Indrajeet writhed in pain and tried to lean on the floor but Batakrishna stomped his boot on his knee hard, crushing his knee cap mercilessly while holding him caged in the crook of his elbow and prevented him from the comfort of lying down. Indrajeet let out an ear piercing scream as blood oozed out of his knee making a crimson red blotch on his pale white dhoti. Shetukala shivered in Debashish's arms who held her tenderly yet tightly.

"Doctor! Leave my father or you will have hell to pay." Threatened Sujoy.

"Only time will tell who will have the hell to pay." Batakrishna growled as he crushed hard again, making Indrajeet groan in pain in Batakrishna's clutches.

"Why are you wasting your time on this strumpet? She'll ruin your and your family's reputation forever."

" That too we'll see, whose reputation would be ruined. You bastard." He spat.

" Fine! Let's make a deal. You leave my father and we could share her. What do you say?" He said as he gestured to Shetukala.

Batakrishna's only response was him clenching his hold on the pathetic excuse of his father who grunted in pain as his throat constricted cutting the oxygen supply making him breathless.

"Okay, okay. You tell me what you want." Sujoy raised his hands in surrender.

"You will first let us go and then surrender to the police for your crimes."

Sujoy scoffed. "As if."

" Suj-sujoy. Listen to him. Let them go." Indrajeet gasped and spoke with difficulty.

"And rot in jail for the rest of our lives. Or worse, hang till death. No way. You've worked so hard to gain the special influence of these Bristishers. Once this case gets cleared, you will be bestowed upon with a title of honour Rai Sahib or at least Rai Bahadur and then these commoners can't even touch us with a ten feet pole."

" Leave that for now, sujoy and save me beta , please."

"Shetukala! Tell him to leave my father. You very well know what we can do. You won't even get their bodies to burn I'm telling you just like your parents." He looked at Shetukala and yelled who looked at him from under her wet eyelashes. Her blood was boiling and her body was trembling with anger and fear both. Debashish gripped her closer to his chest trying to make her look away from him but Shetukala lifted her head from his chest and glared at Sujoy.

" Not this time, Sujoy. Not this time." She said the words slowly. Her tone was lethal and sharp. Her eyes were bloodshot. " You can't do everything everytime as per your wish. You treated me like a rag doll. You all ruined me." She glanced at everyone as familiar faces crossed into her eyes. " You all destroyed me and then pushed me to death. Left me to die. You killed my maa.....my ba-baba. What did they do to you? Now that your baba is in pain, you are asking me to leave him. WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE MY PARENTS? WHY?? HAAN??" She screamed at him.

She looked at the blood soaked knee of Indrajeet. " Just look at him. Soon you all will face the same fate. You all will die. YOU ALL WILL DIE." She cursed him as she pointed her shaky finger at all of them one by one.

But her face lost color when Sujoy cackled, doubling on his belly with laughter. After a few breathless snickers, when he lifted his face, his eyes had a deadly glint that sent a shiver down her spine.

"You are so innocent.... Sooo..... Soooo.... innocent. I'm invincible. There's no way you can win this battle." He took out his gun from his back in the blink of an eye and shot two shots in Batakrishna's direction.

Bam!

Bam!

Thud!

Shetukala felt her soul being ripped off from her body when she turned towards Batakrishna with her head hung low like a robot and saw a trail of blood flowing on the floor.

Her feet staggered but Debashish held her from falling into a heap on the ground as she saw a white laden figure lying slump on the ground soaked in blood.

Indrajeet's abdomen gushed blood out of the two gunshots and his white kurta was coloured in red and his gray eyes were open but bloodied sclera was making it difficult to grasp the emotion in them but had they been clear she would have surely found shock and betrayal in them.

" Now happy?" He asked.

"What did you do?" She whispered.

" Hisaab Barabar! Scores settled!
I killed your father and now you became the reason for my father's death. See how much I love you Shetukala. I can sacrifice anyone and anything for you. Now you be a good girl and come to me." He beckoned her with his bent index finger.

Shetukala looked at him as if he had grown two red devil horns on his head.

"A man who has weaknesses is no man , Shetukala. I don't have any. I only have desires, goals , ambitions. I thought I've gained you. I used you and threw you just like I did to many others. But truth be told , I never had enough of you. I could never. You are too much to have enough." He licked his lips and adjusted himself visibly as he felt himself growing hard when his lustful eyes ran down Shetukala's body from head to toe making her shudder with nausea.

Batakrishna couldn't control himself and hit Sujoy with his fist throwing him on the floor and pelted him with hard closed fist punches on his face ruining his face. Blood spluttered again from his already broken nose and mouth.

