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Word Count : 3600

Song : Skyfall

https://youtu.be/3ItRUJIq3xE

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27 | The Search At Night

11th May 2023

2200 Hrs. |Night|

"Nishchay, this particular space here..." Pointing the sharp tip of the HB pencil at a certain part of the blueprint on the massive work table, Mahadevan continued, "This space between these two finials seems monotonous. It needs to be a lot more organic, so how about we create a quadrant here?"

Nishchay Adhikari was a senior architect at Dogra Corporation, directly working under Mahadevan himself.

Glancing at the space where his superior was pointing, he quietly assessed the arch between the two finials. "Sounds good. If we do add a curve here, it will create an unhindered movement, almost a form of fluidity. It will feel much more natural." He put his point forward.

Mahadevan hummed while tidily rubbing off the previously drawn straight line with an eraser and then replacing it with a clean curve with one dexterous stroke of the pencil in his fingers.

He then lifted his head to catch a glimpse of the old Thomas Tompion clock on the wall. How time had passed for the clock to reflect ten-thirty p.m. on it was something beyond his comprehension. He had drowned himself in work since morning to shut off all the abstruse sentiments that were nitpicking at the core of his worst characteristic traits---the same ones that had the power to pulverize whatever little he had so gruelingly earned in the last few months.

Two crisp knocks on the door caused him and Nishchay to divert their attention towards the entranceway.

"Enter." He instructed while scrolling through a few more blueprints on his MacBook.

Shortly after, Karim entered the majestic Victorian-era office with a cell phone in his hand and Manoramaa on his trail.

"Sahib." Karim bowed his head in respect.

"Sir." Manoramaa followed suit with a formal greeting.

The moment Mahadevan's eyes met with those of his most trusted aide, he knew something was up. So with two swift movements of his digits, he shut down the lid of his laptop and then turned around to face the heedless fourth human in his office. "Nishchay, can we discuss this later? I have something else to look after."

Nishchay Adhikari quickly picked up his laptop and got up from the visiting chair he was settled on. "Sure, sir. I'll take my leave."

Mahadevan nodded.

With one single bow of his head, the senior architect turned around and briskly walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

Averting his eyes from the Brazilian Rosewood door, Mahadevan fixed his gaze on Karim and Manoramaa while folding his arms across his chest. "What happened?" He asked.

Karim glanced at the cell phone in his hand for a second and then said, "Geeta was trying to call you, and she said that you were not picking up her calls."

Mahadevan knitted his brows together in confusion while reaching out for his phone, which was kept on the table. As the screen of the handy device came alive, he focused his eyes on the man and woman before him again. "Oh, I apologize. She did call me. But I guess I mistakenly turned on the silent mode on my phone, so I didn't hear the ringtone."

"That's fine, sir. Here, she is on call." Saying so, Manoramaa handed over the cell phone in Karim's hand to Mahadevan.

Uncertainty shadowed his visage as he placed the cell phone on his right ear. "Yes... Geeta? I am sorry for not acknowledging your call. My phone was in silent mode, so I didn't hear the ringtone. What happened, though?"

"It's okay, Sahib. I just wanted to ask, Did madam contact you in the evening?" Geeta's worried voice resonated from the other side, along with someone's faint snoring.

A frown took over his face as Mahadevan wetted his chapped lips. "No, she has not." And then suddenly something dawned upon him: "Wait, what? You mean, she has not reached home till now?!"

"No, Sahib, she has not reached home till now, and this is why I was trying to contact you all along. She generally reaches home by eight p.m. every day, or at the most nine thirty. And even if she thinks that she'll be late, she promptly calls me to inform me about it. But today, it's already ten-forty p.m., but neither has she called me to inform me about her being late, nor am I able to reach her through the phone. She hasn't even left me a message, and the tele-operator is continuously repeating the same thing---that her phone is switched off. But, Sahib, what's worrying me the most is the fact that she hasn't called or face timed even once throughout the day to talk to Anirudh today. I mean, it's her routine---calling or face timing to check up on Anirudh every day from her office, at least twice." She sighed.

In a second, his hands started sweating as a certain kind of distress spread across his abdomen. His chest constricted painfully as he gulped with difficulty. "Don't worry; she must be stuck in some work. I'll go and get her, and then both of us will come home together." Rubbing his left hand across his face, he continued, "Where is Ani, by the way? Have both of you had your dinner? And who is this snoring in the background?"

"Yes, both of us have had our dinner. And it's Vijay Sahib who is snoring in the background. Both Ani and him are sleeping together in Ani's playroom."

Now added to his anxiety was another emotion: confusion. "Vijay Bhai? Vijay Bhai is at home?"

