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The children - 15

Discussion in 'Stories (Fiction)' started by iniyamalar, May 12, 2011.

  1. iniyamalar

    iniyamalar Gold IL'ite

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    Thunders pounded above her head.

    The mid morning sky took a sudden make over as it started to get dark under the huge rain clouds.

    The clouds were playing peek-a-boo and it must have angered the rain for it only sent thunders and lightening as its messengers. It was not a very good day for trekking.
    But she cared no more.

    She walked down steadily as the boots sank deep into the muddy swamp. She had expected the trek to be strenuous and it sure was. Luckily Thendral was a physically fit person (thanks to old time Inba) who favored trekking trips to sauna baths and so didn’t find the climb down so difficult.

    Thendral knew she had to act before Sean came. If he came he would not let her go especially not when he knows that there were people here yesterday to look for her.

    If Sean knew that those men were here, he would put her and others in totally another direction from here and her house and only she knew deep down her heart that Ish must have left something back at her house for her.

    Thendral had made a mental note of the waterfall from the first moment she came to the ashram. She saw that it started uphill and went straight down to that sleepy looking residential area which they crossed while coming up.

    When the right time came she jumped out. She made a small warning note to Inba about what she heard early that morning and pushed it in his jacket pocket which was hanging on one corner. She left with a bag of water and food and a pair of hiking boots stolen from one of the devotee’s room.

    She tried to trail the stream and trekked alongside it.

    She can easily hail a cab from that residential area to her street in Carson City. From there it is up to her. She knew it was not going to be easy. If what she saw there in the woods early this morning is to be believed she had much more things to be worried about.

    But she had no choice. She had to go and look.

    She knew that the scenario waiting for her in her house would be tenfold dangerous than the present. But she cared less. What has she got to lose anymore? A sudden ping of guilt stabbed the back of her heart as she remembered Inba in a flash.

    Well we waved the red flag ten years ago. Who am I to think about him anymore? she shrugged as she made her way towards the end of the slope.

    Just a day earlier she came here with Sean. Her thoughts went back.

    When they finished meeting up with guruji and were being shown the basement room by Mr. Natesh, pavithra and Inba came running to them. She hugged her friend so hard as her eyes streamed down endless tears.

    “Oh! I was so scared Thendral. I was sitting on nails here. Why do you keep scaring people like this?””

    “Sorry di.”Thendral smiled apologetically.

    “Oh she is quite good at creating a scene.”Inba slashed in with sarcasm. Though his words were piercing, his eyes were shining with happiness, Sean noted that and smiled.

    “Yeah.. and he is good at making silent exit”


    “Ok..Ok..Children let us get inside and fight, shall we?” Sean smiled and for the first time Pavi felt light and happy in these few days. She let Thendral and Inba walk before them and turned towards Sean with a smiling face.


    “Thank you so much. You are a wonder. I can’t even think of what would have happened to her if it was not you” her voice quivered in fear.

    "Who? her? Nothing would have happened believe me. She is one iron lday" his voice was filled with warmth and fondness.

    "But still. She was so head fast. She could have gotten into trouble easily, if not for you."

    “Relax Ma’am I am just doing my duty.” he smiled

    “But I heard that you are off the case and you are off to some…I don’t remember some..”


    “Forget it. I am here and I will be here until your friend finds her son. Happy?”

    “Happy? Why Of course I am happy. It is too kind of you to risk you own life for us. What do we owe you?”

    “Perhaps a date, for your friend’s sake?” Sean’s eyes glimmered in mischief. Pavithra looked shocked for a moment but a gleam took over her face in an instant.

    “Why that is so bad. I thought you are so selfless” She pouted her mouth like a kid and smiled brilliantly.

    “If you get us clear of all these and get Ishwar for us, I will give you a date of your choice”


    “Really?”

    “Really..”

    “Well I will see what I can do to make the date as early as possible” he smiled and walked into the room. The basement was quite as the two occupants in it were so quite, each in one corner of the room.


