Excerpt from The Karachi Deception

30 July. Kuan Mori, Balochistan

'Where is the major?'

Rafiq stood just inside the hut's door, his guns pointing unwaveringly at Shamsheer. Although the captain couldn't see Rafiq's eyes clearly in the half light, he sensed a deathly calm in the young man's countenance.

'Do you know what you're doing?' Shamsheer asked slowly.

The lieutenant didn't reply.

'You're pointing a gun at a colleague and fellow commando', Shamsheer answered his own question in the hope of drawing the junior officer into a debate and buying time. 'As a Unit Kilo commando, this conduct should make you feel very proud of yourself.'

'You wouldn't be talking about a commando's conduct if you were the one holding these guns, would you?' said Rafiq, his voice sardonic. 'And where was this conduct when you and the major walked out of the apartment in Karachi? I don't remember any friendly farewells that night.

Shamsheer was silent for a moment. 'That's because you didn't cover yourself in glory by snooping on me and the major, and reporting what we were doing back to the colonel.'

'I was simply following orders,' the Lieutenant said bluntly.

'The way you're following them now?'

Rafiq chose not to reply.

'And these orders include killing your fellow commandos?'

'They include stopping you and the major from doing what both of you set out to do.'

'And how will you stop us? By killing us, right? Shouldn't you be questioning the motives of those who have given you such orders?'

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'Unlike you and the major, I do not question the decisions and orders issued by my superiors,' the lieutenant's tone was biting. 'As soldiers and commandos, we are trained to always, always obey orders. If a soldier can question one order, he can question a hundred. And sooner or later, he will question the decision to go into battle. No army cn afford such questions. Or such soldiers. '

'Not all decisions that are made are right or good. History is full of…'

'By themselves, decisions are neither good nor bad,' the lieutenant cut in. 'If something works, it becomes a good decision. If it doesn't, it becomes a bad one. It's only the consequences that make decisions look good or bad. But none of this really matters, so let's not waste time over it. You still haven't answered my question: where is the major?'

Quickly thinking of how he could prolong the conversation, the captain replied,' He is scouting the safe house in Pishukan.'

'So when is he returning?'

'He won't be back till tomorrow morning,' answered Shamsheer, raising the pitch of his voice a few decibels. 'He is mounting surveillance on the house through the night.'

Although he wasn't sure, the captain thought he had just heard a pebble roll somewhere outside.

Rafiq considered this for a moment before speaking. 'How come you aren't with him?'

'Because I need to sleep as I'm supposed to relieve the major tomorrow morning,' the captain answered, hoping Rafiq would not notice the increase in the volume of his voice. 'We're surveying the house round-the-clock, and I have duty all day tomorrow.'

'That's strange. If you're taking turns at monitoring the house, what were you doing in Gwadar this afternoon?'

'We started our surveillance from this evening. And I was in Gwadar to arrange for transport out of this place once we're done.'

Rafiq chewed on this for a while. 'That means the major won't come here till you report there tomorrow morning, right?' he asked finally.

'Correct'.

'What will he do if you don't show up in the morning?'

'I don't know. We didn't discuss that probability, so you'll have to ask him.'

'You don't have any mobile phones to talk to one another, do you?'

'No. as you can see, we are still treating the operation very seriously.'

Shamsheer could see that his ruse had worked and that the lietenant was clearly at a loss. Rafiq had the choice of either killing him or holding him hostage, and waiting for the major to eventually return. But then Shamsheer also knew that Rafiq had no guarantee that the major, suspecting the worst, would ever come to the hut if Shamsheer didn't turn up to take him to Imtiaz, but that line was fraught with risk and uncertainty.

'Where are you supposed to relieve the major, and at what time?' Rafiq asked suddenly.

Shamsheer, who had no idea of what the safe house and its environs looked like, was taken aback. He had no way of telling whether or not the lieutenant knew anything about the safe house and its vicinity.

'There's an old, run down shed, not very different from this one, pretty close to the house,' he hazarded an answer. 'It's what we're using for our surveillance. I'm supposed to meet the major there at eight in the morning.'

'A shed like this one', Rafiq said thoughtfully, and Shamsheer winced inwardly. However, what the young commando said next put him slightly at ease. 'Is it the only building near the house?'

'No, there are a few other huts nearby. Pishukan is a full-fledged village', said the captain, trying to sound confident and authoritative.

Rafiq nodded slowly, thinking about how he could pass this information on to the colonel, whose sat-phone was unreachable.

Looking at the faraway expression on the lieutenant's face, a new thought suddenly crossed Shamsheer's mind. He realized that the story he had just cooked up might well have presented Rafiq with a fresh option. Now, the lieutenant might just decide to kill him and try and hunt the major down based on his make-believe description. Unwittingly, his concoction might prove to be his undoing.

As an involuntary shiver ran down Shamsheeq's spine, he decided to muddy the waters further by adding to Rafiq's confusion. 'By the way, I suppose you know that the major and I are not alone,' he said.

'What!' Even in the dim light, the captain could see Rafiq's pupils as his eyes flew open in surprise. 'Who's with you? Who is helping you here in Gwadar?'

'Rafiq mian, you can find friends in the strangest parts of the world.'

'So Saadat has been…' the lieutenant began, then stopped and stared at Shamsheer. His eyes suddenly narrowed and he raised his pistols towards the captain's head.

'I don't believe you. No, I don't believe anything you have said. If you really had friends here helping you and the major, you would never have told me about it. You would have kept it a surpris, not given it away like that.

'You're lying. You've been lying all this while.'

As Rafiq cocked his guns, he felt something cold and round press into the base of his skull, a couple of inches behind his right ear.

'Drop your guns now, lieutenant. Immediately.' Imtiaz's voice growled menacingly.

(See interview: Bordering the danger zones)