Authors: Aditya Mewati
The little girl stared out the window at the huge tree with her hazel eyes. The Bright afternoon sunlight filtered through the window, reflecting off her desk and across the classroom. A gust of wind sent the leaves on the tree to shiver.
A voice brought the girl attention back into the classroom.
She jerked her head toward the source. Her teacher was staring intently at her, a man in a police uniform was standing beside her teacher. The girl glanced around her. Everyone was staring at her.
"Lilly," the teacher said, softly, "You can go home. Pack your bags." She started talking with the police officer.
The news of going home early, almost one-hour early made Lilly smile triumphantly. She started slipping her books into her bag.
"That's not fair!" she heard the boy behind her mutter angrily, which made her triumphant smile even wider than ever. She can go home early and her classmates would have to sit for another one hour. Great, right? Maybe not.
Lilly slung the bag over her shoulder and hustled across the aisle.
"Mr. Cody will take you to your home," The teacher said, gesturing at the police officer. The police officer smiled at Lilly, stretching out his hand. Lilly stared at his fingers, and glanced at his face. She soon realized something was wrong. This had never happened to her. Never.
"Lilly..." the teacher said a little firmly.
Lilly grabbed Mr. Cody's hand. He led her along the corridor and down the stairs.
A police car was parked in front of the gate. Lilly climbed in the car. Mr. Cody sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine.
"Who are you?" Lilly asked Mr. Cody. She was sitting in the shotgun seat. "Where is my dad?"
Cody shifted the gear and increased the speed. "I'm your dad's junior. You know what's junior, right?"
Lilly gave a slight nod. "Why didn't mom—"
"You want some chocolate?" The officer interrupted. He pulled out a toffee.
Lilly shook her head. "My dad-said-don't take chocolates from strangers."
"But I'm not a stranger. See I'm wearing a uniform—"
"You are not a commissioner like my dad."
"No..." The officer frowned. "No. No. I'm not a commissioner, but..."
Lilly's house came into view. It was a big house, surrounded by the parched, yellow lawn. The house mostly stood silent but not today.There were many people and police cars, huddled around the gate and on the lawn.
As Lilly climbed off the car, she spotted funny looking men with a camera mounted on their shoulders.
And abruptly her surroundings changed... She was now standing in her house. Someone pressed her shoulder. She spun around, and saw her big brother standing in front of her. Behind him, she could easily see her mother weeping.
Her big brother knelt in front of her. His eyes and chins trembling with pain. He hugged her and whispered in her ears.
"Lil. Dad is no more."
"No!" Lilly yelled. A surge of pain swept over her. And suddenly the ground below her widened into a big hole. She started falling.
Lilly woke up with a start. She was drenched in sweat. Panting hard, she looked around her room. Pale orange light poured into the room through the bedroom's window.
Piper rolled on her side, still sound asleep.
Lilly swung her legs off the bed. Stretching her arms, she went across the bedroom.
The bedroom door stood ajar. She slowly pushed it and peered in the hall room. The room stood empty as she had left it in the night.
Karthik, who had been complaining about sleeping on the sofa was now sleeping like a log. She went over the sofa, and shook Karthik's shoulder.
He muttered something under his breath, rolling on his sides.
She shook again. "Wake up."
"Go away mom. I can pee myself... I'm a grown up man... Mom leave me alone."
"Karthik!" She grumbled.
Karthik opened his eyes. "Mom! Why are you looking so young? And also hot?"
Lilly glared at him.
He quickly sat upright on the sofa. "Oh, it's you."
"Yeah, it's me."
Lilly served them scrambled eggs and pasta for breakfast. They all sat around the metal table, in front of the kitchen. As they ate, Lilly explained them her mission.
"I'm here to protect Mr. Ford and to investigate about the abduction of the Dr. Alex bill," she said.
"Who wants to kill Mr. Ford?" Karthik asked. His spoon clattered against the metal plate as he tried to shove up some pasta. Lilly had initially served him scrambled eggs but he jerked away from the plate and informed her that he was actually vegetarian.
"We don't know. But according to our sources, someone has hired a hitman to assassinate Mr. Ford," Lilly said, "you want more?" She asked Piper.
"I'm done," Piper said, shaking her head.
"So what will be our next step?" Karthik asked.
***
"It's looking perfect on you!" Lilly said, admiring the black suit.
"You are also looking cute in this dress," Karthik replied.
"There are no pockets...for me to hide a gun." Lilly scowled. She was wearing a plush green robe.
"I still can't believe this. You guys are leaving me here." Piper grumbled.
"It's not safe. You are also their target. We can't take you to the summit.
“It is too risky." Lilly said, calmly.
"But—"
"I think she is right," Karthik said, "You better stay here." He glanced at the mirror, impressed by himself, he straightened up his collar.
