The Hidden Game

Hredhaan Grover

I slowly parked my baby 'Harley Davidson' in the parking lot while analysing the surroundings around me because I saw that the bastard had gone inside the mall to hide himself from everyone.

'But too bad... I am going to catch him at any cost.' I thought with a wicked smile by massaging my beard chin and realised that I am in need of a clean shave. Then I made a mental note to myself that after going home I have to shave today at any cost before listening to the scoldings of my darling wife.

I can easily catch him but the only problem is that I cannot carry my love with me because there will be a metal detector machine at the entrance of the mall which will easily catch my gun.

Hmmm.... No problem then... Even I have my ways to get inside and catch him at any cost. I smirked to myself with the pumping excitement running through my veins by just thinking about the plan. This is going to be one interesting chase.

So I hid my love in my bike without anyone noticing it and started walking towards the entrance of the mall without glancing at anyone but I can see from the corner of my eyes that many heads are turning in my way especially girls. I smirked internally knowing very well about my affect on them and chuckled to myself by shaking my head knowing that they can only enjoy me by seeing but truly I belong to only one and that is my sweetheart who is waiting for me at our house.

By the word 'sweetheart' I remembered that she is waiting for me. 'Well.. I am sorry sweetheart, you need to wait for some more time because I have urgent work to finish here before I get to see you' I thought to myself while entering inside the mall and getting past the metal detector without getting caught. I knew for a fact about how to skip that machine without getting caught.

When I reached the middle of the mall, I saw that man was in the lift which is on the second floor at present. But if my guess is right then he will go to the top of the building to hide from them. And there are only a few food stalls present on that floor. So I casually looked left and right from where I stood until I found what I was looking for.

I walked towards the steps with big strides to reach the stairs for my plan to start. I need some alone time to arrange everything before I get to catch him red-handed, so the only easiest way is through steps which can take me to him without wasting my time and at the same time I can buy the time I needed to arrange everything.

While taking the steps I slowly bent down to take the receiver from my right shoe and slide and barrel assembly from my left shoe. Once I took them out I removed my chain and took the locket which is nothing but a recoil guide instead. Then I removed my hand band from the right hand where I hid the recoil spring and put it back on my hand once I took it out. Then I pulled my belt where I hid the magazine which is needed to assemble the gun.

Once I removed every item of the gun that I hid inside my body, I assembled them together within thirty seconds to make my gun.

By the time I had joined all the parts together of the gun I reached the top floor where he took a seat at the further end of the floor so no one could notice him easily. He was taking deep breaths to calm himself from all the running he did just before.

'Take your breath man, because the next moment you won't be able to take that much breath now.' I thought to myself with a chuckle and opened my watch where I hid my bullets. I took them out and inserted them inside the gun while walking in his direction and pulled it back to shoot it at the right time.

Everyone is busy in their own world to notice a man is walking beside them with a gun in his hand. I scoffed myself knowing about the people these days and targeted him with my gun from at least thirty meters away. Then I pulled the trigger and shot him directly just above his heart so that he can be still alive but weak to run away from here.

Listening to the sound, everyone got up from their places with a scared look and was looking in between both of us while I was smirking with a proud look on my face by watching my work.

Not a minute later, police came running to this floor and surrounded me and that injured person while holding their guns. It really got me bored because they never won't come on time when they are needed the most.

I just kept my love at the back of my pants and folded my hands in the front casually while looking at the police in front of me. Then the inspector came in our direction and stood in front of me with a raised gun in his hands, making my eyebrow raise in return with humor.

"Who are you? How did you get the gun? And why did you kill him?" He started firing questions the moment he came face to face with me that I scoffed listening to his questions. So I slowly took out my purse without uttering anything and handed him my ID card by folding my hands back with a bored look but inside I was enjoying the look on his face when he realised who I am. It really boosted my ego by watching his expression change from serious to shock. So to make it even more dramatic, I slowly removed my shades from my face and looked him in the eye who is watching me with wide eyes and surprise.

He immediately returned back my ID card and gave a salute in my direction making all of them to lower their guns from me. This made me smirk internally even more knowing that they can't do anything about my action because of my position but I kept my serious face and nodded my head like nothing was running on my mind at present.

