The Dust Will Never Settle (31 page)

‘Won’t it take away too much manpower? We need every man we have to secure the Games Village, the stadiums and this hotel…’

‘I think it is worth the attempt.’

‘Let me check how Ashish feels.’

‘He is okay if you say it is. I already checked with him.’

‘I will appreciate if you go via me in future.’ Ravinder did not hide his displeasure.

Mohite nodded. ‘I wouldn’t have done it, but Thakur sahib agreed that we need to keep looking for the terrorists.’

‘You discussed this with him?’ Ravinder confronted him. ‘How many times have I told you…’

‘I didn’t, sir. We were just talking and he asked me so I gave him my opinion.’

Realizing it was futile, Ravinder ignored him and considered the situation. ‘Okay, go ahead, but use only personnel on non-critical duties.’

Mohite left and Ravinder went back to watching the monitors. He could see the delegates moving around on the eighth floor. Several of their PSOs were also mingling on the seventh floor. The guards on the stairwells and elevators were alert and in position. Everything seemed normal.

But would it last?
His instinct warned him that a storm was about to break.

Unable to sleep, and despite the pain and grogginess, he decided to check on the guards in the lobby and at the hotel gates. Everyone was alert and in position. Then he walked down the street to the roadblock five hundred metres away. To his surprise, he met Mohite and one of the control room officers walking back.

‘What are you two doing here?’

‘Checking the guards, sir,’ Mohite said, looking like he was hard at work.

‘And him? What’s he doing here? I made it clear that no one is to leave his post.’

‘He is just keeping me company, sir.’ Mohite’s expression was sheepish, but his voice was defiant.

‘Get back to your post.’ Ravinder waved the control room officer away. ‘You have to stop doing this, Govind. No one… I repeat,
no one
is to leave his post even for a second. I shouldn’t have to tell
you
that.’

They walked back, a sulky silence between them. They were parting at the elevator when Ravinder realized that now only one man was guarding it instead of two.

‘Where is the second man?’ he asked the guard.

Before he could reply, Mohite jumped in, ‘I have reduced all non-essential posts by one man each and am using them to beef up the hunt for the two terrorists. I spoke to you about it, sir.’

Ravinder could not believe his ears.

‘Only from the non-essential posts, sir,’ Mohite repeated, almost smugly.

‘You consider the main access points non-essential?’ Ravinder was seized by an urge to hit him. ‘How long will it take you to call them back?’

‘Call them back? Why?’

‘Mohite, which part of my question didn’t you understand?’ Ravinder was on the verge of losing it. If he did not rein himself in, Mohite would be missing a few teeth. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down. ‘Call them back.
Now!
I want every damn post in the hotel at full strength. Clear?’

‘Right, sir,’ Mohite recoiled. ‘I will have them back in one hour.’ He scooted towards the control room.

One bloody hour!
Pulling himself together, Ravinder called Chance and asked him to keep an eye on the eighth floor. He himself began to patrol the seventh, hand never too far from his weapon.

When the security posts had been restored he retired to his room and, taking another pill, he lay down. He finally dozed off, but the unease stayed with him and he did not sleep much that night.

Day Ten

T
he morning light on the day of the Summit was but a pale streak on the horizon when Ruby exited the Gill’s gate. Dressed in a maroon jogging suit with Nike emblazoned across it, her ponytail jutting out of a matching maroon baseball cap, she started running.

The events of the last thirty-six hours had faded. Having stayed cooped up inside her room since the attack, Ruby was now raring to go. There was no trace of the stunned zombie of yesterday. Today her mind was at rest, allowing only operational matters to be dwelt upon. Rehana’s magic had worked – her weapon of vengeance was primed and ready for action once again.

Her pace increased slowly and her strong, muscular legs began to chew up the distance. Eager for exercise, her lungs sucked in the chilly early morning air. Soon she got her second wind and settled into a steady, loping run.

Ruby’s mind was clear. It went over the list of actions that she needed to take.

The shrill ring of his mobile startled Ravinder awake.

‘She is doing what? Jogging?’

‘Yes, sir,’ the surveillance commander replied, ‘the guards tell me she is following the same route that she follows every day.’

‘Stay with her.’ Ravinder pushed his sleep away. ‘And keep me informed.’ In a way he was glad that Ruby had finally come out of her room. Perhaps she was getting over the shock.

He headed for the bathroom. It took several splashes of cold water before he was fully awake.

Today is the first day of the Summit… the thirteenth of October. Damn that fucking number!

He got ready and headed out. There were a million things to check, to secure. Whatever was coming at them, it had to be stopped. And Ravinder knew that something…
someone
was.

The surveillance team was crawling along in fits and starts to make sure Ruby did not stray from their sight, yet not getting close enough to be spotted.

Not once did Ruby turn to look over her shoulder. She had heard the car start and knew she was being followed. Slowly, imperceptibly, she began to pick up her pace, but stayed on the road, where it would be easy for them to keep an eye on her. The car speeded up commensurately, as though tied to her with an invisible umbilical cord.

Barring the occasional vehicle and a handful of other morning walkers and joggers, the four-laned road – a green, waist-high, metallic barrier in the middle – was almost empty. Ruby swerved around an elderly couple, chancing a quick glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, the cop car was there. She stayed the course for another two hundred metres. Now there was no break in the metallic divider for maybe a mile on either side. She slowed down and began to bide her time. A minute later the opportunity presented itself.

She could see that the auto-rickshaw coming on the other side was empty. She waited till it was almost abreast with her and with a burst of speed, she headed straight for the barrier. By the time she hit it she was sprinting. Her left hand reached out, landed on the top rail and leveraged her body across in a neat vault. Ruby landed almost in front of the rickshaw. Grabbing a five-hundred-rupee note from her pocket, she thrust it in the startled driver’s hand.

