As it turned out, it took Kang more than a minute to throw Ali Waris. Ray refrained from betting after that, but his respect for the others on the team seemed to have increased, especially seeing Waris’s own commitment mirrored in them.
Now, refreshed as he was from his exercise with Kang, Waris immediately noticed the tension in the room. Turning to Brijesh, he said, ‘Update please, Brijesh.’
‘Yes, sir. As you know, Wajid Mir is definitely going to be in the UK sometime between the tenth and seventeenth of September. We haven’t managed to get any more information than that from the remaining data from Qandahari’s system.’
Ali Waris nodded. ‘In fact, I believe this Ateeq fellow made an error in writing that line in his email. Don’t ever forget, these Lashkar fellows are very cunning and cautious. They wouldn’t put something like this in writing anywhere—’
‘—which must be why there’s no other mention of the trip!’ finished Ray.
‘Exactly. Continue, Brijesh.’
‘Well, sir, we’re in disagreement about the venue for the meeting. Vikrant and I believe that they will choose the place in such a way that they can melt into the surroundings. They will get the ideal opportunity at the Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham on 11 September.’
‘It’s the perfect cover,’ said Vikrant quietly.
Waris glanced at the plasma screen with Wajid Mir’s face plastered on it, and turned to Laila. ‘And you disagree with them?’
‘Yes, sir,’ she said. ‘According to his profile, Wajid Mir would never expose himself in this manner. It is too open, too much of a security risk for him.’
‘Hmm.’
Everyone waited, as Waris walked over to the window and looked out over the garden maintained by the housing society.
Identifying the meeting venue correctly wasn’t the hardest part, he knew. The more difficult bit would come later, when they would have to identify Wajid Mir among the thousands of brown-skinned individuals present.
From what he knew of Wajid Mir and his associates, the Edgbaston ground stood out as the most likely venue. Not only would they be automatically hidden, lost in the crowd, but they would also get to enjoy a charged match between Australia and England. ‘Would they pass up that opportunity?’ thought Waris, and shook his head. Not a chance!
Having made up his mind, he turned back to the others, who were waiting patiently. ‘They’ll be at the ground. It’s the best opportunity they have.’
‘Acknowledged, sir,’ said Laila, and turned off the huge screen. ‘But now we have a problem.’
Waris nodded. ‘I know. We’ll have to identify him.’
‘Exactly, sir. I don’t see how we can solve that problem. Plus his profile suggests he’s a master of disguise. That makes our mission doubly difficult.’
‘Maybe,’ said Vikrant, ‘Daddy can help.’
It hadn’t taken the team long to figure out that they were being backed by someone. No matter how ingenious Waris was, it would have been impossible for him to procure the resources they had access to. But their chief had refused to reveal who it was, and they respected his decision. They only called him Daddy.
‘Indeed, Vikrant,’ said Waris. ‘My thought as well.’
‘Finally, a challenge!’
‘What, you’re so comfortable now that you need challenges? Sky, there’s something wrong with you for sure, I’m telling you.’
‘Well, whatever’s wrong with me has got you too, Ali.’
‘Yeah, it always did. Listen, can you get me that intel?’
‘Like I said, Ali, this is going to be a challenge.’
‘Why? You helped out the last time.’
There was a pause at the other end of the line. Waris could imagine the RAW chief sitting in his office in Delhi, taking off his spectacles and pinching the bridge of his nose, a sign that he was thinking hard.
‘The last time was in India, old friend. What you’re asking from me now brings the London guys into the picture.’
Waris laughed. ‘Well, Sky, you being you, I’m sure you’ve got some men there.’
Sky chuckled. ‘Of course, why would you think otherwise? But seriously, give me a couple of days. This is an international matter. I’ll have to move carefully.’
‘Fine, but don’t dawdle, Sky. We don’t have much time. Our friend will travel to London any time beginning next fortnight. We can’t miss him.’
‘I may know of something else that can help. I’ll get back to you tomorrow. By the way, are you getting your usual coffee there?’
