Border of the sun (9 page)

  Alex Muffin glanced back over his shoulder, as his feet moved toward the exit; no one was interested in him; Mr Ford stood alone, completely focusing on his vine. Those two women and his attorney were nowhere to be seen. This was the perfect time to execute his plan. But he'll first have to pursue Daniel Ford to the washroom.

  He glanced around, and spotted a waiter, carrying a plate cluttered with wine glasses.

  He called the waiter and slipped one thousand Australian dollar bill in his hand, and whispered something in the waiter's ear.

  The waiter grunted and showed him his two fingers. Alex reluctantly pulled out another thousand dollar bill and slapped it in the Waiter's hand. The waiter smiled—

***

  "So, we are going to search for him in Egypt? " Piper asked Lilly and beamed at Karthik. Karthik knew that she always wanted to visit Egypt. It was her dream holiday destination. But the work made it impossible for her even to leave Sydney for a few hours. Forget about leaving Sydney. She could hardly spend her time in strolling around the park.

  "We are going to go in Egypt!" Piper repeated.

  "Only me," Lilly said. "I don't want to put you guys in more trouble."

  Yeah, right. We better stay out of this mess, Karthik thought. He had no intention of killing anyone, again. Not even a bad guy.

  "We are already in trouble! " Piper snapped. "They've got my file! They've got Dr Alex Bill..." She was now getting agitated.

  "Listen. I'm sorry." Lilly said, "This is my mission."

  "And they've got my life's work! " Piper said firmly.

  Lilly stared at Piper with  her brooding eyes and finally said. "Okay ... But we'll need a private plane.  If you can arrange a private plane then you can join us."

  What? Did she just say, okay? Karthik thought.

  "Don't worry about that, " Piper said. She pushed her way through the crowd. Lilly and Karthik followed her.

  "What's she up to? " Lilly asked Karthik.

  "Beats me." Karthik shrugged.

  After a few seconds, they found Piper talking with Mr Ford. He nodded and pulled out the cellphone and made a call. He talked for a few minutes, and hung up the call and said something to Piper. She smiled and thanked him.

  "What's up? " Karthik said, eyeing her suspiciously.

  "I just asked Mr Ford whether can he lend us one of his private jets." Piper Shrugged.

  "What did he say?" Lilly asked nervously.

  "He called one of his pilots. And told me that a plane will be waiting for us...  on tomorrow morning. "

  "God job, Piper," Lilly said, gently slapping on Piper's back.

  "Now, keep your promise." Piper said.

  Lilly's face went white. "O-Okay!"

  "That means we are going to Egypt? " Karthik muttered, aghast.

  Piper nodded.

  "Great!" He cried, staring at the ceiling.

  "Is that normal? " Lilly whispered to Piper.

  "Absolutely normal. " Piper whispered back.

  They heard a loud Clatter.

  They all stared toward the source of commotion, and found Mr Ford cleaning his vine smeared coat with the tissue paper. A waiter on his heels was picking up the broken glass; Alex Muffin was helping him.

  "I'm so sorry, sir." The waiter kept repeating, as he picked up the glass pieces.

  "It's okay, son." Mr Ford said, calmly.

  "Sir, you'll need to wash it." Alex suggested. "Let me help you..." He eased out the coat from Mr Ford's shoulder. And carrying it, he headed to the washroom. Mr Ford followed him, rubbing his so-called white shirt(drenched with pink stain) with the tissue paper.

***

  Alex Muffin slowly opened the flush lid. There was a plastic bag, submerged in the water. He pulled the bag and flushed the water. The water went down, gurgling loudly. He slowly tore the plastic bag, and stared at the gun inside it, after checking the gun for three times he tucked it behind his belt.

  He opened the door and saw Mr. Ford still cleaning his shirt. The water churned in the basin. But there was one more man with them. Alex waited. And the man left. He checked outside and found that the corridor was empty.

  "What's wrong, son?" Mr. Ford asked him.

  "Nothing, sir." He said smiling and pulled out his gun.

***

  "What's taking them so much time? " Lilly muttered, nervously, glancing at her wrist watch. Five minutes had passed. Still, there was no sign of Mr. Ford or Alex Muffin.

  "Karthik, maybe you should go and check," Piper said.

  "I'm on it." Karthik said and bolted to the washroom. Soon he found himself jogging through a gloomy Corridor. He spotted a chef and asked him: where was the washroom? The chef told him the directions.

