Once inside, she fondly put her arms around him, “Oh! Lion! – am I glad to see you again…”
“First things first …” he pulled out the credit card issued to him and gave it to her, “Book the flight leaving for Kolkata tonight. Use this card.”
She booked the flight and handed over a printout of his E-Tkt.
“This confirms the activation of my card, check in the system if you are able to check my activation.” she started to search and came up with his deactivated status 3 years ago … nothing to show that he was active once again. He smiled knowing Mr Mahal had kept his word and kept his reactivation a Top Secret. Except for him, Doc and Sharmila, nobody else in the world would be able to check his active status. “Now – search for people who possibly are in touch with Fox.”
She started her search and came up with one ID and a photo.
“Who’s she?”
“Sarika Bose – a third rate journalist. Has changed jobs with various news channels – Queen of biased journalism and fake news representation…”
“What makes you think she would have knowledge about Fox and his whereabouts?”
“You remember your last mission where you terminated about 30 odd terrorists.” he felt a bit uncomfortable with the memory of that mission and felt remorse rise again, “Ashfaq Baig was the ISI pawn in Pakistan foreign services who had managed to infiltrate that group. He was under scrutiny and hit-list after you cleaned up that group on your mission… he was temporarily deputed to India as Pakistani ambassador – his security on personal grounds was handled by ISI – Fox was heading and still is heading ISI operations in India and Fox was in charge of his security.”
“I believe Baig was eliminated six months after that mission.”
“Check this – he, as an ambassador, visited Kolkata for a weeklong vacation amid highest diplomatic security. Entire hotel was booked and special guard placed at every square to stop anyone who would want to approach the hotel… No other guests stayed in that hotel and guess what – Sarika Bose – managed to get a live interview done with Baig – do you think this could be done without Fox permitting her to do so?”
“Hmm – you got a point there – where is she now?”
“Since past 2 years – she shifted to Kolkata and works with a news channel, HQ at Kolkata. She presents news, features and hosts debates – all biased –owns a YouTube channel with a huge number of subscribers – whoever pays her money – her presentation is pro for that person/party and she’s good at raising tricky questions against the people who don’t pay her. Has a bank account where her salary is deposited and no withdrawal transactions – every expense is on the illegal money she earns …”
“Is she against the ruling party who is currently in the governance?”
“Nopes – she is a bitch – you pay her money – she’ll proclaim you the next Prime Minister of India – will twist her presentation to show how incompetent are all politicians and how you are the best person suitable …”
“She definitely has few answers to my questions then. What about the place I can crash in?”
“The usual apartment in Howrah sector – I have informed our team to keep it ready for you.”
“Good.” he sat on a chair thinking his next moves once he reached Kolkata. He got up checked the equipment issued to him by Doc and was satisfied – he had everything he needed to start his work. Sharmila told him, “Don’t forget this button – I’ll be there online almost immediately once you press that SOS button…”
He pressed that button and lo! A screen lit up in her bedroom showing his location and other details which she was familiar with…
He took the evening flight to Kolkata. He crashed on the bed knowing that once he started on this mission, sleep could be the most expensive thing he could afford…
Till this point, I tried to emulate the James Bond style, from here the story takes a turn and it is written in my style of storytelling… I hope I have been able to give a decent tribute to Desmond Llewlyn…
The links for the book is as given under…
Kindle India: https://amzn.in/d/1Dh4fx5
Amazon India for Paperback: https://amzn.in/d/fsSXKPU
Kindle International: https://a.co/d/7f2Oa0U
Amazon International Paperback: https://a.co/d/3n4hWPn
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