City of Sthapan, Present Day, 8:40 a.m.

"Om!"

Omkar had no memory of having Kriti in his arms. Her whole body was trembling, and Omkar was not too sure whether it was her or him. Her heart was thudding painfully, and Omkar could feel her fear.

The computer room was a slightly cold place. It was meant to be like that, considering the servers that were placed there. But Omkar was feeling feverish. He had Kriti in his arms and Omkar was worried out of his head and could not even think calmly.

"Please tell me Aadi will be fine!" She nodded fervently at him, her brown eyes looking round as water pools. "You will bring him back before anything else happens, right?" Her eyes had a mad desperation, and she nearly clawed at his hands, studying him.

Omkar nodded, and he was unable to speak for a few seconds.

"I will." His words were a whisper, and he willed himself to sound a little more believable.

But then all the members of the EZ1 and Kriti shared a special bond. No, it was not because of Omkar. It was entirely because of Kriti, and all the EZ1 members specifically cared for Kriti. Among the seven techies in TTI, Sthapan Kriti was the only female, and she really tried. She tried to help the agents with all the technical problems in their line of work. That started it. Beyond that, Kriti was the only techie who tried to understand the actual problems of the agents—in their personal lives. No, she was not always right in her interpretation, but she tried. That made her special. Even the tough Aadi had a soft spot for Kritika Kiran.

But then Omkar was only half thinking about it. He knew he was in real fucking trouble.

Kriti was worried about Aadi, which was why she had most probably forgotten about Vani. But when she started working on the call, Omkar was 198% sure that she would want to know why Omkar had kept facts about Vani from her. That was one problem.

Mitran was going to have his head, for keeping the news of Vani's being alive from him.

Vidyut was confused.

Bhide was openly looking worried, and Omkar was worried that the doctor was going to blurt out the truth and get in trouble.

No, Omkar did not want that.

Omkar was Aadi's team leader.

Omkar was the one who had pursued an impossible relationship with a thief and got into all this mess.

Everything that happened was Omkar's fault. The doctor was not responsible for that.

The doctor had taken a piece of paper from Kriti's table, and he was writing something on it after looking at certain details on his cell phone, and no, Omkar was not thinking about that either.

This was an irrelevant tangent.

Omkar realized that though his thoughts were in utter disarray, he had figured something else about the kidnapper.

"The kidnapper has previously worked for TTI or has been trained here." Omkar spoke slowly, trying not to panic.

His audience stared blankly at him.

Beyond his anger, Mitran was actually paying attention to Omkar. Vidyut did not understand much of what Omkar was about.

Kriti sat down on her chair, abruptly. She swallowed painfully as she was struggling to focus on Omkar's words.

Bhide dropped the pen in his hands as he heard Omkar, and the doctor's eyes went round with genuine apprehension.

Omkar ignored the fact that the doctor's otherwise steady hands were shaking in fear.

Omkar swallowed and told himself to focus. "The kidnapper knows Mitran personally. I have a feeling that he has a grudge against Mitran, specifically. He knows me." Omkar was silent for a few seconds, and he was trying to think. "He is after Vani, and the kidnapper knows for a certainty that Vani is alive."

Bhide sucked in a deep breath and turned pale.

Mitran nodded after a few seconds. "Does that mean that we are looking at disgruntled employees of TTI? Someone who has left their jobs here, because they could not cope with the work here."

Omkar thought for a few seconds.

Omkar and Vani were old news. The kidnapper also knew about Omkar's marriage. He had assumed that, like a normal man, Omkar would have kept news about his ex from his wife. No, what was relevant was that the man knew for a certainty that Vani was alive. How was that possible?

No, no matter what answers Omkar came up with, he could not find an answer for that.

Because, Mitran, his EZ1 team, Bhide, and Kriti were the only people who knew about him and Vani. No, Omkar could not suspect his own teammates. That was stupid. Bhide and Mitran were never even on his radar. Kriti was his single hope of sanity in the whole mess.

Besides, Bhide was the only man who knew that Vani was alive, and not to put too fine a point on it, Bhide was not capable of this. The doctor loved people too much.

No, Omkar could not properly process Mitran's question or give him any answers.

"I do not know for sure, chief." Omkar answered truthfully.

Kriti did not seem like she was paying any attention to this conversation, and she was looking at Aadi's picture. Vidyut was standing beside her, and he clutched her shoulder, nodding at her and looking encouragingly at her.

"We will find him, Kriti." Vidyut's voice was a whisper. "The asshole owes me a treat. I am not letting him go without getting it."

Omkar was not entirely sure whether Vidyut was telling her that, or was telling himself that. It did not matter, because Omkar understood.

"Any idea where he could be? An abandoned building? Somewhere two streets away from his home? That is the last known location of his cell phone. Probably that is where the kidnapper has him." Kriti suddenly proclaimed, as she pointed at Mitran's screen.

All the men turned to her. Kriti nodded fervently. "Is it possible?"

Omkar swallowed painfully as he studied Kriti. He knew that Kriti was just grasping at straws and telling herself not to think about the foremost question in her mind.

"Look into abandoned flats and buildings in that place." Omkar's voice was a whisper. "I will.." Omkar studied Bhide. "I will find Vani."

It was the troubled Dr. Bhide who had the idea first. "Do you think someone is after TTI agents?"

As they studied the medical man, Mitran, Omkar, Vidyut, and Kriti all came to a halt.

