Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery) by Gigi Pandian

being paranoid because of everything that was going on. Even though it was summer, there were still people around campus. And this was San Francisco. Some of them were bound to be strange.
    I relaxed. It was the wrong thing to do. As soon as I turned to look the other way, the man knocked into me. He slammed into my shoulder, knocking me to the ground.
    “Hey!” I yelled, pain shooting up through my elbow and tail bone.
    The man held out his arm. It wasn’t an attempt to help me up. I felt a sharp tug across my body. He was after my bag.
    I had my bag slung across my body, so although the sharp tug caught me off guard, my attacker didn’t manage to pull the bag away.
    Ready for his second attempt, I bent my knees from my prostrate position, planting my feet flat on the ground, and took firm hold of the strap of my bag. As he gave a second tug, my body lifted up along with the bag slung over my body. I pushed with my leg as he pulled, and we stood directly in front of each other. That’s when I saw his face. Or rather, the lack thereof. A stocking was pulled over his head, obscuring his appearance.
    Like most people, this man stood quite a bit taller than me. Between the pantyhose distorting his features and the bulky sweatshirt covering much of his body, that’s about all I could tell.
    Before I could cry out again, he gave another sharp yank to the strap of my bag, higher this time. It pulled across my back, yanking me sideways and knocking the breath out of me. The strap caught under my arm. He didn’t loosen his grip.
    None of the few people walking by on the far side of the quad seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention to us. I was on my own. I spun on my heel to face away from the attempted thief. I lowered my center of gravity and heaved.
    It’s easier to throw someone over you than you’d imagine. As a small person, it’s one of the most important things I’ve learned. The man tumbled over me with ease, landing on his back. He was even lighter than I’d imagined. My assailant groaned as he hit the concrete.
    I didn’t think, but acted on instinct from years of training. When you attend a self-defense or martial arts class where they send one big guy after another at you, you learn to react. But what they don’t teach you is to think about your possessions along with your physical self. The man had kept hold of my bag as he twisted over me. As I flipped him over me, my bag went with him.
    As soon as I realized what I’d done, I lunged forward. The man rolled away with my bag.
    My right palm skidded across the concrete in my desperate forward grasp, leaving skin behind. I landed on my elbow. The mugger didn’t look back. As pain throbbed in my hand and elbow, he jumped up and sprinted away.
    All I could do was watch as he disappeared around the side of the building—and along with him, my laptop and Anand’s map.
    Chapter 14

    I paced the hallway of the police station, silently cursing my lack of forethought. I knew that Steven had been killed over that treasure, and I had the map he believed led to the treasure. I’d had a false sense of security because I was at my university, a place I felt safe.
    Though Steven’s death happening right after he came to see me could have been a coincidence, another, completely separate act of violence related to this treasure couldn’t be. I found it hard to believe the mugger had been after the academic research notes I’d pieced together for the paper I was working on—even though I have to say my theory about the organization of economic, political, and military factions was rather brilliant. And I never buy the latest phone or computer gadgets, yet the mugger had been hanging around the library waiting for me specifically . The only thing that made sense was that he was after the treasure map. What would he have done if I hadn’t stupidly lost hold of the bag? I didn’t want to think about it.
    Even though the mugging had to be about the map, the