There was one more question that was foremost in my mind. ‘What if he kills me?’ There, it was out in the open.
There was silence for a few minutes. Both men exchanging glances.
‘Then the world will never be the same.’ It was Panat who had answered. ‘We do not know the exact extent of the impact, but it will be immense.’ I let that sink in. ‘It depends on where it happens and how many people are in the vicinity.’
‘Ok. Worst case scenario?’
‘Millions.’
‘Then I guess I’ll have to win, won’t I?
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Once again it was time to leave. The story of my life.
After two months in the compound I’ve learned a lot. Not what I wanted to learn, and not in as much detail as I need, but there were some useful things in there somewhere.
One big difference with most of my other journeys was that I’m not alone now. Panat accompanies me now. Secretly I’m very glad that he decided to be my guide. I enjoy his company. And he’s definitely a better companion that Kahdi. Now that would be an eventful trip. I don’t think he would survive it.
Another difference with my regular trips is the use of the contacts to hide the colour of my eyes. I now have green-brown eyes. Very strange after all those years of staring back at ochre in the mirror. I can’t get used to it. It looks as weird to me as my ochre eyes probably do to others. They aren’t uncomfortable, though my body did try to get rid of them at first by means of excessive tear production.
Our first concern was to get out of Bharat. As the country was so extensive there were a lot of secret routes that we could use. Even though the authorities were seriously looking for me, they had other problems because of Bharata’s death, and the void it left in the governing of such a vast and complicated country. I had really opened a can of worms there. There were several power struggles going on in the capital. And no shortage of people who wanted to fill the old emperor’s boots. However, none of them had any real clout, and all that their bickering succeeded in doing was to make it even more complex. The revolutionaries in the different parts of Bharat took advantage of the lull in power and consolidated their grip on their respective areas. There was fighting between Bharat supporters and separatists. Formerly independent countries like Pakistan and Bhutan proclaimed their renewed independence, upsetting the balance even more.
We were counting on the chaos to be able to slip through the holes in the manhunt. The clan had a helicopter and we made great time on the first leg of our journey to the outskirts of Pathanot in Northern Bharat. From there, other local clan members helped us travel further north and over the old borders between former Pakistan and India. Crossing Pakistan in an overfull train, we managed to slip into Afghanistan, where we made our way to Kandahar. Finally out of Bharat’s reach we were able to find more conventional means of transport with our new papers. For the first time in many years I owned a new passport and travelled by regular air service.
We headed to Holland. Panat had explained that there was a large clan enclave, also it was close to England where Azazel probably was. In Holland, we would catch up with the latest information about Aze and formulate our plans.
We arrived at Schiphol airport early in the morning and passed customs without any noticeable delay. We walked through the terminal with all its shops and food-counters to the train station that was located directly under the airport. There we were met by a woman. She obviously knew Panat and their welcome was more than enthusiastic. Even slightly too intimate for where we were.
‘Anadi’ Panat turned to me after he finally managed to disentangle himself from the pretty blonde. ‘This is Sarah, she is our primary contact here.’ Yes, I thought with a smile, emphasis on the contact part. The woman turned to me and stuck out her hand. I shook it. ‘Nice to meet you.’ She said in a singsong voice. Something told me that she didn’t know who I was, not even with the giveaway new name. I have seen this before with Watchers, they’re slow to understand the meaning of my name. I glanced at Panat and my suspicion that she was not informed was confirmed.
‘Me too.’ I offered along with a smile. She was very relaxed, and taking Panat’s arm she steered us away from the trains and back up to the terminal. From there, we walked to a parking garage where she indicated a car. The train had just been a detour in case anyone was following us. There wasn’t. I had lingered in the shopping area earlier to see if anyone was keeping pace with us. We were reasonably sure that we were ok.
