The Dust Will Never Settle

by Deva, Mukul

  Ravinder had winced. A city the size and shape of Delhi could never be locked down completely. And the fact that the danger may already have penetrated the fort was a possibility he could no longer ignore.

  Coupled with this were the unprecedented rains that had not only flooded most roads, slowing traffic to an abysmal crawl, they had also brought about an outbreak of dengue and conjunctivitis, which had laid low many of his cops. Everything that could, had started going wrong.

  By the time the surveillance team was deployed outside the Gill house, Ruby was back home. Despite the run of bad luck, her day had been productive. She had not only finalized her attack plan, but also briefed Ontong and Boucher, and mated them up with their vans and rocket launchers.

  Both had baulked when she told them what she expected them to do. But their objections faded when she pointed out that with Mark and Gerber out of the running, she would double their payout. Greed gobbled up all their doubts.

  With that settled, Ruby returned home, satisfied that things were back on track. Her new, abbreviated plan was as good as it could get in the altered circumstances.

  When Ravinder reached home, Ruby was sitting with Jasmine on the lawn. The two were chatting merrily. Jasmine, in the thick of her final semester exams, appeared to be sharing her excitement and stress with her sister. Ravinder could hear Jasmine narrating an incident about the moot court she was in at college. Ruby burst into laughter.

  Everything looked so normal. Looking at her, Ravinder found it hard to believe that she could be the one targeting the Summit.

  ‘What are my lovely girls up to?’ He concealed his troubled thoughts with a warm smile as he walked up to them.

  They both got up and hugged him. If there was anything on Ruby’s mind, she hid it well.

  Am I being paranoid? Just because Rehana and her brother Yusuf were crusaders for the Palestinian cause, is it fair to tar her with the same brush? Could I be overlooking some other, more real threat?

  ‘I want to take Ruby shopping,’ Jasmine’s voice intruded. ‘She wants to pick up some Indian clothes before she leaves.’

  ‘Leaves?’ Ravinder was surprised. ‘Where are you going, Ruby?’

  ‘Home.’ Ruby’s reply was tentative, as though she was not really sure what that word meant any more. ‘I can’t stay here forever.’ She laughed, sounding a little embarrassed.

  ‘Oh!’ Ravinder was stunned. Already worried about her possible involvement in the threat to the Summit, this latest news added to his emotional turmoil.

  ‘But before shopping we are planning to catch a movie,’ Jasmine’s voice tugged at Ravinder. ‘Would you please have your office book the movie tickets?’

  ‘Which movie?’ Ravinder was only half-listening. He could feel Ruby’s gaze on him. She looked… confused? Expectant? He wasn’t sure. He sensed that she was waiting for him to say something to her. But what?

  ‘Would you please?’ Jasmine asked again.

  ‘Sure.’ Ravinder nodded, glad to be able to focus on something practical. This emotional rollercoaster was getting too much for him to handle. He was exhausted.

  ‘Thanks, daddy! You’re a sweetheart! We were thinking of watching Sex and the City – the new one. If you could book it at the Select City mall, we can shop there after the movie.’

  ‘I will take care of it, princess. You can use my car too.’

  ‘But we’ll be out late. I don’t think we’ll be back before nine or ten.’

  ‘No problem. I’ll tell my office to send another car if I need it, but I don’t think I’ll be stepping out now. From tomorrow I’ll be staying at the hotel for the next few days.’

  ‘You won’t be coming home at all?’ Jasmine asked. ‘No. Not until this event is over. I need to see that things go smoothly.’

  ‘I am also going to be tied up at college for the next three days, moot court in the mornings and then we’re all planning to go for the various cultural events that are being held.’

  ‘And you, Ruby? What are your plans?’

  ‘Nothing special.’ She looked strangely subdued. ‘Just catch up on some more sightseeing… maybe another movie.’

  ‘Why don’t you go with Jasmine for the cultural events? A lot of Bollywood stars are here for the Games.’

  ‘Maybe I will. Let’s see.’

