Jack thought about what these men and their followers had done to his family and the others that Yuri’s network had killed. There was no end to the evil these people were capable of inflicting on an innocent public. He looked around the room as he crammed reloads into the magazine and yelled “cease fire!” Anita was coolly reloading when she heard a handgun begin to fire. Jack yelled, “Look out! Shooter under the table! I have no shot!”

At the same time, Anita went down with the impact of two 9mm hits in her right calf and thigh. She rolled quickly toward the table and saw a blood-soaked Angela trying to get a clear shot at Jack. Anita drew her knife from her boot sheath, and using her left leg and powerful arms propelled herself under the table and on top of Angela. Angela got off one more shot striking Anita in the chest, but not before Anita, with a warrior’s scream, plunged her knife into Angela’s throat.

Jack moved toward the shooting and yelled, “Anita, are you hit?” He heard her softly call his name. Kneeling on the floor, he saw her with a pumping chest wound. Jack pulled her out of the bloody mess of bodies and held her in his arms.

Anita looked up and said, “Jack, we both know I’m done. Get out of here! Take care of my sister in Greensburg. Her daughter is mine.”

Anita died in Jack’s arms. He laid her down gently and began a quick search of the room. He left the casings and shotguns, as there were no fingerprints on them. The weapons were untraceable. A quick check showed Abdul Ali Fahad and Hakim Al-Lami among the dead.

Jack took the message Arjun and Bernadette had written from his pocket. The message said the Maoists and in particular the Bahadur Thapa Battalion had declared war on the Muslim Arabs who were using their country for drug profits. Arjun had assured Kathy the message could not be traced to anyone in this group. Jack carried the folded letter in a piece of cloth that he held over the table and shook the message free to fall on the small area of the table top not running with blood.

He noticed two blood-splattered briefcases under the table and scooped them up. Jack didn’t remember hurrying down the narrow stairs. He noticed he was taking deep breaths and crying as he spilled out of the shop into crashing thunder and a heavy downpour. No one was on the street. No signs the police were on their way. He jumped in the car, and the driver moved away from the curb. Ten minutes later they parked in Bernadette’s driveway. No one said anything on the trip back to the bungalow.

Kathy ran out to the driveway as they pulled in. As soon as she saw Jack’s anguished look, she knew something terrible had happened. He held her and said, “Anita is gone. She died in my arms. There was no chance. Two terrible wounds. One severed her femur artery and the other a killing wound in the chest. I could do nothing. She made me promise to leave her. Just asked me to take care of her sister.

“Angela killed her. I was as shocked to see her as she was to see us. She reacted faster than any of the men. She started to slide under the table as soon as we burst through the door. She had a Browning 9mm in her hand. I shot her, but although I hit her hard, she didn’t die. As Anita and I were finishing up, Angela started shooting from under the table. She hit Anita in the leg and was trying to get a shot at me. Anita scrambled under the table and killed her with her boot knife, but not before Angela shot her again in the chest. She gave her life for me.”

With tears running down her cheeks, Kathy hugged Jack and led him inside where she told Bernadette and Arjun Anita was dead. Bernadette put her arms around Jack and Kathy, held them tight, and said, “Anita was a true warrior. I’m sure she was proud to give her life for yours on the field of battle. You would have done the same for her. Come, we’ll drink to her life, and then Arjun can get us out of here. Anita would want us to tend to business. We don’t have time to mourn now.”

While Bernadette and Arjun cleaned up the forensic mess, Jack showered and turned over his bloody clothes to Bernadette. Kathy examined the briefcases Jack carried out from the kill zone. Neither one was locked. Inside the first one was an address book, a cell phone, several maps and drawings that looked like casing reports. All writing was in Arabic and beyond Kathy’s ability to translate. The second briefcase contained a cell phone, a 9mm handgun, bundles of British pound notes, diagrams showing communication addresses and schedules, and an envelope containing three by five photos of Peter Brandon and Jack, along with photos of the Brandon house before it was attacked and burned.

Kathy called Arjun, who was leaning on the kitchen counter talking with Bernadette. She showed the pictures to them and said, “The speculation is over. Al-Qaeda now knows who their enemies are. Just maybe these are the only copies, but I think that is wishful thinking. Let’s wrap up the papers and take them with us.”

Jack joined them and said, “Arjun, please take the handguns, cell phones and the British pounds. And please carry the papers across the border for us.”

After another hour of planning and what ifs, Arjun said, “I must take my leave. The van will be here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Don’t bring anything you don’t absolutely need.”

Bernadette gave Arjun a goodnight hug Kathy thought would last him at least a few days. Kathy was holding on to Jack’s arm so tightly, he said, “Hey, kid, don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere you aren’t until you throw me out.”

“No danger, lover. I am your woman whether it is legal or not. Come on, you need to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow may be a hard day.”

Later, lying in her lover’s arms with the sweat drying on her body, Kathy made a vow she was never going to leave this man no matter what. She had never known before how good it was to make love to a man who loved her in return. Anita was right. If he throws me out, I’ll sneak back. Not a bad philosophy for keeping a love affair going. I’ve learned so much from Anita, about life, love and fighting with an uncluttered mind. I’ll never forget her. Without her, Jack would be dead. Angela, damn bitch, I should have killed her in the riverside camp. Never again will I trust anyone without a lot of checking.

 
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Later in the afternoon Arjun’s car arrived with a large box. One of the items in the box was a prized possession of Arjun’s, a small but powerful Japanese two-way radio with a level of encryption. It was one of three he possessed. Arjun said he would call as soon as Fahad and Hakim left their quarters presumably for a meeting site, hopefully in the same Tibetan craft shop.

