So this happened in the morning.
I was speaking with mumma but wile speaking I fu*king choked on my own spit i.e. saliva and mumma said look I told you to wear warm clothes now you caught the cold serves you better.
And I had no way to explain things cause that woman was not ready to believe anything
Wuuu..wuuu... ( measurably crying sound)
______________________________________
The hurricane in the distance sent towering waves over to the cruise ship. Luckily, the hurricane was too far away to do any real damage to the ship; even so, the choppy waves were more than terrifying.
The large cruise ship bobbed up and down among the wind and the waves, tilting this way and that like a helpless toy.
Its fate was now in Mother Nature’s hands.
Shehnaaz watched the dark, menacing surface of the sea close in on them through the window. She hastily asked Deepak, “I think the ship is going to sink. What do we do?”
“Let’s go to the fourth floor.” Deepak looked at his watch. “They should be here any minute now.”
Sidharth had told them to hold out for 15 minutes.
That had been 14 minutes ago.
They could only hold out for so long.
The cruise ship was now completely surrounded by pirates in white speedboats. The pirates were heavily armed; they were even equipped with shoulder-fired rocket launchers.
Shehnaaz wondered whether she and Deepak had made a mistake: maybe they should have jumped off the boat, after the cooks and sailors.
Shehnaaz smiled wryly; it was pointless to think about it now. She followed behind Deepak as he ran towards the fourth floor.
The third floor was submerged entirely in seawater as soon as they arrived on the fourth floor.
The hull gradually sank into the sea.
The armed pirates continued to watch them with bloodthirsty expressions.
One of the pirates had lifted a rocket launcher to his shoulder, and was now taking aim at the fourth floor!
Deepak carried Rashmi on his back as he held Shehnaaz in his arms. “Are you scared?”
“No.” Shehnaaz lifted the sniper rifle in her hands and said coldly, “If we’re going to die anyway, let’s take out a few more of them.”
She aimed at the pirate with the rocket launcher, and pulled the trigger.
A sniper rifle was faster than a rocket launcher.
The bullet struck the pirate between his eyebrows. He stiffened, and fell into the sea with his rocket launcher.
The pirates on the speedboat saw what had happened, and leapt to their feet in anger. They pointed at Shehnaaz and Deepak began firing at them, yelling furiously the entire time.
Deepak immediately dropped to the floor to avoid the bullets. He pulled Shehnaaz down beside him.
Just then, a fighter jet emerged from the eyewall of the hurricane and shot towards the cruise ship like a sudden
streak of lightning.
It flew close to the surface of the sea, as swift and elegant as a gray pigeon.
The jet did a barrel roll and banked 90 degrees as it circled the cruise ship.
Rat-a-tat-a-tat—a hailstorm of bullets swept across the speedboats.
On its next pass, the fighter jet unloaded shells over the speedboats.
The latest MiG-35 fighter jet, versus speedboats of unknown make and origin—it was a complete massacre.
The pirates had been carrying grenade launchers with them in the speedboats. As soon as the shells from the fighter jet landed on the speedboats, the grenades exploded all at once.
The speedboats exploded, one by one, sending towering columns of fire, smoke, and seawater into the sky.
The pirates who had not been killed by the bullets or the explosions jumped into the sea.
The fighter jet was not about to let them off the hook.
Sidharth pulled on the control stick; the jet flew upwards, offering him a wider field of view.
Rohit manned the machine gun in the fighter jet. His face was cold and ruthless as he unloaded clip after clip of bullets on the pirates who were trying to swim away.
As soon as a pirate poked his head out of the water, he was immediately greeted by a string of bullets.
It all happened quickly; within 10 minutes, the eight speedboats had sunk into the sea.
Shehnaaz looked up, her eyes glued to the fighter jet that had shot out of the hurricane. She watched as it performed a barrel roll, a loop, and then go after the pirates with its turrets blazing. Her heart pounded in her ears.
She knew at once that her Uncle Sid must be piloting the fighter jet.
He was the best fighter pilot in India!
She had seen him practice—it was definitely him!
Shehnaaz broke away from Deepak and got to her feet. She jumped up and down on the deck as she shouted
at the sky; her soft, gentle voice had grown agitated, but her shouts were no match for the howling wind.
Sidharth saw the slender figure jumping on the deck, and his lips curved into a small smile. He was about to tell Rohit to lower the rope ladder when he suddenly saw tiny red dots appear on the radar—two planes were approaching from the north!
