Their captors left a young boy to supervise them. He looked out of place in that gang and his nerves were obviously frayed.

“Bandhe hue to hum hain,” Kabir decided to strike a conversation with him, “Pareshaan tu kyon ho raha hai?”

He didn’t reply and tried to appear stern.

Ananya helped in the game Kabir was trying to play, “Kabir. Ye kahan phans gaye hain hum? Kaun hain ye log? Unhein humse kya dar hai?”

“Pata nahin, Ananya. Phansa hua to ye bhi lag raha hai. Tera naam kya hai, bhai?”

“Tum log baat karna band karo,” his attempt at intimidating them was clownish at its best.

“Sun. Hamein zinda to rakhna hai na. Thoda paani pila de. Bahut zoron se pyaas lagi hai.”

He looked uncertain, but gave in. “Laata hoon.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Kabir turned to Ananya. “Sit still, Ananya,” he hissed and closed in on her.

Confused, and her heart beating absurdly hard for the dire circumstances, she sat like a statue and expected a kiss to land anytime on her cheeks. Instead Kabir removed her spectacles, threw it beside him and grinned at her. “Chashma suit nahin kar raha tha tum par.”

“Abhi aapko mera chashma…”

“Hush!” he shifted around to smash her spectacles with his sole. Then picked up a piece of broken glass and shifted once again to position their backs against each other. Soon he had cut the ropes off her hands. She began to untie him, but could not finish it before the boy appeared with water.  She put her own hands behind her and pretended as if they were still tied. Kabir struggled with his half undone bonds and by the time the boy reached them he was also free, but continued to pretend like Ananya.

“Ab haath to bandhe hain hamare. To pila bhi de paani,” he told the boy.

Uncomfortable, but resigned, the boy leant forward towards Kabir. Kabir used this opportunity to jump on him. He held him captive with one of his hands, while his other he pressed around the boy’s mouth to keep him from screaming. Ananya fetched the rope, whose one end was still tethered to the tree and tied it around the boy’s feet. Now Kabir only needed to make sure that the boy didn’t scream and draw attention to himself. With the seocnd rope, Ananya also managed to tie his hands despite his struggles.

“Meri side pocket mein ek rumaal hai,” Kabir told her, “Nikalo use. Iska munh bhi band karna hoga.”

She hesitated. For two reasons. “Kabir. Bachcha hai…”

“Abhi hamari maut hai ye. Aur munh hi band kar raha hoon. Maar nahin raha. Jaldi nikalo, please.”

Utterly aware of touching him this close through the tight jeans pocket, Ananya wriggled the handkerchief out.

Once they had the boy all trussed up, Anaya wondered, “Ab kya karein?”

“I hope Vinod aur uski team hamein GPS se track kar rahi hai. Itna time ho gaya hai to shayad police ko bhi bula liya ho aur woh hamein dhoondh lenge. Lekin yahan se jaane ki zaroorat hai.”

“Aur ye ladka?”

They saw him struggling and whimpering.

“Tujhe yahan dar lag raha hai?” Kabir asked him.

He nodded, fear evident in his eyes.

“Inke liye kaam karna hai, ya hamare saath chalna hai? Police ki madad karni hai?”

His gutteral response was undecipherable.

“Hamare saath chalega?” Kabir simplified his question.

The boy nodded.

“Chal phir.”

They didn’t untie or ungag him immediately.

“Hamein yahan se thoda door jaana hoga. And then let’s hope ki police hamein dhoondh legi,” Kabir explained.

“Ji. Chaliye.”

As they made to leave, Kabir noticed an open locket lying on the ground. He didn’t want to stop just then. So, he picked up the two parts of the locket and pocketed them without asking Ananya about it.

They walked away from the area for about half-an-hour, then stopped. They ungagged the boy and asked him questions about himself. His name was Suraj. He was recently orphaned and one of the neighbors had enrolled him in the gang. He was scared of staying with them and equally scared of running away. Kabir assured him that he would place him a children’s home he volunteered at and he would be taken care of there.

Vinod’s team and police soon found them and escorted them out of the jungle.

—

They went to the police station first. Then Khurana took the responsibility to dropping Suraj to the children’s home.

“Ananya. Maine tumhein ghar drop kar deta hoon,” Kabir offered.

“Ji,” she climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Ouch!” she yelped when she tried to pull the seat belt.

“Kya hua?” He examined her arms and they found long scratch on it. “Ye kab hua?”

“Mera dhyaan nahin gaya tha abhi tak,” she said, looking shocked.

“Hospital jaane ki zaroorat to nahi padegi. Lekin ghar jaate hi iski dressing kar lena.”

“Ma ghabra jayengi, Kabir. Hospital hi chalte hain, dresing karwa lete hain. Please.”

He hesitated for a moment, before proposing, “If it’s okay, mere ghar chal sakte hain. Wahan thoda fresh bhi ho jaana aur…”

She thought for a moment, then agreed and smiled, “Thank you.”

“Iske liye thank you ki zaroorat nahin hai. In fact, I am sorry, Ananya. Maine tumhein itne dangerous situation mein daal diya tha.”

“Hum sirf apna kaam kar rahe the, Kabir.”

He smiled, “Adrenaline junkie ho tum bhi. Mazaa aata hai tumhein?”

She tilted her head and returned his smile, “Bas Ma ki chinta rahti hai. Isliye unhein mat bataiyega. Lekin mazaa to aata hai.”

He chuckled and drove off.

—

To be continued