by Varun Sayal
As the car rolled through the giant gates of Ravi’s bungalow, Tej was awed by the beauty of that mesmerizing property. The bungalow had lush green gardens and beautiful red-brick pathways. Multicolored flower beds and a music-synced fountain apparatus further added to its beauty. On the inside, imported tiling work and antique pieces bedecked its huge walls. There were minimal servants in the bungalow, but there were dozens of armed men both inside and outside the premises, watching over the place twenty-four-seven.
A huge Lord Ganesh statue stood at the entrance of the main bungalow building. A mere look at that statue got Tej emotional. Lord Ganesh was the deity at his temple in his village, too. He stopped for a moment and said a quick silent prayer to the Lord. At last, he saw some semblance of his past in this otherwise strange future.
Once inside, he had a temptation to take a long, hot shower. Ravi enjoyed it, too.
While bathing, he noticed that Ravi’s body had quite a lot of scars—bullet and knife wounds. His enemies had shot as well as stabbed him a few times. Those were Ravi’s traumatic memories and dark areas of his past, through which Tej did not want to venture.
He stepped out and changed into fresh clothing. Tanisha was sending him WhatsApp messages. She was on a trip to Bhutan with her girl gang and was missing him. She promised to fall into his arms next week. Tej smiled as he read those words, though he didn’t know why he did so. He remembered Manu Kumar.
After getting ready, he came to the dining area and got seated. He knew it would take time to get used to the cuisines of this age. He was not yet ready to put a food item called a “tuna sandwich” inside his mouth. He only ate bananas and apples, drank some cold water, and sat waiting for Rujeeth and Shafi.
When they arrived, the three of them sat outside in the garden for drinks, lounging on comfortable chairs. The red sun skimmed the horizon, and the day was coming to an end. They started to chat.
“Who could have poisoned you, boss?” Shafi asked, relishing his premium vodka.
“We’ll get to that later. None of you asked me how my meeting with Rock & Apostle went.” Tej eyed both his associates.
“Okay…yes, how did it go?” Rujeeth sounded nervous.
Tej knew that both men were quite high up in his organization, but he was their boss.
“Not well. I met Joshua Barkell, their head of accounts,” Tej said in a grim tone.
“Yup, I know that chap. Brilliant guy. Harvard educated. Knows economics and international trade laws by heart. A sharp asset for them,” Rujeeth quipped.
“But too sharp for us, too. He wants us to raise their service fee by 0.25%.”
“What the hell. This is ridiculous! That’s millions in extra costs for us, every year. After such a long relationship with them for years? Should we look for a new money management firm in the States?” Shafi banged his glass on the table.
“Easy, Shafi, easy. I felt angry, too. But that’s not the point I’m coming to—him asking for a fee increase and me getting poisoned. These events can’t be unrelated. One of our competitors has planned to screw us on various fronts. He wants to hit our finances by influencing Rock & Apostle. At the same time, he wants to behead our organization by offing me. I’m sure he would have a presence and influence in Mumbai, too.”
Assisted by Ravi’s brain, Tej wove the perfect story, shaping the narrative and leading towards the path where he wanted to direct Ravi’s resources.
Shafi was playing with the dial of his wrist-watch. “Hmm. Which is why you directly came here from the airport instead of going to your mansion in the city?”
“Yes.”
“Who would want to off you, boss? Tarneja? Wadia? Russell?” Rujeeth was worried, too. They already had a lot of enemies in this trade; they couldn’t afford a new one.
“No, Rujeeth. These people, they hate me all right, but they don’t have the guts to go this far. We need to find this man. I need the best of our investigators to work with me on this. Can you ask Kevin Sharma and his team to report to me for the next few days? I want them here as soon as possible.” Kevin Sharma was the lead detective in Ravi’s organization. His team was often used to investigate and locate high profile targets for the gang.
