Born Again - Chapter 3

Meanwhile in Paris….

Five flights from five different locations landed at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in a space of an hour in the wee hours of the morning.

Five eminent people from New Delhi, London, Moscow, Islamabad and Washington D.C. embarked from their respective aircraft. The airport authorities had the orders not to ask them for immigrations or visa but to guide them to a separate exit to a waiting line of Porches.

Each one of them took a separate car and a separate route to reach their destination though their destination was the same: an old logwood cabin at the end of 7th Arrondissement, Rue de Greniale. One of them took an en route to Champ Elyees, stopped at BNP Paribas and transferred 100 M Francs from a G-15 Account to another account in Bank de Switzerland in the name of Red Sea Trading Corporation.

Each of the cars arrived at the 7th Arrondissement of Rue de Greniale at an interval of 20 minutes from the other and the gentlemen walked their way to fag end of the 3rd lane where their meeting point was decided. The logwood cabin was a soundproof room which had jammers around it. This place couldn’t be bugged or traced by any man or device alive.

The meeting began as soon as the last man entered the room. This meeting was called by the Head of NSA – Tim Saunders and consisted of men from Intelligence Agencies like MI - 6, KGB, the RAW and ISI along with NSA. It was for the first time in the history of the Modern world that such a meeting was organized. As a matter of fact, the other four were highly surprised by such an invitation from the NSA.

“Gentlemen...” Tim Saunders began “We’ve gathered here to discuss a serious threat to the millions of lives in the universe and one man in particular. We have received a very strong intelligence that Carlos a.k.a Cain has been activated once again. I have kept a dossier on Carlos. Please read each line carefully. ”  

The dossier contained a five-page report on Carlos. Real name Vladimir Illich Ramirez Sanchez, son of Venezuelan immigrants, who had migrated to Chechen in USSR and practised law. He learnt the law from his father, was involved in the liberation movement of Chechen. Due to his ruthless ways to conduct operations his own men disowned him and was arrested and sent to jail in Moscow. He fled from the prison and escaped to Cuba where he helped Fidel Castro gain power over Cuba. After some disagreements with Castro Carlos left Cuba and started on his own. In a short space of time, he had established links with all the major terrorist outfits across the world ranging from IRA and LTTE to Al Quida and LeT. He currently has charges of assassinations and aiding terrorism in various countries across the world and is one of the World’s most feared and notorious criminals. His whereabouts: unknown. The only way he can be contacted is through his Mistress Bizarre Nunez who is currently believed to be somewhere in Argentina.

“I see…, interesting data on Carlos,” Ranvir Thakur commented on the report and continued further: “Now I understand why you called us here. This guy is a serious threat to the world and he must be nabbed, dead or alive.”   

“Carlos can only be caught Red Handed. He is a master of disguises and can fool some of the most intelligent people and systems around. We can never chase him and catch him.” General Pobrosky from KGB suggested. He wasn’t amused at receiving an invitation from the American. He in fact had a strong dislike towards Americans and was surprised at receiving an invitation from them.

“Evidently General, of all gathered here you are probably the most knowledgeable on Carlos.” Martin Jacobs of MI - 6 interjected. “Probably you can add Mr Zia to that list as well.”

“For us, he is a pain, and we want to see him dead as much as you do, but we have reports that he is well connected with the ISI.” General Replied.

“That’s not true…” General Liakat Zia shot back angrily.

“Oh come on Liakat, we all know his role in helping Al Quida to pull off 9/11 in US and 26/10 in India, and the attackers in both these cases came from Pakistan. Diplomatically you guys may want to deny the proofs we’ve submitted but we all know that they were yours.” Ranvir Thakur shot back at him.

Liakat Zia was at a loss of words. He turned to Saunders and said: “Mr Saunders, have you called me in here to get insulted……”

Saunders waving his hand: “Now Now gentlemen, let’s put our differences behind and focus on the problems ahead.” He turned to Zia and continued: “While there is no denying of the fact that Carlos has a connection with ISI, he can be a serious pain to you as well."

Saunders made this statement with an air of authority that everyone turned silent. Liakat frowned and sat there sulking and making faces, scowling at others.

Tim Saunders paused to take a sip of water and continued.

“Gentlemen, post 26/11 Carlos has turned his focus towards assassinations…his next targets are rich and famous people, politicians, industrialists, actors and sportsmen etc. If we don’t stop him he would start a series of murders here.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me…why would someone who is in college want to appear for a Board exam,” Ranvir Thakur asked.

“The answer is easy and quick money. Pulling off an international crime takes time and there are lots of risks involved. Assassinations are easy, quickly done and the money is good as well if the person is a Big Name.” Martin Jacobs replied.

