Himprayag
Shaurya rolled his eyes at the petty behaviour of his future in-law but he couldn't push her. He wasn't asking her to carry a mountain but looking at her compressed lips, he knew that she wouldn't oblige. But why? Did she suspect something? No no, not possible! He hastily assured himself.
For the past few weeks, both he and Bela had been learning as much as they could from the military drills which they had been observing. Despite Himprayag being a nation with no allegiance to any country till now, its core strength was its army and their strategies, formations and of course, weapons. And looking at their daily routine, it was easy to figure out why. They were simply awesome. Probably born and trained in a really tough terrain had inherently made these soldiers a force to reckon with. Their discipline and single minded focus had impressed both the citizens of Chandragarh to no end.
Converting this situation into a golden opportunity, both Bela and Shaurya had started making notes at the end of each day using their memory. They knew that they couldn't blatantly record their findings on scrolls and hope to take them out of Himprayag when they left.
So, Shaurya had come up with the plan to buy a couple of new clothes for him and Bela to wear and repeat them cyclically. He suggested that they use the inner side of previous sets of clothes to serve as the place where they could write, draw and record their observations of the techniques and designs of the Himprayag army. The inside of one of Sharuya's kurta now resembled a blackboard of a classroom, divided into many sections and filled with roughly drawn pictures and figures.
Western zilla
Prithvi stood in the basement of an unidentified location and waited while the person in front of him caught his breath. Prithvi wiped off the blood and gore from his knuckles against a piece of cloth. After repeated punches to the face, the handsome looks of the captured guy had been completely smashed into an unrecognisable mass of swelled up cheeks, broken nose and missing teeth.
Despite that, the crazy guy had a mocking smile on his face.
"Do you know how attractive you look when are intense? I thought that I could see this expression on your face only in bed! Tsk tsk, are you this concerned about your subordinate? I am a tiny bit jealous now. Is he also…" the words coming out of the guy's bleeding lips were meant to goad Prithvi.
But Prithvi had already vented out his long pent-up frustration on his 'traitor' lover and was feeling a bit calm now. It felt infinitely better to use a human than a punching bag as a stress buster.
Shrugging his shoulders, he replied viciously, "My feelings for him go much beyond a mere physical rolling in the bed. You were always just a means to relieve my boredom and meet the basic needs of any normal human. How can you even think of comparing yourself with Ramanujam?"
The guy stiffened as the barb hit him but after a second, he laughed and said, "Ditto!"
"I had heard that you are the great mastermind behind Chandragarh's secret spy network but looking at your street thug level interrogation skills just now, I am a tad disappointed," the guy deliberately goaded Prithvi again.
Due to the exertion in the past twenty minutes, Prithvi's top knot had become loose. He chose this moment to retie his hair and looked at the guy calmly while his fingers nimbly worked in his hair.
"You overestimate your importance. I was simply using you as a means to relive me of the travel kinks. Why would I waste my 'personal' efforts to get information out of you? As for the interrogation, I have my boys who will come and do the needful. Not only will you sing like a canary in front of them, you would even get down to begging for your death. Just have a little patience, hmm…" Prithvi's casual voice was in stark contrast with the venomous words coming out of his mouth.
The man's face paled but he didn't show any fear. Instead, he used the opportunity to ask something that he was curious about ever since Prithvi had picked him and brought him here. He was worried about how much did Prithvi know about the situation.
"You seem to have discovered my deception some time ago. Then why did you choose to stay quiet till now?" he asked in a seemingly casual voice.
Prithvi looked at the guy coldly and replied, "On what basis do you think that you are qualified to ask me anything? More importantly, didn't your handlers tell you that I am not the kind to offer explanation for my actions to anyone?"
At the sound of the door's squeaking hinges, Prithvi looked up to see him team of ruffians arrive.
"Get him to give up this person's location in the next half hour. For the remaining stuff, you can play for as long as you like," he ordered and handed over Ramanujam's name and picture to them.
Twenty minutes later
Prithvi was absently stroking the bald-headed eagle when one of his guys came out of the place. The young man was stinking and had an absolute unkempt appearance but instead of getting disgusted by him, Prithvi, who was known for his obsessive cleaning fetish, reached out and pumped the other guy's hand as a way to acknowledge his achievement. The man had finished the task early and come back with details as asked by Prithvi.
As the interrogator returned to the basement room which was now filled with fearful screams, Prithvi looked at paper in his hand which had the coordinates of the place where Ramanujam was being held. He quickly taped it under the wing of the eagle and sent it to his people in Eastern zilla.
He had taken a big gamble by coming to Western zilla instead of going to the Eastern zilla!