Operation Chaos: A Gripping Action Thriller

by Himanshu Rasam

  Call terminated. The vibration stopped.

  ''... has worked days and nights to design the missile.''

  And yet again- he was receiving a call.

  Now who is the moron on the other side of the line? This better be important.

  ''Ladies and Gentlemen, please excuse me for a second.''

  He stepped away from the mikes as he took out his vibrating cell phone and made his way backstage. The LED display of the screen showed- UNKNOWN NUMBER.

  His thumb moved towards the receive button on the dial-pad. Little did he know that he was about to pick up the most unexpected call of his life.

  Chapter 4

  Thar Desert, Rajasthan, Western Frontier, India.

  Co-ordinates: 26° 59′ 06 N, 71° 00′ 05″

  Time: 18:40 hrs

  The CornerShot gun was one of the upgrades to the equipment of the Black Cats after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The weapon allowed the operator to both see and attack an armed target without exposing the operator to counter attack. The system consisted of a pistol mounted in the front end of the weapon, which could rotate horizontally with a digital camera, a flashlight and a 40 mm grenade launcher- a perfect lethal weapon.

  Laser designators, wall surveillance radars, portable X ray machines, night vision, thermal imaging cameras, remotely operated mini vehicles, level 3 bulletproof vests were the new toys the CATS were equipped with.

  David had a distinct reputation in his unit- whenever he and his task force went for any operation, David brought everybody back home. He never returned with a soldier killed in action or missing in action. Back in his army days, David had ran 27 kilometres through the woods near the Indo-China border carrying his severely injured officer in-command to a medical camp on his shoulder all the way along.

  ''Everyone geared up?'' David asked.

  All of the crew of the chopper nodded their heads in affirmation.

  *******

  Somewhere inside the enemy camp:

  ''Janab, we have got a chopper on our radars.''

  Their leader rose up from the chair, but his face was calm.

  ''Must be the B.S.F patrol. For the past eleven days, we have been operating here and they do not have a slightest clue about it. You know the drill- Blackout for next 20 minutes. Kill all the switches. No radio contact until the patrol passes. I don't want them picking up our radio signals. Inform me after they have patrolled out of the radar range. Aur chaukkane rehena.''

  ''Ji Janab!'' was the reply.

  *******

  Seven commandos and Commander David roped their way down on the enemy territory. David radioed the pilot, ''Big Bird, we are on the ground. Stay within the range and give them an impression of a regular patrol. Sgt. Harish, you will stay in the chopper for sniper support. Get backup from the BSF if you can.''

  Turning towards his team he said, ''Ok. Here's what we do- we break into their bunkers, take them out one by one, gather whatever Intel we can get from this place and get back home. It's not that easy as it might have sounded right now. But don't worry people. I will take you home- All of you.''

  The Army had taught him one solid thing- You watch your team’s backs, and they will watch yours.

  The eight figures stealthily crawled their way towards the enemy camp. The area, which Commander David had surveyed from the chopper, was pretty much same as given in the maps supplied by the Headquarters. Four bunkers lined up 2 by 2 directly in front of them, a main building beyond the bunkers and a typical watchtower towards the east.

  He drew a rough sketch of the map on the ground and explained everyone their tasks. ''We split up into two teams here. Rakesh take Sgt Mohan, Capt. Ashish and Cpl Mahesh with you from the left. You are Charlie. The rest of you with me to the right. We are Bravo. They have blacked out, so this will give us a Night vision advantage. Be alert; use your wall surveillance scanners and thermal imaging to navigate. Keep it silent boys- suppressed weapons only.''

  All of it seemed so customary for David. If he was concerned, no trace of it showed in his face. He resumed his soft whistling calmly, almost leisurely, scanned the sector. The two teams split up and made their way to left and right bunkers. The bunkers lining either side of the mud road, solid, craggy, four square buildings, looked as if they had been defying the bitter desert winters for a long time and intended going on doing so for as long again.

  ''Charlie to Bravo. We are in position to breach the bunkers. Waiting for your go.''

  ''Charlie, do you see anything on your thermal imaging cams?'' Bravo team's reply.

