CHARAN PONAMGI

Deceit
 Copyright © 2021 by Charan Ponamgi

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the
publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or
distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters

and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s
imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

The organization mentioned in this book: The United States

Department for Studying Bio-weapons, is fiction, and is not,
in any way, related/supported by the US government. It’s just
the author’s imagination. If a similar department, with a
different name, exists, the author swears that he doesn’t
know about that.

According to the author, The United States Department for

Studying Bio-weapons, is just a fictional department, only
appearing in the book.

First edition

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy.

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 Contents

1 Chapter 1 1
2 Chapter 2 4
3 Chapter 3 8
That Evening… 11
4 Chapter 4 13
5 Chapter 5 16
At the NSA HQ 17
At the President’s Office 19
6 Chapter 6 21
Later that day 24
7 Chapter 7 25
Sometime later 29
8 Chapter 8 30
At the gas station 31
9 Chapter 9 37
10 Chapter 10 38
11 Chapter 11 40
12 Chapter 12 42
13 Chapter 13 46
14 Chapter 14 49
 1

Chapter 1

‘Alpha to Bravo, stay in your positions, the target is suspicious,

hold your fire. I repeat, Do not shoot.’
‘Bravo to Alpha, this is agent Kevin, I have a clean shot,
proceeding to shoot.’

‘No, I repeat, do not engage, that is an order.’

‘I’m sorry sir, we need him. I’m shooting.’
The commns from his side went dead. ‘Damn!’ the comman-
der grumbled.

Kevin’s chopper went near the 150-floor building. Kevin spotted

the target. He put on a govt-issued jetpack. He checked the fuel
and jumped off the chopper. He was dressed in an all-black
bulletproof suit. He flew right into the target’s floor, breaking
a window. The target immediately drew a pistol and started
shooting, but the bullets ricocheted on Kevin.
Kevin landed on the floor with a heavy thud, and made a
backflip, kicking the target on the face. The target groaned and
tried to punch Kevin, but he ducked, and with one swift kick, he

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 DECEIT

broke the target’s arm.

Mr. Faustino, I suggest you surrender, or we have orders to
shoot.’ Kevin said.
‘Orders? from who, from the White House? I don’t give a
damn about what the president says.’ Faustino said and threw a
flower vase on Kevin. It hit him right on the face, causing a deep
wound. Kevin winced, blood was gushing out his face.
Faustino saw this as an opportunity and immediately rushed
out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Kevin heard the door lock and ran towards it. He tried to pull
it open, with all his might, but the door wouldn’t budge.
‘The Hell!’ he shouted, and ran into the open window, flying
towards the rooftop.
He spotted Faustino over there and put a bullet in his arm.
Faustino shouted, but he continued to run.
Kevin landed on the helipad. Faustino, stop!’ he shouted.

‘America will never catch me!’ he said and jumped from the
building. It was too late. Kevin saw that the jet pack didn’t have
enough fuel to jump and get him back.
He decided to do it anyway. He took a deep breath, and with
great speed, ran and jumped from the building. He remembered
his training, he put his arms like a falcon, and dived, cutting
right through the air with great speed. He was just a few meters
away from Faustino. He put one arm forward and grabbed
Faustino’s collar. He pulled himself toward Faustino and caught
him tightly. Just as he thought he couldn’t make it, something
pulled him. He was suspended in mid-air. He thought this was
heaven.
But it wasn’t. There was Alpha’s chopper, the commander
who caught Kevin. They pulled him and Faustino up.

2
 CHAPTER 1

‘All right folks, Mission Accomplished!’ The commander said.

‘But Kevin, next time you come on a mission, put your brain
where it belongs.’
Everyone laughed.

3
 2

Chapter 2

‘All right, everybody quit talkin’ and start workin’, all right?’
one of the guards said.
Vasya sighed.
This place was shit. He didn’t know why he agreed to be a part
of this, anyway. Then again, he couldn’t loose his wife.
A month ago, a couple of guys showed up at his house, and
threatened that they would kill his wife, if he didn’t go to this
place. He loved his wife very much, so he told them that he
would go.
Now, he got all of what he wanted. He just had to find a way
to get out.

But that was easier said than done. If anyone caught him
sneaking out, that would mean the end of him. Generally people
were let out once in a month, but he lost that privillege, after he
once tried to loose the guards and escape.
Anyway, the guards wouldn’t let him out this time, and they
wouldn’t certainly allow him to walk out with a plan to sabotage
America. So he was on his own.

4
 CHAPTER 2

***

‘Hey!’ Vasya shouted at one of the guards.

‘What?!’
‘I want a cup of coffee!’
‘No shit!’
‘C’mon man please!’
‘Will you shut up if i bring you one?’
‘Of course!’

Coffee wasn’t usually stored in this building. It had to be brought

from another building.
Vasya slowly followed the guard who was bringing coffee.
The guard locked the door behind him. ‘Damn’ Vasya said.

He looked around and noticed another guard.

‘Hey, can you come here once?’ he asked.

The guard started to walk towards him.

Vasya cracked his knuckles.

As the guard came near him, he punched him hard on the face.
‘The hell?’ the guard shouted and tried to hit him. Vasya
ducked and grabbed a knife from the guard’s pocket. He stabbed
him in the neck.
The door suddenly opened and the guard showed up with the
coffee.

