Mission Superstar_A Romance set in India Read online

  “Hmm… I didn’t think it made any difference to you, DJ.”

  “It doesn’t,” he said irritably, even though it made a lot of difference.

  How could he possibly work with someone he was not just fascinated with but even terribly attracted to? And the fact that the recipient of his unusual fascination barely noticed his existence—unlike the millions of star-struck women and also men—made it even harder to think of her in a professional manner.

  Dhruv also knew that it was his problem, not Shilpa Dasani’s that he felt that way.

  “You should have mentioned it to me,” he grumbled.

  “Next time, I will. And I would have, had you not run off to the Caribbean cruise without informing anyone.”

  Dhruv knew it rankled Neeru that even though she was his manager, she had no clue when and where he went off to sometimes to get recharged after he wrapped up shooting a movie.

  “It wasn’t just you, DJ. When the Home Office sent us a woman officer’s picture among the shortlisted profiles, I was surprised, too,” Neeru said in an amused tone.

  During his decade-long career, Dhruv had met many high-profile politicians. He had even campaigned alongside a few whom he believed would do good for the government. He was passionate about politics and felt it was his duty to know who and what kind of people ran their country.

  During one such meeting while his last movie was being screened at the President’s house, he had mentioned casually to a few politicians about wanting to get a list of the best young police officers under the age of thirty who have worked on cases related to drugs and taken on the drugs Mafia.

  He had told them it was for his upcoming movie. But he hadn’t told any of them that he wanted to get a mentorship from one of those officers because it could possibly influence the outcome of what profiles would be sent. He had only wanted the profiles based on the work those officers did rather than whether or not they were mentorship material.

  But Neeru had known his intention all along, and he had left her specific instructions on what had to be done as a follow-up. So then, why the hell had she picked Shilpa Dasani’s profile? And when Neeru had told him the long list of things that ‘Officer Dasani’ had done, he simply asked her to go ahead and confirm.

  Neeru’s husky laughter interrupted Dhruv’s thoughts. “I’ve seen the picture of Shilpa Dasani. Pretty gal,” she said.

  Silence followed that statement. Dhruv now understood why Neeru had set him up with a female officer. And a beautiful female officer at that. Neeru was indeed a wily fox.

  Lately, he had been refusing to go out on publicity dates. Neeru had been at her wits end asking him repeatedly as she was being pressured by people in the industry to help many female celebrities. Because being seen with him was an instant ticket to an A-list celebrity status. But Dhruv wasn’t interested enough.

  “Any way. How was your first day, DJ? Did Shilpa Dasani bore you by playing the star-struck fan instead of a mentor?”

  That question pulled Dhruv out of his thoughts. Shilpa Dasani was hardly the type to be star-struck. Far from it. And Dhruv also knew Neeru never did anything without thoroughly checking all the facts.

  “Neeru. If you are planning some devious scandal—”

  “I’m not!” Neeru’s voice sounded hurt. DJ had known her for nearly twenty five years to know she was faking the hurt. Neeru was his mother’s agent before she took him as her client. He had seen how she worked with his mother.

  So, he knew that the likelihood of Neeru picking a female officer to drum up some scandal and drama before his upcoming movie was released was very high.

  There was a dramatic sigh from Neeru. “So you are not happy with her?” she asked. “You want me to reassign you to someone else? A male officer maybe? Someone who won’t… uh… disturb you so much?”

  At this point, Shilpa Dasani didn’t disturb him per se, but she did catch him off-balance. However, Dhruv was never the one to back away from a challenge, and he was already damn intrigued by the officer to cut short this assignment.

  “No. It’s fine,” he replied.

  He could almost imagine Neeru’s devious grin as she cackled on the other end of the call. “Well, then. That’s settled. See you soon, DJ. And have fun, my boy! Muah! Muah!”

  Dhruv shook his head and ended the call. He sighed, and then he looked into the rearview mirror. “How far is the place, Viren?” he asked.

  “Thirty more minutes in this traffic, DJ,” Viren replied.

  “Have you settled in your apartment?”

  “Yes. It’s a couple of floors down from your penthouse. But the access is not that hard. And Shiv has coordinated all the changes you requested in the penthouse as well.”

  “Good.”

  Viren and Shiv were ex-military and had been Dhruv’s personal bodyguards for the past seven years. They were always close by and in the shadows. People who were in Dhruv’s inner circle knew of them, but he preferred to have them close by only when he was in the public and crowds.

  Soon, the heavily-tinted car that Dhruv had hired for the two months along with three others, stopped at an underground parking garage of a high-rise apartment complex. Viren led him towards a private lift which only opened with the swipe of a key card.

  They went up the lift, and when it stopped, the doors opened inside the penthouse. The place looked much better after the suggestions that Dhruv made were implemented.

  “Should Shiv and I wait for you downstairs in thirty minutes?” Viren asked.

  “No. My dinner plans have been canceled.” Dhruv was still surprised by the fact. He has never been turned down.

  “Would you like to join us for dinner or do you want me to order in for you?” Viren asked.

  Whenever possible, Dhruv joined Viren and Shiv during their meals. But right then, he was too tired after the long flight he had taken the previous day. “You guys go ahead. I’m going to fix something simple for myself and go to bed.”

