Arith : The Undiscovered Planet
CHAPTER 14

Kennedy and his son, Josh were discussing. This time, they werealone and it wasn’t in an underground. They were in Kennedy’s office, which wassound proof.

“I love the way we acted fast son”. Kennedy said to Josh .“We would have been found out. But the only problem is that Lincoln survived,which wasn’t supposed to be. When did our executioner become a lousy shot”?

“That’s what baffles me dad, our executioner has trained foryears and never missed. It’s likely the bullets didn’t hit Lincoln’s vitalorgans. Be it as it may, we have this dad”. Josh said , trying to reassure hisdad. “We could always sneek in to finish the job, after all, he is still givensedatives”.

“But how did he get this far, unto us”?Josh askedrhetorically.

Just then, Kennedy’s phone rang. It as the executioner.

“I’m here sir, please let me in”.

Kennedy was already annoyed with the messed up job andwasn’t looking forward to seeing the ‘lousy shot' anytime soon.

“No” Kennedy said. “You failed , this has to be given tosome other person”.

“Please sir, I shot him three times”.

“I do not want to gointo that. What was so important that you interrupted my meeting”?

“Sir, I found something you would love”.

There was silence and the executioner continued.

“I got what Lincoln wanted to give to Derek. He was reallyunto us. So I had to look into it and to my surprise sir, someone among yourstaff was feeding him information”.

Kennedy closed his eyes for a moment and looked at Josh.Josh heard everything , after all, the call was on speaker.

“So who is this someone”? Josh asked.

“It’s Malik, one of your bodyguards. His cousin is marriedto Lincoln's daughter. They are practically in-laws sir”.

“Oh good, you know what you have to do , right”? Kennedyasked.

“Yes sir”.

“What has to be done, has to be done. Lincoln should notdisclose his replaceings to Derek . Is that clear”?

“Crystal sir”.

“But as usual, people must not know what’s going on . Itshould be a sneaky job, my reputation must be upheld”.

“Definitely sir”.

“Any other thing”?

“I removed every evidence in Lincoln’s house. He even hadfootage of our meetings in the woods”.

“Hmm. It’s really over Malik” Kennedy said quietly.

There was a long pause.

“Hello sir”? The executioner said.

“Okay then, … before you go, I must commend your skills”.

“Thank you very much sir”.

“I have already credited your account”.

“I’m so delighted sir. I promise to do everything possibleto make sure this operation is successful”.

“I will take your word then. Yeah… and this time, do not belousy in dealing with Malik and Lincoln”.

“I won’t let you down sir”.

Kennedy ended the call.

“So Malik ratted us out, just wow!” Josh said.

“He pretended to be with us. He's little to handle".

Josh nodded in awe, he couldn’t believe, anyone would havethe guts to do that.

“He’d wish he hadn’t betrayed me”. Kennedy vowed.

**********

Zach sat down typing on his laptop . His demeanor seemedurgent. In fact, he was annoyed at the delay. What was keeping him? Zach wondered , checkinghis watch. He wasn’t particularly patient, so was not happy waiting for someonethis long.

As he sat there, his phone rang, At last! He thought. Butwhen he checked, the caller wasn’t him. What the hell! He just ignored thecall, as he wasn’t ready to chat with someone who was not him. The callpersisted, he sighed, controlled his impatience with an effort and picked up.

“What!” He barked into his phone.

“It’s me” the caller said. Zach breathed in deeply, he wasglad. It was him.

“I have been waiting and you had me worried. So how did itgo? And why did you call me with adifferent number”?

The caller gave his reasons, Zach listened to what he had tosay, which was a very tiring one .

“Why did you involve him”?

Zach was furious at the caller , this didn’t go as planned.What sort of messed up plan is this ? He wondered. And now, the caller was introuble. This meant that both he and the caller were in trouble.

The caller kept ranting and this increased Zach’s anger. Hehad to speak up to halt the annoying talk.

“Just meet me at …”

Zach disclosed where they would meet.

The caller agreed and hurriedly hung up, for fear of Zach’sanger. People who can’t stick to a simple plan ! Zach thought.

***********

Two days after Lincoln was shot, Derek sat by Lincoln’s bedin the hospital . Lincoln had the answer , he thought. But he wouldn’t starthis questions now. That would be when hefelt that Lincoln’s condition was better. For now, Lincoln just slept , he wason sedatives. He hadn’t gone to see Tessy, since the day Lincoln was shot. Derek hoped she was faring well. He wouldcheck on her tomorrow.

The doctor seemed to have taken a liking of Derek andLincoln, and always came over to Lincoln’s bed, to talk to check on them. Derekhad gone to Lincoln’s home to search for evidence but he found none. Although,when he got to Lincoln’s house, the whole place was a mess. They had been here!They had taken away the needful things. These people are always ahead of me! Hethought. He didn’t look at Zach as someone who would be this fast! Now theproof he needed to arrest Zach and theothers was gone. His only hope was Lincoln . He had all the answers , Derek wassearching for.

He knew Lincoln’s survival was already known , he had to becareful, as he shouldn’t trust anyone aside himself. It meant he and Lincolnwere in trouble. So, he swore to keep extra watch on Lincoln with his life.After all, he put Lincoln in this mess.