Spy Story 4 - Glance of Saturn

[Dileep]

Folks, my sincerest apologies. I wanted to restart at a one post per day format, hence the delay. I have like 10 chapters written, and it isn't even half way to meet with the climax

Thanx for the patience, and sorry to keep you waiting. I am shooting to start posting on next weekend, provided things work as planned.

[Tanaji]

Yes, we are waiting. All of you are taking a hiatus: you, jamwal and vivek ahuja.

Not fair.

[jamwal]

What hiatus..hain jee ?

[Tanaji]

^^ Last installment on 26th Nov.. tsk tsk...

[Dileep]

Part 2 – Regression of Jupiter

Chapter 34

The reassuring smell of Dettol filled the room, as Sreejith soaked the spent bandage of the wound on his calf with a few drops of the antiseptic, preceding the removal of the bandage. His hosts were kind enough to provide him with a medi kit, once they discovered the wound that had gone septic in want of proper care. A liberal dose of Neosporin had worked wonders overnight, and things looked pretty good down there. The wad of cotton had stuck hard into the clot, which had to be removed before the wound could be cleaned up and new bandage put on. He let the water soak in into the clot, hoping to make it easier to remove it.

Though he considered himself a prisoner, his hosts had been very considerate with him. The room was good, as good as any bedroom at a reasonable house. The food was good, as good as the take-out from a decent restaurant. They did even ask for his choice of food. The room even had a view. The view of a stretch of an empty, unused paddy field, bordered with groves of coconut palms. But the locked door and the jammed cell phone reminded him of the fact that he was, still a prisoner.

He was confused to a great extent by the events of the previous day. After he was picked up from the bus, he was politely led to the car. He got in into the rear seat without any resistance, and moved into the right to make room. His captor followed him, and occupied the left seat. The only other person in the car was the driver, who never turned around or spoke during the two and odd hours it took to drive here. It all went with an air of extreme normalcy.

There was no attempt to hide the route or the place. No blindfold, no curtains on the windows of the car. They simply drove off the highway at the exit next to the airport, and turned into a local road. After going for one or two kilometers, the car stopped in front of a multistory apartment building. He was let out, and together they walked in, rode the lift to the fifth floor and got into a unit at the end of the corridor.

All just like two friends. There was no indication of him being a prisoner, till the door to his room was locked, with the almost apologetic advice to use the toy walkie-talkie if he needed anything. Soon enough, he realized that the cell phone signal was jammed at the location.

The way they did the jamming did pique his interest. He had turned on his phone, half expecting to see a network fail message. If he could get through by luck, he was planning to call Vijay to apprise him of the developments. He was surprised to see the phone get connected, but the network refused any calls. He also noticed that there were no messages coming in either, which is the norm when the phone normally connects. Further experimentation was interrupted by the hosts enquiring about his needs like food. Warily, he muttered something in response, and requested the more immediate need. He needed a medi kit with bandages, antiseptics and some Neosporin powder. He was surprised to see how promptly those requests were complied with.

Once the immediate needs of food and the medi-kit were taken care of, and he was left alone to retire for the night, he opened the goody toolbox he had on the phone. Soon enough, he observed that the cell site name came up as Kazhakuttom. He had enough knowledge of the geography of the state to know that there is only one place by that name, and it was more than two hundred kilometers away. He immediately realized that it was a clever way of jamming the phone.

He should be under the capable hands of the NIA, then.

He had, in fact, asked his captor about it. Once they settled into the car, the man observed Sreejith looking at the door handle next to him.

“Forgot to tell you. That door will not open.” He smiled warmly.

“I have no intention to run away. I already gave up the run.” Sreejith said, facing the man. “You told me you are neither with NIA, nor the police. Could you at least tell me whom am I with?” The man nodded in appreciation before forming an answer.

“Oh, in fact, I had planned to do the introduction in the proper way, but seeing your wonderful disguise, I got a better plan on the foot. Here goes. The name is Rai. Arjun Rai” He did a reasonably good imitation of the legendary secret agent. Sreejith wasn’t amused.

“No, I mean which organization has me?” Sreejith insisted with a bit of chagrin.

“You will know in due course.” The man said a sly smile, and went back to typing on his phone. The rest of the journey went in more or less silence.


Sreejith heard a loud knock on the door. The hosts, that is, the man introduced himself as Arjun, and another, younger man who seemed to be kind of a servant, always knocked on the door before turning the lock, and waited for an invitation before opening the door to enter. Sreejith had finished cleaning the wound, and was applying a fresh coat of antibiotic powder. He deliberately continued the process of applying the bandage, considering to see if they would throw courtesy to the wind and enter. Nothing happened.

He finished the bandage, collected the waste and disposed it, and put the medi kit back in order. After all that he said “come in” in a low voice.

The door opened, and Arjun, followed by a middle aged man entered the room. It was clear that he was someone superior to Arjun, as he was seen respectfully leading the latter in. Sreejith took a good look at the new arrival. He was tall and slender, with a receding hair line that was grey at the roots, and a pair of sharp, intelligent eyes. He was dressed in office shirt and trousers. He looked more like an academic, and no way like an investigative or intelligence officer.

Arjun respectfully moved to a side, giving room for the man. Sreejith stood up and faced them, looking at either face for clues. The man took a step forward, and stood there, taking a methodic look over Sreejith. He felt like a specimen sitting under a microscope, which made him immensely uncomfortable.

“Hello ‘Sumantra’. We meet at last. I am Julio Fernando”.

[Dileep]

Folks, rather than abusing the patience, I am starting part 2 here. Planning to run daily issues using the buffer. Enjoy!

[ravar]

Regression of Jupiter along with glance of Saturn, baap re....God save Sreejith!

Such courtesy from NIA! I am inclined to believe he is 'under' Jasmine (pun intended) than the agency!

[Rahul M]

now that is a twist no one expected.

[niran]

Hello ‘Sumantra’. We meet at last. I am Julio Fernando”.

that single phrase is going to make folks think long before opening up at BRF

[Jeff Wickline]

Really scary! More so, as Julio Fernando is a "Mod" of "Prahari" !

[JTull]

[quote="Dileep“]Hello ‘Sumantra’. We meet at last. I am Julio Fernando”.

that single phrase is going to make folks think long before opening up at BRF[/quote][/quote]

Ditto!

[Dileep]

Chapter 35

Sreejith was visibly startled by the introduction. He tried hard and regained his composure in a second. The man was standing there, with his hand extended, a sly smile on his lips, and flashing mischief in the deep set, black eyes that had a characteristic opacity in them. Sreejith did not make any move to take that outstretched hand. He looked back straight in his eyes, while building a brick wall over his own emotions.

“Tell me, ‘Julio’, what gift did you send me for my birthday?” He asked in a calm deliberate voice. The smile vanished, and wrinkles started appearing on Julio’s brow, as he thought deeply for more than a moment.

“As far as I can remember, I haven’t ever sent you a birthday gift.” He said finally, never taking his eyes off that of Sreejith. Arjun watched on, looking from one to another, with a confused look.

“Then what gift did you send me?” He asked again in the same tone.

The sly smile began to re-appear at the corner of Julio’s lips. He spent a few more moments, considering and framing the answer, but the wrinkles had gone from his brow.

“I sent you a statue of ‘Nayantara, and some photos and videos of her premier” He said, with the smile widening into a grin. A gasp arose from Arjun, as the information seemed incredulous to him. Maybe a code, he told himself, and waited for the response from Sreejith.

Sreejith’s face changed instantly. The brick wall went down from behind his eyes, and was replaced by a warmth stemming from recognition of friendship. He took the extended hand, but cringed in pain by the firm shake. Julio instantly let go.

“Sorry about the dramatics man. I had to check.” He said apologetically.

“No problem, Sreejith. By the way, now that we are properly introduced, I guess you wouldn’t mind dropping the alias.” Julio said pleasantly. “I take it as a tit for tat for my challenge.”

After the Defexpo that Sreejith missed, Julio had sent some souvenirs from the show to Sreejith. It included a mounted model of Patang the UACV, the photos of the static display of the plane, and the videos of the official unveiling of the model. The mounted model had the complements and the monogram of Mahindra Aerospace who built the plane. It was not something that is handed out to the visitors of the show. Those kinds of models are gifted to special guests. Sreejith was thrilled to receive the cherished object, and it promptly found a prominent place on his desk at Breeze Tech.

“Wouldn’t you invite me to a seat, Sreejith?” Julio’s query woke Sreejith up.

“Oh, I am sorry. Have a seat please.” Sreejith invited, and gestured Arjun to take a seat as well. Julio sat in the chair, but Arjun hesitated.

“Arjun, would you mind leaving us old friends alone for a moment please?” He turned to Arjun and asked.

