The Eye of Shiva

CHAPTER 54

Nick and Selena rode in the front seat of the rental van, Lamont in back. Nick was behind the wheel. Black travel cases loaded with film gear and marked with the logo of the bogus Canadian film company took up most of the cargo space behind Lamont. Their pistols were out of sight.

"Check point coming up," Lamont said.

Concrete barriers placed in a staggered pattern across the pavement blocked the way. Four soldiers in Indian uniforms and carrying INSAS assault rifles waited by a covered truck parked at the side of the road. One of the soldiers stepped out and held up his hand to stop.

The soldiers looked nervous.

"Itchy fingers," Lamont said, as Nick slowed. "Don't piss them off."

Selena said, "Let me do the talking."

Nick came to a stop and rolled down his window. The soldier who approached had two red and gold chevrons on his shoulder boards. A corporal. The man was young, no more than twenty at most. He eyed the foreign faces with suspicion.

"This is restricted area," he said. His English was awkward, heavily accented. "Who are you? Why you come here?"

Nick said, "We're a film crew from Canada, making a documentary on Kashmir."

"No filming here. Turn around."

Selena leaned across Nick and began speaking Hindi. The soldier looked surprised. He answered her and held out his hand.

"He wants to see our passports," Selena said.

They handed over the passports. The soldier looked at each photo, comparing the pictures to the people.

Selena said, "Give him the letter."

Part of their cover was an official looking letter written in Hindi and English from the Indian Ministry of Culture, giving them permission to film anywhere in Indian Kashmir. It instructed anyone who read it to provide full cooperation to the distinguished Canadian film crew. It was signed by the minister himself. The letter had been provided courtesy of Langley's clandestine ops division. Even the minister would think it was his signature.

A second soldier came over to the van. This man had three stripes on his shoulder. The corporal gestured at the van and said something. The sergeant took the documents and studied them.

"You speak Hindi?" he said to Nick.

"Not me. She does." He nodded at Selena.

"Give me the key to the back of the van."

"It's unlocked," Nick said.

The sergeant barked out a command. A third soldier opened the doors and began looking in the cases. Lights. Sound gear. A computer. He held up an expensive steady cam.

"Please be careful with that," Nick said. If they did a personal search they'd find the guns. That wouldn't go over well.

The soldier finished searching and shook his head. He got out of the van and closed the doors.

"Why are you going to Poonch?" the sergeant asked.

Nick didn't have a story ready. He was about to make one up when Selena began talking to the sergeant in Hindi. She spoke for a minute before the sergeant replied. The conversation went back and forth. Nick had no idea what they were talking about.

The sergeant handed the passports and letter back to Nick.

"You may go. Be careful. There are reports of infiltrators from Pakistan. They will not treat you well if they see you."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Nick said.

The sergeant stepped back and saluted. Nick put the van in gear and they eased around the barriers.

Nick turned to Selena. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him we wanted to film the spot where the courageous Indian Army and proud people of the area held back the Pakistani hoards in 1947 and saved the nation."

"Did you really say that?"

"More or less. Not quite so dramatically."

"What's Poonch got to do with saving the nation?"

"The Kashmir Valley is a major corridor for invasion from Pakistan and Poonch is on a natural strategic choke point. When war started in 1947 there wasn't any airport. Civilian refugees hacked out a dirt runway in six days while a small unit of the Indian Army held the Pakis off. Once the strip was done, reinforcements and supplies could be airlifted in to block the invasion."

"Saving the nation," Nick said.

"Exactly."

Poonch was a city of about 500,000 people. They passed a large mosque on the side of a hill overlooking the city.

"Most of the people here are Muslim," Selena said. "The boundary line runs right through the city."

"Hindus and Muslims," Nick said. "You'd think after a thousand years or so they'd would learn to get along."

"Religion divides everything in India and Pakistan," Selena said.

A marker told them they were on the Surankote Daraba Road. They passed a turnoff with a sign in English, Arabic and Hindi pointing the way to the airstrip. Tall hills surrounded the strip on three sides. They could see the fortified control line between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, snaking along a hill on the other side of the field. Guard posts and bunkers bristled on the hillside. High barriers of rolled wire in two rows with a narrow dirt path between them marked the line.

"I spy a helicopter," Lamont said.

"Yup. Looks nasty. What is that, a 20mm sticking out in front?" Nick said.

"Looks like it. Rocket pods, too."

Selena had binoculars on the chopper. "People standing around. Sentries on the perimeter. Looks like an elite unit, everyone is armed and wearing black uniforms. Wait a minute."

Selena adjusted the binoculars. "There's a car turning onto the strip."

She watched. The car came to a stop and a man in civilian clothes got out and walked toward the chopper.

"It's Cobra."

"Jackpot," Lamont said.

Nick drove pulled to the side of the road and parked where they could see the helicopter through the trees.

"Now what?" Selena asked.

"Now we wait for Cobra's next move."