The Tale of the Tommy - Ep 02

After hearing the act he is about to commit, the retired police officer Muthukumar travels a bit back into the past to his time in Madurai. Besides, the trio needs to overcome a challenge around the prison.

The Tale of the Tommy!

-Sreeju 

Episode 2: Operation Dhruva

*Ten Years before, R2 Police Station, suburbs of Madras*

    For the sting operation, four other subordinates had accompanied Rajeev to Madurai that night. The cavalry arrived in late at night as to not invoke suspicion among locals. They had intel that many local communities helped the convict they were looking for.

    So, he was keen on maintaining a low profile during the entire operation. His office at Kerala had already informed their arrival, but the station was almost empty other than the one constable who stood guard for that night.

    “Where is everyone?” Rajeev inquired to the guard in a surprised tone. The guard just smiled at him for some time and explained what was going on while scratching his head. There was some kind of ritual at the temple in which the officer in charge was performing there tonight. So, everyone had left to watch the festivities at midnight.

    The constable quickly locked the station and guided the team to the temple. Despite the hesitation, the company followed the guard leading the path with his flickering torch. They moved in pace through bushes that stood taller than most of them.

    With every step they took, the noise became closer and louder. After a clearing, they saw an open place lit with bulbs that blind your eyes in a dark night. Some lights were still and the others dancing, while some even made forms of deities over treetops.

    A part of the crowd, which was huge for a midnight festival, was swarming around a group of middle-aged men spitting fire in circles. Another small crowd was interested in a dance performance by a young man in his mid-20s on a stage built on wooden logs.

    “Where is your officer?” Rajeev inquired, hoping it was the dancer. “Is he that guy?” he inquired in Tamil, pointing towards the stage, as his team might need additional help for the job. And such quick legs will be exactly what he needs for the mission.

    But the constable just laughed in a way like he had a better offer in hand. He caught Rajeev’s hand and turned it in another direction. Rajeev looked over his stiff arm and saw a man near to 50s dancing amidst a crowd spitting flames of fire. The constable said, “Sub Inspector, Muthukumar sir”.

*At present, Special Sub Jail, Palakkad*

    “Muthukumar, Muthukumar?” Rajeev startled the retired officer from his train of thoughts. For a moment, it was as if he went back to Madras years ago.

    “Sir, it’s getting late. The press is not going anywhere and the escort cannot roam around the city with Ranga for a long time. It’s not safe for them anymore. Ranga’s well-wishers might have got the whiff of the transfer by now.” Subramaniam stated the inevitable truth with a worried tone.

    Muthu snapped out of his dream and put the burnt cigarette butt on the ground. “If they won’t leave, we will make them.” he sighed. Rajeev knew they couldn’t use any force over the crowd to make that happen. But bringing him in amidst such a crowd would have worse consequences.

    The team had to conjure up some other way to move the crowd away from here, at least for a brief time until the transfer. There was a brisk of heated thoughts visible in their stern eyebrows. The silence spreading into their heart became more helpless as the time ran out into the night.

    Muthu jumped out of his chair suddenly with the excitement of a kid solving a hard puzzle and held Rajeev close to him, his eyes wide open. “Sir, do you remember in old days how we sat in front of the radio to hear the news. There wasn’t a show every hour, they limited it to a specific time.” Muthu was eccentric as he spoke, “But now, what do you think changed so much since then?”

    It confused Rajeev where the speaker was going but he replied nevertheless, “TV, Dedicated Channels.”

    “No, not that. The one thing that is constant every day, ‘Breaking News.” He stopped Rajeev halfway and continued “Have you ever wondered how there is breaking news every hour, every day? With so many channels in competition, the media is liable to bring out exclusive news every hour.”

    “Where are you going with this?” Rajeev still sounded unsure.

    “Well, they are waiting here for a piece of breaking news, but what if we give them another exclusive and much volatile news, elsewhere? Somewhere far from here, that could buy us a window to bring him in with no commotion. They will never know he is here. We will just address it as fake news.” Muthu stopped to take a breath “And believe me, sir, it will make the encounter easier.”

    He then turned to Subbu and told him to go outside and loiter close to the press casually, like he is on a break. They also instructed the officer to repeat whatever he heard through the call he would receive once he was out there, near the crowd.

    “Okay,” Rajeev knew the risk they had to go through “but what are we going to give them?”

    “Exactly what they are looking for here.” Muthu smiled, a little devilishly.

    Subramaniam stepped outside the prison and lit a cigarette while staying close to the press. His mobile’s brightness showed the anxiety over his face with its blue light. Still, he paid no heed to the press. Not long after, his mobile rang and the loud devotional ringtone playing Lord Muruga verses grabbed the attention of few heads in the crowd nearby.

    He picked up the call and listened for a brief time to the voice at the other end. The emotionless look of his face changed into a frightening stare, into nothingness in the next second. “What? How could it be?” he shouted dramatically “What do you mean they were attacked? We took extreme measures to bring him in here. Stay, I’ll call for backup.”

    At the far corner of the eye, over his shoulder, he could sense that some eyes were upon him. He then took out his walkie-talkie and tuned into an empty channel, shouting some keywords like attack, backup, prison transmission, etc. Before anyone could ask him more, he dropped the half-lit cigarette and ran in through the prison doors in a hurry.

    The other two were waiting for him just behind the door, observing the crowd. “We have given them the news, but how would they know where to go? What if some of them run into the original escort on the way?” Rajeev was skeptical of the move.

    “Don’t worry,” Muthu assured his partner “How would a lost person find a way? We direct them to the destined direction.” He signaled one junior while talking and continued, “Same here. We will give them a mouse and see whether the cats will chase.”

    As soon as he finished, a jeep exited the prison, made a turn in front of the crowd, and hurried off into the horizon, leaving dust from the ruffle. “You think they would take the bait?” Subbu didn’t sound confident.
Muthu just smiled and answered, pointing to the buzzing crowd “They have to” as the crowd moved one by one, following the unsettled dust’s direction. Within a few minutes, the place was empty, other than a few passersby on the road. “We have little time. Tell them to move in, fast.”

    In all the excitement, Muthu had forgotten about the job he was assigned. But the empty grounds settling into the night’s inn revoked him of his tenuous assignment. The chills ran over through his spine again and his soul’s skin burned with the truth once more.

    The three men stood their ground after that, and none of them uttered a word. Their wait grew more and more despair along with the change in levels of breathing. Only the blank noises made by the inmates in the building stopped the silence from killing the mood.

    Suddenly, a constable came running in through the gate and shouted “Ranga is here”. The men in the courtyard couldn’t hear him over the noise. “Shut up, bloody rascals” Muthu got agitated with the noise but it only made it worse. The constable came a little closer and repeated with all his might that the walls at the other end echoed that name within the prison.

    What happened then was something Muthu hasn’t seen in his career. As the name reverberated through the prison, it was stunned in silence like a home crowd in a football match goes numb after they concede; a complete silence with a collective gasp. The erring silence marked his arrival, Ranga’s arrival.

To be Continued...