PM”s SPG convoy
As the SPG guys literally lifted the PM to his car, Karan and Ravi Subramaniam were waiting.
PM nodded and both of them got in.
The car was speeding through the empty Delhi roads.
The roads were made free till the airport.
Air India One was ready for takeoff.
The red dust was visible in the horizon
Karan, I need answers. What were you hiding from me?
I went to Dhaka for three days and there has been utter chaos across the country.
And what the hell are those red dust?
He switched on the TV and videos of plants and animals being vaporized in a matter of minutes were played in a loop. Television channels were going black
The Scenario was the same across all channels.
Ravi switched to facebook and there was a live video feed from Delhi CM,
“It”s true that the dust is spreading and corroding/killing everyone in it”s path but the truth is Danaseva and Union government wanted to spoil my reputation by changing the strain that was meant to help us control pollution? If people start dying because of famine or the bacteria the blame should completely fall on our Honorable PM”
“Lives are stake and all along the government has helped Yashwant and his wife in setting up shell companies for hoarding money
It is his company”s IPO today, where is he now?
He was last seen with PM and his advisors en route to Bangladesh?
Where is he now? Why didn”t he return back?
If PM is not a part of this, why did he send his family to Pathal Bhubhaneshwar in Uttarakhand?”
Who accompanied them? Can you guess?
It”s none other than Supriya Hegde. Wife of Yashwant Hegde.
The attack that took place in Punjab was not from separatists but by mercenaries who were hired and paid by Yashwant using one of the shell companies to control the bacteria from spreading.
Did it happen?. No. Instead of destroying the traces they enhanced it.
Yashwant is not alone in this.
No. Things got out of control.
I got this all this intelligence from southern governments.
Nobody bothered to listen to them
If you are watching this, head to the mountains or north east”
It was a rant from a docile man which created ripples among Delhiites and panic only further spread.
Pm was speechless. His advisors were waiting for him to recover.
“Sir. Sir”
“We need to evacuate people. Millions might die. We need to talk to South CM”s and understand the situation and find a way to stop this”
People should not starve to death.
“Put me through to Nalan,”
They tried to connect, requests were completely denied.
PM got a call from a secure frequency,
It was Nalan on the other side
“Sir, we are running out of time, our task force inquired into the events”“.
“ColdX was a company registered to Subsidiary company owned by Yaswant”s wife, Supriya Hegde.
And they are specialists in cryo freezing stem cells and seeds.”
“What the hell that has to do with the fog that is destroying the country?
More we dug into it, more we found it hard to believe”
“There has been a missile attack in Punjab.
The separatists were hired and paid by a company registered in Maldives.” Nalan said
“Pakistan” asked PM
“No Sir.” Nalan said
“Then who is it?” asked PM
Suddenly there was white noise.
“Nalan. Nalan.” There was only white noise and no response
“Seems that the ICBM”s were launched from our Navy Ships, said Karan
“I didn”t authorize it”
“It says you did, sir”
“Oh, Ram! Ram!” he was yet to come out of the shock
“Was anybody hurt?”
“No reports from the ground yet Sir. There has been radio silence. Casualties from the attack would be less compared to what the missiles activated.
The bacteria which was released to curb pollution in Delhi has mutated and it has turned into a killer. Eating plants, crops and even livestock” Ravi and Karan started worrying about their families.
“You have not answered my question yet!” PM was getting anxious.
““And put me in touch with Amol, Where hell is he? I need to mobilize state police forces Where is he?”
“There is a connection Sir.
Our investigation points all this to one person.” Said Ravi Subramaniam
“Who is it?
Our h…
The vehicle they were traveling was rammed into by a 16 wheeler which up until this point was on the side of the road.
The Cadillac withstood the impact but was tipped over.
The escort vehicles stopped and SPG guys rushed out from the lead and rear vehicles to his safety.
Gunfire brought the first few down mercilessly. SPG men who were watching out in the open were not given a chance, their heads exploded instantaneously.
PM was still unconscious. Karan and Ravi were being crushed under the weight of the car.
SPG guys and PM”s car were 100 feet apart. Such was the impact.
SPG guys had to locate the source of the gunshots.
There were two sources of gunfire.
One was from a high rise building and the other was hard to locate.
And the man from the high rise had a clear shot on PM, as he crawled out of the overturned car.
One SPG guy spotted it and alerted the other, he broke into a run.
The man from the car (Second source of gunfire) shot the SPG man running towards the sniper whose nest was the high-rise building.
Without options, another SPG guy started shooting and broke into a run, this cover fire gave the third one who has trained arduously to tackle situations like this put his training into action and he managed to get close PM”s car
The other two SPG guys were shot, one fell on the spot and the other was seen crawling and the third one managed to pull out PM but SPG guy got shot in the shoulder.
