AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The man’s demeanor didn’t seem threatening. In fact, he appeared somewhat oddly familiar. When he came closer and she saw his face, shock hit her hard.
“Hello, Sitara,” he greeted.
Black spots appeared in front of her eyes. She swayed and nearly fell, but Aarav’s arm caught her from behind. He held her and placed her on the sofa.
Shock enveloped her, and just before she completely blacked out completely, the last vision was of her husband.
***
Sitara woke up to the sound of voices.
“Dammit, Dheeraj!” Aarav growled. “I told you to wait until I finished speaking to Tara.”
“Sorry, man. I thought you were done.” There was confusion and puzzlement in the other man’s voice. “And I didn’t think Sitara was the kind to ever faint.”
“Any woman would faint seeing her damn dead husband springing out of nowhere with no warning. And she’s already in shock finding out about Dr. Pathak.”
“Uh… sorry.”
Sitara blinked as she heard the strange conversation between her dead husband and her new husband.
Aarav must have sensed that she had gained consciousness. He came towards her and helped her sit up. “Tara, are you okay?” he asked, handing her a glass of water. He made her take a few sips before he let her push away the glass.
“Sitara… are you fine?” Dheeraj’s worried voice asked.
Sitara stared at Dheeraj. “You are alive,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“I’m so glad you are alive,” she repeated.
Everything felt beyond surreal.
“What happened?” she asked, desperately wanting to know the answers.
“Dr. Pathak wanted to kill me…”
Dheeraj told her what happened. Three years ago, he had unknowingly mentioned to Dr. Pathak about the prototypes of Eureka having the properties of a bioweapon. The older woman had seemingly agreed that they were right in not releasing the research results to the public. But a few months later, he discovered that a deal had been made by Dr. Pathak with a company to get the formula for the Eureka prototype.
“I didn’t want to tell you, Sitara,” Dheeraj continued. “Because the company that was trying to gain information was known to be illegally selling potential bioweapons to banned organizations. I confronted Dr. Pathak, but she denied being involved even though she is the only person who knew about the prototype, apart from you and me. She said we should find out who was responsible and that we should stop them. She set up a meeting on a yacht where I was to convince the company representatives that no such product or research existed.”
Sitara’s stomach sank recalling the unexpected trip Dheeraj took saying he was meeting up with some old friends.
“I was attacked on that yacht and thrown off board. They thought I was dead…”
Sitara listened as Dheeraj narrated how he was rescued by a fishing boat but he had lost memory and didn’t know who he was and had no identification.
“Three months ago, I regained my memory. I recalled what had happened but I couldn’t come to you as it was still dangerous. I reached out to Mr. Susheel for his help.”
Mr. Susheel was the senior government representative who they had worked with while regularizing and distributing Eureka across the country.
“Since it involved treasonous activities and a terror group, Mr. Susheel reached out to a government agency that could help. It turned into a secret military operation. An agent heading that operation was assigned to draw information and also protect you.”
“No one reached out to me,” she said. She didn’t recall meeting anyone new in the past three months or see any security personnel outside her house or office.
There was a long, tense silence.
“I am the agent assigned to protect you, Tara,” Aarav replied.
