THE MAHABHARATA QUEST:THE ALEXANDER SECRET (18 page)

43

A part of the puzzle

‘You see,’ Vijay carried a sheaf of papers from the desk to the coffee table where the others were seated, ‘there were two mysteries surrounding the route that Alexander took on this journey.’

He pulled out a map that traced in bold red Alexander’s march across modern day Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

‘The first is here,’ he indicated a region in the south of Pakistan near the coast. ‘After heading down the Indus on his way back to Babylon, Alexander divided up the army. He sent part of it by sea across the Persian Gulf. And he led the other part of the army from the coast to Turbat.’ He indicated the town on the map. ‘Then, inexplicably, he headed south to the sea through Pasni, marching one hundred miles through the harshest terrain – the Makran desert. It took him 60 days to cross the Makran and he lost a sizeable chunk of his army there.’

‘That’s strange,’ Shukla remarked. ‘Why didn’t he travel back by sea? Why divide the army?’

‘And not just that,’ Alice took up the narrative, since she was familiar with this story. ‘From Turbat to Persepolis is pretty much a straight line.’ She indicated the route on the map. ‘Alexander marched through the Makran to Pasni and then headed to Persepolis. Even if there was a logical reason to divide his troops, if he was heading for Persepolis anyway by land, he didn’t need to go through the desert at all. Modern writers explain this by saying that Alexander wanted to conquer the desert, especially since it had been crossed by Queen Semiramis and Cyrus the Great.’

‘Maybe he just wanted to prove to his men that he was a god?’ Colin hazarded a guess.

‘It doesn’t matter why,’ Vijay replied. ‘I just brought it up to show that there were two options I had to consider that could have provided evidence for a secret quest. The Makran desert was one. If Alexander was on a secret quest, he could have been looking for the location of the secret in the Makran desert. That would explain the detour.’

‘But it doesn’t,’ Colin continued for him. ‘Because, by then, he had buried the metal plate under the altar at the Beas river. Which means that he had already realised the purpose of his quest. So what’s the second mystery? I’m guessing you found something there. ’

Vijay grinned at him. ‘The Makran adventure wasn’t the only time Alexander divided his army up for no obvious reason. That was the second time he did it. The first time was here.’ He showed them a town on the map. ‘This is Jalalabad. From Jalalabad, he sent Hephaestion with one section of the army across the Khyber pass, into what is now Pakistan. The other part of the army was led personally by him, up this river valley and then to Pakistan through the Nawa Pass, which is further north from the Khyber pass.’ He pulled out another map; this one was a map of Afghanistan. He showed them the two passes on the map. ‘And get this – no one has been able to satisfactorily explain why Alexander headed north and then east. There are some authors and some websites who have provided a military explanation – saying that he had to protect his flank from the hill tribes. But the battles he fought to conquer the hill tribes were not fought in the Kunar valley. They were all fought here – on the Pakistan side of the present day border with Afghanistan. He could just as easily have crossed through the Khyber pass and then divided the army, sending one part east and another north to subdue the hill tribes. The final battle with the hill tribes was fought at Pirsar, which the Greeks called Aornos. That is definitely in Pakistan and not in the Kunar valley. I’m not convinced by the military-motivated explanation of Alexander’s movements.’

44

The first clue

The others stared blankly back at Vijay. They still did not understand. The verse that Shukla had just read out was:

‘
Then enter you the portal to

The valleys parting east and west

Choose wisely here, remember where

You march and where Surya lies.’

‘Okay,’ Vijay held up his hands. ‘Granted it isn’t that obvious. It isn’t supposed to be. This was a secret quest, right? Protected by cryptic verses. Unless you know what you are looking for, you wouldn’t be able to interpret any of the verses. That’s how these puzzles work, right?’

Colin and Shukla remembered the puzzle that led to the Mahabharata Secret the previous year. They had only been able to crack the code and decipher the verses once they knew what they were looking for.

‘So we’re looking for something that Alexander knew about,’ Colin decided to give it a shot. ‘If the parchment with these six verses was supposed to guide Alexander to the secret, then each of the verses should describe either one or more landmarks or locations.’

