CHAPTER 4
The shot was accurate, perfectly between the eyes. The man dropped upon impact from the bullet in his head and the knife he held in his right hand. The rifle barrel that soldier Suraj was holding was still smoking, the girl trapped in the hands of that mad man, was trembling with fear, the blade of the knife to her throat managed to break every nerve. We had only been in outer space for two hours and problems already began. I stood frozen in front of the scene I had just witnessed. We were all out of danger.
I immediately gave orders to have the personal file sent to my computer of the man that was now dead. In the hallway of the second floor, a pool of blood filled the bunkhouse door number 234. The girl was trembling while on her way to the infirmary, she was held by one of my best soldiers, the Shinde Sara Verma. Only two minutes had passed since the soldier Suraj had fired his rifle, on my right side appeared general Singh. He appeared nervous. He asked what had happened and I tried to answer his questions in just a few sentences. :
- Soldier Suraj radioed me reporting problems on the second floor. He was making his usual rounds, when he saw a man holding a girl hostage, threating to kill her with a knife to her neck. Soldier Suraj pointed his rifle at him. When the man saw that, he tried to cut the girl and the soldier fired. We do not know the reasons, I just ordered the man’s record and hopefully we can talk to the girl after she calms down, she's now in the infirmary.
-The General frowned, he approached the dead man’s body and checked into his pockets, he found nothing, not a single document, no identification. He stood up, and ordered:
- Brigadier, order the evacuation of this man’s body, I need someone to clean this place up, I do not want to panic among civilians. You have five minutes to come to my office. We need to talk. - And he went through the same where he had appeared. I walked in five minutes the General had asked me, after I had walked through hallways of floors 3 and 4.
Everything was quiet. Then I came to his door. Door was open. I stood there, firm, hoping he gave me orders come in.
- Come in Brigadier, have a seat.
The office was small; little furniture, a metal desk coming out of the floor and was made to turn into a bed all the way to the left side of the room. Papers on his desk and a computer. Two metal seats of the same color in front of the desk and a larger one behind the desk. On the back wall a screen that reminded me of the one that I had seen in the secret government bunkers. I sat and waited for the general’s questions.
- What about the attacker, Brigadier? – He asked the question without facing me. His back facing me, looking on the screen the image of planet earth. At some point I noticed the image had him concerned.
- One of my soldiers is transferring the files from the main control room to my PC. We could not talk with the girl at this moment as she is resting and asleep, she has been sedated. The incident shook her up. His back still facing me, his voice just told me he was not paying very much attention to me.
- Ok Brigadier, I need the report of what happened in my hands today by 22:00 hours. We already have enough problems. – He sounded serious and concerned. I wanted to inquire about Planet Earth, but it was not necessary. The General changed the subject, and immediately said:
- This is not why I called you Brigadier. I need to reveal information about the situation on the planet. I want you to know that the two ships that accompany us in this mission, two ships exactly like ours, are already here, one to our right and one to our left. To the right are the Asians ship named LOTUS, you need to make contact with Brigadier Fabien. He’s French, but speaks perfect English. On the left are the Russians. It’s distinguished by the red letters that adorn the ship on the top with the name XX MOSCOW. You may contact the Brigadier in charge of security is, he is Vladislav Pudovkin.
I gave orders for a communication chip be installed in your intercom, this way you can maintain communication with their personnel. You need to pass by where the engineers are to be installed. You need to be in constant communication with the officers of the other ships. If necessary these ships have a permit to transfer between them. Becoming between the three ships a humongous floating city.
But that’s only if it becomes necessary. So far the situation on the planet remains the same. The threat is growing every second and our intelligence agencies cannot find where enemies have that nuclear arsenal. Just thirty minutes ago Kazakhstan was defeated,fiercest general, right now they are questioning him. Hopefully we can obtain important information and all this will be nothing more than a terrible nightmare. You may leave, Brigadier. And remember to have that report ready by, at 22 hours.
I said nothing, I stood up, and saluted him firmly with my right in a typical military goodbye, thus letting the general know that his orders would be fulfilled. I went to my room and my body collapsed on the bed. I needed to go over what happened in the last two days. To recount the events in my mind. I had to reorganize my ideas.
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Trees on the street painted the landscape of a dark orange, the sidewalk was barely visible through the dry leaves that covered it. I could feel the crunch of dry leaves under my military boots. I came to the front entrance of a gate, as I walked. I saw my father through the gate, sitting in the front porch. As soon as he saw me, he jumped for joy. He did not let me come to him, he came to me and gave me a big hug. It was exactly three years since I went back home to visit the home I was born in. Since being transferred to Delhi, I had not been able to return home,did not know what to do to show me his happiness.
We entered the house, I stopped to watch him sitting in the kitchen. He had gotten old. You could see in his hands that the strength of his youth was gone. Ever since my mother had passed, he was never the same again. From the refrigerator he reached for two beers. The stove was on, he was cooking a stew that now surely he would share with me. He checked the food on the stove, before giving me the beer, he sat next to me.
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- Brigadier? Brigadier!
Soldier Verma’s voice woke me up. I wished it had not happened. So I could continue searching for fresh memories of my father. I was surprised to have those memories so fresh in my mind.
- Come in, soldier. Tell me. - I ran my hands over my face, trying to finally wake up, because I was still half asleep.
- Brigadier, the records you requested of the girl and his attacker are already on your computer.
