The following story is a one-shot outtake of Garima Yadav’s fan fiction on Pratap Ajabde called "Scorpions", and the characters and plot are based on that.
The target was closing in. The
Red Scorpion trio were on a nocturnal mission. The terrorists were
reportedly sheltered at the broken-down warehouse beside the Chambal. The instructions
were clear from the headquarters. They were wanted alive.
“Move left, Sultana. I move ahead.
Rudrani, right.” She whispered into her SAT phone as she unlocked her gun.
“Copy that, Baijilal” The two others followed.
“Be careful.” She ignored the
instruction from the headquarters as she loaded the silencer on the gun. On the other
hand, she still had a useful pocket knife.
There was a sudden smoke that blurred the night vision glasses. She could recognise the smell of the gas. Carefully
putting on the emergency mask, she pressed the red button on her SAT phone.
They needed backup.
“Rudrani? Are you there?” The
headquarters had no answer. “Baijilal? Sultana?”
“Damn.” The men look troubled at each other.
“I had told you not to send them
alone, it was risky and…” Shakti had stopped speaking agitatedly as his eyes fixed on the door. His
brother did look ruggedly handsome in that commando uniform.
“We received an emergency alert
from Baijilal” His face was emotionless “They must be in some sort of…”
“Send in backups immediately!” was the order.
“I…”
“We would like to be the
backups.” Jalal had entered in the same commando suit “We don’t have much
time.”
“Go on.” The boss was happy with
his two best soldiers. A brother knew his sibling’s turmoil.
A few hours earlier.
The downpour was a heavy one. The window panes were trickling with
droplets that fell with a musical sound so loud that it was hard to hear anything else around.
With a cup of black coffee brewing on the table, he checked his watch again.
8.58PM. He cursed her timing. She had said 9. Knowing her, it would mean not
8.59, not 9.01. He smiled in his own thought. Wasn’t that why she was indeed
special?
She had managed to walk in through the glass door and stare around the
glass-roofed restaurant. She spotted him looking at his watch and smiled, amused.
“Hi!” she took the seat right in front of him, on the table for two,
and smiled. A dress. He noticed. As much as she looked elegant in it, it made
his heart beat faster.
“Can we order?” He offered her the menu card that was almost memorised by heart in the last fifteen minutes.
“Why don’t we talk first?” She smiled with a twinkle in her eyes.
“What?” He had raised his eyebrows. “How did you know I wanted to…?”
“The man doesn’t arrive early knowing my time unless it’s important!”
She had smiled.
“Okay.” He had taken a moment to gather his thoughts.
“So the thing is…”
“Is?” She interrupted.
“Stop staring with hawk eyes and scaring me.” He frowned. She giggled
in a manner that was so unfamiliar to her.
“That’s my job!” As soon as she spoke, their phones rang
simultaneously. And within a moment, they were out of the restaurant and at the
headquarters.
The warehouse area was silent as
they played with each other’s shadows and moved in.
“Movement?”
“Negative.”
They had moved into the
warehouse stuffed with huge wooden boxes. The men seemed to be nowhere around.
There was a dimly lit doorway to the right. Staring at each other, they knew
what they were thinking.
Moving left, he had placed himself
behind a pillar. He frowned at something shining. He took it up, and his
eyebrows immediately formed a frown. Rudrani’s initials are on the red scorpion
chain. They had her?
“We may have a hostage
situation.” He heard Jalal report to the headquarters. He nodded and put the
chain in his pocket. They needed to execute plan B.
He moved out while Jalal stayed
back. Stealthily moving in the dark, towards the back of the warehouse, there
was an outlet once used for draining out waste.
“Perfect," He had smiled to
himself.
He placed himself on the brink of
the pipes and added the silencer to his gun.
“Our priority is the girls. Kill
them if you have to.” The headquarters ordered.
A little ahead inside the outlet, there were two ways. Left and right. He frowned at his stupidity. He should
have been equipped with the blueprint, but it was with Jalal. He placed his head
against the wall, trying to hear what was on the other side. Two knocks on the
wall. All felt the same.
“Any situation?” Jalal frowned at
the machine. He didn’t reply.
Suddenly, he felt a movement
and drew his gun. Positioning himself against the wall, he waited for the
approaching figure. Three seconds later, his gun was pointed at the person and
hers at him.
“What the hell?” She said under
her breath.
“Found Baijilal. Copy.” He had
kept the mic from his mouth “Where is…”
“Rudrani got captured. We have a
hostage situation, and our radio devices stopped working. Sultana is at the
right end of the tunnel. I chose the left, and I was almost close to the end of
the tunnel when you interrupted my master plan by knocking.” She sounded upset.
All this while he had just stared at her talk. She frowned at him.
In an impulse of emotions, he, best
kept hidden, had hugged her tightly, making her look wide-eyed at the
gesture.
