by Rahul Badami
Her eyes flitted all around as if checking whether she was being eavesdropped. “I know nothing beyond what I already told you. He pays me. I do the work. I don’t ask questions.”
“What is his real name?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you contact him?”
“He contacts me via an untraceable VoIP. I don’t know his number.”
“You are lying!”
“I’m not.” Venera looked flustered under the onslaught of Armaan’s questioning. Suddenly she looked up as a thought struck her. “I can prove it.”
“How?”
“I record all calls on my computer. That way if someone blackmails or wants to harm me, I can expose them. It’s my form of insurance.”
“Show me.”
“Follow me.” Venera led the way back to the house. Armaan and the team followed her. Armaan remembered that Mastaan had said that the man was someone high up. He knew that only the top people from the NSC, NTRO and the DIA knew about the op in Urumqi. Which one of them was plotting against them? Could the recorded conversation give any clues to the identity of this unknown mole going by the name of Warlord?
He certainly hoped so. There was a traitor among them. Someone very high up. It couldn’t be possible that a low-level operative would know about the Urumqi mission. Armaan rubbed his palms. He was on the cusp of discovering something significant.
Venera’s parents were no longer in the living room. They had probably retired to their room. She led them up the stairs to her own room. It was a clean, spacious room with a view of the lawn from the window. Armaan and the team followed her to her workstation – a simple office-like desk in front of the window. She sat on the laptop computer and tapped in a few commands.
“There,” she finally said.
Venera’s voice emanated from the speakers. She was speaking in rapid Mandarin. It appeared that she was talking from a list. Armaan concentrated all his focus on her words. She was talking about the objectives she had accomplished to someone on the other end. He wondered who it would be. Whoever the traitor was, he would look for clues in the conversation. Would he be familiar with this backstabber?
Venera’s voice stopped on the recording. There was a pause. And then a man spoke in Mandarin. Armaan’s world came crashing down as he listened. He was thinking of searching for clues to the traitor’s identity. But he understood that there should have never been any need. Only a select few were aware of the op, and Armaan knew all the people involved.
The voice was familiar to his ears.
He had heard that voice less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Admonishing him for failing his duties.
As he listened in shocked incredulity, the man spoke, “Make sure the men are captured.” It was like the final nail in the coffin.
The same person had ordered Baldev and the team to Urumqi. And now he had plotted their capture. A person that had been his mentor and guided him through numerous ops.
General Vishwajeet Singh.
CHAPTER 28
“No, it can’t be!” Armaan was stunned.
But there was no doubt. The voice was that of General Singh.
Armaan looked around at the team. Their faces were agape, expressions shell-shocked. For a moment he thought he'd been mistaken, but the faces of his team showed that he hadn't heard incorrectly.
“What?” Venera uttered.
“Leave us alone for a moment.” Armaan growled at Venera. She left the room immediately.
Armaan looked at Baldev. “That was the General. I can't believe it.”
Baldev struggled to compose his face. “I don't know. It could have been someone else.”
“What are you talking about? It was the General.”
“Maybe,” Baldev said hesitantly. “There is no proof the voice was his. It could be someone else faking his voice.”
“I find that hard to believe. Less than ten people knew about the Urumqi op. And come on, you heard him. He was plotting to capture you.”
“Maybe it was him. But I refuse to believe he would cause deliberate harm to us. What if this is a ploy; a plan he had that we are unaware of?”
“A ploy! Are you saying, sending you to get caught here was a plan of his? That's ridiculous.”
Baldev's face was haggard, as if he did not want to believe the implications of what Armaan was trying to tell him. He finally shrugged. “I don't know, Armaan.”
“But I know. The General is a traitor. He hired hackers and sabotaged the Aadhaar database.”
“He cannot do any such thing. He is a staunch patriot.”
