{Short story submitted to Write India...the words in bold below was the subject provided- maximum limit 2500 words}
What the hell is going on between my husband and that bitch?' Maya's patience was at its lowest ebb and she was ready to burst.
Sanjay knew that she was serious. 'Look, Maya. There is nothing going on between the two of them. Just a little bit of healthy flirting, I'd say.'
'Flirting? Healthy flirting? Really Sanjay.' she rolled her eyes in disgust. 'That's what you men call it? There is nothing healthy about flirting, Sanjay, not for a married man.
Healthy flirting is a term introduced by perverted men who want to lend legitimacy to their extramarital dalliances. Flirting invariably has a sexual connotation to it.' She got up from her seat and walked around the room gesticulating and muttering something to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned back, looked at Sanjay and asked, 'Did my husband sleep with her? You are his friend. Did he ever tell you anything about it?'
Sanjay could not answer; for a moment he really wanted to tell the truth. He looked around the room, the party hall, people chatting and tinkering glasses on the trays being picked up and emptied in no time. Maya, was not enjoying the party neither was he and nor was Hari.
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Sanjay and Hair were friends from the police training college. As was customary after the training to undergo IQ test, Hari had got into the crime bureau while Sanjay had to report to Thane Police station. Inspite, they continued their friendship, with occasional meetings. Soon, they both got married, with Sanjay found solace in Shwetha, a police constable, while Hari got hooked with a rich family in Maya, that garnered the top story slot in many a private magazines. Maya, was quite possessive of her husband for Hari happened to be a tall, well-built compared to Maya who was dark.
Shortly after the 26/11 tragedy, the Mumbai police and crime bureau had merged to form a special cell for investigation against terrorism, Sanjay was picked up due to Hari’s recommendation for Hari was already assigned to lead a unit operating from Ghatkoppar (Mumbai city was divided into 12 zones to combat terrorism).
Sanjay belonged to Ghatkoppar and hence, growing up in the city, he was quite aware of the landscape and demography of his territory. Hari had called in Sanjay to his room prior to his induction and gave a brief explanation, their unit now was embroiled in.
When Sanjay had reached his room, Maya who was about to leave seeing Sanjay inquired
“ Today also late night discussion” . Sanjay smiled and found Hari, browsing on the net.
“ Hi Sanjay, No time for pep talk, but still how’s Shwetha”
“Doing good. What is it so urgent”
“You know about our unit and now we are in a deep shit. A few days back, a truck had banged on to a bakery shop in Bandra, which was not disclosed to the media. The truck was carrying 30 numbers of ASVAL type guns, the Russian firearm. These are special ones that are available in parts and assembled”.
Sanjay showed keen interest although he was not aware of the guns, but the particular one was issued for the top level security groups of the country and requires special methodology for assembling the parts.
“Immediately, our Bandra unit had sprung into action and involving RAW, the guns were tracked to Kurdistan, where civil war was ongoing. These guns had crossed to India, for don’t know the purpose” Sanjay kept his eyes firm on Hari.
“The guns were collected from Ghatkoppar based on the truck sighting by various witnesses” Hari had mentioned it quietly fearing the walls around him, while Sanjay could not digest what Hari had just said.
“I was going through the events in the past one week and two events that took place here in Ghatkoppar caught my attention. A religion for all conference conducted by Dr. Salahuddin Mohammed and a Magic show performed by Jabber. We need to investigate”
Dr.Salahuddin, a historian from Indore, was over an year in Europe, finally reached Mumbai to discuss the subject of secularism. Jaber was a great magician who used to perform around the world; both were renowned figures. Why the hell they took up ghatkoppar Sanjay thought.
Next morning, the team was in the Ghatkoppar Sri Sai hall to meet the program organizers and in search of missing links from the location. Hari was discussing with Archana, the chief organizer of the event who happened to belong to worli.
