Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 86: Closer part -2

We kept talking and didn’t realize how quickly the time passed… we have been on the road for nearly 6 hours now. Suddenly the car began to slow down and dad took a detour, and that’s when I realized it was time for us to take a short break. I stood on the seat to look back and check if I could see Capt. Sagar’s gypsy, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Dad suddenly spoke "Honey... if you are trying to check if the other vehicle is following us then the answer is that they will be waiting for us at a pre-decided location..." he took a brief pause and then I turned my head to look back and saw that he was actually trying to figure out which road to take as we have stopped in front of a crossroads, he then signaled to take a left and as he turned the car he continued “We will be meeting Master and Tribeni Mazumdar here. This is a Naxalbari camp, and because of the current condition, it was decided between Tribeni Babu and the brigadier that the army jeep will not be accompanying us. There is something we have to discuss with him and then we will be meeting the team back again.”

 After taking the left turn, we reached a very bad patch of road. The dense forest cover through which we are moving yielded an impression like we had entered a jungle. We drove on the road for about 20 minutes before finally coming to a halt in an open yard. As we got down from the vehicles, we found Sengupta ma’am, Tribeni Dadu, and Master Kaku waiting there.

“We will be stopping here for a few hours or so… in case any of you want to get freshened up feel free to do it…” Dad informed and went to join the group.

Aamaya di and I went with mom inside a bamboo hut which was located in one corner. A black colored van was parked next to the hut. A couple of jeeps were also parked by the side.

As we were getting freshened up, dad entered the room with Sengupta Aunty and Master Kaku.

"Didi Moni... I hope you had a good trip..." it was Master Kaku who said that, and he was probably referring to my mom.

The word Didi Moni is sometimes referred to a lady who is older than someone and also at times it is also a respectful term to refer to a lady.   

Mom smiled at the question and replied "Of course... Dr. Sen... it was a pleasant drive..."

Very well... didi Moni..." and then Master Kaku looked at me and Aamaya di and said, "You guys have seen the hospitality of the military... why don't you let us treat you to a good evening snack..."

Didi and I turned to look at Mom as if we were expecting a nod from them. Mom gave a nod and then I replied "Of course Master Kaku... why not..."

"Very well then..." Master Kaku stepped out of the house and was instructing something to a lady and then he stepped in and said "I apologize in advance... our food habits are not as lavish as the once treated by the army men... I hope you will still like our food..."

"Oh Come on Master!!! stop it... our daughters will love the food..." it was Mom who commented that and then she looked at the 2 of us and said, "Won't you???"

Mom had a threatening voice and without a second thought we both said together "OF-COURSE WE WILL LOVE IT..."

None of us spoke a single word after that. About 20 minutes later, food was brought in and was placed on the center table. Almost all the dishes that were brought in were my favorites. There were Rasgullas, Jalebis, tea for the elders, and for us, well it's my favorite, not sure about Aamaya di though... Milk...

 We had our evening snacks in the room. Everyone was present, including, Mom, dad, Tribeni Dadu, Miss Sengupta, and Master Kaku. It took us about 30 minutes to complete our food and then Dad asked Tribeni Dadu, Aunty Sengupta, and Master Kaku to come outside as he had something to discuss with them. 

 Dad and the others stepped out of the room to discuss something, while a lady came and cleaned up the plates. Mom got busy helping Aamaya di with some personal girl stuff.

I had nothing to do, so I decided to walk out and stood next to our car, and tried to listen to their conversation. 

“Tribeni babu, Miss Sengupta, I believe you have something for me.”

“Yes, Mr. Christopher…”  Tribeni Dadu looked at Master Kaku and replied “Babul… Please give the file to him… He needs to see this…”

Dad took the file from Master Kaku and started flipping through the pages. It was evident from dad’s face that the content of the file was clearly making him angry. Tribeni Dadu continued…

 “This file contains the names of the 21 mercenaries who were involved in the murder of your friend Lt. Col. Banerjee as well as the main masterminds involved. Do you know why Lt. Col. Banerjee was killed?” asked Master Kaku.

“Why Master?”

“Can you open the first page of that file?”

As I was deeply engrossed in their conversation, I didn’t realize that some people were standing behind me. I felt a mild touch in my arm from the back and turned back to see the intruding arm. It was Mom who was standing behind me with Aamaya di in tow. A couple of men whom I didn’t know was also standing next to Mom. 

Dad flipped to the first page of the file “DR. SANDEEP MENON.” 

