The Acquaintance Page 16

  The truck rolled to a stop after a few seconds. Jogi pulled up beside them on the side of the road. Ram unbuckled Azhar and removed her from the truck at gun-point. They had to be discreet. Jogi hid his surprise well when he saw Azhar. He got into the bed to examine the bomb while Ram secured the woman in the sedan. He hand-cuffed her to the back of the car and manacled her feet as well. He duct-taped her mouth and pulled the burqa over her face.

  Ram climbed in. Jogi was hunched over the device. “So, what’s the verdict? Is it dangerous?”

  “Funny you should ask that. Because this isn’t a bomb at all. These are just the ingredients for a bomb.” Ram stepped towards him, he could now see what the boy was talking about. The chamber of the crate was filled with Semtex and wires, but it wasn’t connected to anything, there was no trigger, no detonation sequence, nothing. “What is this?”

  Jogi exhaled, “Good question.”

  “They have my daughter”, screamed the woman as soon as Ram took off the burqa. “You know I’m really getting tired of people screaming that in my face.”

  “We need to clean up the name”, said Jogi on his phone. “Priority alpha”, he hung up. Ram observed the truck, this had been a distraction to keep them occupied. He smiled. Just as Nargis had predicted. “Let’s get back. We can’t interrogate her on the side of the road.”

  “My name is Azhar, my daughter was kidnapped.”

  CHAPTER 38

  31 hours to deadline

  They were seated in what was left of the dead drop’s interrogation room. The cameras in the facility were still offline, which was a blessing. Nargis didn’t want to have a record of this interrogation anywhere. The woman who Rizwan called Azhar, was a thirty-five-year-old aide in the PMO’s office. Nargis could see the sheer fabric of her Burqa reveal her wallflower clothes underneath. She was dressed in a rosemary pink button down blouse and brown slacks, she was trying to blend into the environment. Trying to not draw attention to herself. A second nature to women in India. Do not draw unnecessary attention to yourself, dress modestly, don’t stay out late at night, if you do, you will be assaulted and it will be your fault. But what caught Nargis’ eye and probably the only thing that made her stand out was the white cloth she tied around her head. The Hijab was a garment meant to protect a girl’s modesty after she came of age. But in today’s world, it has become a beacon that attracts all the wrong kinds of attention. The irony was not lost on Nargis as she stroked her hair gingerly. She didn’t want to pull out another chunk like she had before. Why wear a hijab when you were already planning on wearing a burqa. Nargis concluded that the Burqa was not Azhar’s idea. Nargis pulled another pill from her pack and popped it in her mouth. It was getting more difficult with each passing hour. She didn’t know if it was actually from the cancer or some kind of reverse placebo effect her mind was pulling on her to throw her off her game. But the exhaustion and nausea seemed real enough to debilitate her from time to time.

  Ram entered the room. Nargis observed from behind the two-way mirror. He was the leading point on this investigation. Taking in Azhar’s pallid complexion and the hysterical look in her eyes, it was clear this woman was undergoing some serious trauma or was in the midst of a mental breakdown. Either way, she was not going to be dealt with by regular police. There was something off about the woman. She was not acting like a perpetrator but a victim. Either her conditioning was that good or she was delusionally insane. Nargis sighed. She could not catch a break. “They have my daughter, they have my daughter”, she began screaming as soon as she saw Ram enter the room. She reached for him hysterically but her handcuffs pulled her back to the table, her forearms bounced off the table with a painful bang. Ram came to sit opposite her, his back to the mirror. There was no question about it, the woman was in trouble, but she didn’t seem to care. All she wanted to know was about her daughter. Her daughter. Rizwan had told them that the girl was Shahzad’s daughter and Azhar was the girl’s mother. The woman before Nargis was genuinely distraught, the way only a mother could be after losing her child. Nargis looked down at her stomach. A loss she knew only too well. She hated herself for thinking it. Azhar had run away with Shahzad’s daughter, if Rizwan was to be believed. So Shahzad would go to any length to have her, so that he could punish her for betraying him. Even though he would not care for a female progeny. Retribution on the woman who dared cross him would be a very good incentive to bring him to the table.

