The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian)

by Ravi Subramanian

  At that very instant, one of the accomplices from behind the van hurled a low intensity grenade at the cops. There was a minor blast followed by lots of dust and smoke. The cops ducked for cover. Sensing an opportunity, the two men turned away and started running, leaving the intruder behind. They were running towards an alley hoping that, by the time the cops would regain composure, they would have disappeared into the alley and thereon into the complex maze of lanes and by-lanes. Schroeder was watching. The men were approaching the alley. He couldn’t let them get away. Something had to be done. The S&W was put to use. He took aim and fired. It hit one of the men, who tumbled to the ground. Egged by what Schroeder did, Karl too took aim and fired. The first one missed but the second bullet hit his target on the ankle. He too crashed, holding his ankle in pain. Karl and Schroeder looked at each other and smiled. It was a mistake. This momentary lapse of concentration gave the window of opportunity to the intruder to pull out his gun and shoot in their direction. The bullet brushed past Karl’s left shoulder, knocking him down. Blood started oozing from of his shoulder. When Schroeder saw his protégé injured, he was furious. Looking out of the window, he took aim. The intruder had stepped out of the mid-ship and was hastily climbing down the ladder. It was a stupid move, as a posse of police officers was waiting for him near the WSA van.

  Schroeder considered his options. He wanted some leverage. If his men accosted the intruder and took him into custody, it would take him ages to interrogate him and get to the bottom of the murder investigation. Once taken into custody, protocol had to be followed, which would prevent him from using certain techniques the cops normally liked to use. He needed quick answers.

  Schroeder waited for about fifteen seconds. The intruder was now only ten feet from the ground. A few more steps and he would be a jump away. Carefully, he took aim and muttered something as he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the intruder on his thigh. He fell off the ladder and landed on the ground with a thud. He tried to get up but couldn’t. Schroeder, followed by Karl, who was clutching his profusely bleeding left shoulder in his hand, rushed to the ground floor right and out of the building, to the place where the intruder lay bleeding.

  By then, the back-up team had surrounded the intruder and disarmed him. Schroeder walked up to him and said, ‘What were you doing up there?’

  ‘I was repairing the sewage lines. We had received a complaint. . .aaaah,’ the suspect writhed in pain. It was becoming unbearable.

  ‘Since when did WSA employees start carrying firearms?’ he thundered. ‘And crude bombs?’ Karl added pointing towards his accomplices lying a few feet away.

  ‘What was it that you came for? Out with it!’ Schroeder demanded. The suspect kept moaning and didn’t respond. Schroeder bent down, caught hold of him and patted him down. He felt something midway between his chest and abdomen on the right. One of the cops gave him a small knife. He cut open the clothing to find the secret compartment, and out tumbled four packets that the intruder had pulled out from the niche in the drainpipe. He opened one of the packets and emptied the contents on his palm. He was shocked.

  ‘Raw uncut diamonds!’ Schroeder exclaimed. ‘Diamonds!’ Karl exclaimed. ‘Blood diamonds! Here in Vienna?’

  Schroeder systematically checked the other three packets. They contained diamonds as well. ‘What the hell is this?’ exclaimed Schroeder. ‘Is this what you killed the Indians for?’ He was shocked to see raw uncut diamonds, the kind found in the mines of Africa. He didn’t know what or rather who he was dealing with.

  ‘I didn’t kill anyone,’ the intruder protested weakly. It was not without reason that Schroeder had shot him. Schroeder turned and looked at the eight cops who were a part of the back-up team. They were a team of hand-picked loyalists. He turned back. The intruder was still lying flat on the road, writhing in pain. Nonchalantly, Schroeder took aim. This time it was the other leg. The bullet pierced the thigh and burnt its way through, right up to the bone where it firmly embedded itself. A shrill scream erupted and shattered the calm of the neighbourhood. The intruder was in desperate pain. Schroeder was unmoved. He was not willing to hand him over to the medics till he gave them the whole story. Who was he? Where did he get the diamonds? Why did they kill the Indians? It was not too difficult, given the tremendous pain that the intruder was in. It was only a matter of time before he started to sing like a bird. The leverage that Schroeder had bargained for when he shot at the intruder was working. After getting all the information he required, Schroeder let him be taken away by the medics. He walked to his car, accompanied by Karl, who by then had been administered first aid. The bleeding had stopped.

