11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “That’s his lab. And I didn’t… I didn’t kidnap. It was him, my master, I just work for him”

  “Who is he? Why should he abduct my friend’s wife?” I posed the all-important question and waited. He looked at me and asked if I were not Robin. I nodded.

  “We had to take her into custody because your friend is the ex of Brindha”

  “I don’t get the point. Is Ganpath your master?”

  “No, it’s Darshan Patel”

  “Who the hell? How is he involved in this? What has he got to do with Brindha?”

  “It’s a long story!” he said. I looked at my watch. There were ten more minutes for 11 AM.

  “Tell in five minutes.” I said.

  “It started in 2001. My master is from Gujarat. His parents died in the Gujarat earth quake, if you remember that, he was all of 12 then; 12 and the sole owner of a large diamond jewelry business. He was quite troubled at his parents’ loss. It took him several years to recover. In fact he is still recovering. But, when it came to business, he had his dad’s acumen. He made all his moves and garnered fortunes just like him. He was brilliant and also had a liking for latest inventions in science and followed all the latest technological advances across the globe. He has a huge collection of such gadgets in his lab. He buys anything that he can lay his hands upon”

  “Just cut the extra details and get to the point” I insisted losing my patience.

  “I am with this family ever since he was born. After his parents’ death, the task of taking care of him fell on me. I became his legal guardian. He was young and vulnerable, I was a grown up opportunist. I wanted to take advantage of the situation.”

  “Now we are talking”

  “I shouldn’t have even thought so, yes, but then think about it. I have a very large family… had too much to heed for. I was paid well, yes, but I wanted more. I wanted all of it. Who wouldn’t want, wont you?” he continued

  “What did you do then?” I asked in a threatening tone.

  “I wanted to kill him at first, but then there was a problem with the will. He would inherit the wealth only when he turns 18 and in case he dies before that, all this wealth would go to charity. It would be of no use to me. So I had to bring him up till he was 18, had to take complete care of him until then.”

  “So you planned to kill him when he turned 18?”

  “I tried, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was emotionally attached to him. As much as the money was inviting, I couldn’t bring myself to kill the little man I brought up”

  “Oh Okay, then?”

  “But I needed the money badly. Without any other choice, I started to give him disillusionment drugs, resulting in him suffering from delusional disorder”

  “Wait, whats that?”

  “It’s a drug, like your cocaine, marijuana. I don’t remember the exact name of it though. It was called some crystal meth or something. The druggist said that it would make people forget themselves and go into a state of trance. They wouldn’t be in their senses nor in their physical state of mind. It sounded like the perfect ingredient for my plan. I decided to give it to Darshan every single day so that he ends up as a schizophrenia patient. Then being his legal guardian and considering his mental state, all wealth would come to me”

  “You fickle scoundrel.” I wanted to spit on him. “Now where did Brindha come here?”

  “Darshan was disillusioned and started to behave in an eccentric manner. His sexual urges increased multifold and were uncontrollable. Every time I gave him the drug he would have terrible mood swings and weird sexual desires. He even once tried to rape me. Our family doctor said that it’s a peculiar case and every time he is taking the drug, his deepest desires were being exposed and that it could be meted out only by fulfilling his sexual needs. I first took the help of some prostitutes, but he started to hurt them really bad, he was crossing limits. Then I had to employ a ploy of giving him a feeling of having an imaginary girl friend who would cater to his desires over call.”

  “Whose name was Brindha?”

  “Yes, I made one of my daughters talk to him in the name of Brindha, every single day. He was getting addicted to both the drug as well Brindha”

  “Your own daughter?”

  “Yes sir. She was just talking to him over phone. You call it phone sex, right?”

  “Your daughter deserved a better father than you” I said and asked him to continue.

  “I know. But as days passed by, he was getting too addicted to talking to Brindha. In the mean-time, my daughter’s wedding was fixed. I sensed that the conversations could no longer continue and had to be put to an end.”

  “You could have married her off to him, right? He would have definitely married her. Come on”

  “We are his servants sir, how would he agree?”