Vasya kicked the guard and grabbed a gun from the second guard
and shot him.
That was a bad move. Even though the guard was dead,

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 DECEIT

gunshots were heard by other guards and were now chasing

Vasya. The building was on lockdown.

‘Oh, shit!’ Vasya exclaimed as he ran, with a knife and gun,

shooting back at the guards who were on to him.
Two guards appeared in front of him, blocking his way. They
smiled at him menacingly.
Vasya was perspiring. He didn’t know what to do.
Then, he smiled. He ran with top speed and when he was
inches away from the two guards, he took a turn. Now, the
guards who were chasing him, and the guards who were blocking
him, dashed into one another.
Vasya looked back and smiled.

He took a layout of the building and looked at it. He was not far
from the exit. But that was where it got hard. The exit is the
most heavily guarded place in the entire facility.
He looked around for a moment.

A mischievous grin spread across his face. He went inside a

storage facility, in a guard’s uniform. He climbed the rooftop.
There was another guard on the rooftop. Vasya pushed him.
He fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Everyone except a few guards went towards the body.

Vasya jumped from one rooftop towards another, until he
was right underneath the exit. Because he pushed the guard,
everyone went towards the body, and there were only 5 guards.
Five silenced bullets pierced through the air, and through the
brains of those five guards.

6
 CHAPTER 2

He smiled to himself
‘Wow, I’m really good at this!’

7
 3

Chapter 3

‘Commander Hawkins, the President would now like to see you

and your team.’
The secretary called out. Hawkins along with his team went
inside the president’s office.

They all saluted. The president saluted too. ‘Mr. Hawkins, such
a fantastic job!’ the president said. ‘Looks like I have one hella
defense secretary!’
‘I didn’t do anything sir. It was all these soldiers, especially
special agent Kevin Brown, he was quite the man!’ Hawkins
said.
Kevin smiled. The president walked towards him and put a
hand on his shoulder.
‘Couldn’t be proud you more, young lad!’ he said. ‘America is
grateful for your service, all of your service, he slowly walked
past the other soldiers too, shaking hands with each one of them.
The President cleared his throat. ‘So gentlemen, in order to
congratulate each of your extraordinary service and bravery, I’d
like to take you out to lunch!’ he said.

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 CHAPTER 3

Everyone in the room saw each other’s face. Wide grins

automatically appeared on their faces.
‘All right then, if you gentlemen stop gazing at each other’s
faces, we can go.’

As the president walked out of his office, his Secret Service

started to follow him. The president stopped and turned back.
‘Folks, this is an unofficial visit. We’re not going to need you.
Besides I’ve got my defense secreteary, and 5 highly trained
special SEAL agents, what could possibly go wrong?’
‘But sir-’ they tried to protest.
‘you can have snipers, guards, anyone you want, 50 feet away
from the hotel, everything else should go normal, and that is an
order.’ he said and continued to walk.

***

‘So, gentlemen, what would you like to order?’ the president

asked. Kevin looked at the menu card. ‘Well, after all that
shooting, I need a Chicken Burger.’ He said.
Everyone else agreed on Kevin’s order.

‘So, once again, on behalf of every citizen in America, I thank

you for your extraordinary service. Although this mission is off
records, America is very grateful.’ He said.
‘So, Mr. President, why was this Faustino guy important?’
one of the SEALs, Martin asked.
The president chuckled. He wiped the sauce off his lower
lip and spoke ‘see Martin, this Faustino guy was actually an
undercover CIA guy. Somehow, he got access to classified

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 DECEIT

documents, and was planning to sell them to Korea.’

‘Really, which one, the North or South?’ another SEAL, Dave
asked.

‘I think it’s the North one, I don’t really know’ he said. They
chuckled
‘Anyway, if that classified stuff were in the hands of Koreans,
that’d mean exposing every undercover CIA agent, their families,
and their locations. So I’m sure you understand.’
A waiter approached the table.
‘Is there anything else you’d like sir?’ he asked.

‘Just coffee, black.’ Kevin said. ‘Mr. President, what do you

want?’ he asked.
‘Oh, I don’t drink coffee, but I’ll have some soda.’

The waiter counted. ‘Got it sir, 1,2,3,4,5,6 coffees and a soda,

coming right up.’ He said and went into the kitchen.
‘Hey, Hawkins, please pass me that knife, would ya? I don’t
have mine here.’
He handed the knife.

As the knife was passed, the president actually slit his finger. It
was a deep wound, blood was gushing out. Everyone immedi-
ately rushed towards him.
By now, drops of blood were falling on Kevin’s shirt.

‘Easy fellas, I didn’t have a heart attack, it’s just a cut!’ The
president said as everyone surrounded him.
Dave looked around. ‘Shit!, this place doesn’t have a first-aid
kit.’ he grumbled.

10
 CHAPTER 3

Meanwhile, the waiters in the kitchen rushed outside, carrying

the first-aid kit.

‘Jesus, finally, what took you so long?’ Kevin asked, as he

grabbed some cotton and began nursing the wounds. The
waiters looked at each other’s faces and smiled sheepishly.
The president winced. ‘shit! go easy Kevin, do you even know
how to do this?’
Kevin smiled. ‘Once I was undercover in Syria as a hair cutting
person. Bastards! got to know I was undercover and stabbed me
with the scissors. I had to put 3 stitches in complete darkness.’

