Sinner's Game: Karma will chase!

by Sandeep Sharma

  Garima reached Vyom’s office before time and could see Vyom waiting for her near the entrance.

  ‘Hi Vyom! Hope all is well!’

  ‘Hi Garima! Come inside and we can discuss this in our boardroom. Would you like to drink coffee or tea?’

  ‘No thanks! Let’s get straight to the point.’

  Garima continued, ‘You have been silent after your last visit to Mumbai. I was also traveling so could not catch up with you. What happened in Mumbai? Did you catch them together?’

  Vyom first narrated the episode of his visit to Mumbai. When he finished his story, Garima asked, ‘You saw them sitting close to each other at the bar but you did not hear any conversation between them. Right?’ She desperately wanted some hope for her relationship. She was more than willing to ignore minor findings.

  ‘Garima, I have been in this business long enough to understand the body language. You need to give me some credit for the same.’ Vyom said gently.

  ‘I understand Vyom. Something might be going on between them but you don’t have any proof, right?’

  ‘Yes, Garima, frankly a lot of things are pointing in this direction but I have no concrete evidence.’

  Garima wanted additional proof for validation but that was just her official statement. She did not know the extent of relationship between Akshay and Tanuja. However, after what Vyom told her, she understood that Akshay had been cheating on her. This realization hit home. The pain was excruciating and tears rolled down in her eyes and she tried not to look at Vyom directly.

  ‘Excuse me, Vyom. Where is your washroom?’

  ‘Go outside, make a right and then go straight up.’

  ‘Thanks’

  Garima went to the washroom and calmed herself. There was no point getting emotional in front of Vyom. After a few minutes, she went back to discuss the plan of action with Vyom.

  ‘What next then? You must have seen cases like this in the past. What is your suggestion? Should I get a lawyer at this stage? Do you believe that confronting Akshay directly would be better?’

  Vyom shook his head. He indicated that he had not completed his story and he had more to say. He had not said anything about the WhatsApp messages with her.

  ‘I have purchased a software using which I can decrypt WhatsApp messages. If there is any interaction going on between them, I will surely alert you. It is too early to engage a lawyer right now. Please give me a few more days.’

  ‘Sure Vyom! If we can find some evidence in their chat interaction then we will have something concrete. I hope you still have access to Akshay’s phone.’

  Vineet had already removed the hacking software from Akshay’s phone but he still had access to Tanuja’s phone. Vyom said, ‘If needed, I will access Akshay’s phone but I do have access to Tanuja’s phone. I will keep you posted.’

  Software Takes Over

  Few days after his meeting with Garima, Vyom decided to call Akshay to explain his side of story. There was so much to share with Akshay but he wanted to know the reason for Akshay’s curiosity. It was definitely not limited to Priya and Himanshu. He called Akshay to fix up his meeting.

  ‘Hi Akshay! Are you available for a quick meeting? I have something important to discuss with you.’

  ‘Sure Vyom. I will come right away if you are available.’

  ‘Sure, see you at my office then.’

  ‘Fine Vyom; I will reach there in an hour.’

  Akshay decided to meet him without Vineet. He did not intend to share details of his own messages with Vyom. He could not have guessed that Garima had already hired Vyom to track Akshay’s relationship with Tanuja.

  With an almost apologetic tone, Vyom said, ‘Hello Akshay! Let’s talk in my cabin.’

  Akshay had no patience for niceties and asked him quickly, ‘Were you able to identify the source of messages originating from your office?’

  Vyom responded, ‘Sure Akshay. I do have something to share. I am a professional and I took your complaint quite seriously.’

  They had reached Vyom’s cabin by now and Vyom grabbed a chair and continued.

  ‘Some time back, I had installed a software to decrypt WhatsApp messages. It seems that the software was a mix of some form of Trojan virus with Artificial Intelligence.’

  ‘As far as I know there is no software that can decrypt the WhatsApp messages. How is all this related to messages to Himanshu and Priya?’

