After a few minutes…
Ajay (shouts): Guys, we need to hide. Come and see this.
His friends go to the place where he is standing, a place near the window which he was exploring.
Rina: Oh no, they are talking something by pointing to this floor so many times. Do you think they saw us and deliberately locked us inside?
Ajay: That is the same doubt I had and that’s why I told you guys that we must hide, but if they had seen us, then there is no point in hiding.
The kids get scared, and, as if to confirm their doubt, one of the men enters the plaza building entrance again.
The kids get very scared and they don't know what to do. They stand in the same place, trembling.
Suddenly, Rina lets out a sigh of relief.
Rina: Thank God!
The others: What?
Then, they follow her trail of vision and see the man who entered the plaza building being escorted to the main gate by the security officer who points to his watch and tells him something and the kids are able to guess what he is telling him. Since it is 4pm, the time to shut down the plaza, the security officer is asking the man and those accompanying him to leave.
The men immediately leave and the kids breathe sighs of relief.
Reshmi: Phew, that was close. What if the time is not 4pm now? We will be in danger.
Riya: I don't think so.
The others turn towards her in surprise.
Swathi: What made you say that?
Riya (watching the men from the window): Did you see how casually the men left the place after the security officer told them to leave? They were also laughing among themselves and talking casually, so I don't think that man tried to enter the building again to catch us.
Ajay: What she says is right. The men showed no sign of disappointment when the security officer asked them to leave. Maybe he tried to enter the building to buy something.
James: You both are right. I also don't think that that man tried to come into the building again to catch us. It must be for some other reason. Let's not worry about those men.
The others agree.
Reshmi: Guys, look. They are in a shop on the opposite road.
The others look out of the window and see the men talking to each other.
Then, they move away from the window so that the men should not see them. They begin exploring the other windows and other means of escape from there.
James: We have to act fast, before the security officer leaves this building.
Swathi: Guys, come here.
Her friends go to the place where she is standing.
Swathi (looking out of a window near her, the window on the right side): See, that is the balcony of a house in that apartment. We can write a note and attach it to any object and throw it there. The people inside the house will hear the noise and come out to the balcony and then they will see the note and give information to the security guard.
Rina: Wow, great. But the apartment seems to be a little far off. Will we be able to throw the note to that distance?
The kids try but they are not able to throw the note that far. Then, Rina notices some children playing in the apartment park as she looks out of the window again. The kids throw the note at them but since the kids have finished playing, they leave the place and the note goes unread. The kids wait for someone to pick up the note but no one else comes there again for a long time. It seems as if the park has some timing restrictions, to the Gang's misfortune.
The kids look out of the window on the left and they notice a deserted ground with overgrown bushes and there is no human movement there. Then, after a long time, one lady comes to pick garbage and the kids act fast and throw the note at the garbage and she picks it up. But she seems to be uneducated and so she doesn't seem to understand what is written. She crushes it but then again opens it and stares at it. The kids get more and more tensed by the minute and to their relief, she gives the note to a man and he walks over to where she found the note and examines the surroundings and reads the note.
Then, he looks up and the kids throw Reshmi's dupatta down the window and wave it. The man gets the clue and alerts the security and the kids are able to get away from the building. They tell the security guard that they came for shopping and that they went to the empty floor by mistake and that someone locked them in.
Security guard: Be careful hereafter, kids. If no one had seen your note, you people should have slept inside the complex only tonight and your parents would have become worried and complained to the police.
The kids, together: Sorry uncle.
As soon as they leave the building, those rogues who had spoken to their teacher a few hours back suddenly come running very fast towards them, they don't know from where.
The kids get extremely scared.
Ajay: Guys, run, fast...
They run as fast as they can and after sometime, they look behind them and they see the men still chasing them. They become more scared and apprehensive and they run even faster.
After some distance, they see an empty shed and they enter it, not knowing what to do. There is a pile of rods there and it looks like a warehouse. They hide behind it, scared and tensed. The men enter the shed but they don't search it thoroughly. They glance inside from the entrance and seeing that there is no one there, they leave that place and continue to run in search of the kids.
Reshmi (in a nervous and perplexed tone): Let's go away from here before they come here again, doubting that we may be here.
The others agree to what she said.
They get up from their hiding place and run as fast as they can in the direction opposite to the one which the men took.
They are interrupted by two of those men who come running to them, totally unexpected by them. The Gang gets scared like anything and they begin to sweat profusely and their hearts begin to beat very fast out of fear.
