Page 77 of Rising Tiger

“Well in this movie,” the ex-cop exclaimed, pointing at the two of them, “there’d better be a happy ending. Because if there’s one thing we demand in India, it’s happy endings.”

“And if there’s one thing we demand in America, it’s that justice be done before there can be any ending—happy or otherwise.”

“Here’s hoping both of our audiences get what they want,” said Vijay, sticking out his fist.

Harvath gave it a bump and watched as up ahead of them the majestic city of New Delhi came into view.

CHAPTER 42

New Delhi was everything Harvath had expected it to be—congested, loud, frenetic, dirty, colorful, vibrant, energetic, and alive, overflowing with humanity. There were trees everywhere.

Scooters fought with autorickshaws, which fought with taxis, which fought with buses, which fought with trucks. It was a symphony of chaos. Everyone was in a hurry, jockeying for position, at least until the next red light, when drivers would lean out their windows and laugh and chat with each other.

Some of the things Harvath saw were on a whole other level of beauty—the colors of women’s bright saris, the sidewalk carts exploding with fruits and vegetables, shrines and temples dripping with flowers.

Some of the things were heart-wrenching—the crushing poverty, the disease, the trash, and the filth.

Then there were the things he had never seen before—like traffic, on a major thoroughfare, patiently stopped, allowing a stray cow to cross unmolested. No one so much as honked. India was like no country he had ever visited.

Vijay explained that they were fortunate to have such a clean air day. When he had left New Delhi, he hadn’t been able to drop the Jaguar’s top until he was a half hour outside the city. The smog had been that bad. Harvath was receiving another grand introduction to one of India’s most incredible cities.

The ex-cop had made and received multiple phone calls during their drive—all in rapid-fire Hindi, peppered with words in English. He was working his contacts, trying to get a lead on the whereabouts of Aga Sayed. So far, all of it had been a bust.

This was the part of any assignment that Harvath hated the most—when it began to stall.

While conducting surveillance or passing hours—sometimes even days—in a hide site was often mind-numbingly boring, having all of your leads dry up could turn out to be a death knell for an operation.

“If you were going to force his hand and flush him out into the open, how would you do that?” Harvath asked.

Vijay thought for a moment and responded, “I would take something that belonged to him. Somethingveryimportant.”

“Does he have a wife? Girlfriend? Kids?”

“These guys all have girlfriends. None of them rate very high on the importance scale. They’re toys. Objects of pleasure.”

“There’s got to be something he cares about enough to risk everything for,” said Harvath.

“I suppose if you interdicted a load of G-Company’s drugs or stole a whole bunch of valuable contraband, he might expose himself. But more likely than not, he’d just send an army of thugs after you.”

This was getting them nowhere. There had to be some way to get Aga Sayed to pop up. “If we can’t take something from him, what can we bait him with? What would be too good for him, personally, to pass up?”

“That’s entirely too easy,” said Vijay. “We give him me.”

“You?”

“Of course,me. I caught him. I got him sent to prison. And I did such damage when I threw him off that roof that he lives in a constant state of arthritic pain. Believe me, not a day goes by that he doesn’t think of me; not a storm rolls in where he isn’t cursing my name and wishing for my death.”

“Unfortunately,” Harvath replied, “that’s a bridge too far. The United States isn’t going to use you for bait. That goes above and beyond what you’re being paid for.”

“Then I quit.”

“No you don’t. You’re one of the best FSN/Is I’ve ever worked with. The embassy is lucky to have you. They can’t afford to lose you.”

“When I drop you at your hotel, I’ll write out my resignation by hand. You can decide what you want to do with it.”

Harvath shook his head. “I already told you. It won’t be accepted.”

“That’s the funny thing about resignations. If I resign,I resign. There really isn’t anything you can do about it.”