THE STERADIAN TRAIL: BOOK #0 OF THE INFINITY CYCLE (14 page)

28

‘W
hat do you mean your laptop’s disappeared?’ Lakshman asked.

‘It’s lost. Missing from the suite. Not to be found,’ Joshua said tetchily. ‘Anything rings a bell?’

‘You mean it’s been stolen?’ Lakshman said.

‘Yeah, stolen, right. Sorry missed that one.’

‘This is serious, Josh.’

‘You’re telling
me
?’

‘When did it happen?’

‘I don’t know. Must’ve been sometime today, probably when we were in Kanchipuram. I worked on it last night before going to sleep.’

‘When did you find out it was missing?’

‘Just now, obviously. I was planning to give you the paper in the morning but forgot, so I thought I’d email it to you and went to get the laptop. But the bag was empty. I’ve searched everywhere in the suite. It’s definitely gone. I’m not sure what to do.’

‘Did you complain to the hotel manager?’

‘No, not yet. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.’

‘Mind giving me a few minutes? Let me think a little and call you back.’

‘No. I’ll call
you
back,’ Joshua said. ‘In fifteen minutes. I’m afraid the phone in the suite may be bugged. If someone could get into the room, it wouldn’t take much effort to tap my phone. I’m actually calling from a payphone downstairs.’

Lakshman laughed. ‘Relax, Josh,’ he said. ‘This is still a low-tech country. If someone wants to tap your phone, they don’t have to plant any listening device in your room. All they need to do is go monkeying up the telephone pole or break open the junction box in the street-corner and hook on. They can listen to you even if you’re calling from a payphone in the hotel.’

‘My God!’ Joshua gasped.

‘Just go back to your suite, open up the mini-bar, take a shot and relax. I don’t think anyone’s tapping your phone. I’ll call you back as soon as I think of something.’

Whether Joshua needed a shot or not, Lakshman did. Of coffee. He wheeled out his Vespa and headed home – one of those little luxuries living on campus afforded him.

The caffeine sent the blood coursing to Lakshman’s brain and he called Joshua right away.

‘Is the laptop the only thing missing or is some money gone as well?’ Lakshman asked.

‘Only the laptop’s missing, and oh, all the CDs. The money is all there, but I’d kept that in the locker with my passport and stuff. I left my camera on the table and it’s still there; it’s actually more expensive than the laptop.’

‘So whoever it was, he came only for the laptop and the CDs?’

‘That’s what it looks like. But why?’

‘The Sulba Sutra paper is there on the laptop, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah . . .’ Joshua said.

Silence.

‘What do we do now?’ Joshua asked.

‘You can go and complain to the hotel management, but nothing much is going to happen. They’ll apologize, institute an internal inquiry, or say they will and that’ll be the end of it.’

‘Won’t they call the cops?’

‘No! They’re not going to call the cops, nor are they going to let you.’

‘Why?’

‘They’ve got their so-called reputation to think about. They wouldn’t want the cops messing around. Even if you do manage to go to the cops, nothing much is going to come of it.’

‘What other option have we got?’

‘The best thing to do is to call your consul. Have her put in a word with the commissioner of police. Only then will things start moving. Though in all honesty I don’t think anyone can do anything to bring back your laptop – you’d better be mentally prepared to write it off. But once you get your consul involved, we
may
get some lead on who did this. The cops aren’t going to like you putting pressure from the top, but that’s the best way out. If you and I go to them directly, they’ll make us go round and round the mulberry bush till we’re sick and tired.’

‘Okay,’ Joshua said.

‘Also be very careful what you tell who,’ Lakshman warned.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, don’t go telling them about Sulba Sutra and stuff and complicate the matter – they’ll start investigating you instead of going after the culprits. Let’s keep it simple: report it as a random act of theft, nothing more nothing less. Let them investigate and find out what happened.’

‘Makes sense. I’ll do exactly as you say,’ Joshua said. ‘Will keep you posted.’

~

What followed was pretty much on the same lines as Lakshman had predicted. Joshua called up the Consul General Thelma Paterson and she dialled the commissioner’s office immediately. Joyshankar Banerjee, the officer who’d stopped Joshua at the airport two days ago, rushed to the Oceanic with his entourage without much delay. He first talked to Joshua and then asked his men to fan out and begin the investigation: question the hotel management, support staff, security guards, cleaners . . .

Joshua had the access card to his suite with him and the door showed no signs that it had been tampered with. It seemed as if it had been opened with a master key. The cops dusted up all the hotspots in the suite and took prints, all the way from the door to the empty laptop case. They went through the tapes from security cameras, knowing full well that they were going to be of limited use because the cameras were placed only at the entrance and the lobby area, not in the corridors on each floor.

