Weapon of Vengeance (32 page)

The 84mm Carl Gustav rocket launcher and ammunition box kept under a tarp in the luggage section made dull, thudding sounds as the van crossed the rough patch just short of the Chanakya Complex.

Ashoka Hotel now lay dead ahead.

*   *   *

“What do you mean, you lost her? How the hell can you lose a person jogging on the road at this time of the morning?” Ravinder struggled to regain his composure. “Do everything you can to find her and call me back.” Then he dialed Chance's room. “Ruby is on the loose. They lost her.” He could sense the man's muttered curses more than hear them.

“I'll ensure the top floor is secure with Ido.” Chance was now fully alert. “I‘ll tell Jennifer to man the seventh.”

“Good idea,” Ravinder replied. “I'll join her in a minute. No, let me go down and ensure the lobby and gates are secure.” He stopped at the control room to order a Code Red alert. “No, just a drill,” he replied when the duty officer asked him why. “I want to check things before the PM gets here.
Move it!”

Not that there was any real need. The security detail was still fresh.

Satisfied that nothing could get past the gatekeepers, Ravinder raced down. He had an urge to call Ruby and ask where she was. Not unusual for a father to do.

At this hour of the morning? Why not?

Then deciding to give it a little more time, he headed for the security posts at the gates. Both were alert.

Everything seemed normal. So far.

The next hour passed slowly. Code Red was on. Guns were at the ready. Fingers close to triggers.

*   *   *

From across the road, driving slowly in front of the hotel, Ruby caught a glimpse of Ravinder as he paced between the two gates. The security men at both gates were buzzing around, weapons at the ready. They had adopted an all-round defense, ensuring anything coming in could be covered and, if required, cut down immediately. A couple of handlers with sniffer dogs prowled in front of the porch.

So they are all alert.
She had expected no less.

She watched Ravinder with mixed feelings till her van had moved past. Before any more ambivalence could set in, she pushed away all thought and focused.

Rehana has to be avenged. And Uncle Yusuf … and those thousands of others. I will not let these bastards sell us down the road.

Her hardness returned, bringing with it the clarity she needed.

How long will these buggers stay alert?

She was veteran enough to know that nothing could be guarded in totality.

Especially not if the attacker no longer cares for her own life.

The last thought caught her by surprise. She let it turn in her head as the van headed back the way it had come, with Nehru Park on her right. By the time she had taken a U-turn and brought it to a halt in the parking lot near the park gates, that thought had crystallized. She was not afraid to die. If that were the price to be paid for the conference to be ruined, she would pay it.

I will make Rehana proud.

After locking the van, she made her way back on foot toward the hotel, stopping when the main gate came into view. Confirming that none of the security cameras on the hotel's walls were pointed at her, she settled down against a tree. To wait. And to watch.

Now that her mind was not acting up, she could have sat there the whole day.

Soon she saw things at the hotel gates begin to settle down and return to normal. Body postures became less aggressive. Rifles were slung back on shoulders. Even the dogs stopped patrolling.

Code Reds cannot last forever.

Ruby knew that. She had planned on it.

*   *   *

Ravinder was pacing between the gates when Mohite came out, looking sharp in a new, perfectly fitted and ironed uniform.

“You called a Code Red, sir? What is the problem?”

“That was almost thirty minutes ago, Govind.”

“I know, sir. The control room officer called me, but he said it was only a drill.” There was no hint of contriteness on his face. “I was getting ready to receive the minister, sir.”

“Just a drill, Govind?” Ravinder gave a soft sigh.
Does he need to be reminded that a drill means everyone responds? Especially at his level? Oh, fuck it!
“Yeah. Just a drill,” Ravinder repeated.

“Oh!” Mohite gave a pout, then a shrug. “Would you like me to call it off now?”

“No. The PM is due in shortly.” He checked his watch; it was almost eight.