"I saw him running away from police after the blast, so I followed him and checked about him with my team on the way." I said looking at him in the eye with my signature look which was making him uncomfortable to some extent but was keeping his posture rigid to maintain his position. Hell this is going to be interesting.

"And I got to know that he planned most of the blasts with his team and he is the most wanted criminal in your list." I said raising an eyebrow in question to which he nodded his head in agreement.

"At first I wanted to kill him directly but when I realised that he is the major key to get to others, I changed my mind from killing to hurting him." I said to which he released a breath of sigh in relief by making me chuckle internally knowing that he thought I killed that criminal on the spot.

"And don't worry, he is still alive. I wantedly shot him on his shoulder so that he becomes weak but not die." I said looking at everyone to see their faces which held confusion and curiosity. Inspector just nodded his head in understanding and looked in the direction of the terrorist to take in his situation for himself and make sure that I was right.

It is hilarious to see the expression of the inspector which held awe and shock at the same time for me. But it is nice to feel that I am in the upper hand in this situation and to show them that we investigators are very strict with our job. Once he was satisfied he looked back in my direction and smiled that I made my poker face again and returned his smile.

"Thank you for making our work easy Mr.Grover. You and your team never seize to amaze us." He said holding out his hand for me to shake.

"It's our duty and pleasure to work and capture them. Not a problem" I commented with my smile by shaking his hand in return.

"Well... I will take my leave then.. My wife is probably waiting for me and don't wanna get her angry because it's a horror" I said with a chuckle, making everyone laugh at my joke. I gave my salute and started walking in the direction of lift when I heard some of the police were asking about me about who I am.

"He is Mr. Hredhaan Grover, Senior Investigation officer. He and his team are specialized in undercover investigations to catch the culprits." Said the inspector to his colleagues while I was entering the lift. Everyone turned their heads and looked in my direction with admiration and surprise that made my heart fill with pride for our team.

Well... one work is finished and now I need to get back to face my angry bird.

Hredhaan Grover

"Where were you?" shouted my dear wife Ananya immediately after opening the door of our house with a stern look on her face by folding her arms.

I gulped looking at her glare because sometimes she can be pretty wild and outrageous but other times she is sweet and adorable. It's not always that she behaves this way and it's very rare to see this sight but if she does then i definitely fucked up. So I immediately racked my brain to search for some reason and escape her wrath.

"Sweetheart..." I chuckled nervously by taking a step and trying to take hold of her hand but she stepped back to keep the distance between us with the same look.

"I... Ok... I am sorry..." I apologised surrendering with an innocent look on my face and continued "I met with one of my friends on the way, so it became late. I am sorry for worrying you baby.." I said taking her in my arms and trying to hug her but she wiggled out of my arms and glared at me in return.

"Oh Well... Is he the same friend you are talking about?" she asked innocently by dragging me inside with her in the living room and indicated her other hand towards the television where the news is playing which made my eyes wide with shock.

It's not about the channel, but the news where a person was standing with his back to the screen and talking to the police seriously, All the police staff surrounded that man while they both were talking. And then after a few moments he leaves and gets inside the lift while the police walk to the injured person. There are headlines scrolling on the display that some mystery investigation officer helped catch the terrorist and handed him over to the police, but they are not ready to reveal the face or name of the person because of the security reasons. Rumors are that he became the hero overnight.

Oh my god... It was me on the television. Now I got to know the reason behind my wife's anger and no doubt that Ananya is mad at me.

I gulped knowing that I really messed this up because she always warns me to stay away from the trouble and work under cover itself. She fears that something might happen to me if I enter the field and fight them off. So I always try to keep it a secret from her about my chasings, fighting and every other thing that is related to violence. But damn Fuck... How news went viral within 15 minutes of time is out of my brain.

I thought I mentioned it clearly to the inspector about my personal issues and how I don't like to come under the spotlight. But looks like he was unable to do his work well to protect my identity from everyone.

What do you expect from the police who cannot do a single job correctly. It was my mistake to believe them in the first place and leave it. I should have asked Magnus to cover for me. But it is too late now and I need to come up with some cooked up story to make her cool.

Now I really need to play it safe if I don't want to face her anger.

