Page 98 of Born in Sin

Cara shook her head, scanning the street around Kabir. They were parked within visual distance of him. Vikram had snipers on the rooftops and another van at the other end of the road poised to intercept if necessary. Vikram himself sat with Virat and her in this van, clearly fighting a smile at the interaction between the men.

“Sir.” A voice crackled over the speaker. “I see movement.”

From the lobby of the building, a figure emerged. Black pants, black t-shirt, average, garden variety looks, nobody they knew. He signaled to Kabir who told his security to stand down and walked forward to meet him. The two of them disappeared into the building. The camera in Kabir’s suit gave them a ringside view of what was going on.

“Run the guy using facial recognition,” Virat murmured. Shourya nodded and started working on it. Beside her, Vikram shifted uncomfortably. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea of police work or detective work being done by a measly civilian. But Shourya was no measly civilian and was worth fifteen police officers. A fact Cara had figured out within minutes of meeting him.

The man on the screen handed Kabir a small, crumpled piece of paper and left, not bothering to look back. Kabir unraveled the grimy, sweat dampened paper and peered at it.

“Lonavala,” Kabir breathed, walking out and heading for the Lexus waiting for him. His security surrounded him and hustled him into the car.

“Kabir, where in Lonavala?” Virat snapped, the min the other man was safely in the car.

“Shadow, I insist you take a chill pill and follow protocol.”

Virat looked like he would pop a blood vessel. This time, it wasn’t only Vikram who was smirking, Shaurya hid a smile as well.

“Rogue, where are you headed?”

“To a holiday home in Lonavla, Shadow. Sending you the deets.”

Virat hung his head even as the van peeled out, following Kabir’s vehicle at a respectable distance. “Grown men don’t use words like deets,” Virat grumbled.

Vikram outright chuckled this time. “He’s a character.”

Virat glared at Cara. “Don’t laugh. You’re not even supposed to be in the van with us.”

“Yes, yes, I’m supposed to be sitting at home, wrapped up in bubble wrap,” Cara’s sardonic response has Vikram’s grin widening.

“Sent you the deets. Also, my friend,” Kabir’s voice came through, startling her out of his thoughts. “Best of luck telling Celi to go home and stay safe.”

Virat’s jaw clenched. Cara’s grin widened. She was going to be harder to shake off than a leech.

Cara leaned forward so her mouth was closer to the microphone. “I love you Kabs.”

“Love you too Car,” Kabir said. “Buckle up sweethearts. We’re in for a long, wild ride.”

The ride to Lonavala was uneventful, tension running quiet beneath the surface. The three vehicles shadowing Kabir’s SUV kept up a rotating formation, switching positions every few kilometers—just enough to blend in, never sticking out long enough to be remembered. No sudden moves, no tail too obvious.

They had the address. They didn’t need to chase. They just needed to stay invisible.

Finally, Kabir’s SUV turned off the main road, taking a smaller, dimly lit lane lined with dense foliage. At the end of it, large wrought iron gates stood waiting, closed and still.

The vehicle eased toward them. Without hesitation, the gates began to open. He drove through.

The gates shut behind him with a quiet, decisive thud, leaving Virat and Cara parked just beyond their reach, cloaked in darkness.

“Vir,” Ishaan’s voice came over the speaker. Amay and he were in the other vehicles. One with each team of officers.

“Yeah.”

“This is one of the properties we had on our recon list.”

“Noted. Intel?”

“The owners are a shell company based out of the Gulf. They have a guard patrolling every twenty minutes with sniffer dogs.The security system is decent but we can take it down in less than eight minutes.”

Far ahead, past the curve of the driveway, Cara caught sight of the house, sleek and contemporary, its exterior glowing with warm light. Inside and out, it blazed with activity.

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