MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 6)

Maybe if someone else had seen him, they could point her in the right direction. Looking up at the driver, she saw his brow furrow, showing he didn’t know what she was talking about, and his mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he spoke.

“Didn’t see anyone else here, miss, just yourself,” he smiled.

Anita knew that he thought she was crazy, but she didn’t blame him. wasn’t she the one who jumped into the middle of a busy street? She was thinking of herself in the same light.

“Do you want to be taken to the hospital, just in case? They could check for head trauma or internal bleeding if you fell hard…”

Anita knew that he was suggesting she go away, but that didn’t matter to her. She shook her head, much too distracted to respond with words. Plus, that sinking feeling telling her she needed to get away was returning.

Where could she go? Home wasn’t too far away, but it would take her through many busy streets. She needed some alone time, that instant. Her mind needed to be clear, so she could think.

***

The Director of the FBI was puzzled as he entered the conference room at the white house. The previous night, he had received a call from the President's White House Chief of Staff. A nagging thought troubled him since then. As he entered the state-of-the-art conference hall for this meeting, he glanced towards the chair that was meant for the POTUS- The President of the United States. It was empty. But to the right of that chair was sitting a burly man, the one who had summoned the Director on behalf of the POTUS. The Chief of Staff motioned to the Director to take a seat to his right. The Director smiled- "POTUS not yet back from India, eh George?"

The Chief of Staff smiled back saying nothing.

The Director's Puzzlement grew to surprise when he saw the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Pentagon. He is the highest ranking General of the United States Military. He was seated to the left of POTUS' empty chair. Surely, this was not a Defence meet? And that too when the POTUS was absent. If it was, He was not told about it. There was no specific crisis the Director could think of, that would entail such a meeting. The POTUS was out on a state visit abroad. Surely there was no pressing emergency that the FBI Director wouldn't know of?

His surprise grew to astonishment when he saw the Head of the NASA seated to the left of the Pentagon General. Strange indeed. The Director sat down in his chair. The door opened. In came a tall man whose face the FBI Director very well recognized. He was The CIA Director. The CIA head took a seat beside the FBI Director.

The FBI Director looked at the people around him. He was amused by the thought that the men in this room had enough authority to detonate a nuke on the moon, covertly. He suppressed a chuckle and focused on the agenda at hand.

With all the five men seated, the Chief of Staff began- "I would like to inform all of you that the minutes of this meeting here are not classified. In fact, it is so high on the list of Top Secret that no minutes will be drawn up and this meeting will never be deemed to have taken place."

The FBI Director raised his eye-brows as his mental alarms went off. How many times have such a kind of meeting taken place? He thought to himself.

Zero.

Even the meeting to discuss Osama Bin Laden’s execution had minutes, though it was classified at the highest level. This was something different altogether.

"You may now begin", the Chief of Staff gestured to the head of the NASA.

The NASA head began- "Gentlemen, we have a problem..."

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)