RUNAWAY
CHAPTER 1:
In a dining hall, with an enviously decorated table full of several food items and 8 chairs, a dusky and beautiful woman in dark blue top and white bottom, in her mid-twenties was chewing reluctantly, as she listened to her middle-aged father, who was seated opposite to her, ‘Listen, your choice was good, but I have made a mistake. I took a loan from a bank and now I am into losses. He asked you for his son so that I can pay my loans and get a bit of investment. I can’t do anything now. My hands are tied. You will have to comply and forget him or else I and the people who work for me will go to jail for defaulting payments.’ The woman reluctantly swallowed the food in her mouth and left the dining hall. Her father, dressed as if about to go for an important meeting, took his cell phone from his pant pocket and made a call.
Several minutes later, the woman stepped onto the terrace of a triplex and stood by the perimeter. The sky was dark and lit with stars and the moon. There was the feeble city noise of vehicles moving on the roads. She took out cell phone and made a call. After few rings, the call was answered by a male voice, ‘Hey darling, what’s up?’
The woman shared her anguish, ‘My dad denied. He made a matrimonial deal with some powerful people on my head to save his company. The marriage will take place in three weeks.’
The voice on the phone exclaimed, ‘What!’
The woman sighed and said feebly, ‘I want to come with you. When are you planning to take me away?’
‘Wait! I can’t possibly come to your house. If you are thinking of coming away with me, don’t you think your father and those powerful people can get you back? The whole exercise of us eloping will be futile.’
The woman said in a low quavering voice but firmly, ‘Arjun, I can’t forget you. If I am not getting married to you, I am not getting married to anyone else. I think we are on the same page. You are taking me away, that’s it.’ She cut the call and wiped her eyes. Unknown to her, a female shadow was lurking at the entrance of the terrace.
On the cloudy night before the marriage, the woman made a call on the terrace. She said in a low voice, ‘Hey, the function hall is about a kilometre from my house. I will send you the location.’
The voice on the phone said teasingly, ‘Looks like someone is very happy and excited underneath.’
The woman’s face lit up from her nervousness as she said, ‘Come fast and take me away, idiot.’ The female shadow lurked at the same place again.
The next morning, the woman got up at seven in the morning and went to the terrace in a white bathrobe. As she looked at the gate, several men in black armed with pistols entered through it. She got startled by their entry. As she was lost in her worries, a woman in her thirties, of beige complexion, wet hair and a red bathrobe, came onto the terrace and stood beside her. She smirked and taunted, ‘Are you worried by seeing those men down there? That’s not the thing you should be worried about. If I were you, I wouldn’t dare to call my boyfriend to take me away when I am getting married at my home which is surrounded by those armed men. She then stared intensely and continued, ‘I would know what would happen to my boyfriend if he comes here. You think we are so dumb that we blindly believe your father’s affirmation? No. If you have the guts, ask your boyfriend to come and take you away from this city of Mumbai the coming midnight. Go ahead, message him.’ The woman turned and walked away. The dusky woman became paranoid and made a call. After the call got picked up, she spoke frantically, ‘Hey, it’s me, Panchali. I have a really big problem and I don’t know what to do.’
In the night, a dusky man in his late twenties, wearing yellow night wears was having a soft drink sitting in the driver’s seat of a white sedan car. A twenty seven year old beige man in orange kurta and pyjamas was sitting beside him. The dusky man told, ‘I am taking you there, Arjun.’
Startled by the decision of his driver, Arjun said, ‘How will I get her out from there, man?’
The dusky man said, ‘That’s what I am there for.’ He revved the engine, shifted the gear, pressed the accelerator and the car moved.
Panchali was sitting in front of a mirror in a room as she was being made up for the marriage. One of the women making her up scoffed, ‘Why are you so tensed? The bride’s face should be lit up with a smile.’ She smiled superficially as she thought, ‘If you were in my situation, you would bang your head on a wall out of confusion.’
