The Bleeding Sun (2 page)

He spoke something after lifting the receiver while
Lucas stood there highly irritated. What followed was a knock on
the door and the entrance of his so called wife…a young lady
dressed in black uniform. She was exactly six feet tall with her
boots on. The surprising factor was that she looked more like a
European with her red hair, fair skin and blue eyes. No way could
she have been an Indian. As Lucas was busy pondering how the lady
got into ANNT, the Serpent interrupted.

‘
Lucas, I’m pleased to introduce
you to Ms. Annie Svensson, one of our elite female operatives. To
remove all doubts, here is a brief introduction. Annie is the
daughter of Dr. Arundhati Moitra, a top nuclear physicist and Dr.
Mattias Husenberg, a leading scientist known for his ground
breaking researches in the field of aerodynamics and trajectory.
The Indian government had constituted a team in the seventies to
work on the first nuclear program. These two had been a part of the
program. They later married and settled down in Canada. Annie is
their only child. Anita Moitra, which is her original name, had
joined the Canadian army and had learned a lot. When her father
died, her mother decided to move back to India. Anita left the
Canadian army and joined IIT Kanpur. There she did specialization
in microelectronic devices and circuits. After she left IIT, she
travelled to England for specialization in nanotechnology. In
England, during one of the ANNT missions, I personally identified
her to work for us. At ANNT she was rechristened as Agent Annie
Svensson. Since then she has been involved in many missions in
Russia, Greece and England. She is an expert in electronic devices
like timers and also in radio communication and radar. She will be
of great help to you during this mission. Just watch her back in
case of any trouble. In fact I believe, Annie will watch your back
in case you fall into trouble which you definitely seem to have an
affinity to. From now on Annie will be renamed as Mrs. Annie Lucas.
Your passport and tickets are kept at the hotel. Good luck team…
Don’t disappoint me.’

As they left the room, Annie gave Lucas a welcome
smile. Lucas avoided it and responded with a blank expression. He
liked to work alone. However, this time he had to protect not only
his own ass but also some girl who had popped into his mission from
nowhere like a misfired smart bomb.

Havana

The flight to Havana was far better than what Lucas
had experienced while returning from Morocco. The trip was an
awfully long one with change of flights in Amsterdam and Madrid
before finally reaching Havana. However Lucas was pleased to get
some sleep during the journey. Before boarding the Royal Dutch
Airlines flight in Delhi, Lucas received a shocking news. Major
Kapoor had turned out to be a traitor, he was an ISI agent. He
attempted to murder the Serpent, but the wily old fox outsmarted
him and killed him in the process. The Serpent had been handed the
responsibility of the IMA as well, making his task at the ANNT
headquarters a lot easier. He was in charge of anything and
everything within the IMA compound.

Lucas felt ill at ease. Major Kapoor was a brave
soldier and a true gentleman. He had saved Lucas’s life during an
operation in Russia. He had not seemed to be the kind of person who
could betray his motherland. But he could no longer have these
thoughts lingering in his mind as he had more important work to do.
Meanwhile Annie continued gossiping with a co passenger throughout
the journey. This girl was going to cause him a lot of trouble in
the near future. Lucas did not want to waste his time any more. So,
he concentrated on sleeping during the entire journey so as to
clear his mind and rest his brains.

They reached the José Martí International Airport in
Rancho Boyeros at the stroke of midnight. The airport was about
twenty five kilometers southwest of Vedado where their
accommodation had been arranged. The cheapest means of transport in
Havana apart from the public buses are the Ladas…the
non-air-conditioned taxis colored in yellow and black. They boarded
one of them and proceeded straight to their hotel at Vedado. Hotel
Nacional was one of the best in entire Havana. The rooms had been
arranged beforehand. Room number 702, a luxury suite was provided
to them.

