Chapter 104: The 3 soldiers were not soldiers at all
The military base...
Soldiers Prakash, Ajay, Pulkit and Sagar came out of Prakash and Pulkit's room; although there was curfew, it was not yet light out. A few other soldiers in their dorm were still seen moving about, some to take their baths, others, to defecate or urinate, and yet some back to their rooms from a fellow soldier's room.
Ajay had suggested they split up, Pulkit and Sagar will go through the back door, while Prakash and Ajay will go out through the back door. This was because, the rules say that during curfew, only 2 soldiers can be called out by the major general at a time. 3 soldiers are not called out at once.
Now, how did they get authorized letters from the major general? The fact of the matter was that before Prakash and Kunj came back into the army base, while at detective Rishi's office earlier in the day, Kunj had suggested that the approval letter Prakash had gotten from the major general to come for his uncle's burial with the army seal and signed by major general Arora be turned into authorized call letters from the major general in case it is needed in the military base for emergencies.
Prakash bought into the idea, and they got the backing of detective Rishi. His father is a major general himself, the last time Major General Gupta was in town, he left the military seal with his son, detective Rishi. He left on purpose with him because he wanted him to bring it to him at his own military base in Bombay. Detective Rishi is a busy man, so in a bid to get him to see him again earlier, he left the military seal with him.
Luck was on Prakash and Kunj's side. All Detective Rishi had to do was collect their full names, as well as those of Soldiers Ajay, Pulkit, and Sagar. After he did that, he sent for his secretary, she came, and he gave her a copy of Prakash's letter. He didn't have the military letterhead paper, so he asked her, his secretary, to use Prakash's letter as a sample to create a military letterhead paper, after which she typed authorized call letters for all 5 soldiers, of which he gave her their names.
He also instructed her to scan the signature on the original letter and use it for the letters. As she was about to step out of his office, he instructed her that she should type and print 5 copies for each soldier, using 5 different dates, starting from that same day. She obeyed, and when she was done, detective Rishi brought out the military seal from his safe, then used it on the 25 copies. Prakash and Ajay thanked him, and also promised to keep him updated with the happenings inside the military base.
Prakash and Kunj left the police station—no, not straight to the military base, they left to Mehra TV. Kunj did not bother to ask Prakash why they were at Mehra TV; he just assumed Prakash went there to see Sonal one last time before they left for the military base. At Mehra TV, Kunj waited outside while Prakash went inside—not to see Sonal but to talk with the management.
He needed to investigate the reason Shamu wasn't an entertainment anchor. He got the answers, and that was how he was able to decode the real reason why Shamu was after Sonal. His relationship wasn't in the public eye; only a few people knew he was courting Sonal, so Twinkle couldn't have been after Sonal. Shamu was the major prime suspect, he was after Sonal because he must have been angry that she took over from him, thinking she stole his position at Mehra TV.
Now, back to the present, Prakash and Ajay were able to convince the soldiers guarding the front door of their dorms. They got an easy pass. Earlier on, Prakash had given them a bottle of Chelsea dry gin each, which he bought them on his way back from Delhi. The dry gin was not drugged, he genuinely bought it as they requested of him before he left in the first place. And no, the soldiers were responsible, they do drink, but not on duty.
Prakash and Ajay passed easily after showing them their letters, after which they proceeded to the back door from the outside. When they got there, they hid themselves in a bid to wait for Pulkit and Sagar to come out. Pulkit showed his letter convincingly, but Sagar almost gave them away. He showed his letter nervously. His hands were shaking, and he was sweating profusely. The first guard soldier had asked them to go. As they were about to go, the second one asked them to stop. He looked at Sagar and told the first guard soldier that they needed to give the major general a call to confirm.
As he was about to call the major general, Pulkit suddenly remembered what Prakash had told them, if such things happen, to call a code name, Genson. Sonal had told him about the code name: if he needed urgent help, he should call that code name, any general would help urgently, irrespective of what they were doing. Genson, which is general for Gen and son for Sonal, was mentioned as soon as Pulkit mentioned that code name. The second guard soldier immediately asked the first guard soldier to end the call and give them a pass.
Pulkit and Sagar came out and decided to hide to wait for Prakash and Ajay, but before they could do that, Prakash and Ajay came out of hiding quietly. They then proceeded to the area where the military plane would arrive to receive the 3 generals for international affairs. As they moved, they were almost caught. A guard soldier at a designated point heard some movements; he decided to check them out.
