by Gagan Saini
Simar reached closer to them. She slowed down but did not stop.
“Come on guys, we don’t have the whole night,” Simar said as she passed them and then she sat on her bike. As she sat on the seat, she disappeared.
Both looked at each other and got to work. They gathered as much as ammunition they could from the men and their jeep and started again. After some time they reached near the parliament. The rebels had very tight security at the gate.
Sinha and Zahid hid behind the bushes. “We have reached near the gate of the parliament,” Sinha whispered over the wireless earphone.
“Well done guys. Simar, are you in position?” Sid asked while looking at the screens on the wall.
“Yes, I am here,” Simar said while she stopped in the middle of a road facing one direction, staying in her incognito mode.
“Okay, the supplies truck will be there in eighty seconds, be ready guys.” Sid declared as he saw a blinking light on the map.
Soon Simar could see the headlights of the truck. When the truck became fully visible, Simar said to her bike, “Boss please stop that truck.”
Bike replied, “Say nothing more.”
A little cover opened from below the headlight of the bike and threw a solid disc towards the engine area of the truck. It attached like a magnet. That disc sent out some electric signal to the engine. The engine stopped working in an instant and the truck stopped moving.
The driver could not understand why it stopped all of a sudden. He tried again and again but the truck did not start.
“Guys, you have a time window of ten seconds,” Sid said.
Zahid and Sinha ran towards the truck and jumped under it from the rare end. As soon they hung themselves under the truck, Simar deactivated the device. The truck started again, and the driver started to drive again. Simar followed the truck. They passed the security layers one by one. The trucks barricading the main door moved forward and entered the premises and stopped near the kitchen.
Simar took her bike to a corner. The driver of the truck informed about his arrival and asked the kitchen staff to unload the stuff. 4-5 men from the kitchen came and started to unload the truck. Zahid looked at the footsteps of the staff and when there was a little time when no one was around, he signaled Sinha hanging beside him. Sinha did not waste a second; he slipped out quickly and lifted a box from the truck. He proceeded towards the kitchen. The other men crossing him noticed him but did not say anything. The guard on the kitchen door was too busy playing the game on his phone to notice. Sinha entered the kitchen and placed his box on a table. He emptied his box on the table and folded it. One kitchen staff who brought a box from the truck whispered, “Who are you?”
“We are here to save you. Just hide this folded box under your shirt and put it in the truck.”
“Are you from the army? Will they kill all of us?”
“I am from the police, if you cooperate with us you will be going home alive. I don’t have time to explain everything, just put this box in the truck and kick the tyre twice.”
That middle-aged man quickly hid the box in his shirt and went back to the truck. As he kicked the tyre twice Zahid came out with the bags. He made the box again from the folded cardboard and put his bags in it. He lifted the box and walked to the kitchen. The kitchen head and other staff worked in the kitchen. The kitchen head noticed Sinha and Zahid and gave vegetables and knives to both. Sinha started to peel the potatoes while Zahid joined the others who cut the carrots. The kitchen head stood beside Sinha and took one potato to peal.
“Who are you?” He whispered from the side of his mouth towards Sinha.
“I am DGP of Delhi police. I came here to help,” Sinha whispered back.
The kitchen head asked, “Do you want us to do something?”
He pulled a packet of a powder out of his pocket and put in his pocket and said, “Just put this in the food.”
He understood the plan and proceeded to the cooking area. The night shift guards used to have tea around midnight. He emptied the packet in a big teapot and asked the waiting staff to serve.
“Everything alright guys?” Simar asked in low volume.
“Yes, Sinha sir has taken the kitchen staff in confidence and special tea is being served to the night staff as we speak,” Zahid replied as he continued to cut the carrots.
“Good, I am keeping eyes everywhere.” The cameras on the drones continued to send live images on Simar’s eye-shades.
Inside, unaware of all this, four friends were busy on one computer.
Sam said, “I have a feeling that this won’t go very long.”
“Well, we have finished our job,” Junaid said. “The President has said he will make changes in the constitution. All the black money is back. I think it’s time to wrap the things up.”
They all nodded in agreement. On the other side, the tea was served to most of the night staff. The waiting staff after serving tea to the guards outside started to serve inside the main hall. When the waiter boy was about to walk past by the Prime Minister, he dropped the pack of disposable glasses, which looked unintentional. As he bent down to pick the glasses up, he put a small note in prime minister’s shoe quickly. No guard took notice of it. The Prime Minister noticed but did not give any reaction.
After they served the tea to everyone, the Prime Minister put his leg on the other and took the note out carefully and read. It said, ‘please go to the toilet’. He ate that piece of paper and called one of the guards and told him about his urge to use the toilet.
The guard went with him. He also had had the tea, which started to work while the Prime Minister used the toilet. The man fell asleep.
Sinha came to the toilet as the Prime Minister washed his hands.
“Hello Sir, are you alright?”
“I am okay, but who are you?”
