Vijay and Colin accompanied the clerk down the stairs to the basement of the vault.

The lockers were in an underground vault accessed by a narrow staircase that was barred at the top by a solid steel door with two levels of security: an electronic password to open the first lock and a manual key to open the second.

The clerk stopped at a row of lockers, unlocked one of them and left. Vijay could now use his keys to open it completely. Vijay's hands trembled with excitement as he opened the steel box kept within the locker. Inside was a package wrapped in brown paper. He ripped off the paper to reveal a layer of bubble wrap. Carefully placing the package on the felt-topped table the clerk had left for them, he removed the bubble wrap, wondering what lay within that had to be preserved so carefully.

As the last layer of wrapping came off, Vijay and Colin stared at the object that lay on the table.

It was a solid slab, circular in shape, made from a strange dark metal, ancient in appearance but with no traces of rust. One side was smooth and polished. The other side had a circular hollow at the centre, circumscribed by what looked like a gear wheel with inscriptions around it. Forming a circular boundary to the hollow and the gear wheel was a final circle, also surrounded by inscriptions. It didn't seem like a key of any kind. As they stared at the disk a thought dawned on Vijay.

His eyes sparkled with excitement as he looked at Colin, who immediately understood what Vijay was thinking.

Just then, Vijay's mobile phone rang. He looked at the number. It was Homi. He put the phone to his ear, but could only hear someone breathing heavily.

'Homi...Homi...' he barked into the phone anxiously. 'Vijay,' a scratchy voice gasped, as if choking; Vijay could barely recognise the voice as Homi's. The words seemed to be coming between gasps. Or was it just a bad signal in this underground area? 'Vijay...please...they...address...locker...please...leave...' The voice faltered and fell silent, and Vijay heard a clattering sound as if something had fallen on the ground.

A cold fear gripped Vijay. He looked at Colin, who had replaced the metal slab in its bubble wrap packing and slipped it into a duffel bag.

'That was Homi. I think he was trying to warn us to get out of here. Now.'

He quickly dialled the ambulance number that was saved on his phone for emergencies, and asked them to report to Homi's office.

'Farooq?' Colin had caught onto Vijay's thought.

Vijay nodded grimly. 'Let's go!' He slung the strap of the bag across his shoulder and bounded up the stairs.

Suddenly, cries and screams filtered through the heavy steel door at the top of the staircase, which was open just a crack. Abruptly, the door slammed shut and the two friends, who had by now been joined by a few more people accessing their lockers, heard the sound of the bolts slamming home. Someone had locked the steel door!

The small knot of people looked at each other in surprise. There was, however, no cause for concern. If the steel door was locked, anyone wanting to leave the locker had simply to use the intercom and the door would be opened for them from the outside.

Vijay picked up the receiver of the intercom. There was silence; no tone. He waited for a while, hoping someone would come on the line, but nothing happened.

What was happening outside?

Abruptly, there were two sharp bangs and sudden silence. The screaming and shouting had stopped.

Vijay and Colin exchanged glances. Now they looked worried. They didn't know how many of the others had realised it, but the bangs had sounded a lot like gunshots.

'Let's step away from the door,' Vijay said as he and Colin tried to herd the others down the stairway. If those had been shots from a weapon, it was likely that there would be an attempt to break into the locker. There were only two ways the locker could now be opened: either someone from the vault would help unlock the steel door or it would be blown open. And if the latter happened, it would be best if there was no one near it.

A worried group crowded into the space between the rows of lockers.

Colin frowned. 'Do you think we've been tailed all the way here?'

Vijay shrugged. 'Perhaps. But I think we are safe here. I don't think their Uzis can penetrate that door of steel. It must be two feet thick.'

Just then, as if to prove him wrong, there was a loud explosion accompanied by an ear-shattering crunching of metal and the ground beneath their feet shook as if an earthquake had struck. Vijay and Colin looked at each other in dismay as the steel door bulged inwards from the centre, as if it had been struck by a powerful projectile. The thick hinges were bent and the door itself was twisted in places along the frame. Wispy trails of smoke drifted in through the cracks that had appeared between the steel door and its frame.

Voices could now be heard through these cracks. Men shouting at each other in harsh, guttural tones; sounds identical to what they had heard the previous evening.

Vijay and Colin exchanged glances.

Then, without a word, they split up and began searching along the walls for an opening, any orifice that might lead out of the vault. But there was nothing. The vault had been built to keep things in.

9.

244 BC.

Surasen stood silently and watched his Emperor pace the length of the chamber. Rarely, in his long association with him, had Surasen seen Asoka this distressed; this restlessness was uncharacteristic.

'Where are they?' Asoka stopped in mid-stride and turned to Surasen. 'Did you not command them to come here immediately?'

'My liege, I did,' Surasen bowed his head. 'It is midnight and they would have had to be roused from their sleep.'

Asoka turned away and resumed his restless pacing of the chamber. Silence descended on the two men, leaving Surasen to his thoughts.

