And it all went black …

Shit! The voices were gaining on him, yet his tired legs refused to go any faster. He had hoped the cops would keep their promise, keep him safe. Yet somehow, Anna got a whiff of his betrayal and had been chasing him for the last five hours.

He ran and ran. Eventually, he found it increasingly difficult to breathe. The darkness began to turn white and his eyes began to spin. Although he did see the banyan on his right, the sprawling root was invisible to him, thanks to his fatigue. He tripped and he crashed hard onto the ground. Anna’s men were far too experienced to not guess what had happened and were right on top of him within seconds. They had their man.

They got him on his knees. No need to tie him or gag him. Not deep in the heart of this forest. Through his haze, he saw a tall man approaching him. He held a revolver against the temple of his forehead and whispered, “All I had asked of you was to keep your fucking mouth shut!”. Saying so, he spat on his face and pulled the trigger. All went black.

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Shiva had started from Dhule really early in the morning for Gondia. He had already been driving for the whole of the previous day, when his sheth instructed him to take the Tata Sumo to Gondia with two passengers. He was really very tired, right from the time he had embarked upon the journey. Somewhere after Loni on NH-6, he began to feel drowsy. Right there he decided that he would stop at Badnera to get some rest. Let these two idiots complain, he thought. I will convince sheth later.

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Munna woke up with a shudder, wet all over. He looked around and found himself right where he had slept off, in the same bush along National Highway 6. He had called the cops the previous day and asked them to take him in right at that spot. They had promised to be there by 8:00 am. Munna checked his watch, he had 5 more minutes.

He wiped his sweat with his shirt, the same one he had been wearing since he ran from Anna’s adda three days ago. He heaved a sigh of relief when he found that all that he had seen was only a dream. Right then, he heard a honk from the other side of the road. The familiar white Qualis caught his eye. He was saved.

Now Relief, they say, is a bitch. It makes you drop your guard, makes your senses really blunt. Which is exactly why Munna did not notice the speeding Sumo with a semi-conscious Shiva at its wheel. Right then, all went black.