THE TIGER GETS NEW TEETH

WHAT DOES THE PM DO WHEN THE IB, RAW, AND THE NIA, ARE CONSTANTLY FAILING TO DO THEIR JOBS?

By: AMIT BAGARIA

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Midnight fireworks had been planned at the home of Nationalist Party (NP) president Bianca Dalal. The NP had done remarkably well in elections in four states. It was the party’s heroic return. It was an even larger triumph for the Dalal family, who had survived several calls for their ouster from party leadership. The fireworks started at 11:59 and four bottles of champagne were uncorked, as the ‘Nationalists’ and few staff members watched the night sky from the garden below. BOOM. Huge explosions razed most of 10, Lokpath, the entire Dalal lineage reduced to body parts and blood splatter on the grass. Though the explosion was restricted to the property, the tremors would soon be felt throughout the country. Prime Minister Naresh Mistri was woken up at 1:08 a.m. The home minister, defence minister, external affairs minister, National Security Advisor, and the president of the Bharat Party (BP) had reached his residence. The PM saw the news on TV. Everyone in the room realised that even BP’s staunchest supporters would suspect the party. First the dreadful electoral performance of the BP in the four states and now this! It could be the single biggest threat to Mistri’s political career and the three years left in his second term as PM. As the world’s gaze would soon be firmly on him, would he lose his greatest asset of all, public opinion, thought Mistri. The IB and RAW had more often than not failed to provide advance intelligence on attacks or incidents like this one. They were almost always clueless and ran around like headless chickens. And there was no ‘national’ police force or agency which could be expected to investigate and solve this crime and bring the culprits to justice quickly. No, the PM had to turn to someone else. He said to the NSA, “I want ISSCO to be in charge, with no interference from any ministry, government agency, or department.” Realising that India needed an agency like the USA’s FBI, Russia’s FSB, and UK’s MI5, which could work with surprise, speed, and intensity, Mistri had three months ago approved the setting up of the Indian Security Services Company, ISSCO, a covert, privately run but government-funded intelligence and security organisation. He had told ISSCO they were to do everything that IB, RAW, DIA, NIA, and NSG said couldn’t be done, and do it better, faster, and quieter. Will ISSCO succeed in its first mission? Will they find out who plotted and carried out the highly controversial but deadly attack? AUTHOR BIO Amit Bagaria is a serial entrepreneur turned serial author. He has written nine nonfiction books and one fiction novel since April 2018. This is his second fiction novel and eleventh book overall.