The COMPLETE Siya Rajput Crime Thrillers (Books 1 to 4)

by UD Yasha

  The heavy showers for the evening were done and we drove to Blossoms in a light drizzle. We reached in twenty-five minutes.

  A small light illuminated its entrance. Even at night, the place seemed cosy. Dense foliage covered the walls around the main gate. It was solid metal so we couldn't tell what was on the other side. A high fence, also covered in creepers, was erected around the property.

  Rathod tried to push open the door but it seemed to be locked from the inside. He knocked hard on it and its echo reverberated through the metal.

  No one responded.

  Rathod tried Smita Kale again. He put the phone on speaker so we heard it ring. The call went unanswered as well.

  Rathod beckoned the two police officers we had brought as a backup to come forward. The taller of the two pulled out a lockpick from his waist pouch and got to work.

  We were inside in five minutes.

  An open land dented with a stone path greeted us. The entire area was lit by mild yellow lights. The path went in three different directions. The first one turned left and headed to a small structure which was labelled as ‘Office’. The second path led to the large garden behind the office. The third led to a series of polyhouses. There were small reminders around the nursery to not pluck any flowers or harm any plants.

  We headed for the office first.

  We first noticed the pool of blood when we were a few feet from the office. The smell hit us later.

  The blood had trickled out from under the door. Rathod and Shukla went into an alert stance and motioned me and Bhalerao to wait back. The two backup officers joined them on either side of the door. Rathod threw up one hand and counted down to zero.

  The bald police officer kicked open the door. His partner stepped in, shouting ‘Police’, while Rathod and Shukla jumped inside too—all of it happened in one smooth motion.

  ‘Clear,’ Rathod shouted. ‘There’s a body inside.’

  Everyone stepped back out to avoid contaminating the crime scene. Rathod came out of the office about thirty seconds later.

  ‘I’ve some coveralls in my car,’ the bald police officer said. ‘I’ll go get them.’

  'It's Smita Kale,' Rathod said. 'I remember her from the picture that Dr Barve had shared. Her throat has been slashed. The body is cold but not hard. Rigour Mortis would have set in and has now gone. It's been more than twelve hours since she was killed, but I suspect she was killed before Siya got the letter. The air conditioner was on inside so the body hasn't started decomposing as such.'

  The bald police officer came back with five plastic coveralls.

  ‘Why would Zakkal direct us to come here only to show us Smita Kale’s dead body?’ Bhalerao said.

  ‘I don’t think that’s the reason. She’s dead because she was in Zakkal’s way,’ I said and turned to Rathod. ‘Did Dr Barve tell you where those two plants are located inside the nursery?’

  The taller of the two officers stepped forward and said, ‘I saw a map inside the office. It might help you find what you’re looking for.’ He slipped into the coveralls, took a picture of the map using his phone and sent it to Rathod.

  'We'll search the office thoroughly later because I don't think we're going to find anything of use inside it,' Rathod said. 'You two stand guard at the main gate and make sure no one comes inside,' he said to the police officers.

  Rathod zoomed into the map and we looked for Whistling Thorn and Guabiroba. We found it almost right away. They were in two different polyhouses, but there was a Hibiscus plant in the polyhouse between them.

  The air in the nursery was much cooler than anywhere outside. A sweet smell of flowers lingered in the air a bit longer. If it weren’t for the circumstances, I knew I would have fallen in love with this place. Smita Kale had done a wonderful job with it, but she had unfortunately crossed paths with a psychopath.

  We strode on the stone path and reached the polyhouse with the Hibiscus flowers. The polyhouse in itself was rectangular, with lights that emulated night time. Being inside the polyhouse would have been another calming experience had it not been for the situation. We walked in the aisles between various flowers and plants, most of which we had never seen in our lives. The Hibiscus flowers were supposed to be at the far end of the polyhouse. I could see the pink Hibiscus flowers as we approached the end of the aisle.

