Once he was outside of the Secret Service building, Sidharth looked up at the night sky and let out a long sigh.
Despite his efforts, Abhay Reddy had slipped out of his fingers.
Rohit walked over and offered him a cigarette.
The two men stood under a large tree, a short distance away from the Secret Service building, and began to smoke.
For them, smoking was the quickest way to de-stress and calm their nerves.
Rohit was halfway through his cigarette when he received a call from the Senate.
"Hello, this is Rohit Maan speaking. Oh, yes, I'll let him know right away." Rohit ended the call and then said, "Sir, it's for you. They want you to report to the Senate Hall."
Sidharth threw his cigarette butt into the trash can under the tree. He packed his M16 assault rifle into its case and tossed it to Rohit. "Let's go."
...
It was now three o'clock in the morning. Sidharth stood before a podium in the Senate Hall conference room and was giving a report of his military operation to his audience: the chairman of the Senate, the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees, and the heads of various government agencies.
General Rawat, the commander-in-chief of the military, sat in the last row with his guards and personal secretary. The anger on his face was plain to see, but his wrath was not directed towards Sidharth; on the contrary, he was here to back him up.
Abhay Reddy was the deputy director of the Secret Service department, and therefore occupied a high-ranking position.
On top of that, he was a member of the powerful and influential Reddy family; the Reddys were deeply rooted within both the upper levels of government and the elite society of
the India.
Sidharth had gone after a member of the Reddy family without giving any of the military higher-up prior notice. He
was well aware of what would happened if he did not put forth a valid reason for doing so: the potential fallout with the Reddy family would be disastrous.
General Rawat had carefully groomed Sidharth to be his successor, and fully intended for him to take over his position as commander-in-chief of the Indian Military one day. For that to happen, however, Sidharth's resumé
had to remain clean of any possible scandals. However, General Rawat had already made up his mind: he would side with Sidharth, even if it meant incurring the wrath of the entire Reddy family.
Sidharth was sure that General Rawat would support him to any extent, yet he did not think he was worthy of any
such protection from the general; he had failed to put a bullet in Abhay's head, and now Abhay had escaped from the India. This was by far his worst failure since joining the military.
Sidharth looked at the documents in his hand: Rohit had obtained a list of everyone who had exited the country in the last month from the Indian Customs, and had sent it to him a moment ago. There was a grim smile on his lips as he said, "Good morning, Chairman Bhatt, and esteemed gentlemen. I stand before all of you today to inform you of a high-level defection in the Secret Service."
The room quickly erupted into a litany of angry exclamations and threats.
"What?!"
"Watch what you're saying, General Shukla!"
"The Reddy family has served the India faithfully for many generations. Many of our family members have given their lives for the country over the years as well. How dare you speak such lies and slander?!"
"General Shukla, you have been extremely impudent and reckless in your dealings with the Reddy family. Did you think that you could get away with it, just because your father is the head of the Military Political Department? Or were you relying on the reputation of your grandfather-the former deputy commander of the military-to bail you out of trouble?!"
Many of the high-ranking officials in the India were from the Reddy family: of the seventeen officials in attendance, five bore the Reddy family name.
Sidharth had led his men on a midnight raid of Abhay's office and had arrested all the subordinates of the Secret Service deputy director. But he had not stopped there; he had gone one step further and instructed the military police to take control of the Secret Service, effectively paralyzing the Indian Intelligence Agency's Secret Service.
In the eyes of the officials in attendance, Sidharth had grievously overstepped his boundaries.
Sidharth stood on the podium with his hands clasped behind his back, his face calm and indifferent. He said
nothing. He waited until the uproar died down, before carefully saying, "Those of you from the Reddy family, please leave the room. In accordance with the confidentiality laws of the India, you are not permitted to hear what I have to say next."
"What?! You're throwing us out?! On whose authority?!"
"This is outrageous, Chairman Bhatt! Someone's trying to set us up! This is a conspiracy!"
"Shut up!" Sidharth slammed his fist down upon the table, the veins at his temples visibly throbbing with anger.
"You have no right to complain! Just think of the Secret Service personnel who lost their lives in North America!"
The Senate Hall was immediately silent.
