An Extract from Zero Day by S. Hussain Zaidi

Extract

The Mumbai Central railway station was bustling with activity as Police Sub Inspector Dhananjay More entered the concourse with his team. More was posted with the Mumbai Central Railway Police Station and his assignment was a completely routine one. He had been tasked with setting up a checkpoint where passengers would be stopped at random and their belongings searched. The busy railway station, which witnessed traffic from local as well as outstation trains, was a favourite of criminal elements. The massive crowds that surged in and out of the station made it easy for couriers smuggling drugs, illegal weapons or other contraband to slip in and out with their cargo.

As a result, all concerned agencies, be it the railway police, the railway protection force or the city police, routinely set up checkpoints in and around the station to randomly check the belongings of those entering or exiting.

For the most part, this assignment would go off without a hitch. Statistically, there was a very low chance of a routine check actually netting a drug smuggler or a similar offender and when it would, they usually came quietly. Very few offenders actually put up a fight or tried to run for it. Of course, there had been instances when a suspect had ditched his cargo and disappeared into the crowd. In such cases, the police simply chose to look on the bright side—that the suspects had managed to flee but their contraband had not been delivered to its intended recipients.

That particular afternoon turned out to be a change from this usually boring routine. More, a young and sharp officer with a bright future, was scanning the crowd with the five constables assigned to him. Every few minutes, the team would stop an individual or a group and check their baggage.

The man in the grey shirt and black trousers caught More's eye by sheer chance. He was walking towards the exit when he saw the police checkpoint from afar and, for the briefest of seconds, his gait slowed. To an untrained eye, it would have meant nothing. To More's eye, it was an indicator of hesitation. And no one hesitates on seeing the cops unless they have good reason to.

This could be anything. A past record, absence of a valid ticket, pornographic material on his cell phone, or contraband. The last possibility made More give his prey a quick head-to-foot scan, during which he saw the second indicator. The man was carrying a duffel bag, and it looked heavy.

'Heads up,' More said, not too loud, not too soft. His constables first looked at him and then followed his gaze.

'Grey shirt with the big bag?' one of them asked.

'Good man,' More said.

The man continued walking towards the exit where More and his team had set up the checkpoint. His pace, however, was no longer uniform. Unconsciously, he was slowing down and speeding up in a way that was imperceptible to those who weren't looking for the signs.

More turned his back to the man.

'Let him come,' he said to his constables without looking at them. 'Don't stare.'

The constables hardly needed this instruction but they complied nonetheless. They went about their work, stopping people at random and drawing them aside for baggage checks.

The man was hardly a few metres away when More turned around and signalled to him with his hand. Their eyes met. More read the panic in his eyes.

Don't run, More thought fervently. Please don't run.

The man ran. He hefted the bag on his shoulder a little higher, turned on his heel and started running as fast as his legs could carry him.

More swore.

'Give out a wireless!' he yelled to his constables. 'Two of you with me!'

More ran hard after his suspect, who was having a hard time keeping up his pace with the bag on his shoulder.

'Stop!' More called out. 'Abey ruk ja, we're not going to hurt you!'

The man weaved in and out of the crowd, making his way up a foot overbridge, More on his heels.

The suspect's progress was understandably slow, first because of his bag and second because of the crowd. He kept pushing through, eliciting more than a few curses from the people he brushed past. A couple of them even turned to him to start a fight but then saw the uniformed cops on his heels and quickly distanced themselves. No one wanted to get involved in a 'police ka lafda'.

The suspect was trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and More, but without much luck. He managed to get as far as the middle of the overbridge that connected the local platforms with the concourse before he realized the futility of his efforts.

Taking one last look at More over his shoulder, he slid the bag off his shoulder and let it fall to the ground.

'Get the bag!' More called out to the constable who was following him, and quickened his own pace. He was almost within touching distance of his quarry when the latter did the unthinkable.