Chapter 2.

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚.

– 𝙆𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙜𝙤.

***

   Jay Singh was a lawyer who worked as Maya’s undercover manager, being a degree holder in criminal studies he was pretty much smart yet, he behaved like an idiot sometimes. He was forty two years old with brown hair which was perfectly combed; the moustache and nicely trimmed beard. His eyes were bright brown with confidence and he had the nice sun kissed skin. He wore a crease-free suit whenever he was at his office and normal formal shirt and dress pants outside. Jay was a divorcee, he married twice but both of his marriages broke off.

   Till high school Jay was Maya’s official guardian, she was an orphan for quite a long time, and she came around Jay seven years ago when his work was just set up in Dehradun– sent by his old friend and Maya’s mentor.

   "Kali?" Jay read from the newspaper as Maya was humming a merry tune sitting adjacent to his desk. She stopped as he spoke the word and snatched the newspaper from him and read the headline.

𝗞𝗔𝗟𝗜 -- 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗥!

Kiran Upadhyay

   The vicious killer has a name now. The night of 23rd July, that was yesterday, the three CBI investigators managed to track down the serial killer who's been active in Mumbai city for a month now. The CBI officers had almost found him- her but the serial killer killed the two of them, the third investigator managed to survive and now is in really critical shape. The police haven't given a word about his condition but they have revealed the information about the dangerous killer, she called herself Kali. It looks by the name that the serial killer is a woman but except that there isn't any information about the Kali. There is still panic in public regarding this...

   "What the heck is that about?" Jay yelled.

   A smirk crawled up to her face as she leaned back in her chair resting her one hand on her crouched up knee and threw the newspaper back on Jay's nearly empty table.

   "Kali? What the heck!" He shouted in frustration, Maya chuckled and he gave her a strange look and banged his hands on his desk, Maya almost heard a crack. Poor desk.

   "You don't know Devi Kali?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and Jay almost slapped his forehead.

   "What the hell were you thinking?" She rolled her eyes, and leaned further back tilting the chair backwards, licking her lollipop.

   "Are you insane?" He asked her, almost yelling, she craned her head at him as she popped the strawberry lollipop in her mouth.

   "Hmm?"

   "Why did you kill those CBI officers?" He shouted in a high pitched voice, it was comical to hear.

   "Man, calm down, Jay." She said, lazily drawling the words. He still had that bewildered loo.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬? She wondered slyly.

   "I had to, they knew who I was, to save myself I had to silence them. Besides, I got a ping from Deva that these guys were around so, they were targets of sort." She stated as a matter-of-fact and Jay frowned.

   "Deva messaged you? Why didn't you tell me about it? And, what about that last man? He was shot?" He asked and she leaned forward a little.

   "The other two were going to shoot me so I used that guy as my shield. I thought he was dead and after killing the rest two, he started speaking giving me the lecture, so I gave him my alias and left, I rather gave him a little more time to live. I called ambulance for him." She explained without any remorse which irked Jay.

   "You left him to die, he was an innocent and dutiful man." He muttered silently, and she tilted her head to one side.

   "He was indeed, but he too got to know of my identity and technically, I didn't kill him, his own colleagues did.” She said and he gave her a strange look.

   "He's not dead." Jay's finger stabbed the newspaper article and Maya sighed.

   "He's dead." She spoke up, and Jay blinked.

   "Excuse me?"

   "The last investigator, he's dead." She said in a casual tone as she pulled her other leg up keeping her knees close to her chest and stared at Jay who looked ready to flip. He stood up and grabbed the newspaper and shoved it in her face.

   "Have you-"

   "He died this morning, the police just haven't revealed it yet," she said, Jay looked at her with a confused expression, she gave him an impassive face and he plopped back down in his seat.

   "I don't get your ways sometimes," he admitted, and she grabbed the black remote control of his flat screen television and switched it on. Luckily, it was on the news channel, so here goes!

   Its black screen flickered to life showing vivid colors and she leaned back. The news channels flipped around with the news of scams and political issues before Maya found the familiar note of her deed.

