The Benefit Season (27 page)

‘
But madam, why can’t I go
in instead of you?’ he protested feebly.

‘
You- climb over walls and
jump over fences and whack dogs and armed guards? Be your age
dada’, she chided affectionately, laughing.

‘
But if they catch you
ma’am… they can be very mean with womenfolk. They have no respect…
I shudder to think of what they would do to you’.

‘
Don’t worry- I won’t let
them catch me alive’, she said, shaking the rocks in her drink, and
then adding a little hastily on seeing the worried frown on his
lined face,’ or dead!’ This seemed to further mortify the old
servant rather than putting him at ease, and he rubbed unhappily at
the frayed trim of his cap. ‘And if you hear shots, walk right in
and join the fun’.

For joining the fun they’d managed two Uzi
automatics with a rate of fire of 600 rpm and a couple of 32-round
magazines, which should cause enough fireworks to raise a sleeping
Lutyen’s Delhi.

‘
Why not pay someone to do
the dirty job for us?’ he’d said.

‘
And let every ear on the
street hear what we’re up to? Arjun is safe only as long as no one
finds out that he is being kept captive in that house. I’m sure if
Vishal were taking so much trouble to keep Arjun in such a place,
it would only be to keep some thugs back in Mumbai from sniffing
him out- for what- we will soon find out. So let’s keep it low and
let’s keep it small- it’ll be a cakewalk, I promise’.

‘
What are you made of?
Does nothing scare you, child?’

‘
Being scared, scares me.’
She laughed again, making light of his concern. ‘The day I will be
afraid of taking chances, scares me. Being sick, dying on a bed,
not living life to its fullest, not living dangerously, scares me.
I am one hell of a scared woman, as you can see!’

‘
In that case ma’am, if
nothing will keep you from this reckless misadventure- I hear and
obey. My days, short are but at your beck and call. ‘

‘
Go then, bold one,’ she
said, or something like that, ‘ be here two nights from now, with
the sheep ready dressed, the fatlings killed, on white asses laid,
and the trumpets sounded; be fourscore ready for war’.

ϖ

Radhe had no sheep, or any
fatlings to kill, or Asses of any color, or trumpets to sound, but
he was there two nights later, ready fourscore for war: with her
Datura darts, Uzi autos, plenty of ammo to bring a platoon down,
the ladder, the tree pruner contraption with the paint spray can,
the first aid kit with the US Army standard-issue
Quickclots
to stanch
bleeding, and the prayer book- if all else failed.

They left the hotel around midnight and
after an hour of weaving through the dense trucks’ traffic on NH 8
they reached the Rajokri farmhouse.

All was quiet; no one was expecting
them.

The Akita dogs, warm in their furs, chunky
with food, ambled about the massive grounds in peace. Their
drivers, cozy in wool, rested with good sleep, smoked and followed
them on leash.

Radhe had reversed and
parked the car in the shadows, away from the glare of the
streetlights, ready for a quick getaway. Monal, who’d climbed half
the steps of the ladder so that she could sneak a look into the
grounds, waited for the night patrol to pass her by. She was
dressed in a jet-black body-hugging waterproof Lacroix ski suit,
with articulated knees and elbows- warm and stretchable for the
occasion. The Uzi- fully loaded and on
Fire
position, was slung tightly
across her back. Her hair was tied in a neat bun behind her head.
She had braced herself on the palms of her feet- her knees slightly
folded, hands gripping the ladder tightly- ready to spring up and
jump over. With a supple spine she had the righting reflex of a cat
and could land on her feet from any height. As soon as the patrol
passed out of sight, she swung the blanket over the concertina and
threw the knotted rope across the wall. She tossed the tree pruner
also across. Then, in a single fluid motion, she leveraged herself
on one arm, and was gone over the wall before Radhe could
blink.

