Incident at Lahore Basin: Businessman Dale Latham finds that in doing a good turn for someone in distress, he ends up in a maelstrom of deceit, and the target of a liquidation agent.

Incident at Lahore Basin: Thriller/Suspense

Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google Play

Read first chapter

BLURB: Incident at Lahore Basin

Whilst on business in Pakistan, ex-RAF officer and businessman Dale Latham comes close to death when his helicopter is downed by a ground to air missile. Hospitalised, he meets Chanda Govinda, a persecuted Christian Indian and helps her escape across the Pakistan-India border. Although there is no evidence linking Latham’s involvement with Chanda, Muslim zealot police chief Aman aims to imprison him.

With his top-secret knowledge, HMG fear Latham will end up in the hands of Pakistani intelligence. MI6 agent Ross Hunter is dispatched to appraise the situation, and if necessary, liquidate Latham. When Latham is abducted by terrorists, Hunter rescues him, saying that Aman set him up for the ultimate fall. Without evidence, Aman is forced to allow Latham to leave Pakistan, avoiding a bullet from Hunter.

EXCERPT: Incident at Lahore Basin

Like clockwork, the hospital staff made their final visit to Latham’s room at 09:30 pm. He let a few moments go by, then dressed, climbed out of the window, and crept along the side of the hospital block building towards the open courtyard area he walked during the day.

Perusing left and right, he made sure no one else loitered about, then made his way around the courtyard periphery to the exit leading to Abdul Rehman Road. Converging on the road, he picked up on Lahore nightlife clamour; people chatting as they made their way up and down busy streets to restaurants and meeting venues, the rumble of motorised traffic mixed in with the clanking of donkey-driven carts, and the background hum of transitory vehicles on the Canal Bank Road dual-carriageway, Lahore’s main crosstown traffic highway.

Proceeding east, he soon saw an Imtiaz Shaheed Road street sign affixed to the wall of an apartment block. Turning north, he logged number 2 as the starting apartment block on the left-hand side. To its front, a long line of parked cars evanesced away into the distance, counting a bronze Hillman Avenger with a black vinyl roof, no more than 20 yards from the apartment block. Cautiously edging on, he rang the bell to the ground floor apartment, Chanda opening its front door within seconds and ushering him inside.

Distinctly disturbed about something, she bored into Latham’s eyes.

“What is it?”

“In my push to escape Aman’s clutches, I didn’t consider how dangerous this could be for you, and…your daughters have crept back into my mind.” Standing very close to him and staring up into his eyes, she canvassed, “Dale, why are you doing this? You hardly know me.”

“Let’s just call it Christian charity.”

“But—” Her woeful dial changed to perplexed before relaxing. “Oh, your wife.”

“After Fiona’s demise, I’ve always promised myself if the opportunity arose, in her honour I’d lend a hand to a Christian in distress, distinguishing she’d have done the same thing.” Not wanting his charge to be downhearted during the escape escapade, impairing her determination to succeed, in a methodical manner he asked, “have you got the wire cutters and the rest of the gear?”

“Yes.” She reached down to her already packed suitcase, picking up the wire cutters along with the binoculars and workman’s gloves off the top of it.

“Good. I’d better put on the workman’s gloves now.” Delivering an emphatic dial, he beckoned, “come on, let’s go. I’ll drive, you direct.”

As they moved to depart, Chanda stopped abruptly and turned back drawing his concentration. “It has just struck me. This will be the last time I ever see this place. It’s a strange vibe, marking the end of my life in Pakistan.”

Latham placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Be optimistic. A new life awaits you in India, free from being spied upon and hounded by Chief Inspector Aman.”

“Yes, of course.”

He smiled at her. “Come on.”

~ * ~

Joining traffic heading to the east of central Lahore, the Avenger seamlessly melded into a procession of vehicles, before ultimately heading down Barki Road, leading southeast out of the city, and into the Lahore Basin. At Durgpura, Chanda directed Latham to turn left for the outlying villages of Padri and Manhala, before going on to Jattanwali. By 11:30 pm, Latham had parked the Avenger on the east side of Jattanwali, not far from the road running parallel to the fence.

Scrutinizing the area between the Avenger and the fence line through the binoculars, the formidable immensity of the construction dazzled him. Sure enough, as Chanda had outlined, stand-mounted arc lights on the Pakistani side, adjusted to face down, lit up the fence line. In-between, the scrubland and farm fields resembled a near to flat orientation, with only the odd overgrown bush offering a limited degree of hiding cover.

“Right,” he began, “with little obvious cover, we’ll have to oversee timings for the patrols on both sides of the border very precisely, before going forward to the fence line.”

“It’s much flatter than I remember,” Chanda volunteered, “the scrubland had more bushes on the prior occasion I visited this area.”

“Landscapes change over the seasons. Never mind. It makes little difference anyway. Time to get invisible.”

Driving the Avenger behind a farm building, he ensured they still had a good panorama of the road in both directions. Fortunately, the pair did not have to wait long until the distant racket of a heavy vehicle rumbling along the road from the north, attracted their hearing. An instant afterwards, a Pakistan Armed Forces light-armoured vehicle slid by, heading south. Latham’s watch read 11:46 pm.

