Page 43 of Into the Gray Zone

Kamal ignored him, surprised to see a text message on the watch:Give them their phones and watches. I want to see a heartbeat.

Kamal whipped his head left and right but saw no sign of Mr.Chin. He felt anger at being cornered like a mouse in a barn, but unslung the backpack.

He started handing out the boxes, two to a man, saying, “These are watches Mr.Chin wants us to wear. The other box is the phone it’s tethered to. Do not use the phone to do anything but talk to each other. If we need to make any other calls, I have a separate phone for that.”

Randeep held up the Garmin box and said, “What is all this?”

“According to Mr.Chin, it’s to help us with the mission, but I’m sure it’s to keep track of us, like a GPS tag for someone just out of prison.”

Manjit said, “And you agreed to this?”

“I had to. What else was I going to do? He told me he had evidence from the botched hit, and that he’d give it to the RAW. They’d find us in less than a day. It was better to make him think we were still on his side.”

Agam turned on his watch, saw his heartbeat, and said, “Well, honestly, it’s pretty cool. I could never afford this in real life.”

Randeep pushed him and said, “It’s a set of handcuffs, man! That heartbeat tells him it’s on your wrist, and the watch will tell him where you are.”

Miffed, Agam said, “Doesn’t mean it’s not cool. If we must do the mission, might as well get something out of it.”

Kamal smiled and said, “I’m glad you think it’s neat, because I want you to figure out how to defeat it. You’re always messing with such things.”

He nodded, saying, “Just give me a computer.”

“There’s one in the safe house.”

Manjit said, “Where is this safe house, anyway?”

Kamal grimaced and held up his own watch, showing them a breadcrumb trail and an arrow with a distance and heading. He said, “It’s about six hundred meters away as the bird flies.”

“So we’re going to follow that thing like a fish chasing a lure?”

“I guess so.” Before he could say anything else, his wrist vibrated and another text message came through:I see all four. Good. Now get to the safe house and study the mission. Use the computer to contact me with any concerns. You have a single day to get ready.

He had to press a button, scrolling down in order to see it all on thewatch face, Manjit looking over his shoulder. Manjit said, “He reallyistracking us. This is ridiculous.”

Kamal said, “It’s the price of admission. We’ll only do it as long as we want. Agam will figure out how to defeat it. Let’s go.”

He held his wrist out, took a bearing from the arrow, and began walking, the men following behind him. In short order, Kamal became frustrated. The watch wasn’t giving turn-by-turn directions. Instead it just showed the arrow pointing unerringly in one direction, but soon enough they found themselves in a maze of narrow alleys, all selling various goods.

They went through a textile area selling cloth and linens, a stone market, a vegetable and meat section, then entered what clearly was a tourist area, with the vendors all selling cheap trinkets most likely made in China. They hit one more dead end, the arrow pointing through a wall as if they could fly over it, and Kamal cursed.

Manjit said, “This is ridiculous. We’re like children out here getting toyed with. Why didn’t he just give us a damn address?”

“I don’t know. He wanted me to use the watch. Wanted me to know it was working.”

Manjit scoffed and said, “Well, it’s not.”

They went down the alley, moving away from the GPS location, found another alley headed at least parallel to the endstate, and then exited into the sunshine on a two-lane road, this one large enough for vehicles to come and go. Kamal had no idea where they were, but he could see the arrow showing them the safe house less than seventy meters away.

He followed the bearing, fascinated with the meters ticking down, enjoying the hunt for the safe house despite himself. He went past another alley going back into the markets, and the distance started getting longer.

He stopped, retraced, then entered the alley, walking down it for about fifty feet before stopping outside of a roll-up metal door with apadlock, a sign above it proclaiming a spice store. The watch told him he was at zero meters.

This must be it.

The spice storefronts left, right, and behind him were all open, the air pungent enough to make Kamal feel like he needed to sneeze.

The vendors of the other stores looked at the group curiously, but Kamal ignored them, acting as if he belonged. He pulled out the envelope Mr.Chin had given him and removed a key, putting it in the padlock and holding his breath.

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