Chapter Twelve: I am a man

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Mishiida Alexander

Chapter Twelve: I am a man

Before you read this chapter a message from the author:






Dear friends,





This is Amanpreet Singh Rai, the author of this blog.





I wish you to share a good news with you all. I have just launched my own website http://www.fatalurgecarefreekiss.com/ and this blog has been moved to the novels page of the same.





Friends, I am an upcoming producer, songwriter and to an extent (Strechable at most time) a singer. My website is basically a means to connect all my work at one place. If you can, please do visit my website and support me. All my contact information is available on the contacts page and you can definitely see who I am.





Take care,

Amanpreet Singh Rai

Mishiida Alexander

“The love that is true and everlasting is the only one that shines through every test it is put to.”

Chapter Twelve: I’m a man

Those who are blown away by the looks of the opposite sex generally fall for the worst experience of their lives whereas those looking for true love feel the tenderness of a pure heart before they look at the face that presents it. People forget how at the end of the day if you don’t come home to find a warm embrace that will make you forget all the atrocities your day heaped on you, life is more than a grinding stone. Looks barely last beyond a decade or two and the unpredictability of their degeneration means, you may regret to live next door to a person who married the one whose love was pure but was half as pretty but as it generally happens, has matured gracefully. A quarter of the life is about youth, the rest is about adjustment.

Alexander has recogonised the sweet and soft Mishiida entrapped inside a tough soldier while Mishiida trusts Alexander even though she’s barely known him for a day. However the unpredictability of life always generates situations that test the very fabric that makes the length and breadth of a relationship.

“Lieutenant Ryan, Mathew, Monty, Ahmed, Sandeep and Private Curt Sommers reporting Sir,” the loud, clear and a distinctly strict toned voice introduces the late arrivals to us. Now the only thing left for us is to associate faces to the indexed items, or perhaps it won’t be necessary.

“Nice to see your faces gentlemen,” Jerome replies in a stern military tone, his smile conspicuous enough from the edge of a ten mile radius. He looks at Craig who is standing next to him giving us company in being bewildered and then says to his men, “You must be tired! Why don’t you take some rest?”

“Sir, will you give us two days off when we are finished with the mission?” one of them asks.

“Like every other time Private Curt, like every other time,” Jerome replies.

“Sir, let’s not delay our holiday then,” another one replies.

“You are always eager to join the fun Lieutenant Sandeep. Do you know what your mission is?” Jerome asks.

“Yes Sir, to kill the alien,” Lieutenant Sandeep replies.

“Kill her? But I thought we were going to capture her alive,” Craig is shaken by Sandeep’s response and looks haplessly at Jerome.

“If she is fortunate enough,” Private Curt answers for Jerome who looks at Craig as if asking him, “See?”

“Let’s get on with the job boys,” Jerome says before looking at Craig, “Have we got the kid’s parents yet?”

“What? No! I mean, that’s not how it works over here,” Craig says shrugging his shoulders.

“Lets’ make a pact, I won’t guide you regarding your foreign policy as long as you promise not to advice me in military matters,” Jerome is curt but straight to his point, “Have you got their address?”

“Yes, I have,” Craig says with a bit of a hesitation.

As Jerome turns around towards his men Sandeep says even before he opens his mouth, “Sir, that hummer looks big enough for eight.”

“You won’t have satellite navigation though,” Jerome reminds them.

“As long as he is not the one driving, I have got a map tucked in my back-pack,” Private Curt Sommers chips in pointing at the one who was the first one to introduce everyone.

“Why? You want to have sex with me in the back,” the other one replies.

“Lieutenant Ryan, we have esteemed company over here,” Jerome rebukes him and continues, “Lets’ get started boys! Hop inside the command centre and I’ll get you the address.”

As they are about to hop inside we hear another helicopter coming. “Now who could that be,” Jerome asks.

“No idea mate. Lets’ wait and see,” Craig replies.

“Sorry Sir we forgot to bring the bag-pipes along with us. We didn’t know we were in the welcoming committee as well,” Ryan quips.

“My men don’t rest or wait when they are on a mission Craig, lets’ get inside, whoever it is can come in as long as he is a friend,” Jerome says as his men climb up into the command centre container.

“Are you really going to kill her?” Craig pulls Jerome from his arm and asks him softly before they get on the container.

“Minister, you need the girl and I will get her for you and that should be your only concern at the moment. You man Rick is as good a soldier as I am and his men as good as mine, and I may hate to admit but perhaps he is a better human being as well. However there is one huge difference between me and him, the difference big enough to affect a different result in this mission. My men are not confused,” Jerome replies with a hard look on his face.

“What do you mean?” Craig is as bewildered as us but he pops the question before we can put the right words together in our heads. But Jerome only gives a smirk in reply as he hops on board the container, just as the helicopter is landing. We decide to follow them inside to stay in the thick of action rather than being a part of the welcoming committee.

As soon as we climb inside we see the six men introducing themselves to Ron and our attention just like everybody else’s is drawn to a small radio playing a local station with current news.

“And the television will be back tomorrow morning as well.”

“What, the satellites are ready?” Jerome looks at Craig a bit surprised, “Where is our satellite access?”

“Sir, if I may interrupt, just before the start of tonight’s mission I got a message from the headquarters that we will be getting the access straight away,” Ron replies for Craig.

“Great, I can then log you on to the systems with my password,” Jerome is excited.

“Sir, unfortunately you won’t be. Due to some technical problems we couldn’t get a US satellite,” Ron adds to his words.

“Than where are we getting it from?” Jerome asks.

“It’s INSAT Divyadrishti Sir,” Ron replies.

“INSAT Divya whatever that is, doesn’t that stand for Indian National Satellite?” Jerome states the obvious as a question.

“Yes indeed mate,” Craig replies.

“Why in the world an Indian Satellite?” Jerome shows his great displeasure.

“Why not Colonel?” a voice from behind startles us all as we turn around and see the Indian Ambassador to Australia walk in through the command centre door, “If we can run your Silicon valley for you what’s the problem with using our satellite?”

“And you are,” Jerome asks.

“Gentlemen, Colonel, this is the Indian Ambassador to Australia Mr. Ramanathan Iyer,” Craig does the introductions.