Chairman Bhatt stood up and said to the Reddy family: "I assure you, I will not allow an innocent person to fall victim to defamation and slander. At the same time, I will not allow a traitor to my country to walk away unpunished."
The Reddy family discussed the matter amongst themselves.
Finally, one man stood up and said to Chairman Bhatt, "We believe you, Chairman Bhatt, and so we will listen to you out of our respect for you. But as for him," the man pointed to Sidharth, who was still standing on the podium, "he'd better have conclusive proof to back up his claims, or there
will be consequences!"
The Reddy family rose from their seats and marched out of the room in anger.
Once they stepped into the corridor outside, they were immediately detained by Sidharth's guards, who were acting under the instructions of Rohit. The officials from the Reddy family were handcuffed and quickly escorted to a private holding room; this was a necessary precaution, in
order to prevent them from tipping off the rest of the family.
Back inside the Senate Hall, Sidharth was now presenting his evidence to the remaining occupants of the room, pulling up the documents on the large projector.
"This is what has happened. I'm sure you are all aware of Shruti Brala, who betrayed us by leaking the civilian code for the GSAT-7 System. As it turns out, she had secretly approached Ronak Bedi- deputy director of the GSAT-7 System's R&D department-while she had been part of the GSAT-7 project. Both Shruti and Ronak tried to
conceal this from others, and we had overlooked their connection during our initial investigation. We were only
tipped off recently when we received concrete intel that the US military still has Shruti under close surveillance-
presumably because they have something else they want from her." Sidharth turned around, his face grim.
"Shruti went abroad, and helped Ronak open a backdoor to gain entry into the United States. However, Ronak only gave her the civilian code-he did not give her the password for the encrypted channel. Ronak had tried to use Shruti as a go-between, and the password for the encrypted channel was his bargaining chip. Their deal was discovered by our Secret Service personnel stationed in North America, and the information was relayed to Abhay Reddy, the Secret Service deputy director in charge of North America."
Sidharth pointed at the chart on the screen with the laser pen in his hand as he explained the tangled web of
connections.
"Abhay learned of this, but did not inform us. Instead, he got in touch with Ronak and asked him to contact
the US CIA through Shruti, because he wanted to defect."
Chairman Bhatt and General Rawat widened their eyes at this, their faces troubled.
If Sidharth's allegations were true, then Abhay's defection would destroy everything the Indian Secret Service had built in North America over the last 30 years!
Chairman Bhatt sprang up from his chair. "Where is Abhay Reddy?! Issue a top priority arrest warrant for him this
instant! Hunt him down! We cannot let him get away with this!"
"It's too late." Sidharth shook his head. "I moved to arrest him as soon as I had received the news, but all I found was his tracking microchip, hidden in his office. He's been gone for at least four days now." As he spoke, he took out the list of people who had exited the country. "This is the list from customs; you can have a look for yourself."
Chairman Bhatt collapsed into his chair, his mouth trembling.
He was at a complete loss for words.
"Ronak recorded every meeting with Abhay Reddy, because he was afraid Abhay might be a loyal spy for the India, trying to collect damning evidence on Ronak's betrayal. If Abhay was simply testing Ronak, however, he would not have quietly escaped the
country for fear of punishment. I believe that Abhay Reddy is already in the United States-the question now is whether he has made contact with the CIA."
"We have to withdraw all our Secret Service personnel from North America, immediately!" The head of government slammed a heavy fist on the table. "We cannot let this traitor compromise the lives of our men!"
"I've informed our North American Secret Service men that Abhay Reddy is a traitor-they are already aware that any information originating from him cannot be trusted, and will be evacuating shortly."
General Rawat wiped the sweat from his brow. He had fought many battles throughout his life, but this was the first time he felt uneasy.
The Reddy family would resent him for this.
The Reddy family was a large family.
Although Abhay Reddy had turned out to be a despicable traitor to his own country, the rest of the Reddy family could not be punished for his crime. It
would have been acceptable once, a long time ago, to punish everyone with familial ties to a criminal, but that was now considered barbaric and uncivilized. Times had changed.
Moreover, it was impossible to eradicate the Reddy family's influence; they were intimately connected with many people in positions of authority, either through marriage or actual blood relations.
Sidharth was also aware of this fact. He suggested an alternative.