After five minutes of vigilance, they then saw an Indian army light-armoured vehicle heading south on the other side of the fence line. At 00:22 am, the Pakistani vehicle reappeared, heading back north to Wagha, the Indian vehicle reemerging five minutes later.

“Evidently, my calculation works out correct. We have about 36minutes to cut the fences, get you to the Indian side, and me to reach the car, before the Pakistani patrol arrives back in this area. As soon as the next patrol passes heading south, we’ll make for the fence.”

A tension-filled interval elapsed before the southboundPakistan Armed Forces vehicle next passed the concealed Avenger.Latham peeked left and right to ensure the immediate area tarried clear, then checked his watch. It read 00:47 am. “Okay, let’s get on with it,” he instructed.

Rushing to the fence line, Latham with the wire cutters and binoculars, Chanda carrying her suitcase, the pair tried to keep a low profile, so as not to unnecessarily advertise their presence, should anyone be watching from nearby farm buildings.

“Ye gods, I felt that,” Latham disclosed as they crouched down midway between two concrete stanchions. “It’s the first time I’ve run since beginning my recuperation.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little stiff, but it will pass.”

He went to work on the Pakistani fence line, cutting a gateway hinged at the side, and large enough for him to slither through. Edging into the central reservation, he cut the coiled barbed wire, pushing it aside in both directions. Crawling onto the Indian side, he cut the fence, again hinging it at the side. Signaling to Chanda, she jostled her suitcase into the passage he had created, Latham furthering the action, by pushing it through the hole on the Indian side. Lastly, Chanda wriggled into the opening, joining Latham in the central reservation.

“I owe you my life, Dale.”

“Just drop me a line, care of Armstrong-Eliot, when you are safe with your cousin.”

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, Latham reciprocating the gesture.

“Thank you, so much,” she whispered, her eyes blooming with both gratitude and nervousness.

“You’re welcome, Chanda. Try to keep your head down as you scoot for cover. When you are sure you have the area to yourself, make for Bharopal, and don’t look back.”

“Goodbye, Dale.”

“Good luck.”

Crouching further down, Chanda crossed into the Indian side of the fence line, picked up her suitcase and quickly scurried to some bushes a short distance away, Latham watching her movement. Peering over the frontier, she made sure no one dawdled about, waved back to her saviour, then dissolved out of his line of sight.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Latham lashed up the fence on the Indian side as best he could, pulled the coiled barbed wire together to give the impression it remained unbroken, then after clambering back to the Pakistani side, made good the fence. His watch read 01:13 am. He had 10 minutes to cross the scrubland and the road before reaching the Avenger and driving off, before the Pakistani patrol resurfaced heading back north.

Spying in both directions to make sure the road remained clear, he grabbed the wire cutters and the binoculars, before assuming a semi-crouched down position, and hurrying back towards the road. He had made it halfway across when he saw a man walking along the road heading south. Throwing himself flat, he monitored the man with the binoculars. Likely a farm worker,Latham thought, going home after perhaps visiting relatives in Jattanwali. Humming to himself, apparently altogether consumed in his own world, the man did not bother to glance to his left at the fence line.

When he had totally evaporated, Latham started to move again, only to hear the rattle and clang of a vehicle coming up the road from the south. It had to be the Pakistan Armed Forces patrol! Estimating it to be a quarter mile away, he reckoned he had insufficient time to make it back to the Avenger before the vehicle’s headlights illuminated him. To his left, a small mound materialised. He decided to take refuge behind it, let the patrol pass, then proceed on. Pressing his body shape into the mound, he saw the vehicle’s headlights revealing the area between the fence line and road. Wedging himself further into the hiding retreat, he hoped he had made the cut fences and coiled barbwire refurbishment sufficiently secure, so as not to draw the patrol’s attention. Continuing to approach, its engine noise remained constant, evincing it did not decelerate. As the vehicle came level with Latham’s concealment point, the noise volume attained maximum amplitude, then decayed as it headed north for Wagha.

Keeping an eye on the fading vehicle, he got up and ran. Much to his surprise, just before reaching the road, the farm worker he had seen only minutes earlier, came out from along a tiny pathway not far from the Avenger, instantly clocking him.

Coming to a shuddering halt the man gawked at him, elevated his right arm and motioned accusingly, before shouting something in Urdu. Running up the road after the patrol vehicle, he gesticulated and yelled again. Latham rushed on, jumped into the Avenger, and executed an agile three-point turn, aiming the car back along the lane he and Chanda had used earlier to reach their checkpoint. In his rearview mirror, he saw the Pakistani patrol vehicle reversing back up the road, the farm worker jumping up and down encouraging it to hurry.

KEYWORDS

suspense, thriller, spy element, military aircraft, high-tech, Pakistan, Muslim, terrorists

Website URL: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clive-Radford/e/B00K3VFDNA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1530806624&sr=1-2-ent

Blog URL:none

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/clive.radford.9

LINKS

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KH4BQWR

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/incident-at-lahore-basin-clive-radford/1137808657;jsessionid=29EE094270DAAB48A1355F03F43ABB28.prodny_store02-atgap14?ean=2940163023196

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/incident-at-lahore-basin/id1534361107?itsct=books_toolbox&itscg=30200&ls=1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/incident-at-lahore-basin

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Clive_Radford_Incident_at_Lahore_Basin?id=YigAEAAAQBAJ

NEW RELEASE