“Sure, Sir.” Arjun nodded to Sreejith and left, closing the door after him. Julio watched him go, and turned to Sreejith. He seemed to go into deep thought, as he sat there, silently, and with his gaze passively moving around.

“I had no idea that my message was so important, to make all these arrangements, man.” Sreejith said, more to make conversation than to bring the man to the subject of interest.

“Well, Sreejith, it was not your message that really brought you here.” Julio said from the top of his mind, while he was lost in deep thought.

Sreejith had sent Julio a portion of the voices he had snooped at Guruvayoor, seeking his help to transcribe it. Instead of a transcription, Julio had barraged Sreejith with questions of his whereabouts. Given the situation he was in, Sreejith felt very wary of this, and had not pursued the contact further. His surprise had no bounds when he saw Julio with his captors, and made the obvious connection.

“Then why am I here, and more importantly, why are ‘you’ here?” Sreejith asked, a bit impatiently.

“You are here because you are accused in a spy case, and that makes you a person of interest to us.” Julio said, having not completed framing his mind.

“Who are this ‘us’? Do you work for NIA?” Sreejith asked, feeling a bit let down by the response.

“No. I work for a different agency.” Julio said calmly, but it was evident that he was a bit irritated because of the interruption. Sreejith felt sorely angry at the man, and the camaraderie he used to feel for him vanished. He was obviously trying to use their friendship for advantage.

“Which one? Raw? IB?” He couldn’t control himself.

“Let it suffice to say that there are many such agencies.” Julio said, unmoved by the show of emotion by Sreejith.

“Having a name would help the conversation.” Sreejith blurted out.

“Well, you can call us ISS, and we could in fact help you.” Julio was a bit taken aback by the change in Sreejith’s attitude, and was trying to make amends before things went out of hand. He expected the name to break the ice. It didn’t
“ISS? Never heard of them!” Sreejith exclaimed.

“Indian Secret Service. You haven’t heard of it because, well, it is ‘secret’”.

[Dileep]

Here is the food for thought. Whom is Julio Fernando modeled after?

Sreejith is modeled after my cousin of the same name. He is a budding actor, and the story originally conceived as a screen story featuring him. Most of the characters have real life sources. Some are fusion of traits of multiple people. Rarely there are purely imaginary characters, like Arjun Rai. And you would have guessed that all the stories are woven into the same 'universe'.

[Austin]

Julio Francis Ribeiro the Supercop ?

[manish.rastogi]

looks like we are heading for another masterpiece....

[Jeff Wickline]

This episode is shorter than expected.
We need more!

[Dileep]

Chapter 36

Sreejith suddenly lost his train of thoughts. The existence of such an undercover intelligence organization was a long time subject of speculation on the Prahari forums. There used to be threads where some enthusiastic users posted fiction on such organizations. Sreejith considered those half cooked literary endeavors as a pure waste of time and never in fact ventured into reading them. If he had, he would have recognized the name ISS to be the imagination of such an author there, and Julio Fernando to be a regular reader of those threads.

“Whatever! So, what makes ME a person of interest to this ‘ISS’?” Julio was a bit surprised by this response. He immediately realized that Sreejith hadn’t made the connection. That did not matter now. He needs to bring the conversation back to a rational level by other means.

“The NIA is currently prosecuting an espionage case, which we believe, is primarily our turf. It is in our interest to get involved, and make sure that they do not cause undue damage.” He said after a brief consideration.

“So, I am being used as a pawn in the politics between two government agencies?”

“Well, Sreejith, you have a better chance of getting a fair deal from us than either the NIA, or the local police. We tend to believe that you could be innocent, and we might be able to work together for mutual benefit.”

“Why should I trust you on that? I don’t even know you or your so called organization”. Sreejith had calmed a bit. At least they are talking about working together.

“Well, you be the judge. At least, till now we haven’t treated you badly.” Julio smiled.

“Sure! I thank you for that. So, what are you going to do with me?” He does have a point, thought Sreejith.

“We expect your full co-operation.”

“Co-operation for what?”

“We are conducting our own investigation of the matter. We want you to co-operate with that investigation, with whatever information you could provide”. Julio watched with some amount of relief, that the antagonism in Sreejith is fading.

“And what do I get in return?” It was in a more level voice.

“If our investigation finds you clean, we would just let you go.” Julio opened his hands in a generous gesture, but instantly regretted doing it.

“So that the NIA can pick me up and pile on one more charge, that of conspiring with you?” Sreejith’s eyes sharpened.

“No. If our investigation is successful, we will deal with the NIA hard. If you are really clean, we will make sure that you are let go clean by the court.”

“Else?”

“Aren’t you?” The surprise was audible in his voice.

“All you guys deal with is evidence, and I know that the Kerala Police currently have ‘evidence’ that I am a terrorist. So, if you may answer the question please. What if you find me not clean?”

“Then you face the music.” Julio was visibly uncomfortable with the turn of discussion.

“Meaning?”

Julio paused for a moment and looked deeper into Sreejith’s eye. He could see the element of determination behind all the confusion going on in his mind.

“Let me explain.” Julio let out a sigh. “If we are successful in our investigation, and have evidence supporting our stand, NIA would be obliged to prosecute the case by our script. We do not have public visibility, and we do not prosecute cases via the legal system. So, we will have to hand you over to the NIA, and let them deal with the legal procedures of clearing you. But.. But, to our script.”

“If you fail?”

“Then, all of us fail together. NIA will prosecute the case as they please.” Julio hated to even think of that.

“And me?” Sreejith insisted.

“You will be handed over to them.” Sreejith appreciated the honesty of the answer.

“And you won’t even allow me to run away to try my luck out there?”

“No. That is out of question. You WILL be handed over to them.” Julio went silent for a moment. “But we are speculating there. With your help, we shall be successful.”

“Why should I help you? You are going to give me up to NIA anyway.” Sreejith teased.

“Well, it is up to you, really. If you KNOW you are innocent, it would make sense to help us, because we could help prove your innocence.”

“Why should you help me? Obviously, it is not to help an old friend!”

“Well, you hurt me there!” Julio smiled. “I am not hiding the fact that we need your help to prosecute our investigation. You are the only key person in this case who is outside NIA’s grip.”

“And what exactly do you expect from me?” Sreejith ignored the sentiment part from Julio.

“Firstly, we believe you can provide us with valuable firsthand information about your company.”

“And?’

“We also expect you to open access to the other resources within the company.”

“Like information about the projects and technologies?” Sreejith’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, that too, but more important is to access to the people.” In the flow of the idea, Julio failed to notice the sudden change in Sreejith’s countenance.

“Well, nice try there, Julio! You are not going to get nothing from me.” Sreejith said in a firm, emotionless voice.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Julio was surprised.

“Not a bit! How do I know you aren’t the one who is actually doing the espionage? I don’t even know you beyond your persona on Prahari, and I am old enough and wise enough not to trust online personae.”

“Sreejith, trust is something you develop over time. I am not asking you to trust us right now. We are not going to force you with anything, till the point, god forbid, we finally decide to hand you over to the other agencies. We are looking for your voluntary co-operation. Working with us or not is entirely your choice.” Julio said in formal conclusion, and for the first time, retracted his gaze to look down at his empty hands. In the back of his mind, he felt the remorse of having failed his mission.

[Dileep]

Chapter 37

Silence spread itself in the room like the frost biting into a leaf in late autumn. Julio did not raise his eyes, while Sreejith waited for any follow-up from him. Finally, Sreejith cleared the throat to seek attention.

“But that is not the whole picture for me.” Sreejith began. “You haven’t told me about the root cause of the show.”

“I am sorry?” Julio was rudely awakened from the train of thought.

“What about the information I sent you? I heard nothing about that yet.”

“Yes, I was coming to that, after we finish the more important matters.” Julio said. The voice didn’t have enough conviction though.

“Well, what do you make of it?” Sreejith asked with a bit of impatience.

“Of the audio you sent to me?” That was more of a time filler, as Julio was not yet ready preparing for the discussion.

“Yes.” Sreejith said in a voice laden with impatience. “It is two guys talking in urdu, or a language sounding like it. What exactly were they talking about?”

“Where did you get it from? And who are those guys?” Julio asked, once again looking straight at Sreejith.

“You had already asked those questions in your e-mail. I will give you the background, AFTER you tell me what they were talking about”

“Fair enough. I don’t remember all of it, but they seemed like talking about the architecture of a temple.” Julio said, trying to remember the clip.

“Temple? I guessed as much! This is serious, Julio!” Sreejith cried in excitement, but his momentum cooled down seeing no appreciable change in the man.

“Now, tell me the background, and we might get a bit more clarity.” Julio said calmly, and kept looking at Sreejith expectantly.