“That is a good idea, actually. Thakur sahib is about to arrive.… I just spoke to his aide. It is good if he sees everything at high alert.”

Ravinder was about to unleash a scathing retort, when Thakur's mini-cavalcade drove up, a security vehicle in front and two behind Thakur's cream Toyota Camry. Ravinder could not see anyone but the driver in the last vehicle, but this did not surprise him. He had learned early on that the Home Minister was superstitious; he did not consider the number three auspicious, hence the fourth car.

People and their eccentricities.
Ravinder's smile faded as he remembered his own phobia for thirteen. He went forward to meet the minister.

Mohite was already four steps ahead.

Ravinder's smile had faded well before the minister entered the elevator to the eighth floor. Ruby's absence worried him. He bit back on his disinclination and dialed her mobile. It rang and rang but no one picked up. He tried again a minute later. The result was the same. Wherever she was, Ruby was not answering.

*   *   *

Sitting in the park, camouflaged by the tree she was backed up against, Ruby watched the Home Minister's convoy zoom down and enter the hotel. It was just a few minutes past eight.

A bit later, she felt the phone vibrate in her pocket. She gave a quick glance at the calling number and returned it to her pocket. The next time it rang, she ignored it.

Maintaining watch, she was observing the patterns of movement at and between the gate security posts, and the roadblocks on either side.

Sirens rent the air again. A longer cavalcade swept in, led by two motorcycle outriders. A dozen-odd cars swept past the gates and came to a sharp stop in the porch. Security men leaped out. Hard, alert eyes raked the area. When it became certain there was no threat, one of them opened the rear door of the Mercedes 500 SEL in the center of the convoy, and the Indian PM emerged, a bespectacled, slightly built, white-clad Sikh with a light blue turban. Ruby caught a brief glimpse of him before a ring of Kevlar-clad bodies closed in around him. They vanished into the hotel.

Both the gate security posts, now reinforced by the PM's men, looked alert and keyed up, their stance aggressive and weapons ready. Any move toward them now would be met with a firm, fiery response.

But she was in no hurry. Rocking back on her heels, she settled down to wait. Her yoga-hard body ensuring she was at rest. Her eyes stayed riveted on her target.

An hour later, the PM emerged, once again surrounded by armed men. He vanished inside his Mercedes, and the cavalcade disappeared. Within minutes, she noted a change in the security men at the gates. They did not all sit down, but a softening was apparent. Here and there, a cup of tea emerged. Even the occasional cigarette.

Ruby smiled; it was the same the world over.

An hour later, she took out her mobile phone and—using a spare, till-now-unused SIM card—called the police control room. Her whispered bomb threat provoked an instant response. The change in stance of the security details was instananeous. A beehive of activity erupted. Teams of security men armed with metal detectors and sniffer dogs began to sweep the hotel.

Ruby knew it would be a while before the alert was called off. They would have to scan and clear the hotel. She was doing what she could to tire them out. To make the red alerts common. So they'd get used to them.
That
was when lapses would occur.

Satisfied, she returned to the van, dropped it off in the Hyatt's parking lot, walked across to the crowded passport office, and caught a cab back to the house.

*   *   *

“She is back? When?” Ravinder heard the man out. “How did she get back? Did you speak to the cabdriver, then? Where did he pick her up? I see.” With the bomb threat having proved to be a hoax, the delegates safely tucked into the conference room, and the summit now under way, Ravinder had been returning to the control room when the surveillance leader called. Having given up trying to find her, the team had fallen back to the house to wait for her to resurface.

He mulled this for a minute and decided it was time to change tactics. He again dialed Ruby's mobile.
Where in hell has she gone and what has she been up to?

*   *   *

A grim smile crossed Ruby's face as her mobile rang; she had been expecting the call.

“Where did you go, Ruby? I have been so worried. I have been trying to call you for some hours now.”

“I went out for a run, Father. Sorry, I had left my phone behind. I just got back.”

