This story is a continuation of two stories about to merge: The boy assassin. and Tea in Peshawar.

Aftermath of the assassination attempt

After the assassination attempt, Gene decided to work mainly from the embassy. She poured over documents, looking for evidence that could have predicted this act of terror. Of course, none were found. However, she found that the watchers at the gates of Delhi had noticed an increase in traffic from foreigner coming and going from the Shah’s palace.

She also received a letter from the new Governor of India. The letter, sent in a highest confidence, explained to Gene that the Odessa trial had been suspended on the suspicion that Chief Prosecutor Wood has orchestrated the travel of Agent Odessa to Delhi. Earl Canning, requested Genevieve to seek Amjampur Khan Amjr, a Mughal Minister and alledgedly Agent Odessa’s love interest, to try to gather evidences confirming or negating the implications of Wood in the sensitive case.

Gene sent Nathan, her husband, to the Shah’s court to seek Amjr. Nathan found out that shortly before Kate Levenstein‘s arrest, Amjr committed a faux-pas and withdrew from the court temporarily. He has been living since in an estate in the North end of Delhi, having minimal contact with Mughal’s politics.

Gene made a note to have an interview with the man.

A request from Peshawar

Lord Nathan Bell-Hudson received a letter from an old friend in Peshawar. The letter was from Devasheesh Naem Pavan, a good man and a former captain in the Sikh army. The two men knew each other from the days after the Second Anglo-Sikh war when Lord Bell-Hudson was tasked to find native men of influence to help administrate Punjab.

Devasheesh wrote to him to let him know that he was privy to information that was too sensitive to be passed on by mail. He requested an official invitation to travel to Delhi to circumvent his gruelling schedule as a civil administrator in the frontiers.

Nathan bounced the idea by his wife, vouched for Devasheesh, and prepared an invitation letter that the ambassador signed. “May the man brings something useful to the Empire, she thought to herself. However, she expected that the man was simply looking for an EITC-paid vacation in the city.”