Page 113 of Into the Gray Zone

I said, “If you know anything about where the terrorists are, I would suggest you tell me.”

He saw something had changed in my demeanor, but plowed ahead anyway. “My fate with you is sealed whether I say anything or not. You’ve already admitted without saying so that you aren’t authorized to decide my fate. You’re not going to turn me over to the embassy. That decision will be made, as you say, above your pay grade. I’ll wait for them.”

The words split the scab open, letting the beast run free. I snarled and leapt across the table, grabbing his hair with my left hand and punching him in the face with my right. I managed two strikes before Knuckles pulled me off him, shouting, “Pike, Pike, back off!”

We struggled for a second and I calmed down. I threw Knuckles’ hands off me, turned to Chin, and said, “You ordered your men to try to kill me. Right now, I’m looking at an enemy combatant. You’re right, I’m not going to turn you in to your embassy, but me killing you in self-defense is something I can justify. I just won’t tell the people above my pay grade that it was in self-defense of the hostages.”

Focused on Chin, I said, “Knuckles, give me your pistol.”

He said, “What?”

My eyes still on Chin, I said, “Give it to me. I’m done with this shit.”

He passed it butt first and I laid it on the table in front of Chin. I said, “You either grab that pistol or start talking.”

He looked at the Staccato in front of him, then into my eyes, recognizing I wasn’t bluffing. He said, “Let me have my cell phone.”

I picked up the pistol and handed it back to Knuckles. I took a seat again and said, “Why?”

“Because I know the location of one of the terrorists, but it’s in that phone.”

“The phone is wiped.”

“I know. I have to download an app.”

Which was a conundrum. We’d had the phone off since we captured him precisely to keep any of his “friends” from tracking us. If he turned it on and it touched the cell network, it would be visible for anyone to find.

He saw what I was thinking and said, “I don’t want anyone tracking the phone any more than you do. Does this aircraft have Wi-Fi? I’ll leave it in airplane mode to do the download, which, given where I’m sitting, seems appropriate.”

I sent Knuckles to get a pilot, since I had no idea how to turn it on, and Mr. Chin gave up all subterfuge, describing a Garmin watch andhow he’d modified it to transmit to a special application designed by his “organization,” which I knew was the Ministry of State Security. He went through the entire history of the device, and I didn’t let him know I was somewhat familiar with it, since it was how we’d located the terrorist in Agra and also how we’d found out the rest were in Jaipur.

By the time he was done, the Wi-Fi was operational. I turned on the phone, immediately put it into airplane mode, then handed it to him, saying, “I don’t have to tell you not to try anything stupid, do I?”

He took it and said, “No, you don’t.”

He manipulated the phone for a moment, then sat it on the table, saying, “Downloading. Understand, the watch was working before I wiped the phone. I’m not trying to trick you, but it might no longer be transmitting. I can’t predict if the man is still wearing it.”

“I understand, but that’s just the tactical intelligence. You’re going to get a complete debriefing from Jennifer, and you’re going to tell her everything you know about these terrorists, to include why you’re involved.”

He looked stricken for a moment, as if he thought the phone app alone was his ticket out. I saw him wavering and said, “Unless you want me to put that gun back on the table.”

He pursed his lips, nodded, and picked up the handset. He poked the screen a few times, then turned it to me, saying, “It’s still transmitting, and it has a heartbeat, so someone’s wearing it.”

I was looking at a map. I took it out of his hand and saw a little blue icon in the heart of the Dharavi slum.

I turned to Knuckles and said, “You and Brett pack this place up. Kit up for a dismounted close target reconnaissance. We’re going to Mumbai. Get Jennifer up here.”

He left and she came in. I said, “Mr. Chin is prepared to give you a full debrief. Start in Goa and have him go all the way through the killing of the bodyguard.”

She showed surprise at his turnaround, then saw his swelling eye. She squinted at me and I said, “It was his own free will. He wants a ticket to the witness protection program.”

Chapter67

Three hours later we’d landed at Mumbai International. I’d let Jennifer handle the debrief on the flight while Knuckles, Brett, and I planned for a reconnaissance of the Dharavi slum. We did a deep dive of everything we could find, both on the open web and using reachback for classified intelligence from the Taskforce. During the flight, the blue marble had moved to a hotel next to a convention center, but by the time we’d landed, it had returned to the slum location, and we knew everything we could without being on the ground there.

Jennifer continued her debrief as we taxied to the FBO hard stand, and I read her initial notes while waiting for the aircraft to stop. We parked in our designated slot and I let her continue, immediately sending Knuckles and Brett to get a rental car and conduct the recce. Not long after they’d left, Jennifer came up and said, “We have a problem.”

“What?”

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