The Enemy Within

Chapter 14

N.I.A. Headquarters – 2 a.m.

Mr. Chopra's cabin is small, but neat. The man behind the desk though is large, bald and hassled. He is screaming at someone over the phone as Rohan knocks and enters, "Good morning Sir... I just wanted to meet with you on..."

Chopra waves his hand to a chair and bangs the phone down – "Good morning, hah, I haven't had a good morning in a long time. It's 2 a.m. and I haven't eaten dinner yet. I think my ulcer is starting to act up. I know what you are here for Rohan. I already got a brief from the DC."

Rohan looks at him amused, "Well Sir, he said he chose me for my skills of getting the job done at all costs."

Chopra gives him a look that would have dropped him on the spot if looks could kill, "Skills, hah... I recommended your name to him to get you out of my hair for a while." He rubs his head ruefully and adds, "Because of you and those other two jokers, my blood pressure has hit the roof. Doing the paperwork to cover up your shenanigans has given me these ulcers."

Just then the door opens and two men walk into the room.

One of them is Jagganath Rao a.k.a Jack – dark and slim, with glasses and unkempt hair.

The other is Sundeep Singh a.k.a Sunny who is taller, fair and strapping. Both of them look cheerful even at that ungodly hour.

Chopra shakes his head as they walk in, "Oh great, how the hell did you two get here so fast?"

Rohan smiles, "I called them in as soon as I left the DC's office. They were chilling together, in fact, I was to join them before all this happened."

All 3 agents laugh as Chopra shakes his head, "Ok listen, this is important. This time you are reporting straight to the DC and not to me, so there is no one to cover up your screw-ups. So make sure everything is above board else we could all lose our jobs – understood?"

All 3 of them look at each other then back at their boss – "Yes sir."

"Got that Sir."

"Will do Sir."

"One more thing, Sir. We will definitely need tech support on this. Can we get Sid along on this mission?"

Chopra shakes his head wearily, "Siddharth is already out on another assignment. But we have an experienced hacker transferred in from the Defense Intelligence Agency. Might just fit the bill."

Rohan looks at the other 2 and they all nod, "That will be great, when can we meet him, Sir?"

Chopra picks up a phone and speaks for a minute. The door opens and a svelte, young woman walks into the cabin. She is tall, lithe and angular. She nods at Chopra.

Chopra stands up and walks up to the girl, "You can meet her right now guys. This is Tanya Shah, our new hacker extraordinaire."

Rohan walks over and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you Tanya, I'm Rohan and this ..."

Tanya smiles disarmingly, "Rohan – the rule-breaking agent with a perfect solve record, Sunny - the surveillance and tactical specialist and Jack - the linguistic and research expert." She completes his sentence shaking his hand. "I have been debriefed about you guys. Thanks for having me on board."

Rohan looks at Chopra quizzically, "She has been debriefed or warned about us?"

Chopra smiles slyly, "I had to see if she would agree to join your team..."

Sunny smiles, "Nice of you to give the new joinee the low down on your best team, Sir."

He winks at the others and all of them burst into laughter.

Chopra get serious, "People, time to get a move on, you have a flight to catch. All the best and make sure you don't fail."

All four of them stand to attention and walk out of the room.