Outside the house, the head of the armed men spoke to the rest, ‘We believe that the guy would come here at around 12 in the midnight. Go into the house, pretend as if you are working, camouflage yourselves effectively. He shouldn’t be missed.’ The men nodded and went towards the house.
CHAPTER 2:
A car just passed through the gate ten minutes before twelve. There were two temporary wooden cabins, one on each side of the gate. Each cabin had a man. One of them spoke to the other via walky-talky, ‘Is that him?’ The other man responded, ‘No’. After a while, he said on the device, ‘B1, guide the car to the cellar.’
In the ground floor of the house, there were several tables occupied by the guests in the middle space. The middle space was surrounded by elevated corridors without partitions. The corridors had the food in buffet equipment, where the food was kept hot or cold, as per the requirement of the dish. Some guests were chatting, some were eating and some were getting served by the waiters in white dress code from the serving plates. Few of the waiters had guns beneath the serving plate.
One by one, the guests in the room started to feel drowsy. The commotion in room started reducing bit by bit. The waiters felt tired and rested themselves on the chairs near the buffet equipment.
One of the guests shouted in slur, ‘w-waiter, get me a c-cup of strawberry I-ice’, the guests fell asleep, as the rest. Almost all the waiters fell asleep on the chairs. One waiter was drowsy, but still awake. He walked slowly towards the guest, with a scoop of strawberry ice cream in a porcelain cup on the serving plate. The porcelain cup made sounds on the serving plate as his hands shook in drowsiness. He swayed as he walked and stumbled. The cup on the serving plate fell on the floor and broke. The serving plate slipped from his palm, hit the floor by its edge and made a clanking sound as it fell on the floor.
In the room, where she was being made for the marriage, Panchali, in a white bridal saree and several golden necklaces, was startled to see her relatives fast asleep on the floor and the bed. She thought, ‘What the hell happened to them? They were making me up with enthusiasm. Why are they asleep?’
A white sedan car passed through the gate at 12am. The men in the gate cabin showed no signs of wakefulness. The car went onto the pavement around the lawn and stopped by the door of the house. In the car, Arjun looked at the dusky guy and said, ‘What do I do now?’
The dusky man said, ‘Go and get her.’
Arjun panicked, ‘They have guns, man.’
‘Arjun, listen to me. Go to the second floor, on one side there is a corridor with rooms, you will find her there. Come back here with her.’
Arjun hesitantly got down the car. He went into the house and saw the guests and waiters asleep. He was astonished and thought, ‘Why are they asleep like they haven’t slept in days?’ He turned right and saw the elevator.
Panchali got up from her chair in daze and went towards the door. She opened the door and stepped into the corridor. As she took a few steps further, she saw Arjun searching for her and they saw each other. They walked swiftly towards each other. Panchali hugged Arjun, as he enclosed his arms around her, very tightly and said in a low voice, ‘I am happy and relieved now, Arjun. I was scared to death in the morning when I saw those men with guns. How did you manage to come up here?’ They stayed together for a minute. Panchali broke the hug and Arjun said, ‘What happened to the people in this building? They are so fast asleep’. Panchali answered in confusion, ‘I have no idea, Arjun.’ Arjun shook his head in confusion and said, ‘Get your luggage, we are leaving.’ Panchali asked, ‘Now?’ Arjun answered, ‘Yes.’
Panchali went into her room. After five minutes, she came out with a trolley suitcase and without the ornaments. They held hands together as they walked together with the trolley suitcase being pulled on wheels.
The couple came out of the house. Panchali opened the door of the back seat of the car and got in along with the suitcase. Arjun got in the front and the car moved.
Half an hour later, one of the men in the gate cabin woke up. Two minutes later, a middle aged man dressed up in a black suit came to the cabin and asked the cabin man, ‘Did you fall asleep?’
The cabin man hung his head down. The man in suit scolded, ‘There’s no use of doing that now. Show me the CCTV footage.’