The short guy who carried their bags to the room was
named Alfred. His father owned the car rental agency that supplied
the cabs to the hotel. He had been working in the hotel for the
past four years. Lucas had a brief discussion with him regarding
the neighborhood and anything else that could be of any concern
before giving him a hefty tip. From his past experiences he had
learnt that these types of people proved really useful at crunch
times. Meanwhile Annie threw away her boots and stepped into the
bed straight away. Lucas just couldn’t believe that she was an ANNT
operative at all. He went to the small freezer and brought out a
pint of beer. He needed to quench his thirst before freshening up
and beginning his work.

Lucas slipped a note beside Annie and left the room
at break of dawn. He wanted to get going as soon as possible
thereby giving him abundant time to comprehend what had happened to
Agent Alpha and why. While leaving the hotel he saw Alfred dozing
off at the reception. He went outside Hotel Nacional. As the first
rays of the sun fell on the lonely streets of Vedado, Lucas could
feel a fresh burst of energy and enthusiasm within himself. He
crossed the street and waited for a mode of transport. The public
transport crisis of Havana had been considerably reduced by the
introduction of Metro Buses which usually run to all the major
parts of the city. These huge 300-plus passenger buses are hauled
by trucks; all have the prefix M before their number and are
color-coded. Metro Buses leave from Parque de la Fraternidad on the
southern side of the Capitolio in Centro Havana.

Lucas took a bus from Vedado to the famous Centro de
Prensa Internacional in Centro Havana. The Tropicana Casino being
the tallest building in Centro Havana could be seen clearly from
where Lucas was standing. It belonged to the Russian oil tycoon
Sergei Romanovich and was built after receiving approval from
Castro’s regime. Romanovich was a close friend of the Russian
president thereby making the negotiations easier. The Tropicana
Casino was one of the largest in the world. It had an estimated
profit of 500 million dollars with the figure expected to increase
in near future. Romanovich had left no stones unturned to make it
the best in the world.

On entering the Tropicana he was startled to see the
large number of people that had already gathered inside. Lucas went
straight to the slot machine and started playing. He wanted to know
about the place in utmost detail ensuring minimum exposure. The
casino was evenly distributed in two floors. The big games and the
grand bar cum lounge were on the first floor while the ground floor
contained mainly the slot machines and other small games. The first
floor also had a part reserved for live performances of famous
artists which took place every Friday evening. However it seemed
quite clear that the big guns went to the first floor for their
deals. Alpha K must have seen Rosmus and Suleiman there. He looked
all round him while playing the last game on the slot machine. He
tried to memorize every position which had a security camera and
also where the guards were exactly placed. As the Serpent had
mentioned, Lucas was well known for his photographic memory. He
left the slot machine after losing a few games and slowly strolled
toward the first floor. He had to make sure that the plan of the
casino was ready in his mind with utmost detail in order to carry
any operation there.

He moved to the airlift and went up to the first
floor with few other guests. The first floor was truly majestic…it
had blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat and several other major
games. There was also a lounge on the other side of the floor.
Lucas could see two sheiks discussing something with a group of men
in the lounge. He ordered a scotch from the bartender and sat in a
recliner just behind the table where the sheiks were sitting. He
could clearly understand what they were speaking. Lucas was trained
in six different languages namely Russian, Arabic, Spanish,
Portuguese, Mandarin and Pashtu apart from nearly all the Indian
colloquial languages. The sheiks were speaking in Arabic while one
of the men was translating the same into Spanish. The guys seemed
to belong to some Latin American country…maybe even Mexico. They
were discussing about a big consignment that was to be transported
somewhere. Lucas wanted to hear the details, however he could not
risk getting caught as this time the stakes were really high. He
needed to get hold of what Rosmus and Suleiman were planning and
also what Alpha K had discovered.

Lucas went up to the bar and ordered another drink.
The bartender was a young man in early twenties named Alberto
Lopez.

‘
Good Morning Sir. You seem to be
in a mood for drinking quite a lot today and that too so early in
the day.’

‘
Yes, I want to quench my thirst
before trying my hands on that fabulous game of blackjack going on
there.’

Lucas opted for some more scotch as he continued
talking to Lopez.

‘
So man, how long have you been
working at this place?’

