The Malaysian Operative

Chapter 4 : Shortened R & R

As it transpired, Azeem and his team completed their mission. They only managed to save one of the two objectives as the Malay had died before they stormed the hut. The Chinese, although badly injured nevertheless was successfully rescued. As Azeem and his team returned to Malaysia, they were all granted 2 weeks of the much needed R & R.

After spending just three days convalescing, Azeem received a call from his office. He was requested to report to Colonel Othman immediately. Although he has not fully recovered from fatigue, Azeem did as ordered. He drove to his office which is headquartered in the Prime Minister's Department, Putrajaya.

As he reached the office, he was further requested to go the briefing room. He took the elevator to level 4 of the building. As the elevator's door opened, Azeem walked out. He noticed that Latifah, a senior administrative staff was busy typing at her work station. Seeing Azeem, she stopped her work instantly and took out a file from a cabinet situated at the back of her chair.

Azeem, being courteous, greeted her. "Assalamualaikum. How are you madam?"

"Wa'alaikum salam. I am fine, thank you. When did you arrive from Bangkok?"

There was hesitancy in his reply. Perhaps it was a subconscious reaction of him being slightly unhappy knowing that his leave would be cancelled soon. "3 days ago,"

"A new assignment on the way?" continued Latifah whilst handing Azeem the file.

"Yeah, I guess so,"

"You should find yourself a nice woman, get married and settle down. Only then they will be more sympathetic," she chuckled.

Azeem made a cheesy smile. "Maybe I should,"

"The colonel is on his way. He requested that you wait at the briefing room,"

"Okay,"

While holding the file, Azeem headed to the room located about 50 metres to the right of the elevator. He stopped at the pantry to see whether there was freshly brewed coffee in the coffee maker. He was lucky. He took a mug from the rack and the jug from the coffee machine. As he poured the coffee, the aroma provided an uplifting feel to him. He returned the jug and walked straight to the briefing room.

Latifah took a gaze towards Azeem. He appeared handsome as usual, wearing chequered long sleeve shirt and a khakis pants. With medium height and a balanced body, fair skin, a neatly combed hair and trimmed moustache and goatee, Azeem's appearance and look would turn any woman head. If she were still young and unmarried, perhaps she would try her charm at him. With that thought, her lips carved up a smile and she continued with her work.

As Azeem reached the briefing room, he stopped. The wall is made of switchable glass panels. He went to the small panel, scanned his eye to the retinal scanner uttered the password assigned to him. Moments later, the door opened. As he walked into the room, he noticed that the air conditioner had already being switched on for some time, resulting in the temperature of the room to be slightly freezing.

Azeem placed the mug on the table and pull out a chair. As he sat down, he flipped opened the file to look at its content while carefully sipping the hot coffee. The first thing that captured his attention was a flight ticket to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

His mind travelled away as he ruminated on his job. It has been 3 years since he joined the Malaysian Agency of Intelligence, Strategic Initiatives and Special Weaponry. A new agency under the Prime Minister's Department, it was established in order to become a centralized intelligence agency for Malaysia. As Malaysia continues to march into the new millennium, the need for a dedicated intelligence agency is indispensable in order for Malaysia to become vigilant in confronting emerging threats from various non-conventional actors.