"I propose a comprehensive review of all members of the Reddy family with government positions at the departmental level or above. Those without suspicious connections or
activity can be reinstated to their positions."
The implication behind his words was clear: anyone connected to Abhay Reddy's act of treason would be charged and sent to jail.
Chairman Bhatt exchanged a look with the head of government, before saying, "Yes, you're right, an investigation is in order. Hand over the evidence. We'll take over from here. As for the Secret Service, send your men to follow up. That will be all for today-the meeting is over!"
Sidharth walked out of the Senate building alone. The sky was lightening he and was greeted by the faint blush of dawn. The golden outline of the morning sun could be seen through the clouds hanging over the horizon.
"Sir." Rohit greeted him with a solemn face. "Little Deepak has just confirmed that Abhay has made contact with the CIA. Should we ask Sana to return to India?"
Sidharth looked towards the rising sun. He narrowed his eyes. The sunlight filtered through the verdant trees lining the avenue; it was like looking at an explosion of emerald and gold confetti.
Sidharth was silent for a long moment as he considered Rohit's suggestion. Finally, he shook his head and said, "That won't be necessary. No one knows her real identity, not even the Secret Service. Reva Reddy knows
-and she's from the Reddy family-but she's always been loyal to General Rawat. We'll give her the benefit of the doubt, for now. And besides, Sana still has to deal with Shruti's lawsuit."
"But aren't you worried?" Rohit was overcome anxiety; in his mind, Shehnaaz was still no more than a child.
"Of course I'm worried," Sidharth said carelessly as he walked to his car, "but I can't hide her away just because I'm worried. Your concern for her is clouding your judgment."
"Clouding my judgment?!" Rohit sputtered. He wanted very much to protest, but could not say to Sidharth's face: You're the over-protective one!
Rohit sullenly got into the car after Sidharth, unable to voice his frustrations.
Harsh started the car and drove Rohit and Sidharth to the airport.
...
At that moment, over at the C City International Airport, Parth heard over the airport's PA system that his flight would be delayed for two hours: all planes had to give way to a private military jet that was currently flying to the airport from the Indian Capital.
Parth sent a text to Shehnaaz: "My flight's been delayed for two hours."
Shehnaaz, on the other hand, was already regretting her impulsive promise to Parth.
She saw Parth's message and hastily texted back: "Actually, I can wait for half a year, you don't have to hurry."
Parth smiled at his phone, imagining Shehnaaz's impatient face through her quick reply. He bowed his head and was about to type out a reply when a slender hand reached over and plucked his phone away.
"Parth, are you really going away? You're leaving me? Is that really what you want?" Mahira's sorrowful face
appeared before Parth, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
Parth was stunned. "Y-You... How did you know that I'm here?!"
"Nothing is impossible, if you set your heart on it." Mahira turned off his phone. "Parth, don't go. I've never asked you for anything, but this time-I'm begging you!"
She bit her lip and looked at Parth, the expression on her heart-shaped face tender and beseeching. She stepped
forward and wrapped her arms around Parth's waist and looked up at him. "Parth, give us another chance. I'm not asking for much, just the next six months. By the end of six months, if you don't think our relationship is working, you can be with her, okay?"
Parth closed his eyes. He knew that Mahira was a proud woman. Yet, she had swallowed her pride just to beg him to give them another chance-what more could he ask from her?
Parth folded Mahira into his arms, burying his face in her hair. "Okay. I won't go to America. We'll give ourselves another chance, for half a year, but you have to promise me not to tell anyone about this. Not even Shefali."
Mahira let out a sigh of relief as a gentle smile spread across her face. "Okay, I promise."
It was better this way.
They would try again for six months. If they could not get their relationship to work, they would stealthily break up.
Nobody would ever know, saving the two of them from potential embarrassment and awkwardness among friends.
Just then, an attendant walked over and asked them to leave as the area was now off-limits-the private jet of the high-ranking military official had just landed.
Parth put an arm around Mahira's shoulder.
"Let's go home."
"You're not going to America?" Mahira pointed to Parth's phone. "You have to tell her, you can't just leave her hanging like that. She may end up waiting for you."
Parth smiled. He raised his phone and sent a message to Shehnaaz: "Something's come up, a family matter. I won't be able to go to the US for the time being. I'll wait for you to return in six months."
