Chapter 21

The office room was now a flurry of activities with Shadow at the helm of things. Captain Rawat too was a constant feature as he barked orders to his office back in wherever he was. Nitya could only stand and anticipate as the gravity of the situation began to sink in. What did her father unearth that cost him his life? This was huge and concerning National security. What was her father upto? He had passed on such vital information…

How she wished this was revealed years ago… before her father was called a traitor and their family shunned. Would her mother be sane? Would Naman have received better treatment and support options? Maybe she would have got a proper education and overall… stability and a carefree life where she didn’t have to look over her shoulders all her life.

Blinking back tears, Nitya watched Maanav and Shadow draw all possible information about torpedoes and their use.

“So boys…” Captain Rawat roared and startled Nitya. “,.. we have on a conference call the defence secretariat… and the home Minister himself. We have to update him so he can take care of the bureaucratic matters. I strongly feel we will need that.”

Nitya sat in a dark corner of the office watching the scene unfold. The huge screen now had the who’s who from high offices and their screens were shadowed. She wondered why because they were all in public lives anyways.

“That’s because they are in this mission on a classified basis… they can’t reveal themselves. It’s a façade you see… to cut the bureaucratic red tape….” Maanav whispered as if hearing her thoughts. He seemed to know her more than herself. She was so glad he was with her… else she couldn’t have coped with this mayhem.

“Here’s the status…” captain Rawat’s voice boomed through the speakers and all the others in the office were looking with rapt attention. Shadow and his team were all prepped up to fire the keyboard while Maanav sat next to Nitya holding her hand. “…This terror conspiracy was launched way back in early 2000s or probably even before that but received a shot in the arm after the 9/11 US attacks. The funding had to be diverted somewhere else so Yemen became a hotbed. The proximity to large number of ports was critical part of the reason to consider attack by the sea route. And the reason for the attack was the age old… Babri Masjid demolition….” Captain Rawat sighed and Nitya saw him rub his face. she was sure the man was fatigued but he didn’t let it show through his voice as he continued.

“… so gentlemen as you see here…” he put up a slide showing the sea route from Yemen to Mumbai. “…Its not an impossible task. 26/11 was done so from our neighbouring land but the planning and the needed technological advancement were provided from Yemen so given our good relations with the country, no one would suspect them. In fact, I have on good record the authorities there have been clueless about what was happening clandestinely right under their noses.”

Nitya realised she had gripped Maanav’s palm. He placed a warm palm over their clasped hands. “don’t worry, Nitya… this is the beginning of the end. I promise…” He whispered and she nodded. She realised she had become an emotional mess ever since Maanav had returned to her life. She loved him more than anything… always loved him but it also scared her. She had lost a lot in life. What if she lost him as well? What if something happened to Naman? A flood of negative thoughts sent a shiver down her spine. She felt Maanav’s grip tighten as they continued to hear what Captain Rawat had to say.

“… The 26/11 attack on Mumbai as we already know happened via the sea route and they had planned a follow-up attack immediately in December. The November attack was called the ‘BUTT mission because of the chief perp involved in the same. He was tried in a court in the neighbouring country. The second attack was to have taken place in a more severe form. However, because of the vigilance by Dr. Mohandas, that attack was prevented but the physical preps were all done…”

“What do you mean by the preps?” A member of the defence secretariat questioned.

“Dr. Mohandas sent the details to us cryptically. He was sure those people would target his family if he directly sent it… it also could have fallen into the wrong hands instead of coming to us… Dr. Mohandas would have probably aimed for one of the two outcomes… either destroy it all… so it would never work. The perps had spent too much and they would suffer losses that would render them useless. The second would be getting it all decoded by someone trusted and someone highly intelligent. This is difficult to find amongst the enemy. That worked and here we are. But at that time the attack was a few days apart after 26/11. So, all their other preparations would have had to be in place.” Captain Rawat explained.

Shadow stood and nodded at everyone as he took over the explanation. He put up another slide. “As you see here, Yemen has a 1200-mile coastline. Of which 4 of these ports are heavily guarded. 3 of them are major ports. It over all lies in the South Western corner of the Arabian Peninsula so quite a bit of it is secluded from us and our western coastline. If there has to be an attack, they have to use a port for the activation and technology… that means they will require a port that’s not in function. In the last 15 years, there have been a couple of ports that have been rendered dysfunctional and are used to repair and build ships….”

Captain Rawat took over. “…I have sent a word across through our informer network to check for anything untoward happening in one of these two ports… meanwhile here is my research…” he put up another slide. “… Ul-Ad-Fitoor has been dysfunctional from early 2008 and even to date because of the difficult underwater terrain for ships it has not been in use….” He put up another slide. “… If you see, the projection of this port area to the Arabian Sea to Mumbai coastline is a straight line despite the distance. Also, the waters midway are politically in a no man’s territory, unclaimed by any country. So anyone is free to use them. However, the vigilance these days is strong so whatever has to be done has to be done underwater. “

Maanav walked towards the monitor. “Hence the use of ‘Torpedoes’. They had planned this earlier which means the torpedoes are already present… underwater. Undetected so far.”

“Yes, Bullet.” Captain Rawat agreed. “…Today’s torpedoes are highly advanced, incorporating guidance systems, propulsion technology, and various sensors… even way back in 2008 the technology was pretty good. However, since it was a top-secret mission, it had to be taken care of without the watchdogs of the world… Hence…”

“…Hence my father came into the picture…” Nitya found herself talking. Everyone fell silent and no one attempted to stop her as she walked towards the monitor that showed the Yemen coastal strip. “…he deactivated and scrambled the codes to destroy the attack plans…” She looked at Captain Rawat. “… didn’t he?”

She felt him nod slightly and slumped to the floor even as Maanav rushed to her. he helped her stand and she felt all her energy drain away as she clung to him for support.

“My Appa was never the traitor… he gave up his life to safeguard the national interest and even after his death today his son continues the legacy… my brother decoded it all… unscrambled it all… we aren’t children of a traitor… we aren’t.. at fault … we … are … not … responsible…my appa…” She felt breathless even as her chest constricted. The anxiety attack which she thought was a thing of the past came back with a vengeance she didn’t know existed.

Right then there was a loud beep on the monitor. Shadow rushed towards his instrument panel and looked at Captain Rawat wide-eyed. Captain Rawat nodded and signalled something to his back office… what must have happened? Nitya found the world around her begin to spin. There was a cacophony of keyboard clicks and all those present virtually simultaneously talking. In all that she could only make out two words that penetrated her fudged brain… ‘connection lost’. Oh God … NAMAN!

She saw a blurred Maanav frown and speak something as he held her close… was he shouting? She couldn’t make out her ears were ringing and her chest was… goodness she couldn’t breathe anymore… was she whimpering? She couldn’t tell… was she dying? She didn’t know… what would happen to Naman then? Would Naman be alive or join her in the other realm?

Before she could think more, darkness claimed her…

©priyanayakgole

(Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction using the backdrop of the attack that happened and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This doesn’t attempt to change history or facts.)