from the house of the peregrine

8/11/2019 From the House of the Peregrine

1/36

rom the House of The Peregrine

Chapter 1

Avina looked around the room. She could not have wished for a better or a

happier life .On the occasion of her 44th b'day , friends and family around her......her two children Aruna , all of of 20 and Isadora all of 19,named after

their maternal and paternal grand mothers respectively ..both at college on the

West Coast ...come home for her b'day....an occasion that come what may they

had always celebrated as a family....their choice from the beginning ..Shelooked across the room at Dr Nikolas Alexios ,the sixth generation American ,of

Greek origin she had married ,what seemed a lifetime ago now ,21 years back.

Greeks who had immersed themselves in American culture ,except when it

came to their names ,which they would never shift away from......Hellenic ,theywould stay .....a family of boat builders by ancestry who had found a home in

the new world near the town of Bath ,in Maine .....Nick,now 46,was the first in

the family who had taken anything outside of it as a career......and in fact he had

made a brilliant job of it ....an outstanding geneticist ,an acknowledged name inthe field ,all round the world

Avina thought to herself, Nick,quite the charmer still.....he still is a huge draw

with the girls....she smiled....catching her eye ,he smiled back.....then winked

...looking into her eyes...he had always loved them......and yes,he had an eye for

beauty and she let him have it...she knew he was very devoted to her and a very

loving father...would never do anything that would hurt her....and she thought to

herself---also depended on what one allowed self to be hurt by ...


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Been a pillar too .Helped ,understood as had the children, the demands of herwork...the sudden travel...the periods of absence ......all that went with it

She thought of her parents suddenly, both Doctors, dad at 71 and mom at 69 but

looking at them nobody would ever say they were a day more than their midforties at most....same energy, same youthfulness.......still ran their

hospital....still worked hard at providing great Medicare support and also its

commercial viability...not to mention the flourish Medicare equipment company

and the sports goods company they owned too...with products being marketed

around the globe.....

Parents who were easy and comfy to be with. .....Who even know, though only

child did not try to get into her space ...wanting her to keep in touch just about

every day.......a call or two in a month ......a catch up ......an yearly visit or theycoming over here ......folks who knew either way they would be there for one

another ....folks who had a life of their own and understood that she had one of

her own too...

Dr Prakash Ravindran and Dr Aruna Ravindran............a couple who had fallenin love way back 50 odd years back, she in her first year of Med School and he

in his third ....married, raised their only child, become great doctors, built up a

flourishing business centered around Medicare without wealth compromising

service ......and in the process, that rare thing ---------accumulation of huge

wealth without letting societal ethics go down the tube

And brought up their only child, Avina, who after an education in India and

Europe was now settled down with her husband, A doctor again,in Maine....and

what a daughter ...a free lancing photographer and investigative journalist , awinner of many awards who had featured in almost all the major magazines

and newspapers in the English speaking world...plus had her photographs and

her columns translated in others .....And two delightful grand children.....not to

mention an absolutely warm and charming son in law.....

A daughter who precisely at that moment was playfully evading the hands of

Ralph , who was pretending to grab her derriere as they danced ......party in full

swing.....her best friend Ralph .....a bit of a rascal but a nice rascal she thought

.....someone who she knew behind his dare a minute ,kicking up havoc ,havingfun exterior was actually quite a deep ,introspective ,sensitive and kind

person.......been friends longer than the marriage...from her years at Columbia

when doing her Masters ......was in this part of the country ,just for a few days

on a brief break...coinciding with her holiday....... a pillar of strength over the

years ...the one she confided her deepest fears and darkest anxieties to...the onewho would listen...understand..never chide but tell her straight either way.....


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Ralph Mc Cormack, famous travel and wild life photographer ...though the

fame was under the pseudonym of Mark Clouds .....one who lived life with a

joie de vivre......loads of panache...squeezing every ounce of joy from each

moment.....who when travelling through the Arabian sands got a beautiful escortfrom Dubai to be with him all of the three weeks, did the same when in the

Jungles of Bali -----Djakarta being the source ...and the same when wandering

around the Andes , with a girl from Caracas in Venezuela....

Well the party wound to a close a little after 12,the day after her birthday.....as is

always the case ,three or four very close friends staying behind...continuing the

banter.....albeit more softly...more privately...Ralph being one of them

.....cutting the breeze....telling stories ......

Ralph was on one of his travel tales ....and this time around it was about three

different girls who had met on three different continents,far from each other

.......him not mentioning one to the other for he had no reason too...discovering

that all the three had identical small tattoos in the same place ...curious he had

thought .........Ming, Kalinda, Nadine

A peregrine in green ink with two little red rings around each leg...tattoo just

below the hip and at the top right of the left cheek of the derriere......almost like

members of the same secret ....a lodge of some sort .Well, as a journalist his

mind had perked up...though he was a wildlife and travel one only but then havenot given it much thought, given that he had been racing against time to

complete some highly time bound and hugely remunerative assignments.....but

he had them filed in his anecdotal archive ...

Just one more thing that had struck him as curious......these were liaisons...not

relationships......and given the nature of both their professions not likely to be

hugely garrulous on a personal level......yet when they used to sit on the hotel

balconies, have a drink late at night, soft music playing in the rooms....while

they could and did talk about life today, all three in some fashion or the other,came across being very hazy about early days.....

.maybe it was just a natural reticence, with the need to maintain a distance and

reserve as their professions dictated ...his experience till then had that peoplewherever they came from, let slip something or the other about

childhood...growing up...especially if some time had been spent together

,whatever be the nature of their profession....did they genuinely not

recollect.....and 3 different people...with the same tattoo at that


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Avina smiled ....Ralph's travel tales ...he had a way about him...his stories heldpeople spell bound...thus the night sped ....till it was time to leave or turn in,

depending on who was staying over in their sprawling home or who was leaving

for their respective hotels or homes .......

The next day she was finishing an assignment she was on...typing, editing, tying

the last knots together of something she was filing...finished...and day after she

was travelling to NY ......flying out with Ralph.....from where she would beheading out to a meeting with an editor while he travelled to his home in the

country..A sprawling farmhouse near Cooperstown...about 4 hours from NYC

by the NY State 28....a quaint, charming town.....a welcome month's

break..Fishing and camping and drinking bourbon on the rocks.......

On the flight, for some strange reason, Ralphs story kept coming back to her

mind...refused to let go...maybe it was because she was the mother of two

beautiful daughters...those girls would have been just a few years older than the

eldest one she thought ...she somehow felt sad......and her mind went back to herchildhood...in Madras, that brand old city that revelled in its simplicity

A family of 3...well knit....parents who were affluent....lovely people...who

never made her feel the want of anything...yet took care not to spoilher....vacations in countries around the world...business trips of theirs eitheraround country or abroad when they left her behind for a few days .....In Akhila

Aunty's home ......her mother's only sister...younger sister and two children,a

boy and a girl....both younger to her ...idyllic times .

By the end of the flight, she had made up her mind...she had a month on her that

she had planned to use to just unwind.....she had decided not to and as they

disembarked, she told Ralph, "hey Raf, will call you tomorrow ...have

something to talk to you


5/36

Chapter 2

So she did...her instincts told her there was a major story here ....yes, it could be

a wild goose chase ...a tale of chasing a peregrine on three tails...but so be

it...she had not mentioned anything to her family .......a rule she had made rightat the beginning of her career...she would not expose them to any danger cos of

her profession...the less they knew or anyone knew all the better...so only Ralph

was privy

As far as they knew, mama avi to the two of them and just avi as nick called her

was off chasing the truth somewhere on something...this time in Dubai......and

having convinced Ralph that she needed just one week of his time, they found

themselves in Dubai......after the week, he would head back while she would

carry on as long as it took., within reasonable time of course ...