“Was. He no longer is a patriot. Now he would have sold his soul to the highest bidder. Or maybe he did something shameful and is now being blackmailed into working against his country. Traitors and moles have been found at the highest levels before this across the pages of history. You cannot let emotion cloud your judgment.”
Baldev was quiet as he digested Armaan's logic. “So, what are we going to do?” He finally asked.
“I'm going to get to the root of this. I'll find out what he is up to. And I'm going to make him pay for his deeds. When I joined the Army, I made a solemn promise to protect my motherland. The General may have forgotten his promise, but I haven't.”
“Armaan, I think you are getting emotional here. Maybe we can directly ask the General his reasons for sending us here.”
“So that he realizes we are in the know? He may send some of his minions to kill us.”
“You are being unreasonable, Armaan.”
“Maybe, but I don't like hearing someone planning to hurt my team. Even if it’s my boss.”
“Go back to Turkey. Let me handle things here.”
“I cannot go back, Baldev. My blood is boiling; I don't know how I will control myself in the General's presence knowing what I know now. I have to get to the bottom of this.”
“No, let me handle this. It was our mission to get the decryption codes and find the culprits responsible. This mission was given to us by the General.”
“Oh! So, you are batting for the General now.”
Baldev looked at Armaan with sad eyes. “I'm just doing my duty, Armaan. And you should too. Go to Turkey and report to Manohar.”
“I can't do that. I'll have to tell Manohar about what happened here, and he’ll refuse to believe the General is involved.”
“Stop suspecting the General. There must be a perfectly acceptable explanation for this.”
“Of course there is. The simple explanation is that he’s involved neck deep in this conspiracy. I’m going to catch him red-handed.”
“This is not your mission, Armaan. Your mission is back in Istanbul.”
Armaan’s nose flared. “My mission is to recover the decryption codes. Same as yours. I fought off an enemy in Istanbul, almost got killed, learned about your imminent danger, travelled across countries to find you, infiltrated Zontai’s mansion, killed everyone and rescued you guys. And now you tell me I have no business being here. Wow! Where’s the gratitude?”
“That’s not what I meant, Armaan. Please be reasonable.”
“You know what, you do what you think is right. My mission was and is to find the decryption codes. And I won’t let anyone get in my way. Even if it’s you.” Armaan looked at Roshan and Hitesh. “Boys, are you going to join me?”
Roshan and Hitesh looked at Baldev and then at Armaan. They were unable to decide what to do. Finally, Hitesh spoke. “Baldev, I do believe it was the General on the line. We should at least listen to what Armaan has to say.”
Roshan looked at Armaan. “You told me to always follow orders. Baldev is my leader for this mission, not you. So I’ll do whatever Baldev says.”
Armaan looked at Baldev. His face was drawn; it wasn’t the jovial face he was used to. A stab of regret pierced his heart. What if he was wrong and Baldev was right? What if the General wasn’t actually involved in this? But then he had heard the voice. His ears couldn’t be wrong. And now even Hit
esh had agreed with him.
Baldev laid a hand over Armaan’s shoulder. “I’m sorry if you thought I wasn’t grateful that you came here. You saved our lives and I’m thankful you did choose to come here. Having said that, I’ve my reservations about the conclusion we are drawing based on what we just heard. For the moment, let’s call a truce about whether the General is involved or not and decide what we can do to recover the decryption codes. This mission is bigger than you or I.”
Armaan nodded. “Thank you, Baldev.”
He was glad they had found a minimum common goal they could work on. He didn’t like arguing with Baldev; they had been together for so many years. It wasn’t the best use of their time. He glanced at his stopwatch.
0:12:53:48
Less than thirteen hours remained for the database wipe out. Their time was running out quickly. Their first priority was to figure out how to get the decryption codes. Maybe Venera could help.
Armaan called Venera back to the room. She came in subdued and afraid. “Yes?”
“You hacked the database. Give me the decryption codes.”
Venera shook her head. “I don’t have the decryption codes. Jin helped Mastaan with the encryption. I was only involved in breaching the database, not with the encryption.”
