Authors: Aditya Mewati
Karthik tried messaging Jane. When she didn’t reply, he tried calling her. She didn’t return his call. Feeling dejected, Karthik slouched on the sofa and Blankly stared at his phone. He then threw the phone away and decided to take some rest. As he rested, the day drew around him.
It was late afternoon when Karthik got up. He picked up his cellphone from the floor and saw that he had received seven miscalls from Piper. He checked his Inbox and found a message from Piper. The message was about their meeting location and time. The place was not far away from his apartment.
He got ready and left his apartment around a quarter past six. As he got down the stairs, his cellphone again rang. It was an another message from the car company. It was about his car, which he had had sent off to the repair shop. The message said that they have repaired his car and also said that the car will be delivered to him by eight ‘O clock.
Karthik walked through the crowded plaza in front of a restaurant. The plaza was filled with small rounded tables and was accompanied by the decorative lights, hanging above them. It was actually an outdoor restaurant, which allowed its customers to enjoy the scenic view of the beach and the cool sea-breeze.
He walked briskly, his eyes sweeping from one table to another. It was very difficult for him to make out the faces in the twilight. But he kept on searching. He was about to pull out his cellphone when his eyes caught Lilly waving at him. He waved back and went over to the table.
He sat in the chair next to Piper, who flashed him a rather feeble smile.
"It's a nice place," said Karthik, gazing at the seashore. He could easily hear the roar of the surf splashing against the sand and rocks. It came to him that this was the place where he and Piper had their first date. A warm feeling emanated in his stomach.
"Piper suggested this place," said Lilly.
Of course she did, Karthik thought hysterically. But somehow he managed to control his laughter.
Karthik first wondered why did she select this place. Was this because he she wanted to remind him what had happened that day? How badly had he pissed her off or she actually wanted to remind him that they actually had something growing between them? He decided to go with the second option.
"What's going on with you?" said Lilly studying him.
He realized that he was actually laughing. "Nothing," he said, "Just remembered an old joke." He actually did remember the old joke. The incident which had happened between Piper and him was damn funny. At, least it was funny for him.
Lilly kept suspiciously staring at him. "Old joke? I would love to hear it," she said sarcastically.
Karthik stared at Piper for help.
"Uh," Piper said quickly, "What are our further plans?"
"Not here," Jack said, "First we will eat and then will have a little walk along the beach."
They peacefully ate their dinner. By the time they had finished the sky had already turned dark.
They walked barefoot along the shoreline in the darkness. The sand felt warm and coarse against their toe. The cold surf kept splashing against their feet. After fifteen minutes of walk, they stopped and sat on the beach.
"So," Jack said, "You wanted to know the further plans, right?"
They all just kept staring at him.
"I'll take that as a yes," Jack said, "Karthik, you remember that guy I was talking to during our trip to Pyramids? Yeah, that guy. He was my friend from the C.I.A. He told me that they are conducting some kind of tests in Kashmir and I searched about the new labs set up in Kashmir and found twenty-one labs."
"As far as I know," Karthik said, "They don't allow installments of business of the company which is from outside of Kashmir."
"You are right, but they do allow installments of scientific research facilities," Jack said.
“So what are you proposing?” Karthik said.
“Let’s go and check them.”
"Okay, so you mean we should go in Kashmir and check each of the twenty-one facilities?" Piper asked Jack.
"Yes, That's right," Jack told Piper.
“That will take lots of time,” Piper said, “Kashmir is a big place.”
“But we have to do it. And we are not going to search alone. More teams from U.K will help us. I know what you guys are thinking that it will be a risk...a big waste of time, but, believe me, guys it’s a risk worth taking. ”
“But if we know what they are planning,” Karthik said, “then why even bother to go around and check out their lab?”
Jack exhaled. “Listen—”
“I’m in,” Lilly said and looked at Piper.
"Me, too,” Piper said, “ When are we leaving?" She added hastily.
"Tomorrow morning," Jack said.
“Tomorrow morning! You’re kidding, right?” Piper said.
“No, I’m not. Looking at the present situation, I think we should act quickly as possible. Our enemies are already one step ahead of us.”
The line “Tomorrow morning” reminded Karthik of something really important. Something that he must have told them at the beginning of the meeting.
"Guys," he said timidly, "I forgot to tell you something,"
"What is it?" Lilly asked.
"Uh-I've been summoned for an interrogation," Karthik said.
"What?"
"Really! You are joking, right?"
"Oh, no."
"And the worst part is," Karthik went on, "Carl Hancock is going to interrogate me."
The Jeep bobbed on the rugged road. Canopy of thick green leaves rose on both the sides of the road. Gun Katz sat on the passenger seat, smoking a cigar and staring at the stars studded sky. Just a few hours ago he had talked face to face with Dr. Sharif and had threatened him. He enjoyed threatening people.
