by Deva, Mukul
‘Very good planning, Govind. Your boys have done an excellent job.’
‘I am not done yet, sir.’
Thakur glanced at his watch. ‘I need to get back to my office now.’
Ruby was dismayed. The opportunity to visit the floor where the delegates would be staying was slipping away. She hoped Mohite would not be dissuaded.
‘Certainly, sir, I am sure you have much to do. So I shall just tell you about the rest from here only.’ He marshalled his thoughts. ‘The eighth floor, which is also the hotel’s top floor, has been sealed off. Everything coming into it, including food and drink – even water – is coming from safe, tested sources.’ Thakur nodded approvingly. ‘It’s only for the delegates and, of course, the meetings. We have four conference rooms – one in every corner of the floor.’
‘Why four? Will they need more than one?’
‘Well, the main one is on that side,’ Mohite pointed to the right, ‘and three smaller ones in the other three corners, just in case the delegates need to confer in private.’
‘Good thinking, Govind.’ Thakur turned to Ravinder and beamed. ‘You have a good man here, Gill.’
‘Most definitely, sir.’ Ravinder tried to sound enthusiastic but did not quite succeed.
‘Then, of course,’ Mohite resumed, eager for the limelight, ‘the roof is secured by snipers.’
‘Hmm.’ Thakur sounded bored now. ‘I better get going.’ He headed for the elevators.
Mohite raced ahead and pressed the elevator button. While they waited, he persisted with his briefing. ‘From day after tomorrow, no one will be able to use these elevators to come up to the two secure floors unless they have the special access cards. Without them the elevators will not go beyond the sixth floor.’
The elevator pinged to a stop at their floor. They trooped in. With the minister’s security officers, Mohite, Ravinder and Ruby, it was a tight squeeze. An awkward silence fell as Mohite realized that he had run out of things to say. Suddenly he burst out, ‘I forgot to mention that the Air Force is going to enforce a strict no-fly zone around the hotel once the delegates arrive. As a matter of fact, the whole city is a no-fly zone because of the Games. So no chance of an aerial attack.’
‘Excellent, excellent. I can see that you guys have looked out for everything.’ Thakur now kept glancing at his watch.
‘Of course we have, sir.’ Mohite became animated again as he remembered something else he had forgotten. ‘Just as a precaution—not that we are expecting any trouble—but in case of an emergency we have also secured the top two floors of Samrat hotel and duplicated the same arrangements there.’
‘Samrat? The hotel next door?’
‘That’s the one, sir. It is a logical choice since we have an interconnecting, easy to secure corridor between the two hotels… from the back.’
The doors opened as the elevator reached the ground floor.
‘All this seems very good. I am sure everything will go off well,’ Thakur announced as they walked through the lobby. One of his PSOs ran forward to summon the car. ‘In any case, I shall be here every day.’
‘Every day, sir?’ Ravinder kept his tone neutral, but the thought of Thakur poking around, adding to their security hassles, was scary. Mohite pandering to him all the time would be a nightmare.
‘Yes, of course. I must give the delegates confidence and let them know we are taking our responsibilities very seriously.’
‘Of course, sir.’ Mohite pre-empted Ravinder. yet again. ‘That will be perfect. I will receive you at the gate every morning.’
‘I like his enthusiasm,’ Thakur declared to Ravinder. ‘I will be here half an hour early on the first day so that I can spend some time with the delegates, but from the second day onwards I will come just a few minutes before the Summit starts.’ With that he turned to Ruby again. ‘Sorry for keeping your father so busy, but this is an important event we are hosting.’ Thakur gave her a sickly smile as he shook Ruby’s hand. ‘I hope to see more of you, my dear.’
‘I am sure you will, sir.’ Ruby watched him get into his car and drive away. An idea had begun to germinate in her head.
‘I am sorry you had to be put through all that,’ Ravinder said to her as Thakur drove off. ‘You must have been bored stiff.’
Ruby noted the watchful look in his eyes. ‘Not at all. Fascinating stuff.’
‘Even for you? Don’t you see enough of this in your agency?’
