Cold Love (23 page)
Authors: Amieya Prabhaker
“Arjun!” She shouts out loud and throws
the aluminum rod towards him to catch.
“Hey! Arjun, tell your girl to stand
still else I’ll throw this dagger at this bitch and rip her stomach out!” Azhar
blurts out in anger.
Arjun gestures to Riya with his hand to
be patient. The small man is still on the ground, moving but holding his head
in pain. Both start the fight again immediately. Arjun stops Azhar’s attacks
using the small aluminum rod. He manages to punch Azhar back too. But Azhar’s
vigor is increasing. Another amazingly fast sequence of punches, kicks and
dodges takes place. Azhar fiercely attacks with his full force jumping onto
Arjun, holding his dagger with both hands. Arjun holds the rod to block, but it
breaks under the force of the dagger and slices Arjun’s chest. Arjun staggers
and retreats, somehow managing to keep himself on his feet.
“Arjun.” Riya starts to run towards him.
“Aaaeeee.” Azhar points the dagger at
her. Riya stops mid-step.
“Krish. C’mon buddy!” Arjun tells
himself as he wipes the blood gushing off his wound. Riya dashes around on the
ground trying to look for something else to use as a shield. She picks up a
wooden bark, but throws it away immediately in disgust. She scrapes the ground
but cannot find anything in the white dry desert. Arjun takes his blood soaked
t-shirt off, showing a deep wound on his chest.
Azhar smiles and dashes at Arjun again.
Arjun flings his small rod pieces, Azhar dodges one. The second hits him on his
hand as he takes cover. Further punches, kicks and dodges continue at a crazy
relentless pace. With every passing minute, Arjun is getting weaker. This time,
at the end of the sequence, Azhar slices Arjun’s shoulder as he is clearly
falling short of breath. Riya holds her hands to her mouth. Tears start rolling
down her cheeks. She instinctively looks at her wrists to spot the two pairs of
heavy golden bangles that Kamla had given her.
“Arjun!” she takes off the bangles and
throws them at him. Arjun grabs all four bangles and puts them on his knuckles,
two apiece. Large round golden bangles!
Azhar dashes in again, Arjun intercepts
the dagger with his golden bangles as another sequence of swift multiple
punches continues. Arjun blocks Azhar’s dagger with one hand and punches his
nose with the other. The impact of the heavy bangles leaves Azhar dazed. He
shakes his head as blood oozes out of his nose.
Arjun takes the opportunity to take off
the bangles and shake his hands. He puffs at them as blood drips from his hands
on to the bangles. Azhar charges again with greater force striking at the
bangles as gold chips off with each strike that Arjun intercepts. Azhar
continues his onslaught unabated, determined to chip off the gold with his
repeated strikes. Yellow gold flying across adds the only color to an otherwise
white barren landscape. After another of the fight sequences, Arjun blocks with
one hand and punches Azhar’s chest hard with his other hand to send him reeling
back as he falls to the ground. Arjun takes another moment to look at the
bangles; they have thinned off immensely now and he decides to let go off them
to fall on the ground. His hand is blood red and he is sweating and panting
profusely for breath. Azhar did not have a single drop of sweat on his body,
despite the overbearing scorching sun above the desert.
Another sequence kicks off as Arjun
again tries to play dodge. However, he is still getting hit frequently; one
such kick throws Arjun back as he falls on the ground. At that very moment, he
looks at the far horizon to spot Krish from the corner of his eye. Arjun intentionally
stays low and does not stand up after his fall. Azhar charges in eyeing an
opportunity with both his hands on the dagger. Arjun holds Azhar’s hand and
goes down further on the ground as Azhar pushes forward, the dagger reaching
closer to Arjun’s chest. However, in a pre-determined move, Arjun bends his
legs, crossing them over to strike Azhar’s abdomen in the posture of a spring
and kicks Azhar with all the force in his body, sending him flying into the
air.
At that very moment, Krish decides to pounce
upon the opportunity and has a clear shot at his target. The bullet goes
whizzing in the dry dreary desert air. Azhar is still in midair oblivious of
the bullet approaching him. He lets out a monstrous yell and is about to come
down with full force onto Arjun. However, as the dagger closes in, the bullet
hits Azhar right on his chest, sending a streak of red across the white
landscape. He falls dead immediately with the dagger pointing at Arjun.
“Arjun!” Riya shrieks and runs to him.
Krish also runs in the background. Arjun pushes Azhar’s body aside and looks at
the dagger from the corner of his eye as it is embedded in the ground inches
from his ears. Riya comes over, and clutches Arjun. She presses a scarf onto
his chest. Krish reaches them in a moment and ties a cloth in a knot on the
other wound on Arjun’s shoulder. Together, they slowly get Arjun on his feet.