" Paid for R & R ,What else do you need ,you bozo " as she told Ralph,

playfully punching his arm as they began their descent at Dubai airport...later as

planned ,they checked into separate hotels though within walking distance of

one another but keeping in touch only over the phone and the net ....

Same agency.......and Nadine...in the deserts... shooting desert wild

life...moonlight and the stillness of the desert nights ....rolling sand dunes and

silhouettes .......Arabic nights ......the tattoo and the tale ....this time ,no

assignment on hand but one that he had invented as cover, he found plenty oftime to talk .....gently listen...without her realizing get her to talk more......get an

idea of life and where she came from...deep inside he wondered whether he was

exploiting a trust he was cultivating...but waved it aside...nothing would hurt

her...and if there was something in it that helped Avina, whatever she came upwith would help her and maybe many others like her ......

Plenty Sambucah, Glemorangie and Captain Morgan's after ,a few nights later

,just two days before he was to leave ,he had kind of gotten one name to go by

......one which she in the aftermath or the morning after had no idea ofrecounting .......of a town called Benchalak in Thailand...nothing more, nothing

else.....and he got the strange feeling that even if he had pushed and she had

wanted to talk, she could not have told him anything more........she seemed to

repeat the name in a manner that bespoke a cloudy haze ...like some part ofmemory that was not meant to be there .....but somehow had stayed back

somehow...... .....even if some agency had used Scopalamine, the truth serum on

her...he would bet his bottom dollar that it was not in her...almost like a memory

swipe .....Scared him a bit


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From the net he tracked the place .........maybe about four hundred and fiftymiles to the north east of Bangkok...more east than north, in the province of

Sisaket ...close to the borders with Cambodia

By now,this had Raf hooked too......investigative journalist or not, hisjournalistic nose twitched.......and now one could not have pushed him out by a

juggernaut ...he was in it.......Avi welcomed it .......Next step

Bangkok........seemed the logical one .......by now both of them were aware that

this could be a dangerous path they were on....murky waters ......And for Avi

,the presence of Raf suddenly made her more assured...feel safer .

Chapter 3

They were met at the Suvarnabhumi Airport by Somsri Willapana .....nee Somto his good friends ,which they were ...going back in time ...a fellow

journalist.....and a very good one at that ........a war correspondent......used to

danger...shrapnel, gunfire, snipers, claymore mines and more ........

Close to seventeen years, Som had been a part of their world and over time avery good friend.....someone whose integrity was beyond doubt...someone they

could trust hugely....Moreover he was someone who could get things done in

most parts of the world...more so in his home stretch ....

He came from a family that was part of the royal family......educated atYale.......and then the rebel in him had taken over....while he was still closely

connected, he chose to lead his own life .....quite often with the wind under his

wings ......married to a French chef Jeanne , a very petite woman.....and they had

two children......both studying in France staying with their maternal grandparents

Settled in at the hotel they were staying, the Banyan Tree and over a meal -Kai

Rom Khwan, Pla Sam Rot,Tom yum saep, Mu Manao Khao Soi and plain rice

.....Topped off with Khanom Khrok as dessert in one of its beautiful restaurants,they slowly brought him up to speed .......a story that could be a hell raiser

possibly hidden in the recesses of Thailand .......

He was in from the word go......and it was his fertile mind that came up with athought .........the courier traffic ........they had to start somewhere ......his elder

brother who he was very thick with was the Country manager of the leading

international courier brand in the country....records could reveal a lot.......and he

had access to traffic of various others...business espionage maybe...


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The records revealed one place in Benchalak.......when they checked forschools,hospitals,societies ......it was to a place called Colors of the Earth

,registered as a residential community .....and on checking further ,they realised

most of its courier traffic was in bound.....and more than what would be

considered a normal pattern from one place called the Gentle BlossomsMedicorp located near Loei,the mountain city ,about 7 hours away from

Bangkok,sparsely populated province bordering Laos........a triangle ...from

there to Benchalak being just about the same distance...just a bit more ....

Maybe Gentle Blossoms would be a good enough place to start as any.....They

decided they would split up ......Som and Avina going in ahead ..........visiting

some of Som's family and friends in that part of the world....and Avi along as

friend ,using the opportunity to see that part of the world

Raf would follow a couple of days later ......checking in at another hotel

.......Phu Luang Wildlife sanctuary being his reason for being there .....but as a

wild life specialist with a serious interest in photography as a hobby

And after Loei they would take a break....about a month .....over the years Avihad learnt to do this......however discreet they had been,even if by chance

someone had woken up to their curiosity,allay it by breaking it up ....go

home...albeit separate ways ...resume after a month or so.Also would get them

time to step back and think.Put things in order...document whatever they had

got.....ensure they could reach proper sources if by chance they werecompromised...something did happen......eventualities their profession had

taught them .

In Loei ,they took residence in a lovely 2 bed room apartment ,with a cook andhandyman in place ,courtesy Som's connections.....Raf followed a couple of

days later checking into the Palace Hotel,about a mile and a half away....no

contact between them while here.....only through the net-Skype and otherwise

and phone ,sparingly used .....


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Chapter 4

They had cased the town by the time Raf got in.....never going near Blossoms

except once, just in passing...more like folks travelling out of town, looking

around....essentially lazily enjoying the place kind of folks .....visiting somefamily.....some old friends...gathering information subtly ....funnily enough

there was not much known about SBM......Sacred Blossoms Medicorp.......a

close knit community......seemed a very high science environment.......lot of

very well dressed people ,from all over the world seemed to be visitors

......none staying outside ....always inside the facility ...but they did come out

......maybe to take in a bit of the local color......but always in groups......and

seemingly under escort.......minders ...

About 1500 acres was the estimation....very well patrolled if one were to go bythe very efficient security presence at the gates .......seemed very wooded

.......and yes no one working there from around Loei....even the cleaners seemed

to be from other distant parts of the country or from abroad....and they all kept

to themselves....seemed very well equipped to be a quiet ,self servingcommunity of its own.......since had been established 30 odd years back,

curiosity had slowly drained out......and now no one bothered ...in the early days

,the Military also seemed to have been fairly instrumental in ensuring curiosity

was quelled ...

So people assumed Government.....or a top classified facility of some sort.....and

no one really wanted to get into any kind of trouble anyway......the wrong side

of authority was not exactly the place most people wanted to be


9/36

The one thing that struck them ,was none of the visitors seemed older than midthirties......and all very attractive...be it man or woman......and a plethora of

colors and cultures .....very curious.....

But beyond this, over the course of more than a week nothing seemed to turnup...that was ok ...but what worried them was that their journalistic instincts told

them that this way nothing would......too closed...very fine knit operation

whatever it was .....and had become so well calibrated over years of

operation...nothing they could get further ....

Raf meanwhile was every inch the wild life photographer he was ......visits to

the reserves...the forests .....punctuated to the night time visits to the dives...that

was his role....coming in the other way.....find out whatever he could from the

seamier side of life....the underbelly of Loei......and from the looks of it,he didnot seem to be making much progress either ......

It was then they decided they would head back as planned...step

back,think....figure out a way....resume after a month....Raf meanwhile would

spend a few days more and then take a call......

Chapter 5

Back home, a month's R & R on the anvil,she started writing her own take on

things till now .....even as Som did......all three of them keeping in touch by thenet......Som and she keeping in touch every day on phone.....his day,her night

.......

