After the call, Gopan wasted no time and reached Holy Land. "So, where are we going?" He asked Lonappan, who was by the gate.
"Don't ask me questions." Lonappan quickly shut him out.
"Dude, I'm the driver. I've got to know where we're going." Gopan chuckled nervously.
Lonappan nodded. "Right. Move aside, I'll drive." He opened the driver seat's door and tried to push Gopan aside.
"What the!" Gopan was surprised by Lonappan's actions. "Bruh, I'm not giving up my beauty to you." He held onto the steering wheel.
"Very well. Forcefully, it is then." Lonappan said as he tried to get him off the steering wheel.
"Nooo." Gopan screamed. However, Lonappan gave out a few punches and Gopan quickly receded with his futile efforts. "Fine, you might've won this time. However, can I really trust you to be careful while riding? Hell, do you even know how to ride this baby?" He asked.
"Who do you think I am? Of course, I know how to ride this shit." Lonappan replied.
"Hey! Language!" Gopan cried.
Lonappan didn't care for such trivial things. "Whatever. Let's move."
#
Lonappan and Gopan stopped at an uninhabited land and got out. "The fuck was that?" An exhausted Gopan asked.
"What?" Lonappan gave out a confused look.
"I mean, who drives like that? I hope there weren't any traffic police out there, since we were flying over our way here. Wait, where even are we?" He asked as he looked around.
However, Lonappan completely ignored him and was busy on his phone. "Shh, don't talk. I'm trying to make an important call." He instructed Gopan.
"What's up with this treatment, my man? You took my auto by force, you aren't allowing me to talk now. Why are we in such a rush? I get it; the guys are in jail. Although, if that was the reason for your rush, you would've headed to the police station, instead of a random-ass place. Now, are you even gonna reply or not?" He pleaded with Lonappan to answer.
However, yet again, Lonappan ignored him and was on his call. "Hello, sir. You saw my text, right? Yes, even Thankappan did. Yes, sir. I'll be taking it with me. Please forward the codes to me. Thank you." In his defense though, it was Ponnappan, his MIB superior, that he was trying to talk to. However, Gopan had no way of knowing this.
"Dude!" Gopan cried.
"What?" Lonappan had literally just noticed him screaming.
"I was talking." Gopan cried yet again. He couldn't handle this amount of ignorance.
"Yea, I heard." Lonappan lied.
However, Gopan sniffed the lie from afar. "As if! Who was on the phone?" He asked.
Lonappan thought for a moment before he answered. "Hmm. I'm not allowed to reveal the information."
Gopan sighed. "Dude, you saying that would only make me more suspicious about whatever you're cooking up. You should've at least lied, if you didn't wanna reveal whatever it is to me."
Lonappan realized his mistake and spoke the truth. "Okay, look. It was my boss. He's helping me deal with this conundrum."
"Wait, why would he help you get your friends out of jail? Why would he care if some guy's in a jail?" He asked a valid question.
"Well, Thankappan is his son. So, there's that." Lonappan decided that lying would be a better option in this situation.
"Wait, the same Thankappan who lives with three others and does manual labor for a living is your boss' son? I don't quite get this connection." Gopan was confused by this new revelation.
"You see, my boss wanted Thankappan to learn how to earn on his own. So, he had him away from the manor and wanted me to help me on that." Lonappan elaborated his lie.
"Hmm, something smells fishy. However, I'm gonna believe you this time, although it's obvious that you're hiding some big stuff." Gopan changed the subject. "Anyway, how's we standing in this barren land related to getting them out of jail?" He asked.
"Well, boss did say that there's some stuff here that could help me in this. That's why." Lonappan replied as he went around looking for something.
"Cool! Where is it?" Gopan asked.
Lonappan finally stopped. "Here." He said as he grabbed something off the ground. A pillar appeared out of nowhere and it shone like crazy.
"Whoa! It's too shiny for my eyes!" Gopan cried as he kept his eyes shut.
"Don't worry, the blindness would just last for a few seconds." Lonappan assured.
And as Lonappan said, it only lasted for a few seconds. Once he opened his eyes, the pillar disappeared as if it was a dream to begin with. "Hey, did you have those glasses on before?" He asked, as he noticed the shades in Lonappan's eyes.
"Nah, wore just now." Lonappan replied.
"So you knew this would happen?" Gopan was frustrated.
"Yea, boss told me." Lonappan nodded his head.
"How come you didn't tell me? Could've saved my eyes." Gopan was gradually getting fumed up.
Meanwhile, Lonappan was getting annoyed. "Geez, I can't tell you every little thing now, can I?"
"No, although you could've just given me a heads up." Gopan replied.
"Damn, can we stop arguing about every little thing? It's annoying me. Let's go already." Lonappan said as he headed towards the auto.
"Fine! Wait, you got what you came here for?" Gopan asked, since he had no idea about what the stuff on the pillar was.
Lonappan nodded. "Yup. So, let's go."
"Wait, what is it? Wait, no. I don't wanna know." Gopan already knew that the answer would be another lie, therefore decided otherwise.
"Great! Let's move then." Lonappan said as he asked Gopan to drive.
