Page 33 of Into the Gray Zone (Pike Logan #19)

Knuckles followed Nadia out of the Jaipur airport baggage claim area, saying, “How are we getting to the hotel?”

She turned to him, now dressed in a traditional Indian sari, sandals on her bare feet, her hair spilling out all over, and

bangles on her arms. She looked incredibly sexy, which made him internally take a step back. He had a mission here, something

Pike was skeptical about, but Knuckles took seriously. He was Pike’s control with RAW for their actions, even if the RAW component

was someone to whom he was attracted. Honestly, he still wasn’t sure if Nadia was playing him for something else, a possibility

he’d have to guard against.

She smiled at him and said, “We have a car.”

He smiled back, then thought, Stop it. This is a mission.

Knuckles understood Pike had agreed to this arrangement on purpose, because he was a sadist deep down. Pike knew Knuckles

would accomplish the mission, but he also saw the connection between Nadia and him and had decided to leverage it.

It wasn’t the first time Pike had done this, and, while Knuckles was definitely smitten with Nadia, Pike recognized he could

separate the difference between a pre-wedding party and an actual mission.

Knuckles said, “Who’s paying for that?”

“It’s courtesy of the Thakkars. Trust me, this is all going to be first class.”

Sure enough, they went out into the street and a man in a suit advanced, saying something in Hindi. She answered, and the

driver led them to a black Suburban, the interior outfitted in leather, with a screen between the driver and the passengers,

tablets in the headrests, and a cooler between the seats outfitted with champagne.

They settled in, and Knuckles said, “I could get used to this.”

Nadia smiled at him and said, “Me too. Honestly, it’ll be the last time. Once Annaka is married, I’ll probably never see her

again.”

He looked at her and said, “Seriously?”

She grew a little wistful and said, “Yeah. We were friends in school, and from what she told me, it was a battle to even invite

me to the wedding. Her father was against it. I came from a different world, but we bonded at uni. She got to be herself there,

but now she’s in her father’s environment. Once she’s married, she won’t see people like me again.”

He said, “That’s terrible.”

She said, “It’s not so different in your world. She’s the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. I just happened

to go to school with her. I doubt Elon Musk’s kids in preschool will have anything to do with their friends after they leave.

It’s just life.”

Knuckles had no reply to that.

They rode in silence for a moment, then he started to say something but stopped, glancing at the screen separating them from

the driver. She grinned and said, “Don’t worry. It’s soundproof. All of Thakkar’s rides are like this. He does a lot of business

in the back of these beasts.”

He said, “Good to know.”

“You were going to say something?”

“Yes. Do you really think the RAW had something to do with the attack at the hotel?”

She said, “I don’t know, but it’s really screwing up my weekend. I was going to have a blast, and now I have to deal with you and a possible terrorist attack.”

He scowled at the words and she laughed again, a tinkling like a bubbling stream that crumbled his fragile bulwarks. She said,

“I’m just kidding. Look, I don’t know if it’s the RAW, but something’s going on. I’m convinced those men are going to attack

somewhere else. Pike finding a bunch of drone boxes and a single computer in a safe house is not a good sign.”

As the designated “liaison,” Pike had told Knuckles what he’d found in the spice market as soon as he’d left, along with the

fact that they had no further information. They’d mirrored a hard drive but hadn’t exploited it yet. The drone boxes alone,

however, were concerning.

He said, “You still believe they’re Islamic terrorists?”

She turned to him and said, “Well, yeah. Who else would they be?”

He said, “I don’t know who they are, but I’ve seen plenty of bad things done by people other than Muslim fanatics. It’s easy

to blame them, but I’m not so sure these guys are fighting for Allah.”

“Why do you think that? Every indication is they’re LeT run by the Pakistan ISI. That’s what the ISI does.”

He remained silent for a moment, then said, “The men with Jennifer in that hotel room were Chinese. The ISI doesn’t do China’s

bidding. If China is behind this, then all bets are off, because they’re probably implicating the Pakis to cover themselves.

We don’t know why they’re doing it, but we do know they have the capability to introduce whatever evidence they want. The

Ministry of State Security is no joke. It’s the largest intelligence organization on earth. Maybe they want us to believe it’s Islamic terrorists. I mean ‘we’ in the sense of both the U.S. and India.”

She remained silent for a moment, then said, “That may be true, but I have to go with what the evidence shows. The cell phone data was connected to an ISI number, and the pocket litter was from Pakistan. All of that could have been planted, but we have no evidence of it.”