At least the best he could do was to pull the man out of the range of the sniper.
This all happened within minutes.
His earpiece was not working.
Sniper started shooting incessantly.
Without help coming anytime soon, SPG guy braced for whatever was coming to him.
That was when he heard a truck rolling to a halt and tumbling on its side.
Blood was pouring out and he calculated that he had minutes.
Chapter 19
St. George Fort, Chennai
It”s been days since Nalan had slept. His counterparts from other states were similarly sleep-deprived.
They were constantly in touch with the situation up North.
“The wall has been completed” said Shehelawat.
“We have started letting people in through the gates, we have been monitoring their health and letting them in”
Still, we are short of manpower and there are naysayers within our states who are trying to convince the public that we are going to declare independence”
Would they have believed us if we told them the truth”
We would have been treated with disrespect and utter contempt, waiting for permits and facing legal hurdles and nothing would have been done.
Wait! Wait! I am receiving a call from Amol, said Nalan
He was on, “You have defied authority. Martial law has been declared. All you will be arrested, you have made a move against the nation. It was your idea to engineer the bacteria to put us into submission.”
No, I didn”t.
Or we didn”t.
The barrier was raised to stop the bacteria from entering the Southern parts in that case we at least people can migrate and live peacefully. Repair t
he society.
The world will label all you like that. We have been trying to warn you.
Our PM is gone.”
The connection was cut.
At the same time, there was a call from PM.
Nalan had to cut the call and move to a secure line.
He explained how he and others tried to reach him but the fact that he was shielded.
And the truth behind Separatist and Mercenary connection in Punjab!
All of a sudden his connection went blank.
In the screen behind Sekar was a white horizon-expanding in the distance, a powerful white noise filled the space,
Amravati tried to alert Shehelawat,
Thamburan saw it too, as did Victor
Nalan heard a crackling noise, he broke into a run towards the balcony that was facing the sea and then he saw it.
INS Andhadhi was visible on the horizon, A column of smoke rose in the air from the ship and it was heading towards Fort St. George.
By the time, he alerted his sleeping wife and daughter, it was late.
The last thing he did was to call his son, the phone was ringing.
Once, Twice. Thrice. He picked up.
“Appa,” he said and a blast followed by a dangling white noise. Nedunallan and Perunkilli were with him.
Chapter 20
Hasan
The last 3 hours were grueling for Hasan. He had been driving Non-Stop to reach Delhi and he hoped at least Delhi Airport would be accessible.
All through the way, streets were deserted and devoid of people or life.
The clouds were chasing them like a monster and it was not going to stop until it feeds on everything.
Army trucks led the group up front and they were in Delhi and the only road they were able to access was the road that led to the airport.
“Seems that PM has escaped the mess” Bandopadhay said
“Lucky us”
A truck was overturned and they had to get down and push it.
There were gunshots beyond the upturned truck.
The soldiers raised their guns.
Sometime earlier When Kumar and gang got into the duel
SPG guy was trying his best to save Kishore Mangat but he was quickly losing consciousness. The gunners had the upper hand.
An explosion shook the car behind which PM and SPG guy were hiding.
It was the second SPG guy who acted as a diversion, before dying, he crawled his way to the van unsighted by the sniper and dropped a flint into the ground gunner”s van.
Kumar and the gang were watching this unfold.
It was the same SPG guy who almost caught Kumar and Ayyapa.
He decided to go in.
Ayyapa stopped him. We have to save him, said Kumar
Nalini ran past the truck.
Shots rang around her. She didn”t flinch.
SPG guy passed out not before giving his gun to her.
Kumar ran towards the building that housed the sniper. Ayyapa was behind him.
The sniper was busy trying to locate Nalini. She proved to be handful.
Kumar smashed a window pane on the sniper”s head which he didn”t expect. His sniper and holster gun fell from the top.
Ayyapa grabbed his ankles as he tried to stand up, the sniper fell on his face, blood was rushing out of his nose
The sniper was broad, he shook Ayyapa easily and kicked him in his gut, leaving Kumar to face him.
Kumar tried to tackle him but the punches were strong and the sniper removed a knife from his belt and slashed at him.
Ayyapa wrapped his legs around the guy and there was a gash was made across his forehead. Blood seeped out of his forehead.
Kumar head bumped into the sniper and he almost fell from the 12th floor but his grip was too strong. The sniper managed to hold onto the railing. Kumar and Ayyapa failed to notice that and now it was time for them to head back. But they had to rest for a while but they understood they were running out of time as the red dust was closing in.
Meanwhile, Grace and Kanishka helped Nalini and PM to their feet.
There was a loud rumble of tires.
They hid themselves and there were voices.
Guns were clocked.
The boys were bloodied. They were gasping for air.
With blood all over his face, a man”s silhouette was visible.
Clocking sounds were heard.