  ‘Well Akshay, there is a long story related to this software and I can share it later. After the review of server logs of the software, I realized that the software was sending messages to random individuals. Don’t worry I have disconnected internet of the machine and you will not face any problem from now onwards.’

  Akshay responded, ‘I do not think that you understand the gravity of situation. The messages received by Priya and Himanshu were not random. They were having an affair and they died exactly as per the date mentioned in the last messages received by them.’

  Vyom was not aware of this part and was shocked to hear this. He said, ‘What are you saying? Are you sure?’

  Akshay said, ‘I would not have mentioned this otherwise. I have seen messages myself and the last message coincides with the date of the death, in both the cases. I now know for sure that these deaths were not because of random accidents. They were almost like a planned murder. Are you part of all this? Tell me everything before I report to the police.’

  Vyom knew about Akshay’s affair and could understand reason for his panic. Despite Akshay’s threat, he was not sure if this was the right time to warn Akshay. If all this was true, then Akshay and Tanuja were definitely at risk.

  He said, ‘Look I have not done complete assessment of the impact of the Trojan Virus on my computer. Maybe someone has been misusing this information and has taken advantage of the situation. Death of Himanshu and Priya can still be a coincidence. Please give me some more time for detailed analysis and I will get back to you.’

  Akshay said, ‘Maybe be someone from your office is doing all this. Who all have access to this software?’

  ‘As I said earlier, I need to review all logs to confirm this. I will find all details and share with you on a priority basis. My intentions are good Akshay. That is why I had decided to call you here.’

  Akshay said, ‘Two of my employees have died and there is a direct link with your office and this software of yours. I will sue you if are doing anything illegal from your office.’

  After saying this, Akshay decided to leave. There was no point of having any further discussion with Vyom. He had given threat to Vyom; but deep inside he still wanted to believe that Priya and Himanshu died because of some freak accidents and not because of their affair. He had a meeting in Mumbai and his mind shifted to the meeting agenda.

  After Akshay left, Vyom went straight to his computer and started looking details of the software log. It took some time for him to understand the folder structure but after many iterations, he could not identify a pattern. The software had created multiple folders and each folder had many files with unidentifiable extensions. It was difficult to understand anything. Vyom was now frustrated and regretted his decision of buying the software from the dark web.

  The Dilemma

  The evening when Vyom told Garima about the affair, she felt a thousand emotions - all at the same time. All those doubts that she had on her mind and thoughts that made her stay up in the night were all true. Incidents from the past came back, the multiple Mumbai visit or his late hours at the office. She struggled with one significant question: ‘why?’

  A desolate sense of emptiness kicked in and she wanted to sleep. She tried hard but found it impossible to stop her racing mind. Garima desperately wanted to discuss this with someone close but could not think of anyone trustworthy. She had witnessed in the past that how easily these kind of circumstances gave the perfect opportunity to people to gossip. She didn’t want any sort of unnecessary attention, thus, she decided to at least try to walk this broken
path on her own. She decided go home to think clearly. Akshay was traveling and she was all alone. She slept quite late without any conclusion.

  Next day she got up late and she remembered about an important client meeting. As she headed towards the office in her car, thoughts about Akshay and Tanuja still occupied her mind. She almost wanted to head back home but decided otherwise. Work for her had always been a priority and she hoped that it would distract her from the pain and agony.

  On reaching the office, she met her colleague Prerna next to the coffee machine. Prerna and Garima joined the company on the same day and something clicked between both of them during the company’s induction. The bond that they shared with each other became stronger with time. They had enjoyed short stints of work related travel by exploring the nightlife of every new city and bonded over shopping.

  Prerna chirped, ‘Hi Garima! How was your weekend? Looks like you had loads of fun and did not sleep well. Or was Akshay bothering you a lot last night?’

