There was no response from Hamza. It was as if he had not heard Sahil.

Sahil asked again, ‘Any leopards? Bears? Jinns? Is anyone around here? Or is it just us, janaab?’

Hamza, who was driving the SUV, turned his head slightly towards Sahil. ‘You cannot see them,’ he said in a flat tone, adding, ‘but that does not mean no one is watching you.’

Suddenly, the SUV came to a screeching halt in front of two massive black metal gates that seemed to have materialized out of the dark. Four tall, well-built and armed men sprang out from the shadows and surrounded the SUV. Hamza killed the engine as he and the other occupants heard the unlocking of the AK-47 automatics held by the four guards.

‘Roll down your windows, janaab,’ barked a fifth man, who had suddenly appeared next to the driver’s side of the SUV. Hamza rolled down the window and identified himself.

The fifth man said, ‘Oh, as-salaam-alaikum, Hamza bhaijaan. Please proceed.’ He issued his commands: ‘Farooq, open the gates. Ask Ismail to escort the SUV to the office.’

The gates opened, revealing a wide road that stretched ahead as far as Sahil could see. As they drove in, an SUV parked on the side of the road pulled out and drove ahead, leading them into the compound. There were street lights at every 100 metres on both sides of the road. Dark silhouettes of what appeared to be large tents and single-storey structures could be seen along the road, rising above thick shrubberies and trees.

The SUV that was escorting the six men finally halted in front of a single-storey building. Ismail jumped out of the SUV and was soon joined by the six arrivals. They entered the building and were led to a large room by Ismail.

‘Come, Hamza bhai, I was waiting for you; Mubarak bhai, our head of training, is here too,’ a middle-aged man in a white salwar kameez said loudly, flashing a smile at the six visitors as they entered the room.

‘Sorry, we are late, Yusuf bhai, it’s almost 10 p.m.,’ Hamza said.

‘No problem. Ask the brothers to show me the documents; after that, Mubarak will guide them,’ Yusuf said.

The recruits handed over the documents that the LeT had given them on their arrival in Pakistan. Yusuf put on his steel-rimmed glasses and inspected them carefully.

Yusuf Ibrahim was the administrative head at Bayt al-Mujahideen. He kept a record of everything that moved or did not move in the complex: the recruits brought there for training, those who left the camp and the details of their onward destinations, the trainers, weapons and ammunition that entered the camp, and all the logistical resources, from the number of tents and beds to the rations for everyone in the complex.