  “He is already drugged. Why would he care?”

  “He would. I once brought my daughter in front of him and told that she is Brindha. He hit her with a glass bottle and banished us. He has his own image for Brindha in his mind and anybody who isn’t matching it will be punished and chased out”

  “Oh my God!”

  “I had to put an end to it all and asked my daughter to avoid him as much as she could”

  “Okay?”

  “She started to avoid him, refused when he wanted to meet her in person. She stopped talking to him, stopped responding to his call and shunned him completely. Darshan had gone astray and couldn’t come to terms with him losing a loved one for the second time in his life. I could see that he was losing his senses slowly and consuming the drug incessantly. There was hardly a time when he wasn’t on it. He started to behave like a mad man and live in his own world, his own world of Brindha. My plan seemed to work”

  “I am not even able to digest this shit. So your fake Brindha pretended to break up with him and he wanted to avenge her ex boyfriend for that?”

  “Yes sir“

  “Then how did my friend and his wife come into the picture?”

  “That’s because of this Raj. Raj had met Darshan in one of Darshan’s scientific seminars and they had exchanged numbers and became connected over some LinkIn or something. Darshan had a fake ID in FB, only very few knew it...”

  “Okay?”

  “He became Raj’s friend on one fine day”

  “You are not just coming to the point. Why are you dragging around?”

  “Well, Raj is your friend Robin’s wife’s FB friend. Looks like your friend is a writer and he had written about his first crush with some Brindha in his blog in a detailed manner and shared it on facebook. Robin’s wife had ‘liked’ the post, in turn Raj had liked it. May be your friend had it as a public profile and Darshan happened to read it all.”

  “Whats the logic?”

  ”I have no clue. I had asked my daughter to break up with him and she gave some random reasons, like having an ex. and that Darshan is no match to his ex. and all that. May be after reading your friend’s story, Darshan thought that your friend, Rob is the reason for his break up. What did your friend write so in his blog?”

  “I am really not sure what he wrote. What a freaking imagination!”

  “Its imagination for us, but stark reality for him. He creates his own images, stories and worlds. Things happen there as per his wishes. He is the ruler and the subject and if he wants he would kill anyone in that world at will.”

  “Holy shit!! That’s why he went ahead and killed Brindha and kidnapped Rob’s wife, is it?” I gave him a kick in his belly.

  “He killed Brindha?” Muthuram was shocked. Raj was equally shocked and wanted to run away.

  “Oh, you didn’t know. Yes the lunatic has killed Brindha and has promised to kill Diana as well. We need to stop him”

  “Brindha is very much alive!! I don’t think he would kill Diana either sir. I brought him up, I know him. He is ruthless only when it comes to his business, otherwise he has a tender heart. He is such a nice person. My guilt has killed me slow
ly for so many days. Finally I got a chance to confess now. My daughter is alive and well. May be he killed Brindha in his imagination. There is no mistake on his part. It was all mine. Don’t tell your friend to harm him. If there is anything you want to do, just do it to me”

  “What if he had found my friend Robin’s ex. Brindha and killed her?”

  “There is no way for that. He hasn’t come out of his room for the last six months, ever since the break-up”

  “He could have been in the room and asked someone else to do it”

  “I am the only one he talks to. I execute his orders. He doesn’t trusts anyone else”

  “You execute ? Oh so, you were the one who sent those guys in a lorry to kill us on the way to Trichy?”

  “I didn’t ask them to kill you”

  “Don’t lie. I clearly remember the Loser saying “Hey Ram’. We thought he was calling a God, but looks like he has called to you”

  “Okay, Yes, I will confess that too. Darshan’s order was to follow you guys, but I asked them to finish you, just to be sure you don’t come up with additional troubles. But looks like they failed, I am sorry, forgive me.”

  I kicked him again in his stomach.

  “You should have thought of all this before you drugged your master. There is no use in confessing now. May be he didn’t kill Brindha, but he has kidnapped Diana for sure”

  “May be he kidnapped her, but he wouldn’t kill Diana. I guarantee you that.” MuthuRam said.

