Sagramanda, a Novel of Near-Future India

take the call that he almost forgot to darken his windows and activate the exterior sign that said 'Band/Closed.' That way, if his visitors from the far east did change their minds, they would not be able to contact him until it was too late and the rug had already 'shipped'-even if only to his back storeroom, where it would await eventual transport.

His satisfaction in completing the sale was muted when he saw that the communication was not only marked 'urgent' but was triple-encrypted. Only a handful of trusted suppliers and buyers had the ability to put something that significant through to his machine. They, and one other.

'You're sure nobody can intercept this?'

'Yes sir, Mr. Mohan, sir.' Inwardly, Sanjay sighed. He had been compelled to repeatedly reassure his exceptional client as to the state-of-the-art status of his shop's communications system. But no matter how many times he did so the assurance never seemed to stick. Reminding himself silently that he existed only to serve his customer, he patiently repeated himself yet again. 'As I have told you previously, sir, once I have privatized my shop, no detection equipment can penetrate the electronic shielding and scrambling except those senders who possess the necessary key coding. And as everything is quantum encrypted before it is received by me, I am assured that the mere act of trying to intercept it would result in the secure communication being terminated. As before, you can speak with confidence that our conversation is completely private. Otherwise we would not be talking now.' He frowned slightly. 'You already know this. Is there some reason for you to perhaps be more concerned than before? Something you are not telling me, sir?'

'The last time I visited you, I was followed,' Taneer told him. 'Someone working on behalf of my ex- employers, I'm sure. I had more opportunities than was healthy to memorize his face. Tall guy, lean and muscular, part European or American. I just barely got away from him, and nearly got myself killed in the process.'

'Oh my goodness gracious, sir! I hope you are all right.' Sanjay was genuinely upset. Not so much because he particularly liked his sometimes overbearing, condescending client, but because the other man promised to make him rich; a task the gentleman who called him self Mr. Mohan would be unable to complete if he got himself dead.

'I'm okay, thanks,' came the heartening reply. 'But I can't come back to your place, and we can't see each other in person. At least not for a while, until I'm sure it's completely safe.'

Sanjay found himself looking past his counter, through the shop, toward the darkened windows and the barely visible street beyond. 'Tell me honestly, sir: do you think I am safe? Not that I care so much about myself,' he lied facilely, 'but I have a devoted wife and two fine children to think about.'

'Nobody's interested in you.' Sanjay took no offense at this cavalier and rather blunt appraisal of his evident nonimportance. It was after all nothing more than a statement of reality. 'It's me they want.' There was a pause on the other end before the client resumed. 'If they should connect us, and someone should confront you, don't try to hold anything back. Don't let yourself get hurt. Tell them whatever they want to know. I don't want anyone else getting in trouble because of me and what I've done.'

Suddenly Sanjay found that he did like the other man. 'I will take care,' he assured his client. 'I have been very careful so far. So then, you do not think this person who came after you can connect you directly to me and my shop?'

'I don't know. But I didn't notice him until I was well away from your place. It may be that he was only told to look for me in the area, and is still unaware of our relationship. For both our sakes we need to make sure he remains ignorant in that respect.'

Sanjay nodded, even though there was no one in the shop to observe the gesture. 'Then it truly is best if you do not come into my establishment anymore.'

'Agreed. We'll conduct the rest of our business via communicator and box. I don't foresee any difficulty. The added distance shouldn't impact our dealings.' The scientist's tone softened slightly. 'Though I will miss your tea.'

Sanjay smiled. 'When our business is finished, you can buy all the tea you want, I think. A whole plantation. Or two.'

'I'm not interested in getting into the tea business,' Taneer told him, evidently not detecting the humor in the shopkeeper's response. 'What I am interested in is concluding ours as rapidly as possible. How soon can you make the final arrangements?'

Leaning back in his chair, Sanjay tried to conjure a reply that would satisfy his client. 'My goodness, Mr. Mohan, sir: it is not as simple as trying to auction off a truckload of chickens, you know. I am still waiting for all the bids to come in. I do not know how familiar you are with business dealings, but the longer one waits and the more disinterested he seems, the better the price that can eventually be obtained.'

The shakiness of the voice on the other end of the secure communication was not the fault of a poor connection. 'Sanjay, my friend, we don't have time. If this person finds me again, I doubt I'll be able to get away from him. I could see it in his face. I don't doubt that if he feels it necessary, he will do whatever it takes to secure my cooperation. Or yours, you should know. You have to strike a deal now, while we still have the freedom to do so.'

Sanjay nodded reflexively. 'Very well, Mr. Mohan, sir. You are the instigator here, whereas I am only a humble facilitator working on a commission. Of three percent.'

Exasperation replaced anxiety on the communicator. 'Please, my friend. No last-minute renegotiations. I don't have time for that, either. If you're finding our agreement unsatisfactory, I can always -'

'No, no, sir!' Sanjay cut the other man off quickly. 'Please excuse me. I meant no offense. You must understand, it is the way I was brought up. Surely you cannot blame a fellow for trying?'

'All right,' the voice conceded. 'But no more foolishness. This is a deadly serious business, as you should know from the stakes involved. How soon can you close the deal?'

Sanjay considered. 'I will go today, if I can get an appointment, to speak with the intermediary who is working to arrange the sale on our behalf. I will explain to him what you have said. But in order to push the business forward, I need your permission to threaten to break off all talkings if the kind of speed you are requesting is not forthcoming.'

'Tell him whatever you like,' Taneer told the shopkeeper. 'Do whatever you have to do. But we must have a deal and make the exchange this week.'

'I understand from where you are coming, sir. I will do my very best.'

'Oh, and Mr. Ghosh?'

'Sir?'

'Be careful, and don't accept any help from those of whose reliability you are not personally certain.'

Sanjay found himself smiling again. 'In my business, Mr. Mohan, sir, one learns very quickly about such things, or one morning he wakes up to find he no longer is the operator of a going concern.'

A few brief closing pleasantries, and the communication was terminated. As soon as his client was off the line, Sanjay began making encrypted calls of his own. As expected, his contact was as reluctant as he had been to rush a transaction of such magnitude. And just as he had been, his contact did not dare risk losing his share of the deal. It might be done, Sanjay was told. It had to be done, he riposted. Other wise, the entire complex transaction risked falling to pieces.

The intermediary wanted confirmation of final details in person. Sanjay agreed to a meeting that very afternoon. Concluding the conversation, he made hurried preparations to close up shop for the rest of the day. Urgent family business was the explanation he gave to the merchants who operated the stores on either side of his. They nodded knowingly and sympathetically, not believing him for a minute, having themselves utilized the same generic excuse to cover the doing of secret business. But they would watch over his shop just as carefully, had the situation been reversed, as he would have watched over theirs.

Almost, he determined to go straight to Shrinahji. Since time had become so important to his client, the last thing he wanted was to be late for the important appointment he had managed to secure. At the last minute he recalled Mr. Mohan's admonition to always employ a roundabout route when traveling on behalf of their mutual business.

It was well that he did. He was only halfway to the great market when it occurred to him that the same three people were on the back of the city bus that he had seen riding in the same subway car with him when he had left the central district. Two men and a woman. Trying to size them up without staring in their direction, he grew decidedly uneasy not at the sight of the men, but of the woman. Her expression was furtive and uncertain, as if she