by UD Yasha
We skipped forward and reached the top of the sixth floor. Rathod took off his shoe and flung it across the tripwire, setting it off. He had made our enemies believe that both the groups had been killed.
That’s when we started firing. Even in the sparse light, I could make out at least ten guards. I lay on the ground and took shots one by one. We had the upper hand for the first few seconds because the guards had thought that all of us were dead. Once that time was up, gunshots emanated all around us. By then, we had killed or gravely injured eight of them.
It was two of them against four of us. We hid behind the grey columns, peeping out every few seconds to take a shot every time we saw any movement. My aim was still rusty from not being in the game for more than three years. But Rathod and the SWAT guys were knocking the guards down. Rathod shot one more guard and then ran across to my column.
Just as Rathod was going to open his mouth to say something, we saw the SWAT guy near us get hit in the head. He collapsed on the ground. Kuhad stepped away from a column and jerked his head towards the staircase.
‘We need to go up as soon as possible,’ Rathod said. ‘I’ll create a distraction. Run upstairs. Don’t worry about booby traps on that staircase. They’re hiding something or someone up there and they wouldn’t want it to get damaged or hurt.’
Rathod ran to another column, taking stray shots that drew all the attention. Kuhad provided Rathod more cover by going in a different direction. I darted for the staircase
‘Welcome, we were waiting for you,’ a bald guy said the moment I reached the sixth floor.
I stopped in my track when I saw what was in front of me.
Chapter Forty-Six
The bald guy was about forty feet away. Next to him, a man was sitting on a chair with a black cloth over his face. His hands and legs were bound to the chair. He was wearing an oversized jacket. The bald guy had a gun pointed at the man’s head.
Dad?
I swept a glance across the floor. Apart from the bald guy and the other man, I could see four other guards. Two of them were at either end of the floor, standing close to the columns. I assumed they would take cover behind them if there was gunfire. The other two guards were behind the bald guy. There was a room at the back end, in the exact same spot that it was supposed to be according to the layout. Its door was open, and as far as I could see, there was no one inside. Gunshots continued to emanate from downstairs.
‘No games, no tricks,’ the bald guy said. ‘Raise your hands and keep your weapon on the floor.’
‘Dad, is it you?’ I said, ignoring the bald guy’s instructions.
The man tried to speak but I could only hear grunts. His mouth must have been gagged.
Silence resounded. I realized that the gunshots had stopped downstairs.
‘How do I know who he is?’ I said.
With one swift motion, the bald guy removed the black cloth from the man’s face.
Roark Coutinho.
I could recognize him instantly. The man who had possibly held evidence against the Viper and the person who had spoken to dad just a few days back. Like I suspected, his mouth was gagged. He was moving his head vigourously. The bald guy smacked him with the back of his hand. Coutinho’s chair fell backwards. A guard close to them pushed the chair up and put the black cloth back on Coutinho’s face.
‘I’ll shoot him dead if you don’t listen to me. He knows where your father is and he also knows a lot about the Viper,’ the bald guy said.
The chair wriggled as Coutinho tried to free himself.
The bald guy said, ‘Do as I say, woman. Hands up, weapon down. Nice and easy.’
I backed away, putting my Glock down and raising my hands.
‘Now hold out your hands. We’re going to tie you up. Remember, no one needs to get hurt,’ the bald guy said.
I heard Rathod and Kuhad come up the stairs. I turned around and gathered from their faces that they knew what was happening. They must have listened to everything.
‘Come upstairs, gentleman,’ the bald guy said. ‘We’ve in our possession the person who is key to your investigation. We’ll shoot him dead if you don’t do exactly what we say.’
A guard walked up to me as Rathod and Kuhad emerged from the stairs. They were cautious and slow. They both had their hands up.
‘That’s it, nice and easy, gentleman,’ the bald guy said.
