The Shiva Objective by David Sakmyster Read Free Book Online

the game to the lucky chance of who was the faster draw. 
    But he had no other choice.  He had to try to distract her long enough to somehow come out of this alive.
    -And hunt another day.
    "Congratulations," he said to the shadows.  "You've exceeded my hopes.  But-"
    The darkness parted and a much larger-than-expected figure emerged, completely taking Davarius by surprise.  All at once, his hopes were crushed.  And then he realized what was in that office building two blocks away.  A minor detail, something he hadn't cared about at the time.  The basement – where they've been keeping the children, the boy and the girl.
    "You?" he whispered to the figure pulling free from the shadows.
    Rakesh brought something to his lips and Davarius had a millisecond to cry out – but then the feathered dart flew across the room and plunged into his neck.
    And the world faded into black.
    #
    He awoke to a revolting smell, cringing and fighting the rising tide of bile at the back of his throat.
    No, no… not here. Davarius got to his knees, looking helplessly about the garbage-strewn alley, cramped between ramshackle tenements with clothes hanging on lines above him.  The day was already sweltering, the air oppressive.
    He looked down at himself.  Nothing.  He was dressed just in khakis, a t-shirt and shoes. 
    Nothing but the clothes on my back.  And out there – a city full of shadowy hunters, waiting to see how I'll do.
    I'm in my own game, he thought as he struggled to his feet.  How far would he get?  He knew the rules, knew the tactics of the hunters.  Knew all the places to hide, to get weapons.  The people to seek out. I can do this, I can-
    But then he noticed the quarter-sized red dot bouncing over his heart.  He looked up, past the white sheets and black jilbabs swaying on the clotheslines, to the distant high-rise apartment roof, where he saw the sun reflecting off a sniper-rifle's scope. 
    Now that's not very sporting at all…
    He started to run.
    But never took a step.
     

NINE
    After wiping it clean of prints, Nina set down the sniper rifle, then stood and straightened out her sleek red dress.  She slipped back into her expensive sandals, stretched her toes, and then turned and nodded her thanks to the large man behind her, back near the stairwell.  Rakesh smiled, hugging the children wrapped around his tree-trunk sized legs.  Moments later they were gone, through the door and out of sight.
    She closed her eyes, and for just a moment, relived the cathartic moment in that basement a few hours ago, when she had burst in on the captors, the two men guarding Rakesh's children.  She had taken great delight in ending their lives before going to the locked room, rescuing the boy and girl and getting to know them a little before using her new phone to send a JPEG of their smiling faces to the phone she had given Rakesh.
    Now she used her phone to dial a different number.  She turned her face east, to feel the warmth of the sun rising over the sprawling jumble of rooftops.  On the second ring, a man's voice answered.
    "Yes?"
    "Waxman.  It's me.  My business here is done."
    "Was it… as we foresaw?"
    Nina turned her attention to the Taj Mahal, basking in a transcendent reddish-purple glow.  "More or less."             
    "I see."
    "Oh, I also learned what happened to the one you hoped to recruit."
    "And-?"
              "And I avenged him."
    "Ah.  Well then, come back as soon as you can.  We have a new objective."
    Nina hung up. She closed her eyes and the image of the Taj Mahal remained behind, mysterious and elusive – as if it had many secrets left to reveal, ones it had successfully kept from even the best of seers.  She sighed and opened her eyes to gaze at the distant mausoleum.  The palace.  The temple. 
    And she bowed her head.
    Perhaps another time.
    END