I opened the rear door of the car and sat down, leaving the passenger seat for Panat next to the ever-chatting Sarah. Her cheerfulness was contagious, and soon we were laughing at the small anecdotes she told. The ride out of Schiphol was uneventful. We took the A4 in the general direction of Amsterdam but left that behind us as we continued up through the polders and over the long IJsselmeer dyke. We had the North Sea on the left side and the Ijsselmeer—a man-made inland sea—on the right. Other than that, I had no idea where I was, or where we were going. The names on the signs above the interstate were meaningless to me. I could hardly pronounce them. It all seemed very foreign to me. Dutch was one language that I hadn’t conquered yet.
We drove in a more or less easterly direction for about two hours. The view changed from open fields to more wooded areas. We left the interstate and continued our trip on much smaller roads. These wound through small villages and towns. Quaint houses and farms framed the roads. After about another forty-five minutes we took a right, onto a secluded road that led us through dense forests. There were no villages here, just the occasional farm, but even they were sparse. The asphalt turned into a dirt road and we continued on.
We finally stopped at a farmhouse in what seemed to be the middle of the forest. I got out of the car, thankful to be able to stretch my legs. It had been a bit cramped, especially after such a long time. I followed Sarah and Panat into the farmhouse. At the door Sarah gave the car keys to a young man who was on his way out. He took care of the car.
We went inside, down the rather long narrow hallway and into a sitting room. The house was furnished in a rather old-fashioned manner. Dark oak furniture, blue-white vases and other pottery on shelves on the wall, and family photos everywhere. They showed an elderly couple with obviously their children and many, many grandchildren. The photos themselves were old—the frames were antiques. All in all, the place gave the impression of being an old family home.
I sat down in one of the haggard leather sofas. It was very comfortable, though I expected that getting out would be a chore. The old springs were worn and I sank down further than I think was originally the idea.
Sarah left the room. ‘I’ll go and get Joseph.’
Panat joined me and we waited for whatever was going to happen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A few minutes later Sarah returned with Joseph. He was a very large man. Tall and broad shouldered. A lot bigger in person than he had seemed in the hologram. He walked to us as we struggled out of the sofa, a slight limp was visible in his step. He shook our hands.
‘Thank you for coming’ he said. ‘How was your trip?’
‘Uneventful’ we both said almost in unison. That brought a chuckle from Sarah.
Panat continued. ‘It all went reasonably well. It was smooth sailing all the way here once we were out of Bharat. The passport worked wonders.’ Joseph nodded.
‘Please follow me’ the tall man continued as he turned to the doorway. We followed him back into the long hallway. At the end of the hallway he opened a door that led into the kitchen. Another door there led to the cellar. We descended the stairs down into the bowels of the structure, into a very large room. It seemed to stretch the length of the building. Most of the floor was cluttered with different kinds of furniture, bags of clothes, and even some farm utensils, most of which had a thick layer of dust on them. This was the storage, and had been for ages by the looks of it.
We came up to a massive oak cupboard. Joseph did someth
ing and the enormous piece of furniture swivelled smoothly to the side and revealed yet another door. This one was modern. An iris scanner was set to the right side of the door and Joseph placed his right eye in front of it. There was a soft swishing sound and the door opened.
We stepped through into a stark white corridor. From there we went further underground into a suite of rooms that strongly resembled those of the council in Tibet.
There could not have been a stronger contrast with the house above. This was once again, all state-of-the-art technology. I estimated that we were more than fifty meters from the house. The extent of this subterranean complex was unclear, but judging by the large number of people we had seen in the first chamber, and taking into account that they and any others had to be housed underground because the buildings above were not sufficient—it had to be immense.
Joseph led us to an office off the main chamber, There, we were introduced to the three people who were there waiting for us. Jan was middle aged, small of stature but with a very big smile. Hetty, I estimated was in her late seventies, and Hans was the exact opposite, maybe early twenties. He was the resident geek, complete with thick glasses and a reluctance to make eye contact.