So that was what Chance had told him. Ruby kept her face expressionless. She wondered what else he had mentioned.
‘Each agency is different. I had no idea you guys were doing such a massive event.’
‘Oh, well,’ Ravinder broke off as Mohite came back to them. Before he could say anything, both their mobile phones began to ring. Ruby watched their faces turn serious as they spoke.
‘Excuse us for a minute, Ruby.’ Ravinder pulled Mohite aside.
Ruby watched them converse intensely. Ravinder seemed angry. Mohite looked defiant. She had a feeling that the calls had something to do with the Summit.
‘How the hell did they get past our men?’ Ravinder was yelling at Mohite. ‘You had assured me that you were looking into this personally.’
‘I don’t know, sir. I had briefed them thoroughly. They must have done something stupid.’
Ravinder clenched his teeth. This was not the time for this conversation.
‘Let’s go.’ He headed back towards Ruby. ‘Ruby, go back home in my car. Something urgent has come up.’
An hour-long hectic drive later, they reached Saket and walked into the carnage that had once been Rizwan Khan’s house.
It did not take Ravinder long to realize that the killer must have known about the surveillance. The first surveillance car, a Tata Safari parked nearby, had been bombed into oblivion and the occupants of the second had been gunned down as they ran out to respond.
‘It had been detonated remotely,’ the man from the bomb disposal squad told Ravinder. ‘Most probably in front of the subject’s house. That allowed him to shoot down the men in the second car when they ran onto the road.’ Both men lay sprawled in front of the gate. A professional for sure, Ravinder noted. Both had been classically shot, mob-execution style, once in the head and once in the heart. ‘Then he ran into the subject’s house and took him out.’
The front door had been shot open. Men from the crime team were scouring the house for evidence. One was walking around with a plastic evidence bag, collecting spent cases. ‘9mm.’ He held up the bag for Ravinder.
‘Two weapons, both most probably Berettas,’ the leader explained as he joined Ravinder. ‘He got Rizwan and both his sons.’
The three bodies lay in the living room. The first was a sixteen-year-old boy. His body lay right at the door – he must have come running in when the firing started. Rizwan and his second son lay further inside the room. All three of them had been despatched in the same professional manner and chances of survival were nil.
Ravinder felt sick. It had been a while since he’d been at a crime scene, especially one as gory as this. The sickening stench of blood was still billowing through the house. Controlling the urge to hold a handkerchief to his nose, he asked, ‘Where is the wife?’
‘Luckily she and her daughter had gone to her parent’s place in Faridabad. They should be here soon.’
‘Any witnesses?’
‘Three – two from the house in front and one from the house on the right. They all saw a man in his thirties run out. All three said he was clean-shaven, wearing dark trousers and a dark shirt. A gun in each hand. Beyond that, nothing useful.’ After a pause he added, ‘But we are still questioning them. I’ve already called the artist to sit with them and run out an Identikit of the killer.’
‘Right. Shoot me a copy ASAP.’ Ravinder dismissed him and turned to Mohite. ‘I want a detailed report first thing tomorrow. Make no mistake, someone will be held accountable. This is absolutely…’ His anger overtook him. ‘We may hav
e lost all chance of laying our hands on that woman.’
‘I have already had the borders sealed and roadblocks set up all over south Delhi,’ Mohite said.
Fat lot of good that would do. By now the killer would be miles away. But Ravinder did not bother to speak. He was fuming as he walked away. Perhaps they’d made a mistake by not arresting Rizwan as soon as they learnt from Peled that he was a Lashkar financier. But then they would have lost any chance of arresting the British mercenary who was expected to collect cash from him. The Mossad Intel on that had also been clear.
His anger continued to stew as he got into Mohite’s car and told the driver to take him home. It was only miles later that his anger subsided enough for him to think of the more worrying issue.
How did the killer know about the surveillance on Rizwan? They had just got the lead and mounted the surveillance. Not more than a handful knew about it. There must be a leak… But who?
He was still brooding when he reached home and lay down. But he was so exhausted that sleep came instantly.