   The news anchor was the man in his late twenties, he grabbed the microphone tightly in his grasp.

   "The police have given a word about the last survived investigator, he-he passed away because of a lot of blood loss in the morning, doctors are saying-" that's enough. Maya pressed the button once again the screen went colorless black again, she turned to see the amusing scene as Jay's face resembled to some cartoon character, jaw hanging, eyes bulging and shoulders sagged. Maya laughed at his expression, he could be hilarious at times.

   "How?" He gasped and she smirked.

   "None of my victims have survived Jayu, so, don't sweat it." She replied coolly and he almost slapped his forehead.

   "When will you grow up?" He sighed as he sat back down on his chair.

   "Hmm? What are you saying? I'm twenty." She reminded him and he shook his head.

   "Forget that, where on earth did you get this, Kali thing?" He asked, she rolled her eyes again.

   "It's my alias." She said proudly.

   "Like Jack the ripper, you decided Maya the Kali would be preferable?" He said and she winked at him with a grin.

   "Nice, eh?" She proudly said.

   "But you are forgetting the vital point here, Maya. That guy was the serial killer, you are not." He said, and she shrugged her shoulders.

   "Entire nation thinks of me as a serial killer though." She said, and Jay eyed her for a moment but her face didn't have any emotion, she had lost them years ago.

   "Whatever it is, but why Kali? It clearly gives away the fact that the assassin is a woman." He said.

   "Kali is a genderless name, Jayu. Stop being so gender specific. Besides, you know goddess Kali is the ultimate deliverer of punishment of the demons and evil doers." She said with a grin, he seemed lost for a moment.

   "You have heard the story of Rakta-bija right?" She asked and he nodded.

   "Rakta-bija*?" He asked and she nodded.

   "You got this idea from a myth!" He again yelled making Maya rub her ears.

   "You can stop shouting, Jay I don't have hearing problems but thanks to you I'll have 'em." She said.

   "No wonder you are Vardhan's apprentice. The cleaner blood is really in you." He said and she gave him a bored look as she crushed the sweet lolly between her teeth. He blinked, his face slowly paled as the temperature around her dropped by several degrees making him shiver internally.

   "Geez, I won't kill you, Jayu. You're an honorable and innocent man." She smiled and he breathed in relief.

   "Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarata;

Abhyutthaanam adharmasya tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham.

Paritraanaaya saadhoonaam vinaashaaya cha dushkritaam;

Dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge." She quoted and Jay stared at her for a moment.

   "Why are you quoting Shri Krishna's shloka from Bhagwad Gita?" He asked and she smiled.

   "You know the meaning of what I said?" She asked playfully, and he narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't understand her brain, it was quite a complex mess yet, he couldn't deny the genius that she was.

   "Well, it means that 'Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself!' As in our Lord Himself and 'For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age.'" He said, and she nodded.

   "You think you are Godsend deliverer of punishment for the evildoers?" He asked and she laughed.

   "No, not Godsend but surely I follow 'God's' orders and deliver the punishment to those who disturb His laws." She said, with a playful and knowing smile. It took him a minute to realise the double meaning of her words and he sighed running his hand through his hair.

   "Right, we do take orders from Deva*." He said, remembering the one above them.

   "So, my work here is done. I'll be going now." She said as she left her feet down, letting her toes brush against her simple gray shoes, crouching down she put them on again and stood up lazily slouching.

   "Here's the rest of your pay." Jay rested the brown envelope on the table and she picked it up with a grin.

   "Thanks." She winked at him, and shoved the packet in her black water-resistant satchel and her hand in her loose trouser pocket.

   "See ya." She waved her hand as she turned to leave, flipping the plastic stick in the dustbin.

   "See ya." He replied as she walked out of his office. Maya quoting the Bhagwad Gita shlokas was a casual thing, she and the rest of the Cleaners Association abided by the rules of it. And, not only of the Gita but also from the other Holy books, the predicament of God was to create a beautiful world where humans could live in peace but now, humans had become the enemy of humans itself so, some of them had no choice but to start purging those pollutants from the society. This responsibility was taken up by a few among whom he only knew of Deva rest were still Deva's underlings but worked in different countries. It was a ghost organisation or should he call them grim reapers?