“Sir, I am DGP of the police I am here to rescue you. You need to come with me right now.”
“Are you going to rescue everybody?”
“We will try to save as many as possible.”
“In that case, I am not coming with you; I can’t leave my fellow leaders in this trouble. What will this country say, the Prime Minister ran away like a coward leaving the rest of them for dying?”
Over the earphone of Sinha, the President and the others heard this conversation.
“Mr. Sinha, can you please give the earphone to the Prime Minister,” the President said to Sinha.
Sinha took out a little device out from his ear and gave it to the Prime Minister and signaled to put it in the ear. The President said, “Mr. Prime Minister, I am the President. We heard your conversation with Mr. Sinha; we appreciate your concern but at this stage, please follow as Mr. Sinha is saying.”
“Sir, but I can’t leave them alone.”
“Your presence will create more problems for the rescue team. The rebels will use you as a shield and if we cannot save you, it will be a huge failure.”
Then chiefs of Army, Navy, and Airforce requested the Prime Minister one by one to agree to Sinha’s plan. After this persuasion, the Prime Minister agreed. He gave back the microphone to Sinha. By now, most of the night duty guards were unconscious.
Sinha took the Prime Minister to the kitchen. He asked the kitchen staff to jump in the same truck they came on. The kitchen staff and the Prime Minister jumped in the truck and Sinha covered the back of the truck.
Sinha drove the truck. As all the guards were unconscious so it wasn’t a problem to go out. Zahid moved the barricading trucks for them. Sinha moved the truck. The security on the other check posts was not a problem because they were more concerned about people coming in instead of going out. They saw the same truck a few moments ago so nobody bothered to stop and check it.
Sinha was very careful. He did not show any expressions and waved the guards with a blank face when he drove past the
check post. Once they cleared the last security post, he said over the microphone, “The Prime Minister and the kitchen staff are out of the Parliament.”
Everyone in contact heard that.
“Well done, Mr. Sinha. The whole country is proud of you,” the President said.
“Thank you, Sir, but I did not do it alone. However, the task is not finished, commandos and other forces need to be activated now.”
“Don’t worry Mr. Sinha we will take it from here, just keep the Prime Minister safe,” the Army chief said.
“I am taking mister Prime Minister to the police safe house.”
“Mr. Siddarth, are we good to go for that landing site?” the Air force chief asked.
“Yes, Sir the ground is clear, and I am sending you the coordinates for the location,” Sid said as he pressed some keys on the keyboard.
The helicopter squad was given the signal to go ahead. At the same time, the commandos and other forces were activated as well. The forces attacked at all entry points of the city simultaneously. Many helicopters took off one after another from the Haryana air force base.
The attack by the army at the check posts was sudden and massive. The rebel members at the posts offered some resistance but could not stand against the army for long. Most of the rebels got killed but one man informed the parliament before dying. Once the entry point was clear, the vehicles of commandos raced towards the parliament.
The one who received the call from the check post activated the panic alarm. Before Simar and Zahid could do anything, everybody else was alert. More people came out of their rooms. The four friends also got an alert. Rohit checked the cameras and saw something wrong at the gate. He sent more gunmen there. Rest of the men took their positions all over the parliament premises. Simar and Zahid hid behind a truck. The gunmen came and saw others unconscious. A couple of men got busy in securing the main gate. The others woke the unconscious fellows by splashing water on the face.
The vehicles of commandos cleared the last post and were about to reach the parliament. All five vehicles became the victim of mines. The army vehicles following them took a detour, but they faced the same fate. Simar and Zahid could hear the bomb blasts but the presence of so many armed men restricted their actions.
As the driver of one surviving vehicle informed the head office, the air force got into action. Two helicopters came and one started to drop commandos. Only two troops came out the side of the helicopter when they heard something. It was the noise of the Hyrda on the roof. This antiaircraft gun brutally destroyed the helicopter and all the people inside. Simar and Zahid saw the falling helicopter. The pilot of the second one took immediate action, he fired towards the roof, but his firing was much slower than the gun on the roof. The second helicopter was down as well.
“That’s enough, I can’t see this anymore. Until the gun on the roof does not get tackled, no one can enter here,” Simar said in frustration.
“But we can’t go to the roof, there are so many men and our backup hasn’t arrived yet.” Zahid held Simar’s arm said.
“Who said ‘we’ are going to the roof?” Simar used her other hand and got her arm released from Zahid. Before Zahid could say anything, she ran carefully and quickly to the bush near to them.
Zahid asked her from a distance in a muted voice, “What the hell are you doing?”
Simar replied to him by signaling to stay where he was.
“Boss, give me the bow.” Simar brought her wrist near to her face and said.
The next moment she had her bow in the hands.
“Thanks, Boss, now I need to go to that roof.”
“I know exactly what you need,” the bike replied which was still incognito somewhere in the premises.
