Exit Door
Exit Door
"Uh… I thought you wanted me to help you with prepping for the Eastern zilla assignment. Also, I want to test that senior of yours. Since you have praised him to the sky, I want to see with my own eyes, how good is he. If nothing else, it will help us escape your father's grouses," Bela winked at her daughter.
"Maa, you are really naughty," Mriga said on a laugh and bid farewell to her mother.
Bela went back inside the station and asked the assistant to arrange for a few things for her.
Later that evening
Mriga and her father had gone to the nearby market to purchase some supplies. Despite his offer to accompany them, Raghu had absolutely refused to take Shaurya along. As a result, Bela found him polishing the bows and arrows and other things which Mriga had brought out from the store and kept in the courtyard. He saw her and went upto collect the heavy bags which she was carrying.
Upon her asking, he told her about the father-daughter's whereabouts.
"Give me few minutes to freshen up. Till then, take out the things from the bags and start stacking them next to the wall. We'll organise them later," she instructed and went to the community bath area.
Shaurya was surprised to see thick stashes of papers and various boxes which he brought out and set up as per the directions.
There seemed to be a lot of reading material in there. Was it for Mrignayani or him or for herself?
"I want to talk to you about a few things and now seems like a good time. Let me show you few of the hidden treasures of the Northern zilla," she said and started walking ahead.
Shaurya's heart started to thud uncomfortably. Was he going to be told that his services are no longer required by the country. Living here for the past few days, he had figured at least this much that Belavati was not just a simple police office. There was much more to her than met the eye and the first giveaway was that he had been assigned to her.
Also, as per the rules of the Admin department, the only applications accepted were those of children whose atleast one parent had been a part of the Suraksha Chakra team or was personally selected by the department, like in his case. In Mriga's case, he was willing to bet his life that Raghu was not even aware of something like this existing, forget being a part of it. He wore his expressions on his face, just like the daughter. Now, Bela was a different case altogether. If he was to put his money on something, he would probably say that she was the one handling the agents' exits. Maybe that's why they had sent him here in the first place.
With such bleak thoughts, he followed her wordlessly towards one of the steep hills which lay shrouded in darkness under the falling dusk.
By the time they reached the peak, both of them were covered in sweat despite the falling temperature.
"I am sure that you have your own theories about me and about the conversation which we are here for. I want you to forget about the former and concentrate hard on the latter because your future life depends on it," she started without any preamble.
Shaurya stayed silent, waiting for her to continue talking.
"I have been asked to train you for an assignment which seems to be critical for the country but may prove fatal for you. But before I give you details about that, I need to know if you are willing to be sent on a mission from which you may not return. Count for a minute in your head before starting to think of the answer. I would suggest that you put the hot-blooded emotions away and use cold logic, instead. You are no more than twenty years old and are yet to experience the best part of life. I am going up till that tree to pull a few herbs out. It's my husband's favorite condiment and he is too lazy to come up here and do the needful. Tell me your answer once I am back," she said all of this in a lazy monotone, sounding much like Prithvi.
Shaurya's first reaction was that of acute relief. He hadn't been summoned to be shown the exit door, at least not yet.
Southern Zilla
"Where is Yash?" Ujjwala questioned the servant as soon as she entered home.
"He is with his father in the entertainment room," the polite answer came back.
Handing over her bag and shawl to the waiting maid, she headed off to the room. A letter from Vindhya's parents had been waiting for her at her office desk when she reached back. She had been communicating with them from her workplace instead of receiving and sending correspondence from home. At this juncture, she preferred little interference from her husband. Hence, the less he knew the better.
"Oh! You are back," Harshvardhan straightened up from the table where he had been bending over a game of chausar with his son.
His less than enthusiastic response went unregistered by Ujjwala as she made a beeline for her son.
"Yash, I need to speak with you, urgently. Can you follow me to my chambers?" she instructed rather than asked.
"Umm, I think we need to have a word before that," her husband said quietly.
Ujjwala didn't pay much attention to his demeanour and shrugged off his words carelessly.
"Our talk can wait. I am hard-pressed for time right now," she replied, not even looking at it.
Yash saw the quiet storm rising on his father's face and tried to speak but his father beat him to it.
"I wasn't asking for your permission," he rose to his full height and said in a raised voice.