"Bad law is the worst sort of tyranny",--Edmund Burke

Blog Chatter A2Z 2022 April 2, B-for Baddies


A note to my readers: Yesterday (April 1), I presented Anand, the protagonist in my upcoming thriller, Murder at Thampuran Kotta. If you have missed it, please read it here.

The remaining posts in this campaign are from Part-5 of my novel.

The Bridge: The summary of what happened from part 1 to part 5?

In the first chapter, my readers found Anand in a whirlpool of contradictions--his marriage wasn't functioning as had expected. He formulated theories like one shouldn't venture to marry a woman unless you find her well disposed towards you. He never tried to find a woman of that sort was his mistake. Having that guilt, he put maximum effort to compromise with his wife and carry forth. Until that day, she toppled their marriage, dropping the divorce bomb. 

As the officer in charge of the Thampuran Kotta murder case, he worked conscientiously to bring the murderers out from the cosy hideouts afforded by the system. When his team was about to make the final crash, he got the order that replaced him with another team- the system's darlings.     

Part -5

Scene-1

Arjun gets a phone call from a woman in the middle of the night.

"Help, please," a female scream on the phone jolted Arjun out of bed. Wiping sleep off his eyes, he tried to place the number—there was no caller name—it was not listed in his contact. The public used his office phone-and the personal number was restricted to close friends and family. Then who was that, making a distress call on his private number? Slipping into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, he considered Silpa, his X --he had dropped her number from the contacts months before.     

The time was approaching half-past11. 

"Help-please?" The panic-stricken urgency in the caller's voice echoed in his ears. He was ready to reach out and help her but needed her whereabouts.

He dialled the number to assure her of his help and know her whereabouts. The call was not received. Two-three minutes rolled on--he felt hamstrung.  

A rumbling of wheels woke up his phone-- he heard vehicles were moving, wheels speeding along tarmac fudged with wild male outbursts and panic-stricken female shrieks. The possible scenario of a woman getting chased by an unruly male mob. He recognised two different noises, suggesting she was driving a car and the men were chasing her in another vehicle, or the men took her hostage and drove her in their vehicles.

The number of women brutally murdered was increasing in the area. The murderers are intimates or strangers. Everybody responsible for law and order takes shelter in the blame game of the political parties. The bungling legal system fails to earn justice for the victims.   

A lady is in trouble along the stretch of a road somewhere, and she called his number. Arjun dialled the police tower but received no response.

Five minutes passed--Arjun's phone received a message—the google map of a place spread out on the screen. Either the woman or her assailants had sent it-in the latter case to trap him- either way, he decided to set off.

Arjun jumped inside his car--the location was 7.3 kilometres from where he was, along the state highway.   He chased the route on the map, mindful of her moving and weary of where she would be when he reached there.    

The criminals are gaining the upper hand over the police force, upgrading themselves with innovative methods. The best offers in the department can match with them but fear the mood and inclinations of those at higher places. If the men chasing the women are influential, he was heading to another disaster.  

He needed reinforcement, got onto the station line through the radio call--got the best man on the other side--Zak to brief the urgency of the matter at his hand.   

"Inform the tower to locate her movement and be in touch with me. Not another women's body I want."

Arjun trusted Zak's earnestness in performing his duty, who was his right hand investigating the Thampuran Kotta murder case. And his earnestness caused him a significant loss--he couldn't be with his father in his last days. His father's untimely departure from this world took him to the brink of depression. An adorable friendship between the father and the son, he had witnessed that himself. The turn of events in his own life had debilitated him from showing enough concern for Zak's situation.  

Anand approached the MC road. The highway was quieter, having less traffic. Right or left, he got confused. He pulled over to the side and dialled the lady's number bringing no result.   He studied the google map on his phone. Her spot seemed 2,5 kilometres to the right of the junction when he started the journey. By the time he covered five kilometres from his home, she should have passed the intersection towards the left if travelling southwards. If travelling opposite, her position would be farther away from him. His gut feeling made him turn right towards the North. 

This post is part of the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge hosted by 

Blog Chatter

You can read all my posts for Blog Chatter A2Z here.

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