When Sujoy's men ran to his help, Batakrishna looked up and pulled the trigger again and again making three of them collapse on the ground. He pulled the trigger again but it didn't shoot, just clicked. He stood up and tried to change his clips but in the meantime , a man lunged on him but he held his hand and twisted it to his back and smacked him to the nearby wall and kicked him into his abdomen.

Taking the chance , Shetukala grabbed the gun from Sujoy's hand who was struggling to come out of Debashish's hold.

"O-all of you stay back or you would be meeting your death today." She said to his men pointing her shaky gun towards them. Arnab and Purab didn't move back but towards her with slow steps, their eyes on their weapons fallen on the floor behind Shetukala. "I- I said stay back. Move back." As they neared her, Debashish left Sujoy and held Arnab by the back of his head and kneed his face and the next moment he could hear the crack of his jaw breaking by the force.

Shetukala felt herself being dragged to the ground as Sujoy pulled her foot and made her fall on the floor and crushed her by his body weight. She let out a shriek for help and writhed under him to come out of his iron grip.

Debashish and Batakrishna looked at her instantly but were held in the combat with their respective companions and tried to quicken the spar.

" Why do you have to be so stubborn, Shetukala? I love you so much and you always hurt me." He said as he tried to kiss her with his bloodied lips as he held her face tightly.

Shetukala felt bile rising her throat and her nose stung with the metallic stench of his blood. His fingers on her jaw made ants crawl on her skin as he held her face to touch her lips with his.

"LEAVE ME." She screamed again.

"Just beg once like the last time and you are good to go." He groaned as he rubbed himself on her to gain his sick pleasure.

As soon as Shetukala felt him, liquid fire coursed through her veins.All she could see was red. Her heart pounded with fury like never before. She headbutted him with all the strength she could muster making him cry loud and twisted her feet around his and rolled him on his back using all her might taking him off guard. Before he could react , she dug her knees on his abdomen and slapped him with great force.

"How dare you? How dare you touch me? Who gave you the right? You don't love me, you vile, vile man. You are evil. You lust me. You are so horrendous. You don't deserve to live." She was turning breathless after each hit, the punches and slaps draining her energy but she was run amok. Her hands had become scarlet with his blood mainly and some of hers too.

Sujoy felt colorful lights dancing in front of his eyes as Shetukala hit him back to back on his broken face already. When he took in her appearance his colour drained and he looked like a pale ghost soaked in blood.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her nostrils were flaring with anger. Her red bindi was smudged. And her hairs were flying all over fanning her face. Her breaths were haggard and shallow and he himself felt like he could not breathe under the impact of the energy oozing out from her body. She looked unearthly, inhumane, dangerous and scary.

She looked like Goddess Durga.  

" You don't have any right to touch me or any woman out there. You're sick! You pervert! You lecherous man! No! You don't deserve to be called a man. Not even a human. You are worse than an animal. You don't deserve to be alive. You better die." She stood up and kicked in his side." Wake up. Wake up ,I said. You don't get death so easy. You deserve to suffer. Suffer a lot. Being tortured is what you deserve. You....Leave me. Leave me. He deserves to die....He doesn't get to live. "
She kicked and thrashed as she felt herself being dragged from behind.

"Shetu! Leave him. We have to run. More men are coming. We won't be able to take them all down. They will get what they deserve. Run for now."

"No! I will not run. Deb! Tell him. I will not run. I have to kill him. He doesn't get to be free so easily. Tell him Deb!" She cried and yelled as she struggled to get out of Batakrishna's hold.

" Kala, he is right. Listen to the footsteps. We don't know how many men are here."

" No! They will run away again. You both go. I won't. Please..."

" Try to understand ,Shetu!" Batakrishna held her shoulders and shook her. "We'll have to run or we all will die. You want that." Shetukala shook her head grimly  and the three bolted out of the room.

They ran to the corridor and then turned towards the stairs. When they heard footsteps on the stairs,
they changed their direction back towards the corridor to run to the parallel set of the stairs.

As they neared the stairs they halted in their way as they heard a shot which Arnab had fired in the air. "Stop, stop or I'll shoot you." He pointed the gun towards them. Before anyone could take any action or say anything, Debashish ran towards him. He looked back at Batakrishna and yelled "Plan B Batuk!"

A startled Arnab pulled the trigger and Shetukala shrieked when the lead bullet  pierced Deb's left arm, jerking his body for a moment. He flinched and his legs staggered for a moment but he kept running.

"Stop there, or I'll shoot them." He pointed towards Batakrishna and Shetukala. He put his finger on the trigger but Debashish pounced over him in a big leap and pushed him with great force crashing him into the glass window breaking it. As he turned to look back at Shetukala, Arnab held him tighter in order to seek the much needed salvage, taking him also in the downfall. The tear stricken face crying out his name was the last thing he heard before he felt his legs swung in air and his body feeling weightless moving downwards under the effect of gravity. The sinking sun was casting its orange hue on her face making her tears shine like pearls. They looked as precious as ever. He wanted to rub them away but alas!

