Border of the sun (6 page)

  "Take it easy, boy!" The man shouted at the dog. But the dog kept barking and swirling around the dirt path.

  "What's wrong with them, Mark?" The second guy asked the man timidly. He was also trying to calm down his dog. "Are they sensing someone's presence?" He added.

  "Beats me. They are acting strangely."

  Shafts of torchlight bobbed ahead of them as they walked. The dogs kept swirling and Zigzagging around the trees, aimlessly.

  "Maybe they are ill?" The second guy muttered. He stared at the Mark's forehead and snickered. The Mark's forehead was sore-red as if some had thrown a metal Frisbee at him, and he had missed to catch it. Well, you know the truth.

  Mark patted his forehead. " What are you laughing at? " He snapped.

  "Nothing." The other guy replied, his shoulder shaking. Somewhere ahead of them a twig cracked.

  Alarmed, the both men let go of the dog's straps and hoisted their guns. The dogs barked and zigzagged into the woods, and were soon swallowed by the darkness.

  They advanced slowly.

  Another cracking.

  A small bush in front of them rustled and suddenly a small squirrel Burst out from the bush and scampered away. Both men sighed and lowered their guns.

  "So many squirrels here..." The second guy grinned.

  Lilly silently stared, as the two men lowered their weapons. She was hiding behind a thick bush just a few yards away from them. She could have easily killed them from here. But she knew that killing them now would have made rescuing Piper more difficult. As it would have alarmed the other guards.

  She glanced up at the sky. Few black clouds were now floating close to the moon, and suddenly everything around flared up in bright white light.

  A chill ran down her back. They know I'm here! She thought.

  The shaft of light moved away from her. She heard them talking. The guy with the sore red forehead, whose name was Mark, said. "Where are the dogs?"

  “I don’t know man.”

  Thank God, they are searching for their dogs.
She sighed with relief.

  "You go back and guard. I'll bring back the dogs," Mark said and headed into the dark woods.

  The other guy grumbled. Turned, and hurried off, back to the guest house. Lilly silently followed him. She kept glancing back in case Mark return.

***

  "Lilly? Lilly, can you hear me?" Karthik yelled over the microphone. Lilly didn't reply.

  Maybe she turned off her radio, he thought. Our maybe they caught her.This thought made him shudder. His throat felt as dry as a cotton.

  He started searching for water. But stopped. He heard something. He strained his ears. He could hear footsteps, approaching footsteps.

***

  The big guest house loomed in front of her. All windows were boarded up.The only way to enter inside was the main door, but two men were patrolling in front of it.

  I can't enter from here, Lilly decided.

  She crept her way around the lawn, sticking with the shadows cast by the trees.

  Soon she spotted an open window on the second floor. She decided to climb up through the metal pipes and enter the house through the second-floor window. But a guy with a gun was patrolling right below it. She waited for him to go away. When she was assured that the coast was clear; she ran toward the pipe and started clambering up.

  The moonlight faded as the clouds rolled over the moon.

  Tugging herself up, she reached the second floor, and plunged inside the window.

  The room was enveloped in darkness. She slipped to the door and stuck her ear to the door and listened. She heard nothing. She twisted the doorknob and slowly pushed open the wooden door.

  The hallway was dark and cold. A cool wind was blowing from the east window. She edged her way along the wall. The old, wooden floor creaked and groaned under her weight. Soon, she found herself standing in front of the door. She slowly opened the door and peered inside. The room was empty. She sighed and moved on to the next door.

***

  Mark hoisted his gun and yelled. "Get off from the car, now!" He had spotted this car hiding behind berry bushes when he was searching for the dogs.

  He skirted around the car and yelled. "Get out now!" But nothing happened. He carefully scooted close to the car and peered inside. The car was empty. He lowered his gun and spun away from the car.

  Karthik was standing behind him, holding the pistol in his trembling hand. "Drop your gun!" Karthik ordered  in shaky voice.

  "You!" Mark roared. "Look what you did to my forehead."

  "You tried to kill me. So it evens out." Karthik said firmly. "Drop your weapon."