At 8:30 p.m. the radio came to life with a three-word message in Nepali. Anita translated for the others, telling them Hakim had left the bungalow in Kalamati. Bernadette and Kathy dressed in Nepali police uniforms under their long light coats and, armed with the Webleys taken from Bahadur and Chitra, left in Bernadette’s car to meet with Arjun. The meeting place was two blocks from Hakim’s bungalow. Up close Kathy’s and Bernadette’s disguise wasn’t expected to pass inspection, but at night, in a group of people dressed similarly to the local police, it passed the good-enough principle.

Fifteen minutes later, the radio alerted Anita the meeting site had been found and that transportation was on the way. A few minutes later Jack saw a car with parking lights on come in the driveway. Faces and hands darkened and wearing the peasant clothing of the Maoists with bandanas around their heads, they climbed in the car carrying shotguns. The driver was accompanied by Arjun’s deputy; who told them that the meeting was upstairs in the Tibetan craft shop where Ali Fahad and Hakim Al-Lami met last evening. The driver and Arjun’s assistant were wearing police uniforms.

Traffic was light. It was a weekday night and a light rain had started shortly after dusk. Practically no one was on the streets or in the market place. The suburban area, where Kathy and Bernadette were waiting with Arjun, was even quieter. Arjun’s assistant told him the team was in place outside the Tibetan craft Shop and ready to go in. Arjun told his deputy to wait two minutes and go in. Arjun turned to face his team and motioned to them to follow him up to the gate.

Arjun, dressed in a police officer’s uniform, banged his night stick on the gate. The guard came running up, and Arjun ordered him to open the gate immediately. When the guard hesitated, Arjun drew his police revolver. The gate swung open. The first man through the gate took the guard down and quickly bound, blindfolded, and gagged him. The other three men in police uniforms and Kathy and Bernadette, disguised as police women, surged through the gate and ran toward the front door. One of the men continued around to the back of the bungalow, while the rest of them charged up on the porch to the front door. The door was locked. Again Arjun knocked loudly on the door. A servant came to the door, saw the armed police and quickly opened the door.

One of Arjun’s men grabbed the servant and asked him in Nepali who was in the house. The servant said Mr. Al-Lami was out. No one else was in the house. He was quickly blindfolded, tied and gagged. Pulling on gloves, Arjun, Kathy and Bernadette rushed to their previously assigned search areas, while the rest of Arjun’s men secured the house and property. A few minutes later Kathy ran down from the upstairs bedroom and motioned for the others to come with her. The upstairs bedroom also served as Hakim’s office. A locked metal two-drawer filing cabinet was in the closet behind a cloth curtain. While Arjun worked on the lock, Kathy and Bernadette searched the rest of the room. Beyond finding an accounting ledger in a desk drawer and an airline ticket, nothing else was of interest. Arjun opened the file cabinet and Kathy began filling a large canvas shopping bag with the contents. Kathy looked at Arjun and said, “I’m through here. Let’s go.” By the time they were back in the car, a total of 11 minutes had passed.

Bernadette said with a sigh, “I am getting too old for this stuff. My adrenalin rush has already disappeared, and now I need a drink.”

Arjun laughed and said, “In ten minutes we will be back at your bungalow, and I will play bartender for everyone.”

Kathy asked Arjun if his man had reported in from the other team yet. Arjun told her whatever they did would be over by now, but they were still in a radio silence mode.

Waiting for the two minutes to pass seemed to Jack like the longest two minutes in history. Weapons were loaded using gloves and they were ready. These people had killed his father, his Vietnamese friends and shot his dog. He looked out the window. It was raining harder with the rumble of an approaching thunderstorm. Arjun’s deputy said, “Now,” got out of the car, and in ten strides was at the door to the Tibetan craft shop. The door was locked, but he could see someone smoking inside. He tapped on the door with his night stick. The door opened a crack and he threw his shoulder against the door and drove inside, knocking the man back onto a stack of Tibetan rugs. A blow to his head with a night stick kept him there.

Jack and Anita charged inside. They went up the staircase in a silent rush. Looking up the staircase, Jack could see a crack of light showing under the door. He hit the door with all of his upper body strength and built up momentum. It crashed open. Jack moved inside to the right of the door. Anita went left. Six men and a woman, sitting around a table covered with bottles and papers, stared at them. One man moved to get up. Anita shot him. The woman, a cleaned up Angela Pandey, dove under the table. Jack said, “Goodbye, Angela” and shot her in the back and left side.

They picked their targets by the threat each presented. Anyone who moved was hit first, and then anyone whose hands couldn’t be seen, followed by shouters or talkers. In seconds both shotgun magazines were empty. At that range the shotguns firing ten rounds of double 00 buck turned the room into an instant slaughterhouse. The noise was deafening.

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. 

An hour later Jack asked everyone to come sit around the dining room table. Once they were all seated, he said, “I really don’t like half measures. If we take the records from Hakim Al-Lami’s house, it will stir up an al-Qaeda hornet’s nest. In other words, we are taking a major risk for what will probably be a marginal gain. The people who will be at the meeting are very evil people. They have killed a number of Americans with their money, including my father. They will do more. We cannot expect to counter their every move in the U.S. My father once told me when you find a nest of poisonous snakes threatening your family, you don’t kill a few of them. You kill them all.

“I hate these people. Thinking about my father being gunned down by those thugs and their shooting Shadow puts me in a rage,” Jack said as he slammed his fist down on the porch railing. “I would sooner get them all than try to steal documents. I also think it would be safer for us. My gut feeling is we need to get out of here soon. Do you think we can do them all?”

Bernadette said, “Yes, we can hit two places at once! Being the ruthless aggressor and taking advantage of the element of surprise is always a good approach. It leaves very few loose ends and nobody immediately on scene to figure out what happened. We’ll need Arjun’s help, and that will require some convincing and a lot more money. That’s my IRA experience showing through. I thought it was gone forever.”

