Ch 7- Heart beats again (Novel-Zero)

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John was going in his car. From the hospital, doctors had informed him about Anjeni’s discharge from the hospital. Probably she is at her home, he thought. According to the doctor, now she was completely fit medically, but would require some time span to recover mentally and emotionally.
Sani’s postmortem reports had come to John. He wished to talk about it with Anjeni. He could have talked about it on phone, but he was feeling eager to meet her again. More he controlled his desire to meet her, more intense it  became. When he had artificially breathed her with his mouth, he didn’t feel anything special about it. But now the touch of his lips with her smooth lips was flashing through his mind again and again. Suddenly ‘ kkkrash...’’ he applied the brakes, turned the car and rushed on the road with full speed - towards Anjeni’s apartment.

John’s car halted at the base of Anjeni’s apartment. He turned the vehicle in parking lot. There he just kept sitting in the vehicle for a while, struggling with his heart and mind. Coming to some conclusion, at last he got down, went to lift decisively. He entered the open lift. Lift door closed and it rushed upwards.
Lift halted; it was number 10 visible on the lift display. As door opened, John came out without waiting for the door to open completely. He went to Anjeni’s closed flat door, loitered there for a while. As he was about to press a doorbell, the door opened. Anjeni stood in the open door, looking at John’s blushed face, “Yes ?” She said laughing naughtily. It was first time, he saw her laughing so candidly.

“ No .. Its nothing... Actually……. I came to ask you in connection with the case... I mean…….. I want to ask” John fumbled but managed to speak, laughed nervously, still unable to erase the ‘caught’ expressions on his face.

“ Ooh... I see... Come in please” Anjeni said mischievously, still unable to control her laughing.

She took him in and closed the door.

John and Anjeni were sitting in the drawing room.

“According to postmortem report... Sani was shot in the chest, right in the heart... therefore there is rare chance that he had drawn that circle...” John presented his guess.

“ It means the circle must have been drawn by the bloody killer” Anjeni said.

She thought for a while and continued, “But what does he try to imply by drawing it?”

“ That's the puzzle and we still feel … its unsolved...” John said.

“ If we check with the past records... there is possibility that a similar murder has been executed in the past.” Anjeni said excitedly.

“We have already checked with... there is no such case” John said with gloomy face.

Suddenly John’s mobile rang; he attended it, “ Yes Sam”

John heard him for a while and suddenly stood up, “ What?”

Anjeni looked at him in confusion.

" I will come back soon" John darted towards the door, keeping back his mobile in the pocket.

When he crossed the door Anjeni heard him saying, " I will meet you later... I need to go, its urgent"

Before Anjeni could go to the door and say something John disappeared..


(..to be contd..)

Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode

English Version by Mugdha Apte

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Ch-6: Blank Mail..(Novel-Zero)

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In the dim moon light Command1 and Command2 were sitting on the terrace. A laptop was kept in front of them. They were taking small swigs of Whisky in between. Command1 was swiftly giving commands to the computer, keying the number of keys per second, which was almost impossible to count by mere observing.
“ Hey ... What are you doing?” Command2 asked curiously.
“ You know this freak police officer John is working on our case “ Command1 said still continuing his swift keying.
“ So?”
“ We should know what exactly is going on in his dumb little mind”
“But how could we know what’s going on his mind?” Command2 wondered.
“ Look, now he is online.. I am sending this mail to him, which will break his password” Command1 said coolly.
“ But how?”
“ Patience.. patience...” Command1 pressed a ‘send’ button and said, “ Look, when he will open this mail, he will get a message ‘Session Expired’ ... And he will enter his password again, which in fact will be captured by our program, and will be duly sent to us” Command1 exhibited a criminal like smile.