  ‘That’ll be fun.’ Jasmine smiled. ‘Come, Ruby, let’s get ready.’ She took Ruby’s arm and pulled her away.

  ‘Okay, girls. Have fun.’

  He gave them a hug each and watched them walk away. Once they were out of earshot, he called his office and asked his assistant to book two tickets for the girls and two more for the surveillance team a couple of rows behind. Then he briefed the surveillance team.

  Ravinder climbed the stairs to his room, feeling confused, as though he had missed something back there, but happy that Ruby would be under close watch till late at night. Abruptly an insidious thought angled in. Would Jasmine be okay? If Ruby had indeed turned rogue she could be dangerous…

  Something in his heart refused to believe that Ruby would harm Jasmine. But he could not push away a niggling doubt.

  Ruby felt hurt and puzzled. In light of Ravinder’s guarded behaviour since that eventful lunch with Chance, she had expected…

  Expected what? Is it only my guilty conscience at work?

  Willing herself to focus on Jasmine, Ruby got engrossed in their conversation again, but deep inside she was far away, hurting and no longer sure if she was on the right path.

  He could have asked me to stay… But he didn’t. If he had offered just once… She felt like crying. Am I being fair?

  As they drove off, Ruby picked up on the surveillance car almost instantly.

  So he was having her followed. She started to feel betrayed again. On second thoughts, perhaps this was normal procedure for the ATTF chief ’s family. Maybe it was just a security team.

  These conflicting thoughts thrummed in her ears as she tuned out Jasmine’s chatter and leaned deeper into her mind.

  He didn’t even ask me to stay. The painful thought nagged her again.

  Minutes later her resolve was firm again. The hate was back. The avenger knew she could not falter.

  Her eyes went to her wristwatch. Barely twenty hours left now. Soon the delegates would be in place.

  The time to kill was rushing towards her.

  Tuning into what Jasmine was saying, Ruby threw herself back into the game she was playing – she was being forced to play.

  He did not even want to me stay… what kind of father is he? Mom was right all along.

  When Ravinder entered the bedroom he could tell that Simran was worried. Several times in the past few days she had tried to talk to him, but he’d pulled away, not knowing how much to share with her. Now he knew his silence was not helping her, or the situation.

  He closed the door and sat beside her. Slowly he started sharing his story with her… and his fears.

  When he finished, the house was silent. Neither realized that the sun had set and darkness had crept in.

  ‘I know how you must be feeling.’ The affection in Simran’s voice reached out to him through the darkness. He realized that there were depths to her which he had not yet fathomed, despite their years together.

  Have I really given my everything to this marriage? Or have I let Rehana’s memories come between us? He was consumed by guilt.

  ‘This must be so difficult for you.’ Simran reached out and cupped his face in her hands. Her hands came away wet. ‘Don’t worry. I know you well, Ravinder. I know you will always do the right thing. Just trust your instincts.’

  Ravinder felt an ache in his heart. He realized how deeply he cared for her, despite the bickering and nagging. He reached out and held her close. They kissed, a deep, long kiss as though they had been apart for a long time. Slowly, but with a tingling sense of urgency, they rediscovered each other.

  They lay together in an embrace for a long time – content, a shield of love su
rrounding them.

  But suddenly reality dawned on them.

  ‘Do you think it is safe for Jasmine to have gone out with her?’

  Ravinder shivered as Simran voiced the same fear he felt. He did not know. Worse, he did not know how to tell Simran that.

  They heard the front door open and the sounds of young girls in animated conversation floated up. The clattering of feet followed as Ruby and Jasmine came up the stairs.

  ‘The next time they go out I will also go with them,’ Simran said as they heard the girls go into Ruby’s room.

  ‘I was thinking of asking Jasmine to take Ruby to the opening ceremony of the Games,’ Ravinder mused out loud. He looked at Simran, as if for her approval. ‘There is nothing anyone can do to anyone there. It will be safe.’

  ‘But I will still go with them.’

  Silence returned. A short while ago it had been warm and full of love. Now it was cold and forbidding.