Shafi revolted. “They’ll work out of here? Their whole team? But we can’t just move them out of their current assignments and reassign them to this witch hunt.”
“We can and we will re-assign whomever we need,” Tej cut off Shafi. “Don’t you think this is the highest priority now? And is it too difficult for you to get another team for our normal business affairs? Kevin is the best, and I need him.”
Shafi nodded.
“I have specific tasks for both of you. Rujeeth, I want the mercenaries on our payroll well fed, well paid, and ready with their toys. Assemble a small army if you have to. They should be in a flexible location, ever-ready to move on my command. Shafi, get our aviation folks geared up. Our choppers should be repaired, fueled, and ready to be wheels-up at a short notice. I don’t want any repair nonsense.”
“You are getting ready to fight a full-fledged war, boss. What’s the matter?” Shafi trivialized the discussion. He understood the importance of the situation but felt that Ravi was making it far more serious than it was. It was not the first time a rival gang had made an attempt on Ravi’s life.
“You think I am overreacting?”
“No…I didn’t mean that,” Shafi stammered.
“Someone poisoned me, dammit! Do you have any idea how that felt? To lay there helpless, clutching my chest? Pulled closer to death inch by inch? I would have died for sure. I was lucky to have survived that heart attack. But I don’t want to leave matters to luck anymore. I don’t want to stay a target for my enemies to hunt. Instead, I want to be a hunter. Whomever this son of a bitch is, I will locate him, confront him, and garrote him with my own bare hands.
“But what he pulled off wasn’t easy. He’s a powerful player. He won’t be taken down without careful planning and effort. We need everything we have to stomp the head of this snake. If any of you don’t want to be a part of this, I’ll understand. I can manage this on my own. But I want both of you on my side. Are you with me on this?”
“Yes, we are,” both of them spoke instinctively and with rigor. Their boss was passionate about this, and there was no other choice than to align with him.
Tej couldn’t believe what he had just pulled off, with help from Ravi’s brain. He realized his aides had their doubts, but he was able to align them with his plan. The first part of his plan was over. Now, a harder problem stared him in the face—how to find Kumbh.
Rujeeth and Shafi left the bungalow, and Tej retired to his study. He powered up the laptop. It was time for him to delve into another fascinating marvel built by the modern human, the internet. He knew that Kumbh would have acquired a host with wealth, influence, a societal standing.
He started searching for news websites. He was looking for any celebrity, actor, a politician who had experienced an accident, or a sudden dangerous medical condition in the past three days. Time was running out, and he knew he was looking for a needle in the haystack, but he had no other choice.
For dinner, he took a light rice-based meal. After that, he retired all the servants and kept surfing through the internet for a few hours until he dozed off.
Day 4 of 7
13.
The Burden Of A Hundred Generations
Tej woke up at 8 AM and felt the need to get ready. At least, that was what his host’s brain was telling him to do. He showered, put on a red polo t-shirt and his favorite denim jeans, and came to the dining area. There he received a welcome as if he were a king arriving for a feast.
The dining table was full of American, Indian, and Continental food choices. A whole team of chefs and butlers stood on the sides, waiting for orders. His instinct was to ask for a cheese omelet, sausages, and his fa
vorite rum cappuccino—Ravi’s usual favorite breakfast. But Tej stuck to cereals, fruits, and cold milk.
At 08:30 AM, a team of private investigators led by a smart young man named Kevin Sharma arrived at the bungalow. Kevin was a well-groomed man in his late twenties. He had well-combed hair and flaunted expensive eye-glasses. He wore a clean white t-shirt, ironed trousers, and shining shoes. The way he addressed Ravi showed that he both respected and feared the top boss.
Rujeeth had already briefed Kevin’s team on Ravi’s poisoning incident on the plane. This information helped the team do some prep work before they came to the bungalow. Tej believed this heads-up made their job somewhat easier, or so he thought. He asked them to take one of the big, empty rooms in the bungalow and set up a control station there.