  Garima was not in any mood to entertain Prerna but she could not afford to ignore her. She smiled and replied, ‘Well your dirty mind can think of only one thing!’ Akshay is traveling right now. So you can blame my lack of sleep on Netflix.’

  ‘But at least you have a husband.’

  Garima didn’t feel the need to add on so she decided to change the topic ‘Anyways how are things with you? I am sure you must have made some bar owner richer yesterday! Where did you go the last night?’

  ‘You bet! Saturday was fun and I am dying to tell you the complete story but probably after our review meeting.’

  ‘I can imagine what you are going to share. What time are we meeting for the review?’

  ‘It is actually in five minutes from now; we should go there.’

  ‘Sure let me join you in a minute.’

  Prerna picked up her coffee and rushed towards the meeting room and Garima joined her after she took her cup of coffee. Garima could not concentrate during the meeting and it was very unlikely of her to do so. She had the reputation of being attentive and spontaneous with ideas but she didn’t utter a single word throughout the meeting. Like a bored student in a classroom, she was doodling on her notepad but the difference was that she wasn’t bored. She was deeply hurt.

  After the meeting, Garima decided to leave the office early. She was clearly distracted and didn’t want to leave that impression on others. As she began unplugging her laptop charger and packing her bag, she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Prerna. ‘What’s wrong, Garima? You were so lost in the meeting, are you fine?’

  Garima felt herself spiraling, she wasn’t fine, in fact she was anything but fine. She wanted to cry and tell Prerna everything. Prerna was her friend and she was done with mugging everything but she was also used to being guarded and had the habit of not trusting anyone with anything.

  She decided to come up with a class excuse.

  ‘I couldn’t sleep all night and you know how much work the office drowns us in.’ To make it more realistic to her friend, she decided to say something that she never wanted to say but felt the need to, ‘Also, my maid left so you know I’m really stressed.’

  ‘Yes that is always stressful. Well Garima take care and let me know if you need any help.’

  ‘Sure Prerna, bye for now.’

  Akshay returned on the same night but his flight was quite late. He was quite tired and decided to take a bath and sleep early. Akshay wanted to sleep but his mind was also preoccupied with his last meeting with Vyom. He decided to pop a sleeping pill to quick fix his problem.

  Garima remained restless for quite some time and could not sleep at all. She remembered her conversation with Prerna and her awful day at office. Despite everything, she was in no mood to discuss anything with Akshay. She was in search of some concrete evidence to confront Akshay.

  The Change

  Next day Akshay had a busy schedule but the thought of computer virus in Vyom’s computer stayed in his mind. He could not focus on anything and reached out to Vineet and requested him for a meeting

  Vineet said, ‘Hi Akshay! How are things?’

  ‘I am doing well and need to discuss few things related to my recent meeting with Vyom.’

  ‘You went there alone?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But why did you go alone?’

  ‘I don’t have a good explanation but I probably made a mistake of going there alone. You could have asked him so many things.’

  ‘OK. What happened there?’

  ‘Vyom said he had recently installed some software for decryption of WhatsApp messages.’

  ‘That is not possible, Akshay’

  ‘That’s what I thought too, Vineet. Vyom said that he had bought the software from the dark web.’

  ‘At least I am not aware of any legal way of doing this but anything is possible there in the dark web. Do continue.’ Vineet was listening attentively.

  ‘Apparently this software had started sending WhatsApp messages to some individuals. He has now disconnected the server from the internet and he claims that this won’t happen again.’

  Vineet exclaimed, ‘You should have taken me with you, Akshay. There are so many things to check and questions to ask in a situation like this. Normal software used for decryption do not behave like this. These are signs of a dangerous Trojan Virus that spreads from one computer to another. All this is even easier in an office network with weak antivirus protections. We must call Vyom and meet him again.’

  Akshay now regretted his decision of going alone but it was too late for anything. ‘I can call Vyom right now and you can ask him for more details.’

  ‘Yes do that. We need to act fast.’

