A Breath-taking Cabin(et)... Literally!

“What’s gotten to you, Charu? You are rarely seen at home nowadays. Is everything alright, my child?’ inquired Mr. Oomen worriedly as he saw Charu getting ready.

Charu startled for a moment and then turning back smiled and said, ‘Oh, Dad. There’s nothing to worry about at all. I am just catching up with some of my friends, that’s all. Anyway, Granny’s still not able to speak a word. I am getting bored at home.’

‘Do you want me to stay at home for a few days? I could ask Mr. Chary to take care of business,’ he asked with a slightly guilty look on his face.

‘Please don’t do that, Dad. I’ll let you know, in case needed. Now, you rush off to your store and let me catch up with my friends, said Charu affectionately pushing him outside the room.

Seeing her Dad’s car leave the porch, Charu heaved a sigh of relief. She realized that her behavior and actions during the past few days were anything but normal. Her Dad was already sensing something amiss and it would be a matter of time before he caught up on her adventures; Not that she intended to hide from him, but she felt she could spare him the strange ordeal until she knew exactly what she was dealing with.

Anyways, she now had a Confidant in Yuvaan; speaking of which, she remembered that she was supposed to meet him at the City mall in an hour.

~

Charu reached the Café at the mall and saw Yuvaan sipping on his Latte.

He waved at her and called out to the waiter to get another cup of latte. Pulling back the chair for her, he said, ‘I am dying to get hold of the daily bulletin from ‘The Sheryl Varghese’ newspaper. Any headlines, I need to know that she communicated last night?’

Though slightly annoyed at his mockery she couldn’t help laughing at his dark witty humor.

‘I think she only turns up when she has to give a ‘lead’ on something. As of now, we still have to figure out the thing with this discarded sub-level parking, ‘UG4’. So, Sheryl’s better off taking a break for now,’ said Charu winking at Yuvaan.

‘Not bad… Not bad, Charu’, smiled Yuvaan as he clinked his cup against hers.

They both decided that the first course of action would be to check out the UG4 parking lot.

As they approached the unused parking lot, they saw two guards stationed there. A huge blue sheet of plastic was covering the entrance and there were a lot of barricades with ‘No Trespassing sign's all over.

The guards saw them and became alert. ‘Hello there, please go back. It's not safe our here’.

‘Oh, sorry. I think we’ve come to the wrong parking lot. Is some kind of construction going on here?’, asked Yuvaan with a casual tone as to not arouse any suspicion.

‘Well, this parking lot hasn’t been deemed safe by the authorities for construction.’, said one of the guards.

‘Have a good day, guys.’, said Yuvaan clutching Charu’s hands as they retreated.

‘So, what now? How do we get in there?’, asked Charu.

Yuvaan thought for a while and replied, ‘Either we find another way to get in or come back here after the guards’ shift is over.

‘You mean, in the night; after the mall is closed?’, asked Charu with a mix of fear and excitement in her voice. ‘Do you think, it’s safe?’

‘It’s definitely a risky proposition. But to proceed further, we must check it out. As of now, except for these strange dreams and voices, you haven’t been attacked or hurt as such. We just have to come up with a cover-up story in case we are caught. Anyhow, we aren’t planning on looting or hurting anyone.’, said Yuvaan.

‘Let’s do it then, there’s no backing out now; For Sheryl, for the sword and the story behind!’, said Charu with an affirmative tone in her voice.

‘You owe me big time, Charu,’ said Yuvaan with a wide grin on his face as they headed back to the main shopping center of the mall, hand in hand.

 ~

Throughout the course of the afternoon and evening, they discussed their strategy. They had tried to find another entry to the prohibited parking lot but in vain. They checked out the number of ‘CC’ cameras & their positioning in the parking lot above the discarded one.

The Plan – They would inform their parents that they were sleeping at their friend’s place. They would watch a late-night movie; the last show screened. Just before the last inspection by the guards in the parking lot, they’d get into the trunk of their car and once the guards left, they’d pop out using the internal release in the trunk. They’d investigate the prohibited place and get back into the car by the time the mall opened.

They had inquired and found that it was a common practice for people to park their cars in the mall itself during the night; most of the time by the drunken lot at the Pub. They even individually practiced getting out of the trunk of the car while the other stood guard. They were convinced that it worked perfectly fine.

They shopped for their night’s adventure – A power bank, a torch, a Swiss knife, sandwiches, water bottles & some wet tissues.

   ~

‘Hey, that was an amazing chase sequence, right?’, asked Yuvaan munching on his Popcorn.

‘I just hope we don’t get chased tonight,’ whispered Charu in his ears.

‘Well, that’s for later. As of now, we’ll enjoy the movie,’ giggled Yuvaan.

The movie was finally over but it was ‘Showtime’ now for Charu and Yuvaan.

As planned, they managed to be the last ones to exit out of the cinema hall. To gain precious time, they both went to the washrooms and finally made way to their car. There were five cars still parked. Most of the crowd had dispersed. Anxiously, they waited behind their car waiting for the last inspection by the guard. Luckily, they had managed to find parking space in one of the blind spots in the parking lot.

