by Vish Dhamija
'Mr Gill, Spain should be the Armageddon.'
'I'll get things moving but why haven't you given me any details? Who is this man?'
'It's only a matter of days now Mr Gill. I wanted to get the evidence before bothering you with the trivia,' Kabir promised again.
'Okay.'
***
The instructions to Kabir from the Spanish police were no different from those of the British. No firearms, no uniform and no arrests. They couldn't take part in the investigation, but would be happy to extend any help if required.
Alfredo had a small, yet, posh office. He was sitting in front of his computer with a cigarette in his hand when Kabir walked in.
'Mr Alfredo?' Kabir asked.
'I am Alfredo. What can I do for you?'
'I am looking for my friend Nikos…'
'You mean Mr Nikos… the Greek gentleman with a pretty Indian wife? I got them the best villa in the region. I have another one similar, but it is a little distance from the village, though it is equally scenic…' Alfredo started. The chatterbox certainly did not discriminate between his audiences.
'I am not here to buy property, I am looking for my friends.'
'How did you find me?' Alfredo was curious.
'You recognise this letter?' Kabir showed him the envelope.
'Oh, yes. Where did you find it?'
'In Mr Nikos's old apartment. Thankfully, he had left the place before this arrived, so I got it.'
'That's surprising. I thought he had received the letter and that's why he called me, though I wondered why he did not call me from the airport to save time.' Alfredo thought aloud.
'You are the only person he knew in this region...you sold him the villa, so it was only natural that he called you when he couldn't get in. But I am grateful that you wrote this, or how else would I have found him?'
'It is so nice to get in touch with old friends.' Alfredo was excited. 'Let me call and give him the good news.'
'I think I should give him a surprise in person.'
'That's a brilliant idea. Let me just go to the washroom before I take you there.'
'Could you give me their address, please? I need to tell another friend to join us there.'
'Of course Mr…'
'Singh.' Kabir intentionally did not give his first name.
'There you are, Mr Singh.' Alfredo scribbled it on a piece of paper.
'Could I use your phone for a moment?' Kabir extended his hand for Alfredo's mobile to make sure he did not spoil the 'friendly' surprise.
'Yes, of course, Mr Singh.'
Kabir used the desk phone to call the local police and gave them the address. 'How long do you think it would take you to get there to make arrests?'
'Armed or unarmed?' asked the voice.
'You'd better be armed, but no alarms or sirens please.' Kabir did not see the likelihood of firearms being used but, given the circumstances, he did not want to take any more chances. He was dealing with a very smart — and maybe dangerous — couple.
'It should take anything between thirty and forty-five minutes.'
'Thanks.' Kabir put the phone down and dialled a random number as he saw Alfredo walking towards him. He didn't want anyone to redial the police.
'You did not use my mobile?'
I did not want you to know the last number dialled out.
'I couldn't handle such a sophisticated instrument.' Kabir smiled and returned it to Alfredo.
'Let's go, Mr Singh.' Alfredo's assistant wasn't in the office, so he put a note on his door saying he would be back in fifteen minutes.
'Could you take a detour to show me the other villa you mentioned with similar views please?' Kabir had calculated the time, and knew he wanted to spend the minimum time with his old friends before the police arrived.
'That will be my pleasure.' Alfredo checked to see if he had carried the keys of the property.
'You can just show me the location from outside for now.'
'Okay,' Alfredo said and sat in the car.
Although Kabir was completely engrossed in what lay ahead, he couldn't help but notice that the location of the villa was incredibly picturesque. Nothing the blabbermouth described about the property, its accessibility, its views, its reasonable price, registered. The azure Mediterranean was calm, but his mind was weathering the storm inside. He looked at his watch again, calculating that he had managed to spend twenty minutes since he had called the local police, and reckoned it was time to see Raaj… and Serena.
'It's beautiful. But I need time to think before I can decide on an expensive place like this,' he told Alfredo.
'Good. I knew you would like the property — the views are amazing, as you can see for yourself, and if you can manage to do a part-cash deal like your friend, I could get you a generous discount on the price…'
'Should we…?' Kabir opened the car door indicating it was time to leave.
'Oh, yes.'
***
'The weather is great today, why don't we go for a swim in the sea?' Serena asked, looking out of the bedroom window that provided bewitching views of the Mediterranean.
'Not a bad idea, sweetheart. Let's have a dip and then go to the golf course,' Nikos agreed. 'What do you think?'
'I am wondering what I should wear.'
'A bikini will be nice.'
'I know but which one?'
'Anything that does not weigh more than a gram, please. You fascinate me…' Nikos was halfway through his sentence when the doorbell interrupted him.
'Who can it be?' Serena asked. Surely they were not expecting anyone.
'I wasn't expecting any visitors… we hardly know people around here.' Nikos was equally surprised. 'Why don't you go down and see while I choose a bikini for you from your collection?'