Two rooms away, Ruby also lay down to sleep. She ran through the action checklist in her head again – the third time in the last hour.
The launchers and rockets had been collected, and were now safely stowed in the two hired vans, one launcher and two rockets per vehicle. All three heavy hitters whom Mark had engaged had reached Delhi. Tomorrow, as soon as they collected the Glocks, Mark and Ruby would brief them and then give the men time for reconnaissance. Their money was already with Mark. More importantly, after today’s visit to the Ashoka and Mohite’s briefing, she now knew how to penetrate the secure zone. She even had an access card to enter the secure zone. Now only the Glocks remained.
Tomorrow was going to be crucial – they had to collect the Glocks from Nanda. It was critical that they got this right – the final piece of the puzzle.
But her confrontation with Simran that morning and the afternoon with Ravinder and Chance had left their mark on her. The more she interacted with Ravinder, the more she began to doubt Rehana and everything she had been told in her life so far. Ruby could tell that Ravinder was a straight shooter without a dishonest bone in his body. His relationship with his family and the fact that they knew all about his past spoke volumes about him.
Pangs of uncertainty filtered through her as she tried to sleep. She could no longer shy away from the fact that Rehana had lied to her.
But what else did mom lie to me about? Am I really doing the right thing? Is this my destiny?
She felt a headache building up. If she allowed it to escalate, it would develop into a crippling pain between her eyes. Hauling herself out of bed, she sat on the carpet, turned on her MacBook and began to play Pacman on mute. Playing this mindless game, where only her eyes and fingers moved, usually proved cathartic. But tonight Pacman did not come to her rescue. With an exasperated sigh she ended the game and began to root through her files.
As though working on their own, her fingers flicked through the finder till they settled on the video Pasha had sent her from Dubai.
A moment later the slightly grainy picture, obviously shot on a mobile phone camera, was displayed on the screen. Yusuf ’s body lay on the hotel bed. There were large gashes on his cheeks… his throat gaped open… Unable to control herself, Ruby vomited on the carpet as the video spooled on. She had seen it earlier – many times. And each time her reaction had been the same.
When she was sure she could vomit no more, she started cleaning up, first herself and then the carpet.
She had reached the end of her tether. She wished she had not thrown away the meds the shrink had given her. I wish I could put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on my mind.
Collapsing on the bed, she passed out. The nightmare assaulted her sleep again.
Yusuf Sharbati, her uncle, had been stripped naked. He was lying flat on the bed. The large slit in his throat was overshadowed by the slashes on his face. Both his hands had been chopped off and were displayed on his chest. The bloody stumps of his outstretched hands gave him a strange, grotesque look. His eyes were still open – wide open. They were staring straight at Ruby. Beseeching her.
Take revenge. You must take revenge, they said to her. Do not let my death go unpunished.
Once again, her piteous cries went unheard.
She would have been even more horrified if she had known how meticulously Pasha had stage-managed this video for her. The veteran agent provocateur had known it would keep her on track, it would reinforce her anger, should she begin to falter.
And Ruby had begun to falter. But the gory video propelled her forward.
He pulled over to the side of the road. He was miles away now and the deed had been done. Retrieving both pistols from the car, he wiped them clean and dropped them over the side. The murky waters of the sewage drain below swallowed them up. They were good weapons and he was not happy to see them go, but he knew it was the best thing to do. And he knew Pasha would be pleased. Thinking about the fat bonus that Pasha would dish out, the man with many names and no permanent home walked back to his car and drove into the night.
Day Seven
Ravinder knew something was wrong when Mohite rushed into his office the next day.
‘What happened?’ Ravinder asked.
‘SIGINT just intercepted a phone call from Muzaffarabad. They identified the caller as one of the Jaish-e-Mohammed commanders.’
‘And?’ Ravinder prodded. ‘Who was he calling?’
‘They’re not sure, but it was probably Javed Khan.’
‘What was the call about?’