We shook hands all around and took our seats. Someone brought coffee and Dutch biscuits. Funny waffle-like things with syrup in between. They were good though. The inflight meals hadn’t been fantastic, and besides, that was a long time ago. I was hungry.
‘Please bring us something more substantial.’ Joseph asked the man who brought the coffee. He was definitely observant. ‘You must be famished.’
‘Was it that obvious?’ I asked.
‘Well you did wolf down the cookies.’ Panat laughed.
‘Yeah, but they are good.’
We didn’t wait for the food. The meeting started.
Joseph gave Hans the floor for an update on the current situation.
‘Azazel has been busy’ he started. ‘There have been reports of emergency admissions to several London hospitals due to the effects of Shiva. Until now they only concern the people who have used the drug itself. No collateral damage. The patients were released the same day—so no long-term hospitalisation. It looks as though the drug has been diluted so that the impact is not fatal. But it is still disturbing.’ The photos he showed us on the screen augmented his report. We could see ambulances bringing the patients to the hospital and later shots of a famous actress leaving through the back exit, trying in vain to cover her face from the paparazzi.
What about Azazel himself?’ I let Panat do the talking for now. ‘How close are we to him?’
‘We’re not.’ Joseph was very clear. ‘He sniffs out anyone from our clan. He has a sixth sense for that. Anyone who gets near is killed. We find them in pieces, or they just disappear.’
‘The information we have comes mainly from the internet and surveillance cameras that we hack.’ Hetty added.
‘And some long-distance observations.’ Joseph completed the picture.
‘Azazel is still in his penthouse in London.’ Hans continued. Once he overcame his nervousness, Hans was a fountain of information, clear and precise. He was in his element. ‘He’s been there for the past three days. Before that he was at his estate in Wales. The last weeks he has commuted between the two residences all the time. His parties are mainly in London, though he has announced that the next one will be in Wales.’
‘When is that?’
‘Next week Thursday.’ Six days from now.
‘Does he have extensive security?’ I asked.
‘No, he doesn’t need it, he has some acolytes but because he can read people’s minds he has the advantage over any would-be assailants. Besides he’s immortal.’ This was getting more problematic with every added piece of information.
‘So how do we get close?’ it seemed like an impossible undertaking.
‘He can’t read your mind.’
‘No, but Kahdi said that he would instinctively feel my presence.’
That silenced everyone. We would have to think of a solution, and quickly. But first there was another thing on my mind.
It would have to wait though. The food was brought in. It smelled great. Some kind of oven-dish. Lots of beef and vegetables. It was fantastic. We ate ravenously. Me, most of all.
After we were finished we continued the meeting.
‘Do we know more about the Shiva?’ I asked.
’Not really in detail, no. We know that the container came into the Port of Rotterdam on the twenty-seventh of last month. There it was unloaded and transported out of the dock on a truck. The truck crossed the border into Belgium and then we lost all contact. There are no documented reports of where it went from there. We think he either brought the whole thing to England—though that’s doubtful because of all the safety measures that the UK has in place—or he has it stashed somewhere in Belgium or France and sends small consignments to the UK by private boat or plane, bypassing the customs.’
‘The second option sounds most likely.’ Panat and I agreed.
‘So how do we proceed from here?’ the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. It was quiet. No one said a word. We seemed to be in an impasse.
‘Can we get to him through one of his acolytes?’ I asked.
Joseph and Hans looked at each other, Hans shrugged. It was Joseph who answered. ‘We don’t actually know. Maybe we could look into their backgrounds a bit more.’
‘Do we have names for them?’
‘We do for twelve of them, five are women and the rest are men. There also seems to be one very secretive person. Always in the shadows. We don’t really know who that is. The only hint we have is that it’s probably a woman.’
‘Ok, we can see what kind of information we can gather about them and get back to you.’ Joseph was luckily very to the point.
