The Way to Dehradun. A detective adventure story. Tatiana Sokoloff

ody>

      The Way to Dehradun

      A detective adventure story

      Tatiana Sokoloff

      © Tatiana Sokoloff, 2025

      ISBN 978-5-0065-3750-7

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      To the reader

      All events and characters in this work are fictional, any coincidence of names and events with real ones is an accident.

Author

      Chapter One

      Yana woke up to the sound of the alarm clock, stretched slowly and looked out the window. Outside, it was a sunny spring morning. “How quickly everything blossomed, just two days ago there was no sign of any greenery, and now it’s just like in the fairy tale ‘Twelve Months’ – the grass is green, the sun is shining.”

      After taking a shower, quickly getting ready and taking a sip of aromatic coffee before leaving, she booked a car-sharing car and drove to the office.

      The office of the medical tourism company was located on the territory of a former factory, which is now turned into a business center. Yana ran into her office.

      – Hello everyone, Oksana Fyodorovna, please come to my place.

      Little, brisk Oksana Fyodorovna followed Yana.

      – What do we have with the patient for treatment in India? When is his flight time?

      – Roman Petritsky flew to India today at 6 o’clock in the morning. Our partners should meet him in Delhi. The treatment program and all the additional services have satisfied him, don’t worry, everything should go well.

      – Great, keep me posted.

      Yana sat down to answer numerous emails, she usually answered emails within an hour, and then did not get distracted and dealt with more serious issues. Yana constantly sought to increase her efficiency in her work, because time management is not everything, you need to properly distribute your energy and attention.

      The time until noon flew by quickly, and at two o’clock a business lunch was scheduled with Swiss partners at the famous Vanilla restaurant. Yana met with old partners – a famous plastic surgeon and his assistant – and planned some new marketing moves to attract patients, had a delicious meal, and after saying goodbye, Yana returned to the office.

      After conducting three job interviews for new managers in the company, upset that again she did not find a suitable candidate, Yana went to a fitness club for a pilates workout. Yana loved fitness, at 35 she looked beautiful, fit and younger than her years. She tried to practice as much as possible every day, but at least three times a week. Yana also liked to meditate. She knew different meditation techniques, and they helped her concentrate and not get caught up in the fuss.

      The company, which was owned by Yana Goncharova, existed for 5 years. During this time, a lot was done, her agency worked with the whole world, managers could organize treatment in different countries for almost all pathologies. But Yana constantly expanded the portfolio of her partner clinics, and also tried to find out current trends and study all the latest treatment methods and innovations.

      Returning home, Yana immersed herself in reading another business book, until she heard the insistent ringing of her mobile phone.

      “There’s no peace even in the evening,” Yana thought irritably.

      A partner from India called. He said that the patient Roman Petritsky could not be met at the airport, because the greeter got into a traffic jam and was late, and the patient still did not arrive at the hotel and does not answer mobile phone calls.

      “Oh my God,” Yana thought, “That’s the last thing I need!”.

      She dialed Oksana Fyodorovna ‘s number.

      – Good evening, but not at all kind – our patient still hasn’t checked into a hotel in India and isn’t answering his phone. Please give me his phone number.

      Chapter Two

      Roman Petritsky first flew to India. The Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi was very large and beautiful, and what surprised Roman the most was its almost sterile cleanliness, as he had been warned to be prepared for unsanitary conditions on the streets. He passed through passport control quickly enough, however, he could not take fingerprints in any way, for some reason they were not readable, but on the third attempt he succeeded, and he went into the luggage compartment. After getting a suitcase and changing some currency for the first case to Indian rupees, he went to the reception area. No one was holding the sign with his name on it, so after waiting for about fifteen minutes, he decided to find a car with a driver who could take him to Dehradun city, and then deal with the company why no one met him. Going out into the street, he asked a Hindu standing there:

      – I need to go to Dehradun city to hotel Central Palace, – and showed him the hotel voucher with the address.

      The Hindu thought for a moment, then muttered:

      – OK, I will help you.

      Three minutes later, he brought a young boy to Roman, who said:

      – Will you go to Dehradun for 200 dollars?

      Roman agreed, the weather was hot, and he wanted to get to the hotel by the evening.

      The car turned out to be quite cool, Indian-made, Mahindra Thar, which very much resembled a Jeep Wrangler.

      The guy sat down on the seat next to the driver. There was also a young, sporty-looking, rather good-looking European-looking man in the backseat, wearing a baseball cap pulled down over his forehead and dark glasses, but he completely ignored Roman, did not seek to communicate.

      Roman didn’t get much sleep, because the flight was early in the morning, and he didn’t get much sleep on the plane either, because there was a woman sitting next to him with a crying baby. Roman dozed off and soon fell into a deep sleep. He had a nightmare, as if he was walking in the desert and was being sucked into a sand crater. He screams, but there’s no one around, and he sinks deeper. He awoke with horror and realized that he had been on the road for more than four hours.

      – How far to Dehradun?

      The kid mumbled.

      – Don’t worry, only one hour.

      Roman began to look at the road outside the window, passing small buildings, shops. Stray very thin cows were often seen right on the road. Motorists carefully drove around them, because in India the cow is a sacred animal.

      There were also incredibly thin dogs, apparently some kind of purely Indian breed. And there were people everywhere, shouting, gesturing, cooking street food.

      In general, life was booming and boiling.

      Meanwhile, it was getting dark. The European-looking guy was napping and never tried to make contact with Roman.

      Soon the car pulled up in front of a long, one-story building. The kid suggested to go out for a bite to eat and to stretch our legs. Roman followed the young Indian man into the house. The atmosphere here was quite ascetic, Roman was invited to enter the guest room. He found himself in a small room with a table, a chair, and a small cot. And then, suddenly, the door closed. At first, Roman did not realize that he was in danger, but after just two minutes, he remembered his dream.

      “That was a warning,” he thought.

      Roman started banging on the door and shouting in Russian:

      “Open it now, you won’t get away with it! I will contact the Russian Embassy!”

      But no one responded. Roman realized that he was trapped.

      The should have be done something, but what?

      His cell phone was dead, and the charger was left in his bag in the car.

      “Calm down, the main thing is to keep calm,”