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JAIPUR, INDIA

11:57 AM IST (INDIA STANDARD TIME)

“O
NE WRONG WORD,
Mr. van Assen, and I pull the trigger,” Sanjay said.

He jabbed the barrel of his gun into his captive’s side.

Van Assen grunted and said, “Yes, yes. I understand.”

Sanjay and Kusum had kidnapped the Dutchman outside NB551, the Project Eden base in Jaipur where Director Parkash Mahajan was stationed. Not only was Mahajan van Assen’s boss, but he was also one of the four members of the directorate that now controlled Project Eden. The director was the person Sanjay and Kusum really wanted, but since it was doubtful he would set foot outside the safety of the facility, van Assen would be their way in.

“You know I have shot men before,” Sanjay said, making sure van Assen truly believed him. “I would be more than happy to shoot you next.”

“I
believe
you, okay? I believe you.”

Sanjay glanced at Kusum sitting behind the wheel of the car. “Call her.”

As his wife picked up the satellite phone, Sanjay returned his attention to van Assen. A few seconds later, the sound of ringing filled the cabin.

“Yes?” Darshana answered.

“Any changes?” Kusum asked.

Darshana was stationed in a building that gave her a clear view of the entrance to NB551.

“Same as before. A car every two or three minutes, and occasionally someone on foot.”

“What about right now?” Sanjay asked.

“One car at the gate, but I think they are finishing up.” A pause. “Okay. It is being waved through.”

“No one else waiting?”

“Not right now, but I see a van down the street heading this way.”

If Darshana could see the vehicle, there was no way Sanjay and Kusum could beat it to the entrance from their current position.

To Kusum, he said, “Move us in closer.”

Three minutes later, they were parked a block from the entrance, and the van Darshana had seen had already passed inside the base.

“Now?” Sanjay asked.

“Everything is—wait,” Darshana said. “A troop truck just turned onto the road, maybe a half minute away.”

Perfect
, Sanjay thought.

He tapped Kusum on the shoulder. “Go.” To Darshana he said, “If it looks like we are having trouble, you know what to do. Otherwise wait for my signal.”

“Do not worry about me. I know what to do.”

Kusum pulled the car onto the road leading to the gate, about a block ahead of the approaching truck.

“Let them catch up,” Sanjay said.

Kusum slowed enough so that when she finally stopped at the gate, the truck was only a few seconds behind them.

While one of the guards manning the entrance stood in the doorway of the hut, holding a rifle, his partner approached the driver’s window.

He eyed Kusum suspiciously for several seconds. “Who the hell are you?”

Sanjay poked van Assen with the gun.

“She, um, she is my driver,” van Assen said from the backseat.

The guard turned his attention to Sanjay and the Dutchman. “I don’t recognize either of you, either.”

“Willem van Assen,” the Dutchman said, flashing the guard his ID. “I work for Director Mahajan. Transferred in yesterday. And this is my assistant, Sanjay.”

The guard looked at them for a moment longer, and then said, “Stay right here.”

He retreated inside the hut. When he didn’t come right back out, the driver of the truck honked his horn and yelled something out his window. The guard took another thirty seconds before finally returning.

“Mr. van Assen, apologies for making you wait. You are, of course, on the list, but these two are not.”

After another reminder of the gun in his ribs, van Assen said, “They transferred in from my office in Mumbai and have just arrived.”

“Mumbai? But—”

“But the Mumbai station was closed, is that what you were about to say?” Sanjay asked. “Why do you think we transferred here? Now please, we need to be on our way. There is important business Mr. van Assen needs to discuss with the director.”

“Show me your IDs.”

Sanjay poked van Assen again to remind him they had discussed this possibility.

“They, uh, were unfortunately left behind in the rush to evacuate Mumbai,” the Dutchman said. “There are new badges waiting for them inside.”

Another honk from the truck.

The guard thought for a moment before taking a step back.

“Bring them back and show them to me as soon as you have them,” he said, and then waved them through.

