The Enemy Within

Chapter 26

The team is brainstorming in their suite over a late night snack. Tanya is busy on her laptop checking for the whereabouts of Raymond Leno. Sunny is creating a chart of the entire sequence of events on a board while Jack is matching those details with the notes that he has made on his laptop. Rohan is walking up and down deep in thought.

"So Bakshi told us about the builder from Dubai and the Spanish singer. He didn't know about the other two correct?" asks Sunny.

Jack goes through his laptop and says, "Correct."

Sunny continues looking at his flow chart on the white board, "Karim told us about Juan Carlos, the Spanish singer – which also tallies with what Bakshi told us."

Rohan stops and looks at the board, "Right."

"Karim also told us about a London-based doctor."

"Correct – both also said the doctor reached the body first."

Everyone nods in agreement.

Sunny continues, "And Juan Carlos told us about two tourists – A Raymond Leno from Romania and a London-based Indian doctor named Nair right?"

Jack checks his notes, "Nope, that's wrong."

Everyone stops working and stares at him.

Jack explains, "Juan Carlos said a Bangkok-based doctor!"

Sunny checks his notes. Tanya too, checks her notes.

Sunny, "I think he said London."

Rohan shakes his head, "No, I think Jack is right. He said Bangkok."

Jack nods, "Karim had said London-based, but I'm sure Juan Carlos said Bangkok. I was translating, so I'm 100% confident on that."

Tanya looks at them confused, "I have checked for a Bangkok-based Nair on the travellers list – nothing has come up."

Rohan looks thoughtful, "So was this doctor London or Bangkok based or from somewhere else altogether?"

Tanya nods, "I have six Mr. Nair's who have travelled to Rajasthan over the last two weeks – it's a common name, how do we figure out who is the right one?"

Rohan nods, "So let's take a step back. Sunny you call Abdul Karim, Jack you call Juan Carlos at the hotel and I'll call Bakshi. Apologise for the late hour but try to run all the information we have till now by them and see if we can get on the same page. We need to get answers right now."

They all nod and immediately dial the numbers, walking away for privacy.

Almost simultaneously, all of them come running back into the room.

"Bakshi is dead – a car accident the day before yesterday!"

"Abdul Karim is dead – accident at his construction site yesterday!"

"Juan Carlos is dead – electrocuted in his bathtub one hour back!"

All 4 of them stand around the centre table, staring at each other speechless.

Rohan pulls out his phone, "I have to report this to the DC... how is this even possible..."

He stops in mid-sentence and stares at everyone, wide eyed.

Sunny stares at him, "Rohan, are you saying what I think you are saying?"

Tanya looks at both of them, "What? What are you saying?"

Jack looking somber, "I think he is saying this is all not a coincidence."

"Meaning what exactly?"

Rohan looks deeply troubled, "Let's review this. All the 3 witnesses that we unearthed have all died in mysterious accidents; that too just a few hours after we spoke to them. Apart from us, who else knew about them?"

Sunny says sharply, "The DC!"

Tanya gasps, "Are you crazy?"

Rohan holds up a hand, "Right now, we don't know what happens with the information once we give it to him. It may be passed on further. But one thing is sure – we have a mole in the pipeline!"

The room suddenly turns silent. Sunny looks at Rohan. Everyone looks at each other. The silence is so thick that the ticking of the clock can be heard loud and clear.

Tanya finally breaks the silence, "So it could be the DC or it could be anyone else?"

Rohan nods, "Yes, it could be anyone – but the DC is at the top of the list. Listen team, it's time to make the hard call. It's now up to the 4 of us to finish this. The DC told me I was chosen to run this mission because I don't play by the rules. So now we have new rules - we work alone, we report to no one, we trust no one - until we break this wide open."

Everyone looks at each other and they nod in agreement.