Page 11 of The Pursuit
Within two months of the engagement, the cracks began to appear. Sanjay’s family started pressuring me to quit my job after marriage. Our disagreements on this matter were frequent, and Sanjay seemed incapable of taking astand or asserting his side. The tension escalated when a mission came our way—an apparently straightforward task. We received intel that the arms smuggler was holed up in a deserted factory with a handful of men. Our sole objective was to capture him alive.
As we approached the factory site, little did I know that this mission would become a turning point in my life, testing the delicate balance between personal relationships and professional obligations.
I crept along the crumbling wall of the abandoned factory, my senses on high alert. Sanjay was somewhere on the opposite side, preparing to ambush the arms smuggler and his men once I gave the signal. No matter how simple the task looked, my heart still pounded with exhilaration and fear.
As I peered around the corner, I spotted my target. He was a tall, imposing figure, barking orders at his lackeys as they loaded wooden crates onto a truck. No doubt, it was full of illegal weapons and ammunition. I steadied my nerves and waited for the right moment.
Suddenly, a shout went up from one of the lookouts. We had been spotted! Without hesitation, I burst from my hiding place, gun drawn.
“Freeze! Hands in the air!”
The smugglers scrambled for their weapons, and from nowhere, more bullets were fired at us. Everything happened so fast. One moment, Sanjay and I were closing in on the arms smuggler. The next, all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted from all directions as the smugglers realised they were surrounded. Sanjay and I dove forcover, shots whizzing past us. We returned fire, but they had us pinned down.
Our target tried to flee the chaotic scene. This was our chance—if he got away, the mission would be a failure. I broke cover, racing after him. Sanjay also chased that smuggler, but in just a fraction of a second, I heard Sanjay cry out in pain. He fell to the ground, blood spreading across his thigh from a gunshot wound. Our target—the arms smuggler, stood over him, ready to fire the kill shot.
In that split second, my heart dropped. I had an impossible choice—pursue the target as ordered and arrest him alive, or kill him and save Sanjay’s life. Orders or love. Duty or family. My mind raced. Sanjay’s eyes met mine, wide with fear and pain. And in that moment, I knew what I had to do. I aimed and fired two quick shots, taking down the arms smuggler who was about to kill Sanjay.
Though we had taken down all of the men here and stopped the smuggling, the mission failed terribly as I had shot down the target and disobeyed my given orders.
RAW dismissed me swiftly after that mission failure. I couldn’t forget the anger and disappointment on my senior officer’s face.
“You allowed your personal life to compromise an important mission,
Agent Trisha!” he had shouted. “This is unacceptable. You are fired.”
At the time, I had been defiant, insisting I would choose Sanjay over any mission. Only later did the full weight of my actions sink in. I had sacrificed everything for oneperson. My career, my reputation, my sense of self-worth—all gone in an instant. And the worst was yet to come. Sanjay’s revelation later shattered the fragile balance between my personal and professional life. He informed me that he had chosen to side with his family, supporting their demand for me to quit my career after RAW terminated my services. He envisioned a future where I would solely focus on our impending marriage, taking on the role of his housewife. The weight of his expectations pressed on me, threatening to drown my ambitions.
In a heated confrontation, I reached my breaking point. Pulling off the engagement ring, I hurled it at him, vehemently expressing my frustration.
“I chose you over my mission and career, Sanjay. Yet, it seems you fail to understand the sacrifice I made. Despite being in a position to contribute significantly to our country, you deny equal rights to women with similar aspirations. I refuse to be associated with a man like you.”
With those words, I closed the chapter of that relationship, vowing to leave it behind forever.
It took me a few months to heal from the emotional wounds. However, I didn’t let this setback affect my commitment to serving the country. I redirected my efforts to the state police department, moving on from that turbulent chapter of my life.
Today’s argument between Krish and his father brought back the shadows of judgment stemming from my past failures. Their words, though unspoken by Krish, echoed the doubt that lingered in the air. It was a reminder that people still measured me by the choices I had made. Krish might be a good man, but the fear of history repeatingitself gnawed at me. I couldn’t afford to fall for someone who might judge me based on my past.
I couldn’t risk another disastrous relationship with a man who might question my dedication to my duty. Krish deserved someone who could reciprocate his feelings fully, unburdened by the shadows of past choices.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, I resolved not to let that happen. I could not—would not—make the same mistake twice. I had promised GLEN my full dedication, and I intended to uphold it, no matter what it cost me personally. As I mechanically loaded and fired my gun again, I hardened my heart and shut out any thought of Krish. I was an agent of GLEN now, nothing more.
CHAPTER 5 (Gone with the wind)
KRISH
The clouds drifted by my window, but I hardly noticed them. My mind was still back in that office, replaying the conversation with my father over and over.
“Don’t get too attached, Krish. This is a professional relationship, nothing more,” he had warned about Trisha. “She failed her last mission by choosing personal feelings over duty. Don’t make her repeat the same mistake.”
His words echoed in my head, mingling with the pounding ache in my chest. He was right, of course. Trisha and I were colleagues. Whatever magnetic pull I felt towards her, I had to ignore it.
But it wasn’t that simple. Somewhere along the way, she had become more than just the woman who worked in my organisation. I yearned to see her smile and to hear her laugh. I lived for our conversations, both serious and playful. She challenged me, supported me, and I was different with her altogether.
When she looked at me, it felt like... like maybe she felt the same way. That there was a connection between us, we couldn’t deny.
Was I fooling myself? Had I misunderstood her closeness? Had I interpreted her warmth as something more?
Maybe. But now, I would never know.
