The Acquaintance Read online

  The building was identical to the other rows of dilapidated structures he had passed. There was no light inside. There was no door to speak of, just a gaping hole in the wall that served as an entrance. He looked at the coordinates. He was right at the location. He drew his weapon and entered the building. He tiptoed through the entrance without making a sound. The moonlight flooding in behind him illuminated his way. The room was empty, there didn’t seem to be any sign of life there. But he could still see the footprints, he followed them a little further and stopped dead in his tracks. Three feet in front of him draped over a chair was a maroon blazer, a part of the Saint Grace orphanage’s school uniform. He hurried over to the chair and picked it up, as he did, he could see that the blazer had been covering a stack of manila folders. He opened the first one and rifled through it, he read the second, then the third. As he wrapped the folders in the blazer, he realised that Nargis had sent him here for a reason and it wasn’t Amina.

  Make it so that Ram doesn’t have to follow coordinates but specific directions. Like turn left at and so forth.

  CHAPTER 50

  Nargis felt a weight pressing down on her when she came to. She had been trained to not panic in such situations, but the pressure on her chest was akin to sleep paralysis in the dark and cramped space. She felt the creature’s teeth flash in the darkness, a Cheshire cat smile that made Nargis scream, but to her horror, no sound escaped her throat. She was being suffocated by the monster. She could see its long lithe limbs stalking forward. It’s face emerged from the darkness like an omen of ill. Was this the hell reaper, come to take her away to purgatory? Where she would suffer for all her sins. The creature was inches from her face, it looked like a hell hound, but instead of a dog’s face, she was staring at a creature wearing a plague mask with the elongated beak. She could smell rotten flowers.

  Flowers that helped plague doctors from being overpowered by the stench of dead bodies. But the smell of dead flowers was overwhelming Nargis as the creature pressed harder against her lungs. She jerked awake and found herself back in the catacombs. She had passed out. Why? Oh right the cancer. She tried to get to her feet but her hands wouldn’t support her. Just a moment ago she was high on victory, she had just stopped a major attack and saved the Prime Minister, who by her calculations would be a few feet above her head delivering a rousing speech about unity and strength. No one would know that a cancer-stricken woman had just saved their lives. If only they knew. And that’s how she liked it.

  She was drenched in sewage water. She badly needed to take a bath. If only she could get her body to move. On second thought, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to cut off her breasts after all. She was pallid, her body was broken and she could hardly move. The figure that had helped her hovered over her. She could hear a concerned voice, but she couldn’t make out who it was. The only thought that was running through her mind was to check on Rizwan. Was he dead? She was drifting in and out of consciousness. The figure in the plague mask stood over her, it’s black cloak billowing even though there was no breeze. She saw the beak open and the figure said, “She is alive.”

  The last words she heard before embracing the darkness.

  Nargis woke with a splitting headache and an itch on her forearm. She opened her eyes and took in the sterile room, it was furnished like a hotel suite but she knew that she was in a secure wing at the International Medical Institute hospital. She pulled out the tube that was helping her breathe and scratched at the drip plugged into her bloodstream. She had to get out of here. She needed to know what had happened? She began pulling out the drip from her hand which caused pain to shoot through her entire nervous system. An ear-splitting beeping sound pierced her sinuses as the headache nearly caused her to blackout again. What was that infernal beeping? “Easy there.” Said a gentle voice grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her back onto the bed. She looked up to see a handsome face smiling at her. “The church. I need to get out of here.” She tried to get up again, but he held her down firmly. “You aren’t going anywhere. You need to rest. You need to recover”, said the handsome man. “What are you doing? Let me out of here”, Nargis protested fiercely. A nurse had come in and the infernal beeping had finally stopped.

  “Ma’am please don’t struggle, you’ll rip out your stitches”, said the nurse with his right hand raised like he was addressing a crazed lunatic. He was still holding her down with the other. She had been handcuffed to the bed. If the people who had found her had the presence of mind to bring her here, then they knew who she was. They wouldn’t dare have handcuffed her. Unless… John had told them to detain her. Nargis fell back onto the pillows gritting her teeth. The nurse stuck the needle back into her forearm. While she felt another prick on her neck, where the hell had she come from? “It’s a mild sedative to help you relax”, said the doctor as he examined her vitals and other readings from all the machines she was hooked up to. He was a portly man, with an affable face and a friar tuck bald spot on his crown. He frowned at the readings in his hand. Nargis watched him instruct the nurse in hushed tones. The man was dancing in her vision. She could taste bile and blood on her tongue. It felt like she was on life support, but Nargis knew damn well that she didn’t need any. Even with the cancer, she was far from done. She still had fight left in her.

  She was feeling dizzy. Her vision swam as the men and women went around her bed poking and prodding at her. At one point she saw the nurse examine what looked like a colostomy bag filled with dark brown urine. Oh god. What had happened to her? Was she an invalid? She could still feel every nerve in her, screaming in protest. She was in pain. They hadn’t administered any painkillers which she took to be a good sign.

