Cold Love

by Amieya Prabhaker

  “Aunty. Maybe I know where he could have gone.”

  “Where Riya?” everyone echoed back.

  “There is a place. Near Cumbala hills.”

  “Beta, will you bring him back?” Riya nods in acquiescence to Kamla’s request. She starts walking towards the door when Kamla calls to her, “Riya beta. Listen, take Ramu kaka with you; let him drive the car.”

  Riya nods, and leaves immediately. Just as she gets to the car, she receives a call on her phone. She was hoping it might be from Arjun but it’s from someone important.

  “Riya, are you alone?” The mysterious man speaks out.

  “No” Riya responds tersely.

  “Ok, just listen to me. Arjun knows about your Afghanistan incident. When you meet him and if he asks about it, tell him only about Afghanistan. Do not discuss anything else today. Abort all plans we had for today. I will speak to you later tonight. Ok?”

  “Yes.” Riya responds briefly again, as the phone is hung up immediately. She gets extremely concerned now as she did not expect things to turn out like they had today. She looks out of the window of her car, as it races past the curves of the hill reaching towards the summit. Perhaps she knew right from the start when she took this mission that this journey was never going to be easy.

  She has made tremendous sacrifices and the important thing for her now is to make sure that she makes the final leap to the summit that she has been long striving for.

  ACT 6: THE FINAL EXECUTION…THE LEAP THAT REALLY MATTERS

  The day of the execution

  Beautiful Hills… Revisiting the Past

  Riya’s car finally reaches the summit of the Cumbala hills. She breathes in deeply to first savor the fresh air of the hills and the lovely backdrop of the orange sun on the horizon. She gets out of the car and anxiously starts looking around. She spots Arjun’s bike at the far end and then Arjun seated further down the hill, sitting on the grass overlooking the valley, with his back towards the road.

  “Ramu kaka. Please take the car back. I’ll come along with Arjun.”

  “Ok beta. I’ll tell sahib.”

  Riya walks up to Arjun. She realizes that Arjun has noticed her, but he didn’t bother to get up to greet her. She smiles at him and sits next to him on the grass. “Arjun! You are here and everyone has been worried about you since the morning”.

  Arjun doesn’t respond, and simply continues to stare at the sun. Riya decides to give him a moment.

  “It’s such a beautiful place isn’t it?” Riya tries to strike up a conversation, but without any response. She tries again in a minute, “Hey, it was such a great party last night! I feel so glad for Puja. You know, we were awake until almost 3am!”

  Arjun continues to stare stolidly and silently at the sun on the horizon.

  “Arjun, please talk to me! You are so stubborn!” Riya moves her left hand to wrap inside Arjun’s, “Arjun, I want to tell you something.”

  “If it has anything to do with today’s incident or about us, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Ok baba, I won’t say anything! Can I sit here at least? Or will that require a Government permit?”

  Arjun smiles, and gently nods yes.

  “Thank God! At least you smiled. You make me nervous Arjun!”

  They sit there for a while, chatting about various things, except the things they really need to talk about. Arjun lies down on the grass on the slope, his hand supporting his head at the back. He suddenly moves his head to her lap, asking her, “Do you mind?”

  Riya shakes her head no, smiling back at him. Arjun closes his eyes and moves his right hand over his face to ward of the glare of the sun. They sit there for a while, as Arjun almost dozes off. Riya continues staring at the beautiful sun and the picturesque landscape in the distance. She can’t help but admire her love in her lap. She ventures to gently run her fingers through Arjun’s hair. He appears to be asleep and lies still. She continues to play with his hair, her fingertips slowly and soothingly moving through his hair.

  After a while Arjun, still half asleep, casually takes his hand off his eyes. He has a frown on his face, uneasy at the sunshine upon his eyes. Riya improvises immediately and opens the knot of her lovely long hair so as to shield Arjun’s face, thereby blocking the sunshine from hitting his eyes. She continues to stare at Arjun and intermittently at the beautiful orange sun beyond the valley.

  After a while, Arjun opens his eyes slowly. He smiles looking up at Riya staring at him. “Arjun, please let’s go home.”