   Maya walked through the crowd stuffing her both hands in her hoodie pockets to stop them from freezing, it was raining and she didn't have an umbrella, so cold, she chattered her teeth helplessly. Stopping at the road crossing, the signal was red so, she waited with several others who had an umbrella or at least a jacket to save themselves, lucky them. She aimlessly stared at the people beside her who were waiting for the signal to be turned green when she spotted a man dressed in black at a distance. She flickered her gaze off him, suspicion lacing her brain. She had seen him in afternoon too when she had walked towards Jay's office, he was following her. The sense of deja vu filled her senses. She smirked darkly as she put her head down and started walking towards the other side with the crowd.

   She had two choices, either escape him or kill him, he must've seen her residence so she couldn't have first choice. She had to go with the latter, her favorite.

   Maya silently made her way towards the side of the road and entered the alleyway, the Mumbai city wasn't lacking in the dirty alleys which had the pipes that belched out the grimy rain water from the tops and the loud speakers going off. She saw a few dogs scavenging from the dustbins as she passed silently past them, hearing the sound of footsteps behind her. She was certain that this one was behind her indeed. She walked lazily ahead towards the dark dead end, she knew these streets like the back of her hand and nothing could beat her here. She slid over to her side at the narrow spot where the darkness was thicker and waited for her prey.

   He arrived around seventeen seconds after and she gazed at him as he confusedly turned around searching for her, even in this thick rain and strong stench of urine and other stuff she could clearly smell his fear, it was clinging to him like a leech. The strong feeling of fear that crippled him already gave Maya a stronger urge to pounce right into action, being a warrior one knew the scent of fear and bloodlust. 

   Maya slowly put her hand in her satchel and pulled out her knife holding it in a backhanded style. He couldn't escape now.

   "Come out of the hiding!" He yelled, his voice was strong but it faltered at the end, Maya smirked.

   "I know y-you are hiding here." He called again, anyone could clearly sense his fear from far away.

   "Why should I be hiding?" She said, and slowly detached herself from the shadows and stood in front of him blocking him between the dead end and her. She saw the familiarity in his face and frowned lightly tilting her head to one side, he looked like Viraj, maybe he was his relative.

   "Because I know who you are." He said, his eyes looked dark and he was holding a gun tightly in his hand.

   "Really?" She drawled, her eyes cold as Arctic wind.

   "Yes, you are the serial killer that the police and CBI are after." He spat, she raised her eyebrows at him.

   "Huh? Am I now? And who are you?" She asked, keeping her knife halfway tucked in her sleeve.

   "You b*tch, you killed my brother!" He yelled, she pursed her lips and tapped her lower lip with her forefinger, was he really Viraj's brother? She wondered.

   "The list of my victims is pretty long, can you tell me the details?" She asked, he clenched his teeth and cocked his gun right at her. She smirked darkly, feeling the adrenaline burning in her veins ready for the action. His hands trembled with pure rage and his eyes narrowed, his finger strained over the trigger while Maya moved from her spot all too relaxed although her eyes were anything but calm, those freezing saddles were assessing and waiting, she was close, close enough to move swiftly like a cheetah.

   "Don't move! I say don't move!" His hands trembled.

   "If you want to pull the trigger do so. I'm not stopping." She said and he clenched as the rain drops slid down his face and he pulled the trigger squeezing his eyes shut.

   A gurgled croak left his lips as her knife pressed deeper in his chest, his eyes widened down at her, a stoic expression was plastered over her face as blood rushed out of his wound and his mouth. She missed his heart, but his lung was holed, anyways, he was a goner. He let out a gurgled scream as she twisted the knife in his chest pressing deeper inside, the pointed narrow end making its way out of his back muscles. His eyes soon rolled back in his head and his body went limp, she pulled her knife out and he fell back. Viraj's words filled her head and she looked at his brother, feeling the blackness and the frost fill her.

