by Rahul Badami
They had been travelling for few hours. Jalalabad was now behind them. Malik hadn’t spoken of where they were going.
“I think we are going to Kabul.” Hafeez conjectured. “We will confront our old enemy. It will be the final assault on the traitors of Afghanistan, and the rebirth of our nation. I am happy that the Kunduz brothers chose us for this mission.”
Some of them nodded. Pasha shook his head. “I am not sure…”
“Why?” Hafeez asked.
“The Kunduz brothers have their own men who have sworn their lives to them. Why aren’t they using them? And where are they?”
Shafiq thought about Pasha’s questions. And it made sense. The veteran soldier had an uncanny common sense. It was unusual for the brothers to not use their own men. He wondered if his group was going to be used as a suicide squad. The possibility seemed quite likely.
He was about to air his thoughts when the truck rumbled to a stop. They had gone off the main road half an hour back, and had traversed through open fields, followed by a rocky ride along the foot of a mountain, and had even risked going across a small rivulet. Shafiq wondered where they were.
“Everyone out.” He heard Malik’s voice.
Shafiq got out along with the others. Once on the ground, he stretched himself as he looked around. The trucks had been parked in a narrow gorge between two hills hiding it from view. The peaks of the hills cast a long shadow over the gorge. The entire scenery was beautiful. However, Shafiq’s eyes were drawn to two strange looking vehicles that were next to their trucks.
The vehicle had the basic frame of a truck. But that’s where the similarity ended. The exterior was painted in a garish sprinkle of bright colours. Red, green, blue, pink; all of them competed for space from the cabin in the front to the wooden sides that made up the cargo compartment and till the rear bumper.
The Kunduz brothers walked up to the colourful truck. “All right. Everyone listen up.”
The men gathered around the Kunduz brothers eager to listen to what they had to say. Nazal silently observed the group for a moment before he spoke.
“Brothers, we just crossed the Afghanistan border and are now in Pakistan…”
Chapter 25
“I am sorry, boys.” Armaan said. “I failed you again.”
They were in the safe house on the outskirts of Sargodha. Roshan watched Armaan slumped on the sofa, his face was drawn, his shoulders hunched and his gloomy eyes stared at nothing in particular. Roshan felt an ache in his throat. He turned his head away, a wave of sympathy rushing through him. He couldn’t bear to watch Armaan in this state.
They had been glad to find the destination of the submarine missiles. But the elation had quickly turned into a sombre reality-check as they realized that they had lost one of their men in the process.
Armaan continued, “First Namit, and now Sultan. I’ve been a terrible leader.”
“No, Armaan.” Roshan said. “You are a good leader.” Roshan wanted to say something, anything that would pull out Armaan from his defeatist thinking. “You cannot control what happened. It was just one of those situations.”
Armaan looked at him. “You have been blind to my faults, Roshan. You have followed my orders because you thought I am right. What if I am not?”
“I am not a fresh face like you assume me to be.” Roshan said. “I have been in the warzone and I know a good leader when I see one.”
Armaan shook his head. “Look at the results. The mission has failed. I have failed.”
A quiet voice spoke, “The Armaan Ahmed I know would never have uttered those words. Failure is not a word he would have understood. He would have professionally taken it on the chin, and figured out a solution.”
Roshan looked at Baldev who had just spoken the words. Baldev was looking intently at Armaan. Armaan looked at Baldev and Roshan could see a glimmer of life in his eyes.
Armaan said, “But I have led you all in this mess.”
Baldev scoffed, “I don’t see Armaan Ahmed in this room. Instead I see a man down on his luck complaining about the odds he’s against. A soldier fights on the battlefield. He doesn’t grieve on it. He grieves only after the battle is over. Our battle is still not over. We are in hostile terrain. And we await our leader’s orders. Armaan Ahmed’s orders. Don’t expect any sympathy from me. If you think you’ve led us into a mess, it’s your responsibility to lead us out of it.”
Armaan straightened at Baldev’s words. He glanced around at the men. They were looking at him for guidance.
Roshan said, “We trust your decisions, Armaan.”
Baldev stood up and walked over to where Armaan was and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Quit whining and order me around. I really like the plans you make.”
Armaan looked at Baldev and in an instant pulled him close in a tight embrace. “You are right. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Probably something stupid,” Baldev’s muffled voice came through the embrace.
Armaan released him and looked at the group. “What do we do next?”
Roshan said, “We do what we came here for. We complete our mission.”
“Agreed,” Baldev said. “We should follow the lead the Israeli gave us.”
“You need me for whatever you are planning.” Hitesh chuckled. “So I have to drag myself along.”
Armaan looked at each of them in turn. His eyes acknowledging their commitment to the mission. “I’ll inform the General about what happened.”
Roshan winced. He was grateful he wasn’t the one to be sharing the bad news with the General. He wondered how the General would react to a second failure. They knew where the missiles were relocated, but the bottom line was that their infiltration into the missile base was a failure.
