Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 84- Just... Friends

CHAPTER 84

JUST... FRIENDS

The next couple of days passed in an unusual routine. The cadets spent their days surrounded by the dirt and grime of the forest and the trainers, after the long days of training them, worked in an almost monotonous effort to discover more.

"Sir", Sanket said, and the three trainers paused in their talks. Just back from the day's training, the cadets trailing behind them, it was unusual for Sanket to greet them there. "Mujhe kuchh bataana hai. Thoda important hai."

Karan walked away from the prying, curious gazes of the cadets, Faizi and Sanju on either sides of him as they followed the IT head down the long, familiar hallways of the academy. His brother was there, listening patiently to whatever Nakul was explaining. But he paused, glancing up when the others arrived. "Kya hua?" Karan asked.

"We found a gap in our communication channels", Nakul explained excitedly.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Itna khush kyun ho phir?" He snapped, and the smile slid off his face. "Details batao. How is this being operated?"

"It's basically a leech, a virus jo Mridul ne plant kara", Sanket explained. He clicked a few things, and a pop up opened, showing some files being transferred. "It randomly selects a few files in the inactive hours, approximately 2-3 GB ki, and then transfers it outside. Unke paas. It's harder to detect because it's random and because data zyaada nahi hai. It's not a guarantee unhe kuchh milega har baar, in fact chances hain unhe kuchh nahi milega, but occasionally, itne data mein, they find some useful CCTV tapes clippings, some useful data, some planning files. Anything that is not under the new passwords. Jo bhi Mridul access kar sakta tha."

"Sayed", Nakul corrected, shrinking back when the rest of the agents threw him a glance. "Sorry."

The man reminded Karan of Abhi vaguely- overenthusiastic, naïve. Were all IT deputy heads the same? Was Sanket like that once? But he dismissed the thought, watching the screen in thought as the files were transferred.

"Kitna time lagega tumhe ise hataane mein?" Faizi asked.

"At least, a day", Sanket admitted. "Kaafi walls hain iss mein. It's pretty well built. And kaafi time se hai, so it has made a lot of copies of itself, gotten pretty deep in."

Karan's eyebrows furrowed. "Mridul ke paas itni achhi IT skills toh nahi hongi", he said. "This seems like a lot of work."

"Not likely", Nakul said. "Viruses are just programs. He probably just got it in an external drive and uploaded it to the servers." He clicked a few buttons, opening up a window. "Yahan par yeh chat window bhi hai. Not exactly a chat. More like message passing. It's a straight channel there. He probably had access with his laptop, and isse woh unhe andar hi khabar deta tha."

"I am working on building an antivirus with Nakul", Sanket said. "1-2 din toh lagenge. We can block some important files and there won't be a lot of data jo woh le paayega phir tab tak."

Karan's gaze lifted to his brother, a spark of an idea fueling in his mind.

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

"A-Are we g-going to sp-spend the n-night in the j-jungle kal?" Monami asked. Karan hummed, stirring his coffee. She clapped her hands happily. He glanced up, smiling slightly at her enthusiastic grin. "It'll be so fun! We'll go camping!"

"Training hai, ma'am", he reminded. "Chhuti nahi."

"I know! But it is fun", she squealed happily. Her cheeks reddened abruptly. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, an amused smile on his face. "It's also romantic", she gushed out quickly.