After they broke the connection, Petrov and Samant had almost collapsed with exhaustion. More treatment for Petrov’s injuries had been followed by an early meal and bed, Samant feeling completely safe for the first time in he couldn’t remember how long.
Neither slept well. Petrov couldn’t find a comfortable position, and Samant’s dreams were troubled, full of him pleading to Gautama on the lake for wisdom or enlightenment, but always finding the statue of Buddha out of reach, facing away from him.
Shereen Massoud had awakened them at seven A.M., but she had no knowledge of events at the Vizag dockyard. Consul General Olson had joined them at breakfast, and informed them, with some puzzlement, that as far as he knew, no arrests had been made, and nothing had been done about Chakra. However, a CBI car was due to arrive at 0830 to pick them up. The local zone office wanted more details about Dhankhar and his associates, to help speed the investigation.
“They can come here,” Petrov had insisted.
“It’s to be a short meeting, and then they’ll take you to the airport to get you back to Vizag. So, it does make some sense for them to come get you. However, even though we are a bit shorthanded,” Olson replied, “I can spare a Marine to accompany you as your bodyguard should there be any trouble.”
“You mean, if they try to arrest us,” Samant added.
Olson shook his head sharply. “No. The head of the CBI told me personally this morning that all charges have been dropped. The Marine is going along just in case one of the conspirators tries something. CBI has even granted permission for him to be armed — that is extraordinarily unusual, gentlemen.”
Petrov slumped. “I’d hoped we were done with that possibility.”
“We will be, once the CBI rounds them up, which is why we need you to go over there and answer their questions. Now, neither of you are U.S. citizens, and I can’t force you to go, but we’d be grateful if you did, and we’ll do our best to protect you while you’re doing it.”
Olson had made a good case, and they’d agreed to go. The car had picked them up promptly. An officious but polite Agent Goyal and two husky-looking agents loaded Petrov, Samant, and a Marine corporal in civilian clothes named Matthews quickly into an SUV and headed to the Hyderabad Zone headquarters, in charge not just of Hyderabad, but the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Goyal’s boss had met them, showed the three to a well-appointed conference room, offered them tea, and then left “to coordinate the investigation.”
For the rest of the morning, Goyal and other agents had thoroughly debriefed the two submariners, with every answer written down, correlated, and examined for inconsistencies or inaccuracies. Repeated questions from the two about the status of Chakra and the conspirators were always met with the same answer: “It is all under control; everything is being done properly.” Neither Petrov nor Samant was reassured.
They broke for lunch, which was too spicy for Petrov, but while they were eating, Agent Goyal’s boss, Joint Director Chaudhari, returned. “I understand you’ve been asking about the status of the submarine and Vice Admiral Dhankhar. I want to reassure you that we are moving with all possible speed to regain control of Chakra and apprehend the conspirators.”
“Why the delay?” asked Petrov bluntly. “It should have happened this morning, or even last night.”
Chaudhari disagreed. “True, there is a MARCOS unit stationed at the Vizag naval base.” Samant was nodding agreement, and the joint director explained to Petrov, “It stands for Marine Commandos, like the Russian Spetsnaz troops or American SEALs. They could certainly perform the task, but given the concerns about the extent of the conspiracy, we were worried that using them would alert our targets. Special Director Thapar thought it best to use a unit that we could be virtually certain was reliable — not from this region, and not from the navy. An air force Garud commando unit is en route from Jodhpur. The Garud force is responsible for airbase security, and have extensive anti-terrorism training.”
Samant exploded. “That’s in Rajasthan, the other side of the country! Surely there was something closer.”
“Special Director Thapar made the selection, based on the unit’s readiness level,” the joint director replied testily.
“And we’re supposed to be there to provide technical support when the commandos take control of the submarine,” Petrov added. “Why are we still here when you finished your questions this morning?”
“Relax,” Chaudhari soothed. “An army helicopter is waiting to take you straight to Vizag as soon as we are finished here. It’s a two-hour flight, but there’s no rush. The Garud force isn’t scheduled to land until almost midnight. They’ll begin preparations immediately, and we’ll execute the raid at four or five o’clock tomorrow morning. We can get things tidied up here and then we will all go to the Visakhapatnam naval base together. I understand Consul General Olson himself will go with us, as an observer.”
“But you’ve got Dhankhar identified as the leader, and Orlav as the technician. Just arrest those two. Without them, the plan falls apart.”
Goyal shook his head, smiling, almost patronizing. “Their plan has already failed. That sub will never leave the pier. What we have to do now is arrest not just the leader and his henchman, but all the supporters of this conspiracy as well. We are watching the admiral and closely monitoring his communications. That will lead us to the other plotters. And we have eyes on the torpedo shop.
“Special Director Thapar has put some of his best men into the yard. They are watching everything. They report furious activity, but that the submarine won’t be ready to sail until tomorrow morning, which matches your information, I might add.”
“What if…” Petrov began, but Goyal interrupted him. “We also have people watching all the exits of the shipyard, and Dhankhar’s house as well. There’s a tracker on his car, and we’ve flagged his bank accounts and credit cards. He’s helping us more by being temporarily free than if he was behind bars.”
They’d started again after lunch, this time using the information from Petrov and Samant to construct a timeline of their own actions, and what they could reconstruct of the plot. “This will help us in our interrogation of the suspects, as well as suggesting places and times to concentrate our efforts.”
Petrov kept glancing at his watch and mentally adding two hours to it. Samant seemed mesmerized by the wall clock. Corporal Matthews used his cell phone to make periodic reports to the consulate. He stayed in the room with his two charges, but well in the background.
Dinnertime came, and after another meal Goyal’s questions about the timeline continued, fueled by a stream of messages from New Delhi. How were the two able to evade shipyard security?
Then they received a question from the captain leading the Garud detachment. How stable were the nuclear devices? Could the torpedoes be rigged with a suicide switch? After the bombs were secured, how should they be handled?
Those were really the kind of questions Orlav was qualified to answer, but Petrov did his best. No Indian nuclear expert could be contacted, Goyal explained, until after they’d been cleared of involvement in the plot. That might not be in time for the raid tomorrow morning.