The Honeybee Conspiracy

Part 49

Chapter 47

Rajeev Shukla took the British Airways from Chicago to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe with a stopover at London. From there, he took a local Dornier flight to Livingstone.

He had very little to go on, there was no record of J.R Patel in the database of IB or RAW. A detailed search at all levels revealed that J.R Patel does not exist. But Shukla believed in his instincts, he hired a taxi and went in search of the non- existant J.R Patel. There were almost 30 to 40 jungle lodges and safari camps spread around the Zambezi river. This was going to be a laborious process, but this was the only way out. One at a time. And to make things worse, he had no idea what he looked like. He stayed that night at a local hotel and continued the search the next day at dawn. By evening he had checked eight lodges with no success. He stayed that night at a tented campsite amidst the African wildlife, an experience he would never forget. Not that any tuskers or felines came near his tent but the sounds of the different animals made him feel very uneasy. He finally slept at 3 am. He was up by 6 am and resumed his search at 7 am. That day he checked another twelve by sunset with no luck. Not even a lead. That night he again slept in tented accommodation and unlike the previous night, he slept better. Probably he was getting used to the sounds of jungle wildlife. The next day again he started his search at 7 am. By 2 pm he had finished five lodges and he was exhausted. Since all the lodges were scattered across the vast area, driving through these mud tracks took a lot of time and only a skilled driver could negotiate the roads. As his jeep crossed a sharp right while proceeding to the southern end of the Zambezi River, the road was blocked with boulders that prevented even a four-wheel drive to move ahead. All of a sudden half a dozen men carrying rifles emerged from the dense bushes. Shukla was practically dragged out, his head covered with a black hood. In minutes he was stripped naked bundled into his rented Land Rover and sped away. All forms of communication were gone.His phone had been destroyed at the very spot. But years of experience in the field had thought him to remain calm and not fight back. He had purposely been asking everyone he met along the way in the past few days for J.R Patel. It was just a matter of time before he would be tracked down and whisked away to meet him. He was on his way.

The drive seemed to be like an hour or so, but Shukla had quickly lost his sense of directions. There were a lot of turns and at one point the vehicle was going backward. The land rover suddenly stopped. He was dragged out and bundled into a hut. He was dripping with sweat, it seemed to be around 42 degrees, thankfully one of his abductors came and wrapped a cloth around his waist. How sweet he thought to himself. Were they embarrassed to see his genitals? After what seemed to be another long wait, he heard sounds of a vehicle stopping and people shouting. The door to the hut opened. This time, the person who seemed in command spoke with a rich baritone voice but in a language, he didn't understand. A table fan was brought in and placed near Shukla. The effect seemed like an airconditioner at 17 degrees. The hood and the gag were taken off though his hands and legs remained tied.

Shukla took a few minutes to get his eyes accustomed to the dim light and his surroundings. The person seated infront of him had a heavy built and was tall around 6ft 2 and dark brown, not black, but dark brown. He had a grey beard and long grey hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Apologies for the way you were brought here," said J.R Patel. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Well, thanks for the airconditioner," said Shukla.

"Roger. Roger Brendt. Or I must say the Late Roger Brendt. J.R Patel was examining Shukla's ID card and decided to let him continue talking.

"I work for RAW in New Delhi. Roger was our contact man at CIA and a good friend of mine for the last ten years. Roger had given us intel that RAW had been compromised and ISI had a deep asset inside our establishment.