Sidharth quickly pulled on the control stick—the plane flew upwards and back, ready to engage in a dogfight.
The planes closing in from the north did not attack the jet; they merely circled the cruise ship once, before flying away.
The two planes had been UAVs, or drones.
Sidharth looked towards the sea, and saw what looked like a large ship in the north. He took a closer look, and saw that it was actually a warship!
It was accompanied by a cruiser, a destroyer, and several top-of-the-line speedboats. All of them carried the American flag as they rapidly closed in on the cruise ship.
There was someone standing on the fastest speedboat. Sidharth was stunned to see that it was Shehnaaz’s
professor, Kartik Sen!
Rohit had seen him, too. He asked anxiously, “Sir? What do we do?!”
The warship, on the other hand, had discovered Sidharth’s fighter jet on the radar and set a missile lock on it.
Sidharth quickly made a decision: he pulled on the control stick, turned the jet around, and flew it right into the
hurricane!
As soon as the jet entered the thick, churning fog near the eyewall of the hurricane, the US warship lost its missile lock on the jet. The heavy clouds and pouring rain were too much for its radar lock-on system.
“Sir! Those ships…” Rohit was so worried he had forgotten to be sick from all the turbulence.
The jet trembled violently, like a patient suffering from uncontrollable shaking chills, as it pushed through the hurricane. Several dents appeared in the fuselage.
Sidharth calmly said, “Kartik must be here to save them.”
He could not let the US military trace the jet. The last thing he wanted was for the US military to mistakenly assume that the Cuban military was trying to provoke them.
Rohit fell silent after that. He concentrated on navigating the fighter jet out of the eyewall of the hurricane with Sidharth.
Everyone on the ground was stunned when the jet reappeared on the radar of the Cuban Air Force.
Had the two men actually returned alive?!
Wooohooo—!
The soldiers rushed out, whooping and jumping with surprise and joy. They lined up to welcome the MiG-35
fighter jet as it slowly approached the ground.
The fuselage was riddled with holes, but nobody cared—the pilots had returned from the hurricane, alive and in one piece!
…
Shehnaaz watched the plane fly back into the hurricane.
She stood alone at the bow, her gaze fixed upon the direction in which the jet had disappeared. She was so
entranced by what she had seen she did not notice that the cruise ship was still sinking; in fact, the seawater had
reached the fourth floor.
The seawater had already crept up to her ankles, but she did not know it. Finally, someone walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. “…Sana, are you okay?”
A jolt ran through her. She wrested her gaze away from the sky, and was surprised to see Kartik’s shimmering,
almond-shaped eyes looking at her with concern.
Shehnaaz blinked, still in shock. She had not yet gotten over the sight of the fighter jet.
“Sana?” Kartik called again. He wiped the rain from her face, and kissed her forehead. He pressed her head to his chest and patted her comfortingly on the back as he murmured, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid. I’m here now…”
Shehnaaz’s nerves had been stretched to breaking point.
Combined with the disappointment of not having been able to see Sidharth in person, her frayed nerves finally
snapped like a bowstring that had been drawn too tight.
Her legs gave out, and she fainted in Kartik’s arms.
Deepak stood up with Rashmi on his back. He looked at Kartik. “Professor Sen, let’s get going. The ship is about to sink.”
Kartik nodded in reply. He scooped Shehnaaz into his arms and carried her to the speedboat.
The small speedboat bobbed next to the upper deck of the cruise ship—the seawater had already closed over the deck of the ship.
The speedboat swiftly carried them across the water, towards a US Navy warship.
Deepak squinted at the warship. He asked, “Professor Sen, you called the US Navy?”
Kartik’s face was white as a sheet as he watched over Shehnaaz. He said, without lifting his head, “It was an
emergency. I had to ask them for a favor.”
Deepak suspected there was more to it, but let it go at that. Whatever the truth was, he was impressed with Kartik; he had proved to be a reliable and trustworthy man.
He pointed to Rashmi, who was lying unconscious on the ground. “She took a bullet for Sana. We bandaged her, but she’ll have to go into the operating room ASAP.”
Kartik finally looked at Rashmi. It was a quick, perfunctory glance; in the next second he had already turned back to Shehnaaz to help her wipe the rain from her hair.
