Ananya rushed through the corridor while repeatedly looking at her wrist watch. On her way, she greeted everyone with quick nods and a warm smile. Finally, she stood in front of the polished wooden door. Her fingers curled onto the metal handle on the door and pushed it aside. The sight of an organized round conference table with the essentials neatly placed on it brought a proud smile on her face.

With her handbag dropped onto the side of her chair, she grabbed a notepad and a pen that sat in front of her. Thoughts clouded her mind with various themes and ideas for the upcoming event. Scribbling each one of the thoughts that crept in her head, she dug herself into the pile of work. There was barely any time left for others from the core committee to report. And a after a quick time span was meeting with the interns and other crew members. She had a lot to work and too much to keep her occupied.

A couple of minutes later, she heard Ali and Zeenat barking at each other. Unknowingly, a smile crept across her face. "We can at least put this up as a suggestion and get opinions," Ali stated expectantly while holding the door for Zeenat.

'Such a gentleman,' was Ananya's thought at his gesture.

"What's the use?" Zeenat walked past him and took a seat next to Ananya's, smiling at her. She turned towards Ananya dragging her into another tug-of-war of theirs', "You tell me, how is an idea that is of no good use to us worthy enough to be put up as a suggestion?"

"Don't you put your words in her head, let her decide for herself," Ali took a seat next to Zeenat while he constantly shot daggers at her.

"If you were good enough, she wouldn't have had to have me as the co-head for the department. Deal with it, you are nothing without me," her words laced with sweet sarcasm as she retorted back. Ananya had no clue what these two were arguing about but she didn't wish to be dragged into it.

"Okay, guys," Ananya held her hands up in the air, frustrated at their behavior which was nothing less than that of kindergarten kids. It seemed, even those kids would look much more civil in front of these two name-sake adults. Shaking off her head and the irritation that was piling up, she spoke, "Enough! Let's focus on the event and behave like mature adults." Throwing warning glares at the two, she added, "If you both know what that means."

"I hope that I wouldn't have to repeat myself," she mumbled with a nagging thought, 'because if it so happens, I am definitely going to end up losing my own best friends as I kill them with my bare hands.'

A quick glance at her best friends indicated that they had settled for glaring at each other and sharing mean looks. Deciding to take the attention away from them, she asked about the missing member – Aman. "Where in the hell is Aman?"

"In the other room, doing all the necessary preparations for his setup," Ali provided. She just nodded in response. "He will be here any time," Zeenat added further.

"And I am," right then Aman burst into the room with various gadgets in his hands. Punching codes and buttons on each one of them, he took a seat while busy continuing his task.

"So, I guess, we better start," Ananya announced but everything came to a standstill as Ms. Neela Parikh stormed into the room. Her eyes reflected worry and concern, something none of them could bring themselves to ignore. Without wasting another moment, Ananya shot up from her seat and grabbed Neela by her arm. "What's wrong," her words rushed in a low whisper, barely audible.

"I want you to quit," her words left others stunned. Dumbfounded, Ananya stood blankly staring at Neela. Unable to understand her words and the reason behind them, she stood rooted to her spot.

"I want you out of this place," the words trembled as Neela mustered up the courage to speak. It spoke volumes. Just like her words, she was trembling too. "Ali will take care of everything; you just go disappear for the time being. Just, just go hide somewhere," astounded by how Neela was suggesting her to go underground, she looked disbelievingly at her.

Neela turned at the other three standing in the room with equally confused expressions, "In fact, all of you all should go. It's not safe for any of you," she suggested.

Ananya shook her, making her eyes meet the watery ones. "You have taught us to face the toughest of situations, fight back and to never run away. You have been my strength and you'll always be. Just be strong for me," she hopefully looked at Neela and added in a low whisper, "for us."

"But bachha," Neela cried out, her emotions taking a roll on her. Ananya gestured Ali, who peeped into the corridor behind the closed doors of the conference hall. It was silent and empty. He simply blinked at her and she threw her arms around Neela, comforting her. "You were attacked and even shot," Neel sobbed while Ananya had her palm soothing across Neela's back.

"I haven't been shot for the first time and this certainly won't be the last," she stated as matter-of-fact. Neela stepped back and narrowed her eyes at the cause of her frown lines.

Zeenat tried to reason, "Yeah, and we do have our security team watching out for her." Her attempts were met with a scrutinizing gaze of Neela's.

"Really?" Neela countered. "Still she has a bullet wound on her," Neela paused to find Ananya holding her wrist, restraining her. Zeenat quickly provided her explanation for the incident stating how it wasn't their fault and they would have burst into her apartment had they not spotted Neil rushing in.

"Whatever it is," Neela was launching for another debate when Ananya made her sit on the chair with her eyes going wide. Kneeling in front of her, she saw the young girl who meant a lot more to her; something the world was unaware of and would always be.

