Empire Rising Box Set

by D. J. Holmes

“Of course Mr. Banik,” Gupta said in a conciliatory tone. “We won’t take up much of your time. My name is Neysa Avvari, I have to apologize though. I’m afraid I wasn’t the one who wanted this meeting with you. I’m simply an independent trader, it is Ms. Qu-Shin who hired me.”

  With that Gupta stood back and Bell stepped forward. “I must apologize too Mr. Banik. I’m sorry for the deception but I didn’t want my name on any official record of our meeting. Qu-shin is just a cover; my real name is Li Bai, formally of Chinese Naval Intelligence.

  “I believe we have a mutual friend. Before he left China he tasked me with gathering a number of his prized possessions and transporting them into Indian space. He gave me your name as his contact so I’m here presenting myself to you. Ms. Avvari has a freighter in orbit awaiting your directions. We’re ready to take the cargo to our mutual friend on your say so.”

  As she had been speaking she had been watching Banik’s face closely. At the mention of a ‘mutual friend’ his face had flattened into an emotionless disinterested stare. She knew she had the right man.

  “I’m sorry young woman,” Banik said in a flat tone that reflected his face, “but I quite simply don’t have a clue what you are talking about. If you want to give me the name of your client then I can look up our records but as far as I know, Varun hasn’t had any dealings with Chinese colonial space since the war broke out.”

  Bell let out an exaggerated sigh, “Come now Mr. Banik, I don’t think our mutual friend would want us brandishing his name about indiscriminately. He spoke to me personally before he left Chinese space and he gave me your name as his contact. This isn’t my first time doing something like this you know. You don’t have to play dumb.”

  At the last sentence Mr. Banik jumped to his feet. “Look here young lady. I don’t know who you work for or who this mutual friend is. I’ve already told you so. Now, I’ve had enough of these allegations, it’s time for you to leave. The security guard who escorted you up here will see you out.”

  With that he sat down again and pushed a button on his desk. The large double doors they had entered through swung open and Bell turned to see the security guard standing there with two of his comrades for backup.

  Waving them in with his hand Banik shouted angrily, “Escort them out please, and don’t let them talk to anyone else. They have already caused enough trouble.”

  Before leaving Bell couldn’t help turning back to the coordinator, “You’re making a mistake, the Minister won’t be pleased if he doesn’t receive his possessions.”

  If she had any doubts Banik’s reaction settled them. “Out,” he shouted in anger though his look of alarm was clearly visible at the mention of Chang’s former position as the Chinese Minister for Intelligence.

  Their escorts were more than a little rough showing them out and once they were back on the street Bell led Gupta towards a bar. This early in the morning it was deserted but the privacy gave them the opportunity to speak openly.

  “Well, what did you think?” Bell asked Gupta.

  “I’m no expert at reading facial expressions but he had guilty written all over him,” she replied.

  “Exactly,” Bell said, “now all we have to do is wait. Did you manage to plant the bug?”

  “Yes, I slipped it under his desk when he was focused on you,” Gupta answered.

  “Ok,” Bell said as she flipped open her datapad “now let’s see who Banik calls.”

  It only took a matter of seconds for the datapad to alert her that the bug was picking up an outgoing COM channel from Banik’s office.

  “Damn,” Bell swore.

  “What’s the matter?” Gupta asked.

  “My datapad can’t decode the security encryption, they must not be using one of the standard encryptions the RSNI provided me with. If we want to figure out who Banik is speaking with we’re going to have to return to the ship and use its computers to decode the encryption.”

  “We still have audio from the bug right?” Gupta queried.

  “Yes, maybe Banik will let a name slip. Let me play the call from the start,” Bell replied as she switched on the volume of the datapad to play Banik’s conversation.”

  “I’m sorry for contacting you Sir.”

  ……

  “Yes I know I need a good reason to use this COM channel.”

  ……

  “It’s just, I had some visitors in my office just now. One of them claimed to be an ex Chinese intelligence officer. They said they were working for a certain Chinese Minister and had a freighter full of the Minister’s cargo.”

  ……

  “No, everything we had of his has already been transported on. I’ve never been informed of any additional cargo.”

  ……

  “Yes Sir, I’ll get on it right away. Thank you Sir,” Banik finished with obvious relief in his voice.

  “Well,” began Gupta, “that seems to confirm our suspicions, though we’re none the wiser as to who organized all this. What do we do from here?”

  Bell didn’t answer for two men had just entered the bar. Immediately they surveyed the room and for a spilt second their gaze fell on Gupta and Bell before passing on. Both men found seats that allowed them to watch the door and the two women. That was all Bell needed to tell her that they were up to no good. “Now we do nothing, we have just made a couple of new friends. I think we might need a little help from our marines,” Bell said.

  Gupta turned to stare at the two men but Bell quickly kicked her under the table. “Eyes on me, come on, we’re leaving,” she said as she rose and pulled Gupta with her.

