The Shot

This is a short story of elimination of an underworld Don which is cleverly planned

Harry  sipped his masala tea and chewed on his masala omlette. He lazily applied peanut butter  , blueberry jam and garlic cheese spread on three slices of toast. He quickly skimmed through the newspaper headlines. He stopped at an article on B. B was the classic rags to riches story. B came to Mumbai in search of a living , he made friends with D Company and there was no looking back. B started out as a small time road side goon, slowly graduated to extortion rackets then onto smuggling , finally real estate. Somewhere along the way he aligned himself with a local politician and helped him win an election. B soon realized that he could stand for election and win. He stood for election and won.

B was street smart and ambitious and he aimed big , thought big and achieved big. He decided to float a political party and become CM of the state. Winning one seat was one thing and winning a State was something else. He had to make a big impact and make his presence felt. He had lot of well to do educated supporters who were stupid enough to believe his stories , that he wanted the betterment of people and he wanted to improve their living standards. It never occurred to the educated folks that B was only interested in gaining power and would go to any length to grab power. All his so called social service activities were done with only one single intention of grabbing power. B asked them to do research on how to grab vote share and they came up with a simple effective time tested winning formula.

DIVIDE AND RULE

Play one set of people against the other , exploit their fears and assure them safety. Once people buy into the fear they will believe whatever you say and do whatever you tell them. This formula had many variants and the variants would depend on volumes involved.

For large volumes religion would be used , for lesser people of one state against another , for even lesser one language against another and even lesser throw in some old King.

B decided to play the State Card , after all he wanted to win State elections. The orchestration started in earnest 6 months before elections. Bashing up people, stoning cars and buses organizing bandhs started in earnest. B was planning a Big Riot after Diwali. The word on the riot was out and the city was tense and it was 15 days more to Riot day.

Harry idly thought one bullet inside B’s head and things would be back to normal. But killing could lead to large scale riots and would be difficult to control so was out of question.. Harry was hit by a brainwave. He reckoned he had a good chance of succeeding but  there were too many risks involved.

Harry ran a search on B and as he read about him he started outlining a plan in his head. It was simple and doable. He started making an inventory of things he would require.His thoughts were interrupted by a call. It was his old friend Julio who was now Mumbai Police Commissioner. He sounded stressed and agitated and ready to break someone’s neck.

Julio : Harry I can’t make it for Diwali , my a*s is on fire , B is giving me tough time.

Harry: Kill him

Julio : I would love to but the repercussions would be impossible to manage

Harry : Use your brains

Julio: Cut the crap , come to the point

Harry: Make it appear like an accident

Julio: I don’t have time for your gyan, bye…

Harry did thorough research on B. He jotted down details of his activities, hangouts , offices , residence , movements , car details and his security details.He looked at the date and he had exactly 10 days to implement his plan. With Wife and Kid ou of town he had all the time in the world to implement his plan. He collected his bag and crammed  it with binoculars, illuminated scope, night vision and spotting scope. He drove down to B’s residence cum HQ. He parked his car 1 km away and walked  down.  He ensured that he left his mobile at home. He removed his second mobile and hacked into WIFI. Hacking WIFI was a piece of cake , he bypassed WPA and WPA 2 and cracked the password. He could now access the net and keep tabs on his mobile which was at his home.

Their  were about a dozen bored and unfit cops guarding the building. Their were three white SUVs and another dozen potbellied unfit men loitering around chewing paan.  Their were people coming and going. Lot of suitcases were being carried inside the building. Lot of long boxes filled with heavy stuff was being taken inside the building. The building was on the edge of a big round ground. Bang opposite the building was another 7 storey building named  Shanti  which was in the process of being taken down. Harry entered the building and was stopped by a bored stupid security good. Harry told him he was a photographer and was looking out for good angles to take photographs. Harry gave him 100 bucks and told him he would come every day and he would earn 100 . The security guard was pleased and waved him through. Harry reached the water tank. He took out his binoculars and had a clear view of the house. The suitcases and the boxes were being stored on the fifth floor. Fifth floor also happened to be the floor on which B lived. Harry observed some people eating food and some maids serving them. The October heat was killing , the temperature was at 38 degrees and Harry was oaked in sweat. He wanted to go home , take a bath and sleep. Years of training had taught him to focus on the task at hand. To any observer he would look like a statue. He ignored the heat, sweat and thirst.