#
Back in the police station, the mood was gloomy. "Well, it's been what? One hour since he talked about the upcoming storm, but I don't see shit coming our way. I guess even a black tongue fails in delivering bad omens once or twice." Thankappan spoke.
"I guess we're lucky then." Taro said, much to the dismay of Gibli.
"No. Why? Why did you have to jinx us like that?" He cried.
"Bro, don't worry. That black tongue stuff and all, it's just a myth." Thankappan assured them.
Again, Gibli wailed in distress. "Great! Another flag beside the multitude you guys placed already. Guess something big's coming after all."
Just as Gibli spoke, came Lonappan from the front. "Hello, officers. How are you doing?" He asked.
"See? This is what I told you!" Gibli pointed towards Lonappan and cried.
"Chill, it's just Lonappan trying to get us out." Thankappan patted Gibli on the shoulders and assured him, since he knew his senior very well.
This shocked gibli. "Just? It's Lonappan. The guy doesn't give a damn about us, right?"
"Right." Thankappan nodded.
"Then why is he here? Look at his face. Doesn't he look annoyed?" Gibli pointed towards Lonappan, who was glaring at them.
"Oh, my word! We're doomed." Thankappan saw hell before him.
#
Few minutes earlier, Lonappan and Gopan had arrived in front of the police station. "Get out, we're here." Gopan instructed.
"Great." Lonappan jumped out.
"I'll wait for you here. I hope everything goes fine." Gopan spoke with a smile.
"No."
"What?" Gopan was confused as to what he meant by that refusal.
"You're coming in with me." Lonappan cleared his doubt.
"But why?" Gopan, although cleared of the doubt, did not understand why Lonappan insisted on his arrival.
"You being with me might give me a tactical advantage." Lonappan explained.
"Huh, you can just go on and say that I'm indispensable." Gopan chuckled.
Lonappan stood there for a while before he replied. "I guess you're indispensable for me." He said, contrary to Gopan's expectations.
"Damn, I did not expect you to actually say it." Gopan was a bit embarrassed.
"So, are you coming in or not?" Lonappan asked.
"Yea, I'm coming in." Gopan jumped out as well.
#
Back to the present. "Hello, officers. How are you doing?"
"Who are you two?" The sub-inspector asked.
"Hello, sir. I'm Gopan of WPP. We've met before." Gopan answered as he held out his hand.
"Yea, what's the intent of your purpose?" The SI asked as he shook the hand.
"Well, you have four of our latest recruits inside your cell. Look!" Gopan pointed out the four as they waved hello.
The SI sighed. "Those four? I'm sorry, Mr Gopan. However, I don't think there's anything I can do for you in their case. We caught them red-handed, consuming marijuana out in the public. That's not an offence that you could easily turn an eye for." He explained.
"Well, can I talk to them at least?" Lonappan interrupted and asked.
The SI shook his head. "I'm afraid I can only allow them to talk to their lawyer, Mr?"
"Lonappan."
"Mr. Lonappan."
"So, that's a no too?" He asked.
"Yea."
"Even with this?" Lonappan tried his hand yet again, but this time he slid some cash underneath.
"Sir, I hope you know that bribing a government official, a police officer at that, is a serious crime and I could send you to jail right now." The SI spoke in a stern voice.
"But will you, though?" Lonappan asked, smiling.
The stern SI suddenly smiled back. "You got five minutes, Mr. Lonappan."
"Cool." He walked menacingly towards the cell.
"Oh, no! He's coming." Gibli freaked out.
"Keep your calm, guys! He can smell fear." Thankappan said as he sweated profusely.
"So, how come you ended up here when you were supposed to come back home?" Lonappan asked, as he continued glaring at them.
"Ah, we just had a series of misconceptions." Gibli gave out a nervous laugh.
"Like consuming marijuana."
"Exactly." Gibli nodded.
Lonappan sighed. "Well, I don't care about what you take in through your mouth, so I'm fine with that."
"Really?" Gibli was happy for a split second while it lasted.
"Rather, what I'm angry about is that I had to come in here to get you out." He replied.
"So?" Thankappan asked. He knew something's coming.
"You will suffer the consequences for your mistakes after I get you out." Lonappan smiled.
"Ha, the bad omens came true after all." Gibli sighed as Kunjan consoled him.
"You getting caught disappoints me, Thankappan." Lonappan shook his head in disappointment.
"I'm sorry, sir." Thankappan apologized.
"If it was just the other three, it would've been fine. On the other hand, you're a MIB official. A junior at that." Lonappan clicked his tongue.
"Is there any problem?" Kunjan asked upon seeing Lonappan's concerned face.
"I don't have an identity since I'm an MIB agent. They wiped the old one out the moment I joined the establishment. Besides, for an official new identity, one has to qualify into a senior post." Thankappan explained the situation.
"So, if the police are to ask you to submit your identity to get out or something, you got nothing?" Kunjan asked.
Thankappan nodded. "Exactly. My presence here will cause some serious problems." He looked down, contemplating his life choices.
Lonappan smiled. "Fortunately, I've got a plan." He said, as he grabbed something from his pocket. He had prepared for this outcome already.
#