---
The two weeks before the Lucknow eting were the most intense of Vikram's new life.
Every waking hour — and there were precious few sleeping ones — was consud by preparation.
The eting between Patel and Suhrawardy was not rely a conversation between two politicians.
It was a hinge point in history, a mont where the fate of sixty million Bengali Muslims — and, by extension, the future shape of the Indian subcontinent — would be decided by two n sitting in a room.
Vikram intended to ensure that everything about that room — the setting, the security, the information available to Patel, the psychological state of Suhrawardy — was precisely calibrated to produce the outco India needed.
Kao, true to his nature, had been magnificently efficient.
Within four days of their chai-stall conversation, the retired ICS officer Tripathi had been approached and recruited.
His house in Hazratganj — a sprawling colonial-era bungalow set back from the road behind a high wall and a garden of mango trees — had been surveyed, mapped, and approved as the eting venue.
Kao had personally walked every approach road, identified every line of sight, catalogued every neighboring property, and designed a security plan that would have impressed the Secret Service.
"Three layers," Kao briefed Vikram in their now-regular evening eting at the Connaught Place chai stall.
"Outer periter: two n positioned at the main road intersections, watching for unusual traffic or surveillance.
Middle periter: one man at the gate, one covering the rear garden.
Inner periter: you and , inside the house. Tripathi's servants have been given the day off — replaced by our people."
"Our people," Vikram repeated. "How many do we have now?"
"Six, including us. Four recruits. All forr police or military. All vetted personally by ."
"In two weeks, you've built a six-person intelligence unit from nothing."
"Seven, actually. I brought in Dr. Chatterjee — the army doctor I ntioned. She's agreed to join as our dical advisor. She'll be at the Lucknow house in case Patel has any health issues during the eting. I told her it was a routine Congress dical camp."
"Does she believe that?"
"No. She's too smart. But she's also too patriotic to refuse." Kao paused. "She asked about you, incidentally."
"About ?"
"She wanted to know who was running this operation. I told her a young man with old eyes. She seed intrigued."
Vikram filed that away. Dr. Rajeshwari Chatterjee would need to be brought into the inner circle eventually — Patel's health was too important to leave to a cover story. But that was a problem for after Lucknow.
"What about Crawford?" Vikram asked, keeping his voice casual.
Kao's expression shifted subtly — a tightening around the eyes that Vikram had learned to recognize as Kao's version of concern. "That's the complication. Crawford has been more active in the past week. He's expanded his inquiries beyond the Delhi police — he's now asking questions through the IB's own channels. He knows you've been spending ti at North Block. He knows you've been eting with non. And he knows about the private etings at Patel's residence."
"Does he know about Lucknow?"
"Not yet. But he's persistent and he's competent. If he picks up any hint of Patel traveling to Lucknow for a private eting, he'll follow."
"Then we need to make sure he doesn't pick up any hints." Vikram thought for a mont.
"Can we create a distraction? Sothing that draws Crawford's attention elsewhere during the Lucknow window?"
Kao almost smiled — the closest he ever ca to expressing satisfaction. "Already done. I've arranged for one of our people — a forr police constable nad Sharma — to feed the IB a tip about a supposed Communist Party eting in Bombay. Crawford's been tracking communist activities as part of his broader intelligence brief. If the tip is credible enough, it should pull him south for at least three days."
"Will it hold up under scrutiny?"
"The Communist Party of India is actually holding a regional eting in Bombay next week. We're just exaggerating its importance and adding so fictional details about Soviet contacts. By the ti Crawford realizes it's a dead end, Lucknow will be over."
Brilliant, Vikram thought. 'He's been an intelligence officer for two weeks and he's already running deception operations.'
"Do it," Vikram said. "And Kao — good work."
Kao acknowledged the complint with a barely perceptible nod. "There's one more thing. I've been monitoring Suhrawardy's movents through our contact in Calcutta."
"He's being careful — he hasn't told anyone in the Bengal Muslim League about the Lucknow eting. But he's brought one person into his confidence."
"Who?"
"Abul Hashim. The Bengal Muslim League secretary."
Vikram's breath caught. This was significant. Abul Hashim was one of the most important figures in Bengali Muslim politics — a man who, in the original tiline, had actually opposed Partition and advocated for a united Bengal.
If Suhrawardy had confided in Hashim, it ant he was taking the proposal seriously enough to involve his most trusted political ally.
"Is Hashim coming to Lucknow?"
"Unknown. But his involvent is a positive signal."
