Operation Chaos: A Gripping Action Thriller (10 page)

''Of course. That bastard would be educated about a lot of things tonight. You secure all the exits. No one should be able to get away from here. Me and my team are going inside.''

Roshan put on his bulletproof vest, loaded his handgun and climbed upstairs to the third floor. The lights in the hallway were dim and he could see only 4 rooms on the third floor. He gestured Alok and Nishant to go ahead and check the corners. Clearing the corners, three of them were in front of room 302 while Lalit covered the staircase. ''On my count of three, kick the door simultaneously. Remember- Shoot if you have to, but we need this man alive. He may be our only source of information.''

Everyone nodded in agreement.

''Alright... Do it!''

The door went down. The bullets went astray. But they were late. Late by just a couple of seconds.

Chapter 28

''Generally, when you have a set of numbers with a fraction of a text and if there is a code involved, the numbers correspond to some letters in the text. It's known as the Ottendorf cipher. It's the most basic one and easy to crack. What is the last sequence in the series?'' Sameer, still stuck in the traffic, was trying to crack the cipher over the phone.

David and Shonali both looked down the list.

''18-13-4,'' they replied in unison.

''And how many lines does the text have?''

''Actually, there are two kinds of texts here. One in Sanskrit- which is the original one and the other in English which is the translation,'' said David, explaining the inscriptions on the stone tablets.

''Check the one which has more than or equal to 18 lines,'' Sameer replied.

David quickly did the calculation of the number of lines.

''The English one. The Sanskrit inscription has only twelve lines.''

''Then this is how the code goes- each of the numbers in the sequence represents a line, a word and a letter. So 12-3-4 will represent the 12th line, 3rd word, 4th letter. Quite a simple code to break, but only when you have the code as well as the key text together. Try out this thing for the entire series of numbers. If it fits, we will have something meaningful out of it. Carry on. I am almost there.''

Shonali took out her phone and started typing in the letters as per the sequence.

1-5-1: F

1-7-5: R

1-10-3: O

By the time she completed the sequence, her android screen displayed a text:

fromtherestingstupaofthegreatbuddhaattheoldestuniversitystartsthehill.

Shonali gasped in amazement, recognising some words in the text. She rewrote the text with proper spaces:

FROM THE RESTING STUPA OF THE GREAT BUDDHA AT THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY STARTS THE HILL.

Chapter 29

Muhammad had set up his small headquarters at Hotel Sundial; operating and monitoring the goings of the events from there. About five minutes earlier he had gone near the window to get some air when he had noticed two uniformed police officers near the end of the alley. Aroused by the presence of police constables for a few minutes at the same spot, he predicted something had gone wrong. Muhammad sent a message to his boss, packed all the essential things in his backpack, covered his tracks and burned the paperwork in a dustbin.

He was almost done with his 'cleaning up the trail' when he heard soft footsteps outside his room. His training had taught him to listen to silence, sniff danger from a distance and to always keep an escape route ready. The moment he had checked in the hotel, he had planned his escape route. Knowing that his position was compromised, he climbed out of the window, walked a metre to his right till the edge and then took the leap of faith. Four metres behind him, the door of 302-Hotel Sundial was burst open by two Indian intelligence agents who had missed their target by a couple of seconds. Muhammad landed on the second floor balcony of another motel opposite to the building he had just jumped off. Getting up, he smashed his way through the door of the balcony a split second before the agents started firing in his direction.

''Attention all units. We have a high priority suspect in the Paharganj area. Secure both the ends of D.B Gupta road and set up a 1 km radius perimeter ASAP.'' Roshan screamed into his mouthpiece.

He turned to Alok.

''What are the possible areas he may head to?''

''The New Delhi railway station. Just a few blocks away.''

''Alert the security there. I am going after this guy. Tell the constables to intercept our target in the next alley. Lalit- you stay here and search for any evidence. Nishant, be right behind me.''

Saying so Roshan climbed out of the window, onto the ledge and jumped to the balcony. He knew the fugitive had a one minute lead on him and in these criss-crossed alleys, even if he had him in sight, it would be difficult to catch the target in the cover of darkness.

Roshan sprinted down the staircase while Nishant headed for the terrace. Roshan was in contact with the constables who were having a tough time figuring out their way through the confusing passageways. Every alley looked identical and the loudspeakers, the shouts of the roadside vendors made it almost impossible to listen over the radio. When Roshan reached downstairs, he saw the hotel guard on the floor and a fish aquarium near the reception counter shattered to pieces. Roshan flashed his badge at the receptionist who quietly pointed him to an alley on the left.

''He's heading towards the New Delhi railway station. I am in his pursuit. I want a unit waiting for him at the station. Seal all the exits. NOW. Nishant can you see him?'' Roshan shouted on the mouthpiece.

