Foiled

By Ravi Ranjan Goswami

The next morning Rajesh and Laila walked out of the hotel. They planned to hire a vehicle from the outside. They could hardly walk off a hundred yards when they heard a big explosion behind them. They looked back and saw the Plaza Hotel engulfed in flames. People were running in chaos. They also ran away from that place. After achieving an apparently safe distance, they stopped to catch their breath. Police, military, and fire brigade vehicles were rushing to the spot of the blast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ravi Ranjan Goswami
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393867173

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

Ravi Ranjan Goswami is a native of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India.  He is a retired Indian Revenue Service officer,and former  Assistant Commissioner of Customs at Cochin. He writes poetry in Hindi and fiction in Hindi and English. He especially enjoys telling stories.

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DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

1

March 1, 2016

Chennai, India.

Rajesh was inside his room at the Trident hotel in Chennai. Outside, a strong wind was blowing. He could see through the window outside. Dark clouds promised heavy rain. Soon it started to rain hard. He could hear it pelting the windows. It was around 6 pm. He opened the mini fridge kept in a corner and found a few beer cans, and fruit. He did not like any of the items there. He picked up the phone, dialed room service, and ordered a large Black Label whiskey. Rajesh felt cold, so he switched off the air conditioner by its remote. Then he picked up the remote to the TV and turned it on. He searched channels to find something of his interest. He found a Ghazal program in Delhi Doordarshan's Urdu Channel, which he liked. He sat on a couch and started enjoying that. After some time doorbell rang. He guessed there might be a room service staff. The door was not locked so he said, Come in please. The waiter came in with a tray carrying his orders. He set, whiskey, soda, and a bowl of cashew nuts on the coffee table and offered to prepare a drink for him if he liked. He said, NO. Thanks. The waiter bowed and left the room Rajesh went to the door and put a 'do not disturb tag outside, closed the door, and got back. He prepared his drink mixing enough soda with whiskey. Then he carefully lifted the glass, had a long sip, and waited for a few moments to feel its taste and effect. He felt a soothing warmth in his body. Then he began enjoying his drink and Ghazals.

Whiskey and Ghazals were complementing each other, the influence of whisky made Ghazals more enjoyable and Ghazals were enhancing the enjoyment of whiskey. For a while, he forgot the purpose of his being there. His cell phone beeped. This was an alarm indicating his time to go to Airport to catch his flight to Singapore.

2

After the flight took off and the seat belt sign went off, Rajesh pushed back his seat and relaxed. He had been a detective agent for fifteen years. He had enjoyed his work full of suspense, action, surprises, and thrills. He had busted many anti-national gangs and neutralized a good number of key operators of a few terrorist organizations in India and overseas. This assignment surprised him. He was a bit disappointed as well. He was only thirty years old, but he wondered if the people considered him too old for