Metro Trepidation

Chapter 4

"All clear. I left one as you instructed," Arjun said, over his mic.

"Yeah, good work. Now come back, Om will take over."

"Another attack," Jagrit sniffed. "Stupidity." He started walking towards the back of the metro."Let's call him over here. We will talk to him directly." Abhimanyu laughed.
Everyone stared at him for a while. "What?" Abhimanyu asked, perplexed.

"So sir," Anirudh sat on the ground in the verge of exhaustion as he acknowledged the old man again. "We are as much the citizens of this country as you are... or at least used to be." He chuckled in remembrance.

"Now there exists no record of us. RAW protocols. We never existed, you know why?" He asked. His playful tone changed drastically.

"The attacks of 26/11 made the whole country tremble in terror. The killings of innocent civilians made high officials anxious. Something had to be done, an attack like this couldn't go unanswered. And then, some men gathered courage, gathered us, some of the best of the best from all over the country for the same answer."

"You know why we took this metro line to hijack? Why these stations only?" Veronica said softly, "Because above this ground is the Headquarters of Research and Analysis Wing, the place which turned our lives upside down.

"A hush fell over the metro. They went into a collective flashback of the events that led to this moment. They were all sitting in the dark room looking at each other's faces, lost with no idea of what was to happen when

Mr. Bheemraj had entered the room."I was exactly the same when I was assigned to my first secret mission." He smiled and got smiles back at him. He later introduced everyone to each other, giving emphasis on the fields they all specialized in.

"But what's the actual matter of calling us here?" Dr. Vivek asked, unable to control his curiosity for long. Mr. Bheemraj nodded.

"In the next few minutes, you will be briefed about the mission, but before that, I want to make it clear that once the meeting starts, there will be no backing off. Let me tell you this is a life and death scenario so if anyone wants to back off, they can show themselves out." He said. When everyone remained seated, he nodded again, this time in approval."Anirudh comes in."
Mr. Bheemraj raised his voice. In the next second, the gate shut and a new face joined them.

"This is Anirudh Ranjan."

Mr. Bheemraj introduced him. Anirudh Ranjan was 25 years old and had been on more missions than his age. He was a good looking young man, with amazing leading qualities and basically a pro in every walk of life.
"So," he opened the file in his hand and shut it after a look. "Buckle up, we are going to Iran.

"The flashback was over and Anirudh took on narrating again. Their story was unheard and now that he had the chance, he wanted to shout it out loud to the world.

"After one week of intense training and briefing according to the Intelligence, we all were off to Tehran, in different groups."

Anirudh began again, remembering the beginning of the end. Veronica, Raj, and Om had been disguised as archaeologists, while the others went as tourists. Their mission was planned for the most minuscule details. Few days after spending some leisure time in Tehran, and gathering intel about the specified terrorist organizations which operated in Zahedan, they moved to the Bandar Abbas.

There they met a local resident who worked for R&AW and went by the name Syed Khan. Syed Khan was a big businessman in the country. He dealt in import and export of goods in Bandar Abbas which was the capital of Hormozgān. It had seen the control of many rulers and colonial powers. From Darius the Great to Alexander the Great, later in the hands of the Portuguese empire in Colonial age and then to the Sultanate of Oman, it was now used for trade through sea routes. And it was controlled by Syed Khan. Because of him being a powerful person, their guns, gadgets and other types of equipment were easily imported. The distance between Bandar Abbas and Zahedan was seven hundred kilometers and the safest route was by road.

Syed Khan told them many things about Zahedan, "The Iranian government is good. They don't operate terrorist groups in any parts of the country, but they have no idea about Zahedan."

He warned them, "It's situated just a hundred kilometers away from Afghanistan and Pakistan border so the terrorist organizations meet there. It is the safest place for them and any undercover mission will go unnoticed. There is this guy there, Farrukh Owaisi, a high Government official who has control over the border police."

He subsequently told the team to be careful about this person specifically. They started their nine hours travel with an unbroken zeal and lots of drinking water. The temperature was unbearably high."How can we breathe here without plants?" Om questioned, watching the desert all around them."As being the most intelligent person here, I would like to answer this question," Raj smirked.

"Places like des--"

"Areas such as deserts in which less photosynthesis may take place for millennia can still be replenished by the wind, which moves large volumes of air from places where more oxygen is made than consumed. It's always daytime somewhere, it's always summer somewhere, and the winds never stop mixing the air." Dr. Vivek said dryly.

"You old man, you were sleeping. And that was my answer. You stole my thunder." Raj whined and everyone laughed subtly. A bond was being made. After hours of drive, they reached the beautiful place, capital of the Baluchistan province, Zahedan.

It was a big city with less population but warm people who were always helpful to strangers and tourists. The city was surrounded by plain, barren land and was located 41 kilometers south of the tripoint. It was hot throughout the year. The terrorist meetings usually took place at a small bungalow which was known to be Owaisi's resident and was near the main Rasouli Bazaar.

In the day time, the team began by being disguised as different vendors, roaming about the city, gathering information about the situation. Every one of them started living in safe houses around the said bungalow.

From Day 1 to Day 7, Veronica and Arjun kept an eye on Farukkh while Om and Dr. Vivek were working on some specific gadgets for the operation. The other people took turns, being vendors and observing the border. The plan was working perfectly. They had time and they were using it in the most efficient way.

Day 8 meant a meeting and they gathered at one place."We need to find out about the day of the big meeting between the leaders." Anirudh said.

Jagrit suggested sneaking into the house and figuring it out. The next day, he went inside the heavily armed house successfully. He found Farukkh's computer.

"It's locked. Password encryption," Jagrit whispered on his mic as he sat in front of the desktop. "Insert the device and chill," Om replied to him. The said device decrypted the password and copied the system successfully in a matter of mere minutes.

After a detailed review, on Day 10, only adult videos and some files were accessible from the system. Twenty documents written completely in Morse code were found. While discussion, Anirudh wrote on the board:
·- - - - ··- - - ··- - - ····· ·- -·-· - -

"This was the last thing exchanged between Farrukh and the other guy. It decodes as 12 25 A C M." Said Anirudh.

"Today is 23rd. Maybe the meeting is in 2 days." Om wondered aloud.
"It is a possibility." Veronica looked at Anirudh.

"The guards at the border are being replaced. All of them are being shifted to some other place."

"But what about the alphabets?" The room was silent.