Authors: Aditya Mewati
In his eight years as a lawyer, Karthik had seen many people going in and coming out from the jail. But he had never imagined himself going behind the bar. Never.
And now here he was, standing behind the bars and shouting his head off. "I didn't do it! I didn't break into her house!"
"Can you shut up?" The police officer, who was sitting at the front desk, snapped.
"I didn't do it," Karthik said pressing his head in between the rods. “Please!”
"We have your fingerprints on the laptop and also on the rope," the police officer said, "So shut up!"
Karthik swore in his mind. Then sat on the bench in the corner of the cell.
Where are you guys? He thought angrily. He knew that he was now in serious business. If everything went against him, he could end up in jail that too for two years or even five in case the god of bad luck develops a special love for him.
The thought made his head slump over his neck.
He heard footsteps. He raised his head and saw a man with the thick beard and long hair entering the room.
The man extended his hand. The police officer stood up and shook it. They talked for few minutes. The man kept gesturing at Karthik and then at a white paper he was holding in his hand. The police officer kept nodding. They again shook hand and approached Karthik's prison.
The police officer opened the gate.
"What's going on?" Karthik asked, confused.
"I'm from Interpol," The man said, "Officer Hugo Bonnet."
"What do you want from me?" Karthik asked angrily. Because of his past experience, Karthik had developed a deep hatred for the Interpol.
Hugo smiled. "All your charges has been lifted—"
"Why?" Karthik asked.
"Does it matter?" Hugo asked.
Karthik ducked through the door. "Of course, it matters."
"I'll tell you. But you'll have to come with me to Paris." Hugo grabbed Karthik sleeves.
Interpol. Paris. Karthik soon realized that Carl Hancock was behind this. "What if I refuse?" He said.
“You can’t,” The man said and glance at the police officer, who was constantly staring at him.
“Nice to meet you, officer,” Hugo said and tugged Karthik. “Let’s go.”
“No,” Karthik said, trying to pull his hand out of Hugo’s grasp. “I’ll stay here.”
“No, You’re coming with me.” Hugo glared and pulled Karthik out of the police station.
Outside. In front of the police station, a black Mercedes was waiting for them. Hugo led Karthik in the car.
“Get in,” Hugo said.
“Tell me. What do you people want from me?” Karthik said.
Hugo glanced around. They were surrounded by the police officers. “Not here.”
Karthik climbed in the Car, and Hugo sat in the driver’s seat. He revved the engine and pulled the car away from the curb. The car started moving away from the police station.
“I’m going to explain you everything,” Hugo said, driving very slowly. “Oka—Hey what are you doing?”
Karthik had opened the door next to him, and he jumped out of the moving car. He rolled on the rolled on the road and then quickly got up, ignoring the bruises on his arms and legs. He stared for few seconds as the black Mercedes stopped and Hugo jumped out of it.
Karthik started running. Hugo ran behind him, shouting something. Karthik rounded a corner, and crossed the road.
He was now running through a deserted alley. Hugo was still shouting something from behind. He rounded another corner and came to a dead end. He spun and looked around. No way out.
Hugo had now stopped running and was now regaining his breath. After he regained his breath he started slowly walking toward Karthik.
Karthik wondered whether he can fight this man. Hugo was much sturdier than Karthik. He realized he had no option left but to fight. He raised his fist and was now standing in a southpaw stance. He said “If you don’t want me to beat you up...” He dropped his fist.
Hugo pulled out a gun and aimed a Karthik. “Listen,” He said and coughed. “I’m not your enemy.”
“I know this trick. But It’s not going to work on me.” Karthik roared and looked around. He realized he had no option but to climb the wall, which was beyond his reach.
“Lilly and Jack send me,” Hugo said.
Karthik stopped dead and turned toward him. “How do you know about them?”
“I work with them!” Hugo said, exasperated
“I don’t believe you.”
Hugo threw his gun at Karthik's feet. “Now do you believe me?”
Maybe he's not lying.
"You are not from Interpol?" Karthik said.
"Actually, I'm from Interpol," Hugo said, "I work in Interpol for the United Knights."
"What does that mean?" Karthik asked.
"I spy on Interpol."
"How did you got me out?"
"We are a top organization. That was a piece of cake for us. And also we are no longer a secret organization."
"Why?" Karthik asked. “And where are you taking me?”