“Why did you ditch the security car? We were so worried about you.”

“I didn't realize there was one with me.”

“Come on, Ruby.… After the night's fiasco … do I need to spell it out? No more risk … we never know who else is out there.”

“I am sorry, Father. It will not happen again.”

“But where did you run off like that?”

“Well, I got tired of jogging and did not want to return … too much on my mind, I guess … Then I remembered Jasmine telling me that the Red Fort is worth a visit early in the morning, so I caught an auto rickshaw and went off to see it.”

“But—” Ravinder broke off, realizing he could not let her know that the driver of her cab had told them that she had hailed him from near the passport office in Bhikaji Cama Place—nowhere near the Red Fort. “Anyway, I am glad you're safe. From now on, whenever you wish to go anywhere, just tell the team and travel with them, in their car. That will make it easy for everyone.”

“Not a problem, Dad. I will do that. Thanks.”

The distaste of deceit and lies lay heavy with both when the call ended.

Ruby wondered how much he knew.
He has to know something, else why the surveillance?
But if he had been able to confirm whatever Chance may have told him, he would not be allowing her to run free. Would he?

Is he just concerned about me—like any other father would be?

Ravinder wondered what she had been up to.

Am I just tarring her with the same brush because of Rehana? Maybe she does not really know the reality of Rehana … and Yusuf.

*   *   *

Ravinder returned to his room and went to work. The next few hours passed as he coordinated between Ashish and Mohite, ensuring that things at both ends were proceeding smoothly.

The spate of false alarms, sightings, unidentified bags, and of suspicious people was keeping the cops busy. For several months now, Delhi Police had been conducting awareness training for waiters, cabdrivers, private security guards, shopkeepers; all had been told to keep their eyes and ears open and report such things and it seemed a lot of them had taken the briefings seriously.

Each call had to be investigated. But so far, none had resulted in anything meaningful. Nothing, however, could be ignored.

Much as he tried not to think of it, he could not forget that this was the thirteenth day.

Bad things happen on the thirteenth
.

*   *   *

Ruby spent the rest of the day in her room. She was now waiting.

“The wait is always a bitch.” Mark's words to her in the Congo came back to her. She grinned and then remembered Mark was dead and gone. The grin evaporated.

*   *   *

The summit had made no real progress on day one, but the ice was broken. Both sides had at least acknowledged that the killing would end only if they talked. As the day progressed, hope brightened.

*   *   *

Ravinder's tension escalated as the day wound down. Though he tried hard, he was unable to forget that today was the thirteenth. The hourly calls from the surveillance team that Ruby had not moved should have helped, but didn't.

Have I been so wrapped up with Ruby that I have missed some other more real threat?

With every passing hour, new questions arrived to plague him. As darkness closed in, his anxiety deepened.

*   *   *

In Muridke, Pakistan, his eyes and ears riveted to the news channels, Pasha awaited word of his assassin's strike. Anticipation turned to disappointment and then to fury as the curtain came down on the first day of the summit. He was unable to sit still any longer.

 

DAY ELEVEN

The new dawn brought with it an overcast sky. The first sign of that heavy fog that paralyzes most parts of North India during winters appeared.

*   *   *

Again Ravinder woke up early and got ready. Some primal, or cop, instinct was gnawing at him. Powered by it, he dialed his home phone, a direct line to his bedroom and study. Simran was the only one who answered it when he was not home. She picked up on the first ring. As though she had been waiting for it.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“I am fine, love.”

“I was worried. I wanted to call, but I did not want to disturb you. I know how busy you must be right now.”

For a moment they shared the comfort of silence.

“Simran, I wanted to check on Ruby. How is she?”

“I think she is okay, but … other than her morning run, she has not left her room, not since … I even had to send all her meals up. Not that she ate much.”

“I see. Is she at home?”

“I think so. I have not heard her go down. You want me to check?”

“Could you, please? But carefully. I don't want her to know you are checking on her.”