Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 4- Shapat

CHAPTER 4

SHAPAT

"File mili?" Faizi asked, plopping on his bed. "Mission Blue Bird waali?"

Karan nodded. He bent over to his table, rummaging through before producing the file. "Yeh le."

He opened it, eyes flicking over the information. "Iss mission ke baare mein toh toh sirf unn special agents ho pata tha jo mission par gaye. Back up ko mission execution se sirf kuchh ghante pehle inform kara", he said. "Aisa ho sakta hai ki yeh special agents kahin public place mein baat kar rahe the, aur kisi ne sun liya."

He shrugged. "Makes sense."

"Aisa ho sakta hai yeh sirf ek coincidence hai?"

"Doubtful hai. Har roz 12 log se zyaada nahi, aur jis din raid honi thi, almost 8 times zyaada log? And agar yeh assume bhi kar le ki unhe raid ke baare mein koi idea nahi tha, toh itne log sirf tabhi increase karte, agar koi important person ya phir koi important information hoti. Par report ke hisaab se aisa kuchh bhi nahi tha wahan", Karan pointed out.

"Toh information toh leak hui hai", Faizi said. "Ab sawaal yeh hai ki galti se ya koi gaddar hai?"

Karan tilted his head in thought. "Sun? Raghav ne kaha tha ki yeh log har roz uss adde par nazar rakh rahe the. Numbers wagere ka idea lagaane ke liye. Aisa ho sakta hai ki un mein se kisi ne yeh dekh liya ho aur security badha di?" He shook his head almost immediately himself. "Nahi. Security badhaane ka koi point nahi. Kuchh important toh tha nahi. Bhaag hi jaate wahan se."

"Batra Sir ko inform karein?"

He nodded. "Karenge. Tu ek baar uss informer se mil. Kab jaa raha hai?"

"Kal. Morning drill ke baad."

"Theek hai. Phir baat karte hain." He sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. "Yeh naye recruits ka saara kaam ho gaya?"

Faizi nodded. "Aap relax kijiye, Janaab. Sab ho gaya hai." He eyed him. "Tum theek ho? Thode... zyaada thake hue lag rahe ho?"

"Main? Nahi, main theek hoon." He sighed when Faizi didn't stop eyeing him. "Tujhe toh pata hi hai, yaar. Terrorist attacks kitne badhe hue hain. Missions ke beech chhuti lene ka mann nahi kara."

Faizi sighed. "Dhyaan rakho apna. Abhi recruits ke saath bhi raat din ka kaam hai."

An idea sprang in his mind. "Chal. Recruits ka kaam bhi karte hain."

"Kya? Shapat?"

"Wo bhi."

"Aur kya?" Faizi called out after him, sighing when he didn't bother responding. He shook his head, springing to his feet and running out after him.

---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---

"Karan, naye recruits ke liye yeh bahut zyaada ho jayega", Faizi warned ."Do ghante bhi nahi hue unhe aaye hue."

"Faizi, humaare paas inhe bacchon ki tarah bhelaana ka time nahi hai", Karan reminded. "Civilians ko 3 saal mein trained commandos banana hai. Pehle hi jaan lenge ki yeh koi mazaak nahi hai toh behtar hoga."

His gaze snapped to the entry when Sanju and Ustaad ji filed out, the cadets out with them. His eyes narrowed when he saw them giggling and laughing with each other long after they had fell into lines. He crossed his arms, glaring at the ones that were talking. They shut up quickly. His eyes inspected the cadets.

He had to go from giggling idiots who couldn't stand straight to trained commandos who could fight terrorists.

And all he had was three years.