I removed my black t-shirt and folded it into a round shape. I found a stick and stuck the t-shirt on top of it. I put the stick on the wall so that the t-shirt was just sticking out a little bit. From a distance it would look like the top part of someone’s head. I grabbed Meena and headed to a safe spot while staying low to the ground. I showed her a way out. She complied with dumb obedience. I quickly went back staying low and tried to find the shooter. Whoever he was he wasn’t very smart.
After a failed shooting, it would be wise to escape and try again. Like a hit and run. This idiot was staying and trying to finish the job. Soon after looking around, sure enough, I saw the long barrel of a rifle sticking out of a SUV car. The rifle was pointed at the t-shirt on the stick. He took his time steadying the rifle and then a shot rang out again and hit the t-shirt perfectly and it fell out of sight. The car was starting and about to leave when I went upto the passenger side door, opened it and jumped inside.
It was Aditya Malhotra, Palak’s brother.
Chapter 16: Payback
Aditya was watching me with his mouth open. I grabbed the rifle from his hand saying “Think you can get rid of me so easily?”I smacked him hard on the face with the butt of the rifle. He fainted. I took his rich shirt with the fancy cologne and tried it on. It fit me well. I dragged the unconscious Aditya into the backseat. I tied his hands with the headphone cord. Some of these headphone wires are over a metre long and are perfect for using as rope, if you know how.
Things were coming loose. Aditya as the inside man made perfect sense. He would know the routine of the house and spy on people. He could also sneak into Prajwal’s study and take a look at his documents. And I was furious with myself, the culprit was right there next to me and I went all over the state looking for clues. I was losing my mojo. I had already made several major mistakes in this matter resulting in loss of life. If I had been a little smarter the young girl would still have been alive and that boy would still have his little sister.
It was high time I started doing some good things. We drove a long way and stopped in front of an old building that was half destroyed. I knew there would be no one nearby so he and I could have an undisturbed chat. Aditya was due for a major ass-kicking appointment and I had come to collect. He was awake and trying to talk, but I smacked him again and stuffed a cloth down his throat. There would be lots of time to talk later. I dragged him into an empty dusty room and threw him. I crackled my knuckles and started getting ready to beat him up. I took the cloth from his mouth and he started talking fast and furiously.
“Look, it wasn’t my fault. They made me do it, I had no choice. I didn’t know what they would do. You have to believe me. I’m sorry. Please please … don’t. I’ll tell you everythi…”
The rest of his words were drowned by the sound of my knee striking his flabby gut. These highly educated twits, who have never done an honest day’s work, were as soft as butter. All the air went out of him and he went down like a sack of rice. I sent a fist to his face that knocked him down. I had no idea why I was hitting him even though he was ready to tell me everything. I guess the frustrations over recent events had gotten to me. And this guy had just tried to put a bullet in my skull. And if had missed and hit Meena, then that would have destroyed me. As it is, I was having a very hard time trying to control my own emotions over my failure to protect one innocent girl. Two probably would have made me retire into a mental asylum.
I hit him some more until he stopped resisting and was lying on the ground in a ball. I dragged him back up and untied the headphone cords on his wrist and threw him against the wall, where he fell into a sitting position.
“Start talking and you just might leave alive.” I was lying, I don’t kill, whatever the reason. Guardians are protectors, not assassins. He looked plenty scared. He didn’t know that I was currently unable to access my power. I tried again to summon some fire, just in case, to see if I get a response. All I got was a sudden needle sharp pain in my skull.
It looked like Aditya was a coward. He couldn’t even take a fraction of the beating I took. At first, he started jabbering really fast and I couldn’t take in a word of what he was saying. I hit him again and told him to talk slowly and from the beginning.
“It all started when I came back to India to start a business. I managed to get some funding and everything was good for a while. My business was turning into a profit. I had built a good reputation and I was happy. But then, something went wrong. My business started to fail. I had to borrow a lot of money from people to keep it running. I borrowed more and more and they lent it to me. But it wasn’t enough, so I started to embezzle from my brother-in-law. I took money from his firm and put it into my business. But it was doomed to fail, I couldn’t figure out why, no matter how hard I tried, all my plans were in vain.”
“Prajwal soon found out that I had been taking his money. He confronted me and gave me a week to return the money or he would expose me to my family. He called me an incompetent fool. You have to realize that my family is everything to me. My sister Palak and my family are the most important things in my life and this outsider was threatening to destroy that. I didn’t have that much money. So I went back to my lenders. Now these were powerful people with vast amount of resources. I explained my situation to them and requested them to take my business and whatever assets I had and give me the money I need to return to Prajwal.”
“But they offered me a deal. An offer to join their organization and help them achieve their goals. And in return, they would forget about the debt I owed them! In fact, they also offered to help me with my problem with Prajwal. They said that even if I paid off Prajwal, he would still know my secret and could threaten me again whenever he wanted.” Here he stopped and swallowed. I kicked him the ribs to continue.
“They … They said that the best thing would be to get rid of Prajwal. They convinced me that it would be the best course and they could get it done. All I had to do was get them some information on Prajwal and give them some copies of the thing he was working on.”