  Outside she caught the eye of the marine who had been lounging about in the street outside Varun’s headquarters and flashed him a few hand signals before their two new friends followed them out of the bar. Taking Gupta by the hand she began to walk briskly down the street. With an occasional glance behind her she led the two men on a complex trail, twisting through the streets of the city. When they found a street market taking up one of the city’s open squares Gupta thought for sure that they would lose their followers but they turned out to be better than she thought for a couple of streets after the market they reappeared.

  Increasing her pace again Bell continued to follow a random path through the city. Eventually she passed an alleyway where one of the marines lazily leant against a wall. When he caught her eye he retreated back into it.

  “This way,” Bell said as she turned Gupta towards the alleyway. As they walked down the narrower street they passed a section that was in almost complete darkness, the sunlight being blocked out by one of Bhopal’s lofty towers. “Good luck,” she said into the darkness.

  As they reached the end of the alleyway they heard a number of grunts from behind them. Nodding in satisfaction Bell turned them onto one of the city’s main streets. “Now we get back to the ship,” she said, “and see if we can figure out a plan to get the information we need. Today hasn’t exactly gone to plan.”

  *

  That night Bell, Gupta, Becket and Major Johnston all sat in the Captain’s quarters of the freighter.

  “Were the ship’s computers able to decode the COM data from your bug?” Becket asked Bell.

  “No, their encryption is extremely good, it must be military grade. Without a dedicated decryption computer there is no way we will be able to crack it,” Bell answered.

  “Well that’s suspicious in itself, our intel suggested they would only be using civilian grade encryption,” Johnston complained, “where do we go from here then? It’s time we got our hands on this Chang bastard.”

  “I’m not sure,” Bell began, “there’s no doubt Banik had a hand in smuggling Chang out of China but he’s too junior, I think it highly unlikely he knows where Varun have placed Chang.”

  “Still, he’s our only real lead, surely he will have some information that we could use,” Becket interjected.

  “True,” Bell agreed, “but there is no way he will take another meeting with us and short of k
idnapping him we have no other way of getting face to face with him.”

  “Exactly,” said Gupta, “that’s what we need to do.”

  “What?” Bell asked with concern.

  “Well, I don’t mean we kidnap him exactly. But we can break into his house, confront him face to face and force him to tell us what he knows about Chang,” Gupta explained. It was clear from Bell’s face that she wasn’t convinced but Gupta pushed on with her idea. “Look, it’s Friday today. Tonight Banik will go home and no one will expect to see him back at work until Monday. We can break in, confront him and then leave him restrained. No one will come looking for him until Monday at the earliest. By then we will have high tailed it out of New Delhi and onto wherever Banik’s information leads us. I don’t see that we have any other option, does anyone else?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Johnston said, “I’ll be happy to interrogate this Banik fellow.”

  “I’m not sure,” Becket countered. “If we do this there will be no turning back. If we can’t get to Chang in time, Varun will be on to us and if they move him again we will be back to square one. This seems like an all or nothing plan.”

  Johnston waved his had dismissively at Becket. “Of course it’s all or nothing Lieutenant. Our boarding of the Chinese destroyer, Admiral Cunningham’s battle with the Chinese fleet at Wi Xiang, they were both all or nothing plays. When we don’t have any other options that’s what we always do, we go for it.”

  Becket made to respond but Gupta cut her off. She didn’t want Becket riling Johnston up; he had a short enough temper as it was. “What do you think Bell?” she asked, “ultimately it’s your decision.”

  Bell didn’t reply immediately. Instead she carefully thought over a few different options. After almost a minute she looked up at the rest of the group. “I don’t see that we have any other choice. Whoever is pulling the strings at Varun already knows someone is poking around their operation. If they haven’t already they’ll soon decide they need to take more steps to protect Chang and cover their own tracks. We need to move fast and confronting Banik is the only option we have on the table that will let us accomplish that. Unless anyone has a plan to get us the information we need any faster I’m going to go with it.”

  Everyone else remained silent as she eyed them, making her decision for her, “ok then, Major Johnston put together a number of operational plans to get us access to Banik. I’ll start working up the questions we need to ask him. Once we’re ready we’ll take another shuttle down to the surface and get into place.”

  *

  That evening Gupta stood down a darkened alley not unlike the one her and Bell had led the two Varun agents into. This time she was the one waiting. Banik was obviously a dedicated worker for it wasn’t until after 8pm local time that he appeared walking along one of the routes Bell had identified Banik would likely take home. The late hour suited their plan fine though for the sun had already set ensuring most of the streets in the financial district were deserted. When she saw him she keyed her COM unit, alerting the rest of the team.

  After reviewing the security to Banik’s home Johnston had decided against breaking into it. Instead he had found a cheap hotel near the Varun headquarters that didn’t ask too many questions. He had booked a suite for the entire weekend and asked not to be disturbed. That way they could get what they wanted from Banik and leave him there to be found by the cleaning staff on Monday.