“I got it from the room where a pair of ruffians were staying. I suspected they were upto something very bad, and I bugged their room.” Sreejith said, choosing his words carefully.

“Where was this? I know that you were hiding somewhere those days. This must be from that place.” Julio smiled for the first time after the tense exchanges.

“Well, I don’t see any need to hide it anymore. This is from a rickety old lodge at Guruvayoor.” Sreejith said. He did not, however, share the smile.

“Guruvayoor? Isn’t it the famous temple town near here?”

“Yes. I lived there for a few days in hiding. These guys were put up at the same lodging place, and I got suspicious about those guys. I bugged their room, and recorded their conversation.”

“Bugged? How did you do that?” Julio was really surprised.

“I hid a phone in their room.” Sreejith said casually.

“How did you get into the room?” Julio’s interest was really aroused.

“I picked the lock.” Sreejith didn’t really catch the excitement in Julio. He considered his actions to be a pretty normal thing.

“You picked the lock and bugged their room! That is really strange, man!” Julio exclaimed.

“Well, it was no big deal. It was an old fashioned lock.” Sreejith said, feeling a bit remorseful of giving those details off.

“I mean, all these trouble, because you just found someone suspicious? That is what I find strange!” Julio wondered. “I mean, what did they do to arouse your interest?”

“I had a feeling inside, something like an intuition, that they are upto something bad, and I felt it was my duty to find out why.” That was an honest admission. After getting the good thrashing for his misadventures, Sreejith had in fact wondered what prompted him to go through all those.

“But, you must have observed something that is amiss with them. Don’t tell me that you just acted upon an intuition”

“Well, I heard noises like typing from their room. I took a peek, and they were typing on a laptop. It didn’t go well at all with their appearance of recycle collectors.” Sreejith explained.

“Very interesting.” Julio went into thought again. Sreejith had noted this habit with the man. He always goes silent when he thinks deeply.

“So, what does your intuition say about them?” He finally asked.

“I think they are part of a terrorist sleeper cell or something, and are planning an attack on the temple” Sreejith was surprised on himself for making that bold assertion. “What is your take?”

“We could have made a better judgment if we had more data.” Julio was still noncommittal on the issue, and that showed.

“Well, I happen to have almost an hour of conversations, and I could play it to you.”

“You got that with you?” He was surprised.

“Yes. It is in my phone. Shall I play it to you now?”

“Well, I will be darned!” Julio lightly slapped his own forehead and started laughing. Sreejith stared at him with wild eyes.

“What is so funny?” He finally asked.

“So, that is the ‘evidence’ that the Kerala police came up with! I should have known!!”

“Yes. I had copied the audios to my laptop. They must have got it from my aunt’s place.” Sreejith had already figured that long ago. “This recording on my phone is an insurance policy”

“Do you really believe the Kerala’s finest would just take it and let you go? Fat chance” Julio exclaimed with a gesture of doom.

“Well, I don’t have much of a choice there.” Sreejith sighed. “I should make the best use of it”

“We should be able to help with that. If you work with us, we could add this as evidence of your innocence.” Julio said, after carefully weighing the words.

“Thank you for the little mercies.” Sreejith said sarcastically. “I have to get to the bottom of this issue, even if that means I go to jail for the other case. Do you get that?”

“Ok, Ok, no worries. I will help you with translating the chatter. But I am afraid that’s all I could do for now.” He was a bit taken aback by the intensity of Sreejith’s approach.

“Oh god! We took so much of time.” Julio glanced at his watch and exclaimed. “I do not handle the case myself. I came down specifically to break the ice with you. I have to introduce you to our team who will work with you.”

“Is it?” Sreejith felt bad. “At least do me a favour. Please find some time to listen to the audio and do a translation for me, today itself. Could you?”

“We will see.” Julio said, rising from the chair. “I think we should give a copy of the audio to the Kerala Police and be done with that. Our hands will be full with the other problems”

“Talk about yourself” Thought Sreejith.

[Sanku]

Amazing work Dileep!!

[niran]

editor was here

[jamwal]

Right

[Dileep]

Chapter 38

The computer was an old hand me down, at least a decade old. It was loaded with some flavour of Linux which he could not figure. Thankfully, it had a graphics desktop, a web browser, and the gnu development tools loaded. Though it took an awful lot of time to do pretty much anything, it was good enough to run basic functions. It readily linked to a wireless network, and he was online without difficulty. Given the troubles he had to go through to get access to that, this was a godsend for Sreejith.

After the lengthy discussion, Julio went out of the room. Sreejith was a bit surprised to see that the door is not locked. He had an urge to take a look outside, but he fought it back. Instead, he took the phone out, and checked that the audio recordings are still there. Fifteen minutes did not pass, before Arjun came in and requested Sreejith to follow him. “To see the boss” He said in the form of explanation.

Sreejith followed Arjun into the bigger bedroom at the end of the corridor. It was furnished as an office plus conference room. There was a desk to one side, and a small conference table that can seat eight people was at the other end. A few cupboards and file racks completed the furniture. A man in his late thirties was sitting behind the desk. Julio was sitting in a chair in front of the desk. Sreejith walked in, a bit tentatively.

“Sreejith, this is Praveen Kumar, the lead of this operation.” Julio did the introduction. Sreejith looked at the man and bowed. He did not return the bow. Instead he responded with a cold steady gaze. Sreejith took the opportunity to take an all over of the man. He was well built, with neat, trim features, who readily came across as someone who is used to authority.

“Have a seat”, he invited. Sreejith readily obeyed, and occupied the seat next to Julio.

“So.., are you with us?” Praveen turned straight to Sreejith. There was something peculiar about the man. He sounded like the NCC commander from his college.

“Well, do I have a choice?” Sreejith said in a resigned tone.

“Good. That will avoid a lot of pain for all.” Praveen ignored the emotional part of the response.

“So, what do you want me to do?” Sreejith asked.

“Nothing. We will come to you when the need arises.” Praveen said, emotionless.

“So, you want me to just kill time, locked in a room, doing nothing.” Sreejith could not hide his indignation

“Well, we can not let you out in the open, you know?” Praveen was a bit confused by the response. “We will make sure that you will be comfortable here.”

“We will install a satellite TV for you. Or get some books or something.” Julio chipped in.

“What I need is a computer and internet.” Sreejith demanded.

“Internet? That is impossible!” Praveen exclaimed. “You will be traced, and everything will be jeopardized.”

“Was I traced using Internet in the past week?” Sreejith firmed up his face, and looked straight at Praveen’s eyes. Praveen went instantly uncomfortable, and questioningly looked to Julio.

“Not really, except when you contacted me.” Julio said, matter of factly

“There you go! I have no intention to blow the cover, since it is in my interest not to. Also, I am sure you can monitor everything I do online.” Sreejith pleaded.

“We don’t see any reason to do that.” Praveen said gravely.

“Oh, you do, Sir. You need my help, and that is a very good reason.” Sreejith said.

Praveen glared at Sreejith, while the sparkle of mischief played in Julio’s eyes.

“I don’t think you are in a position to bargain, Mr. Sreejith.” Praveen finally said, after his glare ended in a stalemate. His voice lacked conviction.

“On the other hand, Mr. Praveen, you have already shown me I am.” Sreejith lowered the voice dramatically.

Julio’s laughter filled the room. Praveen turned to him with a bit of irritation and glanced questioningly.

“You are alright, Sreejith. We will be just fine!” He exclaimed. “Give him what he wants, Praveen, and keep him happy. You won’t regret it.”

“I will need to consult Rajeev.” Praveen protested.

“Fine. I don’t want to impose upon your mission, Praveen. But I suggest you take my advice. Ask Rajeev to setup a proxy for Sreejith. I am sure he knows how.” Julio said, in a more formal voice.

“Rajeev is our cyber security expert.” Julio explained to Sreejith. “You might know him.”

“Rajeev? In what way?” Sreejith asked, as he was surveying Praveen’s face to see if he would in fact heed to the advice just given.

“Rajeev Mallar. It has something to do with Baobab Systems.” Julio said in a teasing voice.

“Oh, THAT Rajeev! Waitaminit! He works for YOU?” Sreejith was really surprised.

“Well, not entirely, but yes. He works for us too.” Julio said. Praveen looked at him, with a disapproving look.

“Well, in that case, you, Mr. Praveen, have nothing to fear from me.” Sreejith said with a smile. Praveen let out a grunt in acknowledgement.

[Dileep]

niran, nice catch. Edited the original. Julio does have a habit of wiping the temple. Wanted to include that, and got confused. It is a hazard of multiplexing things.

Trivia: Spot the characters do you see reappear from the ISS Universe?

