— CHAPTER FOURTEEN —

The Kidnapping

 

When Nikki entered the gate of Tanejas’ house, she saw Mr Taneja’s car parked there, along with Mr Khanna’s black car. She was surprised because it was afternoon and Mr Taneja normally returned home late in the evening. Nikki rang the doorbell. Savitri opened the door. One look at her face and Nikki knew something was seriously amiss. She asked, ‘What is the matter? Why has Uncle returned so early today?’

Savitri whispered, ‘Something terrible has happened.’

‘What?’ Nikki asked anxiously.

Savitri said, ‘About an hour back two men came in a red car. When I opened the door they pushed me aside and asked me, “Where is your Madam?” I told them she was in the bedroom. Before I could do anything they barged into her room. One of them covered her face with a cloth. The other man tied her hands behind her back and they dragged her to their car and sped away. I immediately telephoned Sahib. He and Mr Khanna have just arrived five minutes ago.’

‘Where are they?’

‘In the study.’

Outside the study, Nikki heard a recorded message being played on an audio player. She stood outside the door and heard the tape being played over and over again. She heard a man’s rough voice saying,

‘Taneja, despite so many warnings you have not paid the money. To tell you what we are capable of, we have kidnapped your wife. This is your last chance. If you want her back alive, pay 20 crores within five days from today. If you try to act smart and go to the police, you will get a parcel containing your wife’s head. Remember—five days from today. One more thing—we are not going to contact you on the phone because phones are tapped. You record your confirmation on this very tape and put it in the letter box at the Central Park by tomorrow evening. You will receive the delivery instructions from us in a few days. Remember, don’t try to act smart.’

Nikki heard the tape being taken out of the player and Mr Taneja’s voice, ‘Khanna, I had told you that these people belonged to a mafia. You stopped me from going to the police saying that we should not be bothered by hoax calls. Now things are totally out of control.’ Mr Khanna was quiet.

‘Tell me how we can possibly arrange 20 crores in five days?’

Mr Khanna said, ‘Yes it is tough. At best we could mop up one or two crores cash from banks, but not twenty.’

‘Then what do we do?’ Nikki heard the anguished voice of Mr Taneja.

Mr Khanna said, ‘There is only one way now.’

‘Yes, what is that?’

‘The only way to gather so much of cash at such short notice is to sell a part of the company in the share market.’ ‘You know the implications?’ asked Mr Taneja, and added, ‘The market will crash if we put the company on sale. We may have to sell a major part of the company to get money for the ransom. I may lose control over the company.’

Mr Khanna said, ‘It may not happen like that. I know some people in the share market. I will tell them to watch our interest.’

Not satisfied with Mr Khanna’s argument Mr Taneja asked, ‘Should we notify the police asking them to investigate discreetly?’ ‘No, the risk is far too great now. These gangs are ruthless. If they get even an inkling that we have approached the police they will kill Mrs Taneja.’

‘I am at my wits’ end,’ Nikki heard Mr Taneja’s troubled and weary tone. ‘OK, you contact some brokers to find out whether there will be buyers for our company.’

‘I will go to office right now and contact a few leading brokers.’

‘Let me also come with you. What will I do sitting here?’

Nikki quietly tiptoed away. After a while she heard the two cars leaving the house.

Nikki called Savitri and asked, ‘These two men who took Aunty away, what did they look like?’

Savitri said, ‘I could not see them properly because they were wearing face masks. But they were tall and well built. The man who spoke to me had a rough and heavy voice.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Yes,’ said Savitri, ‘One of them had big bulging eyes, which could be seen even through the mask. He also appeared to be bald.’

Nikki went to her room. Her first impulse was to inform Inspector Rajan about the incident. She picked up the phone but checked herself. It was too risky. Once he comes to know, he will immediately alert all the police stations in Somabad and if the mafia gets to know about it they will think that Mr Taneja has notified the police and the poor lady might lose her life. After thinking for a while she dialled Seema’s number, ‘Hi Seema, Nikki here.’ Seema said in a subdued voice, ‘Yes, hello, Nikki.’

Nikki said, ‘You heard about Sheila Aunty.’

‘Yes, Dad called up Mom a short while ago. We are all terrified.’

‘Anurag Uncle has gone back to office. I feel a bit uneasy staying alone in the house. I was wondering whether I could come over and stay with you.’

Seema replied, ‘Of course! Tina and I will come to pick you up in an hour’s time.’

When Seema and Tina came to pick her up, Nikki informed Savitri, ‘Please tell Uncle that I am going to spend a few days in Mr Khanna’s house with Seema and Tina.’

Near the Khannas’ house, Nikki saw a big park. ‘That’s Central Park,’ Tina pointed out.

The car stopped shortly afterwards in front of a house. ‘Here we are,’ said Seema.

Nikki noticed that the boundary wall of the Central Park faced the Khannas’ house. In fact, one of the gates of the park opened a short distance away from their house. Seema saw Nikki looking at the park and said, ‘This place becomes very lively in the evenings. On holidays, practically the whole city comes here and it is difficult even to walk.’

Nikki said, ‘It is a great advantage to have such a lovely park near your house. I am also fond of walking. I think I will like it here.’

The Khannas’ house was much smaller than the Taneja Mansion. It was a single storey house with three bedrooms and a car porch. The sisters, who had separate rooms to themselves, gave up one room for Nikki. Nikki met Mrs Khanna who was still in a state of shock over the kidnapping.

The girls were quite pleasant. Most of the time they were talking about Jyoti. They showed her all their books and video games. It was quite clear to Nikki that they were doing all they could to make her feel at home.

On the afternoon of the next day the girls were discussing something in hushed voices and appeared somewhat upset. Nikki asked, ‘Is anything wrong?’ Seema said hesitatingly, ‘No, nothing’s wrong. We had bought tickets for a movie for this evening. We didn’t know that you were coming. Otherwise, we would have bought a ticket for you too and now they’re all sold out.’

Nikki laughed and said. ‘That’s no problem. Please don’t worry about me. I’m used to staying alone. I’ll go to the park in the evening and if you give me a good book to read, I’ll be fine.’

‘Thank you. You are really nice,’ said a grateful Tina.

In a way, Nikki was relieved. She was now free to find out who would come in the evening to collect the cassette from the letter box in the park, which was the real purpose of her coming to this place.