"Yes, he is here. He came to meet Madam and Ani in the evening, but then he saw that Ani was alone at home with me while I was in a hurry to go home because Ajay is coming early in the morning tomorrow. So, he insisted on staying back with Ani." He heard her halting her words for a second, after which she whispered, "And Sahib, knowing how paranoid Vijay Sahib is about madam, I lied to him that both madam and you are out for a get-together at a friend's place. He acted a bit suspicious initially, but then he took it. So, it is safe to say that he is not aware of any of these things till now."

Taking a shaky breath, Mahadevan said, "Thanks for that, Geeta. It's too late anyway, but since you said that Ajay is coming back tomorrow, it's better if you leave for home now. Vijay Bhai is there, so I don't think we need to worry about Ani. Okay?"

"Alright, Sahib, I'll go. Just bring madam back home all safe and sound."

"I will."

Disconnecting the call, he turned around to look at Karim and Manoramaa. And judging by the expressions on their faces, he knew that both of them knew about the issue at hand. Forwarding the cell phone in his hand towards Karim, he exhaled.

"Should we go to the SIT headquarters, Sahib? I feel she might be there." Karim said while taking a step forward.

"We can't." Clasping the sweaty and quivering phalanges of his right hand around his left wrist, he shook his head.

"But why, sir?" Manoramaa asked in perplexity.

"The news of our marriage has not been disclosed in the public domain till now. Hinduja needed some time--- to be specific, she needed time till the end of this month. And in case she is safe, which I believe she is, our visit to the SIT office will rouse suspicion, which will eventually expose her relationship with me to outsiders. And Manoramaa, my wife is a logical individual. If she has said that she needs time until the end of this month to reveal our relationship in the public eye, it means there is a rational reason behind it, which is something I would never question. So, basically, we need to find out her whereabouts from here itself." He spoke out contemplatively. "So, do this thing first- call our informer who is stationed at the headquarters and ask him discreetly if any of the SIT team members are still there inside the building, hm?"

Following his directive, Manoramaa strode towards the left corner of the magisterial office while extracting her phone from her pants pocket.

Karim clasped his arms across his chest and asked. "Sahib, can you recollect and tell me who all know about your marriage with Madam till date?"

Scrunching his eyebrows together, Mahadevan trailed, "Both of our parents and siblings, the government officials who were present in that marriage registrar's office the day we got married, Geeta, you, Manoramaa, Gurung, Poorna and the house-keeping staff back at the manor and a few of our other security officials. Then, Joseph, Suzanne, Tapan, Manisha, Aryan, and Prithvi and their respective kids. But then all of these people---everyone, including those government officials--- were strictly instructed not to divulge the news of our marriage to anyone."

"Anyone from the Leela Sky Villas, perhaps?" Karim put his question on the table.

"No, Hinduja always uses our private elevator, which opens directly at the back door of the apartment complex's ground floor, because of which no one has ever seen her, plus we don't even go out together due to this same reason. Once, a few senior ladies did witness her taking out Anirudh to play in the playground. Thankfully, she had conveniently brought the matter in her favor by saying that she was one of Anirudh's new nannies, so they didn't delve into it much." He answered back.

"Okay, but think about it, Sahib--- anyone else? Anyone else who knows?"

Mahadevan took a few seconds to ponder upon the question Karim had asked. "Yes, I guess. That day, at Sebastian's baptism ceremony, Joseph and Suzanne had only invited some of their closest relatives, including their parents, and all of us friends to the ceremony and the after-reception. All those people did see Inu with me and Anirudh." Taking a brief pause, he scratched his chin. "But then, after she left for her office in the afternoon that day, Joseph had appealed for them to not disclose about us to anyone following my request. And all of them did agree with him regarding this matter."

Karim sighed as Mahadevan redirected his gaze at his assistant. "Any update, Manoramaa?"

The said woman shook her head. "He is saying that other than the officers who have their duties in the control room tonight and the quick reaction team members, no one else is present inside the building."

Mahadevan clamped his eyes shut and ran his hand through his hair in distress. "Okay." He breathed out. "Manoramaa, I gave you my wife's phone number, didn't I?"

"Yes, sir." She respectfully shot back.

"Then call her continuously for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. I know Geeta said that her phone is switched off, but who knows when it might turn on? Okay?"

"Sure, sir!"

Mahadevan then latched his gaze back on Karim. "Gurung didn't report to me today, which means he didn't follow his regular duty pattern today. Where is he? Summon him here, right now!"

Karim hesitated for a second. "Sorry, Sahib, he can't come."

