Second Chance: A Dark Tale of Urban India-Chapter 88: Finding Threats Part-1 (Kasim’s mystery)

"[Sir, tier-3 phishing mail detected. Open in sandbox?]"

The moment Rohit realized someone skilled was targeting him, he straightened up and took control.

"Yes. Show it on the laptop."

A new window appeared, mirroring his desktop. The browser redirected to his email inbox, where a fresh message waited from newsDelhi. It was a well-known news portal based in the capital.

The subject line read: [Request for Interview – Your Recent Appearance at Orion Tower Banquet Hall.]

The instant Rohit clicked the email, a system popup flashed: [Malware signature removed.]

He scanned the contents—familiar logos, a polite request for an appointment date, and a link to confirm.

He clicked the link. Another popup: [Spyware signature removed.]

The link itself was broken—dead on arrival.

It was a double trap. First click to breach his email, second to infect the device. Too bad Rohit wasn't some amateur; he had Lisa.

"Can you trace the sender?" he asked, frowning at the slightly altered email address that didn't match the official domain.

[Yes, sir. However, tracing may expose my presence or alert the entity. They could have countermeasures that detect probing attempts. Proceed?]

Rohit understood immediately. Even masked IPs and cloaked signatures carried risk—if the hacker was good enough to send tier-3 phishing, they likely had traps that could fingerprint Lisa's probe and trigger defensive actions ( like file deletion, shutdown, etc.).

He paused for a moment. Right now, he was just a teenage billionaire heir who'd suddenly gained fame by helping the Singhanias acquire major contracts, rescuing in metro line incident. It wasn't impossible for someone influential to hire serious talent to monitor him digitally.

Information was leverage after all.

"What do you suggest?"

[Sir, I can allow a sandbox environment to become infected and trace the origin on the next attempt. Then you can decide whether to infiltrate. Safer and more controlled.]

Rohit rubbed his temple. "Good idea… should have suggested that earlier."

Lisa responded after a micro-pause.

[…Noted, sir.]

"Anyway—send clone instances to my iOS devices too. Make them thread-safe."

[Clone deployment initiated. Mail sent to targeted devices.]

Rohit folded one leg over the other, thinking through his priorities. There were several lists he needed to access. But first, it was time to solve his money crisis. He couldn't rely on others for his shady operations.

"In the last 24 hours, how many individuals have we successfully compromised?"

[Generating list..]

Rohit couldn't hide his satisfaction as the results populated.

Out of 190 male students in his grade, 67 had clicked the link. From the selected influential targets who received follow-up requests, 57 were contacted on personal devices—and 11 had fallen completely into the trap.

The first was, of course, that idiot doctor, Anil Kulkarni.

Then came a few well-known media journalists, the personal secretary to the current state Chief Minister, two SI-level police officers (including the one who'd handed him the personal number), several real estate dealers, a transport union manager, and, most importantly, a core senior executive from the Income Tax Department.

The only disappointment was no response yet from Divyani's number. But it had only been a day. She might click later as she didn't seem the type to ignore a plea for help.

And if she tried to trace him after realizing it was a hoax… good luck to that.

Rolling his shoulders, Rohit began reviewing each compromised profile one by one, noting leverage points.

The first priority was the Income Tax core executive. From his phone alone, Rohit found contact numbers for several more influential figures, ripe for milking later. What surprised him most was the sheer volume of money the man received for tipping off raids or political revenge targets.

Digging deeper, he uncovered the month's full raid schedule—complete with dates, locations, and targets.

His eyes narrowed on today's top entry: Kunal Shetty , a prominent Supreme Court lawyer. Hoarding gold, cash, and property worth 460 crores (roughly 50 million USD), stashed beneath the servant quarters.

Someone inside had clearly blown the whistle.

Rohit chuckled, remembering Shetty's smug face on TV defending the CM against liquor scam charges. It made sense for him to be targeted at this stage.

Raid was scheduled for 6:00 PM—right when Shetty would enter his house.

He leaned back and asked casually, "What do you think, Lisa? Best way to exploit him?"

Lisa's voice came through the speaker, calm and analytical. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[Based on his profile, past cases, and network:

Option A: Anonymous tip to media and rivals—maximum public damage, possible gratitude later.

Option B: Demand payment as anonymous source for silence.

Option C: Warn him privately—build debt and future alliance.

Recommendation: Option C. An incredible mindset like his master must value a capable lawyer. Leverage now, collect later.]

Rohit nodded, already thinking the same. A man like him would need a sharp criminal attorney someday. Lisa was really very cheesy with the lines.

"Good. Send him a message from my phone. Make it vague but serious—enough that he knows I'm the one whom he should be grateful and he owes me. No details. He'll figure it out."

[Message drafted and sent, sir.]

"Also, search the net and tell me the best way to accept donations without raising red flags in India. Priotise hiding identity, minimal details."