“Colonel, I am here to present you the access to the state of art masterpiece with a resolution of one meter, the latest in Indian space resume, INSAT Divyadrishti, or INSAT Divine-eyesight.”

“Thankyou Ambassador, but I am surprised India would be interested in this thing,” Jerome has his doubts.

“Why shouldn’t we be Colonel? We are also on the map of the world. The thing that affects any other country and has a potential to threaten or affect us as well, we have to be interested in it. Besides we are fast becoming the new Go-to member of the US, ain’t we,” Ramanathan replies.

“But still,” Jerome wants to say something but stops midway.

“Still what? When is your birthday?” Ramanathan asks.

“Why do you ask?” Jerome questions in return.

“I want to gift you a globe,” Ramanathan replies.

“We’ve got aplenty in our office Ambassador and I know very well where India is on it,” Jerome is taken aback.

“I was referring to a light bulb,” Ramanathan quips with a wicked smile.

“Let’s get on with the job now shall we? Ambassador,” Craig breaks the deadlock.

“Sure, you can use this USB device to log on to the satellite and I will put in the password to grant you the access, that’s why I have specially flown in here at this hour,” Ramanathan replies.

As Ron takes the USB and works on his system and opens up the satellite linkup Ramanathan takes over and does the rest to grant access to the satellite.

“Gentlemen, before you can use this satellite, I want you all to join me in honouring my great country by showing respect to our National Anthem as it is played,” Ramanathan says as he stands up in attention. Jerome wants to say something but Craig makes an eye contact with him and hints him to do as is being asked. The Indian National Anthem plays out loud.

As soon as the Indian National Anthem finishes playing and Jerome and the rest are about to get at ease Ramanathan says, “What, are you not going to join me for the Australian National Anthem?” Before anyone can say a word, “Advance Australia Fair” starts playing.

As soon as the Australian National Anthem finishes Jerome says, “Are we going to stand for the French, British, Bangladeshi, Moroccan and other National Anthems as well?”

“No, but I am sure you won’t like to disrespect your own National Anthem,” Ramanathan says as Jerome’s next word is left hanging in his mouth as “The Star-spangled banner” gets playing.

“Now you can get on with your work,” Ramanathan says after the US National Anthem finishes playing, “And before I take your leave here’s something for you Colonel.”

Ramanathan hands him the USB key for the satellite and continues, “The password for the moment is; From India to Australia and America with love.”

Jerome is surprised and can only muster, “But, why?”

“We are not jerks Colonel. When I left Sydney Rick was still at the helm, midway from Adelaide to here on the chopper the heads had been changed. I know everything about you Colonel. You are an excellent soldier and an exceptional leader, but you need to be more compassionate,” Ramanathan says tapping Jerome’s shoulder.

“What if we lock you out of your satellite when we are finished,” Jerome replies with a naughty grin.

“Don’t worry, we are Indians. We’ll find a way to break back in,” Ramanathan replies with a bigger grin.

As Ramanathan departs the site, Jerome and his men get on with the job at hand. While his men are dispatched to pick Alexander’s parents up, Jerome instructs Ron to track Alexander’s vehicle.

“Sir, it’s night time and we won’t be able to do much with the Infra-Red imaging at the moment as we are not sure which images will be the ones’ we are looking for. We will have to wait for the morning,” Ron replies.

“I guess there’s not much we can do at the moment then,” Craig says.

“We still can,” Jerome says as he thinks something over in his head, “They say the television will be on air tomorrow. Can I get some television crew immediately?”

“Why is that?” Craig asks.

“You just wait and see?” Jerome replies.

As Craig gets busy arranging TV newsmen we decide it’s time to look up for our two gems lost in the sands. We think to ourselves, “We can always catch what tricks Jerome is up to later on a television set somewhere.”

We rush back in the direction Mishiida and Alexander were heading to. We make a dash all across to the Panalatinga Uranium mines, the one Mishiida is purportedly heading to but we fail to find them anywhere along the route. Perhaps she is not looking for Uranium, or perhaps they have stopped somewhere for Alexander to catch some sleep, we are lost in a maze of questions. “Right way is the right way,” we think to ourselves and scroll all across the right side of the road link to the mines from the site of earlier action and finally bump into the Caravan and jeep we were hounding just before the break of dawn, about half a mile inwards from the main road. Mishiida is crouched on top of the Caravan holding her weapon, all eyes for any movement. Just as we are about to enter the caravan Alexander nearly bumps into us wiping his eyes and throwing his morning breath all over our face as we quickly fall back ten steps to get some fresh air.

“You are still up? Damn, you should have caught up with some sleep,” Alexander says as he notices Mishiida sitting on top still all alert.

The next moment Alexander’s shriek wakes up all the birds and animals residing in the desert between Darwin and Adelaide as he notices the state of his Caravan and Jeep in light for the first time.

“Look what you have done!” he exclaims to Mishiida who looks at him with surprise as he points to the bullet holes that litter his caravan and jeep on all sides now. Mishiida hops off and looks on and figures out what he is referring to. She smiles and taps his shoulder as if saying, “It’s all right. You’ll get better” and then motions him to get moving.

“Yeah, Bitch! What do you care? It doesn’t belong to you. What have you got to loose,” we realize Alexander can cry like a girl as he falls on his knees and hugs his Caravan’s side, “Oh, I am so sorry my sweet-sweet paradise.”

Mishiida stands there for a while before she finally taps his shoulder again and reminds him to get moving.

“I know, I know bitch, but can’t you wait until I finish the funeral of my favourite abode away from home,” Alexander says. Mishiida puts her one hand on her hips and hits her head with the one with the weapon with the other.

Alexander takes his time to get over it and then get ready for the drive. He hops into the driver seat and starts his jeep, “Do you know how much money a Caravan costs?”

Mishiida cannot answer that, both us and Alexander know, so he continues, “I’ll stop at the next gas station to refresh myself quickly and grab some snacks. Do you mind?”

Mishiida still stays silent as Alexander drives up to the next gas station, pulls over and heads to the toilets. Mishiida follows him, “No you can’t come with me,” Alexander tries to stop her but she won’t listen to him this time as she follows him in.

We want to stop her but we prefer to wait outside as we hear a bang and a door is blown open and Mishiida is standing outside fuming.

