Page 49 of Into the Gray Zone

That hit an open sore. I had done more to get Jennifer into the Taskforce than anyone alive. Being female hadnothingto do with it. Being stupid did.

I stood up and said, “Spare me the women-of-the-world-unite bullshit. I have no time for it. What Idohave is ateam, and I’m not willing to sacrifice them on a mission just because you have an axe to grind as afemale.”

She looked like I’d slapped her, which, I suppose, I had—at least verbally. She said, “Why did you even come here to talk?”

I sat back down and said, “Because I think you might be right, but now I’m worried that you’re doing this as a way to get back at some asshole chauvinists in RAW. I’m not into that, and I won’t use my team to validate it.”

She leaned back in her chair and said, “There might be a little bit of that in here, but it’s not why I’m doing it. I honestly think thereisan inside threat, and I have no way to expose it myself. I’m not going to burn your team, I promise. I’ll be in just as much trouble as you are if you’re caught.”

“Andifwe get caught? What’s the backstop to this? Just you?”

She looked at Knuckles and said, “Well, you have your assets to help, no? I’m assuming that since you’re even entertaining this, you’ve spoken to your command.”

I chuckled and said, “Okay, you’re a good read, I’ll give you that, but I’m not getting any help to execute, I promise.”

“But you’ll get help if it goes sour?”

I sighed and said, “I suppose that’s true, but it’s not ideal.”

“Just pretend you’re here on a mission sanctioned by the United States, and you happen to have a person on the inside of RAW to help. Can you do that?”

I looked at Jennifer, and she gave a slight nod. I went to Knuckles and he said, “You know me, I’m always up for some high adventure.”

Nadia said, “You won’t be getting any high adventure, I promise.”

I said, “Okay, let’s just take this one step at a time. Why did you specify Jennifer and me for this?”

She acted surprised and said, “What do you mean? Do you have someone else here?”

I laughed and played the game, even as we both knew it was ridiculous. “No, no, I just meant I have Knuckles, but you specified Jennifer and me.”

She said, “Well, you wanted to coordinate with me, so he’s going to do that. He’ll be our liaison.”

Knuckles scrunched his brow and said, “How? What am I going to do?”

She leaned forward and said, “I told you I’m friends with the bride. I’m invited to the pre-wedding party in Jaipur. It’s going to be the event of the year, with a who’s who guest list. You’re going to be my date.”

I saw Knuckles’ eyes shoot open, and I glared at him. He held up his hands, stammering, “Pike, I swear, I didn’t set this up.”

Chapter29

Jianhong Zhang—aka Mr.Chin—walked into the lobby of the Mumbai Four Seasons hotel and went immediately toward the elevator, pressing the button to go up. He had a room in the Four Seasons, though he had no time to go to it. His meeting was at 5p.m.sharp, and it had taken him longer to return to Mumbai from New Delhi than he had planned. After meeting Kamal at the mosque the day before, he’d toyed with immediately returning, but decided he had all the next day to travel and had chosen to relax in New Dehli for the night. That had proven to be a mistake, as his flight was delayed long enough that he barely had enough time to make the designated update with his control in the Ministry of State Security.

He entered the elevator with two Englishmen, both discussing some business meeting or other. He gave a perfunctory smile and pushed the button for the thirty-fourth floor, looking at his watch. They pushed the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth, one man saying, “I guess it’s close enough to five to go topside.”

Mr.Chin smiled and said, “I want to go early enough to get a seat for the sunset.”

The other man said, “That’s the ticket. Save us a seat.”

They exited and Mr. Chin continued to ride to the rooftop. He exited into a narrow, unassuming hallway, following the light from the windows on the far side.

AER was known as one of the best rooftop bars in all of South Asia, with spectacular views of the Mumbai cityscape and the coast, the scenery marred only by the ubiquitous blue tarps of the slums sprinkled throughout the landscape. Mr.Chin had picked the location. If he was to meet his masters, he’d rather do it there than in some dark alley.

He went to the hostess and asked for a table for three, peeking beyond her shoulder and relieved to see the bar was fairly empty, with only a smattering of people. That would change when the monsoon season officially ended and the glass roof and walls opened up. At that point, there would be a line to get onto the rooftop, the bar open to the air and filled with those who wanted to see or be seen. Now, with the rains still threatening, its retractable roof was in place, with no open-air ambiance, a chrysalis that would evolve into a butterfly in a month, something the Mumbai jet set would demand to experience.

But the chrysalis stage suited Mr.Chin, as crowds always represented a threat to his operations.

The hostess led him to a curved couch right next to the glass overlooking Mumbai, a small table in front and a single chair on the opposite side. He took the chair, facing the entrance, leaving the couch for the men he was meeting, reviewing in his mind what he would say. So far, the mission had been a mess. Salvageable, but a mess.

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