The Mahabharata Secret (24 page)

Vijay reached the main road and quickened his pace, glancing around. There was a hawkers’ market to his right. He instinctively sprinted towards the market, hoping to lose himself in the crowd.

The bag was heavy and Vijay adjusted it as he dove headlong into the crowd, trying to lose himself in it.

He looked back. The three men had just reached the intersection where he had stood moments ago.

They looked around, searching. Across the crowd, one of the men looked straight at him and looked away.

Then, his head snapped back. He had recognised Vijay.

Quick words were exchanged between the men, and they broke up.

One of them made his way through the crowd towards him. The other two disappeared.

Where were they going? But there was no time to wonder. The man following him through the crowd was getting closer.

Vijay pushed through the crowd, trying to put as many people as possible between his pursuer and him.

He suddenly noticed a side alley. Looking back at his pursuer, who was busy jostling his way through the throng, Vijay quietly slipped down the alley. He had no idea where it led, but he had to get back to the hotel and warn the others.

Trees lined the alley, which had small brick and plaster houses on either side. This was a residential part of the city.

Suddenly, he saw a man move into sight directly ahead of him, raising his gun arm.

It was one of Farooq’s men.

He must have circled around hoping to use this alley to access the hawkers’ market. It was sheer chance that Vijay had chosen this very alley to escape.

Vijay cursed and ducked behind a tree. Bullets thudded into the tree and whined past him; the silencer muffling the sounds.

He thought fast. Slipping out from behind the tree, he wove his way down the alley, using each tree as a protective shield. The gunman kept firing whenever Vijay emerged from behind a tree, but Vijay kept him guessing.

How long would it be before his luck ran out and the gunman found his mark?

A plan began to form in his mind. The gunman had walked forward towards Vijay while shooting at him and was now just about 20 or 30 feet away.

It was now or never. Vijay unzipped the bag and took out the rock ball. He hoped he still had some of the athletic strength that had served him so well at MIT.

He emerged from behind the tree, hefting the ball in one hand. He would have only one chance to hit the gunman. If he missed...

Bullets thudded into the tree from behind him, zipping past his ears. Vijay whirled around and, to his horror, saw the man who had followed him through the market now entering the alley.

There was nowhere to hide. The two gunmen advanced towards him.

He was trapped.

Kidnapped!

Radha left the others waiting for Vijay in the hotel lobby and headed up to her room. The excursion to Barabar had been tiring and she wanted to relax for a while before they regrouped to discuss their latest discovery.

There was also something else that was troubling her. Of late, she had become conscious of a strong attraction towards Vijay. She couldn’t explain it.

They had been childhood friends and when they met as adults two years ago, she had warmed up to him. Somewhere along the journey to find the secret, she had found herself thinking of Vijay more often. She could recall times when she wanted to share all his problems as well as his happiness.

Did Vijay feel the same way? She thought that she had sensed something in the way he had tried to protect her at Bairat when Farooq’s men were manhandling her. But she couldn’t be sure. And, she reminded herself, he lived in the US, he was an American citizen. Even if she was to believe, for a moment, that Vijay reciprocated her feelings, would this relationship even work? Radha sighed. An idea came into her head. Maybe she should speak to Colin. She got along well with him and she knew how close he was to Vijay. Perhaps he could help her?

There was a knock on the door. She jumped to her feet. Was it Vijay? She shook her head to dislodge the thought. It could be any one of the others, as well.

She opened the door.

To her shock, two men with guns stood there. Behind them was a pleasant-faced man with a smile on his face.

‘Miss Radha Shukla?’ he enquired amiably. ‘I’m Farooq Siddiqui. Surely, you’ve heard of me. Please come with me. There’s no point resisting or raising an alarm, unless you want to end up dead.’

Radha knew she had nowhere to run.

The Agenda Revealed

Imran didn’t stop to wonder how long Bheem Singh had been standing there observing him or why he had returned. His training took over and he automatically reached for his Glock, holstered at his waist. Barely had his fingers touched the weapon, however, than he felt a jolt run through his hand, like a mild electric shock. Instinctively, he jerked his hand away.

