The trail ended twenty kilometres north-west of the crash site outside a rundown warehouse. Aman cut off the engine and the two got out of the jeep to scope-out the place out. They found one guard near the back entrance, who they took down easily. There was blood splatter near the door leading inside, confirming their suspicion of having found the place they had taken Parvati. Now the silent question stood between them: on entrance into the dilapidated building how were they going to find Parvati? Alive? Taking her last breaths? Or...Rudra shuddered at the last thought.
'We won't know until we don't go in sir.' Aman voiced quietly. Rudra nodded. Their guns loaded, they both entered. They ran down a dank corridor which forked-off in to two directions. 'Sir?' Aman turned to ask him which way to go.
'You go left, I'll go right.' Rudra instructed.
'But sir...' Aman called him back before he had gone down the right corridor. 'Do you think it's right for us to separate. I mean we don't know how many more goons Tejawat has set up here...'
'True...but Paaro's life depends on us and if we don't separate then we waste valuable time finding her. She has only another hour and half according to the officer. That is why we must divide and conquer.' Aman agreed. 'If you find her, get her to safety before you come looking for me.' Rudra added.
'But sir-'
'That's an order Aman. Paaro's safety first.' He commanded.
'Yes sir.' Aman saluted and then headed down the left wing while Rudra clambered down the right.
At the end of his corridor he came across two doors. Behind the first was a dingy office and no sign of Paaro or her captor. Behind the second door, was a much bigger room as it was some sort of a workshop. As he advanced in a sound from behind him caught his attention and he turned in time to find a steel rod being launched at him.
'Arrrgh.'
'Wha- He caught the rod in his left hand, as he fired the gun into the shadows behind the door with his right, making his predator scream with fear.
'Aaahhh!!'
'Paaro.' He uttered in disbelief, recognizing the voice. 'Did you get shot?!!' He asked terrified, with how her already precarious state may now become worse due to his added bullet.
'Major saab?' her voiced quivered out, as her trembling frame walked out of the shadows, still clutching her ears, due to the sound of the shot. Relief flooded inside him, seeing her standing there in front of him. He had found her. Alive. Ready to pound him with a metal rod.
'Major saab.' She whispered again in surprise. Then, as relief washed over her, she lowered her bound hands away from her ears and ran to him, slamming into his chest. 'Major saab, you're here. You found me.' She whimpered against his medals.
Shocked by the onslaught, but understanding her traumatized state, he dropped the rod, which he had snatched out her hands and wrapped his arms around her, not just for her comfort but for his own too. She was safe and sound, nestled next to him. No one could hurt her now, not with him there.
'Of course I'm here Paaro. How could I not be, when you led me to you, yourself.' He cooned against her hair. Something moistened his chin and he looked down to see blood in her hair. Remembering all the blood they had seen and the bullet he had fired moments before, he pulled her back and surveyed her injuries. 'Did I shoot you? Where are you hurt Paaro?' He asked as he spotted the first source, her forehead. He lowered his gaze to her chest cavity and abdomen to locate the second source. The source which had dampened the sand near the crash-site and made him punch the officer for suggesting she was unlikely to survive seeing the amount of blood already present in the sand. But he didn't see a second source of heavy bleeding, neither found any sign of a bullet entry; only found lots of cuts, scrapes, burn marks and a big purple-blue bruise on her left rib, that started from somewhere under her blouse. He proceeded to look, when she batted his hand away, took a step away from him and covered her bare body with her bound hands. He took a step back too, as he realized what he had nearly done, in his urgency to locate her injury.
'I...uh...erhm...I was just checking your wounds.' He clarified, not meeting her eyes. She too kept hers' averted, embarrassed by the way she was bare in front of him. In her happiness at being found by him, she had forgotten how her clothes had gotten burnt and ripped in the accident, leaving her blouse hanging on from tethers. Whilst her dupatta was no longer with her, to veil her exposed body. 'Where's your dupatta?' He asked, as he searched the workshop with his eyes, hoping to locate it and drape her with it.
'Bheema took it.' She replied. Rudra turned around, rage filled in his eyes.