From the terrace, Nishant had a clear view of the grid of alleys beneath him. ''He just turned right a couple of seconds ago. I don't have him in my view now. He's wearing a red jacket for sure. I am asking for more assistance from the RPF.''

Roshan ran straight and made a right. He just caught a glimpse of his target- a six feet hunk with red jacket running wildly about fifty metres ahead of him. Before Roshan could pull out his gun from the holster, Muhammed was gone- lost in the crowd. The people around Roshan started screaming as soon as they saw a gun out in the open. Roshan didn't waste a second explaining anything. He knew that the only thing which mattered to him was to catch that bastard running ahead of him- dead or alive. Roshan fought his way through the crowded narrow alley full of eateries, small general stores cum cyber-cafes and drunkards. He took a left, crossed the road ahead of him and there he was at the New Delhi railway station.

''Nishant, where the hell is your Railway Police Force backup?'' Roshan was furious at his team. ''We can't afford to lose this guy.''

''Sir, they are arriving at the entrance on the other side of the station.''

Nishant reported after confirming with the police. ''They saw a guy matching our description taking off towards the front entrance. I have radioed the RPF to take positions.''

''Good, let him come from the left or right. That bastard is going down now.'' Roshan was on one of the bridges connecting platforms, making his way through a crowd of people from each and every state of the nation. He again caught a glimpse of the red jacket fugitive running towards a dead end. The Railway Police Force was approaching from his either side. But nobody could tackle him down. He didn't take a left. Nor a right. He went  down.

Down and out of sight.

And then like an oncoming truck it hit Capt. Roshan.

The bastard's going into the metro station.

Chapter 30

''This monument- the iron pillar is mentioned in the writings of
Vibudh Shridhar who gave the first historical reference to the legend of the origin of the name Dhilli for
Delhi
,'' said
Shonali, showing David a shloka on her android.

हरियाणए
देसे
असंखगाम
,
गामियण
जणि
अणवरथ
काम
|
परचक्क
विहट्टणु
सिरिसंघट्टणु
,
जो
सुरव
इणा
परिगणियं
|
रिउ
रुहिरावट्टणु
बिउलु
पवट्टणु
,
ढिल्ली
नामेण
जि
भणियं
|

जहिं
असिवर
तोडिय
रिउ
कवालु
,
णरणाहु
पसिद्धउ
अणंगवालु
||
वलभर
कम्पाविउ
णायरायु
,
माणिणियण
मणसंजनीय
||

Then, clearing her throat, she explained the meaning. ''The translation of which would go as- There are countless villages in Haryana country. The villagers there work hard. They don't accept domination of others, and are experts in making the blood of their enemies flow. Indra himself praises this country. The capital of this country is Dhilli. The ruler Anangapal is famous; he can slay his enemies with his sword. The weight of the Iron pillar caused the Nagaraj to shake.''

''So what is your point?'' David asked her.

''This is a monument of importance. It has been standing there for decades, holding its secrets. If this clues lead to some kind of historic treasure, I wouldn't be surprised. I am guessing the psychopath is after some ancient treasure,'' replied Shonali sarcastically.

''I take it that you guys must have decoded the cipher by now.'' Sameer jumped into the discussion. ''Sorry for the delay. You know the traffic.'' Taking out his handkerchief, Sameer wiped the sweat on his forehead. The run from the parking lot had been exhaustive.

''Everyone- This is Sameer. Intelligence Bureau's crypto analyst,'' David introduced the 36 year old mathematician to the group. Short and a little obese for a person of his height, Sameer seemed like someone who had dressed in a hurry. His half-sleeved formal shirt and jeans were a complete mismatch and his wrist displayed a light skin patch indicative of a missing wristwatch.

''How come we are having a civilian in an army investigation?'' Sameer asked, giving a polite smile to Shonali. Although Sameer had gone bald at a young age, his charming smile always impressed people.

David introduced him to Shonali and updated him on the situation. He was careful not to give out more information than required. Picking up David's cue, Shonali quickly came to the point. ''So here is what we decoded from the inscription- FROM THE RESTING STUPA OF THE GREAT BUDDHA AT THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY STARTS THE HILL.''

''It does seem like the correct decryption. Makes total sense and now we only need to think what it means so that we can act accordingly.'' Sameer was trying to fit meaning into the words. ''I think it is just a marker- a guide to the next clue or marker. If we say we have to climb a hill, we have to start at some place which has been referred to as- RESTING STUPA OF THE GREAT BUDDHA AT THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY.''

''It could be the Nalanda University. The oldest known university in the history of our country. Also Lord Mahavir and Gautam Buddha used to teach there around 6th-5th century B.C. Maybe the text points in that direction,'' Shonali inferred.
 

''She might be correct, Commander. This decryption does seem to point towards Nalanda.'' Sameer agreed.

''You really think an ancient treasure is what our lunatic is after? Because we have to get this right. We would be wasting a lot of time if we land up finding nothing at Nalanda,'' said David.