Chapter 17
“All ready…?” Maanav asked the 3 pairs of expectant eyes looking back at him. They just nodded.
Nitya was on autopilot, still unable to cope with the sudden turn of events. She also got to see different facets of Maanav as he changed roles efficiently. Fortunately, Naman was quick to adjust and he stood right next to Maanav and Nitya didn’t miss the glint in his eyes as he looked for instructions from Maanav. Nitya wondered how much Naman understood but she was proud of her brother for holding up the fort when everything around was collapsing. It was as if he didn’t have any syndrome but was a regular geek embroiled in the world of coding.
Maanav led the way to his bedroom and opened the walk-in closet. Nitya saw an amalgamation of clothing and they looked expensive as well. But why was he opening the closet? She got her answer…
Maanav moved one of the shelf lines and there was a button panel fixed to a wooden board behind. He typed in a few numbers and suddenly the panel lit up. There was a sound that seemed like someone unlatched a door and Maanav pushed the wooden board which actually was an iron one camouflaged with a coat of paint. Maanav stood aside after flicking on the lights and gestured to Naman to get in and the boy obeyed. Kaka followed and then Nitya hesitated at the entrance and looked at Maanav.
He smiled and nodded. “Trust me, ok? I know what I am doing.” He winked and she knew right then she was a goner. She nodded back and followed kaka. They were in a cavelike structure with a wall around them. It was probably carved into a huge rock. The fluorescent light was quite dim and the shadows of the crevises and protrusions in the surrounding walls seemed to come alive. It was quite spooky and every bit of the sound of their footsteps were accentuated. They moved ahead and stood at the start of a flight of rocky stairs.
Nitya looked back to see Maanav realign the wardrobe and shut its front door. He then entered a number in the panel and walked to their side before shutting it. It looked like a wall had closed. There was no sign of a door at all… Nitya looked wide-eyed at the transformation.
Maanav moved towards her and said, “That’s Shadow’s brainchild. You will meet him soon. He is brilliant with ideas. In fact, Naman is going to enjoy with Shadow…. Come…” he held out his hand and Nitya could only smile as she placed her hand in his.
Maanav with a large bag pack took the lead once again holding Nitya’s hand and surprisingly Naman followed diligently, holding the computer close to his chest like a prized possession. He refused to let anyone else hold it and Nitya was surprised to see him navigate the steep steps without much support. Though kaka was there behind the boy to help if needed Naman was the epitome of concentration and confidence. Nitya was teary thinking about how much her brother had blossomed in the last few days.
She looked at Maanav walking ahead flashing his torch and despite the long passage, she was surprised the trail seemed ventilated. Naman had claustrophobia but Maanav kept whistling a tune and Naman hummed the same. Nitya’s respect for Maanav rose notches higher. Despite being his sister, she treated Naman with kid gloves but Maanav had treated the boy like an adult and respected his opinions and caliber. That was why probably Naman was at his best behaviour and Maanav knew how to be there without actually supporting the boy.
After about 15 minutes of navigating the cul-de-sac they reached a place where the tunnel widened. Maanav gestured for them to halt and placed the bag pack down. He helped Naman keep the computer down as well and once again Nitya was stunned to see her brother was not tired at all… Kaka sat on a bag pack and Nitya could see the man was breathing heavily. He had been unwell not long ago and probably this level of excitement was too much for the senior citizen.
Maanav gave him water. They shared protein bars.
Maanav cleared his throat before he began. “Ok here’s the plan. We are going to a safe house. I had thought my house was fine, but it was proved otherwise. I wonder why our eyes couldn’t pick up the intruder. Nonetheless, we are on our way to Shadow’s special unit which doesn’t exist on the map and is very safe. Even satellite images can’t reach it because of the camouflage and that’s Shadow’s department….” Nitya could see the pride in Maanav’s eyes and his words as well and she was glad Maanav had someone so close to watch his back.
“So, Maanav, how far are we? How long do we have to walk more…?” Kaka asked.
“Not much, uncle. Another 15 minutes. Because this is an underground tunnel it looks like that. Otherwise, the safe house is just a 5-minute walk from my house.”
Nitya and kaka were stunned but Naman only smiled.
They continued their walk and as they neared the exit, Nitya could hear some kind of a gush. Was that water?
As of reading her mind, Maanav said. “Yes, Nitya, you guessed right. It’s the Dughdeshwar water fall… the origin actually. What the public sees is when the falls have traversed a few hundred feet. This place is off limits. So don’t worry…”
Nitya only nodded, the excitement draining her already and she was a physical trainer for crying out loud.
They reached the end of the trail and kaka looked like he would fall anytime. Maanav had been supporting the senior man while Nitya supported Naman, who was now struggling but not ready to let go of his prized possession.
There was a dead end and Nitya knew it was anything but a wall. She was right. Maanav placed his palm on it and there was a beep sound. Suddenly a panel formed itself on the wall. Maanav put in a few numbers and a similar process followed. The wall opened.
