Page 92 - Musings 2021

with the ambassador. “Good morning sir, pleasure to meet you”, said Mr. John. “Likewise”,
replied the ambassador.

Mr. Abramovich was a man of many talents. A National level tennis player and an
exceptional swimmer, he had topped his class at University and had chosen a rather intriguing
career path compared to his standards. One could easily deduce that he had been leading a
stressful life by taking one good look at the man and the medications he carried around.
“John”, he called out, “I hope you are ready. I’d be really pissed if I end up dying today”, he
said with a smirk. “YES sir, no one will dare to lay so much as a finger on you, Sir”, said
John with an air of confidence about him. For obvious reasons, he didn’t dare to share the
ominous thoughts that had been haunting him lately. Accompanied by three guards he
escorted the ambassador from the embassy to a conference hall on the other side of Paris. The
car ride turned out to be smoother than they anticipated with no hiccups whatsoever.
Everyone had a sense of composure which soon turned into complacency. After safely
escorting Mr. Abramovich to the conference hall, they waited outside, armed and ready to
deal with any mishaps. There were 3 layers of security; the first one comprising the police
force which had surrounded the entire building, the second layer constituted specially trained
guerillas strategically placed at various points inside the building and the third layer
composed of Mr. Spectre and his three henchmen, all specially trained.

There had been a trick up John’s sleeve that he used to utilise under dire circumstances. He
could curve bullets. Deemed physically impossible to pull off, only a few people in the entire
world knew about John’s secret weapon. He was of the belief that this skill for some reason
could only be passed on via blood. The thought of this generational skill ending with him
really saddened him. Deep in his thoughts, a sudden deafening noise baffled him. BOOM! It
was clear it was coming from the outside. Panic-stricken, his first instinct was to enquire
what had happened, but his expertise told him not to leave his post. Using his communication
devices, he conversed with the police force stationed outside. It was crystal clear now. A
bomb had exploded outside the building and the security protocol had made it mandatory to
shut the building down from the outside in case of such an incident. So, they had been shut
inside the building with a possible infiltration on their hands. There was no way for the police
force to enter the building as the entire building had gone to permanent lockdown. The
override sequence could only be accessed after an hour and constituted the biometrics of
some high ranked officials in the embassy.

John now knew he had only two layers of security to depend on. Sweating profusely more out
of anxiety than fear, he tried to get in touch with layer 2 security. “Layer 2, do you copy, I
repeat, do you copy?” he asked. “Yes sir, awaiting your orders, sir!” came the reply. “Do not
abandon your positions, I repeat do not abandon your positions!! You have permission to
open fire on any suspicious person or activity. One of you should report whatever happens
without a second’s delay.” “Yes sir!” was the reply. Everyone patiently waited, as the entire
building became filled with pin-drop silence. An officer abruptly reported that one of the
officers was shot. John’s heart started to beat frantically. “Any idea how or where he was shot
from? I need Intel ASAP”, shouted John, “none saw the shooter, sir”, they replied. We just
heard the noise and instantly one of our men dropped dead. Apparently, it had been a clean
headshot. They concluded that the shooter had done his fair share of research.

From level two onwards everyone had a bulletproof vest and the only way they could have
been killed was a headshot. “The killer has to be an expert marksman,” John murmured to
himself. He made up his mind to leave his post and go check the CCTV footage to get to

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