[niran]

you are magnificient, after reading me head always start shooting the scenes when something do not fit in i blurt out.

[Dileep]

Chapter 39

“That is a shitload, man!” Rajeev Mallar exclaimed, and slapped hard on the shoulder of Sreejith. “No wonder it took so long!” He looked on, with an element of admiration, as the latter impatiently scrolled through text that appeared like garbage on the screen.

“Well, with this old hag at 1.6Gig, what can you expect?” Sreejith retorted, referring to the aged computer he was working on. “If I had something half decent, it would have been done last week.”

“What is the hurry? Not that you have a project deadline or something” Rajeev teased. He and Sreejith had found a groove right from the beginning. Right after the rather cold introduction by Praveen, they had retired to Sreejith’s room for a technical chat to figure out if a computer and internet access could be granted for Sreejith. Rajeev Mallar already had some reputation, and was a known name in the field of cyber security, and Sreejith couldn’t wait to establish some form of camaraderie.

“So, you are THE Rajeev” He said, as soon as they found themselves seated.

“I am Rajeev. Not sure about the THE part.” Mallar smiled warmly. Though he had the habit of playing modest outwardly, he did enjoy the recognition. He looked at the man sitting in front of him. He should be a couple of years his younger. Mallar was vaguely aware of the name of Breeze Tech, but he hadn’t considered them important enough for his attention. The only information he had about Sreejith was his name, and the fact that he worked on security systems.

“And I am sure you are THE Sreejith as well.” Mallar said warmly.

“No. Just Sreejith. I haven’t uncovered any vulnerability in an enterprise strength firewall yet.” Sreejith said. He was referring to the exploit that made Rajeev Mallar famous in the cyber security circles. Baobab Systems, who found themselves falling from the pinnacle of success to the abyss of notoriety when their flagship product was proven to be utterly unworthy of its hefty price tag, had a lot to blame on this man, who was a college drop out to begin with.

“Oh, that was a long time ago” Rajeev said, copying the famous movie quote from The Matrix. Though the Baobab incident made him famous, he didn’t consider that as his masterpiece. The best of his exploits were made for the agency, like cracking the level 1 encryption of the hard disk from the FBI.

As the discussion proceeded, an element of mutual respect has taken root. Sreejith was not elementarily a hacker. He did the hacking part purely for the purpose of building better protection. Even the forensics of vulnerability was a part of the quest for a better design for him. Rajeev Mallar on the other hand, was a hacker, and an ethical one as far as one can tell, but nevertheless a hacker. In the earlier days, when he had chosen the career of a freelance programmer after dropping out in the second year BSc, he had in fact fallen foul of the law a couple of times. It was the keen eye of a good IPS officer that detected his talent and channeled it to the good side. Getting hired into the agency had completed the metamorphosis, but as he used to admit sometimes, the inner working is still of a hacker.

After a long discussion with Sreejith, he had filed his report to Praveen. The army captain on deputation never had an affinity to the IT geeks, and it was hardly a secret. He was against giving Sreejith any consideration, but like a good soldier, he did obey the order, and cleared the project. Rajeev went back to his home base and the old creaky computer, complete with a CRT display and a keyboard and mouse that had seen many better years arrived in Sreejith’s room the next day. Sreejith was not surprised to see a proxy being used for his internet access. He anticipated a keylogger installed, but despite some exploration, he could not find any. It was either absent, or was very cleverly hidden, he finally decided.

Julio had given him the slip, excusing himself having to catch a flight. So, Sreejith could not obtain the translation he had been wanting so badly. He was disappointed to no extent. He sought Arjun’s help to contact Julio that evening, but nothing came out of it. When he got the PC installed, the first thing he tried was to try send an e-mail to Julio. Access was denied to gmail. He tried all the web based email service he could imagine, and all of them were blocked.

He cursed himself, and set to work, trying to decipher the cell phone he had obtained from the ruffian at Guruvayoor. It was an old Samsung. He had dumped whatever data available via the console, but accessing the primary flash was still a problem. He had to do some real negotiations with Rajeev over the web based pseudo mail system to obtain a JTAG cable. Once that was available, it was not too difficult to dump the entire flash to the disk. But getting some useful information out of it was a totally different question. Various blocks of the data was encoded and encrypted in all kinds of ways, which needed a lot of work.

Rajeev was considerably impressed by the feat accomplished. Till then, he hadn’t bothered to ask Sreejith what was the purpose of all the effort. He believed it was just a time pass, and just kept tabs on what was being done. After he had seen the scale of efforts being put in, he demanded to know the whole story.

Sreejith explained to him what was known. How he got suspicious. How he obtained the audio recording. How he got the phone. He also explained his fears. His fears that those guys were planning an attack on a temple. And how Julio and the agency refused to either believe him or was unable to help.

Rajeev was dumbstruck. Though he was a hindu, Konkani Brahmin to be precise, he was not much of a religious person. Still, he was immensely surprised that the agency is not taking any action on the evidence that had been painstakingly put together by this amateur. He did not tell anything to Sreejith, but soon after he left, Sreejith got a utility package by the internal mail system. It had some very neat tools that would identify and decode/decrypt the plain data from the flash. There was no documentation, but that was not a problem for Sreejith. It took an awful lot of time, but the utilities did the job. Rajeev demanded to see the results when he dropped in the day after and was very impressed by the results.

“But it all looks junk to me. How do you plan to sift through these?” He asked excitedly.

“The old fashioned way. I plan to search for strings.” Sreejith said. “Unless you have some tools to do that.”

“Well, these needs custom filters, and my tools will take a lot of learning. For you it will be easier to do it manually.” Rajeev said matter of factly. Sreejith concurred.

He didn’t have much else to do anyway. He was still a prisoner.

[Dileep]

Chapter 40

The debriefing was a nightmarish ordeal. Towards the end, Sreejith felt that he would be happier to fall dead than to continue. It didn’t resemble anything he had imagined what an interrogation would be. Everything he had ever seen, or read had to be buried, for it had no resemblance at all to what he had undergone.

There was no physical torture. There was no blinding bright lights. There was no verbal abuse or threats, not even raised voices. There was no uncomfortable chair either. He sat on a regular office chair facing four people in a regular, but barren room. He knew only Praveen from that group. As he was ushered in, Sreejith took the brief moment to size up each of them in the limited way he could. The man in the middle, who looked to be the one in charge, had a hawkish face with deep set, but penetrating black eyes. The longish face, the long nose and the receding hair line combed straight back radiated an uncommon, disarming intensity from the man. A ring of facial hair, slightly graying and neatly trimmed guarded the firm set lips. Praveen sat to his left. His normal commanding attitude was toned down a bit. The other two men sitting to his right, both slightly younger than Praveen, appeared more interested in the notepads in front of them, either consulting them or making notes. There was no recording devices that are readily observable.

Arjun brought a glass of water for him. There was no sign of familiarity on his face, as he was clearly in reverence to the men who conducted the interview. He left without even a reassuring glance, closing the door after him.

Then the real show began.

Like a session of the southwestern monsoon, it began with a soft drizzle. The leader made a brief introduction in a characteristic soft voice, which was almost soothing. They wanted to ask him some questions, to figure out how they could work together. The way he said the phrase ‘work together’ made Sreejith feel that he had actually made the double quote gesture with his fingers. Instantly, Sreejith realized that this is no simple meeting, but an interrogation session.

And he dared to say so, without much thought.

A bit of a laughter broke out from the two men to the right, but it got extinguished after seeing the wooden face of Praveen and the barely noticeable twisted lip of the leader. Sreejith regretted the quip, and braced for the onslaught.

Then the downpour started. They began with questions about his family, educational and employment history before he joined Breeze Tech. Initially they just listened and took it in, but later the pointed questions started, one by one. First interspersed, but later quite often. Sreejith felt like being strip searched. He started to realize that simple questions, asked in an even tone, can be so disturbing and intimidating.

It didn’t end there.

Then they moved to his career at Breeze Tech. By this time, Sreejith had realized that they already had an awful lot of information about him, and most of the questions were built on those facts. He was amazed by the memory and grasping power of those men. They came back with questions and observations making connections with facts that he himself hardly realized. It would be impossible to lie, he thought, and thanked god that he did not have much to hide. He could be open about everything, because till the moment, he had never felt that he did anything wrong.

Until they came to Jasmine Basheer.

It had become an uncomfortable issue for Sreejith, even without anyone probing around. He couldn’t understand why the first thought of anyone was they were romantically involved. He had repeatedly tried to reassure himself that she is just a colleague. Maybe a friend, that’s all. But every time he did that, he became more uncomfortable, as if he was lying to himself. Many times he had asked himself what was going on? Even after serious soul-searching, he couldn’t find anything other than a moment of infatuation he had upon her. He couldn’t even decide if it was a cherished memory, or a hated nightmare.

