The Doll Saga Part IV

Title: The Doll Saga Part IV

Background:
This is a sequel to Title: The Doll Saga Part I, dwwrider.deviantart.com/art/Th…, Title: The Doll Saga Part II, dwwrider.deviantart.com/art/Th…, and Title: The Doll Saga Part III, dwwrider.deviantart.com/art/Th….

Story:
Location: Mumbai, India

Generic Female Secret Agent landed in Mumbai with an Agency slush fund at her disposal.  As a forensic accounting expert, she had inside knowledge of covert bank accounts the Agency utilized overseas.  She tapped one of these accounts to fund this trip.  She didn’t inform the Agency’s accounting department about the unsanctioned nature of her mission.  In violation of direct orders, Generic Female Secret Agent set out to investigate Pavitr Industries and their ties to the Dollmaker.  There was a mole in the Agency and they leaked Dollmaker’s whereabouts to Pavitr Industries.  The CEO of Pavitr Industries personally reclaimed Dollmaker and the technology developed for the Agency.  It was a perfectly legal snatch and grab maneuver that reeked of an inside job.  Generic Female Secret Agent’s objectives were to shed light on Dollmaker’s ties to Pavitr Industries and ferret out the mole in the Agency.

The journey to India required a long flight itinerary with multiple layovers.  Generic Female Secret Agent spent the downtime researching her new nemesis: Rani Puri, CEO of Pavitr Industries.  She met Ms. Puri when they collected Dollmaker.  Ms. Puri did not leave a favorable first impression and according to the online rumor mill, par the course for their reputation.  In India, Ms. Puri was considered a role model for founding a small business and building it up to become an international conglomerate.  Behind closed doors, her business rivals called her a cutthroat businesswoman and worse.  She pushed multiple rivals to bankruptcy when they encroached on her market share.  Her expansion into the international marketplace was begrudgingly acknowledged by other titans of industries.  She wielded powerful economic and political influence through Pavitr Industries.  That she used this power to her own benefit was no surprise.  She co-opted or undercut anyone who stood in her way.  Her effortless retrieval of Dollmaster was a signature move.  She had unlimited money, power, and influence.  With Dollmaker in her custody, Ms. Puri had wildly dangerous technologies at her disposal.  That was an unacceptable proposition.  Generic Female Secret Agent set the threat board to high.  She anticipated that she would not complete this mission unscathed.

The first order of business in Mumbai was safety.  During week one, Generic Female Secret Agent maintained a friendly veneer as a wandering tourist.  The planned trips across the city were an act.  She memorized different roads and landmarks in Mumbai while she kept a concealed vigil for anyone tracking her movements.  After she was certain that she was free of any spying eyes, she established a safe house and a backup site.  The Agency had no local assets in India that could assist her.  She suspected Pavitr Industries influence prevented the Agency from establishing a foothold, but that was speculation.  She was certain of one thing: she was on her own.

The next step was paying dues to the local network of information brokers.  They had the loosest lips and the best gossip for the right price.  If she wanted their goods, she had to pay the going rate for foreigners.  Generic Female Secret Agent swapped dollars for information during meetings at internet cafes and tea rooms.  It was secondhand, but useful.  Word on the street described Pavitr Industries as an untouchable company.  All the local and national politicians were in their pocket.  With the tacit approval of state authority, the company controlled different sectors of the Indian economy.  It also operated dozens of subsidiaries that employed millions across the country.  One couldn’t pass through Mumbai without seeing a product that they made, contributed to making, or helped fund.  The money trail piqued Generic Female Secret Agent’s interest.  It took a lot of money to grease all these wheels locally and pull strings in Washington D.C.  She suspected it was far too much money to be made legitimately.  She meant to find out when, where, how, and why Dollmaker was caught up in this.  

Generic Female Secret Agent sensed hesitation when she asked for dirt on Ms. Puri.  She noticed the brokers’ trepidation and she didn’t press the issue.  Ms. Puri was the most powerful woman in the country and the brokers were equally likely to inform associates of Pavitr Industries of her investigative efforts if they felt threatened by where her questions lead.  The situation required the personal touch and a disguise.  Generic Female Secret Agent researched Ms. Puri’s origins starting with the information available on Pavitr Industries public website and worked her way down to paper records.  Disguised as a doctoral candidate in ethnic studies, she slipped into all of the major hospital record areas without challenge.  She wasn’t surprised to discover that Ms. Puri’s birth certificate was missing.  When she visited the census bureau, she discovered those files were missing too.  The pattern repeated at other government agencies.  The lack of information became a pattern.  Ms. Puri went to great lengths to keep her origins a secret.  

Generic Female Secret Agent swapped disguises to become a reporter for an international business magazine.  She partnered with a local newspaper reporter and covered a Pavitr Industries event with him.  The company showcased a new line of synthetic humanoid assistants.  Their designs were eerily similar to Dollmaker’s.  The difference with these models was a lack of free will and strict adherence to their domestic programming.  They could cook, clean, and engage in basic conversation with their owner, but were otherwise automatons without independent thought.  While the crowds marveled at the products on display, Generic Female Secret Agent took careful mental notes.  There was something more to these synthetics than met the eye, but she couldn’t examine them closely without drawing attention to herself.

There was a happy hour after the presentation and Generic Female Secret Agent used it as an opportunity to network with the local beat reporters.  She feigned an inability to hold her liquor and listened to the gossip with a vapid smile on her face.  She picked off a tip that there was a woman living in the local slums claiming to have worked for Ms. Puri.  Generic Female Secret Agent generated a head start to track this source down.  She gifted the tipsters with a series of stiff cocktails.  They cheered her generosity and downed the heady brews with gusto.  As expected, her newfound friends became too inebriated to remember the discussion or the name of servant.  She returned to the safe house a little tipsy, but with a name and a plan.

