Manish Murthy

I was sleeping on the bed when suddenly someone poured a glass of water on me. I quickly opened my eyes and sat straight on my bed. It was my room. I was on the corner of the room, on my bed, with a desk for study purposes with a desktop system on it in front of me. I turned right and saw my sister standing in front of me and saying, “Some habits never change, right?”

I scratched my head which stored my uncombed hairs and nodded. Then, I stretched my arms on both the sides and said, “Yes,”

“Now get up from that bed and study. You’re not here to enjoy, and you still have to attend college after a week.” She turned back towards the door and, while going, said, “You can even try calling a friend to get today’s notes. Make sure you don’t have much homework to do when you go there again.”

I tilted my head downwards at my legs. I remembered that bottle which I was keeping inside my bag. “I hope he’s all right by now.” I turned towards the door on my right, and thought, “But, how should I tell about this to sister?”

Kartik Khandelwal

I stepped inside the room with my black backpack hung on my right shoulder. I looked leftwards towards everyone sitting and looking at me as I entered. Radhika, then, entered the room and looked at the team. I kept my bag beside my desk, which was facing them, and then turned at them. Radhika kept her handbag on one of the empty desks in the front and sat. Everyone looked at her as she looked at me. I looked at everyone, when I suddenly cleared my throat. “Ahem! As the head of this group, I think it’s my responsibility to make you all meet a new member, Radhika.” She nodded and tilted her head down. She was smiling. “Why’re you smiling, by the way?”

“That leader-like stuff looks awkward on you, Kartik.”

“Wait,” Prakash screamed, “Are you that Radhika?”

“Hmm… I don’t know about your ‘that Radhika’, but I guess it’s me.”

He raised a hand at her and said, “Long time no see, girl! You look good, as usual.”

She shook his hand and replied, “I don’t think just a plain empty formal suit looks good on me, but thanks.”

“Do you all know each other?” Richa asked. “I mean, from before.”

“Yes, we were all college friends,” Prakash energetically replied. “I still remember how we used to tease Kartik.”

“What?” Radhika asked.

“This is turning into a melodrama,” Sonia commented.

“But I never thought we’d be working on the same case one day. Anyways, where were you up until now?” Prakash asked Radhika.

“I was on some serious mission for quite some time since my joining. And, don’t act like you don’t know a thing.”

Prakash gave a creepy smile at her comment and said, “Okay, Radhika.” He thought, “I never thought that she’d say such a thing in the middle of a public place.”

I clapped my hands in midair and announced, “Okay then, if we’re done with the talks and greetings, let’s start today’s meeting.”

“Yes, Radhika, he’s more of a teacher,” Prakash replied.

“Wha-- I never asked!” She said.

“Stop it, you two!” I scolded them.

“Okay,” Prakash raised his hands. “I surrender, my lord.”

“Okay then, I wanna tell you something very important. Today, we’ll discuss about what we need to do next.” I had every eye in the room on me. “First, I’d like to say that Mr. Mukesh was a good man. He gave up his life in order to complete this case. He may never have felt it, but there was evil lurking on him. Before it preys on one of us too, I wanna tell you that… this is becoming worse.” At this, everyone looked at each other in fright. Radhika looked at me with the same sense of fright and nodded, giving me the sign to go on. “So, yesterday, as you all may know, I was at a meeting with the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Rahul Khanna, and Prime Minister, Mr. Keshav Arora. I was there to ask for some help, but I never ever have considered this possibility to be true.”

Richa’s eyes were wide open as she thought, “I suppose I know what he’s gonna say next.”

“The Eye of Suicide is famous for political murders, as we must have seen through our last assignment. Richa, can you share the conclusion of that report with all?”

She stood up, moved up her handbag on top of her desk, and moved her hand inside. She took out a folder, and with the folder in her left hand, she opened it through her right one. “So, uh…” She started. “I just got to know that over ninety percent of murders thought to be done by TES are of politicians or any family member, friend or any important figure associated with the politician. The politicians who have seen such murders often come out of the political race themselves.”

“This data reveals that either the politician is murdered, or he’s warned and threatened by the murder of someone close to him,” I announced. “So, we can clearly conclude that the murders done by TES are political most of the time.” I turned right side and said, “Maybe that’s why we were given nothing from the meeting yesterday. The government is afraid what would happen if we somehow crack this case, or got enough proof to convince the existence of The Eye of Suicide.”

“Then, sir,” Richa asked. “What are we supposed to do next?”

“I, yesterday, had an anonymous call from a person who said he’s ready to give us a tip if we visit him in Kahanapur.”

“Never heard of that one,” Sonia said. “There must be something fishy.”

“So, I, along with Prakash, will leave for Kahanapur as soon as possible. As for you all, I’d suggest to continue this case and look for the ‘fourth mole’. If we catch any mole, we can get some good amount of intel.”