Manish Murthy

I stepped my foot on the ground from the black van and stood upon the ground, with one foot still inside. I looked towards the gate which had a number of rotten buildings used at flats in some time back, probably. “Whoa…” I thought as I looked at those high skyscrapers. “So this is the base of the world’s largest terrorist group.”

Kritika stood up from the other side of the van and said, “Yep. Anyways, you will probably never know, because you were blindfolded the entire time, right?”

I moved my hand upward and threw a black slender narrow cloth towards her at the other side of the van. “Anyhow, I’d like to work with you all now.”

“You’re full of enthusiasm, right? Most of the guys are afraid to do a thing. Good to see a change of pace here.”

“Ha. Thanks,” I replied. “I’m just here to extract my revenge, and that’s it. I don’t have a life outside anyways.”

“Good. We need men like you--full of anger, no outside life. But, before we go in, I wanna ask you a question.”

I looked at her, and then looked at the building below the sky full of clouds. It was about to rain, probably. “Go on, ask anything,” I casually replied.

“Have you already killed someone before?” She seriously asked.

I looked at her, with my eyes wide open in shock. “Do you think I could have murdered someone?” I asked, trying to be as casual as possible. “I mean, look at my face. Don’t I look like a decent boy who knows nothing about the world’s darkness?”

“Yes, you sure do look like one,” She crossed her arms, turned left, and walked around the van towards me. She stood in front of me, with the same wrapped-up arms, looked into my eyes, and replied, “But the most dangerous evil lies in the most decent eyes.”

I was still shocked. “So, does it mean that you think I’ve killed someone?”

She nodded unhesitantly. “Sure I do, Manish. My eyes can catch a murderer easily, and my intuition never goes wrong.”

I sighed, held my waist, and tilted my head down, “I-I have killed someone.”

“Still, you’re so excited about entering this arena and extracting revenge.” I exhaled again and continued with my head down in guilt. “You’re just like a kid who doesn’t know where he’s about to enter. That’s funny, creepy and dangerous at the same time.”

“Yes,” I said in a low voice. “But, he was not killed. I think he must have survived the attack.”

“We’re not here to discuss about that, are we?” She said ironically. “Anyways, follow me.” She turned towards the building and started walking. At the gate just some meters away, a man wearing the usual mask of TES--a creepy smile with sharp teeth, and ‘Wake Up Dead’ written on top with yellow--stood beside the gate. It suddenly started to open on its own and she started walking inside. I followed her. Inside, I saw that it was actually the left corner of the whole area. “The whole base is present at the Gurgaon-Delhi highway, though it actually touches Delhi. It has a special underground opening which opens at this jungle-like area, some kilometers away. In the middle of the forest, and the river Brahmaputra flowing on the other side, this is the only entrance to enter the base of TES. It was actually all made up, but due to some legal disputes, the company had to leave this place. Now, it’s left unchecked and has long disappeared from the papers.”

“That’s why even the government agencies and the police can’t find this place, right?”

“They don’t have even the slightest of idea that we are here, because the footage of our team seeping in the underground tunnels is often taken care of.”

“It… It all is just so perfect,” I commented as we continued walking inside, with high buildings surrounding us. “Just like some sort of fiction. How did they even manage to do it all so perfectly?”

“The administration of TES is very organized, and so is its working,” She replied. “On top of that, everyone excels in the job of the team where they are kept, so we don’t see irregularities so often.”

“It’s amazing…”

“The organization was founded by Mr. Indraprasad Sethi, in the year nineteen-ninety-two. He died in twenty-eleven, and since then, Mr. Vikram Sethi, his son, is taking care of the organization.”

“Your cold voice makes it sound like some sort of TV promotion,” I commented.

She ignored me and turned left towards a certain entrance of a building. She walked in on top of the white marble flooring, covered by wild grass from both of the sides. I looked at the wild grass growing and thought, “Man, they can’t even take care of their surroundings.” I turned back at her, who just opened a glass gate and entered a wide room which had a reception-like area some ten steps back and had a white sofa set, which had turned brown by now due to dust, at the center. I noticed some people were actually sitting on the sofa-set, gambling and playing cards together and laughing and talking and having fun together. “Haha! I won it this time!”

“Wait, the game ain’t over yet, dickhead! I got a spade too!”

That man threw the card in the center of the table and the first one replied, “Darn it, ya motherfucker!”

“Ahem,” Kritika cleared her throat in front of them and said, “We got a new person here.”

The three turned at her. Two were looking back at her, while the other one, already sitting facing her, tilted his head up at her. The latter one said, “What do you want, Kriti?”

“Rachit, firstly teach them some sense.”

“I hope I could have done that myself too, baby,” He replied. He looked kind of civilized one, the exact opposite of the other two.

“Anyways,” He turned his head at me and said, “I’m Rachit Reddy, the Nerve Head of The Eye of Suicide.”