  After Banik had travelled down the street for a while Gupta stepped out from the alleyway and began to head after him. The other marines had been spaced out watching a number of other routes Banik may have taken. A few minutes later two clicks from the COM channel informed her they were now ahead of Banik and in place.

  Immediately she broke into a light jog. When she was sure she was in ear shot she called out, “Mr. Banik, Mr. Banik, excuse me Sir.”

  Instinctively Banik turned around to see who was calling his name. As Gupta jogged up to him he looked confused. “Do I know you?” he asked.

  Some impression I left, Gupta thought to herself. Obviously Banik had gone away from their earlier meeting with Agent Bell engrained on his mind. The fact that she wasn’t in her trader uniform anymore probably threw him off too.

  “It’s Neysa Avvari from earlier.” Gupta began after catching her breath. “I met you with a colleague of mine, Ms. Li Bai. I wanted to talk to you about my cargo.”

  “Now listen here,” Banik began but before he could say anymore one of the marines who had been sneaking up on him jabbed him in the neck with an auto-injector filled with a potent tranquilizer. As he fell to the ground the other marine caught him and propped him up. The first sent two more clicks through his Com unit.

  On cue Major Johnston brought the rented aircar he had been circling overhead in to land. As soon as it landed Bell and another marine opened the door and jumped out. Together the four of them and Gupta bundled Banik into the aircar and once Gupta was aboard Johnston lifted off. In all, it had taken less than a minute to abduct Banik.

  “Good job everyone,” Bell encouraged. “Now, when you take him out of the aircar make sure it looks like two of you are supporting him on his feet. There should be no one around the back entrance to the hotel. Our Major picked one well out of the way. But just in case make it look like you are just helping your drunk mate back to his bed.”

  “Aye, Aye Mam,” one of the marines acknowledged with a grin, “I think I have had enough practice with that to make it look believable,” he finished, eliciting some chuckles from the other two marines.

  Turning back to look at the limp Banik, Bell gently kicked his rather large backside, “you better have something good for us when you come to!”

  Chapter 6 – Intimidation

  17th March 2466, Bhopal, New Delhi

  Banik awoke with a start. With a throbbing head he groggily tried to open his eyes. Light pierced the slightly opened slits and he recoiled at the pain it caused. Suddenly it felt like one of the elephants that had been imported to New Delhi was rampaging around inside his head. Where am I? He struggled to think. I don’t remember getting home last night, all I remember is... that woman! In alarm he tried to open his eyes again and the shooting pain made him groan.

  Alerted to the fact that her charge was waking up, Bell strolled across the hotel room into Banik’s field of view. “Good morning Mr. Banik, it’s good to see you again.”

  “You,” he growled. “What have you done to me?”

  “Done?” Bell asked innocently. “Why we haven’t done very much. We just thought you might be more talkative if we organized another meeting. We thought something more informal would allow us to come to better terms.”

  As she finished she swiveled round the chair they had Banik tied to, to let him see the rest of the hotel room. The presence of four bulky men who looked less than pleased wasn’t lost on Banik.

  “What do you plan to do with me?” he asked worriedly. “I already told you I don’t know this Minister of yours. There is nothing more I can do for you.”

  “Now, now Mr. Banik. There is no point telling us any lies. We already know you know all about former Minister Chang,” Bell said. Holding up her datapad she began the recording of Banik’s conversation with his superior.

  As the recording finished Banik’s head slumped in defeat. “Now that we have cleared the air,” Bell began, “you are going to tell us everything we need to know about the whereabouts of Chang Lei. If you cooperate we’ll leave you in this hotel room and come Monday morning the cleaning staff will find you none the worse for wear. If you refuse, I’m going to hand you over to these marine friends of mine.

  “I’m not Chinese intelligence. We’re Royal Space Navy and we’re here to bring Chang to justice. Each of these men served in the war against the Chinese. They all lost friends. As I’m sure you can imagine, they are all highly motivated to locate and apprehend Chang. If you want to stand in their way you’re going to regret it.”

  Once again Bell swung B
anik’s chair around so he could see the marines. Major Johnston gave the Indian a small smile, fury radiating off him. It was so strong that Bell was taken aback; the Major was clearly a better actor than she thought.

  “There now,” she said swinging him back so that he was facing her. “Do we understand each other?”

  “Yes, I suppose we do,” Banik conceded. “What do you want?”

  “That’s very simple. Tell me everything you know about where and how Varun smuggled Chang out of Chinese space,” Bell answered.

  Banik spoke in short sentences but as Gupta listened on from the sidelines it all became clear. Whoever had organized the escape had been ballsy, that was for sure. Through contacts Varun had on Earth they had actually bribed a British freighter to take Chang out of Chinese space. As part of the peace settlement with China, Britain had enforced a strict free trade policy. A large portion of the Chinese freighter fleet had been destroyed in the war and many of the British freighters had rushed to fill the demand. It would have been easy for one to evade the patrols the RSN and the remnants of the Chinese navy had hastily tried to implement.