Free The Dust Will Never Settle by Mukul Deva

the remaining equipment.’
    ‘I had gone down for breakfast and then I was just taking a shower, Ruby. It was a long flight. And I had to go out to call our man… I didn’t want to do it from the hotel.’
    ‘And?’ Ruby knew he was right about taking these precautions, but she was itching to find out if he’d made any progress on procuring the Glocks.
    ‘Anyway, he is out of Delhi and can only meet us the day after.’
    ‘No way he can make it sooner?’
    ‘I tried to get him to, but he says that’s the earliest he can get back.’
    ‘Damn! Well, in that case, let’s focus on the reconnaissance for now.’
    ‘Where do you want me?’
    ‘Not with me. Not yet. The less we’re seen together, the better. But there are some places I want you to check out on your own.’

    Chance and Jennifer were already there when Ravinder walked into the conference room. So was Mohite. He sat beside a well-built, fair, serious-looking man at the other end of the table.
    ‘Good afternoon.’ The newcomer held out a large hand. ‘I am Ido Peled.’ His English was only slightly accented.
    Ravinder brought the meeting to order and Peled began his briefing.
    ‘My government has asked me to give you a detailed account of the Jerusalem attack and the people responsible for it, since we believe they will try to disrupt this Peace Summit too. I will also give you details of all delegates and try to answer any questions you may have.’
    ‘The delegate profiles,’ Mohite asked loudly, ‘how are they relevant? Does your government believe that some of them may also attempt to disrupt the Summit?’
    Ravinder acknowledged that the question was valid, but winced at Mohite’s tone. Jennifer looked at Mohite sternly. Chance, more in control of himself, simply looked away.
    ‘We have no reason to believe that the delegates could be involved in an attempt to sabotage the Summit, Mr Mohite,’ Peled replied non-committally, meeting his gaze evenly.
    ‘I see.’ Mohite appeared inclined to discuss this further.
    Ravinder intervened. ‘Fair enough. Please tell us about the terror strikes.’
    ‘Our investigations confirm that fifteen people were involved in planning and executing the terror strike on Jerusalem, though only twelve women carried out the actual strike. These women had four things in common.’ Peled, clearly a fluent communicator, had practised his presentation.
    ‘First, none conformed to the profiling systems of most security agencies post 9/11. They appeared to be well-integrated members of society and thus were the ideal undetectable recruits.
    ‘Second, all identifying dental work and body marks had been removed, and every stitch of clothing on them had been procured locally. Barring false passports, they carried nothing that could reveal their identities or show which group they belonged to.
    ‘Third, all twelve were prepared to die as readily as they were to kill.
    ‘Finally, they had all been trained thoroughly, especially the six women who arrived last. The first six entered Israel from various points in Europe. The other six, also of European origin, came from Pakistan. However, since passengers from Pakistan are subjected to extra scrutiny by most countries, this lot too was routed in through European cities. They had been handpicked from amongst 185 women trained for two years at two special Lashkar-e-Toiba camps at Bhimber and Kotli in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.’ Peled paused for a sip of water. ‘This was done so that the planners could pass off this attack as a Zionist conspiracy.’
    Mohite interrupted, ‘Considering the efforts taken to prevent all this from coming out, you seem to know an awful lot.’
    ‘Yes, because we pieced the whole thing together from camera footage at the airports, from the targets, eyewitness accounts and forensics.’ After a pause he added softly, ‘Also because we captured one of them alive.’
    ‘You did?’ Jennifer couldn’t contain her surprise. ‘But that was