“Yeah, stand on guard outside. Don’t let anyone in,” Alexander’s voice can be heard loud and clear as we are rolling on floor grabbing our stomachs.

The man at the counter rushes outside to see what’s happened outside and sees Mishiida standing there and as if instantly he has recognised her, his jaw drops as he slowly steps back and back until he is inside the shop and then her turns around and rushes to his phone as he looks at a television set lying on the side and tries to read and dial some number. He keeps dialling the wrong number perhaps because of his excitement. Mishiida walks into the shop and the phone drops from his hands as he gulps a big lump down his throat. She walks up to the counter looking at the man in his eyes as he steps back shaking in fear. Alexander comes in soon enough as we are about to incline at the counter to have a look at what’s being broadcast on the television.

“Once again these are the pictures of the highly dangerous, violent and aggressive alien and her escort Alexander. Any information about their siting should be immediately forwarded to the following number.”

The screen is flashing Alexander’s driver license image and Mishiida’s image from the police car camera at the time of her first encounter with the police. Alexander looks at the screen, jaw dropping and speechless and then at the man at the counter, who is making an honest mirror image of Alexander at the moment. They both look at Mishiida who looks at them and then walks out of the store. Alexander stands there for a few moments and then walks out looking back at the man at the counter again and again who’s looking at them as if he is in a stupor.

Mishiida hops on to the jeep and looks at Alexander who is standing next to it, his jaw still dropping as he is lost in his thoughts. The man at the counter is still standing like a statue while his phone handset hangs down the counter.

“You’ve ruined my career,” Alexander finally manages to get a few words out as Mishiida looks on amazed.

“You bitch! Why did you have to do that?” Alexander tries hard to fathom the reality of the moment that faces him, “My Grammies!” and a tear rolls down his eyes as he possibly visualizes his dream of giving a thanks-giving speech vaporize into steam somewhere just above his head.

Mishiida sensing he won’t get on with the job at hand gets off the jeep, walks up to his side and taps his shoulder and motions him to get into the jeep.

“I am not going anywhere any further with you lady,” Alexander says out loud as he takes a couple of steps back.

Mishiida smiles at him and tilts and nods her head as if pleading, “Please, just this one time!”

“No way,” Alexander is adamant.

Mishiida puts her hands on her hips looks at him for a few moments and then realizing he won’t get on the jeep, walks up to him.

“What are you going to do? Stay away from me,” Alexander says as he tries to fall back but Mishiida is quick. She grabs him from one of his arms, bends over and puts her other arm around his legs and lifts him over her shoulder.

“Hey! Put me down! What are you doing? I’m a man,” Alexander shrieks.

Put him down she does but in the driver seat.

“Wait a minute! I am the man over here. You don’t do this to a man especially when you are a lady, that too from nobility,” Alexander tries to get off his seat but Mishiida pulls out her weapon and puts it on his butt and pushes it back on the seat.

“Ok! Ok! Lets’ not get excited. Where are we going?” Alexander changes his tune.

Mishiida looks at him, smiles and nods her head as if saying, “Good!” She walks around and is about to hop onto the jeep when she stops, thinks for a moment and then walk towards the back of the jeep.

“What are you doing?” Alexander nearly shrieks and rushes out as he sees Mishiida pulling her weapon, adjusting a nob on its’ side and pointing it at the hinge joint of the caravan and the jeep.

“Stop,” Alexander shouts as he rushes back but it’s a few milliseconds too late as Mishiida blows away the fulcrum, raises her weapon to the level of her face, looks at it as she turns it around sideways, looks at Alexander and puts it back in it’s casing.

“Why?” is all that Alexander is able to say as Mishiida points at him to get back in the jeep.

“No way, I am not going anywhere with you now,” Alexander exclaims. Mishiida on realizing he is refusing again takes a couple of step towards him.

“Alright, alright, I am a man of my words. I’ll take you where you want to but only this time,” he says as he steps back and hops into the jeep.

They get back on road and this time Alexander hits the speed limit for the first time in two days. Mishiida sitting by his side looks at him for a while, there’s a smile on her face. She keeps looking at him when finally he is irritated and perhaps a bit cross with her at the way he has been treated and the loses he has suffered. He asks in a very rude tone, “What?”

Mishiida bends towards him and gives a small kiss on his cheek.

“What was that for?” Alexander says as he blushes and a smile comes across his face as he tries to look away, but Mishiida keeps on looking at him. There is something in her eyes that is making them twinkle now, just like the stars at night.

“Beep, beep, beep!” and something goes buzzing abruptly and violently somewhere in the jeep as Mishiida is startled out of her trance. She pulls out the gadget she used to control her vehicle the other day and looks at its’ screen. Her face becomes enraged and her breathing becomes heavy as Alexander slows down and pulls to the side sensing what is coming next.

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Chapter Eleven: The frail side

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Mishiida Alexander

“Of all the learning in life the one most important is the ability to appreciate what, or rather who makes your life worth living.”

Chapter Eleven: The frail side

There are times in life when one feels something is tearing everything dear to them to pieces and one wishes the whole vicious circle is just a nightmare that will evaporate from the edges of the eyes like morning mist from the green blades of grass. However, life is an emotionless grinding stone that keeps on smashing pulp out of the biggest and strongest of warriors. But then the warriors don’t get destroyed by the atrocities of fate. Rather they treat every adversity as a learning opportunity and improve their repertoire for future battles. Every lesson that life teaches serves as a guiding post to avoid a bigger tragedy in all subsequent entrapments. However, the only determinant as to the survivability of a warrior post a trauma is, what mettle is that warrior made of?

Mishiida now we know has seen more in her life than her years. For someone who’s lost her parents as a child and everybody else when barely stepping into adulthood, she has come a long way and the fighting spirit in her is a testimony to the nobility, grace, unrighteousness and bravery that runs through her blood. Alexander however is still going through his learning phase and only time will answer the questions, will he and his goodness survive the intense experience he is a part of and what mettle is he made of.

“Get out of there, quick,” Rick orders Alexander who’s jaw drops, perhaps at the though of leaving Mishiida, now that he knows her as much as we do, at the mercy of professionals who are yet to see the other side of the coin. He reluctantly gets up and as Mishiida looks at him, he says, “I am just going outside to have a look.”

