Chapter 73 : Kidnapped

"I can't find her," the words blared alarm in Aadarsh's ears, as he heard Ruhaani's voice laced with worry.

"Arey, she must be around, Bhabhs!" Abhi spoke.

"I checked, Abhi, I checked all over." Ruhaani snapped.

Abhi turned to his brother who had seemingly frozen hearing that.

"I will check," Aadarsh spoke, dashing past Abhi before his words could be completely heard.

Please let her be around, he sent up a silent prayer.

"Pari," he called, "Shona where are you? Pari? Pari?" With every iteration, a deeper panic laced his voice.

Abhi and Ruhaani followed the suit, even the twins followed them, calling for Pari. Alas, there was no response from the little girl.

Aadarsh's panic escalated, his eyes darting between racks as he jogged through the wide store, desperately calling out his daughter's name. He couldn't find her. He had covered every corner of the store, walked through every row flanked by racks.

In a fleeting moment of dread, he stood at the corner of the store where the teddy bear section was, quite close to the entry and exit gates of the store. The gears in his mind started spinning.

I gave you ample of time to correct your mistakes and admit to your sins, Sehgal. Now, it's time for action. No more animal sacrifices, now it will be human. Be ready!

That was what the last note had read.

He contemplated the chilling possibility that the threats he had received might be unfolding before his eyes. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it?

Aadarsh frantically made his way back to the counter. The others all returned there. By now even the staff of the store was looking for the little girl in pink shorts and white t-shirt. She had disappeared.

Abhi, sensing the urgency, suggested checking the adjacent store. While the store manager offered to retrieve the CCTV footage of the store.

"Perhaps she just spotted something she liked and wandered off," Abhi reasoned, offering a glimmer of hope to Ruhaani.

Ruhaani's eyes were blank. Her heart was mercilessly held captive in the clutches of a gnawing worry. Pari was a playful kid but she wasn't bold or adventurous enough to wander off on her own. That only left her with the other possibility, someone took her little girl away.

Aadarsh instructed the man behind the counter to get them the CCTV footage as soon as he could. The man nodded understandingly, the clicks on the mouse of the computer becoming frequent. Aadarsh then jogged out of the store without wasting another second, to look for his daughter.

Abhi turned to Ruhaani, "Bhabhs you stay right here. Pari might come back if she's around."

Ruhaani blinked in response, hardly nodding her head. The air around her was thick with worry. Pari's face never left the forefront of her mind. Fear had frozen her mind. She didn't want to experience loss again. Tears blurred her vision.

"I will come too, to help!" Nirvaan spoke, noticing how worried Ruhaani looked.

"No. You both stay with Bhabhs okay? Don't go anywhere." Abhi said and then looked up at his sister-in-law, she nodded understanding. Her hand instinctively pulling Mukti close to herself while Nirvaan slowly held her hand and stood beside her. The boy's gaze kept moving around looking for Pari.

Abhi also turned around and ran out of the store. He went towards the right, as he noticed Aadarsh moving towards the left side. Scanning the surroundings, shifting his gaze quickly among the people, Abhi began searching for Pari.

With his concern escalating, Aadarsh swiftly dialled the number of the additional security he had discreetly hired for his family due to the persistent threats. Two of the bodyguards, one shadowing Ruhaani and the other who shadowed Abhi respectively, had been stationed at the mall. He had spotted them when they had entered the store. He was familiar with all their faces. Devashish had hired them after they had began getting the threats.

Spotting the hired guards missing, the grip of fear tightened on his heart. Something was not right. Nothing was right. A terrible feeling gnawed at his heart.

"Please be okay, Pari" he murmured to himself, as he called the first security person who picked up. Furious, he demanded their whereabouts. He was informed that they were at the food court. His anger grew deeper and his helplessness multiplied. He had no control over the situation. He aught to have been with Pari, that's what fathers do.

He informed them about his missing daughter and summoned them to the second floor immediately to aid in the search for his daughter. Ending the call, he dialled DV's mobile number, the only person he could think of seeking help from in this dire situation.

"I am still on it, if you need a status upda..." The voice from the other end came instead of the usual greeting.

"Pari is missing," Aadarsh said, cutting his sentence short, his voice lined with despair.

"What?"

"My daughter is missing, DV. We can't find her. It's been over ten minutes."

"Calm down. Where are you?"

"The new Mall. We were all at the store and ...she disappeared... I was there..it happened on my watch. Dammit." Aadarsh kicked the dustbin near the elevator. He couldn't think rationally. It was his fault. It was all on him.