The Pakistanis had proactively relocated the missiles and they had returned empty-handed. The Israeli had given them the details of the location the missiles had gone to. Armaan had said that he would contact him if he needed more information. But Roshan understood that they would have to inform Homebase of the latest developments. Armaan walked towards the conference phone and dialled a number. The call connected immediately.
“Homebase, this is Markhor, actual.”
“Markhor, this is Homebase. SITREP please.”
Armaan gave the situation report. He kept it brief and to the point speaking about the absence of the missiles and the loss of the LTRA followed by the Israeli's help and the destination of the missiles.
“Markhor, your mission has been an unmitigated disaster. I order you to abort. Clean up and exfil.” the General's words boomed on the speaker.
“Negative sir.” Armaan said. “We know the location of the missiles and the head of the facility is a friendly.”
“Markhor, you will follow orders. We already had two failures and one casualty. I wouldn't risk losing additional lives.”
“Sir, we are very close to a breakthrough. You yourself reiterated how critical this mission is. I insist that you give us the green light.”
There was a pause on the line. Roshan pictured the General in his office thinking about the mission. The General had been realistic when he had described the mission to them. They would be going inside enemy territory and would accomplish their mission with skill and stealth. So far the stealth part had failed. They had been chased through half of Pakistan, and it had been a combination of luck and skill that they were still alive. He still wasn't sure if their escape from outside Hyderabad had been discovered; he hoped not.
Roshan didn't harbour any delusions that what Armaan was proposing would make things potentially worse for them. And by going north, the challenge of returning to the coast for an exfil increased exponentially. Sultan had offered to escort them back to the coast, but with his death that was no longer an option.
But he knew the importance of the mission. They were professionals and the mission came first. They would think about their exit options only after the mission was accomplished.
Armaan replied, “Given that the friendly will help us gain access to the facility, I would say ninety percent.”
“I won’t approve this just on the basis of your recommendation. Is the team there?”
“Yes, they are here.”
General Singh said, “Team, do you agree with going ahead? Responses please.”
Baldev spoke. “I am in.”
“Me too.” Roshan said.
Hitesh said, “Yes from my end.”
“Everyone is ready, sir.” Armaan said. “We just need your permission.”
The General paused for a moment and then spoke. “Permission granted. Make sure that we meet our objectives. I don't want another Charlie Foxtrot this time.”
“Thank you, sir.” Armaan gave a thumbs-up signal to everyone and then continued. “Sir, request SAT eyes for this mission. Would that be possible?”
Roshan was surprised by the request. Armaan was asking for satellite surveillance for their mission. He wondered if the General would be willing to grant his request. Satellite surveillance required the trajectory of the satellite to be changed from whatever it was currently monitoring. Plus satellite time was an extremely precious commodity and there were a ton of government agencies that 'borrowed' satellite time for their own projects. Such a request would not only require top-level approval but it would also need justification for the prioritization.
“What do you need SATs for?” General Singh was apparently as surprised as him.
Armaan pressed on. “And also we will need someone that can coordinate the SAT Intel with us in real-time.”
“You are asking for a lot.” General Singh said. “I don't have the bandwidth for this.”
“But sir, we will need all the support we can get. This mission was originally planned to be a quick in-and-out from Ormara. We have failed twice and having someone help us will help raise our odds of success. I don't know if we will get a better opportunity than this.”
“The opportunity is there, but I recommend you make do with existing resources.”
Armaan looked at the others as he shook his head. “At least, can we get satellite imagery of the facility in KP so that we know the terrain, number of hostiles, and exit options?”
“For that to happen, we will have to make a satellite pass over the target. I will have to run this by the PM. It would be best if the approval comes from the top.”
“Thank you, sir.”
When the General spoke again, his voice had softened just a bit. “I was a field agent and I know how the perception on the ground differs from the operation centre. Having said that, we also have to follow the chain of command. I will speak with you in a few hours.”
“PM sir, we need a few minutes of satellite time for our operation.” General Singh knew that Inamdaar liked to come to the point straight away.
“How are the boys doing?” PM Inamdaar asked.
General Singh had informed Inamdaar about the impending infiltration in Sargodha yesterday. Now he would have to talk about its failure. He quickly went over the facts of the mission, and ended with the team's resolve to follow the missiles into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Inamdaar didn't interrupt, but listened to him closely. When he was done, he only asked one question.
“What was our agent in Sukkur involved in? How will his loss affect us?”
“He was part of HUMINT monitoring the Tactical Nuclear Weapons kept by the Pakistani Army in Pano Aqil. Pano Aqil has mobile TEL launchers for launching their Nasr mini-nukes against our army if we invade. Now with our on-ground resource gone, we will have to use SIGINT from our satellites to rely on providing us with Intel of any military build-up in Pano Aqil. We will eventually have another HUMINT agent in place.”
“Do you think the boys can accomplish this mission?”
“Yes PM sir. They are the best we have.”
“What do you need the satellite for?”
“We can make a pass over the area the team is going to and understand the risks and opportunities of the target beforehand.”
