Border of the sun (20 page)

              After his failed attempt to break into Sara’s house,
Karthik spent his next two days in Lilly’s apartment, rarely stepping out of the door. He knew that Sara had complained the police. He knew that the cops were searching him for breaking into her house. Luckily, no one knew that he was here, not even Lilly, Piper, and Jack knew that he was here. He felt safe here.

  But now he felt hungry. He was sitting on the couch and was watching KFC big bash on the T.V. His stomach groaned and twisted. It seemed to him that if he didn’t eat anything in next few hours then he would definitely die of hunger. He realized that he had to go out and get the groceries.

  No, I can’t go out. Cops are searching for me, he thought. He switched off the T.V and got up. Threw the remote on the couch and went across the hall to the fridge. He opened the fridge and found that it was empty.
What were you expecting, Karthik?
He banged the fridge door shut, and returned to the couch. What should I do now? Should I go outside and buy the groceries? He thought. His stomach again groaned.

  He decided that he will have to go and get something to eat. He grabbed his car keys and stalked out of the apartment.

  He got into his car and drove to the nearest supermarket. He parked the car next to a curb and quickly ran into the store.

  He was halfway through his shopping when he spotted a woman and her son staring suspiciously at him. He threw the packet of wafers  in the basket and  quickly pushed through the aisle.

  He was standing in the  queue. The T.V was squawking on the counter. And to Karthik’s horror, the cashier had just switched to a news channel.
What’s wrong with a music channel? 

  The queue slowly moved forward. Karthik was having a foreboding feeling that soon his news will be on the TV. They are not going to show about me, Karthik told himself, I can’t be that unlucky. It turned out that he was damn unlucky. The news changed and his image flashed up behind the anchor. His stomach lurched.

  “His name is Karthik Peri,” The anchor said, “He was the lawyer of the renowned entrepreneur, Daniel Harrison Ford, who was killed few days ago. This man…”

  Karthik looked around. A man was staring at him then at the news.

  “...according to the police, he is really a dangerous man.” The news anchor said.
You gotta be kidding me!

  Now everyone in the store was staring at him. “She is lying,” Karthik said, “Do I look dangerous man?” He flashed his trademark PR smile. 

  They started moving toward him. He saw a police officer walking toward him and talking on the radio that was perched on his shoulder. Karthik let go of his bucket and broke into a run. The cop ran behind them.

  Karthik skidded to a stop when he saw two more officers entering from the front gate. His exit was blocked. He spun and ran into an aisle.

  “Stop right there!” The cop cried. Karthik grabbed something from the shelf and threw it at the cop. The cop caught it and Karthik realized that he had actually thrown a packet of baby diapers. He grabbed another packet of diapers and threw it at the cop. Karthik realized it was futile. So, he grabbed the whole shelf and tugged it down. The shelf tilted and fell on the floor, blocking the cop’s path.

  He was now running through the food section. Two cops were on his trail. He kept grabbing things from the shelves and throwing at them. They were now very close. Karthik without stopping grabbed the shelf beside him and brought it to the ground. The shelf fell on them, giving Karthik some time find a way to get out of the store.

  He looked around and  saw a glass wall and a wild idea came to him. He grabbed the trolley, heaved it up and threw it at the glass wall. The wall shattered into pieces.
Yes!

  He carefully jumped over the broken pieces and ignoring the horrified woman, who was shrieking as if she had seen a ghost, he bolted toward his car. He rounded a corner and his car came into view. But there were two new cops standing around it. Karthik was not able to stop his feet, and the cops saw him. He skewed left and started crossing the road. They ran behind him, shouting him to stop.

  And a bike zoomed from nowhere and almost ran into Karthik. Karthik stopped in time, and lost his balance, and toppled in the middle of the road.

  He saw cops pulling out their guns and walking toward him. He tried to get to his feet but one of them aimed the weapon at him and barked, “No! Don’t do it!”

  And Karthik realized that he had no option left but to listen to the cop. He remained on the ground. They ordered him to move his hands behind his back and when he did it, one of them pulled out handcuffs and cuffed him.

  People in the street watched with their keen eyes as the cops pushed Karthik inside the passenger seat of their car.

  I should have stayed home, Karthik thought, as the cop sat next to him.     

  “It's worse than I had thought..." Piper repeated.

  Jack moved toward the door on the opposite wall. He raised his gun and opened the door. The room before him was small and brightly lit.

  A Desk that stood in the corner was cluttered with notes and maps. Jack went over to the desk and gazed at the heaps of paper. He ran his fingers over the papers. He stopped on a black file. He hoisted it up and opened it.

  The file title read: Project Border of the sun. Jack wrinkled his brow. Border of the sun? What does that mean?

  "Guys," Piper called. She was standing before a map pinned on the wall. It was the map of Europe. She pointed to the red circle on the map. A read arrow was pointing at it with the words: Project Border of the sun.

  "What is it?" Lilly asked peering over her shoulder.

  "They have circled France," Piper said, "I think it-it's their target."

  "You're right," Jack said closing the file, "France is their target. Precisely speaking they are planning to attack Paris. This file clearly explains it. But they haven't written any date on it."

  "So, we know that they are going to attack Paris with that biological weapons. But we don't know when?"

  "Yes, That's—"

  The door behind them slowly open. A man entered the room carrying a champagne bottle. He gazed at them, dropped the champagne bottle, clicked the radio on his shoulder and roared. "Trespasser in the facility. Trespass—" Jack dashed at him and fired at his head. The man dropped on the floor.

  "Tang? What's going on?" A voice from the radio said.

  Jack leaned over the radio and said, "Yes, everything is under control. I've been hallucinating."

  "What happened to your voice?"

  "It's fine. How's your wife?" Jack said.