Almost simultaneously, he felt his mobile phone vibrate and Vaid’s voice spoke into his ear through the hidden earpiece.

‘Kidwai? You called for me?’

Imran stiffened. ‘Kidwai? Can you hear me?’ Vaid repeated.

‘I wouldn’t try being a cowboy, if I were you,’ Bheem Singh said calmly, as he toyed with the steel wristbands he wore. ‘That was just a demonstration. I’ve now set these at a level that can stun you right as you stand there.’

Imran recalled the conversation he had overheard between Buckworth and the Maharaja. Bheem Singh had taken off his watch to demonstrate a weapon to the US Vice President. Wrist bands. He now understood the nature of the weapon. Somehow, these wristbands were capable of delivering an electric charge across a distance. What their range was he couldn’t guess, but he was sure that they could pack a powerful punch when required.

What technology was this? And where had it been developed? He clasped his hands at his waist where Bheem Singh could see them. The Maharaja smiled. ‘That’s smart. My security has obviously failed, if you’ve made it this far. It’s a good thing after all that I forgot my watch and came back for it. You made it in. That was the easy part.’ He turned sideways and, grasping the handle of the door, turned it in an anticlockwise direction. The wall that Imran had been studying moments ago dropped away, revealing the entrance to the stairway that led to the subterranean chamber.

Vaid had fallen silent after his first words. Had he hung up or was he listening? Did he realise Imran’s predicament? Imran could only hope that Vaid had recognised Bheem Singh’s voice and stayed on the call.

‘This is what you were looking for, isn’t it?’ Bheem Singh was saying, pointing to the door handle. ‘You didn’t think I’d make it easy for anyone to find this, did you? State of the art biometrics. Only I have access to this vault.’ He motioned Imran down the staircase and followed him.

Imran found himself standing in a large rectangular room, flooded with the deep blue light, bordering on purple, which he had seen seeping out of the room earlier. It reminded him of a nightclub. The walls of the room glowed white and he saw two thick pillars that divided the room into unequal portions.

He realised that the room was illuminated by ultra violet light and the walls probably had fluorescent paint on them.

Even in the dim blue light, he could see that the walls were deeply gouged in places. To his right, along the length of the wall, ran a shelf that glowed white like the walls, on which were displayed a variety of metallic objects in different shapes and sizes. None of them were even vaguely familiar to him, but from what he remembered of Buckworth’s reaction, he surmised they were all weapons of some kind, like the wristbands Bheem Singh wore.

On the other side of the room stood large mechanical devices, ranging in height from three feet to seven feet. A few of them looked like large metallic archer’s bows mounted on platforms with wheels. Again, he couldn’t guess what they were, though he could guess their purpose.

Where had Bheem Singh got these from?

‘I’ve heard that you are one of the bright sparks at the IB.’ Bheem Singh was regarding him with pity. ‘Too bad you insisted on sticking your nose in matters that are none of your business. I tried to make it easy for you. I turned you away when you wanted to interrogate me. I put pressure through the Home Minister. But you have a nose for trouble. And what do you do? Break into my house. I don’t know how long you’ve been here and what you’ve seen or heard, but I really can’t allow you to leave now. And I don’t think I can afford to keep you alive either. Too much bother.’

Imran’s blood ran cold at these words. Hoping that Vaid was still on the call, listening in, he decided to try and get the Maharaja to talk.

‘So you think these toys will help you in your plan to assassinate the US President and install Buckworth in his place?’ He stared defiantly back at the Maharaja.

Bheem Singh looked at him for a moment then laughed, his teeth glowing in the UV light. Imran knew that he had struck the right chord.

‘So you overheard my conversation with Buckworth.’ The Maharaja chuckled. ‘And you think this is all about making Buckworth the US President. Why would I want to do that?’

Imran decided to play dumb. ‘Commercial reasons. You are a businessman and your consortium has global interests. What better way to increase your influence in global commercial activity than being a kingmaker for the economic engine of the world economy? Despite the recession, America is still important for global commerce and trade.’ He was betting that the Maharaja had a king-size ego and would be goaded into boasting about his true intentions.