Now, he turned to driver, let out a small cloud of smoke and said, “How far is it?”
“We are almost there, Supreme-leader,” the driver said staring at the reflection of Gun Katz on the rear view mirror. Gun Katz nodded and returned his gaze at the stars.
The Jeep sped through a wooden bridge that hung over a murky lake. The jeep slowed down. Gun Katz peered out and saw that the road was barricaded by two huge iron gates. Four men stood sentinel with their automatic rifle and two dogs. One of them walked toward the jeep with a torch in his hand.
He aimed the torch at the driver and said something in Indonesian. The driver replied him and gestured behind on the passenger seat. The guard pointed the light on the face of Gun Katz and gasped. He quickly ran back and shouted. “Supreme-Leader! Open the gates!”
The driver revved the engine and the Jeep raced forward. The road curved and a colossal bubble of light came into to view. Suddenly, Gun Katz sat straight on his seat. They came to another gate. A huge building made up of corrugated iron plate was visible through the gate. They passed through the last security check and came across a huge door.
The driver got out of the Jeep and opened the passenger door. Gun Katz walked out of the car and gazed at the huge structure that loomed over him.
“So, this is where they are making it?” He asked the driver.
The driver nodded. “This way, sir.” He gestured at the huge door. Another guard stood in front of it. He saluted Gun Katz and opened the door. The structure was almost empty from inside, except for some computers and a big complex looking cylinder and twelve capsules around it. Lots of cables and wires snaked out of capsules. Seven engineers were working on it.
He admiringly stared at the cylinder for few seconds, and a thought came to his mind. “Will this thing work the way I want it to work?” He asked, his voice echoed in the empty room.
The seven engineers stopped dead and gazed at him. “Of course, sir,” One of them said. His accent was hard to place. They had gathered (abducted) these engineers from all around the world.
“We have successfully checked a prototype. It was smaller than this thing. But the prototype worked so will this,” another engineer said. His accent was Russian.
“Good,” Katz and moved toward the cylinder.
“But, sir,” his driver said timidly, “How will we move this thing to—”
“Not in front of these people.” Gun Katz Barked. The driver went silent.
Gun Katz turned to face the cylinder. His eyes widened with excitement as he stared at the cylinder. Dawn is coming, he thought and chuckled.
***
Karthik walked through the narrow corridor, right behind a small beefy man, who introduced himself as "Officer Owen... call me Ow". The officer turned left, Karthik did the same following his lead.
Everything will be fine. Just stay cool.
The entryway was bright and was lined with white walls and lots of notes and stickers.
They walk past a door connecting a huge room filled with desks, computers and lots of uniformed men working on them. Karthik stopped and peered inside the room.
"It's the Cyber law department," said call-me-Ow in an offhand way.
Karthik nodded and resumed his walk.
After few seconds, the officer came to a halt in front of a metallic door. Call-me-Ow Pulled open the metallic door and gestured Karthik to get inside the room.
Karthik reluctantly walked into the room. The room was white, small and rectangular. A metallic desk stood in the center of the room with a pair of chairs facing opposite to each other. A long fluorescent tube hung from the ceiling sending white light around the room. The room held a foreboding aura that made Karthik stomach churn.
And abruptly Call-me-Ow closed the door. It made Karthik jump. For a moment, Karthik thought that they are going to lock him inside the room. He felt like tackling the metallic door but decided against it. He turned and indecisively stared at the room. He finally decided to go and sit in the chair.
Somehow he forced his legs to move and hurled himself on the chair close to him, and waited. He sat patiently likewise the hero he had seen in a film, holding back his fear.
You need to Keep your cool. Keep... your... cool.
The door swung open, and Carl Hancock moved in with a prissy speed. He was carrying a silver laptop with him. He dropped the Laptop on the table and sat opposite to Karthik.
"You know what Mr. Karthik? I hate wasting time," Carl said.
"So do I," said Karthik hotly. He clearly remembered what Carl had done with him when they had met last time. The memory was bitter and was hard to forget.
Carl stared at him for a moment or two then said, "Then let's get straight to the point." He flipped open his laptop, spun it around and played a video.
The video was a recording of a street security camera. Why do you want me to see a traffic recording? Karthik thought.
But then his eyes caught a car on the screen. Two people were sitting in the car. Lilly and him. The video must have been taken when he and Lilly were following the silver car to rescue Piper. Keep your cool, he told himself.
"I don't get it," He said flatly, "What message are you trying to convey?"
Carl smiled and pulled a Laptop toward him. Typed for a while. Spun the laptop around and played an another video. This time, it was of an airport. The Cairo international airport. And Karthik saw himself, Lily, Piper, Jack and Mr. Walker pushing their way past the crowd.
