Chapter 15 Emergency

I carried Dilshan and the little boy to the car and we took them to the hospital. On my way, I called the local police and called Dilshan’s brother as we needed someone from his family. My head was going through a storm of thoughts.

What happened to Dilshan? What was he doing in the dockyard? Who is the little boy? Who had kidnapped them? It was a tough night. We both were waiting for Dilshan to open his eyes and tell us what had happened. We both took a breath of relief, when the doctor told us that we could meet him. We both went inside the room.

“Dilshan, how are you buddy?” I asked.

“I am good, I injured my right hand, but now it seems good” Dilshan seemed better now.

“Thank God you’re alright, how did this happen to you?”

“Ishita, Avi, you guys remember the hotline I created to help people in need. Well I got a call this evening. A little boy was on the call, and he had said that someone is after him that they are gonna kill him. so, I tracked his location and hurried to the spot.” The boy was being held captive in a house. I was taking all the necessary precaution, and when the goons were busy in drinking alcohol. I somehow manage to take him from them and ran,” He explained.

“Then, what happened?” Ishita asked.

“He was on my back. They saw me running away with the boy and started chasing after me. They caught up to me and hit me hard, with a wooden plank on my right hand. Even though it started to pain I didn’t lose hope, then the kid gave me a pocket knife that he had with him. As one of the kidnappers almost grabbed me, I ran the knife through slit his neck open. As he fell to the ground in pain, I immediately took the opportunity and ran inside the parking lot and hid behind the door,” Dilshan said in detail.

“Dilshan, can you recognize the person who tried to grab you?” I asked him.

“Buddy, I am can’t seem to recall his face. It was so dark in there and I barely remember the knife that I had” Dilshan said stressed. He was unable to remember anything else that might have happened. I told him to take rest. He assured me that he will try to remember that person. Ishita and I moved out of the room. We wanted to meet and talk to the little boy too. He was in the other room. We went inside his room and though he was scared to see us at first, Ishita slowly warmed up to him. It took a little time to make him feel comfortable. When he felt he was safe, he hugged Ishita and started to cry. Ishita held him in her arms as she wiped off his tears and asked him to lie down on the bed. She gave him a glass of water, he was finally looked relaxed.

“So, buddy, what’s your name?” I asked him.

“Apurv,” he slowly replied though he still looked a bit freaked out.

“That’s good. I am Avinash, and this is Ishita, consider us your friends too”, I said trying to comfort him.

“Okay,” he said smiling.

“That’s amazing buddy, so could you tell me when had you called my friend Dilshan. And what exactly happened there before?” I asked him.

“Bhaiya, I live nearby the Andheri traffic. My parents died last year in a road accident. I am survived by a younger brother. Every day I beg near the signal for money, on which we run our lives. We are a bunch of kids who live together, we beg and earn money and try to live another day. It was an like any other ordinary day. I was heading back to my house, when I heard a cloudburst near the factory on the road, I kept walking on. Until I heard it again this time, I was sure it was gunshot. I went inside and saw a group of people. One person was holding a gun, he shot another person tied with a rope in the corner I got scared. And, suddenly everything felt like a blur. I had no chance left for me, so I kept running for my life. I felt as if I was being followed. I had an old broken phone which was one of the only things left from by my parents, so when I remembered the number that I saw on a flyer, I immediately called it and your friend showed up, without his help I’m sure I would not have been able to make it, I hope he too is safe” the little kid told us the story. I was still unclear of what to make out of it.

“Avi, I am still not sure about a few things. Who was the person chasing them? What had the boy seen? Could it be real?” Ishita said feeling conflicted. It felt as if we had fallen under some kind of trap unable to escape. We were left in a dicey position, we didn’t know what to do next, though we had no idea on what steps to take we knew that we had to keep the boy safe no matter what, as he could easily become our eye witness for the crime. It was really helpful of Ishita to help find a safe place for the boy as she knew people who could do so.

We had no idea on what to do next and were speechless. We thought about taking an in-depth look at it. Ishita and I were discussing on how to take care of the matter in hand, as we slowly moved towards the canteen area, we hear a voice coming from the back, it sounded like someone was calling for me and it kept gradually increasing. We turned back and saw Dilshan struggling to come towards us.

“Avi, I remember now,” Dilshan said. I supported him and took him towards a bench close by to relax. He was breathing heavily.

“Are you okay Dilshan,” Ishita asked.

“Avi, I think those goons were from Lokshakti Party”, Dilshan told us.

“Are you sure?” I didn’t believe what I just heard.

“I am sure of it, they were from the Lokshakti party, the way they walked, their speech pattern even the bloody deodorant they wore, I’m definitely sure it was them .” he said as he was gasping for some air.

...

Ishita and I started to plan something. We already had an interview with the Lokshakti Party Convener Jaghdheer next week. We started taking an in-depth look at the LokShakti Party and especially towards Jaghdheer’s father, everything and anything that could help us link them to this crime. It was still not confirmed that Dilshan’s attackers were from the Lokshakti party. However, we got a sketch made of the assailant and informed the police about the sketch. I started following every move made by the Lokshakti Party. My main focus was how could the generate so much illegal money during election time. Jaghdheer’s father was just another government official. He couldn’t have any ways to know about the party’s funding. Jaghdheer was active since the past seven year. His background didn’t look so impressive. We looked for that vital information that could solve everything. I thought the interview with the party would help us take a few steps towards progress and the truth.

But, due to some personal reasons, I had to stop the investigation. As it was my brother’s engagement, and I was looking forward to it.