Chapter 18The call came in to Lakshmy at 3:45 in the morning: A dark blue van without number plates had stopped at the gates of Anath Aashray, and as the gates opened, more than one person could be seen milling about the entrance. The rain was incessant, the informer explained, making visibility very poor under the dim streetlight. Lakshmy was still trying to get some police forces deployed.
In the meantime, a small force of Buddhist schoolteachers stood guard, ready to form a human barricade if the van attempted to leave with any cargo. It was four in the morning by the time Maitri reached the orphanage, just in time to see the police storming Anath Aashray. It was raining heavily by then, and mud splattered the waiting women as the police cars drove through the gate and swarmed in. Ther
