Page 63 of Rising Tiger

“After you ‘stole’ the motorbike, what happened to it?”

The gangster took a deep breath. “You don’t want to know.”

“Do I strike you as a man who doesn’t want to know?” asked Vijay. “Because I’ll gladly hit you again if it’ll help clear things up.”

There was nothing better than a smart-ass cop. As he had with Mrs. Ali, Harvath tried not to smile.

“Listen, Rahul,” he continued. “You give us the information we want and we’ll disappear. You’ll never see us again. But if you don’t give it to us,you’lldisappear and no one will ever seeyouagain. So, let’s stop playing games. What’s it going to be?”

Kumar was conflicted. “If I tell you what you want to know, I simply trade one set of problems for another. The person who arranged for that motorbike isn’t going to cooperate with you. He’s going to kill you. Then he’s going to kill your Gora. And after that’s done, he’s going to come here and kill my entire family.”

“Not if we kill him first,” Harvath chimed in.

Vijay let go of the gangster’s throat and stepped aside so Harvath could address him.

“Someone used that motorbike to kill a friend of mine. I’m going to settle the score.”

Kumar shook his head. “Everyone who has gone after this person has failed. He has been shot, stabbed, poisoned, thrown from a building, and hit by a car—twice. It’s said that he can’t die.”

“Believe me,” Harvath stated, “if I decide he needs to die, he’sgoingto die.”

“And judging by the attempts on his life,” Vijay interjected, “I’m guessing that you two know each other from the ‘business’ world.”

Kumar nodded.

“And if he ended up disappearing, you might be able to profit from his absence?”

The gangster thought about it for a moment before warily responding. “We would be expanding into new territory, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

“So here’s how this plays out,” said the ex-cop. “You’re going to give us everything you have on this person and we’ll take care of the rest. If you tip him off that we’re coming, if you try to ingratiate yourself and cause him to be indebted to you, we will make sure you lose everything. And I meaneverything—your business, your family, your life.Allof it. Is that clear?”

Once again, Kumar nodded.

“Good,” replied Vijay, picking up a pad of paper and a pencil from the closest desk. “Start talking.”

Fifteen minutes later, they left the office and closed the door behind them. Upon it they taped a sign that Vijay had written:Meeting in progress. Do not disturb. Do not knock.

Back at the Jaguar, they re-stashed their gear in the duffle bag and checked on Pinaki. Even parked in the shade, it had gotten quite warm in the trunk. The man was soaked through with perspiration. Vijay cut off his restraints and helped him out.

“Is he dead?” the man asked.

“Who?” Harvath replied as he placed the duffle inside. “Your boss, Kumar?”

Pinaki nodded.

“A little worse for wear, but still alive.”

“Does he know it was me? Does he know I told you where to find him?”

“He knows we were there about the motorbike,” said Harvath.

“You mean he knows you were there aboutmymotorbike.”

“Technically,” Vijay clarified, “it’s your mother’s motorbike. She paid for it.”