One of the men (who is short and having a roguish tattoo on his hand): Stop.
Ajay (stuttering): U...u…uncle, we were playing hide and seek at the m...m----------------.
The other man: Who cares what you were playing? Did you see any man with a grey shirt and black pant running this way? He has a thick moustache and thick hair on his head.
Ajay (stopping his sentence short quickly, feeling relieved and at the same time scared thinking what would have happened if he had mentioned the word 'mall' which he was about to say to them): No uncle.
Then, the men begin running again in search of whoever they are after.
After they leave, the kids decide to go to Ajay's house and talk there instead of talking in this place, as they are too scared to talk here, after what they had been through. Ajay's house is near the place where they are present.
Chapter: 10
In Ajay's house...
Ajay's mother, Mrs. Lily comes to them with a tray of juice and laddoos.
Lily: Why are you all sweating like this? It's okay to run and play but you could've sat somewhere and rested and then come, right?
James: We thought we’ll come here and then rest, aunty.
After they talk to her for sometime, they go to Ajay's room and close the door behind them.
Swathi (sitting down on a couch): Oh man, were we in a situation to sit and rest and come as aunty asked?
Rina: Yeah dude, we were not able to stop running till we reached here, right? I won't forget this day, ever. I got so scared. I thought we were about to get into danger.
The others tell her that they became equally scared.
Riya: Ajay, it’s a good thing you didn't specify the word 'mall' to that man. If you had done so, they would have doubted us and even kidnapped us to find out the truth.
James: Yeah, thankfully, he didn't say the word 'mall' to him.
Rina: Yeah, let's not attempt anything like that hereafter without informing at least any one elder about where we are going.
The others agree.]
The next day, at school...
James: Man, what a narrow escape we had yesterday!
The rest agree, shuddering at the memory.
Rina: I wonder what proof Satish sir was talking about.
Riya: Yeah, I am also wondering about the same thing.
Ajay: Do you think he is trying to collect false proof about our Principal? How badly he scolded her that day to us! He didn’t even worry if we would tell her what he said.
Riya: Yeah, maybe. Do you remember another thing? He told us that he has a spy inside the school to prevent the PET teacher from doing anything to help our Principal.
James: Yeah, he wants to take vengeance on Principal ma'am, so obviously he wouldn't want anyone to help her.
After a few days...
The kids have gone to an ice cream parlour opposite to their school to enjoy the weekend.
James: Man, I love the Falooda in this shop.
Reshmi (slurping her tongue): Me too. It's so yummy.
All of them eat colourful faloodas which the shop is famous for
Riya (suddenly become serious): Guys, don't turn your heads immediately after hearing what I am about to say now, but wait till we decide what to do. Principal ma'am is talking something very seriously to Peter sir near the school gate
Rina: So what?
Riya: He is a close friend of Satish sir. I will tell you more later. Reshmi, casually turn and look at them. We five will just pretend to have a conversation.
Reshmi casually turns and looks at them. Then, she turns back towards her friends.
Reshmi: I saw them. Now, they have gone inside. Tell us, Riya. How do you know he is Satish sir's close friend?
Riya: I know very well as he used to be my tuition teacher for one year. Later, they changed the teacher. In the tuition classes, I have noticed him getting frequent calls from Satish sir and talking to him in a very friendly way and sharing many things about his life with him.
Rina: Okay, so there are a lot of chances that he could be the spy.
Riya: Yeah, let's watch him closely from Monday.
From the next day, the kids follow Mr. Peter to find out if he is the spy. They notice him following the Principal.
Chapter: 11
One day...
In dance class...
The children are learning one of the Indian classical dances, Bharathanatiyam.
Ms. Shanthi (their dance teacher): Girls, stand in the Aramandi position and do the first Thattadavu... one, two, three...
Rina, Reshmi, Swathi and Riya have joined the dance class and Ajay and James have joined the keyboard class. There are totally eight extra-curricular classes and the kids can join any one activity of their choice.
Ajay enters the classroom.
Ms. Shanthi: Yes, Ajay. What do you want?
Ajay: Ma'am, can you please allow Rina to come out for a few minutes? She is sick and she forgot to take her tablet.
Ms. Shanthi: Oh, is it? Okay. Rina, go and take your tablet and come back. Or, take rest if you want, today. You can join the class next week. You could've told me that you were sick, right?