#27

Rubina was driving the car. Erik was sitting beside her on the passenger seat.

Erik said, "Are you sure you will keep yourself under control?"

"Why are you asking?"

"You are going to face the person who had killed your friend years ago."

Rubina stopped the car on a traffic signal.

"I believe myself." She spoke, "I won't loose control."

"Much like waiting for the other shoe to drop."

A pickup truck stopped on their left. Rick was on the driving seat of the truck. Rubina looked at him on her left. He observed that Rick's left hand was on the steering wheel and the other one was down. She looked ahead and looked at the signal which was about to turn green.

"Put your head down." She told him.

"What?"

She kept her eye on the countdown: 5-4-3-2-1

She yelled, "Head down!"

She shifted the gear of the car. Rick picked up his shotgun from his right hand and started shooting at the car. She accelerated and drove the car faster than she was was driving earlier. Rick kept chasing them in his pickup. He picked up an earpiece from the dashboard and wore it in his left ear.

"Lina, are you listening to me?"

"Yup."

Lina was wearing gloves while she was sitting on a bike. She was wearing a pitch black riding suit and goggles on her eyes.

He said, "Track my GPS, they are right in front of me."

"Copy."

She wore helmet, pressed the ignition switch and started the bike. She started riding the bike. The screen of the smartphone mounted on the mobile holder on the handle was displaying the real time location of Rick. Rubina shifted the gear and turned to the right. She drove ahead where the road was curving towards the left. She followed the path and continued to drive. While chasing them, Rick was interrupted by a slow moving cab which was driven by an aged driver who had his all windows closed and was vibing on an 80s pop music. He smashed the cab to make his way and kept on chasing them. Lina was riding like a bike racer over the streets. Her screen displayed that she was getting closer to Rick. Rubina drove the car through a passage. She drove the car out to the street and turned left. She shifted the gear to speed up the car but Lina came before them with her bike and pointed an assault rifle. Rubina stopped the car. Rick too stopped at a distance away from Rubina. He looked at Lina and smiled. Rubina and Lina kept looking at each other for a few seconds. Erik was astonished to see Lina.

"Damn, she is going to kill me now."

Rubina kept her eyes on Lina. She placed her hand on the gear.

"Enough."

She geared up and accelerated the car. Lina started firing at Erik who got his head down. Lina aimed at Rubina. She missed the shot and hit the tyres. The front left tyre punctured but she however kept on driving while dodging her bullets. One of the bullets hit her collar bone that led her to loose the control. The car hit the Lina's bike and then crashed into an electric pole. An injured Lina was lying on ground. She was panting as she was hurt on her legs.

Rick came out of his truck with his shotgun. Rubina held her collar bone. She saw blood on her palm. Erik was gasping as he was hurt. Rubina looked at the rearview mirror that Rick was approaching towards them with his gun. She came out and hid behind the car. Lina who was limping, somehow picked up the rifle and started firing at Erik.

Rick held his gun with both of his hands and started shooting at Erik while heading towards the car. She came out and shot him thrice. She then aimed at Lina and shot her dead. Lina fell on the ground and started bleeding from her neck. Rubina opened the passenger seat door. Erik fell off the seat on her arms. He was drenched in blood.

"Erik!"

Erik could hardly speak any word.

He said, "Stop......the...... Brownfields."

He stopped speaking and died in her arms. She kept looking at him with a grief and a bit of guilt in her eyes. Rubina was sitting on a seat in the airport. She had a flash drive on her palm. She kept the drive inside a case and kept it inside the inside pocket of her bagpack. The announcer made an announcement of her flight. She picked up her bagpack and left the seat. She was standing on a moving escalator with other passengers.

Vihaan was sitting on one of the seats in the cricket stadium. There was no spectator in the stadium. The groundsmen were preparing the pitch and maintaining the quality of the grass. A ground staff was sweeping the floor between the seats. The flood lights were illuminating the whole field. Vihaan had kept a polythene bag on his left seat having wafers. He had some of them in his left hand too which he was eating as an evening snack. Neel spotted him and stepped towards the seat. He entered the row and stopped at the seat beside wafers' seat. Vihaan kept his face towards the field.

"Take your seat." He told him and ate more wafers.

Neel sat on the seat. He stretched his hands towards the wafers

"Can I?"

Vihaan hummed.

"Why not?"

Neel picked up some wafers from the seat. They both kept their face towards the field while talking.

Vihaan asked, "So, What position has the Arclight given you?"

"Based on my experience, RA&W has assigned me as their senior analyst."

"Experience (Vihaan huffed)."

Neel looked at him.

"What's there to laugh about? I am not joking."

Vihaan chuckled.

Neel said, "My god. You are laughing."

"Okay. Fine. Senior analyst."

"What's wrong in that?"

Vihaan stopped laughing. He took another bite of wafers.

Neel said, "Sarika has called me in the morning."

Vihaan nodded and hummed.

"She wants you to arrive Monaco tomorrow." Neel continued, "She was talking about someone called Bough."

"Do you have any trick for me?"

"Well."

Neel puts his hand into the pocket under his jacket. He took out a lock key and gave it to him.

He said, "Mr. Mathur has made some arrangements for you."

Vihaan kept the key into his pocket. He tap on his shoulder.

Neel said, "Call me whenever needed."

Vihaan nodded.