  Mark glanced at Karthik's trembling hand. He soon realized that Karthik was holding the gun for the first time. He slowly started hoisting his gun. Karthik warned him, but he did not listen, and then Karthik pressed the trigger.

  Piper was now bored of staring at the two men, playing poker and quarreling with each other. They sometimes glance at her, greedily and sometimes touched her as they checked the ropes tied around her arms and legs. She was now completely exasperated by their obnoxious acts.

  She really wanted to get away from these people. She was missing her home, her work, her friends... Karthik.

  Karthik! He knows that she had been kidnapped. Maybe he will bring help.                             

  Maybe police or military. But why haven't he—

  She heard some kind of soft noises. She looked up and saw both men’s heads were now resting on the table, blood oozing out from their hairy scalps.

  Behind them, a woman dressed in black clothes was holding long barrel guns in her both hands. She tucked one in her belt and hurried toward Piper.

  She pulled out the Swiss-knife and started cutting the ropes around Piper's hands and legs.

  "I'm Lilly. I'm here to rescue you," Lilly whispered.

  "What about my file?" Piper asked, stroking her sore wrists.

  Lilly ignored her. She hurried to the door. She stopped when she realized that Piper was not following her. "Come on...let's go," She said.

  Piper crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What about my file?"

  "Listen, we are surrounded by dangerous people. So, hustle up." Lilly insisted.

  Piper sighed and followed her.

  Lilly scooted to the door and pulled it open, and saw a man outside with a confused expression on his face, staring back at them.

  The man's eyes darted from Lilly to Piper.  A drop of sweat slid down his forehead. He moved his hands back to pull  out a gun, but before he could gauge the situation, Lilly kicked him in his abdomen.

  The man let out a painful moan and stumbled back untucking his gun. Lilly ducked and moved behind him, sliding her cord onto his neck. She twisted the cord and started choking him.

  In the struggle to break free, the man squirmed and wriggled his body, his gun dropped on the floor.

The man sank to the floor, gasping for breath, struggling to break free. Lilly sat behind him, her teeth clenched.

The man tried to reach for the gun, with his trembling hand. Lilly stared at Piper; a surge of building mutual understanding between them, Piper scooted to the gun and kicked it away from the Man's reach.

  The guy wriggled for a few more seconds, whimpering, and suddenly stopped moving.  He silently lay on the floor, dead.

***

  "Oh-Oh god! I killed a man." Karthik murmured. He was kneeling beside the body of the man whom he had just shot.

  Karthik's chin trembled. He squarely stared at the dead body. "I killed a man. I killed a man." He repeated, miserably. Soon it became a chant. " I killed a-a man. I killed a man. I killed a man!" The forest was now holding a foreboding aura. Powerful yet dark. 

  He had never imagined that he would ever kill a human. The thought of killing a living person would always give him a shudder. His mom had thought him to respect every living thing.

  The moonlight shimmered around him, as the clouds rolled away from the moon.

  He stopped chanting when he sensed someone's presence. Someone in front of him. He slowly raised his eyes from the dead body, and saw a big dog panting, and glaring at him.

  Karthik slowly climbed to his feet, avoiding any sudden movements.

  "Good doggy..." He whispered, and slowly started backing up, to the car.

  The dog lowered his head and growled, Staring warily at Karthik's each and every move.

  Karthik stopped moving, as his back hit the car. Without turning, his hand groped for the car's doorknob. He grabbed the knob, and, cautiously pulled the door open.

  The dog growled, his fangs jutted out from the sides of his mouth; Blobs of dog's Drool oozed out and dropped on the ground.

  The bush few feet away from Karthik rustled, he spun away from the dog, now facing the bush. Piper and Lilly burst out from the bush.

  And maybe the dog didn't appreciate their involvement; he started barking.

  Lilly and Piper hurled themselves in the car. Karthik stood frozen, staring blankly at Piper. As if understanding that he could not move by himself, piper reached out for Karthik and tugged him in. The dog charged at Karthik and nipped at the left leg. Karthik shook his leg and the dog flew away with Karthik's loafer in his mouth.