   "Never waste your time in talking to your enemy, it can be fatal for your own life. Besides happy afterlife with Viraj." She departed a final message and walked away from the dead man.

XXX

   He watched the file very carefully with his blazing eyes narrowed as he sat over his chair. His long fingers held the paper delicately and his eyes professionally assessed the picture.

   "Um... Ze-"

   "Shh..." His low hush was enough to shut up the investigators who stood silently in front of him. They looked at each other and he placed the file down, which had a woman's dead picture over it. The victim was severely burnt and died, the time 12:47 pm was printed at the corner of the picture.

   "It's a murder." He stated in a calm voice, the investigators started talking with each other in astonishment as the case was on the verge of closing and all the evidences pointed it to be a suicide.

   "How can you be so sure of it?" The chief investigator asked, the young man leaned ahead over the glass table and placed his long pale finger over the soles of the woman's feet in the picture. The rest leaned ahead to get a better view of what he was saying.

   "If it would've been a suicide then the soles of her feet wouldn't have been burnt. But look," he pointed at the burnt soles, "they are entirely burnt, do you have the autopsy report?" He asked, and one of the investigators handed him the paper he had kept in a folder. He had one look at the papers and smiled, his dark eyes glittering with the known radiance.

   "Is this the genuine report?" He asked, looking at the one who handed him the report. He looked a little unsure as he blinked and then looked at his senior.

   "Yes, this is the report that the doctor gave us." The senior said and he smiled again.

   "He gave you the report after a day of autopsy and this," he pulled out a white envelope from his drawer and placed it on the table before the investigators. "Is that one that was made right after the autopsy." He said, and the chief officer picked it up plucking out the folded paper, and read its contents. His eyes widened and he gave a shocked look.

   "But- how is this possible? The cause of death was severe third degree burns." He said and the young man smiled.

   "The cause of death as you see in the original report that I got from the doctor who performed the autopsy is deficiency of oxygen due to pressure on the windpipe and the time of death, around 12:00 pm and the time of death mentioned here." He looked at the investigators who looked at him in pure astonishment.

   "And it's done by her husband and the family for dowry." He said, as he pulled out some more papers and the chief officer grabbed those running his eyes through them.

   "These are some reports of the neighbours who had seen the frequent violence but didn't do anything to stop it, had they taken a little effort by reporting this to police then she would have been alive today." He spoke resentfully.

   "These evidences are enough to put those murderers behind the bars." He spoke coldly.

   "That was a great job, Zero." One of the young investigator said and Zero looked at him with a small smile.

   "It was an easy task." He simply said, and stretched his arms above his head.

   "Ah, that reminds me, Zero." The chief investigator said, making him have his attention.

   "Are you really planning on going to Mumbai?" He asked, and Zero stood up from his chair.

   "It seems like it." He said, as he walked towards the wall sized window of the office building.

   "Huh? Why is Zero going to Mumbai?" The other investigator asked, and Zero rested his arm against the glass wall looking down at the tiny figures and dots of orange and red lights that moved over the street.

   "For the Kali case." The chief said, and the investigators gasped.

   "What? Is that true, sir?" They questioned, and the chief nodded.

   "It looks like Zero has made up his mind." He said, as he looked at the young man who silently stood at the glass wall watching out from the top floor of the high skyscraper. The water drops slid down from the glass wall as the rain poured down heavily with the claps of the thunder. Zero narrowed his eyes as his brain focused on one single word.

   "Kali." 

   𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

†**************************************†

• 𝙍𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙖-𝙗𝙞𝙟𝙖 - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙟𝙖 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙. 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙍𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙟𝙖 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙. 𝙆𝙖𝙡𝙞 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨. 

• 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙖 - 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚.

• 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙡𝙤𝙠𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘽𝙝𝙖𝙜𝙬𝙖𝙙 𝙂𝙞𝙩𝙖

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 4, 𝙑𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 7-8.