The Signet Ring

By Kapil Dabur

It revolves around a brotherhood trying to avenge the injustice meted out to Asuras by Lord Vishnu. It revolves around the Ten avatars of Vishnu and his fierce battles with demons during these avatars on earth.
It blends Mythology and History with a modern day thriller.

Two story lines run simultaneously and converge over time.
One storyline, strongly grounded in the present times invokes sufficient realism in the mind of the reader, smoothly connecting the reader with the other plot that dwells into the prehistoric times.

The biggest surprise is a character believed to be none other than the legendary Hanuman.
The storyline is etched with significant life stories of some of the most revered Gods in Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna, Lord Rama and the mighty Lord Vishnu to name a few.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Jun 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9789389759815

Kapil Dabur

"Kapil Dabur is a startup enthusiast and is very passionate about being part of one. He is currently working with a leading player in home improvement space.An MBA from IIM Bangalore, he has worked at leadership positions in blue-chip firms like Airtel, Reebok for a decade before taking a plunge into entrepreneurship.His first novel, Unusual Choices was self-published and drew widespread appreciation.This is his second Novel.His interests include Reading and Travelling.Kapil is married to Rudhi and has a son, Nikhil.Kapil lives in New Delhi."

Book preview

The Signet

Ring

Kapil Dabur

ISBN 978-93-89759-81-5

Copyright © Kapil Dabur, 2020

First published in India 2020 by Inkstate Books

An imprint of Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd

Sales Office:

Unit No.25/26, Building No.A/1.

Near Wadala RTO,

Wadala (East), Mumbai – 400037 India

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this book are those of the Author and do not pertain to be held by the Publisher.

Editor: James Abhishek Chandran

Cover: Ami Parekh

Layouts: Kshitij Dhawale

About the Author

Kapil Dabur is a startup enthusiast and is very passionate about being part of one. He is currently working with a leading player in home improvement space.

An MBA from IIM Bangalore, he has worked at leadership positions in blue-chip firms like Airtel, Reebok for a decade before taking a plunge into entrepreneurship.

His first novel, Unusual Choices was self-published and drew widespread appreciation.

This is his second Novel.

His interests include Reading and Travelling.

Kapil is married to Rudhi and has a son, Nikhil.

Kapil lives in New Delhi.

Acknowledgements

This book is a work of fiction and tries to reconnect the age old beliefs about the great Vishnu and his life events with a modern day thriller.

Religion, events and events of the past have been used liberally to bring about this modern day thriller.

I am obliged to the two persons who are an integral part of my life, Nikhil, my son and Rudhi, my wife.

My parents whose regular words of appreciation kept me going, months without a break.

Naina and Trupti, my project managers at Leadstart Publishing who helped me navigate the complex stages during the Publishing process.

James, my editor who helped me bring out the final draft.

I am also thankful to all members of Leadstart Publishing who helped me at various stages during publication of this book.

Keywords

Important keywords related to the Signet Ring:

Lord Hanuman

Black Death

Panchmukhi Hanuman temple

Hiranyaksha

Swastika sign

Avatars of Lord Vishnu

The Signet Ring

‘Taxi! Taxi! Oslo Public Library, please.’

The auburn-coloured Toyota raced along the perfectly laid intersections of Oslo.

‘Are you sure this is the right place? It will be your fourth blunder if it isn’t the library we are looking for,’ Ajit said, his piercing eyes questioning Ethan.

Ethan looked out at a group of twenty-something couples coming out of the Rockefeller Music Hall, as his mind went back to recent events. The heist at the other three centres of the National Library bore no results at all. Three full nights were wasted and the file was not found, leave alone the coveted map. ‘Don’t worry, Ajit. I will give you the map today. Just stay true to what you promised to give us,’ he said.

It took them all of ten minutes to reach the library and another five to clear the security checks and security guards. There were hardly any.

Oslo Public Library was about two hundred and fifty years old, standing tall in the St. Hanshaugen district in Oslo. It was packed with visitors and readers alike, even at 7:00 pm on a chilly evening.

‘Local archives and architecture section please,’ Ajit said as the receptionist warily pushed the visitor’s information register towards him.

‘First right, then left, on the second floor,’ the receptionist said.

Ethan looked at his watch as he dashed up the stairs. They had just about an hour to find the map, take it out of the library and move to the next destination.

Focus on the map, Ethan. This is your last chance to secure the funds needed for your Cardiff research, Ethan reminded himself as he browsed the records on the computer. The library had more than a million architectural records, building designs, homes, offices, and vaults. A few more minutes and Ajit had gone through every file related to the map mentioned in the database.

