Though Sashi had mentally predicted the search patterns of the police and Vishal, he was relaxed owing to the fact that he wasn't looking like his past self anymore.
He no longer sported a beard, and the tinted glasses he had worn that day had unintentionally served him well. He had been wearing them that day just because of the sharp sunshine. Who knew it would shield him so well in the future?
Sashi's phone had, however, been ringing with continuous calls from his superiors. Every time he picked up, one person or the other would shout his head off on the other end, demanding what he was doing. They asked him about the hustlers, what his plan was, the reason he was seeking attention in such a national level, and when he would stop his personal agenda.
Sashi practically begged them to give him two more days at least. He was still handling some of their financial transactions and he wanted to wrap them up as well and pass on the duties and details to one of his co-workers, just in case something happens to him. He asked his superiors to understand him just once, that it was a personal vendetta he had been carrying with himself for years now and that he would make sure none of their people in their gang or underground network get dragged into it.
He had to plead vehemently, for the person at the other end of the call was the one in whose tutelage Sashi had grown into the criminal he was. That man had clarified to him on the call that they would be handing over Sashi's details to the police to take some heat off their backs; and that in a day or two, Sashi would be killed first by his own people rather than letting him fall into the hands of the authorities.
He had crossed too many lines and was a risk to their underground organization.
Sashi knew the end, had always been aware of it. "Okay," he half-heartedly agreed. "I would ask you just one last favour. If you really want to surrender my details to the police, give them my old pictures. Tell them I have always been in the shadows and that not much information is available on me. I just need two more days. I will end this on my own."
He was being threatened in a really dark manner. Yet, to Sashi, it was nothing compared to how he had been threatened by his own father years ago.
That evening, as he headed to the basement, he made up his mind to spill everything to Mitra. It was the last option he had to make her understand and prefer him more than others.
This time, Mitra was waiting with bated breath as she heard Sashi's footsteps in the corridor outside the basement. She was wondering what it would be about this time. These days, Sashi seemed to only bring her bad news about his connection to her every time he came for a discussion.
Sashi took one look at her as soon as stepped into the room and felt his work would be easy. Mitra was sitting at the edge in her chair, anticipation and dread written all over her face, her hands clasped together and fingers intertwined, as if she was hoarding and restricting all her power in that grasp of hers and in her fingertips that seemed to dig into her own flesh.
Sashi gave her a watery smile as a greeting and then went about setting up his camera, turned it on and settled into his own chair. Mitra microscopically observed his actions and bearing, hoping for a hint on how the evening would be.
That was when she noticed a gun jutting out of the ruffles of his shirt, half tucked in at the waist band of his pant near his hip.
Mitra froze, not out of fear but out of extreme unease about the unpredictable behaviour of Sashi.
Normally, a gun in the hands of any other criminal would have seeded the idea of death and doom in Mitra's head; she would have accepted in a split second that she was going to die. But, it was different with Sashi.
He was temperamental, too layered and had a terrifying obsession with her. He wasn't someone who would kill her so readily.
She watched with a mounting tension as Sashi sat silently. He didn't initiate the talk this time. He simply lounged, waiting for Mitra to break the ice.
Finally, Mitra gulped her worries away, took a deep breath and opened up the one issue that had been burdening her all along to Sashi.
"I am curious how no one's finding you when you are consistently uploading incriminating videos online. I thought it would be easy to track with IP address and user names and what not. Is it even you who's posting them, or have you got men doing that for you?"
Sashi shrugged. "That's a very simplistic approach you are suggesting. There are much more intricate ways of tracking cyber activity. Fortunately, I know almost all of them. I don't have to delegate this work to others. I am more of a genius when it comes to computer systems and networks."
"Hard to believe you to be capable of something that delightful." She looked a wee bit surprised as her eyes twitched.
Sashi's lips crooked into a smile. "I should thank you for that."
Mitra's disbelief was so evident on her face that it made Sashi chuckle. He leaned forward and let her in on his secret, "The book you left on the road that time, when you were bullied. Remember, I picked it up. It was an introductory book on computer networks. I hadn't been to school much, so I've never had any dreams or ambitions that came with the tag of education. But, I thought you liked working with computers, and wondered if we meet again I should have some common ground to talk to you. The subject looked interesting, and you seemed to like it too. So, I spent all of my youth studying it. I specialized in it. As you can see, now I am able to fend for myself."
Mitra closed her eyes in frustration. Is there no end to the number of life decisions he made out of his obsession with me? The thought swirled in her head.
"Why is everything about you related to me?" she sighed.
"Because you were my only friend and I liked you," he answered with a straight face.
Mitra did a facepalm quite loudly, growling the words, "And we're back to that." She took her hand off her face and with an evident vexation in her look and tone, voiced, "You really should have other avocations in your life. Or at least stop implicating me in everything you do and own up straightforwardly that your choices were all fuelled by your own convictions."
Sashi looked offended as he retorted, "At least I don't pretend to do something "meaningful". I do what I want which is related to someone I like."
"You are wrong," Mitra uttered, the sharpness of her words spiking up slowly. She looked straight at him and continued, "You were wrong about one thing. I didn't shoot the videos of people's wrongdoings for moral policing them, or for showing off my superiority or hypocrisy of any type. I shot them because I didn't want to forget another criminal's face ever again."
Sashi didn't seem like he was following her words.
Mitra crossed her legs at the knees, leaning forward in an intimidating way and clarified, "I should thank you for that. The night Lekha died, I didn't take a clear look at you. The next day when I reported you to the police, I couldn't remember your face at all. No matter how much I thought, focused, prayed and replayed the scene I witnessed of you strangling Lekha in my head, I wasn't able to recall or picture your face. You have no idea howtormenting that is. I blamed myself for having such poor recognition skills and vowed to myself to never repeat the same mistake again. Since then, till now, every time I spot any wrong activity, I have gotten into the habit of taking pictures and videos. So that if ever needed, even if my memory fails me, I would have the face of the culprit captured. You were lucky I didn't have my phone in my hands when you kidnapped that pimp, and we didn't even have much time to stall and take pictures with you going on the run. But the traffic accident, and the other videos on my social media? I filmed them to keep a track of everyone who wronged others in one way or another. I bet even now people would be using that video to find out about you. You will be caught very soon."
Sashi got an inkling of the course of Mitra's action. Yes, he had influenced her life just as she had done to him.
With pursed lips, he contemplated for a few seconds and said, "They are trying to find me, yes. But, it won't be easy." He leaned back in resignation and after a brief moment of silence, spoke, "Besides, even if you had remembered my face that day, it would have been of not much consequence. You didn't see everything. A lot happened between what you saw and what you didn't."
His gaze pierced Mitra's trembling eyes as he revealed, "I am not the culprit of Lekha's murder. I am not one of the three involved in it. I am a primary witness."