SALIM MUST DIE (19 page)

THE CW DET COMMANDER WAS PUTTING DOWN THE PHONE
after talking to the ATTF chief when Air India flight 187 headed for Toronto via Amritsar and Birmingham, departed from Delhi. The ever so polite Abraham Reis was on board. The fourth killer had also walked through the first lot of security barriers that he had to negotiate. Now only the security check upon arrival at Toronto and the final one at the target itself stood between him and his unsuspecting targets.

IT WAS AN OPEN SECRET THAT LIANG DESHENG, POSTED AS
the Charge d'Affaires at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in New Delhi was also a highly respected intelligence officer and a rising star in China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). A tiny, tidy, technically inclined man, Liang was an asset to the MSS. He was informed of Mai's curious death within minutes of the information being given to the embassy by the MEA Joint Secretary. Liang was fully aware of Dr Mai's critical role in the Chinese special weapons program and his presence in Delhi. In fact, the previous evening he had been alerted of Mai's arrival in Delhi – standard procedure whenever people in sensitive posts travelled out of China.

‘May I request you to please keep his death under wraps,’ Liang told the MEA Joint Secretary. ‘At least until such time as we have a clearer picture.’ The request did not meet with any resistance, especially in light of the vastly improved relationship between India and China. ‘I'm sure you understand… keeping in view the suspicious manner of his death.’ Despite the fact that they were talking on a secure line, both men were reluctant to say too much.

‘That should not be a problem,’ the MEA man replied. ‘But I do hope you appreciate our grave concern about the presence of such an item on our soil. We certainly hope that we will be kept informed about whatever you people find.’

‘But of course,’ Liang assured him, his tone betraying the embarrassment he was suffering. No country likes to admit that its senior scientists are running around all over the globe with lethal items like VX on their person.

Liang sighed to himself as he logged onto the MSS site and accessed the secure database. It is a loosely guarded secret that the MSS maintains a dossier on almost everybody who is anybody in the People's Republic of China. Liang pulled Mai's file up on the screen. A sharp, sinking feeling assailed him as he read through it.
Shit! He's an Uighur! I just hope
…. It was with a marked sense of urgency that Liang reached for the secure phone lying on the table in front of him and speed-dialled his boss in Beijing.

U
RUMQUI

INITIALLY, WHEN THE TWO BLACK MG TF CARS PULLED UP ON
the street in front of the house, Fatima was not perturbed. Both cars were black-coloured civilian variants and not the standard type used by the local police. She recognized the cars as those used by the facility and was aware that at least five of Mai's senior colleagues also lived on the same street. It was only when she happened to look out of the kitchen window and noticed two more of them come to a halt at the rear of the house that she knew something untoward had happened. Then she saw the small knots of hard looking men with drawn handguns racing towards her house from both sides and she knew the game was up.

Somehow Mai has been blown. So be it. Inshallah
…. Snatching a sharp, wicked looking knife from the fruit bowl, she ran towards the bathroom.

When the take-down teams slammed open the doors and swept through the house, they did not spot her immediately. Even the man who put his head in through the bathroom door would have missed the diminutive Fatima if it hadn't been for the blood that had sprayed onto the shower curtain.

‘Bloody hell!’ He recoiled in horror as he pulled back the curtain gingerly.

The knife stuck deep in her belly told the rest of the story. Fatima was still alive, but her face was contorted in agony as she struggled to keep herself from screaming.

‘She is not going to make it,’ the doctor who attended to her at the nearby hospital told the MSS team leader. ‘In fact, I don't think she wants to live.’

‘We figured that out, you moron’ – the team leader threw him an irate look – ‘considering that it was she who stuck the knife in her stomach. Anyway, stand aside, we need to question her.’

The doctor gave him a shocked look and then decided that it was futile to try and dissuade him.
Why the hell should I be the one to be earmarked by this MSS pig as the one who obstructed him, especially for some wacko woman who is going to die in any case
? With a resigned shrug, he stood back.

Not that it did any good to the interrogator. Fatima said nothing. There were a few snatched moments of lucidity, when she surfaced sporadically through the shroud of pain that had settled upon her. Even then, she just glared hatefully at the MSS men surrounding her like vultures. All the time, her lips moved in ceaseless prayer.