  I got up as he was still lying down. We had been dealing all the while with a schizophrenia patient who had access to the latest technology and whose mind was not in his control. He could make any move at any point of time. I needed to act immediately. I turned around to ask Muthuram to take me to Darshan’s room when that Oxygen cylinder hit my head. It hit me one more time. I didn’t know who attacked me. I fell down on the floor. There was blood oozing from my head.

  “Why did you get caught? Why did you? Are you all trying to spoil my plan? Do you know whats the wealth that’s going to come to my possesion? Darshan will be arrested for kidnapping, attempted murder and then imprisoned. I had planned it all well and used his BMW for the kidnapping. I have just informed the cops. The Police will arrive, catch hold of him and declare him insane. Right when everything was falling in place, who is this moron? Why did you bring him here? I trusted you Raj, but you disappointed me” Muthuram was furious at Raj.

  “I am sorry, I am sorry. I was attacked. He just brought me here by force, leave me, I will run away.” Raj pleaded.

  “There can be no witnesses.” saying, he hit Raj with that red cylinder. He gave three more hits and I could hear the clear sound of his skull bone breaking open. Raj laid in a pool of blood. I couldn’t move. I could hear everything Muthuram was speaking but couldn’t move an inch. I looked at my watch. It was 5 minutes past 11.

  The time was gone. I couldn’t reach Robin. I didn’t know what happened to Diana. What I could feel was that my end was nearing. I had to act immediately. If I didn’t make a move, I would be sent to the grave by Muthuram. I stopped moving and laid motionless. He kicked my head and dragged me along towards an internal door in the room. I remembered him saying that Diana was there at the other building, may be the door lead to it. As he was about to open the door, I pulled him down using the last resort of energy left in my hands. My head was spinning. There was a significant amount of blood loss. I used whatever reserve energy I had and punched Muthuram on his genitals. He screamed.

  He turned around to kick me hard on my face and on my head, increasing the bleeding. I couldn’t see clearly. I held his leg in my hand and pushed him hard towards the wall. He was thrown face first at it. I twisted his knee and tried to break his leg. He kicked me hard and got up. He gave me repeated punches and kicked my face.

  “Do not hit a man on his genitals, you eunuch” he admonished me as his kicks were resulting profuse leakage of blood from my nostrils and mouth.

  I held his feet, stopped his kicks, got hold of his shirt and stood up and hit him on his face and pushed him. He couldn’t withstand my push and fell back.

  “You filthy old man, I thought I will forgive you. I thought you confessed. You liar. You will be doubly paid now”

  “There is so much you could do for so much money and there is so minimal you could do without it” he gasped.

  “There is so much I could do with this fist.” I said and punched him on his face. “You, are a bad guardian”. Before I could foresee his next move, I was already on the floor. He gave a double sweep kick to my feet and then repeatedly punched on my chest. He overpowered me. I felt ashamed to be beaten by an old man.

  He took the cylinder in his hand and threw it flat on my face. I lost everything and closed my eyes. I wasn’t dead though. I could still hear him. He uttered some cuss words directed at me, my mother and my sister and headed towards the door to open it.

  Diana will be there at the other end of the door. Open your eyes, save her, someone was talking to my brain. I couldn’t open my eyes. In a distance I heard someone opening a door.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Chapter 24 Save Diana Robin Narrates:

  I wasn’t convinced with Prabhu’s theory. Why would the Loser, having a BWM, try to book a cab in OLA? And how did Prabhu find his exact location.

  “My dad checked in my system. Raj is trying to book a cab and planning to escape out of Chennai” Prabhu’s words kept echoing in my mind.

