Kartik Khandelwal

I stopped the car at a distance from the ambulance, and after watching some men taking stretchers inside the station, I was shocked. “What the hell happened in here?” I was worried. I quickly got off the car and so did Prakash. We first stood there for a second while I locked the car, and then ran inside the station at once. I ran down the banner of ‘Connaught Place Police Station’ hung at the open steel gate. The station had an open ground at the front, with the building facing it. I turned left and entered the station building. At the hall, I saw a large crowd facing the other side of the entrance. The policemen of the whole station which were there at that time had gathered to watch the incident in awe. I pushed the men and women sideways and tried to go past the crowd to see what had attracted such a large crowd. “Something’s wrong, and that ‘something’ is definitely connected to my case,” I thought as I started smelling blood. I took out my white handkerchief from my pant and covered my nose. I suddenly pushed the man at the front line, who watched me back with sorrowful eyes. He was the Station House Officer, whom I recognized by his white mustache “Mr. Khandelwal,” He said. “I’m…”

I first looked at him with suspicious eyes, and then I looked at what everyone had their eyes on. My eyes suddenly opened wide because of the shock. “Wh-What in the world…” In front of me was a cell where a person was lying dead on the ground. He had a black outfit--black pair of pants upon a black hoodie--and his wrist was bleeding. Beside the wrist was a blade, usually used for cutting hairs. Out of anger, I suddenly held the SHO’s collar and asked him with my frowning face, “Who the hell gave him the blade?!”

“S-Sir, we-we did nothing. This was a-a murder.”

“Wha--” My frowning face now also showed the expressions of surprise due to the revelation.

“I know it’s hard to believe,” The old man said sorrowfully as I gently pulled my hands back. “… but it’s the truth, sir. A person bribed me and I let him… let him talk to that man. H-He gave him the blade, which he probably hid from us. Th-Then, when he saw the right time, he…”

“You bastard!” Prakash cussed him. “Don’t you know how important he was for our case?!”

“We’re very sorry, sir. But, we find bribing a better way than begging to earn some extra money. It-It was our greed that had you at a disadvantage, and we sincerely apologize for this.”

“Do you think that a fucking apology would fix this shit?!” Prakash cussed again as the cell opened and the hospital men with a stretcher entered inside to take the body. Kartik thought deeply while glaring at the men taking the body while the talks between SHO and Prakash continued.

“We know, sir. We’re sorry--”

“Now stop apologi--”

“Wait!” Kartik exclaimed. “Mr. Arora, I think you have cameras here, right? Can I have a look and see the face of the man who gave him the blade?”

“The cams of this area just broke today, sometime before that man entered the station. He had a black hoodie which covered his face, so we can’t help with his face in any way.”

“Okay, I understand.” I turned back and walked away from the crowd into the open ground. “Some open air must help me think of something,” I thought as I walked past the crowd into the ground. Standing on the ground, I started my brainstorming. “The police are at fault. They took money from a bogus man and then let the suspicious figure enter the cell. Mr. Arora can go for a good time in jail, but why is there a suspicious intuition that I’m missing something?” Then suddenly, I had a feeling that someone is having an eye on me. “Someone is glaring at me, but who? And most importantly, why would he--” That’s when I turned rightwards towards the gate and scanned the area through my eyes upwards. I saw him, a man in a tall four-storey building some two lanes away from us.

Manuel Levi

His head turned upwards and suddenly he saw me. He saw me in my khaki camouflage clothes with a binocular, staring at the police station. As we saw each other, I confirmed that he was Inspector Kartik Khandelwal. “What is Mr. Khandelwal doing here? Wait, has it already started?!” Then, I came back to my senses. “Wait, someone has spotted me!” I bent down below the knee-sized wall of the rooftop, but it was too late. I suddenly took my black bag which was kept beside me, and then stifled my binoculars in quickly. Then, I closed the zip of my bag and then stood up. I hurriedly turned at the door of the rooftop behind me and then walked towards it, trying to be as calm as I can handle, and then opened the door. I moved the radio at my hand towards my face and reported, “Elliot Mark-VII, I’m spotted by a policeman, over.”

“Has he seen your face? Over.”

“Probably not. I was thirty meters away from the spot, so there’s no way they can. Over.”

“Great, but you can’t be sure, right? Over.”

“Not sure, over.”

“So don’t retreat, over.”

“Wha--”

“Implement Code Red, over.”

“But--” I tried to explain, but the connection had already been lost. “There were orders to implement Code Red,” I thought. “… but there’s no way I’m gonna do it. I don’t wanna die yet. It’s started, so our freedom is near.” Dashed down the stairs, I was now at the entrance of the building. It was a residential building on top of a shop, so there were only the stairs at the ground floor. I moved out of the stairway and came out. It had a general store attacked to the right side, with a variety of potato chips, soft drinks, bread and all displayed at the front on stands. I walked out of the stairway and walked past the shop after turning right. I was calm, yet I looked suspicious because of my clothing sense.

Kartik Khandelwal

“Hey,” Prakash came out of the station building in search of me. “What are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” I replied as I still stared at the building with the same expression on my face.