'You'd mentioned that Vikram had sent you an email talking about the Nine,' White interjected.

'I'm sorry,' Vijay confessed. 'I've been holding back something. I wasn't sure I wanted to share this with everyone yet. Only Colin knew. But I think the time is right to let you all into the secret.' He quickly told them about the emails, reading out the exact words of each one from a printout he had kept in the study.

'I believe uncle somehow knew that he was in danger. That is why he installed such an advanced security system in the fort. And hid the metal disk away in a locker without telling any one. How he obtained the disk, I can't guess. But he knew about the Nine and their secret.' He nodded to White. 'He told you about it. He may have told someone else and somehow the information filtered through to Farooq or whoever he is working for. I think that, on the night he was murdered, his security system alerted him about the intruders. Rather than protecting himself, his first thought was to ensure that the secret was safe. He sent me the emails, hoping that I would decipher them. That is why, I guess, he wanted me to speak to Greg, as instructed in his final email. He knew that Greg would tell me about uncle's belief in the existence of the Nine. I am not yet certain what he wanted me to do with this information. But I am sure he knew that someone ruthless, someone unscrupulous, was after it; someone who would stop at nothing.'

There was silence when he had finished. It was Colin who broke it.

'If I know you,' he raised one eyebrow at Vijay, 'You now want to try and decipher the hidden message in the emails and try and find the secret of the Nine?'

'Why not?' Vijay grinned at him. 'Are you afraid of a little secret that could destroy the world?'

'Who, me? Of course not. I'm game.' Colin grinned back. 'Maybe it will make us all rich! These ancient secrets have a way of attracting money. All I'm worried about is the someone ruthless, someone unscrupulous, who will stop at nothing. These ancient secrets have a way of attracting those kinds of folk as well.'

Vijay smiled to himself. He knew that Colin would be the first in line to jump into any activity that involved danger.

He looked at Shukla, who was still holding the disk. 'You said you could read Magadhi. Can you tell us what the inscriptions say?'

'I studied Magadhi,' Shukla agreed, 'but it has been a while since I last translated anything written in Magadhi. Let's see.' He bent his head over the disk.

After a few moments of studying the symbols around the grooves, he looked up, his face radiating excitement. 'This is a device that will provide directions to find something. Look at this.'

All eyes were on the disk in his hands as they bent over it. Shukla pointed to the concentric grooves. 'There are two sets of inscriptions,' he explained. 'One surrounding the gear wheel, and the other around the outer circle.'

He placed his index finger on the cogwheel and slowly moved it in a clockwise direction. To their surprise, it moved. The disk wasn't really one solid slab; the gearwheel was a separate disk, fixed to the slab, that moved independently of the outer circle.

As they watched, Shukla moved the toothed wheel until the inscriptions on its perimeter aligned perfectly with the characters on the outer disk to form nine distinct lines of symbols.

'Each row of inscriptions is a complete sentence now,' he explained, 'and together, the nine lines form a verse.'

He pointed to two lines of inscriptions, at two opposite ends of the disk. 'Those lines are the beginning and end of the verse. I will read it out to you.'

He adjusted his spectacles for a better view of the inscriptions and began reading aloud.

The Nine have gone forth to the edges of the empire The first speaks in two tongues The second, in appearance, is different from the rest The third gazes over the sea, waiting for the ships to come in The fourth speaks the name of the Emperor The fifth is seventeen The sixth doesn't have all that the others do; but is special for he also has that which the others do not The seventh pays homage to the Wheel of Truth The eighth is greater by one than the other upright ones The ninth writes with a hand that is different from the rest.

Together, they guard the way to the truth that is protected by the Nine.

'And this is why we need the key,' Vijay mused. 'The key will lock the inner disk in place so that the resulting sequence of words in each line can be read in the correct order. Without the key, the correct alignment of words in each line of the verse will be impossible to find. Only the key can give us the correct verse.'

Shukla agreed. 'Without it, the disk is useless. There is no other way to say which combination of inner and outer inscriptions gives us the correct verse.'