“Pratap!” He had regained his
composure to let her go. “We have a duty at hand, and I am still your Boss.” Her voice was firm yet gentle
in his care. He nodded, “Yes, Boss, let’s get them.”
“First, let’s get Ruks.” She
stared at the right end of the tunnel.
“Who sent you? Tell us or face some consequences, Girl!” The man stared at the captured hostage. She was found unconscious.
“Which stupid person decided to send this weakling in to spy on us?” Another sounded amused. She had a smirk on her face.
“You are not alone, are you?” The leader
caught her smirk. “Tell us!” A slap resounded across the empty warehouse. Jalal
clenched his jaw. He was waiting for the signals now.
“ We are in.” He was relieved to
hear Sultana on Pratap’s SAT device.
“Copy that.” She smiled, sensing
the relief in his voice. It was not every day that people like Pratap and Jalal
were on a rescue mission.
The militants were surprised by
the rain of gunshots as they took guard against the pillars and iron chests.
The leader held Rudrani by her jaw as she struggled.
“You have been surrounded by police; there are no escape routes.” Baijilal smiled, amused at Jalal’s dialogue that seemed straight out of an action movie. He deliberately did these crazy antics in the most serious situations. He made missions
fun. “Surrender now.” With measured silent steps, the four of them moved
in.
Pratap shadowed Baijilal while Sultana covered Jalal. The gunshots were
silenced for a moment. With a nod, Jalal had barged in, firing at nothing in
particular, followed by the rest. The gun battle began.
A militant had stepped up
behind Pratap. They were more in number than accounted for. Or so it seemed. He
was about to fire a shot when Baijilal pulled Pratap by the collar, forcing
him to land on her, while she injured the militant with a single shot in his
shoulder. He fell down, squirming while Pratap looked shocked at the close
proximity from where he was saved.
“Play the shadow; you should not
need to be saved.” She flashed a sign of disappointment at him.
“ Will you marry me?” For a
moment in the dark silence, she thought she was deafened by gunshots.
“What?” She had asked in
surprise.
“Marry me, Ajabdeh," she said at
his face, a little stunned.
“Damn it!” She turned to shoot a
man behind her, but he obliged first.
“You had to say it… here?” She
frowned.
“ What better place than what we
do and love, and what makes us respect each other. Marry me, Ajabdeh.”
“Fifteen dead, two alive,
captured. Rudrani is safe and unconscious. No serious Injuries. I repeat,” Jalal
finally switched off the SAT phone, giving a cold stare at the caught men tied
up to a pillar. It was almost dawn, and Ruqaiya sat pouring water on
Saubhagyawati’s head injury.
“Am fine”, she murmured “Sorry,”
Ruqaiya hugged her delightedly. Jalal wiped off the traces of blood from his
forehead with his handkerchief and looked back at Ajabdeh, whose face looked
like she would puke. He frowned at Pratap’s face. Is this where you pop such a
question, Pratap?
“ Am sorry.” Pratap frowned at
her unexpected answer. “ Am sorry, Pratap, I can’t.” For the first time, Ajabdeh
Punwar had fled from facing someone whom she had hurt. She walked up to examine Jalal’s
head injury, her face calm and unreadable. Pratap sat down just where he stood, the rays of the morning sun visible. He stared absent-mindedly at the body of the
militant he had killed to save her.
“What’s wrong?” Ajabdeh ignored
Jalal’s question as she tied his injury with a handkerchief.
“You know it can’t be. It’s
against the rules.” Her eyes looked sad.
“Rules are meant to be twisted if
not broken.” She frowned at Jalal’s smirk. “Just say yes and trust me with the
rest.”
“The priority is always the…” Ajabdeh
spoke up.
“Mission and motherland.” She
turned to face Pratap, who stared at her and Jalal very intently “I know. I
remember.”
Jalal walked away to check on
Rukaiya and Saubhagyawati. Chakrapani was going to arrive with the army to take
over the militants officially soon.
“But Ajab, we too should have our
chances. Our life. Together.” For the first time, he thought he saw tears
shining in the eyes of the ruthless warrior that she was. She gave a soft, unsure nod.
“ I promise to
stick by like a shadow through thick and thin, and we will fight through
everything together. After all, you are the best warrior I have seen.”
“After you.” She reminded, “Except
when you play shadow.” She made him smile.
“Marry me?”
“Yes.”
The sound of about five-six army
buses made them turn as a bunch of soldiers walked in to seize the warehouse.
“Job done for the day. I need a
bath and a sound sleep.” Jalal said to no one in particular.
“Let’s head home.” Rukaiya smiled
at Saubhagyawati, helping her up.
“Ride with me?” Pratap asked as
Ajabdeh nodded.
In the car beside him, she rested
her head on the seat and sighed. Work done for the day, the warrior felt at
peace. The sun rose on the horizon as hands entwined on the ride home, and two
warrior souls smiled content, complete and at peace.