  Ram leaned forward.

  “You do realise that you are in serious trouble, Miss….” Began Ram but he was cut off. “My name is Fatima Nasreen nee Azhar, my daughter was kidnapped two days ago. They told me to drive this truck to the given address or they would kill my daughter.”

  Oh for fuck’s sake. This was getting ridiculous.

  Azhar or Fatima Azhar Nasreen had driven a truck loaded with 21 kilograms of bricks, plastique and semtex. All the ingredients for an IED just not an IED itself. The back of her truck looked like an assortment of left-overs. The ingredients had been sent to the lab, which would come back with a match for the dirty bomb that took apart Chor Bazaar. Nargis knew it.

  “The men who took my child contacted me saying that I had to go to a certain location where I would be given further instructions.” Ram paused and glanced at the glass pane right at Nargis. The men who took Amina were Rizwan and Ram. Her child’s kidnapper was sitting right in front of her and she had no idea. “How did these men contact you? Did you see any of them in person?” They couldn’t have contacted her on an open channel. Every bit of communication from Azxhar’s house was being monitored. Her phone lines had been tapped, her wi-fi had been piggy backed, hell even her radio frequency was being monitored. The woman didn’t answer.

  “Lady you are something else. You send your people to shoot up this place, you rescue your daughter”, he said putting up air quotes around the word daughter, and then you drive a bomb that your boss asked you to drive towards a monument and you expect us to believe that you are an innocent victim in all this?”

  “They have my daughter”, the woman screamed. “You will never understand the loss of a child”, she was weeping now. Ram exhaled, “Honestly, I don’t want to understand what you’re going through. I don’t want to empathise with you.” The woman looked like she had been slapped. What are you doing Ram? Though Nargis observed him closely. This was not a good cop or bad cop, what was this new tactic? “You have just lost a child, I can’t imagine what you’re going through and frankly I hope I never get to experience what you’re feeling right now. And I hope you forgive me for that. But all I can doi right now is to help you get your daughter back, that is all I can help you with right now, so please tell me, where did these men approach you?”, said Ram, a little bemused. The woman blinked like a toddler would at a rattle toy, confused yet happy for some reason. She nodded.

  “Right after I got a call about the ransom. The kidnappers wanted me to arrange a meeting with Mahmoud Shahzad, the terrorist.” She began whimpering with tears in her eyes. She folded her hands and pleaded with Ram. “I don’t know him, I don’t know any terrorist, my daughter and I are not terrorists, please believe me.”

  Ram sighed, “Please just answer the question.”

  “She was unravelling, with tears running down her cheeks, she was hysterical. It was a sorry sight. The woman started smacking her forehead with her palms in frustration. “Hey, stop that”, said Ram restraining her. The woman stopped and looked him full in the face. She was trying to remember something. And then it clicked. She blanched and went into shock.

  The woman shut down. She began rocking back and forth where she sat like a catatonic crazy person. This seemed to unnerve Ram because he stared at Nargis through the window and she could tell that he was thinking the same thing. She could be telling the truth. This level of trauma couldn’t be faked.

  The men who had taken Amina from the dead drop could have told Azhar to drive the truck as a distraction. But from what? What was their end game? Wha
t was their target? Where was the bomb?

  Nargis punched in a few keys on her computer and pulled up the old DNA they had on file of Mahmoud Shahzad and the DNA she had taken off Amina. She had sent it to the lab on priority. But they had taken their sweet time. “Do you have it?”, she asked the doctor on her computer screen. “The sample you gave us was pristine so the match was a breeze, that’s why we were able to do such a rush job.”