...
Shehnaaz had been restless and fidgety the entire time as she ate her dinner. She would open her mouth a few times to say something, but would quickly stop herself every time.
Deepak, on the other hand, was too preoccupied with carrying out the plan entrusted to him by Sidharth- the evacuation of the North American division of the Secret Service-to notice the turmoil within Shehnaaz.
He hurriedly finished his dinner and reminded Shehnaaz to put the plates and chopsticks into the dishwasher, before excusing himself to return to his room to work.
Just then, Shehnaaz received Parth's text.
She let out a long breath; she was relieved, but could not help feeling puzzled, all the same. She frowned as she carefully placed the bowls and plates into the dishwasher.
She absentmindedly added the detergent and set the cycle before returning to her room to bathe.
She was not in a good mood-a bubble bath would be just the thing to lift her spirits.
She filled the bathtub with water, stirred in the bubble bath liquid, and-as a finishing touch- added a few drops of rose essential oil. Her bubble bath, fragrant and inviting, was now ready.
She removed her clothes, coiled her hair, and put on a shower cap. Once she was ready, she stepped into the
bathtub and eased herself into the blissfully warm bubble bath.
...
Sidharth disembarked from his private jet at the C City International Airport. He exited the airport through the VIP passageway, got into the Special Ops' private limousine, and was soon back at the military base.
He was a little tired: he had spent all of last night dealing with the Abhay situation. On top of that, he had not
slept for several nights before the incident.
After a simple, make-shift meal, he decided to take a shower and go to sleep. Before that, he remembered his private phone. He had made it his habit to check it every day. He looked at his phone, and discovered a long list of missed calls from Shehnaaz.
What did so call so many times? Did something happen?
Sidharth's gaze shifted to the timestamps of the calls and saw that they were all from 9 in the morning local time, which was about nine in the evening in the States. Looking at the missed calls, it must've been from seven or eight hours ago. Sana was probably still awake? Sidharth unlocked the phone to dial her number.
...
As an Internet addict, Shehnaaz always had her phone with her, even in the shower. She was about to take a bubble bath, so there was lots of time to soak in the tub and browse online. Her phone laid on the small table next to the tub, while she relaxed in the tub and smearing all the bubbles on herself. She was tempted to blow bubbles and have them fly around the bathroom. In the quiet bathroom, the sudden ringing of the phone startled her. Her gaze moved to phone and she froze before reacting-that was the ringtone she had especially set for Uncle Sid! Shehnaaz's eyes lit up as she frantically reached her hand out from the tub to pick up the phone, the water splashing as she stood up from the tub and her body was covered in white bubbles.
"...Uncle Sid?!" She was so excited that voice trembled slightly.
"Mhmm, it's me." Sidharth gripped the phone as he asked, "I saw you called many times, did something happen?"
Shehnaaz recalled the sadness and dismay she felt from calling for two hours to no avail and whimpered, "Uncle Sid, you told me I can always find you if I call this number, but you..." She sniffled before continuing, "I understand if you're busy and couldn't pick up, but you can't lie to me. Tell me if you don't want me to call, I want bother you."
Sidharth shook his head helplessly, "...Sana, I was on a mission when you called. I couldn't bring a personal phone."
"Huh?" Shehnaaz immediately felt guilty as she quietly grumbled, "Is that true? I know you can't pick up during
missions, but I asked Brother Deepak and he told me you just talked to him, but then you didn't take my call..."
"Impossible." Sidharth firmly denied, "Little Deepak must've not explained it properly. Besides, even if I called him, it would've been for business. -Why would I deliberately ignore your call?"
"Really?" Shehnaaz smiled as she held the phone, her emotions too easily influenced by Sidharth. A few words can send her to heaven, and another few words can banish her to hell. She was in limbo between heaven and hell; suffering yet ecstatic.
"Of course not." Sidharth switched the phone to his other hand and began unbuttoning his uniform to take a shower, "Tell me, what did you want to say? Was it urgent that you called so much?"
"It was urgent then, but now it's alright." Shehnaaz spoke carefully, "I wanted to ask you, did you find out anything?"