"France."
"France? What's in France? What's going on? Where is Lilly, Jack, and Piper?"
"I don't know what's going on. All I know is that code 666 has been enforced. And the last time it was enforced, was during the cold war."
"What does code 666 means?" Karthik asked frowning a bit.
Boeing 747 taxied to Orly airport.
Karthik followed Hugo out of the airport and toward the exit. Karthik was wearing an open polo shirt and khaki pants. The day in Paris was humid and it was visible on his face.
“Are we going to catch a Taxi?” Karthik asked Hugo as they pushed their way through the crowd.
“No, we are going in that thing,” Hugo said pointing at the Black sedan waiting by the curb. The glass on the driver’s side rolled down and a beautiful woman smiled and said something in rapid fire french. Hugo waved at her and replied in even faster french. Karthik blankly stared at them as he had no idea what they were talking about.
They got in the black sedan. The woman driver greeted Karthik. "How are the things going, monsieur Karthik?" she said.
The way she spelled the word "monsieur," made Karthik blush, although he had no idea what that word meant.
"I-it's great," Karthik stammered.
“Comment allez-vous?” she turned to Hugo .
“Ca va bien.” Hugo said, smiling.
She nodded. "Let's go then, Shall we?"
She had said that the drive would only take twenty minutes. But thanks to the Paris traffic it took them more than half an hour to reach their destination, which was a hotel with a really beautiful facade.
She stopped the car in front of the entrance gate. A man wearing double breasted jacket ran toward them. She lowered the glass and said, “It’s me.”
The guard nodded and then peered at the back seat. “And that man?”
“He is the package,” She said. The man again nodded and then spun, now facing the gate security, he shouted, “Open the gates!” The gates swung open and an imposing building came into view. The car passed through the huge fountain and then stopped in front of the other entrance gate.
“It’s going to be our headquarters for the mission,” The woman said.
“What’s the mission about?” Karthik asked her.
“We’ll soon know it,” Hugo said getting out of the car.
Hugo led Karthik through the hotel reception, which was crowded with more people in black double breasted jackets. The atmosphere around them was frantic. As they walked, Karthik gazed around and awed at the high dome ceiling and the brilliant parquet flooring.
“You like it?” Hugo asked Karthik, smiling.
“There is nothing here to hate,” Karthik said staring at the renaissance painting. Hugo again smiled and led him to a lift.
"I can't believe you guys are planning to make this your operation headquarters. It's so crowded." Karthik muttered.
"They all are our men," Hugo said, entering in the lift. "We booked the complete hotel."
Karthik stared at him in amazement. From what he had seen in the last one months had completely changed his belief. Now he even believed in the tooth fairy.
The lift door opened with a ding. They walked out of the lift.
"Here," Hugo said, stopping in front of a door. He knocked on the door. Karthik heard shuffling of footsteps and the door creaked open. Piper poked her head out and first gazed at Hugo and then shifted her eyes to Karthik.
"Karthik!" She said gleefully and dashed at him. They both embraced each other for few seconds. Karthik was the first to let it go.
"Come in," she said, pulling him in the room. Hugo followed them.
"Karthik!" Lilly cried. She flung her arm around him.
“Hey, Lilly,” Karthik said, smiling.
"We were missing you, buddy," Jack said casually.
"I missed you guys," Karthik said pulling him into a hug.
"I hope you enjoyed his company," Lilly said gesturing at Hugo.
"Yes, I did, "Karthik said and glanced at Hugo. He met Karthik’s eyes and snickered. Karthik suppressed the giggle and sat on the bed.
"So, what happened, Karthik? How did you end up in Jail?" Piper asked him.
Karthik told them everything.
"You did that all alone?" Piper asked skeptically.
"Yes," Karthik shrugged. He felt awkward.
"You have changed a lot," Piper said.
Karthik smiled and nodded. "Tell me your story. Why are you here? What happened in Kashmir?"
“We discovered their lab,” Lilly said. “And we now know what they are planning,” She told him everything. “.... Name of their mission is Border of the sun, and their target is Paris.”
"Border of the sun?" Karthik frowned, "What can that mean?"
"Actually," Jack said opening a laptop, "It's a name of the poem by a famous Serbian-Australian scientist and a visionary." Jack showed him the monitor screen.
