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*** Today's Maynia Prompt: confession***
*** Today's Daily Freewrite Prompt: none***
Writers can choose to use one of the prompts, both the prompts or not use the prompt at all. It is all up to you!
I wish to make this into a sci-fi novel. Let's see how it progresses! 😊
Continued from Day 9. You can read it here.
Café Coffee Day, Mumbai
The aroma of fresh coffee beans lifted the spirits of the patrons awaiting their orders. The low buzz of the conversations at different tables was enough to distract Akash who was trying hard to focus. He had cupped his face with his palms and with the index fingers shut his ears. Radhika, on the other hand, was focused on the glass exit, which overlooked the Arabian Sea.
"They are closing down this place, I heard," Radhika referred to the Café Coffee Day at Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai, "such a lovely place and ambience."
"And that is important for us because?" Akash continued to cup his face and just momentarily removed his temporary earplugs.
"For no reason. I don't have to have a reason for everything, and I don't need to be in work mode always," Radhika replied.
"Easy for you. You leave in a few minutes and then it is showtime for me with Sarvi."
"Don't act as if it is too much of a trouble," Radhika shot back with a smile. "How many girls do you date in a day?"
"In a day? That's how good your intelligence is? I am disappointed," Akash played along and looked up at Radhika, "I work in hours not day."
"At least my intelligence on getting you talking is right," Radhika found it hard to wipe the smile off her face, "just keep that going, and you would be good."
"Alright, Olyint is in Bhopal, Sarvi and Zarqui are in Mumbai, and Sarvi does not know what she is getting into," Akash pulled out his mobile, "all looks cool." Arvind had planned to get Sarvi away from Olyint and meet Zarqui while he would accompany Olyint to check the hoppers."
"It is indeed. I am off now. You will have to take her to Kharghar to meet Olyint," Radhika stood and put her mobile in her handbag, "wide-open spaces there in case they get into an altercation."
Akash once again cupped his face, "yeah, okay. As if I had a choice."
"Inside this pseudo hull of stress, distress and despair, I know there is a chirping heart," Radhika tapped on Akash's shoulder, "awaiting the honey bee."
"Reserve that line for your husband."
"I have better ones for him."
Akash smiled as he saw Radhika leave. He knew Sarvi would be just around the corner. Zarqui's speed was what caused Arvind to put in enough distance between Olyint and the other two. He feared if all three could con into a situation much like Zarqui, then there could be casualties. He did not want that to happen.
Akash changed place to face the exit but kept standing once he saw Sarvi enter. The gun-wielding, console reading, metal gumboots wearing lady in a jumpsuit was in a salwar suit, high heels and with a clutch to boot the look. Sarvi did not even need to remove the dark sunglasses as she walked towards Akash.
"What's with the dress?"
"The costume was recommended to blend with humans."
"Wow, poetic," Akash's daily dose of sarcasm went unwitnessed, "you want to have something?"
"Is my interrogation here?"
"No, it is another place."
"Then let's go there."
Looking at Sarvi's disinterest of the coffee place, Akash decided to get going, "okay, after you," he gestured towards the exit.
"That liquid. There is an excessive amount of that liquid on your planet," Sarvi said.
"That liquid is the source of inspiration for many poets, writers and depressed souls," Akash quipped.
"What is a poet?"
"Okay, I will explain on the way," Akash had no intention of explaining poet and poetry to an alien. He thought he was better off sticking to the task at hand.
The nearly two-hour drive was less eventful as Sarvi hardly spoke even when Akash tried to converse. They were five minutes from the rendezvous point, and Akash hoped that they could get down first and then Zarqui arrived from wherever he had to come.
"We are reaching the interrogation chamber," a new vocabulary for the location that Akash invented on the fly.
"I am ready," Sarvi said. And then for a moment, she turned towards Akash who was driving the car, "I apologize for getting into combat with you. I hear that you were injured."
Akash cleared his throat, "just a hairline fracture not injured. Besides, it's not every day that I get kicked with metal boots."
"That's a radiation suit. That metal protects us from radiation when we are in space."
"I get that, but still metal."
Sarvi smiled as the car came to a halt near a temporary roadblock. They got out of the vehicle to be hit by the saline taste of the breeze. "More of that oozy liquid?"
"Yes," Akash said as they walked down a road which kept losing its form until it was completely taken over by greenery. The mangroves spread in all directions, and any evidence of urban settlement was only the high rises peeking through the greenery. "Listen, I have a confession to make."
"Confession?" Sarvi was unaware of the word, "where is the interrogation chamber?"
"Ahm, it was more of a meeting than an interrogation," Akash said. Sarvi instinctively looked around the place and was focused at one thick patch of mangroves.
"Akash," Sarvi reached for her clutch and in the twinkling of an eye got her weapon out.
"No, wait," Akash got the impression that his words would have been in ultra slow motion because before he could finish, Zarqui was standing next to Sarvi. He had folded her hands back and got her down on one knee.
"Zarqui, let him go. He is not involved."
"Quite concerned, aren't you?"
"Sarvi, I knew Zarqui was here. We need to talk."
"Traitor," Sarvi would have kicked Akash if she could, "do you even know who he is?"
"Now, now, Sarvi, don't make me a villain, after all, I am the one who trained you."
Akash was confused. He reached for his pistol but noticed Zarqui smiling.
"Looking for this?" Zarqui was holding the pistol and crushed it like a paper.
"So, where were we?" Zarqui threw Sarvi's weapon away, "yes, we need to settle things about Olyint."
Akash was lost. He wondered if Zarqui had tricked them into this meeting. He knew Radhika would reach only after an hour, which would be too late to stop Zarqui.
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
