Don't Fall Asleep

Episode Two - One Night at a parking lot

He ducked below and crouched behind a rear wheel, waiting and changing positions around the cars; while all the time straining his eyes through the little light trickling under the floorboard to watch the movement of a pair of ankles and boots. One delayed or hurried move and he would be found. The sound of thwacking of iron on the pavement followed at intervals. Pressing his mouth with a hand in order to prevent his pantings from being heard, he carried out with the cat and mouse game, well aware of the futility of it.

The figure seemed to wait for sometime after breaking a glass, perhaps checking inside the cars for something. He tried to ring the security but no one picked up. 'Why was he running, anyway ?' He was suddenly surprised at his tomfoolery. 'Perhaps this was only a thief stealing car stereos', he tried to cheer himself up. It was quite late and the huge parking lot was empty except for a few cars belonging to the top bosses of the company, who retired home only past midnight.

He had been held up late for an assignment and the moment he entered the basement he saw pieces of glass flying in the air . The ankles and boots stood still now. Seconds seemed like hours as the only sound which could be heard were his heartbeats. Then his mobile vibrated scaring the shits out of him. He found himself staring at the attached image of the message .. something scribbled in ink .. a number. A shiver ran down his spines recognizing it to be the code of the project he was working on. 

He remembered his boss to have specifically mentioned the sprawling six acres of land, near the bypass which their company had acquired for a mega shopping mall project. Their company had signed a concession deal with Upendra Ghosh, the owner and promoter of the proposed ten-storeyed commercial building which was to house five supermarkets and retail chain outlets, four reputed electronics showrooms, six screen PVR, eight restaurants, ten apparel showrooms, three furniture hubs, two beauty parlours, a unisex multi-gymnasium besides bookstores, food courts, coffee shops and innumerable other important establishments. 

The building would be centrally air-conditioned with four outdoor lifts, ten escalators and a multi-level underground parking lot - and would be fully operable through centralized computer systems. The estimated cost ran into several hundred crores of rupees. It was a one of a kind project in the eastern region of the country and had enormous response from bidders, both nationally and internationally. There was a code assigned for every project in their office and it was not possible for people outside the tender department to know them. 

Since the time the tender was floated, he was getting phone calls from unknown numbers, some promising a job with better prospects, while others offering him money .. huge sums of money .. figures he could hardly have dreamt of, working in the capacity of Assistant Manager for years. And all favours in return for a one and half inches long gadget. His mind immediately flew to the pen drive he had slipped inside the hidden pocket of his trousers while leaving his cubicle. It had some unofficial photographs and documents of the project which could influence the bidders in quoting their rates. Upendra Ghosh wanted his favourite party to do the construction. Floating a tender was just a formality .. an eyewash for the investors. Everything was agreed to and settled between the top bosses. Their company would be only executing the paperworks as per required protocols . 

The mugger could be sent by Upendra's rivals. A company backed by a local MLA was also interested in the project, he had learnt. And they could be very desperate. After he had declined the offers he had started getting threat calls. When he failed to trace them down he decided to let his boss known before going to the police. He told him to wait for sometime instead, before taking that extreme step. Such incidents weren't new in the company. The employees of a crucial department as tenders couldn't let themselves get bogged down so easily, his boss had elucidated. The involvement of police could put the company's reputation at stake. Moreover beans could get spilled all-over and Upendra Ghosh wouldn't like it. His boss had confided to him that he'll have a direct word with Upendra. 

Perhaps it would've been better if he hadn't waited and listened to his wife instead. The money he'd accumulate from the provident fund and gratuity wasn't enough to get her daughter married, he calculated now. Her wife had been pestering him into buying her a new ornament for long. They had been living in a rented house since their marriage. While his boss roamed in a luxurious car, he had to depend on car pool. Many times when he missed the car, it became difficult to negotiate back home at the wee hours of the night. His daughter had got tired of complaining that he never kept his promise of taking her out for a movie or dinner. The salary he received every month was hardly enough to be saved for the EMI of a flat or car. And all these despite the fact that he worked day and night for the company .. multi-tasked .. even ran errands for his boss. 

The muffled voice at the other end had asked to meet him at 12:30 AM sharp near the third petrol pump at Sector 230. It was around five hundred metres from his office. He would've missed the car pool by that time. And would've started walking in anticipation of an auto rickshaw. Like he did whenever he stayed late. There was little chance of anyone at his office knowing his whereabouts at that hour of the night. The man would be on a bike. He only had to slip in the pendrive into the man's pocket. He would then hand over the envelope to him. Simple. There would be no words exchanged. No one would ever know. But now his only chance lay in slipping out from the parking and reaching the road somehow. As if in a deliberate attempt to foil his plan the lights went out, covering everything in pitch-black darkness.

He watched helplessly his wife's face flash on the screen for a moment before his mobile's battery went dead. He tore through the place to find the exit, like a blind dog in a meat market. But the entrance and exits seemed to have simply vanished into thin air. Like a caged animal he sat down on the floor in despair, unable to come to terms with the reality. Memories of his wife and nine year old daughter flashed in his mind and he knew he just couldn't give up.

Just when he seemed to have found the opening between walls for the driveway ramp, he stumbled upon something soft and fleshy. His shaky fingers could feel it to be the body of a man lying in a pool of thick liquid. 'The security guard who didn't answer his call', he realized. He ran uphill till he collided with a wall and fell.

But how could the ramp lead to a dead end ? Unless. As if in an answer, the headlight of a car nearly blinded him. He saw the figure in entirety now, standing in front of the car; the huge shutter of the garage having been pulled down behind it. A masked marauder in a jeans jacket over a skin-tight jeans trousers; his right hand holding a crowbar which he kept on hitting on the floor. Suddenly the man took off his mask and he was startled to find he didn't have a head. There were two more masked people in the car besides the driver. As the headless man walked briskly towards him the car kept vrooming, tearing the silence of the night to pieces.