Mishiida watches as Alexander steps out of the caravan and walks towards the front end while we are standing at the door trying to look deep into the dark engulfing the entire barren solitary neighbourhood beyond the burning bonfire that is already to it’s last bits of wood. As our heart is pounding our chest trying to pop out of it, Mishiida walks out of the caravan straight through us. We try to grab her hand and say, “No! Don’t go there!” Alas! We are no more than powerless voyeurs in this story.

We rush out infront of Mishiida to have a look at what surprises has Rick set up for her but it’s hard to see anything in dark especially when you are not a fighter trained to crack ambushes. But Mishiida is not like us. As we turn around to look at her we realize she has sensed something. She stops for a second trying hard to hear something, her hand slowly resting on her weapon as she tries to carefully see through the blackness surrounding the peripheries of now diminishing luminosity of fire.

The fire burns out and for a moment there is pitch black as our eyes take a few milliseconds to adjust to the light. Next second, the whole area is lit by many powerful search lights all pointing at one person at the centre of the Universe at this moment, Mishiida.

As the lights momentarily blind her and catch her unawares, she lifts her arms to cover her face as if trying to avoid being hit. But we hear not a single shot being fired this time but rather within a few milliseconds of Mishiida dropping her guard and covering her eyes, a rope swings and wraps around her legs giving them a strong jerk dislodging Mishiida of her feet and we hear a hummer race away as Mishiida is dragged from her feet across the sands and into a thick metal container.

“Mishiida!” is all Alexander shrieks but there’s not much he can do.

As soon as Mishiida’s body is dragged inside the container a similarly thick metal lid is pushed back in place to close the container and a heavy fork lift drops another container on top of it. Eight to ten men rush around the container and seal it’s edges with metal bolts to a similarly thick platform on which the first container was resting.

While all this is happening we look around and see how all these things have been transported on wooden carts pulled by horses whose mouths have been tightly tied up so as to avoid making any noise and getting detected by Mishiida. Why Rick is the best, we get a fair idea.

“Common boys, quick lets’ load it on the truck,” we finally hear Rick commanding from top of a hummer.

“Do you think this will work?” Jerome asks.

“Offcourse, we’ve got her,” Rick is confident.

“You’re forgetting, she’s still got her weapon on her,” Jerome reminds him the obvious.

“Sorry I forgot to mention earlier, the inner walls of the container have been silvered to make them highly reflective to all kinds of radiations, including laser beams,” Rick quips with a smile.

“Well! I’ll count my chickens after I eat them,” Jerome replies.

“You can count 'em tomorrow morning if you are in a hurry right now,” Rick answers.

“What was that?” Jerome asks as a sound like faint beats coming out of a subwoofer echo around us, lasting a few seconds before dying out.

“I don’t know!” Rick answers as we hear the beats again.

We decide to check inside the container and walk through the metal walls. As soon as we enter the container we duck to avoid being hit by multiple reflections of laser shots a couple of which graze past our bums. Mishiida is encroached in the middle of the box fully covered and with helmet on, and is firing into the top left corner of the container in such a way it hits the corner and is reflected back to a side from where it enters a reflection loop consisting of about fifty hits of dying intensity. Sensing it to be too dangerous to be around in that flashy environment we jump out of the containers.

“Quick, roll the container around,” Rick is seen ordering his man atop the fork lift as the fork lift moves closer to pick the container up and toss it to the ground.

“Hope you brought some roses for her, for I don’t think she’ll consider this experience a seductive encounter,” Jerome takes the opportunity to make a dig.

As Rick turns around to give him a glare and the fork lift just about pushes it’s forks underneath the containers to try pick ‘em up, the containers are blown to shreds and the guy on the fork lift is knocked over and the next moment, everyone is busy covering their ears as glass from all the spotlights and their globes is blown away and once again we have pitch dark. Laser fire is quick and precise, straight on to the targets even in the dark. As Mishiida quickly takes out each and every soldier, Rick orders, “Fire at will!”

“It’s a big boy’s game son,” Jerome says as he cocks his antiaircraft gun and targets Mishiida who is also just about to turn and shoot at Jerome’s hummer with gun atop. But this time Jerome beats her at speed, simply because he took the start ahead of her. The trigger is pulled and a bullet meant to take out a plane flying kilometres above the ground travels at a speed faster than the plane itself but slow enough for us to watch it march inch by inch to it’s intended target. It hits Mishiida straight on her head. Luckily she is wearing a helmet but only this time, it’s lasting ability is tested beyond the limit it was originally made for. The hit knocks Mishiida off her feet once again and as she is falling down, we notice a big tear on top of her helmet. While the first bullet was still midway to it’s target another had been fired by Jerome who didn’t want to take any chances. The second bullet hits Mishiida on her right shoulder and a painful shriek escapes her mouth as we notice her bullet-proof clothing getting torn at the point of impact and the bullet grazing her skin deep enough to cause a momentary abrasion which heals up quickly, but her clothes are still without a repair.

“Have you gone nuts? You will kill her! I want her alive!” Rick is heard saying as he throws his M-16 at the anti aircraft gun barrel hard enough to turn it’s face away from Mishiida and save her from the third bullet.

“You idiot, what are you doing,” Jerome is outraged but tries to re-align his gun towards it’s target. But vital milliseconds have been lost and before he can even try and look through the sights on the gun, a laser beam hits his hummer and he is knocked off it.

“Mishiida! Come!” we hear Alexander start his jeep and drive it towards Mishiida. Mishiida jumps onto it and takes a shot at whoever she can notice in the dark trying to take aim.

“Stop the vehicle you idiot!” Rick says but when Alexander pushes on the gas he is left with not choice but to salvage another lost battle at any cost, “Fire at the jeep, fire at will!”

But Mishiida gives no one another chance and knock everyone including Rick unconscious as Alexander struggles with his jeep trying to drive it minus the globes. “Thankyou bitch, for destroying my globes as well! Now how is your father supposed to drive this thing in dark,” he cribs.

Mishiida sits down looks at him a bit questioningly but then realizes the condition her gear is in. She pulls off her helmet and sees the crack and shrieks.

“Hold it! Hold it!”

