The Honeybee Conspiracy

Part 41

Chapter 39

Bharat requested for a personal meeting with JK at Bharat's residence on Lodhi Road which was turned down. Instead, JK told him to come to the Dominoes outlet on the Gurgoan expressway at 9 pm. Since he never trusted these political ' pimps ' as he used to call them, he preferred to meet them on his own terms and, as always, he outsmarted them.

It was a Friday evening, the beginning of the weekend and Delhi's highly paid yet frustrated IT crowd were all heading to the dozen or more farmhouses and resorts that had sprung up on the outer periphery of the city where the booze, drugs, and babes flow like a never-ending stream. Dominoes was packed on Friday night as Bharat sat across two young boys who, though were intoxicated, were ranting about a soon to be launched App for one of their hotel clients. He could never fit into this crowd and wondering where JK was when a waiter appeared, set a bottle of mineral water and a can of coke on the table. He signaled to Bharat in the direction of the restroom where a well-built man in blue jeans and an Orange color T-shirt was standing. Bharat moved in the direction and they both left through the service exit. Four of his security men followed behind him. Motorcycles were moving in and out of the outlet, nobody noticed an Enfield moving out with three passengers including the driver wearing helmets. It was all over within seconds. Bharat's bulldogs were left standing at the vast portico gaping as a dozen or more Hyabusa, Harley Davidsons, CBZ and Enfields were zipping around performing stunts. Their boss had gone.

While JK was seated at the back of a Toyota Fortuner sipping a coke, Bharat, devoid of all his communication gadgets which were with Julius who was now the driver dusting the windows outside, was now on the defensive. Political bigwigs generally use offensive strategy until they are cornered. Then the defensive strategy comes in to play. Bharat was talking about the falloutof the Myanmar operation when JK intruded very calmly, "Bharat, don't waste my time, what do you want?" He was used to dealing with self-proclaimed kingmakers who believed they control the shots but in reality, are losers. The answer was instant. "Surekha Jagmohan" blurted Bharat. "How do you know and who else knows about this?" asked Bharat. He was desperate.

"You seem to be holding the wrong end of the stick, Bharat. And why do you look so worried?" questioned JK. "Look JK, I met the PM. He wants the matter silenced. We are working towards making this country to a new horizon and something like this can set us back by years. You don't seem to understand that we ....."

JK took a deep breath and said in a casual tone as he was toying with the half-empty can Bharat, Shut up. We both know that you really don't give a rats ass about the country or its people, leave alone taking this country to new horizons."

"So the PM wants the matter silenced,....Mmmmm, and what happens next ?" asked JK

For the first time, there was a smile on Bharat's face. The same sick cynical smile. JK looked at him with a blank face. No reaction was there on his face. No one could tell what was going on in his mind. The years of experience in the espionage world.

"It's your call, what you say we do," replied Bharat.

"And what does that mean?" asked JK.

"You know what it means, we will transfer the funds to where ever you want. A blank cheque" replied Bharat.

JK took his time to reply. At last, he said, "Let me think about this". Jk opened the door. The driver alias Julius who was already tired of cleaning the car for the twentieth time put his right hand inside his pocket and pressed a remote control knob. The entire recording of the conversation was beamed to the control room at RAW where it was saved in the high-security servers. To be used when required.