NOBODY WOULD EVER KNOW

Ritwick was feeling stiff, lying face down, on the edge of the roof of the partly constructed building for last about three hours. His hands were paining holding his high powered assault rifle with a telescope, with one finger on the trigger. It was about 5.35 am in the morning and he was virtually lying immobile in that position since darkness of that night. The first light of the dawn was breaking and a cool breeze was blowing. Gradually the chirpings of the birds were being heard.

But nothing interested Ritwick. His job was of a nature which nobody would ever venture to admit or describe. He was on the roof with only one focus. Assassination! He was a paid killer! And he was there because he had been hired to kill two brothers of a family of a very large industrial house. Although Ritwick never wanted to know nor was he ever told the reason for his contract killings, in this case he had come to know that killings were a part of the murderous plan of the family’s enemy. But then he was not bothered.

Last Tuesday he had successfully eliminated the elder brother, whose name he could gather was Robin. Although the killing was successful but it became messy since the bullet of his high powered rifle did not go through Robin’s skull cleanly and he had to die quite painfully. In fact Ritwick had to come out and go near the dying man to finally end the process thereby he had revealed himself. As a rule he never did that but having done that, although he felt uncomfortable he was sure that nobody had seen him.

In any case that killing was a job already done and on that day he was on the roof to kill the second brother. He had been waiting for long but that was the part of his job! Patience was the most critical part of the process.

The morning was progressing and the light was becoming brighter with sun light making its presence felt. Ritwick was not feeling comfortable! He knew that he would not be able to do his job after 10- 15 minutes. He hated wasting a day like this.

Feeling somewhat restless Ritwick looked down again towards the palatial building, some distance away, towards the main door. He had been told that the second brother had the unfailing habit of going out for a walk, alone, every morning at 5.30 am. This he never failed. It would be an ideal routine for a hired killer like Ritwick to plan his killing.

Judging by that habit, by that time, the man should have been out of the building and jogging on the road making him an easy target.

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At that moment Ritwick noticed that the main door was opening! Anticipating the second brother to come out Ritwick tensed and his body stiffened- ready for the final assault. His finger on the trigger of the rifle curled in! He was all set.

Then, unexpectedly he heard a sound behind him. His trained body response made him give a very sharp glance behind to find out the reason and also to ensure that his target down below would not be missed. What he saw made him freeze! He was not a man to be frightened easily but that scene was beyond the realm of possibility.

He saw a person standing behind him! It was Robin in flesh and body! The elder brother whom he had killed just few days earlier! For a fraction of a second he could not believe his eyes!

Uncharacteristically Ritwick forgot about his assignment, his training and priorities! He turned around in panic with his assault rifle to deal with this new threat. But at that instant he felt a sudden searing pain in his head, darkness covered his eyes and he could feel that he was falling. And then everything went blank!

Sometime later when the second brother came out from the building he saw a crowd around a dead man lying on the ground, face down. His neck was broken. People were pointing towards the roof of the adjoining under- construction building saying that the man must have slipped from the edge of the roof and fallen. It appeared to be an accident. But strangely a high powered assault rifle was lying on ground next to the fallen dead man! Nobody could explain why?

Was there an unknown command who or which had played the final part in this drama! It was unlikely that anybody would ever know!

17th August 2015

AMITAV GANGULY

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