I was thinking about something when I heard a chuckle on my back side, so I turned to see none other than my big brother who is trying to cover his laughs by placing his hands against his mouth but failing miserably.

Oh well... He is getting one hell of an entertainment now. He always says that it's hilarious to see the senior investigation officer behave like a puppy in front of his wife.

I turned while glaring at him with my eyes and asked for help with my eyes because I cannot cover up with myself in this situation. Also because I need his back up to save my ass today. This made him grin like an idiot and smirked knowing very well that without his help I cannot do it.

He slowly started making towards our side leisurely like he had all the time in the world. He is really trying to get under my skin and of course he is getting succeeded in it.

When he reached beside me, he bent towards my ear and whispered "You are in debt with me for this" with a smirk on his face.

God brother.... You are dead after this... I thought glaring at him but that made him even more smirk. When I heard the clearing of the throat from my side, I glanced from the corner of my eyes to see that Ananya was still looking at me sternly, waiting for my response.

"Hey who is that hero?" Brother said, looking at the television like he is watching it for the first time.... "Wow Ananya.. Doesn't his back look the same as our Hred" He asked with a fake shock in his eyes which made her glare even more in my direction that I silently started cursing in my head about my brother. He is doing it wantedly to take his sweet revenge for stealing his car the other day. He smirked in my direction and winked at me that I groaned somewhat to myself feeling miserable in this situation.

"Now we are even about stealing my car the other day my little brother." He grinned looking at me and whispered that only I can hear. "Now I will save you but don't forget that you owe me for this" He said, winking at me and reminding me about our deal. I nodded my head in agreement.

"He might be looking exactly as Hred but I don't think that he went to that side of the place just to catch him." He said looking at her with a cool expression on his face and continued "Also, he went to drop Idika. Then how come he could have gone that far from there?" He said looking at her questioningly as if she had gone insane to even think like that.

This made me smile internally that he got a point there. He too winked at me showing that he can handle it so well.

"You are unnecessarily thinking a lot Ananya." He said with a smile on his face that she gave a look that clearly says 'are you serious?'.

"Please stop covering him up brother. We both clearly know that he is the one who went there and all this is just because he cannot escape this time with his so-called excuse" She stated folding her arms again and giving me her signature stern look.

Looks like she is not going to back down this time and with the look on my brother's face it is clear that he too thinks the same.

I released a sigh knowing that I have to agree with her and ask for forgiveness.

"Baby... I am so sorry." I said stepping further and getting in front of her with a regretting look on my face. "I know that you told me to stay away from all this but I couldn't help it." I said pulling my hair with my right hand and averting my eyes from her to the ground.

"He was a terrorist who blasted the mall Ananya. Hundreds of life's were at stake and most of them were injured. I wasn't able to see them suffering like that on the floor helpless and struggling for life. It nearly broke my heart to watch them like that. So I did the only thing that seemed right at that time and what my heart suggested." I said glancing at her with hurt filled eyes by remembering all those lifeless bodies and people struggling for life.

"He was running away from the cops and they were unable to catch him on time. So I did the only thing that I thought was correct and followed him secretly until I caught him." I said with a somewhat proud smile of mine but it immediately vanished when I saw the look on her face. She is angry but at the same time sad for those people. I exactly know what she is thinking. She wants me to be safe for our child and for her but with me being in this field and taking these drastic steps are making it hard for her and even making her scared of my life.

I love her even more when she thinks like that and when she is torn in between being angry or to forgive.

"I am sorry Anu. I know that you are scared of this field, but I promise you that I will take care of myself and us. You need to believe me on this." I said, looking at her with an apologetic look and sincerity in my voice.

"I promised you many times and I will do it each and every time if it's needed for your assurance but you need to understand that this field is my passion and I cannot live without it. It makes me happy to serve the people by helping them and protecting them." I said with sorrowful voice of mine and glanced down with a defeated look.

"Ananya.... You know him well to know that he loves his job. He promised you right that he will take care of himself." He said coming towards us by placing a hand on her shoulder and looking at her with a small assured smile on his face. "Just believe him. He always keeps his promises at any cost" He completed with a proud smile on his face that I smiled back at him with a grateful look on my face.