‘
Well about four months now.
Earlier I used to work as a tender in the Cabaret Nacional bar in
Centro Havana. When this casino began its operation last year, the
owner Mr. Romanovich demanded for the best staff available in the
city to be hired. After all he had promised jobs for localites
before the government gave him the permission to build a casino
here. That’s why I am here. Mr. Romanovich pays a visit time and
often whenever he comes for some business trip in Cuba. He seems to
appreciate my work a lot and had presented me his watch the last
time he came here.’ Lopez pointed to a Rolex kept safely in a glass
box at the end of the counter with the engraving- ‘The best
bartender in the world’.

Lucas congratulated him on the seemingly amazing
feat and continued the conversation. ‘So Lopez…this place is just
wonderful. I would just love to come here no matter where I would
be in the world. There must be big guests coming from all around
all over the time. How do you guys manage such tremendous pressure
all the time?’

‘
Well Sir, the job is tough but we
work in shifts. I have a partner named Marcelo from Mexico. He
takes over the bar at night when I work in the morning like today.
However whenever important guests are expected, my duty is shifted
to night. Romanovich wants nothing but the best for all his
acclaimed guests. Two days ago we had Madam Secille, the renowned
singer from Puerto Rico. And a day before that we had Mario, the
famous soccer player and Rita Haynes, the latest beauty from
Hollywood. I was personally chosen to serve them all.

Apart from these we have special tasks for taking
care of political personalities whenever they arrive.’

‘
Today we have Sheikh Bakhtiyar
from Kuwait Oil Corporation who is a personal friend of Mr.
Romanovich sitting there with his friends from Mexico. Last
Saturday we had a large number of guests including Mr. Romanovich’s
compatriot and new partner Yuri Rosmus. I was on special duty that
day along with Marcelo. Mr. Romanovich wanted to make sure that
everything was perfect. And perfect it was… a really gala
celebration with wine, girls and money flowing all around. They
provided all of us a really hefty tip. It was really a great
night…a night to remember. We will be having a similar one tomorrow
night with Rosmus and his friend coming here once again. Mr.
Romanovich will be present here personally to attend them. A lot of
government officials will be coming too, as always. Sir, I believe
you should also try to visit the casino tomorrow if you really want
to experience the extravaganza Tropicana Casino is.’

Lucas was quite pleased with all the information he
had gathered in the short span of time. He thanked Lopez for the
drink and gave him a hefty tip. He also promised to come back the
next night to witness the real essence of Tropicana Casino. Before
moving back to the ground floor, Lucas made sure he had a list of
where the security cameras were and the position of the guards in
the casino. He also played a round of roulette and won the game.
After moving around for about an hour, Lucas left the Casino. He
took a cab and decided to visit the nearby beach. He needed to get
hold of any information that Alpha may have acquired.

When Annie finally woke up and came out to the
windows, the streets of Vedado were filled up with buses, Ladas and
an awful lot of busy looking people. She returned to the bed to get
her gown. On moving the pillow she found the piece of note that
Lucas had left her. She went through the list of points mentioned
and then crushed the paper after sending a short curse for Lucas.
Annie took up her towel and moved to the shower. In between she
dropped the crumbled piece of paper in the toilet and flushed it to
make sure no one would ever know what it was. Operatives just could
not leave any trace.

Annie moved through the reception in her elegant
blue dress. As she tossed the security card of their suite to the
manager, she gave Alfred a friendly smile. The guy came up
immediately knowing what to expect…another high profile rich
customer meant another car for hire from his father’s company. He
quickly arranged for the best he could get hold of…their prized
possession for such customers… an old Mercedes with a chauffeur.
Annie handed a few currency notes to Alfred which he was more than
delighted to accept. According to Lucas’s orders she had to
complete three tasks. Firstly she needed to visit a lady named
Maria Rosario Morales. She would be having information about their
consignment of arms and anything else they may need during the
mission. Next she would visit Julio Antonio Villena in the Indian
Embassy. With his help she would send a message regarding their
current status to the Serpent. And lastly she would visit the
Tropicana casino to get an idea of things going on there.