Page 43 of Into the Gray Zone (Pike Logan #19)

The bartender asked Mr.Chin if he’d like another old-fashioned, and Mr.Chin said, “No, you’re right. Another one will bite

me. May I have a glass of water and a menu, though?”

The bartender smiled and slid across a menu, then went to get the water. Another couple came in, taking a seat two stools

away. Mr.Chin nodded at them as if he was enjoying his time, but he most certainly was not.

He pretended to study the menu, giving him a reason not to engage with anyone, while his mind furiously tried to determine

what had become of his mission.

The Americans were more formidable than he had envisioned, but they’d had nothing to do with stopping the attack on Thakkar.

From what the Condor team leader had said, they wouldn’t have had the ability to execute. Given when the team had engaged,

there wasn’t enough time to unravel what Mr.Chin had planned. They would have had to know the precise method and timing of

the mission in order to stop it, and if they had known that, they could have simply had someone waiting to catch Kamal or

his men. Or told Thakkar to skip his visit to the Taj Mahal.

But they did know something about the Agra Fort, or they wouldn’t have gone there. First they went to New Delhi while Mr. Chin’s team was there, then followed them to Agra, but always a step behind.

How?

Somewhere, there was a leak. But it couldn’t be anyone on Kamal’s team, or they’d all have been rolled up by the RAW immediately.

And Kamal’s team were the only ones who knew. Somehow the Americans were getting breadcrumbs and successfully following them.

And then he remembered the two hardened men on Thakkar’s security detail, Jaiden and Rakesh. They were friends of Kamal and

maybe they’d talked. Maybe Kamal had given generalities of what they were doing without specifics. Enough for them to tell

the Americans, giving them a vague outline to follow.

But that theory also had holes. They were both willing to kill Thakkar in Goa, and had, in fact, set him up for it. Why would

they try to stop it in Agra? They worked purely for money, and Mr.Chin had paid them well over the years. They didn’t care

what occurred, as long as the money was right. And then he remembered: Goa was where that attack had been thwarted by the

Americans.

Maybe those two were playing a double game, taking his money while also working for the Americans. The more he thought about

it, the more likely it seemed. Thakkar was their meal ticket, and with him gone, they’d be out of work. Maybe they’d been

taking Mr.Chin’s money all along while doing whatever they could to keep their benefactor alive. It would explain why they

didn’t just insist Thakkar not go to the Taj Mahal, as they’d have to explain how they knew something was occurring. It would

also explain why they let him have dinner on a patio at a resort in Goa when they knew a kill team was coming. They’d already

told the Americans to prevent execution.

He felt the anger build, convinced he was right. Those two would have to be dealt with, but not before he completed his mission against Thakkar. He’d have to carefully construct his plan in such a way as to use their ability to get close while foiling any ability to thwart it.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a breaking news report. He turned to the screen and saw the outside of the Agra Fort,

the same newsman who had been at the Taj Mahal giving a report. He was no longer calm and smiling, but sweating, his face

a mask of serious concern, the area around him swirling with uniformed personnel and police cars with lights flashing.

Mr.Chin focused on the closed captioning coming across the screen, seeing that a terrorist attack had occurred at the fort

itself, not the Taj Mahal.

He said, “Could you turn that up?”

The bartender did so, and Mr.Chin heard that an Islamic terrorist had tried to launch an explosive-laden drone from the roof

of a palace on the grounds, but it had misfired, killing the terrorist.

So that’s what happened.

The reporter continued, saying it was a single man who initiated the attack, and authorities didn’t suspect any further danger.

Authorities were trying to determine how the terrorist managed to smuggle explosives and a drone into the compound, suspecting

he had inside help, and vowed to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Mr.Chin thought, Good luck with that . Then, A single terrorist?

Kamal and the others must have escaped. He woke his tablet and flicked to the Garmin tracking application, wanting to see

where the other three had fled.

The screen showed no information at all, simply saying, Connection lost.

He furrowed his eyes, closed the application, checked the cell connectivity, then booted it up again. The same screen appeared. All four of the watches were no longer transmitting, meaning the persons wearing them were dead, or they’d been shut down intentionally.

No more than thirty minutes ago, all four were at the Agra Fort, each transmitting a pulse rate and location, and now all

four were gone?

He heard the television say Thakkar’s name and returned to the news report. The anchor was now saying that government sources

had confirmed that Riva Thakkar’s visit to the Taj Mahal was purely coincidental, and that he was not specifically targeted,

as the incident occurred a full ten minutes after the billionaire had left the grounds.

What? That made absolutely no sense.

The reporter continued, saying authorities believed the terrorist had no knowledge of Thakkar’s visit and was forced to wait

until after he left for his attack, convinced he intended to kill more people than Thakkar’s group provided.

What on earth is going on?