But it wasn’t just the dimensions of the cavern that shook them. The secret of the Nine lay before them, revealed in its full glory.
They had known about the legend from the Vimana Parva. They also knew about the invisibility shield. But nothing could have prepared them for the sight that now greeted their eyes. It was the same sight that had overawed Surasen when he had stepped into this very cavern 2,300 years ago.
Frustration!
In the chamber below the stupa, Farooq, Murphy and the LeT men waited. An hour had passed since Vijay and Colin had left them.
The time had passed with great difficulty for Farooq, who paced the length of the chamber like a caged tiger, his face dark with anger and tension, unable to come to terms with the fact that he had little control over events. He hated the fact that he had to rely on Vijay and his friends to decode clues, decipher verses and inscriptions and make sense of what had to be done. The presence of Murphy only added to his frustration; it was because Murphy was employed by the people he was partnering with, that he had made peace with him.
And now, Vijay and Colin had disappeared. He wasn’t concerned about what might have befallen them. He was worried about how their disappearance would affect the success of his mission.
‘Where are they?’ he growled at Shukla.
‘They’ll be back,’ he replied warily. He was worried about Vijay and Colin. But he also feared Farooq’s visibly growing irritation. ‘If we have patience—‘
‘Patience is one thing I can’t have now. You and your friends have been nothing but trouble for me.’ ’
‘They may have run up against some difficulty,’ Shukla countered, keeping his voice low lest he inflame the Pakistani. ‘Perhaps we should have all gone together.’
Farooq didn’t take kindly to what seemed to be a challenge to his decision to send Vijay ahead.
‘You think I made a mistake?’ he snarled. ‘So now I’m responsible because they’ve disappeared?’
‘No, I wasn’t suggesting that,’ Shukla began, sensing Farooq’s rage peaking, backing up a few steps.
But it was too late. Farooq had been suppressing his tension, frustration and anger and now, finding an outlet for release, it exploded like a volcano. He rushed at Shukla and repeatedly struck him viciously with the gun, attacking his face and body until the elderly man collapsed under the ferocity of the onslaught. He then aimed the gun at him.
For a few moments, silence hung like death over the group as the scientist glowered and stared down the barrel of the gun at the prone scholar. To the rest of the group, it seemed like a miracle when Farooq finally lowered the gun and flung it aside.
His rage dissipated, Murphy’s words rang in the Pakistani’s head. If Vijay had fallen prey to a trap laid by the Nine, then he may need Shukla to point him in the right direction. He couldn’t kill him. Not now. Not until he could be absolutely sure that Shukla was dispensable.
‘Let’s move,’ Farooq growled. ‘If those two have killed themselves in there, that’s their bad luck. And if they haven’t, then we’ll find them and kill them for disobeying my orders.’
Two LeT men helped Shukla to his feet and he grimaced with pain. Blood dripped from the cuts on his face and head and stained his clothes.
Farooq gestured to his men to follow him and strode through the central archway.
45
Sitagarha Hill
Farooq stood before the two archways and squinted at the inscriptions carved above them.
More riddles.
He had begun to tire of the repeated occurrence of riddles and puzzles. He was longing to get the secret in his grasp, but was being befuddled at every step of the way by the intricate puzzles that the Nine had laid out.
Farooq gritted his teeth as he fought to control his frustration. He was a scientist and yet, here he was, playing the games of a 10-year-old child on a treasure hunt.
He pursed his lips, drawing comfort from the thought that this would soon end. He turned to Shukla, who had also been studying the inscriptions.
‘Well?’ Farooq stood before the scholar, hands on his hips, and waited.
‘It says that we’ve come to the final test. If we pass this, we prove ourselves worthy. If we fail, we are doomed.’ Shukla spoke haltingly, resting his head against the wall.
Farooq frowned. ‘That isn’t much of a clue.’
Shukla shook his head weakly, wincing in pain with the movement. ‘There’s more. Each archway has a separate inscription above it. The one on the left is Maya. The other one is Satya.
‘And?’