It seemed that when they crashed the window pane, the gun did not fall to the ground, it dangled on a line left by a construction worker.
It was the sniper.
Bullets sprang out. Kumar and Ayyapa thought they were done.
The silhouetted figure fell.
Behind him was Major Bandhopaday.
The red dust was around 10 minutes away from them. In the distance they could spot trees turning into dust in a matter of minutes.
Karan and Ravi didn”t make it, they crushed under the weight of the Cadillac.
On the way to the Airport, PM Kishore Mangat was contemplating and connecting the dots.
It was going to be close for them and even if they make it, they were not sure whether the plane would be still waiting for them.
Bandopadhay told them that the bacteria can corrode its way into metal too from what they have seen.
Hasan held C-53 rat close to
Karan and Ravi almost came up with a name, “Our ho…
Nalan too speculated the person”s name, “Am..”
Even Bipul Sharma, Delhi”s CM stated that someone within the cabinet was footing things”
And then he remembered ten minutes into his speech, Amol walked out and was greeted by his son.
Did he know that it was going to happen?
“Why didn”t he tell me?”
“It should be him”
“Who? Sir?” asked Bandopadhay
The army trucks were shielding the PM”s truck from any potential attacks and they had to maintain maximum speed before the dust was on them.
“Amol Gupta”, said PM.
Even non-reactive Bandopadhay was shocked.
PM and Amol were friends since they started with a right wing party”s religious arm. They were hand in hand. If it was true, it was a serious accusation.
They made it to the airport and Air India one was waiting for them. It was filled with people who were waiting for their flights.
Citing the rain clouds, all flights were cancelled.
Kishore was taken to Air India one surrounded by soldiers.
He was carefully escorted but gunfire rang out killing two soldiers.
Kumar and gang, Hasan were on one side, Bandopadhay, PM and a bunch of soldiers were on the other side.
Hasan was clutching the C-53 rat compartment in his hand and he hid.
It was important for Bandopadhay to keep Hasan, PM and everyone else safe.
It was not going to be simple.
The red dust was 5 minutes away.
He keyed into his com network.
It”s either now or never.
The crowd was collectively gasping.
Everything was clear to Bandopadhay now.
They were being held hostage against their own will.
And among the hostages were the mercenaries. It was had to identify who was who.
Either way Bandopadhay yelled, “Now”
The soldiers were stripped of their guns and ammunition.
They were made to walk in a line towards a room at the corner of Terminal 3.
This was unexpected.
The groups that were divided broke into a run.
One towards the plane and other towards the exit gate.
Shots were fired in all directions.
Few soldiers fell protecting PM.
Ayyapa was shot in the leg and fell. Kumar saw it.
But what they, the attackers didn”t expect was to place Bandopadhay to leave his best snipers behind and the ploy worked.
The attackers were identified and shot one by one.<
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Meanwhile Kumar and gang were the fighting the ones who tried to snatch C-53 from Hasan”s hand. By this time he was hardened enough to face things and the first thing he did was to break the man”s nose.
It disoriented him and the girls pounced on him. It was over.
Kumar and Hasan were checking their smartwatches.
AQI was 0. Which means the bacteria was upon them.
“We should leave now, sir” said Bandopadhay
PM was watching the stranded passengers.
“What about them?” pointing out to the passengers.
We don”t have the time.
There was a huge Antonov plane resting in the hangar.
The passengers were flocked into the Antonov along with few soldiers and it was decided that Bandopadhay with his adequate flying skills will be able to pull it off.
Air India One was the first to lift off after a short runway. It was designed for that.
Antonov was still struggling to get in the air and the red dust was upon them, the plane was outrunning it. Bandopadhay had to put in all the effort and his co-pilot was a Britisher who had taken a few flying classes.
The passengers were anxious. It was harder. Running was about to run out and it finally took off.
“What”s the best bet?” asked PM Kishore Mangat
“South or East”, he asked
“We should reach a safe zone first.
With both planes in the air, it was clear that they were out of danger at least for the time being.” Said Kishore
“I have heard rumors that North Eastern states have built a buffer zone, we could go there”, said Hasan
Kishore”s hands trembled. He did not have the time to say any excuses. The plane was in the air. They were counting their seconds.
Bandopadhay was shocked to learn Nalan and Southern Chief Ministers were attacked.
There has been no explanation or proper communication about the events.
Even PM had not been informed about the truth behind the events that took place in Punjab.
First thing for the group was to reach a safe place where they can start asking the questions?
Antonov was up in the air, the red dust all over them and Bandopadhay was struggling to keep it afloat.
He saw black smoke rising in the air, he feared that one of his engines might de down.
Then he saw it, one of the rear engines of Air India was burning and he plane lurched
Hasan was worried that all of this began with his research which had gone out of hand.
Mitron Dilliwala Page 7