With Kaka in the lead they entered a bedroom closet very similar to Maanav’s back in his house. As Nitya looked around the tastefully done room, she heard Maanav speak something on his walkie talkie and within 5 min, the door to the bedroom opened. A giant-like man walked in and Nitya marveled at his poise. He was synonymous with ‘gentle giant’ Stunningly rugged and handsome and well built over 6 feet tall. He walked in and immediately took stock of the situation. Immediately Maanav and he hugged each other like long lost friends and Nitya didn’t need any introduction to know he was ‘Shadow’.
“Nitya, kaka and Naman, this is my closest friend and closer than any family I can ever have, Shiv or as we call him, Shadow. This is his operating house. Doubles up as a safe house and has underground access from my house as well as we just saw. We are going to stay here for a while.” Maanav looked at them and his face beamed of admiration for his friend.
After making the introductions, they were shown their respective rooms. These were much smaller than in Maanav’s home but still it was comfortable. Nitya wondered, if they were in the middle of no where and of the place was super secluded then who did the upkeep?
Her questions were answered yet again as she saw a middle-aged husband-wife pair, Raghav and Aparna who doubled up as housekeepers and cooks. Kaka immediately went off for his nap not wanting to eat anything whereas Nitya and Naman wolfed down a simple yet delicious lunch of chapati and potato bhaji along with buttermilk. Aparna was apologetic that they couldn’t make anything special because of the short notice. However, Nitya thanked them for the meal and helped Naman to his room. Maanav and Shadow had disappeared into their hideout.
She had been tired as well… and soon she dozed off.
She was abruptly woken up by a knock and she instantly sat up, dazed. The room was dark. How long was she out? She checked the time in her mobile phone. It was 7PM… oh goodness she had slept for 5 hours straight. She switched on the lights and answered the door.
Maanav stood waiting and her heart did somersaults right at that instant. He had worn a body-hugging black t-shirt and loose track pants. His jaw-dropping grin was plastered on his handsome face. The few days old stubble didn’t help her cause to settle her heart.
“Done with your beauty sleep…?” he leaned forward and rested his elbow on the doorframe. “…I wouldn’t have woken you up but you need to see whats going on. Come to the dining and have some hot coffee and snacks. Then we can go into my lair. Naman is waiting for us.”
“Naman…?” She was still sleepy
“…Oh yes. Naman and Shadow have developed a strange partnership. The genius boy just unscrambled a few codes for Shadow’s other project. Shadow is the best in technology and among the select few this country have… and he was stuck with this project. Naman resolved it for him… do you still don’t believe, Nitya?” Maanav’s voice was soft this time as he asked the last question.
Nitya blinked back tears.
“hey…” he pushed an unruly curled lock away from her forehead as he leaned closer and the strong citrus fragrance swept her into his folds. She forgot to breathe. “…Its ok… Naman is OK… you are safe here. Naman is only going to move ahead in life… take that from me. Stop worrying about him, alright?” Maanav’s words were soft yet powerful.
She couldn’t hold back her tears. Years of struggle involving countless visits to doctors and therapists and educators had drained her out in every way. It all flashed before her eyes like a movie. Before she knew he wrapped her in his arms. She held him tightly as if her life depended on it and she didn’t even know when they moved back into her room and shut the door behind them.
She had switched on just a dim light and as she looked at him, his face a shadow of flickering emotions, strong and raw, her heart paced further. They had their moments cut short earlier… in fact from childhood. He was her elixir… even as children. Later during testing times in her life his memories helped her sail through and now he was in front of her in flesh and blood. She didn’t know anything else, didn’t want to know.
Even as she contemplated, his lips came crashing down on hers. Her moans filled the space around even as his hard stubbled lips feasted on her soft ones. For a moment he let go and looked into her eyes, probably checking for her reaction. But she missed him immediately and dragged him back, surprised at her audacity. His one hand held her hair and the other snaked along her back and gripped her buttock as he pulled her closer, not wanting to let even air pass through them.
She felt him hardening against her and gasped. Taking that moment his tongue made its way into her softness and she lost it. His tongue roamed her insides and she tasted coffee, Somewhere deep inside the roots of an arousal were sowed and it grew with a remarkable intensity shocking her to the core. She had never felt like that anytime before. As he plundered her mouth her hold over his hair heightened and she rose on her toes to accommodate him further.
She thought she would shatter right then as his hands began their exploration moving underneath her t-shirt. His calloused palm touching her bare soft skin sent her soaring high and before she could even reach her pinnacle, his phone buzzed….
Maanav swore beneath his breath a series of expletives she didn’t know existed in his vocabulary and rubbed his face moving away from her and answered the call.
She couldn’t believe this was happening to them. It was always the cup and the lip… would they ever have their union? She hugged herself, feeling the chill despite the warm climate.
