BITTER & SWEET

"Our last option will be to shoot the cat." said the man sitting across me, leader of the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) The police commander looked at me with a hope for an alternative. "As much as I don't want to shoot today, she must be put down before she harms anyone, but only after draining out all other options," I added. The police commander was sitting in the centre of the oval table defeated like he lost all his money in one of the casinos of Majestic road. "What do we know till now about her?" He asked. One of the inspectors stood and switched off the lights as he got ready with his pointer and presentation to explain the situation like a professor in one of many engineering colleges of Bangalore. The face projected on the whiteboard was of a lady in her late 20s with a band-aid on her left cheek and a cut mark on the left eyebrow. "Her name is Soniya Menon. She is from Kerela but right now works in Manyata Tech Park in Trapiz Technology. She is living here with her mother and husband. " He said before switching the slides to show her mother and husband. "Any previous police case or anything?" I asked. "She registered an FIR in Whitefield police station against her father-in-law for dowry, two years back." He said with a tight lip. Cases with dowry and stitched faces are like déjà vu nowadays. Husband family will ask for more, women will reject, leads to domestic violence and then the stitches. "What were the findings of the case?" Commander asked. The case presenter paused for a bit, trying to find the right word," It's still pending." You can feel the tension rising in the room as chairs started making squeaky noises. "How am I expected to lead or solve any case when nobody in this bloody police fORCE WANT TO WORK" commander screamed the last part in frustration with hands banging on the table scared some inspectors sitting close to him. He took a long breath, trying to calm down and push other issues for later. I asked the QRT leader," Do we know why was she in the bank ?" He looked at the commander and again at me before shaking his head side by side. The presenter coughed to gain our attention. "We also know one thing, that we have only 4 hours left before she starts shooting people inside the bank." Commander shook his head before taking a long breath, "Ok, so listen up everyone. Here is what we are going to do. QRT team will now go and investigate the nearby area CCTV footage and Traffic CCTV footage to understand the whole fiasco and make a map of the chain of action. Cyberteam will try to look into her accounts and figure out the reason for this huge step and possible trigger. One team will go and see the husband, mother, and father-in-law. The rest of you will lock down the area. There should be no way out if she tries to run. We will try our best to negotiate and make her surrender, but things go south, we are going in." He stopped talking and chairs started rolling across the room as everyone rushed to their jobs. Commander looked at me," Chaya, I want you to lead the war room. I know this is a hard project, we don't see many hostage situations here, but you can do your best. I give you all the power and our best consultant. He is one of the finest negotiators we have. He is at SVPNA (police training academy) but has already been informed. Till then, you have to hold the war room. It's already been set up outside the bank at a safe distance." I nodded and tried to look extremely confident, but I knew things will not go as planned. In India, we hardly see any hostage situation or car chase, it's all Hollywood and OTT platform creation. I was walking out of the door, and I heard the commander scream, "SOMEBODY GET ME THAT BASTARD INSPECTOR FROM WHITEFIELD WHO HAD TO LOOK INTO THE FIR." I watched at the TV screen that was just outside the briefing room, the news anchor in her cliché anchor voice giving details about the situation, some true and mostly false. "Let's keep our mind free from them. " My junior inspector said from behind. "Pawan, we have worked together for two years now. Do you seriously think I care about them?" "Media will be all over the place with this case, hardly we see these kinds of situation in India. It's straight from a Hollywood film." Arjun said. " I have been given the case with a trust. Let's try to keep the trust." I said as we were waiting for the elevator. "How do you want to do this?" Arjun said as the elevator dinged and gates opened in front of us. "Definitely not the gun way. That's what they want. They're sending an expert negotiator from SVPNA." "Who?" "I don't know. Sir told he will meet us there straight." "Will he follow us or command of higher-ups?" Arjun asked a genuine question. " We will only come to know once we meet him," I said as the engine roared.The war room was well set up. The cyber team was already set up with everything. CCTV was blank from inside the bank. "Did she destroy the CCTV?" I asked the IT girl. "Hello madam, My name is Tanya Gowda and no. What we know is she plugged out the cables or somehow shut down the CCTV with the computer, or probably hacked it. " She said. " If you have to put your finger on any one of them. Which one would you select?" A man asked from behind me. I turned to see a guy in a white blazer and black shirt inside. There was no sign of any enforcement agency badge on him. " Who are you ?" I asked. " Oh, I am sorry. My name is Venkatesh Shetty. I am the negotiator assigned to your team." VOTE, COMMENT, AND SHARE IF YOU LIKE A/N I NEED A GOOD BOOK COVER for this book but I am broke, CAN ANYONE DO IT FOR FREE? I WILL MENTION THE CREDITS.