Colin had been studying the printout with the emails. 'What's the Bhagavad Gita?' he enquired.

'Have you heard of the Mahabharata?' Shukla responded.

'Yeah, the ancient Indian epic about some battle fought between two sets of brothers.'

'Somewhat accurate,' Shukla smiled. 'It is an ancient epic, composed in antiquity. There are conflicting opinions about exactly when this was done, since it was orally transmitted from generation to generation, for centuries, before it was finally committed to writing, sometime between 500 BC and 200 BC. No one knows exactly when it was first documented. Set in ancient India, it tells the story of a war between two sets of cousins-the Kauravas, one hundred in number, and the five Pandava brothers. The epic traces the lives of each of the key players in the war that finally took place between the two groups on the plains of Kurukshetra in northern India.

'The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata. It is the sermon delivered by Lord Krishna to Arjuna, a Pandava, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Lord Krishna was Arjuna's charioteer. The Bhagavad Gita explains the philosophy of life and entails the comprehension of five basic truths; Isvara (the Science of God), Jeevas (the constitutional nature of living entities), Prakriti (material nature), Samay (time) or the duration of existence of the entire universe or the manifestation of material nature and Karma (activities in our lives).'

'I've heard of Karma.' Colin studied the printout again. 'It's what influences your next life after rebirth, isn't it?' He frowned at the emails. 'I'm convinced the clue to finding the key to the disk lies in the second email. "The subject of the Gita, though mixed up, is a mark upon us for our future lives and will lead you through the door to knowledge, which you must unlock.'' He looked around at the group. 'The only thing that will unlock the door to knowledge is a key. But what is the subject of the Gita that is mixed up and is a mark upon us for our future lives?'

'Isvara, Jeevas, Prakriti, Samay, Karma,' Shukla muttered. 'The five basic truths that form the subject of the Gita But none of these can be described as mixed up.'

Silence descended on the group as they pondered this riddle. Vijay buried his face in his hands and concentrated hard. What was his uncle trying to tell him? He thought back to his childhood, the years he had spent with his uncle to find clues to his uncle's thought process.

Suddenly, it struck him.

'Anagrams!' he cried out loud.

The others looked at him curiously.

'It's an anagram,' he explained. 'Uncle was very fond of two things; solving crosswords and solving anagrams. He's used an anagram in the email.'

Colin smacked his forehead. 'I should have seen it. It's there in plain view. And it's the only basic truth that I knew.'

'What are you both talking about?' Radha interjected.

'Vijay explained, his face flushed with the thrill of having solved the first riddle. 'It isn't the truth that's mixed up. It's the word that describes the truth, an anagram.'

'Oh, I see it now.' An understanding spread through Radha's expression and even Shukla and White nodded.

Now that it had been explained, it was obvious. 'The subject that leaves a mark upon us for our future lives. "A Mark." Unscramble it and you get Karma-the subject of the Gita that affects our future lives according to Hindu philosophy.'

'Okay, so how does Karma lead us through the door of knowledge?' Colin looked puzzled again.

Vijay's elation at having found the first clue slowly dissipated. They still didn't know where the key was.

'You have to look deeper within,' Radha read the second line of the email.

'I think your uncle was telling you to look deeper within this email,' Colin guessed. 'There's more in here than just the anagram.'

'Wait a minute,' Radha stretched both her hands out in excitement. 'Look at the third line.'

'Study, the Bhagavad Gita.'

White frowned. 'But we've already used that clue to find the anagram.'

Radha shook her head. 'Look deeper within,' she urged, quoting the email. 'Read the line again. There's a comma after the word "study." The line isn't an instruction to study the Bhagavad Gita. I think the comma was put there to draw attention to the word "study." It isn't a verb.'

'It is a pointer.' Vijay realised that Radha was onto something. 'The key is in the study.'

'And it has something to do with Karma,' Colin joined in, excitedly.

