Vikram's stomach tightened. "Are you suggesting—"
"I'm suggesting that if Wheeler has Bengal contacts, and Crawford is investigating you, and you've recently been involved in highly sensitive Bengal-related operations, the connection might already be made."
"How much do they know?"
"Unknown. But I recomnd we accelerate the Suhrawardy tiline. If British intelligence figures out what's happening with the Bengal proposal, they could leak it to Jinnah — either deliberately to disrupt our plans, or accidentally as part of normal political reporting."
"Why would they leak it to Jinnah?"
"Because a divided India is easier for the British to influence post-independence than a strong, united India. The British have spent two centuries playing divide-and-rule. They're not going to abandon that playbook just because they're leaving."
It was, Vikram had to admit, a sobering point. The British weren't a monolithic entity.
Mountbatten and his political team genuinely wanted an orderly transition — possibly even a united India.
But British intelligence services had their own institutional interests, and those interests were rarely aligned with India's.
"Recomndation?" Vikram asked.
"Three things. First, we accelerate the Volkov operation to neutralize Crawford's investigation. Second, we get Suhrawardy's response in days rather than weeks — push him to commit before British intelligence can influence the situation. Third, we prepare contingency plans in case the Bengal proposal leaks. Specifically, we need a counter-narrative ready to deploy that fras the proposal as a Congress concession to Bengali Muslim demands rather than a strategic maneuver against Pakistan."
"Execute all three."
"Understood." Kao paused, then added: "There's one more thing. About Mountbatten."
"What about him?"
"He arrives in Delhi today — well, technically he's been here since last week, but today is his first major political consultation. He's eting with Nehru this morning at Viceroy's House, and with Jinnah this evening. Patel ets him tomorrow."
"How do you know the schedule?"
A trace of sothing like satisfaction crossed Kao's face. "I have a contact in the Viceroy's dostic staff. A khansama — head cook — who's been there for fifteen years. He sees and hears everything, and he's deeply nationalist."
'Of course he does,' Vikram thought. 'Two weeks in operation and Kao already has assets inside the Viceroy's House.'
"Anything else from him?"
"Yes. Two pieces of information. First, Mountbatten has brought with him a comprehensive plan for partition. The British governnt has concluded that partition is inevitable and is preparing to implent it. Mountbatten's mandate is to negotiate the details, not to find an alternative."
Vikram cursed under his breath. This wasn't unexpected — historically, Mountbatten's brief had indeed been to expedite a partition — but it complicated the tiline significantly.
"Second piece of information?"
"Mountbatten has a weakness. His wife."
"Edwina?"
"Yes. She's already developing a close personal relationship with Nehru. They've been corresponding for months, and her arrival in Delhi has accelerated their intimacy. According to my source, they spend hours alone together in private conversations."
Vikram knew about the Nehru-Edwina relationship — it was historically docunted, though the exact nature of their connection had been debated by historians for decades.
Most agreed it had been intimate, though whether physical or purely emotional remained uncertain.
What mattered was the strategic implication. Through Edwina, Nehru had unprecedented influence over Mountbatten.
And through Mountbatten, Edwina influenced the entire transition process.
"This is useful," Vikram said slowly. "If we can shape what Nehru tells Edwina — and through her, what Mountbatten believes — we can influence the negotiations indirectly without ever appearing in the room."
"You want to influence Nehru."
"I want to influence what Nehru tells the Viceroy's wife in pillow talk." Vikram's voice carried the cold pragmatism of a man who had made peace with the morally complicated nature of statecraft. "Which ans I need access to Nehru. Direct access. Soon."
"That's harder than access to Patel. Nehru is surrounded by his own circle — Krishna non, Padmaja Naidu, Indira."
"Then we need to find a way in. Soone Nehru trusts. Soone who can introduce as a young thinker worth listening to."
Kao thought for a mont. "What about Sarojini Naidu?"
Vikram blinked. "The poetess?"
"Politician, poetess, and one of Nehru's closest friends. She's also currently the Governor of the United Provinces — and she has a history of championing young, unconventional intellectuals."
"If she introduces you to Nehru as a brilliant young economist with ideas worth hearing, he'll take the eting."
"How do I get to Sarojini Naidu?"
"Through her daughter, Padmaja. Padmaja and Nehru are extrely close — possibly romantically. Padmaja attends most major political functions in Delhi. If you can engineer a eting with Padmaja and impress her, she'll introduce you to her mother."
"And how do I engineer a eting with Padmaja?"
Kao actually almost smiled. "You write a paper. Sothing brilliant on economic developnt. Specifically, won's role in economic modernization. You publish it in a small but prestigious journal — The Modern Review."
"You ensure Padmaja receives a copy through an interdiary who knows her interests. She's a passionate advocate for won's education and economic empowernt. If your paper is good enough, she'll seek you out."
