Epilogue
18 months later
Maanav and Nitya walked hand in hand and stood still in Shadow’s office. The place had undergone a lot of changes and was more appealing to the eye. Maanav knew this was Padma’s handiwork. Shadow waved to them while on call. While Nitya rushed to pull out of her hand from Maanav’s grasp, he held on. Her dark green bangles jingled and she looked at her henna adorned hands. She smiled remembering their wedding a week ago.
The slight commotion also stopped the furious typing that was going on in a dark corner.
“Didi… Naman miss didi… Naman miss Maanav… Naman good…” Naman scurried out of his dark corner and rushed to the newly wed couple just back from their brief honeymoon. He hugged Nitya and Maanav.
Nitya blinked back tears as she watched her brother happier than ever before. Maanav finally let go of her hand as Naman dragged him towards his console. She saw that Shadow had arranged it all to suit Naman’s sensory requirements. The corner was dark just like he liked it and there were a set of headphones.
She remembered the period 18 months ago when the final showdown took place on the ship.
Jameel had passed and the MARCOS had taken over the ops from then on. The media carried reports of a Naval operation and there was no mention of SPS or Nitya, Naman or Kamble kaka. They however acquired a lot of evidence from Ashfaq’s father who had escaped a little earlier with them. It was more than enough to clear her Appa’s name and he was posthumously awarded an honorarium for his sacrifice and the PMO issued a public apology on behalf of all the office bearers to date.
Ashfaq’s father lamented over the loss of his only son yet he delivered her father’s savings to her as promised. Nitya invested all of it in Naman’s name. The amount was substantial along with the ex-gratia amounts they received as arrears for their Appa’s service in India. Shadow helped her with investment advice. Speaking of which, the gentle giant was God sent for Naman and the young guy adored him. Shadow had immediately offered a job to Naman and Naman had been elated. They didn’t reveal anything about Naman… or his extraordinary skills to the media. Soon the frenzy died and Nitya and Naman moved in with Maanav. After a few months, Maanav proposed to her and she accepted… life had been a bliss ever since.
Kamble kaka had lost a lot of blood but recovered well. He revealed all about his role as a RAW agent. He had retired from active field duty but Capt. Rawat on Maanav’s father’s insistence those years back had gotten Kamble kaka back on board to keep an eye on DR. Manohar’s family. That he already knew DR. Manohar was a bonus.
Nitya’s Maternal relatives who had severed ties slowly made an effort to get in touch with them. While she was bitter about the past she understood their decisions. She was trying gradually for Naman’s sake. The boy was blooming and trying his best to socialise.
Life had come a full circle indeed….
Maanav and Avinash had joined SPS full on and had even completed a couple of missions. Anandi had taken off on a long break and was all set to join SPS. Nitya was glad Maanav had such amazing friends.
“Nitya, take a look here…” Maanav called out shaking her out of her reverie. She walked towards Naman’s console where Shadow stood deep in thought.
“Naman has created a folder in memory of your father where he has stored all the codes and other details that he unravelled…” Maanav explained. “…You should take a look at this…” Maanav pointed and Naman made a few clicks.
The song from that instrument played again. The instrument was now placed in a locker because it was very fragile. It was no longer of any use but they wanted to keep it in Dr. Manohar’s memory. It was the only connection for the siblings with their father.
This time the music played from one of the files on Naman’s console.
“In our frenzy to complete that mission we had never bothered to find out what was the code to mobilise the torpedoes…” Shadow explained to Nitya.
The torpedoes were embedded in a jutting rock in the seabed. They were carefully dismantled. 15 years of strong sea currents hadn’t damaged them much so everyone understood why the perps wanted it so badly. The investment was tremendous… the outer shell remained but the rocks would require blasting so it was decided to let it remain there.
“…So here is the password… rather, Passwords. No one would have guessed them…” Shadow spoke smiling.
“So, what were the passwords?” Nitya asked intrigued at the turn of events.
Shadow turned the monitor towards Nitya and she read it wide-eyed….
“THE SECRET RIPPLES”
******************** The end ***********************