  ''Absolutely nothing, Sir.''

  ''This could be a trap or an ambush. So stay alert. All right- Night visions on. Go, Go, Go.''

  Silence.

  Both teams blasted into the bunkers- a loud banging of the door, footsteps of the commandos breaching in, and then silence again.

  Team Bravo-

  In the right bunker, David quickly checked the corners at his 3 O' clock. Nothing

  ''Check those corners at your nine. ''

  ''Clear, Sir.''

  ''Move. You see anything?''

  ''Negative, sir! This bunker is clear. Moving on to the next one.''

  ''Charlie this is Bravo. What is the situation over there...?'' David tried checking on with the other team.

  Some electronic noise could be heard over the radio. Something like buzzing- But nobody replied.

  ''Charlie come in. Speak to me!'' David was getting frantic. His voice over the radio was disembodied; empty, but even the metallic impersonality of those words could not disguise the bow taut tension behind it.

  Silence again. A little muffled voice could be heard in the background.

  ''Rakesh! C'mon, answer into the goddamn radio. Rakesh, you there?''

  No word, no signal, no faintest whisper of sound came out from the other end of that radio set.

  Chapter 5

  He was numb. Totally.

  The conscious part of his mind couldn't feel a thing.

  All he could see was dust. His ears were ringing from the blast. The front premises of the Rashtrapati Bhawan had now turned into an ignited heap of dust. The palling smoke rapidly made its way into his lungs. He coughed and choked. It felt like someone was forcibly pouring smoke through a funnel into his body.

  And then suddenly, there was pain.

  Excruciating. Everywhere.

  Like a bolt of lightning, it hit him hard.

  He could see blood over his burnt body. Pieces of metal piercing into his soft flesh. Face, chest, neck, thighs. His body shuddering, his lungs suddenly gasping for more oxygen. The smoke started clearing out and as his vision cleared, Ashraf Khan saw nothing but dust and bodies lying around him. The Jaipur column was not standing erect anymore. A major part of it was damaged due to the blast. People were running for help wildly- guards, servants, army officials. Every inch around him, he could see blood. As the sense of hearing came back to him, he could distinguish the sirens of ambulances ringing in his ears. And then in the smoke, Ashraf saw two army medics coming towards him with a stretcher. One of the medics kneeled down and grabbed his wrist. ''Shit! He is losing his pulse... Sir, can you hear me? Just hold on...''

  The medics lowered the stretcher to the ground.

  ''Sir! Stay still. It's serious. But you are going to make it alive- Just hang in there. Get the First Aid. Quick,'' one of the medics ordered his companion.

  The next thing Ashraf Khan knew was something being injected into him. It was probably some kind of painkiller. Everything started to go dark around him. The voices around became muffled. The dust and smoke started to disappear lightly. He stared towards the dark evening sky as he was taken on a stretcher. The stars were gone. Only the darkness prevailed now.

  ''Sir!'' A medic was slapping his face to keep him conscious. ''Stay with me! Keep your eyes open..... We are almost there....'' The next words were lost in the sirens of the fire brigades, police vehicles and ambulances. Leaning over his head to the left, he saw bodies b
eing carried all around on stretchers and first aid being given to the survivors. Suddenly Ashraf saw something which made a cold shiver run down his spine. A dead body nearly burnt to ashes. The dead body of Chief Prakash lying in pieces.

  ''Hey, mate-'' It was almost a whisper. Ashraf Khan couldn't find his voice. The chaos going around made it even more difficult. Ashraf Khan tried desperately to make an eye contact with the medic carrying him on the stretcher. ''Excuse me... Hey, you!''

  Finally, after a couple of desperate attempts, he finally got the medic's attention. ''Listen up, I don't know how you would do it, but I need to....'' It was too difficult for Ashraf to wriggle out the words.

  ''Sir, you need to lie down. Just don't panic. The bomb which was triggered-''

  Ashraf pulled all his strength together and made himself clear. ''JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN. You go to any Black Cat commando you can find around here and ask him to call Officer David D'costa on the site. He is the best man, I think, who can handle this''

  A moment later, Ashraf Khan collapsed on the stretcher. Lifeless.