Shukla sighed, his breath ragged as he spoke. ‘Roughly translated, Maya means illusion. And Satya means truth. According to Vikram’s emails, we should follow the path of truth and not that of illusion.’
As he spoke, a look of horror spread over Shukla’s face as a thought struck him, momentarily overcoming his pain.
‘Oh my God,’ he whispered. ‘I hope Vijay and Colin chose the right archway.’
‘Well, if they didn’t, that’s just too bad for them.’ For Farooq, it meant two less people to manage on this journey. And, going by the inscriptions, it seemed that he didn’t need anyone any longer. Not even Shukla, if this was the final inscription. And definitely not Vijay and Colin.
‘Leave him here,’ he instructed, gesturing to two men. ‘You two will stay with him while we go ahead and secure the prize.’
Without another word, he turned towards the archway on the right and led the group through it.
They didn’t know it but Vijay and Colin had passed this way just a few minutes ago.
In Close Pursuit
Imran and the commandos gazed at the open hole in the ground.
Verma motioned and the commandos instantly regrouped and silently descended the stairway. Presently, they reached the outer chamber where the LeT fighters had stood not so long ago. Imran stood with Radha and Verma before the nine arches and contemplated the inscriptions.
‘Which way?’ Verma whispered.
Imran shrugged. ‘I have no idea,’ he whispered back.
‘I wish Papa was with us,’ Radha whispered. He would know.’
Imran nodded. ‘No doubt LeT has made good use of his expertise.’
‘What do we do?’ Verma urged. ‘We are losing time.’
First Victory
Shukla sat propped up against the wall and tried to shut his mind to the agonising pain that racked his body. The two LeT men stood by, sullen and silent, upset at having been left behind. They couldn’t understand why Farooq hadn’t disposed of this man. But they didn’t dare argue or challenge him. Suddenly one of them raised his head.
‘Did you hear something?’ he asked the other in Arabic.
‘No. What?’
I thought I heard voices. Do you think someone was in the jungle and found the entrance?’
The other man laughed. ‘Who would be wandering in the jungle at this time?’
‘I think I should go and see.’
His companion sighed. ‘Go. Suit yourself, Nasir. But I’m keeping the torch. We don’t want this one getting away in the dark. Farooq will have our skins if we lose him.’
They had just one torch between them.
Nasir moved back up the tunnel that led to the nine arches and the chamber beyond. Perhaps it was his mind playing tricks on him. But he had to be sure. If he was right, and there was someone around, Farooq would ensure that he suffered for his oversight.
He came to the archway and paused, waiting for a while. His comrade had the torch and its light barely reached this far into the tunnel. The cavern was dark and silent, like a monster lying in wait for its prey.
He wasn’t afraid of death. But something about the darkness in the chamber unnerved him.
He moved forward again and emerged into the main chamber. The surrounding darkness welcomed him and enveloped him like a shroud.
The commandos watched in surprise through their night vision glasses as the LeT fighter emerge
d from the central archway. While they could see him, he was blinded by the darkness and was moving slowly, feeling his way along the wall.
They were swift to react.
A gesture from Verma and a commando sidled up silently to the unfortunate LeT man, plunging a knife into him, covering his mouth to muffle any sound. It was over in seconds.
They now knew which archway to enter.
The commandos swiftly passed through the tunnel, moving towards the dim light of the torch that was with Shukla and his guard. They crept forward and saw the second set of archways. Clearly visible in the torchlight was the prone form of Shukla and the second LeT fighter.
Radha couldn’t restrain herself and gasped in shock as she saw her father’s condition.
The LeT fighter looked up in surprise at the sound.
His first reaction was shock as he realised what was happening. Then, he lifted his weapon to fire.
But Verma was faster. The blade of the knife glinted in the light of the torch as it flashed through the air and buried itself in the LeT fighter’s chest. He fell back, his gun chattering as his finger, which had been on the trigger, involuntarily spasmed.
Then, there was silence. The commandos looked at each other. They were thinking the same thing. Had the noise of the gun reached the other terrorists? Radha rushed to her father. ‘What happened?’ Her voice trembled with shock as she examined her father.