‘Yes, but it’s not the same. I can’t quite figure out why. Must be some Chinese shit.’
‘I’ve told you this a million times, Ali. Let me send across a bottle of Scotch for you. You’ll see it’ll help with—’
‘Fuck you,’ grunted Waris, and hung up while the RAW chief was still laughing at the other end.
The team assembled again the following night, at half past ten.
Waris went to his chair, behind the only desk in the room, and waited until the others had arranged themselves in front of him. Then he spoke.
‘Daddy did it.’
‘All right!’ exclaimed Vikrant.
Waris put up his hand. ‘But there’s a catch. We’re not going to be alone in this mission. There will be some backing from the lower levels of MI6.’
‘MI6?’ said Kang, looking troubled. ‘But won’t that complicate the whole thing?’
It was Laila who replied. ‘It will, but it can’t be helped. Whether it’s the match or anywhere else, since we’re going to be in the UK, it will be under MI6’s jurisdiction. We really won’t be able to avoid that.’
‘Correct,’ said Waris, nodding. ‘And since we can’t avoid them, we might as well collaborate with them. But that’s not all. I’ll leave Ray here to explain the rest.’
Ray got up importantly and took centre stage. ‘Has any of you heard about terahertz?’
As was usually the case when Ray asked such a question, everyone except Laila looked blank. ‘I’ve heard of it vaguely,’ said Laila. ‘It’s used in body scanners and the sort, isn’t it?’
Ray nodded. ‘Yes. Terahertz is a kind of electromagnetic radiation, a sub-millimetre wave. Its frequency lies between microwaves and infrared light waves. It’s a fairly new avenue of research, but currently there are some full body scanners that implement terahertz frequencies.’
‘Why?’ asked Kang. ‘What’s wrong with what we already have?’
‘Well, terahertz appears to have more penetrating power than the millimetre wave scanners and backscatter X-ray machines that are used now. They can be tweaked to detect many materials and substances that the others can’t, by combining the current conventional imaging technique with spectral identification. Conventional scanners can sometimes miss them if they are concealed properly. But these materials leave a kind of spectral fingerprint in the terahertz range. And since terahertz radiation can penetrate fibres and plastics, it can be used to detect those materials.’
‘But you’re saying this is very new?’ said Vikrant.
‘Yes. There’s a lot of ongoing research in this field. And,’ he glanced at Waris, who nodded to him, ‘one of these areas of research is going to be very useful to us.’
Everyone’s attention was focused on Ray as he continued.
‘A certain technology is being developed, using which the genetic makeup of the cells of the human body can be detected. What this means,’ he continued hurriedly, before the others lost interest in his technical explanation, ‘is that if you have a few of my cells and know my DNA structure, you can identify me anywhere using this technology, no matter how I disguise myself, or even if I get plastic surgery and look completely different.’
Kang let out a loud whistle. ‘But that means anyone can be identified anywhere!’
‘Exactly. Now, just as those materials leave a spectral footprint in the terahertz range, our DNA will also leave behind a trail. It won’t be visible using just
terahertz radiation, but if that radiation frequency can somehow be boosted, all we’ll need to have is a profile of an individual’s DNA to identify him virtually anywhere.’
‘But who—’
It was Waris who answered. ‘Mossad. Who else?’
There was a stunned silence. Finally Vikrant broke it.
‘Sir, am I to understand that we’re going to have to work with not only MI6 but Mossad as well?’
‘Unfortunately, major, we don’t have an option. Ray, if you would care to continue?’
‘Yes, sir. Mossad claims to have developed a microchip that can be installed on any scanner in the world. That’s the technology I told you about. They’re calling it the T-Ray Profiler. They’ve used computational genomics to identify individual genes, which they feed into the Profiler. So there is a T-Ray profile for an individual stored on the chip, containing genetic information, and it will be quickly analysed and matched with input data. Now the chief has just told me—’ Ray broke off, and again glanced at Waris.