  “All right. What time tomorrow?” Viren asked as he stepped back into the lift to take him down to the parking lot.

  “We’ll leave at eight.”

  As soon as Dhruv shut the door, he smiled remembering Shilpa Dasani’s warning about sticking to a strict schedule. And despite the long interrogation, Dhruv had thoroughly enjoyed observing Shilpa Dasani as she systematically picked apart the man in custody.

  Dhruv took a quick shower before heading towards the kitchen. He pulled out a tray of eggs and some basic ingredients to fix an omelet. As he cooked, he smiled again while recalling how Shilpa Dasani had ordered biryani and beer for the man in the middle of the interrogation.

  “What do you want for lunch, Pathak? Let’s order biryani. There’s an awesome place next to the station that makes the best biryani.” She called someone on the phone. “Two orders of biryani and…” She looked at the criminal. “Beer?” she asked. “Goes well with biryani. I can’t drink since I’m on duty. But you can have one.”

  Dhruv was alternately amused and impressed by her tactics. And the fact that she did all that in her knock-out clothes being completely at ease made his fascination grow further.

  While he ate his dinner, Dhruv realized he no longer felt jet-lagged and the usual feeling of boredom that had been persisting lately was also gone. In fact, he felt invigorated and couldn’t wait to begin the next day.

  Chapter 7

  “Have you seen the movie where DJ plays the father to a terminally-ill child? My God! I was so moved and upset for nearly a week or maybe even longer. Each time I saw my children, I hugged them tightly and cried.” That information was relayed by one of the senior officers well-known for his brutal methods of investigation.

  Now that everyone knew that Dhruv Jagannath would be working with Shilpa, a group had invaded her office and stood around her desk while they discussed the hot, current topic of their favorite movie star.

  “What about the role DJ played in the political thriller?” a female officer asked. “I’ve
never been obsessed about politics until I watched that movie. DJ ensured all his fans do their patriotic duty and not only just vote but be involved in who is running the government.”

  There were murmurs of agreement.

  “I personally like the movie where he played a slave,” said a head constable. They all talked passionately about a historical movie where the aforementioned slave led the uprising to stop the tyranny of a cruel king.

  “DJ had to go through a strict diet for that movie.”

  “Of course. Don’t you recall how he looked in that movie? A born warrior.”

  “I like his current toned-muscle form better than those bulky muscles.”

  “True. I can’t wait to take pictures and videos with him!”

  “Do you think he’ll ask one of us to act with him in a scene or two? If it’s a police movie, then there’s got to be other side or guest-appearance policemen roles.” The murmurs grew louder with excitement.

  Shilpa had heard enough. “All right, team,” she said. “I know we have a movie star joining us for a while. But—”

  “Not us. Just you,” a female officer added unhelpfully.

  “Okay fine. He’ll be joining me for a month or two. I want to let everyone know that we are not allowed to take any pictures or videos with him.”

  “What about movie roles?”

  Shilpa had no damn clue. “I’m assuming that’s not allowed either.”

  “No. We all know how DJ is. He will definitely allow it. It must be his team who is trying to be over-protective of him.”

  “I don’t think—” Shilpa couldn’t finish because of a shrill shriek which was followed by several shouts.

  Before Shilpa could react thinking they were under attack, she realized those were excited shrieks.

  “He’s here! DJ’s here! It’s him! He came in the same car as yesterday!”

  The men stood up straight, puffing their chests out. And the women… Shilpa frowned as she noticed the makeup on the policewomen. Not too much, but decidedly visible lipsticks and eye makeup.

  The fact that these policemen and policewomen caused a holy terror among criminals were currently behaving like teens and crushing over a movie star amused Shilpa.

  Shilpa was still smiling when Dhruv Jagannath entered her crowded room and caught the tail end of her smile. He stilled. His lips broke into a slow, lazy smile that caused a flutter in her stomach.

  That made Shilpa’s smile disappear, and a frown took over. Must be the skipped breakfast that was causing the strange flutter, she reasoned.

  A hush fell over what now seemed to be a crowd inside her office. Everyone was watching the movie star with bated breath as though whatever he would say would be life altering.

  “Good morning, everyone.”

  Those simple words of greeting caused an excited ruckus when everyone began to speak or rather shout at once.

  “We are honored that you chose to work with us, DJ.”

  “If you need help from us, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “I loved your last movie, DJ. But I’m sure this movie will be even better.”

  Dhruv Jagannath smiled. “Thank you,” he said. “I wish I could chat. But as you all know, Officer Dasani is a stickler for time. I don’t want to be late for the class.”

  Everyone burst out in giggles and chuckles like it was the funniest joke. Shilpa didn’t find it all that funny. And then, without being told, they rushed out of the room, leaving Shilpa and the movie star alone in her office.

  Shilpa’s frown turned into a scowl.

  Dhruv Jagannath was directing all his attention on her with a charming smile. “I hope I’m on time. Where are we headed today?”

  “We are not headed anywhere, Mr. Jagannath. But I’ll have to leave for fieldwork in a few minutes. Meantime, you can go through these files.” She indicated to the files that sat on the desk in between them. There were quite a lot of them to keep the man busy for the entire duration of their contract.