'Did he hurt you?' He asked coming closer, venom pumping through his veins at the thought of him touching his Paaro.
'Wha-? Oh no. No.' Parvati's eyes widened, with the shock of what he had insinuated from her reply. 'He took it to gag me and to bind my hands with.' She showed the ring of blue around her neck, which she must have loosened and waved her tied hands in front of his face, to emphasize what she had already stated. 'Then used the rest of it to bandage the wound on his leg with.' She explained. Rudra nodded. That must have been the source of heavy blood loss they had found on the third grouping and mistook for it being Paaro's.The rage tuned down and he turned away from her to look for something else that he may use to blanket her. 'Bheema is like my brother Major saab, he wouldn't- she continued, only to get rudely interrupted by the Major.
'He's not your brother Paaro. Just the way Tejawat didn't turn out to be anything like your father. Neither have your best interest at their heart, therefore don't make assumptions about what they would or wouldn't do. They both want you dead; that is why you are here.' Rudra stepped closer, drilling the reality into her.
'I...I know...I was just...' She stammered.
'I know...but you also need to know that the whole world is not like you. No one has a pure heart like yours and therefore you shouldn't blindly trust anyone.' She nodded, solemnly. He stepped closer as she took a step back, not understanding his advance. 'Just coming to untie your hands.' He notified before she started pushing him away again, thinking something else. She nodded and raised her hands to him.
He had just freed her hands, when Aman barged into the room short of breath. 'Sir, are you ok? I heard a gunshot.' Rudra yanked at Paaro's arm and pulled her behind him, to keep her from being exposed in front of Aman, then went on to answer.
'Yes. Fine. I fired into the shadows at Paaro when she tried to beat me with the rod, thankfully the bullet missed her.' Rudra re-iterated the events.
'Oh.' Aman understood, then shifted his gaze, realizing Parvati wasn't in a decent state.
'Aman.'
'Sir?'
'Can you fetch my jacket from the jeep and get the first aid kit from the dash?' Rudra asked.
'Yes, sir.' Aman agreed, happy to leave not being able to take the awkwardness.
'Oh and Aman.'
'Sir?'
'Did you find anyone else in the building?'
'No sir.' He replied.
'Just the one guard, then? That's weird. Paaro is our prime witness and not only have they kept her alive but haven't even guarded her properly. They would know that I would...I mean the BSD would come looking for her, so then...' Rudra pondered aloud, as something seemed amiss. Not that he wasn't glad they had found Parvati in time, but it seemed wrong that they had kept her alive in the first place.
'Yes sir. I was wondering at that too.' Aman seconded his musings.
'They kept me alive for Thakur Sa.' Parvati spoke from behind Rudra. Making them both turn towards her, causing Parvati to further withdraw behind Rudra, as Aman looked away.
'Aman...jacket. Please.' Rudra reminded him.
'Yes sir.' He turned and left.
Now Rudra turned towards her, 'What do you mean they kept you alive for Tejawat?'
'Just that. I heard Bheema say to the other man that Thakur Sa wants to kill me himself, because of what I did. That is why he locked me up here and left to get him.'
'Hmmm.'
'I also heard him say, that he would come back after nightfall. As if he moved Thakur sa out of his hiding place before sundown someone could recognize him. At night the darkness would cloak him.' Parvati related.
'That makes more sense. It's night now. That means they will be here soon.' Rudra said aloud, making Parvati go pale. 'Don't worry, you will be long gone before they even come near you. I promise.' Rudra added softly seeing her fear. She gave him a weak smile.
Aman came back with the jacket and first aid box. Rudra took both the items from him and draped the first around his wife's shoulders. She shook her hands into the jacket herself but was confronted with difficulty when trying to figure out how to work the zip of the jacket. She looked up with a puzzled expression at Rudra. He came to her rescue. Holding onto the right side with his right hand to make it taught, he fixed the zipper in position with his left and then slowly made it glide up over her waist, then chest, until it reached the nape of her neck. As he let go of the zip, she let out her breath, unsure of when she had held it in, for all she recalled was Rudra coming closer and closer to her as he slithered the metal-zip further up her body.