  By the time Jasmine decided to call it a night, Ruby was exhausted. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t sleep. After a while she parked herself in the bay window overlooking the front lawn.

  A full moon rode high, playing hide-and-seek between the fluffs of clouds. Ruby saw it all with unseeing eyes.

  Her mind was far away, watching a happy little girl playing hide-and-seek with her parents. She could see Rehana and Ravinder walking through the house looking for her.

  ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are…’ their singsong chants rang out, making her giggle from the bedroom cupboard.

  Then Ravinder was no longer there. Only Rehana, and she did not seem happy. And the little girl was not happy either. They were both quiet and subdued.

  Soon Rehana too vanished. The little girl was alone, only not so little now. She was angry. And she felt betrayed.

  Across the corridor, Ravinder tossed and turned, dead tired but unable to sleep. It was that nagging feeling of having missed something. Perhaps the feeling that he should have gone with the evidence and taken Ruby into custody. Perhaps that he could not reconcile with the fact that his daughter might be the enemy. Perhaps it was that look in Ruby’s eyes when Jasmine had mentioned she was leaving.

  He felt an increasing foreboding that something awful was straining to be unleashed.

  His uneasiness reached out to Simran. Lying awake beside him, she too was aware of the unhappy young woman who had disrupted their lives.

  They lay in silence, almost touching, waiting for the endless night to recede.

  Seven miles away as the crow flies, in his room at the Ashoka hotel, Chance also lay awake in bed. Finally, he too gave up, took out a Coke from the minibar and sat near the window, watching the moon outside. The beauty of the calm October night slipped past him, unnoticed.

  Like an erratically choreographed movie, bits of the past flowed through him. Ruby loomed large in many of them. Ruby laughing, pensive, morose. He wondered again if she was involved.

  And always, hanging like a dark cloud over his thoughts, was the morrow slowly approaching. He hoped the days ahead would pass peacefully and it would all end well.

  A few hundred miles to the north, standing on the porch of a LeT safehouse near the Pakistani town of Muridke, Pasha watched the same bright moon. He patrolled the porch restlessly, wondering how his assassin was faring. The shocking assault that had taken out Anwar, and the total absence of communication from Ruby sickened him. The agent provocateur knew that under pressure of the end game, even the best-trained agent could falter. But he also knew that the battle had already slipped out of his hands. As it always did once a mission was launched.

  Nothing to do now, but wait.

  A neatly dressed man got out of the car and walked up to the main gate of the Gill house. He had a piece of paper in his hand and was referring to it as he approached the gate. Barring the light from an occasional street lamp, the street was dark.

  ‘Excuse me,’ he said to the guard standing outside, holding up the paper. ‘Can you please tell me where Mr Mahajan stays?’

  The sentry shouldered his rifle and held out his hand. ‘Show me the house number.’

  The man drew closer.

  Two other guards heard the exchange and came closer. Now all four men were just a few metres apart.

  The sentry was taking the paper from him and failed to see the man’s right hand creep up to his waist. There was a soft click, which registered with none of the guards. The bomb wrapped around the man’s waist went off with a thunderous roar. Nothing within a seven-metre radius remained standing.

  All three guards and a part of the metal gate blew up. The bomber himself disintegrated. Only one of the guards had been standing farther away and he survived, but even he was knocked unconscious.

  The roar of the explosion had not yet abated when the door of the car in which the man had arrived flew open and another man leapt out, a Chinese T-56 assault rifle in hand.

  Rushing past the body of Aslam, his former cellmate, who had taken out the guards at the cost of his life, Javed Khan headed straight for the front door, his rifle on the ready. The mission given to him by the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief was clear. He had to kill the ATTF chief, or die trying.

  Levelling his rifle at the door, he fired a long burst, shattering the lock. He kicked open the remnants of the door and entered the house. He saw no lights on the ground floor. The curtains were drawn and the house was swathed in darkness. Cursing, Javed began to feel his way forward, trying to find a light switch.