On landing she oriented herself. She’d
memorized the map and blueprint of the house carefully. She
crouched low and picked out a path through the grounds, choosing
the shadows untouched by the arcs of the lights. There was little
danger of being picked up by cameras or the guards in the dark
patches. She looked around to make sure she had a free run, and
then with bold, long strides, she stretched her spine and dashed
across the grounds and reached the rear of the large mansion set
deep in the sprawling estate. She stopped at the corner and then
peeped over- there was a camera mounted high above the doorway. She
leaned across and stretched the pruner out and when it was directly
below the camera, she pressed the brake pedal. The nylon wire
pressed down the wine opener which in turn pressed the nozzle down,
sending out a thick stream of paint, neutralizing the camera. Then
she waited for a few moments, and when nothing happened, she slid
around the wall to the door and picked the lock with a wire she was
carrying. She pushed the door in gently and tiptoed down the hall
to where Arjun’s room was. She scanned the roof and walls for any
signs of cameras, and found one more, facing down the long
corridor. She neutralized this camera in the same way. She peeped
around the corner, and found the door to Arjun’s room on her left,
somewhere in the middle of the long corridor. A guard was slumped
on a chair outside, nodding drowsily, with an automatic resting in
his lap. Monal took a few steps, stopped and then aimed at his
neck, and quickly shot two darts into him. He woke up with a jerk
and swatted the side of his neck. His hand found the darts and
shocked, he dug them out- wincing. Before the bewildered man could
rise or grapple with his gun on seeing Monal standing with her feet
planted slightly wide in the corridor, her arms hanging loosely by
her sides, the effects of the sedation had taken place and he had
slid down the wall, his mouth gaping, helpless, and then he
crumpled to a side, knocked out for a good many hours.

Monal walked over, prodded him with her feet
and undid the key ring from his belt. She unlocked the door and
walked in quietly. Arjun was fast asleep. She went over to him and
clasping his mouth, shook his shoulder. ’Wake up, sleeping beauty’,
she hushed. Arjun got up with a start. ‘It’s me, Monal, shush…’

He recognized her voice in the dark and
could make out her features faintly. ‘Let’s go- quiet’, she
whispered. He nodded and slowly changed out of his nightdress. He
moved as if he’d been drugged. Silently they stole out of the house
and the lawns without any adventure, and clambered up the rope
using its knots as steps. They swung over the blanket covering the
wire and climbed down the other side by the ladder. Radhe had taken
the car out onto the street and was waiting for them with the
engine switched off. They got into the rear seat and Monal tapped
on his shoulder; ‘move it pops’.

In the shivering cold the
driver had the collars of his trench coat pulled close around his
ears, covering his face. His golf cap was pulled low over his eyes.
He didn’t
move it,
as ordered, but remained still. Monal scowled and said in a
low snarl,’ hey, what’s wrong, let’s go!’

The driver slowly turned, took off his cap
and folded his collars down, and leered across at them. In the
dark, Monal was the first to recognize him. It was Vishal, her dear
husband, not the faithful, Radhe.

ϖ

‘
What’s the hurry babe? No
goodbyes, no hellos?’ Vishal said.

‘
Where’s Radhe’, she
asked, looking around.

‘
He was cold; I put him
out of his misery’.

‘
You bastard!’

‘
You’re welcome. He was
confused about his loyalties. I cleared the fog up a bit. Nothing
like staring down the muzzle end of this to see things more
clearly’, he said, pointing his .32 Beretta at them. ‘They say your
whole life flashes past in an instant and you realize what a rotten
waste it has been.’

‘
Brute! He was an old
man’!

‘
I did realize that. For a
moment the hand wavered, but then, I decided to make a martyr out
of him, rather than let him fade away anonymously in his twilight.
Having said this much, can we end this morbid discussion? It makes
me… what’s the word… contrite- yeah- contrite of spirit and
jellylike of stomach.’

‘
What do you
want?’

‘
My list is long. Your
nakedness shall be uncovered, yeah; your shame shall be seen. And
to me shall belong vengeance and recompense, yeah, and I shall not
meet you as a man’.

‘
You were never much of a
man- yeah’.

‘
And you- weren’t much
either, woman.’

The car door opened and another man slid in
the front seat.

‘
Say hello to your
bhabiji’
, Vishal told
him. The man looked over at Monal and smiled awkwardly. ’ …And her
boyfriend’, Vishal added. The smile distorted into a dark scowl.
‘Now, if you don’t mind, can I have your weapons
please?’

Monal budged in her seat and removed the Uzi
and handed it over.

‘
Is that all?’ he said in
mock surprise. ‘ You and your military boot camps- I do recall your
interesting stories. Come on’, he snapped, ‘out with it! I don’t
want this man pawing you over- after all you
are
my wife!’

