Chapter 3 - The Serial Hunt

The investigation of serial murders

               

                Vienna, Austria’s capital city, one of the most beautiful cities in the world was looking more beautiful in that early morning. Sun was hesitating to spread its rays, whilst fog and mist completely conquered the city. The roads were clean without any traffic. All street lights and road side lamps were glowing resembled it was still the dark midnight. The flyover, which is located at the center of the city was looking like a golden ring filled with yellow lights from both the sides. Thirty feet lamp posts on both the sides of the road supplied the golden light to the flyover. When you zoom out from the last lamp post of the flyover to the first lamp post, the entire beauty was collapsed. A dead body was hanging in the first lamp post in the 30 feet height.

                After some time, that place was crowded with the local police team in the middle.          

                “What is the height of this lamp post?”, one police officer asked.

                “30 feet approximately!”, an another junior cop answered.

They were analysing the place completely.

                “They should have tied the rope around his neck and lifted from the ground. The other end of the rope is tied at the bottom of the post.”, the police officer told and the other cop noted down.

                A fire engine with a small crane came to that place. As the police officer instructed, they lifted the crane towards the top of the lamp post. Two cops stood on the crane and were travelling to the top. They slowly cut down the rope without spoiling the evidence and brought down the dead body.

                                The police officer analysed the dead body. He was not more than 25 years of age and was well built body. His eyes and tongue almost expanded and came out of his face. The cops searched for any evidence from his pocket and they found nothing. They analyzed the entire place to find at least a small clue to proceed this case. But nothing helped them. They found some beaten marks and scratches on this body, which clearly stated that it was cold blooded murder.

                The Vienna police team were absolutely confused as they did not know where and how to start this case. First they should find the youngster and his background, the reason of murder and the murderer.  There is still a lot more to go. They thought it would take some time to resolve this case.

                But things happened very fast. The crime branch team worked effectively to find the identity and finally found the details of the youngster. His name is Robert Dawson, consuming his doctorate in Physics. Every early morning he used to jog in the public park, which is located near to that flyover. The crime branch was focussing on finding his residence and family details. They handed over the dead body to his family members after the post-mortem.

                Generally in case of murder, the suspecting would always go with the personal life of the victim.  But before start digging his personal issues and problems, they got shocking news from the International Police team. The same kind of murder happened in Melbourne, Australia also. One dead body was hanging in the street lamp post at the centre of the city. It started itching their brains. First, the crime branch thought it was due to his personal vengeance and can be easily solved. Now it had become international. They completely focussed on this case. They co-operated with Australian Police force and investigated their personal life. An another Shocking news stunned them. The similarity in these two cases is both the victims were shortlisted for ASRC Mars Mission Project.

                This case was taken to FBI and ASRC of United States of America. They thought it could be a co-incidence. But the way they murdered in both the cases was similar. Dead bodies were hanging in the lamp post and the other end tied at the bottom, which means the body was lifted from the ground. Both the victims were beaten up to death before hanged.

                FBI and ASRC were trying hard to find something which could help this case to investigate further. During this investigation three same kind of murders happened in successive weeks in three different countries. As happened in Austria and Australia, dead bodies were hanging in the lamp post in Belgium, Canada & Denmark. The first stage of investigation stated that the only similarity between these murders was all the victims were selected for ASRC Mars Mission Project. This was becoming a very serious issue then. Since it was pointed towards ASRC, the President of United States of America was very much concerned about this issue and decided to have a quick meeting with FBI regarding this issue. It was very rare that the President meets the higher authority of FBI. This meeting showed how important the situation was. The President started to speak,

                “Good Morning all, We all know why we have gathered for this quick discussion. The serial murders which is being happened all over the world is pointing only our ASRC and the entire world has turned towards us. I am telling you, this is very very serious. This has to be resolved soon and whoever they are, we have to destroy them until no lashes can be found.”

All higher authorities were listening their President’s speech with motivation. The President continued again,

                “We have a special team to investigate on this and hereafter this team would take this forward. I would like to introduce Irshad Ali to you, who will be leading this team.”

An Asian guy stood up who was sitting among the FBI agents. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

                Irshad was given all the case files. He went through it and asked clarification in each and every part of the case. Once he got the all the details of the case, he had arranged a special meeting with all the FBI agents.     

                That evening, Irshad was setting up the projector arrangements, while the assembled FBI agents murmuring each other.

                “He is a Muslim!”

                “How could a Muslim investigate this case? It should be terrorist attack.”

                “A Muslim should not investigate these kinds of case. He might be favouring to them.”

Irshad did not mind these voices though he heard all things clearly. He was concentrating on his task. The murmuring voices were flowing continuously.        

                “Is he a Irani?”

                “No. He must be a Pakistani.”

                “No. He must be something else.”

                “Indian”

Everyone stopped and turned towards the voice came from. Irshad was standing and looking at them.

                “I am an Indian”, Irshad smiled.

Everyone stunned for a second.

                “Any problem?”, Irshad asked.

One senior FBI agent started to speak.

                “We were just wondering, being a Muslim how do you investigate the case. This should be a terrorist threat. You might fall at some time. This is crucial case. We are wondering about your choice”

                “How do you know I am muslim”

The senior FBI agent shocked.

                “I am sorry. What????”

                “How do you know that I am Muslim?”, Irshad repeated

                “Your name??!!”, the senior FBI agent told in puzzled tone.

                “So you mean to say, only my name is your problem??”, Irshad replied.