Lilly pulled out something from a black box. "Take this," she muttered, shoving a microphone to Karthik. He pushed the microphone in his ears.
"It's a little uncomfortable," He muttered.
Lilly walked away from him and muttered. "Can you hear me?"
He nodded.
"I'm coming with you!" Piper cried at top of her voice.
"But it's not safe. Why don't you understand Piper?" Lilly said.
"Because they have my file and I want it back!"
"I'm sorry. But it's for your own safety."
Piper said nothing; she just kept indignantly glaring at Lilly.
Lilly turned toward Karthik. "Okay, Let's get rolling," She said.
World Cancer Research Summit, 2015, was among the ten international summits to be held in Australia. And the only summit to take place in Sydney.
Many scientists and doctors were believing that it would start a new revolution in the field of cancer and genetic disorders research and treatment. Pretty ambitious, and also damn expensive, it was the last hope for many multinational companies, who have financially backed it, hoping that it will turn out to be lucrative for them.
The summit was taking place in D. Bradman Hall. Many media vans were parked outside the hall, hours before the event's starting time, setting up cameras and other equipment.
It was around two O'clock when the people started filling in the hall; all of them were wearing expensive clothes, babbling ecstatically about the summit.
A silver sedan stopped in front of the red carpet. A handsome man wearing a gray suit climbed off the car. He straightened his suit; shot a vacant glance at the driver, and scratching his beard, he made his way to the entrance gate.
A uniformed man stood in front of the hall checking names of the guests on his tablet.
"Sir, your invitation?" He asked the man in the gray suit.
The man grunted, and pulled out a green envelope, and handed it to the uninformed guy.
The uniformed man nodded at the envelope. "Sir, your name?"
"Alex Muffin." The man in gray suit replied.
The uniformed man checked Alex Muffin's name on the tablet, and after a few seconds, he looked up and said, "Sir, please go through that metal detector."
Alex passed through the metal detectors, smiling to himself. It was useless... This person didn't know that his weapon was already inside, waiting for him, waiting to kill his new target. This was all planned. Planned months ago.
The D. Bradman hall was a giant oval shaped ballroom, with high ceiling and cream colored walls. The walls were lined with giant Greek style marble pillars, spaced ten feet away from each other. Giant red curtains hung in front of the windows, blocking the majority of sunlight that attempted to pour into the hall.
A dozen of chandeliers hung from the ceiling, sending mild yellow light across the hall.
A big stage stood at the opposite side of the entrance gate, with 'World Cancer Research Summit, 2015' engraved on it. The chess board like the floor was cluttered with dozens of circular tables and chairs; many chairs were placed on back end and the sides of the hall, which were allocated to the media people.
Sounds of footfalls, chattering, and babbling of people was echoing off the walls.
Alex Moved along rows of circular tables, his eyes darting from one face to another. Searching. Maybe his target. His shoulders were wide and he walked briskly like a predator searching his prey.
And someone gently slapped his shoulder. He turned and found a black haired, hot woman standing in front of him; she was Sara Ford, daughter of Daniel Ford.
Sara smiled at him. "Hi, my big boy," She whispered.
"Hey—" before he could even start speaking, she moved forward to kiss him, but he backed away.
"What's wrong?" Sara asked, offended.
Alex glanced around. "Maybe not here," He muttered.
"Oh, you want to make me wait, don't you?" She asked, pouting.
"No, I didn't mean that—"
She placed her fingers on his lips. "Come on. I'll introduce you to my dad," she said.
She led him across the hall, slipping her arm around his waist. He also slipped his arm around her waist. What an imbecile, he thought. So far it seemed easy for him to seduce her. This was part of his plan. He had met her just one week ago. And now after one week she was his girlfriend, and he had even had got himself laid...damn it's so easy to lure rich girls, he thought and smirked.
"What's up?" Sara snapped. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing..." Alex replied, innocently. He glanced around the hall. "Damn..." He muttered as an attempt to change the topic. But it did not work.
Sara eyed him suspiciously. And after a few seconds, she dropped her gaze. They walked silently around the hall for a few moments.
"I've just met you and I already feel so attached to you," Sara said. Intently stared at him. The gentle yellow light from chandeliers made her eyes glow like gold.
He froze for a few seconds, thinking hard. Was he feeling guilty about killing her father? No, definitely not... This was his job.
"Me too." He lied.
She smiled warmly. "You know. I'm standing here because of you. I would have never attended this stupid summit... I hate all this stupid stuff. They are so boring."
"I know. It's so boring." Alex grinned.
"No way." Sara laughed, "You were so eager to be part this meeting. You know I had cried in front my dad so that he can add your name to that stupid list. And I can't remember when the last time I cried in front of him for—"
"Thank you," Alex said, eyeing at the security camera, which was perched on the wall.
"But why did you want to attend this summit?" She frowned.