He remembered the change in the Emperor's demeanour at the discovery in the forest. His mood had persisted since. So deeply had Asoka been affected that he had not spoken a word since then, except for a brief command, instructing him to immediately summon a few courtiers.

Surasen noticed that his emperor did not hesitate while naming the men who were to be summoned; clearly the emperor had, during the journey home, been dwelling on what he intended to do about their discovery.

There was a sound at the door, and a guard entered to announce the arrival of the courtiers.

Surasen noticed that the furrows had disappeared from Asoka's face. The mask of serenity was back. The Emperor was in control of himself once more.

The courtiers filed in, eight of them, and stood before Asoka in a semi-circle, each wondering what was so important for their Emperor to wake them up in the middle of the night. But they said nothing, waiting for his orders.

'Surasen, tell them what we found.' Asoka folded his arms across his chest as Surasen narrated the story of the forest dweller, his journey to the cavern and the discovery he had made, his subsequent journey back with Asoka and the second discovery they had made-the one that was deeply troubling the Emperor.

As he spoke, the faces of the other courtiers registered surprise, amazement, shock and wonder, in turn. When he finished, he knew they understood as well as he did the reason for them being here at this hour.

'So, you see,' Asoka took up the narrative, 'the myths of the ancients were not just stories. And I know that you, my wise courtiers, are aware of the danger posed to the world by what lies in this cavern. If it were to fall into the hands of the enemy, they could use it for untold gain. We cannot allow this to happen. This cavern and its contents have been buried for centuries. We will seal up the opening on the hillside. They must remain a secret. Forever.'

He drew a short dagger from the scabbard at his waist and beckoned the men .

'Hold out your left hand,' he said. Each courtier extended his left hand, palm upwards. Asoka made a small cut on the palm of each courtier, letting out blood that spilled across their palms. 'You are today joined in brotherhood,' he said as the men placed their hands together, their blood mixing and dripping to the floor. 'The Brotherhood of the Nine Unknown Men. And you will protect this secret forever, never letting the rest of mankind know that it ever existed.'

He looked at them gravely. 'Swear upon your blood that you will protect this secret with your life; that you will never betray your brotherhood or your cause, that no one will ever know about the true nature of your purpose in life.'

The nine men swore their allegiance to the newly-formed brotherhood and its mission.

'One more thing.' Asoka was not done. 'The Vimana Parva-the book of the Mahabharata that mentions the legend,-erase it from every record of the epic that exists. By royal decree, the memorisation of this book of the Mahabharata must also be discontinued. The myth must disappear from the knowledge and memories of men, just like the secret it mentions. The only place where it will continue to exist will be within the brotherhood. Create a book of stone that will record the Vimana Parva and hide it within the folds of the brotherhood, concealed from the eyes and ears of men forever. The world will still know the Mahabharata, but it will never know the dark secret it carries deep within.'

10.

Present Day Day 5

New Delhi

'I have an idea,' Colin suddenly whispered in Vijay's ear. 'Hang on.' He turned to the little group that clustered not far from them. 'Does anyone here smoke? Do you have a lighter or a box of matches?'

Vijay instantly understood. He glanced up at the ceiling. A network of pipes ran along the roof, with sprinklers protruding at regular intervals. There were smoke detectors fixed on the walls, which would set the sprinklers off.

One of the women in the group had a lighter and she handed it over to Colin, her hand trembling, her face betraying her anxiety. There was no time to lose. The shouts upstairs had subsided into a strange calm. Was it a lull before the storm? Both friends doubted that the door, thick as it was, could withstand another assault.

Vijay sprinted towards a ladder that was used to access the higher levels of the lockers and wheeled it over to one of the smoke detectors. Colin kept pace with him and jumped onto the ladder even before it came to a stop, shinning up the rungs at top speed. He reached the smoke detector and produced a flame from the lighter.

The seconds ticked by, seeming like hours.

Nothing happened.

There was another loud blast, followed by the sound of metal buckling under metal. The steel door was wrenched off its hinges, the bolts of the double lock snapping with a shattering sound as the door flew down the stairs. It skidded along the floor and came to a stop as it smashed with a resounding crash into a row of lockers against the far wall. The little group shrank back, sheltering behind a wall of lockers in an attempt to shield themselves.

Shouts rent the air and men came clattering down the stairs, following the path of the destroyed door.

Colin was grim-faced as he held the lighter to the smoke detector, willing it to work. Why was it taking so long?

Suddenly, the sprinklers came to life, dousing the group in the vault, soaking them thoroughly. The men charging into the vault were caught unawares and for a few seconds their downward progress into the vault slowed down.

'Quick, the ladder!' Vijay shouted to Colin.

With one accord, both friends lifted the heavy ladder and, holding it horizontal before them like a battering ram, charged towards the group of men racing down the stairs.

The men, though armed, hadn't expected to meet with resistance. The sight of a 10-foot ladder ploughing its way towards them brought them up short. The stairway was slippery with the water from the sprinklers, and the lower stairs had been damaged by the impact of the steel door earlier. The men leading the charge lost their footing and slipped on the stairs.