  I noticed that there was an extremely small display at the end of each aisle. It had a ticker on it that mentioned the date and time along with temperature, humidity and a range of other parameters present inside the polyhouse.

  ‘Look at the last aisle,’ Shukla said.

  Instead of a standard monitor, the last aisle had a larger screen. We went around the back end of the polyhouse and crossed to the last aisle.

  ‘That doesn’t belong here,’ Rathod said, looking

  On getting closer to the larger display, we noticed that it was a large twelve-inch tablet. It was hooked up to a charger that was connected to a plug point on the ground.

  I got a chance to look at the tablet screen when I got to the front of the aisle.

  Its screensaver had a picture of Zakkal smiling. There was a message under the picture. It read: Hello Siya! It’s good to see you again. No matter what happens, follow my instructions. I’ll find out if you disobey me.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Zakkal had always been one for theatrics. He liked to make big statements. He wanted his subjects to be afraid of him. Even with me, everything that he had done so far was extravagant. So, seeing his face in full glory, grinning away while saying hello to me, was classic Zakkal.

  His smile looked innocent. There was a new scar on his face. It ran on the right side of his forehead, over his eyebrow. The photo predominantly had his face and a part of his collar.

  The front camera on the tablet flickered red ever so slightly as it tried to scan my face and failed. It didn’t have my face stored for authorized access so it prompted me to enter a six-digit password.

  Bhalerao pulled a pair of gloves from his pant pockets and handed them to me.

  ‘The tablet’s touch won’t work with my gloves on,’ I said.

  Shukla gestured with his hand for me to proceed.

  ‘Do you know what the password could be?’ Rathod asked.

  I smiled as I realized what it could be. ‘I have a very solid guess in mind,’ I said and pressed 010801. The screen unlocked and revealed Zakkal’s smiling face once again. ‘Zakkal kidnapped Maa on the first of August in 2001,’ I said.

  The tablet’s home screen had just one folder. It was titled ‘Open Me’. I tapped on it. There were two video files inside the folder. I could tell both were recorded videos, and not live because of their preview thumbnails. One file was named ‘Open Me First’ and the second was named ‘Be A Good Girl’. I tapped on the first file, and a video popped up, occupying the entire screen.

  Zakkal, wearing blue denim jeans and a rolled-up red checkered shirt casually stepped into the camera frame.

  I tried to look for signs of where he could be. He was smart enough to not let us find him through a video he had shared with us himself, but funnier things had happened. Some of the most menacing criminals in history had been caught because of something as unthreatening as a speeding ticket.

  Zakkal seemed to be in a dark place that was lit by two yellow lamps hanging from the ceiling. The paint on the wall behind him was peeling. I could even make out some bricks.

  Zakkal walked towards the camera, taking small but conscious steps. There was no other sound but for the echo of his soles against the hard ground under him. A smirk curled his face.

  As Zakkal got closer to the camera, I could see his eyes. I knew that look. I had seen it before—when I had visited him at Yerwada and I was certain that he would have killed me on the spot if the two sets of bars hadn't separated us. I felt my stomach churn, knowing what was coming next. It was like his eyes gave a preview of the horror we were about to witness.

  Zakkal’s eyes glared at m
e. His face straightened when he got even closer to the camera. He was a few feet away when he reached out and realigned it. The new angle still showed Zakkal, but it also showed us a three-foot-tall table behind him.

  Zakkal stepped back and went out of frame. A woman screamed, not so far away. Then Zakkal reentered the frame, but this time, he was carrying a woman in his arms. We didn’t recognize the woman, but going by whom Zakkal had been targeting, I guessed that we would later find out that she too was a prostitute. She was wearing a green T-Shirt and white shorts. The woman’s arms stretched either side as she cried and tried to get away. She stopped making a sound when Zakkal slapped her across the face. He stepped back and placed her on the low table. He strapped her to it. The woman’s consciousness returned and she tried to break free from the straps.

