Link to the 3rd chapter : https://www.tellyupdates.com/bound-to-you-book-two-chapter-3/
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Name : Akash Singh
Age : 40 years old
Designation : Senior Security Officer at Mumbai Port
Family Status : Married since ten years but has no kids.
Riddhima carefully scrutinized the said man’s photo and the details given below.
“Will we be able to buy him with some money in order that he can help us with the smuggling?”
Angre bit his lip. “From what I gathered, he seems to be an honest officer. It is unlikely that he’ll agree to let go off our cargo unchecked for some cheap money. But it is also true, that he’s the in-charge at the seaport and without his support, it is nearly impossible to get past the compulsory cargo xray scanning.”
Riddhima was in deep thoughts. “Every man living on the face of this earth has to have some weakness or the other. Find out his, by keeping a close check on him.” She rubbed her palms together. “And once we get to know his weakness, then nothing can stop us from getting him on our side. I know this feels wrong but…”
“But sometimes to do a bigger right, a little wrong has to be done,” Angre echoed her thoughts aloud.
“Exactly…” Riddhima had a reminiscent look in her eye as she recalled Kabir’s teachings.
“Kabhi kabhi kuch sahi karne ke liye, thoda galat karna padta hai…”
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It was time for dinner and everyone had gathered around the dining table, except Sia.
Riddhima pointed towards the empty chair. “Where is she? Why isn’t she here yet?”
“She is putting Payal to sleep, I guess,” said Anupriya softly chewing upon her food. “Not going to lie, but Sia has grown incredibly close to Payal over the last few days.”
“Yes, I noticed that as well and let me tell you that I’m so proud of her for that,” beamed Riddhima.
After the children were done with their dinner, Riddhima went up to Anupriya.
“I and Angre will have to leave Mimbai for a few days.”
“But why?” Anupriya was both surprised and worried.
“Something related to the business work.” Riddhima had a masters in lying and this was mere cakewalk for her. “I’ll come back soon, though.”
“What on earth is happening in this house?” said Anupriya angrily. “Why is everyone keen on leaving every now and then? First it was Vansh, and now you and Angre. And always the age-old reason – business work. I’m actually beginning to doubt you all.”
“Mummyji, it’s just a matter of few days…”
“Vansh said the same thing. And now, it’s been nine months but he hasn’t returned yet!” She teared up missing her son. “I won’t let you go anywhere, Riddhima. No, my gut feeling says this is not safe.”
“Angre is coming with me, too. So you don’t need to panic for me,” Riddhima tried assuring her. “But till I come, please look after the kids.”
“I know you are Reyansh’s and Rhea’s mother. But even I am their grandmother and they are equally dear and important to me.” Anupriya’s voice cracked up. “But Riddhima, I don’t want any trouble to befall you.”
Riddhima and Anupriya had had umpteen differences between them in the past. Even after all matters had been sorted out, still an unexplanable uneasiness lay between them. Riddhima had always thought that Anupriya hadn’t yet forgiven her for hurting her son, Vansh. But now, as she saw concern for herself in her eyes, her heart warmed up.
Looking at Riddhima’s expression, Anupriya realized that she had read through the worries she held for her. She stiffened and citing an excuse, steered away from her sight.
Riddhima smiled slowly. Anupriya loved to show others how stern and strong she was. She hated to show her vulnerable side to anybody for that matter. And today, Riddhima had witnessed exactly that…
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Riddhima sighed. She always knew that the toughest part would be to explain to the twins. And that was what was exactly happening right now.
Rhea had started throwing a tantrum. Thank goodness that she was finally out of her childhood problem of having breath-holding spells, so at least she wouldn’t have to worry about her getting sick.
“I won’t let you go anywhere!” she wrapped her arms around her tightly. “I can’t stay without you! I promise I’ll be a good girl and won’t trouble you. I know that you want to punish me for being naughty.”
