Page 103 of Into the Gray Zone

“What’s this heart with a number?”

“It’s his heartbeat. It means a living human is wearing it and it’s not just sitting in a field somewhere.”

The team leader smiled and said, “You can see his heartbeat on this tablet?”

“Yes.”

“That’s devious.” He tapped the screen and said, “The Dharavi slum. That will be hard to penetrate.”

“Nobody’s going to stop you from walking in there. It’s not like there’s a gate or anything. Plenty of people go in there to hide from the authorities.”

“Plenty ofIndiansgo in there to hide. I doubt many Chinese. Getting in and out could be difficult. If the terrorists have any security, it’ll be a gunfight, and I’m sure anyone in this slum is going to side with them.”

“The residents will flee before they engage. Remember, most do not want to get involved in anything because they’re illegal. If you wearpolice uniforms—even as a Chinese—they’ll assume you’re the authority. At the worst, it’ll cause confusion. Trust me, they’ll run.”

“What about the hostages?”

“We don’t care about the hostages. All we care about is eliminating the terrorists who know of our involvement. If they’re captured by the RAW, it will be a mess.”

“I mean, do you want them eliminated along with the terrorists?”

“If they can identify you as Chinese, then yes. If it’s night, and they don’t know what happened, then no. Only eliminate them if they pose a threat of exposure.”

The team leader nodded and pointed at the tablet, saying, “Who else has this information?”

“Nobody. I have it on my phone, but nobody else knows it exists.”

The team leader said, “Let’s keep it that way.”

They heard music begin to play and saw the front of the palace bathed in a purple light. An announcer began talking, and Mr.Chin said, “Looks like the show is beginning. Do you need anything else?”

“No, this should do, but you’re not going to the show.”

Mr.Chin smiled and said, “I had no intention of attending. I’m going back to Jaipur.”

The team leader slid across a slip of paper and said, “No, you’re meeting the chief’s men.”

Mr.Chin took the paper and said, “Where?”

“In the palace. The area’s already been cleared.”

Mr.Chin opened the paper, seeing instructions to go to the bottom level of the palace at the ancient water-lifting system. “Why don’t they come up here? Why am I going there?”

The team leader stood and said, “I don’t know. This doesn’t involve Condor and has nothing to do with my mission. I’m just passing the information. I’m taking my team and leaving.”

He walked away without another word. In seconds, he was off the island and striding back to the entrance, gathering his men as he went. Mr. Chin looked at the map he’d been given, wondering about the change in plans. It was highly unusual. There was no good reason for him to conduct two separate meetings at different locations. In fact, it broke just about every rule for clandestine operations. Once a site was secure, that was it. You never left one site and went to another, giving the enemy a second shot at you.

He felt the unease rise and thought about fleeing. If he were being paranoid, he could blame the Condor team leader for confusing instructions when questioned after the fact. He thought about it, and realized if the chiefdidplan something nefarious, he could have simply ordered Mr.Chin to fly home. Or kill him when he returned to his Jaipur hotel. The chief knew where he was staying. Resigned, he realized that missing the meeting here would simply be delaying the inevitable.

He memorized the map, wadded it up, and threw it in the trash, then returned to the lakeside path.

Chapter60

Jennifer and I sat in our car listening to the engine tick, waiting on an assessment from Brett and Knuckles. Finally, we heard, “Pike, Koko, this is Blood. It’s not looking good.”

“What do you have?”

“The security here is actual security. If the detector goes off, they use a wand.”

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