Simar was a few meters away from the side wall of the building, she analyzed the height and surroundings. By this time, she had an arrow in her hands. It was a little different from other arrows. Its shaft had the same girth as others, but the tip and the base were thicker.
Simar looked that arrow and took off a small button from the base. This small button had a wire attached to it. Simar placed that button on her belt. The belt did some processing and attached the button firmly to itself. Simar placed that arrow on her bow and aimed at the dome at the top of the building. She pulled back the arrow with her full strength and released. The arrow hit the base of the dome; the tip of the arrow pierced. From the joint where tip finished and the shaft started, the four tentacles came out and pierced into the wall as well, giving extra support to the tip. Because of the chaos both inside and outside the premises, nobody on the roof noticed the arrow hitting the wall. The arrow had a wire running through it all the way to the belt of Simar.
She checked the strength of the wire and put the bow on her back with the string across her shoulders. Zahid saw all this from a distance and could not figure out what she was up to. Simar checked both sides, nobody was there. She ran towards the wall at full speed. The base of the arrow started to retract the wire as Simar moved. Simar reached the wall and jumped towards it. She stood vertically to the wall. Zahid rubbed his eyes to fully understand. Simar did not wait for anything else. She started running on the wall upwards and soon she was on the roof.
On the other side, the helicopters dropped the troops on the hockey ground. The first party secured the premises and informed their base station. More helicopters took off. Sinha was still in the truck driving to the safe house. The ministers in the hall were terrified with increased activities of rebels and the absence of the Prime Minister.
After disconnecting the wire, she concentrated on heat signatures being shown by her glasses. This made her know the exact location and the number of men on the roof. She took out her bow and said, “Boss get ready for action.”
She stepped towards one man who looked downwards. Simar held the bow in attacking position, at the same time an arrow came and sat nicely on the bow. She aimed and hit that arrow. This pierced the back of that man and came out through chest. The man looked down at his chest, he saw blood all over. He died straight away.
Simar ran to him and held him. She slowed down his fall after which she concentrated on others. The other three men stood together - one sniper, one gun operator and the third one was their helper. They kept an eye on the activities on the ground and in the sky which made them too occupied to notice anything happening on the roof. She placed an arrow on her bow, stretched with all her force and aimed at one of the men.
One arrow hit one man in the chest. The other men looked at him and looked from where the arrow came. Before they could react, Simar hit two more arrows one after the other within a fraction of seconds. The three of them were dead.
“Sid, the roof is secure,”
“Good job, Simar, I will inform the forces right away. How is Zahid?”
Simar was about to answer when she heard the noise of the rotating blades of a helicopter.
“Sid, did they dispatch any more helicopters?”
“No, I just informed them it will take a couple of minutes for them to reach you.”
Simar ran to the Sniper and took his gun. She looked through the telescope of the gun in the direction of the noise. The noise came from the big veranda on the other side of the premises. She saw the movement of people and some people loading some boxes in the helicopter.
“Sid, I guess the people behind this drama are leaving and the forces have to attack now.”
“Don’t worry I will inform the forces now. The helicopter with commandos will be there in one minute.”
They were in the middle of this conversation when they heard, “Shit.”
It was Zahid; he did not say anything else. That was enough for Simar to understand the presence of some danger.
She ran to the other side of the roof with the gun. Simar looked through the telescope of the gun. Zahid was forced to his knees, five men surrounded
him and one of them was going to shoot. Before he did any movement of the fingers, a bullet from the gun of Simar hit the temporal region of his head scattering the pieces of skull and brain everywhere. Within the time gap of a few milliseconds, two more bullets came one after other and killed two more men.
When three fell on the floor, the rest two got scared and looked for a place to hide. Zahid took out a knife from the socks and hit the knife at one. The knife hit his neck and he fell down. Simar shot the last one as well. Zahid looked up with gratitude as he picked up the guns from dead men.
Simar noticed approaching helicopters at the horizon. As it was nearly time for dawn, the sky was turning red slowly. She threw the sniper gun aside and ran to the Hydra gun. She turned gun towards the main gate.
“Sid, tell me quickly, how to use this thing.”
“I don’t know what you are doing but let me find out.” He searched on the computer and found its instructions. “Okay, Simar, do as I say.”
“I am just clearing the way for commandos,” Simar said as she pressed some buttons on the side of that big gun as told by Sid. The little display on the gun showed ready.
“Zahid, you better be away from the gate,” Simar said but did not wait for any reply from him. Zahid ran away from the gate towards the kitchen. Simar started shooting. The gun was huge, and it fired the ultimate power. She firstly aimed at the trucks barricading the gate. The trucks blew away with blasts. Then she moved the cannon towards the guards. The pieces of men’s body part flew everywhere from the main entrance and the building.
By this time the helicopter had dropped the commandos. Simar stopped firing and ran to the other side of the roof. On her way, she got hold of the shaft of her arrow which was still on the wall. She ran towards the other edge of the roof and jumped. The wire in the arrow slowed her fall and she landed nicely on the ground.