Page 47 of Into the Gray Zone

Kamal smiled and said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, ever since Gaza made the world stage. We can do a lot. We might die, but at least our deaths will be for our people and not China.”

He turned to Agam and said, “You need to figure out how to spoof these watches. They’re tied to a phone, which means it’s all software. We need to break ourselves from that. But you can’t do it until after we’re supposed to attack at the Taj Mahal.”

Manjit said, “Why? Why not just do it now?”

“Because that asshole Chin has given us the method of attack. If we break from these watches now, he’ll know and come hunting us.”

Agam said, “None of these drones have any explosives. And where is the facial recognition?”

Kamal gave a half-hearted laugh and said, “These four are for practice. He wants us to go to a field and practice killing the guy, driving the drones into the ground.”

He took the quadcopter from Agam’s hand and said, “He’s pretty good, I’ll give him that. The real drone is hidden in the Agra Fort, right next to the Taj Mahal, and the waypoint for it is in our watches. That’s how we’ll find it. Just like we found the safe house.”

Manjit said, “So what do we do? How do we alter that?”

“We show him we’re going to do the attack. One man goes there for the mission, letting him know we’re doing it by the heartbeat and location on the watch, but we don’t do the kill. We launch the drone after Thakkar’s gone, but before our real attack.”

“How’s that going to do anything?”

“Because we’re all going to Jaipur. To the big party. We’re going to attack that celebration and seize Thakkar, killing anyone who stands in our way.”

Manjit said, “Wait, wait, I’ve told you before, I’m not going to do that. Even if we could.”

Kamal grew incensed and advanced on him, saying, “Is that what Sidak would utter? As he was hanging on a rope? I’m sick of your bullshit. This is the way. Hamas and the Palestinian fight in Israel has shown it.”

Manjit recoiled, saying, “You want to associate yourself with those murderers? You holdthemin high esteem? You wantmeto becomethem?”

Kamal poked him with a finger and said, “Yes, that’sexactlywhat I want. You can’t win this war playing by the establishment’s rules. Yes, the Hamas attack was horrible. Abominable. But what happened after it? Israel attacked with overwhelming force, and then the world changed.”

He turned to the rest of the men and said, “Noweveryonetalks about the Palestinians. Hamas murdered more than a thousand people, and nobody cares. All they care about is the plight of the Palestinian people. The highest institutions of learning in the United States started protesting. All because Hamas did an attack. Nobody cared about the murders. You don’t see that happening with the Rohingya in Myanmar. They get slaughtered wholesale, and nobody cares. Terrorismworks, and we’re going to use it here.”

Manjit said nothing, and Kamal softened his tone, saying, “I’m not talking about raping people, like Hamas did. I’m not saying we need to go totally crazy, just that an attack on a wedding party for an Indian billionaire will hold weight, just like it did for Israel. India will take notice. And so will the world.”

Manjit sighed and looked at the other men. He went back to Kamal and said, “When does death become a thing that advances our purposes? If we’ve gone that far, we’ve left the principles of being a Sikh. Yes, Chin can kill us, but killing in exchange? Why do I wear a dastaar? To kill?”

Kamal saw he was losing Manjit—and in so doing, losing the rest of the men. He said, “The dastaar doesn’t define you. You’re not even wearing it now. What defines you is what you do to advance the purpose of the cloth. Wear it after this and you can do so in pride. Wear it if you quit, and you’ll only do it in shame.”

He could see Manjit was on the edge, and he drove home the knife. “Sidak wore the dastaar every day of his life, striving for a better one. You can give his family that.”

Manjit looked at the floor for a moment, then looked up, saying, “I’m in. But we don’t kill anyone unless they’re part of the state.”

Kamal nodded, then said, “Do you consider Thakkar and his family part of the state?”

“Yes, I do.”

Chapter28

Nadia’s comment about us being targeted on purpose took me aback. I said, “I sort of feel the same way, but why do you think so?”

“The men who attacked you are from the same organization as the two guys you killed here the other night. I’ve seen the police reports, and they’re tied into D Company, and that coincidence is just too convenient.”

I said, “Why? What does D Company have to do with the assault here? And why would they try to kill us after the fact? What good would it do?”

She said, “I honestly don’t know, but either you’re the most unlucky man on the planet, or they were hunting you.”

She glanced at Jennifer and said, “I don’t think you’re unlucky.”

I smiled and said, “I don’t think I am either. What does your command think about last night?”

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