Ravi sat with Kevin. Kevin took out a thin docket of papers from his leather bag, showed it to Ravi, and started to explain.
“Sir, our team started our research yesterday itself. This morning, while we were traveling to this place, I printed out a complete list of people who could have a hand in this attempt on your life. The names on this list are rank-ordered in priority of the most probable culprits. The topmost name is Dhanraj Bargadia, a.k.a. D.B.. He owns multiple factories, warehouses and construction business in Mumbai, Pune, and surrounding areas. We have used some of his facilities previously to ship some of our contraband. The next on the list is…”
“Wait, let me read it myself,” Tej cut Kevin off and took the list from him. Kevin handed over the sheet of paper to Tej. The sheet had thirteen names printed on it. He read those names.
Could one of them be Kumbh’s new host? No. Tej reasoned with himself. There was no reason that Kumbh would have taken a host in one of Ravi’s enemies. While it was a remote possibility, that line of investigation was digressive.
Tej recollected his previous night’s internet search—anyone influential who had experienced an accident, medical condition or such incident in the past three days. He was sure that was a much better line of inquiry. Though he himself couldn’t find anything on the internet, smart investigators could dig out better clues if they pursued the right search parameters.
While he was brooding, Kevin’s words broke his chain of thought. “What happened, sir? Does this list look like a good starting point to you?”
Tej looked at Kevin, and instantly he knew what the right words were to direct him onto the path to Kumbh. Ravi’s brain was at play.
“Kevin, buddy. Whomever this guy is, he was only inches away from taking my life.” Kevin was nodding as Ravi spoke. “I am damn serious when I say that I want to teach this bastard a lesson at any cost. I’m sure you share my enthusiasm and will do your best to help me nail this son of a bitch.”
“Absolutely, sir.”
“The list you gave me, it’s awesome. I love the work you guys have done to prepare this. But please keep this list in your back pocket for now. This man we’re looking for is very smart. I am afraid your conventional investigative processes won’t help us here. We need to think outside the box. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I will give you certain specific search parameters, and want your team to dig names out using those parameters.”
“Sure, sir. We are at your service.”
“I want you to start with making a list of all influential people in Mumbai. I want film actors, politicians, and businessmen. Anyone in town with money and muscle, who have experienced a shocking incident in the past five days.”
“A shocking incident?”
“Yes—any kind of assassination attempt, any freak accident, any sudden medical condition. Even if they so much as fainted and recovered. Collect this data for the past five days. Can you get it?”
“We can. But that is a rather peculiar ask, sir. Do you know anything which we don’t know? Or have you received a tip to make you ask for something this specific? And if so, we would like to know the exact wording, or get a text or audio file of that tip. Sometimes, that helps us unearth clues.”
“Call it a divine tip. A gut feeling which I want you to pursue.”
“Sir, I would again advise us to start from the list I prepared.”
“Kevin?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t like to repeat myself.” Tej looked at him right in the eye. It was Ravi’s characteristic grim glance, which was enough to scare those who worked under him to death.
Kevin’s face turned pale as he gulped and muttered, “Sure, sir. Your orders are noted. We’re on it, right away.”
Kevin huddled with his team of analysts and hackers in the room, then dialed in his on-the-street hires over a secure teleconference bridge.
Tej took a deep breath and felt like smoking a cigarette. He actually lit one, owing to Ravi’s muscle memory, but decided not to smoke it. Ravi’s body was craving a puff but Tej found the whole idea of inhaling poisonous air reprehensible. He was reminded of the Aghoris in his village, who used to smoke some kind of narcotic in a pot, and used to throw out thick smoke-cloud from their nostrils. Because of Aghoris, his chain of thought led to the memory of his visit to the queen of necromancers.