The fatigue was showing on Panat’s face. To tell the truth, I was quite tired myself. Not only had we been travelling for three days straight, but we had gone from the top of the world to one of the lowest countries. There was quite an altitude difference. And that gave the weariness an extra edge.
‘You should rest now.’ Hetty offered. ‘We will see what we can find out, and maybe tomorrow we will be able to determine the next step.’
We were taken to two small bedrooms where our meagre belongings had been deposited. I dropped on to the bed and fell into a deep slumber almost instantly. Sleep had been very minimal during the past few days. When we had been able to rest it had been for very short periods and in not so comfortable circumstances. A real bed was extremely welcome.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
They started early the next morning. Once again in the same meeting room with Joseph, Jan and Hetty. Hans was busy gathering the information about the acolytes and Sarah was absent, though no explanation was given as to why.
‘We need to know all there is about Azazel.’ Panat addressed everyone in the room. ‘Everything you know. Everything anyone knows. To the smallest detail.’ He turned to Joseph. ‘It will be painful, I know, and I’m sorry that you have to go through this, but we need to know.’
He was tactful, but resolute. They did need to be able to crawl inside Azazel’s head. Almost read his mind, and anticipate what he was planning, and most importantly—when. It was a tall order, but it needed to be done. Joseph would have to live through all the details again. That was inevitable. They could see the strain it caused in his visage. But he was strong and gestured that he was ok.
‘Where to start?’ He started. ‘There is so much to tell. Let me start at the beginning. When I met him for the first time.’
They settled in for a long meeting.
‘As you will have already guessed, I have been a Watcher for as long as I can remember. All my life really. In the old days, we did more of the physical following. Our clan was not so well versed in technical surveillance. We didn’t really have sufficient funds for the high tech, so we just did our job the old way—we watched. Up close and pers
onal.’ He turned to Anadi. ‘This was before the clans started working together on a large scale. That changed everything, the funds were distributed over all the clans. Those not situated directly in the western countries benefitted from that. We were one of those clans.’
Anadi noticed that Joseph refrained from naming the actual year that he was talking about.
He took a sip of water, getting ready to continue his narrative. ‘Azazel caught me. I was about thirty at the time. He read my mind, and learned all that I knew about the Watchers and about the history of the forces. I couldn’t stop him. He can get into anyone’s thoughts. They are clear as day for him. He was furious, enraged, at the fact that he was being manipulated as he called it. He almost killed me, shattering my leg in the process. He tortured me for any additional information and then dragged me, bleeding and broken, to our clan’s stronghold.’
It was obviously very difficult for him to re-live the terrible encounters.
‘He confronted my father. Ranting about being manipulated and used.’ He sighed before he continued. ‘I was unconscious, I had passed out because of the pain and blood-loss. Later when I regained consciousness there were dead bodies all around me. Azazel had killed almost everyone. My father lay dead at my feet. His head almost wrenched from his body. My mother and uncles lay a few metres further.’
They were all silent, in reverence to the dead. Everyone could feel the tension and sorrow. Anadi thought she could sense something else, but what it was, eluded her. There was a feeling, something intangible. Maybe it was shame, for a fellow force, maybe something else. But it was unsettling. Dismissing it to her own emotions due to the terrible story, she continued to listen.
‘I wasn’t the only one left alive, a few more had survived. We gathered what was left of the clan, the few possessions that we had and left our stronghold. We went under-ground. They nursed me back to physical health. Mental healing took a lot longer. I lost almost my whole family in that massacre. Only my sister Esther, her daughter, and I were left. Esther took over the leadership of the clan from my father. She rallied the survivors and set out to find other Watchers. We needed to find help. Azazel had started actively hunting the clan. He picked us off one by one. Whenever he found a Watcher, he made sure they died in horrific and mind-blowingly painful ways. He left them in public places, where he knew that we would find them. He wanted us to know that he was hunting us.’ His story was so clear that Anadi was able to visualise what had happened.
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