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As I saw her walking out of the departure section of the airport, her voice echoed in my head “You have ruined my life. I want a divorce.” ...

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The invincible mastermind

 I was sitting at the 'Easy Money' bank waiting for my turn to come while my grey matter was trying its best to convince me to get out of there before I make a huge mistake.

My heart was pounding hard as I was waiting for my turn. I was flipping through my bag to ensure all the necessary pieces were there to make this a successful visit. Two more people and it would be my turn.  As I was fighting hard with my conscious, my vision stopped at an individual while scanning through the environment. He seemed very familiar, someone I met may be? I tried to take my eyes off but the mind kept scanning my internal memory card to connect the dots and answer the curiosity. Could it be? I stood up and moved a little in order to see his face from a clear angle. His features were different but the eyes and mannerisms were the same. This definitely seemed like 'Valaak'.

We had met about 6yrs. ago, when we were both working for the same Insurance company. He was someone who kept to himself yet somehow was very good at networking skills. For reasons beyond me, everyone in our office knew him and liked him very much. We both were from different departments however we always managed to end up in the cafeteria at the same time to have lunch. Slowly and gradually we upgraded our social status from colleagues to friends. GOD knows how I wish if someone would have stopped me from doing that.

He had an unusual habit of keeping a track of stock market especially while having lunch. I say unusual because he was not involved in trading however he was still keen on keeping himself updated with the stock market. He seemed to be very good at it as I often saw him giving tips to people over the phone. I had asked him once why he was not into trading and he replied that his dad had lost a lot of money through trading which is why he is scared of trading under his own name however he mints money by giving tips to his friends and colleagues. In coming months he also had me invest money in trading. I lost a substantial amount after which I also quit trading.

Few months later, Valaak quit the Firm and then we lost contact. I was convinced that I lost money since I was also a bad omen like Vallak. However this notion changed one day when I was having lunch with his other colleagues. Someone brought up the topic of stock market at which I insisted that we change it since I wasn't so good at trading. They asked me why I would say that and I told them about my investment failure with Valaak. One after the other we all realized that we were not bad omens but we were all affected by the disease 'Valaak'. We tried tracing him down but returned empty handed every time. From his family to his friends, from his rented home to his girlfriend, no one knew where he had vanished. Even in the times of social networking it became impossible to locate the fraudster.

There was no point going to the cops as there was no proof that he had committed a fraud. We had opened the trading account under our name; investment was also made solely by us. The only thing we had in our favor was that the trading company which had opened our account had also vanished like Valaak. However there was nothing which could've have connected the two except our gut feel. Months passed by and gradually I had convinced myself that maybe it was not a fraud and it was all a wild imagination.

But today as I see him sitting in front of me, disguised, alone, all the wounds have opened up. I see Valaak get up from his seat and move towards the bank counter. He hands over a neatly wrapped up bundle to the person sitting behind the counter. "Token no. 26" "Token no. 26" the interactive voice echoes from behind as I see Valaak heading towards the exit of the door. I couldn't move my feet. Behind me was a call for which I had prepared hard since last few weeks and in front of me is a call which is only instinctive and has potential to turn out to be a stupid or dangerous call if pursued further.

Before I could decide, I heard the interactive voice again "Token no. 26". Instantly I turned towards the exit and sprinted towards the door in order to ensure I do not miss Valaak. He was crossing the road across the corner. I hurried towards him but couldn't build up the courage to approach him. I decided it was better off if I followed him as I wasn’t even sure if he was Valaak or not.

He entered into a café across the road and took a seat next to the glass wall. He could see the street across from there so I decided to go around and sit behind him. Fortunately the café was heavily crowded and I could sneak in without him noticing me. I concluded that he was waiting for someone since I did not see him order anything. A while later a lady came towards his table with two cups of coffee in her hand. She was wearing a dress which had name of the café engraved on the sleeves and back. Just as I was about to discard her as a waitress, she sat down right opposite to Valaak. She handed one cup to Valaak and started drinking from the other cup. I couldn't see her face clearly so I got up and adjusted my chair a little.
Fair skin, wide eyes, a dot near her lips, it was Valaak's girlfriend. HE HAS TO BE VALAAK.

I decided to follow him to figure out where he was staying. That way I could call up my friends and we all could beat him up and get our money back. After about 20 odd minutes someone from the café walked upto his table and said something to his girlfriend. Seemed like the manager of the café, was asking her to get back to work. She immediately stood up and followed the person. Valaak just stared as she walked back. Few seconds later he also stood up and moved towards the exit. I remained seated and waited for him to exit the café. As soon as he was out of the main door, I sprinted towards the exit. As I was about to get out, someone pulled my arm and dragged me to my left. Before I could figure out anything a man also covered me and pushed me inside a door. WAS I BEING KIDNAPPED?

Seconds after pulling me well within a small room my arm was released. "What are you doing here?" said the female voice. I turned around and it was Valaak's girlfriend. "What did you do? He will get away, let me go." I almost screamed in anger towards the man in the front. He was the same guy who spoke to Valaak's girlfriend a few minutes ago. "Answer the woman." said the man in an authoritative tone. "I am following him of course. I will get my money back by hook or by crook." I answered trying to get sideways from the man standing face to face with me. "What is he talking about? Do you know him" the man asked the woman. "He was his colleague when he was working in NCR. Valaak fooled them with some small time money for fun." the woman replied.

