Nine: Vengeance of the Warrior (17 page)

‘So after all this he found out who gave him that paper?’

She nodded. ‘Months went by and he became more and more obsessed with finding that man. He approached almost all the people within his sector. Eventually, yes, he discovered the identity of the scientist. The man was innocuous, working in the same office, but on another project, in a different department. Your grandfather knew him by reputation.’

‘And?’

‘Your grandfather made contact.’ She had a look of concern on her face. ‘That day, your Grandpa called me. He told me that he knew who had given him the solution and that he was going to meet him.’

‘Who was this man?’

‘He didn’t tell me that, but he said the scientist had a brilliant mind. Because he was very shy and low-key, he didn’t want to meet in person,’ she said, smiling as she recalled the moment. ‘But your Grandpa insisted and they met.’

‘What happened after that?’

Grandma took a sip from her mug. The lines on her face deepened. She had loved Grandpa, respected him for the man he was. ‘I’m not quite sure how to explain it.’ Grandma turned away with an expression of sorrow. ‘Your grandfather came home that day. I expected him to be in a jovial mood, looking forward to sharing the news of meeting this brilliant mind. But instead, he came home looking scared. He was acting strange. He mumbled to himself, said that there were powerful protectors out there and that one must be careful not to rock the boat.’

‘“Rock the boat?” He said that?’ Anita felt a smidgen of fear.

‘Yes, he did. He said that the scientist was a member of a group of Nine. They had special knowledge and were supposed to maintain a low profile. But he also said that there were protectors of the Nine—guardians who would do anything to protect the identities of these special people. And your Grandpa regretted meeting the scientist. He started getting paranoid after that. He felt like he was being watched, like he was in danger.’

‘Then what happened?’

‘It’s difficult to say whether it was destiny or if someone poisoned your grandfather. I don’t know. But your Grandpa was getting sicker and sicker. He would behave erratically; suffered memory loss, personality changes. It was a hard time. He didn’t want to go to work, showed no interest in his research project—his passion. Stayed up nights pacing, said he was hearing things. His condition was deteriorating, he was losing his mind. The doctors diagnosed Alzheimer’s. It was very odd that soon after he met this scientist his intelligent mind suddenly dulled. His brain decayed. I think something was done to him,’ Grandma whispered. Her face was a network of lines, evidence of the range of emotions that she had experienced in her life.

‘That’s why you are worried that I will end up with the same fate?’

Anita kneeled in front of her grandmother. The elderly, sprightly woman was an inspiration, she maintained an active life and had strong willpower. Anita took the mug from her Grandma’s hand and placed it on the low stool. She laid her head on her Grandma’s lap, just like when she was little. ‘Grandma, please don’t worry about me. Nothing will go wrong, I will be careful. After this trip, I will stop this research. Okay?’

‘I’d prefer it if you stopped right this minute,’ Grandma said. She looked at her granddaughter, smoothed her hair and lifted her head to face her. ‘But I know you will not listen to me—you have your grandfather’s genes. I don’t think anyone can stop you from doing what you set your mind to do.’

The flight to London was smooth and comfortable. It gave Anita time to think, to reflect on the blanks that her Grandma had filled in. Axel had gone ahead to attend a business conference. He would meet her the next day. Anita felt a twinge of guilt for taking favours from him although he didn’t seem to mind the least bit. Yet, she felt she owed him. She would find a way to pay him back, she thought.

After the meal was served, the cabin lights were switched off. Anita reclined her seat and tried to sleep. Her Grandma’s words reverberated in her ears.
After his meeting, he was never the same again
. A sense of unease settled within. What if these protectors already knew of her keen interest in the Nine? She was very vocal about it and had left name cards and contact numbers with various people who she suspected knew of their existence. Like her grandfather, her curiosity was a foible she would have to live with. And what if her life was in danger? That incident in the library—she had dismissed it so easily. Was that how the protectors messed with people’s minds?