The MSS man was not able to make out much of what she was mumbling, but decided to record it anyway. Just before she went, in her final moments of pain, Fatima beseeched Allah to grant success to her husband in his strikes against the kafir.

‘May the kafirs suffer as our people have suffered’ were her last words to her God.

P
ARIS

WHILE FATIMA WAS MAKING HER LAST WISH, THE AIR FRANCE
flight with Sahiba and Kismat Khan on board landed uneventfully at Paris. The twins would spend a miserable, stress-filled four hours in the transit lounge before their connecting flight to St Martin in Netherlands Antilles, the second leg of their tediously long journey. However, they had far more important things to worry about than a long layover. The growing fear of the airport security check at their final destination kept them tense and silent. The suspense would have tested their nerves even more severely if they hadn't had each other for company and comfort.

V
IENNA

THE KILLER KHANS WERE ON THEIR WAY TO THE TRANSIT
lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris when Karl Gunther's flight landed at Vienna. He too had a stopover to suffer through before his onward connecting flight to Berlin. Luckily, the layover was only an hour long and since Karl did not have to change planes, he simply slept through the halt undisturbed. He was still fast asleep when the aircraft took off from Vienna for the final short hop to Berlin.

N
EW
D
ELHI

‘ARE YOU SURE?’ LIANG ASKED HIS BOSS AGAIN. ‘ARE YOU
sure she said
strikes
and not
strike
?’

‘Of course I am sure,’ his boss retorted irritably. ‘I double-checked with the man who transcribed the tapes. There is no doubt about it. There's something very big going on down there.’

‘What did we find at the Urumqi facility?’

‘That bastard Hu had planted explosives all around the central storage area. If they had gone off they would have unleashed all the viruses and chemicals held there in deep storage.’ His voice was near despairing. ‘You have no idea what that means, Liang. Some of the stuff there is so lethal that it would have rendered the facility and the surrounding areas unfit for habitation for decades. Thousands would have died.’

Liang shuddered as his mind conjured up ill-informed images of nameless, faceless things running loose in the countryside. ‘What is missing from the stores?’

‘As far as we can make out, some VX Gas is definitely missing. We're still trying to work out the quantity… I should be able to tell you in a few hours. We
think
some of the Variola Major is also missing, but again’ – Liang could almost visualize his helpless shrug – ‘we need more time to pin down the precise details.’

‘Variola Major? What the hell is that?’ Liang's mouth fell open in horror as the man at the other end told him. ‘Shit! And you say this Haemorrhagic type is the deadliest?’ An uncomfortable silence held sway for a long moment. ‘What should I do? How much should I tell the Indians?’

‘The high command says we have to tell them everything.’

‘Everything! They'll go crazy!’

‘I know, but this is just too big a deal to hold back on. I mean, you don't screw around where VX Gas and smallpox viruses are concerned. Do you realize what the world will do to us if that stuff gets loose? In these days of free and easy travel, the smallpox will spread like wildfire. No one is even prepared for it these days. And this one is an almost certain killer.’ There was another, much longer pause as both men contemplated the scenario. ‘Fuck! Millions could die.’

‘The Indians are going to go ape-shit!’ That was all Liang could say before he finally put down the phone after a detailed briefing by his boss.

THE INDIANS DID NOT GO APE-SHIT. FOR A VERY LONG TIME,
the MEA man was simply unable to understand what Liang was saying, or its implications. When Liang finally started getting through to him, he went wild. So did the others… right up the chain of command.

‘Don't the fucking Chinks take care of this stuff?’

‘How the bloody hell did that bastard manage to carry all that shit through airport security?’

‘Exactly what did we find in his room?’

‘Nothing! Barring the remains of the….’

‘Nothing? So where the hell has it gone?’

The questions, most of them rhetorical and as yet unanswerable, came thick and fact. The panic was just starting to set in. Luckily, a few of the cooler heads realized what would happen if the news hit the streets, so a tight security blanket was thrown over it immediately. Only those who were already in the know and those who would be directly involved with the hunt were told.

