The Benefit Season Read online

  ‘You can’t cut through the wall with your knife can you?’ Monal said.

  Arjun ignored her and continued looking for any screws or cracks that he could manipulate- there were none. He could hide and take on the men with the knife. There wasn’t much hope in taking a knife to a gunfight, he rued.

  ‘I can pick the lock’, she said, triumphantly.

  Arjun gave up picking at the stones. There was little choice he had. He went over to Monal and freed her hands with the sharp blade. She nearly fell, but Arjun caught her and gently propped her on her feet again. He helped her step out of the tub. She slapped her arms and thighs in relief. It’d been painful just being strapped up like that; any more devices would have killed her for sure. She rummaged through the instruments on the table and found thin wire gauze. She took it and went to work at the lock. A nerve shattering few minutes later the lock clicked and she swung the door open. Arjun and she stepped out into the dark passage gingerly. Vishal, on seeing that he was about to be left behind, began to scream for the guards, to prevent the others from escaping.

  Monal asked Arjun to move ahead while she took care of her husband. ‘Are you bringing him with us’, he asked. She shook her head and prodded him on. Arjun continued up the stairs to the ground level above. He reached the rickety wooden gate leading to the grounds and peered out for any men. The door was broken, and unlocked. He waited for Monal to come up. Two people against the guards had better chance of making it out alive. He’d decided to let her come with him. She was his proof of innocence of any crime. And she’d basically followed her husband’s orders- Arjun was ready to spare her a shot at redemption and let the law take its course. Vishal; he had to stay behind and work out the math with the crooks; otherwise they would forever be on Arjun and Monal’s tail.

  Monal returned to the cell and walked over to her husband. ‘Please baby, free me, take me with you. I can’t take it any more’, he begged and cried.

  ‘You were just yelling for them?’ she said.

  ‘Because you wouldn’t take me’!

  ‘You told them I had the money! And you were going to leave for the sunny seashores with your new wife after setting these guys after me!’

  ‘That was the only way! I would’ve sent for you from Dubai!’

  ‘What stopped you from sending for me when I was at Neemrana? You set up your old wife as bait?’

  ‘No no no! I was going to call you!’

  ‘I’ll free you. Tell me where the money is.’

  ‘Free me first. I’ll take you to it. I swear’.

  She could hear Arjun call out to her in hushed tones from the passage. ‘Tell me Chand, where is the money, and I’ll free them hands’.

  ‘It’s safe- all of it. I promise you! Free me!’

  She looked at him with pity and shook her head and backed away. He realized she wasn’t going to free him. He began to scream out again,’ help! Help! They’re escaping! Stop them!’ Monal blew him one last wistful kiss before pressing the plunger and bolting the door from outside. She stayed for a moment, savoring the last glimpse of the man who’d shown her the good times, and the bad, before the cage clanged up, and the tigers strayed to where he was tied up, and began to paw him, hesitatingly at first, then with increasing aggression. She turned without looking back and ran up the stairs to where Arjun was waiting for her, her husband’s bloodcurdling screams following at her heels as the tigers made a meal of him.

  ‘What’s happening’, Arjun asked with concern.

  ‘Nothing, he’s yelling for the guards’, she said, urging him into the vast grounds, where even the hazy dusk dazed their eyes after the darkness of the underground cells. No one seemed to be attending the grounds. It was a clear dash for the fort’s entrance. The fort gates were closed but while entering they’d noticed the staff quarters had a wicket gate for men in ones and twos entering or leaving the fort with supplies. They crouched low and peered through the grilled windows into the run-down quarters. A couple of men, probably off-duty, slept, while another two played cards and smoked, their rifles lying carelessly on the floor by them. Monal, after handing Arjun the rifles, balanced the two knives in her hands expertly and motioned him to follow her.

  She pushed the door open softly. The men didn’t look up from their cards till she had trodden in and was just a few feet away. They’d probably never seen her in their lives up until then. They stared at her foggily, it never occurring to them to reach for their weapons because it was just some scruffy looking woman standing before them, till they saw the knives in her hand. ‘Oye’, they said and started. But the knives found their marks first, sending the men sprawling back with their throats squirting blood. The other two men also woke and just sat up in bed looking on in horror at their colleagues. They didn’t see Arjun crawl up behind them, and one by one he gripped their chins and spun their necks, sending them unconscious. The keys to the wicket gate were stringed in a large iron ring hanging from the wall. They grabbed two rifles and the key chain and let themselves out of the fort. It was dark already, and the air smelled of smoke from firewood lit up by the men guarding the tower above them probably. They saw no one on the ramparts and quietly sneaked into the moat and across. They stayed low and kept to the thicket just off the winding road till they had taken the bend and the fort was no longer in sight. Then they rose and stretched themselves and began to walk down the mountain, keeping a lookout for animals and snakes.

