On Its Own

Other pressing issues may have kept most of the world from following the news about the abduction of eight delegates to a religious conference in Shimla by an unknown jihadist group. But for Lacene Swenson, it was hugely significant. Her uncle, a rabbi from Israel, was among those clerics.

The fact that her name was etched in a mysterious book which contained a list of the abducted clerics made it all the more significant. More worrisome was the presence of another list with the names of more than two hundred religious sites spread across the world, many of which had been partially or fully damaged in the past few days.

The most intriguing aspect was the possibility that the brain behind the abduction of the religious men and the damages to the religious sites could be another religious person she had met more than a decade ago in Kansas City. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had greatly influenced Lacene's choices in career and marriage, and she felt indebted to him.

Gradually unraveling the truth, Lacene realised that the probable destruction of the religious sites would trigger a world war, a religious war where compromise and forgiveness would be sins. A global holocaust was in the offing, and she was at its epicentre.

Getting so close to the control tower of the group, could Lacene do something to prevent it from happening?