"Nothing that special," He said, a little firmer. He was now getting irritated by her questions. He decided to get away from her, but somewhere in his mind, he knew that she will not leave him alone not until he killed her father. But where was he now?
"Where is your dad?" He asked Sara.
She craned her head. "He was s'posed to be standing there," she grumbled pointing at the marble pillar.
"What if he doesn't like me?" Alex asked her.
She frowned. "He will. Or else I'll kill him." She joked.
"Don't worry. I'll do it for you." He replied. Sara tugged his sleeves.
"...there he is," she said, pointing at Mr. Ford.
"Where is he going?" Alex asked nervously. He did not want his target to walk away from him, alive.
"He is heading outside," Sara muttered and rushed behind him.
Karthik stepped over the threshold of his apartment door. He wrinkled his nose, as the stale air of the room greeted him. Lilly stepped in behind him.
The room looked tenebrous and gloomy. Eerie looking sunlight slanted into the room through the window, reflecting off the sun-yellow walls like spiderwebs. A giant bookshelf stood next to the LED TV, filled with big law books, which were so big and thick that you can easily kill anyone by throwing the book at them. His room was completely messed up. There was a comic book lying on the floor, and before Lilly could see it, he kicked it beneath the sofa. The hero wins! He thought, praising himself.
He spun around and found Lilly suspiciously staring at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Why are you kicking things?" she asked him.
"Anger... I can't remember where did I keep the invitation!" He said, faking an irritated look.
She nodded.
The hero wins again!
"So... try to remember where the hell did you keep it?" Lilly asked Karthik, folding her arms in front of her more firmly, and surveying the room through her hazel eyes.
"I think I kept it in one of my law books." He trotted toward the bookshelf but stopped. "No. I think I kept it in my closet."
Karthik and Lilly together searched the room. After few minutes, Lilly heard Karthik yelling in Triumph. "yes!"
Lilly spun around, hoping to see the green envelope in Karthik's hand, but he was holding his cellphone.
"My cell battery is dead," Karthik muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Lilly snorted and resumed her search. As she searched she spotted a photo-frame resting over the cabinet. She carefully hoisted it up.
"That's my family," Karthik said, softly peering over her shoulder.
"That must be your mom," She said, pointing at the elderly looking woman in the Indian dress.
"Yes. And That guy is unluckily my dad. That's my sister."
"Where are they now?"
Karthik let out an involuntary sigh. "They stay in India, Ahmadabad," saying this, he went to the bookshelves, as the harsh reality swept over him like a powerful tsunami. The reality that he has been refusing to accept for the past six years; how lonely he has been in past six years; working day and night. He had dated plenty of women, but none stuck around with him for more than a week. But this was not the right time to think about it. He shoved the grim thoughts out of his mind.
Lilly put the frame back on the cabinet, as she was about to turn away she spotted another photo frame. It was of Daniel Ford, Piper, and Karthik; standing on the beach.
"It was taken two years ago," Karthik said exhaling. He moved away from the frame.
The day came back to him. It was the hottest day in the month of January that year. Mr. Ford had invited Karthik for an exclusive, private beach party. There were in total five people including Mr. Ford.
The reason for the celebration was the new product deal, which PharmaGen had acquired because of the hard-work of Karthik, Piper, and Dr. Alex Bill.
It was actually his first encounter with Piper.
He was sitting on the warm sand, under the comforting coolness of a colorful umbrella, massaging the suntan lotion on his skin. Mr. Ford, Sara and Dr. Alex Bill were playing beach volley in the water.
"Son!" Mr. Ford cried. “What are you doing there? come here and play with us!"
"No, sir, I'm doing good here," Karthik said faking a smile.
"Whatever," Mr. Ford bellowed. Karthik watched them playing.
"Come on, Karthik," Sara said, "Don't be such a spoilsport."
"No, I feel like I'm going to have a sunstroke. I better stay here.." Karthik said.
"Why are you not playing?" she asked Piper, who was sitting next to Karthik, under a bright blue umbrella.
"No, I don’t feel like playing," Piper said.
Sara scowled but did not say anything else.
"You lied," Piper told Karthik.
Karthik, who was massaging his leg, jumped in surprise. He had never talked with her. But he knew about her; she was one of the most influential junior scientists in the company.
"No, I'm not lying," He said sourly.
"You are because you don't like a person, who is going to have a sunstroke. But why did you lie?"
"Er-I don't know how to play volleyball," He said.
She laughed like a little girl. "Neither do I."
The way she laughed made the butterfly in his stomach to flutter with excitement. He also broke into laughter. Then they together went and played volleyball.
Lilly lifted the frame and felt something rough on her fingers. She flipped the frame and found a green color paper wedged behind it.
"Karthik," she called, "The invitation," She added, brandishing the green envelope.