The Enemy Within

Chapter 20

Hyderabad is a city that combines the old Mughal era with the new tech dominated age – with old world monuments and traditions sometimes clashing with the glitzy, glass facades of the tech behemoths that have set up offices here, from across the world.

In one such glass-enclosed hotel, Rohan and team are huddled up for a brainstorming session in their suite. The next part of their mission is to find, approach and extract information - not from a simple village bumpkin but a well-known business tycoon.

Tanya reads out from her laptop, "Mr. Abdul Karim. A big-time construction magnate, his company is mainly into the construction of commercial complexes in Dubai. He was born and raised here in Hyderabad and has a penthouse in the outskirts of the city. He also has an office in the heart of the city. So how do we get to him?"

"If this guy is big time, we need something concrete to get a meeting with him," Rohan muses.

"It will have to be something connected with his industry," adds Sunny.

Jack is munching on a bowl of Shahi Tukda, a local sweet delicacy, and looks up, "Yes smart guy, but what?"

Tanya looks up again, "I've got an article here that says he is looking at Indian projects to expand his business. He has just started a development in Hyderabad."

Jack looks interested; "Maybe we can approach him as a vendor or something?"

Sunny suddenly sits up and slaps him on the back, making him nearly choke on his food.

"You hit the nail on the head, buddy. We can do Surveillance Systems. Listen, all big time builders now want to have the latest surveillance systems in their buildings to attract bigger clients and subsequently bigger money. We can pose as a company that offers some of the most hi-tech surveillance systems and solutions in the Indian market."

Rohan looks skeptical, "Sounds interesting, but how do we do that? We don't know much about building surveillance and nor do we know if he will meet us."

Sunny looks at him feigning indignation, "You wound me, my friend. You are talking to an engineer and also one of the best surveillance experts in the country. Give me two to three hours and I will give you the classiest presentation on top notch building surveillance products."

Tanya cuts in excitedly, "Let me try hacking into his office system. I can schedule a meeting for us tomorrow then."

Jack jumps in, "We will also need to create a fake company profile, complete with website and stuff – we can do that in the meanwhile."

Everyone looks at each other and they all nod in agreement. Sunny grabs his laptop and walks to his bedroom, "I don't want to be disturbed for the next few hours... prepare to be amazed when I emerge from this room." He shuts the door dramatically while the others laugh out loud.

Tanya gets to work hacking into Mr. Karim's office system. She gets through the firewall pretty easily and then proceeds to check his secretary's mails and itinerary. She looks pleased, "That was rather simple. We have a one-hour slot from 4pm to 5pm tomorrow for a pitch on the latest surveillance technology. I have added a mail trail too and have got the secretary to accept the meeting. He actually needs a better security system more than surveillance. Anyways, we are good to go."

3 hours later, the door to Sunny's bedroom opens and he walks out looking pleased as punch, "There – all finished. It's a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself."

"Let's hear the presentation, then – so we are all clued in," Rohan gathers everyone around the table and Sunny begins.

Half an hour later they all sit back impressed, pretty sure they have a foolproof plan of action for the meeting tomorrow. They check out the company background that Jack was working on too - preparing a fake website, fake social media pages and fake visiting cards that would be able to pass any background check.