Destiny's Appetite

A bad day

Naga stepped into his regular coffee shop - Hiru's Café, with a hangover lingering around his forehead. There was a queue of 6 people in front of the payment counter waiting to place their orders. Naga could not wait even for 2 minutes. He spoke in a rusty voice, "what on earth is bringing all these miserable people to this only coffee shop on the planet..? And you expect your regular customer to wait indefinitely for a god damn cup of damn coffee.?".. 

Looking at the pistol bolstered in a leather case around his hip, people in the queue were getting restless. The sixth person stepped back two steps in hesitation whether to proceed further or not. Naga stretched his hands up above his head and yawned disgracefully. He took a thorough look at the other 5 people belittling them as they looked timid, regular job goers. He took out a broad and well sharpened dagger from his sidearm pouch and reached the ordering kiosk. 

He swung the dagger and stabbed the dagger right on the wooden desk in front of the kiosk with maximum force. The lady at the counter shrieked with fear and closed her ears with her hands. Hiru got up from his seat with anxious look and was slightly relieved that nobody got hurt. With a villainous tone, Naga said, "you will take my order first.. wont you?" The lady nodded her head and took Naga's order helplessly with shivering hands and tears in her eyes. Naga got his coffee and egg roll within 2 minutes flat. Hiru was relieved that the trouble is not spoiling his business further. Naga sprung out of the coffee shop with his broad shoulders puffed with false confidence. 

Naga had a mission to get tiger meat to sell to the Chinese buyers. Easily this deal will fetch him 5000 US dollars. He opened the powered convertible top cover of the jeep and made it as a open jeep. He started his car, turned left and drove towards the uphill by the road's end. He cruised slowly across the road leading to the uphill and he was scouting both the sides for something.. he slowed down his vehicle near St. Peter's school. It was morning break time in the school. Lowering his sunglasses, he saw the children coming out of the school to a bakery near the school. He slowly reversed the car and parked near the stationary shop in the corner. He noticed an innocent 8 year old girl nearing his car. He lowered his front window and said.. "Hi kiddo. Wanna try a new chocolate?"..

Few hours after a sound sleep, Bodhi suddenly woke up with a jolt. He had a bad dream. His instincts were not indicating a peaceful afternoon. He came out of his tent, still dressed in his saffron robes. He took a long awaited stretch and a yawn. He couldn't find anyone from his neighboring tents. "Where is everyone". He wondered and he walked further towards the temple.. When he neared the temple, he saw multiple people walking restlessly here and there. "What has happened? Why is everyone restless?", wondered Bodhi to himself..

Shifu walked out of the temple with worried eyebrows. Bodhi walked straight to Shifu and asked "What happened Shifu? You look very worried". Shifu replied  in a worried tone: "One of the village's child named Anuja has not returned from school".

Bodhi immediately got alerted and asked: "Oh.. Is it Tara's daughter?" Shifu replied: "Yes.. she went to school this morning. But she didnt return home". "But i just met her yesterday morning" Bodhi exclaimed. Shifu said "Bodhi, please go and find her. And return the child safe to her Mother".. Bodhi nodded to Shifu and turned around with a feeling of finally finding a purpose for all his martial arts training. He tightened his shoe laces and walked towards his tent. He gathered his machete and he packed into his backpack along with binoculars and a water bottle. With a strong sensation that he will find Anuja and return to her mother, Bodhi got onto his bicycle and started to pedal hard.

Naga's jeep cruised slowly into the village leaving thick black smoke behind. He did not have to worry about anything. From small firearms and knives to a silenced hunting rifle, his jeep was an arsenal of weapons. Being a wildlife poacher, Naga never worried about taking a life. That was the core reason why he always operated alone. For last 6 years, Naga has killed many wild animals from the jungle and has traded different parts of their body for money. While poaching an elephant or even a crocodile, Naga always saw the animals as source of his income. There were more than 300 Tigers in that reserve. It was abundance for him. Today he was determined to make multiple incomes. 

Before starting from St. Peter's school, he had received an important update from other poaching circle that in Zone-4 area of the jungle, a Pangolin is trapped in a small mud land surrounded by rising water due to the rain overnight. The animal has been surrounded by water and hence was a very easy target. It can fetch an additional Thousand dollars for him. Zone-4 was also the area of the jungle with most possibility for sighting a tiger.

Naga's plan was to pass through the village without being detected by Forest officials and pass through the border where Tara's house was located. After crossing the border, nobody could trace him. He planned to first get the Pangolin and so he proceeded towards zone-4. All he was thinking is to not get caught by any Forest Ranger. He slightly increased the speed of his jeep. The road he travelled became relatively narrower. He observed there were many people on that road who were going about their businesses. The road came to an end where there was a huge old banyan tree. The road then offered a left turn which led to Siraki's border. While the right turn led to other residential parts of the village. 

It was a perfect T-Junction and a good meeting spot for the villagers. At the bottom of the banyan tree, there were three old men sitting around a square metal with a little burning firewood. They were warming themselves on that cold day and still monitoring the happenings of that T-Junction. They could see the road leading to the T-Junction and also the left and right roads. They couldn't stop looking at the jeep that was coming at their direction with a little abnormal speed. Naga slowed down the jeep at the T-Junction. He wanted to turn left and proceed towards the border to reach Zone-4. 

Before he could turn left, there was a tractor trailing a load of sugarcane and was blocking his way. Naga honked his jeep's horn loudly three times. The tractor was moving at a snail's pace. He again honked the horn three times. This time the honking duration was longer. He lowered the window and shouted at the tractor: "Move it you idiot. I don't have time for this nonsense. Why don't you park these damn sugarcanes somewhere else. If I get down the vehicle, I will crush you". This got the attention of many people in that T-Junction. 

Not many knew Naga in that area as he always operated alone and was not social. One of the three old men raised his eyebrows wondering about that red jeep and the look of a strong muscular man sitting in the driver's seat. 

On the passenger seat, there was a black rubber sheet covering something. It was a big sheet but the old man couldn't see what was covered inside that sheet. He only saw the tensed look on Naga's face behind those sunglasses. The tractor finally moved to the side and gave way to Naga's Jeep. With a deep frustration and anger, Naga changed the gear and sped towards left.