Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 87 : Closer Part 3

I saw Dad and Mom looking at one another in disbelief as they heard the name of Dr. Sandeep Menon.

As the inflicted, cried in pain and struggled to get up, Dad enquired "Why didn’t you get him treated in a hospital first. He seems to be in pretty bad shape…"

“Don’t worry Mr. Christopher. He will not die. Those bandages around his wrists should keep him alive for a few hours..." Master Kaku stopped and began to laugh and then continued "You see sir... we wanted him to feel the pains he inflicted on those 63 children when he decided to perform those surgeries on them.”

My mom wanted to cover my eyes with her hands, but I caught hold of it and moved it away. I guess she didn't want me to see the bloodied face of that doctor but responding to my behavior she didn't make much effort.

I heard Master Kaku saying "can you imagine, currently he has seven more families in his list who agreed to let him perform his s******c experiment on their ward…"

“They are being rescued by Miss Sengupta’s team with some help of Shabnam Mausi and the inmate friends of Koushik as we speak” He paused a little and then continued "You remember Alena…the child Brigadier Shahi mentioned earlier, who committed suicide, he tried to replace his male genital organs together with ovaries. He almost succeeded but before he could declare it as an achievement to the world, Alena committed suicide."

"So, you mean to say that all the tragic events with three adopted kids of Mr. Banerjee were all about creating a perfect girl from a boy… are you sure about it…" asked dad.

Before Dad could say the next sentence something unfortunate happened. Aamaya di picked up dad’s g*n which he had kept on the bonnet of the MD5, and before anyone could react, she pointed the g*n towards the man and pulled the trigger.

She kept pulling the trigger till all the 9 bullets were drained out of the magazine. I could still hear the trigger clicking in the chamber of the pistol with the empty magazine.

Suddenly Mom hugged Aamaya di from the back and softly tried to release the pistol in her hand. She started trembling all over as she let go of the g*n and slumped to the ground, in front of the slain body of the doctor and started crying loudly murmuring "HE IS THE REASON BEHIND THE DEATH OF MY ALLEN… HE IS THE SAME DOCTOR WHO GAVE ME THOSE SHOCKS... HE IS ALSO THE VERY REASON I CANNOT REMEMBER HOW MY BROTHER LOOKS LIKE..."

I stepped up and hugged Amaya di and tried to calm her down. I could see the confused and terrified looks on everyone's faces when they came to know what happened to Aamaya di. I could see that master Kaku and Tribeni Dadu wanted to say something, but somehow dad indicated him not to say anything and let her grief in peace. Her grief came crashing down in waves of unhindered sorrows of agony. I have never seen her so broken and torn down. 

As I tried to wipe off the tears from her eyes, she hugged me tight and with her weeping voice pleaded, "Please forgive me for treating your Sophia badly… I wanted to protect him but every time dad felt that I was trying to protect Sophia he would call up the doctor or Rahat and hurt me... I also want to live, I want to grow up too so that one day I could also be reunited with my dada... I hope you will forgive me for it… I AM NOT A BAD GIRL MONIKA." and then she began to cry like a little girl.

At that, all the hatred I had felt for her over her mistreatment of Abhinu wafted away and I could not help but feel only sympathy and forgiveness for the tattered soul in front of me. But there was a feeling of pure peace and calm emanating from her which led me to believe she has somehow got her closure after killing the man responsible for the death of the only person she ever loved as well as the numerous tortures she faced at the hands of her tyrant. 

The walls she had built around her heart after Allen's death had imploded and she had finally found a semblance of retribution she sought for her dearest. I was both moved and astonished by this humane version of Aamaya.

Suddenly Mom shouted at Dad “JAIRUS… are you out of your mind… why did you keep the loaded g*n in the bonnet and that too with the safety on…”

Dad does not have any explanation to offer. After what Amaya di just did everyone’s, mouth was frozen. Suddenly Tribeni Dadu broke the silence “Mr. Christopher… don’t worry… think of it as god’s will…”

I saw dad pick up the g*n, put the safety lock on, and tucked it behind his back. “You know what… I am worried about Mr. N.N. he is not going to take it lightly. We promised him that we will not hurt this man” pointing his fingers towards the slain body of the doctor and continued “and now he is dead… what am I going to tell him…”

Miss. Sengupta, Tribeni Dadu, Master Kaku, Mom, and Dad looked at one another trying to think deeply about what to tell Nishi Jethu. Aamaya di was still in shock, looking at the body of the doctor and weeping. As they were wondering what to do, someone spoke up “Dada… if you don’t mind can I say something…”

It was one of the men who dragged the doctor from the van. They all turned to look at them and master Daa said “Yes… Bonik babu… tell me…”

The man said, “Remember the file you showed me… and the conspiracy behind the murder of that Army officer… what if the same thing happens to this man too…”

“What are you implying, Bonik babu…” Asked master Kaku.

“If you are worried about what to say to IG sahib, then I have a plan… Christopher Babu… you call IG Sahib and tell him that we are transferring this man into his custody. On the way, the jeep will be attacked by Somjit Banerjee’s men and he will be killed. Tribeni babu, once you are with the IG Saheb, give us a missed call, which will act as a signal for us to call you back, and then you can tell him that our jeep was attacked, and you lost the doctor and one of your men in the attack.”