It was confusing on its own, and now he would be facing pointed questions about it. He broke a cold sweat when the man uttered the name. The man seemed to grasp his discomfort instantly, and a smile spread the thin, tight set lips.

“No. I won’t be asking any personal questions” He said casually, but Sreejith was not reassured.

Sreejith gave the background of their interaction. He explained the only time they did actually work together as a team. It was when the there was a hack attempt on one of the servers, and they worked together to defend against it.

It made a drastic turn in the line of questioning.

He hadn’t thought about it himself at the time, but as he tried to remember things, he realized that it was a bit odd about the strategy of playing along with the hackers. The reason given at that time was pretty convincing. They could use the access records to get more insight into the vector, so that they could build a robust defense against it. But he could see clearly from the questions where they are going with it. They seem to imply that it was done in fact to assist the hackers.

He could be digging his own grave there. Not only for himself, but also for Jasmine and Mr. Tyagi. He hadn’t done anything knowingly to help the hackers, but that is impossible to prove.

Nevertheless, the allegation didn’t make sense. He was there. He was in control, and he was monitoring everything. Nothing could go past him.

Or could it? He wasn’t doing analysis of the packets in real time. He had only looked at a fraction of the capture. The bulk of the capture was delivered to the backend team for detailed analysis.

But how to convey that to the interrogators? They seem to be on a roll, theorizing how he could have, unknowingly of course, been assisting an espionage operation. It was a dangerous path to follow. He needs to clearly refute the notion. He needed time to form a strategy. With the questions coming like the torrent, he needed a recess.

As innocently he could, he sought a bathroom break. Half expecting an instalt denial.

The leader looked at him deeply for a few seconds and nodded.

“We too could use a break, gentlemen” He said to the others.

[JTull]

Did anyone want a break? Not me. Pls continue asap.

[BajKhedawal]

No sir, not me. By the mercy of PBUH I have very good bladder control. Bliss to continue.

[Dileep]

Chapter 41

Sreejith lay sleepless on his bed, as the night settled down around. The sounds in the vicinity of the apartment complex had died down, enabling the incessant croaks of the thousands of frogs who colonized the abandoned paddy fields and other singers of the night to filter through. The constant rumble of the traffic that still continued on the highway started creeping in via the chilly wet night air. The calm is only broken by the trains that passed on the railway track before the highway.

The events of the day had raised more questions within himself, than he had faced by the interrogators. Till that time, he had not thought about the rest of the people in the company. He simply assumed that all of them were as innocent as himself, and all these espionage charges were all a simple conspiracy. The line of thought that there maybe, in fact something going on without him being suspicious had never entered his mind. But the way he was grilled with the questions, that hypothesis seemed to be not entirely baseless.

What if he was being used. What if Mr. Tyagi was, indeed guilty?

He could no longer discount such a probability. He knew it was a dangerous proposition to start in that direction. As long as he believed that all these are a big mistake, he could confidently face anything. He did know he was innocent, so nothing he would say is going to be inconsistent.

But if he did believe that there maybe something bad that had actually went on, then it will be extremely difficult for him to prove his innocence. He will be deemed an accomplice, and it would be tough call to convince anyone of his innocence.

He needs to think it through and form a stance. He can not have doubts lingering in his minds. He knew the experts who are dealing with him could easily turn those doubts into facts and use them against him.

He needs to be careful.

One thing that made him immensely uncomfortable was the issue of working with Ravikant Hegde. He knew Hegde was also implicated in the case, and his helping him on a project is going to create him some trouble. He had explained the background and nature of work he had done, but he wasn’t sure if it was convincing enough for them. In fact, he was a bit surprised to see that the amount of questions was a bit less on that subject. It seemed that the interrogation team was not really on top of that angle of the case. When they were working on Sreejith and Breeze Tech, it was clear that they were on top of the issue. They already had some good deal of information. But with the issue of Hegde, he got a feeling that they are not as deep into that as in the other case.

Were these two issues really connected. The only common factor is himself. Of course, Breeze Tech and the startup of Hegde shared the same building, but so did twenty six other companies. As far as Sreejith could tell, there was absolutely no other connection between Hegde and the rest of Breeze.

That is going to be a big problem explaining. The information he got from his folk was that Ravikant Hegde was also implicated in the same case. It was not impossible to have two spy operations at the same place, but it is kind of improbable. But he couldn’t find a relationship between the two sides. It was well past midnight when he slept, and he was in no better a position than when he went to bed.

[Dileep]

Chapter 42

Sreejith fumed. He wanted to rush across the table and strangle the man sitting calmly across. With the ironclad build of Praveen Kumar, and the alleged Special Forces background of his, Sreejith would have been crushed like a bug if he had prosecuted the urge. In any case, Sreejith had enough rationality left in him to know his place, and not to make any stupid moves.

“Sir, you must re consider. This is a matter of dire consequences.” He implored, once again to the stony immobility of the soldier-on-deputation.

“See, Mr. Sreejith, you are only wasting my time, and yours. We do not have mandate to mess with the internal affairs. That is the bottom line.” Praveen again looked back into the notepad in his hand, which he had picked up as a sign to end the meeting.

The very few pieces of text that Sreejith could recover from the flash memory of the phone had sent alarm bells ringing in his mind. The bits and pieces of information co related to locations and features related to the temple at Guruvayoor. This, along with what he could gather from the audios he had snooped formed an alarming picture in his mind. Spying on the temple by someone who spoke urdu, and used Arabic terms in communication was clearly of utmost concern to him.

But apparently, not for the agency.

From the conversation he had with Julio, he had already got a feeling that the agency might be aware of the implications of what he found, and are deliberately stonewalling him. Still, he decided to approach Praveen with what he thought as ‘damning evidence’. Still, he found Praveen as unimpressed as before, and got the advice to mind his own business. Only the words and tone varied from what Julio had told him. The idea was the same.

Julio had patiently explained to him that ISS, the agency was created entirely for passive intelligence work. They are legally a private organization in principle, and held no legal powers. They have many barriers to get involved in what Sreejith implies to be going on. They have no mandate. They can not make themselves visible, and their already stretched resources can not be spared. Julio had promised him that the audio file will be forwarded to IB, and the state police intelligence will be anonymously tipped about the racket at Guruvayoor.

That was the only thing he would be willing to do.

Sreejith hated himself to think that way, but in an angry moment he even felt that Julio doesn’t care because he was a Christian. He regretted that thought immediately thereafter. As far as the limited interaction he had, Julio was a man of high integrity, and would not think in that petty fashion.

Still, he decided to push Praveen. He had a hunch that the issue posed a clear and present danger. His heart sank when he saw the smirk develop on Praveen’s face when he blurted out that worn out cliché. He even begged to be allowed to e-mail Julio. That too went in vain. He had been scanning the news sources for indications of any investigation at Guruvayoor. He found nothing. He tried to reassure himself that such investigation will be done in secrecy, so you can’t expect any news on them.

Still, he was worried.

He also tried a bit of fear mongering with Praveen. What if there was an attack on the temple? Wouldn’t that be a terrible blow for the country? Shouldn’t they, as responsible citizens, help to prevent it as best as they could?

That too went without response.

Dejected, Sreejith went back to his room, threw his phone on the table, and fell on the bed. He wanted to get away from all the thoughts about the investigation, but he couldn’t. He tried to think about the looming spy case. Still, his mind went back to the ruffians and their potentially deadly plans. He even tried to think about Jasmine, and why she contacted his folk about his welfare. That too didn’t help. He ended up analyzing and re-analyzing the evidence he had, and theorizing what all bad things that could happen.

He felt like his hands and feet are tied together. The helplessness was terrible. He could not contact anyone outside. The phone was jammed. The internet was blocked for outgoing information. He could not do anything.

Unless he try to hack the system to bypass the security measures.

He was doubtful about it. He very well knew that Rajeev Mallar knew his business, and it would be tough call to beat the system he built. He also knew that anything he does would be instantly detected.

Maybe he can seek his help and advice. As far as he knew, Rajeev Mallar was a freebird, who has his own idea of rules. He didn’t care much about company policy like Praveen, the soldier. He also had a hunch that Praveen had a general dislike for people dealing with IT, and Rajeev always took exception to that. Maybe he can ask for help when Rajeev drops in next time.

When that happened, help did come in a totally unexpected way.

[Dileep]

Chapter 43

What Rajeev had asked for was impossible to get. Sreejith even felt that it would be illegal and unethical even to aid in that venture. He was wrongly accused of espionage, but if he did what he was asked to, he will be really committing the very crime he was accused of.

