SWAPPED PART II

"We found the guy who stole the card," Priya said.
"That's good! Where is he?" the Boss asked.
"He... he died," Priya said.

The Boss sat back in his seat, looking ahead at the deserted street through his windshield, silent for a few seconds.  He clicked his tongue and murmured something.
"What?" Priya said, frowning.
"I said, it's all so convenient.  Someone steals my money and then 'conveniently' dies.  Am I supposed to simply forget about the money??"

Priya was quiet trying to assess what he implied.  The Boss sighed and reached forward to retrieve something from the glove box.  A metallic click followed.  From the passenger seat, Priya got a glimpse of its source.  A gun.  The boss turned around to face Priya with the gun pointed at her and said,
"I don't know what kind of a game you think you are playing, but I will give you 10 seconds to tell me where the money is."

Anu caught Priya's hand in fear.  Her nails once again dug into her skin.  Priya winced and pulled her hand away.

"Just relax, okay?  I.... I will get you the money.  Put down the gun and..." then it hit her, "My husband! It was you! You are keeping him as a hostage!"

The Boss looked confused for a moment, then recovered and brought the gun closer to Priya's face, saying,
"Enough of your stupid games! Is this some kind of a scam you run on rich men??  Tell me where the money is right now or.... HEY!!"

Priya had managed to push the gun up with her left hand while simultaneously managing to open the door on her side and slid out to the ground.  Anu tried to do the same with the door on her side, but before she could, The Boss jumped on her and grabbed her while she struggled.

Priya realizing The Boss was busy, got up and rushed towards the concrete seat at the bus stop for cover.  The Boss squeezed out 2 shots in her direction, but missed her as Anu kept struggling.  The Boss turned his attention on Anu for a moment and hit her on her head with the butt of the gun, and her body went limp in her seat.  He cursed and locked the doors.  He rolled down the front passenger side window.

Priya had managed to reach the concrete seat and hid behind it.

"I got your friend here.  I am going to kill her if you don't come out!" the Boss shouted.

Priya, her heart racing, peeked over the concrete seat and saw The Boss pointing his gun at Anu's limp body in the passenger seat.

The noise of an oncoming vehicle could be heard.  May be she should wave down for help.

"I want that money, you bitch! I am going to count till 3...."

The vehicle urgently rushed towards them.

"1..... "

The vehicle, a van, screeched to a stop right in between them, blocking her view of the SUV.  Then gun shots echoed through the night as someone from the van shot at the SUV.  Not a moment later, The Boss fired up the SUV and raced down the road and took a left turn vanishing out of their sight.

Priya sat hidden behind the concrete seat as she heard the van's door slid open and someone stepping out.  She had another peek.  A young man was walking towards her with a gun in his hand.

"You are safe, dhidhi.  You can come out now," The Young Man said.  He put away his gun and waved his empty hands at her.  Priya recognized him,
"YOU!!" Priya shouted, "I told you to stay away from me!"

"But dhidhi, I saved your life.  I have had my men follow you for months.  I thought I lost you tonight, but I remembered how you spent a lot of time with that man, so I asked them to follow him instead.  I knew something was wrong," he said taking more steps towards her.
"Stay away from me! Dont take another step!" Priya said drenched in sweat and her body shivering in fright.
"I wont hurt you, dhidhi, you are very important to me..... and to my father," he said continuing to walk towards her.
"No, no!  HELP!! HEEELP!!" she shouted desperately on the deserted road.  The Young Man rushed towards her pulling out what looked like a metal rod from behind him and hit her right across her face, knocking her out.

***

When Priya came to, she realized she was in the van.  She was lying on the floor while 4 men sat on the seats around her.  Priya freaked out and sat up, looking around desperately for a way out.

"Oh, dhidhi, you are awake!" the Young Man said from the front seat and then got up and headed towards her, swaying and holding onto the sides for support as the van rocked on the bumpy road.

"What do you want??" she said.

"You know what I want, dhidhi, but more importantly, I want to help 'you.'  I will give you whatever you want.  I can give you lots of money if that's what you want, dhidhi!" he said with a forced smile.

"What? After killing me and taking my kidney??" she said.