‘Right,’ Vijay beamed. ‘I’ve had all night to think about this. It took me hours of thinking and research before it dawned on me.’

Colin snorted. ‘Dawned on you, my ass! You were sleeping when I came up in the morning.’

Alice was studying the map closely. If what Vijay was saying was right, then there should be something on the map that fitted the description in the verse. Something that was a portal to two valleys.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. ‘Jalalabad!’ She looked
at Vijay.

‘Good work,’ Vijay gave her a thumbs up sign. ‘You can see on the map that Jalalabad is located at the entrance to two river valleys. One goes eastwards – that’s the Kunar valley. The other goes westwards – that’s the Laghman valley. Remember when we first heard the verses we all thought they seemed to be some sort of instructions or guide but we didn’t know what they led to? Now we have the answer. The “portal” in the verse is Jalalabad. The verse is exhorting the reader to choose the valley in the east – where Surya or the sun lies. Radha was right.’ Vijay fell silent as he mentioned Radha’s name.

‘And the valley to the east is the Kunar valley.’ Colin nodded. ‘It certainly fits together very well.’

‘But what do the other verses mean?’ Alice asked. ‘They should also refer to locations on Alexander’s route. But I can’t think of any locations that match with any of the other verses.’

‘Well one of them mentioned a rock which could be the Sogdian rock,’ Vijay reminded her. ‘If we all think hard enough and, perhaps, do a bit of research, I’m sure we can figure out the other locations. But the important thing is that the secret itself seems to lie in the Kunar valley.’

‘I hate to be a wet blanket, but that is an assumption we are making.’ Alice didn’t look happy. ‘We could be right but just because Alexander made a mysterious trip to the Kunar valley doesn’t mean that he went looking for the secret there. It could have merely been one of the stops on the way and not the final destination. Without the metal plate, there is no way of saying in which order the verses should be read. And unless we know the order of the verses we really cannot say with certainty that this verse shows us the location of the secret.’

‘That’s where I thought you guys could lend a hand,’ Vijay replied. ‘I’ve printed out a whole lot of information based on my research. Maps, descriptions, Google Earth views – the works. If we agree that my logic makes sense until now, then perhaps if we all put our heads together we may come up with something.’

‘How is this going to help Radha?’ Shukla finally spoke up. While he had faith in Vijay and his judgment, he couldn’t sit by quietly any more. His daughter was in deep trouble and here they were, researching an ancient puzzle. He had to reassure himself that their priorities were in order.

Vijay hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should explain. He didn’t want to tell them about the call. How could he? But he realised he would have to. He owed them an explanation.

‘I thought I could use this as a bargaining chip,’ he said finally. ‘Cooper called me last night. He wants the cube because it leads to the secret. If we can solve the riddle of the verses then I can exchange the information for Radha’s safety. I hate to admit it but that’s really our only hope to save Radha. If the IB hasn’t been able to get a trace on her location yet, I don’t know how we’re going to be able to find her. Our only option is to get them to release her and this is the best way to do it.’

Shukla pondered this for a while. ‘I guess you’re right,’ he conceded. ‘Let’s see if we can make any headway with this.’

They bent their thoughts to focus on the reams of information that Vijay had collated through the night. Would they be successful in finding the clues that would help them discover the information Cooper was seeking?

45

A counter offer

Cooper looked at his watch. 12 noon. Time to call Vijay Singh. He dialled Vijay’s number and listened as the phone rang without being picked up. He frowned. It didn’t make sense. The man’s fiancée was his prisoner. He had expected the call to be picked up with greater alacrity.

He disconnected and tried again. This time the call was picked up promptly.

‘Cooper?’ There was a strained edge to Vijay’s voice which pleased Cooper.

‘Well?’ Cooper came straight to the point. ‘What have you decided? Your fiancée or your ex-girlfriend. Which one will it be?’

‘I have a counter offer.’ Vijay’s voice was stronger now, though the undercurrent of tension still percolated through.

Cooper raised his eyebrows. This was interesting. He had not anticipated this. He decided to see where this was going.

