The Ordeal Ends

Charu looked at adversaries lined up in a small hall in the submarine. Although she and Yuvaan had not been tied up but they were not free. Anytime their captors may decide to kill them. It was easier and convenient to dispose of the bodies in the water. They will be meal for fish even before somebody thought of searching for them.

But who would search for them. She was sure that Abhay had some convenient story to tell about their disappearance. Being a policeman, albeit a crooked one, he could easily mislead their rescuers. On top of that, jealousy had made him mad. Charu was sure that he will not spare the life of Yuvaan in any case, even if he was somehow able to convince Darana to spare her life.

All of them were gathered in a small hall of the submarine. In fact she could see the swirling water around from closed small glass window of the submarine. She shuddered at the idea of becoming a meal for the fish. It will be worse if they were thrown alive in the water.

She looked at her captors. Her gaze was fixed on Abhay who was smiling at his luck. How could she ever think of loving such a person? She was sure that he was conniving all the time with the criminals. In fact, her and Yuvaan’s fate was sealed the time they relied on Abhay.

Abhay saw her looking at him. He spoke to her, “I think we can still be together. You know I love you. I am sorry about your friend Yuvaan. He knows too much, so he has to go.”

Charu was shocked at Abhay’s presumptuousness. Still to buy time, she controlled anger in her voice, trying to sound friendly, “If you can spare my life, you can also spare Yuvaan’s. I promise to you Yuvaan won’t talk to anyone about this.”

Abhay was not taken by her promise. He said, “Even for sparing your life, I have to request Darana. Yuvaan, however, can’t be trusted to keep silent for long. You make a choice.”

Just then, she noticed Ruth turning his gun towards Darana surreptitiously. Nobody else noticed the change. She hoped that Martha had been able to turn her son against his masters. She had discerned some amount of goodness in Martha. Of course, she could be wrong.

However, movements of Ruth and his facial expression told her that she could not be wrong.

She addressed both Darana and Abhay, “I think you are not in a position to threaten us. Just look around.”

As Darana and Abhay looked around, they saw that Ruth’s gun was trained at them.

Darana, who considered himself as the Master of Ruth, shouted at him, “Ruth, what are doing? Keep your gun trained at Yuvaan and Charu.”

Ruth was grim, “I think your mission is not honest. You want the mind-control drug to control the world, not to help the people. My mother has told me how kind Charu’s family has been to us. I cannot be part of your evil designs.”

Soon, both Darana and Abhay were overpowered. They took the submarine to surface. All of them got out. There was bright sunshine outside.

 

 

Epilogue

They were all gathered in the living room of Charu’s house. Abhay was, of course, not present. He was in jail for his role in conspiracy in league with the Mafia boss Darana. Charu was sitting in a chair facing all others. She was the only one having complete knowledge of conspiracy. There were some neighbours and friends of Oomen, who after hearing about Charu’s ordeal had come to listen to her story. Even the servants of household were sitting behind the other guests.

Mani Oomen looked at his daughter with a mix of awe and pride. Ruth was not present. Since he had cooperated in nabbing the criminals, he was expected to be released shortly. He had also turned approver for the prosecution. His mother Martha was, however, present. Vincent Uncle, freed from captivity, was also in the audience. Although he had reasonable knowledge about the case, still everyone wanted to hear the story from Charu.

Charu began talking. “My mother Sheryl had developed a mind control drug. She had refused to share the details of her research with her husband and did not share with him even when he tortured her. She was well aware of the fact that he was the Mafia Boss. She was ultimately killed by Anthony for which he was jailed. Anthony died in jail while serving his sentence.”

Here she became a bit emotional and took a sip from glass of water to hide her emotions.

Vincent Uncle asked her, “When did you discover that she was your mother?”

This diverted attention of Charu from her emotional state. “When Martha started screaming and started calling me Sheryl, I started doubting if I was somehow related to Sheryl. As I got sucked into the case, I came to know about many facts unknown to me till then. Darana thought he could turn me to his side. He told me about my relation with him and Sheryl.”

She looked at Oomen and continued, “My father had kept this secret from me, but when I confronted him with the facts, he had to agree that she indeed was my mother.”

Her father asked her, “Why did Ruth help you?”

Charu looked at Martha, as if asking her to answer the question.

Martha spoke for the first time. “I never had good impression of Darana, but since he was Sheryl’s son, I allowed Ruth to associate with him. I had no idea of his diabolical designs. As Charu continued her quest I came to know about Darana being a gangster like his father. This came as a shock to me as Sheryl was like a family to me and Vincent had been very supportive of us. I tried convincing Ruth about Darana, but he refused to listen to me at that time.”

She paused a bit and looked at Charu who gave a nod for her to continue.

Martha continued, “Ruth also liked Charu and did not want her to come to any harm. Once he was convinced that Darana won’t spare her life even after assurances, he swung towards our side.”

Here Charu took over. “It is only because of the kindness of Martha that I am standing before you, otherwise Darana had the plans to eliminate me and Yuvaan.”

Once Ruth turned to our side it was easier to overpower Darana, who had complete faith in Ruth’s loyalty. Ruth held the gun and Darana was made to surrender by him. I and Yuvaan tied him up on a chair. It was surprising that none of his workers intervened in his favour. It seems he had not been treating them kindly. Rather he was treating them harshly by making them work for longer hours and keeping them drugged.”

“How about Abhay?” One of the persons from the village asked.

“Abhay, being a police officer was quick to react, but Ruth was quicker. Abhay will be facing the law which he was supposed to protect. I guess he will not only lose his job and faces a prospect of a long-term jail.”

Vincent Uncle took over from here. “The entire mind control drug related research material has been handed over to the Government authorities who are expected to use it for the benefit of humanity. The scope for its useful applications is immense e.g. it could be used in case of suicidal patients.”

Charu added, “I must not forget Yuvaan’s father. He was of great help in rescuing us and cutting through the bureaucratic tape.”

The journey from New York and the struggle since then had drained Charu. However, she was confident that the bad days had come to an end. She looked at the people she loved most, her father and Yuvaan. She was sure her father would approve of her marriage with Yuvaan.

As if sensing her thoughts, her father smiled and then turned towards Yuvaan who blushed.