Free THE MAHABHARATA QUEST:THE ALEXANDER SECRET by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE Page A

existed below the surface. ‘I know how you feel, Vijay,’ she began. ‘And I swear I wouldn’t have come here if I had a choice. But I don’t.’
    Vijay forced himself to keep his voice even. ‘What happened?’
    Alice recounted the trauma she had experienced in Greece. Her voice shook as she described Damon’s murder, Marco’s death and her escape on the highway. ‘I couldn’t go back to the US,’ she finished. ‘No matter where I would go, they would have found me. I had to go someplace else. But I don’t know anyone else outside the US whom I could trust. Kurt Wallace had some people in Delhi provide me with a car to get here from the airport. He said it was the only way to ensure that no one was able to track me from Greece. Private jet. Private car. No paper or electronic trail.’
    She stared at Vijay, trying to discern his reaction. It was obvious that he was affected by her story.
    ‘C’mon, Vijay,’ Colin broke in. ‘The girl needs a place to stay. Her life’s in danger. You have, what, fifty rooms here in the fort? Can’t she stay here for a couple of nights till this blows over?’
    Vijay looked at him then turned to Alice. ‘You have to understand one thing,’ he said, his voice serious. ‘I want both of us to be clear about this. I’ve moved on. I’m engaged. You and me – that’s in the past. I don’t want that to come between me and Radha.’
    ‘Radha’s his fiancée,’ Colin explained to Alice, helpfully.
    Alice nodded. She hadn’t expected any more than this. Somehow, she felt safe here. Even though she had never been to India, she knew she was among friends.
    ‘We have a security system protecting the fort,’ Vijay continued. ‘As long as you stay here and don’t venture out, no one is going to get to you.’ As he spoke, he remembered his uncle’s fate the previous year, but dismissed the thought from his mind. The system had been upgraded since then.
    ‘Thank you, Vijay,’ Alice responded. ‘I really appreciate your helping me out.’
    Vijay forced a smile. He was consciously trying to push his emotions away. ‘Sure. Always happy to help. Colin, will you show Alice to one of the guest rooms. Choose any one. Okay, guys, I need to sleep. Radha’s coming here tomorrow and I don’t want to be sleeping in when she gets here.’ He looked at Colin. ‘And we have our meeting with Imran in the morning.’
    Colin nodded as Vijay left the room.
    He then turned to look at Alice. ‘Well, that didn’t go so badly, did it?’
    ‘So tell me more about Radha?’ Alice asked. ‘What’s
she like?’
    Colin frowned. This was not going to be as easy as he had thought. 

13
    Jaungarh Fort
    ‘Morning,’ Vijay frowned as he walked into the dining room of the fort. Colin and Alice were finishing breakfast. Bad timing. Radha would be here any moment now.
    Colin grinned up at him like the Cheshire Cat, which Vijay was accustomed to by now. But Alice smiling up at him at the breakfast table; he had to calm himself down all over again.
    ‘Did you sleep well?’ he enquired of Alice, more out of politeness than genuine concern. Though there had been something that had stayed on his mind from the conversation last night.
    Alice nodded. ‘Umm hmm. I did, thanks. Did you?’
    Vijay didn’t respond. His mind was now ticking away, focused on what Alice had mentioned last night.
    ‘You said that you found an ivory cube in the tomb,’ he said finally, between mouthfuls of masala omelette and parantha.
    Alice looked at him, surprised. She hadn’t thought that anything about her experience in Greece had registered with Vijay, considering the background of their conversation last night.
    ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘It had inscriptions carved on it.’
    ‘And when Marco came back for you, he told you that Damon had asked you to carry the cube back to the hotel.’
    ‘That’s right.’ Alice wondered where Vijay was going with this line of thought.
    ‘And what did you do with the