Operation Dragon Strike

by Rahul Badami

  “It was an unintentional accident! I had every reason to keep him alive.”

  “Do you realize we lost a valuable lead because of your actions? The purpose of the entire mission is defeated.”

  “But–”

  “No buts.” The General interrupted. “You are to give a full report of your actions to Manohar ASAP. We almost lost the consignment in Iran, and now this. I expected better things from you.”

  “Sir, if you would listen to me–”

  “Yes, I will hear your side of the story from Manohar. I’ll read your debrief about today’s mission from him. I need the SITREP sent to me in the next two hours.”

  General Singh hung up the phone.

  Armaan stared down at the disconnected call. His cheeks were burning. What was the problem with the guy? He was starting to become impossible. It was as if he hated Armaan. Armaan kicked an empty beer can lying on the road in an effort to release the pent up anger that he couldn’t unleash on his boss. It clattered across to the other side of the road.

  Here he was trying to do his best, putting his life in danger at every moment, and the General in his cosy office was telling him that he was screwing up things.

  It wasn’t fair.

  Armaan stopped as a sudden thought struck him. He had forgotten the reason he had called the General. Baldev and the boys. They could still be in trouble.

  The General had said they were capable enough. But what if they went in blind? The dead man had said that his people were everywhere. What if the team was right now in trouble? He couldn’t wait for the General to make a decision. If they were caught, it would be three or four days till their disappearance would be assumed suspicious, and someone sent to investigate.

  No, he couldn’t let that happen. He had to do something. And in that moment, Armaan knew what he had to do.

  He would go to Urumqi himself.

  CHAPTER 13

  An hour later, Armaan reached Istanbul airport.

  He hadn’t bothered informing Manohar. Armaan had a twinge in the back of his throat as he made the decision to go off by himself without letting his friend and mentor know. But time was against him. He was sure Manohar would take the General’s side and dissuade him from taking any unilateral action.

  Armaan didn’t want to spend an hour trying to convince Manohar when that hour could be used to fly closer to his team. He hoped to explain everything once he got in touch with his boys and ensured they were safe. Once he was in China and ensured that his buddies were safe, he would call Manohar and explain.

  Right on cue, his mobile buzzed. Armaan glanced at it. It was Manohar calling. Probably to ask why he wasn’t at the safe house yet. Armaan shook his head and let the phone ring. Not now. He couldn’t talk to him till he had figured everything out.

  On some level, Armaan knew he wasn’t doing the right thing. He had been given the Istanbul mission. The mission had gone belly-up. After all his missions, he was supposed to return back and debrief his superior about the mission outcome. He had done that previously and now a force of habit tugged him into guilt of not adhering to the standard operating procedure. This is different, he tried to convince himself. But somehow he couldn’t. Instead of completing the existing mission and providing a debrief, he was now on the way to oversee an entirely different mission that he was never a part of. Armaan pressed his lips tight. It was wrong on so many fronts.

  But then again, he had to do it himself. There was an unknown adversary following their every move. Someone who had the reach to know that Baldev and the boys had gone to Urumqi. Armaan still shuddered at the thought. Right now he couldn’t afford to trust anyone. He would have told Manohar why he wanted to go, but then Manohar would be obliged to inform General Singh. He wasn’t yet sure how the leak was happening but he knew that if he disclosed his intentions to Manohar, he was sure that this unknown person in the shadows would eventually know about it.

  Armaan glanced at the timer counting down on his watch.

  1:06:55:23

  Time was running out for the database wipe. He wondered if he would find the unknown mastermind in China within thirty hours. He believed it. Whoever was trailing the team in Urumqi was either a lead or the adversary himself. But still, he worried if there were some clues he had missed in Turkey. His stomach gnawed with indecision. What if he was making the wrong decision by going to China? There were no easy answers. He remembered his Rule Number Five: The correct answers to questions are only found in school books. In real life, one must always take firm decisions based on incomplete information.

  Right now he was sure of only one thing. The enemy was laying a trap for his team like a hunter. And he would hunt the hunter. He had to be firm on his decision and eliminate all uncertainty in his mind. China was where he would find all his answers.

  He would disclose everything to Manohar after he ensured the safety of his team. He just hoped Manohar would understand. But he was equally sure the General wouldn’t. It would be yet another black spot on his name in the General’s eyes. But Armaan didn’t care. Lives were at stake. His team were more than just colleagues; they were his brothers.

  Armaan walked through the terminal and made his way to a private hangar. The DIA pilot was reading a newspaper. He dispensed with the formalities and came straight to the point.

  “Uday, we have to leave immediately.”

  The pilot put down his newspaper and stood up. “Yes sir. Where to?”

  Armaan guessed the pilot would be used to a lot of last-minute requests, and this one would seem no different. Uday was familiar with his ‘frequent flyer’ status, and it wouldn’t arouse his suspicions. He would assume his trip had already been cleared from above.

  “Urumqi, China.”

  *

  “We are there.” Uday announced.

  Armaan’s eyes flew open at the words. He glanced at his watch. It had been seven hours since they took off. Armaan had worried about his team and had been unable to rest. But the fatigue of the day caught up with him and he had gone into a dreamless sleep. Till Uday spoke up over the intercom.