"Agreed. It ans Suhrawardy isn't just exploring — he's preparing to negotiate." Vikram drumd his fingers on the table, thinking.
"We need to adjust Patel's briefing. If Hashim is in play, we should have specific offers ready for him too — things that address his particular concerns. Hashim cares about land reform, peasant rights, and Bengali cultural autonomy. We need to show him that India will deliver on those issues better than Pakistan ever could."
"I'll add it to the briefing docunt."
"And Kao — one more thing. I want you at the eting itself. Not just managing security. In the room."
Kao's eyebrows rose. "Patel agreed to a maximum of four people. Him, Suhrawardy, and one aide each."
"You'll be Patel's aide."
"I thought that would be you."
Vikram shook his head. "I've been too visible. If Crawford has my na, he might have my face too. I'll manage things from outside the room. You'll be inside, watching Suhrawardy — reading his body language, assessing his sincerity, noting anything Patel might miss. You're better at that than I am."
It was true, and Kao knew it. The police officer — the future spymaster — had an almost preternatural ability to read people.
It was a skill that couldn't be taught, only refined, and Kao had been refining it his entire career.
"Understood," Kao said. "I'll be ready."
---
They traveled to Lucknow separately, on different days, by different routes.
Patel left Delhi by car on April 5th, accompanied by a single driver — his usual practice when he wanted to avoid attention.
The cover story was a visit to Congress workers in Uttar Pradesh, routine enough to avoid suspicion.
Vikram had traveled a day earlier by train, third class, arriving at Lucknow Junction in the early morning and making his way to Tripathi's house on foot through streets that slled of kebabs, attar, and the fading grandeur of the Nawabi era.
Kao had arrived two days before anyone else, spending the ti conducting a final security sweep and establishing communication protocols.
When Vikram arrived, the house was ready — swept for any listening devices that British intelligence might have planted, stocked with food and tea, and staffed by three of Kao's operatives posing as servants.
"Clean," Kao reported, eting Vikram at the garden gate. "No surveillance detected. The neighbors think Tripathi is hosting a family gathering. Crawford left Delhi for Bombay yesterday — our distraction is working."
"Good. When does Patel arrive?"
"This evening. Suhrawardy arrives tomorrow morning, by train from Calcutta. He's traveling under a false na — Mr. H. Shahid, a textile rchant."
"His idea or ours?"
"His. The man has good instincts for secrecy."
Vikram nodded. "Let's go over the briefing one final ti."
They spent the afternoon in Tripathi's study — a comfortable room with dark wood furniture, shelves of Urdu poetry, and windows overlooking the mango garden.
Vikram laid out the eting strategy in ticulous detail.
"Patel's approach needs to be specific, not philosophical," Vikram said, pacing before a map of Bengal he'd pinned to the wall.
"Suhrawardy is a pragmatist, not an ideologue. He doesn't care about abstract concepts like Hindu-Muslim unity or secularism. He cares about power — specifically, his own power and the well-being of Bengali Muslims."
"So we appeal to self-interest," Kao said.
"Exactly. The argunt is simple: in Pakistan, Suhrawardy will be a provincial leader subordinate to Jinnah and the Punjabi establishnt. Bengali Muslims will be a majority in East Pakistan but a minority in Pakistan as a whole. Their language will be marginalized. Their resources will be extracted. Their political voice will be diluted. Within twenty years, East Pakistan will be in open revolt against the west."
'Because that's exactly what happened,'
Vikram thought. 'The Language Movent of 1952. The Six-Point Movent of 1966. The Liberation War of 1971. I've seen the entire script.'
"In India, by contrast, Suhrawardy can be the leader of a united Bengal — the largest and most prosperous state in the Indian Union."
"Bengali Muslims will have constitutional protections, guaranteed representation, and genuine political power at both the state and central levels."
"Bengal's economy will be developed, not exploited. And Suhrawardy himself will be a national figure — not a provincial subordinate."
Kao studied the map. "What about Jinnah? Suhrawardy must know that breaking with the League carries enormous personal risk. Jinnah is not a forgiving man."
"Jinnah is a dying man," Vikram said flatly. "And we share that information with Suhrawardy — selectively. Not the full dical details. Just enough to make him understand that the man driving the Pakistan movent won't be around to see it through. The League after Jinnah will be chaos. Suhrawardy needs to ask himself: do I want to be on a sinking ship, or do I want to captain my own vessel within a larger fleet?"
"You want Patel to reveal the Jinnah intelligence?"
To be continued..
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