  "I killed her two years ago. How is this?"

  "Then marry mine," Jack said.

  "General we have been breached!"

  Jack got up and fired at the radio. The alarm rang.

  "Let's get out from here," Jack said picking up the file from the desk. He ran for the door. Piper peeled the map from the wall and ran behind him.

  They burst into the room washed in the red light.

  "Where did we came from?" Jack asked and looked around.

  "There," Lilly said pointing at the door which lead to the dark corridor. They ran toward it, and the door on the opposite side burst open. Five men came out, firing at them. But not even a single bullet hit Jack, Lilly or Piper. Thanks to the glass cubicle in the center of the room that acted as a barrier.

  They bolted through the dark corridor. It twisted and turned. Bullets flew behind them. A moment later, they saw a bright spot at the far end of the passage.

  Soon they were outside. The sky was still gray, but the snow flurry had receded. Huge mountains lined the horizon.

  They ran toward the Jeep and quickly got into it. Jack slammed the door shut and inserted the key into the ignition and twisted. The jeep coughed but did not start.

  The men rushed out from the door and fired at the jeep. Jack, Lilly, and Piper bowed down, protecting themselves from the bullets.

  Dong-sun stood behind the men, ordering them.

  Jack twisted the key. Again a raspy cough. The men started advancing. 

  Jack again tried and the jeep roared into life. "yes!" he cried and punched the dashboard. The side mirror exploded. He bent down and kicked the accelerator.

  He pulled the jeep away from the dome and onto the road.

  "Get in the truck. They should not get away!" Dong-sun ordered his men.

  Soon they were chasing the jeep on the narrow, twisting road. "Get them!" Dong-sun spat. He was sitting next to the driver.

  "They are closing in," Piper cried.

  "The Damn thing can't go faster than this!" Jack said.

  They sped by the red sign board. The men kept firing at them.

  "Yes, we are losing them behind!" Piper cried happily, "Hey what's that guy doing on the top of the truck?"

  Lilly turned and peered through the binoculars, "Oh, no—bazooka incoming!"

  "What!" Jack cried.

  "What's bazooka?" Piper asked.

  "Rocket launcher," Lilly said frantically.

  Piper looked back at the truck and realized the man was holding a long rod on his shoulder. He fired.

  A ball of fire rushed toward them. Jack twisted the steering wheel, the jeep tilted and the rocket went past them and hit the snow. There was a huge blast, and the snow on the mountain started sliding on the road.

  "Oh-no," Dong-sun muttered. He stared in horror at the huge wall of snow sliding down the mountain.

  "Avalanche!" Lilly cried.

  Jack gazed in front of him and spotted a bridge over a creek.
If I could reach there before the snow hit the road then we can make it.

  The snow wall was roaring and sliding down the mountain. The wall hit the yellow truck and pushed it and the men inside it into the valley. Dong-sun and the men cried at the top of their voice before falling into the valley.

  Now it was their turn.

  "Jack!" Lilly and Piper cried.

  "Relax! I'm on it!"

  The snow wall was now very close to them. It hit the jeep. But the jeep didn't fell into the valley, instead, the snow pushed them onto the bridge. The snow dragged the Jeep at the edge of the bridge.

  “Jack! We’ll fall down!” Piper cried, as the jeep moved toward the edge, and then it tilted forward. The avalanche died. Their Jeep was now half on the road and was half hanging in the air. It slowly seesawed on the edge.

  Piper, Lilly and Jack sat frozen in their seats. Piper realized she and Lilly could easily get out of the car but Jack can’t. If they get out, the car will lose its balance and will fall down with Jack inside it.

  “W-what are we g-going to do now?” She asked.

  “Jack,” Lilly said, “You’ll have to come behind. If we get out first...and the car loses its balance then...” She didn’t dare to finish it. Jack nodded and unfastened his seat belt. He squirmed on the seat so that he could climb on the passenger side of the car. But as he moved the car cocked forward. He stopped moving. The hair on his nape stood up. “You guys will have to leave me behind,” he said.

  “No, we are not leaving you behind!” Piper cried.

  “Yes!” Lilly bade her affirmation. “We are not leaving you behind. Think of something else.”

  Jack glanced out his window. The fall was very steep. The stream below him was shallow. There was no chance that he could survive the fall. “Jack!” Lilly cried.

  “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!” He raked his mind for an idea. “I have an idea. But I don’t know whether it will work or not.”

  “What’s is it?” Piper asked him.

  “You guys open the door... stay ready to jump out of the car... In case, it falls down. I’ll quickly climb behind. If the cars start falling then jump out. If it doesn’t then all is well.”

  “This is your great idea?” Piper asked him. “You’ll die, Jack!”

  “Do you have better ide—” The car again tilted forwards. “Guys we don’t have time. This thing is going to fall for sure. Quickly open the doors.”

  Piper and Lilly exchanged looks, but reluctantly opened the doors. “I’m having bad feeling about this,” Lilly said.

  Jack said nothing. He slowly turned on his seat. “On the count of three,” he said, “First I’ll dive on  the passenger seat. If car starts falling then you people jump out. Okay?”

  They said nothing.

  “Okay?” He said firmly. They nodded.

  “Great. One... Two... Three...” And he started climbing on the passenger seat. The car tilted and started falling. Piper and Lilly dived out of the car, and it slowly slid down the bridge. Jack was now in the passenger seat. He tried to get out. But the car was already out of their sight. They heard a loud splash and a thunderous blast.

  Piper and Lilly gazed at each other. Tears were forming in their eyes. They heard someone shouting. “Help me, guys!”

  They quickly got up and peered down the bridge. Jack was hanging on the bridge.

  “Jack you’re alive!” Lilly cried.

  “Pull me up!” He said. “Quick.”