Anita’s grandfather had worked hard to achieve his goal. On the one hand the Nine had helped him, had brought recognition to him for his contribution to science. On the other hand, his sanity had been affected.
What had happened at that meeting between the scientist and her grandfather
, she wondered. Trying to get information out of the defence research department would be like pulling out teeth. And she would unnecessarily call attention to herself. No matter which way she looked at it, she blamed the Nine for what had happened to her grandfather. She now had a bigger reason to expose this secret society and the lengths to which they went to protect their identities.

First things first: she would meet the boy who claimed he saw the superman who had saved him and others from the fire.

As soon as she exited the immigration counter and security, she found a driver holding up a placard with her name. He was polite, businesslike and helped her with her single trolley bag. As if in a hurry, he walked at a quick pace. Anita hastened to keep up. In fact, she mused, everyone walked as if they were late for a meeting. Exiting Heathrow airport, the chill hit her. While most of the locals were in T-shirts, she wore a sweater. The distance to the car park and, finally, to the car was a short walk. As soon as the driver unlocked the door, she got inside and settled in the backseat. Feeling the prickling cold, she massaged her arms. For some reason, she felt out of sorts, unsure of herself. Odd, depressing thoughts circled in her head. The driver strapped on his seat belt and got the car in gear. He gave her a sunny smile. ‘We’re off, miss.’

‘Thanks!’ she replied. She dialled Axel’s number. He didn’t answer. It was mid-morning. He was probably in one of his business meetings. Anita left a message. The driver was talkative and gave her a rundown of what monuments to visit and the best times to avoid the queues. Anita nodded and acknowledged his advice. Her mind focused on her own plan. She had less than a week to find this unknown superhuman and meet him before she returned to work on a feature on the Right to Information Act. Her boss had given her a short leash—she would be fired if she wasted time on private business, he had said.

The Ibis Hotel near the Liverpool Street station was all business and comfortable. She showered, changed and decided to get started on her investigation. Peter, the journalist who had called her, had reluctantly given her the boy’s contact number. And the first thing she did was call Chris. He didn’t sound enthusiastic. Anita mentioned she had come all the way from India and it was for a personal reason. They arranged to meet at a Starbucks nearby. She told him she was Indian. He said he knew.

The coffee shop was crowded. Anita waited outside. She didn’t want to miss Chris. Anxiety gripped her for some unknown reason. Almost as if her life was about to take a drastic turn. As if she was being watched. She surveyed the area. There was a man leaning against the wall, holding a newspaper. He could be watching her. Another was sitting on a park bench. Maybe she should have listened to Grandma and dismissed this crazy, wild-goose chase of finding the Nine. A tap on the shoulder startled her. Anita turned around to see a lanky boy with floppy hair. He appeared morose or maybe that was his style. ‘Shall we go inside?’

Anita led the way. She bought the coffee and they sat at a corner table. ‘What’s going on?’ Anita asked without wasting time. ‘Why do I feel that there are people out there that don’t want you to share the information?’

He uncapped his drink and looked into it, as if the answers were in the froth. ‘It’s this whole code of secrecy. Some weird guy asked me to be silent about it. I am not supposed to meet you but I don’t take orders from strangers who call me in the middle of the night and threaten to kill me.’

Anita was shocked. Death threats! The extent to which the network would go to protect the Nine was sinister. ‘So you think you are being followed?’

He nodded. ‘I don’t care.’ He tore a packet of sugar and poured the contents into his thick mocha. He stirred it well, licked the froth off the stick and dropped it to the floor.

Anita was concerned for the boy’s well-being.
Shit! I am putting lives in danger.
‘My grandfather was a scientist. He made contact with one of the Nine, and after that he changed … I have to find out more about these people.’ She took a sip of the scalding hot coffee. It tasted bitter. She hadn’t added any sugar and didn’t want to either.