  Suddenly, just before a bend, they heard sounds. ‘Shush’, said Arjun and he dragged Monal behind the overhanging rocks. The strange sound, strange because it sounded like a baby, came from somewhere down the road, not very far away! They crouched low and peered round the bend. A police jeep, parked well off the road in the cover of the bush, they could perceive. There were some occupants inside, including a baby, which was crying! And they’d heard that cry before! It was Krishnamala, the cop, and her baby! She’d followed them to the fort, that cheeky woman, and had brought her baby along! What nerve! And how happy were they to hear that baby cry- it was music! Arjun had never been so thankful for the company of a cop as he was now! He grabbed Monal’s hand and together they ran towards the jeep. Krishnamala didn’t hear them approach because of the baby crying. Arjun knocked at the window, startling Krishnamala, who began fumbling through folds of her garments for her weapon. She stopped when she recognized him and sighed with relief. She wound the glass down and said, ‘ hey!’

  ‘Hey’, said Arjun and grinned.

  ‘Get in’, Krishnamala said, and swung the passenger door open for the two of them. The other agent was in the backseat with a milk bottle at the mouth of the baby. He smiled and nodded at them. ‘You managed to escape’, she asked.

  ‘Yeah. How did you find this place?’ Arjun asked after they’d squeezed into the narrow front seat.

  Krishnamala started the car and without switching on the lights swung into the road. ’CCTVs at the hotel- we got the car description and registration. Belongs to a very wanted gentleman. Very few people drive such expensive SUVs here. And this is forest, reserve area. Quite a few check-posts here. They couldn’t have advertised their arrival here better than if they’d called up the police station themselves’, she chuckled. ‘Good to have you back’, she said, beaming at the two of them. ‘ I followed your trail and reached here. I was waiting for backup, which I think should be here…sometime or the other. I will radio them to raid the place. We’ve an award on that guy hiding in there- he’s quite a catch. The folks who leased out the place had no idea who he was, till they recognized him from some photos I showed them. Quite a few countries are looking out for that man. But what’s more important for me is getting you to safety. You can throw some light on what’s happening when we reach the circuit house- rest now’.

  ϖ

  It was a chilly night, yes, that one. The circuit house of Alwar was a worn down British-era building, white with tall ceilings and sloping roofs of red, baked clay tiles. An aluminum drip edge ran all along the
Italianate eaves with decorative wooden support brackets. Inside, luckily there was a fireplace in the living area and it had been set a crackle by the old Khansama1. He got everyone blankets and disappeared to lay the food. They were all ravenously hungry and polished off the hot chapattis and butter chicken masala that he’d stirred up for them. Monal went straightaway to one of the bedrooms and fell asleep. Arjun strayed out into the verandah with a hot glass of sugary milk that he’d been longing for so badly. He sat huddled with the blanket wrapped close around him in a cane wicker chair that bit on the edges slightly. Krishnamala, after putting the baby and her husband to sleep, came to join Arjun outside. She didn’t want to press him with questions at this hour though she was very curious about what they had been through. She let Arjun pace himself to tell his story.

  ‘Can I return home tomorrow?’ he said.

  ‘Why not?’ she said, patting him on the arm. ‘Missing them?’

  ‘I can’t even begin to tell you how much!’

  ‘Must have been through a lot’, she said, not able to help herself.

  ‘You bet! And I am still confused- I don’t know why me!’

  ‘Aha, ahem, mmm, hmm’, she said, goading him on.

  ‘There are crazy goings on here…and I can’t put my finger on them’.

  ‘Ahem. Like…?’

  ‘Like…’ and he blurted out the complete story, honestly, truly, save the incident of lovemaking amongst the mangroves and the swirling tides; as if he were easing a huge load off his chest, while she listened raptly.

  ‘I see. People can plot so long, and elaborately so! Almost like a five-year plan- a year or so in this case.’

  ‘Are you going to arrest Monal?’

  ‘For what?’

  Arjun turned around to face her, pained. ‘After all that has happened to me, you still ask- “for what”? I have been kidnapped, that too from my engagement ceremony, drugged, restrained, shot at, nearly buried, set up for murder, nearly fed to tigers and you still won’t act?’

  ‘Who said I won’t act? But what do I arrest her for? For following in her husband’s footsteps, for doing his bidding? For rescuing you? Or for keeping you in the dark about shooting blanks at him? Arresting Vishal makes more sense, but then where is he? Let me think how we can use the situation to get to the bottom of this betting racket, and put the kingpins away for good, now that you have brought us so close to them- I can almost feel my hands tightening around their throats! I wonder what will become of Vishal though?’

  ‘Do you think I should have brought him along? I feel terrible already.’ Arjun said, his innate decency overlooking the fact that Vishal meant to do him in completely.

  ‘Under the circumstances, I wouldn’t blame you completely… or absolve you fully either. But you have a point when you say that unless the gang gets the whereabouts of the money from him, they’ll not stop pursuing the rest of you. Closure is very much required. It was never your call at all perhaps, his wife had to make the decision. I don’t expect a civilian to do the lawman’s job and rescue sundry persons from villains. Certainly not! So you, Arjun, I guess, are free of recrimination, but of guilt- now that is a personal matter’.

  ‘ What of Monal…what of the money?’

