Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
VEER
I sha froze in her tracks and let out a little squeak as she peered over the edge of the dune.
“We have company,” she whispered, backing away.
“Do you know them?” I asked as she pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her long, loose kurta.
She nodded as she crouched down and pulled me back when I tried to peek over the edge.
“Stop it. I’m going to take some pictures,” I hissed.
I clicked some pictures using the night vision mode on my phone and got back down next to her. Isha flipped through the dark images that showed three men lying flat on the ground, with huge guns and flashlights next to them. I couldn’t get clean views of their faces, but Isha recognised them and growled under her breath.
“The guy in the middle is Ranka, the second-in-command of the Goel family,” she whispered. “And the guy with the long beard is Swami. He used to be my father’s most reliable gun runner before he set up his own drug and arms cartel after Bhai Sa shut down Baba’s operations.”
“And the third guy?”
“I’m not too sure, but…I think that’s Arshad. He’s Swami’s lieutenant. I want to take one more pic with both the groups of men in one frame.”
There was just a really high mound of sand separating us from these thugs, and even though we were whispering, I knew sound carried far in the stillness of the desert. We needed to get back to our vehicle before they spotted us.
“No! You’ve done enough. Let’s go home and let Dheer deal with this,” I breathed as softly as I could.
She shook her head stubbornly.
“We need evidence to prove that they are violating the terms of the truce. These pictures just show them sitting in the desert. We need to prove that they are on our land near the border,” she argued.
Before I could stop her, she scrambled back up to the top of the dune and peered over the edge with the phone raised. I crawled up right next to her because I didn’t want to miss any of the action. The movement dislodged the sand, and some of it fell onto the men sitting below.
One of them looked up and squinted into the dark. We stayed absolutely still, with our heads down, hoping they wouldn’t think much of it. But the man started climbing up the dune from the other side to investigate and I couldn’t risk him finding us. I slid down the dune silently and grabbed Isha by the ankle as I passed her.
She gave a soft yelp as I began to drag her down with me. e crouched at the bottom of the dune for a minute, but there was nowhere to hide. I could see our vehicle in the distance, but it would take us a few minutes to reach it even if we set off at a dead run.
“Stay absolutely still,” I warned her. “And pray he doesn’t come all the way down.”
Just then, a flash of light swept over us and Isha grabbed my hand when the man above yelled for his friends.
“Too late,” she said. “Run for cover!”
We headed straight for the ATV and when I turned behind to check on the men, they had vanished. I found it difficult to believe they had given up so easily.
I was right.
With a muted roar, three quadbikes jumped over the dune and came after us. We picked up speed and made it to our vehicle in time. Isha pushed me towards the driver’s seat.
“You drive,” she said, jumping into the passenger seat.
“I’ll drive, but you need to crouch down,” I argued. “You’re in the line of fire, Isha!”
“Go, go, go! Basanti and I will hold them off,” she yelled, as the bikes caught up with us.
I cursed under my breath and revved the ATV as Isha aimed her assault rifle at the men. I expected to hear a volley of bullets fired indiscriminately, but Isha clearly knew what she was doing. I heard three shots and one by one, the bikes following us spun around and crashed into each other. The drivers jumped out and came after us on foot, and I picked up speed just as they began shooting.
We both ducked as bullets shot past our heads. Isha tried to take aim, but we were going too fast for her to remain steady. With a curse, she crouched down on the seat. I hit the accelerator and we were soon out of firing range. I glanced at her as we got back into the city.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded breathlessly.
“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” I asked curiously.
“We have a firing range at the palace. Bhai Sa believes every girl needs to know how to shoot a weapon so that she can defend herself should the need arise. He thinks it’s even more important than knowing how to make gol rotis.”
“You’re good enough to moonlight as a sniper,” I remarked drily.
“That’s a compliment,” I added when she stared at me suspiciously. “And you still haven’t told me where we were headed.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” she replied with a sigh. “We have bigger things to worry about because it’s starting all over again. And the Goels are involved. Which only means one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re screwed,” she replied gloomily, as we pulled up in the palace courtyard.