When none of this yielded anything useful, they whisked away the hapless cleaner who had last serviced the suite for further investigation. Joshua had been specially invited to witness the ritual: they stripped the cleaner of his hotel uniform, twisted his arms behind his back and bundled him into a jeep; then brought traffic to a standstill and left the hotel premises in a long convoy with sirens wailing and lights flashing as if the whole city was on fire. Joshua knew at that very moment that he had kissed his treasured laptop goodbye.

29

J
oshua was lounging on a chaise longue near the pool, clad in shorts and T-shirt, his eyes half-closed like a cud-chewing goat, taking slow, sad sips of a colourless cocktail. Losing the laptop felt like losing his right arm and he was drowning himself in sorrow when a long shadow crept up on his face, causing him to stir. He pulled himself up a little and looked up with glassy eyes.

It was Durai.

Joshua had completely forgotten about Durai in the ruckus about the laptop; his sudden appearance made him sit up with a start like a jack-in-the-box.

‘Good evening, sir,’ Durai said. ‘Sorry to disturb you.’

‘No, not at all,’ Joshua said. ‘I’ve been meaning to catch you myself. But my laptop went missing and I got caught up with that.’

‘Yes sir, I know. That is what everybody is talking about. I immediately checked the car, sir, but nothing there,’ Durai said.

Joshua cocked a curious eye at Durai as the latter bent down a little deferentially.

‘But I have something else, sir.’

Durai looked around warily, Joshua following suit. There were quite a few people milling about the pool area, splashing about in the water or lazing under the parasols. Not enough privacy.

‘This is probably not a good place to talk then,’ Joshua said. ‘Let me go back up to my suite. Why don’t you join me there in five minutes?’

‘Yes sir,’ Durai nodded gravely and withdrew.

They reconvened in the suite in a few minutes. As before, Durai refused to come inside fully or sit down.

‘Okay, what’ve you got for me this time?’ Joshua said.

‘I spoke to some other drivers today, sir. They were mentioning some new places, places like Egmore, Royapuram and Marina, sir. He went there many times, sir.’

‘Marina, I know is the beach. I’m not sure I’ve heard of the other places. Are they in the city or down south somewhere?’

‘In the city, sir. North Madras. Not too far.’

‘Could you write them down on a piece of paper?’ Joshua said and handed the driver a hotel notepad and pen.

Durai scribbled the names down.

Joshua gave them the once-over and asked, ‘Anything else? Any other useful information?’ He didn’t think Durai was fishy, but he couldn’t help feeling that the driver was holding back on him. Rather than share all his finds in one go, he seemed to be executing a little salami slicing operation himself, revealing them in bits and pieces to maximize his intake. But then you could hardly blame him.

‘No sir, that’s all. I have talked to almost all the drivers by now. Only two or three left.’

‘Think you could get anything more specific? Like, where exactly he went in these places?’

‘I’ll try, sir. But it was so long ago the drivers can’t remember where all they went exactly.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Joshua. ‘But please do try. If you find out anything else, don’t hesitate to knock on my door.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Thanks for all your work,’ Joshua said and took out a few crispy bills from his wallet.

Durai accepted them gratefully and said, ‘Shall I return the car or do you need to go anywhere, sir?’

‘No, I’m done for the day,’ Joshua said. ‘But I need you to keep up the work tomorrow.’

‘Yes sir,’ Durai said with a big smile. ‘I’ll come in early in the morning and catch everyone before they leave.’

He slipped the money into his pocket and took his leave, half bowing.

Joshua went down for dinner, feeling a bit dejected. He couldn’t help feeling that Durai was unlikely to bring in any big pointers on Jeffrey now. Not that Joshua was able to make sense of what he’d come up with so far. He summoned all the fragments of information at his disposal and worked through them in his head over dinner. Like a kid putting together a jigsaw, losing patience, jumbling up the pieces and starting all over again, he kept shuffling and reassembling, shuffling and reassembling . . .

But it got him nowhere.

When he went back to his suite, the light on the phone was on. Message from Lakshman. Please call back.

Joshua pulled out his pocket book and dialled right away.

‘Just wanted to check how you’re doing,’ said Lakshman. ‘Any progress?’

‘Not really,’ Joshua said. ‘I did exactly as you said. The cops came and took away the guy who cleans the suite. I feel guilty because I’m fairly sure he’s innocent.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s all an eyewash. They’ll keep him in custody for a few days, touch him up a little and then let him go.’

‘Touch him up? You mean, beat him up?’ Joshua asked, horrified.

‘Yeah, beat him up.’

Joshua fell silent. He felt even more guilty now.

‘How else do you make these people talk?’ Lakshman said. ‘This is not some American TV crime drama where cops say things like “you have the right to remain silent” and gently push the head of the suspect into the car. Here they beat first and ask questions later.’

