THE MAHABHARATA QUEST:THE ALEXANDER SECRET

by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE

  True to routine, the guard showed up, carrying a small cane which worked like a taser. It carried an electric charge, which could be used to stun, or merely to hurt and shock. The guard had never used it on Radha but she had seen him use it on other inmates. He clearly derived pleasure from seeing his victims squirm, especially the women. While Radha was uncomfortable with her plan, she felt no sympathy for the guard and what she was planning to do to him.

  Radha hurried down the corridor, acting as if she was in a hurry. The guard increased his stride and speed to keep up with her. Out of the corner of her eye she glanced back and saw a big grin on his face. The man was clearly twisted. It only made her resolve stronger to carry out her plan.

  She reached the row of toilets; each one was a small cubicle with a door that swung open outwards. As she unlatched the door, she contemplated it thoughtfully. It was quite flimsy, made of layered particle board. Would it serve her purpose?

  There was only one way to find out. She entered the cubicle. There was no latch on the inside. It was assumed that people would have their privacy.

  She waited. Her plan hinged on so many factors that were determined by chance that she was not even sure if it would work. She drove the thought out of her mind and willed it to happen.

  The minutes passed.

  Nothing.

  There was silence inside the cubicle.

  And outside.

  She steeled herself. Patience.

  Still, nothing.

  Then just as she was about to give up, she heard the guard approach the door.

  She stood up. This was the moment of truth. She had to be able to estimate the correct moment to strike.

  Guessing that the guard was standing within striking distance, she lunged at the door, throwing her full weight behind her charge.

  The door swung open violently, with great force, striking the guard in the face. He teetered backwards with the momentum of the assault, lost his balance and toppled over.

  The momentum of her lunge carried Radha forward, causing her to trip over him as he lay on the floor, clutching his nose.

  But he was quick to recover. Realising what Radha was trying to do, he attempted to sit up, though blood was streaming down his face from a broken nose. His right hand clutched the electric cane, ready to use it on her.

  For a split second, Radha panicked. Her plan had failed. She had counted on knocking him out.

  Then, her steely resolve took over. She recalled what she had learned in the close combat training sessions she had undergone on joining the task force. Using her hips as a lever, she swung one leg hard at the guard. Her heel caught him on the side of his head with the same impact as a karate roundhouse kick.

  The guard went down again.

  She grabbed his electric cane and studied it. As she had thought, it was a modified version of a taser. There were different shock levels. She set it to stun and pressed it against his body.

  The guard jerked a couple of times and then went still. But he still wasn’t knocked out, just incapacitated. She had no idea how long it would take him to recover. She had to make the best of that time.

  Radha realised she was breathing heavily and sweating. She had made it so far.

  The tougher part was yet to come.

  The search for Shiva’s staff

  Vijay sat and racked his brains. They had been right about the verse. It had referred to the Kunar valley. They had found the ridge above the river. They had found the day meeting the night.

  But where was Sukra? How would they find Shiva’s staff?

  ‘I’m going to call the others,’he told Van Klueck as he dialled the fort’s landline number on the satellite phone.

  ‘Better make it snappy,’ the European shot back. It was getting dark now and, though they had carried equipment and provisions to spend the night out in conditions like this, he was keen to complete the quest and get it over with.

  The phone rang a couple of times and then a tired voice answered. ‘Yes?’ It was Colin.

  ‘Hey, I need help.’ Vijay swiftly outlined the situation to Colin. ‘Are the others there? Can we spend some time trying to work this out?’

  ‘I don’t know where they are,’ was the answer. ‘But let’s see if you and I can work this out. You say there’s a picture of a hunting scene and above the hunt there’s a star and the sun.’

  ‘Right. And according to the verse, day and night meet and Sukra shows the way to Shiva’s staff. But I can’t see anything that corresponds to Sukra.’

  ‘Hmmm. That’s a tricky one. Okay, describe the painting to me in detail once again. Every little detail, mind you.’

  Vijay described the alcove in the mountainside and the artwork on the rockface.

  ‘Nuts,’ Colin complained. ‘We thought that all the pieces of the picture would be there. Day, night, Sukra. One happy family. All pointing towards a trident. It never is that easy,

  is it?’

  Vijay listened as Colin prattled on, knowing that this was his friend’s way of thinking and analysing.

  ‘So, if the picture isn’t showing you the way, something else has to.’

  ‘Yes, but what?’

  ‘It’s a long shot, but you could try this. While we were talking, I googled Sukra. Guess what I came up with?’

  58

  Radha’s adventure begins

  Radha picked herself up from the floor, holding onto the taser. She had decided to carry it with her. The guard’s access card would come in handy too, so she purloined it. There wasn’t anything else of much use in his pockets.

  There was no knowing when he’d come to so she decided not to waste too much time and head out of the toilet immediately. Once he regained consciousness he was sure to raise an alarm and then all hell would break loose.

  She wondered what would happen then. Nothing pleasant as far as she was concerned, of that she was sure. But she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

  The elevator was her next stop. There was nothing on these floors. The nerve centre of the facility was located in the basements.