The next morning, Generic Female Secret Agent visited an information broker and paid a fee to track down the mystery servant.  It took several hours, but the wait proved to be worth it.  A guide escorted her to a worn down shanty.  She tipped the guide hush money and sent them on their way.  Inside the shanty, Generic Female Secret Agent met a woman, bent in her old age, but firm in her bargaining skills.  The old woman agreed to share anecdotes about the Puri family in exchange for a favor to be named at the end of the discussion.  Generic Female Secret Agent acquiesced to the terms of her hostess, who shared their knowledge in rambling anecdotes.

She was once a housemaid for the Puri family and worked there before the birth of the Puri triplets.  The fact that Ms. Puri was a triplet was a total surprise to Generic Female Secret Agent.  None of the information publicly available mentioned that she had siblings.  Ms. Puri’s mother perished after labor leaving three infant daughters in the care of their father, a local businessman.  He was a stern man with neither the time nor the patience to raise them.  He let the servants care of them.  At a loss over the passing of his beloved wife, the grieving widower refused to remarry.  His emotional detachment to his daughters was not unusual.  He wanted a boy to inherit the family business and daughters were of no value to him.

Rajya was the oldest triplet, followed by Rani, and Sanjana.  Each of the Puri triplets was energetic, intelligent, and mischievous.  With their combined efforts, they solved problems or caused them.  To rein in his childrens’ antics, their father hired a governess who was a strict disciplinarian.  The governess did not spare the rod when they misbehaved lest the children become spoiled.  Despite the emotional detachment from their father and overbearing rod of their governess, the Puri triplets developed into promising young women.  They were homeschooled by the governess until they were old enough to test into high school.  They attended a private high school where they shared the rank of class valedictorian at graduation.  While they basked in their accolades, they did not receive the same warmth from their father.  He missed graduation due to business matters.

While lacking parental attention, their father agreed to pay for their higher education.  For the first time in their lives, the triplets went their separate ways and attended different universities.  Each of them obtained graduated with different science degrees, scoring in the top five percent of their prospective fields.  Rajya specialized in robotics, Rani in chemistry, and Sanjana nanontechnology.  In addition to her chemistry degree, Rani obtained a MBA in order to take on the family business.

Despite Rani’s efforts, her father never allowed her to take control of the family business.  He insisted that only a man could run it.  He never completed the heated debate with his daughters.  In the midst of the discussion, a heart attack felled him and the passing of the Puri patriarch heralded a dark time.  His will excluded his daughters from inheriting any part of the family business and it was handed off to a male second cousin.  The triplets were left with a vast estate to maintain with its many servants to support, but no revenue generating assets.

Their father’s snub was hurtful and the wounds left behind were deep.  Rani never spoke of her father again.  Yet, the Puri sisters displayed newfound resilience.  They pooled their resources and experience together to found a new company.  They called it Pavitr Industries.  It was a cosmetics company that manufactured products from locally produced organic ingredients.  They retailed their products for sale locally and they harbored ambitions for national sales.

All was well until it was not.  There was darkness that lingered around Rani.  Her mood swings became unpredictable and she grumbled about secret plots against her.  She worked longer hours than her other sisters, sometimes not coming home at all.  Her sisters were tight lipped about Rani’s behavior and would not discuss it openly with the servants present.  Their sudden disappearance heralded the darkest time of all.  It was a normal day where they went to work, except they never returned.  Rani never discussed their absence nor sought to locate them.  After one of the house staff went to police, Rani shut down the investigation.  She sacked all of the servants and blacklisted the lot of them.  Without references to vouch for them, they were never able to obtain household work again.  The former servants scattered and were exiled to the slums.  Pavitr Industries became stronger over the years and diversified its products into different fields and services.  Its true history was hidden and buried by the woman in charge, but the reasons why were never made clear.  

The conclusion of the anecdotes raised more questions than answers.  What happened to the missing Puri sisters?  Why did Rani Puri hide her origins?  What was her interest in Dollmaker?  What was the final price for all of these stories?  

Generic Female Secret Agent broached the last question with wariness.  “Why are you helping me?  I’m a complete stranger and the risk to you is great.  You of all people know how powerful Rani Puri is.”

The old woman replied in a solemn tone, “You seek information and now you owe me information.  I believe in equal exchange.  I have a granddaughter.”  She turned to a portrait and showed it to Generic Female Secret Agent.  “She went to work for one of Rani’s companies, but something has happened to her.”

“What makes you believe that?”

“She has not visited us in three years despite my requests.  She sends a letter each month with half her salary, but I know my grandchild.  The letters are trite forgeries.  Her parents are content with the money and don’t ask questions.  There are others like her.  They leave these slums to never return.  They send letters, money, but their faces are never seen again.”

“Corporate work at Pavitr Industries is time consuming.  She could be too busy to visit.”

The old woman laughed at Generic Female Secret Agent’s hypothesis.  “We had no money to pay for her schooling.  My grandchild did not complete her secondary education.  What would a company like Pavitr Industries use a person like that for?  No one believes me when I say there is something wrong with that company.  Find the truth and tell me what has happened to my granddaughter.  That is the price I demand.”

Generic Female Secret Agent nodded her head in agreement.  “What is her name?”

“My granddaughter’s name is Sameera and she is precious to me.   Find her.  Bring me the truth even if it is terrible.  I must know what has happened to her.”

Generic Female Secret Agent took the old woman’s hand into her own, “I promise I will find out what happened to Sameera.  You have my word.”

The Agency, Dollmaker, Generic Female Secret Agent, Rajya Puri, Rani Puri,  and Sanjana Puri (c) dwwrider