FF: Safe in his arms! Link to thread 2 added - Page 83

"It's him ma'am! ...Sikander!"

Riya looked at Neha as if she was crazy.

"Kya keh rahi ho Neha! Hosh main toh ho...???"

"Ma'am it's HIM!!" Urgency and fear was evident in her voice, Neha shook a little as she held the phone out to Riya with disgust as if she's holding Sikander himself.

She looked at Neha's slightly shaking hand and forwarded her own to take the phone but stopped knowing it would best if Arjun or Rathore answered the phone.

"ARJUN!! RATHORE SIR!" Riya screamed, and ran towards the interrogation room. She only covered a few feet when Arjun from the interrogation room and the commissioner and Rathore from the latter's cabin came running out.

"Kya hua??" Rathore was the first to ask.

Riya gulped and looked at Arjun, "Sikander...he's on...he's on the phone..."

The audacity of Sikander was nothing new to Arjun, he did not look merely surprised, the only change was that his eyes hardened further. He briskly walked to the phone, his face as stern and void of emotions as ever. Neha handed him the phone, which he took fiercely without an ounce of hesitation and the rest of them connecting head-phones so everyone can hear in on the conversation.

Arjun held the phone to his ear; his rage was on such a high that trying to utter a word seemed highly difficult. But the person on the other side of the line knew him too well, after a few seconds of nothing but flared up breathing and silence he spoke,

"Abhi tak badle nahi ho Rawte! Itna gussa...accha nahi hain..."

Riya gasped hearing his voice for the very first time. He spoke slowly in an unpleasant tone which was deliberate and brutal.

"Bakhwaas band karo Sikander, aur point pe aao" Arjun said, surprising himself and the rest with the sudden control and calmness he possessed.

"Seedhe point pe?! Uss main kya mazza hain?" Sikander's pitiless voice sounded almost amused.

"Inn sab ke liye na hi tumhare paas waqt hain, aur na hi mere paas...tum..." Arjun was soon interrupted with Sikander's shrill laugh.

"That is true! Tumhare paas toh waqt bilkul nahi hain Arjun...main toh..."

This time Arjun interrupted him, "Sikander. If you are just stalling because you are scared of how this is going to end, then let me tell you, the end is going to be the same no matter what. Your death!"

A few seconds of silence followed and Arjun knew he struck a chord with Sikander. Pushing him to make a mistake looked like the quickest way to get to him. He knew pushing Sikander could be deadly for Shree and Anu, but he also knew that Sikander liked to play with his food before he ate it. He would take his time, as sickening as it may sound, that was Arjun's only hope for Anu and Shree to be still alive.

"Arjun, you like getting straight to the point right? Toh yeh raha mera point...jo tumhe cheek, cheek ke keh raha hain ki, tum mujhe dhamkane ya warn karne ki position pe nahi ho..."

His cultured and emotionless voice made the hair on Riya's neck stand up. Silence fell again as everyone waited...listening for the tiniest of the sounds coming from the other end of the line.

What they heard next made them all freeze to the ground they were standing on. Riya's hands and feet went cold, her heart beat like drums and beads of sweat popped on her forehead. She harshly pulled the head-phones off her ears and threw them to the ground, taking steps away from it as Shree's heart wrenching screams continued coming out of them.

Tears instantly welled up in Chotu's eyes as he shut them tightly close and almost crushed the table he was holding on to. Rathore's eyes widened in shock, he felt helpless and ashamed to stand there and not be able to do anything for Shree.

"END THIS RIGHT NOW SIKANDER!" Arjun screamed into the phone as he held it tightly wishing it was Sikander's throat in his hands instead of the plastic.

"Again Arjun, I stand here repeating myself. You are NOT in a position to warn or threaten me!!" Sikander's voice was as cool and deliberate as ever.

"THEN THINK AGAIN! I GOT TO YOU ONCE, I'LL DO IT AGAIN!"

"Oh Arjun!" Sikander said genuinely surprised, "Whatever happened last time wasn't your brilliance – it was…just luck..."

"I. AM. GOING. TO. GET. YOU" Arjun said through tightly clenched teeth, outraged and frustrated beyond limits.

