“I hope Ms. Kohli appreciates all the advantages that come with being your friend,” Naman said as Vansh introduced Naina. His voice turned serious, all the brother-in-arms bonhomie evaporating as they turned to the business at hand. “Ms. Kohli, what a pleasure. I looked up the work you’ve done. It’s impressive.”

Naina filled him in on the situation at the clinic and watched his face barely move from its Buddha-esque sanguineness. He lifted his finger at someone off camera with a nod without taking his focus off her. “We’ve had a lot of trouble with this particular gang in that region. Thanks for bringing this incident to my notice. The locals haven’t reported them, for obvious reasons. Fear is quite the silencer.” Turned out this was the opening the authorities had been looking for to go after this extortion gang.

“Would it impact the project long-term if we went after these guys?” Vansh asked. “We can’t have any more people working on the project hurt in the crossfire. Or get stuck in a battle with the local powers.”

“That would be an issue if you were speaking to local law enforcement and not the home minister,” Naman said with enough confidence to make up for the lack of modesty. “If we cut them off at their root, retaliation won’t be a problem. But I need ironclad witnesses and testimonies. No backing out once we start. I’ll need your word on this, Vansh.”

Vansh looked at Naina. Keeping a low profile and working around local powers was a strategy that had been painful but effective enough. Truth was, that was all Naina had thought possible.

“I can fly out today,” Naina said. Latha, who headed up operations in Kathmandu, had asked her not to.

“I’d advise you not to do that. We don’t need to add an angle where this could turn into an international incident.”

“May I discuss it with my team there? I need their buy-in.” She looked at Vansh.

“They’re the ones on the ground,” Vansh said. “They have to be the ones to decide.”

“Of course.” Naman looked between Vansh and her and cracked a smile for the first time since getting down to business. “My friend makes decisions from the heart, Ms. Kohli, and he’s fearless with his. I’m glad someone’s teaching him to worry about the darker side of the world.”

The rest of the day was spent laying it all out with the team. The pros and cons and all the gray areas in between. They had to attack fast, before news that Naman was involved leaked out.