The Devil's Light Read Online Free PDF Page A

spoken.”
    â€œWe’re not done yet,” Al Zaroor said flatly. “Nor, I assume, are you. But your patrons grow too circumspect. Perhaps you need an investor to help you strike again.” Al Zaroor softened his tone. “You want Pakistan to wrest Kashmir from India. The ‘normalization’ of relations between the two would utterly defeat your purpose. Despite your masterstroke in Mumbai, you did not succeed in estranging them. That calls for a shot to the heart of India.”
    Khan appeared nettled. Sardonically, he asked, “What greater act of boldness do you suggest for us?”
    â€œTo succeed where al Qaeda failed. On September 11, we dispatched two passenger planes to destroy the World Trade Center. Another damaged the Pentagon, the seat of America’s military power. But a fourth plane was meant to level the Capitol and slaughter the senators and congressmen inside. Only a few unruly passengers thwarted us from wreaking utter psychic devastation on America, eclipsing two ruined towersfilled with Jewish stockbrokers.” He paused, finishing quietly, “Imagine that the face of our attacks was Capitol Hill in ashes. Then ask yourself what the infidels of India hold closest to their hearts.”
    Considering, Khan flicked his tongue across parched lips. “And you would help finance this?”
    â€œWe have the resources, certainly.”
    â€œAnd your reasons?” Khan paused, then added slowly, “I recall introducing you to my cousin, the general.”
    â€œYes. Thank you for your courtesy.”
    Khan stared at him. “An attack of the kind you suggest would have consequences. The she-males in our civilian government would recoil; even our friends in the ISI might disapprove. The risks are considerable.”
    â€œAs are the rewards.”
    â€œPerhaps. But there is also the question of methods. Do you expect us to hijack passenger planes? The martyrs of September 11 made that much more challenging.”
    Al Zaroor shrugged. “If this is a matter of airplanes, we can help you acquire your own.”
    â€œAnd fill them with explosives?”
    Al Zaroor smiled a little. “You can supply the explosives, along with the martyrs to fly them.” His tone became practical. “The Indian air force is very professional. But they have too much territory to cover, and too many sites to defend. In this they are like the Americans.”
    Eyes narrowing, Khan stared at the mountains. At length, he said, “The Americans are pushing the eunuch who masquerades as our prime minister into further talks with India. The goal is to emasculate our country, forcing it to abandon Kashmir.” Khan faced Al Zaroor squarely. “I will use my sources to explore the risks of peace. Then I will meet with you again, if only as a courtesy. Whatever else I do will be in the interests of our brothers in Kashmir.”
    In the soft glow of the television, Carter Grey lit a cigarette, his first since Brooke had arrived.
    Briefly, Anne glanced at him, then resumed watching CNN. Amid the rubble of the Indian Parliament, soldiers and emergency responderssearched for survivors or the dead, giant figures on an oversized flatscreen. The images revived the most searing hours of Brooke’s life.
    â€œLashkar-e-Taiba,” Grey said without turning. “This is an act of desperation.”
    Anne glanced at the cigarette burning in his hand. “Why do you say that?”
    â€œIt’s all about Kashmir. Most Kashmiri are Muslim, but the province belongs to India. The ISI wants to change that: Within the government of Pakistan, the military intelligence service operates as a shadow state of its own. The ISI helped create LET to fight a guerrilla war in Kashmir. A potential détente between India and Pakistan would be a mortal threat to their ambitions. That’s why LET attacked Mumbai.”
    â€œWhy didn’t the Pakistanis shut them