‘My God!’ Joshua said, wincing. What bothered him more was the casual and callous manner Lakshman approached the issue. Clearly, there were some sides of Lakshman he didn’t know about even after all these years. But then India did that to you. Living here demanded a certain measure of stony stoicism, leathery indifference and unfeeling from everybody.

‘Sorry Josh, didn’t mean to upset you,’ Lakshman said. ‘Despite all your Sulba Sutra sophistication, this is a society where a streak of barbarism lurks just beneath the surface. All it takes is one little trigger to burst into the open.’

‘You could say that about any society,’ Joshua said. ‘The difference is only in how far below the surface it hides and what that trigger is.’

‘Did that driver find out anything worthwhile?’

‘I’m not sure about worthwhile, but he did bring something. Seems like Jeffrey visited some places in the city. . . . Marina was one,’ Joshua said and pulled the notepad closer. ‘Let me see if I can pronounce the other names right . . . Egg . . . more . . . and . . . Roya . . . pooram.’

There was a brief pause at Lakshman’s end.

‘You got that or should I spell them out for you? I know I’m butchering them.’

‘No, I got it, Josh,’ Lakshman said. ‘I was just thinking . . . Marina, as you know, is the beach here. As far as Egmore and Royapuram go, I don’t know what to say. They just don’t ring a bell; they’re just two neighbourhoods here, nothing special. Egmore is the railway terminus for trains going south, but other than that nothing.’

Joshua lapsed into a sullen silence.

‘Let me sleep on it; maybe I’ll be able think of something,’ Lakshman said.

That did very little to cheer Joshua. They didn’t have anything further to discuss and hung up.

Joshua called up Jerusalem and poured his heart out to Becky and chitchatted with Katie, who did lift him up from his slump a little as children always do. He hit the sack after paying a short visit to the bar and helping himself to a few quick ones to wipe out the remains of a bad day, scarcely aware that the day was far from over.

30

J
oshua jerked awake to the sound of the phone. He picked up the instrument and groped for his glasses on the bedside table.

‘Hello, Doc,’ a woman’s voice said. ‘Carla Silver here.’

But the introduction was unnecessary. Though Joshua had forgotten about Carla given his other preoccupations, the way she addressed him made it obvious who was calling.

Joshua switched on the bed-lamp. ‘So what does my midnight messenger have for me?’

‘Not glad tidings, I’m afraid,’ Carla said.

Joshua sat up like a ramrod. ‘What happened?’

‘Mr Williams’ computers have been stripped clean, Doc. The laptops are gone and the desktops are all missing a hard disk. We couldn’t find a single storage device anywhere. No diskettes, no CDs, no zip drives, no thumb drives, nothing at all. His home and office have been digitally denuded, Doc. Digitally denuded. So we couldn’t even check if 70209 was a password or something.’

Joshua was stunned into silence. All that could be heard at his end was his raspy breathing.

Carla continued.

‘We checked out his email, but nothing much there. No mention of seventy, twenty and nine anywhere, together or separately. Either he didn’t leave any tracks or somebody cleaned them up after the fact. So it looks like he was really on to something like you feared.’

‘Did you try going after that Edwin guy?’

‘We’re still at it, Doc. But there’s nothing so far.’

Silence.

‘If I could make a suggestion . . .’

‘By all means.’

‘Why don’t you talk to a couple of my old students in New York? They’re into Risk Management downtown. You could check with them if they’re seeing anything funny in their banks. They’re all highly placed in the org charts and would definitely know if there’s something wacky going on in the industry. I can give you their names if you like.’

‘That would be great,’ Carla said. ‘Thanks. But what exactly do I need to ask them?’

‘Ask them if they’re seeing any sudden spike in out-of-pattern activities or financial payouts in the last few weeks, or a slow, unexplained surge in fraud over the last two to three years. That’ll tell us if there’s anything new or it’s an extension of the old affair,’ Joshua said.

‘Could I use your name as reference?’

‘You can, but watch out how you approach them. Make it as casual and informal as you can, keep everything verbal and off the record. They’re not going to open up otherwise. They’ll ask you to talk to their attorney and you know where that’ll lead.’

‘I know.’

‘Don’t panic them in any way because it could end up spooking the markets and have the Feds swooping in on you, which is mainly why I’m not approaching them myself,’ Joshua said.

He passed on the names of seven of his students and said, ‘If you call up my assistant Nancy, she can give you all their phone numbers. You can look up Nancy’s number on my homepage.’

‘I have Nancy’s number,’ Carla said. ‘We’re already in touch with her.’

‘With Nancy?’ Joshua asked, taken aback.

‘Yeah. There’ve been some other developments here, Doc. That’s the reason I’m calling you,’ Carla said. ‘Wanted to give you the heads-up and seek your cooperation.’

