Secrets Hidden In Time (Time #1)

11 | The Brochure At The Villa & The Bite At Night

"Madam." He bowed his head.

"Let's go then." Saying so, I about-faced to pick up my backpack from the backseat.

Getting out of the car, we both briskly walked forward for four minutes straight to set foot on the land of the large, derelict yet guarded independent house that was once called the Purohit Villa.

Reaching the left side of the cement fence, I checked for the presence of any security guards. Finding none, I fished out two pairs of polypropylene climbing ropes I carried along with me in my bag and passed one on to him. Tightening the sharp iron hooks on the ends of the ropes, we bounced them side by side in the air towards the wall. The hooks clawed their sharp edges at the other end of the barricade on top as the ropes streamed down the walls on our side.

We then covered our faces with our masks.

Pulling up my track pants, I zipped up my hoodie and then mounted up the rope. Bakhtawar followed suit.

"Put your phone on silent mode." I whispered the moment we landed on the other side of the fence, inside the yard of the Purohit villa.

"Done."

We then fleet-footed to the back side of the sizable independent bungalow.

"There." Bakhtawar projected his index digit at a set of four floor-to-ceiling glass panes linked to each other at their edges on the far right corner of the house. "Let's go."

I nodded my head as both of our feet swiftly wended their way towards the glass panes.

Positioning himself just next to the panes, he extracted a flat, metal, bar-like key from his jeans pocket and then unbolted the bolts on the edge of one of the sliding windows. The sharp sound of a 'click' resonated in our ears as my assistant glissaded the first window in the opposite direction.

We entered inside. Our backdrop was cloaked in a blanket of impenetrable darkness and quietude at the same time.

Taking my phone out, I switched on the flashlight.

"The fence would obstruct the guards from noticing the flashlights on the ground floor, but we have to be more careful on the first floor. Take out your phone." I murmured as I ambled closer to the door at the left corner of the bedroom we were in. Rotating the pull handle in one direction, I opened the door and entered the lounge hall of the villa, while Bakhtawar followed behind me.

"Okay, you searched the ground floor. I'll search the first floor; there is no need to go to the terrace, as it will only garner the attention of the guards. Clear?" I directed as I turned around to look at him. "Any file, document, device, phone, or anything that can be used as a source of information, just pick it up and store it in your bag. Okay?"

"Madam," he affirmed.

"We'll meet here again at one-eleven sharp." I peered at my watch one more time and then ordered. "Now!"

I briskly made my way towards the stairs and started ascending them as I saw my assistant entering the first bedroom through my peripheral vision.

Unlatching the door of the first bedroom on the first floor, I invaded its confines. As expected, it was absolutely vacant, devoid of any furniture or home furnishing accessories.

Disappointment crawled through me as I faintly diverted the flashlight in the direction of the sheesham wood almirah in the corner of the room and tiptoed towards it.

I then proceeded to unlock it. Another wave of despondency hit me as I found the almirah completely empty as well.

Squandering not a second more of mine, I locked it and then immediately got out of the bedroom. I quickly strode into the second bedroom to discover its desolate interiors. The exception, though, was there, in the form of a queen-size bed in the middle of the bedroom covered in a dusty white bedsheet. Leaving that, every other corner screamed the word abandoned.