Vijay looked around the room, at the windows, the bookcases lining the walls, the paintings that flanked the doorway. If the key was in the study, why hadn't Farooq found it when he had searched the room after murdering his uncle?

'Where...?' He started to ask, then broke off and his jaw dropped. It had been staring them in the face all this while.

The painting to the right of the doorway in the study; the one that had the word Karma boldly printed above the sketch of the Buddha.

He slowly rose and walked to the painting. Was this it? Where was the key?

'Papa,' Radha broke the silence as they clustered around the painting, scrutinising it intently. 'Didn't the Wheel of Law propagated by the Buddha have eight spokes'?

'Yes. Eight spokes for the eight principles of Dhamma, the faith.'

As Shukla replied, they all realised why Radha had asked the question. The Wheel of Law depicted in the painting didn't have eight spokes.

It had nine.

They stared at the nine-spoked wheel for a few moments. The key had been hidden away in plain sight. Who would have thought of counting the number of spokes in the wheel?

'Ingenious,' Shukla muttered admiringly.

Vijay reached out for the wheel. It was embedded in the painting, barely a few millimetres protruding from the canvas. His fingers touched the wheel. It was metal; the same dark metal that the disk was made from. He grasped the wheel and tugged at it gently.

It refused to budge. But Vijay persisted.

Finally, there was an audible click and the wheel came loose from the painting.

Holding it tenderly, like a newborn, Vijay carried it to the coffee table and inserted it into the hollow innermost circle of the metal disk. With a soft click, the key slid into place. Elated, he moved the wheel in a clockwise direction. It had locked onto the gear wheel and both the circles moved together. Then, there was another click and the wheels came to a stop. They had locked themselves into place.

The rows of inscriptions were perfectly aligned once more. And this time they knew it was the correct sequence of lines.

Shukla took the disk in his hands and began reading out the new arrangement of words in the inscriptions.

'"The Nine have gone forth to the edges of the empire The first, in appearance, is different from the rest The second gazes over the sea, waiting for the ships to come in The third speaks the name of the Emperor The fourth is seventeen The fifth writes with a hand that is different from the rest The sixth is greater by one than the other upright ones The seventh pays homage to the Wheel of Truth The eighth does not have all that the others do; but is special for he also has that which the others do not The ninth speaks in two tongues.

Together, they guard the way to the truth that is protected by the Nine."'

There was silence when he finished. The verse still didn't make any sense.

Colin gave voice to their feelings. 'The key does nothing more than re-order the combination of words.'

'This sounds a bit like a description of people,' White ventured. 'Perhaps it describes the original Nine Unknown Men?'

'And how are we to figure out the identities of nine men, who have been dead for over 2,000 years?' Vijay demanded testily but then checked himself. 'I'm sorry. This is getting to me. I thought finding the key would send us on our way. But it hasn't helped a bit. We are no closer to finding the secret of the Nine than we were yesterday.'

'I don't think this refers to the original Nine,' Colin said slowly. 'The Nine were a secret brotherhood. These secret societies operate on the principle that no one member knows the identity of all the others. Each member knows the identities of one or two others. And they never use their actual names when addressing each other. This ensures that betrayal by any one member doesn't lead to annihilation of the group. If the group is targeted by a traitor, they may lose a few members, but the brotherhood lives on.'

'How do you know so much about secret societies?' Vijay looked at Colin quizzically.

'Hey, all the thrillers about secret societies work on this principle.' An impish smile played across Colin's face.

Vijay threw a pen at him. 'You and your thrillers, again.'

'Colin is right in a manner of speaking,' Shukla explained. 'As a secret society, it is highly improbable that any reference to their members would be included in a riddle. First, their identities were secret, so how could anyone decipher the riddle when their names weren't known? Second, this riddle was meant to last for centuries, to be used when all else failed, and then only to protect the secret. The names of the original members would be forgotten, as they are now, even if they were known. That eliminates this possibility.'

'What about the emails?' Radha peered at the printout. 'Any other clues there?'