Vijay and Colin dodged them and ignored the water cascading down as they charged up the stairs with the ladder, hoping they wouldn't slip, mowing down men and carving a path for themselves to the room above.

There was only one thought in their minds. They had to get away.

As they emerged from the vault, two things greeted their eyes. The first was the prone body of the clerk who had led them into the vault, lying in a pool of blood, his head blown open at the back. The second was Farooq, Maroosh and three men standing around a peculiar machine that looked like an enormous metallic archer's bow, seven feet high, fitted on a solid metal pedestal. The entire contraption was made of a dark metal, not unlike the metal slab Vijay was carrying ensconced in the duffel bag.

Farooq's eyes widened with surprise as he saw the two men emerge with the ladder. Vijay and Colin had the advantage of surprise. Even as realisation dawned on Farooq, they summoned their last reserves of strength and heaved the ladder towards him and the contraption, causing the men to scatter to get out of the way.

The few moments this bought them were enough. The two friends dashed outside the building to where Radha's car was standing and leapt in. Vijay started the car and honked his way through a gathering crowd of curious onlookers, alerted by the sound from the vault.

As Vijay pressed his foot to the accelerator, he could hear furious shouts behind him as Farooq rallied his men. The sound of gunshots shattered the air. Vijay risked a glance in the rear-view mirror and saw Farooq's men piling into a mid-size truck that stood outside the vault. To his amazement, he saw three of them carrying a metal pedestal with a heap of metal piled on top of it into the truck. Was it the contraption they had seen? But that had been seven feet tall! It was almost as if they had been able to fold it into something that was not more than two feet tall. And they carried it as though it was not too heavy.

It seemed that Farooq and his men were going to give pursuit, when police sirens split the air and the truck suddenly veered in a different direction, giving up the chase.

Vijay and Colin grinned at each other. They had beaten Farooq once again. And this time, they had something to show for it.

Together They Guard The Secret The little group sat in Vikram Singh's study, their eyes glued to the LCD television fixed on the wall.

One of the news channels was reporting the incident at the vault. At the bottom of the screen, the words 'Breaking News: Terrorist Attack on Vault in New Delhi' scrolled across repeatedly...'None of the terrorist groups have claimed responsibility.' A reporter was speaking into the camera.

Vijay sighed and switched off the television.

The incident was on all the channels. Speculation was rife about the purpose of the attack; with the most popular interpretation being that it was an attempt to accumulate funds for a terrorist group.

After leaving the vault, Vijay and Colin had rushed to Homi's office to find that an ambulance had reported and taken the lawyer to the nearest hospital. At the hospital, they had been assured by the doctors that he would live, though his condition was serious.

Vijay couldn't help but feel responsible in some way. After all, Homi had nothing to do with either Farooq or the secret of the Nine.

After leaving the hospital, Vijay had tried calling Bheem Singh, but his phone had been busy continuously, so he had called White and told him about the disk they had unearthed in the locker.

White had arrived at Jaungarh almost immediately, and was now seated with the others in Vikram Singh's study.

The study was a square room with large bay windows that overlooked the hillside below. In a corner by the windows, was a large polished desk. On the opposite wall, flanking the doorway, hung two large paintings. One depicted the scene from the Mahabharata, where the grandsire of the dynasty in the epic, Bheeshma Pitamah, lay dying on a bed of arrows. The other was a sketch of the Buddha with the word Karma in bold black letters above the sketch. There were also various Buddhist symbols like the Wheel of Law, the Bodhi tree, the lion and the footprints of the Buddha in bold relief below the sketch.

The other walls of the study were lined with bookshelves. Diagonally opposite the desk was a small glass-topped table surrounded by a comfortable seating arrangement, with a television on the wall; the place where the group now sat.

Vijay slowly walked to the desk to pick up his duffel bag. The shocking events of the day had driven away all thoughts of what they had actually found in the locker.

He sat down and pulled out the metal slab in its bubble wrap packaging.

'The key?' White enquired, leaning forward with interest.

'No. But I think this is one of the disks that were part of the puzzle.' He looked at Shukla. 'You'd mentioned that there were two metal disks.'

'Yes. That's what Beger wrote in his diary; it was a transcript of one of the texts that belonged to the Nine.'

Vijay unwrapped the metal disk and placed it on the table for everyone to see. 'The disk with the verse that Farooq had alluded to.' He indicated the inscriptions on the metal slab.

Shukla peered at the disk curiously. He reached out and picked it up, studying it intently.

'The script is Magadhi,' he said after a few moments. He looked up at Vijay, his eyes bright with excitement. 'You could be right. This disk could actually date back to the time of Asoka the Great, or even before him. This may just be the only other surviving artefact of those times.' He stared at the disk as if he couldn't believe he was holding it. 'Two thousand years of history in my hands.'

Colin looked sharply at him. 'That's exactly what Vijay's uncle said in one of his emails. Two thousand years of history which I have safely guarded for the last 25 years, is yours to unlock. Do you think he was referring to this disk?'

It was Shukla's turn to look enquiringly at Vijay. 'Vikram sent you an email referring to this disk?'