The Phoenix Read online

  ‘And he was found dead, too? “Suicide” again?’ Randheer said.

  ‘Something like that,’ Ehsaan said. ‘Apparently, he’d had a drink too many and toppled over from his balcony. Avantika felt the cops were in on it. She told her that going to the government would mean exposing herself to a mole, in case there was any in the system. And that would mean she could get bumped off. Since the whole project was a secret . . .’

  Aryaman lit another cigarette and closed his eyes, letting the information sink in.

  ‘On the night she got killed, Jyoti was about to file the story on Operation Vishaanu and the two dead scientists,’ Ehsaan said remorsefully. ‘I was trying to convince her against it. I didn’t want her risking her life. But she wanted to save Avantika from meeting the same fate her colleagues had met. And doing the story was the only way she thought she could do that.’

  ‘Had I been there earlier, this would not have happened,’ Aryaman said.

  A strange silence enveloped the room. It was Aditya who broke it.

  ‘It’s not your fault, Dad. Mum would have gone ahead with the story anyway, and they would have got to her one way or the other.’

  Ehsaan pointed at the file on his table. ‘She had the same file on her when she left office,’ he said. ‘My guess is, it was taken from her after she was killed. But the killer didn’t realize I have a copy too. She kept me out of the picture, and that’s why they came only for her.’

  ‘Do you think Avantika is alive?’

  Ehsaan appeared stressed out, with beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.

  ‘On the last page of the file I have scribbled down a code that can help you log in to the gaming chat room through the Dark Web. I haven’t dared to find out, but if Avantika is alive, maybe you can try reaching out to her through this.’

  Aryaman stood up, and Randheer and Aditya followed suit.

  ‘Thank you for being there for my wife,’ Aryaman said to Ehsaan with a firm handshake and walked out of the cabin without waiting for his response.

  ‘I will get you some security,’ Randheer reassured Ehsaan and wrote down his number on a piece of paper. ‘Plain-clothed officers, who you will never see, will guard you. Anything else comes to mind, just call. Thanks for the help.’

  Before leaving, Aditya gave Ehsaan a hug. ‘Dad will take care of the men who did this, Ehsaan Uncle. He promised me.’

  As they drove back home, Aryaman began to join the dots.

  ‘So I guess Avantika has the formula to the antidote,’ he said. ‘They need it before they use the weapon. To safeguard themselves from the outbreak. And these guys, whoever they are, won’t rest until they get that from her.’

  Randheer agreed. ‘This needs to go to the higher-ups. They can find out who is orchestrating all of this. And what they plan to do with that weapon, Vishaanu.’

  ‘Not before we reach out to Avantika,’ Aryaman said. ‘She’s in immediate danger. And you can tell the officials what you must after that. An insider might also kill her.’

  Randheer paused and thought about all the possible ways this could play out. One thing was certain, they didn’t have time on their side. They had to chart out their next move carefully.

  ‘What if she’s already sold the details of the antidote?’

  ‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Aryaman shrugged.

  11

  Mumbai

  Aryaman had requested his mother that they return to Jyoti’s apartment. The cops were done sweeping it for evidence, and there was no reason to stay away from it anymore. When Aryaman entered the place, he was overcome by a wave of nostalgia. The apartment felt lived-in, in a good way. He could still sense Jyoti’s presence here. He imagined her pacing around the apartment with excitement, as she would whenever she came upon a story that no other journalist but she could have scored. His eyes fell on a portrait of his son as a baby. He picked it up and placed it back, snapping himself out of his thoughts. He had some serious work to do.

  Randheer was in the kitchen, helping Aarti with the dinner. Aryaman went into Aditya’s room.

  Using his gaming console, Aditya had logged in to a secret chat room. Aryaman was stunned at the ease with which Aditya broke through the virtual world’s defences and entered the Dark Web. Punching in the code that was scribbled on the documents they got from Ehsaan, he sent a request to chat with Avantika. They waited together for a few minutes but received no response.

  ‘Let’s wait it out,’ Aryaman said. ‘There’s no option.’