By this time, Prakash, Ajay, Pulkit, and Sagar had hid themselves again, but he was still coming towards their hiding spot. The guard soldier was almost close to them. His second called his name, saying that General Bharat had asked them all at the designated places to do head counts for all military dorms. General Bharat wanted to receive the 3 generals alone; the fewer soldiers who welcomed them, the safer his plan. In the plane they also came with, it was just them and the pilot on board. The pilot was given the next 2 days off but was asked to fly back home to his family immediately.
Did you hear that? head count Prakash said this to the rest of his buddies when the air was clear. We better hurry back; if we get caught, we will be rusticated. I don't want that, Sagar mentioned. We are already here and close to solving the case; we should continue, Ajay said. If we are going to do that, we better hurry, Pulkit mentioned.
The four soldiers hurried out, but with caution, they were headed to where the military was supposed to land. They got there soon after, but unfortunately, they got there late. When they got there, they saw the military plane in the air heading back; it was far gone and almost out of sight.
We are too late; the military generals are here, Sagar said. We should try finding where General Bharat must have taking them, Pulkit said. As he said it, the four of them moved away to another place considered to be much safer than the open air they were currently standing in. On getting there, Prakash asked, where has General Bharat being spending most of his time when he was away?
From our findings, after the cafeteria incident, we found out that it was his office; in fact, the food was taken straight to his office, and we also found out that it was not his usual breakfast time, he usually takes his breakfast 9 am and he has been doing that consistently except for that day that he came to the cafeteria as early as 7:30 am, Ajay replied. We should head straight for his office now, Prakash mentioned.
The four soldiers headed for General Bharat's office. As they got closer, they reduced their footsteps; they needed to be cautious and very careful from now on. They entered the office building one by one, and they took the stairs, as the lift would give them away easily. General Bharat's office is on the first floor, so they did not have to walk up the stairs far.
They got to the first floor, and just before they entered the floor fully, Prakash peeped and saw General Bharat coming out of his office with 3 soldiers who looked different to him. He had a talent for fishing out the odds out of a pack; this was not a different case for him. Although he did not know their real identity, their aura gave them a different look than any General. He stepped back and allowed Ajay to look.
Ajay looked and was surprised. He asked internally, what would General Bharat be doing with Mafia bosses disguised in Military uniforms. He lived with Mafias, he can tell the difference between a Mafia and a Mafia boss even in his sleep. By this time, General Bharat just finished locking his office. He then spoke to the Mafia bosses, loud enough for Ajay to hear. Prakash, Pulkit and Sagar could barely hear, although they heard fragments, Ajay got to hear the full story.
When General Bharat finished speaking to the Mafia bosses, he told them they should start going and that he would show them to their quarters. He took them to where the elevator was; they entered and left. As they left, the four soldiers came out, and Prakash asked Ajay what General Bharat told the 3 soldiers that were with him. He also told his buddies that the 3 soldiers looked strange; they were not looking like real generals.
Ajay confirmed it and explained to them that the 3 soldiers were not soldiers at all. they were Mafia bosses, he lived with them when he was younger, he could easily tell a Mafia and a Mafia boss apart, even in his sleep. He went ahead to further tell them that General Bharat had used them to replace the 3 generals that came to the base earlier.
Prakash quickly connected the dots and figured it was General Bharat that Soldier Ishaan was working with, that he was the one selling military weapons to the mafia, and when the police raided the mafia bases, they probably came into the military base to hide. Sagar asked where the real 3 generals could be; where could General Bharat have put them?
Ajay went on to say that the 3 real generals could probably be locked up in General Bharat's office. Before the General took the Mafia bosses away to the General's quarters, he told them that it was difficult for him to bring the 3 Generals to his office; they wanted to head straight to their quarters, but he successfully convinced them to come to his office because he left the keys to their quarters here.
The four soldiers quickly rushed to the front of the office of General Bharat; Pulkit got there first. The door was locked; he tried to open it and Ajay tried to force the door open. But Prakash advised him that it was a bad idea to knock down the door. He remembered that soldier Kunj was great with opening locked doors without keys; he usually used a pin or something to do that. Prakash recalled and told them.
Back at home, he helped Desha open her door. When she had locked herself out and her keys were inside her room, he helped her open it. Kunj explained to him that he learned how to do that because his younger sister was fond of locking them outside of the house and forgetting their house keys inside the house, especially when their parents were not around—when they were at work and it was a school holiday.
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