Gaurav was seated inside a seedy bar in the bad part of the city. He’d been barely there for an hour, and he had already seen at least four illegal operations happening out in the open. Drugs exchange, possession of weapons, sex- trafficking, and child labor.

He ignored the first three, but it was the last one that got to him. He saw a small boy wiping down the vacated tables while a half-naked woman danced on the stage.

Gaurav watched the boy for a while. He was small in build with a shaggy haircut and a grubby face. The kid kept his eyes lowered while he performed his job with utmost efficiency. The adults hooted and whistled. Some of the drunks shouted, but that did not stop the boy from clearing up the dirty glasses and plates before wiping down table after table.

The boy was used to this place. Gaurav wondered if it was really a boy, or a girl disguised as a boy, while working at a seedy place for her survival. Just like his captive and her sister had done.

The world was filled with children in need. One cannot pass a day without reading or hearing some or other horror story involving a child. But something about his captive’s story got to him and was changing him.

He could not imagine a child of her age living on their own. Gaurav grew up with every possible luxury that a child could be given. Despite all that, he had still felt resentful when he wasn’t given what he wanted.

Gaurav tore his eyes away from the child. He needed to focus on his current job.

Ten minutes later, his target entered the seedy bar. A six-foot man with a distinctive eyebrow scar on the right side.

The man sat at the bar for forty minutes, having five or six drinks in the meantime. He sat quietly most of the time, watching the dancer on the stage. Soon, he was joined by a woman.

Gaurav could see them talking, but he couldn’t hear anything. They didn’t talk much. The woman kept her head lowered most of the time.

The man got up and began walking away from the bar. He went up the stairs accompanied by the woman.

Gaurav pushed away the drink he had been holding since the time he got there. Checking whether or not anyone was observing him, he casually went up the stairs.

There was a long narrow corridor and close to ten rooms with closed doors on either side of the corridor.

It didn’t take very long for Gaurav to know which room his target was in.

“Stay still, you bitch!” a drunken shout came from one of the rooms. It was loud enough to be heard over the thumping music that was blaring from the dance bar below.

Gaurav stood in front of the door and kicked it hard at the corner, until the rusty lock gave in. He saw a half-naked woman sprawled on the bed while a drunken man fumbled on top of her.

“Hello, Jeevan,” Gaurav greeted.

Gaurav looked at the girl who was watching him with widened eyes with desperation written all over her face. “Out,” he told her softly.

The girl squirmed out from under the drunk and began scrambling out of the room. When she passed him, Gaurav extended a wad of cash to her. “Don’t alert anyone,” he said.

She nodded her head vigorously, her mostly bare, skinny body shaking either in relief or fear.

Shit, she barely seemed older than thirteen or fourteen. Was she underage?

Another thought passed through Gaurav’s mind, jolting him. Was his captive forced into such circumstances for her survival as well? She hadn’t told him anything like that happening so far, and he hoped that was because she hadn’t been that desperate.

“How dare you are to send her away! Who do you think you are?” a slurred voice demanded.

“Get up.”

The man watched him with his red-rimmed drunken eyes. His pants zipper was open, and his flaccid member lay grotesquely exposed.

Gaurav’s gut churned imagining his captive being under a drunken man, suffering through the advances silently.

The man lunged at him suddenly, and Gaurav barely escaped from being stabbed.

Gaurav was pissed. He had not checked the goon for any weapons immediately. All because his thoughts ran towards his captive.

“Who are you?’ the man shouted.

Gaurav smiled coldly. “I’m the man who is going to kill you.”

The man lunged again, but this time Gaurav was prepared. He dodged the knife and punched the man in the stomach.

The man doubled over, coughing and gasping. “What the hell, man!”

Gaurav punched him once again. “October 15th, who sent you on a job to kill a young woman and make it seem like a suicide?”

Even through the drunken stupor, the man’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Another hard punch into the stomach, the man collapsed on the floor, mewling in pain.

Gaurav dragged him up by the shirt and threw another punch. This one was hard enough to break the man’s nose. The man squealed like a pig, and his blood sprayed on Gaurav’s shirt, pissing him off further.

“Tell me the names of who was there.”

The man looked fearful. “Please, I was just doing my job.”

Gaurav snarled into the man’s face. “Your job? You hanged an innocent woman and call it your job?”

The next punch dislocated the man’s jaw. Gaurav was pissed that it was going to be hard for the man to speak now.

The man began sobbing. His face looked like a bloody mess. It was misshapen with a broken nose and a dislocated jaw.

Gaurav made a fist and raised it on top of the man’s face. “Names.”

“A politician,” the man wailed and cried out. “A politician gave the order.”

Gaurav punched him again. “I already know that. Give me the names of the other people who were there that night and are involved.”

The man slowly confirmed the other names that Gaurav already had on his list.

Gaurav then proceeded to do his job.

He dragged the man downstairs from the backside of the bar. Vikram was already waiting for him.

Two hours later, after drawing out all the possible information from the man, they visited a funeral home during the afterhours.