Bandu could not locate Comm. Seth and Masan anywhere. He noticed a man in civilian clothes ordering the constables and receiving reports. Bandu walked over and stood beside him until he finished his call. He recognized Bandu and greeted him. His name happened to be Inspector Manohar Rai, who directed him to the stables, where some discovery was made according to him. Bandu thanked him and took the direction of the stables.

He could hear Dara's neighing in the stables and Toga trying to calm him down but was clearly not succeeding. He went inside to find out the reason for the chaos.

"What happened Toga what's all the commotion about?" Bandu asked looking around at the handful of people gathered in the room.

"Please, Maan, help me bring out Dara from his cube. He is being stubborn today and I fail to understand what upset him,"

"Dara...Dara" Bandu called out to attract the horse's attention. The horse stood still hearing Bandu's voice and calmed down after sighting him.

"The police wanted to search the stables and asked that the horses be moved out, but he wouldn't budge,"

"Why would he do that?" all men in the room were looking at Bandu in a new light of expectancy. Though nervous, he moved towards Dara and patted him, to which the horse nudged him back playfully. Bandu took hold of his reins and began to lead him out of the cube. Dara followed him without any fuss, much to everyone's surprise. On reaching the ring, Bandu let him loose to run around.

Toga had followed them behind carrying Dara's saddle with him over his shoulders.

"Thanks for helping me out," he called out to Bandu, who looked over his shoulders and smiled.

"You're welcome. What are they searching for in the stables?"

"I think...the exits of underground tunnels,"

Bandu now turned his attention fully to Toga, "Did they mention that?"

"No...but just a guess,"

"Is there one in the stables?"

"As I mentioned earlier I have no idea,"

"Hmm...why do you think Dara behaved that way in the stables?"

"Maybe he didn't like strangers entering his space,"

"Was it the case with other horses as well?"

"No, I don't think so,"

"Then why him?" Bandu wondered aloud as he glanced at Dara glopping with the other horses. Suddenly noises erupted from Dara's stable and both men peered in that direction. While one man ran out in the direction of the palace, another officer walked out talking over the phone excitedly.

Bandu strolled over in that direction, then increased his pace to reach the officer talking on the phone. As he finished his conversation he was surprised at finding Bandu before him.

"What happened inside?"

"We found the exit," he replied and turned back and walked inside and Bandu too followed him in.

"Where is it?"

The officer led him to the far end of the stable where the hay was usually stacked, which was moved to another place, and in a corner of that space lay an open square pit with its tile removed and kept on one side.

"There," the officer said pointing to the pit, and as Bandu moved forward a horrid stench animated from it.

"Maybe it's a drain or something...this stench is unbearable," Bandu said covering his nose with his hand. The men covered the pit back again with the cover.

"Two more have been found, one in the gardens and one outside the compound walls. But none seems to have been used," the officer commented.

"There must be more," another officer put in.

"Keep the door locked so that even if anyone still in the tunnel plans to escape cannot leave the place," the first officer said, "That horse will have to be stabled elsewhere," he continued and the other nodded in reply and they began to empty the room along with Bandu.

Toga was still in the ring with the horses when he came out and strode towards him to pass on the message.

"Toga you will have to stable Dara elsewhere for some days,"

"Why?" he asked surprised.

"They found an exit inside the stable and are going to lock the stable so that no one can escape from there"

"Really!?" Toga looked genuinely surprised, "For so many years I have been cleaning that place and I never saw such a thing hidden in there"

"You were not looking for it, but they were,"

"Yes that's it," he glance at the men working on the grounds scanning the area, not leaving any stone unturned, "They are good at it,"

"Yes, but it is very time-consuming to cover this vast area,"

"But why exits? Surely, something grave has occurred in the palace or else they won't be searching for the exits in earnest"

"Nayantara is missing,"

"Missing! You mean someone kidnapped her?"

"No, the person in the palace was not Nayantara but her look-alike and not the real one,"

The sudden silence in the smooth-flowing conversation prompted Bandu to shift his attention from Dara to the man beside him. his face was distorted and there were sweat beads on his forehead and his knuckles showed white gripping the fence.