‘Oh, Kevin!’ the president said.

he rubbed Kevin’s hair and smiled at him gratefully.

***

That Evening…

‘Hey boy! I’m home!’ Kevin called out.

The dog immediately went to Kevin and started wagging his
tail.

‘Oh Charlie, I love you too!’ he said and gave the dog a hug.
‘You know what, I got you your favorite treat!’ he said and
gave the dog a bar of chocolate.

‘You know what boy? The president took us out for lunch. When

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 DECEIT

we were talking, he accidentally slit his finger, and drops of

blood fell on my shirt. Now, I’m not gonna wash that shirt, the
president’s blood, it’s really valuable, so I’m gonna keep it!’ he
said and smiled.
The dog was too busy eating and didn’t hear a word.

12
 4

Chapter 4

‘What the hell do you mean there’s a breach?’ he shouted.

The guard trembled.

‘Our people at the facility have confirmed it, sir. Eight casualties,
and a breach.’
‘What the shit are our guards doing? anyone missing?’

The guard gulped. ‘There’s one person missing.’

‘What!?’ he threw a flower vase at the wall. ‘Who is it?’

‘It’s Vasya Anistov, the chief researcher sir.’

‘Oh god! the President will skin me alive for this.’ he sighed.
‘All right, get out now, and if you tell another soul about this,
I’ll have you in a CIA black site!’ he said. The guard walked out
of the room.
He dialed a number.
‘Hello? Yes, this is Jeff, Director of The United States Depart-
ment for Studying Bio-weapons. I’d like a meeting with the
POTUS. Tell him it’s a top priority, a matter of National Security.’

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 DECEIT

He paused for a moment. ‘All right, 3 p.m. today? sounds good.’

He hung up. ‘Damn it!’ he shouted.

***

‘Good afternoon, Mr. President.’ Jeff said.

‘Ah, nice to see you, Jeff, so what’s the matter? My secretary
sounded tensed, and mind you, she never gets tensed!’ the
President said and chuckled.
‘So, take a seat.’

‘All right Mr. President, so, there was a breach at the USDBW1
research facility sir, 8 casualties and on-one person missing.’
he stammered. Despite the AC, sweat was dripping from his face.
He wiped it off.
The smile from the President’s face faded

‘Whatt!?’ he shouted. ‘How did this happen?’

‘We’re still investigating sir.’
‘When did this take place?’
‘24 hours ago sir.’
‘It’s been 24 hours, and you still didn’t find anything? Well,
guess what, I’m handing this over to the NSA. Who’s missing?’
Jeff gulped. ‘It-it’s the chief researcher, Vasya Anistov sir.’
‘Please get out Jeff.’

After Jeff went out of the room, the president called the Director
of National Intelligence.

1
The United States Department for Studying Bio-weapons

14
 CHAPTER 4

The Director of National Intelligence was in the white house,

and so immediately walked inside.
‘Mr. Kurt, nice to see you, but I’m afraid I have a concern, it
might be a threat to the country.’
‘Tell me, Mr. President, how may I help you?’

‘Take a seat. So, I’m afraid I can’t give you the complete details,
but I want all your best men to conduct an effective background
check on this person, Vasya Anistov, leave nothing, even if it
seems irrelevant. The file should be on my table in 24 hours.’
‘Yes sir.’
As Kurt was walking out of the room, the President called out
to him.
‘Kurt, this is a need-to-know only issue, so, high confiden-
tiality is appreciated.’
Kurt nodded. ‘Got it, sir.’

15
 5

Chapter 5

Kevin’s telephone rang, waking him up.

He slowly opened his eyes. He checked the time.
‘The hell? whose calling at 6 a.m.? he thought.
He picked up the phone. ‘What the shit do you want? why ya
calling at 6?’
‘I’m sorry Kevin, but this is a matter of National Security, so I
had to call.’

Kevin’s eyes went wide open now.

He got up from the bed. ‘I’m so sorry Mr. President, I didn’t
realize it was you, I’m so sorry.’ He said.
‘See, that’s why you ought to get a cell phone!’ the president
said and chuckled.
Kevin chuckled too.

‘So, Kevin, I want you at the NSA HQ in an hour.’

‘Yes sir.’

Kevin exhaled deeply.

16
 CHAPTER 5

‘Oh crap, it’s already 6:30 .’ he said to himself. He went to the

bathroom and hurriedly brushed.
He put on a good pair of clothes.

He went to Charlie.
‘Hey boy! good morning. So I have to run, but there’s your
food, and just beside it is water, be a good boy, all right?’ he
said.
Charlie wagged its tail and licked Kevin.

***

At the NSA HQ

‘Mr. President!’ Kevin said.

‘Ah, welcome Mr. Brown, this is Vanessa, the in-charge of
this case, and of course, you met Mr. Kurt.’

‘Hey, Vanessa and Kurt.’ Kevin said.

‘I’m sorry Mr. President, you said there was a case?’ Kevin
asked confusedly.

‘Yes, Kevin, you might wanna sit down for this one.’ The
President said.
‘So, Kevin, first things first. This is one of the most classified
projects in American history, so high confidentiality is expected.’
The President said.
‘Of course, sir.’

