Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Confrontation

When Mary came to the room to call them ,they were

laughing cheerfully.. She recalled Frank like this when he

was young..

She was supplying drinks and snacks since morning but

she used her stern voice and told them to stop everything

and get ready for dinner and she expected them in fifteen

minutes time …

Redim hugged her and said, ‘ Mary dear give me more

time.. I must go to my room and get ready ..’ she left

Mary looked at Richard , ‘ Richard I am sure you will not

go anywhere ..I have prepared the guest room next door

and don’t disturb Frank unnecessarily here .. He has to

finish his project.. Go get ready and come down’

Richard smiled and left .Mary was her neighbour in the

village and when his parents died she almost adopted him

and he never went and stayed with any of his relatives and

never left the village ..He was so fond of her and he knew it

was mutual ..He went to the guest room to get ready ..

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Frank felt invigorated after talking to his friend and he

thought it was blessing to get friends who thought alike..

When he came down it was late . All the others were

already seated except for Richard , who was standing. His

father said , ‘ what a loyal friend you have! He wouldn’t sit

without you!’

Frank slapped him jovially and said , ‘dad he would be his

usual self tomorrow.. Don’t you remember his pranks.. ‘

Philomena laughed, ‘ yes.. I remember him as an adorable

naughty kid .. But now he talks less and so far he has not

broken anything’ They all laughed once again

Mary was hovering over them to see if all were having

enough the three youngsters ate ravenously whereas

Frank’s parents very lightly. They had their dinner and

moved to the hall where they sat comfortably and were

talking generally as they wanted to keep Philomena away

from all the problems .

Richard wanted to talk to Mary so he excused himself and

went to the kitchen..

Redim was looking at the piano and Philomena asked her

if she knew to play when she nodded her head asked to play

a number.

It was the most peaceful scene ever as the music floated

around them all relaxed totally..

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In a second everything shattered..the kitchen help who had

come to remove the used cups and glasses , fell down with

the scream..

They all got up when few masked men came from nowhere

and surrounded them . They were dressed in black and all

of them had guns .. They looked so menacing and the girl

who fell down was writhing in pain …Redim moved

towards the girl and was stopped so brutally that she fell

down..

One man went and stood near the doorway and another one

stood near the door that led to the kitchen ..

Francis asked in a loud voice , ‘ who are you people ? what

you want? You will not find any valuables here in this

house..’

One slapped him and said ‘we are The Seekers ‘ Francis sat

down heavily .Philomena ran to him screaming ..

Frank said , ‘Leave him alone .. talk to me ..I am his son

Frank who is in charge here’

The girl on the ground was quiet now.. Redim was beside

her checking her pulse .. Another man pulled her by the

hair and moved her away from the girl.. Frank shouted at

the man and moved towards her when he was hit on the

head with the gun..

He turned to see his assailant and to his amazement he fell

down like a log and remained motionless..

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The one next to him thought that Frank hit him so he

rushed to assault him with the drawn gun… when he was

just a foot away from him ..he stopped , his eyes glazed

and he fell down … Frank tried to dodge the men who were

rushing at him so he bent down when all their guns started

flying simultaneously .above their head , out of reach. the

masked men were running and jumping to get the guns .. if

it was not scary..it would have been the funniest sight that

anybody would have seen..

Frank understood that his intragalactic friends were here to

help them .. But others looked frightened and Francis asked

‘Frank what is happening.. Don’t play with them.. these are

dangerous international criminals’

Suddenly all the masked men fell down .. there was a pin

drop silence.. but now they could hear babble of angry

voices coming from outside . Frank ran out to see ,to his

amazement he could see a sea of torch lights moving from

the front gate ..from the village .Now he could see them

clearly , leading the group was Richard.. he was running

and when he saw Frank , he asked him loudly

,

‘are you alright? Where are the burglars?’

Frank was flabbergasted as he did not know how to react..

He did not want these kind people to know more than the

bare facts . He was thinking fast …Richard reached him

,

panting heavily .. Frank said, ‘ one of our staff is

hurt..others are down .. Redim ,how is the girl ? if any

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medical assistance is needed ,we can call the medical staff

from the next town..’

Redim replied , ‘ Thank God .. the bullet had not gone in

and only some superficial wound there on her forearm.. but

it is bleeding profusely ..I have my first kit in my room .. I

will fetch it..’

‘Mary take care of her .. she has been more terrified than

wounded..’ she raced up the steps to get the first aid kit

By the time the villagers had reached ..The scene must have

looked really bad…the masked men were strewn around

the hall like a broken dolls and the girl was bleeding ,

Francis looked shocked and his lower lip bleeding and

Philomena was crying …

Yes the scene looked really like the worst scene from a

movie…Frank was very calm and he turned towards the

crowd

,

’ Thank you so much for coming .. these must be the

burglars who had come to rob us, but luckily we were

awake and alert and prepared for these kind of

eventualities..’

