Different Senses (24 page)

“He’s still a very good boy,
ma’am, just going about things in the wrong way. But he needs to be
sat on.”

“I’ll apply the appropriate
buttock pressure,” Shardul said. “Now go.”

Roshni-ji put her hand on my
arm. “Javen? Thank you for not having Vishva arrested.”

“My pleasure, ma’am. I don’t
want to see good kids in prison any more than you do.”

Shardul walked me out, and he
hailed a taxi for us. “I too should thank you,” he said grudgingly
as we pulled up to the library.

“No need. I figure the debt’s
still on my side. See you around,” I said, then hopped out.

I returned to my auto but
didn’t drive home immediately. I sat, trying to think of a way to
get this stupid cup back that wouldn’t end up with people arrested.
Shardul was right though. Once the police were involved, given
Kly’s high profile, the secret of the
gatha
would be public
property. It might kill Roshni-ji, putting her through
that.

Cops made the best criminals,
they said. Looked like I was going to discover the truth of
that.

~~~~~~~~

Ten days later, I was
parked on a road near Kly’s estate, wishing I was anywhere but. I’d
only had a few hours’ warning that tonight was the night when I
would go against all my stated principles, and commit a serious
crime for the first—and I hoped only—time in my life. Induma had
convinced three of Kly’s employees to assist in letting me and
Shardul into the estate and the house, where she would pass us
the
monuwel
, and we were then supposed to high-tail it out of there.
Shardul wasn’t supposed to be coming with me, and his aunt thought
Harinakshi was going in his place. Instead, Harinakshi was our
wheelman.

“
I really hope he hasn’t
got any
fluria
,” I muttered. They had a
fierce bite and worse temper, and more than one cop bore the mark
of their impressive teeth.

“Induma assures me he has not,”
Shardul said, calm as if he was on his way to his office.

“
She also says she
doesn’t go out on the estate at night.” But she’d hear guards
using
fluria
. I was just spooking
myself.

“I believe it will be fine,
Javen,” Harinakshi said. “The Spirit is with us.”

“The Spirit might be with you,
but it doesn’t believe in me, or me in it. I’d rather trust in
Shardul’s long legs and Induma’s planning.”

“
On that point,” Shardul
said. “Ythen, once we have the
monuwel
, I will treat that as my
first priority. If we’re separated, I’ll come back here and not
wait for you.”

“Your concern is touching,
really,” I told him. “But you’re right. The least I want from this
is to retrieve the bloody thing.”

“Don’t be disrespectful,”
Shardul said.

“Stuff it up your arse. I’m
telling you guys—we get this thing back? Then me and the Nihan are
quits, okay? I’ve made reparations for whatever bad stuff my
ancestors did to you. Clean slate, or no deal.”

Shardul twisted around to look
at me. “If that’s what you want. It doesn’t work like that.”

“
The hell it doesn’t.
Okay, so I’m still a privileged
chuma
and I know squat about your
culture. But between you and me? No more shit. Deal?”

“Very well. Deal. But we still
have to retrieve it.”

Which was a lot easier
said than done. Induma had only been able to give us the go ahead
tonight because the
monuwel
had been brought from its
secret store in preparation for the ceremony at the sacred site
tomorrow. Security in the house would be high, and she couldn’t
guarantee to disable it all. There was also the matter of the two
of us having to run through a wooded estate at night, through
unfamiliar terrain and for long distances, when the whole estate
was wired for sight and sound.

It was close to midnight, but
we had to wait for Induma’s signal. She had to make sure Kly was
sound asleep before she left his bed, and that the house was
quiet.

Another hour crept by before we
received her quiet, “All’s clear. I’m ready.”

“Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Harinakshi said.

“What now?”

He bowed his head. “May the
Spirit guide your enterprise, for it is just and noble. If you die
in its execution, may the Seeker of the Spirit lead you to your new
life and let that life be a good one.”

Charming
. “Thanks, I think.
Shardul, come on.”

Our entrance to the estate was
at a gate in the high wall that surrounded it. Normally locked, but
