The Enemy Within

Chapter 27

At 4 a.m., the team is still hard at work, each one doing a deep dive into one of the victims. A huge pot of coffee is almost finished in the middle of the table and they are all weary, hassled and disturbed.

While going through Juan's social media profiles, Jack suddenly spots a selfie amidst the sand dunes where a couple of people are seen in the background. In the selfie, Bakshi and one more person of Indian ethnicity are clearly seen standing behind Juan. They seem to be standing and talking by a Mahindra Thar jeep. Two more passengers are seen in the background, but out of focus.

Jack immediately downloads the picture onto a photo editing software to get a sharper image of the people in the photograph. He whoops in satisfaction and points to the picture on his laptop screen, "Look at this! I think we finally got a solid lead."

Everyone crowds around his screen.

"That's Bakshi and his Mahindra Thar in the desert. I'm sure this is the same group – the date matches. Now we need to find out who this person is!" He points out to the man standing next to Bakshi.

"Send me the picture," Tanya scrolls through a few screens on her laptop. "I will run it through the passport database and a facial recognition tool at the same time. We should be able to get a hit."

While talking, Tanya's fingers have already started working with the lightening speed. She starts the scans on both the databases. Everyone is looking at her anxiously as she works with intense concentration.

A ping sounds as Tanya smiles triumphantly and turns the laptop to them. The screen has photo of a Dr. Nair in the centre.

"Dr. Nair, a London-based Indian doctor."

Sunny snaps his fingers, "Ah London, Abdul Karim was right!"

Tanya scans through the data, "As per the records, he has travelled to India. He took a flight out from Rajasthan to Allepy, Kerala. His birth records show that he is originally from there, he has a family home and his dad is still a practicing doctor there."

Rohan punches the air in relief, "Yes! Finally a breakthrough... this guy could hold the key to everything. He was the first to reach Alan, he was the one who declared him dead."

"What do we do now? Do we report this in?"

Rohan looks somber, "No! No more reporting in. I'm taking this dark. It's my call and my butt on the line as team lead. I can't ask you guys to do the same. So are you guys in or out?"

The others exchange glances.

Sunny stands up, "Jack and I are always in. If there is a mole, we need to flush that sucker out."

Jack and Tanya nod in agreement.

Rohan stands up too, "Ok then, listen up. We told the DC we were going after Raymond Leno. So that information has been passed down the pipeline. Whoever is following us will be headed to Madhya Pradesh, most probably. But we will be heading to Allepy to track Dr. Nair."

The others nod in agreement.

"We have to be on high alert from now on... if there is a mole in the agency, they may be multiple people following us. Watch you backs, we can only trust ourselves, nobody else."

The others look at each other disturbed.

"And one more thing. We need to dump our cell phones and SIM cards here. We have to ensure we can't be tracked. We can pick up new phones on the road."

Saying this, Rohan takes out the SIM card from his phone, breaks it and then throws it in the bin. He stamps on his phone and crushes it, then looks at others. They all take out their phones and follow suit.