Jack looked around the table and said, “Okay, let’s do it!”

Singh arrived just before lunch. He said he had no new information concerning Abdul Ali Fahad or Al-Lami, but he did have some information on the young woman Mr. Brandon asked about. Miss Angela Pandey was not at the Soaltee Hotel. She is wanted by both the Nepalese and Indian police. Four years ago she graduated from a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. Since then she has become a highly skilled and sought after assassin. Most of her work seems to be for al-Qaeda. One of the middle to top leaders is believed to be her sponsor and lover.

Kathy looked over at Jack and said, “How did you get so damn smart? If you hadn’t insisted she be tied up every night, she might have killed all of us. You know, that is a blow to my ego. I have to admit the poor, little abused bitch manipulated me from the first time she saw me. I was even thinking about bringing her here. Thank God for the wisdom of one Jack Brandon. I wonder if she knows our names. She must know the general vicinity of this house. If her al-Qaeda friends show her any pictures, she could easily I.D. Jack. I don’t like that at all. We ought to do our business, and get out of this wretched valley yesterday.”

Jack asked Arjun if he thought they should do anything to improve security. Arjun replied, “It has been my experience, these people do not move without careful planning. It is almost a religion with them. I do believe they will find this house, but I do not think they will mount an attack until they have done extensive casing. Making changes to our security will delay their getting a plan put together. Our best security is to close down this house and get you all out of here in the next few days. I believe we have that long, but just to be sure I will add a few more guards and put up a few dummy cameras. They won’t know they are not active, but it will compound their planning process. Now, let me say a few words about our Arab friends.”

Arjun stated so far his people had not found any more Arabs staying in hotels. Hakim Al-Lami hadn’t left his bungalow today. Jack asked Arjun to stay for lunch. They had some proposals for him. Some of them needed major assistance from him. Two hours later a tense Arjun left Bernadette’s compound. It had taken Jack’s offer to invest $250,000 into Arjun’s agency, plus a yearly guaranteed level of business of $50,000 for three years from the Brandon group to get Arjun’s agreement to provide the support they needed and to sell 40 percent of his business to a Brandon holding company. Arjun told them he could not be ready before 8:00 tonight.
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. 

When Arjun left, Jack said, “That man earns his money. He works like a dedicated professional, or am I reading him wrong?”

Kathy laughed and said, “No, you are right. Our Arjun is one dedicated, effective piece of work. Note he is a Sikh but has no beard and doesn’t always wear a turban. I haven’t asked him, but I’ll bet he wants flexibility in using different guises while working with different clients.”

Jack paced around the room. The rest kept silent. When he stopped, he said, “I believe Arjun might be right. We have nothing to give to the police. The reason we are all here is this meeting tonight or maybe tomorrow. We can’t make a plan until we know what we want to accomplish. In Recon we would say, what is the mission?

“We know Yuri, alias Vladimir Petrov, was in the terrorist business for money, and he probably was getting money from Fahad, the export/importer from New Delhi and Iraq. Almost certainly that money wasn’t from Ali Fahad’s pocket. He’s getting it from an al-Qaeda banker. Without Yuri’s network, which the U.S. cops should have finished rolling up by now, Fahad has no way of selling terrorist acts for money in the United States. Whether or not he knows it, he is in trouble. He can’t deliver for al-Qaeda, and I don’t believe they are very forgiving.

“That is one set of assumptions. The other has to do with his part, if any, in the running of drugs through Bahadur. If we are right in our belief the Maoists physically move the drugs through Nepal into India, then does Fahad play a role in that? I bet he does. Tibetan crafts and antiquities travel through Nepal to India, some legal, others not. Fahad deals in Tibetan products.

“He exports stuff abroad. Is he an important part of the narco/terrorism equation? I don’t know, and I don’t think we have the time to find out. We are all on borrowed time here. My suggestion is we narrow the mission to taking out Fahad and as much of the al-Qaeda cell as we can and then getting out of here.”

“What you said makes sense, but I’d like to muddy the water a bit,” Kathy said. “While your proposal simplifies the mission, it leaves us with nothing positive and a very suspicious al-Qaeda. Let’s add Hakim Al-Lami to the take-out list. I also want a chance to search his house and make off with his records. I believe he is keeping records at his bungalow, because I believe Al-Lami is either the al-Qaeda operative in charge of directing Ali Fahad or he is the finance guy, or both. He’s got to have some records. Besides these bastards killed my brother, and I want to hurt them as much as we can.”

Bernadette added, “Back in my days with the IRA, unless you were sending a purely political message, it was good to sow discord and confusion. For example, if al-Qaeda thought something happened between Al-Lami and Fahad, they wouldn’t know whom to blame. Confusion among enemies is always good.”

Jack asked Anita if she had anything to add.

Anita said, “I’m more comfortable on the operations side. For example, how many people are in the bungalow? Are they armed? Are guards on the perimeter or just outside the perimeter? Is the bungalow alarmed? Are the records booby trapped? I know we can’t answer those questions, and we don’t have the time to try to get the information. We have to plan for the unknown, including what we do if someone gets badly hurt or killed. It’s not as if we have a lot of support here. I believe Arjun can take care of his own, but he can’t take care of us. To me we only have one answer. If any of us get incapacitated or killed, they must be left behind. I know that is hard to face, but it must be done. We can’t provide serious medical help, and we can’t carry dead bodies with us. The wounded or dead cannot be allowed to compromise the mission. Nobody carries I.D. on black operations. We have to operate under these rules.”