  Of course, Shilpa knew it was against the contract since she was required to take him along to some of the field assignments. But she somehow felt that his legal team must have drawn up his papers, and he wasn’t aware of that clause. And even if he were, he wouldn’t willingly risk being in danger when an alternate, safer option was available.

  “These are some of the high-profile cases our team has worked on. If you need more details, you can ask anyone in this station for help.”

  A masculine eyebrow rose at her instructions. “My team is quite efficient, Officer Dasani,” he drawled. “I believe you must have received the contract ahead of my arrival.”

  “Yes. I did.”

  “Then you must know that I prefer to watch live action than read about it.”

  “Mr. Jagannath—”

  “DJ.”

  Ignoring his request, Shilpa continued. “Fieldwork in my line is quite dangerous. And I believe there is a lot of money riding on your safety and well-being. In several hundreds if not thousands of crores apparently.” Shilpa had gotten that little nugget during the gushing session earlier.

  The crooked smile increased. “Thank you for your concern about my well-being, Officer Dasani. That’s quite a surprise.” His eyes swept her scowling face. “For some reason, I felt you didn’t like me much.”

  “I don’t know you,” she snapped. Then pulling herself together, she continued. “Whether or not I like you is not the issue here. I prefer if you don’t join me in my fieldwork. And if you really insist on working with me, then we can go through the case files during my spare time.”

  Before he could argue, she got up from her chair and put on her sunglasses. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have urgent work to attend to.”

  She swept out of the room and shut the door behind her. She almost crashed into a crowd who were waiting outside. They were watching her with eager faces.

  “Don’t disturb Mr. Jagannath. He’ll be busy in that room during the upcoming weeks.” With that, she asked the vehicle to be readied before stepping out of the station.

  Chapter 8

  Shilpa had barely reached her destination when she received a call from the Commissioner.

  “Shilpa. Where are you?”

  “I’m almost at the location Vinay Pathak had mentioned. I’m going to check the spots to plant the cameras.”

  There was a pause. “Shilpa, I appreciate the dedication you have towards your work. But maybe I haven’t made it very clear on how critical Mission Superstar is for our department.”

  Shilpa frowned. “Sir, I—”

  The Commissioner cut her off and continued. “It’s critical to not only to our department but the entire police force,” he said.

  Shilpa found that statement ridiculous, but the Commissioner’s next words gave her a pause.

  “You know our department has been receiving bad publicity lately,” he continued. “The common man thinks we don’t do much for them. It’s the movies and people like DJ who can help influence and let the people know how hard we work and what we do to protect the public.”

  “But sir—”

  “DJ wants to work with you, Shilpa. He should have been with you right now.”

  “Sir, I gave him the case files along with some videos of interrogation.”

  “That’s not what Mission Superstar is about.” The Commissioner’s voice sounded disappointed.

  “Sir, there might be danger. He is not trained—”

  “You can judge what field work is dangerous and what isn’t. I’m disappointed that you didn’t take him along today. The Home Office is excited to show off to him what we all do on a daily basis.”

  “Sir, I—”

  “Pick him up every morning until the contract ends. And the Home Office had ordered me to check with DJ at the end of each week on how the mission is proceeding.”

  Shilpa breathed through her annoyance. “Yes, sir.”

  Mission Superstar was going to be a pain in the rear end. Shilpa had to do so
mething soon for it not to impede her job.

  “Madam Sir, we are almost there.”

  That pulled Shilpa out from her annoyance and brought her back to the task on hand.

  “Don’t stop in front of the warehouse,” Shilpa instructed. “Stop around four hundred feet away. I’ll get down there. Satish, Kiran, you both come with me while Subash and Raju stay in the vehicle casing the place.”

  Getting out the vehicle, Shilpa felt her gun holster before walking towards the warehouse. The wind flapped her long, black tunic. She usually wore comfortable, loose, dark-colored tunics during field assignments. Even though her hair was tied back in a ponytail, wisps of it covered her face.

  “Let’s take the back entrance,” she ordered the men.

  The inside of the warehouse confirmed that it was not a functional one. Dust and cobwebs covered most of the area. Shilpa had no way to confirm whether or not Vinay Pathak was giving them the right information. But taking chances, she still wanted to prepare this place for a bust.

  “Take pictures and video of this place. We’ll work with the tech team to confirm which spots would be ideal.”

  While Shilpa joined her team in clicking pictures of the place, another idea slowly took root in her mind.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, Shilpa drove towards the luxury apartments where Dhruv Jagannath’s penthouse was located.

  It irritated her to no end that she would have him as her tail that day while she went about her job. She called Ma while she waited for his highness in the underground parking lot.

  She was just about to finish her call when the door to her SUV opened and let in the superstar along with a whiff of subtle and most-likely expensive cologne. She again felt the light fluttering in her stomach at the smell and his presence, irritating her even more.

  “Okay, Ma. I’ll see you tonight for dinner,” she said, wrapping up the call.

  She really had to grab a good breakfast to get rid of the damn fluttering. She turned towards him.