    Sean spent closer to ten minutes there with them. Pavithra wanted to know all but he asked her to get all the story from her friend.
    After giving a long lecture and series of advice notes to Thendral he left to finish up his own clear up work. Pavithra went out to send him off.

    It was them all alone again now.

    Thendral's heart started pounding. ‘Oh why am I acting like an adolescent idiot?’ she chided herself silently as she diverted her mind and eyes to take a good look at the room.

    “So, you alright?” a strained voice called out at last.

    ‘Finally he is thinking about her too’ she turned to him. He sat there with hands folded, in one corner of the room. His face totally flushed and tired and sleepless yet he looked like the most handsome man on earth.

    He rubbed his eyes wearily as he got up from his seat. “I was kinda worried about you” he said looking out somewhere.


    Her mouth curled in a tiny smile. ‘Still the same aren’t you?‘ but the warm feeling was soon replaced by the cool aloofness.

    “Why should you be? I am used to being myself for almost ten years now. “

    He clenched his fist and turned around “God.. Woman. Will you ever stop shooting daggers at me?”

    “…”


    “You speak like it was entirely my fault. Women are always good at that aren’t they? To make believe that they are the innocent little girl who doesn’t know anything. How convenient? I don’t know to put out an act”


    “Yeah you only know to run away”

    He came near her in one long stride and pulled her to him hard.

    “Listen woman. I am talking to you calmly, without thrusting my fingers into your throat just for one reason and one reason alone. And that is my son. If you try my patience once more, I swear on my fairy god that I will kill you with my bare hands.”

    Thendral stood looking into his eyes for a long moment before saying in whisper “You will kill me? Again? ”

    It was so sudden but not unexpected. She had been feeling that this would happen at one time or other eventually and she really dreaded that she might trigger that moment, just like now.

    When his hard mouth met hers mercilessly, it was a kill and she decided that she definitely liked dying this way. She knew that but she didn’t know whether she was the prey or the predator.

    She felt like she was falling into the deepest of abyss, her head getting dizzier by every passing second. Her body aching and trembling by the force and his body was shaking too. His hand dug hard into her shoulder bones which intensified the pain and heat. As she went along in that ferocious journey, the memories slowly erased as she fell into the quietness of eternity. She wanted this moment never to end but it was she who stopped it. She pushed him back with one shove too lethargic and stared cold in his eyes.

    He looked back with eyes that betrayed the pain in his soul. Her heart ached for him. She knew this can’t continue. She knew she had to break the ice and close this once and for all but she didn’t. She had more pressing matters to look into right now.

    It looked like he understood that too. He had always been very understanding hadn’t he? Except for his perfectionist perception.
    She moved away from him and let out a deep breath.

    “I am sorry. That was..”

    “Let us focus on our son” she cut in.

    “Right” he said and went to the door to check on the computers. It was some time after lunch that they had some visitors.

    Pavithra and Inba had gone to the meditation room and she waited down here in the basement. For the first time she wanted to obey Sean and so she stayed back.
    And how good that proved to be?

    When she heard voices from above she peeped out of the small glass pane on the side of the wall which went with the floor level outside the building. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw those men walking away from the building shaking their head for Natesh while cautiously looking around (for her?). Good for her even Sean was not around now. They would have probably thought that only Pavithra and Inba were here.

    They came as regular newcomers who have come for their first visit to the ashram. But she could easily make out that crew cut and the lethargic stride of that man whose silhouette form she can never forget from that night at Sean’s house. Thankfully no one said anything about the basement to them who had went on a tour around the ashram.

    After a while she saw them drive away in a sedan.In a while Inba came down. She ran to him with the news.

    "Did you see them? The men? It was them Inba. The two men who came for me in Sean's house. It was them."

    "I knew it" he swore. "I kind of had this feeling when they talked to me"

    "They talked to you?"

    "Yeah. just small talk. Am I new here and stuff like that. Looking back i think they tried to pull words from my mouth. Thank god Pavi was in prayer. I guess it was their buddy whom we saw in the diner the other day. Thendral this means there are many people involved in this. we must be really careful."


    "Yes. Do we tell Pavithra about this?"

