The Mahabharata Secret (38 page)

Imran quickly explained the situation to the District Collector, who was shocked to hear the news.

‘There are several villages around there,’ Prasad said. ‘But, they are small villages so it won’t take long to evacuate them. But we can’t get to them in time. We’ll try calling the village headmen and they’ll have to mobilise the evacuation. Thanks for the warning.’

Firefight!

Verma glanced quickly around the cavern and became aware that the LeT men had recovered from their initial paralysis and were now putting up a fierce resistance.

They had quickly found secure positions for themselves behind the stone blocks that were lined up near the wall, towards the vacant part of the cavern. This gave them an advantage over the commandos who were now without any protective cover, except for the covering gunfire from their comrades within the tunnel.

As Verma looked on, he saw his men put the second phase of their plan into operation. A lone commando, hefting a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, appeared in the opening of the cave.

He aimed for a particularly troublesome corner of the cavern where a bunch of LeT militants was holed up behind massive stone blocks. The RPG found its mark, blowing up several of the terrorists.

The LeT guns fell silent, and Farooq cursed. Right now, his men were at a disadvantage and he shouted out for them to dig in and defend, rather than go on the offensive.

Emboldened by the success of their plan, which appeared to have momentarily given them the upper hand, the commandos advanced, taking up positions behind some of the stone columns. The commando with the RPG launcher also advanced into the cavern and took up a position that gave him a clear line of sight to another group of LeT fighters, who were ensconced behind a stone block deeper in the vacant section of the cavern.

Suddenly, two LeT men darted out from the cover of a block that was adjacent to the tunnel opening, right behind the commando with the RPG launcher. The commandos had been oblivious to their position.

Now, as the commando readied to fire the RPG launcher a second time, these LeT men dived at him. He was taken by surprise and fell to the ground, the launcher flying out of his hands with the momentum of the assault.

The two LeT fighters were quickly despatched by the other commandos but the damage was done. The grenade had been launched at the moment of impact, but it was no longer bound for the target it had been meant for.

Instead, it sailed over the heads of the LeT fighters and into a far corner of the cavern which was unoccupied.

Time seemed to slow down as the grenade arched downwards, missing the LeT men. This was the opening they needed. Exulting at their luck, they roared with one voice and rushed forward for a counter-attack, shooting wildly as they advanced. With the RPG launcher down, the momentum of the attack had turned.

The grenade exploded as Murphy and Verma looked on. Nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.

This futile explosion was succeeded almost immediately by a huge blast, as if a stockpile of ammunition had gone up in flames.

49

Day 11

The Ranchi-Hazaribagh highway

Imran and the others were speeding towards Hazaribagh. They hoped that they had put enough distance between them and Sitagarha Hill. Imran was hoping that the whole operation would go as planned and nothing untoward would happen.

But he knew that was wishful thinking.

The sky had begun to lighten as the first fingers of dawn began to creep across the sky.

Abruptly, the SUV bucked as if the road had taken on a life of its own, and shivered violently. Imran had to wrestle with the steering wheel to stop the car from skidding off the highway.

‘What...?’ Radha began, then broke off as the road before them, illuminated by the SUV’s headlights and the growing light of dawn, began to disintegrate before her eyes. Large cracks opened up and Imran grappled with the steering wheel wildly to avoid them.

Vijay and Colin peered through the rear windscreen to see what was happening. The road behind them had been torn apart, as if a pair of giant hands had taken each end of the highway and pulled them in opposite directions.

‘What was that? An earthquake?’ Colin’s voice trembled.

Imran shook his head. ‘Seismic shockwave. Something has happened at Sitagarha; something big enough for a seismic shock of this intensity to be generated.’

He now knew that Verma had been right about the
vimana
s. The encounter between the terrorists and the commandos must have set off the unstable explosives in the
vimana
s.

He pressed the accelerator to the floor and the SUV leaped forward with a roar. ‘It isn’t over yet. The airblast shockwave is yet to come. If the seismic shock was any indication, that isn’t going to be a breeze. Pun not intended.’

