have had more time in it.

  I asked the driver to honk the horn. Raj was locking his door and came out with a heavy bag and got into the cab hurriedly. “CRN number is 0103” he told the driver when I got hold of him and began to strangle him. My cab driver was startled.

  “Sir, what are you doing? What are you doing? Don’t do all this” he shouted.

  “End my ride now. I will pay you. I have something to settle with him.” I said and threw Raj out of the car and took him inside the house. The evenings I spent in the gym came in handy. Though I had lost some weight after the stroke, my wrists were as strong as ever.

  I got hold of him and locked the doors behind us. I took him by his collar and threw him on the TV, it broke. I then got hold of his hand and broke his elbow.

  “Nooo, no. Wait!! Who are you? Why are you hitting me? It’s paining. Don’t, don’t, why are you even doing this?” he screamed in pain.

  “Tell me, tell me”

  “Who are... aaah… are you Robin?”

  “I am Robin’s friend, smarty pants. Now tell me Loser, where is Diana?”

  “I have no clue”

  “I know you have some clue Mr.Loser and I have come here to decipher that.” saying, I began to twist his right hand further. He was shivering in pain.

  “I will tell, I will tell, I will tell everything” he came to the confession mode.

  “Now that’s like a good boy” I said and gave him space to relax and sit. He got up, sat on the floor and kept looking down at it. He couldn’t bring himself to look at me in the eye.

  “It all started when Muthuram contacted me”

  “Muthu Ram, who is that?” I was bemused with the introduction of another new character. How many of you are involved man, I said under my breath.

  “I don’t know who he is, but he approached me. He asked me of this favor and told he will give me lot of money, a LOT of money”

  “What favor?” I pierced him with my question.

  “Two tasks. First one was to follow your friend Robin and hit his bike when he is returning from office. This happened some two weeks ago. I was instructed not to kill him, but to make sure that he sustained enough injury to visit a hospital. I did as was commanded. The second was what I did yesterday. I had to talk to Diana that evening, bring her out. Take her to that particular bread omelette shop and make her eat it, then put her in the car.”

  “Are you really not the Loser? And you agreed to it all? MuthuRam is the Loser?” I wanted to thrash him on the floor.

  “I am sorry. I am Loser. I needed money and had to do this to Diana, the girl who I once loved” he was still looking at the floor.

  “Loser not like losing money - the LOSER, the mastermind behind this all. Are you not that guy?”

  “No, that’s Muthuram”

  “And didn’t you love Brindha as well?”

  “Who is that, I have no clue of her?”

  “Oh man! And you got alarmed when I shared your photo in my FB wall and asked for forgiveness”

  He looked at me, meaning to ask, if I was Prabhu.

  “Yes, I am Prabhu, now continue”

  “Yes, first I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I was confused between, if I have to reach Robin or you or MuthuRam.”

  “And you decided to reach Robin”

  “He seemed to be the easiest to talk to and I thought if I talked to him, he wouldn’t doubt me”

  “You missed a beat there, a whole lot of it. Now tell me, where is this MuthuRam?” I confronted him.

  “I have no clue. I haven’t interacted with him after yesterday night 9 Pm” there was a genuineness in his response.

  “Do you have his number?” I was perplexed.

  “Yes I do” saying he gave the number

  “Let me trace his location, meanwhile, how much did he give you?”

  “He gave me 1 Lakh”

  That’s a very large amount. I wondered who we were being after, were they woman traffickers, body snatchers, professional kidnappers?

  “That’s a large amount, Hmmmm. Do one thing, show me the money.” I said.

  He opened the bag he was carrying with him which was full of fresh money. A bag full of 500 rupees notes.

  “Voila! Now call to that MuthuRam. Tell him that one pack from this consists of duplicate notes and that you need an exchange”

  “He wouldn’t listen to me sir, he would not”

  “Him listening to you or your life? Which is more important to you?”

  Raj immediately called to MuthuRam and insisted on receiving an exchange for one money bundle, right away. Muthuram was pissed off, the way I wanted him to be.

  “Sir, I need it urgently sir. I am heading home and I need this money” Raj was arguing with Muthuram. MuthuRam finally agreed to give the money and asked him to come to his place near
West Mambalam. It struck a bell for me. MuthuRam is the Loser and he was in West Mambalam. Robin’s logical guess was right.

  We both then got into his bike and dashed our way to West Mambalam. MuthuRam’s house was not difficult to find. It was no warehouse though, but it was close to the Public Health Centre. May be Raj knew the place better than Google Maps. I hoped that Robin also arrived on time so that we both could come face to face with the Loser. I didn’t want to call him and disturb his thoughts though. He shouldn’t think about the place. He should think only about his wife, else he will alert the Loser. I kept telling myself.

  I had also sent the LOSER’s location to my dad and hoped him to send in some cops soon. We parked the bike near a tree in front of that double storied house. It was 10.45 Am. 15 more minutes were there.

  “Sir, he resides in first floor. I will have to go up all alone. If he sees you accompanying, then it will be trouble” Raj said.

  “I am here for trouble.” I said and we both walked through the narrow stairs and reached the door of that house. I was about to meet and treat the kidnapper of my friend’s wife. I was going to reprimand the Loser. After a few knocks the door opened to reveal a middle aged, stout, mustached man, wearing a sweater. Sweater in Chennai?

  He was startled to see me.

  “MuthuRam” Raj uttered.

  “Who is this with you Raj?” he turned towards Raj and questioned him. He noticed Raj bleeding and panicked and turned towards me. Before he could realize what hit him, I planted a blow on his nose. He fell down on the floor and lay unconscious.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Chapter 23

  A Few More Minutes Prabhu’s Narration Continues:

  It took two minutes for MuthuRam to regain his senses. When he opened his eyes, I was sitting on him and waiting to hear his story. I never expected the Loser to be a 40 year old man, wearing a sweater in Chennai-weather, but then from what I know of him, he should have had a half-baked brain.

  Raj was in another corner, protecting his ass.

  “Go ahead Mr.Loser. Tell me, where is Diana?”

  “She is in the next building, to the back of this house” he said. I gave a sigh of relief.

  “Whats there in that building and why did you kidnap her?” I sat hard on him.