To Keep a Lid on Things

"Are you sure of this information?"

"Yes, I am. Have I ever given you wrong information before?"

"No, you haven't. But the implications this time are... a lot more severe. For everyone involved. So I want to be doubly sure."

Kamlesh winced at the way Meena said 'everyone'. Any sense of hurt he may have felt at being questioned about the accuracy of his data was quickly replaced by a sense of imminent but invisible danger. Surely, Meena didn't include him in 'everyone'. He had only been doing his job, as usual. Follow the target for two weeks and submit a detailed report of the target's activities during almost every minute of those 14 days. And this report was as detailed as it gets. From when and where the target woke up at night, and from which side of the bed, whether alone or with someone else, duration spent in the toilet, the colour of underwear, the brand of cigarettes and make of the cigarette lighter, the vintage of wine over dinner, number of bottles consumed, shape and colour of the diamonds in the ring on the right hand's middle finger, license plate numbers of the cars used, the amount of tip given to the bartender, time when the target went to bed in the morning, whether alone or with someone else; the list was endless.

Kamlesh had been particularly thorough with this assignment. Meena didn't need to tell him anything special. The fact that he was getting paid thrice the usual amount was all the prodding he needed. And after doing a better job than ever, he was suddenly being told that maybe 'everyone' was going to be in trouble. He didn't understand it, but he knew better than to question Meena, especially when she stood with her back to the world, staring out the window at the brick wall less than two feet away.

***

Meena liked Kamlesh. He was thorough, and his instincts were sharp, which always helped in this line of work. Equally importantly, he had a stomach for a great deal, and wouldn't look away from things that would send many a tough men scurrying to their mother's bosoms. But what she liked the most about him was that he was entirely non-judgemental about his target's actions, and hence never felt the need to get personally involved in anything he was supposed to observe. He saw, he noted, he delivered. She had once tried to draw an analogy between his work and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, but it had been too much for Kamlesh's mind to grasp. He was sharp as a tack but never concerned himself with the intricacies of science and philosophy.

True to his form, Kamlesh had remained uninvolved in this latest case too. But to Meena, it wasn't all the same. It wasn't like her either, to ask him a second time about the authenticity of the information he got. But since she was the one who had made the rule about no photographic evidence in this case, she just wanted to be sure. Now that her suspicions had been confirmed, she had to decide her next course of action.

As she stood there with her back to the world, staring out the window at the brick wall less than two feet away, she thought through various options in her mind. And it was only when the last one came and went floating through her brain did she feel simultaneous surges of panic and exhilaration that caused her to shudder. She calmed herself down and turned around.

***

Anyone else, and the shudder would have gone entirely unnoticed. But Kamlesh got paid precisely because noticing was his specialty. He had been watching Meena's athletic frame from behind in the dimly lit room. Having already been paid, he was only waiting for her to allow him to leave. But when he saw the slight shudder, he was taken aback. He didn't know anyone who had ever seen a sign of weakness in Meena. Then again, he didn't know too many people who knew Meena.

When he had started working for her, he had done some digging around on his employer. But after listening to some of the stories he was told by trusted sources, complete with broken teeth and misplaced bones to show for them, he had decided to abandon the digging, and since then, had always treated Meena with a mixture of deep respect and reasonable fear, and from a certain distance that he didn't want bridged.

He had some vague clues about her past before he began working for her, and the only thing he knew for certain since was that she had got married a few months ago. She had given him an invite, but not enough time off to actually attend the wedding. Despite that, he had felt quite privileged because somehow, he knew that it was perhaps only a handful of people who got the invite. Plus, if he had gone, that would have amounted to bridging the distance from her a little, something he really didn't want to do. Her husband must be one hell of a guy though, thought Kamlesh wryly.

***

Her husband was one hell of a guy, thought Meena wryly. Evidence of his treachery was all over the papers in her hands, and yet, she couldn't help but love him. After all, it wasn't so bad, was it? If he had needs she couldn't satisfy, she couldn't blame him if he found solace elsewhere. At least now she knew why he had been acting a bit strange lately.

She knew that Kamlesh had no way of knowing that the target he had been tailing the last two weeks was her husband. But she also knew that if Kamlesh wanted, he could find out only too easily. She knew also that Kamlesh wouldn't judge her husband, since he didn't judge any of his targets. But she felt that if he knew, he could judge her. And she didn't want to be judged. Not for this, at any rate.

It would have been one thing had her husband been banging some girlfriend and taking her out to fancy restaurants. It would have been alright perhaps if he had been making love to some tramp off the street and buying her expensive gifts. Then, it would have been entirely her problem. But this... Now, she would have to take extreme steps to ensure that Kamlesh could never find out the complete truth. Her husband's boytoys must be kept a well-guarded secret.