The Hindu Business Line : Axis of evil springs back to life

STORY so far: Gupta meets boss to brief him about the security features of the new lab where research would be on camel pox and such stuff. After the meeting, the boss leaves but Govind is tailing him and alerts Sooty to carry out a pre-meditated plot. Unfortunately, there is an accident on the way and boss is injured, but Sooty is about to shoot him, even as a cop steps in.

Episode 25

The travel was arduous, with extra precautions everywhere, and more checks at every point, to screen people with the mysterious pneumonia virus.

"Medical workers around the world are battling to contain the spread of the vile thing," my co-passenger told me. It had killed more than 50 people already. It didn't have any dramatic name other than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and colonies were getting evacuated.

WHO had a tally of more than 1,500 SARS cases and deaths were mostly in Hong Kong, Southern China, Vietnam and Singapore.

In the claustrophobic confines of an aircraft, each one tends to look at the other with suspicion, and any sneeze heard as a warning bell.

I was back home, about three hours behind schedule, dropped Chandru in his place, and sat up to catch the news. There were regular updates on the Iraq war, raging in the Gulf, and it looked like a big foul game, where sledgehammers were being deployed to catch mosquitoes. And the ticker informed TV viewers about the rise of the new illness in Canada, so much that two hospitals have downed their shutters. Carlo Urbani, the doctor who first identified the outbreak was already a victim; the Italian doc had contracted the illness from a dying American patient in Vietnam and died in Thailand. Schools were closed, hundreds quarantined and tourists changing directions. Soon my company may be involved in research in a vaccine for this too, I thought.

It was then that the phone rang.

"Hello, Swati," the boss said, and the voice was feeble.

"Sir," I said, "I was calling your number ever since Chandru and I landed in the city."

"I got back my mobile only now," he said. "There was a small accident, and I am in Apollo."

There was no time to waste, and so I got from him quickly the details of the room number and was already dressed to leave.

"Dammit," Govind cursed, banging the table and a flower vase almost tumbled off it.

"You should have briefed him properly," said Tarun, as if rubbing salt to an open wound.

"I never thought he would be so foolish," Govind shouted. "Pulling out a pistol and trying to take aim, as if he is in a shooting competition."

"It was dark already, and there were moving vehicles in between," Tarun sympathised with Sooty's difficulty.

"The cops have caught him and we can't sleep," Govind fretted.

"Sooty has escaped from maximum security prisons," Tarun reminded. "He will soon find his way out."

"That's right," Sooty said, coming in to the room.

"Ah," Govind rose, shocked. "How did you know this place?"

"You kid," Sooty laughed. "I did my research before accepting your work. And you guys left me with the cops. I am going to hike my fee."

"That's okay," Govind said. "How did they leave you?"

"When I saw the cop," Sooty explained, "I hid the pistol under the seat. Luckily, the cop was near-sighted and so when he came to me, I pretended I was talking on the mobile."

"He checked your papers?" Tarun was curious.

"Yes, I had a whole set of them," Sooty said, shrugging. "This one was in the name of some Ramaswamy of Luz, complete with my photo and so on."

"We thought you would have ended up in the station," Govind said. "We saw you being guided to the Mobile Court at the traffic junction.

"You chickens," Sooty said scornfully. "They charged me for using mobile while driving and I paid up a thousand bucks, plus a three hundred in counterfeit for the cop who offered to open my door in gratitude."

(To be continued)

swati_CA@hotmail.com

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