As soon as Cal and Petra had polished the scheme, they presented it to Durell and Santana. Although Durell had taken the plan in stride, Santana had initially been hesitant. For her, stealing privileged data was one thing, but killing people was something else entirely. Still, she had eventually given in, partly as a function of the others’ enthusiasm; partly because of everyone’s commitment to success, including her own; partly because she’d become convinced the scheme could not be discovered; and partly because there was going to be a limited number of victims; but mostly because she and the others believed it to be the only way to salvage Nurses International, which, as it turned out, they were all counting on to be a key step in their careers and in obtaining the wealth they thought they deserved. A lesser reason for her change of heart was the intense study of Hinduism she’d undertaken since she’d arrived in the country. She’d found herself attracted intellectually to the concept of punarjamma, or the Hindu belief in rebirth, meaning death was not the end but merely the door to a new life, and a better one if the individual had adhered to his dharmic responsibilities. And finally was the fact that she, along with the others, had vowed to do whatever it took to denigrate medical tourism.

Once the new strategy had been accepted, the problem had then switched to the nurses’ reactions and the question of their cooperation. Although the group had become so acculturated to American culture from their month in Los Angeles, so addicted to the money they were being paid for the benefit of their families, and were so looking forward to emigrating that they would most likely do whatever was asked of them, Cal, Petra, and Durell were unsure. Santana, on the other hand, thought the nurses would have no problem, as they would be aided by their belief in samsara and particularly their belief in the importance of the organization and the group over the individual. Santana had then said the key was Veena and getting her to accept that it was her dharma to “put to sleep” an American patient. The idea was that if she was willing to do it, as the de facto leader, the rest would unquestioningly follow suit.

But Veena’s cooperation was not a given. While everyone agreed she was the most committed to the team and the most desirous of emigrating, everyone had sensed a disconnect of her obvious keen intelligence, her inborn leadership ability, and her exceptional beauty, with her equally apparent poor self-image and lack of self-esteem. With such a thought in mind, Santana had gone on to explain it was her professional opinion that Veena was burdened with serious psychological baggage of some sort on top of a strongly ingrained attachment to traditional Indian culture and religiosity. She also had suggested that learning the issue and offering to help her with it, whatever it was, might be key in obtaining Veena’s cooperation.