“I’m going there Seema,” Prakash said.
“Don’t be a fool, Prakash,” Seema protested. “What will you do there? Let the security forces handle this.”
“My whole life, I’ve covered crimes when they have already happened. It’s high time I prevent one,” Prakash said with determination. “And besides, I don’t think we’ve got enough time to wait for the security. I’ll have to go. You stay here. Explain the situation to the authorities and guide them.”
Seema wanted to oppose, but there seemed to be no other way. She acquiesced and said half-heartedly, “Call me immediately if there’s a problem. And don’t you lose your life!”
Prakash nodded and then turned towards the receptionist. “Give me an access card.”
77
Room 705
Asaf Zahavi tried hard to concentrate on his book. He was reading Focault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Being an ardent reader, he usually completed a few chapters before going to sleep. But today’s turn of events had upset him.
He was an old man and had only a year to retire. His prostate problems had put a full-stop on his travels long ago. It was probably the last time he was out to meet the most brilliant scientists in the world. But now the opportunity seemed wasted because of politics.
“Too many warmongers out here,” he grumbled and picked up the mineral water bottle from the coffee table. He chuckled after gulping a mouthful. Ummm… now it tastes better. Much better than the holy cow piss they had served earlier. The previous lot of mineral water kept in his room had tasted odd. He had immediately got it replaced. He wanted plain water, not some medicinal Ayurvedic hokum.
A ring on the calling bell made him look at his watch. 11:30 PM. Who is it? Not the Mossad idiot again!
He went towards the door and looked out through the peephole. Daniel Levy? Must’ve come for a discussion. He had known Daniel almost ten years. In his opinion, the man was one of the most brilliant nuclear physicists in Israel. He had often had umpteen rounds of discussions with him ranging from astronomy to philosophy over pegs of whisky.
He opened the door with a smile. “What brings you here my friend tonight? Should I order some whisky?”
Daniel said nothing. His face was expressionless and eyes were wide. He slowly got inside, holding the knife he had picked from his room.
Asaf’s eyes fell on the knife and his smile disappeared instantly. “What are you up to?” he asked with a frown.
Before he could say anything else, Daniel lunged at him with his knife. Asaf tried to avoid the assault by placing his hand in the line of attack. The knife pierced his palm, evoking a painful shriek from his mouth. Daniel stabbed him on his throat next time. A spout of blood burst from his sliced carotid artery. The man kept stabbing at Asaf’s throat till he stopped reacting. Asaf’s bladder and rectum gave way as he fell backwards on the cold floor, spilling faecal fluids all over. He was completely still in a minute.
Daniel stood unflinching, unperturbed by the growing stench in the room. He wiped the knife on the bed nonchalantly and moved out of the room, walking sluggishly in a deranged manner.
78
Prakash could hear his own heartbeats as the lift he was in rose towards the 7th floor. He couldn’t believe what it all had come to. What had started with an intriguing case of a sniper killing a mass killer had come so far to bring nations to a clash. It was much beyond a news story now. It was a nightmare in which he and Seema were active players.
The lift opened and a frightening silence greeted him as he came out. He found himself in the middle trunk of a T-shaped structure. A corridor connecting the rooms ran on either side. He noticed a fire exit behind him and opened its door to check for exit options. It led into a damp smelling staircase. Contented that there was an exit route other than the lift, he walked towards the corridor.
There was no one is the corridor on his either side. To his left, he saw rooms arranged in the descending order.
710…709… 708...
The rooms 701 to 705 were of his interest and they were placed on the right hand side.
Before he could stride forward, he realized that the room in front of him was slightly ajar. Room 705 is open. Careful not a make his arrival known, he pussyfooted towards the room and gave a mild push to its door. An overpowering stench of faeces and urine made him jerk his head backwards in revulsion. Oh my God! What’s going on here?
The next moment, the door of the room was pulled in. He saw a pistol pointed at him by a bearded man.
“On your knees,” the man barked. “Immediately!”
Prakash shook his head with disgust and kneeled down. He looked at the man. The man was a giant. The fair skin and slightly brownish hair suggested a middle-eastern origin.
He tried to talk some sense into the man. “Look, whoever you are and whatever you’ve come for, you are not going to escape. Security forces will be here in a minute.”
That was a lie. He didn’t know how long the security would take to get there.
The man took a few moments absorbing what Prakash had said. “Who killed the man inside?”
“You mean a scientist is dead?” Prakash questioned back. Somehow he didn’t feel shocked. The stench had already given him a hint.
“Yes,” the man roared. “Who killed him?”
The tension in the man’s eyes made Prakash feel that he was not the killer, but a protector.
“It seems we are on the same side. I’m not the killer if you’re looking for one,” Prakash said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “I’m here to save the Israelis. If you are here for the same thing, then you’re wasting time on me.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Prakash, a reporter with the Globe News. I know about a lot of things that are happening here,” Prakash replied with restlessness. “Look, I can answer all your questions when this is over. But as of now, I think there are people who need our help. Let’s not waste a bloody second in saving the other scientists.”
He started getting up from his position warily. The man did not oppose.
