RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 167

After the request by Elaine and Marcus, a few more questions popped up in the minds of their audience. It was clear that they considered reputation in the alliance and the merits for taking down the Nirbaadh pirates less than the information that these two individuals could provide.

But they kept mum as they knew that they would hardly get anything from these two about their aims and intentions. Still, they couldn’t help but wonder about it and decide to secretly look into it themselves. None of them were willing to help another blindly as there was always a chance that this information could be used to undermine their influence and wouldn’t want to take the risk.

They were temporarily cooperating with one another but had always been rivals in the alliance and would have been having battles among them if not for the emergence of the apes. They listened to the information provided by the two individuals about the direction in which the pirates escaped and descriptions of the vessel before the meeting was up and the Elaine, Marcus duo left to the quarters provided by the Maliks.

The Khans remained behind at Anwar’s room. Marcus and Elaine noticed it but didn’t care and went ahead to their room. They had already expected the Maliks and Khans to have doubts and would discuss it. They only had to make sure that they decide to hunt the pirates actively at the end.

“So, what do we actually do?” asked Bismail as soon as Marcus and Elaine left the room.

“We are going after the pirates as they asked,” replied Anas.

“That is for sure. I want to know what we plan to do after that?” asked Bismail angrily.

“Nothing. We plan to give them to the Price family as they have requested,” said Anas with certainty. His words confused his son and nephew while angering Bismail. Sumail put a hand on his companion’s shoulder to calm him down before he erupted in anger. They were in the territory of the Maliks and angry words would definitely be a hinderance to any plans of cooperation.

“There is no need to hide your plans from us Mr.Anas. I am sure you will find it easier to work them out if you cooperate with us,” said Sumail with a smile.

“We honestly don’t plan to do anything, Sumail,” said Anas. There were stuck at this point and Sumail was thinking about the way he could move the conversation when Bismail took it out of his hands.

“Mr. Anwar. Is it only Mr. Anas that is of this opinion or do we expect this to be the opinion of your family,” asked Bismail in an angry tone.

Sumail wanted to hit Bismail on his head for being an irritable idiot. His words would definitely piss off Mr. Anas who was an important person in the council. It would definitely delay an help or cooperation they would require from the Maliks. He was thinking of a way to rectify it while it was again taken out of his hands.

“It isn’t my brother’s opinion alone and I support his suggestion completely,” said Anwar surprising Sumail, Bismail, Aquib and Zubair. None of them expected that both of the heirs of the Malik family wouldn’t want the same thing.

“Well. In that case, we don’t have much to discuss and will proceed as suggested by Mr. Marcus Price,” said Bismail as he got up to leave. Sumail also got up to leave as he realize that there couldn’t be much use in talking now. “Please, consider it over the night. I hope that you will change your perspective regarding this,” said Sumail before following Bismail out. “I will inform Enias about your behaviour,” said Sumail as he left Bismail and went to his room.

“Father and Uncle, how do we proceed? Do we need to make some additional preparations in secret?” asked Aquib. Both he and Zubair assumed that they would be asked to prepare in secret to get to the two people and interrogate Dave or Dharma.

“Nothing. We don’t know anything about the reason they are after the two pirates and have no plans to irritate either the Blyth or Price families for something so trivial,” said Anwar.

“Neither the Blyths or the Prices aren’t fools that would allow us to get any information that would hinder them. They wouldn’t have come to us, if they the target actually had any information that we could get and use,” added Anas.

“What does that mean?” asked Zubair.

“You haven’t been in much complicated situations. These two targets might not even know that they have information that the Blyths are searching for,” said Anwar. “They might just have been seen or heard something in certain circ.u.mstances from which the Blyths could infer whatever they wanted to know.”

“True, if not for that, the Walter Blyth wouldn’t have allowed for this information to be shared with us. The same goes with Evelyn Price. None in the family would dare cross them. They are probably the ones that are in charge of this thing. They were after the Nirbaadh pirates for a long time. In fact, some say that Walter and Evelyn played a significant role in the previous captain’s death,” added Anas.

“So, it is best we do as they suggested in case of their targers?” asked Zubair. He found it hard to believe that his uncle and father wouldn’t even think of trying to find out the information that these pirates had, but he decided to let them decide. The more he heard, he felt that they had good reasons for doing it in this manner.

“Yes. Of course,” answered Anwar. “Don’t concern yourself with Bismail and Sumail Khans. Enias Khan isn’t a fool either and would suggest the same. His plan overrules anything that these two think of.”

“But we do have another idea in mind,” said Anas looking at his brother for confirmation.

“Ya. We don’t want to piss off Evelyn or Walter, but they never told anything about interrogating the other pirates. So, we make sure we find out everything the other pirates know while we leave those specific two alone,” said Anwar. “Prepare accordingly. We might even have to compete with the Khans regarding this.”

