Read Online Predator by Kartik Iyengar - Free Book Online Page B

just a week away. Cool, eh?’ said Goose grinning from ear to ear, ‘although, I’m not sure if it’s been six years. Anyway, it could be an exaggeration, but … as they say … there’s no smoke without fire, and you never know.’
    Metallica pounded on the stereo with no vocal accompaniment from the four friends, as they were each lost in their own introspection.
    Chief desperately hoped that this wouldn’t be the beginning of yet another massive misadventure. Goose and Derek exchanged knowing glances as they thought of yet another exciting trail of clues.
    Hound continued to gaze out of the window, taking in the beauty of the scenery. He seemed wary of their disastrous adventures. To him, the reunion party was just a convenient excuse to see Grace again.
    The Grand Arrival
    Dressed in smart casuals and neat leather sandals, Chris waited for them at the gates to receive them. Motormouth reversed into a space in the parking lot outside the vineyard. The parking lot was essentially a lawn with lush green grass, and it seemed perfectly reprehensible to drive all over it.
    The vineyard was at the outskirts of the city. As far as the eye could see, the place shone with millions of shiny black or green bead-like grapes. The vine tendrils lovingly wrapped themselves around the iron telephone and electric poles, and seemed to be whispering secrets to them about their roots in the caverns underground, and the furtive activities that took place in the dark bowels of the earth.
    The almost translucent carpet of grass seemed unbroken. The landscape had been deliberately designed to filter the sunlight and encourage the Shiraz output, in terms of both quality and quantity.
    The periphery of the vineyard was stitched together with a dense bamboo border. Joe’s vineyard was his citadel; it was entirely private; entry by invitation only, to an exclusive and privileged few. A herd of deer quietly feasted on the abundance of grass that flanked the pathway into the grounds. The silence was broken by the chirping of an assortment of birds.
    The live plumage wrestled hard with images, in Derek’s mind, of roasted buffalo wings marinated in honey and dipped in mustard sauce, as he wondered what these other birds would taste like.
    ‘Hola! My friends! So happy to have you here! Mind you walk softly, keep to the grass, and don’t make too much noise. Or else you’ll scare the deer away,’ said Chris beckoning to them. Chris stepped out noiselessly on to the stretch of dry grass that led to the massive, wrought iron gates of the vineyard while the concrete-footed morons crunched noisily on the gravel.
    As they entered the vineyard gates, Goose noticed that the deer had stopped their breakfast and were debating on whether it was time to make themselves scarce. Derek seemed smitten by the marble water fountain at the centre of the driveway in the courtyard. It was the statue of a busty, naked woman holding an urn overflowing with water on her hip. Derek was drooling with his mouth hanging open.
    Goose let out a shrill wolf whistle through his fingers to call his team to order and behave themselves. The deer staged a semi-stampede and retreated to a safe distance.
    Chief and Goose looked apologetically at the animals, but they maintained their aloof distance much like the protagonists of a just concluded cold-war treaty.
    ‘It must’ve been your yak-meat burps, Goose’, said Chief as he patted a distraught Goose on the back and led him inside the vineyard to the guest quarters.
    Hound and Derek were chatting with Chris, who was obviously out to impress. He waved excitedly to hail Chief and Goose.
    ‘I see you haven’t really changed much, have you? Look at you, bro! Hasn’t evolution arrived here yet? Talking about lousy genes and bad eggs, where’s your hot sister, Salmonella?’ said Chief.
    ‘True that! I see you haven’t changed at all either! Anyway, I had no choice but to invite you as well, Chief. Like buy three, get one