The US Navy warship was equipped with functional operating rooms. There were also highly-skilled medical officers standing by.
The surgeons quickly removed the bullet lodged in Rashmi’s chest, near her left shoulder. Once the bullet was
out, she was lifted into a helicopter that would take her back to Washington.
Deepak carried Shehnaaz, who was still out, to the helicopter. They would be returning to Washington as well.
Kartik did not approach Shehnaaz again. He sat beside the window in the helicopter, cool and indifferent.
The helicopter flew them directly to Kartik’s estate, near the Potomac River in Washington.
Deepak had wanted to take Shehnaaz back to their apartment, but was dissuaded from doing so by Kartik.
“I already have a doctor on stand-by at my place. You and Sana should stay at my house for the night. You can take her back to your apartment in the morning, once you’re sure she’s okay.”
Deepak nodded. He was worried for Shehnaaz, and he knew that he would have to take her to the hospital for a
medical examination anyway.
Rashmi and Shehnaaz were placed in the same room, to make it more convenient for the doctor to set up the
testing equipment.
Deepak laid out a thin mattress before Shehnaaz’s bed and slept on it, too worried about her to leave her unattended.
He woke up early the next morning to check Shehnaaz’s monitors.
Everything was normal: she did not have a fever, and had not been injured in any way. Deepak finally relaxed.
One of the maids working in the Sen residence walked over to tell him breakfast was ready.
Deepak went to the bathroom to wash up, before following the maid out the room.
Soon after that, Kartik entered the room.
The first thing he did was to check on Shehnaaz. He saw that nothing was wrong with her, and breathed a sigh of relief.
He sat beside Shehnaaz as he watched her sleep. His thoughts began to stray.
He recalled what had happened the previous day. His blood ran cold.
Seven days ago, his father had become seriously ill. He had sent a message to Kartik asking him to return to his
family home.
Kartik had not been overly concerned; he would go home, attend to his father, and then return to Washington before Shehnaaz’s birthday, with plenty of time to spare.
He had returned to his family home to discover that his father’s condition was worse than he had thought.
As a result, he had stayed for two more days.
Fortunately, Auntie Mehak was around to look after his father.
He left his father in her capable hands, and returned to Washington.
The thought of Auntie Mehak made him sigh. He lowered his head to look at Shehnaaz, and adjusted her blanket for her.
He had set out for the Caribbean Sea as soon as he was back in Washington. When he learned that all contact with
the cruise ship had been lost, he knew that something was wrong.
He did not want to think of the feelings that had surged through him when he first heard the news: the confusion, the anxiety, the pain, and the helplessness. He had tasted that bitter concoction of emotions once, six years ago; he had not expected to experience them again.
Driven by his extreme anxiety, Kartik had traded on his highest-level connections, and asked to borrow a warship from the US Navy for a rescue mission.
Fortunately, he had arrived just in time to save them.
If he had been late for even anminute…
Kartik remembered the floating bodies on the sea, and the fighter jet that had disappeared into the hurricane. His face paled once more at the recollection.
“Professor Sen?” Rashmi’s voice sounded from the other end of the room.
Kartik turned his head to look. He got up and walked over.
“You’re awake?” He stood in front of Rashmi’s bed with his hands in his pockets. “How’s your wound?”
His voice was gentle, and full of warmth. Rashmi trembled all over, touched by his concern.
She struggled to get up from her bed. “I’m feeling much better. Thank you for saving me, Professor Sen. How is your father?”
Smack!
Kartik’s hand abruptly shot out and struck Rashmi viciously across the face.
The slap was so powerful it sent Rashmi tumbling off the bed. She lay on the floor, dazed, her head skewed to one side from the force of the slap.
“Are you proud of yourself?!” Kartik spat out from between clenched teeth. Without warning, he pulled out a pistol and held it against Rashmi’s temple. “Have you forgotten everything I said? Do you want me to kill you?”
Shehnaaz’s eyes were wide with shock. Professor Sen, who had always been the very picture of calm and composure, was suddenly violent and abusive. Her jaw dropped.
She was already awake when Kartik entered the room, but had pretended to be asleep, not quite ready to open her eyes.
Her eyes flew open when she heard the slap, and what she saw shocked her: Kartik was actually pointing a gun at Rashmi!
Shehnaaz knew that Rashmi had saved her life. It was an indisputable fact.
Shehnaaz had been wearing a bulletproof vest, but the pirate could have been aiming at literally any spot on her body.