And then about ten days later ,just a quick cryptic message from Raf.....'have hitthe jackpot '.....and that brought elation and hope.....without knowing know his

message said it all...he had definitely found a way in to part the veil of

secrecy....the thick curtains that hung over the windows to the

organization.....and his tone was definitive....and he was too seasoned a

professional to do so unless very sure

A fortnight later ,he was home and dry......and they met at Raf's home.....With

Som also by previous arrangement flown in......and they couldn't wait to hear

from Raf.....

A very ,very lucky break ,they realised when he started talking.......it was just a

matter of various elements coming together for precisely a few minutes....pure

luck...maybe destiny .....a little after they had left, Raf with his both his

photographic and camping gear for the outdoors slung into the Jeep Wrangler hehad hired for the duration of his stay ,was up at the crack of dawn headed


10/36

out...to the reserve....even as it was cover, he also took the photographyseriously....might as well combine both when he could ...

About 5 miles out of town ,on a stretch very heavily wooded both sides of the

road and no in habitation , both ways for quite a long distance ...low on phoneconnectivity ...he came upon a Land Rover......holiday luggage ......and a very

attractive ,very efficient looking lady.....trying to figure out what was wrong

with her car.....and not being able to really find out what it was ....and had been

at it for quite sometime, given the puzzlement, the sweat and look of frustration

on her face .....

A snug pair of jeans encasing a rather tall frame, lovely checked shirt, a soft

jacket draped casually and trekkers on her feet...very pretty and Eurasian by the

look of it ....mid thirties ...and thus it was that Dr Mai Barbeau, walked in or

rather dropped into his life...a stroke born of luck, desperation and a very

truculent automobile ....and not something he immediately knew......just another

person on the road ---a fellow traveller needing help

He stopped.....there was initial hesitation on her part......but guess the position

she was in forced her to throw the caution away.....or maybe she was on the

verge of being tired of being guarded all the while.....he tried his luck with the

car too...no way........he couldn't figure it out either.....as he said finally to atrained mechanic may turn out to be something very small.....or maybe

something that required serious attention..

Whatever it was, she was stuck.....she was headed for a break..around ten days

...in the mountains around the reserve ......a lodge ......another 30 miles away

but given the road ,driving conditions took close to 2 hours -----with wild life

crossings etc .....

Seeing that he was headed that way, he offered her a lift.....she locked the car

securely and guess with its SBM license plates which he had noticed after a

while,no one would dare anything . Mutual introductions happened.....she was

so and so.....worked in the SBM.......from Lyons in France---mixed french-

Vietnamese ancestry ,he guessed .....he introduced himself too and casually

gave his cover story on why he was there .....quietly ,thinking fast on his feet he

also said that he was travelling to the mountains too......he was going to the

mountains too...camping ....and later the reserve ........


11/36

Quiet enough drive...but slowly he drew her out...maybe his natural easy to be

with attitude.....the nature of what he was doing ---or just that she wanted to

talk...speak.....let down her hair......maybe it was a feeling of wanting to let

go...conscience ....wanting to make a choice ......but not a word about what shedid...a bit of growing up......education in France , Sweden and finally at

Stanford.......21 years of working at SBM......very senior...that explained the un

escorted break....

Yes a French passport holder ,with a French dad and Vietnamese mother

.....one hugely disastrous short lived marriage in between Sweden and Stanford

. Had lost her mother when she was 13, father had remarried when she was

16.....her education funded by a trust fund set up by her mother who had been of

very wealthy lineage.......dad dropping out of sight and out of her life with his

Brazilian wife when she was 20...probably was settled in some beach house in

some place like Sao Paulo for all she knew or now cared .

One of the two Resident Directors at the facility...he quickly revised his age

estimate...though she looked her early mid thirties must be in her early forties to

early mid forties he thought....unmarried ......divorced after a marriage for two

years at the early age of 21....went downhill....and ever since had dedicated

herself to a life of science ....She was curious about him in her ownway...subtle,nothing to suggest forwardness .......and he gave her a brief idea

about himself..well,two could play the game ,he thought

Turning a curve ,he happened to glance at her.....and that look of hers at that

moment...completely defenses down....he suddenly realised was like that of lost

child...intuitively,he felt that she was at some kind of emotional fork in her

mind...a cross roads ....owards mid morn , they arrived close to her lodge .......a

beautiful,quaint little villa of bamboo and wood ----stood discreetly under asmall grove of lush trees on a hill side.....not too far up

They parked the vehicle ...and he helped her unload her gear ......later he would

drive a little away and park.....set up camp not too far from the lodge

....someplace that offered him a clear view from a hidden angle ........looked like

she was staying alone......must be equipped with cooking facilities...the

villa....and she must have gotten essential supplies along ...At the door they

shook hands, parted ,smiles exchanged...not strangers anymore but not friends


12/36


13/36

further up...if you are around would you like to have lunch together at the lodge

......will slap up something .....also have some wine in the chiller .....say around

2 .30 if that is not too late for you

Sounds like an idea he said...maybe he could get some freshly caught fish ,

grilled and get along some cheese and stuff.....and thus it was .....lunch was very

pleasant....nice conversation...a little music .......and it went on .......it was

almost dusk when he left .....fireflies and cicadas making their presence felt.

That night as he sat by the fire he had made,looking out into the night , listening

to its sounds,camera in his hands just in case ,night light set,she dropped

by....wearing a simple cotton skirt....floral in white and gentle blue......a light

bare sleeved maroon top....fetching picture...hair down...burnished gold....as

she sat silhouetted against the fire.....

She was the enemy,as far as Raf was concerned,until proved otherwise...not let

down his guard ....but for some strange reason he felt a little sad......something

in her face.....a child like innocence ....a vulnerability. The thought of exploiting

that made him feel a bit underhand.....but he quelled such thoughts

.....consenting adults if it happened ......and yes,in the process if it provided him

the means to be part of exposing something that was possibly harmful tohumanity,it more than made up for it...self justification maybe .....

Half a bottle of Riesling that had lain cooling in the creek,grilled catfish

marinated with herbs,chunky bread and butter to go with it.....and some strong

black coffee he made over the fire...conversation.....and him strumming and

singing classic James Taylor...Neil Young......magical time...drawing to a close

around midnight .....as he walked her back to the lodge...pecking him on the

cheek to say goodnight .......

A soft smile played over his face as he thought about her......before turning over

to go to sleep....a revolver by

his bed side.....land of the wild...it paid to have a glowing fore outside and a

firearm by the side lest some large cat decided to wander in and nestle up

close...warm bedding on offer ...

At this point of the recount ,for he was a real photo journalist Som grinnedsuddenly and said in a very imitation plum in the mouth upper crust British


14/36

accent ,with a chuckle ' Regular Toff Our Ralph is becoming isn't he , Avi ?Blooming Casanova Orf the Orient

Avi chuckled,punched her pal for years ,on the arm and playfully said "

yeah,regular Honey trap he is becoming......Honey Raf...." and they would notknow it then,but from on ,and as time passed by ,they would be calling him that

for a long time.....like a private joke between the three of them.....sometimes a

nickname in jest ,has a habit of taking a life of its own...

And they took a little break......while they were eager to know more...now that

they had gotten onto something they were also seasoned enough to know that

now an hour or two or even a day or more would not make a big difference

......And by now they had sensed that the final point or the one that needed

taking apart was the Gentle arm of the Blossoms.....Benchalak

Som made a few calls back home ...via conduits.....cut outs who could ensure

that nothing was traceable back to him ----getting a fair sized network

going.....starting an information gathering onslaught ....around Benchalak

area....and everything discreetly........subtly.....and only through highly trustedsources .....yes, something could turn up......