“ What a mind!” Command2 could not stop to praise him; he kept his whisky glass aside.
“ Gradually... you will also learn all this “ Command1 gave an assuring tap on his back.
“ Why should I worry .. When I have a ‘Guru’ like you?” Now Command1 seemed to be exaggerating. In an attempt to show over excitement he happened to push a whisky glass kept aside, tried to save, but in vain, finding 4-5 broken glass pieces on the floor. He began to pick up the pieces. Command1 glanced at what his associate is doing and continued with his laptop.
“ Oooh...” Command2 cried.
“ What happened” Command1 asked.
“ Finger cut” he showed him the cut finger, which was cut with one of the glass pieces, he was picking up.
“ Be brave .. Don’t act like a kid” Command1 said in little scolding tone and got absorbed again in his work on computer.
Command2 picked up the glass pieces with his bleeding hand, put it in a polythin bag lying nearby, knotted the polythin bag and threw it behind in the bush.
Suddenly they heard a mail buzzer.
“ Has he opened? ... seems to be in great hurry to get his password broken...” Command1 opened the email. It was blank. He suddenly put off his laptop.
“ What’s wrong?” Command2 asked.
“ He is not a foolish as we thought... he seems to be suspecting” Command1 said.
“ May be his password is blank, as the email is blank” Command2 gave his opinion.
“ Mr. Command2 .. for your kind information.... Email password is never blank” Command1 said in his special tone.
“ But why did you shut down the computer so hurriedly” Command2 asked curiously.
“ You know, if he is suspecting, he definitely will try to trace us”
“ Oh ... I see”
Command1 got up, picking his Whisky glass.
“ We should not sit in wide open sky” Command2 said in concern, at the same time changing the topic.
“ Why?” Command1 took a swig and said.
“ No ... I heard that American satellite can see on the earth up to 10 by 10 inch clearly ... I mean, if it’s a truth, we can also be caught.”
Command1 was taking a walk around the terrace, stopped suddenly, and broke into a loud laughter.
“ What’s wrong”  Command2 asked surprisingly.
“ You know these Americans are expert in making propaganda and havoc... if their satellites can see clearly up to 10 by 10 inches then why can’t they catch Osama?... Yes … it’s right in some cases, there is no match for their technology... but with a single truth they push 10 lies... You know that is what called as sugarcoating.”
“ Sugar coating?”
“ You know during World War-II why Hitler’s army fought till the last minute?”
Command2 simply looked puzzled at him.
“Hitler had made a propaganda that there will be entry of a missile V2 soon in their army... And had it come in their army, they could have ruled the world too” Command1 said.
“ Then was their army equipped with it?’’ Command2 asked.
“ It would have come, if it existed”
“ What?”
“ He had just made a propaganda”.
Command1 pushed the computer button to start it.
“ Why are you starting now.. He may trace us again” Command2 expressed his concern.
“ No he will not... Now we will get different IP address... “ Command1 was waiting for the computer to start.

By this time the computer was on, and a message popped up at the right corner of the monitor. It was an email.
“ It’s Boss” Command1 said while opening it.
As he went through it, he called out “ Command2”
“ Yes”
“ We have been instructed for the next mission” Command1 said, while reading it.
Command2 arched over his shoulder to see what is written in the mail.

(To be contd...)


Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode
English Version by Mugdha Apte

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Ch-5: Heart beats again..(Novel-Zero)

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While going to B23, John was surprised of himself.

Why I felt so worried about her?...

He never felt so worried about some woman in his life, though he had handled so many cases. B23, he arrived at, and knocked the door. He pushed the door and entered in, as it was open. Anjeni was lying on the bed, looking in void outside the window.
Anjeni came out of her thoughts when she heard the footsteps. Finding it was John; she smiled, still with traces of grief on her face. It was clear that she still was not able to come out of the shock, she had undergone. He stood in front of her. She gestured him to sit, pointing at the stool kept aside. He pulled the stool and sat close to her bed.

" How are you?" He said, keeping the bouquet beside her.

She grinned faintly.

"Those who undergo the difficult times, only can feel the pain... I can understand the state of mind you are going through... " John was consoling.

Tears came out; she tried to stop, but failed. John stopped talking. He kept his consoling hand on her shoulder. But it resulted into more outbursts. She was sobbing uncontrollably holding him tight. John was trying to soothe her, exactly not knowing how to do it.

After a while she seemed to be normal. John thought, it would be a better time to ask her about the murder.

