Different Senses (62 page)

“Javen! Madhu!”

Tara rushed over and Madhu
wriggled free to fling himself at her. “Mummy, I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean Daddy to be hurt!”

Tara hugged him and comforted
him. Harshul, sombre as he almost never was, came to me. “Is Daddy
dead, uncle Javen?”

I brushed his hair back off his
face, and pushed the mask back. “I don’t know, Harshul. I don’t
think so.”

He nodded and I took his hand.
Over her son’s head, Tara looked at me in despair. I couldn’t
reassure her.

“I want Daddy,” Harshul
whispered. “I’m scared.”

“Me too.” I kissed the top of
his head and felt like weeping too.

Chapter 2

Two hours later I was in a
private ward, the doctors insisting my smoke inhalation was bad
enough to keep me in overnight. Yashi was in surgery. Tara and the
kids should have been on their way to the governor’s residence, but
wouldn’t leave until they knew if Yashi would live or die. Mum sat
with us, worried and pale. Dad would have been there too but our
house hadn’t been the only one firebombed that night—a judge’s home
had also been attacked. No one had been hurt there, though. Dad had
only been able to drop in and comfort Tara briefly, before going
off to deal with the press and the police.

Tara was so strong. I’d broken
down but she hadn’t, showing a calm face to the kids, though her
anxiety and fear drenched my empathy. Now the children were asleep,
the boys dressed in hospital clothes, cuddled together on the other
bed in the room. Nita slumbered innocently in her mother’s arms.
“It’s the Denge case, isn’t it?” Tara said after we’d all sat in
silence for half an hour, thinking of a son, a brother, a husband,
fighting for his life. “That judge...the Denge case. We were
attacked because of your father.”

“Could be,” I said. My mind was
fuzzy because of the drugs, tiredness and worry. I hadn’t even
considered who had reason to do something so horrendous.

“
I heard one of the
fireman say it was all planned. The doors were blocked—they didn’t
know about the fire ladder—and the power cut. They wanted us dead.
The
banis
, I mean.”

Mum drew in a breath and looked
at me. “We don’t know who did it,” I said.

“Who else would hate us that
much?”

“I don’t know.”

We fell silent again, while I
thought of what she’d said. I didn’t like to admit it, but Tara was
probably right. Which meant....

I couldn’t deal with what it
meant. I just wanted Yashi to be alive.

A doctor with weary eyes
came to the room a few minutes later. “Your husband came through
the surgery, Shrimati Ythen. He’s in isolation, receiving
intensive
guan
therapy to assist the healing and reduce the
risk of infection. He’s still not out of danger.”

“Can I see him?”

The doctor shook her head. “Not
now. He’s in an induced coma and I think it would be best to wait a
little before you visit. I believe a room is being arranged for you
here if you wish it. The governor ordered it. Best thing you can do
is rest. We’ll keep you informed.”

“If he...survives...how badly
scarred will he be?”

The doctor hesitated, and that
small hesitation told us what he didn’t dare say. Tara’s eyes
filled, but she managed to hold it together. “It’s too early to
talk about it. If he gets through the next two days, then his
chances of survival are good. That’s when we can make decisions
about further therapy.”

Tara nodded and the doctor
excused herself. Mum took her hand and Tara gave a little sob.
“What if he dies? What if he’s crippled, Mum?”

“Darling, you need to get some
sleep. You all do. There’s nothing you can do now for him, but the
children need you.” She reached over and pressed the call button.
“Javen, you need to rest too. Your father and I will be here in the
morning. None of you is to worry about anything. Not the house,
money, anything at all. You’re our family, and we’ll make sure
you’re all right.” She leaned in and kissed me.

“Thanks, Mum. Tara, whatever
happens, I’m here. You’re my family too.”

“Thank you.” But then she burst
into tears and Mum had to console her, and Nita woke up with all
the upset and took it amiss.

Finally, the staff took Tara
and the kids away to a room where hopefully they would sleep. I
wished I could be with them because now all I had to do was worry
and being fucking angry at who’d tried to murder my family.