‘Hyatt Regency. Fast.
Very
fast.’

The money did wonders to the rickshaw driver’s driving skills. Like Schumacher hitting home stretch, the vehicle shot away as fast as its rickety engine would allow.

By the time the surveillance car accelerated and made a U-turn at the next traffic island, her auto was long gone.

The surveillance team took two swift passes on both sides of the Ring Road, even stopped several auto-rickshaws, but to little avail.

Ruby had vanished.

Once in the hotel, Ruby headed for the sky-blue Maruti van left by Mark in the basement parking lot. Three minutes later she drove out. This was a part of Delhi she had familiarized herself with, and knew that to get to the Ashoka hotel she had to take a U-turn, go down the road till the next traffic signal and then turn left. At this time of morning, it would be a tenor fifteen-minute drive at best. Handling the manual gearshift a trifle gingerly, she drove at a sedate pace, ensuring she drew no attention.

The 84mm Carl Gustaf rocket launcher and ammunition box kept under a tarp in the luggage section made dull, thudding sounds as the van crossed a rough patch just short off the Chanakya Complex.

Ashoka hotel lay dead ahead.

‘What do you mean you lost her? How the hell can you lose a person jogging on the road at this time of the morning?’ Ravinder drew a deep breath, struggling to regain his composure. ‘Do everything you can to find her and call me back.’ Then he dialled Chance’s room. ‘Ruby is on the loose. They lost her.’ He could sense the man’s muttered curses though he couldn’t really hear them.

‘I’ll ensure the top floor is secure with Ido.’ Chance was now fully alert. ‘I‘ll tell Jennifer to man the seventh.’

‘All right,’ Ravinder replied. ‘I’ll join her in a minute. I want to first go down and check that the lobby and gates are secure.’ He stopped at the control room to order a Code Red alert. ‘It is a drill,’ he replied when the duty officer asked him why. ‘I want to check things before the PM gets here.
Move it!’

Satisfied that nothing could get through the inner cordon, Ravinder raced down. He had an urge to call Ruby and ask her where she was. Not unusual for a father to do.

At this hour of the morning? Why not?

Then deciding to give it a little more time, he headed for the security posts at the gates. Both were alert.

Everything seemed normal – so far.

The next hour passed slowly. Code Red was on. Guns were at the ready. Fingers hovered close to triggers.

Across the road, driving slowly past the hotel, Ruby caught a glimpse of Ravinder pacing between the two gates. The security men at both gates looked alert, weapons at the ready. They had adopted an all-round defence, ensuring anything coming in could be covered and, if required, cut down immediately. A couple of handlers with sniffer dogs prowled in front of the porch.

So they were all alert. She had expected this.

She watched Ravinder with mixed feelings till her van had moved past. Before any ambivalence could set in, she pushed away all thought and focused.

Rehana has to be avenged. And Yusuf uncle… and thousands of others. I will not let these bastards sell us down the road.

Her hardness returned, bringing with it the clarity she needed.

How long will these buggers stay alert?

She knew that nothing could be guarded in totality.
Especially if the attacker no longer cares for her life.

The last thought caught her by surprise. She let it turn in her head as the van headed back the way it had come, with Nehru Park on her right. By the time she had taken a U-turn and brought it to a halt in the parking lot near the park gates, the thought had crystallized. She was not afraid to die. If that was the price to be paid for the conference to be ruined, she would pay it.

I will make my mother proud.

She locked the van and made her way back on foot towards the hotel, stopping when the main gate came into view. Confirming that none of the security cameras on the hotel’s walls were pointed at her, she settled down under a tree. To wait and to watch.

Now that her mind was not acting up, she could sit there the whole day.

Soon she saw things at the hotel gates settle down and return to normal. Body postures became less aggressive. Rifles were slung back on shoulders. Even the dogs stopped patrolling.

Code Reds cannot last forever.

Ruby knew this. She had planned on it.

Ravinder was pacing between the gates when Mohite came out, looking sharp in a new, perfectly fitted and ironed uniform.

‘You called a Code Red, sir? What is the problem?’

‘That was almost thirty minutes ago, Govind.’

‘I know, sir. The control room officer called me, but he said it was only a drill.’ There was no hint of contriteness on his face. ‘I was getting ready to receive the minister, sir.’

‘Just a drill, Govind?’ Ravinder gave a soft sigh. Did he need to be reminded that a drill meant everyone responded? Especially at his level?
Oh, fuck it!
‘Yeah, just a drill,’ Ravinder repeated.

‘Oh!’ Mohite pouted, then shrugged. ‘Would you like me to call it off now?’

‘No. The PM is due shortly.’ He checked his watch. It was almost eight.

‘Actually, that is a good idea. Thakur sahib is about to arrive… I just spoke to his aide. It is good if he sees everything on high alert.’

Ravinder was about to unleash a scathing retort when Thakur’s mini-cavalcade drove up – a security vehicle in front and two behind Thakur’s Toyota Camry. Except for the driver, Ravinder did not see any security personnel in the last vehicle, but this did not surprise him. He had learnt early on that the home minister was superstitious. He did not consider the number three auspicious, hence the fourth car.

People and their eccentricities.
Ravinder bit back a smile. Then he remembered his own phobia of the number thirteen. Forcing a smile, he went forward to meet the minister.

Mohite was already four steps ahead.

Ravinder’s smile had faded well before the minister entered the elevator to the eighth floor. Ruby’s absence worried him. He pulled out his phone and dialled her mobile.