CHAPTER 19
“Go away!” Narmada threw the plate of fruits at the door when she heard it open for the hundredth time. She had spent the past few hours in the bedroom she was taken to by the annoying Raj.
“Oh, my sweet flower, please don’t be angry.” His effeminate tone made her skin crawl.
“Fuck you!” she yelled.
“Tsk tsk, I never expected a Senani woman to use such foul language,” a woman’s voice cut through her annoyance and anger.
Narmada did not recognize her immediately, but she gasped softly when the woman stepped in closer.
Neelambari Prajapati? Here?
The woman looked majestic even in the simple cotton saree she wore, and the way she strode toward her was nothing less than intimidating.
“Narmada, it is good to see you again.” Neelambari gently placed her hand on her shoulder guiding her to sit on the bed. She took a fresh tray of fruits from the maid who had followed her and placed it on the bed between them.
“Sweetheart, I know you are angry with me, but my aunt will tell you how much I love you.”
“Shut up!”
“Easy, my child. Your anger will soon turn into love when you realize how much he cares for you.” Neelambari smiled at Raj.
“Thank you Neelambari aunty. Tell her how much it pains me that she hasn’t eaten anything since she arrived,” he whined sitting on the edge of the bed on the other side.
“I know, Raj, isn’t that the reason why I am here?” Neelambari reached for the apple and took the knife out of its case and slowly cut it into slices. She placed one small slice in Narmada’s hand and continued to cut the apple into slices.
“Neela aunty, I am so lucky you are here. She is allowing me to be here in this room with her because of you,” Raj said cheerfully.
“She will come around. Give her the time she needs,” Neelambari advised.
“I know, aunty. I know she is the one for me, my pure flower,” Raj said in glee, and that did it for Narmada. She picked up an apple and flung it toward him, hitting him on his shoulder.
Raj squealed like a little girl.
“You fucking bastard, is that why you are after me? My purity aka my virginity. I have news for you. I am no fucking virgin because I gave the so-called purity to the man I love. The man who will make you look like a puny girl,” she barked.
A gasp rolled off Neelambari’s lips, and Raj looked at Narmada like she kicked the cutest puppy.
“You don’t believe me?” She stood up and pushed her hair away from her neck to show off the hickey. “Look for yourself, here’s his mark, and guess what, I have them in places you can’t see.”
Neelambari looked at her like she was an untouchable, and Raj stared at her in shock. “How could you? You saved yourself and why…”
“Shut up, you bastard. I will fucking fuck anyone I want, why do you care? Oh, and I might even be pregnant with his child. You still want me?” she challenged the man who looked visibly dejected.
Raj averted his eyes from her to look at the door. Narmada turned to find his father standing quietly by the door. She hadn’t seen his father in a long time. His brow was scrunched making the scar on his face look angrier, and he looked at her like he wanted to kill her with his bare hands.
“A Senani woman would never give up her purity to just any man. She is bluffing, Raj,” Neelambari managed to say.
“You are a disgrace to womankind,” Narmada snarled.
“Raj, Neela is right. She is bluffing. Let her settle down and…” His words trailed off when a man dressed in black ran to the door.
“Sir… Hunter…” The man’s voice was lost in his yelp combined with a loud bang, as he collapsed on the floor holding his thigh.
“Hunter is here, and why is he shooting?” Raj was the first one to react.
“Stay here, Raj,” his father ordered stopping him from leaving the room. They could hear gunshots at a distance, and the elderly man quickly closed the double doors and pulled out his weapon from his pocket.
“The security will take him down. We just need to give them time,” Raj’s father growled. A few minutes later, the sound of gunshots died down.
“I think they got Hunter, they got the famous Hunter.” Raj celebrated.
Narmada’s heart sank, and her mind started to reel. It wasn’t possible. She ran toward the door only to be blocked by the elderly man who pushed her away making her fall to the floor.
“Stay where you are, Narmada,” he ordered.
Narmada took a moment to fight the sunken feeling and tried to gather herself. She looked around and saw the knife Neelambari was using to slice the apple on the floor a few feet from her.
The three other people in the room waited staring at the door, and she slowly reached for the small knife. A few moments passed, and they heard a knock on the door.
“Security code?” the older man demanded.
“Daddy,” a weak woman’s voice came through the closed door.
“Sonia?” Raj called out.
“Daddy, Raj… open the door.” She sobbed.
The two men scrambled to open the door, and Narmada watched as the doors flew open.
Neil stood outside, a barrel to a young woman’s temple, his eyes in search of the almond eyes. His eyes lit up when their eyes clapped.
“Hunter, please don’t hurt my sister,” Raj pleaded.
“Ask your men to stand down, or I will blow her brains out,” Neil commanded his eyes riveted on Narmada’s face.
“You will pay for this, Hunter,” Raj’s dad threatened.
Neil took his eyes away from Narmada to look at the older man and the woman in front of him. “If you have any sense, you won’t threaten me when I have a gun to your daughter’s head.”
“Who are you?” Narmada was surprised to see the way Neelambari was reacting to Neil’s presence, but she didn’t have time to process it.
Narmada quickly moved toward Raj and placed the knife on his throat and looked at Neil. Raj squealed, Neelambari ran to stand behind his father, and the older man stood rooted to his spot. The scene didn’t seem to affect him as he stood in his spot putting on a calm front.
“Why did you come back?” Narmada growled.
“I’m sorry, I want you.”
“Fuck you, I don’t want you,” she yelled, looking at Neil while digging the knife closer to Raj’s throat.
“Daddy…” the woman wailed, but Neil ignored her.
“Narmada, I love you. I’ve been stupid not to realize and accept it.”
