The Bank Robbery X- Getting There

(This is the tenth part of the series that began here . If you like it, and would want to be updated whenever I post the subsequent parts, you might want to subscribe to the posts via email)

“Yes!” I heard said on the other side and, then something more, which I could not make out.

Then it was Vikas’ turn to say “OK,” and hang up.

He looked grim, and the expression on his face made me wonder – not for the first time – if he was actually new at this or, had he been involved in similar affairs before. But, then, he was an engineer, and what I had gathered from observing him at work, I thought he was good at his job. As often happens, someone who is good at one thing, is good at a few other things as well. The same, it seemed, was true for Vikas. He was good at quite a few things, and maybe that rubbed off on to his skills at crime too. Be it as it may be, till now, I could not detect any chink in the armor. Vikas was smart enough not to bring up the matter of guns before Rahul and Ramesh, for they would have freaked out just at the mention of guns.

But, Vikas had asked for two pistols, and it was clear that he meant for Rahul to have one of the two pistols. All he was waiting for was the right opportunity to hand him one.

Two days later, Vikas told his parents that he had to go out of town to visit a friend. To make it look real, he even got one of his friends to call, and tell his parents know that he was in town for a few days, and would like to meet Vikas. On the day, instead of going to the friend, he went to another desolate place. I followed him and when we reached a huge rock, Vikas casually bent down and looked under the rock. Then one of his arms reached out under the rock, and when it came out, there were two guns in Vikas’ hands. Even I did not know when Vikas had made this arrangement with his friend.

The rest of the days passed with no major event happening. Rahul called a couple of times, but as far as I could make out, nothing was said about the robbery.

On the appointed day, Vikas got up and dressed up, just like any other day. Then he told his parents that he was going to be away for the day, and left. At ten AM , to the minute, he was at the designated spot. But between leaving home and reaching the spot, he had taken a detour to make sure that his way fell through a forest road and that almost no one saw him. Once in the forest, Vikas got off the main trail and went into a still thicker part of the forest. When he finally emerged from the forest, he was a totally changed man. He had brought some old, totally worn clothes, and his hair also seemed a different color; gone were the glasses, and he looked tired and old. He was good.

Not many could have seen him like that and recognised him. And if you paid attention to the disguise that Vikas had put on, the features anyone would remember would be those, that were totally alien to Vikas. It seemed that he had added a few inches to his height, and he looked a little plumper at the waist. On top of the ragged dress, he was wearing a shabby overcoat. All in all, he looked like a vagabond, a man of the road. He was looking like this when he got off a bus at Ruktal. Not many people paid any attention to him on the bus, as he quietly got down and waited for Rahul. Rahul was soon there too.

It was obvious that he had made some attempt to disguise himself, but it was not very successful. Rahul inched away, and looked in a different direction when Vikas came towards him. But Vikas quickly got close to him, and quietly whispered in his ears, ” It’s me, Vikas.”

…Continued.