General Vishwajeet Singh watched as Inamdaar walked over to the window and looked outside. Singh could see the magnificent dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan from the visitor's couch. He walked up to the window and stood next to Inamdaar and admired the Mughal Gardens in all its splendour. He had to admit that the view from the PMO was the best in all of South Block. Finally Inamdaar spoke.
“Right now, in this moment we are creating a legacy. A leader is judged not just by the actions he takes, but also by the actions he fails to take. In the military, guns and bullets can be replaced, but men can never be replaced. The soldiers are the real assets of a country, not its missiles or tanks. And if among our soldiers, these are the best of the best; then I want to ensure everything possible for the boys to get the mission done and make a safe exit out of Pakistan.”
“Yes sir. What do you recommend?”
“I recommend that dedicated satellite time be given to this mission till its conclusion. Use the Cartosat satellite that we just launched. I want you to do everything possible to make sure we succeed in our mission. You have complete autonomy. Assign and redirect whatever resources you need. I only care about the results.”
General Singh smiled. “Yes PM sir.” The Prime Minister had given him a carte-blanche; he had instinctively understood what the team would require and had given the General the authority to get everything addressed.
Armaan had requested for satellite monitoring and coordination; the General had rejected his suggestion. Now, not only had the PM given them the much-needed permission, but he had gone ahead and ensured that they had a dedicated satellite till they accomplished the mission. This op was important for Inamdaar and he wanted results. Singh appreciated the decisiveness of Inamdaar on all matters.
The Prime Minister had delivered, now it was up to him to deliver.
But would he be able to deliver, Singh wondered. Armaan was his most reliable operative, and he had seen him succeed in numerous missions. Usually when he sent Armaan on a mission, Armaan would contact him and tell him that the mission was accomplished. He didn’t even have to oversee the mission or get into the finer details.
But this time, not only had the mission bombed, but Armaan hadn’t even bothered to let him know. Instead of giving him the update and asking for a course of action, Armaan had foolishly decided to move ahead. And he had got himself captured. General Singh snorted. The imbecile. He should have refused to allow Armaan to go to Sargodha.
That was still an option. He could still refuse to send them to the KP facility. He rubbed the back of his neck. They could return back to the coast and count the mission as a loss. But it would mean that they wouldn’t have a viable solution to counter a nuclear threat from the sea. He shook his head. The stakes were too high. Millions of lives would hang in the balance in a future war. He had to see the mission through and ensure it was successful.
He would appoint one of his guys to keep an eye on Armaan and make sure that he didn’t screw up. That way he would get regular updates even if Armaan didn’t tell him anything. Armaan had gone too far this time. He was no longer the reliable leader he once was. He had turned into a liability. General Singh hated liabilities.
Once this ordeal was over, he would ensure that this was the last mission Armaan led.
Chapter 26
General Singh said, “Markhor, I have some good news.”
Roshan looked at the speaker phone, the words filling him with optimism. It looked like they would finally get the much-needed satellite images of the KP facility. Once they had that, they would get detailed information on the facility and would be able to evaluate their infil and exfil options.
“Good to hear that, Homebase.” Armaan replied as he sat opposite him. Roshan looked at Baldev and Hitesh who were eagerly waiting for what the General had to say.
“You will get dedicate
d satellite monitoring till the mission is completed, plus I have reassigned one of my men to coordinate the satellite Intel with you in real-time.”
“Excellent news, sir.”
“Yay!” Hitesh pumped his fist in the air.
“My resource will help you with the SAT stuff. He's here with me. Code name Eagle.”
“Hi there, Markhor, this is Eagle,” an excited voice was heard next on the speaker.
Armaan said, “Eagle, this is Markhor. How soon can we get the Intel?”
“Give me ninety minutes.” Eagle replied, “I will have everything you need.”
The General joined in. “I have given the details on what we are looking out for to Eagle. We will talk in ninety minutes.”
“Copy that, Homebase.”
“Homebase, signing off.”
Armaan smacked his hand on the table in exhilaration as the call ended. “That calls for a toast, eh brothers?”
Baldev said, “Let me check the menu. I am sure they have a wine barrel in there somewhere.”
Roshan looked around. Everyone was in smiles. For the first time since they had landed in Pakistan, there was a lightness in everyone's manner. Once they got the imagery, they would be able to plan their approach to the facility. The biggest advantage this time would be that their entry would be facilitated by an insider. As far as he was concerned, the mission was in the bag. Maybe it was what everyone else felt too. Once this mission was completed, they would get a couple of days to rest, maybe a week if they were lucky.
Ninety minutes later, Eagle gave them the ultra-high resolution schematics. He had done a great job capturing every possible angle of the facility.
Armaan said, “Excellent work, Eagle.”
“You have to thank the guys at ISRO for this.” Eagle's voice poured over the speakers as they flipped through the dozen images of the site on a wall projector. “These shots were taken by the satellite from a height of five hundred kilometres. The satellite passes by every ninety minutes, so we have almost real-time information on the sentries posted, their strength and formation.”