It’s not Alexander asking her to stop shrieking but rather us yelling at him to leave his ears and hold the steering wheel as jeep trudges along the dirt road in a zigzag fashion. Mishiida meanwhile starts crying. Her helmet doesn’t fold anymore and we realize it is one piece of equipment rendered unrepairable for the time being. She looks at her clothes torn at her shoulder. She opens up her waist belt buckle and punches a few buttons. The dress starts to fold as she tries to convert it into a noodle strap top but the torn side fails to develop a strap around her shoulder and falls off revealing one side of her body. She cries out again and punches a few buttons as her clothes unfold again to cover her back to her neck but still torn at her shoulder. She cries inconsolably for a few minutes as Alexander tries to calm her down.

“Hey! Hey! Brave girl! Stop crying! You are the source of my motivation. How will I fight this battle along with you if you will loose your self control?” he tries his best to support her but she is still crying.

“Damn you jerk! I don’t care!” he yells as he pulls out the ear piece from his ear and throws it away. Next is the turn of the pen and mobile, “Come and grab your stuff out of the desert crab poop you scoundrels!” he yells as he drives away. We realize our friends have woken up again and are searching for Mishiida and Alexander. We decide to check up on them leaving our friends out of sight for a while but we all know, these two are where our hearts belongs.

As we rush back to the site of carnage we notice Rick and Jerome exchanging pleasantries.

“You don’t deserve to be in the force at all. Infact, I won’t even use you as my orderly,” Jerome is roaring as we approach.

“Same to you mate. You should be in a meat factory culling animals. Perhaps that will satisfy your thirst for blood,” Rick replies in the same vein as we notice their three big command centre containers roll in.

“What happened guys?” Craig asks as he jumps off one of them, the one with the administration unit, “Ron says we’ve lost audio contact with Alexander and the tracking unit is blinking stationary near the mouth of this dirt road.”

“Your Romeo eloped with his Juliet while your fatherly figure played the matchmaker, the cupid,” Jerome replies.

“Who did what?” Craig is bewildered as he fails to make a head or tail of the whole thing.

“He was about to shoot the poor girl dead if I hadn’t stopped him at the last moment and Mishiida got the chance she needed to escape. And yes, Alexander has driven away with her and I think I know what he’s done with our fancy gadgets,” Rick replies, a bit ashamed perhaps at his failure to capture the one being so hotly pursued, “But next time, I promise they both will be in our hands.”

“Next time? Craig, get this man out of my way and I will get you both of them. Or you can wait for her to get her Uranium and fly back to her friends to launch an assault on us,” Jerome says, “This man of yours is not capable enough of handling this situation.”

“That’s outrageous! Everybody knows we nearly captured her this time,” Rick roars back.

“Yeah, nearly! That’s the catch over here,” Jerome quips with a distasteful look.

“Look guys, lets discuss this issue inside,” Craig says as he motions the two of them towards the administration container. We follow them inside.

“Craig, we need to get this girl at any cost and your friend over here is standing in my way,” Jerome says as soon as we are inside the container.

“That’s an unwarranted questioning of my ability that I have proved over the years,” Rick is outraged, “I am only doing the right thing. Don’t you idiot see we are still alive?”

“Yes I see that and I am greatly indebted to your daughter for it and I will post her a card for it soon,” Jerome replies, “You stupid, who knows she hasn’t even got the right weapon on her to kill us. Perhaps that is the limitation of her weapon.”

“That’s an unfair assessment of a great soldier especially coming form a seasoned campaigner like you. She doesn’t even need that weapon to kill any of us. She can just simply grab us from both our arms and pull us apart if she has to kill us,” Rick makes a point.

“How many of us will she pull apart? And will we give her a chance to do it? She knows these things very well,” Jerome still refuses to see Rick’s side, “Craig, get this man out of my way and I promise the next time either the girl or her dead body will be lying infront of you and their entire technology will be at our disposal to decode.”

“And perhaps we will loose the only side among our enemies who could possibly be our friend and help us win a war against the opposing side if it were to happen,” Rick replies.

“That won’t be necessary as we already know now what calibre is good enough to take them out in a cavalry fight and soon enough we will know how to destroy their vehicles as soon as we lay our hands on hers,” Jerome sounds convincing in his approach.

“That’s ridiculous! We may have friends who might help us and make our job easier rather than putting our own men’s lives and our sovereignty at risk by making enemies with all sides,” Rick reasons.

“Your problem is you don’t trust your own men’s strengths. Perhaps because you know they are all Romeo’s. I know my men and the weaponry we have and I trust my men,” Jerome’s spiteful words are in full flow.

“And your problem is you only want blood as long as it is not from your side,” Rick is not too far behind.

“Guys, hold it,” Craig finally opens his mouth after a few minutes of deep intellectual meandering while our two warriors exchanged literary blows, “Jerome, I think you may have a point over here. From this point forward I am putting the entire mission under your direct command and I am sure Rick would be honoured to help you with whatever resources you may require in our pursuit.”

“What?” Rick is taken aback, “That is not fair, after all the hard work I’ve put in this whole mission. And wait a minute, are you saying you don’t trust me, your own man?”

“Rick, this mission is a lot more important than this pointless discussion. You’ve had your chances but I can clearly see your approach is not working. And we are fast running out of time will be an understatement of the obvious. We need a quick overhaul of the entire plan and I think Jerome is the fresh approach for this case,” Craig reasons.

“Thanks Craig for showing confidence in my abilities. I promise not to disappoint you,” Jerome replies with the content of a victorious warrior writ large on his face and Rick is left speechless for a few moments.

“How can you do such a thing? This is an insult and that too infront of my men, men who trust me with their lives when we go to the field,” Rick finally manages to say what is on his mind.

“Rick, please don’t take it personally. We all know how serious this entire issue is,” Craig says.

Rick stands still for a while looking lost as he stares blankly at Craig. For someone who has been dumped by his own side that too for doing what is right, we feel outraged as well.

“I quit,” Rick says.

“Now don’t be hasty,” Craig says, “You can take a few days off if you want to and we will tell your team that you have suffered an internal injury in this combat and need immediate rest. That will save your face as well.”

Rick is taken aback further by such a heartless comment, “I quit with immediate effect and I ain’t a coward to need excuses to face the world.”

Craig says not a single word as Rick looks on at him for a few seconds before he walks out of the container. He doesn’t look back.