  "Hit the road!" Piper said, panting and banged the door shut.

  "I'm on it," Lilly replied. She changed the gear and dropped her leg on the accelerator. The car lurched forward.

  The car bounced and rocked on the dirt path. Karthik, Piper, and Lilly bounced with it. Piper gazed outside at the blur of green and brown as the car sped by.

  "Are they following us?" Lilly asked, gazing at the rear view mirror.

  Piper shifted in her seat and looked behind. All she managed to see was the narrow dirt path carved across the woods. No sign of any other car behind them.

  "No..." She finally reported.

  Lilly nodded.

  Karthik sat, solemnly, staring at the floor. He could feel the tension building inside him. He has murdered a man. Karthik Peri, the man who had stayed vegetarian all his life has killed a man.  His head throbbed. The pressure was too much for Karthik to handle and  he broke down, he started crying.

  "Whoa! What's wrong with you?" Piper asked him, apprehensively.

  "I-I killed a man," Karthik muttered. He wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand.

  "You did?" Lilly said, glancing back at him. "You mean the bad guy, right?"

  Karthik nodded. "I-I killed a man," He repeated, shaking his head.

  "He was a bad guy. It will be regarded as an act of self-protection,"  Piper said, reassuringly. "Look at her. She killed three people." Piper motion at Lilly.

  "Actually, four," Lilly replied.

  "Seriously?" Piper asked her.

  "Yes." She gave an aloof shrug.

  Karthik sobbed.

  "Oh come on, stop crying like a girl," Lilly said.

  "Excuse me?" Piper snapped.

  "Stop crying like little kids," Lilly said, sarcastically. "Is that okay?" She asked Piper.

  Piper grunted gratefully at her direction.

  They sat silently for a few seconds.

  Piper peered out the window. "It's pretty late," She muttered. "Where are we going, now?" She asked Lilly.

  "My apartment..." Lilly said, grinning.

***

  The room was cloaked in darkness; pale gray moonlight filtered in through the window. It felt that the peaceful silence will stay like this forever and there was a knock at the door.

  A man rolled on the bed.

  Knock. Knock.

  He again rolled on the bed.

  The room flared up. The bald man with a thick beard and menacing eyes sat upright on the bed. He rubbed his eyes. "Why did you arouse me?" He asked, angrily.

  The blond man cocked his head and whispered in his ear, and after finishing he wisely moved away from him.

  The bald man’s eyes turned red with rage. "Find her!" He yelled furiously.

***

  The dark door slowly creaked open. Lilly stepped in, piper and Karthik followed her.

  Lilly clicked the lights on, throwing the room into blinding light. Karthik and piper blinked for a few seconds, adjusting their eyes to the intensity of the light.

  And soon they found themselves standing in a big half-empty room.

  "I just moved here three days ago," Lilly said, studying the expressions on Karthik-and-Lilly's faces.

  All the four walls were painted in light gray. Many files, laptop, and a projector were stacked in a corner next to a big couch.

  Piper yawned. "I feel sleepy."

  "That's my bedroom," Lilly said, pointing at a door to their left. "There is the washroom. That's toilet and that's kitchen."

  Piper stretched her arms. "Okay, Goodnight then." She started for the washroom.

  Lilly caught Karthik staring at her with a poker face look."What's up?" Lilly asked him.

  "You promised me, you will explain me everything," Karthik said, maintaining his poker face look.

  "It's pretty late. Let's talk in the morning."

  Karthik shook his head. "Now..." He insisted.

  "I really want to sleep," Piper muttered, softly.

  "You can no one is stopping you," Karthik told piper.

  Piper glared at him.
Sometimes he is such a pain.

  Karthik and Piper sat down on the sofa, facing the light-gray wall.

  Lilly behind them adjusted the projector and the laptop. She turned on the projector and started playing a power point.

  Images started flashing on the gray wall. A big U.K flashed on the screen.

  "What's U.K? United kingdom?" Piper asked Lilly.

