Authors: Aditya Mewati
Everyone in hotel Belle Terre was now very sure that the attack was going to take place on the morning of 16
th
August 2015, 8:36 a.m. The news had thrown everyone in the Police, military, and the United Knights into a great commotion. The police commissioner of Paris called the D.G.S.I. (General Directorate for Internal Security) and requested the best police dogs and the bomb squad from all over the country. By 4 o'clock in the morning, all the teams were dispatched around the city.
Karthik, Lilly, Piper and Jack walked toward the black van.
“You’re not coming with us?” Lilly said climbing into the van.
“I’ve been stationed at a different place,” Jack said.
“Are we ready to go?” The driver asked them. Jack nodded and moved away from the van.
“Take care,” Lilly said.
The van moved away from the hotel and into the traffic.
“Where are we going?” Karthik asked Lilly.
“Palais... Something.” Lilly said.
“Palais de Chaillot,” The driver said, “It’s a famous square with a beautiful fountain in the center.”
And indeed, it turned out to be a famous square with a beautiful fountain in the center. The plaza was filled with people. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the full solar eclipse to occur, which was just four hours away.
“Damn!” Karthik said, gazing at the crowd on the plaza. “These people are very excited about the solar eclipse.”
“Let’s get to work,” Lilly said. They started roaming around the Plaza.
People were now realizing that something was going on in the square as they were able to hear the police sirens after every few minutes.
One hour passed, and Karthik didn't find anything suspicious in Palais de Chaillot. He started feeling sleepy. And Piper abruptly nudged him.
"Why did you do that?" Karthik asked her, rubbing his side.
She pointed at the bald guy walking on the road.
“What?”
“Look at him!”
Karthik squinted and realized that the bald guy was Carl Hancock.
"What's he doing here?" Piper muttered.
"He told me that he was about to retire and leave for France in five days," Karthik said, "He must be here with his family."
"I don't see anyone with him,' Piper said.
“I hate that guy,” Karthik said.
Carl pulled out a camera from his breast pocket and started taking photographs of the plaza.
“What is he doing?” Piper muttered, crossing arms in front of her chest.
Carl took photographs for a few more seconds and slipped the camera back into his breast pocket. He glanced around and started walking toward the curb and sat in the Chevy and drove away.
"Come," Piper said and tugged Karthik’s arm.
"Where are you going?" Karthik asked, pulling his arm out of her grasp.
"I think we should follow him," Piper said, still staring at his car.
"Why?" Karthik asked.
"Come on, Karthik. We'll lose him." Saying this, she ran toward the black van. Karthik did not have any option left. He reluctantly followed her. Lilly, who was standing few feet away from them saw them moving toward the black van.
"We can't drive the car," Karthik told her, "We don't have a license. We'll need Lilly to drive it."
"Did someone call me?" Lilly called moving toward them.
"Where the hell did you fall from?" Karthik asked, scowling.
"Lilly can you follow that blue car," Piper told her, pointing at the small departing car.
"Why you want—" Lilly said.
"Just do it," Piper said firmly. “I’ll explain everything—We don’t have time.”
And they quickly hurled themselves into the car. Lilly started the engine and pulled the car away from the curb.
"I still don't get it? Why are we doing it?" Lilly asked maneuvering the black van.
"I saw him wearing a mask and a glove," Piper said.
“You did?” Karthik asked, shocked. “But I didn’t see him wearing gloves or masks?”
“Uh-huh,” Piper said. “He removed it before I nudged you.”
"So?" Lilly asked. “Because of this, you made me trail him.”
"He was the only guy in the whole square who was wearing mask and gloves and was taking photographs of the people," Piper said.
"I still don't get it?" Karthik muttered.
"Karthik, you told us that Carl wanted to know the real identity of Lilly and Jack. Why didn't other officers question you about them? Why only him?" Piper said fervently.
"Yes, you are right,” Karthik said, “But... Wait a minute—Mr. Walker went missing and he was the only guy, who questioned me about him."
"Because he was the only guy, who knew that Mr. Walker is dead,” Piper said, “Because he worked for Luke. Hence, he was so much eager to find out the real identity of her and Jack.”
"You are right! How did I miss it!" Karthik cried. "Hey? Why are we stopping?"
Lilly turned her head and said, "Because he stopped." She pointed at the Chevy.
