Kartik Khandelwal

I sat back on my desk, and with my back sunken on the rest and legs spread out, I tilted my head towards the desk. “Okay then, let’s get to the next part of today’s meeting.” I faded the smile off my face and gave them a scary glare, “… the important one.” Sonia glared at me while shaking her pen between her fingers and Richa moved her back forward to keep her arms on the table. “Yesterday, when I was coming from the meeting with the PM, I got a call.”

There was an eerie silence in the whole room. No one spoke or made any type of noise. Suddenly, Prakash asked, “… And then?”

“And then…” I said in a dramatic way, to create the atmosphere. And, it actually seemed to work, until Prakash stuck his nose in.

Prakash broke it all by saying, “Just say it, man. It’s not a time to create a melodrama scene.”

“Noooo… You. You got it all wr--”

“We got it right, pal,” Sonia cut my sentence. “Just squeak it out.”

Richa chuckled, “Haha! You actually had me, but I guess it all broke.”

“The atmosphere is changed again, ha!” Radhika added. “Just say it or you’re gonna get your ass beaten up.”

“O-Okay,” I was scared by her threatening me.

“We got a new leader here,” Sonia said.

“Kind of,” She said.

“Okay, so I got a call from someone who is ready to give us a tip.”

“Wait, you said you got a tip,” Prakash said.

“No, but we can get one,” I said. “He has said me to visit him in Kahanapur. I don’t know who he is, and neither could I ask him. He literally is a man of few words.”

“But, why Kahanapur?”

“I guess that he lives there, and is not feeling safe to tell such vital information on a phone call,” Radhika explained.

“Moreover,” I added. “… we, as of now, don’t even know where he lives in Kahanapur, or why he is calling us there.”

“So, it means we’re going on some business trip?” Richa asked.

Sonia replied, “Stop dreaming about picnics, Richa.”

I told them, “I’m going there with Prakash. We still don’t know what that man must be planning. Maybe he’s setting up a trap for us.”

“But if it’s a trap, don’t you think that you, the leader of this group, should refrain from going?” Sonia asked. “I mean, the trap would have been set to catch the biggest fish between us--you.”

I looked down and nodded. “Hmm… I know this.” Then, I looked up and innocently replied, “But I’m the leader, and it’s my duty to go there myself and check things once. Moreover, I was the one to say that I’m not afraid of death, so it’s the right time I prove myself.”

“Impressive,” Sonia said.

“So, Prakash, you coming with me?” I asked him in some broken English.

“Yep, brother, sure I am!” He enthusiastically replied.

“Take care of yourselves, you two,” Radhika said. “I’m gonna lead until you’re not back, but it doesn’t mean I can handle a team for long.”

“Ha! Sure,” I replied at such a warm reply.

“So, do you have a plan?” Richa asked. “I guess a plan’s important, and I’m one hundred percent sure that you’d have one.”

“Yeah, I have one,” I said. “I’m thinking that there, we’re likely to meet ‘Aatank-e-Khan’. So, we’re gonna get in there, get ourselves registered and become a part of their group. Then, we’d subsequently get our ranks high up until we reach on the top and start ruling it. Then, we’re gonna--”

“Stop your imagination, Kartik!” Radhika said, “I guess I would still need to lead this group, either you come or not.”

“ Okay, back to the topic, all we’re thinking of is just going there once and start a small investigation. We’d start collecting some pieces of information related to TES and the person who would have contacted us. He seemed old, from his tone, something like fifty-five. So, we can easily match his tone to the recording of the call which is saved on my phone. And, we can easily approach him for the information. But, I guess that it’s highly unlikely, and he’d contact me on his own after a day or two. At last, he is giving us a tip for some of his reason. Obviously, he’d die to give us the tip. So, I guess that we need not worry that much.”

“He must be having some sort of connection with TES. So, if we leak this outside that you two are going on some sort of trip, I know that their loyal moles would definitely tell this information to them, and it’d ultimately go in the ears of that man,” Radhika said. “I guess he’d be smart enough to understand that going on a trip is a lie.”

I looked at her with my joyous expressions and said, “You’re a genius, Radhika.”

She smirked, closed her eyes and corrected her hairs upon her shoulders. “Sure I am. How dare you doubt the mighty powers of Radhika?”

I chuckled a bit, and then raised my right fist forward towards them. “So, guys, let’s do this!”

They raised their fists towards me and said in unison, “Let’s do this!”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Radhika said, “I don’t know why, but the fists are somehow reminding me of The London Eye.”

“That Ferris wheel, right?” Richa said. “If I see our fists, I can see why the round structure of our fists reminded you of that.”

“Still, that’s lame,” Prakash said.

“Sure is,” Sonia said and we all laughed.

Suddenly, I saw my vision getting all blurry. I looked at Radhika, who was looking at me, and then I fell on the ground and fainted.