It's a boundary; it's a border,
separating two worlds.
It helps in maintaining the order,
Without it, everything will be in chaos, everything will be blurred.
It's a boundary; it's a border
separating us from the gods.
It's actually like a warder,
That protects us from our furious lords.
But that day is not far away,
when the giver of life will grow with rage.
And We will be the ones to pay,
As we will be helplessly stuck in our cage.
And if you don't want the world to burn.
All you have to do is ... just cross the border of the sun.
:- By Danilo Tesla.
"Tesla?" Karthik said frowning.
"Yes, Tesla," Jack said. He scrolled down the page. A black and white photograph slid into view. The photograph showed an old guy in his early fifties, wearing a lab coat and thick framed glasses. Two teenage boys were standing beside him.
"I don't get it," Karthik said.
"That boy." Jack pointed at the little boy. "He is Luke Tesla. Danilo Tesla is his father. And that Asian boy was his adopted son. We don't know anything about him. Danilo Tesla never introduced him to the outside world. Neither did Luke talk about him. He kept saying to the media that his brother ran away when their father died of heart-attack."
"So, Danilo Tesla was Luke's dad. You mean to say that Luke can be behind this?"
"Yes, we have assumed so," Jack said. “We checked his company records and found that his company as been donating their money to a mysterious organization.”
“You me S.A.L.F.?”
“Can be.”
"So why don't you guys get him?"
"That's the main problem," Lilly said, "We have no idea where he is."
Karthik sat alone in the room starting out the window at the city. The sky was now dark with a tinge of purple in it. He felt peaceful. The city was peaceful. He sighed and slumped on the bed. He closed his eyes and was about to doze off when he heard a creaking sound of the door. He opened his eyes and saw Jack entering in the room. Jack moved across the room and grabbed his Jacket and pulled it over his shoulders.
“Jack, What’s going?” Karthik asked him.
“Oh, you’re awake. I thought you were asleep,” Jack said.
“No, I’m not sleeping. Where are you going you? Where are Lilly and Piper?” Karthik raised his head and propped his elbow on the bed.
“They have a called an urgent meeting,” Jack said, “Piper, Lily are already in the orientation hall.”
“You are also going to the meeting?” Karthik asked him.
“Yes,” Jack said, moving toward the door.
“Can I come too?” Karthik asked getting out of the bed.
Jack, who had moved his hand toward the doorknob, stopped. He spun and said, “I guess...” He wrinkled his forehead. “I guess, you can come with us.”
“Really?” Karthik said with enthusiasm . Jack nodded.
Karthik was sitting in the auditorium, on the fourth row, between Jack and Piper. Lilly sat next to Piper. All the seats were occupied. He could easily feel the tension in the room. Everyone was talking loudly with each other.
A small woman with very short blond hair was standing on the stage. Lilly had already told him that she was the present head of United Knights. Her name was... Gari Simon. The Police commissioner of Paris and the Marshal of France were standing beside her.
The woman walked toward the mic. She grabbed the mic and cleared her throat. The silence fell over the auditorium. Everyone was now intently staring at her.
“My fellow agents,” she said, “The stakes are very high. We are now hundred percent sure that Paris is the target of a Biological attack." .
The screen behind her flared up and showed the map of Paris.
"But we still precisely don't know where and when the attack is going to happen.
"We have decoded their file and are now very sure that the Paris is the target. But we don't know when they are planning to use their weapon. So, all we can do is tightened security around the city. Most of the Paris police force are going to patrol the city...in civilian dresses. So, your job will be to provide as much support as you can. French military will also be supporting us, but only if the situation goes out of our hand. The reason the military will be staying out of this is because we don't want them to know that we know their plans—Any questions?"
Jack raised his hand.
"Yes, Jack?" she said.
He stood up. "What about the poem? Haven't we decoded it yet?"
"Actually, we have. The Intel thinks that the poem can give us the clue about when the attack is going to happen. So, they have decoded it. But they didn't find anything about time. Show me the poem."
The map in the background changed and the poem of Danilo Tesla came into view.
It's a boundary; it's a border,
separating two worlds.
It helps in maintaining the order,
Without it, everything will be in chaos, everything will be blurred.
It's a boundary; it's a border
separating us from the gods.
It's actually like a warder,
That protects us from our furious lords.