"I still don't get it?" He said, shrugging. He strained to maintain the poker face.
Carl stood up and paused the video. He pointed at Lilly and said, "Who's that girl?"
"That's my friend. I've already told you guys."
"Of course, you did. She was also in the summit, right?"
"Yeah, she was—"
"Karthik.” said Carl in a serious tone.
“What?”
“Where is Mr. Walker?"
"What?" Karthik gasped.
"Where is the pilot? He went to Egypt with you, isn't that true?"
"Yes, he did—"
Carl banged his fist on the metal table. "Why did you Kill him?"
Karthik's jaw dropped open. "I killed him?"
"Why did you kill him?" Carl repeated and pounded his fist on the metal table.
Karthik looked at him, horror-struck, and started thinking about a way to crawl out of this mess. After thinking for a while—he realized—or his gut feeling told him that Carl must be bluffing. Yes. Karthik had seen many times police officers using this trick, and Karthik knew how powerful it was in front of the weak minds.
But it will not be going to work on me. Never...
"How could I kill him?" Karthik said faking confidence in his voice. He read somewhere that acting like a confident person can actually make you confident. He will soon find out whether Carl Hancock was bluffing or not.
Carl stared down at him, angrier than ever. "Where is the body?" He again banged his fist on the table with such a force that fluorescent tube above them shook.
But Karthik didn't flinch. He sat confidently on the chair. "I really don't know what are you talking about," said he.
"Don't test my patience. I'm warning you. If you didn't kill him, then where the hell is he?" Carl growled.
"I don't know. He left the hotel without informing us right after hearing Mr. Ford's death." Karthik spat.
Carl's face had now turned completely red. "You didn't try to find him? Your pilot left you and you didn’t try to find it. I know you and that girl—"
"We did, but we couldn't find him. We thought he must have returned Australia." Karthik realized he was right. Carl was indeed bluffing.
"You did?" A thin smile curled on Carl's face.
"Yes."
"Did you find him here?"
Karthik went silent. He realized that he was now in big trouble.
"He doesn't have family that doesn't mean that no one will make out that he is missing." Carl hissed.
"He was in shock," Karthik muttered quickly.
"Excuse me?"
"Death of Mr. Ford gave him a real shock. He started acting weird and then he abruptly left us."
Carl gazed at him with his calculative eyes. "Amusing, very amusing. You are good at making stories, you know?"
"It's true!" Karthik grumbled with all rage and confidence he could muster.
"Who is that girl with you? I want the truth," Carl said suppressing his anger.
"My friend from America. She lives in Manhattan."
"I told you that I want the truth!" Carl growled. His eyes were now boring into Karthik's.
"My friend," Karthik said hotly.
"What about that man wearing glasses?"
"He is my friend, too." Karthik shrugged.
"What work does he do?"
"Uh... he is also a pilot."
"That's enough!" Carl spat. "What is the woman and that man up to? Whom are they working for? Tell me! Tell me now!"
"I told you everything I knew," Karthik said innocently.
"You—" Carl lashed on Karthik and grabbed his collar. "I warned you!"
Karthik raised his fist and heard a noise of footfall drawing closer (Carl let go of the collar) and the metallic door flung open. Call-me-Ow poked his head inside and said, "Sir, I'm sorry but we are going to require this room," he told Carl.
Carl smiled. Karthik was shocked to see how quickly Carl's expression had changed.
He turned to Karthik and said in a formal voice, "I guess our last meeting has ended. I'm no longer part of this case. And at the end of every case I have this habit of meeting with people who were involved in it. It's a ritual I practice every time. And this being my last case I decided to continue with my ritual."
He offered his hand and Karthik reluctantly shook it. “This is your last case?”
“I’m retiring now,” Carl said.
Officer Owen smiled at them. "I can give you five more minutes if you want?"
Hey is kidding, right?
"Thank you very much, but we are already finished," Carl said.
The officer nodded and walked away from the door and was soon out of their sight.
Carl glared at Karthik. "I'm only here for five days. And I'm going to keep a keen watch on you and your friends. Do you get me?"
Karthik said that he did.
"Good, you can leave now."
Karthik sighed in relief after he moved out in the sunlight. He felt guilty for telling the lie about Mr. Walker's death.
His forehead was damp. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead and fished out his cellphone from his breast pocket.
He first tried calling Piper but couldn't reach her so he tried to call Jack and Lilly and got the same response. He was about to put his cellphone back in his pocket when it started ringing. Shocked, he stared at the screen. It was Sara Ford, daughter of Mr. Ford.
"K-Karthik... Where the hell were you?" she wept.
"Sara, W-What's going on?" he said, biting his lips.
"You haven't read my message yet? I know you haven't—today's my dad's funeral. He is dead, Karthik, I can't believe my dad is dead!"