  Akshay immediately called Vyom once again. ‘Hi Vyom I am handing over the phone to a friend of mine, Vineet, who has some questions for you.’

  ‘Ok Akshay.’

  ‘Hi Vyom! How are you doing? Can you please explain me the sequence of events? This is quite serious man! I hope you realize this.’

  ‘Yes I do Vineet! I also have a reputational risk and I will be completely honest with you. I am also extremely worried about the sequence of events.’

  Vyom narrated the sequence of events and related his findings to Vineet as Akshay waited impatiently.

  After finishing his call with Vyom, Vineet said, ‘Dude, this is a serious matter. The software or Trojan Virus is targeting many people like you and me. To be frank, I do not trust Vyom completely. He is hiding something from us and we must get more details but in person. Please fix up a meeting with him as soon as possible.’

  ‘I thought so Vineet; my worst nightmare is coming to be true.

  Akshay wanted to fix this meeting but he also knew that such a meeting would expose his relationship with Tanuja. Vineet was a good friend but he could not trust him with his extramarital affair with Tanuja. His hands were shaking and the stress of recent events was now getting to him.

  Akshay was in a constant state of stress these days and he had no one to share this with. Other than Tanuja, who was relying on him to find more details and fix the issue. This was the first time in his life that Akshay was dealing with a self-created problem. He badly wanted to fix it but the situation was getting out of his hands. For the first time he felt guilty and was not fully convinced about his relationship with Tanuja.

  Akshay also noticed the change in Garima’s puja pattern. Garima was praying more regularly and for more hours. He had seen this pattern in the past but Garima had always discussed the situation beforehand. This time it was different and he immediately knew that something was wrong. Except for recent accidents of his employees, he could not find any other reason for this change in the pattern. Akshay also found Garima distanced from him but he was already preoccupied with his own problems.

  A couple of days after his meeting with Vyom, he called Tanuja to his cabin. He had to update Tanuja about the latest developments. When she entered, Akshay asked, ‘How have you been?’

  ‘I
am not fine, Akshay. You have stopped talking to me on the phone. We hardly travel these days. You went to Mumbai alone this time. I am not supposed to call you when you are at home. And then there is this additional stress. Those stupid messages are not stopping and I am not able to exit this group.’ Tanuja was almost shouting.

  ‘Tanuja please sit. I am also under a lot of stress but I probably manage it better. This is not easy for me too.’

  ‘I am not saying that Akshay.’

  ‘I think now Garima also knows something about us. Lately she has been very quiet and this is not a good sign. I have been busy lately trying to understand link between messages and accidents.’

  ‘You were supposed to meet your techy friend Vineet. What happened in that meeting?’

  Akshay then brought her up to speed regarding his conversations with Vyom and Vineet.

  ‘Are you saying that these are just freak messages that are being sent by a computer infected with virus, Akshay? How did the computer virus get details of you and me? Did you ask Vyom about this?

  ‘I am trying to understand the cause of accidental deaths of Priya and Himanshu. Vyom may not be telling everything to me. Vineet got angry when I told him about my conversation with Vyom. Now he wants to meet Vyom once again with me.’

  ‘Yes why did you meet Vyom alone?’

  ‘Forget that. We are planning to meet Vyom again. This would be after our Mumbai trip next week.’ said Akshay.

  Tanuja smiled and said, ‘You should not have gone alone in the first place. So when is our next trip? Let us stay longer this time. Please. I think we deserve a break. What do you say? I am dying to meet you alone in Mumbai.’

  ‘I will tell you date shortly. I have some work right now.’

  ‘OK bye.’

  Akshay was in a dilemma. He did not agree with Tanuja’s suggestion. He really wanted to evaluate his relationship with Tanuja again. After his New York trip and frequent trips to Mumbai with Tanuja, he was not too sure of where their relationship was heading. While, he always felt wanted whenever he was around Tanuja and she was fun to talk to, she had begun to become more demanding. He wasn’t sure if all this was worth wrecking his marriage.