Page 34 of Into the Gray Zone (Pike Logan #19)

I heard my phone start bleating and wanted to just turn it off, but it was a special tone, meaning it was from the Taskforce.

I groaned, looked at the clock, and saw it was just before five in the morning. We’d made it back to the Imperial Hotel in

New Delhi a little late, and I wanted my beauty sleep. Jennifer rolled over in our bed and climbed across me, snatching it

up and saying, “Did you think it would stop if you ignored it?”

I said, “Well, yes, it would. Let it go to voice mail.”

She put it to her ear and said, “Hello?”

I saw her nod, then nod again, and I knew it wasn’t going to be good. She hung up and said, “That was Creed. They did a deep

dive on our mirror of the drive and apparently whoever set it up put in some trap doors. Brett was right. We should have cracked

it in the safe house.”

I leaned up on an elbow and said, “So they got nothing?”

She said, “No. They got something, but it wasn’t a smoking gun. He’s sending the data.”

I said nothing, rolling over and burrowing into my pillow. This sort of crap just aggravated me. You never knew when you’d

get to sleep next, and I was getting mine.

She set the phone back onto my bedside table, her arm draped across my body, and leaned over me, saying, “So you don’t want to know what he said?”

I said, “Does it matter? Can I do anything about it right now?”

“No. Not immediately, anyway.”

That got my attention. I sat up and said, “What’s that mean?”

She said, “Me leaning over you doesn’t get a rise, but Creed giving us a call does?”

I grinned and said, “Don’t test me. If the choice is between you, Creed, or this pillow, you might not like the results.”

That brought a smile, because she knew the answer. She said, “The computer was firewalled with Trojans, but Creed found some

random numbers and a time. Ten thirty a.m. today.”

“That’s it?”

“Apparently so. As soon as he started to drain it, it started to wipe itself. He got five hundred gigabits of gobbledygook,

and all of it was triggered because we bypassed the password. We really should have risked staying in that safe house and

cracking it first.”

“Too late for that. So all we have is a time?”

“Yes. Well, Creed got one other thing. Someone cut and pasted a bunch of numbers to a document in the hard drive. The document

is corrupted, but the cut itself was still in the memory, which was outside the firewall.”

“Numbers for what?”

“Don’t know. Creed’s sending the data now.”

My phone pinged, and I snatched it up, seeing a text from Creed. All it had was 44RKR0484009823, followed by the number 10:30

and today’s date underneath it.

Leaning over my shoulder, Jennifer said, “Well, that’s not a lot of help. Looks like just random trash.”

I stared at the numbers and said, “No. This is something. Get your computer.”

She didn’t question me, sliding off the bed to fire up her MacBook. Once it was online I said, “Pull up Google Earth.”

She did and said, “What do you see?”

“That first bit of trash is an MGRS grid. I’m positive. Put it in the computer and see what happens. If it ends up in Africa,

I’m wrong, but I’ll bet it doesn’t.”

She did so, and Google Earth spun, then zeroed in to India, showing a fort in the town of Agra, south of Delhi, within spitting

distance of the Taj Mahal.

Now I was really engaged. I took the laptop from her, saying, “Didn’t Nadia say that Thakkar was going to the Taj Mahal? He

was going to stop all tourist traffic for his little party?”

Jennifer slid in next to me to see the map and said, “She did, she did.”

I pointed at the screen and said, “Something’s at that grid. That he also found a time means it’s fleeting. We need to get

there before the deadline to see what’s happening.”

“But why is there a grid reference at all? What’s that about? Why go into a fort that’s a tourist attraction?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s a thing. Maybe they’re meeting their contact for follow-on operations at that grid at ten

thirty a.m. Either way, I don’t think the RAW commander or Kerry Bostwick was the target. I think it’s Thakkar.”

She looked at the Google Earth map and said, “Why not just meet outside the fort? Why go inside, past security? That makes

no sense. If they’re using drones, they already have them, and they won’t be able to get them past the checks.”

I hated it when she used logic. I said, “I don’t know, but we can only judge the information we have. Get Knuckles on the

phone.”

She dialed and I kept looking at the map. I said, “We might be able to get there before ten thirty if we move out now.”

Jennifer started talking, and I saw her pause. She waited a second and then said, “Are you awake?”

I squinted and said, “Is he in her bed right now? Is that what’s going on?” Knuckles was my 2IC and I’d trust him with my

life—had, in fact, trusted him with my life numerous times—but sometimes the fairer sex caused him to think with his little

head instead of his big one. I honestly didn’t think that would happen here when the plans were made, but maybe I was wrong.

Jennifer shook her head, which was women-speak for “Let me handle this because you embarrass me when you do it,” and I started

demanding the phone. She batted my hand away and said, “We have some intel on Thakkar’s visit to the Taj tomorrow. We need

Nadia to get some assets in place.”

He said something, then Jennifer said, “Look, we need to speak to Nadia. Is she with you?”

I got sick of the back-and-forth and said, “Put it on speaker.”

Jennifer looked at me, then reluctantly did so. I said, “Knuckles?”

He said, “Yeah, Pike, I’m here.”

“Where’s Nadia?”

“You’re on speaker here as well. She’s right next to me.”

I really wanted to poke him in the eye, but I let that slide. Instead, I said, “We have a MGRS number that’s located at a

fort up the river from the Taj Mahal.”

I heard Nadia say, “The Agra Red Fort.”

I looked at Google Earth, saw the label, and said, “That’s it.”

She said, “What’s MGRS?”

“It’s the military grid reference system the U.S. uses. It’s a location via GPS. It was in their computer we hacked. There’s a meeting at that location at ten thirty this morning. Isn’t Thakkar going to the Taj Mahal today?”

“Yes, he is. That’s not good.”

“Can you get someone on this grid? Some police to be there before whoever is supposed to meet shows? Break the whole thing

up?”

I heard nothing and said, “Nadia?”

“Pike, I... I can’t get that done in time. I don’t think you understand this country. There’s no way I can get a police

response in Agra from my position in the RAW. We don’t talk to each other. It’s just not going to happen. I would have no

idea who to even call.”

“What about Thakkar? You’re in the pre-wedding party. Can you tell him to wave off the Taj Mahal visit?”

“That might be easier. But I’ll let you know right now, he doesn’t like me. I’m here because of the bride, not him. Let me

call her.”

I said, “That’s not good enough. We’re packing up and heading to Agra. I’ll be at that grid before ten, and I need you to

give me backup.”

She said, “Wait, what does that mean?”

I was already shoving clothes into my carry-on, Jennifer one step ahead of me, calling Brett and Veep. I said, “It means I

need the RAW to keep me from being arrested, because I’m almost positive I’m going kinetic on their ass.”