“So they asked you to spy on him? On your own family?” I interrupted.
“He is not family.” He spat those words out. “He is just some schmuck that Palak fell in love with in college. He is not even of our caste. It disgusts me to see him with her,” he said with such passion that left me wondering how someone educated abroad could believe in stupid notions such as caste.
“So I did it. I converted. I became a Thugee. Granted that I was low level and didn’t know much but my debts were paid. Then we planned on how to eliminate Prajwal from this picture.”
I interrupted him again “Wait, wait. You converted to Thugee? How do you know about them? What is the name of these mysterious money lenders?”
“It is called ‘The Jamedar Enterprise’”
Sounded like Devakratha. He is the only Jamedar I know. What chilled me was that they had broken their habit and strayed into mortal business. Money-lending and then converting them to their proxies sounded like a good way to recruit members into the Thugee. I made a note to inform the Guardians of this fact. I suspected that they had purposely ruined Aditya’s business so they could recruit him and get close to Prajwal. This poor sap still thought his business had failed because of market conditions or somethingWhile I may not be a smart person, usually I can put two and two together and surmise what’s going on. Even if it is too late.
“All right. Go on.” I said
“So we planned to get rid of him. But the Enterprise people lured me into further wickedness. They suggested, why kill him when we can take everything from him. So they said they would ensure that they controlled Prajwal and make him sign all his businesses, assets and properties to me. Then they would kill him. And it would all be made to look natural without causing any suspicion. I had no idea how, but I agreed. So I informed them of Prajwal’s activities and when he would be alone.” It was a bit disconcerting to hear how Aditya planned the murder of his own brother-in-law.
“And they came one night as planned. But it seems that something went wrong and they couldn’t accomplish whatever they came for. I was told to be quiet for a few days and focus on improving my business. And with the Jamedar Enterprise behind me, all my problems disappeared and my business began flourishing again.”
What an idiot. “You’re their puppet, you moron. They ruined your business and gave you money so they could control you, and now they can.” I told him and watched his fat head take tally of everything and come to the same conclusion. He looked aghast.
So. Things were clear now. Devakratha had arrived at Prajwal’s place and tried to take the armour piece and when he failed, he set Narimbu into Prajwal’s soul. But Prajwal had been magically protected courtesy of Suryaprakash. So Narimbu must be trying to possess Prajwal and create a will to sign everything over to Aditya. Once Aditya had all the control of the family’s finances, he would be a useful tool for the Jamedar Enterprise. There were certain things one can do to ensure protection against being possessed. While whatever was protecting Prajwal from possession was solid, I doubted it would last much longer against a rakshasa of Narimbu’s calibre. He would be able to wear it down or find a way around it. Looks like Prajwal was running out of time as well. It was ironic that Suryaprakash had been able to safeguard Prajwal but he had been unable to protect himself.
So there were two problems. One was Prajwal who was fighting against possession and two, the Gandiva. The solution to both problems was with Devakratha. He had the red ring that controls Narimbu and he also had the spell or yagna that summons the bow. I came out of my thought process with a little jerk. Going up against Devakratha made me a little queasy. I had a healthy respect for the man. He was crazy and diabolical in a way that I could never be.
“So why did you try to kill me?” I said to the broken man. The fact that he was the Enterprise’s tool had shattered him. But it still wasn’t enough for the things he had done. He was still quiet, so I encouraged him with another swift kick and he continued.
“I got a call from the people at the Enterprise. They informed that you had been meddling and causing them trouble. I told them I didn’t know much about you. So they said that you were major league bad news and I had to try and stop you somehow or everything we had worked for would be lost. So I thought to get rid of you myself. I couldn’t come up with any other way than to shoot you.”
“You mean, you weren’t man enough to fight me man-to-man. If you ask me, I’d say you’re the schmuck, not Prajwal.” He hung his head.
“I tracked you down using a few contacts and followed you from your place to the university. And … ” And I knew the rest. This man had been ready to kill and spy on his own family for the sake of business and yet he had a twisted affection for them. I knew exactly what to do and it would be a fitting punishment for him.
I took out my phone. It was yet another thing I had borrowed from Raja. I kept losing my phone and sim cards, so I took a fairly low-end phone and restored everything using the backups on my PC of my previous phone. It didn’t have many features but it did have a sound recorder. I had started the recorder at the beginning of our chat now I rechecked the recording. It replayed our whole conversation perfectly. Aditya watched in horror as I put the recorded audio file into an app. When I hit send, the app would share this file with Palak, Aditya’s sister.
Aditya begged and cried and fell at my feet, and from the looks of it, it seemed he had lots of practice at that too. I stepped back away from him and showed him the phone and said
“Here’s your worst fear. Your family will now know what you did.”
“Please, please don’t . I will do anything. I will give you information about the Enterprise. I will give money, anything. But please don’t.”
It was a stupid offer, I would never gain an advantage over someone in that way. Besides this Aditya was a snake, he would turn on me just like he was ready to turn on his present masters. He could see that from the expression on my face.
“Please. I will give up everything. I won’t be a thugee. I will retire, I will leave India. I swear. I will be a good person from now on. I’m sorry. Please don’t send that to Palak. ” he was babbling.