"Hey it was not some small time money. In total he fooled us all for about 15 Lakh Rupees. That is not a small amount. And if you don't leave me in another five seconds, I will call the cops and get you arrested for kidnapping" I was getting irritated as I realized that Valaak must have gone too far and away. "We are the cops and if you don't do as we say we will put you behind the bars for not paying your bill." she said to me while pushing me up against a wall.

"I think we need to follow him for the rest of the day. We still don't know why he is back? He obviously wants to meet me again so I will try and get some more information out of him." Valaak's girlfriend instructed the man. "You are a cop?" I was shocked at her revelation. "Yes, we both are cops my name is Avisha and he is Vishnu. We have been following Valaak for last few years. I got very close to him during his nuisance time in NCR but we couldn't find anything that could link us back to his crimes. And then he disappeared on day only to come back now. He is a wanted mastermind who has turned very courageous. The fraud you are talking about was just a fun activity for him. He is accounted for at the very least 3000 crores of fraud in just last three years and yet we do not have a single lead to connect him to this money or track the money. You really think you had a chance of following him and get your money back. You should feel lucky as we might have just saved your life." Valaak's girlfriend suddenly made me feel tiny in just a few seconds. Suddenly my problem looked trivial against what she had just described about Valaak. He was a wanted criminal and we knew nothing about it.

"Why didn’t you trace the money from his bank account? He surely deposits the money in the bank. I am sure it may lead you to somewhere." I asked turning to Avisha as she was whispering something in Vishnu's ear. "The what? You think he deposits money in the  bank? Who are you, a nine year old kid? I just told you he is a mastermind criminal. One of his kind, the kinds you only get to see in movies or read about in novels. You think he is stupid enough to deposit money in a bank?" Avisha almost jumped towards me with anger. "I just saw him deposit money in the bank. That's where I found him in the first place, Sherlock." I didn't like how she was undermining my intelligence. "You saw him deposit the money? Are you sure about it?" she asked with her voice calming down a little. "With my own pair of eyes. Right across the street." I confirmed and felt a little proud as I realized that they didn't know about the bank account.

"Which bank?" seemed like it was Vishnu's turn to interrogate me now. I realized I had an advantage over them and didn't want to miss it. The thought of Valaak fooling us just for fun was irritating and humiliating. So I decided to make a part of their investigation or at least make an attempt for it. "I will only tell you if you let me be a part of this investigation." I said it in a firm tone trying to hide my nervousness. "That is not possible. We don’t need you tell us which bank. There are only a couple of banks across the road. We can interrogate them individually and figure it out by ourselves. Don’t try to manipulate us."Avisha said sounding mildly frustrated. "Great, so you do what you have to and I will do what I need to do. I am not going to leave him that easily. He may be dangerous and my life might be at stake, as you say, but he has hurt me badly and I will do whatever I can to make his life miserable." I said and pretended to leave the room. I was dragging my feet but it didn't seem either of them was convinced that they would need to include me for I had very little information to offer.

"Did he give the money to someone specific?" a voice came from behind as I almost reached the door. "It seemed like it as he did not give the money to a teller. On my way out I noticed that the counter was accounted to offer a different kind of service." I said and paused for a second. "Look I know I am not going to get my money back but I really need to be a part of this. I just want to see him down on his knees and it will be hugely satisfying if it happens because of me." I surrendered politely as I realized it was a long shot to be a part of their investigation. "Alright. If you can lead us to the person who took money from Valaak in the bank and if he turns out to be a positive lead then we can include you with us temporarily." said Vishnu. I immediately had an adrenaline rush. "That's great, thank you so much." I was excited like a child who got his favorite toy.

"Not so fast Byomkesh. You must recall everything clearly without hiding anything. Tell us from the beginning." said Vishnu spoiling my excitement. "Well I was in the bank for some personal work and waiting my turn at the teller's counter when I saw him sitting across near the entrance. Even though he had his hair coloured and had a beard, I could recognize him instantly." I started narrating. "How did you know it was him?" asked Vishnu. "Well he has a peculiar habit of rotating his thumb across his index finger. When I saw that in an instant I knew it was him." I answered. "What happened then?' Vishnu asked again. "I kept on staring towards him as I recalled the pain he caused me. He was the reason that I lost a substantial amount of my savings and needed a loan even to fulfill my daily needs. Anyways, I kept staring at him when he got up and moved towards the section in front and handed over a bundle to the person behind the counter." I continued further. "What was in the bundle?" asked Vishnu. "I couldn't see it because it was properly wrapped all around. But even from far I could see that the wrapping paper was somewhat unusual." I said as I tried hard recalling. "What is unusual about a wrapping paper?" said Avisha seemingly frustrated.
"I am no expert but I would assume that people would generally wrap large amounts either in a newspaper or a towel or a used paper. But this bundle was kind of wrapped in a paper generally used in gifts. It had pipes and other architectural pieces printed all over. Like the ones kids have. Those small pieces put together to make a tube or tunnel." "you mean blocks" Avisha tried helping for the first time in last 20 minutes. "Yes the blocks. But only of pipes." I confirmed. "Are you sure about it?" asked Avisha. "Yes, absolutely. I was away from him but not that much. It's not a huge bank anyways." I was confident about my memory.
"Anything else you remember?" asked Vishnu. "Only that he got a chit in return. Possibly the teller receipt. I couldn't see it properly as he immediately kept it in his pocket. 

Was the teller an accomplice of Valaak? Was I really working with the cops or were they Valaak's enemy trying to get their revenge just like me?