After The Flames by Roderic Grigson

Author:Roderic Grigson [Grigson, Roderic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-25T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nadesan approached the safe house cautiously. He had been observing the laneway and the surrounding houses for two days from his hideout in the warehouse. He was lucky that the warehouse was empty and that he could get in and out through the broken cladding at the back.

He had not seen anything out of the ordinary and felt reasonably confident that the Police did not know its location. But he had felt the same way at the garage in Grandpass and only his need for food had saved him from being captured.

That morning, Nadesan had watched as Deva entered the house for the first time. He knew that the leader of the militant cell wouldn’t be there if the place was under observation. One of Nadesan’s concerns was that he wouldn’t be recognised by the safe house occupants and be denied access, or worse. But with Deva there, Nadesan felt confident of gaining access.

The lane was almost empty of people. A woman in a hijab, four doors down, was hanging her washing on a line outside her front window. The safe house was just like the other houses on the street, only the number twenty-eight identifying it as being the one Nadesan wanted. The front door opened right onto the lane, only a wide concrete slab over a deep drain separating it from the road. A narrow, barred window next to the door was half-shuttered and curtained from the inside.

Nadesan rapped on the door, taking a step back after he did. The curtain moved slightly as someone looked out. A bolt was drawn back, the door swung open. Nadesan looked up and down the street before stepping in.

A lamp threw out a dull light from a table in the corner and the stink of kerosene was strong in the small room. From the deeper shadows of the doorway leading to the rear, he saw the gleam of a rifle barrel aimed at his chest. Nadesan slowly and very carefully raised his arms. He heard breathing close to him, someone grabbed his collar and the barrel of a weapon was pressed hard into the back of his neck. The door shut with a loud thump behind him. Hands patted him down. He was pushed into the doorway leading to the back of the building.

‘Put your hands on your head,’ a voice whispered. ‘And keep them there.’

A scurrying movement behind him and the lamp was lifted, allowing him to see into a corridor with two doors leading off it. A thin man with shrunken cheeks held out a hand grenade, its pin removed. His eyes glittered with madness. A rifle hung from a sling down his side.

‘I am looking for Deva,’ Nadesan said nervously in Tamil. ‘I know he is here.’ ‘Who are you?’ the voice behind him muttered tersely into his ear. ‘How did you know to come here?’

‘I am Nadesan from the safe house in Pettah,’ Nadesan said anxiously. These men didn’t know him and he needed to establish his credentials quickly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.