Chapter 15 - The Unbroken Shield
Asha screamed from the adjoining office, but the sound was cut short by the crash of a stun grenade exploding in the hallway.
Dev did not hesitate. The frailty of his eighty-year-old body, the failing rhythm of his damaged heart, the advice of the doctors—all of it vanished into thin air. He launched himself out of the armchair, covering Meera with his entire torso and throwing his heavy wool overcoat over Kabir on the sofa.
A silhouetted figure stepped out of the private elevator, carrying a silenced carbine. It was Rajan’s primary mercenary—the assassin who had severed the brake lines of Vikram’s car, now seeking revenge or eliminating the heirs to destroy the legal lineage entirely.
""Old man,"" a muffled voice rasped behind a tactical mask. ""Move, and you die first.""
Dev did not move. He stood shielding the children, his back to the assassin, his arms spread wide like the wings of an ancient eagle protecting its nest.
""I died forty years ago on Highway 1,"" Dev said, his voice echoing in the dark room with calm, terrifying finality. ""You cannot kill a dead man.""
The assassin raised the barrel, aiming directly at Dev’s back.
Crack!
The gunshot was deafening, but it did not come from the carbine. The glass window behind the assassin shattered inward in an explosion of rain and crystalline shards as a police tactical sniper, stationed on the adjacent skyscraper, neutralized the threat instantly. The assassin collapsed to the marble floor, motionless.
The emergency halogen floodlights buzzed to life. Asha rushed in, throwing herself over her children, sobbing uncontrollably. Police tactical units poured into the room, securing the perimeter within seconds.
Dev slowly lowered his arms. He sank back down onto the plush carpet beside the children. His face was pale, his lips turning slightly blue, his breathing shallow and slow.
Meera crawled out from beneath his protective frame, her eyes wide with concern. She took his cold, trembling hand and placed something into his palm.
It was a single grain of uncooked rice she had found in her pocket, a remnant of the lunch they had shared on the street.
May you like
""Dada,"" she whispered, her voice pure and untainted by the violence that had just transpired. ""You are safe now.""
Dev looked at the tiny grain of rice in his palm, then at Asha, and finally at the two children whose future was now immortal and secure. He closed his eyes, a soft, peaceful sigh escaping his lips as the crushing burden of forty years on the streets finally slipped away into the quiet, eternal night."
