CHAPTER NINETEEN – Covert action
“Rahul, do you have what we are looking for? Captain Naik Khalil asked inside the tiny interrogation room. Colonel Baldev Ganesh sat at the opposite end of the aged metal table, and was silent.
“I know how to get you what you want.” Rahul Krishnan nervously replied. The room was hot. Rahul was bathed in sweat.
“You come to us with this proposal. How do we know you speak the truth, eh?
“I swear to you, it is true. My contact will reveal it to you once the agreed upon price is safely deposited.”
Captain Khalil produced a chequebook from his satchel. “One-half million rupees. Correct?”
“Yes.”
Khalil wrote the amount on the cheque. “And do I make it out to you?”
Rahul hesitated, thinking, sweating. “No, to my contact.”
“And who would that be?”
Rahul hesitated again. “Why don’t you let me fill the name in later?”
“Oh, no. That is not possible. It could fall into the wrong hands, No?”
“Make it out to Tracy Dobbelaere.”
“Ah, a foreign spy, Yes? Spell that please.”
Khalil wrote the name as Rahul spelled out the letters. The colonel rose and left the room.
“You take us for fools, eh?”
“How do you mean?”
Captain Khalil tore up the check and threw it on the floor. Two soldiers appeared from outside the room.
“You are a stupid, stupid man Rahul. Lock him up.” Khalil instructed the two soldiers. “Charge him with extortion. Rahul, I may let you out when the girl is inside our country. You will want to help bring that about. No?”
+ + + + +
Irene, Pamela, and Jimmie were the first to leave, having passed on the walking, sightseeing tour. Joshua provided them with five jars of NIL. Since one jar had already been mailed to Irene, the total of six were to be split up as the sisters would later determine. Irene was honest about her intentions. She would use the NIL mostly for herself, but if a patient could benefit, on the down low, she would see what she could do without jeopardizing her job. She already had somebody in mind. Both sisters were instructed that future jars would bear a cost, which they understood and they made no objection. Jimmie and Namanda swapped cell phone numbers.
Patricia agreed to take a lap around the mountain before she and Adele would hit the road. Tracy begged off from the exercise jaunt, citing she needed to complete her report.
“This is beautiful country, some of the loveliest in the State,” Patricia marveled as the four reached the eastern, unobstructed vista.
“That is it,” Joshua agreed, “and quite valuable too.” He pointed out several ginseng plants while they walked. “Some of these are at least two hundred years old. The roots of one of these old ones would likely bring as much as ten thousand dollars. And there are hundreds of ginseng plants here.” He explained the terms of the lease agreement……that he was prohibited from digging up the roots, but that he could use the seeds for planting new ones.
Once the foursome had reached the southern precipice, Joshua asked Patricia, Adele, and Namanda to take a boulder seat. “We have a considerable problem facing us. Adele, this will be news to you. Tracy cannot be trusted. And Patricia, I don’t know how much Adele has said to you about Namanda’s telepathy, but I will tell you it is off the charts. What are you thinking right now?” He asked Patricia.
Namanda said, “Rocky Top, Tennessee.”
“Oh, my God,” Patricia said for the fourth time in one day. “How……how could she know that?”
“India is in the midst of a crises. I’m going to let Namanda explain it. You will then see why the problem could have far reaching and dangerous consequences.”
Namanda took her time to respond, then began. “Bin Laden is dead, but his plans are not. Al Qaeda is in the midst of carrying them out as I speak. I know the name of who is heading their operation, as well as several of the operatives. The Indian military knows I know the names, but I won’t tell them.”
“Can you tell me what Al Qaeda is planning, and why you are withholding names?”
“I don’t know the details or timing of their plans; only that it involves an invasion of the Kashmir territory using a consortium of terrorist groups simultaneously. I am not going to tell them the names because of two things. One; they threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t tell them. Two; a soldier tried to rape me. He had my pants pulled down, but was interrupted by another soldier entering the shelter. I told my parents this and we decided to immediately leave India, forever.”
“Now tell what Tracy’s role is in this.” Joshua said.
“She plans to inform the Indian military of our whereabouts. In exchange, she would receive a sizeable amount of rupees.”
“So if Tracy informs them of your location, are you saying you will be hunted down and forcefully whisked back to India?”
“Yes, that is what would happen. Only they don’t need my parents. I fear my father and mother would be eliminated. But we have made a plan to throw Tracy off track.”
“Namanda, what you are saying is overwhelming. Girl, you need to be hid away in a safe place. Another thing, you sure as hell don’t want the US military to find out about you.”
“I know this.”
“What is your plan to befuddle Tracy?”
“I’m sorry, only Joshua can know that. It’s for your own good.”
Tracy utilized the privacy afforded her to send a simple, one word text…….. ‘What?’
Captain Khalil read the text received on Rahul’s cell, and responded. ‘Deposit made, 96 hours for clearance. 500,000. Where?”
Tracy raised her arms in a joyous shout of “YES!”, then replied……. ‘P, USA, Orlando, N, USA, hiding, Kentucky mtns’.
Khalil showed his commander the text. Colonel Ganesh picked up the phone and dialed RAW, the black ops division, RAW standing for Research and Analysis Wing. RAW is India’s counterpart to the US’s CIA, and which has several agents stationed in America.
Patricia and Adele were on their way back to Frankfort, carrying a case of six NILs. “I can’t leave this the way it is, Adele. I have to do something.”
“Rock and hard place, isn’t it? You absolutely should know about this, then again, you shouldn’t do anything about it for Namanda’s sake.”