  "No," Lilly said, blushing. " U.K stands for United knights, the organization I work for. "

  Karthik frowned. "But you worked for Interpol?"

  "No. I never said that I worked for Interpol."

  "No, you did!"

  "Let's do not talk about my organization. I want to quickly get through this slide."

  "Who prepared this slide?" Karthik asked Lilly.

  Piper nudged him. "Don't disturb her," He said, sharply.

  Karthik motioned of zipping his mouth and sank on the sofa.

  Piper cleared her throat.

  The images changed. S.A.L.F flashed in bold letters.

  "That's S.A.L.F. South Asian Liberation Front, started in 1996 as an Indonesian political party soon got indulge to extreme activities. It was officially declared as a terrorist organization by U.N on 23 October 2006." Lilly announced.

  The image again changed.

  "That's the logo of S.A.L.F. it's actually a painting of Acintya, an Indonesian sun god."

  "A terrorist group that has a fan following for the sun god. Sure, Why not?" Karthik muttered.

  Piper glared at him.

  He averted his eyes, like nothing happened and started at the projections.

  "Yes, they are a big fan of the sun god." Lilly continued.

  The image changed. A man with a scar running down on his face came into view.

  "He is the general Dong-sun. Second in command...One of the top terrorist in U.N most wanted list." Lilly said.

  Next image was of a handsome man with dark hair and clean shaved face and menacing gray eyes.

  "That's Tom king. Former drug mafia now works for S.A.L.F." Lilly said.

  "I've seen this guy!" Piper yelled. "He was the one who slapped me!"

  "You sure?" Lilly asked, staring at Piper in disbelief.

  "Yes, it's the same guy!" Piper roared; her chin quivering with anger and hatred, "It's the same guy! But he looked completely different." She pointed at the image. "Not like this. He is now bald—completely bald—and also nurturing a thick beard."

  Lilly frowned at Piper. "How can you be so sure?" she asked, hotly.

  "His eyes! Menacing eyes. I can never forget those eyes. Believe me, he is the same guy!"

  "He went underground three years ago. No one has seen him since then. I still can't believe he is here in Sydney." Lilly shook her head. "Your files must have been very important to them..."

  "Where is the file?" Karthik asked.

  "They have it," Piper said, glaring at Lilly.

  "Don't look at me like that. It's not my fault. My job was to protect Mr. Ford...still I saved your life!"

  "I never asked for your help!"

  "Whoa! You two, knock it off." Karthik interrupted. "Let's get through the slides. Please?" his eyes darted from Piper to Lilly.

  "Fine!" Piper and Lilly said in unison. Piper slumped on the sofa and glared at the image of Tom King.

  The image changed.

  An old man with gray hair and white beard came into view. He was standing in front of a podium addressing the crowd.

  "That's Gun Katz. The big bad wolf. Leader of S.A.L.F. and one of the most powerful terrorist in the world. He almost owns a small army...helicopters... mini tanks.... God knows what else."

  "A megalomaniac old man..." Karthik muttered, crossing his arms in front of him. "What does he wants from Dr. Alex bill and other scientists?"

  "No one knows," Lilly said, softly.

  "What?" Karthik said in disbelief. "I—"

  "We know one thing. It all has something to do with The Outlander Project. It's a highly classified international project. And we know nothing about it except one thing that Dr. Alex Bill was part of it..." Karthik opened his mouth to say something, but Lilly raised her hand, quieting him. "I know...I know. How can my organization send me without any leads? You see, my organization work very secretively. Very few people know about our existence, so we can't just go and request a file publicly. But my partner is working on it. Soon we will have every file in our hands, every single file related to The Project Outlander."

  "You have a partner?" Karthik asked Lilly. "Where is he?"

  "He is in Sydney. He'll soon contact me...hopefully," she glanced at her wrist watch. "Let's take some rest. We have a function to attend tomorrow."

  "Which function?" Piper frowned.

Lilly stared at them, a thin smile crossing her face. "World Cancer Research Summit, 2015," she announced.