  At the dinner table, Aryaman was quiet, while Randheer made small talk with Aarti. Aditya, seeing his father silent, tried to draw him into conversation.

  ‘Dad, how much do you know about the Dark Web?’

  Without forethought, Aryaman snapped at him, ‘As much as you do about prisons.’

  He immediately realized his response was out of line. This was his son’s first genuine attempt at breaking the ice, and he had fended it off without even thinking. He swallowed the mouthful of home-cooked dal chawal, his first good meal in ages, and apologized immediately to his son. Then he abruptly stood up and, to the surprise of the rest of the company, took off his shirt. There were scars all over his torso. Despite everything, though, he had managed to stay fit. He turned to reveal the tattoo on his right shoulder blade. It was a fairly simple outline of a phoenix with the Roman numeral ‘I’ in the centre. Randheer looked at it and immediately understood what it meant.

  ‘You see that tattoo, son? You want one like it?’

  ‘What is it?’ Aditya asked, intrigued.

  ‘It’s a phoenix,’ Aryaman said. ‘Long ago, when I was in London with Randheer Uncle and a few of our friends, we got piss drunk and played a game of Truth or Dare.’

  ‘Oh, you grown-ups play that too?’

  ‘Yes.’ Aryaman grinned. ‘Well, I was dared to get a tattoo. It was a relatively free day. So, Randheer here accompanied me to a cheap tattoo parlour and insisted that I get one made. I tried to resist.’

  Aditya traced his finger over the tattoo. ‘It’s pretty cool. Can I get one like it too?’

  ‘No way.’ Aryaman laughed. ‘No tattoos, no Truth or Dare, no getting drunk for you.’

  Aditya pursed his lips, matching his father’s sarcasm. ‘Then no Dark Web for you either.’

  ‘I hope this Avantika responds,’ Aryaman said, putting his shirt back on.

  Mahim was the perfect place to hide for Avantika. A crowded, cramped and relatively inexpensive part of Mumbai where different communities had settled in their little pockets. The Christians, the Hindus and the Muslims, all had their own ghettos in Mahim.

  Avantika had bought herself a burqa and, for a nominal amount, rented a small room in a hotel adjacent to a shrine of a Muslim saint, which received visitors in large numbers every day.

  Though she had figured out a way to hide, Avantika still didn’t know what her next move should be. She decided the right thing to do was to get the next available flight out of the city. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution, of course, but it would buy her time. She had nobody she could trust. Her own colleagues could be part of the conspiracy that had got the two scientists killed. She couldn’t take the risk of going to anyone for help. With her mind refusing to function optimally, Avantika approached a travel agent, hoping he could help her forge travel documents too. She was about to step into his office when her phone buzzed. She saw a notification that made her freeze. It was a chat request from Jyoti on the gaming software. Avantika was aware of Jyoti’s death. This is it, she thought. They’ve found me, and they are going to kill me . . .

  Suffocated, she lifted her veil to take a deep breath and calm herself down. After some thought, she decided to get back to the seedy hotel she was staying at. She clutched her phone tightly as she read and reread the notification several times over. Finally, she decided to play ball.

  Who is this?

  She didn’t have to wait long for the reply.

  I am Jyoti’s husban
d. Please get on the system and call me.

  She certainly hadn’t expected this. But it seemed to be the only way to move forward. Otherwise she would be stuck in a limbo, not knowing whether she was in danger or out of it. At least she had to try to determine the identity of the person trying to contact her.

  Okay. Are you using a VPN?

  She set up her iPad and logged in to the system. Within minutes, she activated the chat room and saw that Jyoti’s username was online. She accepted the request for a video call and put her veil back on.

  The grainy live-video feed showed a tired, weak-looking man. She noticed his gaunt face and the slouch in his posture.

  ‘I am Aryaman,’ he said flatly. ‘Jyoti’s no more, as you may be aware. My son told me how to break in through this system and chat with you.’

  Avantika was silent.

  ‘I know it’s a little difficult for you to trust me,’ he continued. ‘But I have lost my wife. And I know your story. The dead scientists. Operation Vishaanu. All of it.’

