The Enemy Within

Chapter 38

3 shots are fired. And the gun goes flying from Kumar's hand as he screams in agony clutching his ruined right hand. The 2 bodyguards behind him crumple in a heap. Everyone looks around wildly as Rohan dives behind the jet for cover. Sunny vaults down from the catwalk above the jet grinning, a smoking gun in his hand. He kicks one of the fallen guns to Rohan and winks at him, diving for cover.

Just then the door to the hangar bursts open and Chief Khan, DC Deshmukh and a whole posse of intelligence officers rush in. Kumar, Anu and Chopra are too stunned to move.

The assassins open fire on the group as everyone scatters.

Rohan spots the lady assassin taking aim at the DC who is engaged in firing her counterpart. Rohan lets loose a single shot and nails her right in the temple, she crumbles like a deflated doll. The DC accounts for the male assassin with a well-placed double tap to the chest.

The rest of the group then surrender without putting up too much resistance.

Rohan turns around and looks at Sunny– he is bruised and battered, with dried blood on his clothes. He gives him a warm hug and bangs him on the back.

"When I looked up and saw you on the catwalk, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought I was seeing a ghost."

Sunny laughs, "I nearly became a walking corpse, thanks to those two." He gestures to the 2 assassins lying dead on the floor.

"I thought you were..."

"Dead? Never.... Who would save your butt then?" Sunny laughs out loud as he slaps Rohan on the back.

"But how did you get here?"

"Surveillance, my dear friend. I followed the assassins after they left Dr. Nair's office. I couldn't contact you since I dropped my phone in the scuffle at the doctor's office. Is Jack ok?"

Rohan nods and Sunny continues, "I tracked them to the mall. I could not get to you in all the chaos there. Then I followed them here. I figured they had some kind of tracker on you, so they would lead me right to you."

Rohan looks at Anu in anger, "Yeah, they had a live tracker right in our midst."

Just then Chief Khan walks up to them and smiles, "Good job Rohan and Sunny."

Rohan looks around at Chief Khan and the DC, "But how did you all get here?"

The Chief looks at Rohan, "You gave us a scare Rohan, suddenly pushing him to shoot you. We thought we wouldn't make it through the doors in time to save you."

He turns to Major Kumar, "As for you, you old weasel, we got your entire confession by the way, thanks to the wonders of modern technology. We were here all through your maniacal ramblings. Now let me tell you a shorter story."

"DC Rathore and I have been working on this case for the last couple of years. Don't forget, my conceited friend, we are intelligence officers too. We knew there was a leak in the network and we knew it was coming from high up. Alan Fernandes was a brilliant technician and one of only 3 other people working on this with us. We were building up the case and had collected evidence on all the lower level flunkies. But we had to catch the few big fish before we exposed the whole story. Alan was working on another case in Jaisalmer and we knew he stumbled onto a big break there. Then we heard Alan was killed and we thought our years of work are all lost."

Chief Khan glares at Chopra, "We then found out that the entire fabricated report of Alan being a mole came from Chopra. That was when we started keeping an eye on him and tracking all his activities. We knew we had to get to the chief who was the last cog in the wheel; he was the one we wanted. So we played along and waited to see what Rohan and his team would uncover."

"Then suddenly Rohan cut off all communication, so we had to scramble for a new plan because we figured things had gone south. Knowing Rohan's methods, we knew he would operate on his own volition. Then it was a simple matter of following Chopra here via the tracker we sneaked into his laptop."

Rohan stares at him, "You mean you guys used me to get to them. So I was being used by my mentor as well as by my own superiors? Why didn't you brief me on your suspicions about Chopra?"

"We didn't know who all were working with him on this, Rohan. Remember, you and your colleagues were part of his team too."

"Ah, the intricate web of lies. Damn, I need to get out of this spy business."

Chief Khan looks at Rohan, then laughs and pats him on the back.

"You did a great job, Rohan. Sometimes you have to go against what you believe in to get to the truth. You guys have finally unearthed the I.S.I. in India."

While they are talking, Anu manages to catch Kumar's eye. Kumar looks at Anu who motions him towards her belt with her eyes. Kumar sees a bulge under her blouse and nods. In one sudden movement, he leaps forward and snatches the gun out from under her blouse with his left hand and aims it at Khan who is talking to Rohan.

But Rohan is too quick for him. In one smooth motion, he raises his gun and squeezes the trigger. The bullet hits Kumar in the middle of the forehead and he falls back – dead.

Rohan looks down at him in disgust, "That's for all the shit you put me through and for my good friend Alan."

He gives Anu a long, cold stare, then turns and walks away.

The DC looks at him on the way out, "So Rohan, ready for your next assignment?"

Rohan looks at him and laughs, "I need a long holiday now, Sir!"

The DC nods smiling, "You guys have all earned it – take a week off."

Rohan grins at Sunny, "You heard the boss, let's pick up Jack on the way."

They look at each other and start laughing.

THE END