The sweet escape

This was his worst nightmare, anyone's worst nightmare. He had a gun in his hand, held 5 mm away from the skull of the worst criminal in town, but it was of no use, the ball was not in his court. He would lose.

After 3 months of tracking, surveillance and some good intelligence work, the crack team led by Superintendent of police Raghav Reddy had managed to trap the gangsters responsible for the Bangalore bomb blasts that had torn apart the roots of the once peaceful garden city.

Nestled away in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, the felons were calmly weathering the storm, bidding their time to escape for safer havens, but a tip off for the police from one among them was going to cut short the peaceful interlude.

The squealing from one of the mob rats was just the opportunity Raghav was looking for, his moment of glory was upon him, he would personally lead the small team of commandos, although in his 40s the man was as fit as a new recruit. After many weeks of mounting tension, potshots at the police for its inefficiency, and sleepless nights, this good fortune had come like a blast of fresh air. He was gonna nail those killers!

The past few weeks had been a nightmare for the police chief, a divorce notice from his estranged wife, a possible custody battle for his 2 yr old, that he was bound to lose, a stock market crash that had wiped out half his hard-earned wealth, if this wasnt enough his career was at stake because of the intelligence failure that lead to the gruesome bomb attack.

As the commandos waited for the signal to go in, Raghav allowed himself to smile, this was gonna be easy, he held the cards, or so he thought. With one last deep breath Raghav signaled for the attack to begin, there would be two points of attack, a head on flurry of bullets from the front and a more strategic attack at the mob bosses who were possibly hiding at the back of the large warehouse.

The mobsters were more than prepared for the frontal attack, the flurry of bullets that Raghav had envisioned was entirely present, only in the opposite direction. As his men got butchered at the entrance, Raghav made his way to the elusive mafia leader who was watching the shoot-fest with much pleasure, holding his gun to the head of the criminal, Raghav whispered "game over".

Raghav had caught the mafioso by surprise, but the look of surprise was soon replaced by a look of victory, the game wasn't over after all. Looking right into Raghav's eye the underworld don motioned towards one of his minions, who disappeared momentarily only to re-appear with a woman and a child, Raghav's wife and child!

This was his worst nightmare, anyone's worst nightmare. He had a gun in his hand, held 5 mm away from the skull of the worst criminal in town, but it was of no use, the ball was not in his court. He would lose.


As the criminal lord taunted him to shoot, the cries of his wife and child filled his ears, although he didnt care much for his wife, he loved his little angel, the precious child who was the anchor in his storms of late, he would rather die than let anything happen to her. He would rather die!


He didnt have too many choices, shooting the mafia lord would be a just end, justice would be served, the bomb victims would be avenged. But his wife and child would surely die. Surrendering would mean sure death. Death. Or worse, he would be used to broker a safe exit for the felons.

The entire weight of the world was upon Raghav, and he just wanted to escape, float through space, lay his mind to rest, relax. The idea of escaping captured his mind, and there was just one way to escape, one way to disappear! The sweet escape.


Raghav Reddy, Superintendent of police, brought the gun to his temple and shot himself.



2 hours later at the chief minister's office


"I don't know if he planned it but, what he did caught the goons unawares, they were in total disarray, they abandoned the hostages and tried to make a run for it, they fell right into the hands of the squadron waiting outside. We were lucky i must say"

"Well, that's that, to the world, Raghav reddy was killed in the police attack, he will be a decorated police hero, brief the press accordingly, case dismissed"