"Why?" Now, highly anxious and vexed, Mahadevan inquired in irritation.

"Loose motions. He had too many momos yesterday evening." Karim rolled his eyes.

"What the fuck! That moron!"

Manoramaa chuckled from the other end of the magisterial workspace.

"Enough! Karim, is there anyone else in our extended security team apart from Gurung who is adept in tech-related sectors like cyberspace, hacking, and stuff?" He asked tersely.

"Yes, Sahib, Nandan Wadhva. He has just joined, but he is good at his work."

"Call him here, now." Clasping his hands behind his back, Mahadevan ordered, "And ask him to come with all his equipment prepared."

With a quick nod of the head, Karim immediately strutted out of the office.

Five minutes later, twenty-three-year-old Nandan Wadhva entered the presidential office carrying a bag along with himself.

Bolting the door behind him, Karim guided the young boy towards his boss's work desk.

"This is Nandan, Sahib."

A tensed yet blank-faced Mahadevan diverted his attention from the view outside the window to roam his eyes on Nandan's lanky frame.

Without beating around the bush, he directly dived straight into the matter of concern: "Do you possess the skills to hack government websites, Mr. Wadhva?"

Nandan sweated bullets as his nervous eyes assessed the massively built and imposingly intimidating figure standing four meters away from him. "Yes, sir." He mumbled.

"Wonderful." Pointing at the left corner of the office where Manoramaa stood with her phone latched to her left ear beside a worktable, he said, "Set up your system over there. I need you to finish a task for me."

Nandan bobbed his head up and down and then beelined in the direction of the spot that his boss had just highlighted.

As Karim noticed Nandan moving towards the table from his peripheral vision, he finally about-faced to gaze at Mahadevan and ask, "Sahib, what are you planning?"

With his stoic eyes fixated on the young boy setting up a set of devices on the table, Mahadevan said, "Her phone is still switched off. Neither has she reached home nor is she present inside the SIT headquarters, and as per my knowledge, the SDM office must also be closed at this time. She didn't even drive her Scorpio to her office in the morning. I was the one who dropped her off at Kalindi Chowk at exactly ten a.m. in the morning as per her directives. But during breakfast, I remember her saying that she'd be outside for some official work with one of her coworkers, which means whoever that coworker is, he or she must have picked her up from somewhere around Kalindi Chowk itself. And that's where this guy will come to our help."

"How though?" Karim inquired skeptically.

"Come with me." Saying so, Mahadevan picked up his MacBook from his own work desk and advanced towards Manoramaa and Nandan. Karim followed suit.

"Are you done with setting up the equipment?" Mahadevan asked, looking at Nandan.

"Yes, sir." Came a frail reply.

Mahadevan then ensconced his MacBook alongside Nandan's laptop and said, "I hope you know where Kalindi Chowk is."

The young adult feebly nodded in response.

"Good." Taking a roundabout around the edge of the table, Mahadevan settled his palm on it. "I need the traffic surveillance footage of all the CCTV cameras installed in and around that area from nine-fifty-nine to eleven a.m. this morning."

"You want me to hack the servers of the Delhi Traffic Police?" Eyes wide open, Nandan stared at the commanding frame of the president of the Dogra Conglomerate.

Lifting both of his brows up, Mahadevan tilted his head towards his right shoulder. "Incapable of doing so, Mr. Wadhva?"

"No.. no! I can do it." Nandan stuttered.

"Then do it." Came a curt command.

Nodding his head, Nandan swallowed, sat down on the chair, and then started his work on his laptop. Mahadevan, on the other hand, clicked on a folder to open an image on his MacBook. Instantaneously, a pokerfaced yet beautiful picture of his wife in a pale gray saree flashed across the screen of the device. His eyes automatically softened.

Turning the laptop around, he said, "Here, this lady--- check for her in those surveillance footages. The moment you spot her, you'll tell me, okay?"

"Okay, sir." Nandan Wadhva acceded to his orders.

Mahadevan gave him a once-over and then walked towards his table while Karim stayed behind to assess Nandan's work.

Manoramaa glanced at her boss's apprehensive gait and announced, "Sir, madam's phone is still switched off."

Mahadevan didn't volt-faced to look at her. He just nodded his head and kept walking towards the window on the other end of the office.

Both Manoramaa and Karim sighed in unison, while Nandan sensed the tensed atmosphere of the place he was settled in, clueless of the matter in question he was actually summoned for. Shutting off all the intrusive thoughts accelerating in his mind, he focused on the task at hand. No entity, living or nonliving, wished to come into Mahadevan Dogra's bad books anyway, and he too was no different. He valued his life for god's sake!