Riddhima picked her up in her arms and kissed her. From the past seven years, she had never parted away from her two munchkins even for a single day. And now, she had to leave their side for God knows how many days.
“This work is really important, so I really have to go. Besides, Dadi and Bua are there with you, right? I’ll come back quickly, I swear.”
Rhea wasn’t convinced and buried her face in her Mumma’s chest. Reyansh saw them and was also on the verge of crying.
“We already don’t have Papa with us. At least, you stay with us…” he sobbed. “Otherwise, we will also become like Payal, who doesn’t have her Mumma nor her Papa with her…”
Riddhima’s heart went out to both her children. She tried hard to control herself, but tears had already pooled up in her eyes. And now, she was making every effort to not let those tears spill onto her cheeks.
“If you both promise me to not keep it a secret, then I can tell you the real reason why I’m going away,” said Riddhima.
“What is that, Mumma?”
She turned her voice exceptionally low, “I’m going to bring your Papa along with me when I return.”
The kids’ eyes gleamed with happiness and they wiped the moistness off their faces. They jumped in excitement at the pospect of meeting their father after such a long and painful separation.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring back your Kabir Uncle as well,” she quietly mumbled to herself.
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Riddhima had made all the necessary arrangements before leaving. The kids, Anupriya and Sia were strictly forbidden from even stepping their foot outside the mansion. Since she and Angre wouldn’t be around, she placed the responsibility of ensuring her family’s safety in the hands of another important and highly trusted man of Vansh, Mark.
The tearful goodbyes from the twins, her lifelines, almost caused her to backout from her plan. But she caught herself in time.
She entered Payal’s room to get a last glance of her. Fortunately, the baby was wide awake, kicking it’s legs back and forth in her crib. She gently picked the baby up.
“I promise you, I’ll make everything alright,” she whispered.
The baby stared at her intently and gurgled in her baby language, as if she had understood what she was saying.
She kissed her head. “Goodbye, sweetie. Hope you won’t miss me.”
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Riddhima was sitting in the passenger seat, the one beside the driver, of a huge lorry. With a mask hiding her precious identity, she was peeking through a pair of binoculars, to see what was going around at the seaport.
The lorry was placed at a considerable distance away from the port. Today was the day when their supposed ‘cargo’, packed in large barrels, would arrive by ship. And their only hope was that these barrels wouldn’t have to be sent through the Xray scanning machine, that would expose all the dangerous items present in them.
Finally after a long waiting period, their shipment arrived at the port. Few of Riddhima’s men were already present inside the premises to make sure everything ran smoothly without any hassles and to carry the cargo right to where their lorry was parked.
Riddhima waited with bated breath as she saw their cargo being unloaded from the ship. Her sight landed on Senior Security Officer, Akash Singh. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to get them into trouble.
And she was right. Akash wasn’t foolish at all. Making sure that none of the other security officers got suspicious of him, he allowed the said cargo to NOT be sent through any Xray scanning machine.
And why not? A single wrong step on his move could tarnish his entire reputation and even cost him his job. Few days back, he had received indecent images of him with his boyfriend. Yes, he was homos*xual and liked men. But the society would never accept him. That’s why he had to resort such secret liasions for quite a few years.
With the threat that those pictures would be made viral on the social media, he was asked by some unknown woman to be ‘lenient’ with her sea-cargo which shouldn’t be subjected to any security checking.
He had complied resignedly because what other option did he have?
Even though Riddhima had a mask on, but the victorious smile that reached her eyes on seeing the cargo safely being brought to their lorry, was very much evident.
After the three large barrels had veen loaded into the backside of the lorry, Angre began driving it away from the port.
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Vansh had nothing to worry because no one around doubted him even a little bit. Not even when one of their men, Birju had gone missing all of a sudden. They of course had no idea that it was Vansh who had brutally killed Birju.
Using the secret map that he had managed to obtain from the safe, Vansh carefully made his way around the jungle.
He walked through the thick banyan trees, and found a large pit behind them. When he moved closer, he noticed that there were steps inside the pit that led the way underground!