Carl climbed out of the car and made his way toward an entryway of an old building.
"What is this building?" Karthik asked, craning his head.
"It looks like a factory to me," Lilly said, peering out of the windshield.
"Where are we now?" Karthik asked and looked around.
"Look at the sky. You'll get your answer," Piper said.
Karthik squinted at the sky and saw the top of Eiffel tower poking in the sky. "Oh," He muttered.
Carl soon disappeared inside the building. Karthik, Lilly and Piper scooted close to him, hiding behind the cars.
“We should inform the headquarters,” Piper said.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Lilly said.
"Why shouldn't we inform the headquarters?" Piper whispered in Lilly's ear.
"Because I can't risk a false alarm now," Lilly said, "It would be a big mistake. So, let's wait until we gather enough proof to support your theory."
Piper snorted. "You guys don't believe me, do you?"
"I do," Karthik said, raising his hand. “My vote is with you.”
"I do, too. But—" Lilly said.
"It's okay," Piper said, "Let's gather some proof." They went to the door. Karthik peered inside the building. Everything was dark except for a light, which seemed to be coming from the far end of the entryway.
“Do you see anything?” Lilly asked.
Karthik shook his head. “We’ll have to go inside.” He slowly opened the door and went into the darkness, Piper and Lilly behind him. The light at the far end started getting bigger and brighter.
The building was not a factory; it was a huge warehouse. They went through the dark passage and came into a huge room. It was damn wide and was three stories tall. The center of the warehouse was mostly empty. But there were people inside it; People with guns. But the queerest sight was two men with a yellow rubber suit and breathing mask, working on a complex looking machinery.
Karthik, Lilly, and Piper edged their way along the wall; sticking close to the darkness; to get the better look of the machinery. It was a big supper computer. It had a giant screen which showed the map of the Paris and there were twelve crosses marked on it. After few seconds, the men with the rubber suit talked with each other and then started climbing the stairs. Karthik raised his eyes and spotted another peculiar looking thing on the third floor. It was a huge complex looking cylinder with pointed, big tubes around it.
"What are those tubes?" Karthik whispered.
Lilly raised her binoculars and peered into it. She gasped and lowered the binoculars. "Those are not tubes," said she, aghast, "Those are goddamn missiles! They were never going to place bombs in the public area. They were going to drop missiles—missiles filled with cancer causing viruses. Oh, God!"
"You should inform the headquarters," Karthik said.
"Yes," Lilly said fishing out the radio from her pocket.
"Drop that thing!" A woman's voice ordered.
Karthik's heart leaped into his throat. He looked around and saw five armed men were surrounding them, and the woman was in between them. And to Karthik's horror, the woman was Sara Ford.
"Sara?" he said in a shaky voice, without realizing he started moving toward her.
"Drop that thing!" She ordered, "Guards fire!"
"Whoa! wait I'm dropping it," Lilly said and dropped the radio on the floor.
"Hands on your head!" One of the guards said. “and you stand where you are!” He said to Karthik.
"Tie them up. Luke will be happy to see you guys," Sara said. The men tied them up around a pillar and took away all their belongings.
"Sara, what are you doing here?" Karthik said. He still was not able understand what she was doing there. And why she was ordering the men.
Sara squatted before him and said, "Karthik, you are an A-hole."
"That's not the answer to my question."
"I love Luke," she said. "I'm here to support him."
"He is a madman. He killed your father."
She laughed. "He did not kill my father. I killed him."
Karthik's mouth dropped open.
"Y-you killed your father... B-but why?"
"He realized that I was dating Luke. And he also somehow found that I was secretly passing the information to Luke about Dr. Alex Bill's project. So, he was even thinking of throwing me out of his will. Still I didn’t want to kill. But when my father realized that I and Luke had something to do with Dr. Alex Bill’s abduction. I had no option left."
"Passing information?" Karthik asked.
She sighed solemnly. "One year ago Dr. Alex Bill came to my house with a mysterious container," She told them the complete incident.
Alex Bill sighed, "I want you to fund my research,"
Mr. Ford shook his head. "This is dangerous."
"No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life for a great cause."
"But the Project Outlander Failed!"
"So what?" Alex Bill grumbled.