Krish picks up the radio and adjusts its
frequency to get a signal.
“Krish calling Eagle. Rescue successful!
We are coming home.”
“Good job Krish! The welcome team is
waiting for you on the border.”
All three walk along together, with
Arjun in the center; his hands still dripping blood from the numerous punches.
Suddenly Riya stops mid-way. “One minute”. She sneaks out from underneath Arjun’s
heavy arms and hastily runs back. She starts grappling on the ground
frantically looking for something. She finds the bangles she was looking for,
kisses them and brings them quickly back to Arjun.
“Arjun, your grandma’s bangles!”
Arjun smiles at her. She is about to
wear them when Arjun holds the bangle at the edge of her wrist. Riya looks at
him curiously.
“Riya, are you afraid of…death?” Riya is
confused and stares at Arjun for a moment at this awkward question. She shakes
her head.
“Tell me. I need to hear it,” Arjun asks
again, still holding the bangles in his hand.
“No. Never!” Riya responds boldly.
“Good. And the death of your own
people?”
“Yes… I fear their death!” Arjun nods
understandingly, there’s a marked pause as Riya continues “But they are not
afraid of death either!”
“Hmmhmm!” he smiles, “Crazy like you!”
Riya nods and smiles back at Arjun.
“Alright. Let’s do it then!” Arjun gets
down on his knees, “Miss Riya Saxena, will you marry me?”
Riya vehemently nods yes, tears running
down her cheeks at these words. Arjun, still on his knees puts the bangles in
her hand.
“Yes. Yes, Arjun,” she continues, crying
and hugs him tightly, “Yes! I do!” She smiles, looks at Krish who is smiling
at them too. He runs over and hugs them too.
“Well done my man!” Krish pats Arjun as
all three hug each other collectively. They walk back together across the
dreary white desert landscape of the Rann of Kutch, in each other’s arms, eager
to return home.
Come what may… there’s no holding back
now
.
The
Backlash and Counter Attack
Arjun, Riya and Krish eventually reach
Arjun’s new house safe and sound. Riya’s parents and Puja have been brought
there as well and are waiting for Cheetah to land. Back in the hospital, Kamla
has fully recovered now, and is alone with her husband.
Puja rushes to greet her friend, “Riya!
Are you all right?”
“Yes Puja, I am fine. I am so glad to
see you…” Both of them break down in tears as they hug each other. Riya shows
Puja the golden red bangles in her wrists, “Look, Arjun proposed to me!”
“Oh my God! Congratulations Riya! You
will be my sister-in-law!” they hug again. Riya and her parents talk to Puja as
they have so much to catch up on. Krish receives a message on his phone and he
gestures to Arjun. Arjun follows Krish, curious to learn what it is about.
Krish rushes into the other room and by the time Arjun enters, Krish has
already turned on the television and also switched on Arjun’s workstation.
“Arjun, log on to the satellite system…
now!” Krish tells him. Arjun does not argue, gauging from his tone that it’s
something important. Whilst Arjun is logging on quickly to the satellite
system, Krish turns up the volume of the television showing a TV journalist
broadcasting breaking news.
“We have received a live report from Al
Jazeera TV that an American tourist has been held hostage by a terrorist group
in Pakistan. The reports suggest that this is the work of the same terrorist
group led by Azhar, who was killed earlier today in a dramatic standoff at the
India-Pakistan border along the Rann of Kutch. It appears this is a desperate
backlash from the terrorist group in response to the killing of their leader.
The terrorists have threatened that they will send a streaming video of the
beheading of the hostage in another five minutes.”
Arjun manages to log onto the satellite
system.
“Arjun, will you be able to log on to a
specific satellite which is on a geostationary course above central Pakistan in
the next five minutes?”
“Sure Krish! On it now!”
Krish gets another beep on his mobile.
“Arjun, an agent has just informed me.
Unconfirmed reports say they are near Sargodha, about 20 miles south of the
city… likely in the middle of the desert.”
“Ok”, Arjun acknowledges that and
continues typing frantically, “I have managed to get through. Let me first lock
the satellite access, so only I can control its activities exclusively in a
single thread.”
Arjun types quickly and glances at the
clock briefly; just less than 3 minutes to go. He zooms onto the search area
and the system shows a rotating icon for a few seconds before they see the live
satellite imagery on the screen … a bird’s-eye view of three people, one of
them seated on a chair with a dark cloth on his head.