We both looked at her to see that she was looking in between both of us with a raised eyebrow but I can see the smile which she is trying desperately to hide from us. This made me sigh in relief knowing that she forgave me.

"You both always cook something together to make me melt with your speeches and dialogues." She said, indicating the both of us with her hand by giving a stern expression for a second and then smiled in return.

"Fine. I forgive you. But please take care of yourself" she said with a worried expression that I immediately hugged her and kissed the top of her head with affection. She too hugged me back with equal affection.

Then I glanced down and captured her lips with mine in a promise kiss. It is short but with enough assurance that I will take care of both of them and mine.

"Urghh... Get a room guys. Until how many days should I need to see you like this?" Complained my brother Reyansh while taking a seat on the sofa and switching the channels. This made Anu chuckle and withdraw herself from my arms by going inside the kitchen to complete the cooking.

"Get habituated bro. You should know by now that we won't change. If you want to avoid this then you too need to get married" I said casually with a glint of teasing by taking a seat beside him.

My brother is three years older than me. He is the same height as me but somewhat lean as I am into this field. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have an attractive body. He very well has all those things a girl wants in a man but he never once used to glance in the direction of a girl. He chose not to marry in his lifetime.

When he was in college he used to love some girl with all his heart. But I don't know what happened in between them to make him like this. I only know that she left him for marrying someone else which made him devastated and break down into pieces. From then on he completely concentrated on his business which he chose to make by himself. He is the actual heir to the father's company but he chose not to take it and instead started a startup company of his own which is a successful business now.

Father always used to support him even after he refused to take over the company so I too supported him in everything. After dad's death I took over the company and started improving the business even more. Now it's just me, my brother, my wife and my dearest little princess in this big house of ours.

I know that he doesn't like the thought of marriage but whenever I get the chance, I will throw a stone to see if he changed or not because I am worried about his loneliness at some times. Everyone needs a life partner to support them and take care of them. I tried very hard to explain or make him understand or even beg him but everything went in vain.

"Haha.. How funny. I already told you that I am not interested in marriage. So stop that bullshit now" He said glaring at me that I sobered up and surrendered my hands with a note that I lost this argument. Then he relaxed and sulked even more into the sofa with a sigh.

"So tell me what happened today. I know there is more to the story than you said earlier. But I didn't want to ask it in front of her and make you get caught again." He said looking at me with a raised eyebrow as if he is challenging me to deny the fact.

With a huff I adjusted myself even more comfortably on the sofa before explaining to him about everything.

Hredhaan Grover

Two hours before:

"Dad..." whined my little princess while standing at the entrance of the door by wearing her school dress. Behind her was my darling wife who was holding the school bag and lunch bag in her hands while waiting for her daughter to complete her whining about something.

I chuckled looking at them because my princess can give hell when it comes to her stubbornness. What can I say? Like mother, like daughter. But I love both of them to bear with their antics and stubbornness.

"Yess doll... Now what is it that you want?" I asked while coming near to her and lowered myself to her height by sitting on my knees.

"I want to go on a bike today." She demanded by folding her hands and looking at me with her cute pout expression. This made me melt immediately but I cannot show her that because her mother is standing right behind her. So I raised my eyebrows in question.

"Why this sudden decision today?" I asked looking at her with a playful look but we both know that she loves the bike ride like her father. But we only take the car because of Anu's restrictions to be safe with the daughter.

"I don't like going in a car. Bike is the best dadu" said my doll with her prized grin on her face. This made me chuckle but I covered it with a cough because Anu was glaring at me from her position.

"It's not safe on a bike baby. Once you grow older enough to sit on a bike, I will not stop you both from going on that. But for now you have to go in a car itself." explained Anu as much possible with her loving and gentle voice so that Idika would understand and agree with her. But who am I kidding. My daughter is a very stubborn girl.

"No" She said, stumping her right leg on the floor with a huff and folded her arms by glaring at her mother with her cute adorable eyes. It is fascinating to watch the fight between both mother and daughter. So i silently stood aside by watching the interaction between them because i know for a fact that my daughter would win this argument anyway.

"I want to go on a bike itself. Or else i won't go to school at all" she declared by taking a seat on the steps and looking at the floor like she would break the tiles with her glare.

