Chapter 2: The Dream Detective
CIB Headquarters, Delhi - 8:00 AM
The rain followed Riya Sharma to Delhi. Or maybe Delhi had its own rain, equally persistent but somehow more official. The CIB tower rose like a silver needle against the grey sky, and as Riya stepped through the rotating doors, her new badge felt heavy in her pocket.
"Officer Sharma?" A young man with overly enthusiastic eyes approached her. "I'm Ankit, your assistant. Welcome to the Dream Crime Division!"
Riya forced a smile. "Thank you. I'm eager to get started."
The elevator ride to the 67th floor was silent except for Ankit's nervous humming. When the doors opened, Riya's heart sank. The "Dream Crime Division" consisted of three desks, a malfunctioning coffee machine, and a view of Delhi's smog.
"Small team," she noted.
"Budget cuts," Ankit shrugged. "But we have the best tech! Look."
He gestured to a headset identical to the one Arav used, except this one was white and covered in official CIB stickers. "The Dreamscanner 5000. We can enter any registered citizen's dreams with a court order."
Riya picked up the headset. It felt colder than she expected. "Show me the current cases."
10:15 AM - Case File: Rajesh Mehra
"Billionaire industrialist," Ankit explained, projecting files into the air. "Reported a dream intrusion last night. Said someone stole his financial codes."
Riya's breath caught. Last night. The library. The boy with startled eyes.
"Description of the intruder?" she asked, keeping her voice steady.
Ankit pulled up a sketch based on Mehra's description. Young man, early 20s, dark hair, ordinary features. But the eyes - Mehra had remembered the eyes. Sharp, intelligent, and strangely sad.
"I saw him," Riya said quietly. "In the dream. I was doing a preliminary scan when I noticed an anomaly."
Ankit's eyes widened. "You encountered the hacker? Why didn't you-"
"I didn't know who he was at the time," she interrupted. "I thought he was just a dream construct. But when I made eye contact... he felt real."
She didn't mention the strange pull she'd felt, the curiosity that had made her smile at him instead of sounding the alarm. Some professional instincts she needed to keep to herself.
1:00 PM - The First Lead
While Ankit went to get them lunch, Riya replayed the dream encounter in her mind. The hacker hadn't seemed dangerous. He'd seemed... surprised. Almost as surprised as she was.
Her console beeped. An incoming message from the lab:
"Analysis of Mehra's dream residue complete. Trace amounts of custom neuro-tech detected. Unregistered hardware. High probability of black market origin."
Custom hardware. That meant their thief wasn't using standard equipment. He was smart. Resourceful.
Ankit returned with sandwiches. "Bad news. The higher-ups want results fast. They're threatening to shut us down in three months if we don't catch this guy."
Riya took a sandwich she didn't want. "Then we'd better work fast."
3:30 PM - The Pattern
It took Riya two hours to find it. Cross-referencing dream intrusion reports with financial anomalies. Small amounts at first, then growing bolder. Always targeting wealthy individuals with poor dream security.
"Our thief is learning," she told Ankit. "Getting better with each job."
"Like he's practicing for something bigger," Ankit added.
Exactly. But what? And for whom?
6:00 PM - The Personal Connection
Riya was about to leave when her personal comm buzzed. It was her mother.
"Beta, did you eat? How was your first day?"
Riya smiled despite her exhaustion. "It was good, Ma. Interesting cases."
"Be careful with those dream machines, haan? I read they can damage your brain."
"Don't worry, Ma. I'm being careful."
But as she ended the call, Riya wondered if her mother was right. There was something about dream walking that felt... intimate. Dangerous. You saw parts of people they didn't even know they were showing.
8:00 PM - Her Apartment
Riya lived in a small but neat apartment overlooking Delhi's old city. She changed out of her uniform, made tea, and stared at the holographic sketch of the dream thief.
Who are you? she wondered. And why are you doing this?
She thought of her father, a honest policeman who'd been killed in the line of duty when she was twelve. He'd believed in justice, but also in redemption. What would he have made of this boy thief?
Her console beeped with a new alert. Another dream intrusion reported. Same pattern. Same description of the intruder.
He was working again tonight. Bold, or desperate?
Riya made a decision. She wouldn't wait for court orders or bureaucratic permission. Next time he struck, she would be waiting. Not as Officer Sharma of the CIB, but as Riya, the girl who believed even thieves might have reasons.
And maybe, just maybe, she'd get answers to the questions that had been bothering her since that library dream.
Why had he looked so familiar? And why, when their eyes met, had she felt like she was looking at a reflection?