"Aadarsh, pull yourself together. I will call the security bodyguards, I am sure they'll..."

"No fucking point. Those fools are at the food court."

"Shit! Okay. Let me think. CCTV. Get your hand on the CCTV footage of the store.You may find the person. It's a mall. There are cameras everywhere. There's a good chance she's still in the mall with whoever took her. Go to the security room now."

"Yeah, cctv," Aadarsh repeated, a spark firing away in his mind. He could do that. The worry had clouded his mind so much that he couldn't think practically.

"Don't worry Aadarsh, I am getting a team together. We'll get her back safe and sound. Find the security room. It's usually on the ground or first floor of the mall." Devashish instructed, ask any Mall staff.

"On it," Aadarsh muttered before jogging towards the security guard asking him the directions for the security room.

Two minutes later, Abhi made his way towards where he had last seen Aadarsh.

"Bhai," Abhi called looking visibly shaken. Pari had quite literally disappeared. This was worse than the worst of nightmares. He saw that his brother was talking to a security guard..

Aadarsh hurried towards him, "you found her?" He asked a brief flicker of hope lighting up his eyes.

"No." Abhi answered dejected. " I have been asking people. It's like no one saw her."

The hope was gone as swiftly as it came. Aadarsh looked around, a peculiar helplessness replacing the hope in his eyes. He had to get himself together. He pressed his lips into a tight line, imagining his little girl with some stranger. He has failed to protect her from the bogeyman. Tears blinded his vision. He had failed as a father, no different from his own.

"Bhai," Abhi said softly, his eyes filled with fear. He gently touched his brother's forearm.

Aadarsh turned to his brother. He placed a hand on his shoulder. It was not the time to fall weak. Everyone was counting on him. Pari was counting on him. "We'll find her. Go back to the store, get their cctv footage and send it to me. I am going to the security room of the mall to see the CCTV footage of the mall's common areas. There's a chance she is still here. We need to know who took her, to find her faster. Go."

Abhi nodded and sprinted back to the store while Aadarsh began jogging down the steps, making his way to the security room whose directions he had just received.

He stormed through the restricted area and found the room which read the word 'Security' on a bronze coloured nameplate.

"Hey, you can't enter like that," one guard spoke.

"My daughter is missing." Aadarsh explained, turning to the twelve thirty-two inch televisions on the wall that had four grids each. His eyes swapped from one to the other. The task of finding his little Pari seemed impossible.

Another guard approached him. "Sir please go out and make an announcement from the help desk. Kids keep running around all the time. This is restricted area."

"Someone took my daughter." Aadarsh hollered, his frustration evident in his red rimmed eyes.

"Arey, Sir. No one takes kids nowadays. She must be around. You can't be here without manager permission." One of the guards spoke, trying to shove him back.

Aadarsh grabbed the guard by his collar and pulled him to himself. His dark eyes glared at the man. "I know the owner of this fucking mall. I don't need any permission. I am not the person you mess with. Now find my daughter. She's wearing a pink shorts, white t-shirt, pink shoes and has short hair that reaches her shoulder. She's about this tall." He used his other hand to show him the estimation of his daughter's height.

The door burst open and the two hired guards entered. Aadarsh turned to give them a glare. Both the well built men looked nervous under his fiery gaze. "Find her," Aadarsh ordered.

The men quickly stepped in, pushing the guards back they moved towards the two computers controlling the displays.

One of the security guard charged towards his hired bodyguard, "What is this behaviour? You can't..."

Aadarsh grabbed him by his arm pulling him back, and pushing him against the wall. "Let them do their only fucking job. My daughter is missing, someone took her. Unless you both want to be behind the bars as accomplice, shut the fuck up and stand on the side, if you can't help. One more smart move from any of you both and my fist will do the talking."

Aadarsh's phone buzzed. He quickly shoved the man into the far corner of the room and retrieved his phone from his pocket. It was a message from Abhi. He had sent him a short video of a man carrying Pari. His heart momentarily sank. She was indeed kidnapped.

With shaky fingers, he forwarded the video to DV and then handed his phone to one of the bodyguards he had hired. "Find this man." His eyes didn't leave the mobile screen.

In minutes after watching the short clip, the security guards of the mall had started cooperating, sensing the gravity of the crime that had occurred. They all scanned the various camera feeds to find the kidnapper.