As if his words were some kind of spell, there was a loud thunderclap, the car windows and windscreens shattered and the vehicle was buffeted by a strong gale.

Imran reached out and knocked out the shattered windshield so he could see ahead of him. The SUV swung wildly and he fought to keep it on the road. He felt as though invisible hands were taking turns to pull or push the car violently in different directions; the steering wheel seemed almost useless in his hands.

Almost simultaneously, the ground under them shook violently again and something big thumped hard against the side of the car. The door bulged inwards with the impact. There was another loud thump on the roof which immediately caved in and they saw a large branch blow away after having struck the car. More branches slammed against the shattered rear windscreen and windows, spraying the occupants of the cabin with shards of smashed glass and letting in smaller branches, twigs and leaves, along with the gale that was now rocking the SUV.

Radha screamed and they looked at the road ahead in shock. A crack on the left side of the road was widening and advancing directly across the road ahead of them. In a few seconds, it would stretch right across the highway, leaving them with no space to escape it.

Imran pressed the accelerator to the floor. The engine roared as the SUV charged ahead, racing alongside the swiftly advancing crack. He said a silent prayer as he tried to focus on the road through the leaves and branches that swept past them and into the car, because of the absence of the windshield.

Just as the fracture began to devour the narrow path Imran had been driving on, the SUV zipped forward, its two left wheels bumping over the narrow wedge of the fast-growing crack.

Imran now exhaled audibly and allowed the car to slow down just a bit. For a moment there, he thought that they were going to plunge into the abyss that had opened up across the highway!

Then, it was over. Silence descended on them, apart from the roar of the SUV. Through the open windows they saw the devastation around them. Trees had been blown over and those that were still standing had had branches and leaves ripped off them.

Imran stopped the SUV, leaving the engine idling and they all clambered out, shaken and bruised.

‘Oh, my God!’ Colin whispered. He was facing the direction from which they had come, the direction in which the hill was located.

They turned to look at what had disturbed Colin. The ruined forest stretched out on either side of the highway. Apart from the devastation, they saw a column of flames that had shot up to the heavens, brightening the dawn sky behind them.

Before they could comprehend the sight before them, there was a loud blast from the direction of Sitagarha hill.

Almost immediately, there was a second, bigger and louder explosion that seemed to tear through the forests around them.

‘What...what’s happening?’ Radha’s face was white as she stared at the column of flames.

‘The seismic and airblast shockwaves travel faster than sound,’ Imran explained. ‘The hill’s blown up.’

Fury of Fire

As Imran and the others left the forest for the highway, a huge orange jet of fire shot out towards the roof of the cavern and shrapnel flew at the LeT men, who fell like ninepins.

Verma stared in horror at the space that had seemed vacant until now, and where now indistinct shapes suddenly materialised out of nowhere, engulfed by flames that had begun to devour that part of the cavern.

The King of Magadha had apparently succeeded in equipping part of his fleet with the sheath of invisibility. The grenade had strayed from its path and exploded right in the middle of the fleet of invisible aircraft.

As the cavern and the foundations of the hill shook, a second explosion followed, bigger than the first one. The cavern erupted in a fury of fire as the row of
vimana
s
,
visible and invisible, exploded, blasting the upper half of the hill to smithereens. Boulders and rocks, along with blasted pieces of
vimana,
were ejected high above the forest.

All that was finally left of the cavern and the hill was a smoking crater in which rocks pelted down from the sky.

The Aftermath

Imran steered the SUV through the deserted streets of Hazaribagh. The roads were torn and shredded like the highway, testifying to the intensity of the explosions at Sitagarha.

They gazed at the buildings they passed. Some now had great cracks running along their sides, others had partially or fully collapsed walls or roofs and a slum they passed had been razed to the ground. There was not one window that had a glass pane intact and the roads were littered with shards of glass. Electric cables had snapped and lay like lifeless snakes curled on or along the sides of the roads.