Jack said, “Anita is right. Those have to be our rules. If we kill a half-dozen people, getting captured by the authorities is not a good option. So, people, don’t make mistakes and don’t hesitate to shoot. If our plans go to hell and we have to separate, do not come back here. I’ll get Arjun to provide a short-term safe haven for us to re-group. Anita, please go over an entry plan.”

As Anita started going over the items of concern to an entry operation, they heard a car pull into the driveway. Jack looked out the window and told the others it looked as if Arjun’s courier has arrived with the photos of the bungalow and the surrounding area. Jack sent a note back with the courier asking Arjun to come as soon as he was free.

Kathy spread the pictures on the table saying, “Hey! This photographer did a great job. Good shots of the bungalow. Looks like almost a panoramic of the surrounding area. And if the label is correct, here is Hakim Al-Lami.”

Anita said, “I’ve been by this place on my bike. Some quite large houses are on this street, many with private gardens, high walls and gated driveways. I would like another look at this place.”

Kathy called to Jack, who was staring out of the window on the other side of the room. When she had his attention, she said, “Do you think you can get this group of people to come up with some kind of a plan before Arjun comes back, so we know what we need from him?”

Jack told Anita to work up daylight and night entry plans that would give them control of the house. He asked Kathy to put together a search plan of the house and grounds with each member of the entry team assigned responsibility for a search area. Jack asked Bernadette to work on confusing al-Qaeda.

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. 

After a short talk over drinks and an early supper, Jack decided to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for the action he was sure was coming soon. Bernadette loved lingering over coffee and exchanging information with other women about their lives in the way men seldom do.

Anita said she didn’t know whether her maybe-significant other would ever ask her to marry him, but she was going to stay with him until he threw her out. Then she would sneak back. Kathy and Bernadette laughed at that. Bernadette told the others she had felt much the same way about Jack’s father. At times she hoped she would get pregnant. It never worked out. He once told her being close to him was dangerous, and he couldn’t bear being responsible for her getting hurt. A woman he had loved once had been killed because she was with him.

Bernadette brought them back to the business at hand. “Do you realize we are three women, very tough women at that, aided by a former Marine and cop and do not forget our very capable detective, going against al-Qaeda in an arena they know much better than we do? We are outnumbered and outgunned. All we have going for us is they probably don’t know we are here and ready to catch them off guard. Oh! We also are the good guys and the law maybe is on our side.”

Kathy stretched and said, “Before I comment on such a dismal state of affairs, I need another drink. Maybe by tomorrow my sex drive will be back. Four days of humping a pack at a run or near run is better than a cold shower for taking sex out of my mind.”

Anita laughed and said, “Except for one night on the trail after our fire fight. I was very envious.”

Bernadette smiled and said, “Take love wherever and whenever you can get it.” Several hours later they drifted off to bed, leaving their security in the hands of Arjun’s troops, who were quietly patrolling the compound.

The next morning after having slept for ten hours, Jack was in the kitchen at 7:00 preparing breakfast of fruit, poached eggs, toast, coffee and a porridge that proved to be less than a major hit with the motley crew answering his call to breakfast. After the better part of a week in Nepal, no one was down with the traditional stomach bug. They all were in good physical shape. Now he had to keep them that way.

He was looking forward to Arjun’s arrival. He hadn’t expected much from the detective Kathy had hired two weeks ago, but this guy was good, probably because he came from a warrior race. The Sikhs, weapons, fighting and technical equipment just seem to go together.

Sharply at nine, Arjun showed up for coffee. Bernadette served him coffee the way he liked it with lots of sugar and cream. They all gathered around the dining room table.

Arjun started by telling them about his call to a friend at police headquarters in New Delhi. Although a little reluctant, his friend sent an immediate signal to the border police in Raxaul Bazaar with a copy to Patna. Four hours later Arjun Singh received a call from his contact in the New Delhi Police Headquarters, who gave him details of the police raid in Raxaul Bazaar. He ended the call by thanking Arjun for the tip, resulting in a successful raid on a narco-terrorist ring.

On the strength of his tip about a drug smuggling ring using Bahadur’s bungalow, the police contingent arrived bearing a search warrant. Before the police could force an entry to the house, a fire fight broke out lasting several minutes. One man was captured and identified as an al-Qaeda operative that the Indian and Nepalese police had placed on a high priority search list several months ago. Everyone else in the house was killed, and also a young constable was killed in the raid. The police confiscated a sizeable quantity of heroin, as well as a small arsenal of illegal weapons. Arjun said his contact alluded to the finding of documents and a large amount of foreign currency. Indian police were in touch with Nepalese authorities to investigate Bahadur Thapa, the owner of the bungalow. The police have the baggage of three people and will find the names to match the baggage.

“Now, let me tell you what more I later learned from my contact with the Delhi police. The Nepalese police have been to the river camp operated by Thapa. They made several arrests and confiscated computers, computer files and paper files. Drug dogs confirmed drugs, probably heroin, had been at the camp in quantities beyond the use of the inhabitants.

“The police learned Thapa, and three white foreigners, one man and two women, with Thapa’s primary river pilot, left the camp and went up the Narayani five days ago in a river boat called the River Runner. No one has seen them or the boat since. By tomorrow the Nepalese police will be searching for your group.

“I am in your employ and since I have a law degree, I can also be your local attorney for the fee of one rupee. While American law is different from Indian legal traditions, I do not have to disclose what a client has told me unless it is to report a pending crime. To help you, I need to know what we face and what I can tell to the Delhi police that will help us. Do you agree to that?”

Jack said, “Arjunji, yes, we agree. We know we need you and will have to trust you if we expect your help. I assume the financial situation is acceptable to you.”