"According to the Intel, these both paragraphs means the same thing. They are talking about a thing that makes us different from the gods," She said.
But that day is not far away,
when the giver of life will grow with rage.
And We will be the ones to pay,
As we will be helplessly stuck in our cage.
"And this paragraph describes that we, humans are going to be killed by the sun (the giver life, who is also the god) as it will blow up after completely using its fuel. The cage here is Earth. When the sun will blow, we will be stuck on Earth."
And if you don't want the world to burn.
All you have to do is ... just cross the border of the sun.
"And this paragraph tells us that if we don't want to die on earth, we will need to cross that boundary between us and the gods
“It means that we should ourselves become the gods. So it doesn't tell anything about time. So, We’ll have to wait until our Intel breaks the code in the poem or in that file and find out when the attack is going to happen.”
“You mean to say we’ll have to just wait for something to happen.”
“Yes,” She said, firmly, “This meeting is adjourned. Everyone return to their work.”
The auditorium broke into murmurs as the agents got up and slid through the aisles.
“This is sick,” Jack said as they trooped out of the auditorium. “Really sick.”
“Yes. We are now completely helpless,” Lilly said.
“Karthik and Piper, you both go back to the room. I and Lilly will join you later after finishing our work.”
Karthik and Piper started for the stairs. “Hey, guys wait a second,” Jack said. He pulled out a pair of rings and handed them to Piper and Karthik.
“What is it for?” Karthik asked.
“It’s for luck,” Jack said, “Don’t ask question guys. Just wear it.”
Piper and Karthik returned in their room. The sky was now completely dark and the city was wrapped in the artificial light.
“I wanted to help them,” Piper said.
“Me, too,” Karthik admitted. He suddenly felt angry. Now, he knew who was really behind Mr. Ford’s death. Luke Tesla. Karthik now realized why Luke was angry with him that day in the funeral. Luke was the man, who had sent that guy to Kill him. Karthik balled his fist. I’m going to stop you, Luke, He thought.
“Thousands of people's lives are in danger,” Piper said.
“We’ll fix everything,” Karthik said, “We’ll stop this border of the sun thing from happening.” And suddenly something hit him. Border of the sun means the boundary of the sun? But border also means the outline? Outline of the sun? He remembered something. The news that he had seen before that guy had attacked him. The News about a full solar eclipse visible from France.
"I know when the attack is going to happen," he said suddenly, "It's going to happen on 16
th
August, tomorrow."
Piper stared at him. "How can you be so sure?" she asked.
"It's easy," Karthik said, "The clue is not in the poem. It's in the title of the project itself. The boundary here means the outline. Outline of the sun. And the outline of the sun is only visible during the solar eclipse."
They were now hurrying through the corridor, searching for Jack or Lilly.
“Karthik. Piper. What are you people doing here?” Jack asked. Karthik explained him everything. Jack thought for a while and finally said, “Can you explain this to Gari Simon?”
“Of course,” Karthik said.
“Okay, come with me,” Jack said. He led them to the elevator. “She is on the seventh floor,” He said pushing the button on the console. The lift hummed and buzzed and came to halt on the seventh floor. The door slid open with a ding.
The corridor outside was completely deserted. “Come on,” Jack said, walking out of the elevator. Karthik and Piper followed him.
They stopped in front of the huge door. Jack knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Jack opened the door and walked in the room, Karthik and Piper were behind him. Gari Simon was sitting behind a desk. The room was murky and the only light source was the headlamp on the desk.
When they entered, Gari didn’t look up. She kept staring at the map of Paris. “What brought you here, Jack?” Gari said in a tired voice.
“I have an information about the Project Border of the sun,” Jack said.
She looked up. “What kind of information?”
Jack pointed at Karthik. “He knows when the attack is going to happen.”
She gazed at Karthik and said, “Who are you, and how do you know about the attack?”
Karthik walked forward. “Uh, my name is Karthik Peri. I was the attorney of Mr. Ford. I know about the attack because I heard about it in the news.”
She laughed. “We haven’t revealed this to any media.”
“But the media already knows when the attack will happen.” Karthik said. “I’ll explain,” He explained her everything. “... during the solar Eclipse.”
She went silent, pondering on what Karthik had just said. Finally, she looked up and said, “Jack.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said walking forward.
“Tell everyone that I have called another meeting.”