Chapter 40
40
M ihir woke up with a start. He looked to the side and found Armaan kneeling next to him, Vedant right behind Armaan, both of them dressed. Chekov stood behind Vedant. Cold dread settled in his bones on seeing their grim faces.
He shot out of his bed. “What happened?”
“You’ve not been answering your calls or texts,” Armaan rose. “It’s Ananya… Ivan’s taken her.”
“What? No. That can’t be possible,” Mihir said, refusing to believe them. “She has three bodyguards following her at all times. Ivan cannot just simply get to her.”
“Anton has been calling you,” Vedant said. “He called Armaan when you didn’t answer. Earlier tonight, Ananya stopped at a boutique. As usual, Adam followed her inside. But when she came out, Ivan was behind her. He had a gun pointed at her back. His men shot Adam in the shoulder and left him in a dark corner of the parking lot. There were too many of them for Anton and Lenin to take on, so they had to let them go. They’re following them as we speak.”
His heart pounded.
“Check your messages,” Armaan said. “Anton’s sent a picture.”
Mihir unlocked his phone and saw several missed calls from Anton. Ignoring them, he went straight to his messaging app. He enlarged the picture Anton had sent him. It was Anna, with Ivan standing behind her. His heart broke. It was true. Ivan had taken her.
He sank into his bed. Fuck. He shouldn’t have let her leave tonight. He should have insisted that she stayed. If he had, then she’d be safe here with him.
“Mihir,” Armaan shook his arm. “Snap out of it.”
“We will get her back, Mihir,” Vedant promised him. “But first, you need to get a hold of yourself.”
Mihir raked his hands through his hair, inhaling and exhaling. Anna needed him; his babies needed him. He thought through everything for a moment. He looked at the picture again, enlarging it.
“This girl with Anna,” Mihir suddenly said. “She’s her friend from her college. Her name is Devina.”
“Anton says she was with them when Ivan put Ananya in the car,” Armaan explained.
“She must have asked Anna to meet her. And Anna must have decided to confront her to get answers about our past. Their friend Zeeshan’s story had too many loopholes for us to understand if Ivan had been involved in my attack. Chekov questioned him, but he claimed not to know Ivan at all. But this picture tells a different story.”
He got to his feet and faced Chekov. “Do we have Anton’s location?”
“Yes, and I’ve already sent ten of our men to follow him,” Chekov replied.
“Good. Tell Andres that I’m ready to meet him, right now.”
Chekov rushed away.
Mihir went to his walk-in wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black cargo pants and a black t-shirt, along with a pair of shoes, and quickly got dressed.
“Why do you want to meet Andres?” Armaan asked the second Mihir stepped outside.
“Because if I suspect correctly, he is working with Ivan,” Mihir said.
“Why would you think that?” Vedant queried.
“Because Chekov’s been tracking Ivan ever since he left Moscow. He recently learned that Ivan went to Tallinn.” Mihir sat on the bed to tie his laces. “We also learned through some sources there that he was meeting Andres. What I wasn’t sure of was whether Andres was working with us to get Ivan or against us.”
“That’s why you kept refusing to meet him and instead asked him for proof when he said he knew where Ivan was,” Armaan surmised.
“But now he’s here in Dubai,” Vedant quickly joined the dots, “as is Ivan.”
“And Ivan has Anna,” Mihir said. “Anton mentioned in his text that there were at least five or six men with Ivan, all of them European. And we know Ivan doesn’t have money. Which means only one thing.”
“That fucker Andres is working against us,” Armaan said.
“But they don’t know that Anton is following them,” Vedant added. “So, if Andres does agree to meet you, then they will have to stall their plans, giving us enough time to locate Ananya through Anton.”
“Exactly,” Mihir said, refusing to think of any other alternatives. He had to get to her. He would ensure she and his babies were safe. Any other option wasn’t a possibility. He wouldn’t survive without her, and Ivan obviously had figured that out. That’s why he’d taken her.
“Someone needs to call Rajiv,” Mihir said.
“I’ve told him,” Navya said from the entrance to his bedroom. He hadn’t noticed Reina and her standing there. “He’ll be here soon.”
Both the girls looked worried, their faces wet with tears.
“Can one of you explain what is going on?” Reina asked. “You all were speaking only in Russian, and we couldn’t understand a thing.”
Armaan told the girls everything as Mihir left to go to his study. “Armaan, once you’ve updated the girls, meet me in the study.”
Vedant went with Mihir.
In his study, Mihir switched on the TV, connecting his phone to it. He navigated to view Anton’s location on the maps app. Behind it was another dot—the car with the men Chekov had sent to back up Anton. They were still quite a distance away from Anton, who was on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway.
“They’re headed to a private airstrip,” Armaan said as soon as he entered, looking into his own iPad. “There’s nothing else there but that.”
“Fuck,” Mihir swore. If Ivan got her out of the country, then… then…
He halted that thought. Ivan wanted him, not Anna. He’d taken her as a last resort because Mihir had refused to meet Andres. Ivan wanted O-Corp and everything Alexander had bequeathed to Mihir and his brothers.
Mihir paced in his study, waiting for Andres’ decision. His study door opened and Rajiv rushed inside, followed by Dev Luthra and three other men Mihir had never met before. Rajiv looked ashen; his face tight.