"Nothing more please," Ananya requested, her energy draining out. "I just want to remind you one thing, right now I am Ananya Verma for everyone including you, Neela Ma'am," she reminded only to find Neela rolling her eyes.

*

"Sir," Neil's eyes snapped at DD, who rushed into his cabin without as much as a knock at the door. The urgency in his voice was not to be neglected. Pushing aside everything that Neil was working at, he turned his attention to DD. "The situation with the media is getting out of hand," DD notified with his head hung low.

They had tried their best to keep the media away from the case. Everything was kept under the wraps. Not much detail regarding the case was given out to the media. "Something needs to be done before," his words trailed and Neil responded mindlessly nodding in agreement.

"Just try and dodge their questions; tackle them. Do whatever it takes to keep them at bay. I don't want anymore complications," his fingers pressed against his temples. "I will think of something till then," he mumbled.

They couldn't afford to have the media dig deep into their investigation. The case was complicated and having interference from the media wouldn't prove to be of any help to them. Also, Neil couldn't afford to risk Ananya's life. He was, anyways, dealing with a lot of challenges lately. He didn't wish to entertain media with their twisted rapid fires. The knowledge of Ananya being the next target, the repeated attacks on her and every other detail of hers would lead to more trouble. It was not just about his investigation but also about her.

A certain feeling stirred within and restlessness took over him. No matter how hard he tried to keep his emotions locked up, the slightest thought of a certain Ms. Ananya Verma would bring each of those emotions to the surface. Closing his eyes, he tried to shut everything. He wanted to shove the feelings away, as far as possible; because for now he didn't have the time to ponder over the feelings. These feelings were new and unknown to him. His care and concern went for a toss when reality struck him. This case called for his undivided attention.

She was hiding ample of stuffs under the facade she carried around. He had gotten hold of some information on her but he still had a lot to things to figure out.

'What else are you hiding, Ananya?' he thought furiously. 'Ananya Verma' he added bitterly.

"Sir, what about her?" DD looked puzzled as he shot his eyes open, realizing that he was thinking out loud.

'Get a goddamn grip on yourself, ACP Neil Khanna,' he mentally slapped himself across. "How's she doing?" He tried to cover up.

"Sir, actually," DD stammered, which in turn had him pinned under the scrutinizing gaze of Neil's. It piqued up both curiosity and fear in Neil.

"Spit it out, DD," his words contained the deadly warning.

"She is at the NGO," he replied in one go while preparing himself to embrace the consequences. Ananya Verma was a bad news for everyone. She caused trouble, in fact, troublemaker was her middle name. She always disobeyed Neil, and his team would face the consequences. DD sent his final prayers to the almighty, while cursing Ananya for her rebellious nature.

Neil cursed under his breath and shot from his chair. He glared at DD while he frustratedly questioned, "Why wasn't I informed earlier?"

Without waiting for a response, he shot orders at every officer that appeared in front of him. DD followed him as he rushed out towards the police jeep. Neil couldn't understand her. She wouldn't leave a stone unturned to rile him up.

"I don't get it, she was shot last morning," he fumed at the reminder of the last attack, "It's not even been 48 hours to the attack and she is," he slammed his fist against the dashboard of the car.

All throughout, Neil was burning with fury. He jumped off the car, as soon as it came to a halt in the parking area. He was about to enter the building when three men with camera, mics and notepad approached him. In no mood to entertain the reporters, Neil was about to leave DD to handle them. He had barely walked a few steps when a question stirred his interest.

"ACP Khanna, are you here for personal or professional reasons?"

Had it been any other day, he wouldn't have bothered to answer a query of that kind. His lips tugged into a smirk as he faced the reporters. Taking off his sun glasses, he hung it onto the neck of his shirt. DD was trying to tackle them, while answering their questions in the most diplomatic yet safe way. Neil stepped in, signalling DD to let him handle it. So, he did.

"Both," his answer puzzled his team but he continued, "I am never off duty."

He calmly answered all their questions and as he did, the plan fell in place. Till date the murderer had been plotting games and trying to trap them; but Neil decided to lay an inviting trap for the murderer this time. A trap, it wouldn't be able to resist. After a few minutes Neil stepped out and let DD take the lead while he marched towards personally professional interest.

Ananya Verma.

*

Apologies for the delay. I had been stuck with a lot at both personal and professional front. But I hope this long chapter is sufficient enough to make up for the delay I have caused. 

I would really like to know what your thoughts about the characters, the way the story is going and anything and everything you feel about this story. Just drop it in the comments section and I would happily answer those. 

Also, isn't the cover beautiful? I really loved it. Thanks for the beautiful cover StarsAndFireflies_

To all those who have nominated me for writers Award - AvNeil Fanfiction (External Link added), thank you! I am at loss of words because I never believed people would love this to an extent to think of nominating this in any of the categories. But it is an amazing feeling to see this nominated for 'Mystery'. Thank You!!!