The Bard of Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

are?’
    ‘Mullah Omar, apparently, wants us to free
four of the terrorists we have captured, in exchange for our agents.’
    He held up the remote and switched the TV on. He
tapped something urgently on his laptop and a grainy video filled up the screen.
    It had the four Indian men kneeling next to each
other. A turbaned man, with his face covered, stood with a rifle behind them. Not Mullah Omar, of
course. Unlike Osama bin Laden, he didn’t believe in recording his showmanship on tape.
    The screen blacked out, and four names popped up:
Yasin Bhatkal, Assadullah Akhtar, Fayaz Mir, Umar Madni.
After which, there was a simple
message.
    Freedom in exchange for freedom. You have ten
days.
    As if it were that simple.
    Joshi turned to face Kabir, who had a half-smile
on his face.
    ‘Freedom in exchange for freedom,’ he
repeated. ‘Omar is clearly acting as the ISI’s mouthpiece.’
    Joshi nodded, poured Kabir and himself a glass of
water, and gulped his down. Kabir left his untouched.
    ‘I’ve had a good time catching up
with you, sir. But, unfortunately, I have a class waiting to learn how Macbeth met his
end.’
    ‘Macbeth has already met his end, Kabir.
But you can stop four of ours from meeting theirs.’
    The words floated in the silence that ensued.
    Kabir scratched some invisible lint off his
jacket, and finally asked: ‘What do you want me to do?’
    ‘Clearly, there is a larger conspiracy at
play. The ISI is up to no good as usual, and Sadiq’s death is connected. The mole—that
my predecessor mistook you to be—is still in the agency. I want you to help me connect the
dots. There is a reason Sadiq asked for you before he died.’
    ‘He didn’t ask for me,’ Kabir
said, avoiding eye contact. ‘How exactly do you want me to connect the dots?’
    ‘I want you to meet the former Afghan head
of intelligence, who is in Mumbai currently. He’s dissatisfied with President Hamid
Karzai’s appeasement policies. Needless to say, he strongly dislikes the Pakistani government
and the ISI. His bitterness led him to quit the agency, but he still wields a lot of influence
amongst his supporters back in Afghanistan.’
    ‘Arifullah Umar Saleh,’ Kabir said.
‘I meet him, then what?’
    ‘He will tell you everything you need to
know,’ Joshi stated. ‘Omar’s location in Quetta. Omar’s camps and their
infrastructure—something Afghanistan’s current director of intelligence would deny.
Saleh is helping us settle a score, which kind of helps him settle his. Amongst other things,
he’s a good guy at heart.’
    ‘Hard for the head of an intelligence
agency to be a “good guy at heart”,’ Kabir said sardonically.
    ‘
Former
head of an intelligence
agency,’ Joshi corrected him with a wry smile. ‘After that, you meet a team of three
that I will send down. And then you leave for Balochistan.’
    Kabir looked up, surprised.
    ‘And then I leave for Balochistan,’
he repeated and laughed softly. ‘Are there any good end-of-season sales in Quetta, Mr Joshi?
Should I pick up a few RPGs for you?’
    ‘No.’ Joshi forced a slight laugh.
‘Bring back my agents to me.’
    ‘Ridiculous.’ Kabir sighed.
‘I’m not fit, mentally or physically, to get back in the field. And that is only if I
consider it in the first place.’
    ‘That is why you’ll be leading a team
of those who are physically fit,’ Joshi said. ‘I don’t believe that you
aren’t mentally fit, though. Secretly, I know you’re enjoying the prospect of getting
back.’
    Kabir couldn’t place a finger on the
emotion he felt. The news of Sadiq’s death had shaken him. And then he was flooded with a
sudden surge of information that made him feel he could do something about it. And now that Joshi
had asked him too, he was confused.
    ‘Do you have clearance for the rescue
mission from our government? After all, we’re no Mossad.’
    ‘Leave that to me,’ Joshi replied
with a reassuring smile. ‘Besides, the new prime minister is a