Rajeev wanted the archived data they collected from the cyber attack on Breeze.

He didn’t care to explain, but Sreejith gathered that Rajeev believed that the cyber attack on the servers of Breeze and the espionage case was connected. He also got a valuable tidbit from the stray talk.

It was the Chinese behind both. Sreejith was almost sure that the cyber attack was from the Chinese, but Rajeev casually mentioned their name in connection with the espionage as well. When Sreejith queried further about it, he quickly rolled back, and blamed it on a slip of tongue.

But Sreejith could see through him. Rajeev maybe great in technology of spy work, but he was not an expert in human intelligence. He could not shade his emotions and feelings well, which gave away a lot of what was in his mind. Sreejith was sure about the backpedaling. He just left it there in the interest of good relationship.

The captured data was on a server within Breeze. As far as he knew, it was kept isolated from the main network. There was no way to access it, other than taking a pen drive into the server room and copying it out. Then there is the question of ethics and legality. The data is company property, and there is lot of other technical and business information within that room. You can’t simply copy the data out. In fact some of the servers carried information on DRDO projects that are critical for national security.

Of course, as Rajeev chose to remind Sreejith, he is accused of stealing the very same critical data. It won’t make much difference now.

“Yes, it does.” Argued Sreejith. “I never stole anything in reality, so doing this will be actually committing the crime.”

In his nerdy logical way Rajeev tried to reason with Sreejith. The data is not really company property. If it was someone’s property to begin with, it must be belonging to the Chinese. There is no information belonging to Breeze in it. Therefore there is nothing wrong in obtaining it. Sreejith smiled at the careful choice of the word ‘obtain’. He maintained that since the data is collected from Breeze’s network, using own equipment by own employees, the data belonged to Breeze.

That sent the discussion on a tangent about the intellectual property rights, enforcement, software and music piracy and even open source movement. Rajeev was easily excitable, and it took a few not so subtle hints from Sreejith to bring him back to the matter in consideration.

“Look, man. We are trying to help you too here. I say you should do it in self interest.” Rajeev moaned.

“You are considering only your interest. You are even the least bothered about the national interest.” Sreejith retorted.

“Are you kidding? Don’t forget we are a government agency” Rajeev said excitedly.

“Of course. You are government agency when it is convenient to you. You are an unaccountable private organization otherwise.” The sneer was audible in Sreejith’s voice.

“Oh, that is just a convenience” Rajeev said after a moment’s pause. He was surprised to see that Sreejith knew such details of the organization.

“Convenience! Sure! I wanted you guys to take some action on an issue of grave consequences, and you hid behind the skirt of convenience.” Sreejith’s face went red.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Rajeev exclaimed. “What grave consequence are you talking about?”

Sreejith realized his folly. His plans to seek Rajeev’s help has gone to the dogs now. He decided to make the best shot of it, now that the issue is raised. He took a long pause to steady his nerves and bring the excitement down. Then he proceeded to explain the story to Rajeev, stopping short of seeking his help.

“Man! That sure seems serious. And the bosses wouldn’t help you.” He asked, still a bit shocked.

“No. Not Praveen, and not even Julio.” Sreejith said, ending in a sigh.

“Well, Praveen sir is a hopeless case in these kinds of things, but if Julio sir didn’t help, then there is something in it.” Rajeev said, half to himself, looking down.

Sreejith kept quiet.

“Maybe you should tell Anil Sir?” He raised his head.

“Anil? Who is that” Sreejith was confused.

“Oh, Anil sir is Praveen’s boss. He was here the other day. You met him!” Rajeev said a bit excitedly.

“No, I didn’t meet anyone.” Sreejith asserted.

“Sure you did. Didn’t they grill you for a few hours? There was no introduction?” Rajeev asked a bit incredulously.

“Would there be introductions in an interrogation?” Sreejith smiled. “So that was the name of the guy in the middle. The one with the French beard?”

“He is the guy. Much better than Praveen if you ask me.” Rajeev said with an element of reverence in his voice.

“Well, we hardly met. Can you take the issue up with him?” Sreejith asked, with a bit of optimism in his voice.

“And you want me beaten to pulp by Captain Praveen? No sir. No can do.” Rajeev shrugged. “You can tell Anil sir if you get a chance.”

The discussion went back to the issue of getting the data out of Breeze.

[Dileep]

Chapter 44

“I don’t get it” Arjun Rai exclaimed. “What is all these oil stuff going to do?”

“Trust me!” Sreejith said, mimicking the world renowned German accent, as he used the glass dropper to pick a little bit of oil from the tiny bottle. Arjun Rai scratched his head in despair.

Poor Arjun had no idea that his day is going to be ruined by being on what he considered a crazy assignment. Rajeev Mallar handed him a scrap of paper and ordered to get the stuff ASAP. That itself was a matter of irritation to him. His general dislike for geeks began with his first boss. But good old John Mathew had a remarkable sense of humour, making him pretty much tolerable. But you can’t expect every geek to be like John. One look at the list pushed Arjun over the edge.

- Rose Oil
- Chempakam Oil
- Vetriver Oil
- Oodh Oil
- Clove Oil
- Lemon oil.
- Glass Dropper
- Petri dish
- Tooth picks

He had no clue where this stuff could be obtained. Sreejith, who was sitting there with a grin, explained that the oils are available from the Gandhi Gramam store, and the other stuff from the lab store. But he couldn’t help to suggest the location of the stores, as he always loved to emphasize, he didn’t know where he is being imprisoned. Rajeev feinted being busy, assuming it is Arjun’s problem now.

He had to do some exploration, but he was successful in getting the things within a few hours. All the time, he was wondering about the purpose. After he returned from the expedition, he did try to extract the information from Sreejith to no avail.

He watched Sreejith carefully measuring out the oils, counting the drops, into the Petri dish. After each one is transferred, he carefully washed the dropper with soap to remove any trace of the oil and dried it with cotton before inserting the dropper into another bottle to collect the liquid. Finally, he took a careful sniff by keeping the dish half a foot away from his nose. He then took a toothpick, dipped it in the clove oil, shook out the excess and stirred the mix with the oil stained stick. He repeated the process of sniffing and adding traces of various oils, each time with a fresh tooth pick. Finally, he shook his head in satisfaction and offered the dish to Arjun to sniff.

“Wow! That smells great! But I still don’t get it. What do you want to do with this?” Arjun asked perplexedly.

“That is my calling card.” Sreejith said with an air of mystery. Arjun shrugged in desperation.

Together, they walked to the other room, with Sreejith carrying the dish carefully in his palm. They left a trail of nice fragrance in the air around. Rajeev, who was working on a cell phone, turned around, with a questioning look on his face.

“You ready, boss?” Sreejith asked.

“Yes. Are you sure this is going to work?” Rajeev asked a bit skeptically.

“Absolutely. As long as the smell doesn’t go away by the time the package is opened.” Sreejith involuntarily took another sniff of the dish and extended it to Rajeev. He waved it away.

Arjun looked from one to another, confused and annoyed.

“Ok, it is ready. Let us pack it up.” Rajeev said, producing a small carton box, which belonged to a commercial cell phone. It was complete with the accessories, all neatly arranged, with just the slot for the phone empty.

The phone that Rajeev was playing with was quickly wrapped in its poly foam wrapper and taped. It was then inserted in the slot in the carton. It is then closed and sealed.

A bigger shipping carton was then produced. It was lined with thin poly sheet all around and then stuffed with tissue paper. Sreejith added drops of the essential oil mix onto the tissue paper. A heartwarming fragrance wafted from the box.

“Wow!” Rajeev exclaimed. “Man! This one sure is good!!”

“Told you!” Sreejith said, watching the previously skeptical Rajeev Mallar enjoying the scent.

Together they packed the phone carton among the tissue paper. Sreejith added a few more drops on top. They then covered the package with plastic sheet to contain the smell. Finally, the carton was sealed with tape and stretch wrapped.

Arjun craned his neck to read the address on the carton and started laughing.

“What is the matter?” Rajeev barked.

“You are just sending a gift to your girlfriend! Talk about scented paper!” Arjun exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Rajeev Sir”

“Don’t get any stupid ideas, Arjun.” Rajeev made a dirty look on Arjun.

“Is it yours, then Sreejith?” Arjun ignored Rajeev. “It must be. I see the Trivandrum address”

“She is not my girlfriend!” Sreejith protested.

“Sure. What is it? Her birthday? Or your anniversary?” Arjun continued. He was irate to think that he was used for an errand that was purely personal in nature.

“Shut up! Arjun!” Rajeev yelled. “It is none of your business.”

“Oh, sure! It is company money and company time. Why should I bother.” Arjun threw his hands up. “It is not my dad’d company!”. Sreejith felt bad.

