The Guru: John Hayes #7 (A John Hayes Thriller) by Mark David Abbott

Author:Mark David Abbott [Abbott, Mark David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-29T23:00:00+00:00

40

John slowly walked away from the bungalow, his brow wrinkled, deep in thought. He’d wanted to take the conversation further, but Max had entered the room and whispered something in Atman’s ear.

Atman excused himself, followed by Max, leaving John alone in the room. He hadn’t even been able to ask more about the Sri Lankan girls. What were their names? Where did they stay?

After sitting alone for five minutes with no sign of Atman returning, or indeed anyone else, John got up and made his way back to the dormitory.

The fact was, John was confused. Atman was a charming, charismatic person, easy to talk to, comfortable to be around, but some things he said made John doubt his sanity.

John had a deep-felt mistrust of anything to do with religion. He had seen it cause so many problems in the world. All it seemed to do was create division. Despite Atman talking about all being equal in his eyes, the men and women were segregated, and all had to wear white. His justification for charging high fees for his retreats was utter nonsense. John was convinced it was all a moneymaking racket, and there was much more going on than met the eye. The security cameras, his bodyguard, the secrecy… it didn’t add up.

He walked on a bit further.

But then, if the guy was a fraud, how did John explain what he’d experienced? The loss of time could be explained away by falling asleep. In fact, he was sure that was all that happened. But today, under the tree? What was that? Had he been dehydrated? He needed to find Maruti. He was the only one who might give him an honest opinion.

The men’s dormitory block was deserted, and John’s room was empty, so he walked to the dining hall. The hall looked quiet as he approached, and he checked his watch. Lunch had been over for thirty minutes, which meant the students had dispersed for their service assignments. John couldn’t remember what his was and couldn’t be bothered to find out. This whole selfless service thing was nonsense, too. What better way to keep running costs down than to convince your students that doing the work for free would help their progress. That way, the retreat center didn’t need staff and could still charge the students for their attendance. It was pure profit for Atman.

John kicked off his shoes and jogged up the steps into the hall.

That was probably the real reason for serving small vegetarian meals. Why spend money on meat when you didn’t have to? John smiled. It was the perfect business model, only bettered by a fasting retreat. There you paid and didn’t get any food. John chuckled as he crossed the empty hall to look at the roster on the notice board next to the serving hatch. He ran his finger down the list until he found Maruti’s name, then across to the column for the afternoon. Laundry.

John bent down, poked his head through the hatch, and looked into the kitchen.

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