“Mr. Hari, we are free to discuss anything on this event but could you let me know what’s the serious concern you are having” the tall long haired dimpled smiled Archana was curious
“Archana, we need to talk. Can we meet outside like for a cup of coffee. This is my card, let me know”
Hari moved to Sanjay and took hold of his hand. “We need to keep a watch on Archana”
“Why, she is just an organizer” Sanjay was puzzled.
“Simply because, their group was responsible for organizing both the events”
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Maya was on a purchasing spree for her sister’s wedding was approaching and Hari was not available. Never marry a policeman Maya thought
Coming out of the mall, with her new outfits, she decided to head straight to POUSH, a restaurant. Seated on the table, she didn’t notice the waiter for her eyes were fixed on the table near the window, where two people were engaged in a deep conversation. She immediately picked up her mobile and dialed Hari. The call was cut abruptly.
“So , this is what you want from me” Archana took a sip from the orange juice, popping up a smile to Hari. “You want to organize a police academy’s program. I invited you to my favorite POUSH just to talk business in these afterhours.”
“My work begins now” Hari replied
“All right, I don’t mind helping you with the discount but we take care of everything from hotel, flight expenses, particularly for your seniors to attend, food, logistics for your instruments and decoration, basically everything”
“Can I meet your department in charge” Hari had put it keeping his eyes fixed on her.
“Why do you want to see them. Never before our customers have contacted them”
“Basically, we are performing without knowledge of our immediate seniors. So, any leak of information would stall the process as such. I just want to know whether there are any police rats in your team”
Archana burst out laughing. “Ohk, we are having an office party tomorrow. Please do come . I will introduce you to them”
Sri sai hall was completely decorated and lots of guests were pouring in that night on the success of the two events. Maya had accompanied Hari to the function inpsite her sister’s wedding date was in a couple of days. Ever since she saw her husband and Archana together, she had restless nights. She even found some disturbing messages on phone which forced her to get details of Archana through social sites and found out that she had a break up , through a common friend in facebook, and that her tag was “Single willing to mingle” which made her more furious. Besides, Hari was reluctant not to take her for the party which confirmed her worst suspicions.
As soon as Maya was seated in a table, Hari slowly moved to Archana and was busy, even did not have time to introduce her to Maya.
“Sanjay, I am asking you. Did my husband sleep with her”
“ Maya, let me tell you something. Your husband is a true professional. Don’t ask me more”
Sanjay dodged her questions and then walked over to Hari, who had just finished conversing with Archana.
“Sanjay, the guy over there is Naroben” Hari pointing to a fat, spectacled man in his suit, that seems to be tailored just to hide his stomach” He is the owner of the logistics system , that was responsible for the providing the truck. Bandra unit earlier had given me details on him. We need to keep a close watch”
All this while, Maya was getting more irritated. In two day’s, it was her only sister’s marriage. Her husband, who is supposed to be helping her parents around for the event, was busy flirting. out On seeing her husband moving closer to Archana she became furious, and in a quick move she gave a push to the waiter , the tray of glasses from his hands falling on Archana, making her shriek and slowly Maya walked out of the hall.
Hari had already instructed Sanjay to create some commotion when the glass tray had fell on Archana. Seizing this opportunity, he purposely slammed on Naroben, who stood close to Archana as his mobile fell on the floor, with the battery coming out. Hari, took out the sim from the mobile and connected to a potable sim connector, where in all the details of the sim (both calls and messages) are transmitted to the remote central unit of the special cell in Mumbai. Naroben was busy with Archana, when he noticed his mobile missing. It took 5 minutes to transfer the data from the sim, owing to the high radio signal availability in the hall, and slowly Hari pushed the mobile to the corner of the hall.
“Sanjay” Hari keeping his hands on Sanjay’s shoulder” We need to wait till Madan, who heads the decoding section, gives us some information on this sim”
While both of them waited in the car, Hari’s phone rang and he picked it up. It was Madan. “Just a few phone calls Hari, but just days before the truck incident, there was a message saying the CODEC will contain the instruction”
” What is this codec”
Sanjay immediately googled for the term codec. It is a device capable of encoding or decoding a signal as was mentioned in google.
