The Shiva Objective (5 page)

Rakesh appeared behind her when she was in quiet meditation.  "It's time," he said.  "And may I offer you congratulations?"

"You may not," she said, standing swiftly.  She handed him the folded note.  "So," she continued as he read.  "What's the mood up there in the penthouse?  Davarius crapping  a brick?  Can't be too happy that half his hunters are toast."

His eyes wide, lips trembling, Rakesh finished reading.  He looked at her a long time, meeting her questioning look. 
Come on,
she urged. 
You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Slowly, he nodded to her.  Crumpled the note, then tapped his lapel, and pointed to his ear.  She understood.  They were listening in, but her guess was likely correct – they couldn't have any cameras in here and didn't see her pass him the note.

"He is actually impressed," Rakesh said in his usual droning business tone.  "And thrilled.  You are the best adversary the hunt has ever had."

"Well, doesn't he know how to make a girl feel loved?"

"New members are taking interest and want their chance to hunt the toughest game.  He is already preparing dossiers on all your colleagues – and seeking out other potential contestants."

Nina nodded absently.  "All right, what now?  I know the entrance to the underground caverns is through the mysterious well on the second level, an archaeological feature no one's been able to adequately explain."

"Now," Rakesh said. "I take you there, where the guards are in our employ.  They will let you in.  And you only come out if you beat the game and make it to the statue of Shiva."  He sighed and continued, reciting monotonously.  "You will not have a map.  The passageways are lit by dim halogen lamps.  It is… an extensive labyrinth, but if you are careful you can find your way to the center, to the final arena.  There is no other exit but this one.  The hunters are already down there, at their positions, waiting."

"Got it," Nina said.  "And of course, along the way there are things I've already seen in my visions: bear traps, trip wires, concussion mines and other nasty surprises."

Rakesh gave a hopeful smile and handed the crumpled note back to her, mouthing the words:
Thank you. 
And then he said simply: "Good luck."

SEVEN

Inside the well and
past the ancient-looking granite slab, which the guards closed wordlessly behind her, she found her way down a spiral staircase into a cellar and to the back, to a door that opened into a cramped tunnel.  There she stood for a long time, almost losing track of the minutes, as she focused her thoughts, projecting her consciousness until feeling the familiar loss of
self
.  As if everything she was became a droplet of pure water falling into an ocean, merging with the larger whole, experiencing everything, being everywhere.

-But only taking in and truly seeing what she was concentrating on, where she directed her thoughts.  For a brief moment she could see it all – through the twisting passageways, the dimly lit chambers with high alcoves where hunters perched with night-vision goggles and laser-sighted weapons, all the way through the maze, past the ancient Hindu crypts, past once-sacred grottos and tall underground obelisks, to rooms filled with contemplative statues of gods and goddesses in meditative repose.

Nina smiled inwardly, wondering if this ability of hers, this power of sight – was exactly what the Hindu mystics aspired to, at least one piece of it.  She knew she'd never march along the same path in her designer sandals that Buddha strode in his, not by a long shot when it came to humility, restraint and self-sacrifice. 

But at least she had this going for her.
She could, at times, truly see.
  And right now, she had seen enough.  All the way through to the final atrium.  The last chamber – an immense arena, as promised.  With an elite squad of hunters, armored and carrying cruel iron weapons, probably hoping she got through the rest of them so they could have their chance. 

But of course, as she suspected, there was no reason to get that far.  None at all.  In the center of the arena was just a trick.  A sacrilegious one at that, Nina thought with a chill.  In place of Shiva's statue, they had glued the feet of what seemed to be a plastic Ken Doll.  Barbie's beau, shirtless and wearing only briefs and sunglasses, arms raised awkwardly up in the air. 

Some joke.

Nina shook her head as she pulled out of the trance.  Other players, even psychics, might have fallen for it, seen only the rough outline from a distance and believed they were close to the prize.  She wondered if in the past they even might have let contestants get close enough to touch it, only to be crushed by the truth – that there was no escape.  No winning this game.

She stood up and slung the pack off her shoulder as she walked forward a few steps, eyeing the walls and the ceiling, looking for the most strategic spots.

Probably doesn't matter,
she thought
.
  With the amount of C4 explosives she had purchased from the black market dealer, she was pretty sure that no matter where the charges were set, this whole section of the tunnel – the only exit – was coming down.

-And sealing all the hunters in their own tombs.  She wasn't sure if air was being circulated through this place by some other means or if anyone could come and dig them out in time.  Sure it was likely, but then again… A girl could dream, couldn't she?  Of them all suffocating to death, or resorting to cannibalism to survive.

Fifteen minutes later, charges set, she knocked on the door to the Taj Mahal sub-level.  The surprised guards opened it gingerly.

She shot them both.  Dragged their bodies inside the cavern.  Then left and closed the doors.               Walked up the stairs and out onto the mausoleum floor.

Between the golden coffins she lowered her head out of respect, while reaching into her pocket for the detonator.

Her eyes flickered, and she received a quick glimpse:
The hunter, below.  Checking their tracking Apps, seeing that she was going the wrong way.  Starting to get concerned.  A few of them emerging from their hiding spots, approaching the exit…

She pressed the button on the detonator, just as a crowd of pilgrims murmured in unison, offering prayers and thoughts to the departed.

The floor rumbled, then was still.

She headed for the cool air blowing in through the majestic archway.

EIGHT

The shadows in the corner of his penthouse office suite shifted and Davarius Malmud froze.

Is someone there? 
He looked at the darkness, wishing he'd turned on more lights, but that wasn't advisable.  Despite the magnificent view, he was a target and couldn't give his enemies a clean shot. He had everything else so well protected, all the various aspects of his business enterprises, but the last thing he expected was for an attack to come from right inside his very office, his very sanctum.