'Okay.' Serena came down wearing short cut-off denim hot pants and a snug white knitted top with slippers. She could see Alfredo's car on their drive from the window and thought for a second of returning to change into something more respectable considering she had seen Alfredo ogling at her.
Let me tease this man a bit more, she thought and opened the front door.
'Hello, Mr Alfredo. What brings you here?'
'I've got a surprise guest for you.'
Kabir had purposely stood to the side before the door opened to avoid being seen, lest someone peeping through the eyehole might spoil the surprise and prompt unnecessary action. 'Hello, Serena.' He was now in front of the open door.
Serena was taken aback for a moment. She recognised Kabir instantly, but she couldn't comprehend the motivation for the surprise visit after years. Kabir had never stayed in touch and was long gone from her memory. 'Kabir…! What a nice surprise,' she exclaimed, throwing her arms open to hug her old friend.
She's still so attractive and even more so in this tiny outfit, he thought.
'You still look gorgeous.' Kabir hugged her.
'Thanks. Come in.' She opened the door wider.
Seeing Serena in tight little shorts, Alfredo wanted to stay a bit longer, but he was aware his assistant wasn't in the office and knew he should return quickly.
'I'll leave you friends together as I need to rush.' He turned to go.
'Thanks Alfredo.' Serena closed the door and walked into the living area. 'How did you find us?' she asked, though she would rather have replaced how with why in her question.
'It's a long story. Where's Raaj?' Kabir deflected her question with his.
'He'll be down in a minute.' She knew there wasn't much sense in telling Kabir to call her husband Nikos, as he would recognise Raaj the moment they met. She was totally ignorant of the fact that Kabir had joined the police after his MBA, thus she didn't perceive the danger. Her mind was trying to work out how Kabir came to know about their existence in this remote part of Spain.
Maybe it came out in conversation with big-mouth Alfredo who in a conversation mentioned about them being here. But Alfredo did not know that Nikos was Raaj… she was baffled.
'Don't bother.' Kabir looked at his watch. It was getting close to thirty five minutes since his call. 'I won't be long.'
'I'll call Raaj.' She got up seeing Kabir look at his watch, but they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
'Who is it, sweetheart?' Nikos asked.
'It's an old friend,' Serena said, as he came into the living room from behind Kabir.
'Hello, Raaj.' Kabir got up and turned.
'K a b i r…!' Raaj hollered loudly without thinking whether he should be excited or sensing trouble seeing Kabir after all these years. His mind went into overdrive as he hugged his old friend. 'How are you, my friend?' He asked after a long hug, gesturing Kabir to sit on the sofa.
'I am fine, and by the looks of this place, you guys seem to be doing extremely well.' Kabir commented looking at both of them.
'We've kind of retired early and thought this was a good place — brilliant weather, great food, excellent lifestyle. It's been ages since I saw you last…' Raaj showed excitement.
'Four years is not exactly ages Raaj,' Kabir said with a smile.
Raaj looked up to think.
'Remember we crossed each other at Frankfurt in 1998?' Kabir reminded.
'Oh, yes.' Raaj recalled his flight back from Dubai via Frankfurt where he had waved to Kabir.
'When I passed out of FMS, I did not go into the corporate world like you two and I am glad I didn't. I joined the Indian Police Service,' Kabir said with pride. Raaj and Serena looked at each other. They could sense that Kabir wasn't on a friendly visit, but kept quiet and maintained their composure.
'What brings you here?' Raaj wanted to know.
'There was a counterfeit share certificate scam that got exposed in the late nineties, which I am sure you will have heard of. The first enquiry sadly failed, but it got opened again and the investigation was passed on to my colleague, Michael D'Cunha, and me.' Kabir glanced at Serena and her expression convinced him that she was familiar with the name he had just mentioned. 'I confess that the perpetrators had excellent knowledge of the market to have devised a fraud of this sort and get away with the money, but you have to commend our outstanding job — we traced the path to find that almost all the counterfeits emanated from a single firm. Savvy Consultants.' Kabir paused to look at the faces of the couple as he mentioned the name of Raaj's company. Despite Serena looking as sexy as hell, there was no doubt left in his mind that she was an active accomplice, a co-conspirator in the whole crime.
'What has that got to do with us... or you being here?' Raaj had the nerve to ask. Serena was scared. She realised that the past had, finally, caught up with them.
'Let me refresh your memory again, my friend. Savvy Consultants belonged to you… although you died in, an inexplicable, fire accident in 1996 — two years before we saw each other at Frankfurt. I have been on this case for quite some time now and request you to stop the pretence,' Kabir said, with a penetrating gaze.
'There is no pretence. I don't know anything about Savvy Consultants.' Raaj raised his voice.
'You counterfeited share certificates and sold them in the market, keeping the originals. When you realised that the SEBI ruling would expose your scam, you staged your own death and escaped, leaving everyone to believe that you had died in an unfortunate fire accident. To give her credit, Serena acted her part of a mourning wife with finesse too. She stayed on in India until the smoke had cleared, and then asked for a posting abroad to meet you. You guys got together again, using Paul, and moved to Greece… sorry, Spain. Correct?' Kabir outlined the whole story back to the scriptwriters.
