The Trap

THE TRAP

No. I cannot do this. I am not meant to do this. I simply cannot afford to break the trust these people have bestowed upon me, all these years. There must be a way. There ought to be some way. Or.. what if I do not have any other choice? What if, there really isn't a way?

The answer to that question came in the form of a text message from a familiar phone number, to my new phone, which was thrust upon me a few minutes back. The message read:

“The three men you have sent here to “scare” me have given me this new number of yours, and told me to warn you, to not do something stupid, which will eventually put both our lives to risk. Seriously Ryan, new number? Uff. But I must tell you- they are just terrific. If I hadn't known your brilliance in pulling up pranks and surprises, I would have taken them to be a real gang of thugs. Phew. But whatever you do today, let me make this very clear to you. I am NOT going to get fooled this time!! See you soon;)”

                                                                                      ***

Pranks and surprises. Damn it. It's all my fault. Poor girl. She is still under the impression that, this is all my setting. Of course, like the previous two occasions, this year also, I had my own plans. But not even in the wildest of my wild dreams would I have given her such a shocking surprise. And that too, on a day as special as today.

The day which started off like any other normal day, eventually, got shaped into a very phenomenal one. The breezy morning saw me flaunting my all-new Honda CBR, while on my way to a confectionery which was a few kilometers away from my home, when a heavyset young man, maybe in his late twenties, dressed in Alexis Sanchez's Arsenal t-shirt signaled for a lift.

“Hey..can I please get a drop to the Imperial Road? I have been waiting here for quite some time now. But no one..”

“You have got the right person this time. Even I am on my way to Imperial Road. Just hop in. ”

                                                                                      ***

                                          

The heavyset man announced himself to be Ajay, an up-an-coming entrepreneur, whose car broke down on his way to the confectionery in Imperial Road, the same destination, I was also heading to. Reaching there, we both selected our respective cakes within no time. But it was on reaching the cash counter that Ajay realized that he had left his wallet and phone in his car, which was still lying on the side of the road, we both started from.

“I can pay for you now. After all, we both live in the same city. You can take my number and call me up when you get time”

“Oh..That's very kind of you. Otherwise, why don't you also join me for my wife's birthday party? I live in the next street. You can drop me home, have a handsome portion of this yummy cake, get your money and then finally fled to your territory. What say?”

“Umm..No..Its not..”

“Ryan, please.. You are coming with me.”

One sharp turn from Imperial Road, and we reached Ajay's apartment.

“You live here? I thought the construction of this apartment was still going on”

“Yeah. Most of the interiors are not yet done. Only the penthouse is completely ready. That's where the party is happening. Come along. This way, to the elevator.”

“I thought your house would have been packed with people by now. Why don’t I see anyone here? ”

“You are trapped, Mr. Chief Architect.”

“Sorry?”

“Yes. You heard me right. You are trapped. Now, let’s talk some business.”

 

                                                                                      ***

Yes. I was trapped. The broken down car, the cake, and the birthday party were all the elements of a nasty little trick. And I turned out to be an easy prey. The so-called Ajay and his “elite” group of associates wanted something out of me. And they wanted it any cost.

                                                                                      ***

I, Ryan Phil Thomas, am one of the chief architects of the city’s most reputed builders of recent times, The Monarch. It was only last week that Monarch’s dream project, the new home for the state museum, which houses all the souvenirs and artifacts of the glorious past in addition to priceless collections of art from around the world, was opened for the public. And it turned out that, all Ajay and Co. wanted was the blueprint of the museum.

As simple as that!

But why on earth did they choose me?

The answer to that is even simpler.

Because, the pass way to the vault which houses the blueprint opens with the thumb impression of just five people and I proved to be an easy catch.

Wait. Even though, I have access to the vault, I have absolutely no control over the passwords which opened the particular compartment that contained the blueprint.

I thought, I had them trapped this time.

But they weren’t ordinary people, after all. They had the pass key already. I thought it was meaningless to ask, how.

OK. My last chance. Even if they had all these, there is absolutely no need for me to do it for them. I can even alert the concerned authorities about the possibility of an attack.

“Your bad, Mr. Righteous”, smiled Ajay sarcastically, “Your very bad. No. Maybe, it is because of your good fortunes, that your poor wife still believes that this is all part of some big prank you are playing on her. She kept on arguing with my men, telling them that she is fully confident that this is some sort of a surprise that her mischievous husband was giving her, to add color to the third anniversary of your blissful wedded life. You want to hear her?”

And then I heard it. Her scream. But the next moment, she was laughing. “You guys are taking this far too seriously, huh? I mean, I don’t think he must have told you to hurt me. Easy men, easy. This is after all a silly prank, you all are working on..” And then I heard it again.