  Armaan looked out from the window. In the distance, a hazy smog covered the ground with some buildings jutting through. He kept watching as the plane’s altitude lowered for landing. Soon they were below the smog and it revealed a big city full of high-rise skyscrapers. Armaan was surprised. He was expecting a small town in the middle of an arid landscape. This looked to be a bustling metro.

  A few minutes later, they touched down at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport. The airport was located twenty-four kilometres north-west from the city. Armaan rented a black sedan at the airport. It was time to figure out a place to stay. He pulled out his mobile and did a quick five-minute study of the city, its districts and the people. He settled on Heijiashan district, a run-down suburb that mostly accommodated the non-Han residents of Urumqi. It would be the least conspicuous place in the city. He put the engine into gear and drove to the city.

  At Heijiashan, Armaan cruised around the streets till he found a small nondescript hotel. He checked in and was given a room on the first floor. The place was old, the paint had faded off in places, cracks could be seen in the walls, cobwebs hung in the corners and the furniture hadn’t been given a polish in a long while. But Armaan wasn’t perturbed by the squalid environment. He had lived in worse places. As he munched on a sandwich, he evaluated his next moves. He had to figure out where Baldev and the boys would be. So far, he just had the bluster of the dead man that they had spies monitoring them. And the phone numbers he had found on his mobile. It was a flimsy lead, but it was all he’d got. That was where he would start.

  His phone buzzed. Armaan glanced at it. It was Manohar.

  Not again.

  Armaan shook his head in indecision. Manohar was probably wondering why he hadn’t returned back. A stab of guilt pinched him. He should have told him that he was going to Urumqi. But then again Armaan reasoned, Manohar wouldn’t have allowed it. Moreover, he would re
port it to the General and the General would consider it a blatant insubordination. It wasn’t something he could dwell upon at the moment. Finding Baldev, finding the adversary and stopping the database wipe out was the priority. He pocketed the phone with a sigh.

  Armaan pulled out his tablet and got to work. He had to find out who was behind the Aadhaar hack. And he had to get the decryption codes before all hell broke loose. Right now, he had only one lead. The three mobile numbers he’d found in Mastaan’s cell phone. One Indian number and two Chinese numbers.

  The DIA had a people database that catalogued names, photos, residence address and other identifiable information. Armaan picked up the Indian mobile number and ran it through the database. Maybe he would be able to pinpoint it to the traitor. The result populated on the screen.

  A single name.

  Raj Kumar.

  Armaan gave a wry smile. Raj Kumar. Such a frustratingly common name. He could fill an entire cricket stadium with Raj Kumars. The name was obviously fake. He saw a New Delhi residence listed in front of the name. Maybe that was fake too. Manohar’s team should have cleaned up the hotel room by now. He was sure they would find the phone and do their own research on the owners of the phone numbers listed. Right now he didn’t have the bandwidth to follow this lead further.

  Armaan then typed in the first Chinese number. The search turned out blank. Maybe it was an unlisted number. He smashed his fist on the desk. He had to figure out where his boys were. And the best way was to track the persons involved. The first Chinese number had turned out to be a dead end.

  He typed the second Chinese number and ran the search.

  The search result popped up.

  Venera Hoshur. With an address in Urumqi.

  Bingo.

  Armaan quickly memorized the name and address. It was time to pay her a visit.

  CHAPTER 14

  “I’m unable to reach him, General.” Manohar spoke on the secure phone.

  “What are you talking about?” General Singh’s gruff voice came through the earpiece. “He was supposed to submit a report on the Istanbul situation.”

  “That’s what I don’t understand, sir. He called to tell me that he confronted one of the suspects and he died. That leaves us with just Jin Wang. I’m trying to reach Armaan for the past many hours but he’s not responding.”

  “What’s happening with Jin Wang?”

  “Our men are interrogating him, sir.”

  “Do whatever you want with Jin. I want all the information inside his head out by any means. And get moving on that report by yourself. I want it in an hour.” The General hung up the phone.

  Manohar wondered if Jin Wang had spilled his secrets yet. Every person had a weakness. It was now only a matter of time before he got the decryption codes. He had apprehended Jin Wang and brought him to the local safe house for questioning. He had a team here that was capable of persuading the Chinese hacker. They were working on it. He hoped that he would get some good news soon.

  He glanced at his watch. Hours had passed. Armaan should have been back by now. What happened to him? Was he in danger? He had tried calling him multiple times but Armaan hadn’t answered. His team had gone to the hotel room where the other suspect was killed and had cleaned up the place. But Armaan wasn’t there. It was quite unlike him to be in absentia.

  Suddenly, his subordinate rushed into his room out of breath. “Sir…”

  Manohar raised his eyebrows. “Yes?” He saw his subordinate was panting, out of breath and his hair was in a wild tangle. A knot tightened in his stomach. He braced himself for whatever the man was about to say.

  “Jin Wang died.”

  “What!”

  *

  “Bring her to periscope depth.” Captain Khurana gave the order.

