"Why do you want to become a gangster?" Taarini looked at Aditya straight in the eye and asked.

"I have my reasons," Aditya replied, he did not have the least bit of interest in laying out his plans to this woman. The way he thought working for her was just improvising on perfection. Even if she was not interested, he was sure that he could survive in the underworld with his brains and capabilities.

"When Big Sis asks, your only duty is to answer truthfully." one of the unruly guys at the back spoke intimidatingly as he played with a metal knuckleduster.

"Well I did answer truthfully, also by my previous request of becoming a gangster by joining your gang, it did not mean that I would become one of your subordinates and take your order, I only offer my services to you." Aditya turned towards Taarini and spoke calmly. That unruly guy wanted to speak up again but he stopped when he saw Taarini waving her hand.

"As to why I chose to join your gang? Simply because I think that you are trustworthy, you had come alone and unarmed to rescue your underlings." Aditya replied with limpid eyes. A strange light sparkled in Taarini's eyes. Her intuition which was almost always correct indicated that this kid was speaking the truth.

"What do you want to achieve as a gangster?" Taarini did not dwell on Aditya's reasons for becoming a gangster rather she asked what he wished to achieve. If he was reluctant to answer even this question, she would turn around and walk away. Relationships in underworld did not depend on papers or guarantees by authorities, they depended on basic trust.

Aditya hesitated a little before he stated resolutely with blazing eyes, "I want to become a rat, to become invisible in this system, I need many identities, hard cash, dark contacts, forbidden trades. I need access to the dark information networks. Now tell me if my goal can be achieved by working for you."

Taarini heart skipped when she saw those eyes which exposed such a pure emotion, it was like a newborn calf which was not afraid of the tigers. With all her experience, she could tell that this kid did not have the least bit ability to work as a rat. At this moment, she was sure that this fellow was not a spy or a trap for her because he was too naive to play the role.

Those eyes of Aditya reminded her of her elder brother. He was a soldier who fought for his country, he had retired due to bullet wounds. He just wanted to live a peaceful life while looking at his younger sister grow up to become a beautiful woman who could become a caring wife and a loving mother. He did not want to become a mob leader but the situation was forced on him, he was not brutal or violent in nature but the situation made him that way.

When trouble came knocking on his doorstep, he could take up a gun and fight for his younger sister's future. Taarini was ten years at that time, she had seen the same emotion in her elder brother eyes. She did not understand at that time, but she understood when she grew up and taken her brother's mantle. She did not want to continue this life but she had no other choice. Now she saw the same emotion in Aditya's eyes. She knew that if a kid with such a pure mindset plunged directly into the underworld with no prior guidance, he would suffer a lot. By now Taarini was sure that Aditya was also forced to act the way he did like her elder brother and herself. She suddenly felt an unknown emotion in her heart which she never felt before, a desire to protect this kid.

The chilly eyes of Taarini exposed a rare moment of warmth before disappearing as he said in her usual tone, "I want to see if you have the capability to back up your claims, so give your contact information. Seeing that you are ignorant, I want to caution you, think twice before coming to meet me. After that, you won't have the chance to back away." She walked away leaving these words while the rest of the gang followed her. As the other guys were too busy studying the vehicle, not many people noticed this confrontation.

Aditya nodded with a smile as he felt happy for taking the first step. Although Aditya claimed that he would venture by himself if she didn't agree, he knew that there was a vast difference if he had to build his own connections. First of all, he was not sure whether he could succeed, even if he succeeded it took a long time to build up trust relationships as he had to prove himself and develop slowly and steadily. Let alone, he was just a teenager, who would take him seriously? If he could use Taarini's connection as a springboard, this process would be more convenient and would consume less time.

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Dev drove the Hummer away under the admiring gazes of the mechanics. The sun had set casting the clouds into bright orange, Aditya knew that tonight was very important for him. After his job was completed, Aditya ate the dinner brought by Kranthi. That white buffalo always brought news of his old friends. Whenever Aditya heard those gossips which had no stuff and were plain, he would feel jealous of Kranthi as he could enjoy this normal life. Aditya did not have any plans to continue his studies. He would write the pre-university exams for formality and then continue with his work.