He went through the footage and finally found the number plate of the white sedan car in which Arjun took Panchali away. Panchali’s father stepped into the cabin at that time. The man in suit scoffed, ‘Didn’t you tell me that there wouldn’t be any problem? I stationed my men, armed with guns, in your house so that he doesn’t make it out alive. How the hell was she able to get out of here with him? How did all of us fall asleep at the same time? I am not going to take this lightly. My son is getting married to her, no matter what.’
Panchali’s father stood speechless. The cabin man was dumbstruck when he heard everyone in the house fell asleep.
The man in suit made a call from his cell phone and said, ‘I am sending you the number of a car. I want to know its whereabouts.’
The voice on the phone spoke, ‘I will get back to you, Sir.’
CHAPTER 3
On the Mumbai Pune segment in the NH 48, the white sedan car was going at a steady pace. The dusky guy was concentrating on driving while Arjun was looking at the empty road in the midnight.
Arjun felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Panchali gesturing him to come to the back seat. Arjun turned towards the dusky guy and said, ‘Hey I am going behind.’
The dusky guy spoke in sarcasm, ‘As if you would stop if I ask you to.’
Arjun smiled and went to the back seat. He sat on the left side of Panchali.
Arjun looked at her and whispered, ‘You could have slept.’
Panchali replied, ‘You know that I am bad at catching sleep in cars. Why didn’t you sleep?’
Arjun chuckled and said, ‘not really a question to be asked to a guy sitting in a front seat.’
Panchali asked in a low voice, ‘Would you like to catch some sleep?’
Arjun lay down on the car seat with his head in her lap. Panchali looked at Arjun intently and held his cheek softly between her fingers and base of the palm. Arjun was lost into her eyes as they kept looking at each other.
The dusky guy saw this in the rear view mirror briefly and smiled to himself. He then looked at the side view mirror and saw that a black SUV was trailing. While the car overtook the sedan, the young adult driver of the SUV in dark clothes and the dusky guy glanced at each other briefly. The SUV driver gave an evil grin and overtook the sedan.
The dusky guy thought deeply, ‘He is definitely up to something. What it could possibly be?’
In the SUV, the driver called a number. He spoke, ‘I saw them. We would be approaching a tunnel in 20 kilometres. I would stop him before that.’
The voice on the phone said, ‘Are you sure?’
The driver gave an affirmative response.
‘Try and stop him. We are directing the back-up there right away.’
The SUV sped on the highway.
In Panchali’s house, the man in black suit anxiously received a call. He spoke, ‘You tracked them? Where? Ok. You know what to do.’
The voice on the phone said, ‘I have already sent the back-up, Sir.’
After speeding for a while the SUV stopped on a lay bye. The driver got down swiftly with spikes in hand and spread it over all the three lanes. He stood over the divider with the spikes towards his left.
A couple of minutes, he saw the light coming from his backside becoming brighter as each second ticked. He chuckled for a while and a white sedan passed from his right in the road without spikes.
The driver never expected this to happen. He stood for a while, motionless. All of a sudden he heard a whirring sound and two helicopters passed above him in the sky.
In the sedan, the dusky guy heard the whirring sound. He saw that the tunnel wasn’t too far. He said loudly, ‘Guys fasten the seat belt. This is going to get speedy.’
Arjun and Panchali fastened their seat belts. As the sedan sped, the whirring sound increased.
As they approached the tunnel, they heard shots being fired. Panchali and Arjun panicked while the dusky remained calm. A Helicopter approached the sedan as it fired the shots. One of the shots hit the blinker in the rear end. The impact of the shots was felt by everyone in the sedan and Panchali screamed in fear. Arjun held her hand tightly.
The sedan entered the tunnel. The lights in the tunnel started to flicker as soon as they entered.
The dusky guy remembered his wife’s words, ‘It might not be possible, honey.’ He sped the sedan into the rapidly blinking darkness.
At the other end of the tunnel, the other helicopter stood at a safe height from the road so as to block the tunnel.
In Panchali’s house, the man in black suit received a call. He opened his eyes widely in shock and exclaimed, ‘What! How did that happen?’
