The boxer threw a left hook at his opponent, and the collision of gloved knuckles on exposed chin nearly knocked off some teeth from the latter as he fell to the ground with a mighty thud. He skipped backwards, his gloved hands still held in a boxing stance, watching his adversary with bated breath. Would the latter get up before the referee counted 10? To his chagrin, he saw the bloodied man stand up on shaky legs, using the ropes to leverage his balance. After the referee had checked with his opponent to continue the bout, he moved forward to face him again, and another round of dodging and quick cuts ensued.
Then out of the blue, he heard a loud sound which reverberated through his ears. He paused for a second, looking for the source of the sound. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the other guy threw a mighty uppercut at him. Two seconds later, he was on the ground, disoriented and bloodied in the face. 1,2,3..8,9,10 – he vaguely heard the referee shouting them out, but his mind was elsewhere.
“Damn damn!” he muttered through his clenched teeth, tightly clutching the gameboy in his pale white hands. “What is it, Wayne? I lost a boxing match because of you. I told u to knock the door before coming in!”
The athletic sandy haired man in front of him watched him silently, trying to suppress a sigh of exasperation and bemusement.
“Ok? What is it, Wayne?”
“We have a situation, Mr. President.”
“Wait. I am THE PRESIDENT?”
“Yes, sir!” Wayne rolled his eyes in bewilderment.
The president looked at the white ceiling for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, stroking his chin. “Oh yeah, my bad!” he said. Then his eyes fell on the gameboy in his hands. Mentally he formed the headlines “World’s most powerful man found playing gameboy in oval office, White House.” Well, nothing of that sort would ever happen – his PR department was the best in the world, and twisting words were child’s play to them.
His mind focussed on the issue at hand. “What’s the matter, Wayne?”
“Sir. Nicole Razzcode requests you to be present at the Pentagon. General Bullpit has uncovered some startling information that could indicate a serious threat against the United States of America. She asked me to say the words – Code Rabbit.”
Code Rabbit. This was not good news. This meant an attack on a huge scale, that all eminent personalities would have to take refuge in the underground cellars, like rabbits escaping from predators. And the worse thing was, he himself was the most eminent person. In the US. In the world. In the spoofs and parody section too, he thought with a bitter taste in his mouth.
“All right, Wayne. Let’s go.”
“This way, sir. The chopper is ready.” Wayne then spoke into his earpiece, checking all security measures along the path the president was to take to the helipad. “All clear. We are on the move now, sir.”
15 minutes later, the escort arrived at pentagon, and the president was accosted to an intimitating gray building, with heavy steel doors guarding the entrance, and with number keypads for the access code next to every door. He was met by the secretary of state, Nicole Razzcode and the secretary of defense, Roger Basett at the entrance. Nicole punched in a combination in the number lock, and the huge steel doors slid open, revealing a curving corridor, lined with shiny walls. Cameras were situated at strategic positions along the route to keep track of the entire stretch of the walkway.
Baxter Harris, the president, found the walk uncomfortable, being surrounded by heavily armed black suited men behind,and a creased line faced Roger on his left and Nicole,with a grim look on her face, to his right. Damn, why did I agree to be the president? he thought. I should have been fishing on Harry’s creek, sharing jokes with Harrison Ford(former president and his best buddy). Here I am stuck with people who forgot how to smile, and tell me all the problems of the world, rather than what is relevant to our country. Sheesh!
The congregation arrived in a large room, where the walls were covered with computer monitors and televsion screens. In the centre was a long rectangular metal table, and the rest of the top brass in the White House were already seated. All were wearing the navy blue ‘costumes’ of the military, decorated with stars and stripes and all objects which they believed someone would give a damn about. One big guy was even adorning an earring in his right ear!
“Rise. The president has arrived.” Roger shouted loudly, startling Baxter. The congregation seated at the table stood up, removing their caps.
“Damn you Roger. Watch where you speak!” Baxter grumbled, fingering his left ear, his left eye closed, keeping the right eye open.
“Sorry, Mr. President.” Roger lowered his face in embarassment.