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 DECEIT

Vanessa spoke. ‘Kevin, so, the US government has a research

facility called The United States Department for Studying Bio-
weapons, or the USDBW.
It’s a classified location, where scientists research if there is
any alien life in the solar system.’
‘Yeah, I get that from the name.’ Kevin said.
Vanessa frowned. ‘So, to research that, we recruited some
researchers from Russia. One of th-’
‘You what?!’ Kevin jumped up from this chair and said. ‘You
guys, you recruited Russians for one of the most classified US
research. You must be out of your mind.’
‘Yes, Kevin, we realize that’s a mistake now.’ The President
said.
‘Anyway, Kevin, we believe the chief researcher over there,
Vasya Anistov, has gone rogue.’ Vanessa pointed towards a large
screen, where Anistov photo was there.
‘All right, but why are you telling me all this?’ Kevin asked.

‘The US government is planning an extraction. Your objective

is to hunt down this Anistov guy, and get him on US soil, alive.’
The President said.
‘All right, I’ll do it.’

‘Great!’ Kurt said.

‘But, remember you will not tell anybody else about the
extraction, not the defense secretary, not the VP, not anyone, it
remains only among us. Clear?’
the President asked. Kevin nodded.

‘Good. Vanessa and Kurt can leave. Kevin, in my office, now.’

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 CHAPTER 5

***

At the President’s Office

The president got up as Kevin walked in.

He got to the details right away.

‘So Kevin, you leave in about an hour.’

Kevin looked a bit surprised.

‘This is a one-man mission, but you will have some tools, to

assist you throughout your journey. You fly in an Emirates. Your
seat number is 24, right by the window.’
The President handed Kevin a card. ‘This works like a credit
card, only that it automatically converts currency to whichever
country you’re in. It doesn’t leave a footprint, so pay with this,
and only this anywhere.’
The president then handed over him a contact lens.
‘This little guy gives the details of anyone you look at for more
than 6 seconds.’

‘So, Mr. President, I was wondering, is there a photo of Vasya?’

‘See, that’s the problem, Kevin. We don’t store the details of
the researchers. All we know is that he’s from Russia, a small
town in Russia, to be precise.’
‘Oh, and Kevin, do not contact us, we will contact you.’
‘Great!’ Kevin said. ‘It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,
except I don’t actually know where to find the haystack!’
Kevin was walking out of the room when he suddenly turned
back.

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 DECEIT

‘Mr. President, I’m bringing my dog.’ he then went out of the

room.

20
 6

Chapter 6

Kevin was munching on a donut as he looked around the airport.

He was looking for his terminal. He didn’t have much time to
pack, as the president said he was leaving in an hour.
Charlie was munching on something too and was looking
around. It was Charlie’s first time in an airport, and he seemed
to like it very much.
Kevin heard the announcement that his flight was ready for
boarding, and went for the security check.

***

As Kevin boarded the plane, he looked around. He hadn’t been

on a plane in a long time.
He looked around for his seat. He found it and opened the top
storage to put up his suitcase. There he found a violin case. He
put that on his seat and put his suitcase up.

Charlie quickly took the window seat. Kevin grumbled as he sat

beside Charlie.

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 DECEIT

Kevin now opened the violin case. It was actually a computer,

disguised. ‘Put your finger on the right corner.’ was the message
that flashed on the screen.
When he did that, an automated voice said ‘Agent Kevin Brown.
Identity confirmed.’
Everyone in the plane looked at him.

A man walked out to him. ‘Hey, are you Kevin?’

‘Yes.’
‘Great!’ he pulled out a gun and tried to shoot Kevin. But
Kevin immediately ducked. However, the bullet whizzed past
Charlie’s ear and broke a window.
‘Oh shit!’ Kevin exclaimed and kicked the man.

To Kevin’s surprise, 5 more men got up.

He then realized everyone in the plane was trying to kill him.

‘Charlie, stay!’ he said. He cracked his knuckles.

The plane was losing altitude rapidly. One of the engines
caught fire.

Another man tried to punch Kevin, but Kevin made a cartwheel,

kicking him on the nose, and then landed on his face. He then
took a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on another man’s face,
and then kicked him with his knee.
‘Charlie, c’mon!’ he waved his hand as he tried to go to the
exit.
There was a man blocking Kevin, he was built like a bull. Turns
out, he was no match for Kevin’s special ops training. Kevin
held a hook, pulled himself upwards. The man tried to dash into
Kevin.

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 CHAPTER 6

By now, alarms were rapidly beeping. Charlie was hysterically

barking.
As the man was just about to hit him, Kevin let go of the hook,
falling right on the man’s neck. Kevin punched the man till he
was unconscious, and then broke his neck.

‘Let’s go boy, it’s alright.’ he said to Charlie and started to walk.

A knife pierced into his back. Kevin shouted.

He was furious by now. He pulled out the knife from his back
and swiftly threw it back at that man. It pierced right through
his forehead. The plane was rapidly giving violent shakes by
now. Charlie was whining and barking.
Kevin immediately went towards the parachutes and grabbed
one for himself.

‘All right boy, this is gonna be a little scary, but we’ve been
through worse, all right, don’t worry.’ he said. He put on the
parachute and was ready to jump when he remembered he forgot
his bag. His heart was rapidly pounding by now. He couldn’t
take it anymore.
But he had to. As the plane was descending, he went upwards,
and took his bag, and slid back down. He put on the bag, put on
the parachute, grabbed Charlie, and jumped out of the plane.