Sitting on my bed, I thanked Verma, and asked him to leave. Again alone and quiet in my room, I opened the files.
Aditi Mane, Mumbai, January 23, 1998. Just graduated from Harvard Law School. She lived in her hometown until the age of 14, her parents separated and she moved to New York with her mother, her father passed away three years later of an overdose, the separation was the reason for his depression.
Aditi never returned to Mumbai, her mother remarried and she decides to leave the house. She then moves to an aunt’s house who lives in New York, spent her years studying and earns a scholarship to Harvard with very high grades. Her college years passed uneventfully again outstanding grades. Never has been arrested, never a problem in college, one known boyfriend, a guy from Mumbai only, the son of a India Congressman, who died in a car accident. Finished her studies in 2019 being the second best grade in her class. She was hired by the firm Berner's & Asociates. An attorney there, she worked 18 months, defending four cases, she won all. of them, the Jersey case is the most important one. She defended Karna Oberoy, son of one of the richest man in the country. Suspected murderer of 4 people. in Detroit, shot to death, is acquitted by Linda's. great defense. In other words, young, famous professional, no connection with crime. Clean, done, end of story. I closed the file and opened the girl's attacker’s, file hoping to find some answers. Jamal Ahmed, South Mumbai, March 26, 2005, graduated from Chennai University. Doctor specializing in orthopedics. He lived until he was six years in South Mumbai. His parents moved to Chennai in September 2002. Lived in Thampal till he was 13, his father is also a Doctor, specializing in pediatrics. His mother, a renowned surgeon at Jackson, he graduated with honors in 2020 receiving his diploma from the hands of the state governor.
Never been involved in any crime, medical examinations reveal that never drugged, did not smoke, never seen drinking alcohol. When he began medical school his parents choose to live in Mumbai.
Three girlfriends known, all medical students with him. All with clean records. Before being chosen to come aboard, he was directly working in implanting limbs amputees. In other words, friendly, young, prominent professional, no link to crime, nonviolent, clean, done, end of story.
I closed the file puzzled, nothing in the file told me what could have happened. I decided to visit Linda in nursing and see if I could speak with her. Maybe what she told me, could give me details and I could determine what happened. I needed to find out details, my report was due on the General’s desk before 22 hours. I had exactly six hours to do so.
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The hospital was in one of the upper floor of the ship, the busy medical staff meeting with the wounded and beaten caused by the civil stampede to board the ship from land. Aditi was still sleeping. A doctor with last name of Jadhav, name on her medical gowns badge, was determined to check the wound on my right hand, while I waited for the girl wake up. She took me to one of the private nursing cubicles, where return she withdrew the band that hours earlier I put on to stop the bleeding. She was a woman of about 25 years, tall, maharashtrian features, black hair up to the middle of her back. Light eyes, very beautiful. She treated me as if the wounded arm was a small child’s. The tenderness of her movements immediately caught my attention. She crossed eyes with mine every time I she tried to suture the wound, as if looking for signs of pain. She kept looking into my eyes for signs of pain. I saw uncertainty in her eyes. The doctor completed the work on my arm about the same time that a nurse let me know that Aditi had awakened. I found the girl on her bed, she was quiet, but her eyelids still had signs of having cried. I sat by her side after formally introducing myself and started to ask her questions.
- Hello, Aditi how do you feel?
- Thank you. I feel much better. She replied getting up from bed, waiting for my next question.
- I need you to tell me what happened, why this man wanted to kill you?
- I was in my room. – The girl told me, and decided to walk to one of the dining rooms looking for something to drink. By mistake, I went towards the right bunker and found this man trying to open with a knife panels on the right. If you look there you will find marks. I realized he was not a technician, because he did not have tools with him. I asked him what was he doing, he got scared. He took me by the neck, threatening me and pointing the knife at my throat. He started to say a few phrases in a language unknown to me, it was like a prayer. I cried for help before he covered my mouth. Apparently, my cry for help was heard by the soldier. You know the rest of the story.
- Can you remember any phrase that this man was saying, I need you to make an effort.
- He repeated various times, something like: Rows Jan you viladi kueli join.
Upon hearing this phrase, my whole body was by swept with shiver. I thanked her and told Aditi I might need to see her again.
Back in my room I kept thinking the sentence that the girl had repeated. My experience as a soldier and three missions in Arab territory had taught me a little of their language. The translation of the phrase was simple but very dangerous. For Allah is my revenge.
That was what the man repeated. Before going to my room I decided to check again and check the panels that what Aditi said was true. I took a picture with my phone and loaded them to my laptop, which the pictures were seen clearly, I saw the marks produced by a sharp object. Apparently the girl was right. The scratches she mentioned were there, the question that was spinning in my head was why the panels? What was there that could be of interest to him? Because of the seriousness of this matter I decided to write the report and submitted to the General Singh before 22:00 hours. I sent for one of the main engineers of the ship, I needed to know every detail. It took only minutes for the engineer to arrive, in the meantime, I went ahead and wrote a short report to send the other two ships that accompanied us notifying them of the incident.
It was necessary for them to be on alert, it was alarming to even think that our enemies had penetrated was alarming in my head. I spoke lengthy and in detail with the engineer. I asked him to explain to me what kind of connections were passing through the panels, and ordered him to review each one of them. If Baman wanted to open that panel, it was because something in them had caught his attention.
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