“Colonel, lets’ get on with the job now,” Craig says as they also get off the container and hop onto the control unit container.

“Gentleman, I have an announcement to make,” Craig says as he enters the container.

Everybody looks up to him as he continues, “Rick, the brave honest and upright man that he is, has taken the moral responsibility for the unfortunate failure of our second attempt to capture the fugitive and has quit with immediate effect. But the mission has to continue and be accomplished. After careful thought and deep consideration, I in the capacity of the defence minister of Australia hereby make Colonel Jerome Smith of the US Army in-charge of this whole operation with immediate effect.”

There is a moment’s silence before Lieutenant Charles Heather speaks up, “That’s a bunch of lies. Rick is not a man who quits in the middle of a mission. You fired him and for what?”

“Youngman, have you forgotten your manners? You don’t question your seniors. Has no one taught you this during your training,” Jerome answers on behalf of Craig.

“Mate, you stay out of this,” Lieutenant Ken Pitbull who is manning another of the computer terminals in the command centre speaks up.

“What’s happening over here? Have you guys lost your senses?” Craig roars as the door of the container opens and a soldier jumps onboard.

“Lieutenant Carl Stewart reporting sir,” he says as he salutes the minister.

“What’s the matter Lieutenant?” Craig asks.

“Sir, on behalf of my entire team I am here to request you to restore Colonel Rick Roxon at the helm again,” Carl replies.

“Who are you to make policy decisions over here,” Craig roars.

“Sir, I repeat my request,” Carl says again.

“Have you men no manners at all,” Jerome speaks as Craig keeps mum.

“Sir, I am waiting for your reply. I request again to restore Colonel Rick Roxon’s dignity,” Carl repeats his request third time.

“Else what will you do,” Craig shouts at the top of his voice.

“Sir, your failure to reinstate Colonel Rick Roxon’s dignity is an insult to every soldier of Australia and the Australian pride. The entire team is quitting with immediate effect,” Carl drops the bombshell as Craig and Jerome’s jaws drop.

“Why?” Craig utters.

“Mate, he is one man we depend on with our lives. We’ve been to Iraq and we’ve been to Afghanistan under his command. We’ve seen the worst of battles and haven’t lost a single man under his command. He is a father figure for us. It’s a soldier thing that a politician won’t understand,” Carl says as he leaves Craig speechless in the container.

“Where are you two going?” Craig asks Charles and Ken.

“Where do you think mate?” Charles says with a smile as Craig and Jerome looks on, Craig is taken aback but Jerome is aware of what it means for a soldier to see his trusted leader insulted and ditched the way Rick has been.

“What about you?” Craig asks when he sees Ron still sitting there.

“What about me Sir?” Ron replies, “Someone has to do the job!”

“Thanks Ron!” Craig says and as he says we hear a helicopter landing. We all walk out of the container and try to figure out the faces in dark but to no avail as six tall and huge frames walk towards us.

“Lieutenant Ryan, Mathew, Monty, Ahmed, Sandeep and Private Curt Sommers reporting Sir,” a battle hardened face speaks out as the six men step into the light, halt and salute Colonel Jerome.

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Chapter Ten: All of my family

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Mishiida Alexander

“Hope is what keeps love alive and love is what keeps hope alive.”

Chapter Ten: All of my family

As human beings we love to live a life of recluses. There are those who run away from society to be with themselves and then there are those who run to the society to stay away from themselves. Doesn’t matter what choice we make the bottom line is, we are always running. However, of all the people the ones who are running from themselves are the ones who happen to be most friendly and generally the ones you need to be careful of. If they can’t stand their own true selves, they are not worth knowing at all.

As we follow Mishiida through her travails we somehow get a feeling she is worth knowing every bit, and so is Alexander. They are both running away from society in a way or the other, if one is being hunted the other wants to find himself. And how lucky are we to have bumped into them, thanks to them we have come to know many more people who are unique in their own ways. We may like them or we may hate them for whatever role they have to play in this short essay of a journey but one thing is for sure, they all are going to be remembered.

As Dr Chris Green, Dr Lucy Dawg, Dr Kishore Rathe arrive to take charge of their side of the situation arising out of the advent of our lovely lady Mishiida, a lot of burden from the shoulders of Colonel Rick is relieved. As Rick orders his team to start digging for Mishiida’s vehicle, the three are readied to be flown to the site to oversee and instruct the work before they head to a specially set up laboratory at the RAAF base in Adelaide. Meanwhile, the instructions as well as warnings to our softy boy Alexander are clear, stall her and put her to sleep, somehow.

We meanwhile are suspended like a pendulum bob with three sides to swing to. We hop between our not so in love love-birds, our not so friendly friends and doctors with spades, we are bored as well as tired. In a long day, we check-out how the men at work are digging on the wrong side of the road, how the doctors are setting up their lab with advanced instruments hoping to dissect Mishiida like a frog in a junior college lab, and we spy on Rick making preparations for the late night assault. We also get a chance to sneak up behind Colonel Jerome as he carefully escapes the eyes of Rick while he is busy briefing his team about their mission later tonight, and lines up Craig in a corner while they travel in three big containers.

“With all due respect to Rick, if you want the bitch, you need to let me handle this thing,” Jerome is saying as we approach them.

“Colonel, I understand your apprehensions about Rick being soft on the girl but trust me, he is one of the best not without a reason. I have full faith in his abilities. Although thanks a lot for your keen interest in the job,” Craig replies.

“It’s not about my interest in the job. It’s about the risk that we all as humans face from a common enemy. It’s not just about Australia or America, it’s about the entire world,” Jerome explains the reasons for his eagerness to get on with the job.

“I understand very well Colonel and I appreciate your sense of duty and moral obligation but I trust my man,” Craig turns down his offer once again, “However, is there anything else I can do for you Colonel?”

“Nothing right now but in a few hours time my team will be arriving from the States at Sydney, six men, all exceptional in the art of war-craft. If you could, please get them over here as quickly as you can, and please can you make sure they get this equipment,” Jerome says as he hands Craig a list.

“What? You called your own team?” Craig is bewildered.

“I don’t work without my men. I am the best because my men are the best. They know exactly what I need them to do without me telling them. I mobilized them even before I arrived in Australia. I have a feeling, we are going to need their services,” Jerome adds.

