Weapon of Vengeance (27 page)

They were still crying when a man entered. He whispered something in Yusuf's ear and left.

“It is time.” Yusuf touched Ruby lightly on the shoulder. “We … you need to go. They are waiting.”

“You will not come?”

“I cannot, Ruby. They will be looking out for me. Bid her farewell for me.”

“I will.”

It began to rain as they laid the cloth-covered body into the ground. Surprisingly the lifeless bundle appeared much larger than the … than what Ruby remembered had been left of Rehana.

The rain strengthened as they began to throw mud over the body, covering it, burying it. Soon it was as though she had never existed.

By now it was pouring. Claps of thunder boomed out. Slashes of lightning tore up the skies. Everything was gray. And dark.

Long after it was all over and the handful of mourners had left, Ruby stood in the pouring rain, watching the spot where Rehana's body had gone. The torrent of water streaming down her face tasted salty. Ruby was surprised that she had again started crying. But she felt no sense of finality … of closure. She
knew
it was not over. She did not know what, but something unfinished remained. She knew.

Finally she turned and started walking back to the waiting car. That was when the thought struck her.

Someone should pay for this.

The thought festered.

Somebody will.

Yusuf too had dried his tears by the time they got back. Neither had anything to say. Words seemed futile.

“Get some rest. You must be tired.” His hand caressed her head. “We will talk tomorrow.”

*   *   *

Ruby lay helplessly in the now-dark guest room in the Gill house. The darkness outside slowly faded as a new sun rose. The darkness within her stayed. It lay inside her, cold and clammy.

They should pay for this.
Her silent promise now reverberated in her head.
I must make them pay.

“
So be it.” Ruby did not realize that she had spoken aloud. “I will do my duty, but I will not harm any of the Gills.… They are family too.”

I am not alone.
The thought caught her by surprise.
I never was.

That was her last thought as she fell asleep. In her still unfamiliar bed.

Unaware that Gerber had been captured and the noose around her was closing.

*   *   *

Ravinder awoke suddenly, his mind crystal clear.

“Sorry, sir,” the now-dead Nanda was saying to him with a sheepish smile, “I was too far away to get the number, but the car was a cream-colored Toyota Innova.”

In his mind's eye, Ravinder again saw the cream-colored Toyota come barreling down the road, almost running him down as he ran toward the garden gate. He saw his hand come up to stop it and a blur of motion inside the vehicle, as though someone had ducked. He ran the scene in his head a dozen times, but he couldn't put a face to the person; it had been too fast, too sudden. His attention had been elsewhere. But Ravinder knew it had been a woman. He did not know why, but he knew.

So, she had been there for the weapons pickup … whoever she is.… Damn! I should have thought of it.… I should have put more teams down to look out for her.… Damn!

Ravinder cursed himself for the lost opportunity. As he fell asleep, he wondered if he would get lucky again … or would that damn woman's luck continue to hold.

 

DAY EIGHT

Ruby wearily cracked open her eyes as the alarm on her mobile buzzed. She felt exhausted and unrested, as though she had just fallen asleep. She had. Barely an hour ago. Yet again, she wished that she had not thrown away the medication from the shrink.

Things were at a disastrous crossroads. The only saving grace was that Mark had not been taken alive; he was the only one who had known her identity
and
the target.

She was about to fall back asleep, when the TV sprang to life; the timer had been set for the morning BBC news.

Much to her disgust, there was no change in the situation in Israel. The IDF blockade of Gaza was still continuing. The turmoil in the Middle East was escalating. Then the local news came on. Her eyes widened as news of Gerber's arrest played out. The arrest of a foreign terrorist in Delhi on the eve of the Commonwealth Games was hot news, and the newscaster milked it for all it was worth.

All vestiges of sleep fled. This news devastated her. She hadn't yet figured out how to proceed without Mark and the Glocks, and now this …

Ruby felt another headache begin to build. She forced herself to get up, put on her tracksuit, and head out of the house. Perhaps a run would clear her head.

*   *   *

“How is it possible that you have not been able to find those two mercenaries? All foreigners have to register.” The early call from Mohite had shaken Ravinder awake. “Did you get the list from the Foreigner Regional Registration Office like I told you? They
have
to be on it.”

“We did, sir. And we have been tracking everyone on that FRRO list.”

“Then someone has slipped up.” Ravinder was furious. “They
have
to be somewhere. Also they cannot check into any hotel without passports.”

“But we have rounded up almost everyone from South Africa who even remotely fits the bill,” Mohite repeated, sounding desperate. “We have nothing … except some very irate South Africans and an even more irate embassy official yelling at us.”

“You handle them. And keep the search going. We have to catch those two.”
Well, at least Mohite has something to keep him busy and out of trouble.
“There is no time, Mohite. The summit starts day after … In twenty-four hours, the delegates start arriving.”

Putting down the phone, Ravinder sat up and began to think.
What have I missed?
There had to be something.

He was still brooding when he walked into his study and took his laptop out of its bag. There was a whole day of e-mails to be replied to.

Damn!

The small mark left by water had been wiped clean. Now only a faint ring on the polished tabletop remained. It tugged at Ravinder; irritating him.

He snatched up a paper napkin and scrubbed at it. It faded a bit, but would not go away completely. He was getting up to tell the servant to fetch some wood polish when memory struck.

Ruby was carrying a jug of water when I ran into her that night.

He froze. An alarm jangled in his head.

After clicking open his Outlook, he went to the date on which he had run into Ruby. It was late at night. Ravinder began to sift through the mails. The e-mail about the LeT financier caught his eye immediately. The next one too was relevant; it was about the meeting with Nanda.