"What do you think? Who must be behind this?... I mean any guess?" John asked cautiously. .

She shook her head  and again started to look outside the window. She seemed to be lost somewhere. John removed a photograph from his pocket.

" Look... here on this wall ... something round is drawn with blood... What it could be?... Any idea... rather who would have drawn this?'' John asked.

Anjeni looked at the photograph. Looking at her dead husband in the photograph, melancholy crept over her face again. John kept back the photograph.

" I mean ... can you relate that circular shape with something? ... It can be 'O' in the alphabets or even it can be zero..." John said.

" I can understand that this is not the right time to ask the questions about the murder... but the sooner we get the information, faster we can catch the criminal. ... " John continued.

Anjeni now sat right trying to control her emotions and firmly said, " Ya, you can proceed... "

John also sat right, knowing the gravity of the situation and time.

" What was Sani doing?... I mean by profession" John fired the first query.

" He was into import-export business... mainly of garments... his business was spread all over the Indian continent." Anjeni was telling.

" Any professional rival?"

" I don't think... his domain of work was totally different ... so he was not having any professional rivals" Anjeni said.

" Ok... What do you do?" John asked.

" I am a fashion designer" Anjeni answered.

The session continued for an hour or so. Lastly getting up, John said, ''Ok then... I think it’s sufficient for now... You must be tired.. ... I mean mentally... You should take rest... If anything comes up later, I may trouble you again"

" It doesn’t matter" Anjeni answered.

John turned to go. As Anjeni got up probably to usher him, John said, " You keep resting... You badly need it "

Still she followed him to the door. When John was about to turn out of the door, he heard her say, "Thank you!"

He abruptly stopped, turned and asked "For what?"

" To save me... doctor told me everything... had you not breathed me, I wouldn’t have been alive now " Anjeni said with tears and gratitude filled in her eyes.

" What’s so special about it .. I have done my duty" John shrugged his shoulder and said.

" Its your kindness" Anjeni said, reaching the door.

John turned again to go, this time walked off fast, might be to control his irrepressible emotions. Within seconds he reached the end of the alley, stopped before turning right and found she was still looking at him with intense tenderness.

John was walking through the passage towards the lift. He was feeling heavy to leave Anjeni. Suddenly something odd near lift caught his attention. A man wearing similar black T-shirt, with zero sketched on it, was approaching the lift from the other side. But the man seemed not to be the same as he saw before. John dashed towards him as he was still far.
John called out " Hey... Hello"

But before he could hear John, he entered the open lift. John was on his toes, trying to reach the lift before closing. Lift closed, but still there was a chance, for it was stationary at its place. . At last John could make it, pressed the lift button hard, but in vain, as lift started to slide down. John struggled for his instinct, and darted down the steps. There must be some relation between the 'zero' and the murder, his gut feeling said. John ran as fast as he could, keeping eye in between on the position of the lift. But the lift never waited in between, may be it was destined to stop only on the ground floor. Lift went ahead two floors, as he realized, he ran down more swiftly to win the race between machine and human. Could he win?

Exhausted John reached the ground floor, looked at lift to find who won? Red display above the lift door showed an arrow pointing upwards. He was lost, as lift was emptied at ground floor long back. He rushed out of the building, scanned everywhere around to find everyone but the one who he wanted. He returned to the parking. The man in black T-shirt was not there. He rushed to the road beside the hospital, but he could not find the man, he wanted very badly.

Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode
English Version by Mugdha Apte

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Ch-4: Where is she? (Novel-Zero)

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A fast moving white car abruptly stopped in front of the hospital, driver must be in double mind to stop or not. John,who was not in his usual uniform and not in usual mood too, got down. He went to the hospital lift carrying a bouquet of white flowers.
He entered the lift, pressed the button showing number 12. Lift closed and started to dash upwards. With the speed of the lift, his thoughts also started to speed up....

Why a circle might have been drawn on the wall? ...

Forensic tests had revealed the blood origin - as Sani’s....

The one who had drawn the circle, for sure, might have tried to say something...

May be Anjani has a clue about the killer...