  Karthik turned around a corner and ran into Alex muffin.

  "Oh." Karthik grunted, rubbing his sore shoulder. "Where is Mr Ford?" He asked Alex Muffin, still rubbing his shoulder.

  "He is in the washroom ..." Alex Muffin replied. "... Upset stomach." He added.

  "Where are you going?" Karthik asked.

  "Me... S-SARA called me," Alex stammered. "Excuse me," and he trotted out of sight.

  That's weird, Karthik thought.

  Karthik grabbed the doorknob, and pushed open the washroom door, and gasped in terror.

  He felt like his legs no longer could support his weight. His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to burst out. He staggered and dropped beside Mr. Ford's body.

  Mr. Ford's white shirt was now engraved with three red dots. Mr. Ford moaned as the blood oozed out from the wounds.

  "Stay still," Karthik instructed.

  "K-car... T... Hik." Mr. Ford choked.

  "Shh, sir. Don't move." Karthik felt like crying. But tried his best to control his tears and the panic. He suddenly got up to his feet and pressed the microphone in his ear with his finger and said, "Lilly? "

  "Yes, Kart—"

  "Tell Piper to call an ambulance. Mr. Ford has been shot."

  "What—"

  "And stop Alex Muffin from leaving the hall. "

  "What do you mean? "

  "He is the assassin."

  Lilly followed the exit sign and found herself staring at a profoundly vast parking lot.

  The parking lot was gloomy because of very few light bulbs to illuminate the huge area.  It was filled with the variety of cars and bikes. Sedans, Two-seaters, station wagons, SUV, sports bikes, mopeds, scooters, and god knows what else.

  She moved her right hand toward her waist for the gun, and it came to her that she wasn't carrying a gun. Slowly she bowed and edged her way across the parking lot. Somewhere a light flickered. She crept from one row of cars to another. She had faced this kind of challenges before; fighting with a criminal in a parking lot was not something new to her. She had done it many times. The only difference was that this time she did not have her weapon.

  But her opponent did.

  She hurried and hid behind a red SUV, and peered through the window at the other side. Nothing. She sat down on the floor and exhaled. Maybe he ran away. Maybe she was slow to act. Maybe... she caught something moving in the side mirror of the SUV. The movement was very faint. But was enough for her trained eyes. She quickly rolled away from the SUV. The gun hissed, the side mirror of SUV exploded.

  Alex Muffin came out of the darkness, holding the gun in front of him. Lilly skirted around the car and concealed herself on the other side of the SUV.

  "I know you are behind it," Alex Muffin said, taking small and calculative steps toward Lilly. She just took a deep and breath and peeked below the car. She saw him strolling toward her.  Now, he was standing so close to the SUV that she could see his faint, dark reflection in the window of the car before her. She knew that he could also see her reflection in it.

  An idea came into her mind. She quickly tied her both hand's fingers into each other and pretended that she was holding a gun. The trick worked. He saw that she was holding something in the reflection.

  "Come out and drop your weapon, and I won't do you any harm," He said.

  "Or you can drop your weapon and move your hands behind your head, and I'll promise that you'll live long enough to see your grandchildren grow—in case an unlucky girl marries you.” She taunted.

  His nervous face turned blank. Then came rage, and blood throbbed in his temples. "You bitch!" He spat and charged, firing wildly at her. Glass exploded.

  She didn't fall back. Instead sticking close to the ground, she dashed at him. She grabbed his hand in which he held the gun and thrust it upwards, then she dug her knee into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and raised her knee and planted in his chin. He fell back and rolled on the floor, grimacing. The gun also fell out of his hand.  She plunged at the gun, hoisted it up and aimed at his leg and fired. But only air and the sound of click came out of it. The damn gun was empty.

  Alex quickly got to his feet and ran. She also ran behind him. Luckily,  she was a good runner. He realized that she was closing in, and started taking longer strides.

  They were now close to the stairs; she reached out to grab his shirt tail. But the heel on her left leg broke; she toppled over and fell, smashing her nose on the cold, concrete floor. Her nose turned into a squashed tomato. She got up and climbed the stairs; grimacing in pain and at the taste of her own blood as it slid into her mouth.

  She reached the head of the stairs and found herself staring at the street behind the hall. She gazed around and spotted Alex running toward a cab. She also ran toward him. But it was too late, he was already in the cab. The driver pulled the cab of the curb and headed toward the traffic. 

  Damn it!              