It was a sorry sight and Radha was glad that Imran had had the presence of mind to have the town evacuated. Who knows what loss of life and injuries may have resulted had the inhabitants of Hazaribagh been here? Imran pulled over and dialled Vishnu Prasad. ‘The dams,’ he said and listened for a while. ‘Thanks,’ he said finally as he hung up.

The others looked at him curiously.

‘All safe,’ Imran reported, but he was unable to bring a smile to his face as he said, ‘The villages were evacuated. Fortunately, the dams are still standing. They were apparently built to withstand an earthquake much stronger than the seismic activity generated by the explosions.’

But the fate of the commandos was seared into his mind.

50

Day 12

Jaungarh Fort

Vijay sat on a balcony of Jaungarh fort and surveyed the countryside, gloomily. The sun was sinking below the hills on the horizon, reflecting his mood. The view of the countryside was breathtaking. The dying sun wrapped its cloak around the landscape, throwing long shadows upon the ground. At the base of the hill on which the fort stood, lights twinkled in the houses huddled together in the village that had, in centuries past, been defended by the fort.

From Sitagarha they had returned to Patna, from where they were flown in a military aircraft to Delhi, after Vijay and Shukla had received medical attention. The media had been full of reports about the mysterious explosion at Sitagarha hill that had levelled half the forests of Hazaribagh and caused devastation on an epic scale. Tremors from the explosion had been felt as far away as Patna.

Speculation was rife as news reporters linked the midnight evacuation of Hazaribagh town with the devastation at Sitagarha Hill. The government had refused to issue a statement, with the Home Minister saying that he would only comment after a probe led by a scientific team. There was no mention of the IB’s involvement in the mission. Or of the commandos. It was as if they had never existed.

Vijay reflected on the events of the last few days. He had set out to solve the clues in his uncle’s email. And look what had happened. They had found the secret of the Nine and almost lost it to Farooq and the LeT. If it had not been for the selfless act of the commandos, the world would have been a different place once the LeT carried out its threat.

But surely this wasn’t what his uncle had intended? His uncle knew about Farooq’s motives. Why, then, had he sent Vijay on a mission that would deliver him and the secret into the hands of LeT?

And then, there was the other emotional storm that was playing out in his head. In the turmoil of the last few days he had discovered love. And yet, was there a future for Radha and him? They both had their individual ambitions to live for...

Day 12

The Brotherhood lives on

Vijay sat up in bed and switched on the bedside lamp. Sleep wouldn’t come to him. Earlier that evening, he had dropped Colin off at the airport.

He was alone in the fort now and had stayed up reading before deciding to try and sleep. But there was too much on his mind.

He got out of bed and switched on his laptop. There was something that nagged at him. He didn’t know what it was, but it had also contributed to his difficulty in falling asleep. What he did know was that he still hadn’t resolved his uncle’s intentions in sending him the emails.

Without quite knowing why, he pulled up the emails his uncle had sent him and gazed at them. There they were, straightforward enough, now that they had been fully deciphered and their directions followed.

Something tugged at his mind. Despite all that had happened, including the destruction of Sitagarha hill, he had a subliminal feeling this saga wasn’t over yet, that there was more to come.

But what more could there be?

He glanced over the emails again and contemplated deleting them.

He took a deep breath and opened the first email. Quickly glancing at it, he deleted it and opened up the second email. The nagging feeling returned. As if something was trying to steer his thoughts in a certain direction.

What was it? He studied the email, reading it slowly and carefully. But they had exhausted the meanings buried in this email.

Or had they?

Everything isn’t always the way it looks. Sometimes you need to look deeper within. Study, the Bhagavad Gita, it is the source of much knowledge. The subject of the Gita, though mixed up, is a mark upon us for our future lives, and will lead you through the door to knowledge, which you must unlock. In an ocean of maya, there is always an island of satya.