I glanced at Rathod and he nodded ever so slightly. I held my hands out for the guard. He buckled them in handcuffs and dragged me next to Coutinho.
‘Your turn,’ the bald guy said to Rathod and Kuhad.
‘How do we know you won’t just kill us?’ Rathod said.
‘You have no option. We will kill this man and woman if you don’t listen to us. We want to get away from here. Safe and sound. Those people downstairs were dispensable. Absolute garbage. I don’t care if they’re dead or hurt. I want to get out of here alive. If you don’t do anything funny, there’s a chance that you might also see the sunrise tomorrow.’
‘Wouldn’t the Viper be disappointed in you if you fled the scene?’
‘We wouldn’t go alone. We’re going to take Coutinho with us. I’m just letting you off because I don’t want to spill any more blood,’ the bald guy said.
Rathod and Kuhad weighed their options.
The bald guy said, ‘The two of you are taking too much time.’ While looking at them, the bald guy changed his aim from Coutinho’s head to his knees. He laughed as he pulled the trigger and a bullet slammed into Coutinho’s leg. ‘He’s going to bleed out in less than half an hour. Your choice if you want him to die.’
Rathod and Kuhad put their guns on the floor and raised their hands. I didn’t realize what was happening. Clearly, we weren’t going to be let off. What did Rathod have in mind?
The two guards at the far ends walked swiftly up to Rathod and Kuhad. I was in handcuffs already and wasn’t considered a threat anymore, so the two guards behind us stepped forward, holding their guns aimed at Rathod and Kuhad. The other two guards were now only a few feet away from them.
When they were within an arm’s distance, Rathod launched a kick in his guy’s direction and then hooked a punch into his chin to send him flying backwards. Rathod caught him as he was falling back and pulled him in front of his body. At the same time, Kuhad lunged forward and slammed his elbow into the face of the guy in front of him and locked his neck using his arms.
The bald guy next to me was taken by surprise, just like me. The guards around us fired at Rathod and Kuhad, but they were shielding themselves with the two guards. The bullets hit the guards.
At that point, I could see activity near the staircase at the edge of my vision. To my surprise, it was ACP Shukla and Radha.
Both had taken cover under the stairwell and were firing shots at the guards. The bald guy moved behind a column, while one of the two remaining guards was taken out by Shukla. I wondered how the two of them had got here, realizing that Radha would have sensed there was danger. She would have tracked my phone using an app we had installed when Kishore Zakkal was behind us. She must have gone to the ACP as he was the only person who we trusted with information on the Viper. The ACP didn’t know who was on the Viper’s payroll so he must have come alone with Radha, who he knew had basic training with using firearms.
Amid the chaos, I started dragging Coutinho’s chair behind a column. He had bled a lot already. Rathod went around the column for the bald guy, who was now more concerned with getting away alive. Kuhad and Shukla were focused on the other guard.
My attention was on Coutinho. Once we were behind a column and safe for the time being, I pulled the black cloth from his face. His eyes were shut and his face had gone red. I could hardly feel a pulse on him and his breathing was shallow. He was sinking fast. I glanced where his chair had been earlier. The blood loss had been immense.
I patted his cheek as I shot a glance at the only room on the floor. I ran to it to check if dad was inside. I could hear my
heart thud in my ears as I entered the room. Dad was not there. It was empty. Where are you? As I turned to go out, my eyes fell on a wall. It had something written on it over and over again. At least ten times. A chill ran through my body when I read what it was.
Even when I cannot see daddy, I will remember him and I will be okay.
My stomach churned. Dad was here. Dad’s name in the room flashed in front my eyes and I wondered if he was being held in this room earlier. I rushed out. Coutinho had to know where dad and the evidence were. Maybe dad has it with him. That must have kept Coutinho alive.
‘Stay with me,’ I said to Coutinho, trying to apply pressure on the gunshot wound with my T-Shirt.