As they pottered around the large farmhouse kitchen,with the easy familiarity

and comfort of long time friends slapping up dinner ,Avi caught Raf looking

out of the window,lost in thought...a softness playing over his face.....and withinfinite tenderness it suddenly struck her that there were really soft emotions at

play within him...hit her like a thunderbolt......in the excitement of the chase

both Som and she had forgotten the human in Raf....he must have been under

terrific stress......and she sensed that it had less of seduction and more ofromance.....and romance that had the heart in it.

She also knew that the professional he was, Raf would button it down and do

whatever he had to...what he felt was right for the world at large...her heart went

out to him.....she turned away...not wanting him to know that sheknew,instinctively felt it.......

It had been as though Mai had been waiting to open out...talk ....maybe was

catharsis......or just wanting to get it off her chest......maybe subconsciously

wanted exposure ...Anyway it all poured out ----not at one go though .....in

installments.....kind of like wanting to go far but not no further....yet not being

able to stop once she started......almost like she was confessing ...the Catholic

she was .....and he was the Priest listening to her confession


15/36

And he realized, how much of a break it was...pure luck.....how else could he

explain , such a meeting as had happened between them .......pure

providence......just fate ---Yes,a girl woman still,brilliant,pretty,yet emotionally

lost and to a large extent someone who had been let down by one too many

people

When she had so eagerly joined up all those years back., it was all the

excitement of cutting edge genetic research that was happening......what the

organization had been doing for more than 3 decades ...though none of it

figured anywhere in the public domain......told to her by her recruiters from

SBM in her final year in Stanford.,.....a discreet meeting they had set up ,as

though by accident,,,,without her knowing...discreetly done ....with sufficient

and in depth NDC's also in place to ensure it was kept completely

confidential.....a very generous paycheck on offer.....and it had seemed like a

dream come true .....

And she had been caught up in the excitement of it all......about a year from

when she had joined...they had started an initiative called Gift of a Child ......a

division that got abbreviated to GOAC........in the years that followed ,men and

women from all over the world,handpicked after intensive work and based on

rigorous parameters .....slowly started travelling in .....very well

remunerated...very well looked after ...their only purpose......to be donors

......fresh.......

And then hired out wombs......women again carefully chosen from the rural

backdrops of Laos ,Vietnam, Cambodia brought in through a mountain path in

covered heavy duty vehicles...through a secret entrance at the back.....that no

one else was aware of ...but only SBM ......and each woman who came in was

very well looked after...handsomely paid.....carry the child in the womb

...deliver.....and look after the child till the age of 3.....and then they were sent

back.......


16/36

Designer babies......and people from all over the world...childless couples

....who could decide the kind of child they wanted...the racial mix.....At that time

it had not disturbed her...yes,while the social ethics of such activities were beingquestioned by some all over the globe,to an young researcher like her , it had

seemed like resistance born out of ignorance towards the advancement of

science ......she had believed in all sincerity ...And it was about helping people

have children

A year later , when the babies started getting segregated by gender ,she gave it

no further thought....only the male babies being adopted here......while all the

girl babies were to be handled by a client organization----and they were to

handle the adoption .......located out of a city to the South....

She gave it no further thought ....the management's official line carried no

sinister tones in her mind ....and thus had begun the segregation.....and thrice in

a year, very polite, well mannered professionals arrived in well equipped,

highly sophisticated transport to take charge of the handover...polite but

discreet...kept to themselves in a very harmless way.......and never stayed for

more than a few hours....

And the security ......its norms of privacy....etc had not bothered her .......her

world had become this.....she in fact had welcomed the privacy.....no prying

eyes, no local curiosity...no incidents...peace and serenity...helped in her

work....

He could understand where she was coming from, in a different way. Many a

time he had seen the big felines...wolves...lions hunt down their prey.......lookingat them through his lenses.....as they sprinted.....closing down the distance, the

angles......he had many a time admired the litheness, the grace...marvelled at

the precision of the final leap.....as far as he was concerned ,he was

creating...capturing the beauty of those moments on film....his craft.......and only

if he sat back ,thought later would he have felt the desperation, the agony of the

deer..The zebra............ And if anyone had told him he was cruel...he would have

snapped back--FO, Am not making it happen.....am capturing it for posterity....


17/36

And this had gone on for years...she had become a very trusted member of the

organization...grown to become a resident director......reporting straight to the

top most hierarchy....and it would have continued that way......if not for a verychance incident that happened about 6 months back....

An occasion of a visit by the Client team.....They had come in late eve.....staying

over ...scheduled to drive back at the crack of dawn.....staying in the guest

bungalow which bordered the main lab in the large building about a mile from

the gate ....it was about 9 pm.....she had finished her dinner.....wanting to put do

some work from home .....an analytic note ....when she realised that that she

had left her little journal note pad on which she scrawled .rough thoughts back

in the office

A walk would do her good she decided....half a mile either way......A Saturday

night........everything was dark and silent.....deserted main building as she could

see from about 200 yards away.....the approach path skirted the guest

house...almost touching it......as she quietly passed by, she noticed the windows

were a little open...letting the night breeze in...tow of them with their backs to

the window were sitting watching a large screen television mounted on the

wall....hooked o to a laptop.....a child was on the screen.......3 year oldMirabelle----part Turkish-Part Spanish she quickly saw......a beautiful child

.....must be going over the children being shifted out tomorrow she thought

Just as she was clear of the window ,maybe an arm's length.....she heard one of

them saying...clear in the silence of a balmy night....and they would not have

thought anyone was around " She is gorgeous......let her turn 18.....and by

today's dollar,fetch at least 3 million from some private collector in Dubai or

Tangiers......"

She almost paused...went back and asked " what do you mean ?".........like a

cold fist in her stomach.......a little distance more...and she realised she

suddenly did not feel like going to the lab anymore...headed back but by a

slightly different path ....


18/36

That night she did not sleep till the wee hours of the morning...mind in a state of

confusion...heart in a state of sorrow......sudden realisation that something was

very amiss... maybe it had been part of her subconscious for quite a while....suppressed triggers....refusing acknowledgement.......feelings of disloyalty

........suddenly coming to life......

With stunning clarity she realised that the baby girls were being created with

just one purpose in mind......And all of them were going to some kind of

grooming school for the flesh trade .....When they were in the teens......possibly

schooled in all the graces of it........predestined escorts, call girls.......and who

knew whether it was a client or SBM itself.....another GOAC initiative but of a

different genre..sadness, self loathing.......filling her heart .....But instinctively

she knew she had to be cautious....any awareness shown could be dangerous.....

