Sterngasse Street, Vienna, 9:52 am
The SUV rocked tamely from side-to-side but Sadowsky heard a delicate thunk.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
It was the only thing that made noise, the rest of them were all quiet.
"What does ancient history have to do with you guys?" Sadowsky asked quizzically, rupturing the silence.
"We are not what you think we are," Subramanian declared, trying to throw away all the myths that were being forged in Sadowsky's head. But he still couldn't grasp the point of the whole scenario.
"Though you think that we are terrorists, our intention is to protect the world, not to destroy it. Bring peace, not disrupt it,"
Sadowsky couldn't comprehend what his captor was trying to explain, only more questions popped up in his head, waiting desperately to be answered. Then, he chose to believe it.
"Please continue,"
"Okay, we call ourselves The Nine,"
Sadowsky responded with a laugh, although he knew it was comparable to laughing at the face of death.
"That's a catchy name!"
No one laughed except for him, nor did they bother to refrain from doing it either. "You want to know or not?" Subramanian asked aggressively, abruptly ending his laughing session.
Sadowsky nodded, understanding the situation and adapted to it immediately.
Subramanian continued once again, "Somewhere in 250 BCE, Emperor Ashoka discovered a secret so devastating that if revealed...It would alter the fate of the whole planet itself,"
He took a pause to give some time for Sadowsky to digest the brand new information.
"He foresaw Hell on Earth, and this Hell was brought here by none other than man himself. Driven mad by his own technology, he decided wipe out his enemies with a weapon of the Gods. A weapon so powerful that it had been banished by the council. But it was of no use."
Sadowsky came back to his senses, "as I said before: I don't believe in fairy tales."
His captor drew a short breathe, "Fine, I won't-"
Nicholas, the driver slumped in his seat, lifeless. His face smothered in a crimson stain. A bullet had found its mark.
Mohammed, who was in the passenger's seat quickly jumped into action. He swung his foot down on Nicholas, striking the lifeless butler off the SUV and underneath the crushing force of the wheels. None of them could even bare to look at the remains. Out of curiosity, Sadowsky took look back; a raw lump of meat lay on the road. It looked as if it had come straight from the butcher's shop. He felt sick.
A brief moment later, several cars were on their tail, they had been exposed. Subramanian was barking orders every few seconds; Giggs was fidgeting with the phone while Mohammed was frantically steering the SUV. It was total chaos.
Inside Sadowsky, felt a feeling of hope. These people were finally going down. But something still didn't feel right. Something Subramanian had said about Hell on earth.
He must have been joking.
Giggs concluded the silence with a simple but strong word, "Shit!"
All eyes were on him, "What?!" demanded Subramanian.
Giggs gulped, "they froze the jet,"
"Goddamn!" cursed Subramanian out loud. Everybody just stood silent; no one had ever seen the ferocious side of him before. It was as if seeing a whole new person. But after one point, he was going to blow it, this was it.
* * *