The senior FBI agent tried to say something and could not. He stayed silent. Irshad started to speak again.

                “Everything has a identity. Anyone who comes to his planet, first he will recognise me as human. Then Asian, Indian, South Indian and then finally a Muslim. This is my identity. I am a human first and everything else are next. This case is about human crime, not a religious or race related crime. There won’t be any favours.”

Everyone looked silent. No one replied back. Irshad took a marker and went to the white board. He wrote Australia, Austria in the first line and Belgium, Canada, Denmark in the next lines one by one.

                “All murders look similar and hanged the dead bodies in public to show something. An important similarity is all the victims have been selected for ASRC Mars Mission project. This is very important. The displaying of dead bodies might be a threat to ASRC.”

Irshad took the marker again and encircled the first letters of all the written words.        

                “              Can you notice that, the first letters of all countries is in alphabetical order. My guess, the serial murders would not stop. It will continue. Immediately I need the list of people who selected for this ASRC Mars Mission project.”

In few minutes they received the complete list in FAX. Irshad glanced at the list for few seconds. He read out the next three names in the list.

                “Augustus (Germany), Hannah (Holland) and Archana (India). They are their next targets. They want to convey something to ASRC.

Evreyone listened surprisingly. Irshad continued again,

                “ASRC has decided to inform this to media and to make everyone alert.”

Irshad’s way of investigation seemed very different. All FBI agents co-operated him and the case was moving ahead towards the destination. Once the media spread the news all over the world, 50% of the short-listed researchers withdrew their offer. Though ASRC convinced them that everything was alright, they couldn’t stop their decision.

                Irshad’s team expected something would  happen in the next week. But nothing happened. The world seemed to be very silent than before. Irshad was also trying hard to find some important clued. The most confusing thing in this case was till no terrorist foundation had taken the responsibility. This scratched his head a lot. But Irshad sensed something was going happen very bad.

One week passed by,

                Irshad was sleeping and it was around midnight. One phone call came at that time. Irshad woke up and picked the call.

                “Hello.... This is Irshad speaking.”

                “----------“

                “What??? Really?????/”

                “----------“

Irshad suddenly disconnected the call and switched on the TV. He switched to the news channel and got stunned .

                “Augustus and Hannah were dead and their bodies were hanging in the street lamp post at the centre of the city”

Irshad slowly regained his breath. He called everyone for a quick meeting in the morning.

                “Its our time to act. We have to show our real faces to them. There should not be any more murders.  Who is the next target?”

Irshad checked the list for a second and started to speak.

                “Archana, India...”

Irshad thought for a second and told,

                Let us fly to India.”

Irshad’s team arrived India and discussed with Indian government regarding the actions to be taken. First they decided to shift Archana to a safety location.

                “I don’t want Archana to shift her place. Let her stay there. We will safeguard that place. Let them appear. I want to meet the murderers at the spot and want to burst them., Irshad strongly told.

As Irshad suggested, Archana’s house was safeguarded with some 10 local police force. Irshad’s team also visited that place often to see things happening around. Archana’s father and mother were very sad. Her mother requested her to withdraw the decision so many times, but she refused.

                Irshad did not want to miss this time. He was very confident in his plan. Archana looked very stubborn from outside. But really she was very much scared and did not want to show her feelings in front of his parents. She desperately needed a shoulder to rest and for console, which she always gets from her father. But now it would not happen. She was not able to control her fear and feelings. She was feeling nervous. Basic human psychology says, during this kind of situation our heart will search for the most lovable person. She took her mobile, opened watsapp and selected the contact Sethu. She typed a draft ‘Hi Sethu. This is Archana. I want to meet you now’. She was thinking a lot whether to send this message or not. Finally she decided to send. It was just 10 seconds after she sent that message, she received the call from Sethu. After thinking for a while, she attended the call,

                “Hello....”

                “Archana... Is this you??????”, Sethu’s bright voice.

                “I want to meet you now. Can you please???” , Archana spoke very softly.

                “I am coming. I have already started”, Sethu told in a hurry.

                “Wait... wait.... Strong security force surrounded here. Can we meet at the street beside my house?”

                “Yeah.... yeah... I am coming.”

It was dark midnight. Archana slowly came out of her room. She nicely walked and came out the house without getting caught from the security guards.

                Archana was standing and looking at the ground, while Sethu was surprisingly asking questions to her.

                Archana... What happened? Why do you want to see me in this midnight? What is the problem?”

She did not respond and continuously staring at this ground.

                “Archana. I am always with you. Tell me what happened?”

This time, response came out in the form of tears.

                “Hey Archana, What is this.....?,

Sethu slowly took her hands with him. For the first time Archana looked into his eyes.

                “What happened Archana???”

She suddenly hugged him and started to cry. Sethu was shocked. He did not expect this. He did not know how to react. He slowly put his hands around her and tried to console her. She hugged him more tightly.

                I should explain the location and atmosphere of this place now. It was a dead end lane, which is darker at the dead end, brighter at the middle and joins the main road in the other end. Archana and Sethu were standing in the middle which is the brighter part. That particular spot looked bright because a single street lamp post was supplying light to that place. Archana and Sethu were exactly standing below the street lamp post.

                “I am very sorry Archana. I have told you several times to withdraw your decision. You were not listening. Its too late. Its all over now. I am really sorry for doing this to you.”

Archana felt some strange feel inside and she was trying to detach her from his hands. But she could not. Sethu hugged her tightly. Archana’s heart beat raised and started sweating.