The doctor looked thoroughly worried. "Today morning, another agent was tortured and killed. Ramesh Mehra. Now, Aadi."

"Fuck it!" Mitran yelled angrily. Then he turned to Vidyut. "The two of you are going to try to find where Aadi is being kept and keep my cellphone. Use it for whatever you want."

Mitran turned to Omkar. "I don't care what lies you pulled before this to frame that thief's death. I am not looking into it either. I don't care how you do it. Find Vani. She is the only solid lead we have into finding who is behind this."

Mitran angrily huffed out of the computer room.

No, no one missed that Mitran thumbed Omkar out of the room angrily, even as he stormed out.

Omkar was quiet, and he walked out of the room.

Bhide followed the two men, almost like an automaton with the slip of paper in his hands.

*************

"Three months back, we were following up on a lead and we arrested Vani... first." Omkar started and then fumbled. "That arrest led to... Dr. Chari's arrest and... subsequently led to Shreya's arrest."

They were in the long corridor leading to the computer room. There was no one else there now, and it looked like neither Omkar nor Mitran cared about that.

Bhide was behind both the men, and he looked at the two men, remorse written in every single one of their features.

No, Mitran looked like he had not paid any attention to Bhide. He was looking at Omkar. He remembered Chari's case well, and no, Mitran was never going to forget it. That was the day that, for the first time, an agent of TTI turned out to be... bad.

Mitran nodded angrily, because he remembered that event too well. "Continue."

"I fabricated the records to make the world believe that Vani was dead, after Shreya was arrested, to help Vani escape TTI custody." Omkar finished quietly.

Mitran was quiet for a few seconds. "Okay."

"I was the only one who was involved in it." Omkar said, taking another deep breath. "My teammates have no idea about it." He studied Mitran again. "I will submit myself to any enquiry or any legal measures for this."

For a long second, Mitran studied Omkar. "Do you know that Vani is a criminal, agent?"

"Yes."

"And you still felt it necessary to let her escape legal custody."

"Yes."

Mitran nearly snarled a second later. "Do you know that Aadi is a TTI agent and is working under me?"

Omkar said nothing for a few seconds. Then he nodded. "Yes."

"I chose him!" Mitran was furious. "Aadi was a commando in the army, Om. I selected him to work at TTI because of his talents. He happily accepted it. Today that man is dying somewhere and may be killed, all because of your stupidity."

Omkar took a deep breath.

He wanted to add that Aadi was his team member and that Omkar was directly responsible for that. But he did not say it. He knew that this was Mitran in a seriously bad mood. But then there was that army thing in Mitran. Team members were like family. Nothing could happen to them.

"Sir, I made a mistake. I am sorry. I will make up for it before things get worse."

No, no one noticed that this was the first time that Omkar had ever addressed Mitran like that.

Mitran came very close to Omkar, looking down on the man. "I was lenient with you until now, because you got me results, Om." Mitran's eyes bored down on the younger man. "If you are ever responsible for hurting anyone else working for me again, I will destroy you!"

"I am sorry, sir." Omkar looked down, and he just said nothing else in his defence.

"Mitran." Dr. Bhide's voice was shaky. Because this was something that no one in TTI had ever seen. Omkar was a genius at insubordination, and he always managed to drive Mitran to exasperation. But today was different. "Please calm down."

"No Vasant." Mitran's voice was curt, as he cut off the doctor. "Right now, someone wants us to find that thief, and I may lose one of my agents because of her. No..." Mitran's voice took a vicious turn. "Don't tell me to calm down now."

"That was uncalled for, Mitran." Bhide sounded hurt, and he came forward. His voice shook a little, but he spoke. "Omkar cares more about Aadi than you do."

"Doc," Omkar would have yelled angrily. "Be quiet!"

But Bhide was louder than him.

"The thing is..." Bhide took another deep breath. "Omkar didn't do anything to help Vani escape. I did it, Mitran."

Mitran's expression did not even change. He was still studying Omkar and then turned back to Bhide.

For the first time in his career, Bhide mistook Mitran's silence.

"We catch really bad people here, Mitran. Vani is just a thief. I do not think we need to waste our time and resources on keeping a woman like that behind bars. She was not a menace to society. And she has been helpful to our investigations before."

Mitran still said nothing.

"Doc, why are you lying?" Omkar demanded, and he honestly felt a little lame.

It seemed like Mitran had believed the doctor's words. But then, Mitran always had a knack for sifting through all the lies to get to the truth.

Dr. Bhide shook his head, not removing his eyes from Mitran. "Vani was badly injured on that day—that was the day we arrested Shreya. But Vani was strong and she was recovering. But I made everyone at the TTI clinic believe that Vani was not going to make it. I wrote a death certificate for Vani. After that, I had Vani shifted to another hospital under the care of a civilian doctor friend of mine. He took Vani as a patient with another name. She was discharged by that doctor and she has had a new life since then." Bhide pointed at the slip of paper in his hands. "This is Vani's address. This is where she is staying now."

Mitran took the slip of paper and then turned to Bhide. Then he shook his head. "I think you are lying, Vasant. I think you wrote out the wrong death certificate under the instructions or requests of this man. You are lying now, because of some stupid noble sense to protect this asshole!" Mitran pointed at Omkar. "That man is responsible for this whole mess and I am not going to believe anything else, other than that."