"You..." He stopped. His eyes spotted someone's shadow on the floor, at the doorway. Someone was eavesdropping on them.
"Come out! I can see you." He ordered.
The shadow did not move.
"Come-out-now!"
The shadow moved and Sara walked into the room.
"Sara, What are you doing here?" Daniel Ford asked.
"I was just curious," She shrugged.
"You heard everything?" Dr. Alex Bill asked her.
She nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell this anyone."
"And you told everything to Luke," Karthik said with a twinge of anger in his voice. Now anger had taken over the shock.
"Um-hum," Sara said.
"You knew Alex Muffin was there to kill your father?" Piper chimed in.
"Yes, that jerk thought that he was playing with me. But I played with him. But he failed to kill to my dad."
"So, You-killed him-yourself." Karthik stammered.
“But he fired at you?” Lilly said.
“What do you mean?” Sara asked.
“Alex Muffin. He tried to kill you?”
“Oh, yes he did. But he didn’t try to kill me. Luke had told him that after killing my dad, he should fire at me. But not harm me. It was like a fake attack. So, that I can look innocent.
“You are a wicked girl!” Karthik roared. “You killed your own dad!”
"Yes, That's right." She got up; now smiling at her triumph. "I cut down his oxygen supply—Luke will be pleased to see you, Karthik. You have been a big pain for us." She turned and started walking away from them.
"You know what was your dad's laptop password?" Karthik called.
She stopped and faced him. "No, I don't. And I don’t care." She turned and again started walking.
"His password was: I love Sara!" Karthik cried behind her.
"You should Kill them," Carl told Sara. They were standing on the second floor of the warehouse.
"No," She said, "let Luke take the decision. He'll be here in one hour."
"I heard that Katz is also in France," Carl said.
"Yes, he'll be here, too." Her radio vibrated. She picked it up listened, nodding.
"They will be here in two-hour," She said, "The security is very tight today."
"They are also bringing the new serum with them?"
"Yes, they are going to test it today." She shifted her gaze at the missiles. There were twelve of them. Each one destined to target the popular squares and other famous locations all around the city. Thousands of people will become history in a matter of minutes.
She dropped her gaze to the ground and stared at the pillar where Karthik, Lilly, and Piper were tied.
‘His password was I Love Sara,’ the line echoed in her mind, growing louder and louder.
But I love Luke. And he loves me more than my dad.
One hour passed. And to Karthik, it felt like a minute. He wanted the time to slow down. But instead, the time was ticking faster than usual.
He squirmed to break free. The more he tried, the more deep the rope dug into his skin.
"Will you stop that?" Lilly grumbled. "You are hurting me."
"We need to do something," he said, "thousands of people will lose their lives!"
"Karthik, you need to stop moving like that. It's useless," Piper said.
"You too?" Karthik muttered.
"We need to find some other way," she said.
"They took away my plasma pen and also my Swiss-knife," Lilly grumbled, "If I had it..." she trailed off.
"So that means we are going to die like this?" Karthik asked.
"No, Just hope for the good," Lilly said.
One hour later the entrance door again opened. Men carrying guns walked in and were followed by Gun Katz, Luke Tesla, Tom king, Dr. Alex Bill and Dr. Sharif. Both the doctors were carrying briefcases with them.
"Luke!" Sara cried and ran toward him. They kissed each other. The sight made Karthik feel more terrible than ever.
Luke let go her and walked toward Karthik. He sat in front of him and laughed. "Look at you..." he grinned, "I'm feeling so sorry for you guys."
"I'm feeling sorry for your dad," Piper said.
Luke stopped laughing and stood up, staring at her. He then again smiled and said, "He will be proud of me." He walked away from them and toward Carl.
"You did a got job, Carl," he said offering his hand.
"It is a pleasure working with you," Carl said, smiling.
"Ah—But unfortunately, my dad used to say to us that we should never trust cops."
Carl stopped smiling. And abruptly Tom King came forward, producing a handgun and fired at Carl. He dropped on the floor.
Gun Katz snickered. Sara looked horror-struck.
Luke Tesla smiled and turned toward her, "He also said to us that we should never trust women."
Sara's eyes widened. She quickly jerked her head toward Tom, who raised his gun, and aimed her head—
"Luke plea—"
Bang!
her body fell on the floor.
What the hell! Karthik thought.