‘Oh, I do,’ Ajay said, wryly, glancing around at the almost empty lobby just as his phone buzzed. He took the call.

  ‘We got Khush Dil,’ Pratap said from the other end. ‘And we have his cell phone with Dhoble’s little performance on it. They’re bringing him to Crime Branch headquarters right now.’

  ‘Great, sir.’

  ‘I’m sending every available unit to you.’

  ‘Very quietly, sir. This woman is extremely dangerous.’

  ‘Got it,’ Pratap said and ended the call.

  Ajay stood up.

  ‘You have that gun I gave you?’ he asked Dhoble.

  The retired cop drew the gun out.

  ‘If this little bastard tries anything, shoot him,’ Ajay said.

  ‘With pleasure, sir,’ Dhoble growled.

  Ajay bent down and brought his face level with Nick’s.

  ‘Listen to me carefully,’ he said. ‘What you have on your computer is top-secret classified data. And Dhoble is going to testify to his role. Which means we have you on an Official Secrets charge AND a terrorism charge. Your only hope in hell is to cooperate. Understand?’

  Nick could only nod.

  Ajay ran out of the hotel and into the car, where Hoffman was waiting in the driver’s seat with the engine running.

  Ajay had first met Dhoble at an interagency conference when the latter was with the Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell.

  One of the subjects under discussion had been narco-terrorism. Ajay had delivered a talk about how money earned through the illegal heroin trade was funnelled all the way to Afghanistan, to the Taliban’s pockets, and had urged officers with anti-narcotics cells to look beyond just street peddlers. He had exchanged numbers with Dhoble at the end of the conference, and they had kept in touch off and on.

  When Dhoble had called Ajay while he was talking to Hoffman, Ajay had initially ignored the call. It was only when the retired cop had called thrice without respite that Ajay had answered. But what Dhoble told him spurred him into action. Dhoble didn’t know about the murders of the three IARC scientists, but Ajay and Hoffman did, and they immediately made the connection. It was, after all, too much of a coincidence that someone was stealing data from the IARC just after their three top scientists had been murdered. And the murderer, beyond doubt, was Asiya, which meant that whoever had stolen the data was connected to her.

  Dhoble had called from his car while following Khush Dil and Nick at a safe distance and also relayed their car’s licence plate number to Ajay.

  Hoffman and Ajay immediately set out, armed and ready. After Khush Dil dropped Nick at the hotel, Ajay passed on the licence plate number to Pratap and entered the hotel with Dhoble.

  As they were entering the hotel, Dhoble said, ‘I have done a lot of bad things in my life, Ajay sir. But even I have limits.’

  ‘That’s not going to get you out of this mess, Dhoble,’ Ajay replied.

  ‘I know, sir,’ Dhoble admitted, ‘and I’ll face whatever is coming to me.’

  Now, Ajay slid into the passenger seat beside Hoffman. The American asked, ‘Where to?’

  ‘Straight ahead till you see the promenade,’ Ajay replied.

  Hoffman swore. He immediately computed the fact that the promenade would have tons of civilians and tracking and apprehending Asiya in their midst was going to be a nightmare.

  ‘Go to the end and take a U-turn so that we’re on the same side as the Sea Face,’ Ajay said. ‘After that, we’ll have to cruise slowly and hope we spot her.’

  ‘You have a plan?’ Hoffman asked.

  ‘The plan is to stop her, Jon,’ Ajay replied grimly.

  Hoffman steadily depressed the accelerator.

  29

  Asiya checked on the status of the file transfer and noted with satisfaction that it was almost 50 per cent done. She let her thoughts go back to Ajay.

  She could clearly see the corridors of the Abbottabad haveli in her head. She remembered the compounder who would often accompany the general physician when called to vaccinate the children of the house. She was still a teenager, and he was a rather good-looking young man.

  She would watch him from behind her veil, or when she was half hidden behind the curtains or the walls. The woman of the household did not remove their purdah in front of strangers. She would giggle at the sight of him. He had a huge scar on the thumb of his right hand, like a bullet wound. His brown eyes were intense, and though he would constrain his movements, she could sense that he was looking out for something … someone. She wondered if he was looking out for her.