  Wait a minute. Prabhu’s dad had been tracing all phone numbers and locating them, why did we not locate the Loser’s number all the while. Had I done it earlier, I needn’t have treaded on an 11 hour journey. I felt like a stupid. I had saved Prabhu’s dad’s number in my phone, but my phone was with Prabhu. Damn. I looked at the Nokia 1100 phone in my hand and searched its contacts list, hoping to find his number. I remembered Prabhu saving his dad’s number as ‘Fa’, short form of father, in his phone. I hoped him to have saved it in a similar way in that Nokia phone as well. Thankfully, he had. I dialled to his dad immediately.

  “Uncle, Rob here. I need to find the location of a mobile number”

  “Brindha’s? Or Raj’s? Or Prabhu’s? Are you two in a phone number tracing spree today?” he said and laughed.

  “No, uncle, this is a new number. Give this a try and let me know where it is” he said.

  I gave him the Loser’s number which I had memorized after losing my phone earlier in the day. Within 2 minutes he responded.

  “The number is static and is located in”

  “West Mambalam, near Public Health Care? A Warehouse?” I asked.

  “Very much yes, how did you know? If you already know, why did you ask?”

  “Just wanted a double confirmation uncle.” I said and cut the call.

  The Loser was at West Mambalam. He could be Raj, he could still be Ganpath or even Darshan but he wasn’t at Kotturpuram. I started Prabhu’s car and speeded my way towards Chennai.

  There was only one thing in my mind, save Diana. It had been a while since I practiced yoga, had left it ever since I broke up with Brindha, but I still remembered a few tricks that were taught to train my mind. I never thought it would come handy in helping me that day. I had to keep my thoughts under control. It sounded easy, but to have a focused mind, and not to think of anything else, especially under a crisis, needed a lot of practice, which I didn’t have. I felt like a balloon, encompassing all my emotions within, a prickly wayward thought was enough to break it all and burst out the emotions. “Focus, save Diana, save Diana. Brindha is dead, just save Diana.” I kept telling myself, as the car speeded in the Tambaram highway towards West Mambalam.

  The road was traffic free, I didn’t mind any of the signals and was rushing towards my destination. “The cops will follow” just don’t think. “What if LOSER” just don’t think. “What if he knows what I “Just don’t think idiot.

  I was dismissing all my thoughts and reached the destination in the co-ordinates that the p
rofessor had passed on, around 10.40 Am. 20 minutes before the deadline. The warehouse looked upon me with disgust. With no smart phone to help me re-confirm the location, I banked on my gut instincts to move ahead.

  It was a double storied building with the basement locked with a seal. There was a single door in the first floor - a steep stair case led to it, where I hoped to meet the LOSER. I took a deep breath and prayed well for a miracle to save my wife. “Save Diana”. I kept repeating it like a slogan.

  I was surprised to see no one guarding the door, but then got reminded of the LOSER saying that he preferred to work alone, lucky me, save Diana. I reached near the door stealthily and knocked it. No one opened. I waited and knocked again. There was silence. I decided to “Save Diana”.

  “Splat” the door opened and revealed me its inmate. It was a stranger. I had never seen him in my life. He smiled like he was expecting me though. My eyes were searching for Diana. She wasn’t there. I was desperate to find her and scanned the large room. The room for some reason reminded me of that of the professor’s lab, but with much more complications. It was large, had more equipments and a weird man as its inmate.

  “Looking for Diana? And do you like this lab” he asked in a sarcastic tone.

  “Oh Shit. Just Save Diana” I kept telling myself. I didn’t want him to know my next move.

  “Who are you, Loser?”

  “I am that I am. I am the Loser”

  “Whats your name?”

  “Doesn’t matter”

  “Okay. I am here, that’s what matters now. Let go off my wife. I have found you before the time you gave me “I insisted as I looked around, Save Diana.

  “Did you know, I know your thoughts?” he gave a teasing look.

  “I know” I was waiting for his move to counter attack. The best way not to think was just that. Not to think at all. “Save Diana”.

  “Why aren’t you thinking anything now, other than ‘Save Diana’. You don’t want to know why I kidnapped your wife? What I am going to do to her”

  “Save Diana” I bit my teeth.

  “How do you think it will be, if this technology is implemented across the globe. I will know everything that everyone thinks” he laughed.