THE MAHABHARATA QUEST:THE ALEXANDER SECRET (14 page)

31

Trapped

Alice slunk out of the gallery, as they had planned. They had taken up their assigned positions behind different displays which occupied the room – tall cases displaying different parts of body armour, mannequins wearing the armour of emperors and kings – and waited.

They had counted on the men entering the room after switching on the corridor lights. The plan was to wait for 20 seconds after the last man entered the room, just to be sure there were no others, and then sneak out, one by one, at intervals of ten seconds.

Colin joined her after a few moments and they stood there, waiting for Shukla. Vijay had volunteered to be the last one. ‘Because I’ve got the most powerful weapon,’ he had said, quite seriously. They hadn’t argued. They were short of time.

The seconds passed and Shukla didn’t appear. Colin looked at Alice, worried. They didn’t want to leave without either Shukla or Vijay. Colin struggled to decide what they should do. Going back inside was not an option. While none of their hunters had followed them outside, they could be waiting for them to return.

An unpleasant thought struck him.
What if Shukla had been captured already?

The decision was taken out of his hands as Riley appeared on the landing of the second floor, dragging a bloody Sahu behind him. ‘Lights in the gallery,’ he ordered Sahu, as he fixed Alice and Colin with a sneering smile. Sahu obediently complied.

Alice and Colin froze where they stood. They didn’t know who this man was but the sight of Sahu, his right hand covered in blood and the Bowie knife in Riley’s hand was enough for them to realise one thing.

They were trapped.

The curator’s fate

Vijay stared in horror at the sight before him. Alice and Colin were being shepherded through the door, along with a blood covered Sahu, by a tall, muscular man with blonde hair, who brandished an enormous Bowie knife. It was obvious that the blonde man had ambushed Alice and Colin outside the gallery; but what had he done to Sahu? Vijay now realised why Sahu had been screaming in anguish. The curator’s face was now dull, the pain replaced by shock, numbing his senses.

On the other side of the room, three gunmen stood, their faces concealed by black ski-masks, covering the three prisoners.

Riley consulted his phone. ‘Alice Turner. Check. Colin Baker.’ He looked at Colin. ‘That must be you. You’re the only other white guy in the room.’ He looked around. ‘There were five of you at the fort. The two who were nosing around are covered. Which means there’s one guy missing.’ He raised his voice. ‘Vijay Singh! I know you’re in here. You can’t hide. I’ll go easy on these two if you show yourself now.’

Vijay realised two things in that instant. The first was that somehow, they had been under surveillance at the fort. He couldn’t fathom how, but this man knew their names and also knew that the three of them had been together at the fort. He also seemed to know that Imran and Radha had been with them. The second was that this man’s information was not perfect. He didn’t know about Shukla. Vijay couldn’t work out
why Shukla seemed to be a blind spot, but he hoped that the linguist had realised that and would stay concealed.

He stepped out from behind the case displaying a suit of armour, dragging the mace behind him. ‘I’m here,’ he said, simply.

Riley beamed, satisfied with the way things were going. Then, abruptly, he turned to Sahu, grabbed him and slit his throat in one motion, dropping the curator’s body to the floor, where his blood started pooling. ‘We don’t need him anymore,’ he explained to the others.

As the others looked on, horrified, he grabbed Alice and pressed the bloody tip of his knife against her throat. ‘Now,’ he whispered to her. ‘Where’s that metal plate?’

Two of the gunmen moved closer to Vijay and Colin, aiming their guns at them. Just beyond reach of an arm or a leg, but close enough to be an effective shot at point blank range.

A small dot of red appeared on Alice’s throat where the knife point pressed against her skin. She tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out.

Riley chuckled. ‘Let’s find out if you’ve got it on you.’

‘Wait,’ Vijay stepped forward, unable to contain himself. He could see that Alice was beside herself with fear. ‘She doesn’t have the metal plate. It’s in a room behind that door.’ He indicated the door they had locked just a few moments ago. ‘I have the key.’ He looked at the gunman who had his weapon trained on him.