Master kaku continued “Yes Dr. Sandeep Menon, that bastard has been performing s*x Reassignment Surgery on underage boys. His only dream is to perform s*x Reassignment Surgery on a child who has not attained puberty and create the perfect cross-gender. s*x Reassignment Surgery can change the appearance of a human externally, but the internal organs remain the same. In his thirst to create a perfect masterpiece he has started performing surgeries to change the internal organs of the subjects. Do you know he tried his experiment on a total of 63 children?” 

I was shocked and couldn’t believe what I just heard, 63 children… That’s an insane number. People like him don’t deserve to live.

Kaku continued, "As he was performing his tests on Aarohi, he stumbled upon Abhinu. He saw him playing a basketball match and felt that he was physically strong enough to endure the challenges of transformation and considered him to be the perfect specimen.”

“He approached Mr. Banerjee, an existing client, and enquired about Abhinu. However, he came to know that Abhinu is the son of a high-ranking Army officer and if he tries to touch him, there is every possibility that the Military Police would intervene, and things might turn worse.”

“Mr. Banerjee further informed that in the event of the untimely death of the Lt. Colonel he will acquire guardianship of Abhinu and would willingly let Dr. Menon experiment on him. Dr. Menon, in turn, got in touch with some Mercenaries and hatched a conspiracy to murder Lt. Col. Banerjee so that he could lay his hands on Abhinu."

“Do you mean to say that whatever happened to the three children was for the purpose of the experiment only…” Dad asked.

“Not really… for Dr. Menon it was obviously an experiment … but for Mr. Banerjee, it’s something else…”

“What was his agenda then…?” Asked dad

“Well… that I we are not sure yet… Dr. Menon says that Mr. Banerjee would make the arrangement to get him the children he needs to perform the gender reassignment surgery… Up until now Dr. Menon’s experiments has never been successful except Alena and maybe Abhinu.”

“So, what happens to those kids which are a failure… because as far as I know reversal of Gender Reassignment is not possible?” Asked dad.

“Well, he has no clue about it. He said that he had asked Mr. Banerjee a few times, but he didn’t answer his query. An Occultist by the name of Baba Young knows the reason… But we are unable to trace his whereabouts.”

“Now going back to Dr. Menon… there is something else you need to know about him, and I would request you to stay strong as this is going to be disturbing…”

“Go ahead Dr. Sen… let’s hear it out…,” said dad

“I don’t know how to tell you this but just to check how strong Abhinu is mentally, he asked the gardener and a couple of his men to…” he paused and probably trying to figure out the appropriate word to use and continued “how do I say this…” he took a deep breath and with a heavy voice said, “Molest him…” Master Kaku had tears as he used the term.

If a man like master kaku was getting difficulty in explaining this, I can understand how Abhinu must have felt.

“Molest him… I beg your pardon…”

“WOULD IT MAKE MORE SENSE IF I USE THE TERM CHILD r**e…” Master Kaku replied in an angry tone.

Everyone present there was very angry. I saw tears in my Mom’s and Aamaya di’s eyes when he used that disgusting word.

“I wish I could get my hands on this doctor… I would snap his neck into two…” he started to gesture with his hands to express his attitude.

*** Tribeni Dadu and Master Kaku started discussing something when I saw Dadu looking towards one of his men who was also carrying a Machine g*n in his hand and signaled him something through his eyes.

Two of the men went towards the black-colored vehicle and opened the boot. I suddenly saw dad’s right hand move towards his back and hold the butt of his pistol, with his thumb pull the safety pin out of the g*n that he had safely tucked behind his back and started to watch what those men were doing. I guess it was just his years of training instinct kicking in. ***

“Mr. Christopher… you can let go of the g*n…you have nothing to fear… they are just taking someone out from the boot." It was Tribeni Dadu who said that.

Dad took out his g*n from the back and placed it on the bonnet of the MD5. 

I saw the two men dragging someone from the van towards us. He was wearing a white shirt soaked in blood and was wearing only his inners below his waist. His face was badly bruised. It looked like that man was beaten up pretty badly. Upon closely looking at the man I figured out that he has no hands and that they have bandaged his wrists with some bandages. Even though I could still feel that the bandages were not helping because blood was still dripping from his hands.

“Mr. Christopher, this man is the reason we wanted you to come and meet us” Master kaku caught hold of the badly bruised man by the collar and continued "the psychotic nutjob, Dr. Sandeep Menon. He is quite a fox. We got to know from one of our sources that he is hiding in a hotel in Purulia. As we caught up with him, we found him in this condition with both of his hands amputated." and then he gave him a powerful kick on his private parts which made him swing on the air for a split second and fell right next to where Tribeni Dadu was standing.

                                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

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