“I don’t know what to say Colonel,” Craig shrugs his shoulders before yielding, “I’ll try my best to get them what you want but I won’t promise. Rick can be a real fire-brand at times.”

“That’s fine! But also keep in mind what I just said before,” Jerome speaks as he leaves Craig to hop off the administration container and hop back onto the one with the command centre, “By the way I don’t trust the kid who is escorting her. He can give us some trouble later on. Is there any chance to get hold of his parents? If possible I want them to be brought over here, with all due care and respect if willingly or forcefully lifted from their home in case they refuse to oblige.”

“What?” Craig is shocked as much as we are but he gets no answer to his query.

As the sun completes it’s turn for the day and dusk arrives we think we have seen enough over here and decide to head back to Alexander and Mishiida who are still a few miles away from Pimba. We notice Mishiida sitting in the jeep with her arms folded and looking at Alexander with a fierce look in her eyes as vehicles after vehicles drive past them blowing their horns.

“What? I told you I’ve got a caravan trailing my jeep and then we have your heavy jewellery in there as well,” Alexander says pointing first towards his Caravan and then towards her boxes.

Mishiida raises his hands and we close our eyes as we hope it is a real good smack but nothing interesting of that sort happens. She taps his shoulder and motions him to stop. As soon as he pulls over she gets off the jeep and walks towards it’s back.

“Where are you going? It’s still too far to travel on foot,” Alexander says.

But walking on foot is possibly not even on the menu for the day for our young lass. She has some other plans as she walks to the fulcrum and pulls out her weapon. She is just about to shoot and blow away the hinge when Alexander realizes what she is going to do and jumps in at the last moment to plead, “Stop! My aunt I’ll take you where you want to go but please don’t destroy my caravan.” Alexander grapples with her hand as he tries to turn its’ aim away from the joint. Mishiida gives him a glare and he looks away. “Damn! What am I doing? What am I becoming?” Alexander is cross with him but he has been given no choice.

As the shadows mix with the black surrounds Alexander takes a dirt road to find a nice spot just on the other side of Pimba town to set up for the night. Mishiida glares at him as she fails to understand what he is trying to do.

“Oh! That’s enough travelling for the day. I am tired now and I need to feed myself full and sleep,” Alexander tries to explain using hand gestures indication eating and sleeping. Mishiida fumes and grunts like a sub-woofer at full volume as we protect our sensory organs of sound. She grabs him from his collars and pulls him near her face and makes a bitting gesture as Alexander shrieks playfully.

As Alexander sets himself up for the night at a nice spot about a kilometre away from the main road with a bonfire and a table with a couple of chairs around it, Mishiida climbs atop the caravan and is crouching there with a gun in her hand carefully monitoring the surroundings.

“She is on top of my caravan watching out,” we hear Alexander speak as we realize he is talking to our friends at the other end. We push our ear right on top of Alexander’s ear with the earpiece to grab all the bits and pieces of information that we can.

“We need to set ourselves up. Get her down and make sure she is not on her guard. Get her inside the caravan and try to put her to sleep,” we hear Rick’s voice at the other end, faint but clear enough to us.

“I’ll try,” Alexander says with displeasure at the job writ large on his face.

“Don’t just try, do it,” Rick is also firm in his demand.

Alexander walks up to his caravan and calls out to Mishiida, “Hey, come on down have something to eat,” trying hard to explain what he means using all the hand gestures he knows. But Mishiida does not seem interested. For someone in the centre of the limelight and being hotly pursued, feeding would be the last thing on mind.

“I can’t get her down,” Alexander says as we try to snoop on the radio conversation again.

“I don’t care, get it done or I won’t care if you come in line of our fire this time,” Rick sounds business.

“That’s blackmail,” Alexander is incensed.

“As long as it works, I don’t care,” Rick says, “You can test us if you want to.”

Alexander gets quiet and starts thinking about something as Mishiida looks at him, her constricting eyes suggesting she smells a rat or something. Alexander stands there for a while, thinks about something and then climbs into his caravan. We stay outside, not sure if it’s safe to follow him as we remember what he did last summer, or rather last morning, or was it today? Such a long and eventful day we’ve already lost track of what happened when.

Suddenly the silence of the night is broken by the sound of a guitar. We along with Mishiida are taken by surprise. As the melody builds on Mishiida looks around long and wide once again and hops off the top of the caravan to have a look at what the sound is about and where it is coming from. We pretend we don’t know it is Alexander the Mozart at his best and follow her inside the caravan. As Alexander plays the melody Mishiida walks upto him and kneels down and listens intently her eyes fixed on Alexander’s face while he is literally lost playing his heart out, eyes closed. As Alexander finishes his melody and opens his eyes Mishiida bows her head, grabs his right hand and kisses it.

“You like it?” that Alexander is flattered is evident from the look on his face, “It’s one of my father’s compositions.” He points to a black and white family picture of his family pasted on the inside of his guitar case. Mishiida looks at the picture and then pulls it off.

“Careful,” Alexander nearly jumps off the couch as he grabs at Mishiida’s hand trying to avoid the picture from getting torn.

“That is me when I was a kid,” he says pointing to his face in the picture and then himself and then gesturing with his hands, “That is my brother and that’s my father and that is my mother.” Mishiida looks on as he tries to explain with hand movements indicating small and big.

“My father originally comes from India, one of the best composers of modern era and my mother is half Irish and half Japanese, a great singer. Their collaborations are the best selling romantic records of all time,” he explains to Mishiida as if she understands everything. “What about you?” he asks her motioning his hand questioningly. A tear rolls out of Mishiida’s eye as her face is over come by emotions. She puts the gun she is still holding in one of her hands back into its’ case and pulls out a small gadget from one of the cases hanging on her waist belt that we haven’t seen before.

She gets up on her feet, sits next to Alexander on the couch and pushes a button on the thing and a beam of light starts to slowly radiate out of edge of it as it begins to spread around and soon enough a three dimensional holographic image is created infront of them as we squeeze ourselves on the couch right in the middle of the two. It is the menu of the device and Mishiida juggles some items around using a small stylus as a laser pointer. After some time she pulls out the first image which is actually a three dimensional holographic video clip. We see pictures of two people, a male and a female, hanging on a wall, both having similarly tattooed eyes as Mishiida. She points to them and then points to Alexander’s family picture, indicating they are her parents. She then gestures with her hands that when she was small, they died or were perhaps killed, as we fail to make out from her slit throat action.

