Alan Foster - Sagramanda, a Novel of Near-Future India

"I cannot say that I would blame them," Mr. Karlovy replied feelingly. "Is this your idea of a joke, Mr. Buthlahee? Some form of local humor to which I, as a foreign visitor, am not privy?"

Taneer took pains not to smile. "It's no joke, sir. With the stakes what they are, there can be no joking around. I want a secure place for our meeting. I am sure that you wish nothing less. What more private location at which to consummate our business than the one place in all Sagramanda where at the present time no one except a handful of animal specialists dares to set foot?"

"Perhaps," the European replied, "sound reason underlies their reticence."

"Sir…" Sanjay started to say, trying to draw his client's attention. But Taneer had worked it all out beforehand, and would not be swayed.

"No one will bother us there. No one will interrupt us," the scientist assured his reluctant customer. "This isn't the sixteenth century, Mr.

Karlovy. I've researched a place where we can meet that's just inside the border of the preserve. No one will intrude on us, no one will stumble across our business, and we will be in, out, and done with it all in a few minutes with the aid of cars, not elephants. The odds of us encountering anything more threatening than a deer are quite small. Surely you know how the media seizes on such a story and immediately blows it all out of proportion, sensationalizing and exaggerating every detail?"

"Well…" Karlovy hesitated, murmured again to someone off-pickup, then returned his attention to the waiting researcher. "You are correct in saying that our business will not take long to conclude, and I must admit I do like the idea of conducting it well away from any prying eyes, be they organic or electronic. Isolation has its good points. Very well: your choice of time and venue is accepted."

Next to Taneer, Depahli hugged him in a way that caused Sanjay to blush. Her elation proved premature.

"Now that I have let you choose the time and place of our meeting," the European was saying, "I am afraid that I must make a stipulation of my own." Both Sanjay and Taneer were immediately on guard.

"What is it?" the scientist asked warily.

Karlovy's tone turned even more serious than previously. "The down payment on the amount you have requested and that has been mutually agreed upon is considerable. I know that your preference is for a simple one-on-one, face-to-face exchange. While I was willing to agree to this, certain other members of the consortium I represent were not. You will please excuse their unseemly suspicion, but where a cash sum of this amount is involved, their demands were inflexible." His expression was somber. "They insist that for the duration of the exchange I be accompanied by an armed bodyguard."

Taneer's first reaction was to break off the communication and instruct Sanjay to go back to Chhote Pandit and begin the negotiations all over again. But of course he couldn't do that. Not with trackers closing in on both him and the shopkeeper. Keeping his

face out of range of the communicator's pickup, he licked his lips and exchanged an anxious glance with Depahli.

Though he could not, for the moment, see the scientist, the European plainly sensed his unease. "I know this is counter to what you wished, Mr. Buthlahee. But I assure you that the point is not negotiable. I tried my best, but several important individuals were unshakable in their demand." He paused, then added with an almost-smile, "Think of it, despite your admirable assurance that all the odds are against such a thing happening, as real protection in the event the wandering animal should after all choose to put in an appearance at an inopportune moment."

Taneer wasn't worried about some nomadic cat. The only thing he feared during the forthcoming transaction was the possible interpolation of a predator of the two-legged kind. Caught off guard for the first time since the exchange had commenced, he wavered and worried over what to do.

Yet again, it was Depahli who provided a potential solution. She put her lips close to his left ear, whispering to him so her words would not be picked up.

"If this funny Mr. Karlovy insists on bringing along a bodyguard, then you should have the right to bring one, too."

"That's fine," he murmured tightly back to her as he pressed the audiovisual Mute button on the communicator, temporarily shutting them off from the expectant European, "except that I don't happen to know any professional killers, or bodyguards. I don't suppose that you happen to, either?"

"No," she told him. "Besides, it has to be someone you can trust completely. Even if you had the time and the necessary sources, you couldn't just go out and hire somebody. Not for this. Fortunately, you already have someone who has not only already proven his trustworthiness, but who is intimately familiar with this entire business." Step ping back, she turned and gestured.

"What…?" It took a moment for the import of her words to coalesce in the scientist's mystified mind.

Seeing them both looking in his direction, Sanjay suddenly wished himself anywhere but there, on that warm, humid night in the Rama-park plaza by the left bank of the Hooghly.

"Not to be in any way insulting, but-are you both crazy?" He spread his hands out in front of him. "Look at me. I am a shopkeeper, not a strongman. Before that, I was a farmer. I can handle a computer, and box access, and a hoe and a shovel. I have a gun in my shop, yes, but I have never had to use it, and if Krishna wills it, I never will." His gaze flicked back and forth between the perceptibly calculating Taneer and his delectable but evidently crazy consort. "You cannot possibly consider asking me to do this!"

"Three percent." While mild as ever, Taneer's tone was implacable. "Three percent of a sum you could never have imagined accruing to you, Sanjay Ghosh."

"Three percent of all the jewels in Rajasthan mean nothing to a dead man," the shopkeeper reasonably pointed out.

Suddenly, fingers were running along his right arm, dancing up his shoulder, lightly stroking his cheek. He wanted to pull away, knew he should pull away, but could not. He might only be a shopkeeper and an ex-farmer, but he was human.

"Dear Sanjay. Sweet, perceptive, clever Sanjay," Depahli cooed into his ear. "We have no time. No time to haggle, no time to go shopping for some great dim-witted hulk who might double-cross us in the end no matter how much care we take in our hiring. We need someone now . Someone we can trust. Someone who will not betray us because he has too much at stake." Her lips touched his ear. "We need you."

Legs trembling slightly, and not entirely from fear, he heard a voice that must have been his saying, "All right, okay, very well. I will do it. At least, I will try to do it. But not for you, Mr. Taneer, sir." He finally managed to pull away from her. "And not for you, Ms. Depahli. I will do it for my family."

She smiled at him as she stepped back. "She may be poor, Sanjay, but your wife is a fortunate woman. And if all goes as it should, she will soon no longer be poor. I know you can do this."

He forced himself to still the shaking that threatened to overcome him. "Then you know more than I do, Depahli memsahib."

Nodding at them both, Taneer unblocked the communicator. On the small screen, the European was visibly concerned. He relaxed when Taneer's visage appeared once more at his end of the link.

"Ah, Mr. Buthlahee. For a moment there I was fearful that my small request might have caused you to act precipitously."

Taneer recovered quickly. "On the contrary, Mr. Karlovy, upon reflection, not only do I not see a problem with your request, and understand the reasoning behind it, but I find it of sufficient merit to warrant imitation." He summoned up as ferocious a grin as he could manage. "In addition to a lady friend, who will be unarmed, I'll be bringing along a bodyguard of my own."