‘Go on,’ he commanded.

‘Your primary interest is not Alice or Radha,’ Vijay began. ‘You want the location of the secret that Alexander the Great went searching for in the land of the Indus.’ Vijay paused. ‘And I can help you find that location.’

Cooper was taken aback. He recalled what Van Klueck had told him about this man and his friends. His respect for Vijay went up a couple of notches. But it also told him one thing — the man desperately wanted his fiancée back but he was also trying to protect his former girlfriend. If he had taken the trouble to invest time and effort and analyse the few clues available to him to come up with the right answer it was clear that Vijay Singh took his relationships very seriously.

It also meant, Cooper reflected, that Saxena would need to find out if Radha and her IB colleagues knew about the objective of the mission. Had Vijay Singh worked this out after she was kidnapped? Or had they known this all along? He knew it was impossible for anyone to have suspected the true nature of the secret that they were trying to unearth. That was something that only the Order would know. But this was a project that had been kept secret for decades. He could not allow the mission to be compromised any more than it already was, especially now that they were so close to fruition.

Cooper realised he had already taken too long to respond. Vijay was smart enough to have understood that he had touched the right nerve. But there was a way to turn this to his advantage. He still held a trump card.

‘And just how can you help us find the location?’ There was no point in denying or pretending not to understand what Vijay had just said.

There was a distinct note of triumph in Vijay’s voice as he answered. ‘We’ve deciphered one of the verses on the cube. You couldn’t have done it by yourself anyway. We can decipher all five verses and tell you exactly where the secret is located.’

‘That’s where you are wrong,’ Cooper shot back. ‘We have the metal plate that Alexander buried near the Beas. With the cube and the metal plate together, it will be child’s play to decipher the verses. Why do we need you?’

‘Think about it. We’ve managed to decipher the verse without using Alexander’s metal plaque. We have resources that you don’t — Alice, for one and Dr Shukla for another. We can give you the answers faster than you’d get them yourself.’

Cooper considered this. There was some merit in Vijay’s assertion. He had no doubt that his team would crack the verses, using the vast resources of the Order. But if he could get this done faster using Vijay’s team it wouldn’t hurt. And if they tried to pass on information to the IB, he would have them all eliminated. Van Klueck had anyway handed him a blank cheque on this matter.

‘How do I know you are not bluffing?’

He listened intently as Vijay explained the meaning of the verse and how they had arrived at their conclusion.

Cooper made up his mind. ‘Your terms?’ He knew what they were but he didn’t want to sound like he was caving in too easily.

‘You will stop pursuing Alice and you will release Radha.’

Cooper grinned. He had been right about Vijay. He had to give it to the man. Full marks for perseverance and determination even in the face of insurmountable odds. ‘Accepted but with two conditions. First, you and your team will meet me at the international airport this evening at 4 pm sharp. We will all travel together to Jalalabad tonight. We will journey to the Kunar valley tomorrow. Second, Radha stays in my custody until I have verified your claims. If you play dirty, she will be injected with the same cocktail that you know was found in the blood of the patients at the medical facility.’

There was a moment’s silence as Vijay tried to control his anger at the blatant threat. ‘I don’t have a choice. But only I will come with you. The others will stay back here. And how do I know that you’ll keep your end of the deal?’

Cooper considered this. If they were right about the location, he didn’t want everyone in on the secret. He didn’t really need all of them to go all the way to the Kunar valley. He had suggested that only because it gave him the opportunity to eliminate the lot of them in one fell swoop, out of their country, where no one would be the wiser. The plan would work just as well if Vijay accompanied him and the others stayed back. They could stay in touch using the satellite phones that they would anyway need in Afghanistan. Vijay would do. In any case, he believed that Vijay and his friends were harmless. It was Radha who was connected with the IB, not them. He would make certain that the others would be watched to ensure that they didn’t go anywhere. He would arrange for that right after this call.

His response was curt. ‘You don’t. But, as you’ve just said, you don’t have a choice. I’ll see you at 4 pm sharp. Don’t be late.’