  Nausea hit her. Her nose... It felt to her that she would pass out at any moment if she did not find a place to sit. She decided that she can't trail him, not in this condition. So, she sat on the nearby bench.

  Pale, silver moonlight filtered in through a narrow, circular window, illuminating the vertical rectangular frame that stood in the midst of the dark, empty room. The frame was made up of metal, and had big, four, circular rings attached to it; two rings for hands and two for legs.

  The door in the corner of the room flung open, and men in green uniform started hustling in the room. Soon they all were standing in a circle around the rectangular frame.

  Few seconds later, Dr. Alex Bill walked in, his forehead drenched in sweat and was followed by Gun Katz. Dr. Alex Bill was carrying a metal briefcase and was staring at it as if the briefcase was more dangerous than the men with the guns. He carefully placed the briefcase on the floor and wiped his forehead with the back of his hands.

  "I hope you're ready, Doctor?" Katz said, his voice echoed in the dark, empty room. He walked around the room, staring, squinting at each face of the men. He was trying to choose a candidate for his experiment.

  Dr. Alex Bill was in some another world, his mind focused on the briefcase. The room around him felt distant and fictitious. It felt like a dream. A real bad dream.

  "Doctor?" Katz voice boomed in the room. His sound made Alex Bill realize that he was not dreaming. This thing was real. This briefcase was real, And that damn stuff inside it was Damn, freaking real!

  "Er-yes," Alex Bill said solemnly, his voice came in a choked whisper. His leg trembling with fear, unable to support his weight.

  "Good," Katz said and nodded as he walked around the room, still squinting at the faces. After few a seconds, he stopped in front of a small, Asian man. He stared at him, his eyes burning into men's. The man did not blink or moved his eyes. He stood there like a statue.

  "You," Katz hissed, "Serah terima pistol Anda."
Hand over your gun.

  The man nodded, and handed his gun to Katz. "Doctor!" Katz said happily. "We have our first test subject." He grinned.

  The man started walking toward the rectangular frame. Alex caught his legs trembling in fear. Alex approximated the man's height; He must be around five or five point two-maybe.

  The man turned his back on the rectangular frame and slipped his hands and legs in the giant rings. They were too big for his arms and legs.

  Alex stood, just staring at the man.

  "What are you waiting for?" Katz grumbled.

  "I can't open the briefcase. I don't have the keys."

  "Oh..." Gun Katz started fishing in his breast pocket for the keys. He fished out a small, silver key and threw it at Alex.

  Alex caught the key in his trembling hand. He inserted the key in the lock on the briefcase, and twisted it
. Click
.

  And suppressing a shudder, he bent down and opened the briefcase. Six complex looking syringes were lying in the briefcase, parallel to each other and were holding a thick, purple color liquid. Alex grabbed the syringe and got back to his feet.

  "What if it goes wrong?" Alex asked. He was now standing in front of the rectangular frame, not willing to inject the purple liquid into the man's body.

  "Nothing will go wrong. Do it," Katz ordered.

  Alex swallowed. God, please forgive me, he prayed, and pressed the needle into the man's skin, and after injecting the purple liquid, he started moving back.

  The man looked at him as if nothing happened-and-suddenly his eyes gaped in terror. He started shouting. His cries of agony echoed in the dark room. His skin started billowing. Small bubbles started forming on his skin, multiplying with every passing second. The man started growing bigger and bigger with every passing second, tearing his clothes.

  The man stopped shouting. He was no longer a short man. His height had increased. He was now around seven feet tall and looked very muscular. He looked at himself and then at Katz and smiled.

  But Katz didn't look impressed. He stared at tall, muscular man with an expressionless face. "Cut his right hand," he ordered.

  Two men, walked out of the darkness, carrying an electric saw. The tall man gazed at them and started at Katz, his face turning red. He bellowed and started squirming his body.

  The sounds of the man bellowing in anger, and the chugging from the engine of the electric saw filled the room.

  They sliced the tall man's right hand. And with a surprising strength, he broke free, sending the metal pieces in every direction. He grabbed the man, who had sliced his hand and threw him—smashing  his head against the wall.

  He glared at Katz, but caught a grin forming on Katz's face. His hand!  

  He looked back at his right hand, and it was growing back. A Few moments later he had completely regrown his hand, but his new hand's skin color was pearl white. He stared at his own new hand in amazement.

  Katz jerked his head toward Dr. Alex Bill and smiled. "Good Job, doctor."