  In response, Arjun closes his eyes again.

  “Arjun!”

  Riya waits for a while; she can sense Arjun is only pretending to be asleep, so she picks up a piece of grass and tickles Arjun gently around his neck. Arjun giggles spontaneously and springs up on his feet, with a large smile.

  “Hey, do you want to eat something?”

  Riya gets up from the grass as well.

  “Oh my God! Have you had any lunch, Arjun?” Arjun just smiles back, “Oh! Please let’s go home! Aunty is waiting for you!”

  “I don’t want to go home now. I need to speak to you. You are not in a rush to go home are you?”

  “No.”

  Arjun briskly starts walking towards his motorbike. Riya follows. He starts the bike with a kick and gets on. Riya is wearing a long skirt and struggles to sit with her legs to one side.

  “Uff! Arjun! How will I sit on your motorbike?”

  Arjun shuts off the engine without saying a word.

  “Ok listen. Give me your tool kit,” Riya enquires with a spark in her eyes. Arjun hands her the tool kit from the side panel of the motorbike. Riya takes out a pair of scissors. “Ok now turn around. And don’t look here!” Arjun indifferently looks away, as Riya cuts her skirt just above her knees. Surprisingly, the skirt looks great after a simple trim.

  “Wow! You can kick start a new fashion trend Riya!”

  “Please! I wish! Let’s go now, shall we?” She sits on the bike, clutching Arjun’s shoulders. He immediately races on. After a short picturesque drive, he halts at a small roadside tea shack.

  An old man is sitting behind the small stove. His eyes light up upon seeing Arjun, “Oh beta! How have you been?”

  “Absolutely perfect kaka! Can we have tea please? And your special stuffed paratha too!” He looks at Riya as if asking her if she wanted one. She smiles and shakes her head. They return to sit down on the bike across the small road facing the green valley below. A cluster of black clouds has started building up on the hills across the horizon, threatening to engulf the orange sun on its descent to the sea.

  “Can I ask you something Riya?” Riya nods affirmatively, with a concerned look, sensing the question.

  “What happened in Afghanistan, Riya?”

  Riya stops sipping her tea, “You know about it, do you?... Who told you?”

  “I am Executive head of the Strategic Intelligence wing.” He smiles gently, “Azhar is a wanted terrorist on RAW’s list. How did you meet him, Riya?”

  “Couple of years ago I was in Afghanistan, working for UNICEF to help children displaced by Al Qaeda. We also helped Indian archeologists in their work. You remember when Al Qaeda blew up the Bamyan Buddha statues. I still get nightmares about the incident that took place on my visit … Arjun, before I tell you, can I ask you to please not tell mama about it? Papa knows everything, but we didn’t tell anyone else. No one!”

  “Tell me what happened there. I have read the report. But I want to hear it from you. And you can trust me; this will be between you and me.”

  “The Indian archeologists were working on the statues, restoring the broken sculptures, like nose chips and other defects. It was a regular day visiting these locations close to Bamyan. Suddenly one of the local villagers warned us of Al Qaeda terrorists coming that way. We left what we were doing and prepared to leave in a hurry. There were women and children as well; a few children were playing on the sand in the village. Before we could get back to our bus
, bullets were flying around us. Some hit the men and women there. Five terrorists on horses were approaching us from a distance and immediately there was fear and chaos all around.”

  “Oh my God! What happened then?”

  “Suddenly, one of those terrorists fell off from the back of his horse, then another one, and another. There was so much noise and confusion I couldn’t make out what was happening. Someone was shooting back at the terrorists. And within a few minutes, there were only two terrorists left. They immediately took cover behind some rocks and continued shooting. And then I realized there was one man, who was shooting at the terrorists from behind a rock. Whilst this exchange of gunfire continued, suddenly I saw a small child on the sand, a few feet from Azhar, who was in the line of fire. My other colleagues were in the bus by then and I was about to get in. I couldn’t leave the child behind in the line of fire and ran back to get the abandoned boy. But Azhar took that opportunity to pounce upon me and the child. Before I could do anything he snatched the child from my arms and threatened to kill him if the agent did not come out.”