Once she was covered, Rudra brought her out of the shadows (which she had retreated into when Aman came in again) and made her sit down on a stool next to a work-top, where he put the first-aid box, to clean up her head injury.
'Aman.' Rudra called to him, 'go back to the jeep and radio to HQ that we have found Paaro. Give them the location and tell them to send a team as Tejawat is on his way here. Make sure they come discretely we don't want him to get wind of the fact that we know of his location.'
'Ok Sir.' Aman left and Rudra turned his attention on to Parvati.
'Ok. Sit still. This will sting.' He said as he approached her with a cotton swab that was dabbed in anti-septic. Parvati shut her eyes tight even before he had applied it. He smiled at her childishness.
'Ssllleeaahh...Major saab that really stings...uff...it really stings.' She cried out, jumping in the chair even before he had applied it.
'Paaro, I haven't even started cleaning yet.' He remarked. She opened her eyes and stared at the evidence: the cotton swab in his hand in front of her eyes and not on her forehead. She turned pink. 'Now shush. Sit still, it will hurt but your wound needs to be cleaned.' He ordered. She nodded, as she eyed the swab fearfully.
He smeared the anti-septic on her forehead and she cried out in pain, just as her hands shot up on their own accord and gripped his left, for support. After a moment he tried to free his hand from hers', when she held on tightly.
'Paaro, let go of my hand.' He said.
'No...it burns.' She blubbered, with a scrunched up face.
'Yes, I know, that is why I'm asking you to let go of my hand.' He stated.
'Hunh? What does my letting go of your hand have to do with my cut stop burning.' She opened her eyes and asked him in confusion.
'This.' He freed his hand, then placed it at the back of her neck and pulled her forward. Causing her to inhale sharply.
'Major saab...' She whispered, finding his face so close to hers' and not stopping there but continuing to come closer as he moved forward towards hers'.
'Sshh.' He quieted her and raised his head so that his lips were near her forehead, then blew on her half-cleaned wound. 'Is that better?' He asked after a few blows. She nodded. He went back to cleaning the wound and blowing at it in between to stop the burning, until it was clean. Then bandaged her head, carefully, making sure the bandage didn't pull at her hair.
'Ok. The rest of these wounds we can address later, right now we should get going.' Rudra said, pulling her up.
'Why?' Parvati's question stopped him in his advance towards the door.
'We won't know until we don't go in sir.' Aman voiced quietly. Rudra nodded. Their guns loaded, they both entered. They ran down a dank corridor which forked-off in to two directions. 'Sir?' Aman turned to ask him which way to go.
'You go left, I'll go right.' Rudra instructed.
'But sir...' Aman called him back before he had gone down the right corridor. 'Do you think it's right for us to separate. I mean we don't know how many more goons Tejawat has set up here...'
'True...but Paaro's life depends on us and if we don't separate then we waste valuable time finding her. She has only another hour and half according to the officer. That is why we must divide and conquer.' Aman agreed. 'If you find her, get her to safety before you come looking for me.' Rudra added.
'But sir-'
'That's an order Aman. Paaro's safety first.' He commanded.
'Yes sir.' Aman saluted and then headed down the left wing while Rudra clambered down the right.
At the end of his corridor he came across two doors. Behind the first was a dingy office and no sign of Paaro or her captor. Behind the second door, was a much bigger room as it was some sort of a workshop. As he advanced in a sound from behind him caught his attention and he turned in time to find a steel rod being launched at him.
'Arrrgh.'
'Wha- He caught the rod in his left hand, as he fired the gun into the shadows behind the door with his right, making his predator scream with fear.
'Aaahhh!!'
'Paaro.' He uttered in disbelief, recognizing the voice. 'Did you get shot?!!' He asked terrified, with how her already precarious state may now become worse due to his added bullet.
'Major saab?' her voiced quivered out, as her trembling frame walked out of the shadows, still clutching her ears, due to the sound of the shot. Relief flooded inside him, seeing her standing there in front of him. He had found her. Alive. Ready to pound him with a metal rod.
'Major saab.' She whispered again in surprise. Then, as relief washed over her, she lowered her bound hands away from her ears and ran to him, slamming into his chest. 'Major saab, you're here. You found me.' She whimpered against his medals.