He paused to see the expressions on other people faces and continued.

“We’ve intercepted a coded message that went from Zambia to Argentina where the details of his next target were sent to him and Ranvir this might be of interest to you.” He looked towards Ranvir and continued, “Cos his next Target is Anubhav Bindra.”

There was a stunned silence in the entire cabin you could hear the sound of cars passing by which were almost 4 km away. Everyone knew that MI - 6's intelligence is the best in the world and it could never be wrong.

“B B But why him….” Ranvir asked nervously.

“That’s a question only you can answer...” Saunders replied “Ranvir, I want you to brief us about Anubhav Bindra, we need to protect him in a way he doesn’t come to know of, Martin will help you with the gadgets and training to help your cause. General Pobrosky, please provide all the details and information you have on Carlos.” Saunders replied with an air of authority.

“What's on your mind, Tim?” General Pobrosky asked inquisitively.

“To catch the Rat we need to show the cheese, we’ll set up a trap for him and ISI will help us get to him,” Saunders smiled. “We’ll meet here next week same day same time and in a similar fashion with a definitive plan. Please get cracking we don’t have much time.”

Saunders adjourned the meeting and all the gentlemen left in a similar fashion in which they had come.

They all gathered at the same place after a week’s time and the intensity of the occasion was clearly visible on the faces of them all.

Ranvir Thakur began:” We’ve collected all the details about Anubhav Bindra, it’s placed in the dossier in front of you.”

All of them opened their respective dossiers and started reading it with curiosity written all over their faces.

“Name: Anubhav Bindra a.k.a AB stays in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Is the CEO of the fasting growing company in the world InfoGleam Corporation. Loves, to read books and travel. His parents died in a car accident when he was 20 and has been all alone since then. His only friends in this world are Sanjay and Bhumika Solanki the Chairman of Infogleam Corporation. Is not known to socialize much, but recently attended an Infogleam party and is reported that he left the party early but went home quite late, which is quite unusual for someone like him, currently he is vacationing with Sanjay and Bhumika in Goa.

He follows a strict routine in his life and wakes up sharp at 7:00 am in the morning and goes to Karnavati Club for jogging and exercising. From there he heads straight to the office and returns home at about 8:00 PM in the evening and goes to bed sharp at 10:00.”

“The only places he is vulnerable is while driving his car and when he is at the club,” Ranvir said when all of them had completed reading his report.

“You can also add his home.” Martin Jacobs said.

“So what information do we have on Carlos General?” Tim Saunders asked General Pobrosky.

“Carlos loves playing with the law. He will give you traces and clues about the crime he is gonna commit and I believe the code that you intercepted the other day is just that clue.” General Pobrosky said. 

“Our sources say that currently, he is somewhere in Mauritius….” Liakat Zia added.   

“Aha,” said Martin Jacobs. “Just yesterday we received intelligence that the Famous Adnan Khashoggi has brought an Island near Mauritius. Now, this clears the air. Maybe they are trying to set up a base camp over there,” he exclaimed.

“Gentlemen this is not good news, we need to act fast. Ranvir, please make arrangements for a Chauffer for Mr Bindra and also try and fix all the monitoring gadgets in his house ASAP. I would also like to have you recruit two of your men at that K Club so that they can guard him from a distance.”  Saunders said anxiously.

“Will be done, Tim.” Ranvir Thakur assured him.

“Liakat, please arrange a trap for him. I know he has been of help to you in the past but you never know when he’ll turn his back on you guys, if you guys help us in here we’ll surely help you sort out the Taliban problem,” Saunders said to Liakat Zia.

Zia thought for a while and outweighed his options, on one hand, there was a notorious criminal who could never be trusted on the other hand there was international help on Taliban threat. The latter certainly seemed more attractive.

“Okay Gentlemen, the ISI is with you in here. You’ll get all the help you need.” Zia confirmed.

“Great,” Saunders continued. “General Pobrosky and Jacobs, we’ll need your help with the intelligence as you two are the best on it. Please keep a close eye on Carlos and other related happenings and I shall head this operation and provide you with all the necessary funding required for this operation. I have already transferred 100 M Francs in the Swiss bank account in the name of Red Sea Trading Corporation. The details of the account are given in the memory card placed in front of you.”

He paused for effect and then continued in his characteristic style with an air of authority.

“Team, together we shall and we will nab the world’s most notorious criminal. We’ll call ourselves ‘the Brood’ and it’s gonna be ‘the Brood’ v/s Carlos. This is gonna be our last face to face meeting. From now on we shall communicate only via the satellite phone. All the best of luck to everybody.” Saunders adjourned the meeting.  

All of them left the place wondering about only one thing “Why Anubhav Bindra…”