About ten minutes later, the door opened and Abhi entered. "Did you find him?"

"No," Aadarsh said in a low voice.

At the same time his phone rang. It was Devashish. Aadarsh pressed the phone to his ear, his eyes not moving off the screen that were displaying the ground floor exits of the mall.

"It's Bappi Gautam, Aadarsh." Devashish spoke, referring to the video Aadarsh had quickly forwarded to him. "It's that bastard."

"Are you sure? His face was not clear." Aadarsh reasoned. It would have been easier if it was someone who just wanted money. Not someone who wanted revenge. It made matters so much worse. Especially now that he knew that the man sending them threats was thirsty for revenge and deranged enough to send dead animals to their address.

"Hundred percent. I recognized his gold bracelet and his gait. I had hit him on the right knee, that's why the man had a slight limp. It has to be him."

"Do we have anything, anything that takes us to him? He has Pari, DV. We need to get to him. As soon as we can."

Abhi turned to his brother. He had never before seen his brother so devastated, so helpless, at least not after he had put himself together after their father had moved out.

Something was awfully wrong. Abhi had a very bad feeling twisting in his gut.

"Move," Abhi said turning to one of the person seated on the chair. "I am a software engineer, I can try something."

"They're professionals Abhi, let them." Aadarsh spoke bluntly. They couldn't waste a minute.

"I can code to match the videos only to a range of the timestamp and pick the colours from the pixels of the videos. It will be easier to find him in the cameras than rewinding and going through videos sequentially. There are way too many camera feeds here." Abhi argued.

"Just let them do their job, Abhi." Aadarsh replied harshly. This was not the time for Abhi to perform his experiments.

"No. Aadarsh let Abhi step in." Devashish who was still on the line, hearing them, spoke up. "He has a good idea and your brother may be dumb in general but he is damn good at his job. Let him."

Aadarsh blinked. He silently nodded, gesturing the bodyguard to let Abhi sit. Abhi momentarily looked puzzled at his sudden agreement but quickly sat and started typing away on a black screen alternating between various windows.

In the next ten minutes, they had found the kidnapper on the screen traced his movements through the alleys of the mall. He had used aesthesia on Pari and carried her through the passageways of the fall pretending as thought she was sleeping.

"That's his car," Aadarsh pointed, as they watched the camera feed from the basement one. "It's a silver Ford. I can't read the license plate."

"Give me a few minutes." Abhi muttered.

"Abhi we don't have time." Aadarsh reminded him.

"Even a few digits should help. I have Lucifer trying to hack into to the traffic cameras near the mall as we speak." Devashish spoke, referring to the nickname of the ex-cop he had working on the case.

"Even a few digits should help, Abhi." Aadarsh relayed the information, his eyes on the screen as Abhi zoomed to the license plate and tried to change the colouring on the screen to increase the contrast between the colours. The picture began to grow blurry.

"It's a UP, license plate." Aadarsh spoke as the first two letters became clear.

It took a few minutes but they got the whole license plate. The man had left the mall over fifteen minutes back. He could possibly be anywhere in the city.

"Okay, Aadarsh, you go home. Make sure your family is all at home, it's the most secured and safe place right now. I already have your home security team do a thorough check. Lucifer is trying to find the car in traffic. I am hitting the road too. I will have a team come to your place and do some setup for tracing any calls, if at all he call's for ransom."

Aadarsh swallowed the lump of fear in his throat. "He'll call me, right?"

"He will. But I don't think it will be for ransom. It might be for you." Devashish answered straightforwardly.

"As long as Pari is safe..."

"Get your folks home. I will call you back when I have something solid. Be safe." Saying that Devashish ended the call.

"Bhai, what are we waiting for? Shouldn't we call the police?" Abhi asked.

"No. That man is mad. I am not involving the police, not yet."

Abhi stared at his brother. That man is mad. It had to mean that his brother knew who the man was. "You know who the man is?"

"No. I mean yes. It's complicated."

"Either ways, I think we clearly need professional help." Abhi reasoned.

"And we will have that," Aadarsh mumbled, making his way out. Before leaving the room he turned to the security personnel he had hired, "Get the recording of the past four hours of every single camera. I don't want another mistake. Also get the record from the store."

"I already have that!" Abhi spoke.

Aadarsh nodded.

"Yes Sir," one of the two men answered.

"And you both," Aadarsh turned to the security of the mall. "Not a word about this to anyone. If you get any information of that man, you call me, you tell me. If this goes out of this room, I will know who leaked it. Understand?"

