"What did you say?" Aditya asked as his throat dried up. It was a useless question as he clearly understood what was said.
Everyone around was staring wide-eyed at Taarini when they heard these words but did not dare to interrupt or make a sound. Some even held their breaths as they watched the expression on Aditya's face.
Taarini did not reply but held her hand towards Munna who passed a shiny dagger which reflected brightly in the floodlights radiance. Taarini tossed that dagger at Aditya and remained calm.
Aditya caught the dagger and gulped when he felt it's weight in his hand. The coldness he felt when he held the dagger made Aditya doubt if the dagger was icy or the chill originated from his heart. 'Was he capable of taking a life?'. One had to know that though Aditya ate meat, he had never killed a chicken in his whole life let alone a living fully grown human.
'Adi, this was what you signed up for when you joined Taarini. She had asked repeatedly to think again when she heard my request. Now she is fulfilling her promise and I am the one who is hesitating. Shame on you. If you don't even possess the courage to kill an evil person who clearly deserves death, then you might as well go back to school and forget about saving your parents.' Aditya's eyes became firm as he turned towards Rana who was looking with red, bulging eyes at Aditya's right hand which held the dagger.
He was sweating torrents as his shirt was drenched as he produced whimpering sounds from his closed mouth as he looked at Aditya with begging eyes as he shook his head. His heart shuddered as he saw Aditya walk towards him with the dagger. His teeth started chattering and he started trying to force open his bonds using his full strength.
Taarini looked at this indifferently as she sat in a chair placed by Raghav. Most of the middle-aged guys who were the older and more experienced members had already guessed that Taarini was treating Aditya differently than others. They knew that Taarini despised killing and would always avoid if possible. Even if she wanted to kill Rana, he would have already been killed noiselessly by some senior members as they were many among them who had already killed at least once.
By asking them to congregate at this time of the night and do a sort of public killing of Rana was conveying two meanings. One was that Taarini wanted to warn the core members of their fate if they choose to betray her. The other was that she placed significant importance on Aditya and that she intended to train him, possibly as her successor. They already had seen for themselves, the martial prowess of Aditya which filled their hearts with awe when they saw him beating up people without breaking a sweat.
"Mmm...Mmm" Rana was using his full might as he was practically tormenting himself as the ropes cut into his limbs as blood started flowing from the broken skin but he did not show any hints of feeling pain or stopping. He bit his lips firmly as blood mixed with saliva started diluting the gun adhesive of the tape thus loosening its hold on his mouth as he started moving his lips and making sounds which were comprehensible.
"Bleach… Bleach, bon't kill me," he looked at Aditya with tearful eyes as he started talking. Aditya's hand trembled when he heard these words. A flurry could be seen in his eyes as he gulped as he placed the dagger to the wet throat of Rana. His mind started to become chaotic as he felt the trembling of Rana through the steel. When he saw the contorted face as tears rolled down his eyes and mixed with sweat, saliva and blood and smearing the blade of the dagger, Aditya was not able to summon even a bit of strength to make a simple slicing movement. He suddenly smelled a bad odour as he lowered his head to look that Rana had peed himself as the yellow liquid started spreading from his knees.
Aditya was revolted as he sprang away from him but he knew that he was simply looking for a reason to do get away from him. He felt weak in heart for the first time in many days as he looked at his dangling hand. This was what he had prepared to do when he joined Taarini's gang and now he was the one been scared of moving forward. A new thought started forming in his mind, 'Should he kill to save his parents? Who was he to judge that Rana deserved to die? Maybe he was a good guy. I have Tya, maybe I don't have to go through this moat to save my parents?'. All sorts of thoughts start to jam Aditya's mind.
Taarini looked at Aditya with a complex expression as she nodded at Munna. Munna sighed as he spoke in a clear loud voice, "Everybody can go and take rest for the night, come to the conference room in the morning."
Everyone including Sandu, Manoj looked at Aditya once before leaving. Many old members could be seen shaking their heads in disappointment as they looked at Aditya who had his head lowered. They looked down on him who had been gifted such fighting talent but was not able to kill a traitor. They would rather have a leader who had no strength but possessed a strong, decisive and ruthless heart.