I woke, startled by
something—Madhu standing silently by my bed. The force of his grief
and fretting had woken me. “What’s up, kiddo? Want to hop up
here?”

He nodded and I made space for
him under the covers. I coughed with the slight exertion and he
looked at me with worry lining his young face. “Are you still sick,
uncle Javen?”

“I’ll get over it. My lungs are
just full of smoke. Does your mother know where you are?”

“She’s asleep.”

“Ah.” I reached casually for
the call button. “You couldn’t sleep?”

“I’m worried about Daddy. It’s
my fault.”

I hugged him. “Fires are scary,
Madhu. People get confused and try to save pets and things. It’s
not your fault.”

A medic came in. “Uh, could you
let my sister-in-law know her son’s safe and with me?” I asked him.
“I’ll bring him over to her room later.”

“Of course. How do you feel,
Sri Ythen? Would you like that mask removed?”

He made a few checks on my
status and turned off the oxygen. I still felt like I was breathing
through wool, but I’d had smoke inhalation before. I’d live.

“I did something wrong?” Madhu
asked. “No one said I shouldn’t come here.”

“No, it’s okay. Just didn’t
want your mum to worry.”

“Can we see Daddy now?”

No, you
really can’t
, I thought. “Not yet, kiddo.
He’s sleeping and trying to get better.” And trying to explain to a
seven-year-old why his father looked like a side of barbecued meat
shoved into a glass tank full of green goo, was beyond my
powers.
Guan
gel was close to being a miracle treatment for
burns and severe injuries, but the reality wasn’t pretty, and Madhu
felt guilty enough without that.

“Is the house burned down? Do
we have any clothes?”

“I don’t know, but you don’t
have to worry. Granddad and Grandma said they’d sort all that out
for you. The main thing is that all of us are alive.”

“Zimzim died. I found him.”

“I’m sorry.”

His chin wobbled as he
struggled not to cry, and I could only hold him, raging at the
enemy who’d done this. I wanted them
dead
. Dead as in ground to dust
dead.

My mother, who couldn’t have
had more than four hours’ sleep, came to the hospital an hour
later. She clucked at Madhu sleeping in my bed, kissed my cheek,
and said that a suite had been set up in the governor’s residence
for all of us. She’d also found clothes and personal items for all
of us, and she had already arranged insurance assessors to go over
the house, once the forensic officers had finished.

“Do we know who did it?” I
asked.

She frowned as I coughed. “Not
yet. Your father is dealing with a rather difficult situation. He
sends his love though.”

“I want to find them. I want to
help investigate.”

“Yes, I’m sure, Javen. But
right now, I think Yashi would appreciate you helping Tara and the
children. They need you. Leave the rest of it to us, and the police
for now.”

I bit back a growl. I wasn’t
angry at her, just the situation and my helplessness. Madhu
stirred, and seeing his grandmother, wanted a hug. Mum played the
kindly grandparent, but her eyes were full of worry. I needed to
rein in my need for vengeance. Yashi’s family needed me, because
they were my family too.

“Oh, Kirin called to offer any
assistance you or Tara might want. He didn’t want to call your
phone because...well, he wasn’t sure if it would disturb you.”

“I’ll call him.” The thought of
Kirin suddenly felt very welcome, and of course he was Yashi’s good
friend too. “Mum, I’ll need to go to my office.”

“Not today, you won’t. You can
call people, or they can come to you. You can barely breathe,
dear.”

“I’m fine.”

She narrowed her eyes and
nodded slightly at Madhu. “No, you’re
not
. Not today.”

“Okay.” She had a point. But I
had to call Madan.

With the best will in the
world I couldn't have walked out of that hospital quickly. Between
the need to be assessed before discharge, arranging for my smoky
clothes to be taken for cleaning and replacements sent from the
residence, looking after the boys for Tara while she tended to Nita
and called the school, and sorting out the urgent administrative
stuff to do with Yashi’s treatment and the insurance claims, it was
nearly lunchtime before I could have left. But I didn’t because
Tara didn’t. She needed time to take in the reality of Yashi’s
existence, which was that he would be spending at least three weeks
in the
guan
tank, in an induced coma and completely unaware
of life going on. His condition had stabilised, so she was allowed
to see him. Not the kids though. Neither of us would allow that. I
couldn’t face looking either.