The group eating food put down their plates and made their way to the rooms where the suitcases were and boxes were stored.  One group opened the suitcases and started counting cash and the other counting guns, bullets and bombs. Harry whistled , he remembered his Rs 5 crores and thought another Rs 50 crores would be dream come true. He looked at the guns , bullets and bombs and was worried sick. An army would be required to fight these guys. He had to stop these guys fast. Harry came down from the terrace and again walked towards the HQ. He had to gain entry into HQ and get a first hand feel of things. He kept pacing up and down and letting the features of the building sink in. He observed a gas pipeline running up all the way to the fifth floor. A plan was forming in his head. He checked details of a private gas cylinder distributor and placed an order for 12 gas cylinders. Harry walked near gas pipeline , stood near the valve and closed the valve and walked off. 15 mins later all hell broke loose and the gas agency person was summoned and thoroughly thrashed. Harry repeated the same stunt after 2 hours. This time the security guard closest to the pipeline was thrashed . Three hours later the the Security Supervisor and Head Constable got thrashed. Harry walked up to Security Manager and offered him gas cylinders and also offered to fix them. Harry went upto the kitchen and installed one gas cylinder in the kitchen , kept one as a standby and asked where the remaining 10 could be stored. He was told to store the cylinders in the room where the suitcases and boxes were kept.

Harry went home showered and slept. He woke up bought Diwali crackers and reached the ground next to HQ. He found some kids , gave them some money and told them he would give them crackers and money provided they burst them at a time specified by him. Harry had bought crackers which sounded like bombs going off. Harry started his vigil and made a note of the movement in the house. He continued his vigil for 3 days and he found that B and his team followed a set routine. This made his job easier. He also found something very interesting. B was storing inflammable liquid in his house.

Harry opened his back pack and took measurements of the distance between Shanti Building and HQ.He calculated the wind speed. The distance was just above 1 km and he would need a good sniper rifle . But where in the world would he get a sniper rifle along with bullets. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He went home.

Next day he called Julio and asked him to return his music CDs. Julio asked Harry to visit his house and collect the CDs. Harry walked empty handed into Julio’s house and walked out with the package.

Harry met the kids and told them to start bursting crackers at 10 pm sharp. Harry went upto the water tank and maintained his vigil. At 9.45 pm B and his team finished dinner and assembled  in the store room.

The clock ticked 10 pm and the kids started bursting crackers , the crackers were so loud that B was surprised and turned around. Harry had B in his sights and he squeezed the trigger. He rapidly started firing. The first bullet hit the inflammable liquid , the next few bullets hit the explosives and the last bullet hit the gas cylinder. The first explosion was a minor but their was a huge flame and then the chain of explosions started and finally the gas cylinders started flying and exploding. The  HQ  top stories were blown to bits . Harry made his way down. The security guard stopped him and told him I saw what you did. Harry smiled  , grabbed his head and broke his neck.He picked his body stripped him of his uniform , covered him with alcohol and left his body 2 kms away on the road. Nobody gave a damn about dead beggars harry reckoned.  He made his way to his car. He could hear sirens of approaching cops and fire engines. He went home and slept , he had solved his Country’s major problem.

He got up late and watched breaking news , the explosion had killed B and his entire team and the cause of explosion was accidental. Harry smiled.

Fifteen days after Diwali Julio called him, I want to  have a drink with you. Harry went out to buy drinks . When he came Julio was already sitting in his house. Harry sensed something was wrong.

Julio : Good job Harry, you shot B

Harry: B died in an explsion

Julio: I searched through your house and found this. Please explain.

Harry looked at the LA-DXL 3 sniper rifle which he had stolen from Julio’s house.

Harry: Did you touch the rifle?

Julio: Yes. Why ?

Harry: Its yours and has only your finger prints on it.

Julio sat down, the wind went out of him as the enormity struck him. Harry had indeed carried out the killing of B , made it look like an accident , had a perfect alibi of keeping the mobile at home and used his gun for the explosions.

Julio: Harry you son of a b***h , pour me a drink and thanks again for saving my a*s.