As they were discussing their plans to capture the pirates, Bismail was in his room secretly calling someone unknown to anyone in both Khan and Malik families. He had been trying to contact this person for quite some time before the meeting but failed to do so as the person failed to respond to the call.

He hadn’t even responded to Bismail’s messages and this had Bismail extremely worried and cranky. The fact that he had received a message during his meeting with Anwar and the others only worsened Bismail’s mental situation and he wanted to get back to his room as quickly as possible.

“You finally responded,” said Bismail as Dharma Pratap had finally replied to his calls. “What is going on? Where are you?”

“What was so urgent you idiot? I don’t have time to assassinate him any longer. I am worried about my own life,” said Dharma on the opposite end of the call. He had used a stealth shuttle to get off the pirate vessel after the meeting in Basuli’s cabin. He only informed Darak of his departure.

“What was so urgent? The Nirbaadh pirates are gone. The Price and Blyth families attack had very strong results and they are after you,” replied Bismail angrily. He had been trying to contact Dharma for quite some time as he had requested him to assassinate his cousin Enias. Dharma and his team had failed to do it in the past and ever since then, Bismail had been extremely worried that some one might manage to link it to him.

“Yes. That is why I have been running for my life. I don’t even know if my brother is alive,” said Dharma in a sombre tone.

“Wait! What do you mean the Blyth and Price families? They were the ones who attacked us?” asked Dharma in surprise. He didn’t know who the person was who had attacked them all this time. None of the pirates were aware of this.

“Of course. Else how do you think, I came to know of your situation. They informed us and we are having a celebration in the family due to this. Even declared a public holiday, right now,” said Bismail.

“My brother. Do you know anything of him? Is he alive?”

“All I know is that he had evaded them and escaped. They are after him and wanted us to go after you,” said Bismail.

“My brother escaped!?” exclaimed Dharma in surprise. He found that extremely improbable. The attack of their mysterious opponents had been extremely fierce. They had been very quick in killing his uncle and capturing his brother. He had seen them overwhelm the forces of the pirates very quickly and defeating his brother.

“Are you sure of that?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Please, check again. The one who attacked us was very fierce, he killed uncle and subdued Rana with relative ease, when his men were dying. He was extremely angry about it, and I doubt they would have let Rana escape after all that effort.”

“I doubt that I would getting any more information from them, but the main point is that they are looking for you specially. They also know your alias as Dave,” said Bismail coming to his point clearly.

“They know of my alias? That would be hard for me,” said Dave worried about this. It was hard enough that he had to hide from the other pirates. He thought that he could get back into the underworld using the contacts he had but that would be a problem currently.

“Yes. You need to be much more careful, but there is one thing that I am confused about. They think Dave and you are two separate persons.”

“Huh?!” exclaimed Dharma and then he realized that the name Dave was also known to the Blyth family through the colonel that his men failed to kill. “I guess I have an idea why they think so. The Blyths were searching for Dave alias even before the attack,” explained Dharma.

“Anyway. I need a place to hide for now. Can you provide any assistance?” asked Dharma.

“Where are you?”

“Near KX – 42 planet heading towards the HC sector,” replied Dharma.

“Good, the information we have tell you moving towards the KA sector,” said Bismail happy that the information they received from the Blyths is a bit flawed. If he just gave Dharma a way out temporarily, he wouldn’t be in any trouble.

“KA sector? Isn’t that the direction Darak and others are heading towards?” thought Dharma. He realized that their attackers already had been tracking Basuli’s ship and it would not take much time for them to be trapped, even if they hid with the help of their underworld contacts.

“Remember the ex-bounty hunter, Kraven?” he asked Dharma.

“Yes.”

“Will send his details to you in a few minutes. I contacted him once for assassinating Enias. He has a long-standing feud with the current power of Khan family. He would help you,” said Bismail. “Don’t stray close to the Elysium. My life depends on your safety. They will kill me and my family if they know that I cooperated with you.”

“I understand. Don’t worry. Once, this subsides, I will surely finish my job. Else, I doubt that I would have a chance in living. Especially that my original path of retreat has been cut off by the Blyths,” said Dharma as he cut off the call.

“I hope that no one, would track his trail,” thought Bismail as he sent Dharma the information about Kraven and also Kraven about the Dharma’s situation. He was sure that Kraven would support him as Kraven also had a grudge against Enias who had captured his team and killed them after their last assassination attempt. He only barely escaped due to Bismail’s warning.

Dharma was also glad that he had managed to get away from Basuli’s ship. There had been too many uncertain factors. Apart from his brother’s lieutenants trying to kill him, now he realized that his attackers haven’t yet stopped their pursuit. He decided to get to a nearby planet and sell his ship before getting another one and leaving the sector. He realized that he might need to keep changing sh.i.p.s to avoid his attacker’s pursuit. So, he made way to KX-42 planet first.