  The nurse had let her go but it felt like another weight seemed to be preventing her from getting up. Her limbs felt heavy, like they were sinking into the mattress. Nargis wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and let the sedative take her into oblivion, but she knew that no amount of drugs would put her to sleep unless she got to the Saint Grace orphanage. She saw her phone on the table beside her bed. It was still Easter. She shot out of bed. The handsome nurse came for her but she was ready this time, she used her uncuffed hand to put him in a pronating wrist lock and threw him on the bed. The nurse with the overbite screamed. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll break his arm”, said Nargis and the nurse fell silent. She was operating on pyre adrenaline. “I’m discharging myself, so I need my clothes.” The nurse stood there staring at her wordlessly like a fish out of water. She was clearly in shock. “Please go get my clothes”, she said more forcefully. The overbite nurse sprung into action, “And if you let anyone, I’ll be forced to snap his neck”, she said pointing to the handsome nurse pushing his face into the mattress. The man whimpered like a child. As the nurse left, Nargis noticed that her other arm was in a sling. Had she broken it in the fall? “What happened to my arm?”, she asked the handsome nurse. “It was sprained, you don’t need a sling, it was just a precautionary measure”, he said pathetically. “Please don’t hurt him”, said a voice from the doorway. The nurse had arrived with her clothes.

  CHAPTER 51

  The Saint Grace orphanage looked like a mausoleum. A British gothic monstrosity with filed down spires and water stained brownstone. It was set on three acres of prime real estate in South Mumbai. That in itself would be enough grounds to kill for. Three acres of real estate in South Mumbai was a literal gold mine. Nargis always marvelled at the absurdity of owning a piece of the planet. The finite amount of square footage the earth had and we humans could lay claim to every bit of it, if we had the money. She picked up her pace as she made her away through the freshly watered grounds that sloshed water into her flats.

  It was a safe bet to assume that the girl was here. Azhar was still in CTU custody, and since Amina didn’t have any family on record, it was safe to assume that the school would assume the role of temporary guardian. Unorthodox but since the parents in the place would not leave their children in the hands of gover
nment social workers in any eventuality. The uptight sisters of the orphanage were the next best thing. She approached the office of the Principal, mother Sarah. She had called ahead and made an appointment. It was still early in the morning and Nargis was feeling groggy. She looked a little worse for wear with her bruised eye and sprained shoulder blade that left her left arm in a sling. She had a severely pulled calf muscle that caused her excruciating pain when she walked but she couldn’t let any of that slow her down. She needed to get to Amina. The men who took her from the dead drop worked for Hades enterprises, the largest private military contractor in the world. They had no standing to operate on Indian soil and as such they couldn’t get out of the country without her saying so.

  Nargis had finally figured out how Amina factored into this. All she needed was confirmation. She knocked on the door and waited. The door creaked open and Nargis stepped in, “Good morning mother Sarah, I apologise for calling on you this early.”

  “No, need for apologies Nargis, you know I never sleep”, said a voice from behind the Principal’s desk. Nargis’ heart dropped into her stomach when she saw her acquaintance from HOMA staring at her with a serene smile on his lips.

  “What are you doing here?”, stammered Nargis though she knew exactly what he was doing. The implications were just too staggering for her to accept. HOMA was behind all this. “You seem surprised?”, he said standing up and walking towards her. He spread his arms and came in for an embrace. Nargis flinched and recoiled as he enveloped her in his embrace. She could smell hints of his favourite cologne. Sauvage by Dior. She winced as he let go. “Oh my apologies. How are you feeling? I’m sure the last couple of days haven’t been kind to you, especially with your condition.” Nargis felt like he had slapped her. “My condition?”

  “Now Nargis, don’t be coy. We’re all friends here.” Nargis gave him a withering glare, “Are we all friends here though?” The acquaintance held up a hand to his chest, “You wound me Nargis.”

  “Well you tried to kill me”, she spat at him. “Now that wasn’t personal, it was just business and speaking of which, why don’t you take a seat, I’m sure your calf-muscle would thank you”, he said pulling up a chair for her. Ever the gentleman. She sat down but didn’t take her eyes off him. She still had her trusty Beretta M9A3 with a silencer tucked away in her cast. “Why?”, said Nargis. The acquaintance sighed, “It’s always the why, never the how.”

  He took the chair beside Nargis and sat down facing her. He took off his spectacles and massaged the bridge of his nose. “The why is quite simple really. Money.” Nargis shook her head, acquaintances have always maintained the paramount importance of money, but this seemed too much of a plan for only money to be the endgame. “I don’t buy it, you wouldn’t do all of this just for money.”

  “Just for money? Hardly dear. This isn’t just money, it is world-shaping, tectonic plates shifting continent forming, life form eviscerating money.” He laid a hand on her knee, “You’re here so you must know part of the story at the very least.” Nargis didn’t respond, she carefully retracted her knee from under his hand and stared at him in silence. “Very well”, he said leaning back into his chair and studying her intently. “Do you know who Yusuf bin Abdulaziz is?” Nargis didn’t respond, but she knew very well who Yusuf bin Abdulaziz was. He was the heir to the Saudi royal family. Heir to the biggest oil empire in the world. The acquaintance smiled at her, “You do know who he is. Well, you might know him as prince Yusuf bin Abdulaziz, CEO of the Saudi oil empire but what you may not know is that he is little Amina’s father.” The floor dropped from beneath Nargis’ feet. “You see all of this was decades in the making. You, your husband, even poor Jogi were all instrumental in this. Though I must admit, I never thought we would ever be able to work Jogi to our advantage after what we did to him, but then again when your cause is just the universe conspires to help you succeed.”