'Adi, why don't you join our school?' Kranthi would always start his speech with this question every day.

'Kumari has already got a boyfriend and Sameera is almost about to become someone's girlfriend also, don't you want to win them back?' this would be the following question.

Kumari and Sameera were the two beauties of his tenth-grade class whom he had some affair with if you consider kissing as having an affair. There was never deep emotions between them. They were a little curious and enthusiastic. Aditya was handsome and cute, they were also top beauties and they ended up flirting around. Aditya was happy to know that these girls were fine, he did not have any expectations from them like waiting for him. That would be awkward.

Aditya, on one hand, had actually fallen in his first love, though it failed before it even started. Aditya was sure that if Anupama had agreed to become his girlfriend, he would have long lost his virgin status by now. He was not a hypocrite who was amorous himself but expected others to be pure. So, Aditya was genuinely happy for these girls, if they waited for him, that would be truly burdensome. Aditya had never made false promises to them. It was an achievement by itself that Aditya was able to fool around with two beauties at the same time.

Aditya ignored all these lame talks of Kranthi as he finished the food. Kranthi's mother was a terrific cook which explained most of Kranthi's physique. Aditya liked the food very much, he had yet meet Kranthi's mother. He had to buy some gift for aunt one of these days.

After Kranthi wobbled away as his fat quivered, Aditya spent time watching some video songs on a music channel in an old TV which came along with this room. Aditya also watched the news from time time. The other day, he heard that the US embassy in Harare city, Zimbabwe was attacked by some unknown terrorist organization. No one was reported to have survived that attack. A foreign travelling warning alert had been issued by the US government cautioning tourist against travelling to Zimbabwe.

At midnight, as this was a commercial street, apart from patrolling police vehicles from time to time, no one could be seen. In the morning this very street was bustling with so many people that if dust was sprinkled on this crowd, not a particle would reach the ground. But now, apart from some street dogs, not one soul was seen.

A dark black figure jumped over the garage wall as lithely as a feather. This was Aditya who had covered himself in black rags and smeared all the exposed parts of his body with used engine oil. The garage he worked, was at the end of the street adjacent to a traffic junction equipped with a surveillance camera.

Aditya had eyed that surveillance camera since the day he had joined this garage. He knew that the organization who took away his parents had the capacity to hack into any computer. So, as long as he was in an urban part of India, he would be caught wherever he was. Aditya had thought of many things or ways but could not come up with a good plan to go under the radar.

So Aditya wanted to try to check the response time of the municipal officials if he destroyed one of their surveillance cameras. To avoid pinpointing at himself, Aditya wanted to destroy a camera which was distant to his place rather than the one near. He also utilized the sewage system to map out the surroundings without exposing himself.

Two days ago he had destroyed a few cameras in a place which was almost 6 km from the garage. It was very easy for Aditya to crack the camera lens with one throw, he had even destroyed some street light to misdirect the police into making them think that this was caused by mischievous miscreants. As long as he covered his tracks by emerging from some random places, the cameras would not be able to identify him with his 'make up' and distance. Bangalore has not achieved 100% surveillance coverage yet, so he was pretty secure.

Actually, Aditya wanted to imitate those Hollywood films where a cool hacker just hacks into the city surveillance monitoring database and covers himself from being identified. For that, Aditya had to first become a top-class hacker which was not something done in a week, so he could take up hard solutions first and then slowly go for 'soft' ones.

By these actions, Aditya not only wanted to check the response timings of the municipal corporation and the police but Aditya felt that he truly started liberating himself from the system. It was a psychological feeling when he found himself disobeying the norms. If there was one thing Aditya was sure of, it was, even if he did not know that the government was infiltrated by 'those' bastards, he knew that this system could not save his parents. He knew it the day when Uncle Ramu was suspended for abusing his powers on 'unrealistic', 'imaginary' cases.

So, if they couldn't save his parents, they shouldn't be able to stop him from trying on his own. With these thoughts in his mind, Aditya took a deep breath as a stone appeared in his hand. He resolutely looked at the camera which was 50 meters away, he was hidden in the shadow of a roadside tree which looked ancient.

"Sorry government", he whispered to himself and then

Crack!