"What's the matter Toga? Are you alright?"

"I messed up everything. They fooled me into believing them," he kept muttering to himself which made no sense to Bandu.

"Toga...Toga!" Bandu shook the man by his shoulders and made him look up at him, "What's the matter tell me? I will set it right,"

"How can one undo the wrong? It has been done and I was a fool," he began to mutter again, now with a strange fear taking over him.

"What have you done Toga? Who fooled you? tell me !" Bandu asked.

"What's happening here, Bandu" a voice interrupted them from behind and Toga stiffened as he saw comm. Seth walk towards them.

"I don't know sir. He began to act strange after I shared the news that the fake Nayantara had escaped,"

"Mr. Toga...Mr. Toga," comm Seth managed to get the attention of the delirious man before him, "I am Comm. Seth..." That introduction got the stableman to fold his hands and beg.

"I didn't know about this, sir," his eyes widened, "They lied to me, sir, and like a fool I helped them"

"Ok, Mr. Toga, I will consider your circumstances, but before that do tell me exactly what happened to distress you so much"

"Last night, after having my dinner, I took to my final rounds before settling in for bed. It was around 11 that time when I saw two people lurking around the stables and confronted them,"

"Who were they?"

"They were Ramesh and Nayantara,"

"Both of them together," comm Seth giving a surprised glance at Bandu, "What did you do, then?"

"I blocked their way and demanded an explanation. They were taken aback and claimed that they were out for a walk. I did not buy that since I knew that she had an accident recently. This time Nayantara spoke up. Her face was partially covered and when she talked it sounded different, but it appeared trifle to me at that time, and overlooked it. She gave me a different explanation,"

"What did she say?"

"She said that her life was in danger and were hiding from Dr Mathur who was trying to kill her and that Ramesh had saved her and now were hiding from the assassins. But when I countered that they should approach the police in the palace or seek Bandu's help they insisted on being targeted the moment they would be seen, so they needed a place for them to hide for the night and that's how I ended up aiding them"

"You gave them a place to hide! Where...where are they?"

"They were hiding in my quarters last night and I lay my bed in the stables, but later this morning they had vacated the place when I reached there"

"Where did they go? Did you see them leave?"

"No"

"No one had passed through the gates. So there must be another way out of here"

"Yes, there is a gate at the far end of the estate, and never used. It is covered with vines and creepers and rusted. But you can climb over it and it is never guarded"

"So I assume they escaped before their disappearance was detected. I presume they had done away with Dr. Mathur too? But why?" Comm. Seth lost in thoughts. After a few moments to himself, he began to instruct one of the men standing behind him and then he turned to Toga.

"Toga, go with the constable here and give your statement," he instructed the guilt-ridden man, who then followed the guard. Bandu led another caretaker to stable Dara for the day and then both the men walked back to the palace.

"They must not have gone far. I have wired the checkpoints for their arrest,"

"This matter gets more and more complicated, such deep is the conspiracy that has been webbed around us,"

"Yes, Bandu, both these cases are rather intriguing. They run parallel but at the same time are connected to each other, but how? That's a mystery. We haven't got hold of any culprits other than the one in the Bali murder case but we could not hold on to him either. I feel we are being led by our noses,"

"What do we do now to get Nayantara back? How are we to know where she has been taken and what they need from us in return?"

"We will have to wait for another communication from them perhaps. The note found near Dr. Mathur's body does not clearly indicate whom they are talking about. Maybe it was a fake note,"

"But their note of communication always comes with some fatality like in the case of Dr. Mathur"

"So that confirms that the person trailing you and the murder of Dr. Mathur and the kidnapping of Nayantara are the same"

"You are saying that because of the messages in the envelopes,"

"Yes, exactly, that is the only link in these two cases"

They had reached the palace and comm Seth went into the palace office and Bandu found a bench on the lawn to spend some of the moments to call on Sakhi. After yesterday's events, he hadn't had the time to call on her.