Beyond the rights and wrongs of the world,
Where the sky meets the earth,
And the sinking sun kisses the horizon,
Two silhouettes will meet.

One shorter one, smaller one and the delicate one but the most stubborn one runs with balloons clutched in her fists,

The other, taller one, the stronger one chases her but not for the balloons but so that the amplitude of her laughter doesn't dampen with the distance.

There will be a moment when he will catch her and the balloons and she will keep her hands on her waist and stomp her feet like the petulant child she is.

He would not give in and run away from her. She will run after him for a distance and then shriek and sit on the ground rubbing her feet.

He would turn around and rush to her and kneel down and touch her foot.

She would grab the balloon and run again sticking her tongue out at him.

"You cheater!" He would shout and chase her now earning a shrieking laughter from her, losing the chase but winning her happiness.

Beyond the rights and wrongs of the world,
Where the sky meets the earth ,
And the sinking sun kisses the horizon,
Two silhouettes will meet.
One smaller and the other taller one.

"DEBBBBBBBBBBBB" Shetukala shrieked and ran towards the window but Batakrishna ran after her and held her waist from behind. "NOOOOOOO!!! DEBBBBBB! DEBBBBBB! DEBBBB! SAVE HIMMMMMM!!! LEAVE ME!!! DEBBBBBB!! "

She sobbed and thrashed as she dug her nails in Batakrishna's wrists to make him lose his hold on her but he didn't budge even when she drew out blood from his skin. Unable to hold her in place, he picked her up and swung her on his shoulder. She gasped and hit his back with her fists.

"Put me down. Put me down. Deb is in danger. We can't leave him. Please.... Please.... We have to save him." She pinched his back and punched with both fists. She tried to kick in his abdomen but he held his legs in a vice grip making them motionless.

He climbed down the stairs upto a flight but instead of continuing he changed his direction from the stairs at a mid landing and ran into a narrow corridor from the side of the stairs.

His legs were burning with pain and his heart beating frantically with exhaustion but he didn't cease and kept running ignoring her hits and her pleadings.

Batakrishna pulled Shetukala from his shoulder and pressed her mouth with his palm to stop her from shouting. He held her tight by her waist and dragged him to the narrow gallery which could hardly fit two people at a time.

When they reached the end of it , he closed the exit door and climbed the wobbly stairs with great difficulty as Shetukala's struggle was making it difficult for him to climb them.

As he reached the ground, he started running again dragging her along. After reaching a considerable distance he left her and knelt down on the ground catching his breath but was immediately met with a shower of punches on his chest.

"You are a heartless person. How could you? I hate you. I hate you so much. You are a bad , bad person. You are a killer. You killed him. You didn't save him." Shetukala punched him again and again on his chest, while crying breathlessly.

Batakrishna looked at the ground as slow tears dripped one by one from his eyes.

He held her wrists stopping her and took her in his embrace. She struggled initially but when he didn't leave her, she gave up still sobbing.

He remembered his conversation with Debashish when they planned the whole rescue mission before entering this house.

" Batuk! What if .... if your Dada or police didn't arrive on time and we got trapped or something? "

" They will come, Debu."

Debashish shook his head. " I've alway told you Batuk. Never be sure of everything. We had to have back up plans."

" Didn't you always used to say 'Burn the bridges behind you?'"

" I do still but we should always know which bridges to burn. We should alway have a back up plan in case things turn out wrong."

" So , what do you suggest? "

"In the west of the house, whichever floor you land upon, there will be a narrow gallery running from the side of stairs that will lead you to the backside of the house. The advantage is that once you close the door ,there is no way someone could get you unless they follow you. And the drawback is that the only way to cross the village is then to cross the river. Do you know rowing? " Batuk thought for a second and nodded.

" I'm sure we won't need it."

"Hope so, Batuk. Hope so..... And listen. You remember the red code, right? "

" Debu! This is not a mission from freedom fight. We all will make it."

" You never know, Batuk."

" But red code?"

" Yes, red code. If any of us both , I repeat any of us both takes a dangerous task or sacrifices his life, we won't look back at him if that means jeopardizing the mission. Our only purpose will be to complete the mission."

Batakrishna nodded grimly. " Debu? "

" Hmm."

" I remember the green code too." He looked at Debashish innocently like a small child begging for the last piece of hope that everything will be okay.

Debashish chuckled and ruffled his hair with a boyish grin.

Do tell me how the chapter was.

Don't forget to vote and comment.