  The name Vishaanu sent a shudder down Avantika’s spine.

  ‘Please tell me where you are,’ Aryaman said. ‘Maybe we can meet and talk.’

  ‘Wouldn’t that be simple?’ She’d spoken for the first time. ‘Lead me into a trap and eliminate me too?’

  ‘It would,’ Aryaman said. ‘But that’s not why I am calling you. I am looking for the people who killed my wife. And I will do anything to “eliminate” them, as you put it.’

  He could imagine her scornful expression behind the veil.

  ‘Who do you think you are?’ she scoffed.

  ‘I was a secret agent for our country. These men don’t know who they have set off after them. I just need you to point me in the right direction with whatever you know. And I will save you from any harm coming your way.’

  Aryaman’s voice sounded shaky but resolute.

  ‘Are you sure we aren’t being tapped?’

  ‘You’ve set this profile up on an email address that you have never shared with anyone, right?’

  Avantika nodded.

  ‘And you’ve not used your cellphone network since?’

  ‘Since Sunil’s death,’ she responded.

  ‘And you’re using a VPN now?’

  ‘Hell, I asked you if you took these precautions!’

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Then we’re not being tapped. Tell me where you are and I will come and get you to safety. My bosses at IRW will take you in and figure the right way out. No foul play, I assure you.’

  Her scepticism dropped a notch. This was still an uncertain situation for her, but Aryaman’s earnestness was something she could sense, even through this patchy video link.

  ‘Let’s face it, Avantika, I am your only option.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Sending you an address. And instructions on how to find me.’

  It was a sweltering afternoon. Aryaman stepped out of the car and walked through a packed lane. His eyes scanned for a certain Jaffer Miyan Restaurant as he took a drag of his cigarette. Shopkeepers called out to him in their bids to sell the nauseatingly sweet ittar perfumes and baskets full of roses to place over the saint’s tomb inside the dargah. He ignored them as his gaze finally settled on a decrepit food joint, which seemed to have been infested with flies. Homeless men crouched outside in rows, waiting to be fed. He drew closer and was welcomed, rather boisterously, by a man dressed in a vest and torn pyjama.

  ‘Salaam brother,’ the waiter said. ‘How many fakirs will you feed?’

  ‘Twenty,’ Aryaman said.

  A burqa-clad woman entered the joint, as if on cue. ‘Make that twenty-five, brother. My husband is stingy sometimes. Even with his charity.’

  The waiter grinned. ‘Thank you, brother. Twenty-five poor men are going to get a good meal.’

  Aryaman paid the waiter and then looked at the woman, bemused. They turned and walked out of the joint as the waiter began to line up twenty-five beggars, who muttered words of gratitude for the gracious couple.

  ‘What was that all about?’ Aryaman said. ‘You could’ve recognized me anyway.’

  ‘Yes,’ Avantika replied. ‘But I didn’t have the money to buy myself a meal, because I didn’t want to risk being tracked by withdrawing any. And whatever I did have, I was going to use on making my way out of Mumbai.’

  She held Aryaman by the arm and led him to the hotel.

  ‘So I went to that restaurant and sat beside those hungry men,’ she continued. ‘I was late to join the line, but despite that, I got the first meal that someone had donated. Those men just gave it to me. This was just my way of returning the favour.’

  ‘And any reason for asking me to buy twenty-five instead of twenty meals?’

  She unlocked the door to her room and entered. Then, she raised the veil of her burqa to reveal her delicate, tired, smiling face. ‘That was just for fun.’

  Aryaman raised an eyebrow to indicate confusion.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘Are you sure you haven’t been followed?’

  ‘Not to my knowledge,’ Aryaman said, looking out of the window. He took out a cigarette but stopped short of lighting it. Holding up the lighter, he turned to her, as if to ask, ‘May I?’

  She nodded.

  ‘So, this antidote? The guys who killed the scientists and my wife, they don’t have the details on how to produce it?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Avantika said. ‘Only I do. It’s with me on my laptop. Whoever wants this virus will also want the antidote. It’s six years of work. But . . .’ She went quiet.