Lift stopped, his thoughts also stopped. An electronic display ahead was showing the number 12. John came out through the partially opened door slit of the lift, as he did not have time to wait till the door could open fully. He went straight into the Ward ‘B’.John looked at the bunch of flowers he was holding and knocked the door gently. He waited for the response looking at the red letters carved at the top of the door in red color - room no. B2. There was no response from within. He knocked the door again, this time little harder. Still no response! Confused and worried he looked around in the corridor. Now he started banging the door.

What happened?...

She was in this room...
She was not supposed to be discharged so early...

Where she would have gone?...

Was there any mishap?...

His heart started beating fast. He looked around again. There was a help counter at the end of the corridor.

I must ask there?...

He hurried to the counter.

“Excuse me” He tried to get nurse’s attention who was standing behind the counter. Nurse continued, without paying attention, probably it was the effect of the number of people enquiring daily.

“ In B2 there was a patient... Anjeni Carter... Where is she... Is she discharged... But she was not to be discharged so early I suppose... There is nobody ... “ John was not ready to stop.

“ Wait a minute... wait... Which room did you say?” Nurse interrupted him.

“B2” John took a breathe.

Nurse opened the file and started searching, moving her index finger over the index, may be that is why it is called as index finger. As she found the page number, she started turning over pages of the file.

“ B2... Mrs. Anjeni Carter...” Nurse confirmed stopping on a page.

“ Yes ...” John confirmed back.

John was trying to catch expressions from her expressionless face. John was getting annoyed over her undue calmness.

“ Sorry ... Mr....?” She looked at him to get his introduction.

“ John...” He was not in a mood to introduce himself fully. He was keen to know about Anjeni.

“ Sorry Mr. John... Sorry for inconvenience... She has been shifted to room B23...”
John felt relieved.

“ Actually... B2 was too congested... so on her request...” Nurse was giving explanation.
John left for B23 before nurse could complete her explanation.


(to be contd...)

Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode

English Version by Mugdha Apte

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Ch-3 : World under underworld (Novel Zero)

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A small bungalow was nestled in a lavish colony. A car came by and stopped. A man wearing black goggles, must be around 25, got down and entered the premises. While heading to the door, he was having a look at the poorly nurtured garden around. As he reached the door,  he glanced at the car for a moment and pressed the doorbell. Waiting for the door to open, he had a look around at other wealthy houses in the colony. It was taking time to open the door, so he ambled around. Suddenly he stopped, taking a stance to enter inside, as if got a hunch of somebody opening the door. Door opened, a man of almost his age stood in the door, giving him a way to come inside. He entered the house, no formalities, neither vocal nor expressional. As soon as the one standing outside entered, the door closed. It was easy to guess from their build, clothing, and complexion that they definitely were not of American origin. Both of them walked towards the cellar, which was not evident from the house structure, that it could have cellar inside.
The one came from outside, Command2, asked " Any message from Boss?"

" Not yet.. What to do and when to do, depends on the auspice of the time, the boss chooses" Command1 said.

Command2 smiled ridiculously, "You know...One is free to have his own craze".

" Command2, if you want to work with us, you should get tuned with the way we work... here, everything is measured and pre-calculated" Command1 seemed to have disliked the comment.
 Command2, who did not expect this, simply looked at him plainly, as he was not sure how to react.

" Whatever boss works on, he knows its results in advance" Command1 said.

They reached the dark cellar, in the middle of which, there was a computer kept on a table. They went to the computer.  Command1 switched it on, and sat on a chair in front of it. Command2 sat beside him, pulling a wheeled stool. Computer was going through the checklist before loading OS Linux.

" You know... Why I use Linux?

Command2 shook his head in ignorance.

" Who writes all the softwares, for which the source code is not provided to the customers?" Command1 asked.

"Companies?" replied Command2.

"I mean which companies?" probed Command1.

"American" Command2 answered.

" Also you must be aware that softwares, for which the source code is provided to the customers, are called open source software... which means, the customers can know from the source code, what exactly is going on in their software. And the software with which the source code is not provided.... there can be many things in it, which are not supposed to be..."