Stealthily, he tiptoed his way down the steps, making sure to not create any sound. As he descended more and more, he could hear the voices become clearer and clearer.
He saw a large group of young boys being trained by the older men. His guess was right. This was an underground Maoist training camp.
Vansh crouched behind a large boulder and camouflaged himself with the surroundings. He intently listened to the instructions that the instructor was giving to the younger lot.
“The first group will keep the bomb on a bike near the parking lot. The next group will carry the bomb right inside the building. And the third group will wear the suicide vest and blow everyone apart in the vicinity.”
Vansh gaped in horror. The group was being trained to carry out bomb blasts! His breathing became rapid and his pulse began throbbing violently. No! He couldn’t let these people succeed in their evil plans. He couldn’t let innocent citizens to lose their everything!
From what he understood from their conversation, three separate bomb blasts were going to be carried out at three different places. But when and where would these blasts occur, were the two most important questions.
Vansh stayed there for some more time in order to gain more vital information. But alas! These Maoists were even smarter that he had expected them to be. They refused to divulge any important details even while training their younger counterparts about the location or the date when these blasts would take place.
Vansh dejectedly escaped from the area before any untoward incident happened.
He started panicking. If he had to foil their bombing plans, then he’d have to do something big. The way the training camp was being conducted, he concluded that the bomb blasts were going to held very soon, and he feared he had very less time with himself.
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Every ounce of Kabir’s body was paining severely. His hands were still kept tied up, above his head in shackles.
He knew that the only reason why he was kept alive was to get him to spill out his partner’s name. But these people didn’t know that he’d rather die but never snitch on his partner and his bestfriend, Vansh.
He was ready to bear any amount of extreme torture, but he’d not open his mouth.
But it was also true that he wanted to desperately escape from here. Not only for himself, but also as part of his duty towards his country.
Even if Vansh found out about the impending bomb blasts that the Maoists were planning to carry out, he wouldn’t be able to figure out the place and time where this would happen. Only Kabir knew about that piece of information which he had been able to decipher from the secret code language.
A jolt of anger ran through him as he imagined the amount of bloodshed that would happen with this bombing. Hundreds of people would lose their lives, thousands will suffer from life-threatening injuries, families will be broken, children will be orphaned…
No! He had to stop this from happening at any cost. Or else, he wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt.
But for that, Kabir would have to escape from here in the first place. And he didn’t know how he could do that.
His eyes suddenly fell upon a snall bolt-cutter a little distance away. An idea formed in his head. With his hands still tied up, he tried to grab the bolt-cutter with his foot.
Using this instrument, he’d try to cut his shackles. It was going to be a tedious job, but he was left with no other option. He’d do this in the dead of the night, when everyone would be sound asleep.
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“Wow Bhabhiji, I must say I’m really impressed. How easily you were able to get past Mumbai seaport’s security! Only you could have done this. Take a bow!”
Riddhima made a face. Vasooli’s nonchalant chatter was aggravating her ire every second. Only she knew with how much difficulty she was staying put.
And she didn’t have much choice, too. It was absolutely necessary to take Vasooli along, because he was the only one who could take them right into the heart of the Maoist-infiltrated area, Chiria.
After a tiring five-hour long journey, their lorry finally arrived in the small village of Chiria. It was a beautiful place, surrounded by dense and unruly forests.
Jenny’s words began to echo in her mind.
“Forests tend to look beautiful and serene from outside, but inside they are known to hide deep secrets within them.”
Chiria had been under the control of the Maoists since many decades. The Indian Government had made numerous attempts to establish their control over there once again, but all efforts had been futile. Diplomatic talks had been held between both the parties but never worked. Many a times, a ceasefire or two would take place between the Indian Defence Forces and the guerilla Maoist rebels, but nothing ever came out of it.
The people of Chiria had also been so brainwashed by the Maoists ruling over them, that they also were unknowingly pulled into the hatred for the Indian Government.