  ‘What of them? Something needs to be done surely, but how? For all the bunny rabbit act, I have a feeling that Monal knows more than meets the eye. The eye that needs to be kept on her. The eye that alas, is leaving on the morrow and I can’t stay it’.

  ‘How do you mean’, Arjun asked, shifting a little uncomfortably.

  ‘Nothing’, she said, putting on the airs of a keeper of the law wringing the hands in misery at a wanted criminal slipping the noose on her watch.

  ‘What?’ Arjun prodded her through his blanket.

  ‘That money is dirty. It belongs in the public’s coffers. Just imagine; we could clean up the game. It’s such a shame that in a country where we worship cricket, the temple beautiful is soiled and its priests are beset by the devil’, she said, feeling the need for a little melodrama here.

  ‘Are you going to do nothing about it then?’

  ‘I am afraid nothing, unless…’

  ‘Unless what. Why don’t you get backup. Isn’t it a tad too much bother with the baby and the racket?’

  ‘It’s not racket- it’s soul music- Haryanvi folk to my ears. I don’t need backup and the baby is not a burden. But did I hear right when you said she’d invited you along?’

  ‘Yes, but no more of it please! I have to go look for a job and check if Aarti would still have me. The whole world believes I’d eloped with Monal. Poor Aarti must hear people’s laughter behind her back all the time. She will never believe me and I will never blame her’.

  ‘There’s a way you can convince her of your loyalty still, whether your words move her or not’, said Krishnamala.

  ‘I am not listening to you’, he said, the way Arjuna may have turned a deaf ear to the preamble of Lord Krishna’s sermon in the Kapi- the Hanuman-bannered chariot while setting aside his 100-stringed Gandiva.2

  ‘I thought you were proud, of noble spirit, O Arjun; man of fine fetter, and steel in his nerves; not chicken!’

  He squirmed, the long line of soldiers in his blood red in the ears.

  ‘The only way you can win Aarti over is to play Monal into my hands’!

  ‘Never, I cannot betray! Not even the enemy! She’s not evil- she’s misguided. Let the sightless couriers of fate take charge, let not my person shape another’s destiny or downfall.’

  ‘Why do you lament those not worth lamenting for? Pick up your bow and arrow and let the thunder, plucked from its bowstrings proceed, and ring the skies with it. Be not Klaibyaa3, be a man, the man you ought to be!’

  Arjun shook his head. ‘If that be the price to pay, one for the other, I would rather have none.’

  ‘None! What of your duty? To those that await you, cherish you, wish for you to be true, faithful, worthy of love and loyalty?’

  He struggled with himself. Finally he caved in at the appeal to his better sentiments. ‘Forgive me then, God. To you, Krishna, I surrender. If it were to be done, done it were quickly. What is it, were that I to do?’

  ‘Follow her; lap it up. I will in the morning give to you a transmitter embedded cell phone. You will carry it on your person at all times and we shall follow you closely. A red button on it is what you press when you want us to come in; when we can catch them red-handed or if you are in trouble.’

  He nodded. ‘Is that all?’

  ‘ Just act like you’re still swooning over her and that you have nothing to go back to, so that her guard is down’.

  ‘Fine. I’m sleepy’.

  ‘All right, I’ll record statements from both of you in the morning for formality’s sake. Then I’ll let the two of you walk.’

  ‘Can I at least inform my family of my well-being? Can I speak to Aarti and mom?’

  ‘I’ll let them know you’re fine, and that you’re on a secret govt. mission. Trust me, I’ll handle it. It’ll be over sooner than you think- don’t you fret.’

  ‘One call’.

  ‘All right. Have your story ready, of why you’re going to be away for a couple of days more. Good night’. She ruffled his hair and walked in. He stayed put for some, and then went in too and crashed on a bed in one of the empty rooms.

  ϖ

  Monal gave her written statement in the morning to a woman cop from the local PS. She blamed criminals for coercing her innocent husband into cricket-betting and cash deals, one of which may have gone horribly wrong. She stated that Vishal wrongly believed her of having an affair with Arjun whereas it was simply a case of mutual respect and affection for a highly valued colleague in the office. She had simply done her bit to rescue her colleague when she’d learnt of it on the day of her wedding anniversary. She’d had the gumption for it because of her martial arts experience and the extensive army boot camp training she’d had while studying in France, where her parents liv
ed. There was no question of a romantic involvement or elopement! She and Arjun had kept a low profile to prevent being traced by the mob that was under the mistaken belief that she and Arjun had their missing money. She begged that her husband, a good man who had only erred in judgment, be rescued from the old fort at Sariska.

  Arjun stated that he had till the parley with Chotta Shameel no idea of what was happening to him and why. He was thankful to his esteemed boss for rescuing him. He could not bring Vishal home, however, because of lack of opportunity.

  Krishnamala assured the two of them that the fort had already been raided early this morning, and gunfight was still raging, and that there was little chance of the villains getting away. There was an award on the dreaded don holed in there, and they would certainly get due credit for their bravery and information. She wished them Godspeed and good luck.

  ‘You mean I can go?’ Monal said incredulously.

  ‘Why, have you done something wrong?’ Krishnamala said, with a straight face.