The gunman nodded. ‘Easy now,’ he cautioned Vijay, his voice muffled by the ski mask. ‘Any tricks and I won’t miss at this range.’

Vijay slowly fished out the key ring and threw it to Riley. The blonde man half dragged, half carried Alice to the door and unlocked it. He stared at the repository of tablets and seals inside. ‘Which one is it?’ he snapped.

Alice showed him the plaque. Riley shoved her away roughly towards the third gunman who backed up to catch her as she stumbled towards him. The blonde man sheathed his knife then picked up the seal and looked at it.

Vijay and Colin watched with surprise as something totally unexpected happened.

32

334 BC

Macedonia

Alexander was in his apartments in the royal palace, gazing out of a window, lost in thought, when his mother entered, unannounced.

‘Son,’ Olympias began. ‘I have a gift for you.’

Alexander turned, frowning. He had grown up with his mother’s idiosyncrasies, but he still hadn’t got accustomed to them. Her breaking into impromptu, ecstatic dance at unexpected moments, the inexplicable love of snakes, and entering his rooms unannounced – they still irritated him at times. But he loved her with all his heart and could never bring himself to reproach her.

His dark, intense eyes searched her hands for the gift she spoke of but they were empty, clasped before her.

‘Come on, mother,’ the young king protested. ‘No games now. Tell me what it is. You know I love gifts.’

‘Before I do, I want you to promise me something,’ she replied, smiling at him. He was possibly the only person she didn’t wish to manipulate or take advantage of. All she wanted was for her son to be a great man, for his glory to live forever. And she would do anything to ensure that happened.

Alexander’s brow furrowed. ‘Depends on what it is,
he replied.

‘Oh, I think you will relish fulfilling this promise,’ his mother goaded his curiosity on. ‘It is about your campaign against the Persians.’

Alexander fixed her with a piercing gaze. ‘Mother, you know how close that is to my heart. To avenge the humiliation the Persians heaped upon us , marching across our lands, subjugating us – that is the only goal I seek now. I will not rest until I bring the Persian Empire under Macedonian rule.’

‘I know, my son,’ Olympias smiled affectionately at his
pothos
. ‘But why stop there? There are lands beyond Persia, to the east.’ Her voice lowered to a whisper. ‘The land of the eastern gods, where the Indus and other great rivers flow.’

‘The Ends of the Earth! I have heard of the riches of this land, Mother,’ Alexander was thoughtful now. He had heard stories of gold and precious stones in the Indus valley and of the natives paying tribute to the Persians in the form of gold dust. ‘But it means spending a few more years away from home. Is it really worth it? The Persian Empire will yield all the wealth we need.’

‘It is not material wealth that you will seek in those lands.’ There was a twinkle in his mother’s eyes. ‘You were born of a god. The son of Zeus. I have told you that before. But you are still a mortal.’ She paused and looked him in the eye. ‘There is a myth from the land of the Indus. An ancient legend about a great secret that will make you a god. It is that secret that I am asking you to seek.’

Olympias told Alexander about her meeting with the philosopher from the eastern lands. She gave him the parchment and the metal plate that the philosopher had given her and explained the inscriptions and engravings to Alexander, just as they had been explained to her.

‘But this has to be a secret mission. If your army knows what you seek, there will be trouble. They will not follow you to the ends of the earth, for they will not believe.’

When she finished, Alexander studied the parchment. ‘It is my destiny,’ he said at last. ‘Born of a god. And I will be a god.’

33

PRESENT DAY

DAY THREE

A summons

Radha heard the doorbell ring and hurried to open the door. Was it Vijay?

A man in a safari suit stood at the doorstep, looking mournful. He looked like he bore bad news and Radha’s heart sank.

‘Miss Radha Shukla?’ the man asked.

Radha nodded, her heart in her mouth.

‘I’m Hoshiar Singh from the Intelligence Bureau.’ The man flashed an identity card at her. Radha barely looked at it. She wanted to know what he was doing here at this time of the night.

‘Mr Imran Kidwai is in hospital,’ Hoshiar Singh continued. ‘Someone tried to kill him in his apartment this evening using a rocket propelled bomb. His condition is critical. I was told to inform you in case you would like to come to the hospital with us.’

