Shackles of Desire - Chapter 41

Annie woke up to the sensation of something cold touching her forehead. As she blinked her eyes open and got her focus back, her heart fell to her feet.

The cold thing touching her forehead was the silencer of a gun.

Trembling, she stood up on her feet and looked at the man holding it. But she couldn’t see his face as it was covered in a mask.

Her eyes shifted to Ishani’s bed and instantly a cold shiver ran down her spine.

Another man was standing near the bed and pointing a gun equipped with a silencer right at Ishani’s head.

As the man turned his head and smiled, Annie’s vision clouded with fear.

“Rajneesh!” she managed to whisper.

“Shhh! Kill her if she speaks again,” Rajneesh ordered the man holding the gun at her.

Tears streamed down her eyes as Annie watched Rajneesh going to the other side of the bed and pulling the drip line.

“Please!” she pleaded.

“I thought I told you to kill her if she speaks,” he said to the man in an exasperated tone.

Annie flicked her gaze at the man in front of her and started to close her eyes seeing him tightening his finger on the trigger.

As Rajneesh got busy figuring out the switches he needed to turn off to stop the life support, the man quickly slipped a piece of paper in her hand.

Stealthily, Annie opened the paper and read.

‘He is with us.’

She looked at him and the man gave an almost negligible affirming nod.

Instantly she pushed him hard making him fall further away from her. The moment he bumped against the wall, the finger on the trigger moved pressing it.

The shot made a semi muted bang sound and shattered the glass window on the side.

Annie dodged the shattering glass and quickly made her way towards Rajneesh, who stepped right in front of her just as she reached him. And the next second, she again felt the cold silencer nozzle touching her forehead.

Rajneesh was about to open his mouth to speak when suddenly the room plunged into darkness.

The door creaked open and as a faint light flickered through the doorway, Rajneesh’s face changed. He was looking beyond Annie at something or someone.

Annie felt the presence behind her. She was about to turn when a hand snacked from behind her and grabbed the gun.

The shadow materialised beside her and although she couldn’t see the face, she didn’t need to guess who it was.        

But bewilderment turned into shock when the gun was forcibly moved away from her forehead.

Rudra's eyes didn't leave Rajneesh's as he placed the gun at his own forehead.

“Rudraveer Sangawat! Why am I not surprised?”

Rajneesh lowered his gun and then smiled.

“You see I came prepared for you. If you were watching my moves then I was closely following yours.”

He moved two steps back and grabbed the main oxygen line, and then pulled it hard disconnecting it from the tube connected to Ishani’s nostrils.

Rudra’s expression changed instantly from being totally blank to severe rage. He stepped a little closer but the moment he did, Rajneesh pressed the gun at Ishani’s left temple.

“You move she dies, and I don’t mind killing people.”

“Hegde, get up!”

The other man got up from the floor and straightened, and then picked up his gun. Closing the distance in brisk steps, he came and stood next to Annie and pointed the gun at her temple.

“I paid him to double-cross you guys. Now, Rudraveer Sangawat, you make one false move and all of you die. And you know what I don’t have to kill anyone of you. Hegde, give Annie the other gun.”

Hegde took out a gun and loaded it, and then handed it over to Annie.

Annie looked at Rudra and the stricken expression on her face said it all.

You have lost the battle, there’s no way you can save any one of us.

“Now Annie, let’s see how good your aim is. There is no way you can miss the target from this close. Aim at his head.”

Annie raised the gun and pointed at Rudra’s head who stared at her blankly.

“Now pull the trigger.”

“I can’t!” Annie replied in a trembling voice.

“I won’t touch Ishani if you kill him.”

Annie gaze shifted from Rajneesh’s to Rudra’s.

“Ms Mohan, do it!” Rudra commanded.

Annie shook her head and then looked at the bed. Ishani’s mild but erratic rising of the chest was enough to trigger the panic in her.

“Don’t you get it Rudra? He is right; he doesn’t have to kill anyone of us. I kill you and with you gone, he will have a clear field with Ishani. Look at her now. She is breathing heavily; a couple of hours more without oxygen and she’ll be gone. And I’ll anyways kill myself if anything happens to her.”

Rudra’s eyes flickered with something and then diminished instantly.

“I know Ms Mohan. Now stop talking and pull the trigger.”

But somehow Annie didn’t listen to him.

Grabbing her hand, he placed his thumb on her finger and pressed hard.

Annie’s shocked eyes filled with horror as she felt the pressure building upon her finger. She tried pulling it away but Rudra’s tight grip didn’t allow it. Not wanting to watch it, she closed her eyes.

“Ms Mohan!”

Rudra’s soft call landed on her ears and she shook her head.

“Annie!”

She looked at him, guilt and apology smearing her eyes.

The next second her finger pressed the trigger.

But the gun was no longer pointed at Rudra.

In a split second, Rudra had moved the barrel at the Hegde. The silencer minimised the sound but it was still loud enough to start a buzz in Annie’s ears.

The man collapsed on the ground as the bullet pierced through his stomach.

Two men burst through the door and surrounded Rajneesh. The gun was taken away from his hand before even he could react.

But as they say, if you are smart then there will be times when your enemy will be smarter.

The minute the gun was gone; Rajneesh pulled out a knife from his pocket in a fluid movement and aimed it right at Ishani’s heart.

Annie’s scream of panic triggered like a shot inside Rudra and he turned.

And launched himself on Ishani.

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