“Exactly. What is even worse……I desperately want to use her talents for my own benefit. I could win an election in a landslide if I knew my opponents tactics. Good God, what a mess. If Tracy is telling someone about Namanda’s location, she would have to be using her cellular, don’t you think”
Adele gazed out the passenger window, taking in the picturesque Cumberland River that separated Burnside from Somerset. “I can’t think of any other method she could use.”
“I think Tracy would be disposed of once the bad guys had Namanda in custody. Do you agree?”
“Could be. She for certain would be of no further use to them.”
“I’ve got an idea. See what you think.”
Adele listened to Pat’s scheme, thought about it, and then called Joshua. “Can you talk?”
“Tracy is next door taking a shower. Namanda and I are filling up jars. What’s up?”
“First off, do you now know what Namanda has worked out with Van?”
“I do, and it’s not a bad idea. Van’s brother died and left him a motor coach, among other things. The RV is in the foothills of the Santa Ana’s a few miles inland from the southern California coast. I think he told her it was near Silverado, wherever that is. Anyway, the RV is vacant and available. The whole Mehra family could move there, if they choose to, once Tracy is gone. The other part of the plan to throw off Tracy was that Namanda and I would have to make an emergency trip to Arizona because Hachika is very ill. You follow me? We’d tell her that the day before she left. We came up with that idea after Van left, and we realize there may be a better way. So we’re still working on it.”
/> “Yeah, I get it. Let me call you back in a bit. I want to bounce that off Patricia. We are pulling in to the Speedway station in Somerset to get some gas and munchies, so give me ten minutes.”
+ + + + +
Each and every day of the week, the massive National Security Agency intercepts, on average, 1.8 billion electronic transmissions, enough data to publish 138 million books every twenty-four hours. The NSA employs as many people as the FBI and CIA combined.
John Curran is one of those NSA technicians, and the one who flagged a suspicious transmission. It was easily identified because the message emanated from RAW, the Research and Analysis Wing of India, which source origination prompted an automatic tripper. Because the message was sent from New Delhi to U.S. interests, more particularly to Nashville, Tennessee, procedure required that a case file be constructed. He changed screens, entered his control number, assigned a case number, and began to build. On the new screen Curran printed the intercepted message, the ISP of the computer that received the message, the name of the owner of the computer, and the location of the computer. He tracked the cellular phone identification that belonged to the computer registrant. The phone, and computer, registered to Akanksha Ankur, a known RAW operative, who is the owner/operator of Taste of Old India, a restaurant located on the northeast sector of Nashville. Curran implemented the code to track future cell phone usage, which activity log would display exclusively within the assigned case number.
The message was, of course, coded. Four aadhaar number sequences were not coded. Aadhaar is the unique identification number assigned to every resident of India. There are 1.2 billion people packed into India. Curran did not have the capability to match names to any of the four twelve digit ID numbers. Ankur’s computer would have to be hacked in order to ascertain the correct names, or US assets in India would have to be contacted for retrieval. The coded message was easier to decipher; three deserters to be eliminated, one to be detained and returned. The locations of the targets were approximate; Florida, and Kentucky.
Curran printed out the report he had generated, inserted it into a color coded folder, and walked it to his station captain. The file was now no longer Curran’s responsibility. The report would be passed on up the line, and copied to the DIA, CIA, and DHS.
+ + + + +
“You are the Lieutenant Governor, right?”
“I am, and you are?”
“Don’t get me wrong, but I am not going to shake your hand. I will vote for you for the Senate job. It’s just that I don’t want to make you sick. In fact, I want you to scan your purchases and then count out the exact amount. I’m Cecil, by the way.”
“Are you not feeling well, Cecil?”
“Our softball team just returned from a tournament down in Douglasville, Georgia. We played against the host team, and man, those guys were hacking like crazy. Then one of our guys gets sick on the bus ride back home. I feel ok, just a little sore and shivery. Too much sun and fun, I think.”
“Have you heard of something called NIL?” Adele asked.
“I sure have. Gloria, that’s my wife, used to have a whole jar of it, but we ran out. The Sheriff down south of here is somehow involved with it, if you want to head down that way and get some.”
“Tell you what. Will you see the guy that got sick on the bus ride? And if you do, will you do me a favor?”
“I should see him, or his wife. One or the other is in here all the time. How can I help you?”
Adele left the convenience store and then returned from the car with a full jar of the NIL. “Will you get this into the sick man’s hands, or his wife’s hands? It’s important to me. And look, here is my card. Please follow up with me about his condition. There is a real fear that a strain of flu may be spreading, and I want to know if the NIL is effective in fighting it. Will you promise to do that?”
“Of course. In fact, I’ll call his wife to come get it right now. She’s just down the street. Do you want to wait and talk with her?”
“No, but do follow up with me. We need to get back on the road. And Cecil, you may want to pour out a little of that for your own use. The soreness and cold chills you have may not be sports related.”
“You got it, and thanks. And it is a privilege to meet you, Mrs. Reid. You’ve got my vote.”
Joshua’s cell rang. He expected that it would be Adele calling back. It wasn’t, it was Van.
“Just wanted to let you know I’m back, safe and sound. I have had time to catch up on the local news, Joshua. We’ve got an outbreak of measles here in California. The newspaper is reporting that the number of cases is already at a twenty year high. You think the NIL would be effective?”
“It couldn’t hurt, Van, but I have no idea until it is tested. Has the case of NIL arrived yet?”
“No, not yet. Did Namanda tell you our little secret?”
“If it’s about the RV that you inherited, yes, I know about it. Not a bad idea.”
“Let me know how that shakes out. Anything I can do to help, just call me.”
Joshua’s cell phone rang once again. This time it was Adele. “I was starting to get a little concerned, Adele. How far up the road are you?” Joshua queried.
“I’m fifty feet away. Can you come outside by yourself? And bring a jar of NIL with you.”