Armaan frowned. Mastaan was dead. Jin was dead. The mission seemed to be slipping away from his grasp every second. All their leads had dwindled away. Then he remembered the name Zontai had uttered before his death. Kabir Majid. So far, he had compartmentalized that information because it was something that he couldn’t act upon at the moment from China. But now, it seemed with every passing moment that he needed to go to the source.
“What do you know of Kabir Majid?”
“I’ve never heard the name.”
Armaan pointed to Venera’s laptop. It was time to turn the asset against her handler. “I’ll give you ten minutes. I want to know where I can find him right this moment.”
Venera complied immediately and sat in front of her laptop and started typing rapidly. Armaan knew that no threat was necessary. She knew the ramifications of disobeying him. Within five minutes she beckoned him to take a look at her screen.
Armaan gleamed a smile as he looked at the ton of information she’d gathered so quickly. She’d found out not just his home and office addresses, phone numbers and email; but also the timings he generally worked and his live geo-location at this very moment.
Armaan nodded and looked at his team. “I’m hungry. It’s time to eat some Pindi Chana.”
Baldev had a momentary look of confusion on his face. Then his eyes widened.
CHAPTER 29
Armaan strode out of Venera’s house, Baldev, Roshan and Hitesh in tow. They had a little over twelve hours to find the decryption codes. A bubble of dread rose in his gut. They had to find Kabir Majid and extract the information out of him. The problem was that it would take four hours of flight time just to get to him. And there were a hundred other variables that could go wrong.
Baldev interrupted his thoughts. “Are you seriously thinking of doing what I’m assuming you are going to do?”
Armaan gazed at the street looking for any hostiles. There were none. He walked towards his car with the team. “Yes, we’ll have to grab Kabir Majid, get the decryption codes and end this mission.”
“This is insane!”
Armaan snorted. “Do you have any better ideas?”
“Maybe we could contact the General and ask him what to do?” Armaan stopped and glared at him. Baldev hurriedly added. “Or maybe we can ask Manohar?”
Armaan shook his head. They were wasting time on this. “I can no longer trust anyone but you boys. Think about it. Zontai and the others knew about your op. Ask yourself. How many folks knew about that? One person is leaking our secrets. And we heard that person today. I know it’s the General. Even though you don’t want to believe me. But please trust me when I say that we need to get the decryption codes without anyone at HQ coming to know what we are doing. It is the only way to ensure our plans don’t get leaked.”
“I heard the voice too. Even though I don’t believe what you are assuming to be true. Can’t we at least look for any other way to get the decryption codes?”
“We don’t have any other leads. The time for reflection is past. We need to act.”
Armaan took a deep breath. Why couldn’t Baldev understand? Completing the mission was their number one priority. Here he was trying his best to get a closure, but Baldev was still hung up on the mole not being General Singh. It was exasperating. Everything else could wait. Right now, he wanted Baldev to buy into his idea of going to Pakistan.
Rawalpindi! Armaan still remembered how Zontai had screamed the words in fear a few moments before his death. And with that revelation Armaan had instantly understood everything. The entire cyber hacking was masterminded and orchestrated from Pakistan. The Chinese hackers were just a decoy to prevent anyone from finding out the truth. No wonder Zontai had been afraid of incurring the wrath of his Pakistani sponsors. It was further reinforced when Zontai had taken Kabir Majid’s name. Kabir Majid was no small fry; he was the new Divisional Director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s spy agency. The ISI would have the resources and clout to do a deception of this scale.
Making a decision to go to Pakistan, find Majid, nab him and get him to confess the decryption codes was not just an insane idea. It was suicidal. A person like Majid would be surrounded by guards at all times. Moreover, he was ensconced in Pakistan, a country hostile to them; and in the city of Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the Pakistani Army and a place perpetually swarming with soldiers. Their chances of getting in and out were abysmally low.
