Free The Mahabharata Secret by Christopher C Doyle Page A

with resistance. The sight of a 10-foot ladder ploughing its way towards them brought them up short. The stairway was slippery with the water from the sprinklers, and the lower stairs had been damaged by the impact of the steel door earlier. The men leading the charge lost their footing and slipped on the stairs.
    Vijay and Colin dodged them and ignored the water cascading down as they charged up the stairs with the ladder, hoping they wouldn’t slip, mowing down men and carving a path for themselves to the room above.
    There was only one thought in their minds. They had to get away.
    As they emerged from the vault, two things greeted their eyes. The first was the prone body of the clerk who had led them into the vault, lying in a pool of blood, his head blown open at the back. The second was Farooq, Maroosh and three men standing around a peculiar machine that looked like an enormous metallic archer’s bow, seven feet high, fitted on a solid metal pedestal. The entire contraption was made of a dark metal, not unlike the metal slab Vijay was carrying ensconced in the duffel bag.
    Farooq’s eyes widened with surprise as he saw the two men emerge with the ladder. Vijay and Colin had the advantage of surprise. Even as realisation dawned on Farooq, they summoned their last reserves of strength and heaved the ladder towards him and the contraption, causing the men to scatter to get out of the way.
    The few moments this bought them were enough. The two friends dashed outside the building to where Radha’s car was standing and leapt in. Vijay started the car and honked his way through a gathering crowd of curious onlookers, alerted by the sound from the vault.
    As Vijay pressed his foot to the accelerator, he could hear furious shouts behind him as Farooq rallied his men. The sound of gunshots shattered the air. Vijay risked a glance in the rear-view mirror and saw Farooq’s men piling into a mid-size truck that stood outside the vault. To his amazement, he saw three of them carrying a metal pedestal with a heap of metal piled on top of it into the truck. Was it the contraption they had seen? But that had been seven feet tall! It was almost as if they had been able to fold it into something that was not more than two feet tall. And they carried it as though it was not too heavy.
    It seemed that Farooq and his men were going to give pursuit, when police sirens split the air and the truck suddenly veered in a different direction, giving up the chase.
    Vijay and Colin grinned at each other. They had beaten Farooq once again. And this time, they had something to show for it.
    Together They Guard The Secret
    The little group sat in Vikram Singh’s study, their eyes glued to the LCD television fixed on the wall.
    One of the news channels was reporting the incident at the vault. At the bottom of the screen, the words ‘Breaking News: Terrorist Attack on Vault in New Delhi’ scrolled across repeatedly...’None of the terrorist groups have claimed responsibility.’ A reporter was speaking into the camera.
    Vijay sighed and switched off the television.
    The incident was on all the channels. Speculation was rife about the purpose of the attack; with the most popular interpretation being that it was an attempt to accumulate funds for a terrorist group.
    After leaving the vault, Vijay and Colin had rushed to Homi’s office to find that an ambulance had reported and taken the lawyer to the nearest hospital. At the hospital, they had been assured by the doctors that he would live, though his condition was serious.
    Vijay couldn’t help but feel responsible in some way. After all, Homi had nothing to do with either Farooq or the secret of the Nine.
    After leaving the hospital, Vijay had tried calling Bheem Singh, but his phone had been busy continuously, so he had called White and told him about the disk they had unearthed in the locker.
    White had arrived at Jaungarh almost immediately, and was now seated with the others in Vikram