Chapter 38 Caught Off Guard

1733words2026-01-19 06:56

The sun shone through the barricaded windows when he awoke and he was down in the dumps. He lost all hope. Why did he only look in front of him? He should have looked back before he took the code from his pocket and tried to throw it amongst the bushes. He was overcautious and afraid if he looked back it would make them suspicious, but then the guy stalked him and caught him out. It sunk all his plans and he is now without hope. They have moved immediately to the new place where he is kept in a similar room. He is only thankful that they allow him to phone Martie daily and that his friends still join him during meals. They treated Martie smartly because she sounds very happy. He asked her where the place is where she now lives, but she doesn't know. They haven't flown and it didn't take long to get there so it must be somewhere in the vicinity; at least still in South Africa.

Furthermore Johan discovered that he is now at the place where things are happening. He is at the underground laboratory where the team of scientists work which he is supposed to help with the last step of the mutation of their virus. Ronald and Elize took him down with the escalator and introduced him to his new colleagues. He was given the opportunity to start immediately and to show them what he had discovered years ago, but naturally he declined.

The members of the team only smiled and Ronald shook his head. "Our guru has already landed in Port Elizabeth, Johan, and it is only a matter of time before you are going to meet him. He will convince you to see things our way and then we will be working together amiably. You will see!"

Johan could not understand why the guru hasn't appeared as yet. It was nerve wracking because he knew this ominous meeting would be a turning point and he did not really know what to expect. He is still not willing to give in and he is not going to look into his eyes. So, he wonders how this man will dominate him and he is afraid that eventually they will use Martie to break him. He has no answers for this problem.

The intercom crackled this morning and the same German voice sounded friendly: "Johan, wake up! Here is a very important visitor especially for you."

Johan swung his legs off the bed and looked up at the intercom. "Thank you, Marie. Good morning, how are you this morning?"

"Fine, as always, Johan, thanks."

He had seen the face behind the voice. She is Marie Einstein, a middle-aged psychologist, looking after all the people's mental health. At this stage he seems to be her main responsibility.

"Who is this visitor, Marie? Is this the man who messes with all of your heads and that landed days ago and believes he is going to indoctrinate me but doesn't come to me? Is it him that eventually came?"

Marie first laughed before she answered joyfully. "We keep it a surprise."

They fetched him later on after he had freshened up for the new day and they brought him here to a table and left him where he is now sitting anxiously.

The room is ice cold and empty except for the air conditioner and a mirror against the wall. Johan suspects it is a one-way window and that they are watching him. It resembles a cross examination room at a police station where they interrogate criminals. He also suspects the air conditioner is purposely turned extra cold. He feels vulnerable with the cold that bites into his flesh. Is he going to meet this leader of the occult here and now?

The door behind him opens and he recognizes Aryan, the man who was in charge at the park when things got out of hand. He is disappointed. It is not the mysterious guru that everyone is talking about. Aryan comes in and closes the door. He has got something in his hands when he walks around the table and sits down opposite Johan. Aryan puts down a piece of paper and slides it over while he stares sharply at Johan.

Johan sees it is his deciphered code. His brain gallops and seeks answers. They have never asked him anything about the episode in the park and only offered their apologies and treated him well up to now. He hasn't seen Aryan and they assured him that the men who assaulted him, would be punished. Then he heard the guru had landed but the guru doesn't appear and now Aryan turns up with the code and the translation thereof. He suddenly realizes why the guru hasn't appeared as yet. They probably want to know what he had up his sleeve in the park, but now it also seems that they know everything.

That boy who ran away with his code! He was so angry that his plans failed but also happy that the boy ran away with the secret that a task team was on their heels. Now it seems that they located the boy and deciphered the code. Damn! Johan glares defiantly at Aryan. He probably wants to know everything about the task team.

Aryan shakes his head from side to side. "It was quite clever of you, Professor. I only am thankful that I could get justification for what Mohammed and Arnav did to you in the park. If it wasn't for their alertness, you could have succeeded. You see, our master Ahmed is an unforgiving man and I suspect he would have punished my colleagues by making them part of the final experiment on the island where we are testing our weapon. Such a punishment I do not even wish upon my greatest enemy."

"So, that is why you are here to threaten me with our well-being so that I must divulge everything I know."

Aryan smiles. "No, Professor, our guru explained everything to me and you will understand soon. I have come here to shake your hand and to make peace. We are going to work together for a long time. I just want to ensure you that there is no animosity from my side."

Amazed Johan frowns when Aryan holds his hand out to him. He refrains from taking it. He is probably going to surprise him and punish him. Aryan smiles when he sees the doubt in Johan.

"Won't you make peace, we are going to work together soon, Professor?"

"What game are you playing now? Why must I shake your hand? Do you think I am locked up here for my own pleasure? I think you want to surprise me with your combating skills and hurt my arm."

"I promise this is not the plan at all. Come now! Shake my hand! This is a peace gesture!"

Johan takes his hand fearing the worst but to his utter surprise he only gets a firm handgrip and a friendly smile.

"Do you see now, Johan, there is no ill feeling. And I am impressed with how you used the code to give your position to your contact. It was intelligent and ingenious, my friend, and I am sure we are going to use your talents fruitfully in the future. The rest doesn't matter really."

"What does this mean? I don't understand. You must have gone to a lot of trouble to find the boy who ran away with the booklet. You probably now wants to know for whom I left the code. It is not necessary to play games. Why don't you ask me directly what you want to know? I am really tired of all your game-playing."

Aryan shakes his head from side to side. "Professor, you think I am here to interrogate you? No, Professor, on the contrary, I am here to inform you."

Frustrated Johan frowns. "What?"

"I had, just like you now, tried to avoid the guru because I feared his powers and in the beginning I succeeded. In India I always evaded him and was lucky but then the thing in the park occurred. Ahmed blamed me, for I am responsible for security here in South Africa and we had to find out what you were planning and we had to find the boy but had no success. I was downhearted. And we were afraid that Ahmed sent the guru to punish us. The guru landed and I was so disappointed when he ordered me to look into his eyes there in the Holiday Inn. The eyes I always have avoided so far. He promised me that he would close the door of my thoughts again. He only wanted to see the boy through my eyes and he kept his word.

"Professor, he then drew the boy as if we had taken a photo of him and we showed street kids photo copies of the sketch. We tracked Billy but he evaded us and was it not that the guru followed him through the eyes of the street kids whose thoughts he could manipulate as he wished, Billy would have escaped again. Kadin, his girlfriend, tried to lead us astray by giving us a fake code. But our guru visited their friend who had deciphered the code in the park and let him even translate it for us. The proof is right in front of you.

"I also wondered, just as you do now, why all the hassle? Why should we catch the boy and torture him terribly and why torment his girlfriend? Professor, we don't always understand the guru, because it looks as if he can do everything, but sometimes he doesn't do something. I, however, can assure you that he always has a good reason for doing things in a certain way."

Despondently Johan shakes his head from one side to the other. "Where is this damn guru who all of you are talking about? I am becoming fed up with your games!"

"Do you want to meet the guru?"

"Yes, let's get it done."

Aryan rises and walks to the door and opens it widely.

"Come then, my friend, he told me you are going to ask to meet him and when it happens I must obey immediately because your time has come."