After lunch, Kathy was getting ready to go to the Yak and Yeti Hotel to call Arjun Singh when Jack said, “I don’t think it is a good idea for any of us to travel alone around here. Anita, why don’t you go with her, and both of you get some other clothes to wear. If you see anything I can wear, please pick it up. Shaving stuff is a must. The bath helped, but I want to burn these clothes.”

Kathy and Anita walked several minutes from Bernadette’s before hiring a taxi from a taxi stand and going to the hotel. Kathy called Arjun and told him she and her companions would be at tea today.

Anita and Kathy left the Yak and Yeti Hotel on foot and made their way to the main market area where they each bought an Indian-made bicycle. Hundreds of them were on the street. Anita studied the clothing worn by women riders and bought a similar outfit. With her small size, dark skin and long dark hair, she could easily pass as a Nepali woman. Anita had always loved languages and studied them at every chance. Vocabulary from her limited exposure to Urdu was back completely, and she had been working quietly on her skills in India and Nepal. Even along the trail she had been muttering to herself. Her ear was so good that, after a few days exposure to a language, she could understand the main gist of a conversation.

Both Urdu and Nepali had logical structures and consistency of sounds to the written symbols. She felt in another week with some proper documentation, she could carry off her disguise.

Changing clothes in a curtained stall at the shop and slipping on some brightly colored glass bangles, she tapped Kathy on the shoulder and said, “What do you think?”

Kathy burst into laughter and told Anita it was wonderful. “We must see if you can fool Bernadette.”

After picking up a number of items for Jack, they left the shop, unlocked their bikes from the rack, loaded up their parcels in the huge bike baskets and pedaled off. Twenty minutes later Kathy rode up to the gate and told the guard the servant girl was with her. They parked their bikes out of sight of the door way to the bungalow. Bernadette came to the front door and greeted Kathy. Bernadette looked out and saw a Nepali woman standing just behind Kathy.

Bernadette said, “May I help you?”

Anita tugged her head shawl closer over her face, looked down and said in Nepali, “My name is Nelia, and I can cook and wash clothes.”

Bernadette said, “Do you speak any English?”

“Memsahibji, I work for English lady before.”

Bernadette turned to Kathy and said, “We need someone. If her references turn out to be okay, let’s hire her.” She then stepped down from the porch and said, “May I see your references?”

Anita drew herself up, moved toward the porch steps, and said in an angry English voice, “You crazy Irish lady, why should I give you any references? What you see is what you get!”

Taking another step toward Bernadette, she pulled off her head scarf and burst into laughter. It took another few seconds before Bernadette said, “Anita, you crazy girl, you bloody near scared me to death! For that you get to cook food and wash laundry. First, come on in here, so I can hug you for a marvelous performance, and I don’t want anyone to see me hugging you and ruining your new identity.”

Bernadette said, “Anita, I’m impressed out of my mind. You could be Kipling’s female counterpart to his famous character Kim. Come in and see if you can fool Arjun. I want you to serve tea to our guest Arjun Singh when he comes. Okay?”

Jack heard Kathy’s voice and came out to greet them. Jack saw Kathy and a Nepali woman, but Anita was nowhere in sight. “Kathy, did Anita go off somewhere by herself?”

“Why no! She always follows her brief. But I want you to meet Nelia. She may be doing some work for us.”

Jack started to ask again about Anita, when he looked into Nelia’s eyes and with an explosive laugh said, “Anita, you oughta be on stage, but I guess in our line of work we’re always on a stage of some sort. Your disguise is outstanding!”

“Well, I thought if my role was to do random reconnaissance around the neighborhood, I’d blend in better with this outfit.”

Bernadette ended the disguise discussion by taking the arm of her new servant and leading her into the kitchen to make tea. Arjun would soon be there.

 
Buy “Justice Beyond Law” on Amazon, as well as the rest of the Jack Brandon series and other books by Barry Kelly, a former CIA agent and adviser to President Reagan.