"And it would be your fault because I have a math test today" she added, still looking at the floor but I can see the grin on her face as if she won this one. And i know that she indeed won this game because the moment she mentioned the test, Anu's facial expression changed from anger to confusion and horror within seconds.

From the corner of her eyes she winked at me with a smirking face that I stopped myself from laughing out loud and gave a thumbs up to her by standing at my place.

"Oh yeah... And we only have 20 minutes left for the test" Again my daughter played her cards well and my Anu was freaking out by listening to her cunning daughter's words.

The next thing is that she ran inside and grabbed the keys of the bike by throwing them in my direction to start the bike. So I went and started the bike while Anu took the doll into her arms to make her seat on the back side of the bike.

Once she was safely seated, Anu gave the same instructions that my daughter got bored and winked at me again to go. So I did as I was told by leaving the shouting wife behind.

God my daughter is just as cunning and naughty as me. She got all the looks from her mother except for her eyes which she took from me. But coming to her character, she is the dangerous combination of both of us.

While she got naughty and gentleness from my side, she got this stubborn and attitude from her mother side. She is just five years old but still she can easily charm her way out from anything with her cute puppy dog eyes and expression. She is a good actress when it comes to fake something in front of anyone to slide from the fault.

But I still love her so much and she means the world to me. She is my everything and my eyes. So I will do anything to protect her from any danger.

"Always the wild one" I said chuckling while driving that my daughter laughed listening to my comment.

"Like father, like daughter" she replied back with a chuckle by hugging me tightly from the back.

"God.. you are becoming sassy and fierce day by day doll" I said as a matter of fact while taking a turn and glancing at my daughter from the rear view mirror.

"I am not" she said stubbornly with a pout on her face.

"Yes you are, doll. And we both know it." I commented while parking in front of her school and getting down from the bike. I can clearly see the pout face on her that it made my insides melt with love for her.

"But you still love me" she whispered by looking down at her hands but I heard it clearly because in a moment a smile was plastered on my face.

"Doll... you know exactly where to push my buttons" I said while tickling her sides that she started laughing with her sweet angelic voice and was asking to stop.

After a moment I stopped and hugged her to me dearly. Then kissed her forehead before releasing her from the hug and placed the down from the bike carefully.

"Of course I love you princess" I said pulling her small nose with a smile on my face.

"Told you." She said grinning by showing her small teeth on display. "Love you too dad" She replied with her dashing smile that I shook my head to myself with a chuckle. Very sassy...

I bent down to her level to give the fatherly instructions that I give everyday even though we both know that she won't listen to a thing I said. But still I will make sure to give it no matter what. Because at the end of the day she is my daughter and I am protective of her no matter what.

"Go now. It's time. Also be good and no naughty things. Ok" I said a little sternly for her to make me believe. But, she being herself, she nodded with a grin by kissing my cheek and running inside the gate of the school premises.

God... she is going to be the death of me. I can't even get angry at my little doll and less alone stay mad with her.

All my friends say that she makes me dance to her tune around her little finger and I agree with them on this for once.

Smiling to myself by thinking about my doll and started bike to return home but in between my driving I have heard my secret emergency tone from my mobile. So I stopped my bike on the roadside and took my mobile out of my pocket to see the message.

It is specially designed by my teammate Magnus for our team members to know the emergency problems of the police and if possible to help them secretly. Whenever the police press the emergency button on their receivers to let every police know about the situation, we will also get this emergency message with the location where it tracks the receiver who pressed it. So that we can easily track them and help them.

Mag created it out of timepass, but eventually we are now using it to save the lives of people secretly.

This location is nearer to me than my other teammates, so I messaged in our group that I will take this case and started driving my bike by placing bluetooth on my ear so that in case if I needed to contact anyone for the emergency then I can easily connect.

When I reached the place, I didn't expect it to be burned out like that. It was devastating to watch all the people struggling to get out of that mess while some people just sat there looking here and there not knowing what to do. Also there are many dead bodies in between the thick ashes and the burned out things.

Police are trying to rescue the people that are still alive with the help of some common people and hospital staff. It pained my heart to see the people struggling for life and to even breath normally because of the smoke caused by the blast. It was looking all black, ash, grey and red from this far and the only sounds were sirens, people shouting for help and police giving orders to some people.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that some of the policemen are running behind one person and I think that he is the suspect. So without wasting anymore time I started my bike in the direction of the police and that suspect who was running.

