Snatch: Part 2

A few beads of sweat trickled down Robert's brow, and the heat was the least of the reasons for it. It was late evening and the man on the phone had told him to meet in the parking lot of the Panaji city bus stand where he was currently standing. He had ordered strictly not to tell anyone about this or else Robert's daughter, Jenny would suffer the consequences. How long he would have to wait until the man arrived, Robert had no idea. His instructions were clear, get the money and be at the designated spot within an hour.

It had happened all of a sudden. Just a couple of hours back, Robert had returned home from his job in the bank and had sat down to relax when the phone rang. His daughter had been kidnapped and the kidnapper had threatened dire consequences for her if he did not receive 1 crore rupees within one hour. Apparently the kidnapper knew everything about Robert and his family. When Robert argued that he could not arrange so much money so fast, the kidnapper had chuckled.

"You take me for a fool, Mr. Costa?" he had said. "Among the various keys you carry around with you, there is a key to the cash vault of the bank. You are also in charge of closing it, which means you can open it too. Problem solved?"

Robert gripped the suitcase containing the money tightly. How was he going to explain the missing money to his bosses? If somehow his daughter was saved and both of them got out of the situation unscathed, he would most likely be booked for theft. Worry about it later, he told himself. His duty as a father came first. He prayed continuously that Jenny be unharmed.

Somebody tapped his shoulder from behind. It was a lady wearing a burqa. She motioned him to follow her through the crowd.

"Where is my daughter?" he demanded. "I want to see her first."

She put a finger on her lips.

"You are not getting the money before I see Jenny."

"If you want to see her you'd better come with me quietly." It was a man's voice behind the burqa.

Robert followed him quietly. After a five minute walk through the crowd, they stopped in front of a Maruti Omni van.

"Get in the car." said the burqa-clad man.

"Where are we going?"

"You ask too many questions. Keep your mouth shut and get in. Don't make me force you inside."

Robert got on to the back seat and the man in burqa sat next to him.

"Now, we are taking you to your daughter, but as per our rules, you are not supposed to see where. So... "

There was a loud thud as something hard hit Robert's head and he blacked out.

***

"So you are saying that the person who called supposedly kidnapped you, but you were out?" 

"Yes, Officer. He demanded a ransom from my father and threatened to kill me if it was not given to him fast. My father then rushed out and we don't know where he is. He forgot his cell phone home so we are unable to contact him."

"But if you weren't kidnapped, why would he demand a ransom?"

"We have no idea why. As I told you earlier, my phone battery had discharged so my parents weren't able to call me."

"Why were you out all by yourself so late in the evening? Don't you know that the city is not safe for ladies, especially late? You people act irresponsibly and then we, the police get blamed when something happens."

"For your information, I was not alone and was with a friend. But what has that got to do with my father going missing?"

"Just see how this situation looks. A random stranger calls your home and demands a ransom for your so-called release. Without telling anybody anything, your father just leaves the house and leaves his phone behind. It has been just about an hour since this happened and you are here to file a missing complaint. For all you know he may be back home right now waiting for you."

"Officer, don't you feel that the call is fishy? I mean somebody is demanding a ransom for a kidnapping that never happened. Are you just too lazy to look into this matter or are you plain stupid not to understand the gravity of the situation?"

"You can say whatever you want to me, madam. But if we start putting our meager resources to every silly complaint that we get, there won't be any police force left to protect the people where it is actually required. You can file a report here and we'll see what we can do."

Jenny entered her house totally distraught. How could the police be so indifferent? 

She saw her mother on the phone. Martha saw her daughter enter and burst out crying.

"What is it Mama?" Jenny asked. 

Martha was unable to speak. She handed the phone over to Jenny.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jenny. I realize that you are very worried about your missing father."

"Who the fuck are you? What do you want?"

"No time for decency eh? He is safe with us so don't worry about him. I understand that you also met the police regarding the matter. Now decide what is more important for you. The life of your father, or us getting caught by the police. I will call again later explaining what we want. Till then stay put in your house and don't bother telling anybody else about the matter. I hope I am clear enough."

The line disconnected. Jenny banged the phone down and collapsed on the couch unable to control her tears.