AvNeil: Chase Against Time

Chapter Thirty One

The room was flooded with people rushing in and out, simply preparing for the fund raisers. Neil, however, had his eyes hunting for only one. Ananya Verma. And his eyes finally landed on her. Surrounded with a team of volunteers, she was busy instructing them. He mindlessly moved in her direction. There was so much that ran through his mind. The conversation from the previous night was freshly etched in his mind.

The feeling of being watched wasn't unknown to Ananya. She could feel his eyes boring at her while she tried to bury her head in the pile of work. And she had succeeded to an extent. However, the moment was short lived.

The tap on her shoulder had her turning on her heels as she saw him. In an instant, her eyes dropped and she avoided contact with his. She had revealed way more than what he should have known. The guilt weighed upon her as she tried to come up with reasons and excuses to justify her actions. But deep down, she knew there were none. He was just able to push all her wrong buttons to make her react so unlike her. She certainly wouldn't be able to stand there for long before he started with another set of questions.

"I have a lot of work to look at, I will see you later, Officer," using as an excuse, she dashed out of the room. He couldn't help but stare at her retreating figure.

*

"My team is working on a case," she had informed him.

His heart rate picked up as he countered, "What case is it?"

It only worked him up as she stray her eyes away from his, not bothering to answer him. "I am asking you something," his words came put a bit harsher than he intended to. But she did that to him. She always left him hanging for answers. He wasn't the one who knocked at her doorstep for answers. Not this time. It was her and he wouldn't let her back out.

"Confidential," she muttered, audible enough to reach his ears.

"Ananya," her name rolled out of his lips laced with warning.

"I am not here to answer your questions," she shot up, staring down at him as she continued, "I was here to warn you and I have done so," her eyes looked up at the door.

She had barely moved a few steps when his fingers wrapped around her elbow and he jerked her to a halt. "You can't walk away every time," swirling her, he made her face him. The jolt landed her in his arms, close enough to have her breath quicken. She was enraged.

"I do what I wish to," she gritted, fidgeting to get away.

"Answer me and you are free to leave," he informed.

"Don't," she looked him dead in the eye.

It took a lot of convincing before she actually spoke about the case. Stunned, that there was so much more to this case than just the murders. The fact that they were dealing with a mastermind of crime, who almost dealt in every possible criminal activity one could think of, was way more terrifying.

The criminal activities surfaced and came to their notice when the residents at NGO were appointed for jobs and could not be contacted after a certain period of time. During the investigation of those missing residents, a lot of other facts surfaced and the team was able to get to the root cause of the crimes. That's when their members and informers were attacked. At first, it was death threats but they neglected all of that and moved ahead with their investigation.

"That's where we went wrong," Ananya slumped in his arms. Defeated, her eyes held the wounds of their decisions.

Of course, a criminal mastermind would have gotten to know about the team snooping around. But in its quest to get rid of the team, it also killed a few innocent lives; the ones who were not even remotely related to the case.

*

Her confessions were validated by the informer. Surely, he had gotten hands on more information than just what she had handed him over. But since nothing of that was related to the case, he wasn't going to hold that against her. However, there were still missing pieces to this puzzle of murder mystery.

He wanted to know so much more. The thought that the criminal mastermind could have appointed someone to plot all those murders and get rid of her too, suffocated him. The need to know, if they had suspects of who the mastermind could be, was strong. There were so many questions that ran across his mind and the only one who could answer him was, Ananya.

He marched towards the direction she had taken off. The hustle and chaotic atmosphere of an upcoming event subdued as he walked through the corridor. 'Strange,' his face scrunched in distaste at the thought. As he walked farther, his eyes settled onto the door at the end of the corridor. It was left ajar. The slight creek between the door and the door frame gave him a good peek into the room and his gaze fell on the huge screens.

"Snooping around doesn't suit you well for the position you hold," the voice boomed over him through the speakers and the door flew wide open. Like a deer caught in the headlight, his eyes widened yet he managed a goofy smile.