The Honeybee Conspiracy

Part 19

Chapter 17

As per protocol, The Director of RAW reports to the National Security Advisor. This was the laid down norm from the inception of the respective positions.

But after the United National Party swept to power, the norm was quietly changed. The Director of RAW reported to the Secretary of Home Affairs. His office was situated on the 9th floor of North Block in New Delhi.

Rajesh Misra was waiting in the visitors lounge for his scheduled appointment at 11 am with the Home Secretary. The attendant ushered in Misra into the spacious office. The home Secretary gestured towards an empty chair to his left. No pleasantries, no hellos.

Rajesh Misra immediately disliked the man. He seemed to be brash, arrogant, disrespectful but, Bharat Shah was the most powerful bureaucrat in the country. He called the shots and was handpicked by the PM. He was 5ft 7, fairly built, a shining bald head with a french beard which was graying.

"Tell me Misra", said Bharat.

"Sir" and Misra handed over the two inch file to Bharat.

"A few months back, we had received a tip off from our CIA counterpart that there was a leak at our end. The exact details and to what extent were supposed to have been handed over us some weeks back. However the CIA officer Robert Brendt was killed in the SQ 5319 crash."

Bharat didn't say anything. He was staring straight into Misra's eyes. No reaction on Bharat's face.

Misra continued, " Since we needed more information, we had sent across one of our junior secretary in the external affairs office to Kaula Lampur and Ukraine to get a first hand account Though the plane originated from Malaysia, it was shot down by some rebel fighters in Ukraine using surface to air missiles. As per the flight's manifest, one Iranian had boarded at kaula Lampur and our CIA counterpart had joined at Singapore. We did some background check on the Iranian, he was a businessman dealing in importing and exporting of scrap materials under the name of Al Kamani International Inc.

But the name did not figure in any list of companies dealing with import and export of scrap. So we did a detailed search across the globe and again came up with zero." The attendant interrupted the discussion when he knocked on the door and came in with a bunch of files.

"Get Out", barked Bharat. The attendant scrambled away in seconds. Misra was unnerved, but still continued, "The records show him to be Shahid Younus Moahmmed, Male, age 54. On further checks, he was staying at a five star beach resort near the Malaysian capital for twenty seven days. They say he was on a holiday which we found to be very strange since he was staying alone."

"Who are they", asked Bharat.

"Sir, well, eh, I mean the guys we questioned at the resort", replied Misra.

"The guys at the resort or your own boys assumed it" asked Bharat.

Again, Misra was unnerved.

"We don't assume things, sir", replied Misra.

"You better not for your own sake." retorted Bharat. There was a sinister warning behind this sentence.

"Go on", ordered Bharat.

"Well just to be sure, we had the Joint secretary who had gone on a fact finding mission put under surveillance. On the last day, he was joined at his hotel room by an Iranian Intelligence officer. They spent almost an hour in the room before he departed back to New Delhi." finished Misra.

"So what is your assessment about all this?" asked Bharat.

"Sir, SQ 5319 was shot down to kill the CIA operative and prevent us from knowing who was leaking information." said Misra.

"Mmm, well let me go through your report and I'll call you later." Bharat said as he opened another file and ignored Misra. The Director of RAW knew the meeting was over and he had to leave. Again, no pleasantries and no handshakes. The message was plain and simple, get out.

Three hours after his meeting with Bharat, Misra's phone rang.

"Place Anwar under twenty four hours surveillance and keep me informed on any developments." Bharat ordered.

Misra called Shukla into his office and repeated Bharat's instructions. Shukla asked him "Why did you tell that son of a bitch everything, sir. You know too well that Bharat is a ruthless and ambitious bastard. He will eliminate anyone who gets in his way. He will manipulate the whole situation to the PM just to further his own interests."

Misra rubbed his forehead and nodded, "I guess your right. There is something about this guy, he makes me feel uneasy." said Misra.

"Sir, you have less than a year to retire, don't mess with Bharat and at the same time don't reveal everything to him. Tell him only on a need to know basis." said Shukla.

"Yes you're right. Well, get IB or use our own boys on Anwar." said Misra.

"Done Sir." replied Shukla as he left Misra's office.

Anwar arrived a few days later at 2 am from the U S at the IGI Airport. As his car left the arrival terminal, two cars with Delhi and Haryana registration plates followed at a safe distance. Anwar Razak, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs was under surveillance.