City of Citran, Present Day, 11:15 p.m.

“Seriously can you not give me any other angle?” She asked him as she was lowering the camera in her hands.

He sighed as the flash hurt his eyes slightly. He was fiddling with the walkie-talkie and he just gave it up half way. He just could not believe this. Seriously modeling for her photographs were getting on his nerves. More than anything. And she just did not seem to understand it- he was training to be part of TTI – being part of the Training, Tactical and Infiltration, the last thing he wanted was publicity. And that was when he wondered whether he had been wrong in telling her about his training. Because being part of the Training, Tactical and Infiltration, secrecy was the first want. A basic necessity.

But then he could hide nothing from her.

Not that he was consciously thinking about it, because he was studying her pout as she came far too close to him putting her camera aside. He felt his breath coming out pretty unevenly. Fuck. This was embarrassing. He had known Anjali since his first year in her college. Yes, he had studied in plenty of colleges before and hers happened to be the only one he was not kicked out of. And it was entirely due to the girl in front of him. No matter what the teachers of the college actually wanted to believe – it was definitely not their teaching skills which kept Atreya stuck in this particular college. And that was the truth.

Now, four years later, out of college and a pretty useless degree, that was a moot point.

He abandoned the walkie-talkie and pushed the chair back as she sat on him looking at him. “Seriously, if I am to get into this ‘prestigious’ course,” She said rolling her eyes, “I need better photographs. And you pouting and looking like a lost deer in all of them doesn’t help.”

“Deers get lost?”

Seriously who knew? And frankly that was all he could even manage considering she was far too close for him to be thinking clearly. There was a part of him which was appalled. He just could not get enough of her. No matter what. She could just turn him on just by being close.

“Is being cocky a requisite of TTI?”

She was absolutely not helping. Him, that is. Neither her questions nor her. She made no move to remove herself from him and she appeared to be oblivious to his predicament around her.

“A kiss could help.” He tried as he tried not to look at her full lips. Then he felt like an idiot. Why was he trying to avoid looking at her? “Me. In getting a better expression.” He clarified as her lips parted slightly.

She stared.

“Definitely seems to be a requisite. Cocky and horny.”

That had everything to do with her and absolutely nothing to do with TTI. He could have told her that. If she had let him.

Just that he never knew when he had started kissing her….

FUCK!

He just could not believe what he was thinking as he was staring at the walkie-talkie. He was cursing under his breath as he looked around.

As always his mind had started working again.

He looked at the walkie-talkie again, which was lying near the files.

That was a gift from the Commissioner and the old man had even taught Atreya how to use the damned thing.

Atreya would have laughed at the old man if he was in a really bad mood. Just for trying to do that. But Atreya was too worried about what the asshole had told him – about Atreya being targeted.

Even as Mr. Ghosh had assigned protection to him, he had known what this was all about. As usual he was bait. The Commissioner had not missed the trick at all. If the underworld was so keen on getting to one man it was obvious that they were going to send a lot at him. Which as the Commissioner of the city was a good thing. Because for once the cops were not going to go hunting for the man. The prey was coming to the trap.

Even better was the fact that the man that they were after was a cop…. Well, not exactly a cop. But a man who could take care of himself. Very well. In any kind of situations.

Atreya knew that that was the reason that he had been assigned protection. To flush out the people who were gunning for Atreya.

But now looking at the stealthily moving shadow which had now vanished from his sight, Atreya realized that either the shadow had entered the house premises without the cops outside knowing about it… or… Atreya decided not to think about it. He could not. He was trained not to.

As always during times of crisis, his mind was clear. Straight. He was forming theories and discarding them with the same ease, as he was studying his hands. His hand was still a mess but he did not have time to deal with it as he hastily tied a dirty kerchief around his hands. He did not even groan as he pulled the gun from the drawer and removed the safety latch of the gun, which made a sudden sound in his otherwise silent house.

For the tenth time since morning, he was glad that his father was not at home as he was trying to focus his attention on hearing.

The window was out of the question. The intruder would assume that he was awake and the lights in his house were on – further buttressing that theory. It could not be the front door. Which left only two options – the basement or the back door.

If the intruder knew the layout of his house – which Atreya was sure that the intruder knew – then they would try the basement garage.

It was perfect for this sort of thing.

The only advantage was that Atreyaknew this house. Well.

He was making absolutely no sound as he left the back door of his house open and he checked whether all the windows were shut. In case he had guessed wrong and the intruder chose the back door, then person would definitely assume that he had escaped – through the back door and hopefully Atreya could catch them there.

Atreya pushed open his father’s study – well technically, it was not a study. Honestly, Atreya did not even understand why such crappy names for rooms of houses even existed. But it was his father’s room and his father worked there andstudy sounded very hi-fi and all that crap, which was presumably why the name stuck.

The room was exactly the way his father had left it an hour back and the first thing which caught his attention as he was passing through it was the photo on the table. The three of them. Together. Laughing.

Atreya’s hands started trembling as he saw it as he was cursing himself for using this room.

She is coming tomorrow.

Nothing….to...panic.

He told himself furiously as he ignored the photo and reached the other end of the room and nearly yanked the room open and with his brute strength there was a high chance he would have pulled the damned door off the hinges.

It was thankful that nothing like that happened as he saw the dark staircase leading to the basement.

Checking his gun again, Atreya stepped into the darkness.

*****

With the clicking sound of your camera

I think I'm obsessed because

When it prints a smile on your face

After clicking the perfect shot

So pure, so proud, so natural

One of its own kind

Pleasant surprise for my heart and my mind

With every click a different print

Matching with what you want to click

That lovely pout on blur shot

Changing camera's angles with your signature sweet frown

Your living in the moment with utmost dedication

In search of that perfect shot which is fixed in your imagination

My eyes love to follow

Your eye's mischievous madness

I'm ready to be trapped in your shots

You've already captured all my thoughts.