She realised how lucky she had been.....with its intricate network of cameras,

ostensibly for security purposes or she had believed till then, her expression as

soon as she heard would have been caught on camera from the tree cams.....but

that was one of the blind spots.....there was a stretch of darkness on the path

there .....And she would not have been seen till she re emerged

And suddenly she realised one thing...something she had never given thought to

before......just about everyone at the facility was single...be it woman or

man.....broken marriages......dysfunctional families...no families...nobody with

any attachment outside.....immersing themselves in work......and it had always

been so...pieces started falling in place rapidly...once her mind opened

out....veils got lifted by her own self.....a very well orchestrated, well

planned endeavour on the whole.....And she realized that the security was as

much to keep the people in and in line as much as it was something thatdiscouraged prying eyes

This was where the steel in her had risen to the fore.....she had gone dead

pan...gave herself an outer limit of a year to get out....she knew by now that if

an operation of this magnitude was happening , with no disturbance ....very

discreetly ,there were very powerful forces at play here ....possibly

globally......she wondered whether there were any others who felt the way she

was feeling now...had anyone tried in the past...as far as she could recall notsince she had come here...how about before...and if they had what had


19/36

happened to them.....thoughts and queries that had never cropped up in her

before...she shuddered thinking of possible consequences ---and very discreetly

she started carrying her French passport and a few other papers with

her.....never knew when opportunity could present itself

This trip of hers was in fact part of the planning....a recce....casing........she had

another six months from now...maybe couple more trips......and then finally try

to head out....and if she got caught...she got caught .....And though she said it

with a very sweet smile,there was an air of finality in her voice when she said "

one way or the other,am getting out "...their eyes caught and held ......he felt

awfully sad suddenly.....and at that moment ,he realized that life could be very

strange....an avowed bachelor for life,he suddenly realized that she had come to

mean quite a bit to him....maybe it was the surreal atmosphere...whatever...but

as of now,right there and then,he felt it

She had talked long and hard two days before he was to leave...baring all...but

then after those two days,she just refused to go there..as though shy,feeling bad

about possibly dragging him into danger...or maybe a sense of impending

loss....he was due to travel back and head out the same day.....and she was

driving back straight...could not be seen together .....in fact most of their trysts

had been in the cover of darkness after that first day...during the day she was

out trekking while he wandered around ,took photographs......with the oddrunning into each other on the trail ....after 9 pm at night , she would walk down

through the trees ,following a path away from the back of the

lodge...approaching his tent from the other side ......lifting up the flap....and

same away back at about 4 am...

Precautionary...maybe not necessary..but lest there was observation...picking

up a stranded fellow traveler...a first day hospitable catch up over a meal or

two etc was ok but not an everyday thing...the first could be written as wanting

not to arouse any kind of suspicion or talk ....well,anyway,did not look likeobservation was in any way happening...she was far too

senior..committed..trusted...and maybe by now taken very much for granted

The night before they parted ,there was a bitter sweet poignancy...both of them

did not talk future...just before she left as usual way before dawn,she hugged

him close, while he kissed her and she said ' Meet you ,when we meet .If you are

anywhere here in the mext few months ,please ring me...will somehow manage

to slip out for a day or two'. He said " promise me you will not do anything in

haste......promise you ,will figure out a way to get you out ".


20/36

She looked up...nodding softly in affirmation.....and with a soft smile ,took out

something from her pocket ,went over to his shirt that hung on a peg ,put it into

its pocket....and with a gentle hand squeeze, a look from the opening of the flap,

she left...vanishing like a forest spirit into the dark.....he stood inside....lookingafter her for a while ...and then went over to look into his pocket...a phone

number and a mail id on a small indistinct piece of paper ...typed out...not

handwritten ....as simple as that

Chapter 7

So he was ,recounting ...at the end of his narrative deep into the night ,he took

out a pen drive and placed it in front of them.....and said " I managed to record

our conversations ...all of them without knowing.....and yes, for us to use .....not

at all feeling bad about having done it....it was essential...yes, I know it willharm her but the expose comes first in my book ...have titled them by date...all

the files in a single folder "

Avi knew her friend well enough to know that for him the exposure came first

but she was not as sure about his -I don't feel bad at all --- She knew he was sadand hurting inside...She just simply walked up to him and said " Raf, don't

worry....we will get her out...come what may "..

He nodded, then said albeit a little sadly 'whether we manage to do that or

not...or whether she gets out... could sense this strongly, she would want to bepunished for her role in the whole thing...a sense of loyalty in her.....her intent ,i

could feel is to expose .....And doubt she will be convinced into accepting

amnesty...that is how she is built

A bridge to be crossed when one came to it .....,. Just as Mai's mind had

leaped.....broken through, theirs did too, But on a much larger, surer scale. The

journalistic instinct. And they knew they had stumbled on to something truly

big. Probably global in its proportions.....

They were sure it was a place where children after creation were being trained

only for one purpose.....Like calves being fattened for the kill, Preposterous,

grotesque. If it was happening here, how many other places was it happening

too around the globe....The moneys involved would be huge. A global networkof creators, groomers, auctioneers and buyers ........And they were sure both

SBM and Gentle Blossoms in Benchalak were not different organisations...just

different heads of the same hydra......another division...


21/36

But how to prove all this......no international media house of repute would be

willing to touch it without hard facts......Meanwhile Avi and Som in an informal

tete a tete independent of Raf had very conclusively agreed that come what may

Mai would be kept out...they would not use the conversations secretly recordedby Raf.....

By now they had realised what she meant to Raf and knew that while he would

never have it otherwise as a fellow professional ,it would emotionally destroy

him...that was out...and anyway it was only conjecture on her part and at SBM

whatever they were doing ,wasn't exactly legally wrong...ethically yes......and if

they broke it with that,the news would not be damaging enough to bring to light

the true dirt.....and enough time then to cover tracks.....create false trails .....

They decided to take a break...a week.Disperse and meet again in about 8 days

in the farmhouse ....Avi had thought of speaking to Nick , see if he had by

chance heard of SBM etc given the field but she had held back...her self

imposed rule from early days itself, of not involving or talking about any

ongoing investigation to him or any family member,thus dragging them into anydanger was too deep set in her mind....she balked...and then let go of the thought

completely

She would spend the week at home and from there pursue setting up a media

house connect...someone she could trust implicitly..backed her up in thepast...would maintain absolute confidentiality.....and meanwhile also think of

how to move in further...Anyway Som's network was on the job,they would

have to wait and see ....Raf was to stay put...just unwind and relax...he deserved

it.....take his mind off

Back home, she took her mind off for a day or two before resuming again......on

the morning of the third day,while having a cup of coffee on the veranda-Nick

being away for the day,attending a convention ...back tomorrow- what a trail of

coincidences it had been but of such coincidences sometimes was born startlingnews that uncovered things that needed to be put an end...for the sake of

humanity

A very dear ole friend...a wild life photojournalist with an occasional penchantfor beautiful escorts on tough assignments.......a little tattoo............3 of them

......becoming a tale to be told at a gathering...a spirit of revelry over a few more

pegs.......an investigative journalistic nose twitch......an Land Rover breaking

down.......Mai......


22/36

Moment she thought of Mai.....coincidences, together ...something hit her like aflash. Excitement took over....something that was right under their noses

......Her mail id.....her number.......and in today's world of technology, maybe

when the real brick and mortar world was unyielding, impregnable maybe there

was a way in through the ether ........

Her next thought was of Alan Deng ---Dr Alan Deng......another long time

friend like Raf from student days ......her answer lay probably just under a

hour's drive away to the west from home...in the suburbs of Lewiston......where

after years of being an academic in the Lewiston campus of the University of

Southern Maine, Alan ,an umpteenth generation American of Chinese origin,

now ran a flourishing restaurant and the rest of the time, spent on the

computer......food and computers...two of his passions in life ........a hacker of no

mean ability...but only in fun...and one who had so very much helped her in oneor two financial and land deal exposes in the past.......