Riya who composed herself, picked the head-phones off the ground with shaking hands just in time to listen to Sikander's piercing laugh.

"We will see about that! Now shall we get down to business? You see Arjun, when Rajjan was getting out of jail; I told him that I'll get out soon enough and asked him to look after you, till I get out.

Everything that has been happening since then, the stalking, stoning your lady love's house, the attack on you – all child's play if you ask me! But, never mind, Rajjan is new to all this. He doesn't know how this game is played.

When I came to know that you fell in love again, oh Arjun, I was the happiest man on the planet! I thought you gave up living after your darling, darling wife Roshni...Ahh she was something wasn't she?!"

"SHUT UP!! YOU BAS..."

"Language Arjun! Language! Now don't piss me off so much that, I decide to not tell you what I am going to do with your sister's darling Shreekant!!"

Arjun fell silent, something seemed odd. If Sikander really wanted to get back at him, he would have picked someone closest to him like Riya or Anu. Though Shree was close to Arjun, he knew that Sikander would have loved to get his hands on Anu or Riya to get the most out of the psychotic game of his. When Sikander already has Anu with him, why then was he threatening Arjun with Shree?

"Ahh silence, or is that your fear Arjun? I like that! Now where was I? Yes, Roshni, well love is something isn't it Arjun? You tried your best to save her life that day...par hone ko kaun tal saktha hain? And all that pain and suffering..."

"You know nothing about the pain and suffering when you lose a loved one. A monster like you will never understand what love is…" Arjun said, letting his emotions out for a second before getting back to business,

"Ab asli baat pe aao Sikander, Anu tumhare paas nahi hain!!" Arjun said and waited anxiously for him response. Riya, Chotu, Rathore and the commissioner looked at Arjun with wide, surprised eyes.

Meanwhile, there was silence from Sikander's side. Arjun knew he was contemplating on whether to let the cat out of the bag or not. Finally he spoke,  

"You are right Arjun. I don't understand love, now for instance – I was after your sister, lovely Anika...when all of a sudden, out of nowhere her knight in shining armour appears. Well there is no beating around it; he pretty much sacrificed his life for her"

Everyone around the office looked at each other in disbelief, the only thing they could do at the moment it seemed.

"He hid her somewhere, and won't tell me where no matter how much I torture him!! YOU call that love, I call it stupidity!"

Arjun closed his eyes as tears trickled down his face. The brother in him was relieved that Anu was safe, but the other part, the humane part of him – which unfortunately Sikander lacked – was screaming out in sadness for the sacrifice that Shree has made.

"Yeh lo sunn lo…" Sikander said casually, and they heard Shree's screams again.

"Batao woh kaha hain?!!" Sikander screamed in between his screams.

"Na…nahi…" They heard Shree's tiny, out of breath voice.

"Batado, warna beta…marro ge!" Sikander spoke.

"Be…beta??!!" Shree said in broken voice and laughed, "Tum jai...jaise logon ke…baap…baap hote hain…hum!! Aur tumhara sabse bada…baap…woh…hai jisse tu…tum phone pe baat kar rahe ho…"

"Bahut acchi tarah se train kiya hain tumne isse ACP…"

Again they heard Shree's screams, making everyone's blood boil in the room. Arjun tried speaking to Sikander, but he did not respond instead they heard their further conversation.

"Tumhare bhale ke liye keh raha hoon…BATAO!"

"Tumhare baap ke ghar main…" They heard Shree say a bit louder than before and then his sarcastic laugh before the call went blank.

"He...hello!" Arjun said and then banged the phone onto the table when he heard the dial tone.

Silence fell around the room. Everyone took off their head-phones and looked at nothing and no one in particular as the conversation and Shree's screams replayed in their minds.

The sob Riya has been holding back ever since she heard Shree's screams, escaped her mouth and it was becoming hard to stand up on her own. It was Rathore who took her into his arms and held her as she cried on his shoulder. Her sobs were the only sound in the room.

Arjun, whose mind has been running hundred miles per hour ever since Shree started talking, slowly walked to Rathore and Riya. He caressed Riya's head who looked up at him with tears still rolling down her cheeks. Arjun shook his head and wiped her tears, then slowly letting his hand fall to his side he said,

"I know where Anu is…"