  As they were driving back, Schroeder asked Karl, ‘How did you figure out the secret of the niche in the drain?’

  ‘Quite by accident. In fact, we were checking the faucet for fingerprints when we accidentally pushed the knob. Water started flowing. Quite a fancy faucet it was. We didn’t know how to shut it off. In the interim, the water started filling up in the basin. That was quite a surprise because, given the proximity to the main drain and the height, water should not have clogged. That was the warning sign. And now when I look back at it, it was a very smart place to hide these diamonds from everyone. Smuggle uncut diamonds, drop them into the basin. The flow of water will take them to the filter connected at junction with the main pipe. The filter will stop them from going any further and they would collect in the reverse omega shaped niche, which is then accessed using the security passcodes, which our friend David Kosinski knew. No one else in their wildest dreams would have imagined that the drainpipe would contain diamonds. But I still have one question in my mind—why did they not take the diamonds when they hurriedly evacuated the building, the night the Indians went there?’

  ‘This question crossed my mind too. The only rational argument for this could be that the way the diamonds were stored in the niche in the pipe, made them difficult to access, particularly at that time of the night. Hence they fled the site on the night of the 30th leaving the diamonds behind, extremely confident that no one would be able to locate them. After the situation cooled off, and when they were convinced that there was no surveillance and it was safe to come back for the diamonds, they sent David Kosinski, their most trusted aide, who also knew the passcode, to recover the booty. They did not expect us to be there in the apartment. I guess they underestimated the Vienna police in general and Karlis Simanis in particular,’ Johann remarked, giving Karl an admiring look.

  ‘Yes sir. You’re right. There could be no other explanation for this. By the way, when is Purtsi retiring? Time for you to take over the Vienna Police,’ Karl smiled.

  ‘This gesture of sucking up is both unnecessary and appreciated,’ Schroeder winked at Karl. The car turned right off the main road into the building, which housed the Vienna Police Headquarters. ‘Time to get back to work,’ he said as he opened his car door and got out. Someone hurriedly collected the keys from him to safely park the car in the designated slot.

  ‘Yes sir!’ said Karl and followed him dutifully. Both of them walked into the building. They both knew they were close to busting the murders which had soiled their impeccable record.

  ‘And Karl, now that we know how the Leles were killed and who killed them, we must alert Interpol on what Kosinski told us. Will you call them and also the Israeli police right away and let them know that Joseph Braganza is scheduled to arrive into Tel Aviv airport this morning? In fact, he would have already arrived,’ Schroeder said to Karl as they entered Schroeder’s cabin. ‘David Kosinski gave us the name of the hotel. Pass it on to them and tell them that they will have to pick him up and extradite him to Vienna. He has to be tried for homicide in this country. I also have to brief Purtsi on the latest developments. We will work out an acceptable story for the media.’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘Thanks Karl. You were great today. I am proud that you work with me.’

  ‘Thanks sir. But you were the one who inducted me into all thi
s.’

  Schroeder smiled as he turned towards his computer screen and started scanning his inbox. After clicking on a few mails, he looked up. Karl was still standing there. ‘That will be it, Karl. Just let me know once you have informed Interpol.’

  ‘I will have the information passed on to them. But we still have a problem Johann. We only have a name. We don’t even know what he looks like. What will Interpol do with just a name?’ He paused. Thought for a couple of seconds and added, ‘It’s unlikely that Joseph Braganza is his real name.’

  ‘Agreed. But that’s all we have.’

  ‘Well, I suppose some information is better than no information at all,’ muttered Karl as he turned to exit the room. He knew that the information would not be sufficient to nail Joseph Braganza. He was a smart operative. Faked nationalities, multiple identities etc, would be a part of the game for someone running an operation of this nature. They had recovered uncut diamonds worth at least twenty million dollars. Once polished, they would be worth at least five times that value. He knew that anyone who operated at this level would not be alone. However, a name was all that they had, and it was necessary that he pass on the information to the Israeli police.