She stood naked in the bathtub filled with white bubbles and a mirror was mounted on the opposite wall. The
condensation on the mirror made the reflection a blur, and only her silhouette was visible. Shehnaaz reached out to wipe the mirror off and looked at her face. Her cheeks were
flushed, large eyes misty as she looked fearfully at herself and seaweed-like hair hung down her back. She wiped the disappearing bubbles off her body and bent over to douse water on herself.
Sidharth opened the closet in the bathroom to take out a new, tan colored towel to drape on his shoulder. He said, "That's good then, Everything is taken care of here, and Little Deepak will let you know the details. Report anything else right away."
Shehnaaz immediately promised when it sounded like Sidharth wanted to end the call. She couldn't bear letting him go and held her phone as she paced in the bathtub to try to think of something else to talk about. Lost in her thoughts, her foot suddenly slipped and her phone dropped into the tub with a big splash. "Oh no..." Shehnaaz cried as she nearly slipped but thankfully grabbed on the handrail
hastily. She bent over to look in the tub and fished out her phone. Thankfully, the phone was alright but the call was ended. The phone had excellent waterproof capabilities
indeed. Shehnaaz eagerly called back.
"Sana? Sana?" Sidharth only heard thumps from the phone, then the call ended. He looked at the phone with
an increasingly grim expression and was just about to call Deepak to ask what happened when his phone
vibrated again. Shehnaaz was calling.
He unlocked the phone. "Why did the call end? What happened?" Sidharth sternly questioned, his voice dangerously low.
Shehnaaz pressed the wet phone to her ear and blushed when she heard him speak, "Everything's ok! I just dropped the phone into the bathtub..."
Sidharth, "...How did you do that? Where are you? What are you doing?"
"I was in the bathroom when you called and taking a bubble bath." Shehnaaz hurriedly explained, "...So the bathtub wasa slippery."
"Slippery? You're taking a bath?" Sidharth frowned and remembered that it was indeed night time in the States right now and it made sense she was taking a bath. He chided her, "Why did you pick up in the middle of a bath? What's wrong with you? -Is the phone still ok?"
Shehnaaz anxiously nodded, then shook her head, "Yes it's ok! I was very careful! I picked up the phone when I was standing in the tub, so it didn't get wet. Really, it was an accident that I slipped and dropped it."
Sidharth closed his eyes and was silent before asking her in a raspy voice, "...Are you hurt?"
"No, I caught the handrail. I didn't fall down." Shehnaaz looked at the phone, "The phone is wet though, I'm going to
dry it with a hairdryer after my bath."
"Continue then." Sidharth couldn't speak anymore and swiped the phone to end the call. He threw it onto a small basket on the bathroom counter. He walked to the shower and turned on the hot water to allow it to gush onto his body-the droplets wet his hair, sliding from his broad back down to his defined back muscles. The frosted glass enclosure of the shower quickly grew misty. He raised his arms and leaned against the wall, burying this head as the hot water rinsed his strapping, unmoving body. He was still
swollen... Sidharth finally sighed and switched to cold water. Cold water on the base was supplied by groundwater,
so it was much colder than normal room temperature water.
The iciness washed over his body twice before he finished cleaning himself. Sidharth dried his hair with a towel and wrapped his lower body with the tan towel. Face expressionless, he grabbed the phone from the basket and left the bathroom. When he returned to his room, he felt
uncomfortable looking at the large bed. Instead, he changed into casual clothes and laid on the sofa to quickly rest his eyes. He was awaken by knocking on this door.
"Mr. Shukla? Mr. Shukla? Are you there? It's me, Sandeep, Big Rohit said you were looking for me?" Sandeep's voice thundered from outside the door.
Sidharth opened his eyes and got up to open the outside door to see it was already dark. He only took a nap, why was it dark already? He looked at his phone and saw it was already 8 in the evening. It was truly a deep slumber,
he slept straight from day to night. Sidharth's felt a little embarrassed as he turned to let Sandeep inside.
"Mr. Shukla, what is it?" Sandeep carried his briefcase,"I just finished two surgeries and am starving now. Can you call the cafeteria to send some food over?"
Sidharth signalled his orderly, "Have food sent here."
The food was quickly delivered and Sandeep ate as he listened to Sidharth, "...About Sana's case in the States, I want you to make a trip there."
*
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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.