Shukla perked up on seeing her and the commandos. He realised that there was now a chance, however slim, of stopping Farooq before he reached his goal. He seemed to draw strength from these thoughts, and explained how Farooq had assaulted him.
‘You don’t know how glad I am to see you, but we need to hurry. Farooq and his men went that way.’ He pointed to the right-hand fork. ‘And Greg White is an imposter. His real name is Murphy.’
‘We realised that, only a bit too late,’ Imran admitted.
‘What about Vijay and Colin?’ Radha asked anxiously.
Shukla averted his eyes. ‘They went into this tunnel leaving us in the chamber outside. We haven’t seen them since. There was an anxious edge to his voice, although he looked visibly relieved on seeing that his daughter was safe.
Verma looked around. ‘Okay boys,’ he addressed his men. ‘Let’s move. Now, we’ll have to deal with the main group. They won’t go down without a fight.’
‘We’ll help Dr. Shukla back into the main chamber and up the stairway,’ Imran said.
‘I’m not going back to the forest,’ Shukla protested. ‘I’m coming, too.’
Verma looked at him. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, Dr. Shukla, but from now on this is a strictly military operation and we can’t have civilians involved. My men have a job to do and they can’t do it effectively if they have to watch out for you.’
Shukla stood still for a moment, consumed by a yearning to go on. He was so close to seeing the secret of the Nine with his own eyes; a secret that had been hidden away for thousands of years. But he realised the truth of Verma’s words and nodded.
Verma pointed to two of his men. ‘You will go with them. Wait for us in the forest.’
The men supported Shukla between them and went back up the tunnel, accompanied by Imran and Radha. The rest of the commandos followed Verma through the archway that had Satya inscribed on the rock above it.
46
Sitagarha Hill
Vijay and Colin gaped. Having learned what the secret of the Nine was, they had expected a library housing documents, blueprints; texts that described how to build the invisibility cloak Farooq had described.
Anything but the sight they gazed upon now.
Stretched out, to their left, running the length of one half of the cavern, as far as they could see, was a row of horizontally inclined metal cylinders; all seemed to be made of the same metal that the disk with the verse had been forged from.
On the opposite side, to their right, the cavern was mostly empty with a few stone blocks scattered around. A portion of the wall adjoining the entrance contained hollow chambers in which plaques made from the same black metal were neatly stacked.
The metal cylinders were cigar-shaped with one end blunt and the other end tapering to a conical nose. Attached to the belly of each cylinder was a set of six wheels, arranged in pairs along the length of the cylinder with a set of wings curving away from the body mid-length and two horizontal, stubby wing-like protrusions at the blunt end.
There must have been at least a 100 of these machines. The two men stumbled into the cavern, unable to believe their eyes.
‘Oh sweet Lord!’ Colin gasped. ‘Don’t tell me.’
Vijay nodded, awestruck. They had both guessed what they were gazing at.
‘The Vimana Parva,’ he said, softly. ‘This is the fleet of aircraft that the King of Magadha had built to defeat the Pandavas.’
Colin gazed at the vimanas. Something about them seemed to be a bit strange, yet amazingly familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
The two men walked along the row of the machines. They seemed sturdy enough considering their age, and there wasn’t a trace of rust on them.
‘Can you imagine,’ Vijay said excitedly. ‘Aircraft that are thousands of years old. I wonder what fuel they used for them.’
It suddenly stuck Colin. ‘There’s no cockpit,’ he said, staring hard at the machines. ‘And no vertical stabiliser. Just those two little thingummies at the rear.’
Vijay looked curiously at Colin.
‘Don’t you get it? They look more like pilotless drones than regular aircraft. I’ll bet they are equipped with explosive warheads.’
‘You’re right,’ Vijay said, examining the vimana nearest to him. ‘So that’s how they got around the problem of the invisibility cloak blinding the pilot. If you don’t have a pilot, you don’t have to worry about that problem.’ He looked at Colin. ‘Remote-controlled drones, like stealth bombers, flying over battlefields thousands of years ago? How does one explain the existence of this kind of technology in prehistoric times?
