Shraman. ....

       Their blindfolds were removed to reveal that they were in a windowless room, dimly lit by a single fluorescent tubelight. ..a stale smell hung in the air suggesting that the room had been kept unused for longer time. ..

     Shravan rolled his orbs to get clear vision. ..

  There were three chairs and swiftly shravan and suman were bound to two of them. ..

  'Now what. .? '

   To interupt his thoughts, an average sized man with a pleasant smile entered. And took the third chair. ....four  armed men stood at his either sides.. ..

    He sat facing them. ..His demeaner suggested shravan that he must be the leader. .?

   Shravan stared back at him defiantly. ..shravan wasn't terrified as he had encountered countless dangerous missions. ..yet, he didn't want to get suman into anymore trouble than they were in already. ..

    " you know what I want. .."the man leaned forward and looked hard into shravan. ..

" What. .? "    shravan said blankly, unable to find his motive. ..

  The man's face grew into a menacing smile. ..

" don't show up your smartness Mr. malhothra. .."

  He warned. ..

" I really don't know what you're talking about "

  He shook his head annoyed. ..

    In a nod,  one of the side standers approached shravan and lashed out hard at his cheek. ..now, blood trickled down his face. ..

" now, did you know what I want. .?"

The man grinned,  cruelly ..

  Before shravan could react, sumo screached in terror. ...

   " What do you want idiots. ..don't you hear him saying that he don't know what you look for. ?"

  Her breath gasped unable to hold the overpowered situation. ..her eyes filled with tears at looking Shravan's pain. ...

  
   " Oh. ..Ho. ...I forgot. ..you're newly wedded, right. .?  She cries for your pain. ..that's amazing. ..."

His devilish laugh blanched suman. ..her eyes blink at shock. ..

  He pulled his chair close to shravan. ...

  " listen to me, I know your father had sent you some mails. .."

He hissed. ...

At these words, Shravan's head snapped back up for a moment ...and, this wasn't missed by the man .

    Shravan struggled to hold his emotions. ..a raw fury arose, as he realized that these men had a connection to his father's murder. ..or ...they must be  the murderers too .

  At a flash, shravan kept control over his fury as he understood that they won't hesitate to kill suman if they sensed something strange. ..a plan drew at his mind. ..

    " fine. ..yes. ..He had sent me the mails. ..but, as you think they were not much valuable. ..I can forward them to you too if you wish. ..."

   He said in a calm tone. ..

"Not again ...."  He mumbled. .."Mr. malhothra. ..I know you. ..and your father too. ..Each sentences on those mails were of important cues that eventually lead to what we exactly need for. ..and. ..that could be done only by you. .."

  Shravan eyed him amused as though he hear the idea for the very first time. ..

" is it so. ..?Then. ..i may need time to look into it. .."

He jerked, trying to pretend casual. ..

" farooq. .."   He turned at his man. ..

  Farooq, who stood at a typical gym boy  mode forwarded and gave away some papers to the leader. ...

" so, here are the printouts of the mail. ..read and re-read ..."

  Shravan couldn't believe his eyes as they were the same mails that were sent by ramnath to him. ..

   " where did you get these from. ?"   He curtained his rage and asked. ..

  " your father's laptop. ...and I mean what I say. ..get to work and figure out the mails. ..you have time until sunrise. ..I trust you now. ..if you dismiss and it would be fatal I guess...."

  He spoke eyeing at suman. ..

  She shrunk in fear. ..

With that, he walked away followed by the guards. ..

The door closed with heavy bolts, sealing them in. ..

      Suman looked at shravan. ..

" Shravan. ..you know what you're doing. .?they are not ordinary street thugs. .."

  She said concerned. ..

But, shravan didn't hear her. ..He was lost into his thought that the familiar mails seemed different in the printout. ..shravan was able to  read the cues with ease at the print out. ..His mind shuddered to think ramnath s intelligence. ..His body trembled to know how much his father had put himself into this danger all alone. ..He teared, and made a promise to slash them into the wind. ..but, that was not the right time to think rather to act to save suman ....

    He sat quiet for sometime, clenching his eyes. ..then, his eyes explored each corner of the room. ..shravan stood up ,still strapped to the chair as his legs were free and the chair was light weighted. ..

  He moved around the room and found no way out except the main door. ..

Shravan moved to sumo and looked at the knot. ..her fingers were free. ..