Shocked by the onslaught, but understanding her traumatized state, he dropped the rod, which he had snatched out her hands and wrapped his arms around her, not just for her comfort but for his own too. She was safe and sound, nestled next to him. No one could hurt her now, not with him there.
'Of course I'm here Paaro. How could I not be, when you led me to you, yourself.' He cooned against her hair. Something moistened his chin and he looked down to see blood in her hair. Remembering all the blood they had seen and the bullet he had fired moments before, he pulled her back and surveyed her injuries. 'Did I shoot you? Where are you hurt Paaro?' He asked as he spotted the first source, her forehead. He lowered his gaze to her chest cavity and abdomen to locate the second source. The source which had dampened the sand near the crash-site and made him punch the officer for suggesting she was unlikely to survive seeing the amount of blood already present in the sand. But he didn't see a second source of heavy bleeding, neither found any sign of a bullet entry; only found lots of cuts, scrapes, burn marks and a big purple-blue bruise on her left rib, that started from somewhere under her blouse. He proceeded to look, when she batted his hand away, took a step away from him and covered her bare body with her bound hands. He took a step back too, as he realized what he had nearly done, in his urgency to locate her injury.
'I...uh...erhm...I was just checking your wounds.' He clarified, not meeting her eyes. She too kept hers' averted, embarrassed by the way she was bare in front of him. In her happiness at being found by him, she had forgotten how her clothes had gotten burnt and ripped in the accident, leaving her blouse hanging on from tethers. Whilst her dupatta was no longer with her, to veil her exposed body. 'Where's your dupatta?' He asked, as he searched the workshop with his eyes, hoping to locate it and drape her with it.
'Bheema took it.' She replied. Rudra turned around, rage filled in his eyes.
'Did he hurt you?' He asked coming closer, venom pumping through his veins at the thought of him touching his Paaro.
'Wha-? Oh no. No.' Parvati's eyes widened, with the shock of what he had insinuated from her reply. 'He took it to gag me and to bind my hands with.' She showed the ring of blue around her neck, which she must have loosened and waved her tied hands in front of his face, to emphasize what she had already stated. 'Then used the rest of it to bandage the wound on his leg with.' She explained. Rudra nodded. That must have been the source of heavy blood loss they had found on the third grouping and mistook for it being Paaro's.The rage tuned down and he turned away from her to look for something else that he may use to blanket her. 'Bheema is like my brother Major saab, he wouldn't- she continued, only to get rudely interrupted by the Major.
'He's not your brother Paaro. Just the way Tejawat didn't turn out to be anything like your father. Neither have your best interest at their heart, therefore don't make assumptions about what they would or wouldn't do. They both want you dead; that is why you are here.' Rudra stepped closer, drilling the reality into her.
'I...I know...I was just...' She stammered.
'I know...but you also need to know that the whole world is not like you. No one has a pure heart like yours and therefore you shouldn't blindly trust anyone.' She nodded, solemnly. He stepped closer as she took a step back, not understanding his advance. 'Just coming to untie your hands.' He notified before she started pushing him away again, thinking something else. She nodded and raised her hands to him.
He had just freed her hands, when Aman barged into the room short of breath. 'Sir, are you ok? I heard a gunshot.' Rudra yanked at Paaro's arm and pulled her behind him, to keep her from being exposed in front of Aman, then went on to answer.
'Yes. Fine. I fired into the shadows at Paaro when she tried to beat me with the rod, thankfully the bullet missed her.' Rudra re-iterated the events.
'Oh.' Aman understood, then shifted his gaze, realizing Parvati wasn't in a decent state.
'Aman.'
'Sir?'
'Can you fetch my jacket from the jeep and get the first aid kit from the dash?' Rudra asked.
'Yes, sir.' Aman agreed, happy to leave not being able to take the awkwardness.
'Oh and Aman.'
'Sir?'
'Did you find anyone else in the building?'
'No sir.' He replied.