‘Daddy has provided us with a contact within Mossad. They don’t care how we use it, or on whom we use it. But according to our contact, they have only just readied the technology, they haven’t tested it fully yet. They’ve done it in the lab, and on some unsuspecting Israeli citizens too, no doubt. But they haven’t field tested it yet, not when the stakes are high.’
‘And we’re going to be the guinea pigs?’ said Brijesh.
‘Well, not us, no,’ said Ray with a sly smile. ‘Wajid Mir will be.’
‘But how the hell will we get his profile?’ said Kang.
‘You’re forgetting, Kang,’ Waris said, ‘that this is Mossad we’re dealing with. They already have Mir’s profile. It’s just a matter of testing it, and that has fallen to us. Mutual cooperation, people. They give us the technology we need and we run the test that they need.’
‘But how will it work?’ asked Laila.
‘That’s where MI6 comes in. Brijesh, Ray has been given the coordinates of our local contact in London. Get on to him. He’ll put you in touch with MI6’s man.’
‘I have a question, sir,’ said Kang, looking worried. ‘Do we really want the MI6 to get involved? What if they find out Daddy’s identity? Even we don’t know who he is. But if MI6 gets into the fray, they might just find out who he is.’
‘Don’t worry, Kang. Our benefactor knows how to protect himself and his identity. Now, Ray, if you would explain the situation to them?’
It took just a day for the team to chalk out a plan. ‘I’ve chosen well,’ Waris thought to himself, as he reflected on how quickly they had strategized the entire mission.
Brijesh, Kang, Vikrant, Ray and Laila would arrive in London on 9 September. They would meet the local RAW contact in London, who would set up two temporary bases for them – one in London, the other in Birmingham.
Immediately after arrival, Brijesh and Kang’s target would be the security station at Heathrow airport. Somehow, they had to get the T-Ray Profiler installed in the scanner there. Laila showed them how.
Usually, the computer chip of the airport’s security scanner was taken for maintenance work every thirty days. However, in anticipation of a massive influx of foreigners and cricket enthusiasts for the Australia-England match on 11 September, every single piece of gadgetry at the airport was being monitored and taken for routine maintenance far more frequently, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. This schedule would leave no room for error at all, and would be continued until the match was over.
According to Laila, who had hacked into the scheduling information, the scanner chips would be taken for maintenance to a separate location every time, notified to the transport team only an hour in advance.They would have to keep tabs on the transport team at all times, and ensure that between the conclusion of the maintenance and transport back to the airport for reinstallation, they put in their own addition, the several T-Ray Profilers that would be on loan to them from Mossad. RAW’s local contact would work with MI6 in delaying the transport team long enough – once for Ray to install the Profiler, and once later, to get it back.
All this, however, meant that MI6 would want a piece of the pie, and Mossad might just turn out to be unwilling to share their technology. This realization almost led to the mission being aborted, but Waris once again got Sky involved. MI6 was promised separate and unrelated information that it had been asking the Indians for.
The next step was identifying when Wajid Mir would land at Heathrow. Here, the team was unanimous. He would certainly not come from Peshawar or any other part of Pakistan that was under suspicion of housing terrorist groups. That left only Islamabad and Lahore. So all flights to Heathrow from these two cities would have be monitored closely.
The means to eliminate the target was also unanimously agreed upon – a lethal dosage of a muscle relaxants. Ray had created a variant of the drug succinylcholine, a quick-acting, depolarizing paralytic muscle relaxant that causes almost instant loss of motor skills, but without inducing loss of consciousness or anaesthesia. Succinylcholine had been used in the assassination of top Hamas militant Mahmoud-al-Mabhouh and had been identified only after ten days.
Ray’s tweaked version, a variant of succinylcholine, was more lethal. It was more dangerous in that it induced loss of consciousness and had a traceable life of just under three minutes. After those three minutes, it would dissolve into the bloodstream and become completely untraceable. The victim would appear to have fallen asleep and never woken up.
