Free A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) by D. J. Holmes

had already worn off. Gupta was ready to get the mission completed and get off the planet that had haunted her nightmares as a child.
     
    After disembarking the shuttle, Bell took the lead. She had been to New Delhi before and had a basic working knowledge of its layout. She was also the only one who knew the contact they were going to meet so all Gupta had to do was look like a freighter captain on the hunt for a good trade opportunity.
     
    Thirty minutes and two maglev trains later they arrived at their destination, a downscale looking restaurant. “You six go in and order yourself some food, I’m going to have a drink at the bar,” Bell said.
     
    Without any further explanation she walked on into the restaurant, leaving Gupta to assume that Bell had already arranged to meet the contact at the bar.
     
    For any civilian the meal that followed would have been less than appetizing but for five marines and a naval officer used to naval meals it wasn’t the worst they had ever had. The ordeal was made worse however by the stares her companions got from the locals. Gupta fit in with her Indian complexion but in this part of the city foreigners stood out like a sore thumb and everyone who entered the restaurant took a few moments to stare at them. Thankfully at least, no one sat too close to their table. If they had, their interest might have been pricked even more for each of the marines simply sat in silence as they ate, constantly checking their surroundings. Even Major Johnston, someone she knew from her time as the First Lieutenant of Drake , didn’t try to strike up a conversation with her.
     
    Just when Gupta was reaching the end of her patience she saw a young man enter the restaurant, walk over to Bell and take a seat beside her at the bar. After briefly trying to start up a conversation with her he got up and moved further down the bar, looking upset at having his advances rebuffed. Gupta had been studying the exchange closely to see if their contact had passed off anything to Bell. Either he had nothing for them or his field craft was very good for Gupta had seen nothing. She guessed he was a highly trained British operative permanently based here. Something like what Bell had been doing at Wi Li when Gupta had first met her during the Void War. He certainly had the Indian complexion to fit in.
     
    Despite the quick exchange Bell must have got what she wanted for she soon stood up and made her way out of the restaurant. As she paused to wait for the automatic door Gupta could have sworn she looked back and gave her a quick wink.
     
    As she made to get up and follow after Bell, Johnston’s hand reached out for hers, “hold on a minute Captain, its best we aren’t seen leaving together. Give it a few minutes and we can pay the bill and make our way out.
     
    “Of course,” Gupta said, scolding herself for being so naive. Obviously she had a lot to learn about this spy business.
     
    Once out on the street again there was no sign of Bell. Johnston didn’t look concerned and, shrugging his shoulders to the rest of the team, he led them off in a seemingly random direction. Sure enough it didn’t take Bell long to fall in beside them.
     
    “Did you get everything we need?” Gupta asked as soon as she could.
     
    “I hope so, we’ll not know until we get somewhere more private to look over the data file he gave me,” Bell answered.
     
    “Back to the freighter then?” Gupta continued.
     
    “No, I think it would be better if we looked for some rooms in a hotel nearby. There we can look over the data and make a plan of action for tomorrow. If this data confirms our suspicions we’ll be making a visit to the Varun shipping company’s headquarters here in Bhopal. There’s no point going back to the freighter. We can all enjoy a more luxurious night’s sleep,” Bell answered with a smile.
     
    “You can’t do all this spy work without a good night’s rest after all,” she added with a wink for