But Armaan would do it. The mission deemed it and he had never failed to accomplish the mission objectives before this. He wouldn’t mar his peerless record. He would do whatever it took to get the decryption codes. It didn’t matter that Baldev didn’t believe in him. It didn’t matter that they were working for a man who had ordered their team to be captured. He still couldn’t get over the fact that Singh had sent the team to be slaughtered in enemy territory. If it hadn’t been for Armaan, he shuddered what could have happened to the boys. And there was the even more pressing matter of the Aadhaar database wipe out. Armaan squared his shoulders. Only the mission mattered.
Armaan stopped in front of his car. “We have to go to Pakistan.”
Baldev opened the passenger door. “You can’t be serious. We barely have a few hours before the deadline ends.”
“And that’s exactly the reason we have to go there and stop it.”
“Stop it? How? Interrogate the ISI Divisional Director in his office with his guards all around him? That’s madness.”
Armaan shrugged. “Just another day at the office.”
“Have you thought this entire thing through?”
Armaan got into the driver’s seat and turned to Hitesh. “Hitesh, get the DIA dossier on Majid.”
Hitesh was already on it before Armaan had even asked. “The file lists him as a hardliner with a strong anti-India bias. He’s been said to have carried out numerous ops in India. Funnelling fake currency, supporting separatists everywhere from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, and nurturing sleeper agents, he’s done it all.”
“No wonder he was promoted.”
“I believe Mastaan Rehman was using these Chinese hackers as a buffer so that the mischief couldn’t be traced back to Pakistan. This Mastaan worked for the National Cyber Security Centre and was in cahoots with Sohail Akhtar, the Divisional Director of the ISI that recently went ‘missing’ according to local reports. Kabir Majid is the successor to him.”
Armaan didn’t interrupt. He and his team were the only ones who knew the circumstances under which the ISI Divisional Director had gone missing. He wasn’t surprised that the Divisional Director was behind the event. It was simply a state policy to bleed India through a thousand cuts. It was just as well that Akhtar got the fate he d
id.
Hitesh continued, “Mastaan and Akhtar may have plotted the cyber attack together. The new Divisional Director, Kabir Majid is no different. He’s another hawk. I believe he may have the ransomware key with him. With the Chinese hacker gone, Majid is our only chance of getting the decryption codes back.”
Roshan chipped in. “We may not even need to interrogate Majid.”
“How?” Baldev asked.
“Getting the decryption codes is our goal, questioning Majid is not our priority. If any of his henchmen know and can be persuaded, that’s sufficient.
Armaan nodded. “Makes sense.”
Baldev raised his palms in disbelief. “Am I the only one who believes that going to Pakistan is a disastrous idea fraught with danger?”
Armaan turned on the ignition. “You are not the only one. Even I know that it’s a disastrous idea.” He put the pedal to the metal and revved the engine. “But we have a mission to accomplish.”
CHAPTER 30
“We’ll be entering Pakistani airspace in fifteen minutes. Get ready.” Uday announced over the intercom.
Armaan glanced outside through the tiny aircraft window. It was dark and he could see only his reflection on the window lit up by the ambient inside light of the cabin. He had been unable to sleep. He was too keyed up with the information he had learned. First, General Singh’s complicity and then the news that the cyberattack had been orchestrated from Pakistan. It was too much to take in. It didn’t help that his shoulder was bleeding again. The wound had been aggravated when he climbed over Zontai’s mansion wall. He’d applied fresh bandage to the wound and hoped the pain would subside.
“I hope you had a wonderful flight.” Uday said.
“Yeah, right.” Baldev grumbled as he made final checks to his combat pack. “About as wonderful as spending three hours in a washing machine. The turbulence denied me my much needed beauty sleep.”
Hitesh grinned, “I slept through all of it. Once I close my eyes, I go into a coma.”
Roshan said, “I caught some sleep. But now, I’m in the mood to catch some miscreants.”