Sidharth’s glare sent a chill through the men. Deepak used all his strength to prevent his knees from shaking, and was scared that he would become tongue tied as soon as he opened his mouth. He could only look at Rohit and speak slowly. “R-R-Rohit, you tell him.”
Rohit had always been articulate, but facing Sidharth in that moment—the oppressive aura of his Chief —he couldn’t find a single tactful thing to say. So, he opted to speak the truth as knew it.
“Reporting to Chief!” Rohit snapped his heels in attention and then continued. “Shehnaaz went to Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa for her graduation trip and
encountered distress! She and Special Operations Forces personnel, Little Rao are m.i.a at the moment!” Rohit
stood in rigid military stance with both palms flat on his trouser seams, head high as he finished his report.
Sidharth rose and slowly brought his hands behind his back. His eyes were like bottomless wells, but an intense
light flashed in them like a lone fire burning in the night sky.
The power that branched out from him left one with the impression that those who came close to him would be reduced to ashes. He calmly looked ahead for a while, before extending his hand to open his laptop, his fingers
tapping on the keyboard. His voice was low. “Activate satellite tracking.”
Deepak’s eyes lit up and the lump that had been stuck in his throat for the past half an hour finally found went
down as he cried, “How did I forget about that? Chief, please grant me, Lieutenant Colonel Deepak, permission to activate Special Satellite 2!”
Sidharth nodded without looking at him: he had already opened Special Satellite 2’s tracking system on his
computer. Deepak ran out of Sidharth’s office to a small inner room within the mechanical room. He sat
before the large central control computer and rubbed his hands together, then quickly entered in strings of passwords before using his fingerprint and eye recognition to generate a secure, temporary password.
In Sidharth’s office, Rohit was too afraid to move and remained before Sidharth’s the desk. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and along his neck, dripping down his collar and merging with the sweat on his back.
Sidharth’s head was lowered as he bent over his computer and activated a hidden program. Five minutes later, in the airspace 30,000 kilometers above Blue Planet, a satellite named Special Satellite 2 completed an orbital adjustment and locked onto the location as programmed: the Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa.
…
“We found them!” Deepak cried out from in the mechanical room. “We have both Shehnaaz’s and Little Rao’s
locations! They’re still in Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa— wait, Little Rao’s location seems to be outside the resort…”
Deepak’s fingers entered a series of commands in order to triangulate Little Rao’s exact location. Sidharth
was in the study. He ran the computer program running Special Satellite 2, and commanded the army personnelle to collaborate and plan for infiltration and retrieval. After a few more commands, Special Satellite 2 was locked onto its target. Sidharth leaned back and motioned at Rohit to explain the entire situation.
“When the students made plans to have their graduation trip at Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa, I checked the location first and determined that it was a secure and clean establishment; only then did I give Shehnaaz the ‘ok’. I
sent Little Rao with her too, so I never thought…” Rohit mumbled, his head dropping. “Chief, I’m so very sorry. My
carelessness warrants disciplinary action, as is only right.”
Although no one had told him the details, Rohit knew that Shehnaaz had gotten into trouble just two months ago and that it had been Sandeep who saved her. At that time also, Rohit had not foreseen the danger that she had
eventually gotten caught up in. Now, something similar was happening again, and Rohit fully blamed himself for being so sloppy and negligent.
Sidharth looked up and slowly shook his head.
“Rohit, don’t say things like, ‘I never thought,’ as a soldier under my command. In war, there’s no time for you to say the words, ‘I never thought.’ There’s no time for you to backtrack, or berate yourself over minor setbacks or regrets. You must embrace the tenets of precision, accuracy, and efficiency in every thing you do and in every move you make.”
Because anyone who thinks like that will already be long dead in the midst battle. Sidharth thought grimly.
Rohit’s head lowered further. Deep in his heart, he confronted the reason for his mistakes: the truth was, he had never regarded taking care of Shehnaaz as an important military duty. His overconfident and erroneous mindset, however, had put Shehnaaz in harm’s way again.
It had tainted his integrity as not only as a soldier, but as Shehnaaz’s extended guardian as well.
“Punishment is inevitable…but this isn’t over yet. Whether you can make amends and rectify this situation depends on you.” Sidharth levelled Rohit and pointed at the door. “So, get out and get to it.”
“Yes, Chief!” Rohit snapped his legs together and saluted before running out. After he left, he immediately
contacted the C City Special Forces Auxiliary Branch.
“What’s the situation at Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa?” The officer on the other end promptly responded. “Reporting to Lieutenant Colonel Rohit! The police headquarters have deployed a special unit—100 riot police— with Deputy Commissioner Daya leading the operation and full support of the entire police force. They have also mobilized a helicopter and have contacted the garrison’s special forces team for good measure!”
Rohit questioned him in detail for a long time before ending the call. Even the special forces with the garrison
troops were on standby, meaning that the situation at Sahyadri Mountain Resort Villa was worse than he had
thought.
Rohit set aside his pride and burst into Sidharth’s study to plead with him. “Reporting to Chief! Special Operations Forces Lieutenant Colonel Rohit Maan is requesting to support the operation by Sahyadri Mountain
Police!”
Sidharth nodded slowly, his gaze lightly scanning over Rohit’s face. Seems like things are worse than Rohit thought. He closed his laptop and rose from his seat. “Have someone prepare the car and bring Deepak. I’ll be going too.”
“What?” Rohit grew even more anxious. “Chief, you can’t go! It’s too dangerous there! The number of criminals is unknown and we aren’t familiar with the topography.”
Sidharth didn’t say a word, but stared him down. It was enough to shut Rohit up. He gave a military salute. “Yes sir! I’ll go prepare everything right away!”
Sidharth walked to his bedroom, opened his closet, and put on his custom military uniform. He wore knee length boots with bulletproof knee guards and custom made bullet
proof clothing covering his torso and legs. Even his helmet was bulletproof. He had two Browning pistols at his hips and carried an American M16A semi-automatic assault rifle. His face was calm as he walked out. Sidharth held the rank of Major General, so he had at least eight guards with him during outings. But, because he managed the Special Operations Forces, which was completely different from the Field Army, he required privacy and secrecy, rather than publicity. So this time, he went out with only his guard and driver, Harsh Vardhan.
Rohit sat in the front as usual, while Deepak carried a pile of electronic equipment and sat next to Sidharth in the back. They rode in a Humvee.
“What plate should we use?” Harsh started the engine with his right hand and opened the side compartment of the side door with his left hand to reveal an array of license plates. They could be used and changed at anytime.
“Use the garrison plate.” Rohit glanced at Sidharth and saw him close his eyes. He interpreted the Major’s silence as approval.
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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.