His body started shivering. Just then, Radha ran across the floor and joined by my right elbow. She had a key in her hand and said, ‘I found this on the guard who was shot by Shukla.’
The keys were small, so I realized they must have been for the handcuffs on Coutinho. As I was unlocking them, Coutinho raised his head ever so slightly. He put his hand on my head.
‘Siya,’ he said, his voice barely coming out. ‘It’s you, right?’
‘Yes, it’s me,’ I said, unlocking his hands and legs.
I lay him on the ground and was about to start performing CPR, when Coutinho spoke again.
‘I…I don’t have…have much time,’ he said.
‘We’ll get you to a hospital,’ I said, pumping his chest
‘Stop, stop,’ Coutinho said. ‘Your father…’
I froze at the mention of dad while the gunfire around us got louder. But I knew I had to move because I saw that the bald guy was now just two columns away.
Coutinho heaved loudly and blood came out of his mouth.
‘What about dad?’ Radha said, now next to him. She was applying pressure on the gunshot wound but the blood flow didn’t seem to slow down.
I got up as the bald guy came closer. Rathod behind him but not yet close enough to tackle him down. I was in the same line of attack as the bald guy, so Rathod could not shoot him either because if he missed, either Radha or I would get hit. I also couldn’t shoot the bald guy for the fear of hitting Rathod if I missed. The only other remaining guard was nowhere to be seen, so I thought that Shukla had taken him out.
‘I need to tell you something,’ Coutinho said, his hand tapping my leg.
I watched the bald guy closely, knowing that he could shoot Coutinho or us at any moment. I was torn between protecting Coutinho and hearing what he had to say. Either way, I couldn’t afford to lose him. The bald guy was just five feet away now. I realized he didn’t have his gun on him.
‘Your father and I…we were working together,’ Coutinho said. ‘But Siya, I couldn’t…I couldn’t,’ he started coughing. Blood spurted out of his mouth.
At that moment, I knew exactly what Coutinho was going to say because I had heard it before---in the morning when all this had started, at the Stan Mills factory. It all came crashing back at me. A piercing headache blinded me for a beat. I remembered that it wasn’t dad at Stan Mills, but Coutinho. He had saved me from Jane Doe and an assassin.
The blood Coutinho coughed squirted on my face. ‘I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more,’ he said.
Coutinho had said the same thing to me that day in the morning. The pain I felt then was nothing to what I felt when he told me once again. Or at least I thought. The shock of hearing it for the first time had sent me into a frenzy. I was once again spiralling down. The energy from my body had been sucked out.
I wanted to know what had happened, but the bald guy jumped across and held Coutinho by his neck and pushed me away. The two of them struggled and started rolling on the ground.
Coutinho heaved loudly. He had already lost a lot of blood. He shouted as loudly as he could, ‘He loves you all. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him…’ Now every word coming out of his mouth needed a lot of effort. ‘You can pay your respects at my church. There…’ his voice faded out.
A second later, Rathod got a clear shot at the bald guy and he squeezed the trigger. He was dead in an instant. I stumbled sideways through the blood to reach Coutinho. But his eyes were shut and his breath was shallower than it had been.
‘There’s an ambulance downstairs,’ Shukla said.
Kuhad and Shukla lifted Coutinho and carried him downstairs.
Rathod said, ‘I’m so sorry for what happened. I’ll just be back. Shukla made sure we got one guard alive. He’s agreed to tell the Viper that we’ve been killed. I’ll just make sure he relays that message so we can be safe for some time.’
Radha’s hands embraced me from the back. She was shivering. I was too dazed to move. The reality of the situation hit me. Dad had died and he would never join us. My head ached and it seemed like my brain was trying to smash the walls of the skull to come out. The world around me seemed to wander away. All I wanted was to shout as loudly as I could. But no voice came out. Funnily enough, the silence of my mind was deafening.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Kuhad and Shukla took Roark Coutinho and the guard we had captured alive to the hospital as both had got hurt. We were hoping the guard could shed light on what had been happening. But we knew it was not going to be good enough to capture the Viper. We needed evidence against him.
