The Zero-Cost Mission/The Wily Agent

by Amar Bhushan

  ‘I leave the final decision to you. The time has come to let your boys know the targets they are to hit. If anyone feels jittery, drop him. Tell the volunteers that someone carrying a laminated card with the number 4pYrX4 and the symbol of a half-moon will provide them with the apples,’ Sujal explained.

  ‘But you earlier gave me a card with the same identifiers and told me that I am to use it to introduce myself to a person and collect the apples from him. I don’t think the boys will be willing to talk to a stranger.’

  ‘I was only trying to create a firewall for your safety. I didn’t want the apple supplier to know you. I would rather have Shaukat and the volunteers compromised than lose my finest operational asset,’ Sujal said.

  ‘It’s very kind of you to say that, but doesn’t this Shaukat know who you are?’ Mansoor asked.

  ‘He doesn’t. Anyway, if you are confident of handling the distribution without exposing your real identity, I have no problem,’ Sujal said.

  ‘Then let me handle the volunteers,’ Mansoor suggested.

  ‘That’s fine with me. I’ll call you tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. to confirm whether all your boys are on board,’ Sujal said and hung up.

  The next day, Mansoor confirmed that all were willing to go ahead with the mission.

  ‘That’s good news,’ Sujal said. ‘Now, since you want to handle the distribution of the apples yourself, the next step is for you to meet Shaukat, the supplier. He is in Dhaka at the moment. He’s staying in Hotel 71, room number 215. The address is 47, Bijoy Nagar. You will have to use a different code to meet him. He has misplaced the laminated card. Do not ring him up. Go and meet him as Jafrin and give him a hundred-taka note with a serial number ending in 0250 to prove that you are the right person. Set up a secure means of communicating with each other. When the time comes, he will call you to collect the apples. You can then send them to the various venues for their sale,’ he instructed Mansoor.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘After the apples are consumed, your boys must maintain strict silence and avoid contacting you for a minimum of three weeks. I will be arranging for at least twenty-one lakhs, which I will send to you before the apples are sold, through the same courier I used earlier. Someone will call you after the sale to fix a date and place to give you the balance amount. If that does not happen, call me.’

  ‘Have you fixed a date when the apples are to be sold?’

  ‘Not yet, but I will let you know at least a week before the sale,’ Sujal said and hung up.

  A few hours later, he called Shaukat, who was to arrange for the explosives, and told him that a person would soon be contacting him to hand over forty lakhs. He would identify himself as BG70154.

  ‘But our deal was that you would pay the full amount before the apples were loaded in the truck,’ Shaukat argued.

  ‘The balance will be paid on the day of the final delivery along with your commission of five lakhs,’ Sujal said.

  Pleased at the generous commission Sujal had promised him, Shaukat agreed to the payment terms. ‘The suppliers have procured the apples and are ready to hand over the consignment. They only have to be paid. I have also rented a godown for a few days to store the apples. But who will remove the apples from the godown and load them in the truck?’

  ‘Pack the apples into crates when you store them. A man called Jafrin will soon meet you in the hotel. As proof that he is the right man, he will now present a hundred-taka note with a serial number ending in 0250.’

  ‘I am sorry for misplacing the card.’

  ‘Not to worry. Finalize with him how you both will communicate with each other. And, if you have the time and feel confident that you are not being watched, show him the godown from where he will collect the material. As soon as the apples are ready and crated, give Jafrin a call. He will take three days to lift the entire stock.’

  ‘When can I expect to receive the advance and the balance of fifty lakhs, including my commission?’

  ‘Don’t be impatient. Please confirm first that the full load of apples has been delivered,’ Sujal said tersely before hanging up.

  The next person he contacted was Anisur. ‘I have another job for you,’ Sujal told his most trusted courier. ‘It is much more lucrative than your previous assignment.’

  ‘What do I have to do?’

  ‘This time, you will collect money from Samuel Cleric, staying in room 207 in Sonargaon hotel,’ Sujal said.

  ‘How will I recognize him?’