  Zakkal leaned over her and placed a finger on her lip. From the angle we were looking at, the moment Zakkal’s finger touched her lip, the woman’s toes started shivering. The low cries were replaced by a stuttered wail.

  Zakkal looked back at the camera. He bent down and pulled a small duffel bag from under the table. He kept it next to the woman’s feet. He rummaged inside the bag to take out a long transparent pipe. He kept it aside and then pulled out something that looked like a blood pressure monitor.

  The woman was strapped at her ankles, thighs, stomach and neck. She used whatever little free movement she had to raise her head and check what the madman who had captured her was doing. When Zakkal realized this, he took out a scalpel from the duffel bag and quietly walked towards the woman.

  ‘I’ll kill you right now if you try that stunt again,’ he said as calmly as anyone would have asked a waiter at a restaurant for some extra ketchup.

  Zakkal returned to the duffel bag and removed three more items—a syringe, a cotton swab and some spirit. He held the bottle of spirit in his mouth as he walked back to the woman. He poured some spirit over the cotton and rubbed it on the woman’s forearm.

  Zakkal leaned forward and said in her ear, ‘Think about all those whom you loved.’

  The woman knew what was coming next. She was still trying to free herself, somehow thinking that there was still a chance to escape. Zakkal smacked her across the face again.

  ‘I just told you to think about all the people whom you loved. There’s no need to move,’ Zakkal said.

  The woman did not listen to him. Zakkal bent down and pulled a strap that he hadn’t used earlier. He whipped it at the woman’s arm and fastened it. The woman still tried to move, but her left arm was tightly tied.

  Zakkal hooked up her arm to the blood pressure monitor. He waited for a few seconds as the reading stabilized.

  He looked at the camera and said, ‘A touch higher. It’s one hundred by one sixty. But everything is relative, right? I think she’s doing incredibly well knowing that she’s about to die. I’ve seen much higher readings.’ Zakkal walked closer to the camera again. ‘In fact, let me share a secret with you, Siya. If I wasn’t sending this video to you, I would have tried to increase her blood pressure. It’s more fun that way.’ He paused for a beat. ‘In case you were wondering, your mother’s blood pressure was one hundred and twenty by one hundred and ninety. She was really scared that day. She was shouting out your name… She even kept saying it when I had taken her. Her family was all she could think about. It drove me mad for several years. How could she think about anyone else apart from me? But my love for her was far stronger. And then, when you met me at Yerwada, I understood why your mother missed you so much. I mean, look at you! Since then, I’ve made it my life’s mission to love you the same amount that she does. And that day will come, Siya. It’ll come very soon. For now, I’m going to finish what I have started.’

  Zakkal walked back to the woman. He connected the remaining syringe into the transparent tube. He rubbed the cotton swab on the woman’s forearm again. In one quick motion, he inserted the syringe in the woman’s arm.

  My eyes searched for where the blood was being drawn to. I didn’t see any bag or anything, for that matter, connected to the other end of the pipe. A realization hit me and my hands went cold. Rathod knew Zakkal the next best after me, so even he realized what was going to happen next. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer.

  Zakkal turned to the camera and smiled again. His eyes were bloodshot. His face was pure evil. He raised his hand, thereby raising the other end of the pipe along with it. Blood thrust out of it.

  Zakkal stepped closer to the lens again, holding up the pipe.

  'Bye-bye, Siya,' he said while laughing and pointing the stray end of the pipe at the camera.

  The entire frame turned a dark shade of red as more blood hit the lens square in the middle. As the blood leaked out of the woman, some of it trickled down the lens. All that we could see was Zakkal's figure, against a filter of red while he laughed the way I had never heard a man laugh before.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I had never seen Zakkal kill anyone before. If the way his eyes changed right before he killed was evil, the manner in which his entire body vibrated while actually killing the woman was downright scary.