Radha gasped in shock. Imran in hospital? A bomb? She could hardly believe what she was hearing. She had just spoken to him a short while ago.

‘Give me a minute,’ she said and stepped inside to grab her phone. She quickly typed out a text message informing Vijay about Imran and asking him to meet her at the hospital. ‘Let’s go,’ she told the man as she locked up the house and hurried down the garden path towards the waiting car.

An unlikely rescuer

Shukla watched from behind the display with a suit of armour belonging to the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, as Alice was dragged to the room with the tablets. Like Vijay, he had realised that Riley was unaware of his presence in the group. He didn’t know whether it was of any use or not, but he decided to stay hidden for now. If nothing else, when the others left, even as captives, he could get to a telephone and call Imran for help. He cursed inwardly. This was the first time in his life that he regretted not carrying a mobile phone. For years, he had refused Radha’s attempts to convert him. ‘I’ve always been accessible even when there were no mobile phones,’ he would say. ‘If someone needs to contact me, they know where to find me.’

Today, he realised how useful a mobile phone could have been in a situation like this. A text message would have been enough to summon help at this very moment.

Meanwhile he saw Alice being pushed away by Riley and stumbling forward. The third gunman backed up to catch her from falling, coming within a foot of the suit of armour behind which Shukla had sought refuge.

The gunman caught Alice, but only barely, almost losing his own balance in the process.

Something went off inside Shukla’s head.

He sprang out from behind the armour and swung the blunt end of the axe head at the head of the gunman, as he was trying to recover his balance and catch
Alice simultaneously.

The axe head connected and the gunman went down heavily, crashing into the glass of the display, dropping Alice as he fell.

Suddenly all hell broke loose.

Vijay and Colin had noticed Shukla emerge from hiding and swing the axe. While they were taken aback at this unexpected manoeuvre, they had an instant of a start on the gunmen standing next to them.

The gunmen were fully focused on their captives and reacted with surprise as their colleague crashed to the floor. They were momentarily distracted.

Vijay and Colin took advantage of the moment. Colin ducked and pirouetted on one knee, moving closer to the gunman covering him, and lashed out with his other leg. He caught the gunman in the knees. The man’s legs folded under him, dropping his gun. Colin dived for the gun and struck the man on his head with the butt of the weapon, knocking him out cold.

Shukla helped Alice up and they ran for the door. As Colin tackled his captor, Vijay slipped to the floor, rolled over and swung the mace towards the gunman behind him. As the mace flew over his body, he rolled back and out of the way just in case it rebounded. The mace had eight blades mounted on a cylindrical rod and it hadn’t lost its potency. It struck the gunman on his thighs, slicing through the muscle and left him writhing on the floor.

It had taken just seconds for the entire scene to unfold and Riley had no time to react. By the time he had unsheathed his knife the four captives had dashed out of the room, slamming the door of the gallery shut behind them.

Riley recovered quickly from his initial surprise and sprinted towards the door. Suddenly the gallery went dark and he cursed. Someone in the group had had the presence of mind to switch the lights off before they headed downstairs.

He slowly made his way through the darkness, bumping into a few exhibits as he walked towards the door. When he finally reached the door and opened it, he saw that the corridor outside, too, was sheathed in darkness. Through the open windows, he heard a car engine start up outside the museum.

A wave of anger washed through him and he savagely thrust the knife into the wooden balustrade of the stairwell. He would have to inform Cooper. But it wasn’t concern about Cooper’s response that drove his rage. Tonight’s episode was a blot on his record. His men had failed him.

This would not happen again.

34

New Delhi

After their hurried getaway from the museum, Vijay raced through the streets of Central Delhi, weaving through traffic, trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the museum. None of them could dismiss from their minds the sight of the curator being murdered in cold blood before their eyes.

Finally, he relaxed slightly though his tension still showed in his tight grip on the wheel. ‘Was that Cooper?’ he
asked Alice.

Alice numbly shook her head. She was still in a state of shock. She didn’t know who the young blonde man in the room had been but she realised that her pursuers had not given up the chase. They had, somehow, followed her all the way from Greece to Delhi. And they even knew that she had taken refuge at Vijay’s fort!

