Present day... but an hour ago
Balthazar burst out laughing, Mehar's eyes narrowed on him, incredulously.
"Now what?" She asked
"You're telling me that you work for the government? Cmon!"
She nodded, exasperated. How was she going to convince him?
"Which department is this? Excise?" He joked.
"Listen, kid," she began, seeing Tushar holding in a laugh, she rephrased,
"Listen, I don't know where you're keeping these jewels, but hand them over to the government, Kanimozhi's not out here to be anyone's friend."
Balthazar doubled over with laughter again, and Mehar was cupping her hands over his mouth at once. This idiot seems to be willing to loose it all but it had taken her months to build this cover and she was going to keep it at any cost.
Prying her wrist away slowly, he said,
"Even if I had them, which I don't, why would I give them to you?"
Her hands still in his, she responded,
"I'll show you why,"
Balthazar opened his room and held the door open for Mehar, who pushed a tray into his room.
She was here to explain the different refreshments they could offer at his show, or at least that's what she wanted registered in the camera footage.
Balthazar looked longingly at the cart, which Mehar pushed away to the side, as it could've been tampered with by half a dozen people, even though she knew they wouldn't be killed just yet, she wasn't taking any chances.
Mehar pinched the tanzanite on the ring thrice in quick succession and then slid it aside to reveal a USB. She glanced at Balthazar to beckon him, but couldn't help but be pleased that he looked impressed.
"Laptop?" She asked.
He pointed to one on the table.
"One that hopefully hasn't been tapped," she continued.
He rolled his eyes, walked over to the bedside table and retrieved an old Toshiba.
Moonlight played with shadows on the mauve carpets, till Mehar shut the blinds.
Balthazar opened the laptop and pressed random keys, then he banged it against the table till it lit up.
Seeing that Mehar looked appalled, Balthazar chuckled, "hiding in plain sight, your style," He said. Mehar noticed the dents, precisely on a discoloured bit, and realised that it had been reinforced to be activated like this. Touché.
She put in the USB and pulled up the file. Mehar scrolled through passport copies all with the same name but different surnames. The. purpose of visits and visas that seemed to belong to about 10 different people.
"You see?" She asked.
Balthazar nodded, "not been having much luck keeping things on the down low, huh?"
"Part and parcel of what I've signed up for," Mehar explained.
She paused, seeing that Tushar was looking at her incredulously.
"You're afraid these are fabricated too?" Mehar suggested.
Balthazar shrugged, "who wouldn't be?"
Silence prevailed.
"You trust your secretary?" Mehar offered.
"No, but sure, drag him into this too, ought to be fun."
Mehar sent Sarafaraz a message, she had asked him to track the secretary on their way to the room, he better be prepared to march right over now.
And sure enough ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Mehar got up from the table and checked through the peephole.
She motioned to Balthazar to stay ready in case anything went wrong.
"I'm not sure I'm comfo-" Aabhan was cut off before he could finish that thought.
Mehar greeted him with a gun, which Sarfaraz brushed aside, gently pushing Aabhan in, to which he complied.
They were in this now, he supposed, together.