The two cops agreed that I should get the sample back to Poona as soon as possible. As I was low on cash, Harlan gave me some money, enough for cab fare to get to Dadar Central Station.

“I’ll just go to VT,” I said. “It’s closer.”

“And it’s probably where Bikas will be looking for you,” said Ranjit. “There or Churchgate.”

He was right, of course.

Harlan phoned the concierge and asked him to arrange a one-way ticket to Poona. Twenty minutes later, the clerk called back to say the travel desk had done the needful. The ticket was waiting at Reception.

“You’ll take the Latur Express,” Ranjit told me. “It leaves Victoria Terminus at nine, but you’ll board at Dadar. Make sure you’re there a few minutes early. It departs Dadar at 9:15.”

We had time to review the latest test I’d been given. Harlan and Ranjit wondered if Willy might not have set me up.

“How?” I asked. “There’s no connection between him and Bikas.”

“And you’re sure he isn’t onto you and Sushmita?” asked Harlan.

“Positive.”

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1975, 11:26 P.M.

I improvised. When the train pulled into Lonavala, I jumped off. Sushmita might well have returned to Poona already, but it was worth the chance. Under the circumstances, I could get away with one night AWOL. I was expected to spend the night in Bombay, after all.

It was after midnight when I reached the bungalow. The Mercedes was there. My scratching at the door didn’t rouse her. I figured she might not answer anyway, given the hour and the isolated location. I found the bedroom window and whispered her name through the open slats of the security blinds. After three tries, a dim light came on. Then the blinds rose slowly and I climbed inside.

“Damn it, Danny. I’ve told you never to improvise.”

“Wait, is that a gun on the bed?” I asked, unable to concentrate on her lecture.

There, lying innocently on her pillow, was a black handgun about eight inches long.

“No, it’s my teddy bear. What do you think it is?”

“You have a gun? I thought permits were hard to get in India.”

“They are. I got this one from Willy. Not exactly legal.”

“Please put it away,” I said.

“Be glad I didn’t shoot you. I aimed it at the window, you know. Lucky for you I recognized your voice and your rash behavior.”

She scolded me some more about improvising and making unplanned visits. And she worried Willy would suspect us now that I’d disappeared again while she was away.

“I’ve got a one-day pass,” I said. “I’m supposed to be in Bombay till tomorrow.”

“I don’t want you working for Willy,” she insisted. “And stay far away from Zadya.”

“It was just a little errand. He wanted me to pick up some samples for him.”

“And did you?”