"I wont kill you, dhidhi.  Okay, unless my dad needs another kidney in the future, then may be," he smiled and waited expecting her to find the humor in it, but then disappointed, continued, "The doctor says my father has some kind of a rare type, and you are the only one we could find that is a match.  And believe me, we have searched everywhere.  And here, lemme prove to you that I am someone who keeps his word," he said taking out his phone and dialing a number.

**

Ajay's left eye was swollen shut, but he could see fine through his right eye.  3 burly men stood in his living room making sure he stayed put on his sofa.  He looked at the clock.  It had been 15 minutes since these strange men barged into his living room and turned off the TV and beat him up.  Every time he tried to ask them what this was all about, they just threatened to beat him up even more.  But every minute that passed was killing him from the inside.  There were just 40 minutes left of the Game of Thrones episode.  He 'had' to watch it, because the moment it was over, his social feeds would be filled with spoilers from his psychopathic friends.

He finally gathered up his courage and said,
"How about I get you men some beers and we watch some TV together?" he said, smiling through his bloody face.

The burly men turned to look at him, with a scowl on their faces.  One of them rushed to him brandishing his fist to land another punch on his face, shouting, "WHY DONT YOU SHUT THE FU...." when his phone rang, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Hello."
"Leave the husband.  We got dhidhi," the mice-like voice from the phone said.
"Yes, sir," the burly man said, and motioned the others to move out.

Ajay sighed, relieved.  He had many questions as to what the hell all this was about, but he was more worried about the GOT spoilers.

"We will be watching you, so don't even think about doing anything!" the burly man said before he followed the others out and shut the door behind him.  Ajay gingerly stood up and plugged in the TV and continued watching GOT.


***

The Boss had driven for 15 minutes around the town, looking repeatedly at his rear-view mirror to make sure nobody was following him.  He finally hit the brakes.  Anu's limp body hit the back of his seat making her come to.  She felt a sharp pain in her temple, and it took her a few moments to recollect all the night's events.

"You will stay in your seat if you know what's good for you!" the Boss shouted at her looking at her through his rear-view mirror.
"Listen, I am in no way part of whatever is going on.  Just let me go," she said her voice quivering.

"You think I am dumb?!?  You and your friend are obviously part of some big scam.  Bet she's scammed a lot more rich men like me.  How else can she hire those men to protect her??  But she chose the wrong man this time!  Nobody can run a big business in this city like me without 'some' kind of a connection with the mafias.  If she thought I am all alone in this, she is wrong!  Time to get an army of my own into this shit!" The Boss said retrieving his phone.

***

To be continued in Part III.

The Forest Killer - A Short Story

“What the fuck man??!” exclaimed Rohit staring at the human skulls ceremoniously piled up on the ground.
Neither of his three friends said a word.  They just stood there, looking at it, their faces turning white with fear.  To them, the place just hit get-the-fuck-out-of-here creepy on the creep-o-meter.

Three hours ago, the four of them had abandoned their broken-down car and had began walking through the forest.  Along the way, there were at least 5 instances where they came across dry bones lying scattered on the ground.  It had to be the bones of some animal for sure!  Or at least they told each other so.  Each time they came across these bones, they would unconsciously start walking faster.  And just when they had started to forget all about it, they came across this:  a fucking human skull pile.

“I vote we go back to the car!” exclaimed David.
“And do what? We are gonna starve to death out there.  We haven't seen a soul in the last 2 days!  If we keep walking, we will come across some highway and get the hell out of this place!” said Charles.

Charles was right.  They had no choice but to keep walking and hope they cross civilization.

Another 2 hours of walking later, they saw someone walking far away in the forest.  A man.  Long unruly hair and thick beard.  He wore a saffron dhoti.  A swami.

Without another thought, Rohit called out to the swami.  The swami turned to look at the 4 friends and then hurried to them.

Rohit explained to him that they were lost.  The swami told them,
“Not safe here.  Night, madman kill you.  You must come. I take you to safe place.”
“Did you just say some freak is going to kill us??” Rohit exclaimed.
“Hurry.  Night not safe. Come with me.” The swami said ignoring Rohit and then turned around and started hurrying away without another backward glance at them.
“Oh great! Was that what all those skulls back there was, man?? Victims of some psychopath killer??” Rohit shouted, but the swami continued to ignore him and hurried away in small quick steps.