At ground level, NB551 was unremarkable, a warehouse and a few smaller buildings encircled by a parking area that itself was surrounded by a three-meter-high brick wall. The Americans in Nevada had told Sanjay and Kusum the real base extended beneath the property for several levels.

A section of the parking area was dedicated to trucks and vans and buses of various types that appeared to be stored for future use, while the area closest to the entrance played host to a smattering of passenger vehicles. Kusum drove their sedan into this second area and parked as close to the entrance as she could get. After she turned off the engine, she dialed Darshana again.

“That seemed pretty close,” Darshana said. “I almost set everything off.”

“Give us two minutes, then do it,” Sanjay instructed.

“Please try not to get yourselves killed,” Darshana said and hung up.

Sanjay glared at van Assen. “Once Kusum gets out of the car, you will do the same. She is also armed, so do not even think of running.”

Van Assen’s mouth twitched but he remained silent.

With a nod from Sanjay, Kusum exited the car and opened van Assen’s door.

“Out,” Sanjay said, nudging their prisoner.

As van Assen scooted through the doorway, Sanjay followed right behind. From the tension in the Dutchman’s shoulders, Sanjay could tell van Assen was thinking about running. Sanjay grabbed the back of the man’s shirt and turned him so that van Assen was facing him.

“There is a part of me that would very much like you to try to escape,” Sanjay said. “It would be an excuse for me to give you what you really deserve.”

For the first time, van Assen looked scared.

Sanjay checked his watch. Just over a minute remained on the deadline he’d given Darshana. He let go of the man’s shirt. “Let’s move.”

With van Assen between them, they headed toward the door. At least ten others were scattered around the parking area, either heading to or from the main entrance.

Sanjay, Kusum, and van Assen were only ten feet from the door when the first explosion went off. Though Sanjay knew what was coming, he jerked in surprise at the strength of the blast. It had been far more powerful than he had expected. For a moment, he wondered if all the kegs had accidentally gone off at once, but then a second explosion ripped apart an entire section of the wall, launching brick fragments toward the warehouse.

“Run!” Sanjay said as a piece of debris grazed his shoulder. “Inside!”

The door was controlled by an electronic-pass system. Sanjay had relieved van Assen of his after they’d made it through the gate. He swiped it in front of the card reader, pushed the door open, and motioned for Kusum to go first.

They found themselves in a short corridor that T-boned with a larger one running left and right.

Sanjay was turning to shut the main door when he heard people running in their direction from deeper inside the building. He whirled around as a squad of security men entered the corridor. At first, he thought they might be coming for them, but then the man in the lead yelled, “Out of the way!”

“Hey!” van Assen shouted.

Sanjay jammed his pistol into the small of the man’s back. “Say anything more and you’re dead.”

Van Assen kept his mouth shut as the men ran by them.

After the squad had passed outside, Sanjay said, “Take us to Director Mahajan.”

“I got you in,” van Assen replied. “That’s all you get. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you get close enough to kill the director.”

“No one said anything about killing him.”

“Sanjay, we need to go,” Kusum said.

Sanjay grabbed van Assen’s arm. “Take us to Director Mahajan.”

“Go to hell.”

“If that is how you want it, fine.” Digging his fingers into the Dutchman’s bicep, Sanjay pulled him to the nearest door along the corridor. “What is on the other side?”

“How should I know? I’ve only been here a day.”

Before Sanjay could stop her, Kusum opened the door. The room beyond was dark.

“An empty meeting room,” she said.

Sanjay shoved van Assen through the opening and flipped on the light. As soon as Kusum shut the door, he said to the Dutchman, “Last chance.”

“They’ll hear the gun. You’ll never get away.”

“I do not think they’ll hear anything.” Sanjay grabbed the gun by the barrel and swung the butt into the side of the man’s head as hard as he could.

Van Assen dropped to the ground like a stone.

“Did you kill him?” Kusum asked.

“I hope so. Come on. We need to find Mahajan.”

__________

T
HE GROUND FLOOR
of NB551 consisted of a handful of rooms the size of the one they’d left van Assen in, and one much larger space filled with neat rows of crates and boxes and equipment on trailers.