‘Should we call the police ?’ One villager asked earnestly.

Frank looked at his father who nodded his head ..and Frank

said

,

‘ definitely the police must be informed.. Let us see if we

can find something from them’

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He was hoping and keeping his fingers crossed that these

men must be alive ..if not all hell would break loose and he

had to come up with an explanation without telling them

about the creatures’ part in it

Richard ran to the nearest man and checked for his pulse..

he must have felt the pulse because he slapped him hard .

he told the village men to tie their hand behind their back ..

All of them started moving at once ..

Frank left a sigh a relief..

The girl came out of the shock and looking at the black clad

men with rounded eyes ..

One young villager , ‘ sir if you call the local police ,they

may harass us for a long time in the name of

investigation… so please try to leave us out of this’

Francis smiled at him and said , ‘ good thinking son’ He

asked Frank to follow him so Frank went with his father

to his office .

‘Dad what are you going to do? These are international

criminals so it is better to call the Interpol directly..’Frank

could see his father coming back to his original self..

Francis replied , ‘ It is not good to go over the national

police force but I can ask them to call the Interpol.. I know

the Director personally ,let me ask him for suggestion..’

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Francis took his phone out when it beeped.. Frank came

near to see who was calling and to his surprise it showed

‘seekers’

‘Dad is it from the seekers? Give it to me I will talk to

them..’ and took the phone from his father and pressed .

The voice was definitely western , American accent ..

‘

Francis, I think you have captured my men . I did not get

any messages from them.. release my men .. if not I will

send another group there and I know you don’t have any

security over there ..’

Frank ,’ I am Frank Timothy , stop this.. I am telling you

for the final time ..There is no treasure anywhere in our

land .. we have checked it time and again .. the old man you

killed was obviously a mentally ill person who used to tell

about talking animals .. we would have found it by this

time as we have been here for generations .. so stop this ..

There was silence in the other end and Frank kept his

cool…Then he came in a more conciliatory tone , ‘ yes .. I

am forced to believe you ..we have been targeting Tim’s

land for a century and we have lost more here than

anywhere .. Well! Release my men .. I will not trouble you

again’

‘

It is too late ..the whole villagers are here and they have

arrested your men.. So that is it.. I don’t like my land to be

invaded again .Hope I make myself clear!’ and he switched

off ..

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Francis was simply staggered .. He used to think his son

was not tough enough for business ,but his son took the

leadership so effortlessly from him within minutes. He was

proud of him now as never before ..

Frank told his father to call the Police .Francis called and

his friend was happy to oblige and he said he would move

the Interpol as The Seekers were implicated in a treasure

hunt in Spain and wanted by many other countries . He

advised him not to call the local police but later he would

send a report to them..

In few minutes another international call came , Now it was

from the Interpol ..

Next day by early morning the men would be transported

for enquiry and there was no need to worry about anything

anymore.. If he wanted any security they would arrange it

and Francis declined it politely ..

That is it .. the matter was taken care of ! Francis was in his

element now..he kept his hand on Frank’s shoulder and said

with a smile , ‘one day you will tell me how these men

were outsmarted’ and he left to tell the villagers of the

decisions taken..

He was telling them about the plan of action and told them

that they had to guard these burglars till morning .

Another young man came running , ‘ sir a helicopter is

there behind the church’

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Richard asked if the pilot was there and when the man said

that he did not see he asked few persons to go get the pilot

.

. Frank was really glad to see his friend taking charge of

the locals..

Richard had already moved the criminals to the staff room

and placed few villagers to guard them . Mary and her staff

had already started preparing tea for all .. they all knew that

it was going to be a long night..

Redim was happy that there were no causalities. The girl

who was wounded, volunteered to help in the kitchen but

was send home with her parents..

Redim quietly came and stood near Frank .. Frank smiled

as they had kept the secret intact till now and she said ‘so

far so good’

He told her to take rest but she shrugged and went into the

kitchen. He wanted to thank Re but he had left his Link in

his room ..He excused himself and went up his room and

picked the Link and placed it around his neck and waited .

It started glowing immediately ..Re came on , even before

he could thank him..Re thanked him profusely and only

humanity could act like this .. They would never give

priority to others like how Frank had done but they were

learning ..

Frank was amused and said how they came forward

without asking to attack the criminals..

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Re agreed and said we had been with the humans and

perhaps few characteristic features were rubbing it on them

.

. Frank acceded and once again thanked them for saving

the day.

The glow went off the link …

Frank thought that the Seekers would not trouble again …

*

*******

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