***

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 DECEIT

Later that day

‘We have been informed that not hours ago, there was a plane
crash in Brazil. Casualties have not been authenticated yet, but
we are waiting for more information.’ The news reporter said.
The TV went on mute. ‘That ought to kill that bastard Kevin.’
There was a smile.

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 7

Chapter 7

Kevin sighed. Why was he attacked? The question which made

him wonder more was the fact that who attacked him.
He looked around as to where he was. He was half-glad to see
he was in the middle of town but didn’t exactly know where he
was. He instructed Charlie to follow him, as he gazed around.
He understood he was in a market. He overheard some people
speaking.
It was Russian. As he walked further, he noticed the Gorky
Central Park, Moscow.

‘Oh god!’ he said. For the last 10 minutes, Charlie was barking
uncontrollably.
‘What is it, boy?’ he asked. He noticed a box in Charlie’s
mouth. He knelt down.
‘Oh, what’s this?’ he asked as he took the box from his mouth.
He opened it and found a badge, engraved with a logo. His brow
ceased, as he tried to make sense of the symbol.
‘All right boy, we’ll get to this later, first of all, I need
something to eat!’ he said. He continued to walk, searching

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 DECEIT

for hotels nearby.

***

After an hour of hard work, they found a take-away restaurant.

He ordered 3 Chicken burgers, and 5 pounds of steak, the latter
being for Charlie.

‘Now, how do we get to this Vasya?’ Kevin asked Charlie, in

between mouthfuls.
Charlie barked, making Kevin giggle.

‘So, let’s look at that box.’ Kevin said and was pulling it from
the bag.
An apple fell from the tree they were sitting under. Charlie
quickly wagged his tail and sniffed it. No, he did not like the
smell and brushed it towards Kevin with his paw.

‘What’s up buddy? don’t like it?’ Kevin asked as he was

attempting to make sense of the logo. Suddenly, there was a
hole in the apple.

Kevin’s heart suddenly pumped.

‘Oh crap!’ he said and quickly put his bag on. He began to
run, and Charlie followed, barking. ‘There’s a damn sniper!’ He
shouted to Charlie.
Kevin ran even faster and took one look back. Now, two well-
built people were on their trail. ‘Oh shit!’
They were closing on Charlie.

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 CHAPTER 7

‘C’mon boy, c’mon, you can make it!’ he shouted.

Charlie was not a typical skinny dog. He was a German
Shepherd, an ex-police dog.

Charlie ran very fast, but 2 more men out of nowhere came,
riding motorcycles. They swooped Charlie and turned back.
One of the bikers said ‘He’s not gonna leave this mutt. ’
There was a sadistic grin.

Kevin’s was breathless now. He was panting, but he couldn’t let

them take Charlie.
He spotted a BMW bike. Apparently, someone forgot to take
their keys off.

Kevin ran towards the bike and sat on it. He revved it.
He smiled wickedly. ‘Let the game, begin.’

He was chasing them now. The bike was going 200 KMPH
His hair was flying in the air, as onlookers fixed their gazes
on him.

He spotted one of the bikers, recognized the logo he had seen,

on their shirt.
He accelerated and was now inches away from the bike.

The chase was now on a bridge, except it’s still getting con-
structed. The bikers realized that and slowed down a bit.
Kevin spotted Charlie, who upon seeing him, barked happily.
‘Don’t worry boy I’m gonna get you.’
Kevin drove next to Charlie’s bike now.
He pulled out a gun and shot one of the tires on the bike where

27
 DECEIT

Charlie was there. The bike gave a violent skid, throwing the
man off. But Charlie was quick and clever enough to jump onto
Kevin’s bike, the second Kevin took out the gun.
But there were still two people behind him. And there wasn’t
much road ahead of him.

Charlie was now trembling and was too afraid to bark. But, he
knew Kevin wouldn’t let anything happen to him. He trusted him.
And Kevin, well you couldn’t find a person more trustworthy.
As tough as he is, he would give his life for Charlie.

Millions of neurons in Kevin’s mind were furiously thinking

about how to escape.
There were hardly 3 meters of road. He looked into the water
underneath. There was a boat. And then, when Kevin thought
he’d die, that brilliant brain of his got an idea and directed
every other part of the body accordingly. Kevin looked back,
the bikers were just centimeters away from him. When he
thought he was on the edge of the bridge, he took a u-turn,
multiple things happened - the tires screeched violently, Kevin’s
pursuers couldn’t control their speed, and fell right into the
water. As for Kevin and Charlie, they jumped in the water too,
just that they fell right into the boat.

***

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 CHAPTER 7

Some me later

Kevin hugged Charlie. Charlie too tried to hug Kevin but instead
licked him on the face.
‘Oh, boy!’ Kevin exclaimed as he soothed Charlie.

Charlie comfortably slept in Kevin’s lap.

Kevin sat there, this time in a hotel, and was connecting the
dots on what he knew until now.
First, a breach at USDBW, then attacks on him on the plane,
and under a tree. He finds a mystery box with a logo.