Before Raaj and Serena could react, or deny the reality any longer, there was a noise in front of the villa; through the windows they could see armed Spanish police quickly crouching down and coming towards the front door.
'Sorry for having to write the last page of your brilliant script but…the case is closed now — Serena and Raaj… or Nikos, whatever you prefer. I arrest you for fraud, murder and impersonation. I request you to stop playing games.' Kabir got up and opened the door for the police to come in.
Part Four
'Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game'
— Sympathy for the Devil [The Rolling Stones]
38
Worli, Mumbai
August 10, 1996
The tension in Raaj and Serena's household had been mounting with every passing week since the SEBI had decreed the dematerialisation of shares that had sealed their fate. The mood, in general, remained grim and the second-stage devious plan of role-playing Raaj's death was approaching faster than they had anticipated. 'It's time now. When are you off to Singapore for your trip?' Raaj asked Serena on Saturday afternoon.
'I am off next Monday.'
'19th?' Raaj confirmed.
'Yes.' Serena looked at the calendar to confirm.
'Is it flexible?'
'I am going for a conference that starts Tuesday, in the early morning, so…'
'Perfect,' Raaj said.
'What is it?'
'I'm sure you can go a day earlier.'
'You mean on Sunday?'
'Yes. What time's your flight?'
'At noon, I think. Why?'
'Remember Rana — the guy we met in Zurich? He said he was packing up from London to move to Sydney on a new assignment. This means no one will be looking for him in the UK, and nobody in Australia should miss him anyway. His flight comes in around one on Sunday afternoon and he's decided to do us a favour by breaking his journey and spending a day here, before he takes the flight to Sydney on Monday morning. It's only courteous that I return the favour by allowing him to help us out of our mess.' Raaj had a crooked smile on his face.
'Next week?' Serena had known about the plan for a few months now, but the timing hadn't been set. With her Singapore trip coinciding with the guest's travel plan, Raaj was quick to grab the heaven-sent opportunity.
'We don't know if we will ever get such a great chance again,' Raaj explained, seeing Serena in tears.
'Can't we postpone it by a month or so? He would, I am sure, travel again in September, as he said, and I can always make another trip…it would give me some more time to prepare for it mentally,' Serena pleaded.
'What if he changes his plan next time around? Or the flights don't coincide? Or your trip gets cancelled? Or he decides to travel with a companion? We can't afford to take the risk. Let's do it and get it over with. Why are you crying, sweetheart?' Raaj took her in his arms.
'I don't know if we will ever succeed in this plan, and even if we did — when, where and how will we meet again?'
'We will certainly succeed, though it may take time. But it's good that you feel so strongly about our separation, it will convince others that you are actually mourning.' Raaj found something positive in her despair. He knew Serena wasn't acting, she was genuinely concerned.
'How will I live without you?'
'Would you rather prefer that our counterfeiting operation is uncovered?'
'No…' she sobbed, and hugged him tightly. There was a tinge of sadness in the house. They had, finally, found the solution to their problems, but the risk involved could cost them, perhaps, everything they had, including their liberty. Even if they succeeded, it would be preceded by a very long goodbye. 'We shouldn't have got into the counterfeiting in the first place.'
'The milk is already spilt, baby.'
'Is there no other way?'
'No. Let's go out for dinner tonight?' Raaj wanted take the gloom away. Or, maybe, run away from it.
'Okay.'
***
August 11, 1996
'How will I know if you've succeeded in this plan?' Serena asked after she had slept on the previous day's conversation, which had, now, convinced her that this was the only way out.
'How will we stay in touch? I am sure you've thought about that too.' She came close to him, still in her little nightdress she had worn the night before.
'Oh, yes.' He took her in his arms and kissed her, his hands moving all over her body.
'We've got just one week left… let's make the most of it.'
'If you insist...' He pulled the slip-nightie over her head, picked her up in his arms and turned towards the bedroom.
'Let's do it here, in your office.'
'As you say, my lord…'
'Lady,' she corrected.
***
August 12, 1996
'Don't let your mood or expressions change just yet.' Raaj told Serena when she was getting ready for the office the next morning. They had decided to keep their schedules unaltered before the planned event to avoid any needless attention.
'See you in the evening.'
Serena was back in the evening and the couple started crystallising the plan further, rehearsing their parts. This was one performance that would not allow retakes.
'I have your Lotus Notes ID…' Raaj said sitting down for dinner.
'I'm listening...'
'Once you get the blank letter, it will mean that I am safe and that our plan has succeeded. I will not be able to contact you for quite some time after that… say six months… that should allow a reasonable time for any enquiry to finish. I'll send you my contact number after that… on your office email, without any message. I will make a false email ID every time I need to update you on my moves or change my telephone number, so when you receive an email containing only a contact telephone number with the country code, it will be me. Just memorise it and delete the mail — treat it like an ATM PIN.'