“It could be them!” Krish exclaims and
notes the latitude and longitude. “Can you zoom further in?” Arjun zooms and
they see three people clearly; two of them standing and another person seated
on the chair. One of the terrorists is wielding a long metal stick.
“Hey, he’s holding a sword!” Arjun cries
out.
“Arjun! We can’t let this sacrifice go
waste.” Krish puts his hand on Arjun’s shoulder and the very next second,
starts punching some numbers on his mobile calculator.
“What should we do Krish?”
“Change the orientation of the satellite
to 1.25 degrees south.” Arjun looks doubtful for a moment as Krish shouts
vehemently, “Go on; do it Arjun! Trust me! We cannot save this hostage Arjun.
The Indian high command has confirmed with the CIA that there is no US marine
unit in Pakistan even 500km in the vicinity of Sargodha. Even if we inform the
CIA, their fastest jets from the Indian Ocean will take at least 5-10 minutes
to arrive here, and that is before they receive an authorization to act!”
“1.25
o
south on the system
gives us…. the desert city of Sargodha!” Arjun turns around to look at Krish,
“right within the premises of the headquarters of the Pakistan Air Force base.
Krish!”
Krish nods yes. Arjun’s fingers hang
above the keyboard as he pauses for a few seconds assessing what Krish is
asking him to do. He does understand the implications, glances briefly at the
clock as Krish waits anxiously in anticipation.
“Ok, Krish, I’ll do it!”
“Good!” Krish pats Arjun’s shoulder.
“Ok. I am starting a morph routine that
will merge the two desert locations… Also a script that will delete all our IP
logs after I logout from the system.”
Meanwhile Krish gets on the radio again
to reconfirm any units in the vicinity that can intercept the imminent
execution. Arjun types fast and glances at his clock. About a minute more to
go. Krish speaks to Lt Gen Khanna in the background.
“No confirmation of any operational
units in the vicinity Arjun!”
Arjun nods to acknowledge and presses
the enter key on his keyboard for the final confirmation prompt on the screen.
“Ok. There, it’s all done... The
satellite will revert back to its original state in exactly 3 minutes from now,
and at that same time once I logout, the account will be unlocked automatically.”
They view the video from the satellite image intently. Suddenly a masked man
swings a long sword; the outcome of the swing is invisible from the satellite
image and vaguely appears like a rolling football a few feet away.
“Damn!” Krish screams in disgust at the
heinous crime. He turns to the television… Nothing yet on Al Jazeera. It’s a
seemingly long wait, each second like a lifetime as both Arjun and Krish wait
for the confirmation. Arjun bites his fingers nervously. The radio of the
workstation buzzes in the background and the satellite image from the system
continues showing the blurred miniature images around the hostage. A few
minutes later, the Al Jazeera channel interrupts its normal broadcast to share
the breaking news.
“We are interrupting this telecast to
share this streaming video that has just been sent to us related to the US
hostage crisis. We warn viewers that the video you are about to see contains
disturbing images not fit for children or for those with a heart disease.
Please be cautious and turn your TV off at this moment if you are with such
viewers at home or work.”
The video shows two masked men and an
American hostage, his head wrapped in black cloth as one terrorist swings a
long sword sending the head flying like a football a few feet away.
“Ah,” Arjun moans in disgust.
Suddenly, they hear someone banging on
the door that minute.
“Arjun! Arjun!” It’s Riya’s voice.
Arjun immediately logs off the system, checks for one last time the background
processes that will run automatically after his logout. The banging on the door
continues. Yes, everything looks fine for him to log off. Arjun turns the radio
off before getting up to open the door.
“Oh my God! Arjun… have you seen…?”
Riya sees Krish in the room as well watching the television, “They killed a
hostage!” Arjun nods and hugs her.
Arjun goes out of the room and meets the
family. He hugs Puja again while everyone stares at the TV screen. Soon Krish
comes out as well, and comes up to speak to Arjun.
“Lt Gen Khanna called me just now. He
and the Head of RAW have a PMO level meeting in two hours. He wants to meet me
now to de-brief him on everything.”
“What will you tell him Krish?” Arjun
asks, curious.
“I will tell him what happened in the
Rann of Kutch. On the hostage crisis, I will offer my services on any
investigation.”
Arjun stares at Krish and reassures him,
“There’s no way the current US systems can detect the morphed video. My script
has merged the images at an individual pixel level. Even if the CIA wants to analyze
it, a video of that size and resolution will take at least two or three weeks
for a large supercomputer to analyze. There are no login or user access traces
left behind, Krish. It’s all clean!”
