It was one of those rare days during summer when the sun
didn't shine at its brightest. The blue sky and the early morning breeze were
refreshing. The sound of a chopper was enough to break the silence of the
surroundings. In this picture-perfect scenario lay a man in the helicopter,
unconscious and oblivious. Four well-built gunmen had set their eyes on him, as
if they had been waiting since eternity for the man to open his eyes. The man's
face was painted white and he had an unevenly grown beard and mous- tache. His
long, black, dishevelled hair added to his mysterious look. For a
forty-year-old, he appeared quite young. His face was ethereally carved, his
skin so clear and luminous that it formed an aura of beauty around him. His
body showed signs of motion to the sound of the helicopter's thrust. And at
times, when he moved, his body shed ashes into the air. His unconsciousness
didn't stop people around him from wondering who he was. This man aroused
curiosity and awe in everyone who saw him.
The pilot announced, '11.6755 degree North, 92.7626 degree
East; Landing at Ross Island in three minutes.' Ross Island hap- pened to be
the most aesthetic piece of land in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, about 2 km
east of Port Blair. It beckoned one to take in the serenity of nature's finest
gifts with the inheritance of rare yet significant species. Adorning the island
was a dome- shaped high-tech facility.
Built purely for the purpose of research on the isolated
land, the magnificent structure could leave even the greatest sceptics
awestruck. Equipped with the latest technology, the facility boasted
state-of-the-art coastal and marine monitoring systems. Constructed using only
glass, the facility exploited surface tech- nology to its best. Each screen one
touched started talking to them as if it were part of an advanced species,
altering the tem- perature and atmospheric pressure around them, thus making
life easier in ways unimagined.
As brilliant as it was in these aspects, it was even more so
when it came to security. Motion sensor cameras were installed in each corner
of the arched roof. No one was ever alone inside the dome. A digital eye
accompanied people wherever they went.
Veerbhadra, a voluntarily retired former Indian army
brigadier, left his station and walked straight towards the dome's lobby. As
soon as he entered, he spotted the captive surrounded by four armed guards.
They were dragging his handcuffed and blindfolded insentient body through the
corridor. His bare feet continued to leave traces of ashes on the floor. He is
'The Man', thought Veerbhadra. The detainee was wearing minimal clothes; only a
short and narrow loincloth covered his lower abdomen. His body was smeared with
ashes. A rosary made of rudraksha seeds hung around his neck. Half of his matted
hair was rolled up into a topknot and adorned with a rusted iron trident.
Veerbhadra had come to this place as the security chief with
a team of twenty-one, including gunmen and guards. He was there on a mission.
Being the finest of the men that his cult possessed, he was summoned for
various missions, confidential or public, by various organizations throughout
the world. But this one was different from the others.
Veerbhadra was 6 feet tall. He had lived well past the
common life expectancy of forty years, a substantial part of it devoted to the
army. His face was that of an average man, not particularly well-featured. His
dusky skin, with his salt-and-pepper military haircut, added to his rough look.
Some bruises and scars on both his hands, not very old, pointed to the battles
he fought and their intensities. His hard muscular body was evident under his
black jeans, white T-shirt and brown leather jacket. His eyes were masked by
black aviator glares. He was always aware of his pistol, concealed at his waist
inside the jacket, no matter what the situa- tion at hand.
He ordered one of the guards to unmask the man and free his
hands. He took off his glares. A scar parallel to his right eye was now in view
and his jet-black eyes were set upon the man before him. Veerbhadra stood
amazed for a moment.