“Let me explain, Arjun.” Sreejith said consolingly. “This lady was my colleague. She could help us to get some information from my company. We are trying to establish contact with her. The perfume is to make sure that she readily recognizes it to be from me, without anyone else figuring.”

“Why perfume? Doesn’t make any sense to me.” Arjun was still convinced about the romance angle.

“Look, how can I explain?” Sreejith said with as much of honesty he could muster in his voice. “She makes perfumes as a hobby, and taught me the recipe for one. I am hoping she would recognize it when she receives it.”

Arjun went silent for a moment, contemplating what he just heard. His face changed into a sly smile.

“And she is NOT your girlfriend!” He said, half to himself.

“No.” It was attempted to be emphatic.

“Well, good for you man. I am sure your family won’t like it a bit otherwise. She being muslim and all.” He patted the shoulder of Sreejith lightly. “Is it ready to go? I can take it to the courier if you want.” He offered.

“Sure.” Rajeev Mallar said. He suddenly realized that he was involuntarily smelling the remains of the oil in the Petri dish. He felt a bit embarrassed, and gave the dish back to Sreejith. Together, Sreejith and Arjun walked out of the room.

“Hey Sreejith!” Arjun called out once they were out of the room. “Could you mix some more of that stuff for me? I like the smell. Your girlfriend.. Oops… FRIEND, seems to be an expert.”

Sreejith faked a punch on him and started walking back to his room.

[Sanku]

Nice......

[Dileep]

Chapter 45

The walkie talkie crackled, and the tinny voice came through. “Sreejith, the bait is taken!” Sreejith jumped up, and almost ran out of the room. The habit of locking his room was dropped once he had started working in the earnest with the team. But still phones were jammed and internet filtered. It was for his own safety, and he was convinced about it.

He briskly walked to the other room, where he found Rajeev sitting in front of the computer. An application with a skin resembling a cell phone was displayed on the screen. The image had a flashing red dot over the lens of the front camera, and a repeating ping sound was coming from the speaker.

“Someone just opened the package” Rajeev explained. “The application wakes up on sensing light.” Sreejith nodded and kept looking on the panel on screen.

Arjun came in, running and a bit of out of breath. “Is that her?” He asked even before he was fully in the room. Rajeev turned and glanced at him disapprovingly. Arjun calmed down a bit, and joined Sreejith looking over the shoulder of Rajeev.

A green light began glowing over the power switch for a couple of seconds. Then the simulated screen of the phone lit up on sthe panel. A normal bootup sequence of the phone was then displayed, complete with the service provider information and signal bars.

“Does it have a SIM?” Sreejith asked.

“Sure, but it is faking right now. It is not talking to any cell.” Rajeev chuckled.

“Then how..?” Sreejith began.

“You can eat the bread, but don’t bother to count the holes.” Rajeev quoted a well known Malayalam proverb. Sreejith went quiet.

“Okay, let us see who is it.” Rajeev muttered, and clicked a button on another window. A small image panel opened up.

Arjun casually put his hand on Sreejith’s shoulder.

The face and upper torso of a young woman became visible in the image panel. The light was poor, and the image lacked resolution. The bright highlight of the eyes was missing, and she was in home casuals. But Sreejith instantly recognized Jasmine.

“Its her!” It was Arjun who exclaimed. Both Sreejith and Rajeev startled and looked at him.

“How in..” Sreejith stammered.

“Extra Sensory Perception, man! Am I not right? Isn’t that your girlfriend?” Arjun teased.

“Well, it is Jasmine alright, but she is not my girlfriend.” Sreejith was a bit pissed on the continued insistence by Arjun on that matter.

“What now?” He asked Rajeev, who was, surprisingly, staring at the image, as it moved jarringly with each update.

Rajeev clicked another button., and sound came on. It was the normal sounds of a household. He dragged a slider to increase the volume, and the sound of shallow breathing came over, mixed with rattles as the fingers moved on the phone’s body.

“She seems alone alright.” Rajeev said with satisfaction. He then started typing in a text box. “Hi Jasmine.” He hit the button next to that, and the text appeared instantly on the simulated screen of the phone on the panel.

It seemed to take a lot of time, but actually it was only a few seconds. A gasp came over the sound channel, and a muted “What the..” which was heavily distorted by all the filters installed to enhance the sound. Rajeev instantly dragged the slider back to a lower position to reduce the volume.

“Your full name is Sreejith Raghunath, right?” Rajeev asked, as he started typing more text.

“No. It is Raghuram” Sreejith corrected, wondering what he was going to do next.

“You got a message from Sreejith Raghuram. Tap the screen to receive” Rajeev typed into the box and hit ‘send’.

“Isn’t it a bit risky?” Doubted Arjun. “What if there was someone else there?”

“Oh, no one is there. We would have heard something if there was.” Rajeev brushed away the concern.

A green light flashed on the simulated screen.

“If it is safe for video chat, tap the screen again” Rajeev typed.

The green light flashed again.

“Come, Sreejith. Sit here.” Rajeev invited him to a chair that was kept to one side. As he took his place there, a panel with a webcam feed appeared on the screen. Without being prompted, Sreejith adjusted himself to the proper view of the webcam.

“Will she recognize you, man? With all these beard and all?” Arjun quipped.

“No idea!” Sreejith shrugged.

“Okay, she need not know our presence. Here, use the keyboard to type the messages.” Rajeev moved the keyboard to Sreejith’s lap.

“Ready?’ He asked. Sreejith nodded.

Rajeev clicked a button and the webcam feed appeared on the phone’s screen.

An unintelligible babble of surprise came over the audio channel.

“Ask her to slide open the keyboard and type” Rajeev prompted. Sreejith typed the message.

“Where are you?” Was the first message that came. Sreejith glanced at Rajeev.

“At Cochin.” Rajeev prompted. Arjun looked at him questioningly. Rajeev nodded it is fine. Sreejith relayed the message.

“Scratch your nose.” Came the message on the console. Rajeev and Arjun looked at each other and chuckled. Sreejith couldn’t help glancing at them. He obliged the request.

“You arrested?” was the next message.

“No. These are friends. Can’t explain now.” Sreejith typed, without seeking approval from Rajeev.

“Explain!” was the only response.

“Tell her to go to a public/crowded place, like the beach or the mall and then we can talk.” Rajeev prompted. Sreejith relayed the information. A simple ‘OK’ came as reply.

Rajeev grabbed the keyboard and started typing. “This session will now close. Please press the power button to turn on when you are ready to talk”. After sending this, he hit the buttons to close the connection.

“Oh, I thought we are going to eavesdrop on her for some time!” Arjun said, a bit disappointed.

“One day, Arjun, I am going to kill you!” Rajeev exclaimed. Sreejith stood from the chair, looking a bit spaced out.

“Anyway, you are a lucky ********, Sreejith.” Arjun slapped his shoulder.

“For the last time, Arjun! She is not my girlfriend!” Sreejith exploded, and brushed Arjun’s hand away. Arjun was taken aback.

“I am sorry, man. Won’t happen again,” He apologized. Sreejith made a wave with his hands as if to brush the past away.

“OK, what should I tell her?” Sreejith asked.

“You are free to tell everything, except the name of us or the company. We need to get her confidence before she would even think of helping us.” Rajeev said.

Sreejith was surprised to see that he couldn’t actually wait for the call.

[Tanaji]

Interesting stuff

Ok I will bite: if its not talking to a cell, how is it communicating? Peer to peer with some "company" receiver in proximity ? Wifi hotspot assumption?

[Dileep]

Remember. What did Sreejith see on his phone when he turned it on at the current location? It would be safe to assume something similar is at work near JB's house as well.

[Dileep]

Chapter 46

The bright green Wagon-R drove in, taking the sharp curve at the far end of the driveway with some grace, and gently stopped at the portico of the hotel. It had the plates from the deep north of the state. Before the security standing at the glass door could move his hefty frame clad in colonial era uniform to welcome the guests, the rear door of the car opened and a man stepped out. He was dressed in a snow white muslin mundu, worn a bit high, exposing the ankles. A cream color silk shirt, full sleeved and loosely stitched adored the top. The long black beard was combed neatly down, but was not trimmed. A pair of expensive sunglasses shaded the eyes. The head was covered with a turban made of white silk, which ended up with a corner dangling down at the back. The portion of the face that was left uncovered was un naturally fair, with the forehead showing the brown mark of piety.

He stood upright, adjusted his mundu and took a brief survey of the surroundings. Satisfied, he pulled the door wider and helped a woman to alight. She was clad in black silk burqua that covered her from head to toe, with just a slit near the eyes as opening. She took a moment standing there to adjust the folds of the burqua before following the man who had impatiently taken a couple of steps forward, and was beaconing her to follow. The security had given up the attempt to rush to open the door and regained the post near the door. He casually watched the couple walk up. The man two steps ahead of the woman. The woman was walking in the typical fashion suitable to her attire, focusing her gaze at the footsteps of the man.