The lorry finally halted before an average-looking house. The sun was almost about to set and they all were exhausted from the never-ending drive. But the most fatigued was obviously Angre. No doubt he was an excellent driver, but handling a heavy vehicle like a lorry was no joke.
“This is where the Chieftain stays at,” remarked Vasooli. “I’m sure he’ll be really happy to meet you Bhabhiji, after all the daredevilry you’ve shown.”
Grim appearing men with guns guarded the area. Vasooli led the way inside the house while Riddhima and Angre followed him.
A middle aged, bald man with a thick moustache sat on a settee. Dressed in traditional attire, he appeared to be more on the heavier side.
As soon as he saw Riddhima in front of her, his lips curved upward.
“So glad to meet you, Mrs. Raisinghania. Please take a seat.”
She and Angre readily obliged.
“When Vasooli had told me that you would be the one helping us in smuggling the weapons, I wasn’t very sure to trust you with such a big task. But you definitely proved me wrong.”
“Well, what can I say except for the fact that I love disproving people’s preconceived believes,” smirked Riddhima. “I hope that the second half of the payment would be done soon. Also, what do I call you as?”
“Pardon my forgetfulness, Mrs. Raisinghania, that I didn’t even remember to introduce myself. My name is Surya,” said the chieftain. “And don’t worry about the payment. As soon as you return to Mumbai, you’ll get the remaining amount. When we make a promise, we make sure to abide by it, come what may. We aren’t like the Indian Government who only knows to make false promises to it’s people, only to never fulfill them.”
Riddhima flinched as she heard him speak negatively about the Indian Government. Criticizing the government or the national policies doesn’t make anyone an anti-national. But downright hating it and resorting to such illegal and terrorist activities, definitely makes you one.
“What is your opinion about the Indian Government?” Surya asked her suddenly.
Well, since he posed this question, it was time for her to go with the flow and put on a spectacular drama.
“I don’t have much against the Government itself, but I absolutely hate the Indian Army,” she lied. “I still haven’t forgiven them for insulting my husband and rusticating him from the force for such a minor fault.”
Surya seemed pleased with her answer.
“I wonder where Vansh Raisinghania has disappeared to since the past nine months? Even though neither I nor any of my men ever had the chance of meeting him personally, but we dod hear quite a lot about him. Is he even alive or…”
He left his sentence hanging in the air as everybody around him understood the meaning.
His last words hit Riddhima really bad. But she masked her feelings, especially her fear, and instead squared up her shoulders, looking straight into his eyes.
“Don’t you dare underestimate my husband, Suryaji,” she feigned a laugh. “Vansh’s mere name is enough to strike terror in many people’s hearts. You don’t know but he’s upto something really big and dangerous. You’ll eventually find out after a few weeks’ time when it is all over the newspapers.”
“I’ll be eagerly waiting for the ‘news’ then,” smiled Surya.
Riddhima realized that he was in a good mood and this was the best time to extract more information from him.
“I have a doubt. Hope you wouldn’t mind my asking you. But what do you need these three barrels of weapons for?”
Riddhima was careful to not mention about she knowing that the cargo was packed with explosives, because Vasooli had clearly forbidden her to do so.
Surya’s expressions changed.
“Keep a lookout for the newspapers throughout this month. You will also eventually find out all about it in a few weeks’ time.”
Maybe, he didn’t like me interrogating him like this, thought Riddhima.
Surya instructed his minion. “Show them the guesthouse. They’ll be spending the night here and leaving tomorrow morning.” He tilted his head towards Riddhima. “Right?”
Riddhima stayed mum as her mind began to race. Surya was keen on sending her away from Chiria as early as possible. But if she wanted to dig deep into the matter, she’d have to stay in this village for a longer period of time. And for that, she’d have to come up with a solid excuse that wouldn’t make her appear too suspucious. But what could that be?
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Sneak peek : Riddhima is attacked by someone and falls unconscious.
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Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. Do comment.
Peace out!