What if the bullet had struck her in the head?
She had not been wearing a bulletproof helmet.
The fact was, Rashmi had jumped in front of her and taken a bullet that had been meant for Shehnaaz.
She did not know why Kartik was being so violent with Rashmi, but she knew she could not sit idly by and
watch him abuse her.
“Professor Sen…” Shehnaaz said weakly. “What are you doing?”
Kartik looked up. His bright, almond-shaped eyes flickered to her, and the hard edge in them immediately melted away.
“Professor Sen, Miss Desai saved my life. I haven’t thanked her for that.” Shehnaaz slowly sat up.
Kartik put his pistol away. He walked over to Shehnaaz, sat on the bed beside her, and put an arm around her shoulder to steady her. He said gently, “Happy birthday, Sana. I still owe you a grand birthday party.”
Shehnaaz smiled as she shook her head. “Professor Sen, you don’t owe me anything. This is one birthday I will never forget.”
Kartik forced a smile. “How do you feel? Are you in pain? Are you hungry? Do you want me to get the doctor to give you another check-up?”
His attitude had turned a 180. Shehnaaz shrank awkwardly into her bed, unsure of how to react. “I’m fine, I don’t feel any pain. I’m just a little hungry, that’s all.” She glanced at
Rashmi, who was still lying on the floor, and felt a surge of pity for her. She bit her lip and said, “Professor Sen, what happened to Brother Khatri, and all the other guests?”
Kartik had already heard from Deepak, and knew that Shehnaaz was trying to cover for Rashmi.
He tousled her hair and sighed. “They found Little Khatri and the others. Everyone’s fine. Go wash up, I’ll get
someone to bring you some food.”
Shehnaaz smiled. She pushed her blanket away, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Rashmi struggled to get up from the floor. Kartik casually walked past her; he did not even look at her.
Shehnaaz ran into Deepak during breakfast. “Come sit here.” Deepak dragged a high-backed chair over.
“The breakfast is pretty good. Have some clam chowder, and there’s also crab bisque.”
Shehnaaz eyed the food and her stomach growled. Deepak pat her head with a smile. “Eat. You’re so hungry you can’t even speak.” After breakfast, the pair left to say goodbye to Kartik.
Kartik was handling business in his office, so he didn’t greet them, sending instead the housekeeper to have the
driver take them home. After Shehnaaz and Deepak left, Kartik had someone call Rashmi over. Rashmi still wore the loose, white striped gown she had changed into on the naval warship. Her face was pale and
her right cheek still carried the imprint from when Kartik had slapped her. Her round face appeared haggard, the skin on her lips was cracked and her eyelids were bruised from a lack of sleep. Only her slender eyes remained calm and steady.
Heavy emerald and gold curtains draped over the windows in the office, shutting out the morning light. The room was only illuminated by a blue Tiffany lamp on Kartik’s desk.
His face was concealed behind the lamp as he glowered at her without saying a word.
Although Rashmi had prepared for this, his cold glare still made her anxious. She tried to compose herself and spoke after a long silence.
“Professor Sen, you asked for me?”
“What happened on the cruise ship yesterday? Where did the pirates come from?” Kartik leaned back on his large black leather seat, a silver revolver spinning in his hand.
“Don’t tell me that you don’t know anything.”
Rashmi’s eyes suddenly turned red, brimming with tears, and she closed her eyes and sobbed. “I really don’t
know anything. If Professor Sen doesn’t believe me, please just kill me. My whole family belongs to the Sen family anyway, so no one will say anything even if you do.”
“You think that I won’t?” Kartik spun the revolver once and aimed at Rashmi as he coldly spat out, “Who do
think you are? Don’t think I’m scared to hurt you just because my father sent you here.”
Rashmi’s tears streamed down her face, but her eyes remained closed and she remained silent as she awaited her sentence. Kartik kept the muzzle aimed at her for a long time, but didn’t shoot. “Remember this, if Sana hadn’t put in a good word for you, you’d be dead by now.” He threw
the gun back into the drawer and leaned back against the seat. “Tell me then, if it wasn’t you, who was it? Who dared to mess with my ship? Who wanted to kill them?” Kartik had bought the cruise ship especially for Shehnaaz’s 18th birthday, but it had unfortunately destroyed by the pirates.