His eyes suddenly widened. He grabbed the box which was

beside him and the computer from the other. There was a pre-
installed, NSA prototype intelligence algorithm, completely
invisible to the internet.
He ran an image search of the logo.

It was a multinational pharmacy company, headquarters in

Moscow.
He was sleepy, hadn’t slept in 3 days.

‘All right, I’m going here tomorrow.’ He said to himself and

dozed off.
What he didn’t realize, was that going to that pharmacy, was
the beginning of a very hard cat and mouse game.

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 8

Chapter 8

‘C’mon Charlie, stop!’ Kevin said wearily. ‘I’m trying to sleep!’

Charlie was trying to wake Kevin up.

‘All right, fine, wait, I’m gonna get up.’

Kevin got up. He went to the bathroom and started brushing
his teeth. Charlie came too.

Kevin brushed Charlie too. Charlie was a meat-eater and didn’t

like anything stuck in-between his teeth.
After they brushed, they came outside. Kevin pulled a speaker
from his bag and put on action music. Charlie happily barked
‘You ready?’ he asked.

They both started doing push-ups.

‘C’mon boy, can you keep up?’ Charlie nodded.

After they did that, Kevin said ‘All right, that’s enough for today,
let’s some breakfast.’
Kevin made himself some French Toast and gave Charlie two

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 CHAPTER 8

steaks.
They drank lemonade after that.

‘All right boy, time to take a visit.’ he said, with a twinkle in his
eyes.
Charlie happily wagged his tail.

‘C’mon, let’s go!’ he said.

He still kept that bike from yesteday.

He checked the fuel tank. ‘Damn.’ he said.

‘Charlie, looks like we’ve got to stop at the gas station real
quick.’

At the gas sta on

Kevin stopped the bike. He took the card which the POTUS gave
him. The person filling the petrol looked confused.
‘It’s a new type of card, it’ll work just fine.’ Kevin said.

After filling, Kevin pinned the location of the Headquarters, and

started driving.

‘So, Charlie, like our adventure so far?’ he asked.

Charlie wuffed2 in response. Kevin smiled.

He still remebered the first time he saw Charlie.

That was his first day as a SEAL. He went to a pet shop accross

2
Barked.

31
 DECEIT

the street. He saw many dogs, but none felt right for him.
As he was about to walk out of the store, he heard a wuff. A
magical wuff.
That was it. He walked towards the sound. There he was
Charlie. It was their first time seeing each other. It was a
moment worth a lifetime.
He took the Charlie home and gave him a nice, hot bath.
Charlie enjoyed it very much, probably because it was his first
time in a hot tub.

Kevin still remebered the day when Charlie accidentally ate

Kevin’s favourite cookies, and looked at him innocently. Kevin
was angry, but one look into Charlie’s eyes made his heart melt.
They later walked to the cookie store and bought two boxes this
time, on for Kevin, and another for Charlie.
Charlie’s mom was shipped away when Charlie was just
months, and Charlie spent most of his life in that shop.
Kevin’s father too, was a major political figure, who had many
rivals, and was assasinated. Kevin studied in boarding school
too.
Now when he met Charlie in that pet store, he knew the dog
would get him, and it did, it did more than anyone.
From that moment onwards (the walk to the cookie store), an
inseperable bond emerged between the two.
His mind was playing all of these flashbacks, made Kevin shed
a tear.
Meanwhile, Charlie was barking super loudly, snapping Kevin
back into the moment.
‘Wassup, boy?’ he asked. Charlie was pointing towards
something, and when Kevin saw that, he abruptly stopped the
bike.

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 CHAPTER 8

‘Wonderful boy! we might’ve missed it, thanks!’ he said and

rubbed Charlie’s head.
It was the company.

He drove slowly to the parking lot and parked.

He got down and started climbing stairs. Kevin put on his
‘special contact lens’.

He wore a cap, and a hoodie, and put on some glasses, concealing

himself. You never know where Russian spies are.
He walked inside the super-huge building looking around.
Everyone were civilians, no ties to any secret organizations.

He saw that there was a second floor. He noticed there was a

room with a red warning sign saying “Employee only.”
Yep, that was where he had to go. But how?
There were guards everywhere. That seemed strange to Kevin.
Why would a pharmacy need security, and even if they did, why
did the need 20 guards equipped with automatic rifles on every
floor.
He scanned on of the guards with his contact lens. Kevin’s
heart skipped a beat.

He took a look at his badge. “Kelly” was his name.

Something big was happening.

When Kevin scanned Kelly, there was a clean record, really
clean. That type of profiles, only deep-cover CIA agents had.

Kevin knew something was wrong

He moved closer to one of the guards.

33
 DECEIT

Fortunately Kevin knew Russian.

Suddenly, the guard Kevin was standing next to, called, Tony,
asked everyone to come to a team meeting through his wireless
bluetooth.
He noticed that everyone was moving. Kevin followd Tony.
Tony was climbing down another staircase. It was there Ren-
devous point, every other guard was there. Everyone except
Kelly.
He noticed that a car pulled. A man stepped out.

‘All right, gentlemen, how is everyone doing?’

Everyone nodded.

‘The reason for this ‘secret meeting’ is because I’m gonna take
a leave today, I’ll be flying to Washington on a personal trip.’
He said.
His secretary immediatley said ‘But sir, you can’t, not with
the fund-raiser today.’
‘I can, and I will, I’m the MD of this company, I don’t have to
get your approval.’
he said, and got back inside the car. It drove away.