Mihir looked beyond Rajiv and Dev to the other men. Two of them, both with their arms crossed over their chests, looked similar, while the third waited at the side.
“What are you all doing here?” Armaan stepped forward. He clearly knew who everyone was.
“We’re here to help,” Dev said. “Ananya is important to us too.”
Dev introduced the three men to Mihir. Mihir barely registered their first names, but he was relieved to know that the Rajpoot brothers, friends of Rajiv, were their allies in this battle with Ivan.
Rajiv addressed Mihir, “Tell me everything from the beginning.”
Mihir explained everything to him, including about Andres and Ivan and their supposed connection. All the men listened quietly, asking questions where they needed answers.
“Anton’s stopped,” Vedant said, looking at the TV screen. “Wait, I’m calling him.”
Vedant faced them all once he disconnected the line. “Anton says that Ivan stepped out of his SUV and is arguing with someone. He can’t make out who from where he is, but he thinks it is Andres.”
A moment later, Chekov rushed into the study, his phone in his hand. “It’s Andres.”
The whole room fell silent. Mihir took the phone from Chekov and put it on speaker.
“Hello, Andres,” Mihir said, keeping his tone light. Casual. “I heard you want to meet me.”
“And I heard you’ve refused to, despite knowing that I came all the way here to meet you,” Andres said. “I was just about to leave Dubai when your man called.”
Armaan pointed to the screen on his iPad, which showed the private airstrip. They had been planning to leave, indeed.
“As I’m sure you can hear from my voice, I’ve been a bit unwell,” Mihir appeased him. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
“I know where your cousin Ivan is.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” Andres said. “But I will give you all the information I have in person. Come and meet me.”
“Alright. We can meet at the same place we met last time.”
“That works,” Andres said. “That warehouse is close to where I am. Just ensure it is empty when I arrive.”
“Why?” Mihir asked.
“Because I don’t want a repeat of last time, Oshnov. You had men positioned everywhere, and it was easy for you to threaten me. That’s not happening again.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be a friendly meeting?” Mihir asked.
“It will be as friendly as you make it,” Andres said. “Come alone, and ensure the warehouse is empty. If it isn’t… then I won’t be responsible for the consequences. My men won’t stand quietly this time. I’ll be waiting for you .”
He disconnected the line.
“Fucker,” Armaan cursed. “He is acting cocky because he has Ananya.”
Vedant made a quick call to Anton, explaining everything to him, while Chekov called the men following Anton. Both the dots on the screen began to move again.
“They’re enroute to the warehouse,” Armaan said.
“How are we doing this?” Rajiv asked.
“I have to go alone to meet him,” Mihir said.
“Absolutely not,” Armaan countered.
“We’re doing this together,” Vedant said. “You won’t be going alone.”
“He has Anna,” Mihir sighed wearily.
“And he doesn’t know that we know that,” Armaan said. “We are coming with you, brother.”
“We all are coming with you,” Rajiv said.
“I agree,” one of the Rajpoot brothers said. “We know how to fight. We can help.”
Looking at Mihir’s blank face, Rajiv said, “He’s Aaryan.”
“And I’m Vihaan, his twin brother. I’m known for never missing a shot.”
“That’s true,” their third brother said, coming forward. “I’m Shaurya. I have a contact in the police. Tell me what you need, and it will get done.”
Mihir nodded, grateful for their help. “Thank you.”
“Are you sure you’ll be alright, brother?” Armaan asked. “You’ve been unwell the whole day.”
“Nothing in the world is going to stop me from getting her back,” Mihir said.
“Alright then,” Dev said. “Tell us how this plays out.”
Mihir opened his iPad, mirrored his screen on the TV, and began to draw.
“I’ll go in first, from here,” Mihir explained, marking the entrance. “They’re anyway expecting me. What they won’t be expecting is the rest of you. We need to disarm all their men and ensure the perimeter is clear. Which means we need to split up. Armaan and Vedant can take a team of men to clear the front and the right.” Mihir highlighted the areas on his screen.
“Got it,” Armaan said.
“Dev, Rajiv, and Aaryan can take a team and clear the men from the back and the left of the warehouse from here.”
“Alright,” Rajiv said.
“Shaurya,” Mihir began. “You can run point on all the teams and keep a watch out for the police. Call your contact within the police. We may need them to come in after we have rescued Anna. I don’t want to call them in advance and risk her in any way.”
Shaurya nodded. “On it.”
“Vihaan,” Mihir began. “I need you to find a position from where you have a clear view of the entrance. I’ll ensure they meet me there.”
“Done,” Vihaan said.
“Just one thing, brother,” Armaan said. “That warehouse has only one entrance, and all the windows face only the front.”
“I know…” Mihir sighed. “Which means, while we can tackle the men outside, we cannot know how many men are stationed inside. I’m assuming that is where they will hold Anna. That is the only thing I cannot plan for.”
“We will get her back, Mihir,” Rajiv said. “No plan is a hundred percent foolproof.”
“Chekov, call Anton and get the teams ready,” Mihir said. “Anton and you are with me. We leave in five.”
As everyone began filing out, Mihir touched his racing heart. Just a little while longer, and Anna would be with him. He would get her back. He’d make the world a safer place for Anna and his babies. That was the only way this was ending tonight.