The meeting with Rudrakshini started playing in front of his eyes. A few days ago, he was just a common man. He was a villager who sat in his bamboo-hut, teaching his friend Manu Kumar how to tie a string to a bow. Yet today, he was sitting in the distant future, undertaking a pursuit he couldn’t have fathomed even in his distant dreams. He felt too far from what he used to be.
“Sir.” Kevin had returned to him.
“Yes, Kevin?” Tej responded with a poker face.
“Sir, I wanted to say that we need time to set up our equipment. We have a lot of folks on the ground as well, with whom we will coordinate from here to get intel. I’ll keep updating you with what we find according to your search parameters. Meanwhile, you can take rest. Rujeeth Sir said you were not feeling well yesterday.”
“I will only rest when I find our Mr. X,” Tej quipped, but he realized his presence in that room was making the whole team nervous. He got up and walked towards the door, but another fact struck him. After taking a new host, Kumbh would have moved to a fortified location and ensconced himself. Kevin’s team also needed to consider this. He turned around and addressed the team.
“Folks, add one more constraint to your search. Filter for people who left the city after their revival from the incident they experienced. These people should be high on your priority list. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,” all of them said in unison as if they were soldiers responding to their general. Tej walked out.
Now that the investigating team had gone to work, Tej knew he had another essential task to finish—a task which was pivotal to his entire plan. He had to get hold of Rudrakshini’s sacred green bhasm powder, needed for the demon invocation spell. He had already enquired from his close aide Naahan the location of the ancient temple in Bhramatipura. There, he would find the vaahak clan and the temple where Guru Rigu would have hidden the sacred bhasm with vaahaks.
He had also asked Naahan to have a small team ready to leave at any moment. Naahan had been Ravi’s loyal bodyguard for many years. Tej liked him because he followed instructions without asking too many—rather, any—questions.
Within thirty minutes, Tej, Naahan and ten trained commandos in plainclothes left for Bhramatipura. The place was roughly two hundred and fifty kilometers from his bungalow, and the expected journey time was four hours. The thought of sending one of his men to get the bhasm did cross Tej’s mind, especially given the actual danger to his vessel’s life. Still, he recalled how Guru Rigu himself had gone to fetch the bhasm the last time. It was an activity he felt he should trust no one else to undertake. His whole plan of taking Kumbh back centered on that small object.
It was late afternoon when they reached Bhramatipura. They took one
more hour to locate the temple grounds, a small but famous temple of Lord Shiva. Tej asked Naahan and his security detail to wait outside while he removed his shoes and went inside.
He asked for the head priest and met him. The head priest was a man of sixty-five, named Ramanujam. He was frail, with a weak, wrinkled body, and his forehead bore a thin layer of sandalwood paste. Tej enquired with Ramanujam about an ancient wooden box, which he was there to fetch.
For a couple of seconds, the old man gave Tej a look of disbelief. He then took him to a small room and started fumbling through his old books. After dusting and the reading covers of a few of them, he finally selected an old book. Most pages of this old book were carefully preserved in plastic wraps.
Ramanujam spoke in a shaky voice. “Yes, we are descendants of the ancient vaahak clan. Our ancestors foretold that a traveler from another world will come to ask for this artifact one day, and we have to keep it safe. No one knew about it except the head priest, who was my father, and before him, his father and so on. We believed it was only a story, like many others, but we kept this story close to our hearts, like a family secret.
“This artifact, this wooden box you are asking for, has stayed safe in our temple’s inner sanctum for ages, wrapped inside a cloth. No one even dared to look at it, ever. This is one of the ancient notebooks written by our forefathers. It mentions the exact date the traveler would come, which was yesterday. I had been waiting for my whole life for yesterday. I spent the whole day yesterday in anxiety, praying to the lord. I expected that the traveler would come, and no one came. I concluded no one ever would.”
“And here I am.” Tej smiled. He was a little amused at the perplexed expressions on the old priest’s face. But beneath this mirth, he also harbored anxiety about getting hold of that bhasm and heading back to Mumbai.