  ‘He likes wearing jeans and white polo shirts. Introduce yourself to him as Moni and show him the ID with the number BG70154.’

  ‘When do I have to meet him?’

  ‘Wait for my call,’ Sujal said.

  The following day, he instructed one of his Calcutta-based contacts, Bhuwan, aka Cleric, to fly to Dhaka and check into room number 207 in Hotel Sonargaon, where a booking had already been made in Cleric’s name. He told Bhuwan that someone wearing black trousers and a grey shirt would deliver a sum of money, which he was to later hand over to one Moni, who would be carrying an ID with the number BG70154. He was to check out of the hotel immediately after the transaction was completed.

  The last person he spoke to was Mazhar. He requested him to arrange for the transfer of 1,34,40,000 taka immediately to Cleric, who would be staying in room 207 of Hotel Sonargaon.

  ‘I can understand the bulk, but why the forty thousand? Mazhar asked.

  ‘That’s the courier’s fee.’

  ‘Why are you using another person to collect the amount? Did you suspect Anisur of siphoning off part of the payment?’

  ‘No, but I haven’t been able to contact him and can no longer delay the commencement of the plan,’ Sujal lied. Actually, he didn’t want Mazhar’s courier to observe a pattern in transferring money.

  ‘How will my man recognize Cleric?’ Mazhar asked.

  ‘Your courier should go to his hotel room wearing black trousers and a grey shirt. Cleric will be waiting for him.’

  For Sujal, it had been a maddening week, checking every small detail of the plan’s execution and leaving nothing to last-minute course correction. Finally, when all loose ends were neatly tied and all assets were primed and ready to play their respective roles, he had nothing to do but anxiously wait for Mazhar to confirm that the money had been handed over to Cleric. Once the amount changed hands, he knew the chain of events would start unfolding in quick succession. To relieve the pressure of the nerve-racking wait, he immersed himself in regular departmental work. He would drop in to Dayal’s room to exchange updates on political developments in Bangladesh and discuss the unit’s routine operations. He spent hours catching up with his long-neglected paperwork and remained largely confined to his room, attending to normal source work. Observing this unexpected change in his deputy’s attitude to work, Dayal asked him whether Reddy’s operation had been concluded. Sujal confided, albeit impishly, that it had never taken off and had to be dropped eventually.

  Arpita was not fooled by Sujal’s theatrics. She sensed that her husband was close to executing the final stages of the mission. She knew that whenever he planned something big, he contrived to appear normal to calm his nerves.

  The mission, however, ran into unforeseen problems. Two days after Mazhar was scheduled to deliver the money to Cleric, he received a call from him late at night.

  ‘Did it go well?’ Sujal asked anxiously.

  ‘No.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Cleric never checked into hotel Sonargaon. My courier tried for two days to contact him, but he had to beat a hasty retreat when the hotel management started getting suspicious and asked him why he was so desperately looking for someone who had not checked in and threatened to report the matter to the police. He had no choice but to return without delivering the amount.’

  The plan seemed to be falling apart. Panic set in, compelling Sujal to take an unprecedented operational risk. The following morning, he called Israr at his home from his office line.
He gave him the address of Hotel Sonargaon and asked him to contact a Samuel J. Cleric, staying in room number 207. Israr was to check whether Samuel had checked in and if he had, he was to instruct him to contact Sujal immediately in Calcutta.

  When Israr insisted on knowing more about Samuel, Sujal cut him off and hung up.

  To make matters worse, Shaukat called Sujal that same evening at his home number (which Sujal had given him for use in dire emergencies only) to complain that the suppliers were insisting on immediate payment and were threatening to terminate the contract if the consignment of apples was not lifted within forty-eight hours. He also wanted to know how long he would have to wait for Jafrin to come to the hotel.

  ‘Don’t worry. Give me a few hours to look into it. Meanwhile, enjoy the hotel food and relax,’ Sujal snapped and disconnected the call, preventing Shaukat from giving away any more incriminatory information on an open line.