“We do have evidence. Jennifer saw Chinese men in the hotel room. The Islamic thing is just too pat. The supposed terrorist you

guys found on the hotel staff at the resort had a lot of incriminating stuff from Pakistan but very little to show he was

a Muslim. No prayer rugs, no Quran, nothing. If he was a devout Islamist, he had a shitty way of showing it. He was seen drinking

booze every night, never acting like a Muslim the entire time he was on the resort grounds, and when you interrogated him,

he couldn’t even say if he’s Shia or Sunni. The only actionable intel he had was a cell phone with contacts to the ISI. Like

they wanted you to find it.”

“Well, maybe he acted that way before he was detained to throw us off. I mean, a true terrorist wouldn’t wear a keffiyeh with

‘Kill the Infidels’ scribbled on it.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point, but I still think China is behind it. The Pakistan ISI angle is a red herring.”

“Red herring? What does that mean?”

He laughed and said, “It means they’re trying to misdirect us from the true plan. They want it to look like a random terrorist

attack, but it was targeted. I agree they had some help, but I’m not so sure it was from the RAW.”

“Who do you think the target was?”

“Well, I would say it was the head of the CIA, but that doesn’t make any sense because nobody except the head of the RAW knew that he was

coming.”

She said, “Maybe that’s who they wanted, the commander of the RAW.”

“Maybe. They’re in Delhi right now, and that’s where the RAW headquarters is, but it doesn’t explain why they attacked when the commander of the RAW wasn’t on the resort grounds. If someone from RAW was helping them, you’d at least think they’d get that right.”

The SUV pulled into a circular drive, and he quit talking. The pavement turned to brick, and Knuckles saw a line of people

waiting on them, reminding him of the old Fantasy Island TV show. Each had some trinket or drink to hand to them, all with huge smiles on their faces. They exited and he went to

the rear to get their luggage, but was told not to worry about it, that by the time they arrived at their room, it would be

there.

He leaned into Nadia and whispered, “Am I supposed to tip someone?”

She shook her head and said, “They’ll be well taken care of. Don’t worry about it.”

A Ricardo Montalban look-alike with an iPad asked for their passports, and then Knuckles was ushered through the line, receiving

a glass of champagne, then a mala garland of flowers. The final person had him lean toward her and she put a dot on his forehead,

saying it was for good health and luck.

He accepted it and waited on Nadia to finish. Eventually, the Ricardo Montalban look-alike asked them to follow, and he half-expected

a midget to jump out shouting, “The plane! The plane!”

He leaned into Nadia and said, “I thought the dot was only for women.”

She smiled and said, “It’s called a tilaka, and it’s a greeting for you, welcoming you into their home. You’re thinking of

a bindi, which is what women here wear, but it’s usually much more ornate.”

They were led through the massive doors of the entrance, passing by the front desk, through a breakfast area, then past an oak-paneled English bar, their guide explaining the amenities as they walked. They exited onto an outdoor seating area for a restaurant and kept walking, causing Knuckles to wonder where the elevators were. How far did they have to go to get to their room?

They crossed a stone bridge over a moat, the water blanketed in floating flowers, then continued on a gravel path. To their

left was a large swimming pool, with fountains spraying into the water. To their right was a small temple of some sort, with

a sign stating that all faiths were welcome to attend ceremonies. The grounds spilled out for acres, with brilliantly colored

peacocks roaming about like a fantastical petting zoo, and Knuckles began to understand why the place had been chosen for

the party.

There ended up being no tower of rooms. Instead, the rooms were all villas spread throughout the landscape. Wannabe Ricardo

Montalban led them down one path, then another, ending in a circle of small buildings with a fountain in the center. He crossed

a small pond and said, “This is your room.”

On the stoop was the word “Welcome,” spelled out in rose petals. Wearing his usual blue jeans and 5.11 shirt, Knuckles began

to think he was underdressed for checking in.

The man led them into the room and he saw a large king-sized bed with a faux mosquito net, a plate of fruit accompanied by

more champagne, their luggage on separate stands, and a garden outside beyond the French doors. The man began a perfunctory

explanation of the amenities, and Nadia cut him off, saying, “I think we can figure it out. Thank you.”

Ricardo Montalban smiled, had Nadia sign something on the iPad, and left them.

Knuckles said, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to spend the night here.”

Nadia laughed and said, “Well, it pays to be a spy when you know me.”

Wanting to be professional, and honestly confused by the conflict of being here with her while conducting a mission, he threw his backpack on the bed and said, “I should probably check and see if Pike’s done anything with that hard drive.”

She put the backpack on the floor and said, “I’m pretty sure Pike hasn’t done anything with that hard drive yet. And we’ve

already made it past the entryway.”