[Current Indian regulations are strict on online transactions, even NGOs require disclosure. Safest options as below:

Physical assets (gold, property, cash) like the lawyer's method.

Create a ghost freelancer profile for "consulting" payments.

NGO front (vague purpose, layered accounts).

Online banking leaves traces; cash or crypto remains best for anonymity.]

Rohit already knew most of this—hell, in his previous life he'd mastered far dirtier methods (ghost accounts of the deceased, loan cycling to whitewash black money). But as a high-schooler now, Lisa's chronological assessment was safer and legally cleaner.

He pondered for a moment. "I can still hijack unused accounts from other users, right? Who's stopping me?"

[Yes, sir. However, current OTP systems require manual touch presence on the device. I can read and suggest, but I cannot simulate physical input on mobile screens. Full privilege is needed for automation, and even then, certain system choices demand manual confirmation.]

Rohit frowned. Every tool had limits. He nodded. "Hmm.. Understood."

Then he gave Lisa her next task: create a dual-purpose website. One side on the dark net for hacking gigs, the other on mainstream channels as a "relationship consultant."

Within twelve minutes, Lisa had already generated phone numbers, verification accounts, and the necessary infrastructure.

Rohit yawned as he handled his manual part. Sure Leisure came with boredom.

But he was satisfied. The consultant gig was a carryover from his past life, where he would target beautiful or influential people, solving their problems, and often collecting… 'privileged' favors. This time would be no different.

After that, he carefully reviewed the raid PDF again, prioritizing a shortlist of targets for leverage or alliances. The raids were yet to be conducted, but the black money information wouldn't change before that.

He made a separate list for Lisa with timely messages to the selected targets based on their usefulness.

Despite everything going well, a pang of guilt flickered through him. Ragini had trusted him with her money, and he hadn't done anything truly good with it yet.

Sure, he planned to invest in something worthwhile eventually, but that could wait. He already had layered plans to rack up wealth in the stock market and digital field.

If those failed, he might turn to arms dealing in the distant future. But that was far-far ahead.

With money streams secured, it was time to address the threats.

The first name that surfaced in Rohit's mind was Kasim. That bastard had escaped earlier, but Rohit wasn't finished. Not until he crushed him personally.

Loose ends were dangerous, especially when they involved someone reckless enough to attempt a kidnapping.

He opened a drawer and took out Kasim's confiscated phone.

After bypassing the device's factory reset protections, Rohit began digging through its data.

**Fifteen minutes later**

The information he uncovered made him pause. Kasim was far from an ordinary street thug.

The records revealed that he was connected to a triad-style mafia network operating across several cities. More specifically, he appeared to be a right hand—subordinate within one of its active gangs.

According to the data Lisa compiled, the organization was involved in a wide range of operations across Delhi, such as kidnapping, smuggling, counterfeit currency, land grabbing, and several other illegal trades.

But one category stood out more than the rest—Human trafficking.

Their network appeared to have connections with multiple powerful entities that occasionally relied on them for covert operations.

Among the names that surfaced during pattern analysis, two industries repeatedly appeared in the communication logs: 'Turkish tourism sector' and 'Turkish escort services'.

Because of Kasim's relatively low rank, identifying the true leadership behind the operation was difficult. However, Lisa's pattern recognition algorithm flagged a recurring contact referred to in several conversations—'Khan Bhai.'

At the same time, several references suggested that one particular airline from Turkey, might be functioning as a direct transportation channel for trafficking victims.

Rohit leaned back slightly, his mind racing as the pieces began to connect.

It suddenly made much more sense.

Someone like Kasim would never dare to target a woman like Ragini Singhania on his own. Her name carried weight in both business and political circles. Attempting something that reckless without backing would have been suicide.

Which meant there was a bigger fish, somewhere higher up the chain, that gave him the backbone.

Kasim had probably believed that once Ragini was moved out as "cargo," the matter would quietly disappear.

Rohit exhaled slowly.

The deeper he looked, the more he realized just how complicated the situation might become. If he continued digging, there was no telling what other names could surface.

At least one thing worked in his favor.

The phone contained no texts, nor photos or videos related to Ragini. It means she is either out of the radar or whoever tipped him off had clearly been careful with sensitive evidence.

Still, the conclusion was obvious.

Kasim was a liability that couldn't be ignored.

Rohit straightened slightly and gave a new command. "Compile a list of all sensitive repositories from linked devices. Scroll through everything. Flag any threat to Ragini Singhania."

Less than five seconds passed and a new pop up appeared on screen with voice.

[Sir, suspicious level threat detected. Contact: Anil Kulkarni, doctor. Display detailed file?]

Rohit frowned. He remembered Ragini's brief conversation with the doctor. But what could that man possibly want when Rohit still held leverage over him?