“My name is Eli. I am an Israeli intelligence agent. The bloody Iranians have…” He stopped midway in his sentence, staring along the corridor.
A muffled shriek had emanated from one of the corner-most rooms.
Both Prakash and Eli ran towards the source of the sound. A faint sound of furniture being moved came from room 702. Eli pressed his ear to its door. He gestured Prakash to stand behind him as he turned the doorknob. It spun effortlessly. Like the previous room, this one was also not locked. Pointing his gun forward, Eli pushed the door in with his right foot. The room was completely dark.
“Whoever it is, freeze and drop your weapon!” Eli yelled, getting in swiftly.
Prakash followed him. He brushed his hand about the wall behind the door to locate the hotel card key switch. There was no card inserted in the switch. Shit!
He tried hard to adjust his eyes to the darkness. The dim light from the corridor was not helping matters. He took out his mobile phone and pressed a key to throw some light inside the room. The silhouette of a tall man standing at a corner of the room struck his eyes.
“That’s Daniel Levy!” said Eli loudly. A sense of relief was visible in his voice. “Are you OK Daniel?” he said again and started moving towards him.
Prakash scented danger. “No!” he yelled out, projecting his hand to stop Eli. But it was too late.
With a sharp manoeuvre of his hand, the silhouette that was Daniel, stabbed Eli in his abdomen. A wail of agony escaped Eli’s mouth. Reeling from the sudden attack, he raised his pistol to fire at the place where Daniel was standing. To his dismay, no one was standing there now. He felt a crushing blow at his left temple which toppled him over. The pistol got flung into some unknown corner of the dark room.
Daniel now hovered like a victorious gladiator over the writhing body of Eli.
Prakash stood stunned at the door watching it all happen so fast. He had no weapon in
his hand. Only a mobile phone. He threw it like a projectile at Daniel. The phone hit the face of the monster with a loud thud and got shattered into its components.
Daniel was momentarily swayed by this sudden attack. Prakash knew this was the only chance he would get. He came into a ‘free kick’ position and gave a smashing blow at Daniel’s face with his right leg. The man collapsed backwards.
Prakash felt a sharp pain in his leg. Have I broken a toe? He was struggling to stand, but there was hardly a second to waste. He took Eli’s hands in his own and tugged hard at them. God! This man is heavy. He used all his power to pull the man’s body out of the room. From the corridor, he saw Daniel staggering and standing inside the room. Prakash closed the door shut instantaneously. But unfortunately, it wasn’t locking down automatically.
Prakash felt the door being pulled from inside the room. He kept his hand fastened to the doorknob. But his power was no match to Daniel’s who was a burly man. His face winced with pain and fear, as he felt his grip slip from the doorknob. There was only one thing he could do. He let it go and kicked at the door with full force. The door caved in fiercely and thrust into Daniel’s body, propelling him backwards.
Prakash looked at Eli’s body. He was gasping for breath, but was still very much alive. He won’t live for long without any help. He hammered his hands on rooms 701 and 703 and called out for help. Where is the Goddamn security?
79
Tilak was standing in combat position at the fire exit. From his position, he could tackle anyone coming through the main staircase as well as the fire exit. The two lifts were no longer a worry for him. He had blocked them by picking up a couple of heavy flowerpots from nearby and fixing them between the lift doors. He had some the same to the service elevator at the left end of the corridor.
His Bluetooth headset buzzed. It was Sultan, who sounded a bit edgy.
“The Israelis have got protection! I saw a bearded man with a gun get into one of their rooms.”
“Should I worry?” Tilak asked calmly.
“Not yet. It seems he’s been gravely injured by one of our targets.”
“Good for us.”
“But the reporter has also found his way into the corridor,” Sultan said, gritting his teeth. “The asshole reaches everywhere.”
Tilak sighed with exasperation. “He might play a spoilsport. Do you want me to finish off this mission in our usual way, without banking too much on this drug?” he asked.
“The time for that hasn’t come yet. And who knows, you might not have to intervene at all.”
“But this will take time,” Tilak said and then probed, “And why are you so hell bent on letting the drug do it all?”
“When the media will tell this story tomorrow, the whole world will know that there are people who possess a drug like that. You know how good that will be for our future business?” said Sultan. “But, I think you should not be concerned about all that. What matters to you as of now is that security forces will soon come your way. Stop them and let Daniel Levy do his job.”
80
Hotel reception, Le Regalia
Seema looked at Asif Ansari, an Assistant Commandant at CISF, sent to lead the initial response team. To her surprise, the team comprised of only four people – Asif and his three jawans carrying INSAS assault rifles. Theirs was the nearest available patrol team kept for the hotel security.
Seema could see signs of nervousness in Asif’s eyes as he fidgeted with his walkie-talkie. He had dispatched two of his jawans to the control room to find out why the hotel security officer had not arrived yet.
A brief squawk on the device made him speak restlessly into it, “What happened ladies? Found anything?”
“Three dead bodies in the control room. All shot in cold blood,” replied one of his jawans.