Bheem Singh appeared to consider Imran’s words. ‘I guess it won’t hurt,’ he said, finally, ‘to tell you the truth. After all, you’re not going anywhere.’

Imran smiled inwardly. He was right about the Maharaja’s ego.

‘This is much bigger than the US. By wiping out the leaders of the G20 countries and installing our own men in their place, we will control the most economically powerful countries in the world. This will give us unprecedented access to business opportunities across the globe and therefore global domination. Unhindered’. He beamed at Imran, visibly pleased with his own forecast.

‘And just how do you intend carrying out your plan?’ This was exactly what he and Blake had surmised earlier.

‘Let me start with a discovery made by my ancestor, the first Maharaja of Rajvirgarh, 1,500 years ago.’

Bheem Singh explained the discovery of his ancestor and its link with the Mahabharata
;
informing Imran about a celestial secret weapon that had been lost in the mists of time and erased from public memory. While building a new fort, a book written in stone was discovered. It was remarkably well preserved and the inscriptions told a tale from the Mahabharata. A tale that was missing from all recorded versions of the epic.

When he had finished his story, Imran looked sceptical. ‘How can you believe in a legend that goes back thousands of years? The Mahabharata is mythology. There may have been some truth about a fierce war fought thousands of years ago, but fanciful descriptions of weapons from the gods? Surely you can’t be serious?’

‘That’s where you’re wrong. Look around you. What you see are some of the so-called celestial weapons from the Mahabharata; ancient designs used to create modern weapons in modern factories. Whatever the truth behind the Mahabharata and its historical authenticity, those weapons existed; including this particular weapon that was described in the stone book. You see, my ancestor also made another startling discovery.

‘Asoka the Great had unearthed the location where this weapon had been hidden away and cobbled together a secret brotherhood to conceal its location and ensure that no one ever found it. My ancestor’s court astronomer was a member of this brotherhood. Unfortunately, however, before my ancestor had a chance to interrogate him and learn more, the astronomer disappeared and was never seen again. Until, eleven years ago, by an amazing turn of events, his bones were discovered in Afghanistan, along with texts that gave clues to the location where the weapon was hidden.’

‘And you have found that location and plan to use this amazing weapon to further your plans.’ Imran couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his voice.

‘Not really. We haven’t found the location yet. But our partners are on the job. We already have a prototype of the weapon with us. The texts found in Afghanistan led us to another hidden location where we found more details on how to build the weapon. We’ve been assembling the prototype for the last three years. Unfortunately, those texts were incomplete. The prototype isn’t perfect. We need a sample of the original weapon to complete it and make it fully operational.’

A sudden realisation dawned on Imran—Vijay Singh and his friends. Somehow, they were involved in this. So that was what Farooq wanted from them—the location of this weapon. But how had Vijay Singh come by this knowledge?

Another thought struck him. He had heard Bheem Singh tell Buckworth that he had instructed Farooq to take Vijay and another person hostage. The woman. He remembered her from his visit to the fort. She and Vijay were in danger!

‘I still don’t see how this ancient weapon will help you,’ Imran persisted. ‘After the announcement by LeT, you don’t have a hope in hell of carrying out your plan.’

Bheem Singh smiled, and his teeth glowed again. ‘Wrong again. The weapon will actually help us carry out LeT’s threat. Let me show you the prototype and you’ll see what I mean.’ He gestured to a corner of the room.

Imran stared, unimpressed, at the device that stood there. ‘This is it?’

Bheem Singh flicked a switch and suddenly the room was flooded with cool white light from compact fluorescent lamps.

Imran stared at the device he had seen in the ultraviolet light and sucked in his breath sharply. He couldn’t believe his eyes now that the UV light had been switched off. This, then, was how they intended carrying out their plan.

The Maharaja was right. If they perfected this weapon, nothing could stop them from succeeding in their mission.

28

September 2001

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Winter was upon them again and Baran opened up the trunk in which their winter clothes were stored.