Page 78 of Into the Gray Zone

He said, “Hang on.”

The screen cleared, showing a single icon in Agra, and three in Jaipur. I hit zoom on Agra and it came down to earth right above the palace in the Agra Fort. It was the terrorist we’d killed today, his last recorded grid being where he’d died and the time of death.

I looked at the last recorded time for the other three and saw it was about thirty minutes earlier. So they’d all ceased transmitting about the same time. Weird. Like they knew that guy was going to be dead soon and no longer needed his phone.

I zoomed in on their location, getting down to the granular level. They were all together, right outside the Oberoi Rajvilas Resort.

Holy shit.

I said, “Get Knuckles back on the line, right now.”

Brett heard the steel in my voice and said, “What, why?”

I tossed the tablet to him while dialing Jennifer with my own phone, saying, “Those fuckers are outside the wedding party. They’re trying to kill Thakkar after all.”

Chapter46

Kamal tossed his half-filled plastic bowl to the concrete floor, took a drink from a water bottle, and said, “Maybe we should have waited for that final meal at the hostel. Beef curry and melon slices from a roadside stand isn’t what I wanted for our victory dinner.”

Manjit chuckled and said, “You’re the one who said we had to come out here this early. We could have waited.”

On Kamal’s orders, they’d driven both his sedan and the van back to the abandoned building they’d parked next to earlier in the day. Kamal had no idea what it had been in the past, but now it was just a hollowed-out concrete husk, two stories of empty rooms full of trash, with a one-story garage large enough for four vehicles.

All three of them were on the second floor, sitting on their haunches using an old wooden crate as a table. Manjit and Randeep still wore their body armor. Kamal had taken his off, finding it stifling.

They’d been out in the house since just before sundown, checking out the weapons, loading magazines, and fiddling with the body armor. They adjusted the fit, loosening and tightening the Velcro straps and playing around with the pouches. The only snag was Manjit. He refused to load his four grenades into his vest.

Kamal said, “Manjit, that’s the way we’re announcing ourselves. Wethrow two when we enter and we’ll shock the security with the explosion, then we throw two when we leave to keep them from following. We talked about this.”

Manjit said, “I’ll kill if I have to. If someone is charging me, shooting at me, or trying to stop us, but I’m not throwing a hand grenade into a pre-wedding party. I’m just not.”

“You said you agreed they were the enemy. Agam agreed for his mission.”

“Agam was going to hit a piece of carved rock at the Taj Mahal. It’s not the same thing.”

Manjit saw Kamal’s expression and said, “He was going to hit the stone, not human beings. Right?”

“No. He was going to strike a blow for the Sikh people, just like you.”

Manjit’s expression clouded over, his eyes squeezing shut. He said, “You were going to have Agam kill innocents? People just visiting?”

Kamal stood up and said, “We agreed that there are no innocents in this fight.”

Manjit rose as well, saying, “What has happened to you?”

Randeep looked between them like a child deciding between his parents. He said, “Hey, hey, come on. If he doesn’t want the grenades, I’ll take them.”

Kamal ignored him, locking eyes with Manjit. He said, “This fight is not going to be without sacrifice. Some of us sacrifice our lives, like Sidak and Agam. Some of us sacrifice a piece of our soul. But we’re all going to sacrifice.”

Manjit broke eye contact first, spitting on the ground and saying, “I’ll do this mission for Sidak and Agam, but I’m not going to hell by murdering women and children. If someone from Thakkar’s security threatens us, I’ll kill him. And that’s it.”

Kamal nodded, putting his hands around Manjit’s neck and bringinghim so close their foreheads touched. He said, “You and I have seen the injustice, and I’m proud that you maintain your honor. Khalistan needs people like me, but more so people like you. We will do the distasteful work. You are my brother, as you were in prison. Follow me now and I’ll follow you when we build Khalistan. When your honor will matter.”

Manjit looked him in the eye and nodded, saying, “So be it.”

They broke the embrace and Randeep relaxed, saying, “If we have to sit here for another four hours, we’re going to go crazy.”

Kamal smiled for confidence, feeling the stress of the mission straining the seams of his team. He said, “We’re just waiting on the call. Waiting on them to finish dinner and move to the open area, when the rest of the guests arrive. Once they’re watching the show by the pool, that’s when we go in. Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.”

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