The two guards stared at him.

"Do you understand?" Aadarsh repeated, his voice felt nothing short of a thunder.

"Yes," one said meekly while the other nodded vigorously.

Aadarsh stormed out of the room with Abhi at his heels.

"Bhai, what's happening?" Abhi asked as he followed his brother out.

Aadarsh's pace dropped as he spotted Ruhaani standing around the corner with Nirvaan and Mukti. She was holding each of their hands. Her gaze met his instantly.

I just want you to be a good father to Pari. Someone she looks up to. Someone who cares for just as much as I do.

Those were the words she had said to him before they both had mutually agreed to get married. Be a good father.

"Did you find her?" She asked in a subdued voice, as his steps took him to her. The usual spirit and current in her voice was conquered by fear.

Aadarsh looked aside, momentarily. "We will find her. We need to get home."

A storm of fear and grief clouded Ruhaani's eyes. Why home? Why were they leaving? Wasn't Pari around? Why were they going home without their little girl?

"Where is Pari?" Nirvaan asked.

"Abhi," Aadarsh turned briefly to his brother. "Take them to the car."

Abhi nodded and obeyed, taking the twins to he car.

"Where's she?" Ruhaani asked, stepping forward. Her hands holding both of her husband's.

"Someone took her."

"What! Why?" why would someone take her? She is our daughter. She's just little girl." Tears spilled out of her eyes. "Aadarsh please tell me where she is, please look at me, please."

Aadarsh bit his lower lip, raising his gaze to look at his wife's face. He couldn't bear to look the utter devastation written across her face. He had failed. Failed in his promises to himself and to her.

"Aadarsh," she whispered.

"She's been kidnapped."

The words nearly threw Ruhaani off balance. If it wasn't for Aadarsh holding her, she would have staggered back and perhaps collapsed.

Gathering courage, he gently wiped Ruhaani's cheeks. "I need you to be strong Ruh. We will find her and bring her back. Please, Ruh. I need you to be strong and be with me."

Ruhaani nodded mutely.

"We should get home." He whispered, holding her hand and walking her to the basement.

* * *

There was chaos in every mind— unanswered questions, untamed fears and wavering hopes.

Aadarsh had asked the team who had come along with Devashish to do all the setup they needed to track phone calls, in the big hall they had on the second floor of their house. He didn't want the trouble to touch his family, although it already had. He could see the distress on every face, including the twins.

Abhi and Ruhaani stood at the entrance of the hall watching the team pull together a makeshift workspace.

"Bhai, what's happening?" Abhi asked. "What are you hiding from us?"

Aadarsh took a deep breath, as he felt his brother's gaze on him. He turned to look at him to find Ruhaani also looking at him, waiting for answers.

"Wait for me outside, I will answer all your questions. But right now my priority is finding Pari." The two of them stared at him silently.

"Please," he urged them. His eyes begging Ruhaani for trust. She nodded, holding Abhi's hand she quietly led him outside. Aadarsh shut the door and took a deep breath turning to the team.

Devashish had a bunch of people like him—people who had been to jail and come out— they worked as a team that did vague freelancing jobs that required intelligence, spying and security.

He quietly observed them as one of his team members, a guy with shoulder-length curly hair plugged all their mobiles to cables one by one. "Installing the software." He said as he settled on the plastic chair, his eyes gluing back to the laptop.

"Luci, anything on the license plate?" Devashish asked.

"No. It seems like he removed or changed the plate. I am tracking every possible silver Ford in the vicinity of the mall."

"KK?" He called.

"No bank transactions. I suppose he is loaded with cash." The man with tattoos all over his arm replied.

"What about the rented house?" DV asked.

"He's not visited there since past two days." He got back as an answer.

"Get sharper, guys. We need to track this guy down and get one step ahead of him." Devashish said walking up to Aadarsh who had signalled him to come to the side.

"How bad is it?" Aadarsh asked not beating around the bush.

"Five on a scale of ten."

Aadarsh let out a sigh. "Should we go to the police, maybe they already have a criminal record on him and can trace him down faster?"

"It will get ugly. Especially if it re-open that hit and run. I think that may be this Bappi's objective all along." Devashish spoke, having an epiphany. Aadarsh could see the wheels running behind his eyes.

"That makes sense, he wanted you to go to the police. That's why the repeated threats and those nasty packages."

Aadarsh quietly reflected on that assumption. "Perhaps I should have. At least Pari would be safe."