'The third email talks about following the edicts of Asoka and a voyage of discovery. And the fourth one mentions seeking out the Nine if something were to happen to Vijay's uncle. It also refers to a path of truth to find a way out of any illusion.' Colin's face was glum.

'How are we to follow Asoka's edicts?' Shukla wondered. 'Follow them, as in, apply the principles they preached, or physically follow them by visiting the sites where they were found? They are all over India and some are in museums.'

'Well, we have sought out the Nine in a manner of speaking, haven't we?' White pointed out. 'Finding the verse on the disk which is about the Nine; wouldn't that classify as seeking out the Nine? Perhaps your uncle was trying to tell you to get the metal disk from the locker. Which you did.'

Vijay frowned. 'You could be right. But what if uncle meant that we need to follow the clues in the verse to seek out the Nine, using the descriptions provided?'

'I'm hungry,' Colin announced, his stomach diverting his attention from the subject of the emails.

Vijay grinned, his mood lightening momentarily. 'The way to your heart is through your stomach. That's the advice I've always given your girlfriends.'

'Is that why they've always stuffed me with food?' Colin rolled his eyes. 'I used to wonder.'

'Let's have dinner, then,' Vijay suggested. 'Perhaps if we give this a break, the answers will come to us.'

'You'll excuse me,' White rose and held out his hand. 'I've got to get back tonight. There's work to be done for the project and I should also update the Maharaja on what we've found.'

'Well, there's not much to tell him, is there?' Vijay was despondent. 'Thanks for being here, Greg.'

11.

Day 5 Intelligence Bureau Headquarters, New Delhi 'I don't understand it.' Imran Kidwai looked nonplussed. He was sitting in the office of Arjun Vaid, the Director. 'The vault wasn't on our list of possible targets. There was absolutely no intelligence to indicate a possible attack.'

'Yet, you believe it was a terrorist attack.' Vaid looked thoughtful. 'The forensic report doesn't help.' He picked up a file that lay open on his desk. 'They couldn't identify the explosive residue. Samples of the residue have been sent to Israel and the US to see if the compound can be identified. But eyewitness accounts say it wasn't a bomb that went off there.' He raised an eyebrow. 'Several people described the attackers as possessing a large contraption that was used to fire a projectile at the vault door; a contraption in the shape of a bow. In fact, one eyewitness even called it Lord Shiva's bow.' He snorted.

Vaid fixed Imran with a piercing gaze. 'If the eyewitness accounts are to be believed, a low-grade explosive must have been used to fire something at the vault door. But why go to the trouble of hauling a machine that fires projectiles? Why not simply blow open the door using explosives?'

'Imran shrugged. 'I can only guess that they wanted something from that vault. Something that was too important to risk damage by using explosives on the door. But, I can't see what they had to gain by targeting that vault. And no one has claimed responsibility yet, either.'

There was silence for a few minutes.

'What about Murphy?' Vaid looked quizzically at Imran.

'Good news and bad news. Homeland Security in the US was able to determine that he boarded an American Airlines flight three days ago under an alias. We traced his arrival in Delhi. He checked into a five-star hotel in Gurgaon, but checked out yesterday. That's when his trail goes cold. We're still trying to locate him, but so far we've had no luck. I've got the Gurgaon police involved as well.'

Vaid looked at the report again. 'Fine. I know you're on it. But I want to close this one way or the other. And soon. The Home Minister's breathing down my neck after this report. He's got enough on his hands and doesn't want something that can give the media another scoop. We have to find out if this is a real threat and contain it. Or put it to rest.'

Imran understood. There were five state elections looming, all critical for the ruling political party. That gave this matter a totally different perspective, apart from the more obvious one of national security.

He returned to his office and dialled a number. 'Pramod, listen carefully. I have a hunch.' He proceeded to give detailed instructions to the person at the other end of the line and then replaced the receiver in its cradle. He had no idea if his hunch would work. He knew he was grasping at straws. But what else could he do?