Page 61 of The Pursuit
“We are set,” I replied, turning to look at Raghav, Ayaan’s twin brother, the once mafia who had worked alongside his father, Tej Khurana, notoriously known as “The Bishop” in the Bat gang. Raghav was standing against a car in his signature dark suit, with his hair gelled back. He looked like a broody, dashing devil, listening to music on his ear pods with his eyes closed.
“Though I’m not happy you involved Raghav in this op, Ayaan.” I couldn’t hide the irritation in my tone. “He could risk compromising everything.”
There was a momentary pause before Ayaan responded with a hint of exasperation.
“Stop fretting like usual, Krish. We didn’t have a choice.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Ayaan bulldozed on. “Raghav has been in this dark world ever since he was born, and South Africa is his second home. He has his deep connections here, and let’s not forget if it hadn’t been for his sources, we would never know that El Sangre is there.”
Gritting my teeth, I had to admit he had a point. If it weren’t for Raghav’s underworld intel, we might never have tracked the vicious drug lord known as El Sangre to this remote dockyard. The man had proved insanely difficult to locate, always one maddening step ahead of us.
“Fine, I get your point,” I sighed. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like involving your shady twin in something this dangerous and high stakes.”
I turned my gaze to Raghav again, who was still focused intently on whatever music was pounding through his ear pods.
“And what is it with him and this special music that he listens to every time?” I groused to Ayaan.
Ayaan let out a faint chuckle. “Not always. Only when he’s really tense about a high-stakes op and needs to refocus his headspace before going in hot.”
I rolled my eyes at that. Trust Raghav to be melodramatic to the core.
“So, you’re becoming quite the expert on your newlyfound twin, huh? Good progress, man,” I teased back.
“Raghav’s still an impenetrable closed book in a lot of ways,” Ayaan replied dryly. “But... I’m working on cracking the code, you could say.”
I shook my head ruefully. Only Ayaan would keep steadfastly chipping away at that brick wall of a relationship until he made some sort of breakthrough. Then again, I was hardly the one to judge, given how long it took me to get through to the person currently occupying most of my thoughts.My Trisha.
“Is Trisha set to go?” Ayaan asked, cutting through my momentary reverie.
My gaze landed on her instantly as she stood off to the side with the team as she triple-checked her gear and com unit one final time. Her expression was eerily calm and focused, not a trace of fear showing despite the extreme danger she was about to put herself in.
I swallowed hard, worry gnawing at my gut. As always, I would never try to stop Trisha from charging headlong into the line of fire. Her determination and passion for this work were two of the reasons I loved her so fiercely. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch her risk everything on missions like this.
“Yeah... yeah, she’s ready,” I managed to respond without letting the tension seep into my tone.
Memories of all the times Trisha had proven her incredible skill and bravery ran through my mind. She’d taken down countless criminals far more imposing than the scumbag El Sangre without so much as breaking a sweat. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just as awestruckby her sheer grit and drive as the first time I watched her in action.
“Krish? You still there?” Ayaan’s voice broke into my thoughts.
I cleared my throat, shoving aside my lingering unease. Now wasn’t the time. “Yeah, I’m here. Look, we’d better get this op underway before El Sangre gets a wind that something’s up.”
“Copy that. Good luck out there.” There was a brief pause before he added in a slightly lower tone. “And Krish? Don’t get too distracted by the lady, tough guy.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that as my gaze drifted back over to Trisha. “No promises, man. I’m only human, after all.”
“And a husband now,” Ayaan added, which brought a pleasing smile on my face.
Yes. A husband too.I married Trisha three months ago in Austria, and the very next day, we got this intel of El Sangre and started working on it, which meant we had no time for our honeymoon yet. The last three months, we hardly had time to even spend with each other. We both were focused on this deadly mission, which meant today, after all this was over, I would whisk her away for our honeymoon, having my wife all for myself.
“Call me once this is over,” Ayaan said before ending the call.
I took a deep breath and made my way to Raghav first. He opened his eyes as I approached, pulling out one ear pod.
“Are we ready?” Raghav asked in a cold voice.
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” I replied, unable to hide my sarcasm. “Just make sureyoudon’t get yourself killed.”
“Don’t worry about me. Worry aboutyourteam,” he smirked knowingly.