  “Twenty four hours isn’t a rush job”, she seethed. “You really don’t know how long it actually takes for a DNA test do you?”, said the doctor condescendingly. “Do you have the results or not?”

  The doctor nodded, “Sample A has no familial matches to sample B.”

  She could feel her heart do a slow motion dive into the acids of her gut. Every single ache, pain and wound she had ever endured seemed to flare up at once. She felt her throat constrict and she involuntarily held her breath. This was the third time in her life she felt like she was drowning. She was starting to hate it. She leaned on the glass and looked back at the results on her screen.

  Just as she had suspected. Amina was not Shahzad’s daughter.

  Nargis knocked on the glass frantically. She had dialled the hospital but no one was picking up. A moment later Ram entered the viewing room. He looked alarmed, “What is it?” Nargis exhaled deeply and hung up. “I need you to get to the hospital. I need you to keep an eye on Rizwan.” Ram relaxed, “He’s not going anywhere.” But when he caught Nargis’ expression, he knew something was terribly wrong.

  CHAPTER 39

  The boy was agitated, his meeting with the council of elders hadn’t gone the way he had planned. The Maerifa had let him down. He paced his tent, frustration clawing up his throat. They were going to make a decision on the leadership of ICARUS in a matter of days. He picked up the special blend of tea that Massoud had given him and poured himself a cup. He drank the tea in one gulp, savouring the burn as it scalded his throat on the way down.

  He continued to pace. They had to find a way to salvage the situation. After all those years of abuse and taunt, his birthright was within reach. He was not going to let it go without a fight. Out of nowhere, he felt light headed, dizzy, his vision blurred as he struggled to stay upright.

  He looked at the cup in his hand and the realisation hit him hard. He had been drugged. He called out for help and fell to his knees. In his delirium he saw a man enter the tent. He felt hands on his shoulders steadying him, but he couldn’t stay awake. He felt the man move closer and then everything went black. When he awoke, he could see a host of faces staring down at him. He looked down and he saw that he was naked. He pulled his sheema over his privates and tried to get up. He felt a sharp jab in his abdomen and he fell back. An elderly man stood over him with a look of raging disapproval. The head of the council of elders spat at him. Rizwan felt his head clear and the room came into focus, he was surrounded by a group of ten men, the council of elders, Massoud, the Maerifa and inexplicably, a naked boy he had never seen before, the boy was standing there naked and bound, he had been lashed with canes and was bleeding from his shins and his torso. Rizwan didn’t know what was happening. He looked at the Maerifa for answers, the Maerifa averted his eyes looking disappointed and disgusted. “You will lay with men will you?”, said the old man with the cane “And you wish to lead the holy warriors of Allah?”

  “What are you saying?”, said the boy trying to sit up. “Don’t bother denying it, we caught you red-handed in your perversion with this mongrel”, said Massoud dragging the naked boy forward. “We found you lying with him in undress. Imagine a sodomite leading ICARUS ‘’, laughed Massoud and the rest of the people gathered there laughed along with him. “I’ve seen and heard enough’’, said the old man with the cane. “This is all a lie I did not engage in any relation with this man”, said Rizwan desperately. He felt the cane crack against his jaw. He tasted liquid rust on his tongue. “Enough from you. If it were up to me, I would have you flogged till death, but as it stands, the Maerifa has convinced me to show you mercy. You will leave the valley and never return.” The men advanced on him, they picked him up and led him out. Rizwan was in a daze, whatever he had been drugged with still hadn’t left his system. He was thrown out roughly along with a few clothes and a pair of ratty old sandals. Rizwan tried to push back into the settlement but was met with violent force. Two sentries were assigned to watch him leave. When he tried to push past them, they threatened to shoot him. He stood before them, adamant not to leave till he had explained himself.