“Thanks, buddy!” Krish puts his hand on
Arjun’s shoulder, “Even if the CIA did find out about it, they cannot bear to
admit that their most advanced and highly classified Star Wars program was
hacked. The US will never declare to the world that the ambitious Star Wars
program that was frozen after the cold war has been operating over the last
three decades, stealthily spying on the entire world. You know the next phase
of this program will be a tactical weapon using this peering eye to reach
anywhere in the world! Will they share it with everyone else? Never!”
Krish walks off knowing that the details
are best left untold. The PMO will care only about the results. And that will
come across over the next 24 to 48 hours, once a secret birdie prompts the CIA
about a few unverified locations of the crime in Pakistan.
Arjun returns to his room and shuts the
door behind him. He sits down to reflect upon the recent events. Will this
spiteful killing ever end? Can the terrorism factory that has plagued the world
for decades now ground to a halt? He had executed the most amazing hack that
will make the CIA believe that the assassination of the American hostage was
carried out in Sargodha, within the premises of the Pakistan Air Force and ISI
headquarters. This is also the same location that houses Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Arjun fishes into his inner pocket to
take out the memory stick that Krish had given him. He types frantically to
decrypt the memory card. He manages to decrypt it in a few minutes, and it
displays a map of the Indian subcontinent, with red spots scattered within
Pakistan’s border representing the geo-location of the nuclear arsenals. The
next message on screen says- “
Setting geo-location targets for the Neutron
Missile system
.”
Suddenly Arjun’s mobile rings. He picks
up the phone looking at the number.
“Hello… What?... When?… Ok!… Can I speak
to her please?”
Kamla is on the phone, as the doctor has
just confirmed the inevitable death of Arjun’s father.
“Mama!”
“Beta, is Riya safe?” Kamla asks about
Riya first, “Is she back home now? I was so concerned!”
“Riya is fine, mama. … Yes mama, I will
bring her to you… We will all come right away over to you … Where’s dad now?
Maa are you alright?”
“Yes Beta, your dad is sleeping
peacefully on my lap! You could have spoken to him if you had picked up your
phone a few minutes earlier.”
Arjun moves the mobile off his ear to
spot a couple of missed calls.
“Oh! … I was busy with something!” Arjun
says in a mumble, as he stares at the computer screen showing the “Neutron
Missile program” homepage. “I am glad you were there with him during his last
moments. Mama, take care please. We will reach you in a couple of hours.”
A sudden guilt shrouds Arjun’s
conscience for missing out on being by his dad’s bedside during his last
moments. May God pardon him! He also laments the last words that his father had
consciously spoken to him.
But perhaps he has completed his karma
that may save thousands of lives in the coming future. Will his father be proud
of him? Arjun looks at the cursor that continues to blink on the screen,
tempting a response.
Arjun recalls the words Krish had spoken
earlier, “You have the codes, and I have an absolutely accurate geo-location of
all nuclear targets in Pakistan. Together we can wipe out their entire nuclear
arsenal in just thirty seconds!”
The next prompt asks for the codes- “
Enter
code to activate neutron missiles.”
Arjun realizes the opportunity that he
has. The Americans will be seething with anger at the act of the hostage killed
within the Pakistani Air Force base. If the nuclear weapons are neutralized, it
will wipe out and shift the balance of power irrevocably to bring an end to
decades of cold war. It will be the final knockout punch!
The blinking shouts out to Arjun for
action, as he continues to stare at it.
As a student of nuclear physics, Arjun
knows that good or evil in the physics world resides within the nucleus. It
holds within it tremendous energy. If harnessed properly, it can solve the
energy crisis of the world, bringing light and joy to numerous households. At
the same time, it can be used to create deadly nuclear weapons capable of
destroying all of mankind. Arjun is also reminded of his memorable first day at
school. Right knowledge and right actions determine what we are. Eventually
what we want to become is also in our own hands. Right karma eventually
segregates the good from the evil. He tries to think again, who is to blame for
accidents on the road? Definitely it’s not the car? It’s the driver… almost
always.
Will he be able to end the cold war and
cross-border terrorism if he types in the code there? No, he admits humbly.
This ugly war will continue. As much as he may want to bring the cold war to a
swift close, it can never stop until the warring nations truly understand the
futility of terrorism as a tool, and sincerely imbibe a common intent to
embrace a terror-free world.
Arjun clicks on the “
Cancel
”
button at the blinking prompt. He shuts down his laptop and walks out to his
family to share with them the news of his father’s demise. At the same time, he
makes a call to arrange for the entire family to be flown to the hospital as
soon as possible.