Page 70 of Rising Tiger

“By going after a RAW agent?” she stated. “That’s one hell of an upgrade. Technically, this means war. In any other situation, we’d bring the full power of the state down on G-Company and crush them for this.”

“The key words being ‘in any other situation.’ Right now, that’s not in the cards for us. We’re off-book and we have to stay that way.”

Asha didn’t like it. What was the point of Raj being Raj if he couldn’t swing the hammer when he needed to? Even covertly. “So we just let it go?”

“I’d hardly say it’s been let go,” Gupta interjected. “You killed all three of the men they sent. Consider it sending your dinner back to the kitchen. You’ll get a chance to see the chef, just not yet.”

“In the meantime,” said Raj, “I want to discuss the likely actors who might have requested a capture-or-kill operation on you this morning.”

Asha leaned back in her chair. “I’m all ears.”

“The identity created for you to use down at Sulur Air Base was hastily prepared but should have passed scrutiny. Whatever happened, you caught someone’s attention. Someone with serious resources. They were able to figure out not only who you are, but where you live. They were interested enough to try to take you alive to find out what you’re up to or, failing that, to kill you on the spot to prevent you from getting any further.

“Our best guess at this point is that this is either elements within the Indian government who are against a defense alliance with the United States, or the Chinese themselves.”

“Do you think it was elements within our government that took down the helicopter of the chief of defense?” she asked.

Raj shook his head. “I think it’s more than likely, especially having reviewed the video you brought back to us last night, that it was the Chinese. We know they used some sort of directed-energy device in the Galwan Valley attack. We also have heard reports that they have been working on other sorts of similar weapons that do different things. One that scrambles aircraft electronics isn’t out of the question.”

“So if the Chinese knew when General Mehra was traveling and what his flight path was, that means they had to have had inside information; access to people on the ground, most likely at Sulur.”

“Correct.”

“This person or persons could have also leaked the information about the chief flight mechanic, Sergeant Siddiqui.”

“To what end?” asked Gupta.

Asha looked at him. “We know from our own intelligence that China is threatened by India’s growth. The better our nation is doing—whether it be economically or especially politically—the greater threat it is to Beijing. The Chinese want us to fail.

“The best way they believe to make that happen is to focus on fractures in our society and apply pressure. Religious tension is one of India’s greatest vulnerabilities. An assault by one group against another can cause riots throughout the whole country. We’re a tinderbox and the Chinese keep flicking lit matches at us.

“They’re the largest creator and pusher of fake news in India. That’s why, after Galwan, one of the first sanctions we imposed was to ban all Chinese apps from our cell phone market. It was a huge blow not only to their tech industry, but also to their propaganda efforts. With almost a billion smartphone users, India cannot afford Beijing gathering all that personal data, much less controlling our media narrative. That doesn’t mean they aren’t finding other means, which we know for a fact that they are, but it substantially weakened their efforts.”

“I am prone to agree with you,” said Raj. “The fact that the Chinese may have penetrated Sulur is amajorproblem. I am equally concerned, if not more so, over how quickly they were able to track you.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Obviously, you can’t return to your apartment, so you’ll stay here.”

Asha looked around at the makeshift operations center, with all of its mismatched furniture, lamps, and other odds and ends. “It’s not the Oberoi, but I’ll make it work.”

“Good. Now, as far as a plan is concerned, if we can figure out who inside G-Company tasked the operation against you, we can start climbing that tree.”

A smile began to spread across Asha’s face.

“What is it?” Raj asked.

“I know exactly how we’re going to get to him.”

CHAPTER 38

While Asha didn’t think G-Company would waste a lot of manpower on it, she did figure that they’d put some sort of a surveillance team on her apartment building in case she came back.

No true professional would return—not unless they were extremely prepared, which she was, thanks to Raj.

The hardest part was identifying the surveillance. How many were there, where were they, and how were they likely equipped?

A new tech start-up had been trying to get a meeting with Raj for ages. They were convinced that they could help RAW’s Special Operations Division do better surveillance with fewer personnel and for less money than they were currently doing it. They had already gone through all the paperwork and had signed all the nondisclosure documents swearing them to secrecy. All they needed was to get in front of the man himself.

---