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.’Buckworth whistled.‘A telepresence room.Great idea! But what about the possibility of someone tapping into the lines?’‘You don’t suppose I own a software company for nothing?’ Bheem Singh’s supercilious voice came to Imran.‘We’ve developed software that scrambles the signals both ways.Even if someone was to tap into it, they’d never be able to figure out what we were saying.’‘Impressive.So he’s waiting for us to call him?’‘Yes.Everything’s ready, I just need to dial in.Make yourself comfortable.’Imran heard the notes of a touchtone phone as a number was dialled.He heard the telephone on the other end of the line ring.It was picked up immediately.‘Good evening, gentlemen.’ A crisp voice said with a decidedly European accent.Imran cautiously peered over the rim of the desk.What had seemed to be a wall beyond the semi-circular conference table was actually a bank of screens, arranged to form a composite screen on which a mirror image of the conference room was displayed.In one of the chairs, gazing out from the screen, was a tall, distinguished man with a high forehead, aquiline nose and silver grey hair, his grey eyes framed by rimless spectacles.Imran sucked in his breath.Christian Van Klueck.The Austrian businessman, who had been present at earlier meetings between Buckworth and Bheem Singh.Imran quickly ducked back under the table.If Van Klueck could see into this room, chances were he may notice Imran peeping out from behind the desk.‘Hey Christian.’ Only Buckworth responded.‘I’m not happy getting into a conference like this.’ Van Klueck got straight to the point.‘We are taking a big chance.’‘I don’t like it either,’ Buckworth replied, pugnaciously, ‘but I managed to find a good reason to be here.If you had better control over your partners, we wouldn’t need to meet like this.’‘Calm down, both of you,’ Bheem Singh broke in, seemingly trying to defuse what sounded like a tense situation.But Imran’s ears had pricked up at Buckworth’s words.‘It’s true,’ Buckworth persisted, though his tone was noticeably less aggressive now.‘They had no business issuing that threat when we are so close to accomplishing the mission.It can screw everything up.Do you know how much work we had to put in for damage control? And your government too.And all the governments that got their blasted message.’Imran broke out in a cold sweat.Was he hearing right? Was this even possible?‘It doesn’t matter.’ Van Klueck still seemed miffed.‘Our plans are not affected by the announcement.We are on course.Bheem Singh has everything under control.’‘Of course,’ Bheem Singh affirmed immediately.‘I got a confirmation today that the last clue has been found.They would have returned to Patna by now.Farooq is already in Patna.I’ve given them the word to take Vijay and the woman hostage.Once they solve this final clue, we’ll know exactly where the secret is located.I think we should be through with this phase of the plan in a week from now.’‘That’s great,’ Buckworth’s voice was calmer now.‘But can you rely on LeT to deliver? We’ve all got a lot riding on this.Haojing, Deaubois and Martin also feel the same way.They’ve been in touch with me since the announcement of the threat.None of them are comfortable anymore with your partners.’‘We can’t do this on our own.’ Van Klueck asserted.‘Not without the publicity that none of us wants.’Bheem Singh agreed.‘We can’t reveal ourselves.Not yet.They are the perfect camouflage…high credibility as terrorists.A perfect red herring.And don’t forget that the reason they partnered with us was the prospect of being able to issue threats like this one.There’s also a benefit for us, from what they’ve just done, even if it wasn’t planned.While everyone is occupied with the terror threat, we’ll complete our own preparations.There’s a lot of work to be done, Steve, if you want to be the next President of the United States of America without being elected.And once LeT completes their mission, we’ll be in control.Exactly like we planned it.’‘I see your point,’ Buckworth grunted.‘But I don’t have to like it.’There was silence for a moment.Then, Buckworth spoke again.‘Assuming they find the location in a week’s time, are we in a position to deliver on the timelines?’‘Perhaps you should show him the prototype,’ Van Klueck suggested.Bheem Singh seemed to hesitate before replying.‘It’s not fully operational,’ he said after a moment.‘I’ll show it to you anyway.It will give you an idea of how ready we are.Once we have the secret in our grasp, it won’t take long to make the prototype fully functional and test it.And then, it’s just a matter of replicating the technology.We’ll be ready to go well before the summit.Okay, Christian, we’re signing off.’‘Let’s connect in a week’s time.’ After Van Klueck’s final words, there was silence and Imran guessed the conference was over.‘Come, I’ll show you the prototype,’ he heard Bheem Singh say, and the lights in the room went off.For a few moments, Imran sat huddled, frozen.He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.His hunch had paid off, big time, but in a most unexpected way.He extricated himself from his hiding place and stole to the door.He could hear voices coming from outside and peered into the corridor, which was now lit up.There was no one there.The two men must have gone into one of the locked rooms.He knew he had to get close enough to hear what they were saying.He ventured into the corridor.The door to his left, next to the staircase, was ajar.He sidled up to the door, and risked a glance inside the room.To his astonishment, there was no one there.The voices had also fallen silent [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]