    "Let us keep it to ourselves for the time being. She might get scared. We will tell about it when Sean comes. Until then you better stay underground."

    "Ok"

    "I will get the food and everything for you. I hope they didn't ask anything to Natesh. He is the only one besides the guruji that knows you are here."

    "No. I don't think he will tell anything. Pavithra said she had already told him that he shouldn't talk about me to anybody"

    "hmm.."

    Late that afternoon they settled down in front of the computer which was given internet connection.

    “So what do we do now?”

    “We need to do a little bit of investigation ourselves. We should think it out in order. Will that be a good start?”

    “I guess so” Inba said as he kept looking at the table.

    “Let’s see. Catherine and Ishwar. What are the similarities of both the cases? Both were kidnapped from their houses without any struggle. Both were gifted kids living with single parent. Cathy’s body was found about a week later. Ish went missing when cathie’s body was found. A duplicate ish body was found a week later. Mode of death..”


    She turned around sharply.


    “We never bothered to check the mode of death in Catherine’s case, did we?”

    “As a matter of fact we even don’t know the mode of death in ..his death either” inba said.


    “yes…. Is it possible to find it out?”She asked him quizzically.

    “I don’t think it is possible now but it is possible if you have someone inside the police circle for you. Not Sean though, he is officially off the case now.”Pavithra said as she sank in a bamboo chair.


    “Can we ask Kevin?”


    “I don’t think that is necessary. If they have a website and an intranet server logged in, I think I can crack open the safe and get the document.”


    “You mean if they have their server in public domain? That would be silly, they wouldn’t have it that way.”


    “Well let’s check it out”

    “Won’t that be illegal?”

    “Not as illegal as blowing up a morgue or escaping custody” he said and she jumped up with her fist high. Pavi had to run in between.


    “Guys guys..please.. we have stuff to do”


    “We will check if it is possible. I think they might even have a public database, which in case would be very easy, no need for illegal activites.” said Inba as his fingers danced around in the keyboard. In minutes he whistled.


    “Voila.. what did I tell you?” the screen had the local county hospital header and the current page was opened under office of Carson city coroner.


    They stooped together near the screen and read.


    “This too was done by that Dr. Timothy and assisted by one Victor white.”They read in silence and looked at each other.

    “death by oxygen deprivation possibly suffocation." pavi read

    "Did they throttle her?”she asked.

    “No.. no signs or marks of any struggle on any parts of the body except for the gashy wound on the face”Inba assured.

    “Why would they kill her so cleanly and then smash the face. I can’t understand” Pavithra was confused.

    “It says that cut on face happened after death, may be few minutes later still time enough for a bloody remain. My guess is that the police think it as an accidental brush up with something hard during the transfer of the body.” Inba was thinking aloud.

    “Yes.. I remember the way the body was laid out. It was as if they had tried to make a showcase of it. Oh god.”Pavi closed her eyes at the thought.


    “what if it was made intentionally?”

    “what?”

    “What if they wanted to divert the attention? What if it was not Catherine at all?”

    There was a sudden silence in the hall.



    Thendral came out of her thoughts of yesterday as her feet touched firm concrete ground from slimy swamp.

    She had already reached the foot of the hills and was standing on the edge of a road.

    Sean is going to get wild knowing me gone, she smiled at the thought. Even Inba will kill me when he gets his hand on me, she chuckled.

    She could have told Inba that she was leaving but he would not let her go at least not alone. And she had to go and go alone. She didn’t want to risk anymore lives as it is. She wanted Inba to be safe. She had to do this by herself because it was her mistake.

    She had been a fool all long those initial days of the disaster. She had been grieving and fuming and totally forgot to use her brains or her motherly intuition. She now distinctly knew that there really is something waiting for her in her house (of course).

    After that afternoon shock she thought the men had just left, but she was proved wrong.

    She and Inba had spent most of the night searching about cloning and various other stuff in the internet. Late after midnight they had come to a conclusion that the journey had taken an entirely new route. They had a lot to research on. They took a break.

    With so much things going on in her head, she wanted some fresh air and so she climbed up to the first floor of the building. There she opened a window slightly, to let in the breeze and sat there in darkness, quietly mulling over the facts.

