What happened next was known to her. Seeing the sudden movement of the tracker on Pace the observer had informed Ritu that Pace was heading towards Ketu. They stayed in contact till she got Pace and waited for someone to get her.
Since Pace was young there had been a few times when she escaped out of the protected zone searching for Ritu. So this incident was also marked as one of those.
After seeing everything Ritutandra reported it to the supervisor of the reserve and got the permission to look into this. Without delay she sent for a blood test of the wound. It would take at least a day for the report to arrive so she assembled a team of five comprising one ranger, a veterinarian and two soldiers. She assigned the soldiers to check every footage of that day and report to her about the tiniest unusual event.
Once all arrangements were settled she checked her watch. 6:45. Clicking her tongue in irritation Ritu hailed another cab as soon as she could and headed to Ketu.
"Is everything okay?" Olivia asked the moment her sister stepped into the room.
"No but I'll take care of it. Tell me what A.G said first." Ritu waved her hand.
"Sit down first, you'll have lots of work to do on top of what you're dealing with." Olivia handed her a glass of water.
Ritu drank it in a few big gulps and let out a tired sigh. She had not gotten a moments rest since waking up and now she hears there will be more. What a great day it was! She threw her head back and waited for her sister to explain.
"We'll need Raaz for this mission." Olivia started.
Ritu raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Raaz will have to come out of hiatus. Surjo will be introduced as an aspiring dancer, Kirti. I'll be going as the manager, Surobhi. Trayee as usual will handle all our getups. Raaz will need introduce Kirti as a close acquaintance to one of the producers of a popular dance reality show called Get the Beats. The auditions start next week. Abhirup will be monitoring us twenty-four seven. The goal is to get in touch with any of the dancers who seems to sneak out often. This show will pave the path for the winner so the dealers will definitely try to hook a promising participant. It'll be for the best if Kirti gets targeted if not we'll improvise. We have a month to wrap this up."
Everyone nodded. They discussed the details some more, prepared back-up plans and such things till everyone felt ready. Nilambori, Parijat and Trayee wished the four of them all the best and left. They will not be involved in the mission directly but be on standby if things go south.
Next day at school.
Olivia was about to take a nap during tiffin time when she felt a nudge from her desk mate.
"Hey, Miss Iceberg, would you like to join us? You said you'll have lunch with me and my friends someday. Can't today be that day? Please? I have something to give you."
Olivia nodded and Koushik gasped. She gave him a pointed look before he could express his shock. Koushik tactfully closed his mouth swallowing all his thoughts on how never even in his nightmare did he imagine Olivia getting along with his proposal without any complaint. He led the way to their spot.
Bikram and Rishi were already waiting for him. Seeing another person behind they got curious. Koushik made a theatrical gesture and introduced Olivia. When be first told them about making friends with her they were pretty skeptical but now they were surprised.
"Dang, Romeo, making friends left and right, I see. Even the School Captain couldn't resist your charm." Rishi wrapped an arm around Koushik and flashed a smile at Olivia.
Koushik stiffened up and thought, 'Rishi you moron! Why would say that to her face!'
He looked at Olivia through the corner of his eye and saw her looking at him with a lifted eyebrow. He gave her an awkward smile.
"Also, thanks for helping our boy with workouts." Rishi said.
"No problem." Olivia shrugged.
"Don't stand there. We have enough space for all of us." Bikram patted the ground beside him.
Olivia sat down and looked at Koushik with an enquiring gaze.
He joined the spot beside her and said, "You'll see later, let's eat first."
She sighed and took out her tiffin box. The boys always shared their lunch with one another but now they had a guest of sorts or a new addition to the friend group most likely, so they put forward their boxes and asked her to try. Olivia paused for a moment and awkwardly tried each of their food. She had already started eating and did not think about sharing, such an idiot! She just assumed that celebrities will not eat food that was not prepared according to their requirements. These men were trying to make her feel welcomed yet she just embarrassed herself from the get go.
'Great job, Olivia, great job. That was a very nice first impression. Arrogant and snobbish.' She felt like punching herself.
'Okay enough. Now try to ease the awkwardness.'
"Ahem, who cooked these?"
"Our manager, isn't he a great cook?" Koushik beamed with pride.
Antariksha was lucky in this aspect. Their manager was a cook and a nutritionist so there was quite a fight for who got him assigned to their group. Luckily for them he chose Antariksha and that brought a lot of envy from others in their company.
"It's alright." Olivia said munching down the last bite.
Koushik smiled at the compliment but the other two, who were interacting with her for the first time exchanged a look. This was not a reaction they expected. But not wanting to make things weird they just smiled politely.
"I already ate from this but would you like to try?" Olivia moved her food forward.
"Yes, why not? I love chilli chicken chowmein!" Rishi came up first.
The moment he tasted it he closed his eyes and let out a satisfied moan.
"Mmmmmn woooow wow wooooooow!" He swayed in delight.
Bikram and Koushik both looked at him a little surprised. Rishi was a foodie so it was not often that he lost himself over such a common dish. His reaction piqued their interest in Olivia's tiffin so they also grabbed their forks and took a bite. There was not even a tiniest bit of exaggeration from Rishi. The taste indeed was mind-blowing. And not just the taste, the smell was to die for. It was not their first time having chilli chicken chowmein, even though they had a strict diet plan they were allowed to indulge in street food once in a while. But this was nothing like any they had before. Moreover it was not particularly oily or too spicy every flavour was just right.
Olivia liked her food extra spicy so she carried green chillies in a separate container. Bikram was a spice lover too yet he was shocked that this well balanced meal required anything extra. However he did not comment on it, everyone was entitled to their taste buds.
Drunk in taste Rishi was about to take another big scoop but Bikram nudged him from the side.
He scratched his neck and said, "Ah, sorry, almost left your box empty. Who cooked this by the way? Do you have a chef on campus? Is he the one from the canteen? I heard his meals are fabulous!"
"You can have more I have enough. And no, I cooked this." Olivia answered with a shrug.