Page 50 of Rising Tiger

CHAPTER 28

“Ihave no idea who they were,” Asha replied, shaken from the attack and feeling wiped out from the adrenaline dump. She handed her phone to Raj. “Maybe you can find something. I took pictures of the bodies.”

She had snuck into the Blind Relief Association via the Delhi Golf Club, coming through the trees, making very sure she hadn’t been followed.

Gupta handed her a bag of ice to apply to her chest, while Raj swiped through the photos.

“I don’t recognize any of these men,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean somebody else won’t. I’ll get these uploaded and we’ll see what we can find. In the meantime, the fact that they tried to subdue you first tells me that someone thinks you’ve got valuable information.”

“Someone,” Gupta added, “whom Asha wouldn’t speak with unless she was forced to.”

Raj nodded, still studying the photos.

“And the fact that they then tried to kill me?”

“They see you,” said Raj, “and very likely us, along with what we’re doing here, as a threat.”

“You don’t think this could be blowback from a past assignment?”

“No,” said the man. “The timing would be too coincidental. And I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Ever the pragmatist, Gupta was already thinking ahead. “The firstthing we need to do,” he said, “is to scrub you from the scene. CCTV, shell casings, all of it. We also need to muddy up any witness accounts that might help identify Asha.”

“But Delhi police must already be crawling all over the place,” she stated.

“Don’t worry about that,” Raj instructed. “I’ll make a couple of calls. In the meantime, we need to face the unfortunate reality that whatever we are up against, they have a much bigger reach than we had anticipated.”

“Which means we need to be even more careful.”

“Exactly. Unfortunately, any hopes I had of expanding our operational footprint, of bringing more people on board, are now dead and buried. This is going to have to be it,” he said, pointing at them all. “The three of us.”

“How?” Asha demanded. “This is a massive undertaking, not to mention that I was almost killed an hour ago.”

“But you weren’t killed,” Gupta clarified. “You’re very much still alive—a testament to your skill and training.”

“My skill and training aside, we can’t do this with just three people. It’s impossible. We don’t even completely know who and what we’re up against.”

“When a camel is at the foot of a mountain, only then judge its height.”

“You’re quoting Indian proverbs now? Seriously?”

“Trust me. Everything is going to be all right. We can do this and, Asha, wemustdo this.”

It was the first time her boss had ever addressed her by her first name. It was jarring, but strangely reassuring at the same time.

“Okay,” she replied. “How do we do it?”

“Let’s start with the helicopter footage you brought back from Coonoor.”

CHAPTER 29

JAIPUR

Harvath had been glad to get back to the hotel last night. Vijay had been kind enough to offer to join him if he wanted a nightcap in the bar, but all he had really wanted to do was to get to sleep. He hadn’t had a solid eight hours since before he’d gone into Kabul.

The next morning, he awoke refreshed, but not exactly one hundred percent. He was certain the discomfort he was feeling was thanks to last night’s ghost pepper—on top of all the other spicy food.

After taking a nice, long hot shower, he shaved and ordered room service. Nothing too heavy—a stack of buttered toast and a pot of tea. Coffee was out of the question—even if it meant that less caffeine in his system was going to also make him less than fun to deal with all day.