                                                                                      ***

The drive to the Monarch passed by quite uneventfully, with Ajay, behind the wheels. He parked the vehicle, some twenty steps away from the entrance to the main gate, snatched my mobile phone, pulled out another phone from his briefcase, which he later presented to me, like a birthday gift. “No need of any surprises. Outgoing calls and messages are all blocked. And don’t forget. I have my men watching you.”

                                                                                      ***

Finally. The Monarch. No one bothered to stop and question me, when they saw me here on a lazy Sunday morning like this, nor did anyone find it fishy when I decided to take a quick tour of the vault which contains all the secrets this empire guards. The Monarch is my paradise. At least that was what I thought till now. But now, everything about this place appeared bleak. I don’t even know whom I can trust within these four walls.

Is this really happening to me? I thought such things only happen in movies.

Or in..dreams? Wait. What if I am dreaming? Am I really? No. I am no Nolan to bring in so much of craziness in a dream.

This is real. The ultimate reality.

I have reached the right compartment now. I just need to give the right password, and pull the knob. Yes. One pull is everything the time demands.

But.. No. I cannot do this. I am not meant to do this. I simply cannot afford to break the trust these people have bestowed upon me, all these years. There must be a way. There ought to be some way. Or.. what if I do not have any other choice? What if, there really isn't a way?

The answer to that question did come as the text message from my wife. There really isn’t a way. I don’t need any more magical signs to accept it. My wife. My career. My life. Everything is at stake. These are highly influential people. If not through me, they will somehow manage to get what they want. But if it is not through me that they are going to get it, I will never get back what I will lose.

The password I entered was an exact match. One pull is all that is required now. Dear Boss, please forgive me.  

                                                                        ********************************

 

Ryan did pull the knob. With a small cracking sound, the compartment opened. A neatly folded parchment waited for him, to be carried to its new haven. Ryan slowly opened the parchment. But he could not find the familiar lines of drawing he expected to see in a blueprint, there. Instead, he saw letters, or rather, words, or rather sentences. It was, in fact, a letter addressed to him. It read:

Dear Ryan,

I have a few questions for you here. Let’s see if you answer them correctly

1.      Question: Who said these words, “Women cannot play pranks on men. Even if they do, they fail”

Option A : Ryan Option B : Neha

Right Answer!! Option A-Ryan

 

2.      Question: Who proved it wrong?

Option A : Ryan Option B : Neha

You are right again!! Option B-Neha

 

3.      Question: When did this happen?

O wow!! Even without the options, you have given the right answer, the right answer being, “Right here, Right now”

 

              This is all I could manage for you on our very special day. Happy Anniversary, my darling husband

              Yours and Yours Only,

              Neha

             

              Surprise!! All of a sudden, lights went on and the room erupted with people. Balloons and confetti flew around the restricted secret chamber of the Monarch, which till yesterday, did not have access to more than 99% of the staff.

              “Neha!!!”, yelled Ryan still exposing his panic-stricken face

              “Ryan. Even you..I simply can’t hide my delight.”

              “Boss. Even you were part of this?”

              “Haha. When Neha, along with your friends approached me with this brilliant idea, even I thought that it is high time, that you received something like this. After all, how many times you have played tricks on me.”

              “Ohhh”

              “But from what I saw today, I seriously have to rethink on my decision of retaining you as the Chief Architect who has access to all the confidential data. Should I not? Just kidding, man. I know, you had no other go. Now, come on everyone. Let’s cut the cake. Ajay, where’s the cake?”

              “Here we go,” Ajay brought both the cakes he and Ryan had ordered from the confectionery, both of which, Ryan himself paid.

              “Now, who the hell are you?” roared Ryan, looking at Ajay.

              “Remember, Asha – my college-mate?” laughed Neha. ”Ajay is her fiancé.”

              “Very well. You all have had me fooled.” said Ryan, smiling for the first time after those shocking charade of events.”Thanks to everyone. After all, it was a terrific experience.”

              “Now you know how others feel when you play tricks on them,” teased Neha.

              “But Neha, tell me one thing. It all began with me giving lift to Ajay. What if I never stopped the vehicle?”

              “Haha. I was quite sure that, my football-frenzy husband would never turn down a request from a fellow Arsenal fan. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have seen poor Ajay, who doesn’t even follow football, wearing the Gunners t-shirt.” The room erupted with laughter.

              “Hey lady, you really are a crook,” Ryan wondered aloud.

              “L-O-L. And in case that didn’t work, I had a Plan B in store for you.”

              “That being..?”

              “You really wouldn’t want to know that”, chuckled Neha.

              “I wish..”