Command2 looked at Command1 in confusion.

"I hope you understand what I mean?"

"No...I mean..." Command2 fumbled.

" OK…. You must be aware that once Microsoft had declared that they are going to use some tags in Windows OS"

"Yes I know"

" They were planning to do this to countercheck their competitors... because using those tags, Microsoft would have made sure that the program they want, would only work properly. The other programs running simultaneously either work damn slowly or would not work properly at all." Command1 said.

"But how it is concerned with using Linux?" Command2 could not wait asking.

" Yes it is connected... very much connected... look... to countercheck their competitors and other users, they can use such tags... it is also possible that they have planted such tags in their software and hardware, so that all the important information all over the world, would reach them through Internet.... Our and our allies’ activities could also be included in it... particularly after 9/11 it had become very important for them" Command1 said looking at Command2, checking his expression to know whether he understood or not.

"Yes, you are right... It can happen..." Command2 expressed his opinion.

" Therefore you know ... what I did?... I compiled the Linux code and then installed it in my computer... we need to take all possible precautions..." Command1 told.

In each of his word, his ego and supremacy was evident.

'' You don't know the whole thing about this America... It’s their ultimate goal to rule the whole world ... and to achieve this, they can go to any level...'' Command1 said.

Command2 was looking at Command1 in disbelief.

" When did the human register their first presence on the moon? ... You must have learnt in the school.. " Command1 unexpectedly asked him.

" Neil Armstrong registered his first presence on moon in 1969 through the American satellite..." Command2 answered quickly like a schoolboy.

" Every school boy is been spoon fed with the same information... but did anybody doubt this... In the video clip shown on the TV then, everybody could have clearly observed that the American flag was flying on the moon... if there was no air on the moon, how could a flag fly... the shadows of the astronauts ... changed position of the satellite in different photos... there are so many such evidences which show that American satellite never reached the moon" Command1 was talking in rage.

" What are you talking?... that means everything was fraud?"

" Yes it was fraud.. .a big fraud... not only this…. the photographs taken through satellites then, show the clear picture of the set, they made for the shooting of this whole fraud movie… must be little over budgeted than some big budget Hollywood movie."

" But why should they get involved in such a risky fraud?" Command2 asked.

" Yes your doubt is correct ... Why should they get involved in such a big and risky fraud?... When America had declared their success in reaching the moon... ,Russia was their closest rival. To show the world that we are superior to Russia, they fabricated this fraud.... and they succeeded in it..." still Command1 was fuming in rage.

" My God... that means they had fooled the whole world..." Command2 said in astonishment.

"America is walking the path, Britain had walked long back... Before World War-II, Britain ruled the world... People used to say those times, that the sun never sets on their land...Now America is trying to do that... The only difference is that Britain ruled the world directly, but America wants to rule it indirectly and that is called 'Proxy ruling' ... Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, South Korea ... what are they doing there... proxy ruling them"

" Yes you are absolutely right" Command2 seemed to be convinced.

"And our key objective is to wipe out this American dominance" Command1 said fervently.

It was clearly visible from the Command2's face that he was totally impressed and influenced by Command1's justification. And Command1 was delighted to find that Command2 was completely brainwashed.
Suddenly there was a buzzer, a mail had come. Command1 opened the mailbox, it was boss.

" Who is this boss?'' Command2 curiously inquired.

“ Nobody knows except the Boss himself... And its not important who he is... We all are connected with a common thought and motive... And those motives and thoughts are important... Today Boss is alive... tomorrow he may or may not be there... we have to make sure that his thoughts never die." Command1 was talking while opening the mail.

“ Hi” was the only word written in the mail. Something was attached with the mail. Command1 opened the attachment; it was Madonna's photograph in bold pose.

“ Boss sent this?” Command2 asked in surprise.

“ You are too new to know all this... For time being, you should only understand that the tooth to bite are different than those to show...” Command1 said, smiling at the photograph.
Command1 swiftly pressed few keyboard buttons, a software opened. He double clicked Madonna's photograph, a blue bar started progressing ahead slowly. Command1 looked mysteriously at Command2.

