Read an exclusive excerpt from Sukruti Y.J.’s Gold Digger: Treasure of Son Bhandar (Published by Amazon, 2024)
Prateek was still running circles around the guard, occasionally throwing back handfuls of pebbles or twigs, making the guard flinch. Both were enjoying themselves thoroughly. The guard had already planned what he’d tell his friends— how he had bested a bonafide whistling madman—and Prateek was relishing his own heroics. People assumed he was a desk-bound nerd, but he prided himself on keeping fit: he’d even ordered online one set of small gym shorts and a vest, which he’d wear while squatting and lunging solemnly in his family’s backyard. He secretly hoped for the day when someone would challenge him to a race, but since he spent most of his time with sweater-clad, bird-boned, octogenarian professors, that day had not come.
Until now.
“WEEEEEEE!” Prateek whistled, grinning through his sweat as he scrabbled down one side of the cave’s mouth and up the other.
But the guard finally caught his ankle and pulled him down. With a flourish, he grabbed the whistle out of Prateek’s hand.
“Ha!” panted the guard, and Prateek nearly gave him a wry smile, as if he’d been tagged at the end of a game and they would now swap sides.
The young guard garlanded himself proudly with the whistle string, then swung his torch into the main cave.
The light caught a figure all the way at the back, down a sort of tunnel. A woman’s figure… flipped over a boulder in the perfect wheel-pose. Her kurta had ridden up to her neck, exposing a cheery sports bra. A long torch protruded from her mouth. And with one hand, she was holding a black device up to the cave’s roof.
The guard’s jaw had gone slack. Prateek’s heart was racing too, but not—not, he told himself—at the sight of Aunum’s body, but at how intently she was holding up that camera.
Had she actually found something worth photographing?
The guard whistled, sharp and authoritative. “Madam! You can’t be in there without permission. Please come out. Come out.”
Aunum lifted her head slightly, and grinned. With seemingly no effort, she snapped back into normal posture, like a human rubber-band, crawled through the passageway, and ran up to the exit.
Prateek scanned her glowing face… her hands, which held the camera tightly. The guard ushered both of them away from the caves and back onto the winding mountain path. “Next time you try all this, I will complain!” he scolded… and waited till they were out of sight, to eagerly remove his phone and call his friends.
Excerpted with permission from the author Sukriti Y.J. of Gold Digger: Treasure of Son Bhandar (2024)
About the Book
In the heartlands of Bihar, a race is on, to open the fabled treasure-caves of Son Bhandar.
Aunum and Prateek, two young, feisty researchers compete against one another to solve the ancient riddle that guards the caves.
But they’re up against ruthless British treasure-hunters and thugs who will do anything it takes to steal Son Bhandar’s gold out of India.
For fans of Dan Brown, National Treasure, Lara Croft, and Indiana Jones, here is a brand new adventure series from Unibrow Stories. An adventure quest and a rom-com, a history trip and a barrel of laughs, here is: GOLD DIGGER: TREASURE OF SON BHANDAR.
About the Author
Sukriti is a screenwriter and author based in Mumbai. She is the founder of Unibrow Stories, a creative team that creates edgy, funny, modern Indian stories for page and screen. You can find her @unibrowstories on Instagram.