Love at War

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?

“ I'm sorry.” Pratap frowned at her unexpected answer. “ I'm 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.