Redirecting his gaze from his computer screen, he assessed the image of the unknown lady on his boss's MacBook.

If the terms elegance and beauty were to be humans, they had to be this woman. Jet black and wavy hair in a formal low bun, sharp eyes that happened to possess irises embracing the darkest shade of black, an impassive visage with not even a hint of smile but definitely a countenance that screamed the phrase- 'grace personified', and then there was her body profile, garbed modestly in a plane grey linen saree.

His eyes shone with a different emotion as he scanned her figure from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. "Hot." Before he could even comprehend the word that left his mouth, he felt someone grabbing the back of his neck and dashing his face straight against the wooden surface of the table before him.

A deafening bang reverberated in the confines of the presidential office, followed by a torturous yelp.

Mahadevan turned around in response and asked, "What happened?"

Manoramaa, whose right hand tightly held on to Nandan's neck, replied, "Nothing, sir."

The equipment on the table was restricting Mahadevan from spotting Manoramaa's hand on Nandan's neck. "But I heard some weird noises a few seconds back." He trailed with his eyebrows knitted together.

Sensing the situation, Karim joined in: "Just a lot of mosquitoes, Sahib. I hit a few on the table; you must have heard that."

"Mosquitoes? here?" Mahadevan's frown deepened.

"Yes, Sir." Manoramaa firmly answered.

"Oh, okay." Turning around, he focused back on the scenery outside the window once again.

Meanwhile, Karim and Manoramaa directed their razor-sharp gazes towards the young boy before them.

"What did you say just now?" Manoramaa seethed in a low voice.

Nandan cowered in fear. "I... I.. didn't," he muttered.

"Out with the truth, kid!" Ordered Karim in blatant rage.

Nandan gulped, "Ho.. hot." He mumbled with his head ducked down.

Placing her left hand steadfastly across Nandan's mouth in order to subdue the scream that was about to escape his mouth, Manoramaa tightly grasped Nandan's hair and then tilted his occiput on the top rail of the chair he was sitting in. Nandan scrunched his eyes in pain, unable to make any noise at the same time.

Karim slowly crouched down to his level.

"Listen, pretty boy, if you don't want me to arrange your funeral first thing tomorrow morning, I would suggest that you halt the movements of that despicable little organ inside your mouth." Projecting his index finger at the familiar figure of a woman on the computer screen, Karim seethed. "This lady here, on the screen, is the Dogra Matriarch, and dare you let out any words of perversion in regards to her." Supporting his palms against the table, he continued. "I won't do much, I swear, but believe me, that man over there..." Slowly pointing his finger at the perturbed side profile of his boss, he whispered in constrained fury. "That man will quell your breaths off. He will screw up your life in ways unknown to even Satan himself."

Taking a deep breath, he said, "And the lady behind you---let me tell you, she knows the best spots to hide a dead body. Want a demo?" He quirked up his left brow.

Nandan desperately shook his head.

"Then quickly complete the task you are assigned without any bullshit leaving your mouth, understood?"

As Manoramaa took her hand from his mouth, Nandan breathed heavily. "Yes.. yes." He mumbled in terror.

"And, another thing---the fact that this lady is the matriarch of the Dogra clan---it should stay within the boundaries of this office. You won't utter a word about this in front of anyone else, clear?" She enjoined.

"Yes, ma'am." Nandan gulped for the third time in a row.

"Good." She remarked with lopsided smile.

Ten minutes later, Karim approached his boss. "Sahib, that kid is doing well; we will get the footage in five minutes more."

Mahadevan hummed, still deep in thought, his long and sturdy fingers scratching his chin. "Karim, Hinduja's assistant---that ex-serviceman---"

"Bakhtawar?" Karim completed his statement.

"Yes, him. Find out his contact information and summon him here. He might know something."

"Alright, Sahib."

"Also, you were asking me earlier if anyone else knew about my marriage with Inu, weren't you?"

Karim nodded as a ruminative mien took over his visage.

"Someone else did know." Place his palm on the window sill. Mahadevan continued, "You remember that day on Sebastian's baptism ceremony, Anirudh had gone missing for some time?"

"And all of you found him at the canteen later on." Came an instant reply from Karim.

"Yes. The man who looked after Anirudh while we were searching around for him---I mistakenly revealed my relationship with Inu in front of him. We found out Anirudh after some twenty minutes or something, because of which my mind had become too jumbled up to comprehend anything. So, when he asked me, Who Hinduja was?...I simply introduced her as my wife in front of him without thinking of the consequences." Mahadevan explained.

"Who was he, though?" Karim questioned in return with hands clasped behind his back.

"Bishop Anoop Philip."

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