Government Building, DelhiBalan paced the floor of the Prime Minister’s office, considering the information he’d received from General Vu, the head of China’s military and the leading advisor to Prime Minister Ziang. The news of their pact was in the open now and there was no longer a need for hosting clandestine meetings. So many developments had passed since their rendezvous, months earlier, on the Andaman Islands.
Sitting in a chair next to a porcelain statue of a prowling Bengal tiger was Ashraf Nawani, smoking a cigarette. He sat there contemplating Balan’s presence in front of the balcony windows, while coolly watching his tobacco exhalations spiral towards the ceiling.
“Relax, Balan, the Prime Minister will join us in a minute or so.” He exaggerated his own calmness by adopting a