  ‘Wait,’ exclaimed Schroeder. ‘We might have something here.’ Karl turned, only to see an excited Johann Schroeder furiously clicking away on his computer. He got up, walked to his photo printer, picked up the print that he had just fired and walked up to Karl. ‘Here, take this.’ He waited until Karl had seen the picture. ‘Change of plan. Let’s not talk to anyone about what David Kosinski told us. Let’s do it ourselves.’ Karl nodded. ‘Send a covert team to Israel. Take him out.’

  46

  GB2 Head Office, Mumbai

  1st February 2012

  When Karan handed over the contents of the packet, which Jacqueline had brought in, Indrani was both intrigued and irritated. ‘Why are you showing me this?’ She first looked at Karan and then at Tanuja.

  ‘Indrani you haven’t looked closely at the pictures that I gave you earlier.’ When Karan said this, Indrani picked up the pictures and looked at them again. She reached out to her reading glasses lying on the table.

  ‘Jacqueline, do you still have Malvika’s iPad?’ Karan asked Jacqueline who was still in the room.

  ‘Yes I do,’ and she dashed out and was back in a jiffy. ‘There you go, Karan,’ she said, handing over the iPad to him. With a few deft moves of his fingers, Karan manoeuvred the iPad and the pictures appeared on the screen. He went closer to Indrani and tilted the iPad towards her. He zoomed into the picture with his thumb and index finger.

  Indrani was now staring at a close-up of the man holding a gun against Siddhartha’s head. She was also wearing her reading glasses. The man in the picture was looking around, possibly to see if Siddhartha was alone or if he had anyone else with him. The fact that Harshita was able to take this picture pointed to the fact that she had not been captured yet. Indrani was shocked when she saw the zoomed-in version. There was unmistakable fear in Siddhartha’s eyes. And then she saw the guy holding the gun. The gash on his forehead stood out. Smart, in his late thirties, the guy had stubble, which indicated he had not shaved for a few days. Had Indrani not known him, she would have mistaken him for an Israeli. She looked at the picture and then at Tanuja. Slowly she lifted the photo frame she had pulled out of the packet that Jacqueline had given her and brought it next to the iPad. The person in the photo and the iPad were the same. She knew him; she recognized the cut on the forehead very clearly.

  ‘Abhishek?’ she exclaimed.

  When Tanuja heard that name, she freaked. ‘What? What are you looking at?’ Tanuja was suddenly very anxious. She ventured closer to Indrani, but Karan quickly took both the iPad and the photo away. He didn’t want Tanuja to have access to the iPad.

  ‘Karan? What is Abhishek doing there?’ For the first time that afternoon, Indrani sounded weak. It looked as though she was about to collapse.

  ‘Indrani, what are you talking about? Why are you bringing Abhishek into all this?’ Tanuja demanded hysterically. She had started sweating the moment Abhishek’s name had come up.

  ‘Abhishek is as involved in this as Tanuja is. Indrani, till the time I walked into Tanuja’s room, to keep her in the loop, I was under the impression that all this was done by Vikram. When we sat down in Tanuja’s room, I saw her wedding photo on her table and it immediately struck me that the guy in the picture was the same guy I had seen in the photos on Malvika’s iPad. The gash on the forehead is so distinctive, I couldn’t have missed it.’

  ‘Yes it is,’ was all Indrani could say. ‘I couldn’t see clearly at that time. I didn’t have my reading glasses.’

