It sounded like a firecracker going off or a car backfiring. The shock caused those closest to scream, and then white smoke began to rise. It was coming from somewhere not far from the front of the crowd, only a few yards from the ranks of Congress Volunteers. Instinctively, the men in the immediate vicinity began to scatter.
I turned to Dawson. ‘You need to get the prince out of here,’ I shouted. He nodded and set off inside, while I started to cajole and corral the people on the lawns back up the stairs and into the town hall.
I heard what I thought was the sound of an engine starting. Whatever else happened, at least the Prince of Wales would soon be within the safety of Government House.
The smoke drifted slowly in our direction, engulfing the ashes of the bonfire that Bose had lit. Surrender-not was down there. I grabbed a handkerchief from my pocket, covered my mouth and nose, and ran down the stairs towards the line of soldiers. But then came the sound of a second explosion, followed by another in quick succession, and I saw a plume of white smoke rise from the direction of Government Place. Three explosions. Three canisters of gas. Gurung had shown his hand, and yet if he was hoping to catch the prince in an explosion, he’d failed. His Highness’s car couldn’t have reached Government Place yet.
The street was now shrouded in a white mist. Panic was setting in over the crowd as I broke through the cordon and headed for where I thought I’d last seen Surrender-not and Bose standing. As I rushed forward my eyes began to sting, but through the smoke I thought I could make out Surrender-not. He and Bose were still on their feet, directing the Volunteers to disperse the crowd. It was then that I realised something wasn’t right.
Surrender-not, Bose, the Volunteers – they should all have been suffering from the symptoms of mustard gas exposure by now, but they didn’t seem to be having any trouble breathing. My eyes too. While they were stinging from the smoke, they weren’t burning.
I dropped the handkerchief from my mouth and inhaled.
Smoke. Ordinary smoke.
Surrender-not saw me and came over. He too looked bewildered.
‘Something’s happened to the gas,’ he said. ‘It’s a miracle!’
The problem was I didn’t believe in miracles.
‘He’s set off smoke bombs,’ I said, ‘not mustard gas.’
The crowd, too, startled by the noise of the explosions, was beginning to realise that the smoke was benign.
Surrender-not broke into a broad smile.
‘We should have known he wouldn’t murder innocent civilians,’ he said. ‘It should have been obvious after he spared my life last night. His revenge was complete with McGuire.’
I afforded myself a sigh of relief, but I wasn’t yet convinced. It didn’t make any sense.
Why set off smoke bombs when you had mustard gas, and why steal mustard gas if you weren’t going to use it?
‘If he’s finished, why the smoke bombs?’
‘What?’ said Surrender-not.
‘If he’s had his revenge, why not just disappear? Why set off the smoke bombs? No,’ I said. ‘He wouldn’t do that without a reason. He’s always been three steps ahead of us. This is no different. It has to be part of his plan.’
‘But what is his plan?’
I worked through the facts. An explosion here, then two outside Government House, yet nothing but harmless smoke.
And then it struck me.
‘The prince.’
Surrender-not stared at me blankly.
‘He doesn’t want revenge on the crowd. He’s after the Prince of Wales. That’s why he set off the other two smoke bombs. He’s blocking off the route to Government House. Dawson and his men will be forced to change their plan. He’s herding the prince to a place where he can kill him.’
‘But how can he know where Dawson will take the prince?’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? He’ll take him to the safest place in Calcutta. He’ll take him to Fort William.’
Surrender-not blinked. ‘Gurung’ll never get past the security.’
‘He got in and out of Barrackpore easily enough.’
‘That was a sprawling cantonment. This is Fort William.’
‘And Fort William is where his regiment is currently stationed,’ I said. ‘It’s where he went AWOL from last week.’
That seemed to convince him.
‘We’ll need transport,’ he said, looking around. The routes towards Red Road and Government House were still cordoned off and jammed with bodies. ‘The High Court,’ he continued, setting off down Esplanade Row. ‘There’s bound to be a car or two there.’
‘How can you be sure?’ I asked, following him at a run.
He shouted over his shoulder. ‘Have you ever known a judge to walk anywhere?’
Ten minutes later, with the aid of some rough words and gratuitous waving of my revolver, we had convinced a frightened-looking court officer to lend us one of the honourable judges’ cars, and were now flying along the strand towards Fort William. I drove while Surrender-not stared out of the window.
‘How did he set off the two devices on Government Row?’ he asked.
‘The same way he set off the one among the protesters. Some sort of pull-ring igniter on a home-made device, I expect. They’re quite straightforward. All you really need is some potassium nitrate, some sugar and a glass bottle.’
‘No,’ said Surrender-not, ‘I meant they were set off some distance apart but went off at the same time.’
I looked over at him. ‘Are you suggesting he’s getting help?’
‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ he said. ‘I just don’t understand it.’
‘It’s possible he rigged up some sort of timing mechanism on one of them; waited for it to go off and then let off the other device. The bigger issue now is how he plans to get the mustard gas inside the fort.’
Surrender-not looked at me. ‘What if it’s been there all along?’
‘What?’
‘Consider it,’ he said. ‘The whole stock of mustard gas was transferred from Barrackpore to Fort William in advance of it being shipped back to England. Prio Tamang, the first victim, was involved in the shipment. He would have told Gurung about its arrival. The records show that all stocks left Barrackpore but the stocktake at Fort William showed three canisters missing. Gurung was stationed at Fort William the night they arrived. Instead of smuggling them out, he could have simply hidden the three canisters somewhere on the base.’
My head spun at the sheer simplicity of it. While Dawson instituted a city-wide search, maybe the stolen canisters had been under his nose all along, inside his own base and mere yards from where he was sitting.
The fort’s Calcutta Gate was barred by a red-and-white-striped boom gate and a troop of nervy-looking sepoys. A soldier scrutinised our papers with a thoroughness that, at another time, might have been almost admirable, while another two inspected the vehicle and two more stood watch with rifles at the ready.
‘What is the purpose of your visit?’ asked the guard, bending down to make sure that both Surrender-not and I were who our papers claimed we were.
Telling the truth was out of the question. Explaining that we were here in an attempt to stop the imminent assassination of the Prince of Wales in a mustard gas attack was just the sort of response guaranteed to ensure we would be held here at gunpoint until some officer could be found to deal with the matter, and we didn’t have the time for that. Nevertheless, a blatant lie could easily be checked and might cost us even more dearly. What was needed was something banal.
‘We’re here to see Miss Braithwaite, secretary to Major Dawson,’ I said. Of course, no such meeting existed, but I felt sure that Marjorie Braithwaite would confirm my story when the guards inevitably phoned her to check. For the Prince of Wales’s sake if not mine, I just prayed she was at her desk.
The sepoy asking the questions disappeared into the guardhouse. Through the doorway I watched as he picked up the telephone receiver and spoke to the operator. Precious seconds ticked by.
‘I don’t think this is going to work,’ whispered Surrender-not.
‘That’s hardly the spirit,’ I muttered. ‘And you better pray that it does, because short of scaling the walls, I can’t think of any other way to get in.’
The guard replaced the receiver and called over to one of his colleagues.
‘Keep calm,’ I said to Surrender-not as the second sentry entered the guardhouse. A brief conversation ensued before both men returned. The first guard bent over to speak to me while the other walked over to the boom gate. ‘Miss Braithwaite says you are to proceed to Admin Block 6.’
I didn’t need telling twice, and before the boom had even been half raised, I gunned the car past it, then under the thick brick arch of the Calcutta Gate and into Fort William.