  Chapter 6

  3000 miles away...

  Commander David D'costa had some problems of his own to handle.

  ''Sir, it's almost half a minute. We have got no reply from the left bunker,'' his subordinate broke the silence.

  ''Maybe, Rakesh has probably switched his radio off!'' David stated a possible reason.

  ''Should I go and check...''

  A moment later the radio crackled to life. An eerie electronic voice of Cpl. Rakesh took over.

  ''Charlie reporting to Bravo. Sorry, had to cut off radio contact. Took out two hostiles here when we breached in the room. They had a radio transmitter and receiver. Had to make sure nobody was listening to us on the same frequency. Now we are clear to proceed. Over.''

  ''Alright Charlie. We are moving forward. Everybody sticks to the plan. Out.''

  The Bravo team got in position to take down the next bunker. David turned towards a fairly healthy guy, gestured him to come over.

  ''Avinash, run and pound your body against the door. Your momentum would be just enough to take it down. The door looks to be in a pretty bad shape. Keep on lying down on the ground and the rest of you take the bastards out. I will circle around to the window to give a covering fire. No survivors.''

  Keeping his movement as silent as possible, David circled the bunker and reached the window.

  Checking on his camera, he got three heat signatures.

  ''Three armed men in the room. Do it on my go.''

  Lying under the window sill David adjusted his CornerShot and banged a bullet into the head of one terrorist. The two remaining tangos turned around to see their mate fallen down. Before they could reach their guns, the door came down and the Indian Army bullets tore through them splattering the rear wall with blood.

  ''Bunker clear,'' Avinash confirmed.

  ''Charlie, status?'' David checked with his second team.

  ''This bunker was empty. Looks like they have almost abandoned the place. All clear. Over,'' Rakesh gave a quick response this time.

  ''Plant the explosives. If we go, we take the whole place with us.''

  ''Copy that. Out''

  Team Bravo planted the explosives and made their way towards the main building which looked like a rusty command centre with the antennas on its roof.

  ''Intel reports said they were more than 10. We took out five, which means we still have 5 plus hostiles in the building. Better be careful. Charlie, how's it going?'' David asked while reloading his weapon.

  ''All good Bravo. Making way towards the tower. I can't see anyone up there.''

  ''Roger that. We are in positions outside the door and we are going in. I don't know how many of those bastards are we going to face inside. Thermal cams didn't show us a thing. Check with us in 2 minutes. Out.''

  David switched off his radio and then turned towards his team. ''Same drill. Avinash, you take the door down and we will bust in. All of you in positions?

  Go Go Go!!''

  Chapter 7

  The UNKNOWN NUMBER had disturbed Dr. Kapoor thrice already and he wanted to shut it up all for once. He pushed the receive button and barked into the phone. ''Who the bloody hell is on the line? How did you get my personal cell number and if it's nothing important you better hang up because I am in the middle of a press conference.''

  ''Sir, I am calling from the Missile Development Facility at Wheeler Island. My name's Suhas and I am the co-ordinator here,'' the voice sounded frightened.

  ''Alright. Alright. Now don't beat around the bush and tell me what you need to tell me.''

  ''The issue, Sir, is quite serious. We don't know when or how it happened, but...''

  ''But what?''

  ''The missile. The trial hypersonic missile, which we were going to test next week is in danger!''

  The most unexpected call of his life.

  ''What do you mean by IN DANGER?'' Kapoor's voice was coated with sudden fear and anxiety.

  ''A lot of activity is going on outside, Sir. Lot of confusion. There was firing, and I don't think that the security officials have it under control. The missile was in the research chamber, safe and secure in the afternoon. Fifteen minutes earlier, the guards went in for the routine check, but they never reported back. I thought better to report you before taking any further action. What should be our course of action?''

  Dr. Kapoor sat down on the floor. His pulse was increasing every second as he was flung into a state of utter shock.

  ''Sir, you there?''

  ''Su...Suhas. I need some time. I..I will call you back and give you further instructions. Until then could you send someone else to check on the missile?''