“Yes, the financial arrangement is more than satisfactory. Ms. Grayson has worked that out with me. Now, let me report on the surveillance of Abdul Ali Fahad.”

Arjun started by saying, “We now have another target to follow. Last night after 8:00, your friend Abdul Ali Fahad left the hotel in his car. His driver dropped him on the outskirts of the main market area. After walking around for several minutes, he went into a Tibetan craft shop. He was in there for an hour. He came out and went to the same place where his driver had dropped him off. His car was waiting there, and he went back to the hotel. An hour later, one of the ladies of the night paid him a visit. She was there for an hour. He did not leave the hotel again last night.

“I doubted Abdul Ali Fahad was in the Tibetan craft shop at night for an hour talking to the owner or manager of the shop, so two of my people, a man and a woman, waited outside. Twenty minutes after Fahad left, a man who appeared to be an Arab came out and walked to a small bungalow in the Kalimati area of Kathmandu. Anita, your Nepali linguist will tell you “Kalimati” means black earth. I’m told the topsoil in that area extends downward for several yards. But to get back to my report. My team stayed outside until the lights went out two hours later. Today they went back and took some pictures of the bungalow and the general area surrounding it.

“My real estate contact checked the address. An Arab with the name Hakim Al-Lami rents the place. We cannot tell if this is a real name or an alias. I know some people in Kathmandu who helped me in some past investigations in this city. They are very good and very discreet. I gave them the job of keeping track of this person and getting some pictures. Thanks to the wonders of digital photography, we should have pictures of the bungalow within an hour. I must tell you while we are covering your suspect very closely, it is highly unlikely we can have him arrested, based on the information we have now and what I think we are likely to get in the next few days.

“We can’t prove these people have broken any Nepalese laws or Indian laws. I cannot realistically expect the police of either Nepal or India to take any action whatsoever. They are here legally. Abdul Ali Fahad and Hakim Al-Lami are not on any watch list. They move freely between India and Nepal on a regular basis. My only recommendation is you plan on extending this investigation until we have enough evidence, or leave Nepal and India very soon and send a report of your suspicions to American authorities. I am sorry, but that is the way it is. Do you have any questions?”

Kathy asked, “Arjun, you have followed many people in your work. Did this Fahad person act as if he were checking to see if he was being followed, or did he manage his movements so he could tell if anyone was following him?”

“He seemed to take precautions about not parking his car in front of his destination or perhaps he did not want his driver to know where he was going. He uses the same car and driver all the time. I think this man knows about surveillance, but he used none of the usual ways to detect anything. He seemed preoccupied and not worried. He may know the Nepalese police use a very effective practice to keep track of suspected persons.”

Kathy leaned forward in her chair and said, “And what is the practice?”

“Very simple. The foot police on duty at the bridges and intersections write the license numbers of diplomatic cars and cars of other people of interest when they see them pass and note the time and the direction of travel. They either send the data in by radio or turn it in when shifts change. Back at their headquarters it is pieced together. A passive system but it can be very effective. If that is all, I should be going. The speed of this investigation is picking up. I would not be surprised to find the meeting you are concerned about could take place tonight or tomorrow.”

Arjun drank the last of his coffee, said he would be back at tea time, and would check on the status of pictures that hadn’t arrived.

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. 

Jack took advantage of the moment to tell Kathy and Anita on the way overland he had pondered a problem. “What we do with Fahad will affect how we leave this valley. I’ve no desire to spend any time in a Nepalese jail. And I don’t want to walk out of here, especially with Bernadette. No doubt you two Amazons have proved you can handle the journey, but Bernadette just isn’t in condition for a trip like that. And no one wants to make the trek again. Frankly, I don’t see us getting any hard evidence that will interest the local cops. So, what do you think?”

Kathy said, “You are right on the mark. With Arjun Singh up here with his contacts, our chances improve to get some information he can get to the cops, but for now, we use him to concentrate on getting information about where and when Fahad is going to meet with his al-Qaeda masters.”

Jack said, “But I want to keep close track of Ali. I don’t want him to escape. He should only leave here in a made-to-fit box.”

Just then Jack heard a car, looked out the window and announced they had company. Kathy stood up, went to the window, and said, “Yes, Arjun’s car is here. I don’t see any reason not to level with him about our problem in Kathmandu. We need him. You should know I committed more money to him when the scope of his tasks grew way beyond what he had contracted to do for us.”

“Whatever you committed is good. I agree we need him and should be straight with him. Will you handle the briefing?”

“You bet. I’m looking forward to completing our work here and getting everyone home in one piece. I haven’t mentioned this to anyone, but I think you are already thinking about this additional problem. If the police learn where we’re staying, we have no reason to assume the bad guys can’t do the same thing. Let’s pick this up later. Arjun is on his way in.”

Bernadette met Arjun at the door and ushered him into the sitting room. Jack and Kathy were already there. Bernadette introduced them. She said Miss Anita Marino would join them a bit later.

Arjun had a good firm handshake and said, “So you are the famous Americans who walked up the Trisuli River Gorge. That is a feat not many have ever done.”

Anita, wearing her Nepali clothes and bangles on her arms, was working in the kitchen. She called out in Nepali that the tea was ready. Bernadette asked Arjun and Kathy to sit on the sofa and for the others to pull up chairs. Then her servant would serve tea. Arjun seated the two ladies as Anita came in carrying a tea tray. She set the tray down, backed away and bowed in the South Asian way with the hands palm to palm in front of the face. Bernadette poured the tea.

Arjun barely looked at the Nepalese woman and said, “We should get her credentials checked. You never can be too careful.”

Then without a word, the Nepali servant sat down and poured herself a cup of tea. Arjun looked as if he were going to explode when the woman looked at him and said, “Why, Arjun Singh is there something wrong? I’m Anita Marino.”