“Don’t try to convince me, try to convince her.” I said and hit send.
Chapter 17: Target Acquired
I left Aditya huddled on the floor weeping. I took the car with me and on the way back to my apartment I received several frantic calls from Palak. She was hysterically sobbing on the phone. She couldn’t believe that her kid brother had tried to kill her husband. It was very depressing with Palak going on about her childhood and how she had always looked out for her kid brother. I kept the phone on speaker and made several sympathetic noises as she vented out all her frustrations. I assured her repeatedly. I told her that I was going after the people responsible and asked her to keep Aditya away from her home at all costs and increase security in her home. She hung up nearly an hour later still sobbing. Well, atleast she got to vent out all her troubles, which made me wonder, whom did I have to share my fears and frustrations? A shrink would probably recommend me to a good mental hospital or most likely go mad himself after a session with me.
I parked the car in a bad neighbourhood and opened the door leaving the keys in the ignition. The car would be gone within the hour.
I reached my house and took the long elevator ride up. As I opened the door, everything was quiet. I thought Kajur would be up browsing the net. He already was addicted to it. But the laptop was powered down. I called out to him and he appeared instantly, he looked drowsy.
“What happened to you?” I asked
“Too much information. I have been up without rest for several days now and I don’t feel so good.” He said
“You and me both,” I replied as I took a drink from the fridge and finished in one go.
But the cocktail from Raja was still in my bloodstream so I could keep chugging along.
”I want to take a look at this and tell me if it looks familiar.” I took out the page I had torn from the book Meena had showed me and gave it to him. He took it in his wee little hands and studied it. The Kajur who emerged from behind that piece of paper was not the one I had spoken to a few moments before.
His face was blank, and his eyes were empty. His voice was deathly quiet when he said, “You persist in matters that do not involve you Guardian. Drop this matter before evil befalls you. This is beyond your understanding or ability.”
I was tired of being warned off by everybody. “The fuck it is. Somebody died for this. Someone who shouldn’t have. And it was because of me. So I will poke my nose in it as much as I want. I will retrieve that bow. I will not let that little girl’s death be in vain. So it’s him or me, whatever it takes.”
My voice was just as hard as Kajur’s, we had stopped jesting.
“So let’s get down to the brass tacks. Can you or can you not tell me the location where the yagna is to be performed?”
“You know I cannot. Literally. Physically. I cannot reveal anything about this, nor is there any way around this.”
“What can you reveal?” I asked crossly
“It is the base layout for a temple. That is all I can say about this.”
“Built by Mayasura?” Kajur remained quiet.
So I tried researching on the subject myself. I looked through maps and tried to find the building, no go. I tried researching on the life of Mayasura.He was an incredibly fascinating character who appears both in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Much has been lost regarding this amazing architect of the past. There was a Lord Varuna’s temple in Pakistan, but that was a smaller one and it didn’t match the blueprints I had. A thought struck me, I couldn’t ask Kajur anything about the temple or the Gandiva, but I could ask him about Mayasura.
“Hey, Kajur, What can you tell me about Mayasura?”
Kajur appeared with a bright smile on his face. “Finally, I can be of some use to you. Listen and understand mo
rtal, the life of the Mayasura, the Maamuni Mayan or Mayendran. He was the son of sage Kashyap, a Diti, and a great ancient king of the Asura, Daita and Rakshasa races upon earth, his capital city was Mayarastra. His works and creations are infinite in number although only a few are known. There is the Mayasabha of the Pandavas at Indraprastha, which caused the heart of the Kauravas to burn with jealousy. Greater than that were the cities of Tripura, unmatched in beauty and prosperity even by Devaloka, until its residents turned evil. He was the architect of other cities, such as the great Lanka, which Hanuman burned to the ground. Poompuhar, of the Kumari Kandam, scorched by chaste Kannagi. Innumerable temples and architectural wonders of his still exist if you know where to look.
He was not always a creator, he was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva, Brahma and Surya. Such was his devotion to Lord Brahma that he was granted a boon of immortality, with the condition that only a being not born from a mother’s womb can kill him. You think that there are only four Vedas. Wrong! There are five. The Maamuni Mayan composed the Pranava Veda before Veda Vyasa composed the four Vedas. If you wish to understand the nature of the earth, of light and sound and other forced in nature, read the Aintiram written by him. If you wish to seek the knowledge of the cosmos, read the Jyotirganita-Surya Siddhanta which was imparted to him by the Lord Surya Deva himself.
He was of a long-lived race, his boon from Lord Brahma ensured that he saw both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in its entirety. Prized above all his wonders and creations was his daughter Mandodari, who was married to the Rakshasa Ravana. So sturdy and enduring were his creations that the cities of Tripura could only be destroyed by Lord Shiva himself. The three cities of Tripura, one of iron on earth, another of silver in the sky and the last of them made of gold in the heavens were large enough to hold the entire Asura race. And furthermore they were not stationary but mobile. They could only be destroyed by a single arrow and Mayasura crafted the cities such that they would never be in a single line but for a few moments every thousand years.
The Weapon of the Devas Page 13