Lying For A Living

17

"No leads on the woman?" Markande asked. Vansh, Kabir and Krishna were seated opposite to the director in the prior's office.

"She seems to be a pretty normal person," Vansh summed up. Markande raised an eyebrow.

"She has a functional job, lives alone in a small apartment and is pretty reputed at the bank she works," Vansh clarified.

Markande nodded. "Then its another dead end that we did not need," he said. "But still, anything about her history?"

Kabir pulled out a file and said, "Born in Delhi, went to a convent, entered the SRCC, then took a job in a firm, and then the rest is normal, so nothing suspicious."

Markande nodded. The director continued, "I talked to the explosive specialists working on the debris sent by the Germans. They deducted nothing beyond the obvious. It was a pretty usual bomb. About a pound of semtex. Can and did cause devastating effects. But still the Germans have no idea how it got into their leader's car, which means they still suspect us. We've sent them a list of the tests we did before the PM got on the flight, but I don't think they'll trust us much. They think that we tried to shoot him, missed and then bombed him as Plan B. Absolutely ridiculous."

"How can there be such a big hole in our operation that we did not find a pound of semtex? The Germans have given us a few week's time. Then they do an official international investigation which is not flattering for us," Kabir said, puzzled.

The silence in the room was very depressing and troubling.

Once again, Markande's assistant burst into the office. "There is this guy from the bomb detection squad that wants yo talk to you, sir. He says it is very important," he said.

The man was allowed in, as Vansh gave him his seat and stood in the corner of the room. The man looked uneasily at the four people in the room he was hopelessly outranked by. Vansh detected that the kan had taken a brave step coming here, and yet was afraid of the thing he was about to say. "So, what is your name?" Markande finally asked.

"Avnish Tripathy, sir. I'm a new recruit in the bomb squad," the man said firmly, somehow regaining his confidence.

"All right Avnish, what is it that you want to tell us?" Markande asked in a soothing tone, which Vansh was shocked the man could speak in. But obviously, Markande also noticed the man's dilemma whether to speak or not, and he could have brought forward a very important piece of information.

"Sir," Avnish said. "I believe that the bomb could possibly not be in the gift from our PM, but there is something weird about the debris. We're still checking it, but I thought that you should know it, since it would most certainly be a clear pointer to the party behind this."

Markande signalled him to continue. "Sir the bomb, whether in the car or in the gift, would be easily detected. The videotape sent by the Germans show the car had been checked by dogs and a machine. So did we, I was actually there myself when the PM was sent off. The gift went through a german shepherd and a machine. Nothing reacted." He paused, as if again considering whether to let the information out or not. "My boss has strictly denied this info to be told to anyone, but I believe it will change everything." He inhaled deeply and said, "We have found microscopic debris of nanobots in the bomb, sir. These suckers can't be traced by anything. You can put a ton of semtex hidden by it in front of a dog and he won't react. I believe it is being used to mask the scents of the bomb. Even in our bomb detection devices, we trace certain smells and traces. If nanobots are used to somehow mask them, we can't trace or find them unless it goes boom."

Markande looked deeply troubled but managed asking, "And how does this show who might be behind this?"

Avnish said nothing. When it was evident he would not, Vansh said, "The Chinese are world's foremost users and producers of nanotechnology."