Page 60 of A Shimla Affair
‘It means you are our hostage, Sir,’ Noor said calmly.
I turned to Guruji then, knocking his gun out of his hands, which Noor caught smoothly. I pointed my own gun at him, aiming clearly. ‘And so are you.’
21
‘Help us, Begum Jaan, and you shall have what you want, same as us.’
‘India will have freedom?’ Begum Jaan asked.
‘If we play it right. You know the situation, and now we must learn how to use it.’
‘Use it then, Bibi, but know you cannot back out, you cannot go forward. Both retreat and forging ahead are equally impossible. And your own heart, unsettled as it is, will not let you run away and grant you the solace of escape.
‘There is only one thing you can do: raise the stakes. The Viceroy alone is not sufficient. Take the other important men and use them as collateral.
‘The path you tread is treacherous, and the consequences of your actions will not be easily cast aside. Bibi, remember that the world is a tapestry woven with threads of both light and shadow. Let your indomitable spirits shape a story that will echo through eternity.’
Ratan Babu arrived immediately after and tried to restrain Guruji, who struggled with all his might. Guruji had laughed at first, when he saw my gun pointed at him, and then groaned, almost lunging at me with the force of his weight, but Ratan Babu pulled him back. Guruji was passionate, that much one could say about him.
Ratan Babu managed to hold him against the wall, securing him in position, while Noor tied and gagged him. I focused on gripping my gun and holding it up to the Viceroy. My finger lay coolly on the trigger, and I looked into the Viceroy’s eyes, which were full of fear and confusion. My hands had stopped shaking, and, I brought my face closer to his, letting the cool tip of the gun caress his face. He seemed to fall back and shrink, and for a moment, he was pitiful—a duty-bound old man on the wrong side of history.
Once both were tied up, we turned towards each other.
I quickly explained the situation with Charles, how he had been left to Afreen. Again, on thinking of him, the walls seemed to close around me.
‘We must start then, no more time to waste,’ said Ratan Babu. ‘I managed to slip out and jam the door of the bunker just in time, but Wagner saw me. He’s thumping against it now; can you hear it? I don’t know how long it will hold.’
Indeed, noises echoed through the bunker’s entrance, the sound of people’s voices and Wagner beating on the door. It was already starting to get out of control: upstairs, Lady Sinclair was locked in with a maid, and Afreen had been left to hide an unconscious Charles. We had managed to get the Viceroy and Guruji but had locked the others who had gone to the bunker to smoke opium: Wagner, Lord Gaunt and Lord Biggs.
We decided to take the Viceroy and Guruji first and then return for the rest later. Noor quickly retrieved more guns and passed them to me and Ratan Babu.
We led the two prisoners through the servant’s passage. On the way, Guruji managed to try his luck and grabbed the back of Noor’s sari, knocking her down. But both of us were on him with lightning speed; Ratan Babu kicked him so hard in the stomach that I am sure he retched behind his gag. We continued, but the reality of what we were about to do settled in on me. The walls within which I had walked a thousand times, that I could traverse blindfolded, now seemed menacing.
Once we arrived at the passage that would lead us out behind the podium in the ballroom, Afreen managed to find us. She told me that she had dragged Charles inside a room, and that he was still unconscious. She and Ratan Babu grabbed two Vickers machine guns we had placed in the passage, while Noor left to bar the ballroom from the outside.
Just as I began to prepare myself for our big confrontation, I sensed movement. I immediately put a finger on my mouth to the other two, trying to listen in, but it was too late. With a swift move, I was shoved against the wall.
Wagner lunged across the floor, successfully able to derail Ratan Babu. They rolled around in struggle, so fast that I had no chance to see what was going on, my head spinning. Wagner attempted to punch Ratan Babu multiple times, but before I could even think about intervening, the others from the bunker arrived. I quickly picked up my gun. I warned them to stay away, which they were only too happy to obey, scared witless.
Afreen attempted to step forward, but Wagner managed to bring her down as well. Now he struggled to keep both Afreen and Ratan Babu under his hold, making his way for Ratan Babu’s fallen gun. In a sudden move, Afreen put her sari’s drape around Wagner’s neck in a chokehold, giving Ratan Babu enough time to wriggle free. Wagner elbowed Afreen with such force that, for a quick moment I worried had killed her, butI heard her cough. Ratan Babu touched the gun’s nozzle to Wagner’s head, ‘It’s over, Wagner.’
I could see Wagner’s face, he did not look as though he had accepted defeat. But then, Noor returned to the passage. Seeing what was going on, she immediately went to the Viceroy, took off his gag and stuck the nozzle of her gun into his mouth.
‘If you do not stop this very second, the Viceroy you had sworn to protect will be lying on the floor, blown to smithereens.’
That seemed to do the trick, and Afreen moved to tie Wagner up.
‘This is the biggest mistake you have ever made,’ Wagner told Afreen, as she gagged him.
I kept my eyes on the other men and, finally, when the situation seemed under control, I told them to come ahead. We left Wagner and Guruji behind, but prepared to push everyone outside, onto the ballroom podium.
We walked out through the servant’s entrance onto the podium in the ballroom that fateful night. I, with the Viceroy, crouched behind Afreen and Ratan Babu, as they fired their machine guns into the air. A collective gasp led to screaming and shouting by all those who had been previously enjoying the ball. As if in sync, everybody got on their knees, covering their heads, as bits of the ceiling rained upon the crowd dressed in all their finery.
We knew that one of the two guards in the ballroom, left behind when the Viceroy had gone to the bunkers, had a simple revolver. The other had left his weapon in his coat, which currently hung in the foyer. By showing the might of our machine guns, we hoped to cower the armed guard into instant submission.
But what we didn’t account for was that some of the bullets fired into the ceiling would destroy the chandelier. It fell on the floor, crushing two men who stood beneath it. As the chandelier exploded, bits of glass flew everywhere. I brushed off a glass chunk that grazed my cheek.
People screamed louder, but both Ratan Babu and Afreen stood back, as shocked by the chandelier’s explosion as anyone else. Now that the deafening sound of the bullets raining had stopped, the crowd threw themselves at the door of the ballroom, banging on it with desperation.