‘Well, the King of Magadha certainly didn’t equip his vimanas with the secret weapon, like the book said,’ Colin grinned. ‘After all, we can see them, can’t we? If they had the invisibility cloak, we wouldn’t know they were here.’
‘That’s not relevant’ said a voice interrupting them and they turned around to see Farooq at the entrance of the cavern. ‘Whether they have the sheath or not isn’t important. Who knows if these tin cans will even fly after all these centuries have passed.’ His voice rose. ‘What matters is the blueprint, the design for manufacturing the sheath. This weapon will now belong to LeT.’
He swaggered into the cavern, beaming. If he was surprised to see Vijay and Colin safe and alive, he didn’t show it. His whole attention was taken up by the discovery in the cavern. His plan had worked, the mission was a success and the secret weapon of the Nine was finally his.
Vijay thought fast. It was now or never. Addressing Farooq, he said, ‘You can now let us go. You’ve got what you wanted.’ A knot formed in his stomach as he uttered the words. The LeT had got what they wanted. And he, Vijay, had helped them secure their prize. But he had no choice! He suddenly frowned. ‘Where’s Dr. Shukla?’ All the LeT men and Murphy were now in the cavern but he couldn’t spot Shukla.
‘In safe hands,’ Farooq grinned. He then turned to his men and shouted. ‘I want a complete list of all the plaques before we begin loading. And move quickly if you want to get out of here fast.’
Some of the LeT men looked upwards nervously. The fact that a hill rested above their heads was an unnerving thought. It was apparent that some of them felt an unfamiliar oppressiveness, almost as if the weight of the hill was slowly, but surely, bearing down upon them and crushing them to the ground.
One man hefted the black duffel bags he had been carrying and disappeared up the tunnel that formed the sole entrance and exit for the cavern.
Vijay found his tongue again. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘You
don’t need us any longer. Now, let us go.’
Farooq’s face twisted in a cruel smile.
A loud explosion came from the direction of the tunnel at the entrance, accompanied by the rumble of falling rock.
‘We’ve blasted open the original entrance, the one that was sealed by the Nine,’ Farooq explained, beaming. He was delighted with the way things were going now. ‘A controlled explosion; just enough to create the opening we need without bringing the hill down on us. We can’t take all this stuff back the way we came.’
A man shouted across the cavern and Farooq crossed over to see what he had found. A look of delight crossed his face.
‘We’ve found them!’ he shouted out to his men. ‘The designs for the future armoury of LeT.’
The LeT men whooped, in unison, expressing their delight. Vijay walked over to Farooq. ‘Let us go. Now that you’ve got the secret, we’re not going to be in your way.’
‘Oh, yes, that,’ Farooq smirked, enjoying the sight of Vijay pleading for their freedom. ‘You’re not going anywhere. What made you think that I’d let you go?’
All this time, Vijay had nursed a hope, however remote, that Farooq might let them go once he found the secret. He realised now that Farooq had always intended to dispose them off when they had outlived their utility.
‘You see,’ Farooq explained. ‘I meant it when I said you would die. The woman is already dead. And now that I have your friends here, they will die with you.’
Vijay felt a burning rage well up within. All this time he’d been consoling himself with the thought that he had helped LeT solely because it was the only way he could save his friends. Now, he found himself confronted with the bitter truth that they were doomed. He had hoped that Radha had somehow survived. But he had been wrong. Radha was dead. The woman he had fallen in love with was dead! There was no way out of this situation now. And what was the point, even if there was?
Fuelled by desperation at their plight, something snapped within him. Like a condemned man, with nothing to lose, his rationality dissolved and he allowed his anger to consume him. With a roar, he lunged at Farooq, and rained blows on the surprised Pakistani scientist. The LeT men and Murphy were taken unawares and even Colin looked on shocked. Farooq collapsed to the floor under the force of Vijay’s assault.
The Mahabharata Secret Page 28