Page 121 of Into the Gray Zone

I turned to the terrorist and said, “I’m going to cut you free and you’re going to climb that ladder.” I pointed to the bleeding carcass of his friend lying in the offal of the factory. “We’re out of time, so if you try anything, I’ll leave you here just like him, understand?”

He nodded, and in short order we were climbing through the hole on the roof one by one. We began walking down the edge of the roof in the direction of the train station, hearing sirens in the distance.

Knuckles said, “So the American was here.”

I said, “Yeah, and that dumb-ass is probably going to run straight into the arms of the police response here.”

Jennifer said, “That’s okay, isn’t it? I mean, technically, wedidrescue him.”

I said, “No, it’s not okay. As soon as that happens, the Black Cats are going to know he’s not in the residence, and they’re going to slam that place.”

Chapter71

Nadia realized that Jaiden was beginning to deteriorate even as he co-opted the rest of the security staff. He had grown prone to striking her whenever he caught her looking at him, but only when the in-house security wasn’t around, and had actually slapped Annaka for the first time earlier in the day. He was losing control even if the other security men couldn’t see it.

As the head of Riva Thakkar’s protective detail, he’d somehow managed to convince the rank-and-file security guards for the residence that there was some grand conspiracy occurring, and that the government was possibly the enemy. He’d told them that protecting the life of Annaka Thakkar was their prime directive, and that they’d made a gorgeous salary for years, but now they were going to have to earn it.

She had to admit, he was good. An imposing presence with impeccable credentials, he commanded any room he was in, the scar tracing a path through his beard evidence that he was willing to fight. With no contacts to the outside world, and Jaiden having been their direct commander for years, the guards took what he said at face value, eager to please him.

While Jaiden originally had just the two red-suited guards from the pre-wedding celebration, Nadia and Annaka now had to contend withfive in the room, and she’d heard him telling eight more to position themselves on the rooftop. She knew why.

Riva had built a helicopter pad on the roof big enough for three helicopters, but the Mumbai government had forbidden him from using it over an esoteric debate about noise, or air clearance, or some other excuse, forcing him to land his chopper a quarter mile away. Whatever the reasoning had been, if a helicopter came to the roof, it wasn’t Riva coming home. It was the enemy—and the security men bought it.

Nadia was beginning to see the outlines of Jaiden’s plan. She’d only had rudimentary explosives training in the RAW, but even she could see that they had placed the charges on support members throughout the den—and probably farther inward, toward the elevators. Jaiden was going to cause an enormous fight, which would play into the world press, and then he was going to detonate the explosives in this room, hoping to bring down the top of the building, killing as many government men as possible—along with Nadia and Annaka.

Jaiden was pacing around the space shouting orders, the wireless detonator in his left hand, his men stashing ammo caches at strategic points and rearranging the statues to build cover locations inside the room, having no idea he planned on killing them as well as everyone else. The only question she had was whether he had the guts to be a martyr, or whether he had some other escape plan.

The television flipped to a breaking news story, and he went to it, his jaw dropping open. She couldn’t hear the words, but she saw a picture of the American in the hands of police officials, flashing lights and rushing men behind him.

So he’s rescued. How did that happen?

Jaiden turned from the television and began barking more orders, waving his hands about. He stomped over to Annaka and her and said,“The American is free, which is good news for you. It means you’re much more valuable to me now.”

Nadia said, “What do you intend to do with us? Did they meet your demands to set him free?”

“No, they haven’t done anything I’ve asked for yet. Somehow he escaped captivity and ran to the police.”

His cell phone rang and he looked at the screen, then answered, saying, “Manjit, what the hell is going on?”

He listened for a few seconds, then said, “What about Kamal?”

He nodded his head and said, “Are you sure he’s dead? You saw his body?”

He sagged in resignation and said, “So I’m in charge now. Yes, you can come here, but understand, once you’re in, you’re in for the endgame.”

He listened again, then said, “No, nobody will stop you from trying to enter. The government hasn’t released anything to the press. How long until you arrive?”

He ended with, “Call when you’re at the gate.”

He hung up and held out the detonator in his hand, saying, “It’s coming to a close. You two won’t have to worry much longer.”

Nadia saw the detonator and thought,Get that first. No matter what happens, get that first.

***

Veep saw the JSOC guys go to their kit locker, all three of them throwing on body armor and jamming magazines in pouches. He hollered, “Hey, what’s going on?”

They continued wrapping themselves in the equipment of themodern-day Samurai, with one saying, “Don’t really know, but these guys are getting ready for war, so we figured we’d better do the same.”

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