  She was horrified when she saw the same intense eyes and scarred thumb amongst the men who had breached their mansion with C-60 explosives. He had carried a gun. And though he hadn’t fired the killing shots, he was still the man who had led the American forces to their hideout. He had thrust a dagger in Bin Laden’s back.

  ‘I think I see her,’ Hoffman said.

  ‘You sure?’ Ajay asked.

  ‘No, but there’s a woman ahead about the same build, with a laptop.’

  ‘Keep driving. Stop a couple of hundred metres ahead. We’ll come back on foot.’

  Hoffman stopped by the side of the road, pulling up the handbrake and opening his door in one motion. Ajay also got out and together they were about to start walking when a shrill whistle pierced the air, followed by a yell.

  Both men turned to see a traffic policeman coming up to them indignantly.

  ‘You see that?’ the cop asked in Hindi, pointing to a ‘No Parking’ sign just a couple of feet from where Hoffman had parked. ‘It’s in English. Easy to read. Big letters. What’s the problem?’

  The cop turned to Hoffman.

  ‘You can read English, right?’ he said, switching from Hindi to English.

  Hoffman caught the sarcasm in his voice.

  ‘There is no need to be facetious, sir,’ he snapped.

  At that very instant, Ajay pulled out his NIA ID card and stuck it under the cop’s nose.

  ‘If you do not stop yelling right fucking now,’ Ajay swore, ‘I will have you dismissed from service.’

  After Bin Laden’s death, Asiya was smuggled into India and raised by Hafsa, who was one of Bin Laden’s associates, running a sleeper network in the country without even causing a blip on the authorities’ radar. Hafsa recognized the fire burning within Asiya and inducted her into the K-e-M. Asiya aced the training phase, putting every other recruit to shame, and came back as a walking weapon of destruction. She had also spent her training days intently following the news from India. A small, largely speculative news report about India working on a nuclear programme caught her attention and by the time she returned, she had a plan ready. She told Hafsa her plan and at that moment, the old woman knew that she had found the perfect protégée.

  The terrified traffic cop got into Hoffman’s vehicle and drove it away as the agents started walking towards the spot where they thought they had seen Asiya. As they advanced, slowly and carefully, they could see uniformed policemen forming a loose, inconspicuous cordon around the promenade. Pratap seemed to have issued his instructions. To a trained cop’s eye, the police presence was visibly increasing. Ajay was sure there were more cops in plainclothes around as well.

  ‘I see her,’ he said in a low voice.

  ‘It’s her, right?’ Hoffman asked.

  They walked a few more steps and Ajay could now see her clearly. He hated himself for the slight tug at his heart.

  ‘It is her,’ he said and stepped up his pace.

  Hoffman fell into step behind him.

  Ajay pulled out his cell phone and called Pratap.

  ‘I’m on my way, Ajay,’ the senior cop said. ‘I should be there in ten minutes.’

  ‘Okay, but I need the cops here to hang back till Asiya is neutralized. This can turn into a bloodbath.’

  ‘Agreed. I’ll tell them.’

  Ajay ended the call and walked up to where Asiya was sitting. She must have felt him approach because she suddenly looked up sharply as he came to a stop in front of her.

  ‘So, you found me,’ she said, hatred blazing in her eyes.

  ‘It’s over, Asiya,’ Ajay replied. ‘We have the hacker and Khush Dil. Teams are on their way to pick up your ISI contact as we speak. We know everything.’

  Asiya smiled a slow, deliberate smile.

  ‘Everything? You sure?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ajay replied. ‘We know about your father too.’

  Asiya’s smile turned into a snarl. She leaned forward and instantly, Ajay whipped out his gun and pointed it straight at her. Hoffman, too, moved forward, his own gun appearing in his hand, pointed straight at Asiya.

  As expected, the sight of the guns immediately sparked off panic among the people nearby. The policemen who had been hanging back immediately moved in. They all knew who Ajay was and had been briefed about the mission, and that he had a foreign government agent with him.

  Quickly and efficiently, the cops started shepherding the public away from the spot. Some of them drew their guns on Asiya as well, but, due to the sheer number of civilians around, most of them had to focus on crowd control.