Several anxious minutes later, they heard the footsteps of the guard approaching far away. They quickly opened the trunk and slid in quietly.

The guard checked the other cars and slowly made way to theirs. He was speaking on the phone throughout. They slowly heard his footsteps receding and his voice slowly drowned out.

They waited for a couple of minutes and slowly pulled the internal release in the trunk and wriggled out of it.

They cautiously tiptoed to their destination. It was pitch dark at UG4. Yuvaan switched on the torch and they went past the huge plastic sheets drawn behind the barricades.

Amidst a lot of rubble, there were crowbars and construction material lying around. They found a couple of doors, but they were locked. At the far end, there was a huge iron rolling shutter that wasn’t locked.

Yuvaan opened the shutter which made a creaking sound that echoed in the silence and darkness.

The passage was like 30metres long and it widened at the end. On the left, Yuvaan noticed a flight of stairs leading to a wooden cabin. They climbed the stairs and found the cabin open. Inside the cabin, Yuvaan found the switch and turned the light on. There were chairs and a couple of tables. At the corner of the cabin was a huge storage cabinet. They opened it and there weren’t any shelves in it. It looked like a room in itself. There were some files, books, and some utensils.

The cabin was very suffocating. They noticed an exhaust system which in such conditions was a must-have thing. They turned it on.

‘What is this setup? What are they up to, Charu?’, asked Yuvaan nervously.

‘I have no clue. Maybe, there’s some excavation going on to find the sword.’, said Charu. ‘But who could possibly know about it and where to dig for it?’

‘Maybe…’, Yuvaan was about to reply, when they heard the creaking sound of the shutter opening.

They stood dazed for a moment focusing all their energy on their hearing ability.

They could make out from the noise and footsteps that a group of people was approaching them.

‘Quick…’, said Yuvaan ushering Charu inside the storage cabinet.

‘The Light, the exhaust system!!’, whispered Charu grabbing Yuvaan’s collar.

Yuvaan quickly stepped out and switched off the light and the exhaust system. He slowly closed the door and they both quickly settled inside the cabinet and closed its door.

 A terrifying, dark, suffocating minute later, they heard a group entering the cabin. The light and the exhaust system were turned on.

Yuvaan and Charu were able to watch the proceeding from the keyhole of the cabinet. They realized that they were doomed if someone opened the cabinet.

‘Here, Balan sir. Please have a seat, said one of the six guys who were dressed in some sort of construction uniform.

Yuvaan immediately recognized him.

Balan Srinivasan was a prominent figure in Fort Kochi’s elite circle and the Richest person in town. The City mall was itself one of the several commercial property holdings he owned. Undoubtedly, he had a huge influence on the local authorities and politicians. In short, he was a huge force to reckon with in Fort Kochi.

Balan sat on the chair placing one leg over the other comfortably and addressed the group, ‘I don’t intend to stay here for long as I have a party to attend at the Mayor’s place. I made this short visit to remind you folks that we are about to begin the last phase of our activities. I have invested a lot in this mission and everyone in Fort Kochi knows that I am a very sore loser. I have assembled the best professionals for this job and it's in your hands to justify my selection.’

He showed his index finger at a person and continued, ‘Mr. Timothy Roberts who’s a leading Historian has been involved in many noteworthy excavation endeavors. He’s a master of his game. He’ll be supervising the work in this last decisive phase. Meanwhile, I’ve also got a team of Cryptographers working on the Cipher, but they would eventually need to study the sword completely to get more insight on deciphering it. ‘

‘But you all don’t need to worry about all that. I & Timothy would bother about it. You all just find me the Damn Sword and as I promised, I’ll make you all rich enough for your seven generations to live life like Kings!’

The crew of six uniform-clad persons clapped in glee while Timothy nodded with a smile.

Balan stood up and his personal bodyguard bent forward and moved his chair behind.

Balan looked at him and said, ‘Don’t forget to pick up that old chap for lunch, tomorrow. I need his inputs for the meeting with Timothy and the Cryptography team. That man has witnessed some strange things in his lifetime and his inputs would be invaluable. Damn, why do I keep forgetting his name?’

As they approached the door to exit the cabin, the Bodyguard answered, ‘Vincent’.

Balan patted him and smiled, ‘Oh yeah… Vincent!’ Some fine old chap, he is…’

Timothy and the crew followed behind Balan.

The last sentence in this conversation, Charu and Yuvaan were about to hear was from Timothy and they hadn’t a clue that it was about to seal their fate!

‘Did anyone lock the storage cabinet? I want the cabinet and the cabin to be locked and the keys handed over to me’, demanded Timothy.

Luckily or Unluckily for Charu and Yuvaan, the guy who was obeying Timothy’s orders, didn’t have any interest in checking out the cabinet.

He just locked the cabinet, shut out the light & exhaust system, and locked the cabin!