Page 99 of Into the Gray Zone

Jaiden slapped the hands apart, looked at Nadia and said, “Remember, not a word. I need her, but I don’t need you.”

For some reason, Jaiden had a special hostility toward her. She’d feared earlier he knew she was a RAW agent, but took small comfort in the thought that if that were true, she’d already be dead.

The van stopped and Nadia could see security guards in front of a large iron gate. Jaiden exited the van and began speaking to them, pointing to the van, and the men began running back and forth. Shortly, the gate slid to one side and the van began to roll forward.

Nadia whispered, “Where are we?”

Annaka excitedly whispered, “We’re home. It’s my residence.”

Thakkar’s monstrosity? How?She saw the hope on Annaka’s face, but didn’t feel the same emotion. If they were somehow being miraculously saved, Jaiden wouldn’t have given them a warning, and he would have removed the bindings and blindfolds as soon as Sledge had been removed.

The van stopped again and Jaiden opened the back, saying, “Annaka, please come out.”

She did, and Nadia saw she recognized some of the staff gathered around, all with huge smiles on their faces. Jaiden said, “I’ve made them turn in their cell phones, as nobody can know you’ve been saved until we capture the men who did this. It’s a matter of national security.”

Annaka nodded, confused, and Nadia noticed the two other red-uniformed men from the party standing behind the group, both with unzipped duffel bags. She worried what Annaka might blurt out, and spoke first to prevent Annaka from making a mistake that could kill them all.

Nadia said, “Jaiden, thank you for your help, but I think Annaka has been through so much she just needs to get to a secure location.”

A fleeting smile flicked across Jaiden’s face, and he said, “As you wish. Follow me. The staff will take care of the van.”

He began walking toward an elevator and Nadia looked up, seeing six floors of cars above her, row after row circling around the space, like a giant beehive. Jaiden pressed the call button, the two men with duffels behind them, and Nadia saw the van rising upward on its own elevator to be placed in an empty spot.

The door opened, they entered the elevator, and Jaiden stayed outside, saying something to the staff. He finally entered, and they began to go up. He said, “We’re going to the residences at the top. I’ll have to decide if we’ll stay there or move down to the lower guest apartments.”

They rode for what seemed like an eternity, and then the doors opened to an opulence that Nadia had never experienced. A ceiling twice as high as an ordinary room, artwork on the marble walls, crystal chandeliers lighting the way, the anteroom alone oozed wealth. When they entered into the first living space Nadia’s breath was taken away. The far side was a wall of glass, the skyline of Mumbai falling below them. Outside the glass was an open balcony thirty feet wide, adorned with hanging gardens. Inside the room were lavish fountains, statues of Hindu gods and other art scattered about, the ceiling at least thirty feet above them, a mezzanine midway up that circled the entire space, truncated by gilded stairwells at each end near the window. It was as big as a five-star hotel’s lobby, only more ostentatious, with marble and gold fittings the standard.

Jaiden waved to the sofas near the glass wall and said, “Take a seat. I’m having food brought up.”

Annaka didn’t move, still confused. Nadia took Annaka’s hand and led her into the room, ensuring they sat together. Nadia had no idea what Jaiden’s plan was, but she wanted to be close to Annaka if it came to a fight.

The other two men took up stances on either side of the room, setting their bags on the floor and each removing an AK-47.

Annaka saw that and said, “Jaiden, what is happening?”

Nadia said, “Jaiden’s lying. We’re his captives. He is a Trojan horse in your house.”

“What?”

Jaiden said, “Look around you. What do you see? Your father fundsthis government, and that same government slaughters my people. All we’ve ever asked for is equality, and all we’ve ever received is pain.”

Annaka said, “How can you say that? My father has been extraordinarily nice to you. You and Rakesh. We’ve treated you like family.”

“Your father throws money at people as if that absolves him of the damage he does. I’m not ‘family.’ I’m simply the hired help.”

He stomped across the room to her until he was face-to-face, worked into a rage. He said, “I should have taken you to the slum to see how the rest of the world lives.”

He raised his hand and Annaka recoiled. Nadia jumped in front of him, shouting, “No!”

He slapped Nadia’s face with an open palm and she fell to the floor. He stood over her and said, “Remember what I told you in the van. If you try something like that again, it won’t be my hand I use.”

He turned to Annaka and said, “You need to learn what it feels like to be powerless. I promise my friends who were arrested for nothing more than being Sikh endured much worse in the prisons your father supports with all of his government work.”

Annaka started to cry and Nadia pulled herself off the floor and sat next to her, glaring at Jaiden and putting her arm around Annaka, rubbing her shoulders.

Annaka hitched out, “Why can’t you be like Rakesh? He would never do this, and he’s a Sikh.”

Jaiden grimaced at the words, saying, “Rakesh put a bullet in your groom’s head, you stupid bitch. He was withme, not you.”

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