  ''Yes, but... I think we should move fast. It's an issue of national security! And I think they are searching for the control room now. I can hear voices outside.. Sir, I think they are here,'' the fear in Suhas's voice had now gripped the peak.

  Over the radio, Dr. Kapoor could hear the door open with a bang.

  ''NO..PLEASE....!!'' Suhas's desperate cries drowned into the silence.

  Two masked men had burst into the room where Suhas was having the conversation with Dr. Kapoor. They had automatic weapons, but they had planned something more painful for Suhas. Picking up a pen from Suhas's table the first goon stuck it right through Suhas's left eye. Suhas screamed with intoxicating pain. The other man took out his handgun and pointed at Suhas's other eye from less than 10 cm in front of him and took the shot.

  ''Suhas, are you there? What just happened?? Suhas...?''

  Dr. Kapoor heard nothing but the helpless cries and the excruciating suffering of Suhas. A moment later, the phone got disconnected.

  The world was spinning for Dr. Kapoor. He was aware of a fear, a fear bordering on a reason- pure panic, such as he had never previously guessed, let alone experienced. With his trembling hands, he took out a small container of his stress relieving tablets from his pocket. His high blood pressure and bypass surgery had made it difficult for him to handle stressful situations.

  A couple of tablets brought his senses back. He got up from the backstage floor and made his way to the water cooler nearby and had a sip of water.

  And then he became aware of something else. Yet again, his phone was vibrating. This time it was another UNKNOWN NUMBER.

  The second most unexpected call of his life.

  Chapter 8

  ''Charlie to Bravo, we scanned through the tower and the surrounding sectors. We got no activity there. No signs of any terrorists. We also scanned through their rest-house. There were more number of beds than the number of terrorists we found here. Terrorists like these usually do not carry extra bedding. I sense something is not right, Sir. Over.''

  ''Copy that. I agree this is a bit strange. According to the intelligence we obtained there should be a small army up here. Maybe they divided themselves into troops and the other terrorists went off somewhere else. Anyway, scan further sectors, secure the out
side perimeter and rendezvous at the exfil point. We are going to dig for some information in here. Out.''

  Commander David and his team made their way into the main bunker. The communication systems were turned off and some documents were piled up in a corner. David put his hand up in the air and rotated his index finger in a circle; a signal for his squad to fan out.

  ''Gather as much information as you can. Anything- papers, hard disks, floppies, records. We need to know what these bastards were planning to do,'' commanded David, shuffling through the piles of documents stacked in the corner.

  His team slowly fanned out in different directions searching for more Intel. David switched on his flashlight attachment and stepped into the next room. Adjusting his night vision, he moved on towards a row of cabinets. Suddenly, David heard a soft rustling from his right side. He flashed his torchlight towards the right.

  The next moment the butt of an AK-47 came slamming on his head from the left. His skull felt the hard blow and everything started spinning. His body was launched into the air for an instant and then made contact with the ground heavily. Just as David was getting up from the ground, another blow of the butt came from the right side. Darkness was setting on him and David's blurred vision could figure out two ghostly figures approaching him from his either sides.

  And then, the darkness engulfed him.

  Chapter 9

  The harsh and bold voice on the other end didn't wait for a 'Hello'.

  ''Mr. Kapoor, How is the press conference going? I suppose you got your good news by now. The fastest weapon of destruction in the world just slipped away from your hands.'' The tone was bitter.

  Drops of sweat rolled down Dr. Kapoor's forehead. He somehow found his lost voice. ''Who is this? And how the hell do you know about the.....?'' His voice clearly exhibiting traces of panic. His heart was beating fast. Beating uncontrollably fast.

  ''Relax Kapoor... Your heart can't stand such excitement. I just wanted to remind you that you will not speak anything about this in the press conference and neither try to mention it to your senior authorities. If we can make a missile disappear right under your nose, it is not a difficult task to make your lovely daughter disappear. Right? Although, we will be needing your alibi to explain the seriousness of the situation to your seniors, but until then, just keep your mouth shut.'' The voice spoke with a peculiar abruptness.