‘Did you find it?’ Ajit asked, flipping through the physical records.

‘Not yet, not yet,’ Ethan said as he browsed the database again. Think Ethan think. If it is not on this list, where can it be?

Agricultural records? No.

Research and Development wing?No.

Biodiversity? Hell No!

Projects, Projects, Special Projects…...’

Bingo! There it was, the file they were after. The file for which they had raided three other libraries in Oslo.

One challenge was over, and now another stared them in the face.

‘How do we get out of the library? There are CCTVs everywhere,’ Ajit said as he folded the map, pushing it in his back pocket.

‘Let’s try an old cowboy trick,’ Ethan said. He clicked open his lighter and brought it close to the fire alarm.

All hell broke loose. The library personnel rushed to the second floor. The architecture section was a cloud of haze in a few minutes, courtesy the dozen-odd fire extinguishers that rushed inside.

Two figures were silently making their way out as dozens more rushed into the section.

Two men boarded the flight from Delhi to Madurai. They had invitations for the National Science Conclave at the Madurai University.

‘We cannot leave a trail. For the world, our journey ended at the conclave today. But for us, it is just the start of our real journey,’ Jupiter said. Keshav looked at him, puzzled.

They spent the next few hours in the local hardware market. ‘Keep these stone cutting tools in the secret compartment of the car,’ Jupiter said. ‘We will need them later.’ They boarded the rugged Mahindra.

‘Where exactly are we going, Jupiter? We have been travelling for the last twenty-four hours now,’ Keshav asked, firing the engines.

‘Be patient, Keshav. Some secrets are worth the wait. Just remember the solemn oath that we all took at the Ram Palace in Ayodhya. Trust me and follow your dharma. We are going to Rameshwaram.’

It took them another four hours to cross the last bit of land before a gentle breeze from the mighty Indian ocean welcomed them. Ten more minutes and they were standing in front of a tall, magnificent structure. What the signs didn’t say enough, the people around them did. Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple

Two different men boarded the Air India flight from the Delhi airport to the Hamid Karzai Airport, Kabul.

‘Why are we going to Kabul?’ Rasool asked. ‘There was no such discussion during the last meeting at Ram Palace in Ayodhya.’ He sipped his coffee, slightly upset.

‘We are going to Angor Ada along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.’ Rasool looked up at him, his eyes wide.

A visit to the deadly border town on the infamous disputed Afghanistan-Pakistan border was a sure-shot one way trip to hell.

Unknown to both of them, someone had been tracking their moments ever since they had reached Delhi. The GPS tracker silently gave away their movements.

Scores of desert homes were left behind as the Jeep Compass rolled over the rugged Kabul-Ghazni Highway, onwards to Angor Ada. It was late in the evening when they stopped outside a small double-storey house, marked in green.

‘Rasool, get down and pick up the leather bag from the back seat,’ Masood commanded. ‘It has five hundred thousand euros in cash.’

Damn you, Masood, Rasool cursed. Hell, you didn’t tell me about this earlier. It would have spared me from your debt trap and the hell ride to this nefarious border.

They stood before a wooden door. Masood clenched his fist and made a peculiar knock on the door – three quick raps, and then he said, ‘I am the messenger; I have come for your blessings.’

There was silence for a few minutes. Then slowly, the door creaked open and two tall shadows emerged. Before Masood and Rasool could react, the shadows pulled them inside. It was as pitch dark inside as the crawling night outside. There was no sign of life except the two shadows that had dragged them inside.

One of the shadows switched on a dimly lit pencil light and illuminated a staircase going downwards. pushed them towards a set of stairs, heading down. They went down at least two floors before they reached a wall. This time the two silhouettes moved before them. ‘The messiah has come,’ they said through the door.

The heavy steel turned on its hinges and opened just enough to let them in.

It was nothing like anything they had imagined it to be. Masood and Rasool were face-to-face with a wall display of the latest firearms one could imagine.

Ajit and Ethan occupied two business class seats on the 9:30 pm flight to Svalbard Airport, booked just a few minutes ago.

‘Sir, please fill these forms before we land,’ the air hostess handed them forms and promptly walked past them. Every visitor in Svalbard was required to specify his purpose of visit and the possible destinations during the visit.