A call.....yes, he was in town....no, he had no other engagement that evening

......his daughters away at college on the West Coast as they were and wifey

gone for a fortnight to visit her mum in the San Gabriel valley area nearLA.....that evening around 4, she was headed over to Lewiston...hands on the

wheels of her Subaru Outback .....and Dan Fogelberg playing on the

stereo.....west to Brunswick and then north west to Lewiston....he had booked

her into a quaint little hotel in town for the night, walking distance from the

restaurant

As soon as she drove in, she headed for his restaurant....closed ---set to open at7 pm again for the day......cosy little office at the back...coffee and red bean

cake .....strange yet quite nice east meets west mode....after settling down, she

told him the whole story in a gist, leaving no major detail out.....she trusted him

as much as she did Raf and Som

He sat thoughtfully for a while...she did not want to push him...With Alan it hadalways been that way...very balanced...made up his own mind....weighed the


23/36

pros and cons quickly.....and it had to strike him as something important....andhe made up his own mind....After about ten minutes , he got up,offered more

coffee...took up his guitar that lay in the quiet zone as he called it...the farthest

corner from the door----and said " Hey ,Avi gal,how about singing some Simon

and Garfunkel together for old time's sake "

She smiled at that....they had done that a lot during younger days...both of them

having great voices ....and in his own subtle way,indicating 'Hey,Avi we are in

this together "........but she would wait for him to articulate it before she

assumed further......a man of few words ....except when he was teaching...when

he was like a dervish possessed

And thus they sang 'My little town ' followed by Bridge over Troubled waters

and then Homeward Bound......alternating between them on being Paul Simonor Art Garfunkel......female version though .....Avi. The only person who had

ever called her Avi gal...Alan. Finally he looked up slowly,put up his hand in a

quiet hi fi and said " Yo,Avi gal,lets do it "

She was elated...if it was there on the net,he would find it...such was hisskill.....a shot in the arm...a quartet now....that night over dinner , in the quietest

corner of his restaurant, they talked quietly....winter melon soup,rice with

steamed chicken,steamed scallops with ginger and garlic ,poached duck,plenty

of Chinese tea and shaved ice for dessert.....the food of Canton from where his

family had come from about a couple of centuries and a quarter before ---thelate 1800's......still preserving certain habits,customs...while yet having totally

become part of American mainstream.....

They both realised this was probably going to be the most dangerous of projectsthey had done together.....so no home base....untraceable.....needed a place in

another state....a little remote yet allowing great connectivity-access to the

world of the net ,telephony and satellites.....large.....wooded environments ,not

visible from the main road -----Pure precautions because the net was a double

edged sword....because if they set off any hidden alarm,they could just as easilybe tracked back,location pinpointed if there was a quality specialist at the other

end too...and then the possibility of a ground level team being sent in

And he needed a little time .....had to do it very carefully...step by step.....hastecould cause mistakes ...raise security alerts.....even if over the years they had

been present with no disclosure they might have gotten over confident and did

not closely monitor....

And he would get the equipment from home......also his little personalarmory.....incidentally he was crack shot....and close combat specialist too


24/36

having been a marine for 3 odd years in the services of thegovernment.....honourable discharge as he had taken a bullet through the

shoulder.......prior to joining college as a student...... Avi was a good shot

too....having taken to shooting---learning it as self protection once she set out on

her career...never knew when it would be needed

Needed to re plan she realised.....Next morning before driving back, having

breakfast with Alan at a little restaurant....she called up Raf and Som .....Raf

was a good friend of Alan's too while both Som & Alan had met a couple of

times earlier.....over a very casual call, simple phrases they rewrote the plan....

Avi would continue with work on the editorial contact, which she had already

done and along with Alan work out a place ....and get into the net mode. Raf

after a few days would leave for Bangkok and with Som would work out how toget Mai out......Som would in parallel continue to leverage his network for

information......4 weeks to the day she would land up in Bangkok if together

they had unearthed something.....no planning further as of the moment

Just before she left ,Alan with a whimsical smile said ' All because of a littleperegrine tattoo on the cheek isn't it...finally every little error even in the most

sound system boils down to a human error...here maybe one of ego...of wanting

to possess.....a perverse pleasure ...a perverse sense of possession

maybe.....bench marking quality ......From the House of the Peregrine- Sacred

Blossoms ....if not for it, probably there would not have been a tale for Raf torecount....what a funny world "

Chapter 8About four days later of intense networking and what seemed like a fewhundred calls, they managed to find just the kind of place they were looking

for....up for 6 months rental......owners having left the previous month, for a trip

around South America....having handed over the responsibility of renting it out

to their real estate agent.....Mt Vernon in Washington State, the other side of the

country...say ten miles away from Mt Vernon which was roughly equidistantbetween Seattle in the South and Vancouver in Canada to the north.....say about

60-70 miles either way .

Needed a fair degree of logistics management to get the equipment across butthey managed to.,....and thus the morning of the 9th day from when they had

last parted, Avi and Alan found themselves ensconced in the sprawling

house....a beautiful low slung building .....resting amidst woods but clear space

all around that ensured that there was no cover for any hidden approach....and to

top it all, looked like it had built in the sit of a much older one...had a hidden


25/36

tunnel .....concealed well......that residents of the house could use and come upabout 500 yards away ...a getaway

They had stocked up for a fortnight.....Avi called out of a new number she had

gotten here and so did Alan...new mobile phones...their current ones logged offand left at home .......Alan set to work...entering the world of

ewalls,encryption,pass words,one way encrypted passwords .

.....tough work.....took him a day before he could concretely establish they had

an online presence ....but hidden behind lots of firewalls......but he could sense

that it was all work done a few years back.....so much of on ground presence

with no breach......no net incursions....and a false sense of security and over

confidence .....it was just a matter of time ...

All their families knew were not to expect them back for a fortnight ......Nickwas used to this....a relationship built over so many years ,with mutual space

and understanding to pursue their careers,great love and trust.....and years of

experience based on previous assignments-the nature of her work . The children

were in college anyway and Nick easily played the role of mom and dad in one

when required to do so

As far as Alan went, Sue his wife was used to him...again a wonderful

relationship and in his case it was at most once a year or so......and Avi was her

friend too...trusted Avi no end.....and she knew that the last people who would

get up to anything together besides work was them.....if it anyone but Avi ,shewould have been queasy.......Alan was quite a charmer and he would not be too

much beyond a sparky romp if he met just that right kind of

person...intellectual and pretty.....

As she told him over the phone from her mother's place, with a raunchy sense of

humor she had " Al,my darling Chinaman, if you had been doing this trip with

anyone but Avi , would have served up a couple of meatballs with some spicy

red chilly sauce "

And yes he did it on the morning of the third day...hit the mother lode .....and

what is more tapped into their security camera system........an intricate network

all over the facility ......seemingly going into a central feed .....which was

supposed to be monitored ......yet over the years was not really 24/7.......theyalso had two years worth of archived film compressed and stored ...and Alan

had not set off any alarms


26/36

Though they had almost expected it...what they saw shocked them....made themwant to throw up in disgust......over the next two days...feeling like voyeurs...but

having to do it....storing on a back up drive as hard evidence stored in a soft

format they watched .....the gist of what they gleaned was this ....they haddumped the archives into a storage drive for later viewing after just a

perfunctory run through...preferring to observe the current

The children .....from three years upwards up till late teens.....growing up

together .......school in the community.......all teachers on campus......no

parents,no relatives ........just them .......on a large estate ......wooded .....and at

the foothills of the mountains as the perimeter cameras revealed ......and on one

side there was a River running ( checking out the area ,Avi discovered it was

probably the River Mun that fed into the Mekong ). A select band of about 20

teachers....all under 40......( maybe someday,they thought to themselves they

would discover how they got recruited,managed to stay put on

campus,retirement plans and confidentiality ......there would be truly well sewn

up systems in place,they were sure....)