" sumo. ..will you do that. .?"

He asked, arching his brows. ..

  She nodded with a glint. ..

Shravan turned and moved slowly closure to her, positioning himself in such a way that sumo could loosen the nylon rope at Shravan's hands. .

Minutes passed slowly, agonising. ..but, the knot refused to untie. ..Perspiration beaded her forehead as she toiled to set shravan free, thinking that this would be the only rescue they had at hand

    They had no means of tracking time and they didn't know exactly when they would be back. ..as of now, they persevered to untie the knot, though it was aching. ...

    Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside. ..the sound of the bolts being drawn came to their ears. ..shravan froze to understand that the time was up. ..Suman huffed in frustration. ..sumo gritted her teeth to hold her numbing wrist and tugged at the knot to loosen. ..

  The door swung open, farooq was visible with the leader...

  Sumo gave a cry to put her full energy and the knot had finally come undone because of her persistent try. .. 

Shravan quickly freed his hands. ..He  squeezed his throbbing fingers. ..a gush of adrenaline gave him the strength,just as farooq and the leader got in. ..

    Farooq 's eyes widened as he realised that shravan was free. ..but, before he could act shravan  gave the hundred pounds punch at his ribs, which was enough to break his lungs. ...blood sprung out his mouth. ..

   Mean while, the leader approached shravan at backside , which wasn't noticed by shravan. ..

  Suman, still bound to her chair was alert ,and knocked him down by a superlative kick at his lower belly. ...

Shravan who turned to attack the leader at last minute stood froze at suman. ..

  " you slapped my shravan. ..you dirty idiot. ..."

Suman stepped on his back heavily, bounded to the chair. ..

   Sumo saw shravan staring at her. ..she raised her brows at him , asking what. .?

He nodded to say , nothing. ..

" Mrs. malhothra. .."

She waggled her brows at him, pride. ..

  Shravan grinned as he untied her ropes. ..sumo massaged her hands quickly to bring them sense. ..

  Luckily, they overpowered the two men without much alarm. ..

Now, they didn't know where they were. .? How many of them still had left in that old building. .?how would they tackle them. .?

  They slowly crept to the door cautiously. ..shravan peeped out a bit and the corridor was left unguarded for their support. ..

  It seemed that the room was at the end of the corridor. ..they moved stealthily forward until they found the staircase. ..

It seemed that, the room they had been kept was on the lowest level of the building. ..they waited for few seconds and ascended the steps as there were no one. ..

  They strode to the flight of stairs, that eventually led to a large hall  looked like a living room....

There was no sign of men around. ..perhaps, shraman s luck played a role. ..

  Shravan pranced to the windows silently and viewed outside. ..

It was the first gleam of morning sun. ..sumo reached shravan and pointed their BMW that was parked outside. ..

   Quietly, they reached front door and opened it. ..the hinges creaked loudly , that's all enough to alert the thugs. ..

  They froze to hear the shouts from the house. ..

   The sound of running feet came to them from the underground. ..perhaps, they had learnt that the captives had their way to escape. ..

   Shravan didn't wait. ..His ultimate aim was to secure suman. ..He dragged her to the car which was left with key luckily. ..

  Before igniting the car, shravan looked the building back to have a sketch over mind. ..

Behind them was the three storey building which was barrel land around and in the distance he could see a silhouette of the hills. .He had no idea where they were. ..

  Shravan stepped on the accelerator, shravan turned the rear view mirror to glance back the men who were attacking them behind. ..

" shravan. ..watch out. ..they're shooting at us. .."

Suman yelled at fear gripped in. ..

Shravan took a sharp turn swiftly to make sure the bullets wouldn't reach the target. ..

Shravan accelerated again in a final attempt to neglect the shots and the car rushed forward...it was a blessing that the bullets had missed the fuel tank. ..

    Shravan sighed in relief as they reached the main road , hoping that they were safe. ..

------------------------------------------------------

   Hufffff. ...

   Shraman managed to escape. ..how do you think shravan would get those clues. .?render your ideas too. ..

I thank you all for the encouraging comments. ..it really makes my mind up to do better. ..because, this is a unique genre I have never tried so far. ..and I need your tremendous support to bring me forward. ..

   Do vote and comment. ..recommend too if this book worths so. ..

Love,

Arulpirai. ..