Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
RANVIJAY
I wanted nothing more than to show Shivina around the rest of the armoury. We had just seen the blades. She hadn’t even seen the guns yet. But my phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I knew it was time to go.
“We’ll continue the rest of the tour tomorrow, Shivina. After your training,” I promised, leaning forward to nuzzle the side of her neck.
She tilted her head to give me better access, and I nipped at the tender skin under her ear. She hissed in response, and I knew that if I carried her upstairs right now and laid her on our bed, she’d give herself to me willingly. But I had made a commitment to my friends, and I was a man of my word. Which meant I had to leave my beautiful wife and go hunting in the desert under the scorching sun. For Ayush Goel.
Dheer had just sent word that he had escaped from prison and had vanished into the desert after swearing vengeance on the Trikhera, Jadhwal and Mirpur royals. Veer and I had to smoke him out before he acted against us.
My friends wanted me to stay home with my new wife, but I knew that the sooner we found Ayush, the sooner we could all be home with our wives. With a groan of regret, I forced myself to step away from Shivina. She looked up at me in confusion.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have to go,” I whispered.
“Where are you going?”
“I have some important work, but I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
She nodded and followed me out. Veer was waiting for me in the courtyard and waved at Shivina, who frowned as she saw us climb into the armoured car. We had a meeting with an informant in one of the hamlets nearby, and I was a little concerned that Ayush had chosen to hole up so close to my palace. It was quite a brazen gesture, as if he didn’t care if we found him. And right now, I needed him to be very afraid.
Ayush Goel was the scion of one of India’s richest families who had built their wealth through drug smuggling and gun running. From what I’d heard, they were trying to branch out into human trafficking as well. My friends and I were trying to shut down their operations because we were sick of the local mafia holding back progress on our lands.
It wasn’t just that they were choking out infrastructure updates to the region, but they were actively acquiring land near the India-Pakistan border to facilitate cross-border smuggling. And they weren’t doing it legally. When they began to encroach on Dheer’s land in Trikhera, the three of us decided to clean up the trash from the lands that our ancestors once governed.
“Who’s this guy again?” I asked as I settled into the seat.
“Harmu Patel,” replied Veer. “He’s a tour guide who takes firang tourists on over-priced camel rides into the desert. He’s one of Kirori Ji’s men.”
In the past, Kirorimal Talati would have had a glorious career as a kingmaker. But in these democratic times, he had to settle for being a sarpanch and informer. Kirori Ji had single-handedly guided Dheer through the most troubled period of his life after his father’s death when he had discovered that his father, the previous Maharaja of Trikhera, was actually an illegal arms dealer. And that the entire Trikhera fortune was propped up by the illegal economy of which he was king.
Dheer had broken off his relationship with Diya to protect her from the fallout of this discovery and had dedicated the rest of his life to righting those wrongs. Instead of taking on the mantle of being his father’s successor, he had shut down all of his father’s illegal businesses, and that’s how we discovered the extent of the rot in Trikhera, Jadhwal and Mirpur, which were three cities connected by the same national highway.
When Dheer discovered that Ayush Goel had resumed his activities on Trikhera land, we had come together to put a stop to it. Until recently, Ayush Goel was in prison on a murder charge, but he’d managed to escape, and we were building up to a grand confrontation with the bastard.
“Is he positive the man he saw is Ayush?”
“Yes,” replied Veer. “He’s seen him around before. Seems to have close relatives in the area.”
“And why aren’t we passing this information to the police?”
“Because you can’t break out of a maximum security prison without inside help,” said Veer grimly. “We have to handle this ourselves.”
“All right. If Ayush Goel dies, his organisation will come crashing down. We’ve already broken their spine by shutting down their cocaine labs and delivery routes. Let’s end this today,” I said with renewed determination.
“In a hurry, are you?” he asked dryly.
“Wouldn’t you like to get back to a peaceful life?”
“Yeah, but not as much as you, clearly,” said the bastard.
“Kirori Ji was right. You really are a war-mongering asshole,” I grumbled.