  Minutes later, Vishwanath Reddy called from Delhi. He asked how the plan was proceeding and whether Sujal could come to Delhi to update him the following week. Keen to get Reddy off his back, Sujal said that the mission was on course and hung up quickly, pretending that he was having difficulty in hearing clearly due to a bad connection.

  Baffled at the turn of events, Sujal decided to pay Mazhar a visit. He reached his house around 7.30 p.m., only to find that he was not there. His caretaker, however, received him warmly and insisted that he make himself comfortable in the living room.

  ‘Do you know where Mazhar has gone and when he is likely to return?’ Sujal asked, trying to conceal his impatience.

  ‘He didn’t tell me, but I know where he generally goes in the evening. He is a lonely man and spends his spare time with a girlfriend. I can give you the number,’ the caretaker said with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

  Sujal thanked him and promptly called the number. A lady answered and told him that Mazhar had left an hour ago for his home.

  Frustrated once again, Sujal decided to try contacting Cleric. He dialled his number, but there was no response. It was only on his ninth attempt that Cleric finally answered his phone.

  ‘I am sorry, I was in the bathroom,’ he said.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Sujal snapped. ‘The delivery boy has been looking for you in the hotel for the last forty-eight hours.’

  ‘I am very much in Hotel Sonargaon, but not in room 207. It wasn’t available. Some mix-up with the reservations. But why didn’t he call me before he came? I would have given him the correct room number.’

  ‘Can they deliver today?’ Sujal asked.

  ‘Yes, they can deliver it before 9.00 a.m. tomorrow. My room number is the same as the first three digits of your birthday.’

  ‘Keep two lakhs with you and wait for my instructions. Pass the rest on to Moni. He will have an ID with the number BG70154,’ Sujal said tersely and put the receiver down. He slumped back into the sofa, feeling immensely relieved.

  Finally, at 11.30 p.m., Mazhar returned. Sujal informed him of the turn in events and his conversation with Cleric. They quickly went out to a PCO, from where Mazhar contacted his man in Dhaka and gave him the necessary instructions. Sujal then called Israr and told him there was no longer any need for him to look for Cleric since he had been traced.

  As they walked back to the house, he admitted to Mazhar that he had used his residence phone to contact Cleric.

  ‘You should not have done that,’ Mazhar said, clearly unhappy over his friend’s indiscretion. ‘Please don’t make the mistake of underestimating the NSI.’

  ‘I am truly sorry, I know it was operationally imprudent, but at that point of time I was in a bit of a panic; my only thought was to get to the bottom of what had happened,’ Sujal apologized. ‘But don’t worry. I will have your number changed within a couple of days.’

  The mission was back on track. Soon after Mazhar reported that the full amount had been delivered, Sujal got in touch with Anisur and directed him to contact Cleric immediately.

  ‘Show him the ID with the number BG70154 so he knows you’re the right man. He will then tell you where and when to meet him to collect the amount. Of the money collected, you are to give eighty lakhs to Israr, twenty-four lakhs to Jafrin (Mansoor) and six lakhs to Emon (Aziz). The remaining forty thousand is your service fee,’ Sujal explained the drill to him.

  ‘Who is Israr?’ Anisur asked.

  ‘He is a friend of mine and needs money urgently for his wife’s treatment in Bangkok. Talk to him on 29113426, introduce yourself as Mukul and set up a mutually convenient time and place for delivering the amount,’ Sujal explained. Anisur agreed to do the needful.

  In the evening, Sujal contacted Mansoor and told him that someone would pay him twenty-four lakhs shortly and asked him to get ready to collect the apples and hand over the crates to the retailers. Sujal hinted that the sale must begin within forty-eight hours of someone informing him that the ‘moon has been sighted’.

  The following day he called Israr, explained the drill of receiving money from ‘Mukul’ (Anisur) and instructed him to promptly pass it on to one Shaukat who was staying in room number 215 in Hotel 71 at 47, Bijoy Nagar. ‘Carry a half-cut apple and show it to Shaukat to establish your identity. Do not reveal your name and avoid chit-chatting,’ Sujal warned.

