Just then, the receiver had finally arrived and, with one glance, had figured out what had happened. He had barked out commands to the dogs, which withdrew meekly and were soon out of sight. The receiver had then offered a barely audible apology to Rohit and Sahil as he had them inside the bungalow.

As the young men were soon to discover, bungalow number 105, an eighty-five-year-old Raj-era relic, had certain advantages that only its users were aware of.

The eight rooms and four halls inside the bungalow were spacious and well-ventilated. Two sides of the bungalow were not visible to the outside world, including to the residents of the neighbouring bungalows, thanks to the tall trees and shrubbery that acted as an impenetrable natural screen.

The bungalow’s location afforded it easy access to most parts of the city, especially Old Delhi, with its maze-like alleys and cheek-by-jowl tenements, where several operations had played out in the past.

The bungalow also had a state-of-the-art indoor shooting range and a laboratory, where all kinds of scientific training, from making IEDs to dismantling them, could be imparted. Shekhar preferred the bungalow as a base for his covert operations due to the availability of the shooting range and the laboratory. These two facilities were not available at any of the other fifteen-odd ‘guest houses’ of the CTC located in Delhi.

21. A STEP INTO THE PAST

21

A STEP INTO THE PAST

At 10 a.m., around five hours after the two sets of ‘guests’ had arrived at bungalow number 105 and were lodged in two spacious, air-conditioned suites in its basement, a hall on its first floor was waking up to activity. Men in civvies were going in and out. Its white-painted walls seemed to accentuate the glow of the concealed tube lights. A six-foot-wide corridor split the hall in two neat halves, from north to south. Wooden benches and tables were arranged on both sides.

The hall was known as ‘Hillary Point’ among those who stayed at the bungalow. Very few in the CTC could recollect why it was so named, though some suggested it was named after the Hillary Point that veteran climbers know of as the bend which is connected with a steep stretch to the summit of Mount Everest. The hall was used for key strategy sessions by the CTC’s operatives before launching covert operations.

At 10.15 a.m., Atharv and his two friends entered the hall and took the seats on the right side of the corridor. Minutes later, Sahil and Rohit arrived, taking seats on the left. The two groups exchanged glances, sizing each other up, but said nothing. It was the sound of footfalls, faint initially but increasing in intensity, that broke the uncomfortable silence enveloping the space. Somaiya entered the hall accompanied by two men, one of whom moved with the precision and assuredness of a commando.