Arjun spilled some of his tea as he put his cup down, and Kathy and Bernadette burst into loud belly laughter while Jack tried to keep a straight face.

Arjun looked again harder as Anita said in Nepali, “You don’t like me, Arjunji.”

“My dear, you look wonderful. Now that my heart has slowed down, may I have some more tea? You will never know what sitting down to tea with us did to my bigoted upbringing. I haven’t been fooled like that in years. Miss Marino, you’re remarkable. I can only imagine you have served in some special part of your government. Where did you learn Nepali?”

“I can only speak a few bits and phrases but I understand it pretty well. Do you think I can pass on the streets?”

“Please one more question: when and where did you get your costume?”

“When I left the hotel, we both bought bicycles and then, noticing what women bike riders were wearing, I went into the market and bought these clothes and the bangles. Do I look all right?

“Most definitely you can wear your costume on the street. Your accent is good, but I suspect you’ll need to learn some more vocabulary quickly. You may need your Nepali identity to get out of Nepal.”

Jack said, “Arjun, please forgive our sense of humor, but we wanted to test Anita’s disguise. I guess the disguise is good. If it’s good enough to fool you, we can use it. Arjun, I’m impressed with the security measures you have installed. Your men look professional and tough. If you can bring us up to date, we may have some information to add. The floor is yours.”

Over tea and biscuits Arjun told them Abdul Ali Fahad had arrived and was staying in room 316 at the Yak and Yeti Hotel. He had a car and driver, and he would be followed 24/7.

Bernadette gave Arjun her phone number that should be activated tomorrow. Arjun took the number but suggested they avoid direct calls from here to his temporary office, until he had time to come up with a reason for the calls.

“Perhaps Miss O’Brien could ostensibly hire me to investigate some part of the Tibetan artifact trade.”

Kathy agreed it sounded good from her perspective, and if Bernadette agreed, they would consider it a done deal. Bernadette said, “I like it,” and then told them what she had learned at lunch about Abdul Ali Fahad.

Kathy asked Arjun if he had some dependable contacts in the Indian police organization. When Arjun replied his contacts were quite good, she said, “I think it would be good if what we tell you can be given to the Delhi police.”

She then told Arjun the Bahadur Thapa story, including the illegal crossing of the border, the attempted murder on the river, and their judgment that Bahadur’s camp and his bungalow in Raxaul Bazaar are used primarily to store and move heroin.

Arjun said, “I don’t suppose you want your names used.”

Jack said, “Not now. And please keep the river killing scene to yourself for now.”

Arjun said, “I can give the police a tip on my own. I’ll inform the police in New Delhi as soon as I leave here.”

Jack said, “Before you go, I want to give you some more information regarding this pending meeting between the man we call Fahad and his al-Qaeda partners or employers. This man has caused a number of deaths of Americans and has tried to kill even more. They also killed my father. We do not expect them to quit trying.

“The best solution is to let the police handle it, if we can provide them with enough incriminating information. So we need to know where and when this meeting will take place and with whom. We expect Fahad will be meeting with some other Arab Muslims. It would help to know who they are. My best guess is they will be staying in good hotels and spending money. They may go to the local mosque. Their country of origin will most likely be Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan or Jordan. If money helps, use it. We’ll cover any expenses you claim. Do the rest of you have anything to add?”

Kathy said, “I also think it is probable they will have a permanent place to meet – the kind of place intelligence officers call a ‘safe house’ – and I don’t think we have much time to find it or to identify them.”

“I’m also concerned,” Jack added, “that we’ll have difficulty leaving Nepal. None of us except Bernadette has visas in our passports.”

“Arjun,” Anita asked, “Can you get me Nepalese papers good enough to get into India?”

“I hardly know where to start. Perhaps in reverse order. Yes, Anita, I can get you Nepalese papers to get you into India with a Nepalese identity, but then you are in India where the police and intelligence organizations are, shall we say, more effective. If the police are looking for you, we would still have to get you out of India, and that is a much harder problem, too hard for me. The fact that all of you can be linked to Bahadur Thapa by the Delhi Police does not mean you’re now charged or will be charged with any crime.

“You all must stay with your story and, if asked, say Mr. Bahadur Thapa kept your passports when he forced you to go ashore. Then you all could go to the American Embassy, Consulate Section, and get new passports. I’ll start as soon as I leave to inquire discreetly about the Arabs who arrived in the last five days staying in hotels. I’ll check with some of my real estate contacts to see what property has been bought or rented by Arabs.

“The mosques are a different kind of a problem. I cannot cover every Muslim who worships in the local mosques. If our blanket surveillance of Mr. Fahad shows him meeting with another Arab or going to worship, we may be able to see if he contacts anyone. I think the mosque is a long shot, and I don’t have the resources for it. Lastly, if we uncover good evidence or information good enough for further police investigation, I can get that information to the authorities. Now, I really must go. I enjoyed meeting you. I’ll come here directly should I learn any useful information, in any event I will come for coffee tomorrow morning.”

Jack escorted Arjun to the door. When they were on the verandah he asked Arjun Singh, “Please check on a young Nepalese woman named Angela Pandey. She is in her mid-twenties, received her degree from Delhi University, is Catholic and was educated before going to Delhi by Jesuit priests at a place she called Godavri. She is a skilled fighter and radio operator and in superb condition.”

Jack then told Arjun about the problem at the tent checkpoint and the drug activity. “I suspect she was trained in some guerrilla camp. We gave her money to stay at the Soaltee for a short time until she can make other arrangements. We went through all her papers and think she was using her real name, Angela Pandey.”

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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.

