Beast With Brains

By Sahiba Kamboj

“Good morning viewers, Isn’t it strange when you realize that your life is controlled by a person who doesn’t exist? There are such people around us but we don’t care; yes I am talking about the well-known Mafai world. They are those double-faced people who portray a particular character until their personality changes- the Goosebumpers, a new emerging gang nowadays. They are popular con artists who play with minds in-order to loot expensive items. Nobody knows who they are, how many they are and what they look like. The police is chasing them since last year but fail constantly, they vanish like a star into a cloud. Goosebumpers could be a person you know the best and is planning to con you, so viewers… be alert and be safe. For more updates and forthcoming news please stay connected to your TV screen, only on Eagle news….” (The news ends)

The clock signs 8 and it's usual Monday morning, Naya is all set to go to her regular place of work. She is a young and passionate Indian journalist on Eagle New who earns well to support her living. Today is a big day for her as she is getting promoted from a trainee to a professional news reporter. On reaching the office she is heartily welcomed with bouquets, cards and receives much appreciation from the officials. Naya is all set for the task coming her way, after the dedication and hard work of three months she is being given her first on-field assignment. She holds a brilliant track record in going on-air that elevated TRP to strike the sky. Her next assignment is to visit Paris for the coverage of a cultural festival. Artist from the entire world is invited. In the next couple of days, she is ready to leave with her camera person. Upon reaching Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, along with their luggage, they are making their way to the hotel but… suddenly the circumstance at the airport change. People are rushing around the airport and this is not at all a positive sign. Nervousness can be seen on Naya's face as it is hard to figure out what is happening; within a moment someone screams “Bomb… it's a bomb in here …run.. run.. run…”. When she turned around a clear could of smoke and fire is coming out from a plane. People are scared to hell, in a wink the airport turns into a wild place of chaos, and people are moving around screaming to help. The attack is so massive that the fire could not resist itself and hit inside the airport resulting in zero visibility. This terrific situation creates panic, Naya kept calling her camera person but gets no reply. Her foot struck something on the ground and she sees a person trying to breathe but the smoke doesn’t allow it, he is the camera person lying on the ground struggling with his life. The fire brigade, police and the entire rescue team arrived they asked the crowd to clear the space as early as possible. The rescue is under process and working hard to control the situation between all this one more blast and it shatters many windows. Naya is forced to leave the place without thinking about the condition of her colleague. She is just running and running her way out of the airport and doesn’t know where is she going. Due to her anxiety and fear, she could not imagine what to do, where to hide, or how to save herself in a foreign country.

There is a car standing nearby on the road whose doors are open, she feared another blast to happen so she hides in the backseat of the car. Within a moment two people sit in and drive the car to a place far away. Naya as silent as Stone is wondering about the situation and those people who are just driving and not looking back that she is also in. After the drive for an hour, they reach a safe place and stop the car in front of the house, (which is the only house in that area). Naya gets out of the car on realizing the place to be safe unknowingly the two can see her. Upon hearing the bang of the car’s door both of them look back. They are tall, well dressed, and seem like a well to do individuals. They are amazed to see a stranger coming out of their car. Initially, it is hard to understand their native language but Naya starts the talk in English as this is the only foreign language she knows. She reveals her identity along with the entire incident that happened at the airport. One of them understood a little bit what she is trying to say and looking into the elegance of the occasion he agrees to help. They walks and rang the bell of the house, a lady came out. She looks like a caretaker of the house upon his request, she accompanies Naya in the house. She suggest Naya sit in the living area and starts cleaning her wounds moreover offered her a glass of water and a few pancakes to eat. On getting back to her senses Naya found the house to be weird, the wall full of clocks which probably displays the time zones of every country, an advanced computer system on the left corner that kept running some sort of data, a bookshelf that contains all the books based on human psychology and cognitive behavior.

When she asks the caretaker about the place she replied “Don’t worry dear… you are safe here”. The men enter, Naya gets up to thank them and asked them who they are. One of them revealed that they are famous celebrities and always in talks but the other one ignores her as he is not in support of helping her. “I mmm…Naya…” Within the conversation two more people came down the stairs asking “qui est-elle (who is she)……qu’est-ce qu'elle fait chez nous (what is she doing in our house)”. Naya isn’t getting their conservation so she instantly starts explaining the incident which happened at the airport. There are three people in the group who can understand English (one that allows Naya in the house and the other that just came down the stairs and a little bit by the caretaker). “What’s going on ….Lev … Ken… what’s she saying”. Lev replies “ Je ne sais pas ce qui ne va pas avec lui (I don’t know what’s wrong with him)… Ken est fou, il vient de laisser un étranger dans la maison

(Ken is out of his mind he just let a stranger in the house). He could sense something is wrong so he revealed their names in order to get her in confidence. “oh…seems like you are a traveler and …by the way I am Ray and these are my team-mates Lev, Ted, Ken and she is our caretaker Eli. Don’t worry you are safe here”.