‘There’s no need for them to hide,’ Chris mused. ‘The world needs more people like them. Despite their anonymity, the world is not really a better place. There’s poverty, murder and disease. They haven’t really done much to save us all,’ he said, sipping his drink. ‘But this guy saved me and a bunch of kids from a fire, you know?’

Anita felt depressed just listening to him. ‘Maybe they should just come out in the open.’

‘I think they would be treated like heroes. What’s the point of hiding? The world is full of bad people and if we have saviours like Superman and Spider-man in the real world, it will make people feel safer,’ he observed.

‘You’re brave to have come here,’ Anita said.

He shrugged, took another gulp. ‘This guy was Indian, like yourself.’

‘Indian?’

‘Yes. He called himself John and said he owned a pub down the road. I checked the pub; yeah, it was him, but his name is not John. It’s Akash.’ He pronounced it as A-cash. He put the lid on his drink, poked a straw through it and slurped.

‘Where’s the pub?’ Anita asked, feeling the thrill of making progress.

He indicated he needed a pen. She handed him hers. Chris wrote on a napkin while he finished his drink. ‘I gotta go.’ He stood up.

‘Thank you very much, Chris. You take care of yourself.’

‘Yeah, sure, no problem,’ he said and squeezed past the tables, leaving her alone in the busy café.

She looked at the piece of paper.
The Chisel Pub
. The address was scribbled under it. She slipped the paper into her pocket, thought about it for a moment and got up hurriedly. The coffee cup almost fell. She grabbed it before it spilled and headed out the door. She dumped the cup in a bin nearby and looked around. There was no one surreptitiously watching her, but she wouldn’t know if she was being watched. If Akash was warned and disappeared before she met him, it would be a wasted trip. She had to go to the pub right away. She stepped off the kerb and narrowly missed a cyclist, who snapped obscenities. Anita steadied herself. The sense of unease was growing. She flagged a cab and jumped inside.

Fifteen minutes later, she was standing outside
The Chisel Pub
. It was open for business. Happy hours started early around here. When she entered, it was dark inside. The lingering smell of oily fries and alcohol hung in the air. There were a few unemployed greasy men in the back, guzzling the local draught. The bartender eyed her. Stabbing at her phone, Anita called Axel again. He didn’t answer. She left a voicemail. ‘
Meet me at The Chisel Pub
.’ Anita made sure the camera on her phone worked. She would find a way to take a couple of pictures.

The Senior Six

‘Throughout its history, Buddhism has worked as a civilizing force. Its teachings on karma, the principle that all intentional actions have consequences, have imparted morality and compassion to many societies. But on a deeper level, Buddhism has always straddled the line between civilization and wilderness. The Buddha himself gained awakening in a forest, gave his first sermon in a forest and passed away in a forest. The qualities of mind he needed in order to survive physically and mentally as he went unarmed into the wild, were key to his discovery of the Dhamma. Therefore, the mind benefits from a teaching only if it is put to the test. If Dhamma is tested, it parallels what many ancient cultures call “warrior knowledge”—knowledge that comes from developing skills in difficult situations. “Scribe knowledge” is what we perceive to be true without experience. True knowledge is acquired through strife, practice and personal experience. That is how the Navratnas are polished—facing the world and practising Dhamma in times of strife.’

19

Tejaswi

The bodyguards were in place. Tejaswi had hired them because of the blackouts she had been experiencing. She didn’t trust the Kalingan and wanted him to know that she still controlled her life. She had been getting sleepless nights—she woke up exhausted and convinced that she was being followed. The nightmares were constant. The Ojaa woman had given her powers which should have started working once the Kalingan had taken over her body. However, she felt weaker than before, the waterfalls of emotions had not subsided.
Patience
. The Kalingan was within her, working on her subconsciously. Occasionally, Tejaswi felt like she could face the world. Sometimes, the anger was so intense that she slammed the walls with her fists. But she always ended up in a pool of tears.