Metro Trepidation

Chapter 8

"What's the last phase?" Bheemraj asked, sweating profusely.

Anirudh punched him on the face, "Killing yo--"The door opened making a sound that made everyone look at each other."Who opened the damn doors?" Anirudh yelled looking at Om.

Om ran towards his laptop, checking all the cameras."The rescue squad is here." Om said in a hurry, "They are at the back, cutting the wires of the sensors." Anirudh joined him."So my old friend is also here."Anirudh made Om take the gun and told him to cover the edge with Veronica.

A person from the squad with bomb defusing skills stepped forward."We will get a three second window before the bomb explodes. But the wire needs to be cut together." He said.

"Which wire?" The man beside him asked while handling the wire cutter. "The blue wire." He replied while pointing. "I see movement ahead!" The Captain yelled and pulled the trigger. 

Everyone was alert as a figure emerged from their back."You three have to bend on knees, take out the wires, and then cut," Yudhajit's voice was clear and calm.

On cue, they went on knees with trembling sets of hands and cut the respective wires. The hostages sat on the ground, feeling as if they were walking since eternity. 

In a way, they were Six men moved forward, and three stopped for removing the bombs calmly from their legs. The metro went silent. There was no movement. It was eerily calm. A person on the left edge peeked a little and a bang was heard. 

He had gotten shot on the biceps, instantly bleeding. In a moment, there was an exchange of fires between both parties. Suddenly a grenade made its way to the commandos."Take cover!" Yudhajit yelled.

It was a stun grenade, blinding everyone in the vicinity for a few moments. No shot was heard. Suddenly, the hostage coach was all covered in smoke. 

The commandos didn't move a single step ahead until it was cleared. When it was finally visible, there were no one around except the unconscious hostages.

It was like the hijackers had vanished into thin air. The stun grenade was merely a distraction for executing the escape plan. Yudhajit moved slowly, cautiously taking every step.

He checked the corners, but no one was found, only the hostages. The conscious ones screamed for help, now that they saw the commandos. On moving forward, they found out an escape through a door in which they were welding. Captain and Yudhajit looked at each other."The blueprint was forged. There was a gate." Yudhajit said. 

"We escaped." A familiar sound from the speaker came, "but you can't."Suddenly the doors closed and the metro started moving forward. 

The speed increased in an accelerated manner and went so high that it crossed JLN stadium station in a blink of an eye."What should we do now, the operator is dead!" Bheemraj was frantic.

The speed was still high and it was hard to even move forward. The metro had crossed Central Secretariat which was quite far from JLN. Yudhajit entered the compartment, having no idea about the controls. He saw a lever and pulled it down but nothing happened. 

The systems were malfunctioned. He came back and briefed about the situation. Everyone was giving different ideas but Yudhajit was silent. The train had crossed ITO and the track end was near. 

Collision would kill all onboard. Yudhajit sprang to action and told everyone to run towards the end of the metro quickly. "Are you sure your plan will work out?" The Captain handed over the grenade to him."I don't see we have a choice." Yudhajit said. 

He grabbed all the explosives and placed them on the controls. Everyone was running back in difficulty and when he saw everyone at a safe place, he pulled the pin of a grenade. 

The average time of a grenade to blast is six to seven seconds. He dropped the grenade right there, closed the gate and ran. 

The moment the grenade exploded, he was quite far but the intensity of the explosion made him fall to his knees and his ears started ringing. The explosion made the emergency brakes work because of the fire, making the metro stop in a couple of seconds. When it stopped and the gates opened, everyone was coughing, crying having made out alive from the burning metro on the platform of Kashmere Gate. 

The smoke was still dense, with no sign of Yudhajit anywhere. People were begging for medical support. Suddenly, coughing was heard. It was Yudhajit. 

"Even I was not sure it would work," He laughed, falling on the captain.

 --

This rescue operation was all over the world's media. Every group was covering the incident. It became a major headline for few days. With few fatalities, this operation was more or less a success. Yudhajit and the team were awarded many medals of bravery from the President.

Mr. Bheemraj was taken in custody but because of no such proof against him, he remained the chief justice for the rest of his tenure. On the other side, Yudhajit was made R&AW head. 

One day in his office, a package arrived. Addressing Yudhajit on the front, it contained a CD and a letter. He inserted the disk in his laptop. The CD contained every conversation which was held inside the metro. A proof to put Bheeraj behind the bars. From his possession of black money and everything that he did throughout his entire career, everything was on the disk. 

Yudhajit picked up the letter and started reading.

'Dear Yudhajit, You must have seen the disk by now and you must still be confused about how we managed to escape, and why I sent you this. All your questions have answers. As I worked in the DMRC office, I managed to get the blueprints. We made the copy of it, and replaced it with the fake. But don't try to find us. 

By this time, we will be out of the country and completely moving on from our previous life. It is bit hard but we don't have a choice. One thing you did wrong is you didn't come to meet me face to face, whether here or in Iran. 

Yes, I know it was you who saved us. Only I knew who was behind our escape to India. The team still doesn't know about you. And as for the CD, I know you will do the best for the country. I gave it to you to get justice for all the people who lost their lives because of this man. 

I could have leaked it myself but it contained some bad secrets about the organisation and about all of us. So now, it's all up to you how you want to proceed. If possible, we will meet again. Till then, have fun.'

The letter had ended. It made Yudhajit smile and shed some tears. He folded the letter, leaned back on his chair and kept looking at the ceiling for a while. A smile found it's way on his face as he thought about Anirudh. Yudhajit stood up and held the CD in his hands. 

With the same smile, he walked out the door.