The black SUV entered the tunnel. The lights didn’t blink this time. He kept on going thought the tunnel but didn’t see the white sedan. He approached the other end of the tunnel and saw the other helicopter.
The driver of the black SUV received a call. The voice on the phone said, ‘Is there a connection between the two tunnels within?’ The driver denied. The voice on the phone said, ‘How the hell did he give us a slip?’
CHAPTER 4
An individual house in a colony of houses, in Mangalore, had a small and beautiful garden with a path through it and a road on the edge of it, and a garage, in front of it. A beige woman wearing a blue saree and with a decorated face and braid was in the garden expectantly looking towards the open gate of the compound. The sun had already risen.
A white sedan arrived and stopped on the road. The woman went with a smile of familiarity towards the car. The dusky man got down from the car. His eyes which looked like petals of lotus had tiredness in them. The woman held the man’s face and kissed him on his cheeks and his forehead. She then hugged him for a while. She put her hands around his neck and looked at him with a mixture of happiness and curiosity.
The dusky man explained, ‘you know that I left our house three days ago, leaving you in doubts about how I could make it happen. Arjun was a bit worried about that too. Yesterday morning, Panchali called and told me about the change in situation. That made Arjun even more anxious. I took him in the car to Panchali’s house. I used my occult powers to create an illusion and made those people fall asleep. He got her out and we drove away. About two to three hours later, they chased us on an SUV and helicopter. I evaded the spikes and drove towards the tunnel. One of the bullets from the chopper hit the car just before we entered the tunnel. In the tunnel, the lights blinked as a portal got opened. I raced into the portal and exited it near Gokarna. I drove for the next four hours and here I am now. You thought disappearance and reappearance was about destruction and creation and thought it might not be possible. It was actually about transfer. I hope I have cleared your doubts, Rukmini.’
Feeling relieved, Rukmini asked, ‘Why didn’t they get up yet?’
The dusky man turned around as both of them looked at Arjun and Panchali, sitting and sleeping beside each other with heads tilting and touching each other. He said, ‘May be they are too tired of previous night’s experience.’
The dusky man looked at Rukmini as she looked at the couple asleep in the car and smiled at her husband. Rukmini said, ‘they remind me of us, hubby. Those days put a smile on me now.’ The dusky man smiled as he wrapped his hands around her in response.
In the same morning, the man in the black suit sat expectantly on a sofa in the hall as the light came in through the windows and Panchali’s father was sitting beside him perturbed. The sofa had a small table with water jugs in front of it.
The man in the black suit taunted, ‘I am not giving even a single penny to you. You want money, go get your daughter and come to me.’
The discomfort on the face of Panchali’s father increased even more. A young man came through the door and stood before the man in black suit. He briefed, ‘Sir, along with Panchali and her boyfriend, there was a dusky man who helped them.’
The man in black suit, angry until then, became frozen. He shook in fear and asked in a trembling voice, ‘Do you know what the name of the guy is?’
‘Sir, his name is Krishna.’
The apprehension on the face of man in black suit increased further. To assuage the apprehension, he quickly drank all of the water from one the jugs from the table. He took his cheque book out from his pocket, wrote an amount and signed it. He handed it over to Panchali’s father. He stood up and was about to leave with his assistant. Panchali’s father stopped him and asked, ‘Sir, could you please let me know what had happened?’
The man in black suit panicked as he said, ‘I can’t tell you that. All I can tell you is that, if Krishna wants something to happen, he is unstoppable.’
The man and the assistant left the house along with the remaining staff.
After a while, Panchali’s father dialed a number from his cell phone. The call got lifted and he said, ‘Thanks for letting me know in the last minute about his trap. He has given back the money he made me lose, Krishna.’
The voice on the phone said, ‘My pleasure as always, Sir.’
Panchali father smiled as he asked, ‘When are you getting them married?’
The voice on the phone asked, ‘You tell me, Sir. When do you want to get them married?’
Panchali father thought for a while and said, ‘you know what, get them married today or tomorrow if there is an auspicious time frame. I am coming there as soon as possible.’
He cut the call and stood up.
