Sampurnaa's pov:

The man in question was undoubtedly the CEO of Sourire, a popular cosmetic and fashion label for women, Mr. Victor Sequira He was an influential man and had a serious fan following. His label was popular among elite women. In fact, he had been awarded as the Fashion Businessman of the year thrice. What was he doing here?

He was looking around cautiously which raised suspicion in my mind, so I decided to follow him closely.

It was around 5 now.

He made his way through the mildly crowded lanes looking around every once in a while to ensure no one was observing his actions or following him.
The man stopped in front of one of the buildings where the women were housed. Right above the door was written in an elegant calligraphic script, 'Jannah'.

My eyes almost bulged out at that. This man was going to the same place I had been trying to get into. He walked in hurriedly and went straight to one of the rooms. It was perceptible from his way of confident walking and the fact that no one was there to escort him, that this was clearly not the first time he was here.
I knew I had to follow him.
I had to go in.
There were sedative-filled syringes that had been given to me by the police for my protection. I could use them on anyone who tried to misbehave with me or in case someone attacked me.

I would be safe as long as I stayed alert and reacted quickly. Yet, I was unable to take that one step to cross the threshold of the brothel.

I knew I had to delve deeper into this and I knew there could be no backing away now.
And finally, I set one foot over the threshold as I walked in.
Many women were standing around with men. I had to make my way past all of them and then find a secure hiding place behind a pillar so I could keep an eye on the closed door of the room, behind which Mr. Sequira had disappeared.

I was standing there quietly when a man came up from behind me. He was clearly intoxicated. He tried to grab me but I reacted quickly. He was thrown to the wall. He again approached me like a predator and pushed me hard. I fell on the floor with a small thud! He pulled me up by my hair and the Bluetooth earpiece and recorder fell. I managed to grab a sedative-filled syringe and lunged forward.
The syringe was pushed into the base of his throat and he passed out, unfortunately stumbling and stamping on my Bluetooth earpiece which broke with a crunch sound!
To anyone else, the man could very well have passed out due to intoxication.

I sighed in relief and wiped the beads of perspiration that had appeared on my forehead.

There was no way on heaven that I could stand in one place quietly, I had to be on the move stealthily.

I made my way closer to the door and tried to listen to any sound that made its way out of the room through the door.
They were hushed words spoken in English and Hindi. A man and a woman, so I could make out. I tried pressing my ears to the door to listen further but the thumping of approaching footsteps caused me to take a step back.
The door opened and a woman in her fifties stepped out. She caught me standing there and called out sternly in Hindi, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

I shakily replied, "Ma'am I am one of the new women. I have not been assigned a room or told anything. I was looking for Iqra but she's not here. I somehow lost my way. "

My voice quivered genuinely as I was caught in a bad situation and I nervously fidgeted my fingers, something totally contradictory to my confident self.
The woman sighed and then called out to someone, "Zeenat! Come here and show this girl a room! Let her be there tonight dressed up properly as I will be sending a few men to check her later. "

She shrugged me off with a wave of her hand. The woman, Zeenat took me with her and led me to a barely furnished room. There were some clothes kept out on the bed that she asked me to change into.
Then she left, locking the door behind her.
I couldn't take it anymore! I fell to my knees and tears began escaping my eyes. I was well and truly trapped!

No one could save me immediately!

Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrating. It was Mr. Chakraborty! Thank the Lord that Zeenat had not caught me with a phone!
I immediately picked it up. A 'hello? ' sounded from the other end.

"Mr. Chakraborty!" I spoke out fighting the lump that had formed in my throat, "I need help! I am trapped in a brothel. The same place where Sridha had been held captive. The policeman who had been shadowing me is nowhere nearby. My recorder broke when I was struggling against a drunk man! No one knows what exactly is happening! Please contact my seniors if you can and get me out of this! I have a tracker on my body. Ask them to help me please!"

He was about to say something but someone was opening the locked door! I hurriedly disconnected the call and hid my phone under the bed.

It was Zeenat. She had got me some jewelry. I hastily wiped my tears and she noticed.

She came near me and touched my shoulder before saying, "You are new here so you feel upset but a few days after being in this hell, not even the toughest of all situations could bring tears to your eyes. I have been in your position, so I know, but toughen up, and that is all I can say."

This brought more tears to my eyes and the moment she left again locking the door behind her, I broke down inconsolably!
Flashes from my life greeted my eyes before I passed out hyperventilating and crying.

..................

Indrayan's pov:

I had been told by Ms. Roy that she and her team would be going back to the red light area with the police to gather more evidence. I had warned against going but she insisted that her team had a brilliant plan and that she believed that it would all work out. She was the only girl on her team who had agreed to be a part of this operation.

I had also given her a small history lesson about the cases, crimes, and criminals which belonged to the locality she was going to. I wished her team luck and waited till 6.30 in the evening for updates.

Her teammates Abhijit and Peter who had disguised as human traffickers had to switch their handsets off for security reasons, hence I couldn't reach them. I called up Vinay and he said he had been following Sampurnaa when they lost track of her. Her tracker was still on and they were trying hard to get her location. None of them apart from Sampurnaa had her cell phone so no one was able to contact her. Her recorder had gone off and there was panic evident in the air.

I was afraid too.

Afraid for that confident woman whose eyes spoke lengths to you. I was afraid for that fearless reporter who had not hesitated even once before jumping into danger for the sake of unveiling the truth.
I tried calling her cell innumerable times. The network seemed to be poor. Finally, after 30 minutes of trying, the call was put through to her. Someone picked up and hearing her voice brought relief to me.
But it was short-lived. Her rapid flurry of words spoken frantically worried me even more.

She abruptly disconnected the call before I could get a word in. I refrained from calling her again. There must have been a reason why she had disconnected the call.
I rang up her senior and informed him all that Sampurnaa told me.
He was worried and so was the team. The cyber branch of the police was trying to track her.

Her parents had been trying to contact her and had been unable to do so. They had to be told the truth and were in an inconsolable state.

I immediately decided to leave for the studio and also contacted my juniors who had informers near the red light area. She had to be safe...

For her own sake...

For the sake of fulfilling her promise...

For unveiling the truth to the world...

And for achieving all that she aspired to.

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To be continued...
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A/N

There's just one chance in a million that I will update during the weekend. Nevertheless, I will try.
The story is just beginning...
This is definitely going to get complicated, twisted, and thrilling...
I hope the readers enjoy it all.
Please vote, comment, and share if you can🙏
Cheers,
Shubhadittya