  “Do you know the name of the RAW agent who was shooting at the terrorists?”

  “Yes; it was Krish.”

  “I know him very well. We went through academy training together. So what happened next?”

  “Krish threw away his gun, but he was still standing next to the rock. Azhar moved back to his horse, with the child in his arms. When he finally got on the horse I thought he would let go of the child. Instead he first shot at Krish, who took cover behind the rock. And the very next moment … Azhar shot the child!”

  She is crying and her voice is hoarse as she talks about it. She continues, “I was frozen for a minute, Arjun! I couldn’t move. There were bullets all around; a few of them flew inches from my ear. I saw the child falling from the horse. I ran to grab him as he was falling down and I managed to catch him before he touched the ground, but when I turned him in my arms to look at him…he was dead. His face… his face was completely blown off Arjun! And a moment ago that child was playing and gurgling. I was at an arm’s length from Azhar, right underneath his horse. While bullets were still flying around, he suddenly pointed his gun right between my eyes. I stood there motionless, still staring at the kid. Then suddenly a bullet hit Azhar’s shoulder. He immediately turned his horse around and started fleeing at top speed.”

  She is still weeping as she speaks-she does not stop to wipe away her tears, “Even today that child haunts me in my nightmares Arjun,” She sobs and takes a deep breath, “Just like that… he killed him. A seven or eight-month-old perhaps? Arjun, what had that child done?”

  Arjun holds her hand and squeezes it; he gently wraps his arm around her shoulder.

  “Then in a few minutes, far in the distant desert we saw more horses coming by. And bullets started flying again. This time, Krish jumped in and saved me as I was literally frozen looking at the baby. Krish pulled me away, while I kept on staring at the little baby on the ground. More horses galloped in. Krish dragged me on to his bike and we raced as fast as we could, while we were followed by the horses. Throughout the day we kept running … and shooting and then running… like a game of cat and mouse. I came to know that Krish was a RAW agent and was there to capture Azhar alive. Azhar himself was bent upon killing Krish as he saw him as his nemesis.”

  “Where did you guys go from there?”

  “We drove into the forest nearby to seek cover as the horses were right on our heels. Soon, the bike’s petrol ran out and we had to run as fast as we could. Although it was a desert area, the nearby Band-e-Amir Park gave us shelter.”

  “Hmmmm … Ok” Arjun sighs.

  “That night in the forest, Krish killed five terrorists with his bare hands and his knife. He had run out of bullets.”

  “Yes, he is the best even without guns!”

  “Yes… I saw so much bloodshed in those two days of my life, Arjun! Krish killed one terrorist flinging a tiny Swiss knife about 20 meters away…” She shook her head, still in disbelief, “It hit the guy right on his eye, and he fell down on the ground like a stone! Krish would lead me, holding my hand, literally dragging me around and I ran as fast as I could… we kept running, hiding and he was fighting on and on through the evening and through the night. We hid behind rocks, climbed trees… even went into the water and mud…we did just about everything to keep alive.”

  “You stayed in the forest though the night?”

  “Yes… I was so scared when the sun disappeared and we could barely see anything in the dark. Krish led us and we climbed trees on a few occasions to hide in the vegetation. It was a cloudy night and perhaps it helped that it was a new moon night with not a single star in the sky. He was like a hunter at night. There must have been about ten or twelve terrorists, combing the forest for us. But Krish killed them all in this rat hunt. Now when I think about it, I feel as if it’s a miracle that I am still alive. In that desert all by his own, with just knives and daggers, he fought tirelessly against the terrorists. I have never seen anyone like him.”

  “Krish is an expert in guerrilla warfare. That terrain must have been challenging, but I guess it worked to Krish’s advantage.”

  “Azhar and Krish had a face-off as well. Azhar was so fast and inflicted a dagger injury to Krish on his arm. Krish smashed a thick branch on to Azhar’s back that made him fall to the ground. He was about to plunge a dagger into Azhar when the other terrorists arrived and we had to run. Azhar was very badly injured from that fight and that is when they decided to give up the chase. We stayed hidden for the next few hours through the night, up on one of the trees. In the early morning, we came out. It was a long tiring walk the next day in the hot desert, but we finally met army personnel. They took us to the UNICEF base camp, where I met my other colleagues.”