After time for a long cry on my
shoulder, and lunch, and clothes arriving for everyone to change
into that didn’t smell of smoke or the hospital, she decided she
could face moving to the residence. My parents and Kirin had all
offered rental properties for our use but that was too much to cope
with right now. A few days in the residence would give her time to
make the big decisions. And by then, I hoped, my brother would be
unequivocally out of danger. Not the same thing as back to normal
though. That might never happen.

An official government auto
whisked us from the hospital to the residence. We found my mother
and her staff had worked miracles to try and return the children’s
lives to as much like normality as possible. Toys, books, clothes,
media screens had all been set up in a warm, friendly bedroom, and
in another room, an office for me and Tara to share. A nursery had
been made for Nita, and Tara could only stand in the room and stare
in amazement. “How...?”

“A lot of people want to help,
dear,” Mum said. “No kitchen, of course, but you’ve got enough to
deal with. Javen, your father said he can speak to you when you’re
ready.”

Code for Dad needing to speak
to me as soon as I could manage it. “Sure.” I kissed her cheek.
“Thank you.”

“Nothing’s too much for you
all. Nothing.”

“Mum,” Tara said, “I’ll need to
see the house.”

“Yes, but not today, darling.
There’s not much left, I’ve been told.”

“It’s only things. But I
just...want to understand what happened.”

“Then I’ll arrange a driver for
you tomorrow. You should rest, decide what else you need.
Javen?”

“I’ll just run along and see
Dad.”

I left Tara with Mum, knowing
she was in good hands, and wondering what my father didn’t want to
discuss in front of her. He was rather old-fashioned, protective of
the womenfolk, but I had a feeling this was something else. Mum’s
emotions were clouded by more than simple worry over all of us.

My father was in the middle of
a meeting, but despite that, his secretary ushered me into his
office immediately, and he sent his other visitors away. “Javen, do
sit. How do you feel?”

“Better, physically. Mad as
hell. Mum said you didn’t know who was behind it.” I sensed his
conflict. “Dad?”

“Judge Darn’s daughter and
child were shot last night. The little girl died.”

“Beloved reason. Someone’s
claimed responsibility?”

“Yes, though we haven’t told
the news media. Javen...it’s the indigenous. A group calling itself
‘Justice for Nihan’ explicitly claimed responsibility for the
firebombing of our family and Judge Darn’s home, the attack on
Kaushek Denge’s estate, and this murder.”

I froze. Even with Tara’s
speculations, I didn’t believe.... “Is that credible?”

“We don’t know, but for now, we
have to assume the events are connected and Denge’s trial is the
trigger. You understand this is very sensitive.”

“Hell yes. What will you
do?”

“For now, increase the police
presence, round up known radicals. But I wanted you to know because
your friends—”

“No one I call friend would do
such a thing. Dad, I want to go back on active police service. I
want you to make that happen.”

He wouldn’t look at me as he
answered. “Son, I understand, and I know just how much we owe you
for saving Madhu and Yashi...but if you go back in uniform, you’ll
be a target.”

I clenched my fist. “You expect
me to sit back and let other people find these bastards?”

“No. But going back as a
uniformed officer isn’t the best use of your talents, nor the best
way to protect Tara and the children. Can you be patient? It’s
difficult right now, but I promise if we can use you, we will.”

“I want them caught.”

He lifted weary eyes to me.
“And I don’t? I saw Yashi. I’ve seen the house. I saw the body of
Judge Darn’s grandchild, and comforted him and his daughter. But if
I have to worry about you out on the streets....”

“I’m sorry. Tell me what I can
do.”

The right question because his
emotions lifted a little. “For now, be there for Tara, the
children, and your mother. Make no mistake, son, I’m relying on you
to look after them. Tara’s going to need a lot of help, and your
mother is frantic over Yashi. The boys will need you to stand in
his place, until he’s well.”

“That could be months. Or
never.”