  Then he spoke to Shaukat. ‘I have asked a friend to pay you the full amount within a couple of days,’ he said curtly, still peeved with the agent’s threat to cancel the deal if payments were not made in full or on time. ‘He will contact you soon. It wasn’t easy arranging all of it so quickly, but since your suppliers were insistent, I decided to pay all of it at once, rather than in instalments,’ he added.

  Shaukat thanked him profusely and promised to deliver the apples on time.

  Sujal waited for six days, giving his assets time to receive the money, procure the explosives and dispatch them to the volunteers. On the seventh day, he contacted the owner of the PCO booth that Mansoor typically used and asked for Mansoor so that he could give him the go-ahead to commence the action. But he was told that Mansoor had gone to Jessore and would not be back for a month. Sujal realized that Mansoor probably no longer trusted the PCO owner and had therefore lied to him about his whereabouts, because Jessore was the one place that he would have no interest in visiting. He also recalled that Mansoor had shared with him his suspicion that perhaps the PCO owner was helping the watchers of the special branch to listen in on Mansoor’s conversations. But Sujal was not unduly worried. He knew Mansoor was a mature and cautious field agent, who would never put a foot wrong. Sujal guessed that he must be busy organizing the collection and distribution of the explosives, ensuring that all the volunteers reached their designated locations and instructing them on how to execute their allotted tasks. Nonetheless, now that he had no way of getting in touch with Mansoor, the question that kept bothering him was when would Mansoor launch the assault? Would he wait for someone to inform him about the sighting of the moon or would he choose the date and time on his own to mount the offensive? Knowing Mansoor’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances and his sense of secrecy, it was unlikely that he would either delay the action or ring up Sujal for help in solving any unexpected problem that cropped up during the execution of the task.

  Thirty-six hours passed but Sujal had heard nothing from any of his assets. The only call that came was from Israr, who told him that he had delivered the money to Shaukat. Sujal assumed that with the money paid, the rest of the plan must have been set in motion. At 9.00 p.m., while he was watching the news on television, his cell phone vibrated. Surprisingly, the caller was neither Cleric nor Anisur but Shariful Hossain. Hossain informed him that Crescent had called him the previous night from Riyadh and had told him to let Sujal know that Jamaat had agreed to gradually dissolve its relationship with the Nationalists and lend issue-based support to the League. Crescent, however, sought five to ten years to work around the majority of the cadre to break its ties completely with Jamaat-e-Islam of Pak
istan.

  ‘What did he have to say about snapping ties with ISI and refraining from pushing terrorists and radicalizing illegal immigrants in India?’ Sujal enquired.

  ‘I did ask him, knowing that you would certainly repeat this charge. He reiterated that these were wild allegations and had no basis. In fact, he suspected that you were deliberately raising these non-issues only to keep the League happy.’

  ‘It is evident he does not want to address our key security concerns. If you think it is necessary, I can have the evidence of Jamaat’s complicity sent over to him,’ Sujal said.

  ‘Both of you obviously have a serious difference of perception regarding Jamaat’s agenda against India, but I still suggest that you grab this window of opportunity offered by Crescent. I sense a major shift in his stand on dealing with India and your Agency, in particular. His commitment to break away from the Nationalists is a major concession to you. Who knows, he may even temper his cosiness with the ISI in due course,’ Shariful argued.

  Sujal promised that he would request the Chief to seriously consider Crescent’s offer and revert soon with his response.

  In the long term, it made sense to accept Crescent’s offer, although there was no guarantee that the Jamaat hawks would accept it or remain true to his word. On the other hand, if Sujal went ahead with the mission, any chance of persuading Jamaat to give up its anti-India stance would be lost forever. Unfortunately, Crescent’s overture was too late in coming. Huge sums had already been invested in the operation, explosives had been procured and volunteers had moved out to their locations. Since his assets had gone silent, Sujal was not even sure if he would be able to contact anyone to call off the mission at this late hour without giving away the plan to the National Security Intelligence. He eventually decided that there was nothing he could do at this point but wait and watch and deal with any consequences as they arose.