Then he thought about
her.
  The hunt.  He had been following it on the screens.  Impressive.  But there was no way she'd win.

He had chuckled at the thought.  Of course it was impossible.  That was the true beauty of the game.  The prey needed a carrot, something to play for.  But just like a deer in a gated hunting preserve, there was no escape, no survival.  Only the fleeting belief in it – enough so that they wouldn't just lay down and surrender.

But then he got the report from thirty minutes ago…  Some kind of explosion down there.  Near the entrance.  They were still trying to sort it out.

And then he saw it on the central monitor in his office…  The red dot, her tracking device. 

She was out.  She had fled
away
from the Taj.

Unexpected.  And devious. 
Again he was impressed, but this was nothing he couldn't deal with.  He had already sent two squads of elite hunters after her, teams that had been outbid for this game but were itching for the next.  For a reduced price, he let them in now, with a major monetary reward slated for whoever eventually bagged the kill.

But where was she going?

At first he was worried.

She couldn't get in here, not past all the guards and defenses.

But then he saw her pass the Oberoi Hotel, heading east.  A few blocks later, she stopped.  At some office park.  He couldn't imagine what she was doing, except maybe trying to lay low.  But he knew she'd be coming to him
eventually.  It was in her file, in her makeup.  The same way she had made sure to get revenge on her captors all those years ago. 

So he had ordered the hunters to come back, fortify the hotel grounds, the lobby and the elevator access. 

Let her come.

And then he waited.  Watching that red dot, which never moved.

Sweating now, he kept glancing out the window, then back to the shadows in the corner.  His attention was pulled by the soft lights of the sprawling resort with its grand pools, fountains and gardens lit up below.  And further back, the magnificent Taj, basking in its resplendent glory and mystery.  Normally inspiring, now it seemed to mock him.

Then, from the shadows, a small sound that nonetheless assaulted his ears like a funeral gong.  

Impossible.
  He looked again at the monitor – at the red dot in the same position as before. 
How?
He didn't know, but how she did it could wait.  How she got past all the hunters and into his very sanctum without his knowledge, and without making a sound, could wait.

The machine pistol in my top drawer…
  He thought about it, then remembered how many hunters had already fallen to this quarry. She hadn't survived this long only to lose the game to the lucky chance of who was the faster draw. 

But he had no other choice.  He had to try to distract her long enough to somehow come out of this alive.

-And hunt another day.

"Congratulations," he said to the shadows.  "You've exceeded my hopes.  But-"

The darkness parted and a much larger-than-expected figure emerged, completely taking Davarius by surprise.  All at once, his hopes were crushed.  And then he realized what was in that office building two blocks away.  A minor detail, something he hadn't cared about at the time. 
The basement – where they've been keeping the children, the boy and the girl.

"You?" he whispered to the figure pulling free from the shadows.

Rakesh brought something to his lips and Davarius had a millisecond to cry out – but then the feathered dart flew across the room and plunged into his neck.

And the world faded into black.

#

He awoke to a revolting smell, cringing and fighting the rising tide of bile at the back of his throat.

No, no… not here.
Davarius got to his knees, looking helplessly about the garbage-strewn alley, cramped between ramshackle tenements with clothes hanging on lines above him.  The day was already sweltering, the air oppressive.

He looked down at himself.  Nothing.  He was dressed just in khakis, a t-shirt and shoes. 

Nothing but the clothes on my back.  And out there – a city full of shadowy hunters, waiting to see how I'll do.

I'm in my own game,
he thought as he struggled to his feet.  How far would he get?  He knew the rules, knew the tactics of the hunters.  Knew all the places to hide, to get weapons.  The people to seek out.
I can do this, I can-

But then he noticed the quarter-sized red dot bouncing over his heart.  He looked up, past the white sheets and black jilbabs swaying on the clotheslines, to the distant high-rise apartment roof, where he saw the sun reflecting off a sniper-rifle's scope. 

Now that's not very sporting at all…

He started to run.

But never took a step.

NINE

After wiping it clean of prints, Nina set down the sniper rifle, then stood and straightened out her sleek red dress.  She slipped back into her expensive sandals, stretched her toes, and then turned and nodded her thanks to the large man behind her, back near the stairwell.  Rakesh smiled, hugging the children wrapped around his tree-trunk sized legs.  Moments later they were gone, through the door and out of sight.

She closed her eyes, and for just a moment, relived the cathartic moment in that basement a few hours ago, when she had burst in on the captors, the two men guarding Rakesh's children.  She had taken great delight in ending their lives before going to the locked room, rescuing the boy and girl and getting to know them a little before using her new phone to send a JPEG of their smiling faces to the phone she had given Rakesh.

Now she used her phone to dial a different number.  She turned her face east, to feel the warmth of the sun rising over the sprawling jumble of rooftops.  On the second ring, a man's voice answered.

"Yes?"

"Waxman.  It's me.  My business here is done."

"Was it… as we foresaw?"

Nina turned her attention to the Taj Mahal, basking in a transcendent reddish-purple glow.  "More or less."             

"I see."

"Oh, I also learned what happened to the one you hoped to recruit."

"And-?"
              "And I avenged him."

"Ah.  Well then, come back as soon as you can.  We have a new objective."

Nina hung up. She closed her eyes and the image of the Taj Mahal remained behind, mysterious and elusive – as if it had many secrets left to reveal, ones it had successfully kept from even the best of seers.  She sighed and opened her eyes to gaze at the distant mausoleum.  The palace.  The temple. 

And she bowed her head.

Perhaps another time.

END