Oh god, this is going to be a nightmare Hari typed codec, gimme details in his mobile and sent it to his wattsapp group that had all the listed members of the special cell of Mumbai. Hari was feeling something missing when all of a sudden he turned to Sanjay and inquired
”where is Maya”
Maya had reached her residence and she was packing her things to leave the very moment. She had to avoid her parent’s call, for the marriage was near and she was not available for the function. On a last thought, she thought she would wait for her husband, whom she loved so much, but the thought of him having an affair made her frustrated. Hari came in late, although he was not surprised to find Maya in the house. He would have been had she not been there.
“I am sorry, I was busy during the party” Hari, keeping his eyes on the watts app group ,looking for a breakthrough. Maya was awake, but she kept her eyes closed at the same time caught attention of her husband browsing the mobile. Must be that bitch she thought
As soon as Hari had gone to the washroom, Maya jumped out from her bed and looked in the mobile. Seeing the message, she became all the more angry and as Hari came out, he found her with his mobile.
“What are you doing? Give my mobile back “ Saying that Hari grabbed the mobile from her.
“You are a cheat. What relation are you having with Archana” Maya roared
Sanjay had already informed Hari of Maya’s reaction in the party.
“What relationship are you talking about. You don’t believe me” Hari looked into Maya’s eyes without fluttering
“Liar, now you want to buy a vanity bag for her since it got damaged because of spillage in the party right”
“ What nonsense are you talking” Hari kept browsing his mobile for the latest update
“Then why you want to replace her codec vanity bag with a new one and you ask details on the brand to your friends”
For a moment Hari could not stop gazing at Maya, stunned at her ability to grasp minute details of a person. Codec is the vanity bag Archana was carrying. He really felt like hugging Maya but at that moment , he wanted to narrow down Archana.
Can we meet tomorrow, quite urgent Hari typed and sent to Archana.
“Yes and thanks for the help” Hari smiled at Maya and walked out of the room leaving her astonished and angry.
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“This is a good vanity bag, what about the one you had in the party” Hari took Archana’s new vanity bag
“oh freak, you are noticing everything. This is why you called to meet me urgently” Archana laughed.
“By the way, that’s the one the magician Jaber took from an empty box and presented to me before his show. In fact, as soon as I got it from him, there was demand for the bag including Narobenji, minister ji took it away and gave it back later”
Oh my god Hari was getting the picture clear.
“So how does this magician bring all his goods” Hari inquired
“Not all, he brings the items in boxes and they assemble here. You can’t believe it. The weight of the goods he was carrying was more than 800 kg. But, he is a wonderful magician, world famous” Archana was lost in her thoughts.
“Do you keep the list of the goods”
“ofcourse, we do”
“Thanks Archana, you have to come with us” Hari spoke in a raised voice
“Anywhere dear, anywhere with you” Archana kept her salacious look
“ Sorry, I meant with us” as Hari pointed out to his back, Sanjay and shwetha ,dressed in police uniform, came and sat next to the table. “ We will take some time. Please co-operate” Hari smiled but it did not go well with Archana.
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Maya was not feeling well in spite her sister was getting prepared for the function. She knew that as soon as her sister’s wedding got over, she would have to announce the sad news to her parents. She could not continue with Hari anymore. The groom entered the hall with their relatives when Maya’s father introduced her to them. As soon as he saw Maya, he was ecstatic.
“Didi, we are really proud of Hari bhai”
Maya stood puzzled. Groom’s father, who happend to be an IAS officer shaked her hand “ We are really proud to say that our son has an alliance from the same family as of Hari. He is a genius of all sort”
Maya stood frozen not able to digest what he just said; when her cousin brought in the newspaper and as her eyes browsed through the news, she could not hold back her tears
” Sri Sai hall closed down by special cell team led by officer Hari. Investigations point to guns trading with involvement of outside terror groups.”.