“I hate you… go away. I don’t want to go with you.”
“Baby…” he crooned and something inside her melted. “I promise to give you everything you need, I’ll never let you go.”
“Oh my God… please go with him,” Raj’s sister begged in a shivering voice.
“Will you ever leave without me?” Narmada’s lips curved up.
“Never, I won’t. I want you,” Neil pleaded.
“Okay, Raj’s dad here has a gun in one hand, and I don’t know what this woman here is planning to do.” Narmada gave Neelambari a glare.
“You know I can blow your head and your sister’s head within a second. Don’t try anything funny,” Neil warned, giving the older man a long glare.
Narmada kept an eye on the other two in the room as she moved toward the door dragging Raj with her.
“Everybody stay where you are!” Neil shouted into the large living area looking at the men with their guns pointed to the floor.
“Narmada, come here… I got your back.” They both moved toward the entrance with Raj walking toward the door.
“I will deal with you when we are out of this mess,” she snarled at him.
He smiled wanting to kiss her lips until they were swollen, but he knew better.
“Where’s your fancy bus, Raj?” Neil demanded.
“Please don’t take them. I will ask security to stand down,” Raj’s father called out from the room entrance.
“Stay where you are! If anyone follows us, I will blow their brains out,” Neil issued another command as they got closer to what looked like a garage.
“Open it,” Raj commanded to the guard who stood shell-shocked by the door.
The large garage opened to reveal a massive bus.
“Narmada, get in and start the engine,” Neil ordered.
“I don’t know how to drive a frigging bus,” she snapped.
“Yes, you do. Get in and have Raj show you how to start the engine.” He held the woman to him, his eyes scanning for movement.
Raj got into the bus and turned it on without a fight. He even offered to drive it, but she knew better. “Thanks, just sit down.”
She turned to look at the back of the bus that looked like a mini apartment before putting the bus in gear. She watched as Neil moved toward the bus, his back to the door. She watched in horror when his foot started to slip down the first step, and in the next second, Raj’s sister slipped and fell to the floor.
As if that was the opportunity the shooter was waiting for, a shot was fired, and she saw the blood splatter from Neil’s shoulder. Narmada’s heart took a nose dive to her stomach, but she put on the brake and went to him. He had managed to pull the woman to cover him, but his gun was on the floor.
She went past him to grab the gun off the floor.
“Narmada…no,” she heard Raj plead as she took aim at the man who shot at Neil from the balcony above them. She pulled the trigger, and saw the man grab his arm.
Narmada felt her body being pulled into the bus as she continued to fire at the empty balcony. “Let’s go.”
“Your fucking dad shot at him, I am going to shoot you two,” she pointed the gun at the two people who sat on the floor of the bus hiding their heads in their arms.
“Narmada, give me the gun and start driving.” Neil sat in the passenger seat groaning in pain.
“We need to go to the hospital.” She watched him put pressure on his wound.
“It’s a flesh wound. Let’s go.”
Narmada took the wheel and maneuvered the giant vehicle out of the driveway and down the hill on the private driveway. Neil held the gun with one hand pointed toward the siblings as he gave her directions.
“Please let us go,” Raj’s sister begged after a two-hour drive in the bus.
Neil looked weak, and Narmada was starting to get worried as the darkness enveloped them. “We need to lose this vehicle.”
“Yes. We will switch soon. Is there enough fuel in the bus?”
“Half a tank.”
Neil pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “I need a vehicle at location twenty-seven in the next hour.”
“Who was that you talked to?” Narmada asked looking him press down on his wound.
“Let’s talk later.” He turned around to look at Raj and his sister. “I have nothing against you two so don’t make me hurt you. I want both of you to lay on the floor with your eyes shut and not another word until this bus stops.”
Narmada heard the siblings whimper as they took their positions on the plush rug that covered the floor of the bus.
“You okay?” He reached out to graze his fingers on her hand.
She slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me. I’m still pissed.”
“I’m sorry, I know it was wrong of me to leave you and go.”
“Narmada…” Raj’s voice interjected.
“What do you want, Raj?” she snapped.
“Is he… is he your… err lover?”
She blushed looking at Neil.
“Shut up, Raj. Didn’t he say no talking?” she snarled.
*****
“I sent you a picture, Abhay.” Dev was on the phone for the tenth time that day with his older brother.
“What is this picture?”
“Look at the kid standing next to Narmada Senani, the girl in the center. This was a picture she had posted six years ago on her online profile.”
Abhay frowned looking at the image of a young man looking away from the camera. “Is that him?”
“The imaging algorithm says it’s him.”
“What is the link between Rana and the Senanis?” Abhay shook his head in disbelief.
“Raidu is a Senani, but he claimed to have taken Rana to the orphanage not to the Senanis?” Dev wondered.
“Doesn’t add up, Dev.”
“I have one more item that doesn’t add up, Abhay. Rana’s image got a hit on the cameras in the motel where Raidu was staying before he was shot minutes before our investigators found him,” Dev stated sending shock waves through Abhay.
“Was he looking for Raidu, too? If Rana remembers Raidu, what else does he remember?”
“Abhay, based on the footage, Rana may have been the one who shot Raidu… but kept him alive. Our best bet is to find Narmada Senani. Did her father get back to you?” Dev asked curiously.
“The Senanis were not available to talk, so I talked to his assistant. He told me they are all away, mourning.”
“Oh…”
“He claimed to know nothing about the attacks when I pressed him about the incident,” Abhay said softly.
“That’s bullshit!” Dev scoffed.
“I know. Run the imaging software on Narmada Senani. We might find out something,” Abhay suggested before ending the call.
Where are you, Rana? What are you up to?