 
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Thirty minutes after Angela left in a taxi, Jack and Kathy noticed an old black British Rover slowing and pulling over to them. As it got closer and the sun angle changed, he could see Bernadette behind the wheel. Bernadette got out, laughed, and hugged Jack and Kathy.

“I’ve never, or at least not for a very long time, hugged two people who smell more like a barnyard than a drawing room. Quickly now, jump in. You both need a bath, a cold beer and something to eat in that order.”

When the car came up to a gated driveway, a guard came out and looked inside the car before unlocking the gate and letting them in. Jack was glad to see Anita on the bougainvillea-covered verandah.

As soon as he had a bath and a cold beer, Jack told Bernadette he wanted to look the bungalow over and evaluate the security procedures. After an hour of walking around the bungalow inside and out, he made a few changes in the position of the guard posts, making it clear they would be changing daily at random times.

Jack told Bernadette Arjun Singh had done a good job, and his men looked tough enough to hold their ground. He also told the gate guard nobody but the people who lived here and Arjun Singh were permitted inside the gate. If anyone else wanted to come in, the guard had to ask him or one of the other Americans. Absolutely no exceptions allowed.

Jack assigned Anita to be the outside roving patrol person. He asked her to walk around the area every couple of daylight hours at random times, covering a perimeter no larger than fifty yards from their compound. Fortunately, no high points on surrounding hills or tall buildings allowed someone to see or shoot over the wall into the compound.

Jack completed his security round and sat down with the others for a quick lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches, mulligatawny soup and cold mangoes. Jack thought he could actually see the tension going out of the faces of the women. They began to relax. The food and beer helped a lot, as did the feeling of being in a safe haven.

As they were lingered over lunch, Kathy asked Bernadette to tell them about herself and her comfort level in being involved in the investigation.

“Yes, Kathy, I do. If Peter Brandon’s son needs my help, he has it. I’ll do whatever I can to help. I am quite civilized now, but I am no stranger to violence and terrorism. In my youth I lived in Belfast. I can use weapons, and I am not afraid of having them around. I’m guessing, but I don’t suppose you have any weapons except those two Webleys. I can manage a safe haven as long as you don’t expect anything better than camping out service.

“Rather than tell you the little I know about Arjun Singh’s activities, I’d sooner wait until he comes over at tea time. I don’t have a telephone yet. Maybe tomorrow. But I don’t think a direct call from here to Arjun is a good idea. Too much information is contained in a phone dump. Kathy, I think it would be good if you call him from the hotel and tell him you and your friends will be at tea today. Nobody in the security business, either for or against, likes surprises.”

Anita said, “Bernadette, I’m in a state of shock. I didn’t realize you were a pro. That makes me a lot more comfortable with our situation here. No wonder Peter thought so much of you. You are far more than a pretty face.”

“If things had been a little different, I might have been Jack’s stepmother. God knows I was willing enough.”

Jack said, “Mother, will you please pass the sandwich tray?”

“Yes, but that’s as far as it goes. Remember I said might have been.”

Kathy interrupted, “What did you know about his activities?”

“I knew he was immensely rich. He used his money to make things happen and knew how to protect what he felt was important. He loved his country and wanted to dedicate his life to protecting the freedom enjoyed by his fellow Americans. I think his work was dangerous at times, but he never talked about it. He said I was safer not knowing. Now you’re asking me if I want to know what his son is doing. You’re damn right I want to know! More, I want to help if I can. So I’m listening.”

Kathy said, “First, I think we ought to tell you why we all walked in. Jack doesn’t want any government records showing we were ever in Kathmandu. We’re tracking an al-Qaeda cell responsible for causing considerable loss of life in the U.S., including Peter Brandon’s, and is planning to increase the number of dead Americans as soon as they can. The main contact to a terrorist network in the U.S. will be meeting with senior al-Qaeda members in the next few days right here in Kathmandu.”

Bernadette said, “Count me in. Just tell me what to do.”

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. 

Angela proved to be trail tough and had no trouble keeping up and carrying her share of the load. When they pulled off the trail for a lunch of candy bars and hot tea, Jack showed Angela his map and asked her to identify any checkpoints, villages or other places of possible trouble. He also asked her how long she thought it would take them to reach Kathmandu. To put her mind at ease, he told her they had no quarrel with her organization. They were only interested in the Arab connection.

She looked at him and said, “I don’t like them either. They have no proper appreciation or respect for women.”

Jack thought, maybe so, but I really don’t trust this woman. She’s been trained somewhere by professionals. Living under cover to check on drug thieves is not a job for beginners.

During a rest break, Jack pulled Anita and Kathy aside, and went over the information Angela had given him. “The good news is only one checkpoint and she knows a way around it. Only a few villages are along the trail, but when the villagers see people with guns approaching, they get everyone inside. They have no radios, so they can’t tell anyone about our passing. Angela believes, if we keep up this pace, we’ll be in Kathmandu mid-morning the day after tomorrow. The bad news for her is that she knows she’ll be tied at night.”

Later Anita told Kathy, “Angela is no stranger to killing. You saw her help us move and hide the bodies. She is tough and very fit. Jack is right to tie her each night. I just don’t trust her. At the slightest opening, she will make a break. On the trail she watches me at every opportunity and is constantly pushing the envelope.”

At the end of the fourth day, the four trekkers were still an estimated four hours southwest of Kathmandu. Anita picked a camp site, and they bedded down for the night. Their packs were now down to about 30 pounds. Tomorrow, if they could cover five-plus miles before breakfast, they would be within a few hours of Kathmandu via the Mahesh Gola. The main trail through the Mahesh Gola enters the Valley south and west of the city. Jack thought if the weather held up and they continued to avoid injury on the poor footing sections of the trail, they would be in Kathmandu just in time for a late lunch. So far they were holding up. Water sources, except for one long stretch high on a ridge line, were adequate.