  The lowest three basement levels, she reminded herself. Eight floors of prison cells were anyway below ground level.

  She had not seen an IT room in the level Saxena had shown her earlier. It had to be on one of the levels occupied by Freeman’s project.

  But she couldn’t go wandering around those floors in a hospital gown. She would be instantly recognised as one of the inmates. The problem was she didn’t have a change of clothes and there was no way of knowing where her own clothes were, if they had been retained at all.

  She thought for a minute, mulling over an idea that was forming in her mind. She wasn’t too convinced of it but it seemed to be the only choice she had.

  The elevator doors opened. She held her breath, electric cane at the ready in case someone stepped out.

  But the elevator was unoccupied. She jumped in and pressed the button for the floor she had visited earlier, using the guard’s access card to enable the elevator.

  The elevator rode noiselessly and swiftly down the shaft and reached the floor she had chosen.

  The doors slid open silently.

  Radha stood for a moment, her heart in her mouth. She had determined to stay the course but every fibre in her being was telling her to shut the doors and return to her cell.

  But there was no turning back now. She was too far gone. The attack on the guard would not go unnoticed. Or without retribution.

  Radha took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator.

  Waiting for the magic…

  Vijay disconnected the call. What Colin had told him certainly made sense. He could think of no other course of action. All he could do was hope that they were both correct about this.

  Van Klueck looked at Vijay enquiringly as he joined the others.

  ‘We have to wait,’ Vijay told him, and explained what Colin had worked out on the call. ‘Just a short while more. The sun has almost set. We need to
look towards the northwest.’

  Cooper looked sceptical. ‘Are you sure this is gonna work? Sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo to me.’

  ‘There’s as much science in what you’re going to see in a short while as there is in the secret of the gods,’ Vijay shot back.

  The sun dipped below the horizon and darkness descended on the mountains. A heavy silence hung in the air as the men waited and watched.

  For several minutes there was nothing.

  Vijay was sweating. Why wasn’t it happening?

  In the hospital

  Imran lay in his hospital bed and grimaced. Not so much from the pain but from the thought that he was lying here when he should be out there joining in the search for Radha. And hunting down the people who tried to kill him.

  Vijay had dropped by yesterday to see him and had updated him on all that had happened. Imran had been glad to see Vijay. And Vijay had reciprocated.

  ‘We all thought you were going to die,’ Vijay told Imran. ‘Thank heavens you pulled through.’

  ‘Just about,’ Imran had smiled back weakly. The shrapnel had missed his vital organs and major arteries, which saved him. His quick presence of mind in diving into the next room the moment the glass pane in the window shattered had saved his life. His injuries had led to blood loss and weakness but he would live to fight another day. Literally, Imran thought grimly.

  He had been shocked to hear about Radha and the fact that they had been unable to find any trace of her even two days after her kidnapping. It was like her captors had vanished with her into thin air.

  Imran’s immediate response after Vijay had left was to call Vaid and demand that he be linked to the search for Radha and the activities of the task force, from his hospital room.

  Vaid had reluctantly agreed, knowing that there was no arguing with Imran. And he could empathise — if Imran couldn’t be out there in the field, he wanted to be able to monitor it from his room. After all, he was the head of the task force in India.

  As a result, Imran’s room now resembled a mini IT centre, with stacks of equipment, routers, servers and cables snaking everywhere. Three flat screen monitors were positioned at different angles, with live feed from different locations where teams were working on the case. One monitor connected him directly to Patterson.

  Imran had spent the whole day talking to the teams, trying to understand what they had been doing, analysing leads. But there was nothing to go on.

  Absolutely nothing.

  It was as if Radha had ceased to exist.

  59

  A helping hand

  Radha made her way towards the room where Saxena had brought her earlier in the day. She moved quietly, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. So far, her luck held. Like before, most of the doors opening off the corridor were shut. And, where the doors were open, the men inside the laboratories were too busy with their work to notice what was happening in the corridor.

  As she proceeded down the corridor, she couldn’t help glancing through the small glass windows set in the doors that were closed. They, too, led to laboratories where men wearing surgical masks and gloves were busy at work.

  She noticed that there weren’t any women here. Only men. She wondered why. But that wasn’t important right now. There was a ball of nervous fear deep down in her stomach. It gnawed at her, accentuating her doubts.

  Radha had observed Saxena closely on her various encounters with him. She had reached the conclusion that he was a bully. And, like most bullies, he was most comfortable when he possessed power over other people. His ability to rule their lives, determine whether they were happy or sad, if they lived or died, was what gave him his smug confidence. She was hoping that, like most bullies, deep down he was a coward. It was clear to her that his attitude and behaviour stemmed from deep rooted complexes and insecurities. She had pinned her hopes on the fact that, if confronted with someone who had power over him, he would buckle and capitulate.

  She could only hope that she was right. If she wasn’t…

  Radha moved on, hoping that Saxena was in his office.

  To her relief, he was there, seated before the computer monitor and scribbling furiously in a notebook.

