How seven South African security consultants saved the lives of fellow guests when terrorists struck
PRELUDE
It was near sunset on November 26, 2008. Somewhere off the west coast of Mumbai, a group of young men were waiting for darkness, in a boat without lights, waiting so they could land, unobserved, at a fishing village near the southern tip of the elongated island city.
DEFENSIVE MANOEUVERS
People huddled together on the floor. A few sobbed silently. Most were too shocked to react. The Seven kept watch. Whenever they felt that someone was losing their nerve, one of them would go and talk to them. Hysteria in a situation like this would be contagious. If the Seven were worried themselves, they took care not to show it. Their air of confidence rubbed off on the others. The worst that happened was a woman fainting.
(This story appears in the 02 December, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)