Two years later, Virginia, USA.
He stood there at the balcony, looking down at the garden where the orphanage kids ran around and played in the sunlight, that shined through the clear sky and glittered in the joy of the young lives. He smiled faintly, feeling some warmth in his dead heart.
He was tall and muscular, wearing a long-collar trench coat over a turtleneck shirt, the neck high to his chin, and there was a cloth tied to his right wrist, a torn cloth piece of some kind.
A little girl came running and called from below, "Uncle Karam!" in her American English accent, raising her hands and showing up a small garland that she made, asking excitedly, "See this!"
He nodded with a smile and said, "It's beautiful". She giggled, her eyes glittering, and ran away as he sighed watching her go.
An orphanage caretaker came in from behind and said, "Sir, some men are asking for you".
He looked at the watch and sighed heavily, the smile replaced by a serious face, one that meant business.
He followed the keeper to the entrance door.
There stood a man in a black suit, a single earphone in his one ear and an expressionless face. He had a scar across his right eye, on which he worked black glasses.
"Karam Raveen", he said, almost like a robot, "you are to come with us".
He nodded and followed. The orphanage kids and keepers peeped out of the door in curiosity and confusion. He waved to them to stay in there and not come behind him, as the keepers stopped the kids from running out, and followed the man to a black SUV standing there on the stone pavement. Two other men in black suits and glasses stood there by the door, one with a metal detector.
He checked Karam's entire body with metal detector and took his watch, phone, purse, and keys. Other man checked him with hands and then opened the door, letting the man in before getting inside. The door shut and the car drove away, as the people of the orphanage watched.
"Where did Uncle Karam go?" asked the little girl to a keeper with large innocent eyes.
"I don't know sweetie", she said, a concern on her face.
*
Inside the car, he sat between the two men in black suit. One sat in the front with the driver, the one with the scar, and the driver also wore black suit, all serious, without a word or expression. He couldn't see the driver, there was a wall between the backseat and the front, you can't see anything in the front, and the glasses of the sides and behind were painted black, making it impossible to look outside.
He sat there between them without a word and closed his eyes, grave, as if meditating.
They drove for about 30 minutes before the car came to a screeching halt and Karam opened his eyes. The one on his right opened the door and stepped out, gesturing him to follow. The other men came out of their sides. The driver remained.
Karam got out of the car, the man closing it behind.
They stood in front of what looked like an old barber shop, wooden, rundown. "Come in", said the scarred man, and enter the shop. He followed behind, So did the other two.
The shop was like any ordinary, old Indie design, stained mirrors, a table filled with different scissors, bottles, and creams. Seats, their clothes torn at places, sponge coming out. The wooden floor was creaky, black spots at places, rotten at others. And there stood an old man with a barber's apron and a plastered smile.
The scarred man showed him a badge and he nodded and went to one of the shelves, put aside some creams and bottles to bring out a completely squished tube of face cream. Then he went to the table and pulled out his drawer. Setting aside a pile of tubes, he took out the trimmer, off, and turned the regulator in a particular sequence, 4-3-1-2-3-1, and the top part of the trimmer came off. There was what looked like a barcode scanner. He scanned the barcode on the tube with the scanner and there was a 'ting!' noise.
There was some mechanical machine turning kind of noise behind the walls and one of the mirrors started to slide back and to the right, opening into a metallic hallway about 5 feet tall.
The scarred man nodded at the barber and climbing on the table and into the tunnel where there was once the mirror.
Karam was stoic the whole time, his face neutral, gaze blank, almost like that of a corpse with eyes open. None of what was happening got any reaction from him, he just followed along the man.
"Come in", gestured the scarred man, bent down a little to fit in the tunnel, and walked in. Karam followed him into the tunnel, the other two behind him. The mirror-door closed behind them when they were at a distance and the lights on the edge lining of the tunnel turned on, shining on the metal walls, the height of the tunnel getting taller to about 8 feet so they don't have to bend down and walk.
They walked silently down what looked like a large vent with lights lining the edges, for some time, before they stood in front of what looked like an elevator, a CCTV camera on top of it. The scarred man put a password saying "25ZSArgodin" to a monitor, then he got his badge (a QR code on it), his retina, thumbprint, scanned at the monitor, before the door opened.
"Everyone", he said, "get your retinas and thumbprints scanned before entering", and so they did, one after the other, and got in.
It was a 10x6 meter metallic chamber with a bar light shining and a camera in the corner. The man put a sequence of numbers on the key monitor. The door closed and the chamber started to move, first downwards for a long while, apparently underground, and then sideways horizontally, in different directions and turns, instead of vertically like an elevator. Karam was silent and watchful the whole time. A small smirk spread on his face, eyes cold as ever. It was exactly as he had expected.
"The government has special tunnels underground that only they can access", he had said to his team, "under the country and people, unknown to them, a complete hidden transport only they can use".
He was right.
But the question remained, how did they manage to hide such a huge network for so long?
The chamber moved for what seemed like 30 minutes, before it came to a halt and started to go up. And when it opened, Karam was blinded by sudden bright lights. He covered his squinted eyes.
They stepped out and by the time his eyes adjusted, they widened. He found himself standing in a luxurious room. The carpet was red and smooth under them. The lights and walls and ceiling too were lustrous, beautiful Victorian architecture, designed skillfully. There hung a glowing chandelier from the center and a sofa table with fruits on it sat on the floor, flower vases and lamps in the corner. The metal door behind them stood as a misfit to the surrounding but soon that was fixed when the doors of the metal chamber closed and was covered behind a sliding bookshelf meant to hide it, there as a disguise.
He took a deep breath and returned to his neutral state as he heard the chamber go down behind the walls.
The scarred man opened the door and stepped out of the room without any follow-me gesture this time and Karam followed, one of the other guards behind him, following too, while the other stayed behind. Outside there was a hallway even more bright and architecturally beautiful. Chandeliers lined the ceiling, vases on the side. He followed the man to a staircase. They climbed to the second floor leading to a bright hallway with a large ebony wooden door at the end.
The scarred guard walked on, Karam following, while the other guard stayed behind at the staircase. Their footsteps echoed as they walked the hallway.
They reached the door and stopped.
"Get in", said the scar-faced guard gesturing him.
"Inside you will see the director of CIA, Secretary of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Director of Defense Intelligence Agency, the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Director of Advanced Research Agency, and"
"the President".
Karam, his hands on the doorknob, took a deep breath, a calm yet authoritative demeanor about him, radiating importance.
Eyes resolute yet cold, he opened the door and stepped in, to be met by a round table of all the important people sitting on the sides, the old blond President in the center.
"Welcome, Mr. Karam" he said, "Please have a seat"