  “What does Amina have to do with this?”

  “I’m getting there, you see, young Amina is…how do I put it delicately, an illegitimate child. Nasreen Azhar is an Indian national who fell in love with the Prince when she was all but an intern at the Prime Minister’s office. Who knew that forbidden romance could be so fruitful to our country. You see, when HOMA found out that Azhar was pregnant, our first plan was to place this child into the Royal family and work her Indian descent to our advantage. But imagine our disappointment when we found out that it was a girl. The Saudi family would never acknowledge her claim let alone let her live if she became a nuisance. So, we had to pivot, if we couldn’t use her to infiltrate the family we could use her to take them out, or a very valuable piece of the family to be more specific.” Nargis drew in a sharp breath. “You’re planning to kill the prince Yusuf. All of this was leading up to an assassination attempt.” The acquaintance smiled again, baring his teeth, “You’ve finally caught on. You see, Yusuf wasn’t much in the father or husband department, but being a prince, we hit him where it would hurt him most, his ego. What would it say about him, if he couldn’t protect his only daughter from harm?”

  “All this for an oil pipeline, you manipulated Rizwan, Jogi and me for this?”

  The acquaintance’s smile faltered, “Don’t be so reductive Nargis. It’s not just any pipeline, it is the single largest production chain intercontinental oceanic pipeline which is just orgasmic in its scope. And we are in the most unique position to acquire it for this country. You see the India 2020 superpower pipe dream that we have. This is the pipe that will make that dream a reality. You’re talking about assassinating the heir to the Saudi Royal family. China, Russia and the United States have long leveraged their teeth, but now they’re getting tired. And we are on the next avenue, the prince’s successor is the old guard. His successor will be more amenable to our terms. This deal will single handedly make us an uncontentious super power. Russia is staying out of it. The only people who would benefit from this deal going sideways are the Chinese and the Americans.”

  She stared at him. She couldn’t believe there ever was a time where she considered him a mentor. He leaned in, his eyes sparkling. “And since it was his own mercenary team that liberated Amina, he has no reason to suspect us. A rogue agent trying to make her chops went insane and kidnapped the girl. As soon as John Abraham came to know of this he shut her down and is now personally taking responsibility for little Amina’s safety. But now that her identity is known, it is no longer safe for her to be in this country. Not that we wouldn’t die protecting her of course, but it would be better if she was close to her father. And that is what we want, Amina as close to her father as possible.”

  “What did Jogi inject her with?”, said Nargis. “You catch on pretty quick. How did you know?”

  “Rizwan saw her being injected with something and I for one know that it wasn’t a tracking device.”

  She was injected with a MERS, not to worry, she is perfectly safe, the incubation period for the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome or camel flu is about forty-eight to seventy-two hours. But here’s the kicker the prince has not been vaccinated. Can you believe that in this day and age? But then again what can you expect of camel herders in the desert. Royal family - “My arse.”

  “Now Rizwan was a bitter disappointment. We groomed him, trained him since childhood. He was primed to take over the Mujahideen, the Tariki Taliban, ISIS, the next generation of terrorists, you name it. Just imagine, a spy controlling the largest terror network on the planet, the possibilities were endless. But when the time came he choked. We shipped him back to India, where he surprisingly served another purpose, he became close to a very special student.” Amina thought of Nargis. “That’s when it clicked, two birds with one stone, Rizwan’s connection with you was what we needed to give us deniability. Attacking Rizwan’s student at Chor Bazaar, having you kidnap his other student, holding him hostage. We could paint a beautiful picture of an obsessive scorned woman and you know hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Present company excluded of cou
rse. John gave you carte blanche but he will deny it and you can’t refute it.”

  We only kept Rizwan around after his monumental failure because of you. He had given me an invaluable asset in you Nargis, you were the best I ever had. And it kills me that it has come to this. Why do you think we waited after you were married to re-activate Rizwan? You see, having a wife and a family is always good for business.

  “Our main issue was to get Yusuf into the country of his own volition and without anyone knowing. He had to come to India of his own accord and in secret, so that no one could point the blame on us if things went sideways.”

  “In a few moments, it will all be over”, he said. The door to the office opened and in walked the principal, mother Sarah, Amina and to her utter chagrin John Abraham. “Ah mother Sarah, we thank you for your discretion in this very sensitive matter”, said the acquaintance. The principal nodded. She turned to look at Nargis. “And you are?” Before Nargis could answer John stepped in, “This is my colleague Nargis Hussein, she was the one who called earlier to make the arrangements.” The nun nodded. That bastard. “I hope you found everything in order”, said the acquaintance. “Yes, I did. We’re just waiting on the father now. Such unfortunate business with her mother though.” Both John and the acquaintance turned to look at her.