Kevin immediately went back to the first floor. He noticed that

Kelly was still there.
Kevin was going near Kellywhenhe went inside the ‘Employee
only’ room.

Kevin climbed up. He snuck around a corner, and whistled. A

guard came. He snapped the guard’s neck, and went inside.

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 CHAPTER 8

While Kevin was looking around the room, Charlie barked at the
window.
Kevin came towards the window and realized that Kelly was
driving away.

‘Oh crap!’
he exclaimed and ran towards his bike.

‘All right boy, hold on tight.’ He said and drove towards Kelly.
Kelly now realized he was being chased. he started driving
even faster.

‘C’mon!’ Kevin shouted.

Kevin pulled out a gun and shot Kelly on the shoulder. He
crahsed into a tree nearby.

Kevin jumped out from his bike and then went toward Kelly.
He caught Kelly by the hair and punched him. A teeth fell out.

‘Why is the CIA here?’ Kevin asked.

‘Wow, you’re really smart as she says.’
Kevin punched him in the stomach multiple times.
Kelly coughed a huge amount of blood.

Kevin stabbed him in the neck. ‘I just stabbed in you the

windpipe.’ You have maybe 2 minutes left. Tell me, and I’ll
get you a medic.’
‘All right, all right, wait.’

‘Who the hell sent you? The defense secretary? The president?
the director of the CIA?’

35
 DECEIT

‘No, it’s Van-Vanessa.’

Kelly died.

‘No, don’t die! Why did she send you? C’mon don’t die!’

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 9

Chapter 9

‘Ma’am, Kevin was spotted in Russia.’

‘Great. How do you know?’
‘He filled gas for his vehicle. Our people confirm his biometric.
We have a hundered percent face match, and we matched his
voice too. It’s him.’
‘Ma’am, another thing.’
‘Which is?’
‘Kelly’s was killed by Kevin.’

She laughed. ‘Oh, Kevin is only fueling my motive to kill him

even more. Bring in another agent. This time, be careful.
And, same story, we tell the spy that it’s a government mission,
classified, and they have to kill Kevin.’
‘Do you think they’ll buy it ma’am?’
‘Of course, and, if they don’t, just kill them.’
He nodded.

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 10

Chapter 10

He couldn’t believe this. Vanessa? as in the lead agent on Vasya’s

case?
How could she want to kill him? and more importantly, why
would she want to kill him?

Kelly was CIA. That made Kevin wonder who else was in this
mission.
The irony made him smile. The US sends him on a manhunt,
and then launches another manhunt to kill their own agent.
But how did he know he was gonna be there at the company
today.
Or was the company somehow involved, or was this just a
cooincidence?

Kevin trusted his instincts more than anything, and his instincts
told him it was a coincidence.
He needed to meet the MD of the company.
He needed to meet the MD, before he flew to Washington.

38
 CHAPTER 10

That made him realize something else. Why was the MD flying
to Washington?
This was too big of a cooincidence. His instincts agreed.

He was gonna kidnap the MD of a multinational company.

He was gonna kidnap the MD of a multinational company,
tonight.

39
 11

Chapter 11

Kevin didn’t know where to start. A US SEAL capturing the MD

of a multinational company, in Russia, the odds and the stakes,
were really very high.
But if Kevin wanted answers, he had to do this.

He cleared his head. If this was gonna happen, Kevin needed

absolute focus.
First, the MD wanted to go on a personal trip. So he’s gonna
be using his private jet.
He was flying tonight, even though there was a pretty impor-
tant fund-raiser. That meant he was in a hurry, so his jet is
gonna be somewhere near.

He pulled out a laptop, opened a map, and using the company

as the point, he marked a 15 km radius, filtered all the airports.
There were 3 airports. 1st one didn’t have private jets.
Kevin got into the databse of the 2nd airport. There weren’t
any private jets scheduled to fly.
In the 3rd airport’s database, a private jet was scheduled, and

40
 CHAPTER 11

it was scheduled today, precisely 3hrs, 24 mins from now.

Kevin sighed, 3 hours, for a next-to-impossible heist.

He pulled out the floor plans of the airport. The reserved airstrip
was to the south.
There was an emergency exit, and even if Kevin got to the
reserved airstrip, and that was a really big “if”, kidnapping
a person and escaping through the emergency exit wouldn’t
certainly go unnoticed.
Unless… there was a real emergency. Kevin would slip in as
one of the guard, and then kidnap him. It was risky, but was
worth it.
Kevin was gonna set the whole damn south side of the airport on
fire.

41
 12

Chapter 12

Kevin, walked inside the airport.

He looked around, but couldn’t see what he was looking for.

He walked a little further, and spotted a sign, reading ‘Reserved

airstrip’. The was it.
He pulled out his water bottle, and went to the door.
There were guards. Kevin shook hands with each of them, and
came back. After a few seconds, both of them fell dead.
Kevin then removed his ring, the ring which he used to posion
the guards.
He then went inside. There were hardly 2 dozen people. Kevin
looked around, and found the man he was looking for.
Kevin dropped his glass bottle, it broke. Kevin then dropped
a lit match on it. It immediately caught fire, because there was
petrol in the bottle.