"No. It would have impacted your company, family and life if a case came into existence. It could have also opened more cases than one."

Aadarsh groaned turning to the window. He saw the two empty swings in the sunlight.

'Papa, push!' Pari called out.

'Enough Pari, let's go in. It's time to eat.'

'No. I want to swing.'

'Your mumma will scold both of us.'

'It's okay, I will tell her you're my favourite person and she can't scold you. Okay?'

Aadarsh smiled ruefully.

"It's been over an hour," Aadarsh said slowly. He then turned to look at Devashish who was opening the wrapper of the chocolate bar in his hand.

"Yep, trust me I know. I've been hungry since then."

Aadarsh gave him a pointed look. One may would have expected that Aadarsh would have been accustomed to the peculiar nuances of the man before him. However that was far from the truth. Aadarsh still hated how unprofessional Devashish behaved, but somehow he accepted it as a part of him.

"So, what did your folks say... the Missus and the Brother?"

"I don't know what to tell them."

"Well you can't ignore them forever, and I learned somewhere that when shit gets deep it's best to stick to truth, you don't lose " Devashish spoke, looking up from the chocolate in his hand. "I think it was the lawyer I met in jail. You'll be surprised how wise people behind the bars are."

"You're not helping!" Aadarsh muttered. He couldn't lie to Ruhaani. He definitely couldn't lie about the situation. Weirdly, Devashish's advice made sense. It was best to stick to the truth.

"Go talk to them," Devashish suggested.

"What do I say? That I knew this was coming and did nothing to prevent it?"

"Oh come on Boss, you did everything. You can't be held responsible for the actions of some lunatic high on revenge. And if any one is at fault, it's me. I underestimated that bastard. I refuted your concerns. I will pay for it in anyway you want. Right now, you need to go out and talk to your folks. You can't keep them in the dark forever. I am sure they'll understand and support you. They're your family Aadarsh."

"He hasn't called yet. It's soon going to be two hours. I can't imagine the situation that Pari would be in."

Devashish didn't have anything to say to that. He was generally not a fan of kids. He decided it would be best to he quiet. It was usually easier to deal with Aadarsh when the man was pissed at him and when the situation was normal.

Silence.

A deep silence that was filled with emotions. Devashish couldn't bare that too, so he spoke up again.

"Okay, listen. You need to stop this self-pity and this guilt trip. I understand you feel bad but hey...that's life you deal with it. Go out there and take care of your family while I handle this. Let's just stick to do what we do best. Besides, I really think you should take rest and eat something. You never know when that lunatic will call and summon you to some dark creepy corner of the city. You need to be prepared Aadarsh. He won't touch Pari until he knows you're seeing it, if you go by my experience with psychos."

"Not helping." Aadarsh muttered glaring at DV.

"Look, this is on me." He paused to take a bite of the chocolate he was eating. "Harry's accident was on me. This crazy Bappi is on me. And trust me, I am going to deal with this mess. Plus, I have scores to settle with this Bappi guy, he put me in the hospital. I need to return that favour. You'll be fine."

"He did?" Aadarsh asked surprised.

"Oh, shit, I hadn't told you that before, had I?" Devashish's muffled voice came out as he stuffed his mouth with the wafer-based chocolate.

Aadarsh glared at him.

"Just thought it would unnecessarily worry you," Devashish shrugged, finishing his chocolate.

"I will go...talk to them."

"Finally, we're getting somewhere. Please get some food when you return, I am starving."

"Me too!" the curly haired guy, who wore a headphone, called out raising his hand.

Aadarsh turned to the other end in the room as did Devashish.

"You're wearing the mic," the man said with a grin.

"Oh damn!" Devashish mumbled removing the tiny microphone that he had fixed on the button of his collared t-shirt.

"Seriously?" Aadarsh whispered, turning to DV.

"Told you, they're the best. Not like they don't know what's happening here." He shrugged, crushing the wrapper and dropping it down.

Aadarsh glanced down at the wrapper and then at the curly haired guy who was looking at them. "Get back to work!" he ordered before turning on his heels to make his way out.

He couldn't believe he was trusting these bunch of ex-criminals to help him find his daughter.

"He's rude," Aadarsh heard the curly-haired guy.

"That's his normal, Chubby, ignore him. Do you have slated peanuts?" That was the last of what Aadarsh heard as he left the room.

• — • — •

Looking forward to read your thoughts.

Next : Mid Feb

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—Anami!♡