"What are you doing ... Sa..."

Command1 at once closed Command2's mouth with his hand, " No……. Never do it again... You should never utter my name, not by chance too... You know even these dumb walls hear ... "

" I am so Sorry..." Command1 felt abashed.

" No sorries and no apologies here." Command1 said firmly.

By that time progress bar became complete blue.

" You know .. this is stegnography... its about hiding information behind the photograph... you can see only the photograph.. but a lot of information can be hidden in the photograph" Command1 was explaining.

" But if the photo goes in wrong hands?" Command2 raised his doubt.

" The information can be extracted with this software only... and it requires password... this software is written by Boss himself... therefore there is no question of having it with others." Command1 tried to clear his doubt giving him appropriate details.

"What information is hidden in it?" Command2 asked curiously.

Suddenly a message, which was hidden in the photograph, popped up " Be ready for the next operation ... the time will be informed subsequently"

(.. Contd...)

Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode
English Version by Mugdha Apte

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Ch-2:The sky falls (Novel-Zero)

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When Anjeni turned her car in the parking lot, she saw the police Van parked there, which she had seen before, during shopping. Her heart beat increased; what would have happened? Was there something wrong in the apartment? She quickly got down, approached the lift carrying her shopping bags. As she reached the lift, it opened and two policemen came out. She became more nervous, looking at their hurried and strange movements. She entered the lift and pressed the button on which number 10 was written.

As Anjeni came out of the lift on 10th floor, she found people gathered around her open flat door. She felt her limbs going numb. Shopping bags fell  down from her hand. She rushed through the crowd.

“What happened?’’ She enquired.

Nobody answered; they started staring at her empathetically. She entered the flat, finding the police crowded around the bedroom. She headed towards  the bedroom.

“What happened?’’ she asked one of the policemen.

Avoiding her gaze, he looked towards the bedroom with gloomy face. When she entered the bedroom, she was shocked looking at the scene inside. Her husband’s badly injured body was lying on the bed, in pool of blood. She found as if the whole bedroom was revolving around her, she fainted and fell down.

Last aggrieved word that came out of her mouth was -‘’ Sani...’’

John immediately came forward to support her, seeing her falling down. He tried to get her back to normal, but he found her unconscious.  Probably her breath was also lost.

John ordered Alex, standing next to him  “Call the doctor immediately ... I think she is under a shock ”

Alex promptly went to the phone kept in the corner and started dialing a number.
John was not able to figure out what to do next.  It was required to do something before doctor comes.

 “Sir... I think she needs artificial breathing ...” somebody suggested.

John started to pump air into her mouth through his mouth. In between, he used to press her chest counting 101,102,103 to regain her breath. He repeated the cycle twice or thrice . He was worried to find that she was not showing any signs of regaining her breath. To give a last try he pumped air again in her mouth and pressed her chest counting 101,102,103…..

Anjeni was admitted in the hospital in intensive care unit. Outside the ICU, John and one of his associates were waiting eagerly for ICU door to open.  The ICU door opened and a doctor came out. John went to him attentively.

“ She is out of danger.. nothing to worry” doctor said removing the green mask from his face .

John felt relieved. Before he could ask anything, his mobile rang. John checked its  display and attended, “Yes Sam”

“ Sir we searched him everywhere but we could not find him” Sam answered  from other side.

“ Could not find... How long it took when we started to search him after we saw him?... he would have been nearby somewhere...” John said.

“ No sir, ... probably he changed his clothes immediately... because we had intimated about him in every police station nearby...”

“ Ok... now start for his sketch... we must get him...” John instructed.

“ Yes sir” Before John could hear the reply, he disconnected his mobile and said “ Ok doctor... we take your leave... take care of her... and in case you face any problem, inform us immediately...’’

“ Ok” doctor said.

John turned to leave .

He abruptly stopped and instructed his associate, “ find out her relatives if any...and inform them.

“Yes sir” the associate said.

(...  contd...)

Original Novel by Sunil Doiphode
English Version by Mugdha Apte

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