They tell Eli to look after her until they come back. Anxious Naya informs Eli that she lost her passport at the airport during the chaos and desires to get back home. Upon their return, Eli tells them about the girl losing her passport and asks what could be their next move. Lev and Ted simply refuse to help because they thought it would land them in trouble, Ken as usual didn’t say much on this and asked Ray to take the final decision. Firstly, Ray thought she must be acting strange to steal something but later he could make out from her body language that she will not harm them and agreed to help. He convinces the other three to follow him, Naya is sitting on a sofa, she is nervous, afraid and constantly staring at her handbag. Ray tells her that he can help her with the passport but the chaos that occurred in the morning sealed all the places and the government announced a curfew for the next four days. So she has to wait four days to get back the passport until then she can stay there. Naya hesitates but eagerly asks who are they, and what kind of celebrities are they but Ray ends the conversation by saying “The famous ones”.

The next day Eli is preparing food when she founds Naya is still under stress, she told her to go outside in the garden and have some fresh air. In the garden she sees Ken sitting on a chair placed next to beautiful petunia and jasmine flowers. He is busy typing something on the laptop. Naya thought it would be a great opportunity to send an email to her family as she lost her passport, phone, luggage and every other thing that she carried along. An email will help to tell them about her being stuck in Paris. Ken is very particular about his things so he refuses to give his laptop. Naya left the place with disappointment she comes back to the sofa where she kept on sitting the entire day without uttering a word. The boys are usually busy with their work whereas Eli is busy doing household stuff. Only two days are left for the curfew to end Naya standing near the window and looking towards the beautiful flowers, pleasant weather and the scenic view of mountains from the house still there is no sign of relief on her face. She is stuck in Paris, in a house with unknowingly famous celebrities and a caretaker. Multiple questions arise in her head, she is lost in the flow of regretful emotions, heartbroken about losing her colleague and criticizes her visit to Paris. Her thoughts get interrupted as the boys come into the living area in front of the computer system to discuss the data. She wants to give one more try to contact her family and ask Ray for using the computer. Not much to her surprise he refuses by saying that he can't allow it because all the gadgets belong to Ken, he takes care of all the digital work running here and it's challenging to get him ready for it. By the end of the day Naya as usual resting on the sofa almost weeping with distress. She found it fishy why they aren’t letting her contact her family and then all of a sudden a hand moved towards her with a laptop. It is Ken standing next to her and allowing her to use it “Only five minutes…I give this to you… and will you stop crying?”. Once the email is sent she thanked Ken for letting her communicate and he left.

The next day would be the last day of curfew and finally, she could get back her passport but one thing which is on her mind since yesterday is the presence of the world clock on the laptop screen similar to what she see saw on the walls of the house. The last day has arrived Ray gives her the news that curfew is all over and now she could get back to where she comes from. Between this Lev and Ted came running towards Ray with a query on their face, they uttered something in his ear. Both of them were surprised to know that Ken let her use the laptop as it contains so much private data about their work. Ray doesn’t find it to be a big deal for her to recognize any delicate detail after looking at her situation and asking them to take her to the embassy. As they never supported her stay in the house none of them is ready for this task. Ray is in a big confusion “Hmm….it isn’t worth sending these two with her … even these idiots can’t be left alone here ...they will just ruin the next project…ce qu'il faut faire (what to do)… then who… KEN (Leva and Ted replied).