“Assalamu Alaikum.” The man took the steps to approach the guard and greeted him. “Where is the toilet?” He asked in the accent and diction typical to the muslims of north Kerala. The guard pushed open the door and pointed in into the hallway, and made a motion to turn right.

The man walked in, followed by the woman. This type of ‘shuttlecock’ burqua was not a regular sight in the region. The only part that was visible of the woman was her feet as she walked. Most of the muslim women went around with just a shawl over their head. Many wore hijabs, and some wore the type of burqua that left their face exposed. The woman drew some stares from the few people around, which made the man a bit uncomfortable. He took a look around with an indication of displeasure in his eyes, and most of the staring eyes went back. The man at the reception counter took one look at them, and went back to his work, as the couple showed no indication to approach him.

They reached the end of the hallway, and turned into the narrow corridor where the toilets opened into. The man took a careful look around and waved the woman into the ladies toilet. He then stood there, continuing to look around, like a soldier manning his post.

Another guest who was relaxing in one of the sofas in the lobby stood up and walked towards the toilet. As he approached the hallway, the man with the turban glared at him as if he was being attacked. The guest made a snicker at the man and walked into the mens toilet. He came out after a couple of minutes, and didn’t forget to issue a disapproving stare to the man still loitering in the hallway and repeatedly and impatiently staring at the ladies room.

It took an unusually long time for the woman to emerge. She walked out, still adjusting the burqua. There was a smile on the face of the man for the first time, and he even asked “shall we?” before leading the woman out. As he passed the lobby, he glared indignantly at the guest who had snickered at him. The security guard ignored him as he approached the glass door. He had to push open the door, and hold it open for the woman, as the security guard seemed to look at the gate, as if expecting an important arrival any second. The man grumbled something as he waited for the woman to walk out.

The guard avoided looking at them, but if he was, he would have noticed that the feet of the woman had gone a bit fairer, and she had changed footwear during the bathroom break.

As the couple emerged from the doorway, the WagonR, which was parked not too far, drove out to meet them. The man quickly opened the door and held it open for the woman. He got in after her, and the car drove away quickly.

[Dileep]

Chapter 47

“You could convert and make a great moulavi, Sreejith! My bappachi* might even give me in nikah to you if you do.” Jasmine Basheer said, followed by her tinkling laughter, as she tried to get out of the burqua within the confines of the car. It took some effort, but finally she managed to gather the folds of the thin fabric together, and pulled it over her head, messing her hair in the process.

“Thank god I didn’t choose to wear it regularly myself!” She exclaimed as she bundled the fabric and shoved it into the gap between the seats.. She was wearing a bright green salwar suit with a baggy bottom. Her hair was tied into a ponytail with a clip, but the struggle to get off the burqua had messed it terribly. She had to fish for the clip inside the bundle that was the burqua. It was the first time that Sreejith had seen her in that attire. Her standard dress for work being kurti top and leggings with a matching hijab. She looked a lot different, almost a different person in the current form. Still, the sharpness of the eye and the tinge in the voice reminded him of the pretty bitch hiding within.

“Aren’t you going to put on the hijab?” Sreejith asked

“Oh, that doesn’t serve the purpose with this dress.” She said with a chuckle and proceeded to open the hand bag, looking for a hair brush.

Sreejith noticed Arjun had turned around from the front passenger seat and was almost staring at her. He looked at Sreejith with a very naughty smile and an exaggerated expression of appreciation. Sreejith glared at him for a moment and then turned to Jasmine.

“Jasmine, this is Arjun Rai from the agency.” He made the introduction. Jasmine stopped the brushing for a moment and nodded a “Hello”.

“Arjun thinks you are my girlfriend.” Sreejith said with a smile, and looked at Arjun mischievously. Jasmine looked at both men one after the other, and started laughing.

“Oh, that is utter rubbish!” She paused for a moment, pretending to be out of breath by the laughter. Then she turned again to face Arjun. “He is MY boyfriend!!” she said with the pretension of all the seriousness.

Sreejith sat thunderstruck, and Arjun put on his patented confused look.

“Oh, you boys are pathetic! No sense of humour whatsoever! I am just kidding!” She said, laughing again. A bunch of hairs escaped her brush and fell over her cheek, which she wiped back with her hand, tucking them behind her earlobe. The fancy ear drops that extended to her shoulder dangled precariously.

Both men wore a smile, which was not so comfortable. Jasmine managed to brush much of the hair into position and reinstall the clip.

“Now, what do you want from me, Mr. James Bond?” She asked to Arjun. Arjun made a questioning look.

“Oh, Sreejith told me that you are from this supersecret government agency. I was expecting someone like Daniel Craig.” She said, winking at Arjun.

“Hmm, I guess you mean that I am younger, and have more hair.” Arjun claimed.

“Sure you do, handsome!” She exclaimed. “I guess you are suggesting more in the line of Tom Cruise, then?”

“I could live with that.” Arjun smiled.

“Shall I hand you this mirror?” She smirked. “Now, what is the plan? You want me to forget all professional ethics and break into the network of Breeze Tech. Right?” She said, looking from one face to another, with a glimpse of the BOFH peeking from behind the strikingly highlighted hazel eyes.

“Well, in our line of work we do not worry about things like ethics.” Arjun said bluntly. “If you believe it is in your interest to help us, you should do it. Upon your own free will.”

“The thing is, Jasmine..” Sreejith intervened. “We will not touch any of the technical or business data of the company. We just need the data capture we did from the attack sessions.” He felt that he came out like pleading, and felt a bit bad about it.

“You don’t get it do you? We as a company are already accused of espionage. Mr. Tyagi is under arrest, and no one knows where he is. The company is temporarily closed. The network is disconnected and the server room is sealed off by the NIA. The place is guarded by the local police. And you want to just walk in there, open the server room and steal company secrets.” She took a hard breath, as if to calm herself. “You guys must be really crazy” she ended with a shrug.

“We have a plan.” Arjun began.

“Plan!! That is fantastic, Ethan Hunt!” She cut Arjun off. “And it seems you already assumed of my co operation too.”

Arjun’s face reddened.

“Look madame, you are under no obligation to work with us. I could stop the car, and you can just walk away. But I hope you realize that you would be throwing away the only chance Sreejith here have, and to some extent your boss, Mr. Tyagi and your company as well.” He said in a stern voice. Sreejith was surprised to see that change upon the normally playful Arjun. Jasmine went silent for a moment.

“Yes, there are risks involved. It will need a bit of trust upon us from your side.” He continued, after a pause waiting for any response.

“Why should I trust you?” Jasmine suddenly retorted. “I don’t even know who you are. You claim that you are from the govt. Why should I believe it?”

“Well, if you don’t, madame, it would be better if you just walk away. I am in no position to convince you of anything.” Arjun said, still red in the face from all the excitement, and waited, looking straight into the eyes of Jasmine.

Jasmines eyes narrowed, as she got into a sense of severe discomfort. She looked to Sreejith, trying to see what he would say.

“I am not asking you to trust me either, Jasmine. We don’t know each other to that extent.” Sreejith felt a lump in his throat when he said that with some emphasis. “But I am asking you to ‘help’ me. I am trying to save myself from the assured ruin. I need you.. your help.” He looked away from her, feeling that he might sob if he kept looking at her.

Jasmine let out a sigh.

“Sreejith, I wouldn’t be sitting here in this car if I didn’t want to help you. I.. I am sorry.”

Sreejith could only nod.

“I just wanted to make sure that we do it right.” She turned to Arjun. “I should have remembered how you contacted me with that phone. That was pretty neat.” She appeared to be trying to make a little amends.

“We may not be IMG or MI6, but we do have our little bag of tricks.” Arjun said, back to his normal playful self. “Now, if you are ready to take a bit of risk, and commit a bit of crime, I can explain my plan.”

“And I am no bond girl either. Let me hear what you have in mind.” Jasmine said. Arjun started outlining the plan.

*Bappa/Bappachi : Word used by Kerala muslims to address/refer to father.

[manish.rastogi]

amazing sirjee....i wonder how do you come up with such awesome awesomeness stories.....also sirjee when the story started it had an astrological thing too....i feel its missin....

[nits]

“You could convert and make a great moulavi, Sreejith! My bappachi* might even give me in nikah to you if you do.” Jasmine Basheer said, followed by her tinkling laughter, as she tried to get out of the burqua within the confines of the car.

Ohh... and my ruined mind thought some one is planting a bomb in he hotel...