Charles ran up to the swami and asked him how far the nearest highway was.
“Highway, there.” the swami pointed towards where the sun was setting. “One day walk. No time now.  Not safe.”

The four friends quickly decided that with this shit about the crazy psychopath running around in the forest, it probably was a good idea to spend the night with the swami and continue on their way the next day.  So, they started to follow the swami.

The swami looked like he was pushing 70.  He was really thin, but full of energy and kept walking at a consistent fast pace.  The four friends struggled to keep up with him.

“I hope this safe place isn't far away.” whispered an out-of-breath Santhosh, the fourth of the friends.

It had been 2 hours since they started to follow the swami and it was starting to get dark.  Even though he didn't voice it, Charles too was starting to feel a bit restless.

Then, all of a sudden, the swami stopped in his tracks.
“What?? Is it the fucking killer?” Rohit whisphered.  He was at the rear end and couldn't see what the hell was happening.
“No.  Its a river.” Charles said to Rohit.
“Safe place other side of river. River very dangerous. I take only one of you at a time.  Put feet where I put. Very dangerous river,” the swami said.
“Ok, I will go first,” said Santhosh going ahead.

With the passing of every minute, it was getting darker and darker.  Swami instructed Santhosh one last time to slowly mimic his movement, and a minute later, they both disappeared into the darkness.

The three friends sat on the bank and waited for the swami to come back.  It was a pretty cloudy night and by then it had gotten so dark that they could not see the other side of the river anymore.
After about 10 minutes, the swami came back.  He was dripping wet.
“Ok, come.” he said.
David went next.
Charles and Rohit waited for them to come back.  After a few minutes, they heard a cry from the other side of the river.
“What the fuck, man??” Rohit exclaimed jumping up on his feet.  There was his signature quiver in Rohit's voice.
“David??” Charles called out towards the other side of the river.  There was complete silence.
Charles was about to call out again when Rohit grabbed him by his arm and whispered,
“What the fuck you doing, man?? You want to get the psycho-killer’s attention?  I have been having this weird fucking feeling that we have been followed since the time we left the car!”
Charles didn't tell Rohit, but he was starting to get all kind of crazy, scary thoughts in his head.
They heard the swami come over.
“Ok, come” the swami said.  He sounded a bit annoyed this time.
The clouds had began to clear, and in the moonlight, Charles could see dark patches on the swami's dhoti.  Could it be blood?
“No time, hurry” the swami said looking at them.
“Okay.  My fucking turn!” Rohit said getting up, but Charles stopped him.
“I will go this time.” he whispered to Rohit.
Charles then secretly removed something from Rohit's bag's side pocket and carefully placed it inside his trouser pocket.
“Ok, be careful. Very dangerous river.” the swami said and then they both stepped into the river.

The river bed was slippery and Charles slowed down the swami. Upon reaching the other side, they began to walk some more.  Suddenly, the swami stopped.  Then turned around to face Charles almost as if he sensed something wrong.  He then bent down to pick something off the ground, and Charles withdrew the Swiss-Knife from his trouser pocket and stabbed the swami in his side.  The swami let out a cry and fell on the ground writhing in pain.
“That's for killing my friends, you sick psycho!!” Charles shouted at the swami.

“Charles?? Is that you man?” said Santhosh who had come running when he heard the noises.
Charles looked at Santhosh in shock.
“What the hell happened??” said Santhosh looking at the black groaning form on the ground.
“I... I thought he killed you! I heard a scream!”
“What??  Scream? It was David.  He fell down and broke his leg!”
“Oh shit!” Charles broke down and sat beside the swami who was no longer moving.
There was a few minutes of silence as both of them sat beside the swami's body in shock.
“Where's Rohit?” Santhosh finally said.
“He's still on the oth.....”
Charles' reply was cut short by screams from the other side of the river.  The screams had Rohit's signature quiver to them.  As Charles and Santhosh stood helplessly, the screams continued for about another minute or so and finally ended with a loud thud.


****

- Created by Rejo John and Manu Prabhakaran.
[November 4, 2013].