Metro Trepidation

Chapter 3

"What about the other four?" The secretary asked, curious now. 'Beasts' sounded like the dream team, and he didn't even know about more than half of them yet.

"The other four," Bheemraj looked terrified. He took a while to gather his thoughts and started again.

"There were 58 attack attempts in the valley of Jammu and Kashmir between," He continued. "None succeeded. Thanks to Captain Raj Singh, our fourth Beast.

"From the 2000 batch, with eagle eyes, quick thinking, and a great set of hands Raj was one of the best soldiers in the army. When his regiment was serving in the harsh conditions of Jammu and Kashmir borders, he got shot numerous times. But he survived, a hell of a man. The terrorists used to call him Elaichi, the enemy of biryani due to every terror attempt that failed because of him." He paused to take a breath.

"Raj had such a great aim that he singlehandedly gave thirty-three unfortunate terrorists a ticket to heaven. He predicted every movement of the enemy perfectly, commanded his team very well, and was funnily sarcastic.

His decent knowledge of explosives attracted my eyes towards him, and soon enough he was part of the team."

"So he knows how to defuse a bomb?" The secretary questioned.

"Yeah, not only a bomb but landmines too, great set of hands, as I said," Mr. Bheemraj replied. The screen in front of him switched to a news channel.

'Breaking news: seven people have taken thirty-three hostages inside the metro between Jangpura and JLN metro station. We will keep you updated with the situation.'

The news channel was broadcasting a video from inside the metro, which was uploaded by someone from the inside. A man was beating up a person while other hostages were being tied up.

"Sir, who's this man?" The secretary pointed at the fellow who was repeatedly shown beating up the person, the same video, again and again, replaying on the screen.

"Jagrit Sharma, ex-Para SF from Goa," Bheemraj said. "He was court-martialed from the army because of his short temper. According to Intelligence, a small group of militants took a family hostage in Jharkhand."

"His team was deployed there for hostage rescue, and escorting out the leader of the group. Alive. When Jagrit got to the scene, the leader was armed with a pistol, with a young girl on gunpoint. Jagrit's senior officer had asked him to negotiate with the leader to safely get him in their custody.

Jagrit made a terrible mistake and in his rage, shot the girl at point-blank range. The leader made use of her dead body as a human shield, ran away to a room and locked the door."

"A few seconds later, a grenade exploded, killing five people. Jagrit was later suspended for not following the protocol and after a few months of this, he left the army."

The secretary felt weird.

"Then where did you find him, sir?"

"He came to me seeking help."

--

"Sir, should we use the reserve force for some intelligence?" The secretary asked while holding the mic of the phone.

"What equipments do they have?" Bheemraj asked.

"Night vision glasses, some guns."

"And manpower?"

"Three-four on standby."

"Send two of them," Mr. Bheemraj decided.

--

"We are moving, no movement at the enemy," One of them informed. Both the men moved like silent assassins, deciphering every movement within their surroundings.

The first one put his hand up to signal a stop. "There are some lasers attached to explosives, we can't go beyond this point." He adjusted his night vision goggles as he spoke.

"On the ground," He exclaimed and subsequently did the same.

The lights were turned on inside the metro.

They started looking from the binoculars.

"There's some movement, two people are movi--" A gunshot is heard. The man who was speaking now lay dead on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head.

"Curo one is down, I repeat Curo one is down." The second man sounded terrified. "There's no cover for me, I am aborting the mission." He hung back.

--

"Sir," The secretary hurried into the office. "One of them was shot on the head and the other one is safe." He announced.

"What did he see?" Mr. Bheemraj asked.

"Nothing." The secretary said. "He only saw 3 people in the back of the metro, continuously moving."

"And about the shot?"

"Just a blink of light and the next moment, the man was dead."

"Captain Arjun Doshi," Mr. Bheemraj sighed.

"The sixth beast?" The secretary asked.

"The name explains itself." Bheemraj chuckled. "Just like his namesake Arjun was the best archer in the world, this man was reincarnated in his body and the skills were now modernized to the sniper rifle. Being Indian army's designated marksman, he had a pretty clean record; 34 shots, 34 targets, and all of them headshots. Being a Gujarati, he took food with him even on sniping missions. Crazy guy."

"You literally made a team of some extraordinary people." The secretary grinned. "But why did he spare the other guy's life, if he could have easily shot him on the head too?"

"To give us a warning," Bheemraj answered.

The phone rang then, which Mr. Bheemraj picked up.

"Yeah, okay. Send him in." He put down the receiver.

"Sir?" Before the Secretary could continue, the door to the room opened.

"Good morning sir," A man with a warm smile entered the room.

"Yes Yudhajit, come in. We were waiting for you." Mr. Bheemraj politely got up and shook his hand. Then he turned to the secretary. "Meet Yudhajit. RAW agent. Possibly the next head in a few months."

The secretary politely greeted him before taking his leave.

Yudhajit and Bheemraj started talking and discussing the scenario like old friends. Perhaps they were, and it was proved by the next dialogue that exchanged between them.

"So, I was right. They were not dead." Yudhajit smirked.