Several Project Eden members ran between the rows, heading toward the center of the room. Sanjay and Kusum melted into the terrified crowd and ran with it as another of the makeshift bombs went off outside. Though the sound was muffled and distant, the anxiety level of those around them spiked, several yelling in surprise and fear.

Sanjay soon saw that the others’ destination was a bank of elevators almost dead center in the room. As he and Kusum arrived, one of the cars opened and disgorged a dozen security guards carrying assault rifles and looking more concerned than determined.

“Clear the way!” a guard yelled. “Get to the sides, goddammit!”

Most of the crowd complied, but a few who either decided to ignore the order or were just deafened by their panic quickly found themselves knocked to the ground, the lucky ones nursing only bruised ribs instead of head wounds from a rifle butt.

As soon as the guards were gone, the crowd surged forward, sweeping Sanjay into the elevator. He twisted around, looking for Kusum, but didn’t see her. As the doors closed, he found himself in the middle of the car with barely enough room to breathe.

When they began to descend, a man asked, “Does anyone know what’s going on? What were those explosions?”

“Someone’s blowing holes in the perimeter wall,” another responded.

“Are you sure?” a surprised voice asked.

“Saw it myself.”

“Who would do that?”

No one seemed to have an answer. In fact, Sanjay sensed they were all baffled by the attack, like it was something inconceivable.

It was several seconds before the elevator slowed and a soft female voice announced, “Level one.”

When the doors opened, about a third of those packed inside pushed their way out.

“Here?” Kusum whispered in Sanjay’s ear.

He turned and nearly pulled her into an embrace when he saw her, but restrained himself and shook his head. “Not yet.” Though he had no way of knowing for sure, his gut told him Mahajan would likely be on a lower level.

The doors shut again, and those remaining spread themselves out to fill the newly vacated space. When the elevator stopped for a second time, Kusum glanced at Sanjay but he shook his head again.

The majority of those remaining exited, leaving only three of their colleagues behind. Until now, none of the Project Eden people had even noticed the two imposters, but as the door slid closed, the man to Sanjay’s left turned and looked at the others. When his gaze fell on Sanjay, he paused.

“You’re not part of engineering,” he said.

Before Sanjay could respond, Kusum blurted out, “We are with Mr. van Assen. Helping to assist Director Mahajan. My friend and I have only just arrived.”

The man’s brow furrowed. “What does that have to do with coming down to engineering?”

Realizing he had made an error, Sanjay turned his fear of being caught into a mask of anger. “Did you not hear my friend? This is our first time at this facility. We do not even get to the front door and bombs start going off! You will excuse us if we have not yet been told which floor the director is located on.”

A tense silence filled the car, then the elevator slowed as it approached its final stop.

Without looking at Sanjay, the man said, “One floor back up,” and then exited the car as soon as the doors parted.

Sanjay and Kusum stood rock still until the doors closed again. Once they were alone, Sanjay punched the button for the director’s floor.

“I thought we were done for,” Kusum said.

“So did I.”

“This is not going to work.”

“We have been in worse situations. We stick to the plan and it will be fine.”

When they arrived at the right floor, they stepped out into a corridor that ran off to either side. Clusters of base personnel were gathered here and there, talking nervously about the explosions. Others moved down the hallway in a rush, as if on urgent missions.

Sanjay made a quick study of both directions. To the left, the hallway appeared to end about seventeen meters down, but to the right it went for a good additional ten meters before ending at an intersection with another corridor.

“Follow me,” Sanjay whispered.

Hoping his instincts were working again, he went right.

No one even looked at them as they weaved through the groups of scared Project members. Here and there they’d overhear bits of conversation.

“…can’t get down there, can they?”

“…this would happen. I just knew…”

“Why haven’t they told us anything?”

“…all overreacting. It’s probably just…”

When Sanjay and Kusum reached the new corridor, they paused for a quick scan. Like before, one direction led to a dead end, while the other linked up with yet another hallway.