Page 114 of Into the Gray Zone

“Chin had two meetings that night at the Amber Palace. The second meeting was supposedly to meet his MSS chief, but was a setup to kill him. He thinks you’re partially right. Part of it was the cleanup of loose ends, but part was punishment for screwing up so royally with the terrorists.”

“And the first meeting?”

“Remember we saw those guys who attacked us at Agra leaving the palace?”

“Yeah?”

“That was the first meeting. He gave the information about the Garmin watch to what he called a Condor team. It sounds like they’re our counterpart in the MSS, except they specialize in killing as opposed to solving problems. They’re on the hunt for the terrorists too, to prevent them from getting captured and talking about CCP ties.”

“And they have the same information as Knuckles and Brett?”

“Yes, and their mandate is to kill anyone who can implicate China, to include the hostages.”

Shit. I said, “Call Knuckles and give him everything you know. I need to talk to Kerry.”

“Kerry? Not George Wolffe?”

“Woffe isn’t on the ground with the Black Cats. I need to know what they’re doing before we execute anything.”

“So you’ll call Wolffe after?”

I said, “Probably not. I’m not sure we have the time to wait around for the Oversight Council’s hand-wringing. We’re probably going to have to go operational before they’ll make a decision.”

She said, “I’m not sure that’s smart.”

I said, “Call Knuckles. Don’t worry, I’m going to blame Kerry for anything that goes wrong.”

She went to get her phone and I dialed up Veep. He answered on the first ring, and I said, “Hey, we’re in Mumbai and I have a lead for one of the terrorists. I need to talk to Kerry.”

He said, “He’s in a meeting right now, but it was already supposed to be over. He should be out at any minute. What’s the lead?”

“The Chinese guy spilled his guts. He has a location in the Dharavi slum that might have one of the bad guys.”

“Not at the residence?”

“No. Where are you at now?”

“A National Security Guard compound on the outskirts of Mumbai. After the 2008 massacre they made seven hubs around the country, and we’re at the Mumbai one. It’s pretty cutting edge, with climbing walls and an indoor shoot-house. These guys are the real deal.”

I’m sure the Black Cats were qualified for all manner of operations, but being the “real deal” only went as far as the orders they were given. I said, “What’s the current state of play?”

“They’re in full assault mode. They have the blueprints for the building, and snipers have identified the floor where the hostages are being held. It’s near the top, a primary living room with a gigantic outdoor balcony. The roof of the building has three helipads, so they’re going with an air assault using all three. Meanwhile a ground force will lock down the bottom and start clearing up.”

“And the hostages?”

“Not really a focus. They’re still planning on going in full bore, with success defined as dead terrorists, not live hostages.”

“This whole thing stinks. Jaiden isn’t stupid. He knows that building inside out, and has military experience. He must have a plan for that.”

“You may be right. They received a proof of life with Nadia, and the RAW thinks she was trying to tell us something. She said she hopes the government gets them out of the ‘explosive situation.’ As soon as she said it, Jaiden jerked the camera away from her. They think she was saying the place is rigged.”

“What do the Black Cats say?”

“Well, that’s the issue. In order to protect Nadia, the RAW has keptit under wraps that she’s an agent. They don’t even know that we know. Because of it, the Black Cats think she’s just a civilian who spouted that off the top of her head. They’re not putting too much stock into that threat analysis and are focusing on a hard ballistic assault.”

“When are they looking at going?”

“I don’t know, that’s what the meeting is about right now.”

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