Ray insisted Ken accompany Naya to the embassy. She is overwhelmed to go back home and thanked everyone for letting her stay and help. On the way, out of excitement, she kept on asking multiple questions to Ken which came to her mind “It's weird… those wall clocks with different time zones …what is it for ?… what are you famous for?… like I was here to report the cultural festival…which is no way happening now… by the way what do you all do … ?” Ken didn’t reply and kept quiet all the way. The situation outside looks like a dangerous spot. Police checkposts are on the way and the officers are checking the identity cards, questioning people for security reasons. Ken found it difficult for Naya to clear the checkpoint without her passport after analyzing things he makes up his mind to use his tricks which he is good at. When their turn comes for interrogation he takes a card out and engages the officer with his talks. Ken gives an outstanding performance misleading him moreover makes him believe that he’s a senior government official who is out to keep a check on the situation. They pass the checkpoint easily and Naya is amazed to see what just happened. After a drive of an hour, they are in the city but it wasn’t as usual, it was meant to be full of people for a cheerful cultural event but now as quiet as ever before. Once they reach the embassy Ken takes Naya to a help desk and ask them to arrange a passport for her as she is the victim of the airport blast. The helper pointed to the right side Ken see an unusual activity, there are men with guns roaming around in the hall. The embassy is under the control of terrorists. Both of them are under terror arrest and locked up in a room with other hostages. Naya feared the situation to the worst as this is peculiarly unnatural for her, she wonder where her destiny is taking her. Ken is also worried for himself, for her and for other innocent people. Being his unusual self he confronted Naya not to fear as he would find a way out. He asked all the hostages to gather and give all sorts of gadgets they have with them or anything that could be helpful in the room. In the end, they could arrange only one broken phone and a leather belt to sort things out. Ken used all his skills to reach out to his teammates in order to get in touch with them for help. After struggling with the phone for some time he managed to get his team online. They are ready to perform the task, Ray makes every possible attempt to inform the police about what’s going on in the embassy whereas Lev started looking at the early morning time zones to get their people back to work from various countries in order to spread the news as fast as possible for the rescue operation to start. Ken and Ted are communicating with each other in order to hack the security system of the embassy. As soon as they succeed the alarm begins to ring. Goons realized unusual activity, one of them comes inside the room, Ken instantly took a lighter from his pocket and performed some sort of hand moment which made that person uncomfortable. He argues with him playing with his mind and takes him near the pillar, then ties him up against the pillar using the leather belt. Ken tries his best to trick him and successfully snatches his gun, and hypnotizes him to get all the secrets out about the attack. Naya is shocked to see what Ken is doing all alone and he doesn’t seem like a normal person. After another fifteen minutes, there is a pop-up on the phone from Ray and Lev saying “le travail est fait…(the work is done). Ken picks up the gun and asks everybody to follow him. He kills two goons coming his way out to the lobby. Upon reaching the main hall French army is already present there taking care of the attackers and the situation is under control now. Government officials assured all the hostages of their safe journey back to their country. Naya is relieved by the moment and thanks Ken moreover asks him to leave the place as the is dangerous “Before you go …I wanna know…I mean how did you perform that trick to fool him… and what that terrorist is saying about the attack?” Ken quietly stares at her but didn’t say a word.

Naya being grateful “Aaa… it's okay if you don’t want to…I guess you don't do any bad work... since you saved so many people today… but still, I wonder what are you famous for ?… anyway thanks to you and your teammates … Goodbye”.

Ken doesn’t want her to reveal about them to anyone so out of fear he says “Wait… I’ll say only if you promise not to tell anyone…will you !”

Naya moved her head saying “Okay..I won’t”. Ken replies “We are the…GOO…famous for playing mind games…and give them chills of fear around their body… to loot them”. Naya didn’t get what he said, after thinking about it for a few seconds she also felt those chills on her body and realized “Are you …the Goose-bumpers…?” Ken nodded his head saying yes.

Naya “ really… are you the famous mafia gang …Goose-bumpers ?… how… it’s impossible to believe for a mafia-like you would help someone… or you just tricking me …right ?… and I thought you all are like friends to the needful ”. Ken smiled and replied “The famous Goosebumpers…aren’t friends to the needful… actually…”. He explains that in the mafia world forgiveness doesn’t exist and he realized it upon questioning that hypnotized terrorist. There he gets to know about the bomb blast at the airport was just a set-up to kill him and Lev as they were on that plane that caught fire and when they managed to escape one of them was keeping an eye on every movement. They already knew that either of them would make a visit to the embassy so they used it as a trap. For the first time, an innocent got involved in all this and they don’t want a terrible death for Naya. Ken says“ don’t know how for the first time we ended up being a savior… and I hope you won’t say a word…it’ll cause great trouble for you”. Naya is just confused about hearing these words from Ken and wants to know whether the names they used to introduce themselves were real or fake. Ken gives an astonishing reply saying they carry double-faced personalities and that nothing in their world is real. Naya is about to leave “Whatever… I am really thankful for saving my life…I don’t know if I say this or not but… if you visit my country… I would like to help once just to pay back off... and of course.. only for a good deed ...bye”.

On her way back home she thought of every possible thing that she could relate to: the house, computer setup, time clocks, psychology books and Ken’s act of action during the attack. Naya can’t believe that she has landed safely and she is the only person in the world who knows the real faces of Goose-bumpers. The irony here is even being a journalist she can’t reveal the secret. She still wonders about being a part of such a threatening world, why did they help her. One day, during her usual work of reporting the news on Eagle TV, she gets an email stating “ Are you still friends to the needful in your country, reply with a Yes or No”.

By Sahiba Kamboj