Hell of a bargain. SIX!

It wasn't the rickety driving of the 'slightly tipsy on cough syrup' man that woke him up.

The dull, throbbing headache from the rather large bump at the back of his head and the burning sensation due to smoke entering his nostrils brought him back to his senses.

Before he could so much as stir, he experienced a sharp pain on his nose and felt his warm blood spurt out. Someone had kicked him in the face. Hands roughly caught him by the collar and pulled him to a sitting position. The voice jolted him back to reality.

"When you failed to grab hold of the doctor, you should have called me and I would have deployed someone else to take care of the other girl. Now I owe that son-of-a-bitch for letting you get away. You know what happens when I owe someone, don't you?"

"I, I," he started to splutter, but he received yet another blow. This time to his groin. He yelped in pain and the lights started to dull out. The sound of footsteps moving away and a low mutter, "Clean it up."

*****

He had received the call a half hour ago. 

"Unknown number", Dev thought, "What was the point of installing that stupid app on his phone when it could not tell you who was calling?"

"This better be important,", he muttered and clicked the phone open. 

"Is that ACP Mehra?", enquired a young woman's voice. 

"Yeah, who is this?"

"This is Dr. Iyer, we met this morning. My friend Rachana and I witnessed the -,"

He cut her off. "Yes, ma'am. Is something wrong?" Surprisingly, his heart started racing thinking about the pretty, heart-shaped face reporter. Was she alright? 

"Nothing's wrong as of now and your men did drop me home safely. But my building watchman has just told me that he let a plumber into my apartment about twenty minutes ago. Apparently I gave him permission on the phone and said that I was on my way. I haven't made any phone calls and I don't think the person who is in my apartment right now is a plumber."

"I see."

She continued, "I have sent the watchman upstairs to check and he hasn't come back. It's been ten minutes."

"Ma'am, is there a general store or a restaurant nearby?", he asked. 

"Yes, there's this South Indian food joint about a 100 meters from -"

He cut her off again, "I am going to need you to stay on the phone and walk to the place, make sure you're seen by people. I know your address and I will come get you in 15 minutes. Do you understand?"

"Yes", she said. 

10 minutes later, she watched a large man on a bike throw her a murderous stare and race off on a noisy bike. 

Was this the same man who was in her apartment? What could have happened to the watchman, she wondered. 

A tap on her shoulder pulled her out of her reverie, startling her. Dark brown eyes met her own. 

"Are you alright?" he asked. 

"ACP Mehra, thank you for getting here so quickly."

"That's alright," he quickly scanned the area and continued to talk, "I think you should wait in my car and we'll quickly search your apartment. I'll set up a 24x7 guard outside your door -"

This time, she interrupted him, "I think Rachana is in danger." 

He turned to face her. "Did she call you?" 

"No. But I tried calling her and she isn't answering." 

"Okay, I will send a team -"

"No, I want to go. I want to make sure she's safe." 

"Fiesty", he thought. 

"Alright ma'am, we'll head over there right now. I'll have a team secure your apartment." 

Nodding, she quickly crossed the road and got into his SUV. 

Not a word was spoken during the drive. All the girl did was repeatedly call her friend. She climbed out of the car and paused to see a large bike. Something told Dev that the doctor was now convinced that her friend was indeed in trouble. 

The elevator ride to the sea facing apartment building was quiet. Dev couldn't help wonder how a barely experienced reporter could afford such a place. 

As the elevator doors opened, a little boy of eight or nine quickly got in with a fearful expression on his face. The doctor rushed out just in time to hear a man yelling and a panicked voice screaming, " don't know, I don't know!" 

She pounded on the door, then pulled out a key and pushed open the door. Dev ran in, with his gun in position, only to see the reporter deliver a ferocious blow to the man's head. A dull thud and the man was on the floor. 

The first thought that popped into his head was, 'Whoah, she's strong." 

This was replaced by, "Whoah, she's naked. Well, almost." And he tried to concentrate on her face instead of the barely there, towel. 

He could see the fear on her face blending with a determined expression. 

The doctor rushed forward to hug her but all the reporter did was stare, paralyzed, at the man on the floor. 

About a minute or maybe two passed without anyone saying a word. Then, with an embarrassed expression, he asked if she could put on some clothes.

She looked at him in wonder, droplets of water mixed with the tears from a few minutes ago had stained a pretty face. Suddenly, she seemed to realize that she was in a towel and seemed to look lost in her own house, shuffling on her feet. I got a rather defiant stare from the doctor and took it as a cue to turn around and walk to the balcony. 

The women hurried into her bedroom and shut the door, leaving him at liberty to examine the man on the floor. He didn't look familiar. Maybe his constables, Mhatre or Gaikwad could recognize him. He was a hired gun, no doubt. He hadn't bothered to keep his voice down, nor had he locked the doors of the neighboring houses from the outside. Was this the same man who had been in the doctor's apartment? 

The radio receiver on his hip sprang to life and constables outside the building informed him of their arrival. By the time they removed the unconscious man from the apartment, curious neighbours had started to gather near the elevator. The subordinate officer from morning took charge of crowd control and started to usher people back into their homes. 

With nothing else to do but wait for the girl's statement, he seated himself on a diwan and winced as he was pricked by a broken shell on a pillow. 

Downstairs, two men transferred the unconscious man into a car and left two constables on the cold, concrete road, bleeding.