  To Ravinder the sound was so loud, so close, that he knew the house was under attack. The popping crack of an assault rifle confirmed it. Not pausing to think, he leapt out of bed, grabbed the Browning from the bedside table and, clicking off the safety, headed out.

  ‘Go to Jasmine’s room and lock yourselves in,’ he yelled at Simran as he ran. ‘And call the control room.’ In the heat of the moment he forgot about Ruby.

  Simran ran for Jasmine’s room.

  Jasmine too had been jolted awake, but she was befuddled. Then she saw her mother rush in, wild-eyed.

  ‘We’re being attacked!’ Simran screeched. She reached out and grabbed Jasmine, and began to blubber hysterically.

  Simran was still wailing when she reached for the phone and dialled 100, the police control room, managing to get the message across. The two women clutched each other, terrified. In her panic, Simran had forgotten to lock the bedroom door.

  Sitting by the guest bedroom’s bay window, Ruby saw the blinding flash of the bomb. She froze. The rifle burst galvanized her into action. Instantly, her training took over. She ran for the weapon that should have been by her bedside. But her hand came away empty. Then she realized where she was. The pistol in Jasmine’s room flashed in her memory. A dozen quick steps and she burst into Jasmine’s room.

  Jasmine and Simran screamed when the door flew open.

  Ruby took in their condition at a glance. Without breaking her stride, she raced to the jewellery box, snatched out the pistol, her hands instinctively checking if the magazine was loaded. It was. She chambered a round.

  A loud metallic clang from the living room spurred her on. She swivelled around and ran out.

  Cursing the darkness, Javed clawed the walls to find a light switch. He had taken about ten steps when he collided with a large brass lamp. It toppled and hit the ground with a loud clang. Hell! By now someone would have called the cops and they’d be on the way. He was still deciding what to do when…

  Ravinder was at the head of the stairs when the brass lamp hit the floor. The gun steady in his right hand, he smacked the light switch with his left. Fingers of light flashed into the living room. Immediately he saw the intruder. The rifle in the man’s hand began to rise. Ravinder’s weapon was already levelled. He fired. And missed.

  Thirty feet away, the assault rifle roared to life. It was set on automatic. Like pinpricks of light, a volley of bullets flew at him.

  Ravinder threw himself down, forgetting that he was standing at th
e head of the stairs. His head hit the wood, hard. Though the stairs were carpeted, it was enough to knock him unconscious.

  Javed saw Ravinder fall. He heard the body hit the stairs and start to slide down. Javed assumed he had hit him. Now he needed to confirm if it was really the ATTF chief or just one of his minions. Javed raced up the stairs.

  Racing forward, Ruby was chambering a round when a pistol shot rang out, followed closely by the roar of an assault rifle. Then she heard the thud of a body hitting the floor. She erupted out of the corridor that led to the staircase landing.

  The sight before her eyes made her freeze.

  Halfway down the stairs Ravinder lay in a heap. On his way up was a man with an assault rifle and a crazed look.

  Something inside Ruby broke. She fired. Again. And then again.

  The first two bullets, delivered to his chest at close range, brought Javed to a dead halt. The third blew him backwards. He was almost dead when he hit the foot of the staircase.

  But Ruby did not stop. The killing heat was upon her, compounding her rage at the unknown man who had orphaned her. A few feet from him, the intruder still had some life in him. Kneeling next to him she prodded his face with the pistol. Javed’s eyes fluttered open.

  Ruby leaned closer, right into his ear and whispered, ‘You-will-not-kill-my-dad. No-one-will-ever-kill-my-dad.’ Each word hissed out, separately, unforgivingly. Placing the pistol against his forehead, she pulled the trigger. And kept firing till the weapon was empty.

  In the distance she heard the wailing of police sirens. She felt empty. Completely hollow. Drained.

  Then she heard a moan behind her as Ravinder regained consciousness.

  Shocked, she turned and saw Ravinder sitting up, holding his head where it had struck the stairs. He looked dazed but unhurt. Something inside her began to sing again. Something cried. Something snapped.

  Dropping the pistol, she ran to Ravinder.