  ‘Since you couldn’t recognize him when I showed you the picture earlier today, I asked Jacqueline to get the photo frame from Tanuja’s room. It’s clear Indrani. Harshita checked out the address of Union of Jews Foundation. She found the place, and then who did she find there? Our very own Abhishek Mathur. She recognizes Abhishek but in the process gets caught. Somehow both of them escape from there and run. Abhishek fears identification and the resultant consequences. The best thing for him to do is to get rid of them. They run, cross Café Coffee Day, the photos get uploaded to iCloud by chance, and the rest is history. While running, Harshita calls Raymond, but in the melee, calls his direct line at work, instead of his mobile. The phone goes to voice mail, since it’s late at night and no one picks up her call. She leaves a voice mail for him. All that she manages to scream into the phone is, “Raymond. . .Raymond. . .we found the address of UJF. It’s correct. . .and Raymond, it’s Abhishek. It’s Abhishek, Raymond. It’s Abhishek. He’s after us now.”’

  ‘Hmm. . .and how did you get to know what she said?’ Indrani was curious.

  ‘After I saw Abhishek’s picture on Tanuja’s table, I ran back upstairs. I was too shocked to react. In that blank state, I suddenly realized that while running away from Abhishek, Harshita would have tried to reach out to someone. And that someone would have to be Raymond. . .no one else. So I ran up, and went to his desk. I got lucky. Harshita had indeed called him. I don’t know how and why we forgot to check his office phone’s voicemail last night. We checked everything. . .even the redialled numbers on his direct line, but we didn’t check the voice mail.’

  ‘Raymond had heard the voice mail; it did not show up as a new message. The communication system records too show that the last time Raymond accessed his voicemail and heard this message was at 6.47 p.m. yesterday. He called from his mobile phone and used his password to access it. At 6.48p.m. he called Tanuja. Poor fellow. He would have called her to figure out who was the Abhishek that Harshita was referring to. His big mistake was to take Tanuja into confidence. That proved to be his undoing. He too was eliminated before he could share what he knew with anybody else. Obviously Tanuja was not alone; there were people working for her, who carried out these tasks under her instructions. Who these operators are, is not for us to say. Hon. DCP Vishnu Shome and his team will be able to figure that out,’ said Karan looking at the DCP.

  Indrani looked at Tanuja, shocked. ‘Tanuja, is this true?’

  ‘Indrani, we have enough hard evidence to nail the two of them.’ Karan butted in.

  Indrani ignored Karan. ‘Tanuja?’ Indrani asked her again. ‘What is all this? I need to know if this is true.’

  ‘I need to talk to my lawyer first.’ She just turned around, opened the door and walked out. She couldn’t go much further. The entire security team of GB2 and a small team of police constables were waiting outside Indrani’s cabin.

  When Tanuja saw them, she was furious. ‘Anyone touches me, mark my words, he is dead!’ she screamed. There was only one female security officer and she was quite scared to take on the fury of Tanuja, who just pushed her aside and ran towards the lift.

  Francis couldn’t do anything. He was worried that if any male security guard touched her, it would become a case of sexual assault and criminal intimidation, which could
work against the organization. ‘Stop her!’ Karan shouted as he saw her dashing away from them.

  ‘Go. Get her,’ Vishnu Shome hurriedly instructed his team, which was waiting for his orders.

  ‘She can’t be allowed to leave the premises. Jacqueline, please tell security at the main gate not to allow her to get out of the building. At any cost,’ Francis instructed and ran after Tanuja. ‘Restrain her. Close down the main gate,’ he yelled to his team as he blindly followed Karan who was going after Tanuja towards the lift lobby.

  As Karan entered the lift lobby to stop Tanuja from running out of the building, he saw her waiting anxiously. The lift was on sixth floor and was on its way down. Seeing Karan enter the lobby, Tanuja darted left, opened the door and headed into the fire exit. Karan and Francis followed suit. They were surprised when Tanuja, instead of running down, started running up towards the terrace. In no time, she flung open the door at the top of the stairs and ran onto the terrace. For a moment, she stopped and checked if she could bolt the terrace door from outside, but there was no latch on the metal door.

  She walked up to the edge to see if there was any way she could jump across the buildings and escape, at least for the time being. She would live to fight another day. There was some commotion at the entrance to the terrace. She turned. She could hear footsteps and voices heading towards her. There was no escape; they would get her soon. One last look at the terrace door and she had made up her mind.