Before the smoke could reach the fire detectors, there was
another unforeseen announcement. ‘Attention : Guards down
in south entrance, airport is under lockdown.’

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 CHAPTER 12

‘Oh crap!’ Kevin said. He went near the man. ‘Move, and I break
your neck.’ he said.
‘We’re going to your plane, any sudden movements, and I’ll
make sure no part of your body works again.’ The man was
terrified, and was fastly taking Kevin towards his plane.

They were on the airstrip now.

‘Stop, Airport Security!’ was a loud voice in Russian, behind
Kevin.

‘Shit, move. now’ He said, and they ran towards the plane. The
security started shooting.
‘Oh no’ the man said. ‘Please leave me, I’ll give you my bank
account password, 650 million dollars, all yours.’
‘No, i don’t want your bank account, just shut the hell up and
run, if you don’t want bullets through your skull.’
They were nearly there.

A few more yards, and they got inside the plane, and locked the
doors.
‘Ok, so where’s the pilot?’ Kevin asked, in between breaths.

‘I don’t know!?’ the man replied.

Kevin went into the cockpit. He spotted the keys. He sat in the
captain’s seat, and started the plane.

‘Do you even know how to drive this?’ the man asked, horrified.
‘There’s a first for everything.’ Kevin winked.

And then, the plane started moving, and the man was screaming
frantically. And then suddenly, they were airborne.

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 DECEIT

Kevin set the plane in autopilot, and then walked towards the
man.
‘What’s your name?’ Kevin asked the man.
‘Mikhaylov’
‘So, Mikhaylov, earlier, there was a CIA agent, posing to be
one of your security, you know why?’
‘CIA? no?’
‘Well, couple of your goons tried to kill me the other day, know
anything ‘bout that?’

‘I don’t even know you!’ Mikhaylov said impatiently.

‘All right, maybe this’ll jog your memory.’ Kevin said and
stabbed him.

Mikaylov was wheezing.

‘All right, wait I’ll tell you, get me a medic first, please.’ he
said in between desperate attempts to catch air.’
‘No, your info, for your life.’

‘All right, I don’t know anything, but just that I had to get rid of
you.’
‘Who told you to get rid of me?’

‘A wo-woman, I don’t know her name.’

‘Well, that’ll be all right then.’

Kevin grabbed his bag, and a parachute, and jumped out of the
plane.
Mid-air, he shot multiple rounds at the plane, and then it
blasted.

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 CHAPTER 12

Kevin grinned.

45
 13

Chapter 13

So, the pharmeceutical company was involved. But how?

He had to find that out. How was the question.

He thought for a while, patting Charlie. The plane mission was

too risky, so he hadn’t took Charlie, but from now on, he’d never
go without him.
He closed his eyes for a moment. He thought about the plane.
And after a second, there it was.
An object ignored by his mind, but not by his subconcious. It
was a book of some sort. No, it was more of a file.
He hadn’t seen what was on the file. He felt that it was impor-
tant. Otherwise, why would he take it with him to Washington.
So he had to talk with someone who knew about it. Like
Mikhaylov’s head of security.

But he couldn’t just waltz in to his office and ask him.

So he had to bring the head of security, to himself.

Time for another plan.

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 CHAPTER 13

***

Kevin opened his laptop, and started researching more about

this Mikhaylov guy.
Turns out he was a really popular, guy, always does charity,
popular among the Russian politicians.

As he was scrolling down, he found a picture of Mikhaylov, and

his head of security.
He ran that picture accross the database, and found a match.
‘Andy’ was the name.

He then opened a private database, filtered the nationality to

Russian, occupation to Bodyguard, appropriate age filter, and
the name to Andy.
And bingo, there was one match.

Now he looked up Andy, and he was a big deal in the Secuirty

field. He was part of a private company that gives security details
to billionares.
He went to the wall. There was a board, a sort of clue-taking
board. He took a sticky note, scribbled everything he knew till
now and stuck them.

***

‘Excuse me, I’m looking for an Andy Watson?’

Kevin said, to the man with an ill-fitted suit at the back of the
counter.

‘I’m sorry who are you?’

47
 DECEIT

Kevin showed a concealed gun.

‘Doesn’t matter, I want every file on this guy in 15 minutes
starting 10 minutes ago, or, I blow yor head.’ He smiled.

‘All right, no one needs to die, I’ll get you what you want.’ the
man said.
He typed something into his computer, and hit “print”.

The printer next table gave a soft humming sound, indicating

that the papers were coming out.
‘Is this everything?’ Kevin asked menancingly.
The man gulped, and nodded nervously.
‘That’ll be all then, adios. And remember, If you tell anyonr
again, I’ll make sure those are the last words you’re gonna say.
Have a good day, bye!’

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 14

Chapter 14

‘Hey Charlie!’ Kevin called out.

The dog wuffed and wagged its tail, and stood before Kevin.

‘So, lately, I’ve been preoccupied, so, today, let’s do something

for us shall we?’
The dog wuffed, pretending to understand everything.

‘Wonderful than, I’m gonna get your leash, and then we’re
gonna rent a car, and get somewhere.’

Kevin walked towards the cupboard, grabbed Charlie’s leash,

tied it to him.
‘All right boy, we’re going to a remote place, with no back up,
no internet access no nothing, we better

49