Cry of Shadows - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jean woke up by the loud alarm from his cell phone.

Ah it is really annoying to hear that sound after a tiring day. He woke up and took his vibrating iphone. That’s terrific, “how the hell did she find this number”?

He thought looking at the beautiful face in the phone indicating the caller.

“Bonjour Maria”

“Jean, that’s not fare at all, I had to call up Grace to trace your new number”

“Look honey, I know it’s strange but then I am going for a long trip to India. It’s very important to know about the customs and traditions over there, because this time it is going to be a another huge adventure for me”

“Okay, but why do you want to be isolated from now on..ah?”

“I want to be prepared well in advance; moreover you never let me concentrate in my work” Jean Smiled. “Okie Honey..Bye for now, best way to know about me is to follow my tweets”.

“Great, this is exactly what I should be hearing, to know abt mymy boyfriend from twitter, you have gone crazy Jean..Anyways good luck”

Jean came out of his apartment; Grenoble still is sleepy and filled with snow. He always thought Grenoble is the most wonderful place in the world and had always felt being too close to the mountains of Grenoble.

 Jean Paul Miller is an officer of Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI)- Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence. He met Maria while he was doing his masters in Stendhas university of Grenoble. Since then both Grenoble and Maria are close to his heart.

Jean prepared his coffee and took his laptop and leaned in the sofa. He checked on his ticket confirmation and hotel reservation.

“Yes, everything is done”, He thought.

A while later, his iphone started to vibrate,” Bonjour Boss”

“ve”

“ve”

“Merci”.

Jean’s boss, was calling to check if he was prepared for the travel. Jean’s Boss was very particular about the secret nature of the travel. Very few people in the embassy and some top members of DRCI and the government know about his visit.

He took all the printouts and was ready for the journey. He double checked his passport, visa, hotel reservation and everything seemed perfect.

“Bonjour, Sir your taxi to the railway station”. It was the call from the cab driver. He took the luggage, checked the apartment again and moved towards the lift.

While getting into the cab he felt sad to leave Grenoble for a few days, but then I’ll be back soon. “Need to call Maria”

He pushed at his speed dial “Hello Maria… I am leaving “

“Take care Jean, please give me a call.. I know you are worried about your job than me. But please think of me as well”

“I will dear, prendre soin”. He boarded the bullet train to Paris Airport.

Once he reached Paris, he called a few people and informed his boss that he’ll be boarding the Flight soon.

“Jean, make sure that you use the secure vpn for any kind of communication and your messages should be encrypted” his Boss warned.

“Boss, you know my interest in twitter”

“ I know, you are allowed to tweet, but make sure that you don’t reveal the location and no location specific tweets are allowed, you are free to tweet on your so called “favorite hobbies” as usual”

“Merci, revoir”- Jean kept the phone. He saw his flight ready; cargoes were getting moved while he waited for the passenger boarding announcement.

He took his “Xoom”, a new gadget he added to his list. He was pretty impressed with its performance. His Android, honeycomb loaded accessory was a birthday gift from Maria. She knew about his craziness on Gadgets. He selected the Maps and pinched to zoom inside it to India and then to….”Kerala”...Gods own country”