Taarini looked at Munna who nodded his head and left along with others. Only Taarini was left with Aditya and Rana who breathing had returned to normal. She walked up to Aditya and placed her hand on his shoulder as she said icily, "go back and think again if you want to continue along this path. Don't jump into a lake without ascertaining it's depth and your capability. It's not too late if you step back now."
Aditya raised his head as he took a deep breath, he looked at Rana before he turned towards Taarini as he asked, "I need five people to protect a woman at all times, can you arrange?"
Taarini was surprised at Aditya's words which were not contextual at all but nodded as she asked, "I want her whereabouts."
"Her name is Hamsa, she is studying final year in medicine bachelors. She is currently staying in my place." Aditya replied earnestly.
Taarini was surprised as she asked, "In your place?"
"Yes, looks like she doesn't have anywhere to go for now," Aditya replied as he briefly explained on the events related to her.
"You could leave her with me if it is okay," Taarini said as she looked at Aditya.
"She is traumatized now so I will ask her if she is willing after some days when she is back to normal," Aditya nodded as took a cigarette and lighted it. He felt more ashamed in his heart when he inhaled the smoke as he remembered his parents.
Aditya took a list of names and passed them to Taarini as he said, "these people are very suspicious in your gang. You might want to double check them. Starting from their phone call records might get results quickly." Aditya blew smoke as he said. His chaotic mind calmed down when he remembered his parents. Everything was not lost yet. He would give up just because he failed once or in one way.
"What?" Taarini was genuinely shocked as she looked at the list of eleven names. Her heart vibrated when she saw two names in that list which she also had placed her doubts but had not yet confirmed.
"How did you know?" Taarini asked as she looked at Aditya with a slight frown. This kid always managed to shock her.
"Well, I can't explain the details but just know that I am very good at observation," Aditya said as he smoked.
"Cut the crap and explain if you know what is good for you," Taarini said with a chilly face.
Cough… Cough
"Well, two people actually carried button and spectacle spy cameras. Some people always stayed away from each other but maintained eye contact. Some people gave away expressions of disdain when Faizal boasted about out gang or you. Some people made repeated calls to each other instead of talking directly. Some people acted like they were talking on the phone but they actually were taking photos using their mobiles. These people all seem to belong to two different groups who seem to have been recruited by two different opponents. But these people are clearly bad at espionage with their illiterate half developed brains," Aditya explained patiently while enjoying the beauty of Taarini which calmed his heart further. Those eyes really contained stars in them.
Aditya had activated Sensifull ability when he started fighting to ease his fighting as this was the fight of show off and not genuine training. So, along with the movements of his opponents, even the movements of all the surrounding people were also clearly recorded by him. Given his mental abilities, it was easy for him to analyze these rookie spy flaws and remember each of them. He later found their names from Faizal as they counted the gambling money. Actually, he did not tell Taarini that he also knew lip reading which came naturally to him when he saw the movement of lips, mouth and tongue of the people. So he was pretty sure that most of these guys were traitors from their discussions. He just didn't want to appear highly abnormal.
Even when Taarini heard the explanation of Aditya, she found it hard to believe but her intuition told her that Aditya was capable of doing it. She regained her composure as she nodded, "I will take care of this."
"See, I am not that useless even if I can't kill people," Aditya said with a small smile as he threw the bud away.
"You might want to hurry as that woman might feel afraid if you are late," Taarini said as she raised her palm.
"Oh, right, thanks, good night miss," Aditya placed the dagger handle delicately in Taarini's hand and walked away.
Before he walked for a few seconds, Aditya heard a blood-curdling scream which sent chills down his spine as his pupils shrank. He knew what might have happened but he did not stop walking instead he increased his pace as if he feared a ghost would eat him if he turned back.
Taarini cleaned the bloody dagger on the clothes of Rana as she looked at the body indifferently, which still made some involuntary jerky movements. Blood was leaking profusely from his chest where there was a hole in the middle. Rana's eyes slowly lost its lustre. She stood and looked at the direction that Aditya went as she muttered, "It's comforting a little to know that a kid gifted with such a terrific potential to murder actually does not possess a killing heart."