The Blood Mystery: Chapter 9
The safe house was as close to invisible as any place could be.
Sumedha’s apartment had no digital lease, no active utilities on record, and sat inside an aging, forgotten building behind two other abandoned ones. It had been her personal fallout shelter—a place no one, not even top brass at IPPF, knew existed. Except her. And now… the killer.
Veer and Sunjana stayed inside under Sumedha’s protection. She and Indra rotated shifts—one outside at all times, the other within earshot.
The air inside the apartment was dense but calm. For once, Sunjana slept through the night.
By morning, Sumedha returned from her shift and nodded to Indra, who gave her a quiet report—nothing unusual.
The next step was critical: returning to IPPF headquarters.
Veer and Sunjana were hesitant, but Sumedha’s voice was firm. “You both need to stay involved. If we disappear entirely, we make it obvious we’re hiding her. That’ll only draw more attention.”
So they went. Quietly. Cautiously.
The IPPF compound was cold with that unnerving hum of machinery. Sunjana stayed close to Veer as they walked into the lab section, swiping through access doors with temporary clearance.
That’s when they saw it.
On Veer’s desk—neat, organized, untouched—sat a single folder.
Inside it, two sheets of paper.
One bore Sunjana’s name.
The other bore Veer’s.
Each message was handwritten.
Sunjana: “Some debts don’t disappear just because you forget them. You left him once. This time, you’ll stay.”
Veer: “You can’t read everyone’s mind. But I can watch yours bleed.”
Veer’s eyes darkened instantly. His hands balled into fists as he scanned the room for surveillance points. There were none. This was no digital breach. It was someone who walked in, knowing where to leave it, knowing when they’d arrive.
He turned to Sunjana, whose face had gone ghostly pale.
“Did anyone else know you’d be in today?” Sumedha asked sharply.
“No.” Veer replied. “Only the team.”
Indra stepped inside at that moment, scanning the room. “Then we have a bigger problem.”
Sumedha held up the messages. “Someone inside IPPF is helping him. Feeding him times, movements, access routes.”
Indra’s voice was low and deadly. “We have a mole.”
They ran a sweep immediately.
No live cameras.
No wireless bugs.
But in the overhead duct above Veer’s station, Veer found a thin, fiber-optic cable. Tucked into the insulation, routed through the building’s original wiring—hard to detect unless you were already suspicious.
He traced it all the way to an unused lab room that had been closed off for renovation for nearly a year.
Inside: dust, wires, no sign of recent movement—except for one chair. Facing a blank wall.
On the back of the chair was another message:
“You’re chasing ghosts with handcuffs. I’m already inside.”
Veer and Sumedha launched a deep diagnostics run on IPPF’s internal logs. Dozens of false pings, masked login attempts, and artificial reroutes had covered one consistent breach point:
The Digital Forensics Wing.
Sumedha stared at the access pattern. “Someone with high clearance. Deep clearance.”
Indra narrowed his eyes. “Someone who knows our protocols—and how to bury tracks like a professional.”
“We’re not hunting a hacker.” Veer said. “We’re hunting a soldier.”
That night, back at the safe house, Sumedha sat outside on the stairs, silently alert. Indra was on the roof, watching the street below.
Inside, Veer made tea while Sunjana worked on cross-referencing internal files. She was calm—for the first time in days.
But the words still echoed in her mind.
You left him once. This time, you’ll stay.
She whispered them aloud, then quickly closed the file she was working on.
Veer noticed her tension. “He’s not getting to you again.”
Sunjana looked at him. “He already is. Not with violence. With memory.”
Veer touched her shoulder. “We’re going to find him. And the person helping him.”
Sunjana hesitated. “What if it’s someone you trust?”
Veer didn’t blink. “Then I’ll untrust them.”
In the hidden network beneath the IPPF’s old comms infrastructure, a message thread came alive.
“They still think she’s safe.”
“Sumedha’s fortress is clever. But not impenetrable.”
A moment passed.
“Next time, I don’t need to enter. I just need her to open the door.”
And then, one final line:
“Get me a key. From someone who believes they’re doing the right thing.”
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