  Radha hesitated for a moment, unsure. But she was here now. There was no going back. And time was running out. The CCTV cameras were sure to have captured her movements. Somebody was sure to have noticed her make her way here. She had to act fast.

  She slid into the room, shutting the door behind her and locking it from inside, as Saxena looked up in surprise.

  His surprise turned to shock and then anger as he realised what was happening.

  ‘Quiet.’ Radha tapped the electric cane on the desk before Saxena could react.

  The virologist looked at the cane, recognising the instrument. He shrank back instinctively. Radha smiled. She had been right about this man. He was a bully to his core. And now he was afraid.

  ‘You know you won’t get away with this,’ Saxena warned her, his eyes darting nervously between the cane and Radha as he spoke. ‘How long do you think it will be before security comes looking for you?’

  ‘Long enough for me to do what I need to do,’ Radha shot back. ‘Open your internet browser.’ She brandished the electric cane menacingly as she spoke.

  ‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Saxena stared at her.

  ‘Try me.’ Radha knew that her chances of escape were slim. And Saxena would pay her back in full for what she was doing now. But she had to get word out about this facility. Her fate was sealed anyway. This was her only chance of sending out a message to the outside world. She wouldn’t get another opportunity.

  Saxena saw the determination on her face. A strange feeling overcame him. He was accustomed to being the one in charge, the one who could punish or reward. And he always enjoyed that feeling. Now, the tables were turned. And he didn’t like it one bit. He felt nauseous. And cold. It was the same feeling he had had when he was in school and was caught smoking in the boys’ room. The punishment that had followed that transgression had been burned into his memory. After that incident, he had ensured that he always had the upper hand. That he would always be the one meting out the punishment.

  And today, after all those years, he was back in the boys’ room. And someone with a cane stood before him. Someone with the ability to hurt and humiliate him.

  After many years Saxena felt the taste of fear again. This was not a fair fight. And he could not stand the thought of getting hurt again, both mentally and physically. ‘Fine. I’ll cooperate. But you can’t send out emails from here. This is a secure facility. No emails. No phones. We’ll have to go upstairs. To the ground floor.’

  ‘Fine. Let’s move.’ Radha motioned towards the door.

  They moved out of the office together, Radha staying close to Saxena, ready to use the electric cane if required.

  To her surprise, instead of turning left towards the elevator she had come by, Saxena turned right — towards the large white doors at the end of the corridor. Radha had assumed that these doors led to a stairway but she was wrong.

  Saxena swiped his access card and the doors opened to reveal another elevator landing. This facility was larger than Radha had realised. But she wasn’t surprised, given the work they were doing here.

  They boarded the elevator and Saxena swiped his card once again and chose the ground floor. The elevator shot up.

  As the elevator rose, Radha realised that it was programmed to skip the eight floors where the inmates were housed. The employees working in the labs did not have access to those floors.

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. To her left and right were white doors, blocking the corridor at both ends. Saxena turned to the right and Radha followed him.

  ‘What is behind that door?’ she asked, indicating the door that lay behind them.

  ‘That’s the door to the main clinic and the reception,’ Saxena replied gruffly. He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You may want to change your mind abo
ut sending a message. It would be pretty easy to overpower me with that thing,’ he indicated the electric cane, ‘and use my access card to open those doors to your freedom.’

  Radha was overcome with anguish. She knew that Saxena was taunting her. She was so close to freedom. All that lay between her and the outside world were a set of doors. But she knew there was no way she would be able to get away by herself. Already the alarm must have been raised and people would be scanning the CCTV monitors to see where she was.

  Today, she didn’t have a choice. There was a much bigger picture to think of than her own fate. With the Order controlling the lifespan of humans, they would have ultimate power. The world would be a slave to them. Without even knowing it. She could not allow it. She would not allow it.

  Her best bet lay with sticking to her plan. She was almost there.

  ‘Keep going,’ she said to Saxena instead.

  Saxena led her into an office and opened up the web browser on the laptop that sat on the desk. ‘Go ahead,’ he gestured to the laptop as the browser was launched on the screen.

  Radha looked around. She couldn’t take the chance of having Saxena stand by as she typed out the email. She would have to put the electric cane down and that would leave her exposed. But there didn’t seem to be anything in the room that could be of use to her.

  She made a quick decision. ‘Sit there.’ She pointed to the chair at the desk. Saxena sat down calmly and watched her unplug the laptop from its power cable and back up to the door. He knew what she was going to do.

  ‘Before you go,’ he said, ‘know that when this is over and you are back in your cell, I will personally ensure that you live the rest of your life in pain. I promise you that.’

  Deep down, at her core, Radha was horror-stricken. She knew that Saxena would make good on his promise. But she had resigned herself to her fate when she had decided on this plan. She had to go through with it.

  Backing out of the room, she latched it from outside and quickly began accessing her email account. Saxena was sure to raise the alarm from inside the room even if her escape from her cell had gone undetected until now. She had minutes, if not seconds, to complete her task.