now opened and alarms disabled by one of Induma’s confederates, who
waved us in. “We’ve placed UV flares to guide you. Your night
vision goggles will pick them up. That way. Hurry.”

We headed off at a run, and I
soon saw the bright light from the flare—invisible to the naked
eye, as bright as an auto headlight from here. We were in
communicator contact with Induma, but any warning she could give
would almost certainly be too late. Better than nothing, but not
much.

Every step seemed obscenely
loud, though we ran as lightly as we could over thick turf,
avoiding hard surfaces. I kept expecting to trigger one of the many
sensors Induma said were scattered around the estate, or one of the
security patrols, but after running for what seemed forever, the
dim lights and looming shape of the mansion against the three
moons, hove into view.

“We’re here,” I whispered to
Induma. “Where do we come?”

“Wait for a light. Come to that
side.”

We crouched behind a prickly
bush that smelled of piss, peering towards the house.

“There.” Shardul pointed to a
faint wavering light to the left.

We hunched over and ran to the
window indicated. The second we were outside, Induma flung the
window open, and shoved a small cloth-wrapped parcel into Shardul’s
hands. “Go!”

We were already on our
way, Shardul ahead of me, taking care of the
monuwel
as he’d said
he would. We passed the first flare—three to go. But with the
second flare in sight, Induma’s voice came over my
earpiece.

“Gagan’s awake and knows it’s
gone. Hurry!”

“Shardul, go!”

He picked up speed, quickly
increasing his lead over me. Harinakshi was monitoring. He’d be
ready to scoop and run, but would he wait for both of us?

Sirens, deafening, men shouting
and lights coming on all around us in the distance. Second flare
passed. Two more. Just two more.

“Ythen!”

“Just get the hell out of here!
Go!”

He took off, and I did
something I swore I wouldn’t do, which was play the bloody hero. I
deliberately changed course, and changed my steps to make more
noise, heading towards a gravel path. I didn’t plan to be captured,
but I needed Shardul to get clear. I could climb a wall. I’d done
it often enough. I just had to get there.

Lights heading towards me. I
ducked and changed course. I could see the estate wall in the
distance. I bolted through the undergrowth, keeping to dirt and
turf again. Shardul was on his own now. I’d done what I could.

A shout, a flare of light, and
then the most horrible pain across my lower back, throwing me to
the ground. I knew what it was because I’d been shot before. “I’m
down,” I gasped to Shardul over the communicator link. “Get out of
here.”

No response, and the shouting
was closer. I lay on my front, hands spread out in surrender as the
guards came closer. Oh well. I wasn’t much of a private detective
anyway.

Being surrounded by angry
people only added to the pain and humiliation of being captured.
They carried me gracelessly to the house, where Gagan came running
towards me, grabbed my hair, and screamed obscenities at me. I
pretended I was too injured to answer. I gained a little
satisfaction from having thwarted him. I
hoped
we’d thwarted
him.

Rough and ready first aid from
the security guards, then I was hauled into the house to be
confronted by Kly himself, wearing a plush crimson robe. Induma in
a silky white gown, nervous and silent, stood behind him. Gagan
hovered like a malevolent vulture, waiting to rip my head off.

Kly shook his head at me.
“Javen, Javen. I’m very disappointed. What will your father
say?”

“Same thing, I guess. You had
something you know you didn’t own.”

“It was only borrowed. I was
going to give it back.”

“Oh yeah. Was he?” I pointed to
Gagan who was practically purple with rage.

“I ask the questions. Now you
can tell me where it is, and this can be sorted out discreetly, or
I can call the police. One way or another, I will have it back. I
have to have it back.”

“Sorry, no dice. Call the cops.
Soon, unless you want me to bleed all over your nice chairs.”

Gagan stepped up to slap me
around a bit, but Kly called him off. “No. There’s no point. Sri
Ythen is quite determined, I see that. Call the police. I think the
governor will be rather unhappy with your choice, Javen.”