  Riya pauses to look at Arjun. Meanwhile, the sun in the distance, even though a few hours from sunset, had been hidden by menacing dark clouds.

  “Arjun, I know innocent children die every day but that day… in front of my eyes … You know Arjun… that baby was nothing to me… I didn’t know him… I didn’t even know his parents. But, that moment I felt as if… as if I had lost a bit of my soul… Yes, Arjun; I felt as if I lost something of my own! And I have never been able to sleep after that night Arjun!”

  Arjun moves his hand to wipe the tears off her cheek. “Sorry!” Riya turns her face away to hide her tears. She takes a moment to gain her composure back. “Can I ask you something Arjun? How did you join RAW?”

  Arjun looks down at the grass, does not reply for a few seconds.

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  “No it’s not that. Remember Riya, when I was in Switzerland and I would not come home for the summer vacations. Mama used to complain that if Riya comes home for her vacations why did I not do the same?” Riya looks on, listening intently.

  “In Switzerland, I inadvertently came across a social media site that was stealthily recruiting militants from France and Germany for Syria and Iraq. I brought this to the attention of the authorities there. After a few months, a senior RAW official approached me. He told me about a newly formed strategic intelligence wing within RAW that focused on information technology and data as a means to safeguarding India’s geo-strategic interests. I was extremely interested and discussed this with Papa when he came to Zurich on one of his business trips. He consented to my decision to join RAW but we did not tell anyone else. I would return to India during my vacations and instead of going home, I used to go to the training centers in Gurgaon and Dehradun. I also continued training partially in Europe, under the supervision of existing RAW agents stationed there. Over the next two years I got involved in several joint international covert operations between MI6, Mossad, CIA and RAW, to crack the racket of militants’ recruitment social media websites. I was like a software hacker getting into their network, tracking them using their internet footprints. The operation was a great success, and that got m
e instant recognition within the newly formed RAW wing. As you know in my final year, I also patented a security software product and created a private limited company to launch it just before my graduation. I continued to be its non-executive director and it also acted as a guise for my covert operations in Europe, focusing specifically on exposing militant organizations in west Asia, Europe and Africa.”

  “And I used to think I know you very well Arjun!” Riya laughs gently, “All the while that we used to go about with our little pranks and jokes and everything… I never realized I was dealing with a top secret agent as a friend.”

  “It’s nothing like that. Anyway, tell me Riya, did you meet Krish again after Afghanistan?” Riya shakes her head in the negative, still looking away from Arjun, “And hey…when did you learn gymnastics?” Arjun enquires further.

  Before Riya can reply, Arjun’s mobile starts ringing. He immediately excuses himself from Riya to walk a few steps clear of her. “Yes Krish. Ok! Thanks for letting me know buddy! … Good to know my market value is ₹2 crores. I’m ready! …. Yes, I am with Riya; we were talking about you and all your adventures. Anyway, I will speak to you later. Thanks for the information buddy.”

  He turns around to see Riya right behind him.

  “What is ₹ 2 crores Arjun?”

  “I’ve hit a jackpot dear!”

  “Won’t you share it Arjun?” she half smiles, “Please tell me seriously.”

  Arjun walks to the motorbike, “Huh! You don’t want a share of this lottery. C’mon, we have to go.”

  He kick-starts the motorbike with one swift move as Riya follows him confused, but quickly hops on behind him. Arjun revs up the engine, and starts with tires screeching dust off the sand by the road. He immediately accelerates and races ahead at top speed.

  “Arjun! Why are you driving so fast?”

  Arjun looks back at her from the corner of his eyes, but revs up the acceleration further. He has a sudden urge to get back home. Till now he had been alone in this battle and had always felt confident about himself. He had taken bold risks, and his unique blend of courage and exceptional intelligence led to amazing results in covert operations around the world. These achievements led to his sudden rise in the ranks within the department.