Yearnings of Amber: 9

The Major was in his daily team briefings when the phone rang. Not just any phone but the Project Amber phone. His team perked up as well. He picked it up after only a single ring. He heard a weak hello followed by a gunshot before the call disconnected.

It took him only a moment to get his bearings correct and then his training took over.

‘Senthil’, he commanded, ‘trace that phone and reach the location. Be prepared for a fight. I will secure the lab. Keep me informed’.

The room exploded in a flurry of activity. Senthil and his four-member team were locked and loaded in 5 minutes. In the sixth minute, 2 army jeeps left the compound. One headed towards the mall the other headed towards Sheryl’s home.

Senthil found Sheryl’s house quiet, unnaturally so. Torn cushions, broken glass and blood everywhere. Like a grenade explosion had happened in the living room. Parikshit’s and Mala’s bodies were lying on the floor as broken dolls. A bulging of his forehead veins was the only indication of the anger he felt when he found the body of Charu.

Somebody will pay for this.

Just then Charu’s little fingers flexed a little.

The lab was a scene of carnage. Broken almirahs, upended drawers and slit throats. The major had been late. The library has been ransacked and it had been a thorough professional job. Nobody had even heard a squeak in the mall.

The Marghesium sample was gone.

Project Amber met the next day.

A somber Dr. Shastri started the proceedings.

‘Yesterday, we lost. We lost our lab, we lost Marghesium and we lost people’. He stopped and looked all around with bleary eyes.

‘Project Amber is finished. They were not able to get to the data but they destroyed the servers. All we have left are the unstable samples. The project will be shifted elsewhere. You will be briefed. As before, the lab never existed and we will uphold our silence.’

He stopped again for the inevitable barrage of questions.

‘Sheryl?’ somebody asked.

‘Sheryl! I hope she dies,’ he shouted. ‘Her family is dead, her research is gone and she is dying from radiation poisoning. Her memory is fading. Doctors say even if she survives she would need a care-taker all her life. And all this has been labeled as an armed burglary’.

‘This is the true price of research’ he said to shocked faces in the room.

‘But, we will take care of her. Arrangements have been made’ he said and looked at the Major.

The Major nodded his head in return.

Two months later, Sheryl was deemed fit enough to be discharged.

She found Dr. Shastri, the Captain and his wife and the Major waiting as she was wheeled out by Senthil.

Where are Mala and Charu.

One look at their face and she knew something was wrong. Nobody answered any of her questions until all of them were seated in a minibus. Then Dr. Shastri told her about the storm that had ravaged all of their lives. Mala’s mother clutched Sheryl to her heart as tears raked her, until suddenly Sheryl stopped crying. Mala’s mother tried to console her but she did not respond. Just a blank stare into nothing. They shook Sheryl for any response. Nothing. Just a blank stare on a lolling head. The minibus was immediately turned back to hospital.

Two days later, the doctors informed that Sheryl was in a mental shock, something akin to PTSD. She would get better, eventually, but no timeline could be confirmed.

Sheryl flitted in and out of delirium for the next week. Ten days later, she became conscious enough to ask for Mala and Charu. Senthil who had been her constant guardian for the past weeks called in the Captain and his wife.

‘Mala, Charu?’ she croaked.

The Captain looked at her with a mixture of pain and disgust in his eyes. He steeled himself and answered, ‘They are dead’.

‘But’ his wife tried to speak. But the Captain gave her a look and repeated more firmly, ‘They are dead!’

‘I knew, this was wrong. I tried to stop you. But No. Look where this has led. Leave us alone. Die in peace and let us die in peace’.

The Captain stormed off pulling his wife along.

Vincent was there. Always waiting. A vulture hovering over a carcass.

‘Sheryl is Charu’s mother. She has the right to know’ the Captain’s wife said.

‘How many times have I….’ the captain flung his hands in air.

‘Let me explain. Charu is still a child she won’t remember a thing. More importantly, look at Sheryl, she can’t remember a thing. No one can guarantee how long she would live. What kind of childhood would Charu have with her? It is better that Sheryl thinks Charu is dead. It will save everybody a lot of pain’.

And so it was decided, that Sheryl would be kept in dark that Charu survived. The Captain immediately made arrangements for his wife and Charu to be shifted abroad.

Senthil was made to officially resign his commission in the navy. Unofficially, he was rehired as a security consultant with Sheryl as his one and only permanent project.

Life moved until an adult Charu returned to Kochi.

 Senthil hefted the bully and entered the lab. He moved ahead with haste and caution, checking his back and the corners, frequently. It took him only a moment to realize that the occupants had bailed. That meant there had to be another exit.

He rested the bully against the wall, hefted his Desert Eagle and ran ahead. The corridor suddenly opened up to bare earth and rocks. A few turns later he was staring at a deep pool of water. He did not even need to look at the diving instrument around to deduce that the pool was an underground stream and the escape route.

Senthil called in the Major and explained the situation.

‘I will try to find out the possible outlets for this stream. You hurry back.’

Senthil answered, ‘Sir. Yes, Sir’ a soldiers reflex.

Charu woke up to find herself on her haunches surrounded by rocks.

‘Ahh, sleeping beauty wakes’ Ruth answered stepping out his wet suit.

It was then that all the horrors of the past day crept up on Charu. She suddenly found herself out of breath. She wheezed in a breath as Ruth pulled her along to a parked Scorpio.

They drove along nonchalantly to the port and right up a ramp to a waiting ship. Ruth pulled her along and they took an elevator to the upper desks.

Charu looked around and found the surroundings familiar.

Ruth smiled, ‘Yes, you know this vessel’.

‘Makranda’ Charu whispered.

‘Very good’ Ruth laughed, ‘I thought that water had seeped in through your ears and made your brain all soggy’.

They found the Captain waiting for them. Charu jerked off Ruth’s hand rushed into the Captain’s embrace. She could not speak as tears raked her but pointed and accusing finger towards Ruth.

‘You are fine now. You are safe. I know. I know’ the Captain answered, stroking Charu’s head.

‘Get this bastard out of my vision, before I kill him’ he growled.

‘Ruth, go get yourself a drink’ somebody answered from behind.

Charu looked up to see her face reflected in dark aviators.

‘See, no problem there’ Vincent droned smiling.