Baxter took his seat at the end of the table, and he scrutinized the faces in front of him. He recognized the Chief of Staff, the CIA director, the Commandant of Marine Corps, Tom Cruise, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence… wait, Tom Cruise? What the &^%$ was Tom Cruise doing in such an highly classified and top secret meeting?
Baxter beckoned to Wayne, and spoke as his bodyguard bent down to hear him. “Wayne, how did Tom Cruise land here?” he whispered.
“Sir. It was you who instated him into the cabinet. You were impressed with his Mission Impossible movies, and with his war strategy and sword skills in the Last Samurai. You believed his grasp of latest weapon technology would give our military force an edge.”
Baxter recollected how drunk he was when he had told the good for nothing actor to join White House, but he let go of the thought. The truth would be easy to tweak, as usual. “Well, it’s time to replace him. How about Chuck Norris? Heard a lot of folklore about him. Anyway, time is running out.”
He redirected his gaze to the rest of the crowd. “General Bullpit, what’s the latest problem now?”
A murmuring went through the lines of men and women at the table, as they waited for General Bullpit, the Chief of Intelligence to stand up. A minute passed by, but the general was no where to be found. The president was tapping his fingers on the table, feeling bored with every passing second. He threw a sly look at Nicole Razzdale shuffling papers on the desk, and wished her face was as good looking as her long shapely legs. A gleam suddenly came in his eye. If I can get Tom Cruise into the White House, then I can have Scarlett Johansson replace Nicole too. Wow! Imagine the hottie on my side all the time….
His reverie was disturbed as a red faced General Bullpit stormed into the room, and he came to the opposite end of the table, pressing his pudgy hands on the edge, panting for breath.
“Sorry, Mr. President. I think i had too many donuts today.” he raised his hands in an apologetic gesture.
The president waved him on. He didn’t want to hear about the General’s exploits in the restroom, in case that was next on the General’s mind.
General Bullpit took a remote from the table, and pressed a button. The projector came to life, displaying a satellite image of India. “Sir, we received intel at 06.33 am on our recon satellites, which is roughly 5.05 pm in Indian time. It appeared to be harmless data, but one of our staff did more analysis on the stuff, and we have uncovered something else.
Another press on the remote zoomed in on the satellite image of India, narrowing the field of vision continually, revealing Karnataka , then Bangalore, and then on an obscure spot on the map, marked with a red dot. “This is a place in a city called Banngalore, in a state called Karnnnataka in Inndia”, Bullpit said in a nasal twang, pointing to the target region with a red laser light. It houses many software industries in Bangalore, and is also home to the famous Infosys campus.”
Baxter straightened in his chair, and crossed his legs. “Ok. So what about Infosys?”
In response, Bullpit zoomed further, zeroing in on the Infosys campus. A huge circular structure was now visible on the big screen, as everyone craned their necks to get a better look. “This”, said Bullpit, ” is Terminal, the one of the food courts at Infosys.”
“I hope you are not using our satellites to find chocolate donuts in India, General.” Roger said with a smile. The other men chuckled in laughter, as Bullpit became red with embarassment and fury.
“Silence!” Baxter thundered, and a disconcerted quietness immediately filled the room. “Carry on, General.” he said, throwing a glowering stare at Roger, who began to fidget his hands nervously.
“We know its just a normal foodcourt, but Alicia’s quick eye spotted something.” he tilted his head towards a lady in her early thirties, standing against the wall on the president’s right. The president nodded at her in acknowledgment, and the woman gushed with pleasure. “We found a guy who has been on our wanted listed for quite some time.” Bullpit continued gravely. “What was even worse, was that he had just left from a meeting.”
Baxter had to give it to the General; though Bullpit sounded odd for a name, this man certainly knew how to avoid bullshitting superiors. He was always to the point.
With a grave face, the general now pressed another button on the remote, and a magnified photo appeared on the giant monitor. The sight of the person invoked audible gasps from some of the staff members, as the president stared at the enlarged photo, his mouth twitching in silence.
To be continued
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