The disagreement came about when deciding on the target. While Vikrant and Laila felt that they should eliminate as many Lashkar targets as they could find, Brijesh, Kang and Ray disagreed. Their target was Wajid Mir, and that was their mission. Killing the others would also mean a higher risk of discovery. ‘If only Wajid Mir dies of natural causes, it might be overlooked,’ said Kang. ‘But if all of them die in that manner, our cover will definitely be blown.’
‘Yes, and we can’t assume they’re idiots,’ said Brijesh. ‘That’s one mistake we cannot afford to make. If there’s the slightest slip up at our end, you can be assured they’ll come down on us like a ton of bricks.’
Vikrant and Laila were still unconvinced. According to them, the opportunity to eliminate an entire group of terrorist leaders was not to be passed up.
Finally, Waris intervened. ‘I understand what you’re saying, Vikrant, Laila. But we can’t overreach. This is a very slippery slope we’re on. If we start killing people indiscriminately, we are no better than them. Our targets are on our hitlist because they have been proven to be guilty and they’ve not been punished. We had to step in.’
He paused and looked around. ‘Believe me, I want to,’ he said quietly. ‘But it would be too damned easy to go down that path. And that path, people, leads only to needless violence. There is a thin line between a warrior and terror monger. We don’t want to cross that Lakshman Rekha. It would make us terrorists.’
Vikrant and Laila had nothing to say after that.
11
London
Intelligence agencies around the world are constantly updating and modernizing their arsenal to upstage their rivals. At any given time, their repertoire of tricks includes all sorts of ideas, from the brilliant to the bizarre and everything in between. Most of these games are part of shadow wars. If China raised 10,000 hackers as part of their Red Army to break into any computer system in the world, then Mossad has perfected the art of tracking their favourite targets, no matter where they are hiding.
After eliminating Osama bin Laden, the United States of America was convinced of the importance of personal touch to espionage. After decades of obsessing over technological surveillance, the country’s clandestine services rediscovered the impeccability of ‘humint’: human intelligence.
According to an unconfirmed report, over 3,000 Mumbai cabbies are sleeping resources for mighty Uncle Sam. These cabbies are supposedly part of their ‘War on Terror’. Their brief is simple: they are alw
ays positioned at particular pick-up points across the city. The cabbie is expected to listen for any kind of suspicious conversation between passengers or a lone traveller talking on the phone. This immediately gets reported to the officer assigned to collate and process information. Most of the time, it’s a waste of precious man hours but there’s always the possibility that you might hit paydirt.
The outside world thinks of Indians as unsophisticated in the field of espionage. But, as is the case with stereotypes (good and bad), the anomalies tend to undermine the stereotype. There was a very good reason that Sky was regarded in the same light as James Bond. In fact, Waris often addressed him as Abu Bond.
Waris knew that they could not let Wajid Mir disappear and get lost in Britain. It was necessary to keep tabs on Mir’s location from the moment he set foot in London.
Sky was the one who came up with the idea. It was almost four months since British soldier Lee Rigby had been brutally hacked to death and beheaded by two men in Woolwich, South East London, in broad daylight. London’s Metropolitan Police and citizens alike were still rattled by the attack. The MI5 were apprehensive about the possibility of a spate of attacks across the country.
Sky called his friend Alexander Perry, deputy director of MI5 and a strong opponent of Pakistan’s hardline elements. He knew that he needed help from a top MI5 official who did not have any misplaced sympathy for Pakistan, and Perry was just the man.
Sky began with his customary greeting: ‘Namaskar’.
Perry returned the greeting to the best of his ability, despite his thick British accent. ‘Naam-osk … Naam-ask … Bloody hell! Good morning, Sky.’
Sky laughed aloud and said, ‘You still need a lot of practice, Alex.’
‘Yeah, I’ll get on it immediately,’ said Perry sarcastically.
Sky got straight to the point. ‘Tabrez is coming to London. He is a person of interest to us. We need to keep a watch on him and will require help from you.’
‘Why should we help you? If his request for a visa has been cleared, it means he is deemed a law-abiding citizen,’ Perry said. Then he added, ‘Unless we have reasons to suspect him, it would be highly illegal for us to keep him under surveillance.’
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