The next day at dawn they were in a twelve-minute-mile pace. The terrain had flattened out noticeably, so they had picked up their pace. They all were running easily in spite of the hard travel over the last four days. Getting started in the morning was slow, but once their bodies warmed up, the miles fell behind them at a steady rate. That morning they cached their blankets, sleeping bags, air mattresses and all the food except for a half dozen chocolate energy bars. Once they reached the Mahesh Gola and the trail became more populated, they planned to cache their packs, the AK-47, shotgun, rifle and ammunition. Jack had tossed everything else taken from Bahadur or his boat.

Two hours later they were in the Mahesh Gola. Here the going was a bit tougher. The rock-strewn trail wandered all over. Once, they actually lost the trail and had to swim across a few rivulets before recovering the main trail. Angela said she had been through the gorge once on her way to the tent site, but it had been at night with a guide.

They stopped for a quick lunch of energy bars and hot tea in an isolated small side gorge and decided to cache the weapons and packs right there. It only took a few minutes to wrap the dismantled weapons in loose plastic ground sheets and to cover the site with rocks and sand-filled gravel. Jack and Anita carefully wiped out any trace of the stones being moved, and when they left the gorge, he brushed out their back trail.

Once back on the trail Jack said, “We should be coming out of this gorge in no more than another hour.”

Kathy said, “You know, I’m not sure I would like to repeat this trip on the way out. Look! A grove of banana trees about a half mile ahead of us. It must mean we are getting close to a cultivated land, and that would be Kathmandu.”

“Yeah, I see them. I believe you’re right. A hot shower and a cold beer are way overdue.”

Without their packs and weapons, it seemed as though they were flying along. People were on the trail now, carrying what looked like impossible loads in large deep baskets high on their backs with a heavy woven strap across their foreheads that made the porters lean into their loads. The trail turned sharply upwards, and after 30 minutes of climbing, they came out of the gorge and into the southwestern edge of the Kathmandu Valley.

Pausing to look around, Jack said, “I’ll wait right here.”

He took Anita aside and said, “You go find Bernadette’s bungalow and come back and get us. I don’t want Angela to know Bernadette’s name or the location of our bungalow.”

As Anita prepared to leave, Angela said, “What about me?”

Jack looked at Kathy, who said to Angela, “As far as I’m concerned, you haven’t told us all you could have. You must have friends in town to help you. We can give you some money to check into a hotel for a while.”

When Kathy came over to get some money, Jack walked her a bit away from the group. When he thought they were out of earshot, he told Kathy, “I still don’t trust Angela. Make sure she doesn’t get a clue about the whereabouts of Bernadette’s bungalow.

“Give her enough money for her to live in a hotel for several days and to get some decent clothes, but she cannot be with our group staying with Bernadette. She has very fast moves and is very fit. It takes training and practice to get that fast and fit. She is trail hard with a high level of conditioning. Her hands, forearms and leg muscles show serious conditioning. She could have run away from us, except for Anita. Also, she’s a skilled radio operator. And did you notice how easily she led us around the checkpoint? How would she know the route? She told us it was a Maoist checkpoint. She would have had no reason to learn a complicated route around her own organization’s checkpoint.

“Too many skills for a little abused Catholic girl with an education from Delhi University. No way those three clods could have abused her. She could take them all at the same time. Lastly, it is more like the narcos to have someone checking drug shipments and using radios to monitor the movement of heroin. More like al-Qaeda than our friendly Maoist peasant movement.”

Kathy thought over Jack’s words and maybe, just maybe, she had grown to trust Angela too much. When she was really honest with herself, she felt Angela had manipulated her from the start, not a very nice position for a skilled interrogator to be in. With no downside in following Jack’s lead, as he was the operational boss, Kathy told Jack to give her the money and she would take care of Angela Pandey. She planned to give Angela the money, put her in taxi and ask her to check into the Soaltee Hotel for a week. Then she could go wherever she wanted.

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Fifty yards down the river a small ravine ran perpendicular to the river course. With Anita standing guard, Jack turned up the ravine and stopped the party. No one said anything. With Anita covering Angela with even more intensity, she watched Jack, Kathy and Angela drag the three men deep into the ravine and cover them with stones from the river bank.

Back at the tents Kathy and Anita searched the tents and the camp site. Kathy smashed the radio. They selected two of the best blankets, about five pounds of rice, a few small tattered paper bags of spices, one tin plate and cup, a plastic water bottle and a pair of tennis shoes Angela could use on the trail. Thirty minutes later, Jack doused the tents with some kerosene and set the camp on fire. Two of the AKs and one of the shotguns were put in the fire. Jack now carried the remaining AK and a hundred rounds of ammunition instead of the 12-gauge shotgun from Bahadur’s stock.

“Okay, let’s move out.” Jack had fashioned a sort of back pack for Angela to carry her belongings and some food. Angela walked in front of Anita. Anita told her, “One suspicious move, and I’ll kill you. I’ll also kill you if you slow us down in any way.”

They had lost two hours dealing with the tent incident.

Jack moved up on the trail to talk to Kathy. He asked her how she was doing.

Kathy said, “I’m doing okay. Just keep me busy. I don’t want to think about the killing back there. I’ll have to come to grips with my feelings. I know we had no choice. Sure, I’ve been places where people were killed and have been part of operations resulting in people dying, but this was different.”

“Kathy, this was up close and personal. You killed someone who in another few seconds would have killed us. Anita’s shot probably saved both of us. You have to put the shooting in context. Those were not executions.”

“Thanks, Jack. I want you to love me tonight. We can move our sleeping bag a bit away from the others. Now, let me concentrate on the trail.”
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.