The Honeybee Conspiracy

Untitled Part 72

Chapter 70

The PM announced the demonetization of high-value currency of 100, 500 and 1000 rupee notes with immediate effect. The announcement was telecast live on television. The public was shocked and massive ques were seen outside ATM across the country. The weeks after demonetization witnessed a huge uproar in Parliament with opposition parties demanding a recall, but the PM stood his ground. The economy had slowed down and industrial growth had slumped as the government took time to introduce new notes into the system. The public, though upset, had understood in the speech delivered by the PM the reasons behind this move. The weeks rolled into months as the country gradually limped back to normalcy.

After losing Abdul and Shahid, and then the unexpected move by the Indian PM in demonetization, Gen. Iqbal was a raging bull. When he came to know that the sleeper cells were all in custody, he lost his nerve and out of sheer anger, shot one of his commanders in the head at point-blank range. The demonetization had definitely derailed and delayed Honeybee's strategy of seizing control of the country. The move which he had never anticipated would now cause a big delay to his grand plans.

But General Iqbal was a fighter and a strategist who had fought many battles and he now spent time to reorganize his structure and resources, fine-tune the lapses which had occurred earlier and ensure his vision of seizing control of India become a reality. General Iqbal, however,had a gut feeling that Abdul was still alive. Obviously, his plans of taking India would have already been leaked to the Indian authorities. He put a cash prize of one million US dollars on Abdul's head.

After the interrogation of Shahid Khan, he joined the rest of the 1680 members of the sleeper cells whose bodies were never found.

Somnath Bandopadhya was later on promoted as Additional Director of Intelligence Bureau and was put in charge of unearthing the members of the Honeybee Conspiracy.

Anwar Razak still serves as the Foreign Secretary and had received international acclaim for his efforts in persuading the G 7 countries and the developed nations in floating a fund called The African Relief Fund, a relief organization which would supply free medical aid to the helpless and suffering people in the African continent.

One of the largest donations came from India, two million US dollars, though the name of the donor was not known, the rumors were that it was an Indian NRI settled in Europe.

Abdul Mohammed Aloum Khan after the plastic surgery was now Alfred D'souza. Though there was only a very slight resemblance to the old face, he loved the face of Abdul more than Alfred. But he knew if he were to survive, he had better start liking Alfred. After a lot of research and reading a number of books provided to him during his stay at the RAW's safe house, he finally decided to settle down in Masinagudi, a small town near the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, probably run a resort with 6 to 8 cottages and a small staff. At heart, he loved watching wildlife and would spend hours just sitting on the balcony of a lodge in Africa's famed Kruger National Park watching wildlife.

When Alfred told JK about his decision to settle down in Masinagudi, he put Alfred on a crash course to learn Tamil and Kannada since these were the prominent languages spoken in that area.

Abdul, oops, I meant Alfred was angry when JK transferred 4 million dollars to his account instead of 8 million. JK assured him that it would be done, but needed time to get the funds in place.

But in reality, he had a feeling that Alfred knew more than what he revealed and he needed to have a leash on him when the time came to make him talk.

After a few weeks, as Alfred D'Souza moved into his resort which was already bought in his name, courtesy the Government of India, called Bear View, JK and Julius bid farewell. Just as they were about to leave, JK looked at Alfred and said, "Oh, by the way, your ex-boss has issued a fatwa of one million dollars on your head. So keep low and have fun." Winked JK as Julius drove away leaving Abdul alias Alfred cold as ice.