Rathod, Radha and I drove back home.
Silence resounded in the car. There was nothing left to say. Dad was gone. We didn’t have the evidence we wanted either. I was cursing myself for blacking out a few days back. Maybe we would have been able to save dad.
I played my conversation with Coutinho over and over again in my mind. I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more. Coutinho’s words echoed in my mind.
Another thought occurred to me. Why was there so much security to protect Roark Coutinho? If he was the person who had the evidence against the Viper, then why wasn’t he killed? It again made me think about the evidence being used as an insurance for protection. If Coutinho was alive because he threatened to expose the Viper if he was killed, then someone outside, who was still free, would be having it.
I went through all the people we had come across in the past three days. Everyone involved had been killed. Who could it be? If Coutinho wouldn’t have told us about dad’s death, I would have guessed dad would have the evidence. But dad was no more.
The train of thoughts stopped as my mind drifted back to dad. We had come so close to getting him back. I found it hard to breathe, knowing he had been alive for so many years. He had stayed away to protect us. I wondered how difficult it would have been for him—to know that his family was out there, and not being with them. A part of us wanted him to be alive but we were also prepared to face the worst.
I tried my best, Siya. I did. I couldn’t save him, your dad…he’s…he’s no more. Coutinho’s voice played again. He hadn't been able to finish what he wanted to say. I knew there was more. I strained my mind to remember what he had told me at Stan Mills.
I remember getting disoriented when he told me dad had been killed. When? The answer came to me right away. Your dad died last week, Coutinho had said. That meant a day before the Stan Mills incident. What else had Coutinho said? I remembered how he had ran away from me and gone inside the factory. He had told me something just before that. I tapped my hand on the seat. I could sense that I was very close. Something vague came to me. Go, take the woman to a secure hospital. She’s the link. Link to what?
I distinctly remember that Coutinho had used the words ‘secure hospital’. I realized I hadn’t got it then, just like it didn’t make much sense right now. I just took heart from knowing that I had put Jane Doe in my car.
My head ached as I tried to remember more.
I massaged my temples.
Radha held my hand. ‘What’s happening?’ she said.
‘I’m trying to remember what else Coutinho said at Stan Mills.’
‘Are you able to recall
anything?’
I shook my head.
‘Coutinho said that we can pay respects to dad at his church,’ Radha said and teared up.
‘I find it odd that those were his last words.’
‘So did I,’ Radha said. ‘I thought he said that because he was dying and wanted us to know where he had buried….’ Her voice trailed off.
‘I know his church,’ Rathod said. ‘I saw some papers at his house and a picture of Jesus with the church name below it. I’ll call them and ask.’
Rathod made the call. He made some sounds in acknowledgement and then hung up. He said, ‘The church confirmed that someone named Aniruddha Rajput was buried in their cemetery seven days back.’
‘I don’t understand. He wasn’t even a Christian,’ I said.
‘The church also raised the same objection. But Coutinho asked for his burial place to be given to Rajput on humanitarian grounds. The person I spoke to told me that Coutinho was well known and respected in the church so the Priest agreed. They went through the formalities that were required and buried your father at the church cemetery.’
‘Why go through so much pain?’ I said and a thought came to my mind.
How had I missed it before?
I turned to Radha and said, ‘Dad used to keep saying it to me every time I was afraid. Even when I cannot see daddy,’ I said, and then Radha joined me. ‘I will remember him and I will be okay.’
Silence.
I said, ‘It was even written in the room that had his name in the layout. I think he was kept there.’ I paused. ‘I will remember him and I will be okay. Coutinho said we can pay our respects to dad.’
‘Which is remembering him,’ Radha said.
‘Exactly. We need to go to his grave,’ I said.
Chapter Forty-Eight