'Just the one guard, then? That's weird. Paaro is our prime witness and not only have they kept her alive but haven't even guarded her properly. They would know that I would...I mean the BSD would come looking for her, so then...' Rudra pondered aloud, as something seemed amiss. Not that he wasn't glad they had found Parvati in time, but it seemed wrong that they had kept her alive in the first place.
'Yes sir. I was wondering at that too.' Aman seconded his musings.
'They kept me alive for Thakur Sa.' Parvati spoke from behind Rudra. Making them both turn towards her, causing Parvati to further withdraw behind Rudra, as Aman looked away.
'Aman...jacket. Please.' Rudra reminded him.
'Yes sir.' He turned and left.
Now Rudra turned towards her, 'What do you mean they kept you alive for Tejawat?'
'Just that. I heard Bheema say to the other man that Thakur Sa wants to kill me himself, because of what I did. That is why he locked me up here and left to get him.'
'Hmmm.'
'I also heard him say, that he would come back after nightfall. As if he moved Thakur sa out of his hiding place before sundown someone could recognize him. At night the darkness would cloak him.' Parvati related.
'That makes more sense. It's night now. That means they will be here soon.' Rudra said aloud, making Parvati go pale. 'Don't worry, you will be long gone before they even come near you. I promise.' Rudra added softly seeing her fear. She gave him a weak smile.
Aman came back with the jacket and first aid box. Rudra took both the items from him and draped the first around his wife's shoulders. She shook her hands into the jacket herself but was confronted with difficulty when trying to figure out how to work the zip of the jacket. She looked up with a puzzled expression at Rudra. He came to her rescue. Holding onto the right side with his right hand to make it taught, he fixed the zipper in position with his left and then slowly made it glide up over her waist, then chest, until it reached the nape of her neck. As he let go of the zip, she let out her breath, unsure of when she had held it in, for all she recalled was Rudra coming closer and closer to her as he slithered the metal-zip further up her body.
Once she was covered, Rudra brought her out of the shadows (which she had retreated into when Aman came in again) and made her sit down on a stool next to a work-top, where he put the first-aid box, to clean up her head injury.
'Aman.' Rudra called to him, 'go back to the jeep and radio to HQ that we have found Paaro. Give them the location and tell them to send a team as Tejawat is on his way here. Make sure they come discretely we don't want him to get wind of the fact that we know of his location.'
'Ok Sir.' Aman left and Rudra turned his attention on to Parvati.
'Ok. Sit still. This will sting.' He said as he approached her with a cotton swab that was dabbed in anti-septic. Parvati shut her eyes tight even before he had applied it. He smiled at her childishness.
'Ssllleeaahh...Major saab that really stings...uff...it really stings.' She cried out, jumping in the chair even before he had applied it.
'Paaro, I haven't even started cleaning yet.' He remarked. She opened her eyes and stared at the evidence: the cotton swab in his hand in front of her eyes and not on her forehead. She turned pink. 'Now shush. Sit still, it will hurt but your wound needs to be cleaned.' He ordered. She nodded, as she eyed the swab fearfully.
He smeared the anti-septic on her forehead and she cried out in pain, just as her hands shot up on their own accord and gripped his left, for support. After a moment he tried to free his hand from hers', when she held on tightly.
'Paaro, let go of my hand.' He said.
'No...it burns.' She blubbered, with a scrunched up face.
'Yes, I know, that is why I'm asking you to let go of my hand.' He stated.
'Hunh? What does my letting go of your hand have to do with my cut stop burning.' She opened her eyes and asked him in confusion.
'This.' He freed his hand, then placed it at the back of her neck and pulled her forward. Causing her to inhale sharply.
'Major saab...' She whispered, finding his face so close to hers' and not stopping there but continuing to come closer as he moved forward towards hers'.
'Sshh.' He quieted her and raised his head so that his lips were near her forehead, then blew on her half-cleaned wound. 'Is that better?' He asked after a few blows. She nodded. He went back to cleaning the wound and blowing at it in between to stop the burning, until it was clean. Then bandaged her head, carefully, making sure the bandage didn't pull at her hair.
'Ok. The rest of these wounds we can address later, right now we should get going.' Rudra said, pulling her up.
'Why?' Parvati's question stopped him in his advance towards the door.
*****
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