  He waited for Maerifa. Day turned to night but still no one came. He was feeling hungry and faint but he dared not sleep again. He kept his eyes open and waited. Around midnight, he saw Maerifa approach him with a backpack. “I was drugged, I have no idea who that guy was. I would never. I’m not gay I swear to you”, said Rizwan vehemently, as soon as the Maerifa was within earshot. The Maerifa grabbed him roughly by his shoulders and shook him, “It doesn’t matter anymore it’s too late, he beat you at your own game.” Rizwan slumped back, was it over? Just like that? His destiny had turned to ashes in the span of a few hours. He stood there trying to understand what had just happened. Massoud would be sworn in as chief of the mountain warriors of ICARUS, while Rizwan would be exiled.

  “What do I do now?”, said the boy. The Maerifa sighed, “You return to India.”

  “How? After coming here my passport will be flagged.”

  “Don’t worry about any of that, it’s all been taken care of”, said the Maerifa handing him the backpack, new passports, visas, everything you need. Once you get to India, you will have a job waiting for you. Don’t worry you will still be able to fulfil your destiny, just give me some time.”

  “Are you disappointed in me Maerifa?”, asked the boy. “I will find a use for you yet Rizwan, trust me”, said the Maerifa with a smile.

  CHAPTER 40

  The nurse at the reception smiled at Ram as he blew past her. His heart was in his mouth as he sprinted between the corridors towards Rizwan’s room. The floor seemed uncharacteristically empty. Where was everybody? He turned the corner and made for room 302, the special private room for Rizwan Zaid.

  “Where is the patient that was in room 302”, said Ram sprinting over to the night nurse’s desk. She looked to be in her early twenties with brown hair highlighted with blonde extensions. She had large, expressive eyes like an anime character. The eyes had gone dinner plate wide when Ram had questioned her about Rizwan.

  It was clear she was taken aback by his tone. But he had no time to observe social niceties. Besides, she was a nurse. She had to develop quite a thick skin to survive in this job.

  He had only one thought in his mind as he watched the nurse fumble. Rizwan was gone.

  “Give me a moment sir. I just need to check the records’’, she stammered as she typed on her keyboard. “There must be something wrong”, she said, finally looking up. “What do you mean?”, said Ram trying to keep calm. “There is no record of this patient ever being admitted.” Ram was about to lose it when he remembered that they had brought Rizwan here under the cloak of Nargis’ spy mumbo jumbo, of course there wouldn’t be a record. He turned to her. The nurse looked absolutely terrified. She was a young girl, probably right out of nursing school. She wouldn’t know the details of what went around on this wing. He softened. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, it’s just been a long day. But look who I’m talking to, of course you know what it means to have a shitty day don’t you…”, he leaned over to get her name from her name tag. “Lisa”, he said with a charming smile. The young nurse relaxed, she even gave him a smile. “Lisa, I just need to know if you saw anyone enter or exit that room since your shift started?” The nurse shook her head. I’ve been here twenty minutes and I haven’t seen anybody, except for the man in room 208.” She was talking about Rizwan. He was sound asleep. Ram had checked. “What about security footage? Is there any way I could take a look at the day’s footage? I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t imp
ortant.”

  The nurse looked unconvinced. “Sir that’s not our policy. Maybe I can get the supervising nurse for you.” Ram pulled out his badge, “Ma’am, it’s a matter of national security, please.” The nurse bit her lip, she was new, she didn’t want to get into trouble. But she also didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the law. Ram knew she had to have some clue what went on in this wing. It was all hush-hush, so national security wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. “Sir, you don’t understand, I’m just the night nurse, I don’t have access to the security feed.” Ram cursed under his breath. He could ask Ranveer but he knew it would be pointless, he was under heavy sedation. He was going to sleep through the weekend. He sighed, “You know what, on second thought, please contact the doctor on duty if you could.” The nurse nodded and paged a doctor. The nurse looked up apologetically. What now? Thought Ram. “The doctor is in surgery.” Ram sighed exasperatedly, “How long will he be?”