Joshua’s heart began thumping faster. ‘What developments?’ he asked.

‘Someone’s broken into your office . . . A lot of stuff’s gone missing.’

Carla paused, presumably to give Joshua time to swallow the news. But it sank in rather quickly. Within seconds. It even made logical sense. If someone could have his laptop pinched from a hotel suite in India, what was going to stop them from breaking into his office?

Carla continued.

‘Nancy found out about it when she came into work this morning and called the MIT Police. One thing led to another and we finally got looped in. So now the Massachusetts State Police is working together with us on this. . . . Your office . . . it was more or less like how it happened with Mr Williams. The hard disk in your computer, CDs –’

‘Don’t even tell me,’ Joshua sighed in resignation.

‘If I could make a confession, Doc, I didn’t fully realize the sutra thing was so serious,’ said Carla. ‘I do now. But we need something more concrete to go on.’

‘Talk to my students first. I have a hunch they’ll tell you something.’

‘That’s what I’m gonna do today,’ Carla said.

‘All right, then,’ Joshua said, ready to hang up.

‘There is just one more thing,’ Carla said.

‘What?’

‘Your house in Wellesley . . .’

Joshua’s heart skipped a beat. But he recovered quickly. He should have seen that coming.

‘Your neighbour saw somebody moving about early morning with a flashlight and called 911,’ Carla said. ‘Whoever it was, he was gone by the time the cops came. So we don’t know what happened –’

‘Do you even want to guess?’

‘We would actually like to take a look inside, but the house is locked and we can’t go in without your permission. Would you mind?’

‘Go ahead, but don’t mess up the place,’ Joshua said. They had to get the security company to rejig the place, but that would be a job for Becky.

‘We won’t. We’ll just pop in and out. You have my personal guarantee,’ Carla said. ‘Think we could dust up the place for prints?’

‘You can try, but I suspect you’re not going to find any. Even if he isn’t a particularly bright guy, he would’ve had to wear mittens in the winter.’

Carla thanked Joshua and hung up after wishing him good night. But she had driven out whatever little sleep Joshua was going to get. He was in such ferment that he did not even think about calling Becky and telling her what had happened in their home. The first person that sprang to his mind was Lakshman. Paying no heed to the fact that it was past one in the morning, he dialled away.

Much to Joshua’s surprise, Lakshman picked up the phone even before the first ring died down.

‘Wow,’ said Joshua, somewhat taken aback. ‘You’re up so late?’

‘Reading a student’s thesis, Josh,’ Lakshman said.

‘So late?’

‘It’s long overdue. I was hoping to get it done a couple of days ago, but haven’t been sober enough, thanks to you,’ Lakshman said.

Joshua laughed.

‘We’ve already had two suicides this year, one of them a PhD student whose thesis kept getting delayed. I don’t want to see my student joining the line. I’m actually staying up with a huge flask of coffee,’ Lakshman said. ‘Anyway, what’s up?’

Joshua brought Lakshman up to speed.

‘Looks like someone’s searching for something everywhere,’ Lakshman said.

‘Or trying to destroy all traces of it,’ Joshua said.

‘You mean the Sulba Sutra algorithm?’

‘What else? I have different versions of the thing sitting on my computers.’

‘But you also have it in your head. You can always recreate it.’

‘Provided I stay alive,’ Joshua said, only half-joking. ‘Even so, that would take time, wouldn’t it?’

‘True.’

‘Maybe that’s all they want right now: time.’

‘Time for what?’ Lakshman asked.

‘Time for whatever scam they’re running.’

‘I think I really need to take a look at your paper, Josh,’ said Lakshman. ‘Only then will I be able to relate to some things better.’

‘I think so too,’ said Joshua. ‘I’m so deep in the forest I can no longer see the wood for the trees. I need a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at the stuff.’

‘But all your computers are gone.’

‘True, but I may still have a copy in my mailbox somewhere, an older version maybe, but something’s better than nothing. I just need to find a way to connect to the server and check.’

‘Why don’t you come down to my office in the morning? I can get a student to help you. They know how to fiddle with the machines and networks better than I do.’

‘Sounds good,’ Joshua said. ‘I can also go take a good look at my mails. I want to see if Jeffrey was trying to get in touch in the last couple of months when I was in Bangalore. Nancy could have missed it.’

‘Nancy?’ Lakshman asked, puzzled.

‘Yeah. I rely on her completely to manage my office when I travel. I read and respond to only those emails that she flags as important. Others just sit in my mailbox, unread, sometimes for years. If Jeffrey could mention my name on a 911 call, who knows, he might well have been trying to reach me earlier. Nancy may have just ignored him,’ Joshua said. ‘I’ll be in your office the first thing tomorrow morning and check it out.’