  None of us said anything for a while. We were too jarred to form coherent thoughts. Rathod squeezed my shoulder and pulled me even closer. All I wanted to do was bury my head in his chest and forget about everything. But I had a job to do.

  ‘There’s one more video,’ I said and tapped on the file that was named ‘Be A Good Girl’.

  Another video popped up and consumed the entire screen.

  An empty chair lay in the same room-- the background still had the rough wall from which paint was peeling, and the floor was still white. Zakkal stepped into the camera frame two seconds after the video started. He was wearing different clothes this time. A pair of black jeans and a white T-Shirt that hugged his body. He looked fitter than he did when I had seen him at Yerwada Jail.

  Zakkal sat on the chair. It was made from metal and it creaked ever so little when Zakkal sat on it. He dragged it closer to the camera.

  ‘If you watched this video before the previous one, please expect to receive a small gift that you can give your friend Raghav Barve’, Zakkal said, saying Dr Barve’s name with a touch of disgust.

  Zakkal face’s this time bore no emotion. In the previous video, he looked excited and happy…as crazy as that seemed.

  Zakkal leaned forward on the chair.

  ‘Now listen to me very carefully. You have twenty-four hours starting from now.’

  I checked the time. It was twenty minutes past midnight.

  You may be wondering how I would know when the timer starts…I have downloaded a small application on my tablet that lets me know when certain files have been opened. Some anti-virus company thought it was a cool feature to track unauthorized access.’ Zakkal chuckled.

  He sat up straighter and continued. 'I bet they never thought that I would find it useful one day. Anyways, I'm deviating from the point. You see, Siya. This is what happens when I talk to you. I lose track of time and I tend to forget what I want to say, I enjoy it so much…So, where was I? Oh yes, you have twenty-four hours. For the record, I'm telling you that I have started the timer. I told you when I first wrote to you that all the blood that is spilt is on you.' Zakkal laughed again. 'I swear that pun wasn't intentional. I meant what I said. I'm giving you one more chance. Surrender yourself to me and nothing else will happen. As I said, you've twenty-four hours for that. If you fail to surrender yourself, then I will kill someone once those twenty-four hours are up. If you still don't surrender yourself to me, I will kill someone twelve hours after that, then six hours later…you get the drift. After six hours, it'll be someone every hour till zero-hour.'

  Zakkal leaned forward in his chair and said, ‘I have also been scouting my next prey so rest assured I won’t ever run out of targets. And you know what the best part is? I’ll come after your sister Radha and your mother Naina. It’s in your best interest to come home to me. I’ll be wait
ing for you.’

  Hearing Zakkal say Maa and Radha’s names sent a shiver through my spine. I looked away, repulsed by the thought of him getting anywhere close to them. Then, the fear took over. He cannot take them; not in a million years. The initial wave of terror passed over me and I regained my composure.

  My suspicion of Zakkal having abducted more women was right. What we had seen at the farmhouse was just the tip of the iceberg. From what Zakkal said, he had taken at least eight women, including Sudha Barve.

  Zakkal went on. ‘If you want to surrender yourself, just let your friend Devaki Sharma know. She’ll broadcast it to the world and I will find out. I’ll do the rest. I’ve had enough time on my hands to plan it all out.’ He cleared his throat. ‘The lives of many, many women are in your hands, Siya. Do the right thing. Come to me. I’ll treat you with nothing but respect and I’ll love you with my whole heart.’ Zakkal blew a kiss to the camera and said, ‘See you soon, my girl. See you really soon.’

  With that, the video ended and the screen went dark.

  ‘That man is screwed in his mind,’ Shukla said. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked me. ‘I’m so sorry you have to go through this.’

  I nodded. After the initial flurry of emotions, my mind had calmed down. I kept telling myself that Zakkal had always engaged in big gestures. This was just one of them. But it felt different this time because Zakkal had planted a metaphorical ticking time bomb by threatening to kill more women.