If Ruby has seen these …
Ravinder sat back. That would account for the elimination of Rizwan Khan.
But then why did she still send Mark to pick up the guns? Unless she saw the first mail, but not the second.

Ravinder leaned forward and checked the time log. The two had come in almost simultaneously. If she had seen one, she would logically have seen the other.

Unless …

Straightening up, he raced out. He had to talk to Ruby and get to the bottom of this. Her room was empty. Coming down, he checked with the servant, who said that she had left early.

“Did she say where she was going?”

“Not to me, sahib. But she was wearing a tracksuit. It looked like she was going for a run.”

Ravinder returned to his study to think. The stakes were too high. He could not allow anything to happen, to the games or to the summit. Though, knowing the Rehana angle now, if Ruby was somehow involved it would be the summit she was targeting.

The vibrating ring of his mobile tugged at him.

“Yes, Ashish?”

“We have found three improvised explosive devices near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.” DIG Ashish sounded grim. “Big ones, sir. Had they gone off, they would have taken out a large chunk of the stadium.”

“Where?”

“Behind the ticketing booth, sir. The bombs seem to have been there awhile.”

“An inside job. Round up all personnel who have access to that area.”

“Already started that, sir.”

“Good.” Ravinder felt relief that Ashish was handling it, not Govind. “Ensure everyone's predecessors are checked. I want that bastard found … whoever he is.”

“Don't worry, sir. I am on it. Whoever it is, we will find him. Or her.”

“Fine.” But that was not how Ravinder was feeling when he put the phone down.

Or her.

Ashish's final words ricocheted in his head. Too many things happening on too many fronts.

Slow down the game.

From his memory, Ravinder heard the voice of their college basketball coach. What he'd always told them to do, especially when playing a better team.

Yes!

He needed to calmly take stock of everything.

*   *   *

The few options still open to her churned through her mind as Ruby pounded down the silent road. At this early hour, not many people were around. Puddles littered the road, leftovers of last night's rain. The sense of isolation, of being alone, filled Ruby's head too. She needed help. Or, at least, someone to talk to.

Should I call Pasha? What would he be able to do from Pakistan?
She toyed with the idea.
What other options do I have? Even if he can't help, maybe I can talk it through with him.

Halting, she pulled out her mobile and her fingers dialed the number of his satellite phone, which was embedded in her memory. She could think of no one else.

The thought depressed her so much that she felt the urge to scream.

*   *   *

Ravinder broke out of his reverie. The father in him could no longer ignore that his own daughter might be a part of this awful threat.

Could she really be part of some conspiracy? An MI6 agent? Is it not possible that she is just a girl hurting from the loss of her mother? Who turned to me because she needs her father to stand by her at this dark hour? Could the sins of her mother …

The father begged him to give her the benefit of the doubt. The cop equally firmly urged him to fill in the gaps in his information. To complete the picture and deal with his suspicions. He
needed
to know.

Ravinder got dressed and left for his office. He would gather more information and size up the threat in its totality. The push–pull between father and cop continued as his car navigated through the traffic.

Yes!
Time to slow down the game and seize control … before it spun out of his hands.

*   *   *

Ruby's finger was about to press the final digit of Pasha's number when she paused.

Do I really need him? What good will his footsloggers be?

She thought.

Do I need poorly trained zealots breathing down my neck?

Her finger stayed, hovering.

And can I trust his security? After all, the cops knew about Rizwan Khan. Who else has been blown?

She made up her mind with a snap. Her finger hit the red button, ending the dialing.

I can do this without him. Without anyone!

Pushing the phone back in her pocket, she began to run again. She had no idea what molecules sweeping through her had caused these abrupt mood and energy shifts. If she had, she might have realized that the medications the shrink had prescribed could have kept her sane.

An hour later, nothing had changed. The reality was stark. She had best to acknowledge it and adapt.

I will have to scale down.
She saw no other options.
Hell, even if I manage to take down a couple of the delegates, it would kill the summit.

But then her truant mind started playing games.

And you? You think you will get out of this alive? Without your primary and diversionary attacks?

Then a wave of sadness overwhelmed her. But, as abruptly, the agent-turned-terrorist took charge, returning to fortify her.

It doesn't matter. Even if I die, it doesn't matter. But they must be made to pay.…
She stopped running and hailed the first passing cab. Time to get the operation back on track.

Ruby
knew
she was up to it.

*   *   *

Ravinder marshaled all the data. Everything recovered from Mark, along with a photograph of his body was laid out on one side of his office table. The items from Gerber and his hotel room were on the other side, along with a transcript of his interrogation. In the middle, on a paper, he had jotted down all the contradictory facts that he had gleaned about Ruby. He mulled everything and identified the gaps that he still needed to fill. Then he reached for the phone.

The first call was to London, to Sir Edward Kingsley, Director of MI6.

“Does this have anything to do with Sir Tang's visit to Delhi?” Kingsley asked bluntly. The two went a long way back, and the Director knew he could talk freely with Ravinder.

“Maybe … maybe not,” Ravinder replied. “That is what I am trying to ascertain.”

“I see. Give me a couple of minutes.” Computers in London whirred into action, but neither Rehana's nor Ruby Gill's names elicited anything useful. However, Sir Edward promised to dig deeper.

Ravinder's second call was to his counterpart in Tel Aviv, the head of their Counter-Terrorism Task Force.

“What did you say the names were?”

Ravinder could hear the tapping of a keyboard as he repeated the names. They appeared to get an instant response.

“Would you mind if we call you back?”

“I am in a bit of a rush.”

“It will take only minutes. Someone here would like to speak to you.”