  ‘But?’ Aryaman asked.

  She spoke with uncertainty.

  ‘Even I don’t know if it’s effective. We tested the virus on lab animals. It worked. The antidote hasn’t. I need to modify a strain of . . . Anyway. What comes next?’

  Aryaman blew a cloud of smoke. He brushed the moth-eaten curtains aside and saw the dargah, standing tall and radiant in all its glory.

  ‘We need to know who is after this. And for that we need to fish them out. I have an idea.’

  ‘I just want to be safe,’ she responded.

  Aryaman continued emotionlessly. ‘You will. I just need you to be . . . the bait.’

  Avantika stood up. It was more of a reflex than a gesture of protest. He motioned her to sit down.

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ she asked, still standing.

  ‘Well,’ Aryaman said. ‘You don’t know the people who are after you, right?’

  She shook her head and slumped back into the weathered sofa.

  ‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘But they know who you are and are tracking you. All you need to do is switch on the other phone that you have in your purse.’

  ‘How do you know I have another phone in the purse?’

  ‘I didn’t.’ He shrugged. ‘But you’ve just confirmed that. Anyway, you wouldn’t read my messages on the gaming chat system with your usual phone. I knew you’d have another one.’

  Avantika ran her hands through her hair. She was sweating profusely. Aryaman sat next to her and looked right into her hazel eyes.

  ‘Switch on your phone. Let them track you,’ he said. ‘If they reach out, answer.’

  She shook her head determinedly. ‘No fucking chance. You’re out of your mind!’

  ‘You will tell them that you are willing to sell the antidote,’ Aryaman continued. ‘Tell them it is theirs for a price. Don’t seem like an obstacle that they need to eliminate.’

  ‘I’m not doing this.’

  ‘It’s the only way I . . .’

  ‘No!’ she cut him off. ‘You want me to play into their hands?’

  ‘I will be there at the meeting,’ Aryaman said, taking her hands into his. ‘I will intercept them with my men. It’s the only way I can find the men who killed my wife.’

  There were tears in his eyes. She extracted her hands from his firm grip and said, ‘Take my phone. Trace them or something.’

  ‘But I will never get to actually find the men
responsible. In flesh and blood. They’ll vanish the minute they doubt me. This is the only concrete lead we have. We have something they absolutely need. And if we don’t use it to fish them out, we might pay a heavy price.’

  Avantika picked up her bag, adjusted her burqa, and covered her face again, preparing to leave the room. I am not taking any chances, she thought. This is a sure-shot way to die. And a great way for him to get the antidote’s formula from me.

  ‘You have lost two of your friends. I have lost my wife,’ Aryaman continued to beg her. ‘Do you think I will let any harm come to you?’

  ‘I don’t know you well enough to believe you,’ she shot back. ‘You have your priorities, I have mine. You want revenge. I want to survive. And I was better off fending for myself. I don’t want to be used as “bait”. No, thank you very much.’

  Aryaman stood between her and the door. His face had reddened and she saw in him a feral madness. He was shaking as he spoke. ‘This is not just about you, me and Jyoti. If that virus is used against the citizens of our country, will you be able to live with yourself knowing fully well you could have stopped it?’

  Avantika’s eyes welled up. She looked as helpless as he did.

  ‘Truth be told,’ she said finally, ‘I can’t help you even if I wanted to.’

  Aryaman looked puzzled.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Do we really need the antidote to do this thing?’

  ‘We will at some point,’ he said. ‘Not just to pull this thing off convincingly but also as a precaution. If those bastards detonate the bomb with the virus, we need to be prepared with adequate doses of the antidote to neutralize the bioweapon.’

  She breathed out sharply.

  ‘There’s a special formula that we created for the antidote,’ she said. ‘It’s rather complex. There are three vials that have already been produced. And the formula, which is recorded in a file of documents, is locked away with the vials.’

  ‘Locked away?’ Aryaman said. ‘That’s fine, I guess. We’ll go and pick it up.’