Asif closed his eyes for a few seconds and said, “So Seema’s fear is correct then. The attack has already begun. You have to be careful guys. The assailants might be in the vicinity. Do a recon and get back here immediately.”
“Hmmm…coming back,” said the voice from the walkie-talkie. “No surprises that the transmission from the CCTV cameras is blocked. All TV screens are blue.”
“No more sniffing around then. I want you guys here ASAP. Over and out,” he said and then mumbled to himself, “It’s not going to be easy here tonight.”
Looking at the anxiety in Asif’s face, Seema asked, “So there are only four of you?”
Asif nodded. “A bigger team is on its way. Might take a few minutes,” he said with a grim voice. “Till then we are on our own.”
“We might not have a few minutes,” she said.
“That’s true. Do you have any idea how many attackers are there?”
Seema shook her head. I have no idea.
“Can your friend give us a heads up?” asked Asif about Prakash. “But I have to admit that he is either too brave or too foolish to have gone into the action zone all alone.”
Seema felt her stomach churn with apprehension. I shouldn’t have allowed him to go there. But there was no point in repenting now. She dialled Prakash’s number. It was switched off. She felt her anxiety double in a second. Hope you are OK, Prakash.
“His phone is switched off,” she told Asif.
“You just pray he’s alive,” said Asif and then turned towards his one remaining jawan. “We are going to the 7th floor. Check out the lift and the staircase.”
The jawan ran towards the lift and pressed the down button. But he stood there unmoved, curiously eyeing the floor indicator. He was first confused, then alarmed. He turned towards Asif and said, “Both the lifts are stuck at 7th floor.”
Asif looked at Seema and then at the lady receptionist, “They have blocked the lifts, which means they are ready for us. We can’t use the main staircase in that scenario. Is there any other way which the attackers might not be aware of?”
“The service elevator,” the receptionist replied pointing towards a far end of the corridor.
One jawan ran in that direction, but came back in a minute. “Same thing. Blocked.”
“There is one more way. But I can’t say whether the attackers know about it or not. It’s the fire exit.”
“You sure there is no other way?”
“Hmmm.”
“So, fire exit it is! We don’t have a choice,” Asif said. His eyes strayed towards his two jawans who had returned from the control room reconnaissance exercise.
One of the men rushed towards him and said, “Seems to be a pretty well planned attack. They have killed everyone in the control room and shut down the CCTV feeds.”
“Did you check out the bodies?” inquired Asif. “Were they warm?”
“Yes Sir. The dead bodies were warm and the smell of gunpowder was still floating in the room. The killings must have happened only a few minutes ago.”
“I get a terrible feeling that something really bad is happening as we speak,” said Asif, looking at Seema and his jawan in turns.
Seema, however, was deep in her thoughts, “Something is bothering me. We ourselves came only a few minutes ago,” she mumbled.
“So?” asked Asif.
“Are we so lucky to get into the hotel exactly when the attack began? I mean, they shut down the phone system, blocked the CCTV feeds and killed everybody in the control room around the same time we were trying to alert the security officer.” Seema frowned and then started looking upwards. She turned her body in a 360-degree arc.
“What happened?” asked Asif.
Seema had found what she was looking for. “I think they have their eyes on us!” she said, pointing at a tiny CCTV camera mounted at the ceiling. “They have been seeing us all the time! And they know what’s happening everywhere.”
“You mean they‘ve hacked into the hotel surveillance system? Good heavens! These are some really professional pricks!” said Asif and then barked an order at the receptionist. “Is there a way to shut down all the cameras? Even the computer network
, Wi-Fi – everything?”
“Yes!” The girl turned around to face a door behind her reception desk. She swiped her card and unlocked it. Asif and Seema followed her as she entered the room. Besides a few damaged computers and broken furniture, a black coloured metallic box was placed at a corner of the room. It had a number of small, green LED lights blinking over its body.
“That’s the Ethernet switch,” the receptionist said and turned off a switch beside it. “It’s shut down now.” And then with a rush of adrenaline, she yanked out all the cables from it like a wild cat playing with its prey. “It’s done,” she said, dropping the box on the ground.
Seema almost smiled at the aggression from the pretty girl. Looks like Milla Jovovich from Resident Evil.
The girl now looked at them and said, “All our cameras are IP CCTVs – directly connected to the computer network. Just now I’ve shown the terrorists the middle finger.”
“Great!” said Asif. “It’s time to go get these bastards.”
“Aren’t we going to raise an alarm for all the guests to get out of the hotel?”
“No way. This will drastically increase the number of casualties. The terrorists will simply need to keep their fingers pressed on the triggers. Easy game for them,” replied Asif.
“But this will be grossly unfair to the people who are staying here?”
“Let’s do it this way,” he said. “Once we are on the seventh floor, I’ll give you guys a signal to get floors one to six cleared. Hope the backup teams arrive in time.”
“What about floors eight and nine?”
“With the lifts blocked, people will have to pass through the zone of action. We can’t take that risk,” he said. “Don’t inform them. I’m afraid that’s the way it is.”
Seema didn’t argue. They needed to begin their mission.
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