Dusty fields lined the road on both sides. The sun lit the countryside with a luminous quality of light Nick had never seen anywhere else in the world. In the distance, a man walked behind a plow pulled by a hump-backed ox. It was a scene that hadn't changed much in thousands of years.
Nick chose a place for the ambush where the road rose and made a blind turn into a sharp curve before it opened out onto a long straightaway. He parked the van halfway around the curve under some trees. Nick's plan was to pull onto the road in front of Rao's car as he slowed down in the turn.
He called Harker.
"Director, we're going for Cobra. Have you got us on satellite?"
"Affirmative, Nick. We have a clear view of the area and GPS signals from you and Cobra."
In Virginia, Stephanie and Elizabeth watched the vehicles and the colored dots that marked their location. Nick's dot was stationary. Cobra's moved at a high rate toward the ambush.
"He's moving right along," Elizabeth said. "He must be doing close to a hundred."
"On this road that's suicide," Nick said. "He might save us a lot of trouble and take himself out."
"Everyone drives like that here," Stephanie said. "India has a lot or traffic accidents."
"He'll have to slow down for the curve. Let me know when he's close."
"Not long," Elizabeth said. "Less than two minutes."
"Any other vehicles coming?"
Elizabeth looked at the live image. The highway was clear, except for the dark shape of Rao's Jaguar speeding along the road toward the curve.
"Negative. Nothing either way."
Nick drove onto the highway and blocked it. They got out of the van.
"What if he doesn't stop?" Selena asked.
"He has to or he'll turn that fancy car into scrap metal."
They heard the sound of the Jaguar's engine approaching, a deep, throaty sound.
"Here he comes," Nick said. "Get out of sight. I'll pretend I'm fixing a flat."
Inside the Jaguar, Rao was floating on Krivi's pills. The car's expensive sound system played soft music, counterpoint to the steady purr of the powerful engine. Rao loved his car, the fine leather, the polished wood accents. It was a joy to drive, fast and responsive. Now that it was owned and built in India, driving a Jaguar had become a matter of national pride as well as status.
Rao had the transmission in manual mode. He liked the feeling of controlling the shifts instead of letting the computer do it for him. He geared down as the curve approached and crested the rise. A blue van blocked most of the highway. At the rear of the truck a man knelt by the tire. He looked up and waved at Rao to stop.
As Rao hit the brakes, his mind registered alarm. A white man. He looked familiar. Then Rao remembered where he'd seen him.
In a file in his office.
Carter!
Rao shifted down, whipped the wheel over and punched the accelerator. The rear end skidded toward the van, then he was off the highway onto the hard packed earth of the field. The low-slung car bottomed out in a cloud of red dust, fishtailing and scraping. Rao spun the wheel again and was back on the road and moving away. He shifted up and floored it.
"Shit!" Nick yelled. He pulled out his pistol and fired half a dozen rounds at the Jaguar as it sped away. In seconds, it was a speck in the distance.
"That went well," Selena said.
CHAPTER 56
Rao's heart pounded against his ribs. The pleasant calm of the pills had vanished. His hands shook as he gripped the steering wheel. He could feel vibration in the wheel that hadn't been there before. It sounded like something had come loose underneath. The ride felt harsh. He looked at the gauges. He was doing over 200 kph. Except for the vibration and a loud exhaust, everything seemed normal. The van and the curve vanished in his rear view mirror.
Then he laughed. He hadn't felt alive like this since Afghanistan. It made him realize how dull he'd become, how he missed the edginess that made life interesting. It had slipped away, somewhere in that office high above Lodhi Road. What had Krivi said that day in the cafe?
"What have you got to lose?"
The answer was simple. Nothing. Nothing to lose. It didn't matter whether or not he succeeded in what he planned to do. He'd be dead soon, anyway. What mattered now was the game, the freedom that came from knowing his death was certain.
What was Carter doing there? How had the Project found him? Why? They couldn't know what he was planning. A road sign flashed by. He was a half hour out of Srinagar.
He analyzed the situation. They wanted to kidnap me. If they were willing to go to extreme lengths like that, it meant time was running out. He reached down to touch the stone, wrapped in cloth in his jacket pocket. It felt warm under his fingers.
His secure phone chirped. Rao looked at the screen. It was Prakash Khanna. Khanna was in New Delhi, at RAW headquarters.
"Yes."
"Ashok, what's happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"Security has been in your office, tearing everything apart. You're to be arrested and held for investigation. The Secretary himself was in here, looking pissed. He asked me if I knew anything about the riot at the mosque."
Rao tensed, the fine, high sense of freedom gone in an instant. His body buzzed, as though filled with electricity.
"What did you tell him?"
"What could I tell him? Nothing. They're waiting for you to show up, here or at your apartment."
"Where are you now?"
"Outside headquarters. I didn't want to call you from inside the building. "
"Don't do anything," Rao said. "Deny everything. In a short time it won't matter." Rao paused. "You've been a good friend, Prakash."
"Ashok…"
Rao clicked off.
They must have learned I set up the riot, he thought. Or they could have found out the truth about Manila. That would explain why Carter was waiting.
The more he thought about it, the more Rao was convinced that was what had happened. It changed everything. He had to act now, before the security forces closed in on him. Returning the Eye to the temple would have to wait. There was no more time.
He felt the hard shape of the card with the missile launch codes in his jacket pocket. There was one missile site in Kashmir, not far from Srinagar. It was armed with Agni III intermediate range missiles, exactly what Rao needed. Agni III carried a 20 kiloton warhead. It had a range of 4000 kilometers, overkill for nearby Islamabad.
It will be on them before they can respond, Rao thought. I'll have Ijay meet me in Srinagar and fly me to the site.
Rao knew that General Chatterjee, the commander of India's missile forces, had scheduled a surprise inspection at the site today. He'd call Chatterjee. Tell him he was coming to talk with him about something of vital importance to India's security.
Like Rao, Chatterjee was a nationalist who hated Pakistan. Rao thought it was even possible he'd cooperate in the launch, but it didn't matter. If Chatterjee and the security detachment on site resisted, Ijay and his men would take care of it. With the card and codes he didn't need Chatterjee. Once the missile was in the air, the end of Pakistan was a forgone conclusion.
He reached for the pill bottle and decided to take two more. He swallowed them down and called Ijay.
"We have a problem."
"Sir."
"Is the helicopter ready yet?"
"We're just finishing up. We'll be in the air in a few minutes."
"I ran into some trouble. Consider yourself on high alert. Meet me at the field in Srinagar," Rao said.
"Yes, sir. When will you be there?"
"Half an hour. General Chatterjee is on an inspection trip at one of the launch sites. We're going to pay him a visit. Get moving." Rao broke off the call.
He thought about Lakshmi and Arjuna, his wife and son. Karma that he'd met her, karma that Arjuna had been born, karma that they'd died. Karma was unavoidable. Whatever karmic debt he incurred because of what he was going to do, it meant nothing compared to avenging their deaths.
It wasn't far now to the airfield where Ijay would be waiting.
Lakshmi, my love, Rao thought, soon I'll make them pay.