The car pulled up outside a small dhaba, and we checked our weapons before we got out.
Kirori Ji was waiting for us in the empty dhaba. He pointed to a pile of clothes on the table in front of him after we exchanged greetings.
“Put those clothes on, Hukums,” he ordered.
Veer and I stared at him in horror.
“Those aren’t clothes. They are rags. Unwashed ones, at that,” complained Veer, wrinkling his nose at the body odour that emanated from the clothes.
“Do you think you’re going to swagger into that village dressed the way you are?” asked Kirori Ji sarcastically. “They’ll gun you down before you take two steps across the chowk. These clothes belong to the local camel riders. You can’t take your fancy car either. You have to blend in with a group of camel riders taking their animals to the desert. Hop off when you reach the road that goes to Harmu’s village and walk the rest of the way. He’ll meet you at the ganna juice stall just outside the village.”
“I could have been home with my new wife right now, but no! I had to play hero,” I grumbled as I changed into the smelly clothes. “Who wore this before me? The rider or the camel? It smells like camel fart.”
“Lord save me from you fancy princelings. Stop yapping and get moving, Hukum,” scolded Kirori Ji.
While we were changing, Dheer arrived in an armoured Thar with two of his best men. We couldn’t take any more men into the village without attracting attention, but it wasn’t likely that Ayush would have a big security team either. Not if he was trying to stay under the radar.
Ten minutes later, the five of us were standing by the side of the dusty road, waiting for the camel riders to pass by. Our cars were safely out of sight of any of Ayush’s scouts who might be roaming these parts. Our faces were covered with a rough scarf, and I was sure we were all unrecognisable in these filthy clothes.
“Got your guns, boys?” whispered Dheer.
“Yes,” I replied, patting my side, and Veer echoed my answer.
I also had a couple of blades strapped to my boots.
A thunder of hooves and a cloud of dust heralded the approach of the camels and their noisy riders. I put a hand out to halt them, and the leader pulled up in front of us.
“We need a ride to the next village,” I said in the local dialect. “Our tempo van broke down, and the next bus won’t arrive for a couple of hours.”
“Hop on,” said the leader kindly, and lowered his camel to allow me to hop on behind him.
The men next to him did the same for my friends, and we set off for Harmu’s village. There was a small road that branched off from the highway about twenty kilometres away. I kept my eyes peeled for the sign that pointed to the exit, and when I spotted it, I tapped my rider on the shoulder.
“That’s our exit, my friend. Thank you for the ride.”
I tried to pay him for the ride, but he refused payment, saying it was the least he could do.
He and his friends lowered their camels for us to hop off, and soon, we were trudging down the dirt road that led to the village. It was getting dark when we got to the rendezvous point. I spotted a man sitting on a stool at a ganna juice stall, looking around nervously.
Dheer hailed him, and he looked relieved to see us.
“I’m glad you brought some friends, Hukum. I was worried it was going to be just the two of us,” he said with a quick grin.
“How many men does he have with him?” asked Veer.
“Only three, but they are big and mean. And they have big machine guns,” replied Harmu.
“We can take them,” said Dheer.
“All right, then. Follow me, and keep to the shadow of the buildings,” whispered Harmu.
The village chowk was deserted because it was past sundown, and there were very few streetlights. The atmosphere was redolent with fear, and I wasn’t surprised. Ayush was known for his sadistic ways. If he was holed up in this village with no entertainment, I wouldn’t put it past him to torture the villagers just for fun.
Harmu led us to a large haveli in the centre of the village, with a high compound wall hiding the house from view. We took cover behind a couple of large trees and had a quick look around.
“That’s the house,” said Harmu, pointing to the haveli.
“Are you sure he’s still in there?” asked Dheer.
“I saw him walking around the compound two hours ago, and he hasn’t left the house after that, Hukum.”
“How could you see him? That wall is too high to see anything,” I argued.
“I climbed up this tree to spy on him,” confessed Harmu sheepishly.
Dheer shook his head and gestured to one of his men to go up the tree and see what was going on.
