They rode in silence, each lost in thought and each looking out their own window at the kaleidoscopic view of the Delhi street scene. After a while Jennifer hazarded a glance in Neil’s direction. She was still shocked by his presence. He was perhaps the last person on earth she’d expected to see when the curtain was whipped back while she was cowering in the toilet in the filthy butcher shop. She studied his profile. There was very little indentation where his nose abutted his forehead, like a head on a Greek coin. His lips were full, his Adam’s apple large. She thought he was a handsome man, and she was flattered that he came. But what did it mean? She had essentially given up on him because of the way he had brushed her off. Although Jennifer was unaccustomed to vacillating once she’d made up her mind, Neil’s effort in coming nine thousand miles suggested this might be the time to start.

“Are you planning on going out to the airport to welcome your friends?” Neil asked suddenly.

“I am. Would you like to come along?”

“Don’t you think you’d be safer staying in the hotel?”

“Maybe so, but security is high at the airport and at the hotel. I think I’ll be alright.”

“I’ll go with you, if I’m invited.”

“Absolutely,” Jennifer said.

Jennifer held her hand up. It was still shaking like she’d had eleven cups of coffee.

Every so often, Jennifer glanced out the back window. She was concerned about being followed, as she apparently had been when she left the hotel. Unfortunately, with the dense traffic and general chaos of the street, it was difficult to tell. But when they reached the Amal Palace Hotel and turned up the lengthy ramp, something mildly out of the ordinary happened.

Once again, she had glanced out the back as they rose up the driveway, and she was about to face around when a small white car pulled into the driveway behind them. But then it stopped, blocking the drive. Jennifer tried to see how many people were in the car, but she couldn’t, as the hazy sun was reflecting off the windshield.

Looking forward, she could see they were about to reach the porte cochere. Glancing back, she saw the small white car back out of the drive and drive away after causing a lot of honking, beeping, and angry shouts. Someone must have made a wrong turn, was all Jennifer could think, yet in her sensitized state it seemed out of the ordinary.

“Are you finished with the car?” the driver asked Jennifer, pulling her attention away from the curious antics of the white car.

“Absolutely,” Jennifer said, eager to get into the hotel. “Thank you.”

“I’m impressed you took a car,” Neil said, as they walked toward the entrance doors.