Lola indeed had done for the day. She wasn’t at the desk. He picked up the keys to his room and walked toward the elevator. He still was thinking of events post his instinctive dream when he opened the door to his room. It was dark the way he had left it. He always kept the rooms dark and hidden away from any prying eyes using the blackout fabric curtains. He didn’t put the lights on and was lost in his thoughts, he put the DSLR on the table and was about to sit on the chair beside it when a whiff of feminine perfume alerted him…
“Turn around and face the wall. Spread your legs.” he heard a female voice ordering him – he also heard the click of the safety catch of a revolver knowing it was cocked and aimed – ready to shoot him down.
“I think I know this voice” he said in a bid to converse and buy some time, trying to remember the voice.
“Shut up!! … Do as you are told.” she snapped at him switching ON the reading lights above the bed in the room lighting the room up faintly.
He stood there facing the wall, his hands parallel to the ground and his legs spread wide.
“Oh! A camera?… could you turn that lens side toward yourself? … ah… ah… ah… careful – no sudden movement.” she looked at him slowly lower his right arm and turn the camera position the way she had ordered, “Now – very slowly – strip… careful – I am a trigger happy person and I never miss my target when I shoot to kill.” she watched him slowly remove his shirt, “Good… no gun on you – now, – your trousers.” her voice was jittery and he knew she was on her edge and he didn’t want to agitate that trigger happy finger of hers. “No sudden movement – turn slowly around and face me…” he recognized her voice.
“What is Bangladesh intelligence doing in my room?” he cheekily asked her.
“I said turn around – slowly…” she snapped.
He looked at the ceiling mischievously and turned around to look at her astonished expression.
“Lion? – and, without his guns?” she exclaimed in disbelief, “What are you doing here in Amsterdam? Aren’t you supposed to be inactive?”
“I’m inactive sweetheart. I was here on a personal tour.”
“One of my shadow agents followed Victor to this hotel today morning. He was seen talking to someone at the bar before leaving in haste. Another followed him to a cruise while the first one fished out information of some Mr. Arav who occupied this room – what are you doing snooping in his room?… This Mr. Arav supposedly met Victor on that cruise. I decided to check him out and I find – the lost Lion…”
“I’m that Mr Arav – another assumed name…”
She put back the safety catch of her gun and then put her gun on the bedside table. She let out a sigh, got up and removed her overcoat, let her hair loose and prepped them up a bit to fluff them – she looked glamorous as always…
“So – Zeenat – could you enlighten me as to what is happening around here?”
She was still standing, her red gown shimmering in the dim lights – she took a comfortable sitting position on the bed…
“This was supposed to be routine”, she said, “covering the on-going international conference of Health Ministries from all over the world. You will find almost every agency around covering this event.”
“That’s waste of resources – covering up some health conference.”
“No – the real reason for every agency to depute their agents for this event is to find out who is clipping all the agencies of their best agents” he looked at her without changing his expression, “I understand that you have been inactive since 3 years… This started about a couple of years ago when 15 of ISI agents were blasted in a hotel conference hall located near Chinese embassy in Islamabad. The blast was claimed by some new terrorist outfit in Pakistan. Then the news started to trickle in about eliminations of best agents of agencies around the world by some unknown sniper. About 6 months ago this sniper has gone berserk and is eliminating experienced agents left, right and centre… no matter which agency. There also were incidences where a group of agents were mowed down at once using a machine gun during these types of covering of international conferences. We know about 5 such eliminations here in Amsterdam since past 7 days.”
“6 to be precise.” he said occupying the chair next to the table where he had kept his camera.
“And – who is the 6th?”
“Victor – he caught the sniper bullet by his head on the cruise.” he picked up his camera and put on the view photos status, “I panned the camera almost 270 degrees – Hope it captured this sniper.”
“Get it here – we both will scan that photo.”
He sat next to her on the bed and started to zoom into various frames of that panoramic photograph. He stopped and started to zoom onto a structure in one of the frames – he zoomed into one of the windows of a structure – “There is the sniper.”
She looked closely at the zoomed in frame, “Can’t guess who it is.”
“Looks like QBU-88 … have you checked if MSS is involved with these clippings?”
“No – I couldn’t. You very well know that Chinese hide truth, especially their losses. I do know that about 5 of their agents were eliminated and one thing I know that they were the ones who were considering defection. If MSS was involved – I’m sure someone would have found that out by now – CIA, KGB, MOSSAD, RAW, ISI – someone … no agency in the world can carry out such mass clippings for so long and keep it hidden.” she looked at him, “What was Victor’s say on this?”
“He wanted me to rejoin RAW.”
“Even I feel you should and help us in getting to the bottom of this nonsense.”
“I told you why I quit RAW when I was leaving. I don’t want to dirty my hands again in that muck.”
“Well – someone has to get hands dirty to clean the world of this muck” she looked at him, “I will be glad to team up with you again – like old times.”
“And … the reason?”
“I know – I’ll be safe assisting you and you know, I can very well guard your back when you are facing the danger.”
“You still are … same old girlish girl.” he laughed.
“Am I ?” she stood square – in front of him – he looked at her – from a rookie – she definitely had bloomed into a voluptuous female agent – her figure perfectly carved and her beauty – enhanced. He looked at her from top to her toe in appreciation of her attractive looks – he licked his lips and tried to control his rising feelings for her. She sat next to him and put fond arms around him and kissed him, “Wouldn’t you love to relive our old days of romance?” she softly whispered into his ears. He could keep his control no more. Soon they were entangled in the ecstasy of their feelings for each other and worked hard to see them quenched and subside.
He lay upright and she fondly cuddled by his side caressing his chest with her fingers when a loud bang disturbed their romance. He bent over and reached the window, still lying on the bed and raised a corner of the blackout curtain and lowered it again.
“A bomb – in this hotel?” she asked
“Yes – the room bang opposite this one.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed a bit nervous, “that’s my room… That bomb was supposed to kill me…” she shuddered at the thought.
He extended his arm and brought her closer and lovingly started to caress her hair to ease her off, “Safe in my arms … are you?”
“Always – my darling…” she laughed and kissed him.