......a place hidden in time....shrouded by mist and cloud ......sprawled under thecanopy of huge trees that dotted the landscape completely....about 2500 acres

by their estimation....a small town in itself .Home to an almost largely female

population inclusive of students,teachers and support personnel......in maybe 4 :

1 ratio.....and a plethora of cultures and races all over the world.....lot of inter

racial presence......and in two words ,one thing that tied them all together ....in

a physical sense stunningly beautiful or handsome ,depending on the gender

And the only parental or authority figures who were at the apex on site seemedto be Uncle Steve as he was called ,a kindly looking Caucasian man and his


27/36

wife , Huong ,a petite Vietnamese .who seemed to run the community ....the only

people in the whole community one could call elder......they had been here a

long time,Alan and Avi realised ....mid fifties----Uncle Steve and Huong Di nee

Aunt

. They realised that both of them were only employees ,though probably very

senior and hugely paid at that .The kingpins who owned it lived in the outside

world...probably anywhere in the globe .....probably driving in in hooded cars

....late evenings.....whisked away to inner sanctums...when the girls were not

allowed to be there .......only Steve ,Huong and maybe some very senior,trusted

staff .

Till the age of twelve ,it was the alphabet,interaction skills,dance

,music,culinary skills,art ,lands and cultures, history,books,yoga, aerobics

......everything pointing to social skills for tomorrow....At the age of about 13 till

the age of 18 , it was adult learning ........about pleasuring both women and

men..rituals and rites drawn from various cultures .............practical

demonstration and practice labs like one would find in any regular school on

regular school courses .......in addition to the teachers there was also about 10

support staff specifically for this.....

Avi and Alan,despite themselves , filled with loathing as they were ,could not

help but appreciate the thoroughness of the evil geniuses behind this place

.....and thankfully.,..one small thing....they did not seem to let the girls become

commercial playthings till they had reached the age of 18......

She burned the line -----Raf and Som......all she said was Bingo ! as had been

pre decided. One more day and they would be through here.....Raf and Som

were already together in Bangkok---another dozen odd days ,she would be there

.....with Alan if he wanted to travel....and then they could take it from there .....

Alan had enough of watching ....could not blame him......three days of intensive

work...and then two days and nights given very hugely variant time zones ,of

seeing things he did not want to...he wanted fresh air he said.....and afterbreakfast he said he would be in the outdoor but always within hearing

distance...just wrapped up a few sandwiches,a thermos full of coffee and he was

gone...

So she was left to her own devices for the day....they had booked themselves fortravel back to Maine from Seattle early morn on the coming day........gently she


28/36

eased into the tracking on the cams.....it was a little after ten a.m when she sawwhat she saw .....a little past midnight into the following day out there ......and it

froze her for a moment.......was like a blow to the solar plexus......

Her next thought was what will I tell my children ,when we break this ......howwill they take it.......now ,suddenly the full force of Mai's predicament hit

her....the moment of discovery...trust betrayed......she empathised huge....she

switched it off after a while...she needed to get away...she wanted to go home

....to the city of her birth....where she had always run to in periods of extreme

emotional turbulence...very rare but nevertheless been there.....and none more

so than now ...

She knew she had to keep a straight face,compose herself by the time Alan

came back...she was not ready to tell anyone yet......she had to decide whethershe wanted to in the first place.....all she wanted to do was a change in

plan...invent a plausible excuse......sudden call....someone close in family not

well at all...going home for a couple of days before getting back.....so that did

not want to disturb anything else

Alan bought it...he had no reason not to......as always she always had her travel

documents with her ,given the nature of her profession .....and she had a ten year

visa to India.....due to be renewed only after 5 years.....by now she was

composed....and the wan cast of her face could be put down to the harrowing

viewing over the past 3 days....and Alan was also the same...so Alan did notnotice anything...

Thus they flew,two different directions...both having a copy of all they had

stored from the net.....when she reached home from the airport...her folks

weren't there...travelling on work......and as always like in the past,she took her

key and went in......but unlike earlier times she had no time to waste...a timetable to keep...a drop in visit...so could not afford to wait for them.....and no

calling either.....why trouble them .....she walked straight into her own old

room...lay down on her bed...a good 3 hours....staring at the ceiling...lost in

thought...thought of calling Akhila aunty...but decided against it...let her visit beone of quietness and she was in no mood or frame of mind to cut the breeze...


29/36

Two days of stillness,quick hasty lunches and dinners if at all she felt like eating

..loads of filter coffee though,...she loved the coffee ...listening to her old

music...walking around home...taking in its old familiarity ......and then she wasout...airport...flying.....lot of serenity having come into her ....but no not going

back home yet...straight to Bangkok which was such a short distance

away.....and much to Raf & Som's surprise,she was there and ahead of schedule

by about 8-10 days

Chapter 9

She did not bother to explain anything...the trust between old friends.....no

questions asked...knew that some energy was diving her....she was coiledtaut....and she wanted to shift deadlines forward...Alan on the phone..he equally

surprised as they had been...and no hesitation, he wanted to be there...would be

there and by following evening he was ....

All of them staying at Som''s lovely home.....the small bungalow attached to hishouse...equipped to host stay in guests......Simple enough plan.......there had

been zilch the on ground network had been able to dig up..it was not necessary

anyway...and no surprise either....knowing how discreet and systematic the

organization was...and there must be huge pay offs...cover ups in place ....but

now where they could come to actual use was in escape route protection for Mai.

....

Raf and Som would start for Benchalak in 3 days time......Som had engineered a

completely new set of identity papers for Mai....absolutely masterpiece

class...tracks fully covered...she would become Genevieve Chan .......and they

would be carrying them when they traveled down to Benchalak


30/36

They would contact Mai on phone through a missed call on the 4th day....andthen wait up near the lodge as they had talked about before they last parted, Of

course she would not be aware of the portent of the visit....she would be

stepping out as a lover's rendezvous......maybe one more opportunity to case the

surrounding area before she made a run for it. Luckily,as had become her habitthough only a rendezvous,she would be carrying her papers ...that was enough

Yes ,there would be the emotional sensitivity and turbulence when she came to

know that Taf had cultivated her on a pretext...but that would be for another

day...way after she was whisked off to safety.....getting her away was more

important....As for the conflict in the heart ,it would have to be faced by Raf as

the pennies fell.

They would be camping a little away this time..in a different spot.....Avi hadwanted to go along...but the other three had persuaded her though with a lot of

resistance ,that the best way she could be help would be here.Regardless of

whatever happened out there,the team had to move on,break the

story...expose...more important than anything else...so she along with Alan to

stay back here .....

And the day they had got Mai out over the border to Cambodia ,by a small

hidden crossing over the mountain ranges that was not patrolled and one only

the locals knew. Her car would stay in front of the lodge and they would travel

by a Land Rover that would be kept hidden-undercover by Som and Raf

Mai who by now would be Genevieve would be carrying her papers which had

an authentic Cambodia entry visa stamp. So had Raf and Som .From the airport

at Pnom Penh before heading out to Munich on pre booked flights ,they wouldcall Avi and Alan ,just say Go.......the signal for the story in detail to be mailed

to the international news syndicate.....

When the story as pre arranged broke,they would be in the air and not

reachable.......and the organization would never catch on to Mai...they wouldassume whatever happened at the location , ( which was bound to happen if

everything went well ) had been observed by her and she had managed to

escape the net...flee...)

Both Raf and Gen would be holed up in Europe for a while ......near the Gallen

area in North Eastern Switzerland. After staying with them for about a

week,Som would head over to Bath to meet Avi and Alan ,before flying back to

Bangkok


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Avi and Alan within two hours of filing the story by mail would be bound forSan Francisco..via a long route ........effectively ensuring that all of them were

not reachable.......as much of planning as they could...yes ,in any plan,there

were bound to be something that could not be factored in......an external

environment issue that put a spanner in the works...they had to just cross theirfingers and hope

The only thing that would make them hold up was if Mai failed to respond to

the missed call..did not venture out...in which case they would hold up carrying

out the rest immediately.....meet back in Bangkok,re assess ,take stock and then

decide what to do.....