My blood is boiling with the scene I just watched and all I want to do is kill that fucking bastard in an instant.

No... that won't be enough punishment and won't even feel the pain if the death is instant. I want to torture him slowly and sweetly until he breaks down from his last hope and begs me to kill him from this torture. But I cannot do it because of the rules so I diverted all my anger on catching him red handed and to give justice to all those poor souls.

If this person was behind the blast then he sure will get to taste at least one shot of mine before capturing him alive.

When I turned a corner, I saw that he took the bike from a stranger who was passing by on the road by pushing him aside and started driving away from the police. They are running even faster than before but they won't be able to catch him no matter how fast they run. So I raced my bike and followed him behind without getting caught because now we can't have him think that someone is following him and give the chance for him to escape again.

No way in hell that he is going to escape today. He is my target and I am determined to reach my target at any cost.

I smirked knowing that I would be getting to some action today which itself is making my nerves excited.

When I was near to his bike, I took out my mobile and took a picture of him without him knowing it and forwarded it in our group to get the details of him because if he is not the culprit then it is a waste of time for this chase.

Then I dialed Mag's number and placed back my mobile in my pocket while chasing him continuously.

"So did you catch the culprit?" Asked Mag immediately after lifting the mobile from the other side with his same sarcastic voice.

"Ok then. We are playing sarcastic today it seems. I am open to this game Mag. Bring it out buddy" I said laughing through the phone while taking the left turn behind him.

If my guess is right then there is a mall within a kilometre from here. So he might definitely target that to make him invisible among the people.

"Oh you caught that right man" He said using the same tone but I can listen to some noise in the background and I knew that he was in his basement working on something.

"Well Mag. I need info about the person. Get me the details within 2" I ordered while looking at the road.

"2 minutes? No I need 10" He said with his stubborn voice which made me chuckle knowing that I got him exactly where I wanted him to be.

"Ohh... Is my Mag became weak in the tracing department that it will take more time for him to track now." I commented with a teasing tone of mine because I know for a fact that he can't digest it if he is being challenged in the tracing department. Because he is one of the best trackers in our total investigation office.

"I knew you became old to deal with all these things but it is so soon Mag" I teased him even more by pushing his buttons and driving the bike at the same time. This made me smirk because I know the next answer to my comment.

"You will get it in 2 Hred. Oh yeah and also you are dead when we meet" He said with his strict come challenging voice of his before disconnecting the call by making me laugh at his reaction.

God, teasing him and pushing his buttons is always my always favourite thing. I laughed thinking about his reaction while parking the bike in the basement because I just saw that he too entered this basement.

I can see that he is entering the mall as per my guess and there will be sufficient time for me to catch him here. If he thinks that he can escape the police by entering this mall, then he is so wrong. He might be good at escaping but I am even good at catching.

I smirked with this thought on my mind when my mobile made a sound indicating that I have a message.

Indeed he kept his promise then. Always the easy one to get bullied among our team but the best hard worker too.

I read that he is the most wanted criminal in the police record and this made me even more excited to catch him now.

Here I come you bastard. Try running away from me as far as possible before I catch you.I thought with a smirk by hiding the gun in my bike and started making my way.

------

Present

"Wait. Let me continue it for you from here" said my brother with a smirk on his face that I casually nodded my head with a grin on my face knowing well that he knows about me and my style of catching.

"Then after entering inside the mall, you have used your dear baby to shoot him before catching him. Am I right?" He asked with a proud smile on his face that I chuckled before nodding my head in agreement.

"You never leave the chance to use your non metal detector gun right?" He asked, shaking his head as if this is an unbelievable thing.

Is there a need to ask? I think it was obvious enough to know that I won't leave a chance.

"Of course duh" I said as a matter of fact.

He started laughing at my statement and I too joined him when my mobile buzzed with an email. So sobering up, I got up and entered my office space to check the mail.

There it was. Another mail with information about the new case which is kind of interesting because there is only one clue and that also seems a weak one. But the case looks strong enough to be suspected because there are no complaints about these missing people.

Well... looks like I got an interesting case after a long time...