Dad looked at him and said “I cannot let you kill one of your men just to make our plan look good… This is not right… Killing a demon like this doctor and killing an innocent man are 2 different things…”

“AARATI DI…AARATI DI… CAN YOU PLEASE COME HERE…”

I saw an elderly lady walking towards Banik Uncle.

“Boudi if you don’t mind can you please take her” pointing towards Aamaya di he continued “to the hut and clean her up.”

The lady took Aamaya di away and Banik Uncle asked us to follow him towards the end of the camp. There was a cemented house at the corner. As we entered the house, I saw a man chained securely with Bandages over his hands and parts of his face. The man had no clothes on and his privates were wrapped up in some bandages. 

“Christopher Babu… do you recognize this man…”

Dad went closer to the man and looked at him. Pointing his index finger towards that man’s face while looking at the rest of us “This is…”

“Yes, Babu… you guessed it right… This is Rahat. Shabnam Mausi did her special thing and then gave him to us… and he is the man who is going to die as our men…”

Dad stood up and went close to Tribeni Dadu and Master Kaku and said “the I.G. is a smart man Tribeni Babu... he might understand. But…” and then dad started to rub his forehead using the fingers of his left hand. After a few minutes, he said “Let’s do it… If things don’t work as planned… we will think of something else…” at that moment dad turned to walk towards the room and stopped mid-track turned back and said "By the way... there is something you guys might want to know..."

"What sir...??"  asked Tribeni Dadu.

"you guys will have to keep mum on what I am about to tell you... this is top secret..."

"The attack on Colonel Banerjee never happened... Colonel Banerjee is still alive..."

"WHAT... WHAT DO YOU MEAN COLONEL BANERJEE IS STILL ALIVE... IF HE IS ALIVE WHERE WAS HE ALL THESE YEARS..." asked Tribeni Kaku.

"Well I don't know much about it, all I can tell you is Col. Banerjee was assigned an assignment by the NIA to track down a group of child abductors and so he decided to leave his only child with his sisters family... he was supposed to return back on completion of his mission and then he and his son were supposed to leave the country forever..."

"So why did he never came back for his son?"

"Well, when Col. Banerjee Abhinu's figured out the name of the mastermind, he confronted Mr. Banerjee and then they probably had some disagreement. Mr. Banerjee retaliated by deciding to hurt the colonel by turning Abhinu into Sophia and when the colonel learned about it, he came to rescue his child, but somehow for reasons unknown he vanished without a trace."

"But how did you learn about this?" asked Tribeni Dadu.

Dad turned to look towards Aamaya, who was currently seated on a chair and mom was trying to calm her down. "Before the electric shock incident, that she was referring to, she was in constant touch with her brother Amell Harper..." as dad was about to say another word Master Daa interrupted "Wait a minute sir... Amell Harper... are you referring to the industrialist Amell Harper"

"Yes... that's the one..." replied dad.

Master Kaku began to laugh and then said "You must be joking right?"

"Do I look like I am joking..." said dad and then Master Kaku stopped laughing. Dad continued "Amell Harper was also one of the victims of this doctor. The doctor and Mr. Banerjee blackmailed him by abducting his 3-year-old sister and then trying the experiment with Amell. One day something happened with the Banerjee's and they vanished without a trace."

"Amell spent 13 years trying to track the family and finally when he was reunited with his sister, she laid out a condition that she will go with him, only after he is able to rescue Colonel Banerjee from the hands of Mr. Banerjee and his thugs..."

Master Kaku and Tribeni Dadu placed their hands over their head and began to say "Oh my god...!!! did this really happen... she is truly an amazing girl... she really deserves happiness, sir... I hope she is united with her family..."

"I hope she does... too..." dad replied and then he said "you know master... there is a saying in our armed forces about the people from the Jewish community... if you are friends with a jew, they will shed the last drop of your blood to protect you... she is born Jew, and she will do anything to keep Abhinu safe..." 

 Master Daa and Tribeni Dadu began to walk towards Aamaya di and then I saw Tribeni Dadu gave her a hug. I couldn't hear what they were saying but whatever it was, it felt good she deserves that hug.

I was really feeling uneasy and so I rushed towards the washroom. Apparently, for no reason I threw up… it was perhaps the sight of the bloodied body of that doctor that made me throw up.

A few minutes later, I came out of the washroom.

“Are you alright dear…” mom asked.

“Yes mom… I think I am… probably what I saw is upsetting my nerves, so I threw up.”

Mom hugged me tight and said that she was sorry that I had to see such a gruesome thing and then gave me a pill to consume. She gave one to Aamaya di too. She told me that it will help me calm my nerves. We took the pills and then mom asked us to take a nap in the room. The medicine was really strong. I didn’t understand what the people around me were talking and my eyelids were also getting heavy. As we laid our heads on the bed, all I could understand was, mom trying to tuck the 2 of us in. A few minutes later I lost consciousness and don’t seem to remember what happened.

                                                    TO BE CONTINUED…