She couldn’t hear him talk but he finished the call and came close to her. Placing his hands on her shoulder he spoke. “Nitya, you must come to the office. Naman has discovered something… get that letter from your father addressed to you…. And I promise tonight is ours…” he winked and left the room.
Nitya sported a smile as she had her re heated coffee and reached the ‘office’. Contrary to her expectations, the office was nothing short of a complete house on itself. There were a few employees in various cubicles in one side of the vast room. There was a glass partition separating the place from where they stood. In her segment there were 2 similar cubicles and Naman was seated in one of them engrossed in his world of codes. The music played like they had heard in Maanav’s room but this time there was a special monitor connected that kept showing something in dots and dashes. Nitya knew it was the morse code. Her heart fell … what on earth was happening? Kaka sat on a chair while Shadow kept a close watch over the proceedings, indicating to his team on the other side who were busy analysing the data he was sending across.
Maanav came close to her and held her palm and it was then she realized she had held it stiff. “Easy Nitya, easy… just relax. Shadow will manage it all. Don’t worry…” he leaned and said and the velvety feel of his voice along with the whiff of his talc worked wonders for her nerves.
Shadow turned around to speak but looked at their clasped hands and had an amused look on his face as he looked at Maanav. The two had some kind of a communication between them. Nitya tried to let go but Maanav gripped it further.
Clearing his throat, Shadow spoke. “Nitya, your father was a genius of the greatest order. From what we know so far he was duped into going to that country by a trusted friend and was forced to make something that shouldn’t have reached here… However, 26/7 happened. These here…” Shadow pointed towards the attached monitor. “…Your father probably tried to prevent it, but failed. However those b@#$%!^&ds were also trying a follow up attack unexpectedly on the Indian subcontinent… While we are busy securing Mumbai the attack was to be somewhere else where it was least expected and it was at a time when technology was sparse compared to what we have today… we would have been sitting goats…” Shadow continued as Nitya stared, tears flowing unhindered down her cheeks. Maanav held her close and rubbed her shoulders as she tried to fathom the new intel.
“But then how did you understand all this, Shadow? As far as I know we got no such intel those days and that’s when Dr. Mohandas was considered one of the accused.” Kaka questioned and Nitya wondered how much did he know at that time. But given that he was the only one who supported them, he had believed her father wasn’t one of the accused. She suddenly felt like a burden was lifted off her shoulders.
Shadow pointed again to the large monitor still with the codes. “As you see these are morse codes not put in directly but the musical notes formed them. It was a beautiful conversion into this format that I couldn’t dream of but this young man here deciphered it. The letters are scrambled though so its taking a while for my team to unscramble them to form words. However, one aspect is for sure, Nitya’s father caused a chaos when he deliberately messed up the codes. That’s what I think… he had guessed something wasn’t correct and he had this instrument sent as a package back in India. However, it wasn’t easy to decode it all and he knew someone extremely intelligent would decode it or it would never see the light of the day… either ways it was his way of preventing the attack…”
“Attack? Again?” kaka asked again.
“Yes. As per this data, the attack was planned that same year on the 6th of December the day remembered as the Babri Masjid demolition day… however, since whatever they wanted to use couldn’t be activated, they had to abort it.”
“Shadow, was that why they set shop in Virar-Vasai belt in Mumbai? To find answers?”
“From the looks of it, they must be desperate… even 15 years ago to set up such intricate and elaborate sinister plans would have cost them a lot and the morons obviously don’t have the grey matter to match Dr, Mohandas. I am sure whatever it is requires this instrument and the special codes to trigger. Which they can’t get from anywhere else… that’s the reason they were after this instrument and of course Naman because he is the catalyst for it all.”
Shadow looked at all 3 of them as they watched stunned. “Nitya, you should be proud of your father and I hope we clear his name through this. From what I am guessing he prevented a catastrophe…. Lets gradually find out what they were upto.”
Shadow declared a break for the day and while Naman chose to remain with Shadow, his new hero, in the office, kaka hurried into his room. Maanav and Nitya walked hand in hand and approached Nitya’s room. Maanav’s room was right next to hers.
With her back towards the door she stared into his eyes… the combination of what was just revealed to her about appa, along with her ever increasing feelings for Maanav was overwhelming.
Maanav too stood staring at her and given the darkness falling on his face in the dim light of the passageway, she couldn’t make out what he felt but he was breathing heavily and his grip on her hand tightened, She didn’t need anything else.
“Maanav…?” She whispered.
“Hmmm…” the quiver in his voice gave him away.
“You remember the promise you made earlier, right?” She waited with bated breath as he straightened to his complete height.
“I am a man of my word, sweetheart…” Maanav declared and she shrieked as he lifted her off her feet and rushed towards his room.
©priyanayakgole
(Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction using the backdrop of the attack that happened and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This doesn’t attempt to change history or facts.)