She frowned and handed over the darts and
the Bowie knife.

‘
Thank you’, Vishal said
and motioned his companion to come from the other side and take the
wheel, while he kept the gun pointed at them. Then he slid into the
passenger’s seat. Soon they were driving out of Rajokri and onto
the NH-8 towards Jaipur. Though it was close to dawn, being
winters, it was pitch dark and foggy.

‘
How did you find out’,
Monal asked.

‘
It’s my hideout. I
brought your gigolo here. You thought you were being very clever?
No sir, we let you slip in and my men were watching every move of
yours. I wanted to catch you with your hands dirty with your
boyfriend. Now god has seen and I shall see many moons with no
guilt’!

‘
We have done nothing to
be guilty of. I was just trying to save an innocent man. It’s my
entire fault that you suspect us so. You needn’t have gone so far!
Where are you taking us now?’ Monal said.

‘
To build a monument to
your love’!

Monal and Arjun exchanged space bar looks.
Arjun felt brain-lagged and disoriented from days in captivity and
now the mindless banter of the husband-wife.

‘
You know the Great Wall
of China was built from the mortar of human bones to make it
stronger? The men who worked it were buried within the wall itself.
Shah Jahan had the hands of artisans who built his Taj Mahal cut
off so that such beauty would never be recreated. There are
numerous ossuaries and catacombs the world over using human bones
and skulls. Darling, do you remember we visited the Paris
catacombs, the skull chapel at Czermna, and the Sedlec ossuary? Why
should your love not be documented as well for posterity to revere
and adore?’

‘
Don’t try anything
reckless’, she said.

‘
I don’t see how else I
can put an end to our collective shame. In society you’ve made me
look impotent- now that, I cannot allow’!

Monal sniggered. ‘I wish
the society for a moment would ask
me
about impotence. You and that
Arabic bastard whore- talking about shame and love! Ha!’

Vishal writhed in his seat and nudged the
driver with his pistol to drive faster. Soon they came to a
landfill site off the highway where one of the many new flyovers
was being constructed. They swerved sharply off the road into the
service lane and halted.

‘
Get down’; Vishal
motioned to his two captives. He held the Uzi in one hand and the
Beretta in the other- with safety levers on both on ‘F’ position.
He forced them to the edge of the yawning evacuation- it was at
least 50 feet deep and equally wide. The driver shuffled through
the piled earth on the edges to a JCB parked nearby. He started the
engine and blinked the lights twice and shouted from its window,’
ready boss!’ He sounded eager and glad.

Vishal turned towards them. His hand shook a
little. One could say a fleeting wave of remorse passed over him
like a stray cloud. But his heart was resolute, and his mind made
up long ago.

‘
Jump’, he said, glad he
could not look into her eyes in the darkness.

‘
Please don’t do this- I
love you!’ Monal pleaded, taking short, wary steps toward him, her
hands held out in entreaty.

‘
Get back’, Vishal waved
the pistol at her menacingly. But it was too late; wiry Monal had
already closed in. She gripped his wrist and sharply twisted it,
wringing the pistol out of his grip. It fell on the ground while
the two wrestled, with Arjun watching, still dazed. Vishal, though
a crack head was still in very good shape, and on a high right now.
He was proving too strong for Monal. He had managed to free his
other hand and was now bringing the Uzi to point in her direction.
It was going to be over, quickly. But suddenly Arjun snapped out of
his stupor and dived to the ground. He had the Beretta in his hand
and the shot fired in Vishal’s heart in one swift, blurry motion.
Vishal slumped to his knees, his hand clutching his chest, and then
he fell forward on his face in the dirt. Monal felt his neck for a
pulse and collapsed on his back, crying. ‘Vishal! Vishal! Oh no,
he’s gone’, she cried, shaking his motionless body. Vishal’s body,
which had fallen close to the edge, began to slide into the hole.
Monal, realizing the body slipping out of her grasp, tried to hold
on to it, but it was too late. The body slid down the slanting
walls of the pit, several feet down, out of their reach. Arjun
grabbed Monal before she could lunge after the body, and fall to
certain death. He pulled her away, while she scratched and bit him
desperately.