‘SIGINT couldn’t clarify that.’ Mohite looked uneasy. ‘They were using some kind of one-time use and discard code. The thing is that they triangulated the mobile on which Javed was talking… It’s somewhere in south Delhi, in the Lado Sarai area. The call was very short, so they couldn’t get an exact fix.’
‘Hmm…’ Ravinder understood the implications. Lado Sarai was literally a jungle of alleys and unsurveyed houses. Trying to find a couple of men in it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack – even if Javed was still there. The manpower required was not available but it had to be done. ‘Have some more posters of Javed and Aslam plastered at prominent places all over Lado Sarai. And tell the SHO to carry out a cordon and search. Even if they don’t find them, at least they will spook them and keep them on the run.’
‘Right, sir.’ Mohite turned to the door. ‘And Govind,’ Ravinder called after him. ‘Tell…’
There was a loud bang. Both men spun around.
The window had flown open. The latch had come loose. The two men exchanged sheepish glances. Mohite’s gun was in his hand and Ravinder’s hand was on the butt of his weapon.
Damn! Ravinder realized they were both on edge. Not good! The relentless stress was taking a toll on them. Not good at all!
Taking a deep breath, Ravinder resumed, ‘Tell the duty officer to again take a round and brief the guards at the office and at all three of our residences.’
Mohite nodded unhappily and left. Both knew that till such time as Javed and Aslam were captured, the threat to their lives was acute. Both also knew that their chances of catching the terrorists were slim unless they got lucky… or one of those bastards slipped up.
Ravinder called Gyan to get the window fixed and began to run through the arrangements for Nanda’s meeting with the terrorist for the weapons. They needed to get that right. With Rizwan Khan knocked out of the picture, it was now their only hope of catching the buggers and stopping the terrorist strike.
Hopefully it would be the same lot…
The phone rang again. It was Ashish. Before Ravinder could brief him about the latest SIGINT intercept, Ashish told him that Thakur was on his way to the Games Village and wanted to meet both of them there.
Fuck! This was the last thing he needed now. He checked his watch – there was still time for the weapons pick-up. He called Mohite as he walked to the car and asked him to take care of the dep
loyment for Nanda’s meeting.
‘I will be there as soon as I can,’ he assured Mohite. ‘Just make sure our teams are deployed carefully, and in time. And ensure that the weapons being carried by Nanda have been dummied. I don’t want live weapons in the hands of a terrorist.’
‘What’s the problem with that, sir? We will take the bastard in as soon as he lays a hand on the weapons.’
‘Even so, just make sure you brief Nanda.’
‘Don’t worry about it, sir,’ Mohite perked up, happy at the opportunity to redeem himself after the fiasco at Rizwan Khan’s.
But knowing Mohite, Ravinder couldn’t help worrying.
Ruby saw Mark cross the road and walk up to the main gate of the Garden of Five Senses. He had seen her and given a discreet nod before heading inside. Ruby continued ahead to the pre-decided spot, at the end of the garden from where she could keep an eye on things without exposing herself.
Located at the Said-ul-Azab village in Mehrauli, the Garden of Five Senses is spread over twenty acres and is one of Delhi’s famous tourist attractions. With meandering pathways and beautiful lotus ponds, it is a popular spot and hundreds of people flock to it daily, for exercising, destressing or just plain old-fashioned romancing.
For the next half hour, the deadly duo scoured the ground: one, visually and the other, physically. Between them they raked through every inch, quadrant-by-quadrant, checking for anything out of the ordinary. They spotted nothing.
For once Mohite had used his brains. All three of his teams were couples pretending to use the park for what most couples did: some intimate conversation and a lot of necking. But all three teams had their eyes and ears tuned in – eyes on the garden and ears to the tiny earpieces through which Mohite was controlling them.
None picked up on Ruby, parked at the periphery, but two of them spotted Mark as he entered the park. The third pair was alerted by Mohite. Six pairs of hands instinctively inched closer to their weapons.
Sitting in the car park near the garden’s smaller side entrance, Mohite nodded as he watched their target hove into the ambush site. He was sure this massive Caucasian was the man they sought.