    Suddenly she saw some disturbance in the bushes a little farther up. She first thought it to be animals, but then something metallic reflected the descending moon light straight on the window pane.

    “Idiot. Be careful.” Someone hissed. She went cold and rigid.

    “Let’s go now. We will come back later tonight. Did you fix the bugs properly?”

    “What do you think of me? Dumb ass? Of course I did” another voice hissed back.

    “Ok. Let’s go?”She then saw two tall forms moving slowly towards the end of the ridge and then they started to climb down.

    It was
    then that she decided she had to make a move, she did leave a note about the place being bugged to Inba. When Sean comes they will find a way out of it. Now she had to think about getting her inside her house.

    She had to hail a cab to go to the waiting hell now. She heaved a heavy breath and walked on.

    She must get down few blocks before her house and then walk on foot. She should watch her house for closer to an hour before making the move. She did pick up some stuff from the ashram which she can use as tools. She might as well have a sneak into the woods if possible.


    She made a master plan with such ease without even the simplest of knowledge on the US defense force facilities. How would she know anything about IR detectors? How would she know that there were about ten officers in regular clothes and even some snipers stationed around her house and the whole house was bugged like the lights in Christmas tree?

    She got down at the street end and pulled up her hood. She started to walk slowly. She came a hundred yard near her house and took a sharp right cut into the shrubberies of an empty house lot. She sat there in crouched position pushing back a small clearing for her to view her house. She sat watching.

    Fifteen minutes and she could number seven civil clothed men coming about in regular intervals and two men in dark gray jumpsuits sitting on a nearby tree with something big in hand.
    This is what she saw. She might have still missed some others.

    How is she going to get past them? Is it even possible? She closed her eyes and sat thinking for a while. When she opened her eyes, they were clear and set for action. Her body was thumbing with adrenaline. She had decided to make a move.

    Will come…
    (on Monday)




     
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  2. swaran

    swaran IL Hall of Fame

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    Malar,suspense suspense nothing but suspense....

    everytime i read your thriller,i get glued to the monitor and sometimes even forget that i am out of my chair...omg....i thoroughly enjoyed each and every line of the episodes....lovely lovely

    let me wait till monday to know what thendral is upto and will she get what she feels ish has left for her???!!!!
     
  3. kavithamadhan

    kavithamadhan Silver IL'ite

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    Hi Iniyamalar,

    The story is in full pace. I want it to end soon, unable to resist the secret residing. Great narration indeed. :cheers

    Regards,
    kavitha
     
  4. Malar2301

    Malar2301 Gold IL'ite

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    Malar....

    Sema twist...sema thrilling...how is it possible for you alone????

    chance illa...great!!
     
  5. shashiv

    shashiv Gold IL'ite

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    Hai Iniyamalar,

    Enjoyed and its full of suspense. waiting for next the episode...till monday...


    Shanti
     
  6. kkdevi

    kkdevi Gold IL'ite

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    Excellent Episode Malar!!!
    Too Good.. :cheers :clap:clap:clap

    But what worries me is, we had to wait till Monday..! 'THREE' more days to watch the next part...!! Cant wait to see..!!!:spin:spin

    Cheers,
    Devi
     
  7. DeeYo

    DeeYo New IL'ite

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    Thanks Malar for promising to publish the episode on regular intervals.
    I hold my breath and do all types of pranayama’s unknowingly when ON your writings...Just one deep breath till i reach the end of the episode. :thumbsup
     
  8. YesBee

    YesBee Bronze IL'ite

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    Dear Malar,

    Yet another super duper thrilling episode:thumbsup. Cant wait for Monday to check out the next episode. Cant you post one each day:my2cents :biggrin2:
     
  9. apar_ram

    apar_ram Silver IL'ite

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    Dear Iniya,
    romba nallaa pogudhu kadhai. very well narrated. Cant wait for monday
    aparna
     
  10. orion80

    orion80 Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanks for the double treat Malar... Read 14 & 15 in one go...

    The pace is catchy and thrilling..
     

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