“Oh! They are your parents,” Alexander says as he also compares it with his family picture, “You look a lot like your father.”

She then pulls out another picture which shows a big building which by it’s build looks like a building straight out of a science fiction movie, with space craft docking sites at the sides of every floor. Infact we notice a few space crafts taking off and a few docking in as the video progresses. She points to it and her gestures suggest that was her home.

She moves on to the next clip and we see a parade of men and women dressed just like Mishiida is at the moment, marching in unison. The scene shifts to a stage where a tall handsome man is standing. He looks like a very important person as we notice people bowing to him just as Mishiida bowed to the old fellow the previous day. She points at the man and then herself and then points at Alexander’s brother and Alexander in his family picture indicating he is her brother.

“He is your brother?” Alexander asks pointing at the two pictures the same way. Mishiida nods her head as her eyes fill up with tears. As the scene moves on we see an old man who looks like a military commander standing next to him and giving orders and the soldiers obeying much like a procession. We notice it is a gathering with a lot of people watching. Soon a man standing next to the general says something out loud and a young man walk up the stage bows to Mishiida’s brother and her brother puts a medal on his chest as he rises. Then another name is called, or so we believe and another man walks up the stage who bows infront of Mishiida’s brother and then the general. As Mishiida’s brother puts a medal on his chest and gives him a small trophy like thing Mishiida points at the man and the general and then Alexander’s picture indicating the man is general’s son, and we notice intense hatred writ large on her face.

Then another name is called and this one we recognize as it sounds similar to what Mishiida sounded when Alexander managed to get her name out of her. And she duly walks up and bows to her brother as he places a medal on her chest and a bigger and brighter trophy is handed to her as the entire gathering erupts in joy as the whole atmosphere gets full of musical sounds, as if every one is cheering and then the soldiers in the parade break up and start rejoicing and we realize it was Mishiida's passing out parade.

“So you are a soldier, I see?” Alexander says and then he says, “Nothing she is just showing me her karate skills.” We realize our friends at command centre are wondering what is going on there. “Yes we are inside my caravan,” Alexander says in a hateful tone while Mishiida gives him a questioning glance.

“Oh! It was nothing I was just talking to myself,” Alexander says as Mishiida fails to make anything out of it and then moves on to the next clip.

We see Mishiida and her brother talking to an old but very intelligent looking man. Soon the three walk outside into a courtyard where we notice a big gun. The man starts fiddling with some controls on the gun as its’ barrel is tilted towards a huge mountain in distance. He pushes a button on the control panel and a thick beam of light travels towards the mountain. A few seconds later the beam hits the mountain as it is blown up into rocks and only a hint of it's earlier existence is left. Mishiida and her brother look really impressed as Mishiida’s brother taps the man’s shoulder and the man reverently bows to him. The man then taps a few buttons and a small chamber opens up near the proximal end of the barrel. One after the other, he pulls out three cylinders and puts them into matching grooves on a big machine like thing. He then pushes a few buttons on the control of the machine and the machine folds itself into a box that is similar in make and size to the smaller box that Mishiida is carrying, and then the man pushes a few buttons on the control of the gun and it folds itself into a box similar to the bigger box that Mishiida is carrying.

Alexander’s jaw drops down with amazement as he realizes what Mishiida is dragging along with her, “So that’s what they are!”

“Nothing, she was just showing me how to fold and unfold her clothes with the press of a few buttons,” we realize Alexander is lying to our friends who are listening to this conversation intently at the other end.

She then brings out another slide and we notice it is a party in the big building we saw earlier and we realize her brother is actually the head or ruler of her world. We notice him standing with a beautiful young woman with a small kid holding her hand standing by her side. They all are saying something and the musical notes emanating out of the scene make it amply clear it was a large boisterous party. Mishiida pauses the clip, points at her brother, the lady and the child, and then compares it with Alexander’s family picture indicating the lady is her brother’s wife and the kid is their son. And as she is explaining it she is overcome by emotions as she barely manages to control the tears that are rolling down her cheeks like two rivers. Luckily the synthetic material that lines the caravan floor looks to be acid resistant. She lets the clip run further as we notice the camera closing in on the family and her brother’s wife grabs her camera and we notice Mishiida bowing to her brother, than embracing him and then she kneels down and plays with the toddler who seems to love her to pieces and seems to be her lifeline as well. Mishiida starts crying while watching this clip and a very painful melancholy sound reverberates in the caravan. The toddler rushes to his mother and we notice the camera changing hands as we guess the toddler has grabbed it from his mother. As the camera is turned towards the two pairs of legs standing infront of it we notice one pair move closer and we notice it’s Mishiida who kneels down and says something before extending her hand out to grab the camera, but the camera slips from her hand and falls on the ground and is focussed between the toddler’s legs and a knelt down Mishiida. Just as Mishiida bends around and her hand moves to grab the camera we notice a sharp ray of light go through right where Mishiida’s head was and the next moment we notice the tiny toddler’s body being blown to pieces as Mishiida shrieks in horror while diving away and we notice chaos everywhere. The clip ends abruptly just as we notice a familiar looking young man’s face appear in the frame. Mishiida starts crying inconsolably as the clip finishes.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Don’t cry!” Alexander tries to clam her as his own eyes are filled with tears as he reaches out to her and grabs her face with both his hands to wipe her tears. But just as he wipes her tears he realizes they are not made of water. “Ouch!” is all he says before he starts rubbing them on to the couch to wipe the acidic tears off. Mishiida grabs his hands and blows air at them and the look in her eyes says it all, “I am sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“That’s fine,” Alexander says as he pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes Mishiida’s tears. The two sit there for a while, looking at each other as Alexander is holding her face in his hands. The time stops for a few seconds over there as nothing moves. They just keep on looking at each other. Mishiida is still barely trying to hold back her emotions while Alexander is lost somewhere far, perhaps wondering how much this girl has already seen and how much more she has to still.

“Sorry! I didn’t hear that,” Alexander says as their trance is broken. Mishiida gives him a weird look as we try to hear what the command centre is instructing him to do now.

“Get out of there now! Quick!” Rick is heard saying.

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