Page 33 of Rising Tiger

Identifying the commander, a fat and obviously lazy cop, leaning against his patrol vehicle with a baton under his arm and a lit cigarette in his mouth, she approached him and said, “Do something.”

“Excuse me, ma’am?” the officer said, taken aback.

“You heard me.Do something.”

“Ma’am, the Rapid Reaction Force has been alerted. We are not equipped to deal with mob actions.”

Asha glanced at the front seat of his cruiser, where an array of crowd control devices had been stacked. “What’s all of that, then?”

“That’s for our protection. If the need arises.”

“Yourprotection?” she shot back. “What about protection of the Siddiqui family and their home?”

“Ma’am, you are interfering with my ability to do my job. Please step back.”

“As far as I can see, you’re not doing anything.”

“We are monitoring the situation, ma’am,” the officer replied.

“That’s not good enough,” said Asha. “Sergeant Siddiqui is a member of India’s armed forces.”

One of the other cops standing nearby said derisively in Hindi, “He’s also a Muslim.”

It was an unprofessional slur and should have immediately been rebuked by the commander, and the offending officer reprimanded. Instead, the lead officer continued to lean on his cruiser, smoking.

“Our troops work around the clock to keep you and your families safe,regardlessof religion. You owe them the same respect and obligation in return,” she stated.

The commander looked at her, took a deep drag from his cigarette,and held it for a moment before exhaling. Dropping the butt to the ground, he crushed it out with his boot and then motioned for his men to follow him.

Asha watched, expecting them to start breaking things up and pushing people back, away from the Siddiquis’ home. That wasn’t what happened.

The cops walked over to another cruiser, where the fat commander struck the same, lazy pose and lit another cigarette. The message being sent to the crowd was obvious—we’re not here to do anything.

Asha had only a handful of options—none of them good. She had promised the flight mechanic that she would protect his family. Right now, however, she couldn’t even make it to the front door.

Complicating matters was the lack of action by the police. The mob would only grow angrier and more emboldened. Some in the crowd were already throwing rocks at the house, which caused Asha even more concern.

The most common trigger, worldwide, that tripped an angry mob into violence was the sound of breaking glass. It was like a starting gun that opened a destructive and potentially deadly set of floodgates.

When one of the rock throwers in the street succeeded in shattering an upstairs window, Asha knew she had run out of time. She had to act.

Opening the passenger-side door of the cruiser, she grabbed a 40mm launcher, slung a bandolier studded with less-lethal munitions, and headed toward the crowd.

Before the cops even realized what was going on, she had loaded the four-shot launcher and had taken aim at the mob.

The first device she fired was a warning munition. Holding the launcher at an angle, she pressed the trigger and sent the projectile high into the air. It detonated twenty feet above the crowd with an earsplitting, 170-decibel explosion and a blinding, five-million-candela flash.

A collective panic spread through the mob. People started screaming and running away.

There was a handful of about fifteen who had decided to charge the house and were trying to kick in the door. Asha advanced and turned her attention on them next.

The next three shots to erupt from the launcher were called WASPs.Each munition contained fourteen rubberized projectiles accurate to fifty feet with an eight-foot spread. In other words, none of the rioters were spared. Each was struck multiple times and each strike caused excruciating pain.

By the time any of the mob realized where the shots had come from, Asha had already reloaded and was firing at them again as she closed the rest of the distance.

Those who could, ran. Those who couldn’t, limped. The rest had to be helped away by their comrades.

In the end, Asha had succeeded in her objective. She had cleared a path to the house and had made it to the front entrance.