Chapter 10

It did happen. She did respond. With a minor glitch or two,it went off as

planned . The story did break out ,and when it did in the Western World,

Thailand was asleep or getting ready to sleep being ahead in time...well almost

all of Thailand except for the night life in Bangkok and other places which do

not see time......Sensation immediately.....Picked up all over....rode the airwaves

and the printed words....

So much of international pressure within a matter of hours...furious

international scrutiny.....Governments on the act...hot lines burning......General

Chanarong Praphasirirat ,the most incorruptible ,powerhouse general of the

Thai army,under direct orders from the King himself was asked to hand over the

Western region to his successor and his powers were stepped up to take charge

of the Northern ,Eastern,Southern regions.....


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Heavily armed troops under his command were swarming over both locations

and in the morning the inhabitants of both the communities found themselves

under Thai Army command...waking up to jackboots...rifles.....area cordoned

off....all escape attempts and routes blocked ...full and complete seizure .....andnow the law enforcement agencies across borders would take over...fig

back...uncover hidden trails.....as quickly as possible ,destry as much of the

tentacles .....

Chapter 11

Ten years from then, she stood looking out of the window.The first b'day of her

grand child ....Isadora's first child. She was married to a dentist ,who had comeover the old land for his education and now settled down and made a living here

.....Krishnan....Or Kris in the Americanized way. ....Bostonians now.

Aruna, her first born was not very hot on relationships,at least of a long standing

nature...she said they tied her down......she had taken after her father.......hadcontinued on from her under grad days .......study of genetic science ......was

well into her post doctorals......in Germany.......Avi smiled and thought to

herself ,with her sunny smile,nonchalant,drop dead good looks,she was sure

there were many European men wanting to take up genetic research on

campus...

Isadora was a doctor too.....not many people at the little gathering ...just a few

select friends and colleagues . Avi suddenly wished Nick had been

here.....together at their grand child's first b'day ...not to be....she had gottenused to it.....had become part and parcel of her life .....she could be dad and

mom rolled into one...life had taught her that

Beth, Isa's good friend and colleague, walked up to her and stood by the

window too.A very nice person.Genuine. She looked at Avi and said ' Lookingat you can see where lil Melba got her eyes from".....they stood talking for a few

minutes and then Avi excused herself,cos she needed to go up to her room

...wanted to get something from there

An excuse.....cos the mention of eyes had brought back memories...a sudden

sorrow she felt in her heart...not showing it.....she knew she ran the risk of

breaking down....she could feel tears welling up in the back of her eyes...she

needed to go away and compose herself...be by herself before coming back to

join the happy gathering


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Once in her room,she softly locked the door and gently lay face down on herbed......he had called her "my sweet little irish eyes " .....the blue oin

them...which she always attributed to some recessive jean in her family.......and

then that day ,that terrible day in that house they had rented...watching the cams

by herself when Alan had stepped out...

That moment,frozen in time now ,when she had seen the two people who she

had loved all her life....the Doctors Ravindran......in one of the conference

rooms...and no,they were not guests or clients....very much part of the

ownership structure...part of a cabal.......going by the conversation,the contents

of it...and the deference shown

Her world had come down around her shoulders......the least expected thing in

the world had happened....how could it be...but it was...maybe they had gotteninvolved without knowing...but later got drawn into it..her heart was suggesting

escape roots but her mind said 'baby,accept reality'......and then she had known

where all that wealth came from.....this was also one of their business

interests...medicare related services ,weren't they ? And probably most of it

came from here....their highly ethical and social correctness demeanour backhome in their business interests was a pure eye wash...

She loathed herself....she wanted to scrub herself down with the harshest of

acids to feel clean...probably her education and many things else in life had

beenm funded from money garnered by running human farms......she hadcringed...

Irish eyes....indeed..she had never been their natural born child....yes when she

was born science had not advanced enough to have such advanced fertilisationand pregnancy methods happening..but she had been sourced she was

sure...probably an Irish man and an Indian woman...adopted maybe or maybe

paid to conceive and deliver.....and they had known.....where were her bioligical

parents she wondered

Her trip home right then was very well knowing they would not be there..sort of

a catharsis...wanting to see and feel and smell the old familiar...the home she

had grown up in...before she walked away for good.....putting them back in a

storage bin she would never visit again

She empthasised with Mai....she came from a dysfunctional family too....much

more...just that unlike Mai now Gen she had never known.....she wondered

where her erstwhile parents were....they had vanished completely out of sight

,the same eve as the story broke...probably always prepared for the eventualityof an expose by someone.....and the last thing they would have expected was


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where it came from...such an amazing set of coincidences...fate at play perhaps??

Probably living it up in some remote island somewhere.....they would have had

huge money stashed away all over..false identities...whatever it took...numberedaccounts...the works...she was not sure what she felt more......the anger or

loathing she felt towards them or the sorrow of losing the only parents she had

known...part of her self identity...with a sigh,she decided it was the former

Getting up ,she slowly shut the lid on her own personal Pandora'a box of

bitterness......time to keep it shut as long as possible till one day it vanished

from her mind..thankfully the memories were receding ....she was letting go..it

would take awhile but she would ...she was sure of that.....She opened the foor

and went back to the gathering...

Alan at that moment was immersed over a map of the Hunan province...a few

years back he had given up hacking.,.,...another passion had come to

life....Chinese history,art,culture......he wanted to travel alongside the great

wall......invited over by a friend he had made after this passion had

grown.....sharing the same interest .....Ms Jingfei of Beijing.......an archiect by

profession...very pretty indeed

Sue would not have it...she stuck to her guns....her policy of " No Avi,Alan No

Go " still held.......as she told him ' Al,you are too much of a trusting fox for meto trust you with the Jills or the Jings of the world.....study the great wall all you

want from here ,the good old US of A.....that will do." The Great Wall of

Sue.....Al could find no chinks in the wall


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Som and his wife Narissa ,at that moment were waking up to a lovely morn in

the Royal Summer palace...guests of the King for the weekend......both children

studying abroad

Nick was sitting with a beer on the veranda with Raf and Mai nee Gen at their

sprawling ,large home on a real big estate in Fraser valley ,British Columbia

......having driven from Vancouver which he was visiting for a convention

commencing tomorrow morn...he had called up and invited himself over ......he

wished he had been at his grandchild's b'day gathering along with Avi,Isa and

Kris...but this was life..he was one of the key note speakers......Avi and they

would understand...he sighed...choices we have to make in life sometimes,he

thought to himself

Chapter 12

Aruna hugged the pillow closer in her sleep....dreaming ......at her apartment in

Munich.....close to Midnight ......her grandparents .....her grandmom Aruna and

grand dad Prakz.....she had loved them....once in a while she thought of

them...sometimes missed them...how sad they had to die in that accident just

when Papa and Mama had been there.....lucky papa and mama had not

travelled in same car....both she and Isa had wanted to make to the

funeral.....all flights full...moreover important examinations on at study......

Avi had managed her explanation to her children...of course ,Nick had been a

rock...classic Simon and Garfunkel as Alan would say

Not very far from where Aruna slept in her apartment,a huge billboardglowed...neon lit...a very damous international skin care brand.....And there

Nadine was ,endorsing it...spectacular beauty....turned heads like crazy

The erstwhile girl from the House of the Peregrine,flying free,flying high

- Venu Menen


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from the house of the peregrine

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