‘We need to inform Imran. Whether Cooper is here or not, tonight’s incident was not random. Someone has been tracking you, Alice,’ Vijay gave voice to her thoughts. He passed his phone to Colin. ‘Call Imran, will you? He’s on speed dial.’

Colin nodded and swiped the screen of the smartphone to get rid of the screensaver, then typed in Vijay’s password. ‘You have a text message from Radha,’ he reported.

‘What’s the message?’ Vijay wondered.

Colin’s jaw dropped as he read the message.

‘What’s wrong?’ Shukla enquired from the rear passenger seat where he was seated with Alice.

‘It’s Imran,’ Colin’s voice shook with emotion. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. ‘His apartment was bombed this evening. He’s in hospital. Radha’s gone with some IB men to the hospital and she’s asked us to meet her there.’ He gave Vijay the hospital address and Vijay swung the car around immediately. The hospital was not far from where they were and they could be there in less than fifteen minutes.

IB or not IB?

Radha sat in the car and stared glumly at the traffic around them. A host of questions swirled around in her head. Why had Imran been targeted? Why would anyone want to kill him? Had this anything to do with his visit to Titan earlier that day? And if there was a link between the Titan visit and the attempt on Imran’s life, did that mean that she, too, was a target?

She hunched her shoulders and was grateful for the fact that she was in a car with three men from the Intelligence Bureau. It made her feel somewhat safer.

‘What did the doctors say about Imran?’ she turned to the IB agent sitting next to her, a surly looking man with a thick moustache.

He shrugged. Hoshiar Singh, who was in the front passenger seat turned around and replied instead. ‘All we know is that he has lost a lot of blood. We’ll only get to know more when we reach.’

Radha fought back her tears. She had forged a very special bond with Imran last year. She had been kidnapped and almost killed and Imran had rescued her. He couldn’t die. Not now.

The car came to a roundabout and took a left turn. Radha looked out of the window, still lost in her thoughts, and gave a little start. She hadn’t been paying much attention to the route they were taking. They had been heading in the general direction of the hospital, from South Delhi. Preoccupied with the notion of losing Imran, she hadn’t noticed when they began moving in a direction that led away from the hospital. It was only now that she realised that they were passing through Chanakyapuri, and heading towards Dhaula Kuan, a route that would lead them to Gurgaon.

She glanced at the surly agent next to her and briefly studied the two agents in front. None of them seemed to be aware that they were heading the wrong way; and if they were, they didn’t seem perturbed. The car radio was on and Hoshiar Singh was humming along with a song that was playing, one of the latest Bollywood hits.

Something was wrong. An uneasy feeling took hold of her. Were these really IB agents? Or was this all part of the fallout of the visit to Titan Pharmaceuticals? She tried to recall the agent’s identity card but realised that she hadn’t looked at it closely. He could have been showing her his driver’s licence for all she knew. She chided herself for being so careless.

But, if these people were masquerading as IB agents, then why hadn’t they killed her outright? It would have been so easy at her house with no witnesses around. Why pack her into a car under the guise of taking her to see Imran? Unless the news about Imran was a ruse to draw her out. A sudden spark of hope flickered within her at this thought. Maybe Imran was fine after all. But that spark was quickly doused by the realisation of her own predicament.

Radha sank back in her seat. Maybe she was being too paranoid. But if she was right about this, then she had to ensure that the men didn’t get to know about her suspicions. She glanced at the doors on either side. They were locked shut by the central locking mechanism. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be unlocked. Only, she couldn’t attempt to jump out of a moving car. She’d only succeed in injuring herself and it would be too easy for them to pack her back in the car.

She realised she had just one chance at trying to get away. If that failed, they would be doubly alert and she wouldn’t have a hope in hell.

Radha closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, steadying her breathing so that she didn’t give anything away. She had to be patient and wait until they came to a traffic intersection where they would have to stop. That was the only opportunity she would get.

She stared ahead at the road as they continued to speed along to an unknown destination.
What was going to happen to her?