Chapter 12 – The Undeniable Truth

Adding a chapter to the tale weaved by the Team Supernova 

Read the previous part here. 

Tara jumped from her seat and took Roohi in her arms. “A Helicopter here? Who could it be?,” she thought.

It wasn’t long when the helicopter landed on her safe house’s helipad and someone knocked the door, softly.

“Should I open it? Is it safe? No one except Shekhar and me knows about this place. Are they the same kidnappers?,” questions puzzled and tensed her.

Her increasing heartbeat matched the increasing knocks on the door. Tara moved to answer the door, slowly and steadily. She prayed that it won’t be anything dangerous. For a second her mind and heart went blank with a thought of something wrong happened to Shekhar. Still, all those thoughts and contemplation lay still and bare in comparison to the knocks on the door.

She opened up the lock and reaching the knob opened the door. The man standing in front of her shocked and surprised her.

“Purohit Sarkar?” she said in a startling voice.

“Good afternoon Tara. Can I come in?”

Her heartbeats were normal once again, as she realized, she was the one who spoke to him.

“That was so stupid of me. It was me who gave him the details and look how I am panicking,” she thought to herself but aloud she said, “That is so thoughtful of you to be here. I really appreciate it.”

“I am Home Minister. It is my duty and especially for a beautiful and talented lady like you, the ministry is always there”, there was an array of mysteriousness in his voice, which Tara started to pick up slowly.

“O! That is so sweet”, and there was another loud soar of helicopter and a knock on the door once again.

“That would be my bodyguards”, Sarkar said as he saw Tara getting little worried. Without a minute of delay, he opened up the door to allow his bodyguards in.

For a second Tara thought the bodyguards had new uniforms but as she struggled to make her mind work, she realized that they were not the usual bodyguards, she knew.

Those two men stood near the entrance and Sarkar came back to his seat. Tara noticed something different and her mind worked at great speed. “He is not in Kurta-Pyjama – the staple clothing of ministers and the attire in which he had always met me. Oh My God, why is he wearing a black Safari suit when he is on official duty? Could it be…”

“Sit down, Tara. Don’t trouble yourself”, Sarkar’s voice penetrated thoughts.

Fear gripped her and aloud she was only able to say, “What brings you here? I mean, you must be having busy schedule. A lot has happened in the country.”

“Well, yes. But there are others to take care of it. I came to check the safety of you and your daughter. After all, India cannot afford the loss of a brilliant journalist”, his tone was rather mysterious and taunting.

“We are safe…” Tara said by moving away from the seating area, “… It would be great to know if the helicopter is ready to pick up my husband from that train.”

All this while, Roohi was happily watching her cartoon when the mention of Shekhar interested her.

“Is daddy too going to fly like us mamma?” she asked cutting the tense situation.

Tara went towards her and hugged her saying softly, ‘Yes.’

“The eternal love of mother-daughter. So lovely it is”, Sarkar, said. “Well, Tara if you do not mind, Can I have the copy in the Xombie information, you have and Shekhar has in the train?”

Tara was aghast, shocked, startled, and pained with her guess work coming true. “So, you are not a Home Minister at all. You are too a traitor like Sasha?”

“Good girl. See, I told you, your loss will be a nation’s loss.”

“Why us?” Tara cried.

“The deal is simple. You have some vital information with you and some is with Shekhar. As soon as you both give us your collected information, you are free to go. I promise that a helicopter will be send and Shekhar will be brought to safety. Everything will be as it was before this incident. Think about it.”

“I will not and nor Shekhar will give you anything. It will be a huge damage to our nation, you traitor.”

“Tsk… Tsk.. Tara…” he said sternly, “Calm your mind. It is either your family or your patriotism. We have still have 10 hours to think about it. By the way, you both are under house arrest.”

Tara cried bitterly within her because aloud, she did not want Roohi to go through another shock. She watched helplessly around her as the three men settled themselves in her home – one of them being a Home Minister on whose shoulders rested the welfare of people. 

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