‘JUST HOW CERTAIN ARE WE?’ THE INDIAN PRIME MINISTER
asked when G.K. Rao finished speaking.

‘It is all very hazy right now,’ Rao replied reluctantly. The bespectacled Rao was almost single-handedly responsible for the new, well integrated and professional face that Indian Intelligence proudly displayed these days. ‘So far the only thing the Chinese are sure of is that some VX Gas and Variola Major are missing.’

He gave the PM a very brief idea of what VX Gas and Varioal Major were and what they were capable of doing. It was enough to bring a grim look to the PM's usually serene countenance.

‘These missing items coupled with the woman's dying statements leads them to believe that something big is about to go down in our part of the world. Apparently, the scientist was a closet jihadi. They're still trying to work out the details.’

‘And we? What are we doing?’

‘We just got the Intel an hour ago, sir. Even as we speak, our people….’

‘Rao, I want you to head this investigation yourself. Bring in some top-notch people from NEMA and the ATTF. Pull out
all
stops and ensure you keep me posted all the time. And listen,’ the PM added as Rao was turning away, ‘I am placing Force 22 directly under your command for this mission. Keep Colonel Anbu in the loop. To my mind they're our best bet should we need to respond rapidly to any situation.’

‘
VX GAS? VARIOLA MAJOR?’ COLONEL ANBU'S SHOCKED VOICE
mirrored his disbelief. ‘Do you know what you are saying? Can you even imagine….’

‘I know, I know, Colonel, but that's exactly what the CW people have confirmed,’ Rao interrupted him. ‘The man who died is a Chinese scientist. He was in town to attend a chemical weapons destruction conference.’

‘Really?’

‘And the PM wants you in on this, so I suggest you get your people moving.’

‘Don't worry about us, Mr Rao, most of my people are already in Manesar, close to Delhi, for a joint training with the NSG. Please consider us on high alert within the next hour.’

Anbu's instincts were working overtime as the call ended. ‘I have a really bad feeling about this one….’ he said to Sami who was sitting opposite him as he dialled another number. ‘Ankita, I want Khare and you here,’ he said when the phone was picked up at the other end. ‘ASAP! Drop everything else for the moment.’ While waiting for them, Anbu told Sami in detail what Rao had said. ‘Alert everyone, MS. Tell the NSG that the training is off for the moment and make sure everyone is back at base, locked, loaded and ready to go.’ He saw the questioning look on Sami's face and added, ‘No, I don't know what the hell is going to happen but I have a feeling that we're going to hit the ground running on this one… very soon and very hard.’

A FEW MINUTES LATER, THERE WAS A SOFT KNOCK ON ANBU'S
door and Ankita Bhatnagar and Manoj Khare entered.

Waving them in, Anbu went straight to the root of the matter and then gave them their tasks. ‘I want both of you to go over everything – and I mean
everything
. Mr Rao, the NIA, is personally heading up the investigation and he has already spoken to the cops, the ATTF and NEMA; you'll get all the cooperation you need from them. In any case, both of you get along well with Rao.’ He gave both officers a hard, level look. ‘We need to find out what that crazy scientist has carried into the country. Even more importantly, we need to find out where the hell it has gone.’

They were almost at the door when he spoke again. ‘And listen guys, I don't think we have much time on our hands, so pull out all the stops. We're all going to be waiting for you two to point us in the right direction.’ He turned to Sami. ‘Tell the others to get ready.’

B
ERLIN

MANOJ KHARE AND ANKITA BHATNAGAR HAD JUST FINISHED
going through the hotel room in which Mai Hu had died when Austrian Airlines flight 271 from Vienna touched down at Tegel airfield in Berlin. The security man who electronically scanned Karl Gunther's luggage did not find anything suspicious, and Karl walked through unscathed. The first killer had breached the final security barrier.

L
AHORE

KARL GUNTHER WAS EXITING TEGEL AIRPORT WHEN THE LAST
repackaged and reprogrammed Chote Miyan left the warehouse in Lahore. The nuke now bore an uncanny resemblance to one of those typical black cases that almost all airline crew members carry. They are such a ubiquitous part of the airlines uniform that people barely notice them.