Chapter Eleven - Enemy at the gates

Do you see a person who can show her face back home?

 

The room is a thick with buried emotions and brimming rage. Papers, screwed up into angry balls, lie strewn about on the floor. Shyam’s gaze is fixed on the ceiling, his armchair creaks as he rocks back and forth.

 

Shyam closes his eyes. His mind goes back to the days he lived under the thumb of his father, the army jawan - Colonel Amarjeet Manohar Jha.

 

Colonel Jha, for as long as Shyam remembers him, is a man with hair parting so straight and so white, that one might imagine he uses a ruler. His eyes are a bright brown, a special kind of toughness emanates from him. The colonel has thick, beefy and hairy limbs and a tongue as sharp as a pair of scissors.

 

The colonel is a strict, uncompromising man, and it is a source of constant wonder to him how he possibly could father a child like Shyam Jha.

 

Shyam looks at his published titles, carelessly lodged against the wall. He notes the awards on the shelf. Then he thinks of his father, who threw Shyam out of the house, declaring no son of his could take up a pansy profession like writing.

 

Do you see a person who can show their face back home?

 

No, he couldn’t.

 

* * *

 

Akash sidesteps a puddle and diligently walks towards the adress scribbled carelessly on a scrap of paper. This place is for the dogs Akash thinks, as the occassional druggie raises his glazed eyes to him. Then he remembers why he is here.

 

He would die rather than admit it, but he was glad he and Khushi Gupta were working on the same side. It really does pay, to have a person like her on your side.

 

He sidesteps yet another puddle, and stops in front of the house. 99B announces the cardboard strip. He walks to the door, and the door opens.

 

“I’m Akash, I’m here on behalf of Ms. Gupta, who had-” he announces, in a bored voice to the breathless woman.

 

“I know, I know” the woman says in a breathless voice. “I’m Anamika”

 

Akash stares coolly back at the woman. “No you aren’t”

 

The woman straightens up with some difficulty. “Excuse me?”

 

Akash stares back at the woman. “Khushi asked me to check all your records, and a very interesting fact popped up. That your name isn’t Anamika. Payal, that’s what they call you, isn’t it?”

 

“You need to-”

“I don’t even care why you hid your name from Ms. Gupta. All I care about is that I know your name, and you don’t want Khushi to know your name. The way I see it, you have a problem”

 

The shift in the air is palpalable. She stares at the uncompromising man, with the ghost of a smile.“What do you want?”

 

“I want you to help me ruin this restaurant”

 

Akash face twists into a full blown grin, when the woman stares at him, shocked.

 

The games hath begun.

 

* * *

 

A little crease on the smooth brow indicates Arnav’s mental state. The secretary trembles at her fate. All of Arnav’s plans to block the Gupta industries had been ripped to smithergreens, by none other than Khushi Gupta. But his plans had been discreet, nobody but he knew of them. Which meant there was a rat in the company.

 

Who?

 

“Leave” he orders brusquely, and the secretary scurries. Arnav’s temper was not to be tested. Arnav reaches for the phone, and hurriedly dials a number.

 

“Yes?”

 

“She’s more dangerous than I percieved. Get her out of the way”

 

Problem solved. All he had to do, was look for a white kurta, for the funeral.

 

_________________________________

 

India Forums thread - http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3389861

 

And I’m back!

 

A friend of mine, who sat with me and listened to my rambles as the story was conceptualized and the plot was formed, has a bit of an advice to give you. This is totally her words, and honestly, they don’t even make sense to me.

 

“A certified way to try and understand where the story is going, is to pay attention to the people, as opposed to what they are saying.”

 

*hands up* Like I said, don’t try to understand.