The Storyteller S02E05: The Fall

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

31st December
09:20 IST
Seawoods Police Station,
NAVI MUMBAI

Vipul meets Police Sub Inspector Bhosale.
Bhosale: What happened Sir? Did you find the mystery caller?
Vipul: No, I am not here for that.
Bhosale: Ohh sorry, Happy new year party tomorrow sir, today we have lot of work.
Vipul: I am working for NIA (Shows ID)
Bhosale: Sorry Sir, please have a seat. Will you have tea or something..
Vipul: No, Find me this car, Skoda with this registration number.
Bhosale: Ok, within 2 days we will find it..
Vipul: Come again.?
Bhosale: Till tomorrow?
Vipul just stares at him.
Bhosale: If it's in Mumbai, I can find it till evening..
Vipul: That's better.
Bhosale: Sir, Shall I inform my seniors?
Vipul: No, this is sensitive, Just find me the car and the owner details.
Bhosale: Okay Sir.
Vipul nods in anticipation and leaves.

31st December
11:05 IST
Vipul's workspace,
NIA BASE, MUMBAI

[PHONE RINGS]
Vipul: Hello
Bhosale: Hello Sir, PSI Bhosale here.
Vipul: Did you find it?
Bhosale: Yes sir, the car belongs to Mr. Pradeep Kumar, I will send you his address. We are searching for the car.
Vipul: Ok. Great.
Bhosale: Sir, Do you need force?
Vipul: No, I will handle it. Just send me the address.
[CALL ENDS]
Vipul snaps a picture of Mr. Singh in his phone, as a picture might help him to find Singh.
Vipul gets the address and quickly rushes to reach there.
While he is leaving, Conrad stops him.
Conrad: Any problem..?
Vipul: No, I just thought I could spend some time with my family for the new year preparation..
Conrad: That's great, but I advice you to leave after the lunch break.. I guess that won't be late. Isn't it?
Vipul: No problem.. That would be great indeed.

31st December
13:45 IST
304, Pragati Apartment
Sandhurst Road, MUMBAI

Vipul knocks the door once
No one opens, knocks again.
Vipul knocks hard, and the door moves slightly.
Vipul realises that door is not locked..
Vipul enters the room
It is dark inside.. His eyes are unable to adapt with the sudden darkness.. he steps in to search for the switchboard.
He steps on something and stumbles. Realising that it's stupidity to search for switchboard, he turns ON the torchlight of his phone.
He finds that the thing he stumbled on is someone's hand.
Vipul checks for his face..
He is not Mr. Singh..
Vipul looks carefully and realises he is the same guy who told Vipul about Timothy's death in the video he saw 2 days ago..
Vipul finds the switchboard and turns on the light..
Vipul checks his pulse and finds that he is not alive..
Vipul looks at the condition of the room, it looks messed up as if someone was trying to search something..
What catches Vipul's eyes is a white board on which there are pictures of different people sticked.. All of them are killed. It also has picture of Timothy.. Vipul pulls off the picture and notices that there's something sticked on the rear side of the picture
There's a memory card..
Vipul takes all the pictures with him, all the pictures have memory card sticked on the rear side.
Vipul leaves the room and rushes into his car. keeps the pictures on the dashboard and heads towards home...

On the way towards home..
He is thinking, Who killed the boy and what was the killer searching for..
Wait, this boy had told that my devices are been in NIA's surveillance, that means they could have got the address when I got it. Shit.. But who is this kid and why will NIA kill him.. or anyone else.. He is thinking in his mind and suddenly he notices an old lady crossing the road and stops the car quick. Nothing happens to the lady. Vipul gets down and notices it is Mistry aunty. He asks her if he can drop her home. Mistry aunty gets seated in the car..
Vipul continues to drive..
Meanwhile Mistry Aunty finds the photos on the dashboard. She looks at it with curiosity.
Mistry aunty: Ohh. He looks smart in the glasses..
Vipul: Who aunty?
Aunty: This picture of your friend and my ex-tenant.

Vipul drops Aunty at her home and looks on the Dashboard..
He holds the picture and takes out the memory card, leaves his phone in the car and with all photos and memory cards, he starts walking towards the cyber cafe..
Vipul disconnects the computer's internet connection so that no one gets access to the computer remotely
Vipul connects the memory card whose picture Mistry aunty pointed to be as her tennant.
He finds a video. Opens it.
The video opens and it's the same boy speaking who was found killed ..

"All the people who are dead, I solved their mystery. But I failed this time. I never leave my work incomplete so I have gained lot of information about this. This man is epic. I don't know much about his missions but he is an agent, working for intelligence, NIA or something else.. don't know. because when working for NIA, he wears a different personality, he is normally different, he is working underground for last probably 10-11 years. Before this he was declared dead in a mission which got failed. His face was damaged during this. So he had undergone surgery. After which he lived different life of another personality. NIA probably doesn't know about this, and treats him as their employee. But I guess he is working for someone else.. Just few days ago, we worked together on a case, that wasn't for NIA. He was trying to find the person who has been selling confidential defence and security information to Rao, as these files are encrypted, Rao had offered an ex-intelligence officer Vipul to decode these files. The matter was sorted, Rao was killed, but the man who is supplying this information is still in operation. This agent on 30 December tried to reach this fugitive. I helped him to provide information but the agent is not alive now.. I am going to find out the killer at any cost."
[VIDEO ENDS]

31st December
18:24 IST

Vipul comes back to car, over the time his mind is in shock. The boy in the video seems to be analyst or private investigator, that thing about Rao's proposal to me was only known to storyteller, he was talking about Mahesh. That means Mahesh was alive till yesterday..  And even that boy is killed now..
Vipul checks his mobile..
Finds missed call of PSI Bhosale.. Vipul calls him
Bhosale: Sir, Found the car.
Vipul: Ok, Where is it?
Bhosale: The car is parked on road side near Uran. And it has a dead body in it.
Vipul: What? Is the identification done?
Bhosale: The dead body bears an ID of Mr. Singh from NIA. Do you know him?
Vipul: Yes.. I.. I .. I know him.. I will be there as quick as possible..
[VIPUL HANGS UP THE PHONE]
He holds the picture of Mahesh which Mistry Aunty identified and compares it with the picture of Singh in his phone..
Vipul: No No No.. Singh was Mahesh..

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