  ‘You came well prepared,’ Asiya said.

  ‘Yes, I did. Now raise your hands.’

  Asiya slowly raised both her hands above her head, extending her arms all the way. Then she did something unexpected. She curled her hands into fists, letting only the thumbs stick out, holding out a two thumbs-up sign high over her head.

  Before Ajay could react, a shot rang out and Hoffman dropped to the ground, blood streaming from a bullet wound to his head.

  30

  In the split second during which Ajay jerked his head to look at the fallen Hoffman, Asiya made her move. She slammed the laptop shut and used it to bat the gun out of Ajay’s hands. The impact of the blow made him stumble.

  He immediately whirled back to her but she used the laptop as a weapon again, aiming for his head. Ajay threw both arms up and blocked the blow, but it knocked him off-balance.

  At the same time, ten members of the K-e-M came out of the crowd and started firing at the cops. The civilians started running helter-skelter. Complete chaos descended on the Sea Face.

  A police car came up, siren blaring, and screeched to a hard stop. Pratap jumped out, gun drawn, and ran towards the battle. As a uniformed constable fell with two bullet wounds to his torso, Pratap let out a yell and fired at the woman he had spotted emptying her gun at the constable. The woman went down in a hail of rounds.

  Even amid the pandemonium, Ajay and Pratap let their training and experience kick in. They stole quick glances at the women shooting at them and took in their attire. All of them were dressed in loose T-shirts with a prominent logo and cargos. Within one second, both cops had computed the information: look out for black T-shirts with logos.

  For a moment it seemed like 26/11 once again, this time with young women unleashing their vendetta against Indian civilians.

  Asiya ran to the edge of the promenade and tossed the laptop towards the sea. It landed hard on the tetrapods and shattered to pieces. She turned back just as Ajay came running and tackled him head-on. They both went down in a tangle, Ajay’s hands clawing at her face. Asiya gripped his hands, wrested them away and head-butted Ajay on the nose repeatedly till she felt the cartilage shatter.

  She stood up and ran towards the Bandra–Worli Sea Link. She knew Ajay wouldn’t be far behind, but she had the tiniest head start and that was enough.

  Three of her sisters from the K-e-M saw her and broke off to defend her. They stepped directly into Ajay’s path and trained their guns on him.

  Running behind Ajay, Pratap took aim and shot. One of the three women went down. The other two immediately shifted their attention to him. Pratap and Ajay both hit the ground and started rolling sideways. Pratap managed to get another shot and took out another terrorist.

  The third one advanced, firing, and was almost on top of Pratap when she was shot in the head. Pratap and Ajay both straightened to see Dhoble advancing, holding Ajay’s back-up gun. He tossed the gun to Ajay and picked up the fallen terrorist’s handgun.

  ‘Go!’ Pratap said to Ajay as he and Dhoble came together, their backs pressed to each other, guns raised.

  Ajay checked the ammunition clip, wiped the blood streaming from his nose and started running.

  Another K-e-M terrorist came running straight for Ajay and without stopping, he raised his gun and put a bullet squarely in her forehead. She was dead before she hit the ground.

  In the distance, he saw Asiya run on to the Sea Link. He quickened his pace and got to the entrance to the Sea Link just as Asiya let loose a volley of shots, sending cars skidding out of control. Within minutes, the Sea Link was filled with cars that had stopped where they were, some straight, some sideways. The entire bridge became an obstacle course of vehicles even as people started pouring out of the cars and running for their lives.

  Ajay fought against the tide of humanity, his gun half raised, finger on the trigger, struggling to get a glimpse of Asiya. He weaved in and out of the crowd, eyes alert, and was almost at the middle of the Sea Link when a shot rang out and he felt something whizz past his side.

  He immediately jumped behind an abandoned car and bent low as two more shots slammed into the car’s chassis.

  He risked a quick peek over the car’s hood and saw Asiya standing dead in the centre of the Sea Link, gun aimed straight at him.

  ‘Come out, you bastard!’ she screamed. ‘Come out and face your death!’

