Page 53 of A Shimla Affair
‘Don’t forget to bring our passports, Mr Sood,’ Afreen said, ‘Or do you have them here with you now?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I will have them tomorrow, when we meet in the forest.’
Afreen nodded. ‘What are our names on it?’
The question seemed to have caught him off guard. ‘What did you say?’
‘What are our new identities? By what name will we call ourselves?’
Sood laughed. ‘Strange, I don’t remember … I suppose I never opened them to see the names. My mind was so occupied with procuring them that I never sought to look at them once they were there.’
Noor came over to us, chiding us for looking so serious. She pulled Afreen and me up, and held our hands, kissing each one of us on the cheek, before leaning forward to whisper, ‘Sisters, we must be courageous.’
‘Perhaps we should head to bed,’ Noor said, stifling a yawn as we bid everyone goodbye.
My heart seemed to be beating a thousand times a minute and I had to clutch the wall and steady myself, the dizziness threatened to overcome me.
‘Why do you both look like you just saw our father’s ghost?’ Noor asked, slightly puzzled. ‘What is going on?’
I couldn’t take it any more and had to sit down on the ground, right where I was. Afreen followed me. The past hour had been torture, as Afreen and I refused to leave each other’s side and struggled to keep a smile on our faces.
‘What’s happening?’ Noor asked more strictly this time, her tone demanding answers.
Afreen looked at her. ‘It’s Sood. He is the agent. Beeson’s man.’
‘What! Are you talking about our Mr Sood?’
‘Yes,’ my voice was hollow. ‘I can’t believe we missed it; he was right under our noses all this time and—’
‘But how do you know?’
‘He said ek aur ek gyarah,’ Afreen said, quickly explaining how we had heard Beeson say exactly the same phrase during the meeting at the chalet. ‘It all makes sense now. Sood is Beeson’s agent and has been doing Beeson’s dirty work, either under threat or more likely to curry favour. I bet Beeson promised him some land or some promotion. Beeson wanted the riots and Sood was his man, the one who organized them! This is also why Charles thought he looked familiar; he must have seen him when he would have gone for a meeting with Beeson at some point.’
Noor too sat down on the floor with us, shocked by the turn of events.
‘But he is loyal to Guruji … he started the movement in Shimla,’ Noor stammered and said what was on everybody’s mind, trying to make sense of it.
Ratan Babu was breathing heavily, and I remembered that he was there too, that he had heard it all: the betrayal of his friend. For him, it was the betrayal of all he had known and trusted and stood for. His eyes were wide and he shivered, first in denial, and then disappointment. He seemed unable to say a word while our minds raced ahead of us, our hearts still buzzing from the discovery.
‘It doesn’t make sense. He is in the Shimla Circle, he is not looking to be a watchdog for the British,’ Noor said.
Yet, I knew we were right about this. I knew it in my bones.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Ratan Babu finally muttered hoarsely. ‘If that is true, then he must have convinced the servant girl, Bina’s parents to send her off with Iqbal. He must have arrangedeverything and then spread the rumour that she was kidnapped. Didn’t she say that a man brought her to Lady Sinclair’s house? That is why he was the one who came to Shimla Circle with the news that the Muslims were riling up. Because he created the riots in the first place!’
I gasped, ‘He was out that night! When Charles had invited me to the club, on the way back in the tonga, I saw Sood standing near the club—he must have met Beeson that day! He might have even brought along the man I spotted putting up posters. Now it makes sense—he was not very keen to pursue him!’
‘What a snake!’ exclaimed Afreen. ‘He pretends as if he cares so much about the people, that he doesn’t want India to be split up between Hindus and Muslims. But when Beeson comes in asking for his help—’
‘But why?’ Noor asked shaking her head. ‘By killing the Viceroy, India will beridof the British. Why would he be loyal to Beeson now?’
‘Perhaps he owes him a debt—or maybe he was forced. Or—’
‘Afreen,’ Ratan interrupted her, ‘this means that Sood is not Guruji’s man. If Sood is Beeson’s agent, this means that Beeson knowseverythingabout what we are about to do. He knows that Guruji plans to kill the Viceroy tomorrow.’
I clapped my hand to my mouth, the enormity of it all sinking in. Everything that the Shimla Circle had planned, killing the Viceroy, the coup in Delhi, Bombay, Lahore—it would fall apart.
‘Sood knew everything,’ Ratan said. ‘He is Guruji’s second-in-command in Shimla, more trusted than anyone, he had helped the Shimla Circle build its foundation here in town. It is because of Sood that they have even survived so far, and yet—’