He shimmied up the tree and peered around before climbing down.
“There isn’t much security, Hukum,” he said, sounding surprised. “Just three men with guns.”
“Because he thinks no one knows he’s hiding here. Unfortunately for him, Kirori Ji has eyes everywhere,” replied Dheer gleefully. “Let’s go in and take him out in a clean swoop. You guys neutralise the three men with guns, and we’ll go after Ayush.”
We left Harmu hiding behind a tree and jumped the compound wall to infiltrate the house. As planned, Dheer’s men neutralised two of the security guards, knocking them out from behind. But one of them raised an alarm on the walkie-talkie before he crashed to the ground, and though we kicked open the front door immediately, we were too late.
It seems Ayush was prepared for such an attack and had an escape plan ready. Dheer and I raced after him while Veer fought off his third security guard, but the little rat ran out of the back door. He jumped into an armoured car and drove off before we could stop him. Dheer jumped onto the running board of the car and held on for a bit, trying to smash the window open, but it was a bulletproof window and held out against his punches. He had to drop and roll to safety as the car picked up speed.
“Fuck it,” he yelled as he lay panting on the ground. “We were so close!”
I helped him up and clapped him on the back.
“We’ll get him, never fear. And now that he knows we’re after him, he might stay away from our lands.”
Dheer shook his head.
“Ayush is just like the sand scorpion that is so common to these parts, RV. He’s vindictive and vicious. And he keeps coming back,” he replied, sounding defeated for the first time since I met him. “I would like to end this fight as soon as I can because Diya is about to deliver the baby any day now. I don’t want Ayush to keep going after my family. I don’t want my child to have the same legacy that I did.”
“Hey, we’re going to make sure the Goel legacy ends with Ayush. And our kids won’t have to deal with any of this garbage. That’s a promise,” I said firmly.
We caught up with Veer, who was just as frustrated as we were, and got the hell out of there. Ayush was never going to return to this safe house again. We were going to have to track him down all over again. And we would do it gladly. But another day. For now, I wanted to return to Shivina.
I put in a call to my chauffeur, and in less than an hour, our cars rolled into the small village. There was no point in being discreet now that Ayush had flown the coop. We might as well travel home in comfort.
When I got back to the palace, Shivina wasn’t in our room. I had a quick shower, and when I came out, she was waiting for me in our sitting room with a tray full of food on the little table that was set for two people.
“Haven’t you eaten yet?” I asked in surprise.
She rolled her eyes at me.
“I got such dramatically disapproving looks when I went downstairs for dinner, and the worst was from my sister. As if the world would end if I ate before you got home,” she grumbled. “And Rani Ma insisted we had to have a candlelight dinner in our room.”
I stared at her until she met my eyes.
“I’m glad,” was all I said.
Shivina blushed a fiery red.
“Do you want to go out onto the terrace and eat under the stars?” I asked her because the whole candlelight dinner in our room situation seemed stagey and forced.
Our room opened onto a big terrace with a cosy swing set up in one corner. I liked to lie on the swing and gaze at the stars on balmy nights. The idea seemed to cheer her up, and we piled some chicken tikka, roti and dal makhani on our plates before we went out. I set my plate on the swing and went back for the champagne resting on ice.
Shivina was standing by the edge of the terrace, staring at the city that was lit up below us.
“It looks so magical at night,” she murmured, accepting a glass of champagne.
I watched her sip the champagne slowly and wrinkle her nose when the bubbles tickled it. She wore a simple yellow and white leheriya kurta, and the colours made her skin glow in the moonlight. I set my glass on the parapet and moved closer because I just had to touch her.
I barely knew the woman I had married, but I did know that the world felt like a better place when she was in my arms. She trembled when I reached out for her, and her champagne splashed over her hand. I plucked the glass from her hand and set it away before she dropped it.
“Scared?” I asked softly.
She shook her head in reply.
“Starving,” she said just as softly.
I turned my head to indicate the plates on the swing, and she shook her head again.
“Starving for you,” she whispered.