“Just a moment,” Lakshay said as he rushed out from behind the desk. “Wait here,” he added, as he ran out the door.

Bewildered, Neil watched him though the glass as he made a beeline to one of the colorfully dressed doormen. They had a quick conversation, and then Lakshay ran back inside. He was slightly out of breath. “Sorry,” he said to Neil. “Miss Hernandez was just here two minutes ago. I thought maybe I could catch her, but she just got into her car.”

Neil’s face brightened. “She was just here at the concierge desk a few minutes ago?”

“Yes. She asked for some recommendations for sightseeing. We sent her to Old Delhi’s Red Fort, the Jama Masjid mosque, and the Delhi bazaar, with lunch possibly at a restaurant called Karim’s.”

“In that order.”

“Yes, so I believe you could catch her at the Red Fort if you hurry.”

Neil started for the hotel exit when the second concierge called out, “She’s using a hotel car. A black Mercedes. Ask the transportation manager its tag number. It might be useful.”

Neil nodded and waved that he’d heard, then headed to the transportation desk, got the vehicle tag number and the mobile number of the driver, and then rushed out to snare a taxi.

Jennifer Was instantly grateful she’d allowed the concierge to talk her into hiring a hotel car for her outing. Once she was nestled within the muffled air-conditioned comfort of the Mercedes, it was like being on a different planet, compared with either the auto rickshaw or the regular taxi. For the first fifteen minutes she enjoyed gazing out at the spectacle of the Indian streets with their fantastic collection of conveyances, crush of people, and admixture of animals, from restive monkeys to bored cows. She even saw her first Indian elephant.

The driver, Ranjeet, was dressed in a fitted, carefully pressed dark blue uniform. Although he spoke English, his accent was so strong Jennifer found it hard to understand him. She tried to make an effort as he pointed out various landmarks, but she eventually gave up and resorted to merely nodding her head and saying things like “Very interesting” or “That’s wonderful.” Eventually, she opened her guidebook and turned to the section dealing with the Red Fort. After a few minutes the driver noticed her concentration on the book and fell silent.

For almost a half-hour she read about the architecture and some of the fort’s history to the point of being unaware of the traffic or their route. Nor was she aware of two cars that were following hers: one a white Ambassador, and the other a black Mercedes. At times these trailing cars were very close, especially when they all stopped for a red light or backed-up traffic. At other times they were quite far away but never out of sight.