Rashmi’s eyelashes quivered as she slowly opened her eyes and touched the wound on her chest. She thought
about it and spoke in a hushed voice. “Professor Sen, I really don’t know who’s responsible for this. But I did find something very interesting.”
“What’s so interesting? Don’t try to change the subject. ” Kartik gazed fixedly at her, his voice toneless.
Rashmi looked down and the entire episode replayed in her head. “It’s about Shehnaaz.”
“Speak.”
“Everything happened so suddenly that I thought we were done for, but Shehnaaz and her guardian opened my eyes with their incredible shooting skills. You had just invited
them for a birthday party on a cruise ship, but they had actually brought sniper guns and assault rifles! Just think about it! What kind of people would bring these kind of things when they travel?”
Kartik froze. “Those were their own weapons?” He had seen Shehnaaz and Deepak carrying guns yesterday, but he had assumed they had seized them from the pirates.
All the weapons were American and so he hadn’t thought anything more of it. It wasn’t surprising to him that Shehnaaz and Deepak played with guns; shooting was a sport after all, and many people enjoyed it. Of course, not everyone could afford this past time.
“Yes, I saw them take it out from their luggage with my own eyes.” Rashmi finally relaxed. “Also, her CV said her
parents passed away so she grew up with her guardian. But a different guardian came in such a short period of time. What kind of family would have two grown military men as
guardians to care for a girl like Shehnaaz?”
Kartik leaned forward and clasped his hands together, his brow furrowed.
“Also, we investigated her according to her CV and found that everything was seamless from the time she was born. Nothing was out of the ordinary and everything had supporting evidence and alibis to corroborate anything we inquirer about . Don’t you think that’s unusual? All those
things couldn’t be true, but were actually fabricated to look just like the truth. If we didn’t take her blood sample to fully investigate her, we would’ve never known all the evidence was fake. What kind of people would be able to fake an entire life to that extent?” Rashmi finally showed a hint of contempt, but she quickly concealed it and resumed a
respectful manner. “I just wanted to remind Professor Sen to not be blinded by the past. There is an unimaginable force at play.”
“So what?” Kartik was unperturbed. “With someone like Sana, can an ordinary person protect her? I actually have to thank this force for taking care of her. If not for them, I
don’t want to even think about what would’ve happened to Sana in the last six years.”
Rashmi hadn’t expected Kartik to be so compassionate and understanding towards Shehnaaz to this extent. A great bitterness surged in her heart and seemed to make her chest wound more painful. She pressed her palm to her chest and forced a smile.
“Naturally. I know she’s very important to you, so that’s why I did everything to protect her, even if it meant getting shot myself. I have no qualms. Professor Sen, you don’t have to worry about me framing Sana; she’s never liked me anyway and has
always assumed that I have an ulterior motive for everything I do. I’m used to it now.”
“Is that so?” Kartik’s eyes dimmed as he watched her, as though he were trying to see through her facade and
determine what her heart was truly thinking. Rashmi forced herself to stay calm and grimaced from the pain of the wound.
Kartik gazed at her for a while more, then finally waved his hand in dismissal. “Go back home and rest for two months. Don’t go to campus anymore. Send me all the files you have on hand, and I’ll have the school find me another teaching assistant.”
Rashmi was too terrified to object. She was also gravely injured and needed to recuperate; she didn’t want to become disabled from this incident.
…
Shehnaaz and Deepak returned to their apartment and could finally speak freely again. “What a shame, all my favourite things are under the Caribbean sea now.” Shehnaaz said with pity as she opened a cup of yogurt from the fridge.
Deepak rolled his eyes at her. “What are those compared to mine? I was the one who lost good things.” He
snapped his fingers suddenly. “Right, that reminds me. I have to get in touch with Rohit and have him send me a new set over. Without my equipment, it feels like I’m going
online naked.”
They only had their cellphones left, everything else was gone. Shehnaaz giggled and pointed at Deepak.
“You’re already used to being a hacker, so of course you’re afraid of someone spying on your computer.” Her eyes quickly darted to his computer.
“Don’t even think about it.” Deepak smacked her head. “Go shower and sleep; you obviously didn’t sleep well.”
“How could I sleep well in a stranger’s house?” Shehnaaz shook her head tiredly. “I’ll go now.” She went back to her room and closed the door, but didn’t go to the bathroom right away.
Instead, she took out her phone and called Sidharth.
*
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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.