“Won’t be the first time.”

While Gagan calling the cops
temporarily diverted Kly’s attention, I glanced at Induma. She gave
me the tiniest nod. So Shardul had made it. Now who’d retrieve
me?

Cops also make the worst
suspects because we know all the tricks. When two patrol officers
arrived, I made their lives unpleasant by refusing to give any more
but my name and address. They’d heard of me, and they’d certainly
heard of my father. They were caught between potentially upsetting
the most important politician in this region, and the most
important man in this city. I felt sorry for them, but the only
play I had was to delay things as much as possible.

Finally the cops agreed I
needed medical attention, and placed me under arrest on suspicion
of breaking and entering with intent to steal—although not with
actual theft since Kly declined to name any item that had been
stolen—before taking me to the hospital to have my injury cared
for. I insisted on my lawyer, one Shardul Hema Rishabh, being
called. If I had to spend the night in pain and under arrest, no
bloody way was Shardul getting any beauty sleep.

The hospital doctor did her
best, but every position hurt like hell, and I didn’t want
painkillers in case they made me loose-lipped. She gave me drugs to
ward off infection, told me to keep off my feet for a few days, and
then the officers took me down to the station to be charged. By
then it was nearly dawn. I was exhausted, in a lot of pain,
worried, and wondering where my supposed lawyer was. I’d been in
better shape. And I still had to break the bad news to Yashi and my
father.

I refused to make a statement
without my lawyer, and seeing my ropey state, the station staff
wisely decided to let me sleep it off before pursuing it. They put
me in a holding cell, which was bare of anything but what I needed,
which was a place to rest on my front. I fell asleep before they’d
locked the door behind me.

The door lock woke me up, not
something I welcomed since I’d stiffened up badly. I groaned as I
turned my head to see who had intruded. Shardul. “About time,” I
muttered.

“Come on. Time to go home.”

“
Shardul, I’ve
been
arrested
.”

“
Yes, and I’ve
arranged
bail
. So shift your
chuma
arse.”

He helped me stand, which
hurt a lot more than I expected. “I got shot in my
chuma
arse, thank you.”

“Yes, you did. How very stupid
of you.” But his eyes were friendly and I even detected some slight
sympathy under his habitual irritation.

He handled the tiresome
business of my belongings being returned for me, and helped me sign
the release forms. I was told to report back to the station the
same day next week, and then I was free. For now.

“How did you swing it?”

“Later. We’ll talk by phone,
but for now, you need to be in the bosom of your family, as indeed
do I.”

“Wait,” I said, as he dragged
me toward his auto. “The thing?”

“Safe and beyond the clutches
of friend Gagan, who is himself not beyond being placed in
custody.”

I had to lie across the back
seat, which amused Shardul no end. “It bloody hurts,” I
bitched.

“Yes. You shouldn’t have
separated from me.”

“They were about to find
you.”

“Not for certain. But...I thank
you, Javen Ythen. The debt is cleared.”

“Damn well hope so,” I
muttered.

We arrived in time for
breakfast. He helped me into the house, to the alarm of my brother
and his wife, and the intense curiosity of the twins. “Injured in
the line of duty,” Shardul gravely assured Yashi. “The doctor gave
me these painkillers for him. Make sure he takes them, and rests.
The wound needs to be dressed twice a day. You’ll find dressings in
that packet too.”

“Thank you, er...Sri...?”

“Rishabh,” he said. “I’m his
lawyer.”

“What?”

I moaned pathetically. “Yashi,
please?”

Shardul made a diplomatic exit
after handing me to Yashi, and then my highly annoyed and worried
brother took me to my room and put me to bed. “What in the name of
reason have you done to yourself?”

“Upset someone with a gun,” I
said, not lying at all. “The police are dealing with it.”

Tara rushed in, clutching
Shardul’s packet to her chest. “Yashi? Javen, you poor thing! You
look awful.”

“I feel awful,” I said,
shamelessly playing to her sympathy to avoid questions. “Could I
have those pills? And some water?”