  She walked forward, shooting at the car that Ajay was crouched behind. She kept shooting till her gun was empty.

  ‘Come on!’ she yelled furiously, slapping a fresh clip into her pistol.

  Ajay sprang up and let loose a volley of shots. Asiya simply dropped to the ground, rolled and came back up on her knees in one fluid movement, her gun aimed at him. Ajay ducked again, cursing.

  ‘Talk to me, Ajay Rajvardhan!’ Asiya called out. ‘Tell me how much you love me, how I am the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen. Quote some philosophy to me. Come on, charmer!’

  Ajay gritted his teeth and stood up again, firing his gun as he moved. He emptied his entire clip at Asiya, who ducked and dodged and all the time kept walking up to him.

  Finally, there was a click as Ajay’s gun ran out of rounds. He stood rooted to the ground, while Asiya stopped as well, her gun aimed at his head. He dropped his pistol and stared into her eyes.

  ‘Do it,’ he said. ‘Go on, fire.’

  Asiya lowered her gun. Pointing it straight at the ground near her feet, she squeezed the trigger again and again, not flinching as lead crashed into concrete and sparks flew furiously. Then she let the empty gun fall to the ground.

  She clenched her fists and started walking. Ajay looked back. Pratap, Dhoble and the other cops were still busy trading fire with the other K-e-M members. It was just the two of them now.

  Ajay planted his feet firmly on the ground and brought his hands up in a fighting stance. Asiya only smiled as she leapt off the ground, her right leg knifing forward in a kick.

  Ajay blocked her attack, but the force threw him backwards. He caught himself and jumped at her, going for her throat. She caught both his hands, pulled him towards her and ramming her knee into his abdomen.

  He fell to the ground, and she was on him like a wildcat, punching, clawing, kicking. He fought back but was no match for her training, skill and, most of all, her anger.

  He managed to grab one of her hands but she immediately clutched his throat with the other. She brought her face close to his.

  ‘You think this is bad?’ she snarled. ‘Wait till I’m done with you. After that, I’m going for your beloved country. I’m going to inflict on your homeland a fate far worse than the one you gave my Abbu-jaan.’

  Ajay looked into her eyes and in an instant, knew that she meant it. There was only one thing to be done.

  With all his might, he managed to slip one leg between them and kicked hard, throwing her off. She hit her head on the ground as she fell, but rolled over and stood up. The blow to the head, however, had slowed her down by just a few seconds.

  Ajay used those precious seconds to stand up and move faster than he had ever done in his life. As Asiya also stood up, he ran around her and got behind her. Before she could turn, he enveloped her in a bear hug, clasping his arms around her torso, trapping her in his embrace.

  Asiya screamed and kicked like a bucking horse, but Ajay held fast and dragged her to the edge of the Sea Link. She was still screaming when he took a deep breath, braced his leg against an abandoned car and heaved backwards.

  They fell straight into the sea below.

  31

  Pratap was locked in deadly hand-to-hand combat with the last of the K-e-M terrorists.

  He had run out of ammo and taken a shot in his forearm from the terrorist’s gun before throwing himself on her, making her gun fall.

  The terrorist grabbed his shirt lapel and tried to bite him, while he held her at bay with both hands. She shifted her hands to his throat just as Dhoble came up from behind, grabbed her and threw her against the promenade railing.

  She hit her head and fell to the ground, lifeless.

  Pratap stood up and looked at the Sea Link just in time to see Ajay and Asiya drop off the bridge.

  He checked his gunshot wound. The bullet had only grazed his forearm. He was losing blood but would be fine for a few minutes. Dhoble saw it too and within seconds, tied his handkerchief around Pratap’s forearm as tight as he could.

  Pratap vaulted over the railing and onto the tetrapods below. He started jumping from one tetrapod to another, making his way towards the water as fast as he could.

  Meanwhile, as he fell, Ajay’s mind quickly computed his situation. His nose was shattered and he was no longer able to breathe through it. He had been breathing through his mouth the last few minutes.

  The sea came rushing up to meet him and he let go of Asiya, drawing the longest of breaths through his mouth just as he felt his body slam against the bed of water.