A day and a half after Kathy sent the message asking Anita and Jack to come to New Delhi as soon as possible, Anita arrived from Dublin and some four hours later Jack came in from Jordan. Jack had booked two large suites and late the same afternoon, they met for drinks in his suite. Privately, he asked Kathy if she would move her belongings up to his room. She could keep her room to meet with her consultants, if she thought it necessary. Kathy smiled and asked Jack if he was bringing her out of the “closet.”
Kathy cautioned everyone to keep the talk on the business of buying a business. The Indian police and Intelligence Bureau were quite capable of bugging any hotel room. While a local TV show was playing a bit on the loud side, Kathy quietly briefed the new arrivals on her activities and plans. Jack looked at Anita and said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed.”
Anita smiled and said, “Maybe we aren’t needed here. Kathy and her hired guys have the situation under control.”
Jack laughed and said, “Tomorrow when Hamid Hassan gets in, you can get them started on the program you’ve laid out. Tomorrow morning is a good time for us to get more familiar with the city. It’s also what tourists are expected to do. While we are touring, we can think some more about our end game.”
Anita said, “My suite is so great, I am quite happy to spend the next week right here. The counter-terrorism business has surely upgraded recently. If my old buds could see me now, they would all be polishing their resumes.”
The kid from Greensburg never forgot the years when she had no extra cash. From her perspective, with Jack’s generous pay, she was rich for the first time in her life.
Just after breakfast Jack and Kathy departed on a tour of Old Delhi while Anita visited the thriving commercial and governmental center of New Delhi. Anita admired Kathy’s sandals and wanted to hit some shoe stores. Kathy had to get back to the hotel by 11:00 a.m. to meet Hamid Hassan. When Kathy returned to the hotel, she found a message from Hassan. He was waiting in the lobby and could meet her for lunch, if it was convenient. Kathy quickly dressed in what she called her dowdy costume for her first meeting with the young Muslim man. The costume included fully enclosed Western shoes she had wanted to throw out for the last year, purchased for some forgotten boring, must-attend occasion.
When Kathy walked into the lobby to find Mr. Hassan, she failed to spot him on her first run through. Finally, she decided to approach a young man in pressed white duck trousers, black loafers and a light pink, open-necked, buttoned-down, short-sleeve shirt.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Hassan?”
“Yes I am. May I expect you are Ms. Grayson?”
“That’s me. But please call me Kathy. Somehow I have never felt like a ‘Ms. Grayson’. Where are you putting up?”
Hassan replied he had a nice room in the Ashoka Hotel.
Kathy took his room number and said, “The food here in the hotel is rather good but if you don’t mind, I prefer to eat out of the hotel. I’ll call for a car. My car is in the parking area, but I don’t want to search for a parking space downtown. My driving on the left side might scare you, so you’re lucky we will use a driver today.”
Kathy was also deliberately making it easy for any police or intelligence service surveillance. They like to be able to question drivers of any suspect, even though people involved in clandestine operations do not, as a rule, take along a driver.
Kathy asked the driver to take them to Karim’s restaurant. She had been tempted to go to a restaurant in Defense Colony, so both she and Hassan could familiarize themselves with the area, but even the remote chance their quarry could see them together was taking too much of a dumb risk.
Over lunch at a private table, Kathy told Hassan their interest in purchasing an import/export firm was secondary to finding a particular importer/exporter who they believe is using his business for illegal purposes. At this point they did not want the police of either India or the United States involved. Forcing this person out of business might accomplish their objectives. Kathy went on to tell him about the study their consultants had provided and said once back at the hotel she would give him a copy.
Tomorrow she wanted him to call on three firms to see if they were for sale as he had a wealthy client who was interested in buying an import/export business in New Delhi. One of these firms was owned by an individual of interest. This man, Abdul Ali Fahad, claimed to be from Jordan. Hassan’s assignment was to determine if Fahad was from Jordan. Secondly, did he have a chance to travel very much, as his client would be interested in acquiring his foreign business contacts along with the business? Thirdly, could Fahad meet with him again in ten days? Hassan could say he needed time to contact his client. It was possible his client may want Mr. Fahad to continue to run the business in return for a generous salary and a percentage of the profits. He should indicate his clients were Jordanian and Lebanese.
During the meeting, Kathy told Hassan he should make some anti-American comments, especially about the American presence in Iraq. Kathy also cautioned Hassan to be careful. This man was dangerous and had even more dangerous friends.
Over coffee Hassan asked a number of pointed but intelligent questions. Kathy answered them without going beyond her comfort level. This was Hassan’s first Brandon assignment and for Kathy, like all professionals, there was no instant trust. It had to be earned.
She thought Jack’s father had used good judgment in selecting Hassan. She asked Hassan about his relationship with Peter Brandon. Hassan told her his father had known Mr. Brandon for years, and he believed they had worked together a few times in the past. However, his father would never tell him about the nature of the work. When his father died, Mr. Brandon put Hassan through the University of Florida and provided him with a comfortable annual retainer. He considered Mr. Brandon to be a second father, and he was ready to do anything he could to help.
While he was talking, Kathy was looking him over. He was clean-shaven with a good haircut and very dark brown eyes. She liked what she heard and saw.
Just as Kathy was going to suggest they return to the hotel, the waiter informed them their driver was outside. Kathy paid the bill and they returned to the hotel, lost in their own thoughts. At the hotel, Kathy gave Hassan a copy of the consultant’s report, noting which three he should call on tomorrow and hurried up to her room to shed the dowdy dress for her bathing suit and robe and head back to the pool. Kathy’s idea of casual was cutoffs, a tank top, sandals and no socks. Anyone that wanted her would know where to look. Pleasure mixed with a little business was a winning formula.
Facts and Fictions 