Vikram stared at Kao with sothing approaching awe. "You've thought through the entire approach in the last five minutes?"
"I've been thinking about how to penetrate Nehru's circle since you ntioned needing access. This is one of three plans I've developed. The other two involve more direct approaches that carry higher risks."
This man, Vikram thought again, 'was a colossal waste in the original tiline. He should have been running India's intelligence apparatus from 1947. Instead, he didn't get to build RAW until 1968 — twenty-one years of his pri wasted on routine police work.'
"Execute the Naidu approach," Vikram said. "I'll start writing the paper today. Get it published as quickly as possible."
"I'll arrange it through The Modern Review. The editor owes a favor from a 1944 case I helped him with."
"Of course he does."
---
Vikram returned to his room and imdiately began writing.
The paper had to be brilliant. Not just competent — brilliant.
Brilliant enough to make Padmaja Naidu, a sophisticated and well-read woman, sit up and pay attention.
Brilliant enough to justify an introduction to Sarojini Naidu, a major political figure. Brilliant enough to ultimately reach Nehru and impress him sufficiently to grant Vikram an audience.
He titled it: "The Forgotten Half: Won's Economic Participation as the Foundation of National Developnt."
The thesis was simple but radical for 1947: India could not beco a major economic power if half its population remained outside the formal economy.
Educating won, providing them with employnt opportunities, ensuring their property rights, and integrating them into all sectors of the economy was not just a matter of social justice — it was an economic imperative.
He drew on data and examples that wouldn't be widely recognized in 1947 but were verifiable: the experience of Soviet won during industrialization, the economic boost from won's warti work in Britain and Arica, the educational achievents of won in Japan during the iji Restoration.
He projected what India's GDP could be if female labor force participation matched male participation — a doubling of national output, conservatively.
But he also wove in cultural and historical argunts.
He cited examples from Indian history — from the warrior queens like Rani Lakshmibai to the scholar-philosophers like Gargi and Maitreyi from ancient tis.
He argued that won's exclusion from the public sphere was not Indian tradition but colonial-era distortion, layered on top of dieval social conservatism.
The real Indian tradition, he wrote, was one of female participation in scholarship, governance, and economic life.
He wrote for fourteen straight hours, pausing only to drink tea and eat the simple al his neighbor's wife brought him out of pity for "the young man who works too hard." By midnight, he had a forty-page draft.
By the next morning, after a few hours of fitful sleep and a heavy edit, he had a polished thirty-page article.
He signed it: Vikram Rathore, Allahabad.
Then he sent it to Kao for publication arrangents.
---
While the paper made its way through The Modern Review's editorial process, the political situation in Delhi was accelerating dramatically.
Mountbatten's first formal etings with the major political leaders had taken place. The Viceroy was every bit as capable and charismatic as history had described — and every bit as committed to a rapid resolution.
Within days of his arrival, he had begun pressing all parties to accept the principle of partition, framing it as the only realistic alternative to civil war.
Nehru, according to Kao's sources, was wavering.
He hated the idea of partition philosophically but was increasingly persuaded by Mountbatten's argunt that it was inevitable.
Jinnah, of course, was demanding partition with maximum territorial concessions.
Patel was holding firm against partition but found himself increasingly isolated as Mountbatten's diplomatic pressure built.
It was ti for Vikram to act on multiple fronts simultaneously.
He called an ergency eting at North Block — Patel, non, and Kao.
Vikram arrived first, having spent the previous night drafting yet another strategic docunt.
"We have a crisis," he said when the others had gathered.
"What kind of crisis?" Patel asked.
"Mountbatten is pushing for a quick partition. If he succeeds in convincing Nehru — and based on intelligence reports, he's close to succeeding — the entire Bengal strategy collapses. We need to act before that happens."
"What do you propose?"
Vikram pulled out the docunt he'd prepared. "Three parallel actions, executed simultaneously over the next thirty days."
He laid it out:
Action One: Direct intervention with Mountbatten. Patel needed to request a private eting with the Viceroy and present the alternative frawork — a united India with strong constitutional protections for Muslims.
Not a vague plea for unity, but a specific, actionable plan that addressed Mountbatten's stated concerns about administrative complexity and communal violence.
Vikram had drafted talking points and a one-page summary specifically tailored to Mountbatten's known preferences.
Action Two: Acceleration of the Suhrawardy negotiation. Patel needed to send a personal letter to Suhrawardy in Calcutta, urging him to commit within the week rather than the original two-week tiline.
The letter would emphasize that delay played into the hands of those who wanted partition.
Action Three: Indirect influence through Edwina Mountbatten. Vikram outlined his plan to gain access to Nehru through the Naidu connection.
Once that access was established, he could feed Nehru carefully chosen information that Nehru would, in turn, share with Edwina, who would share it with her husband.
"The third action will take ti," Vikram acknowledged. "But the first two can be executed within days."
To be continued..
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