Purpose of Visit: Research on Sandstone in the Spitsbergen area, Svalbard

Possible Destinations: Spitsbergen Island

‘This is a very unusual description, sir,’ the airport security manager said. as he searched the handbags of Ethan. ‘We hardly get visitors for Spitsbergen Island.’

‘I understand. We are researching the different sandstone varieties found across the world. That is why we are here.’

‘Very well, have a nice time in Svalbard,’ the security officer said, waving off the duo.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief, but it was very short-lived.

‘It’s only fifteen minutes from here, should I arrange a private car?’ Ethan asked. They had strict instructions from Jupiter to keep their visit to the location secret. No trail was supposed to be left behind.

‘No, we walk from here,’ Ajit said. He took out a device from his pocket and switched on its light. Ethan was shocked to see a trail coming to life, illuminated by the striking blue light, about a hundred metres in length. ‘Follow me, Ethan.’

What Ajit didn’t tell him was that the handheld device was tracking the genetic signature of a unique seed, one carrying certain pre-historic genes. It was mapping the original trail used to carry the seed to its current location.

The short walk felt like ages. It was as if the land below was a giant suction machine trying to gulp everything around.

‘Magnificent!’ Ajit muttered as the sight met his eyes. It indeed was, a beauty in shades of grey and green. The sparkling reflection of the glass from the roof gave it a mystic hue. SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT was written over it.

‘What in the world is this, Ajit? Why have we come here?’ Ethan asked, soaking in the beauty of the place.

Ajit was lost in a world of his own. He had never seen anything like it, something far beyond his imagination. ‘This is mankind’s insurance policy in case another asteroid hits Earth, in case the rising sea floods the entire landmass of the planet or worse, in case some egotistical dictator brings about a nuclear holocaust.’ He looked at the small map in his hand, comparing it with the building it represented. It was an exact match, brick for brick, wall for wall, seed for seed. ‘This is a seed vault, Ethan. A place where thousands of seeds are stored in favourable conditions. These seeds will last for centuries to come. Every country in the world has contributed to it.’

‘I get that,’ quipped Ethan, his hands on his waist. ‘But what are we doing here?’

Ajit paused as his mind extracted the exact amount of information to be shared with Ethan. ‘We are here to rob the seed bank,’ Ajit said slowly.

Ethan’s hands dropped from his waist. Of all the places in the world, of the millions of real banks and museums, you brought me to this frozen hell to carry out a heist?Ethan wanted to scream at Ajit, but there was still a lot he didn’t know.

‘You are better off without the details Ethan. Now, look at this original map of the building. This is why we raided the Oslo Public Library.’

The Seedbank was built deep inside a sandstone mountain. It was so constructed to protect it from any temperature changes as a result of global warming and also against the fragile local environment. The construction itself made it almost impossible to break into. And with all the security cameras, it was impossible to sneak in and get out undetected. There was only one tunnel to reach the base of the mountain. It opened into the office and the handling area. It was only after crossing this area that one could see three separate identical vaults, about ten feet by thirty in size.

‘Do you have a plan to get inside?’ Ethan asked, studying the security systems of the vault.

‘Yes, I do. Take off your clothes and put these on,’ Ajit said hurriedly. He pulled out a packet of clothes and threw it towards Ethan. ‘Once you are done, wear these gloves, and then wait till I tell you.’

The clothes that Ajit gave Ethan were no ordinary clothes. They were heat and frost resistant, perfect replicas of the vault staff clothes that granted security clearance. They would help the two get through the full-body scanners lining the length of the entry tunnel.

Mahesh’s team had spent millions on a clerk working in the archiving department in the vault. He faked being ill and went on leave for two weeks so that the elements of his clothes could be decoded by Mahesh’s team.

The next challenge was to break the palm scanner that would let them inside the tunnel.

‘Ethan put both your hands on the scanner. Our gloves have the embossed prints of former employees.’ Ethan was shocked into silence by now.

‘Why are we spending so much money to break into this seed vault?’ Ethan asked. ‘Is there some treasure inside?’

It was not just any treasure. It was far bigger than any other treasure combined! Breaking into the vault was a cakewalk. They reached the space that housed the office and handling area.

Then came the last hurdle. A ten-inch thick steel wall stood firm, unrelenting, between them and the prized possession they were after. The wall had a 12-digit dynamic code backed by an analogue timer.

‘That’s one heck of a system man! What do they have in there, the Mona Lisa?’ Ethan monologued under his breath as he began to set up his duel with the steel beast.

Ethan was amongst the best in business when it came to breaking vaults. He was the absolute best at unlocking near impossible codes and copying