  The INS Khanderi had finally reached their designated coordinate at the mouth of the Malacca Straits. Khurana had ordered his crew to reach the destination in double quick time. On the way, the XO, Dhiren Someshwar had given him various theories on why they were sent here. Each one more improbable than the last, but Khurana had been patient.

  “We will know when the time comes.”

  “But aren’t you curious about why they are sending us here?” Dhiren asked.

  “I am, but over the years I’ve learned that speculating overloads my brain. I try to keep my mind clear and focused on what my immediate priority is: reaching the destination.”

  “Now that we are here, we should know what our orders are.”

  “Yes we should.” Khurana turned to the Officer on the Deck. “Raise the periscope.”

  The ballast tanks were emptied and the INS Khanderi ascended to periscope depth. A submarine’s prime objective was to stay hidden. There were three levels of depth a submarine used: surfaced, submerged and at periscope depth. A submarine would surface only at home ports. The submarine would remain submerged while traversing from one place to another. And occasionally, it would rise up to periscope depth so that the submarine could either do a surface ship reconnoitring or download communication messages from Navy HQ over the antennas attached to its sail.

  “Ship is now at periscope depth, Captain.”

  Khurana grasped the periscope handles and rotated the periscope through the entire 360°, as usual ensuring there were no ships in the vicinity. Once satisfied, he gave the order to message HQ. If there were any messages that HQ had sent, he would now receive them.

  The Comms technician sent the update to the HQ about their position. A few minutes later, he received a message.

  “Message coming through.”

  “Bring it over.”

  Captain Khurana read the message. The order was to proceed to a coordinate further down the Malacca Strait. He handed it over to his Navigator and asked a single word.

  “Where?”

  The Navigator plotted the coordinate on his map. Khurana looked at the location and his eyes widened. It was near the Singapore straits. He couldn’t understand the destination. Were they rendezvousing with someone there? He still didn’t know the objective of his mission.

  “A Captain’s only message coming through.” The Comms technician spoke up.

  Khurana narrowed his eyes. The Captain’s only message was very rarely communicated. It meant the message was so sensitive that only the Captain could read it. He walked over to the Comms Technician and waited for the message to be received.

  The message came through and Khurana read it. A shiver passed his body. He reread it once more to make sure he hadn’t misinterpreted the order. There was no ambiguity about the order. Once they reached near the Singapore Strait, they were to torpedo Chinese cargo ships and supertankers passing through the strait. A final confirmation would be sent in a few hours.

  He clutched the paper, his mind dizzy with the order he had to carry out.

  “That bad?” Dhiren looked at him.

  Khurana shook his head. He wouldn’t share the details unless it was truly needed. “We will find out.”

  But the dread inside him refused to go away. He stared at the screen where the Navigator had plotted the coordinate. The Singapore Strait was the narrowest point on the Malacca Strait. It was only two and half kilometres in width and was even narrower near the terminals built up at Pasir Panjang port. Furthermore, the channel was shallow at barely twenty-two metres in depth. The draft of the Khanderi was twelve metres from top to bottom. They would be scraping the seabed. The risks of discovery of their submarine were quite high.

  Khurana folded the paper and put it in his pocket. It was going to be a dangerous mission, so close to the coast of Singapore. With ships passing through the channel almost every minute, there was no place to hide even at night. He knew the ramifications of the order. The Strait would fill up with immovable monster-sized cargo ships and supertankers. The Strait would get blocked in no time. It was no wonder the Singapore Strait was called a choke point. It was soon going to be a reality.

  He just hoped the confirmation would never come.


  CHAPTER 15

  “This area is pretty busy.” Roshan craned his head at the spiralling skyscrapers of the Urumqi Central Business District. It was nine am and they had decided to walk around the area to get a feel for the place. Scores of Chinese businessmen milled around ready to start another workday.

  “Easier to escape in a crowd.” Baldev adjusted his business suit.

  They had decided to wear business suits so that it would fit the role of both a customer and a senior executive at Zontai Industries. They already had a plan. Now they scouted the area for opportunities in case, their original plan failed. There was a nineteenth-century quote that had been hammered in their heads during their training: no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Now it was a question of thinking outside the box and making sure they succeeded at the op.

  “There’s the Plaza Tower.” Hitesh said.

  Roshan looked at the skyscraper. It was massive in size and spread out like a rectangle, its glass windows were mirror-polished and reflected the image of the buildings opposite it. The Plaza Tower took up an entire block in front of a crossroad. The entrance was wide. He could see scores of people entering the premises. Two guards were posted on either end of the entrance watching the visitors coming in.

  Baldev scanned the building and the surroundings. “All right, let’s circle around the block, check out the level of surveillance around the building and find all available entry and exit points for the building.”

  An hour later, they casually walked inside the building alongside other people; mainly customers of Zontai Bank. The guards did not give them more than a cursory glance. Roshan gawked at the spacious lobby. Dozens of customers were inside. As he watched, a lady approached them. He could see the bank’s ID card tied on a lanyard around her neck. She stood in front of them and smiled.

  “Good morning. Are you here to open an account?” she said.