Chimera (28 page)

Feng smiled as he walked over. The soldiers restrained Parekh from moving forward when Feng was in front of them. The Major snapped off a salute and Feng returned it. He then looked at the blindfolded Parekh:

“Welcome to the People’s Republic of China, Group-Captain Parekh. I apologize for the condition of your arrival but as you can imagine, external conditions were extraordinary to say the least. While you are here, you are a guest of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force!”

Feng turned to the Major escorting Verma and spoke in mandarin:

“Remove the blindfold. Make sure he gets food and water. He is not to be ill-treated or I will have the people responsible for it shot! Understood?”

The Major nodded and looked over to the two soldiers restraining Parekh. They quickly removed the blindfold. Parekh hadn’t seen light of any kind for hours now and the bright sunlight caused him to wince for a few seconds. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around and saw a Senior-Colonel of the PLAAF standing in front of him. The bright red star on his fur cap could not be missed, and neither was the smile on the grizzled face…

“Group-Captain, as you can see, the Chinese air-force is in complete control of the skies over the battlefield to the south. We even flew you here during daylight in an unarmed helicopter and no escorts. In the time of your capture, we have struck your airbases with impunity using our missiles and have pushed them all the way to the south of the country,” Feng lied through his smile in crisp English. “Within a few days our land forces will have defeated your forces in Ladakh. Expect to meet a lot more of your friends here real soon. It should be just like 1962 for your countrymen, so you will get used to it. It’s almost like China has to remind your country every few decades of where it stands in Asia. Well, no matter. We will finish the job this time!”

Parekh squinted in the bright sunlight and turned away from it. He still had energy left to respond:

“Really, Colonel? All I remember seeing yesterday night was the exploding fireballs around your vaunted radar and missile sites in the Aksai Chin. And the rest of my boys made it home safely. You should probably check again with your field commanders about the war because to me it seems like you are being fed bullshit!”

“Ah yes, your attacks. They were nothing more than pin-pricks, Parekh,” Feng shook the file in his hand. “As of this morning, those holes you created have already been plugged. And our missiles have already claimed two more of your squadron Jaguars this morning. We even have reports coming in that the Tuskers unit is now so combat depleted that it is being replaced on the front lines. So your co-pilot and the others died for nothing. Our S-300s continue to remain active and your unit continues to breathe its dying breaths!” Feng replied.

“Buddy, we will see about that! I hope you have bunkers here, because it won’t be long before my boys will be visiting you too!” Parekh retorted

Feng laughed at the back-and-forth conversation. Something he had always wanted to do with his enemy face to face…

“We will see, Group-Captain!” he checked his watch and faced the Indian pilot again: “I had hoped to meet my counterpart, and I have. However now I am needed elsewhere. Perhaps we will meet again under better circumstances. Right this instant I have a war to fight!”

Feng smiled condescendingly and nodded to the Major.

Parekh was taken away after reinstating the blindfold over his eyes. He didn’t realize it, but he had just conversed with the man who had saved his skin inside an active war zone. Feng had gone to great lengths to have Parekh transferred to the control of the PLAAF instead of the PLA intelligence officers whose brutality in these matters were infamous throughout the Chinese military.

But Feng would not allow such a thing to happen to a person he considered a professional adversary, not a street criminal. Not many others agreed with him on that, however.

Privileges of my rank. The men will do as they are told.

For now.

Feng thought about that, sighed and then headed back to his utility vehicle to drive back to the operations center.

THE VILLAGE OF DOKUNG

NORTHERN SIKKIM

DAY 3 + 1215 HRS

Gephel yawned like a yeti when his eyes opened. He checked his watch and saw that he had been asleep for around six hours.

First warm bed and blanket in weeks…

Heaven! 

He looked around and saw that the other members of his team were still fast asleep, snoring away. Except for Ngawang, who was busy shaving his beard off with a small mirror mounted on the window sill. 

Gephel decided to do the same and pulled himself out of the warm sleeping bag on the floor. The winds were still howling outside and he recollected where he was again.

“Good
afternoon
, sir!” Ngawang smiled as he noticed Gephel getting up. He got a grunt in return. Gephel realized that their days of operating black and non-existent were perhaps close to ending. He was, at the end of the day, an Indian army officer…

“You too,
Major
!” he finally retorted to Ngawang before heading off into the washroom.

Thirty minutes later a well shaved Gephel and Ngawang walked into the office of the battalion commander and saluted. Both men were now wearing Indian army combat fatigues with proper rank insignia but no name tags or other identifications. They found Ansari sitting inside on a relatively comfortable chair next to the Colonel’s desk, with the pack of images taken by the team through various optics, printed out. It made Gephel somewhat uncomfortable to see the casualness with which all of this was being handled. He put it down to his own self having a hard time changing gears back to regular army life… 

The images in front of them had been taken by the team. They showed the nature of the Chinese supply routes in the region as well as layout and structural strength of the bridges, roads and other assorted infrastructure in southern Tibet.

Gephel noted that Ansari had made notes on several images with special pencils. They couldn’t use pens here of any kind because the ink froze at the brutal arctic temperatures outside.

“So
Lef-
tenant-Colonel, what’s the tally?” the Colonel asked.

Ansari looked up from his seat to hear Gephel’s response. The latter had a smile on his face.

“Twenty-seven, sir. The ones we counted as confirmed! Twelve of these belonging to a Chinese recon party actually heading towards Kongra-La as we were on our way out,” Gephel stated.

The Colonel did not like that final comment one bit, because his Battalion was the one strung out north of Dokung in charge of the security of Kongra-La. The last thing he needed were Chinese recon teams infiltrating behind his lines or causing mayhem. Ansari was about to say something but the Colonel interjected:

“
Lef-
tenant-Colonel, was there any additional indication of Chinese interest in the region of Kongra-La?”

Gephel noted that the Colonel kept referring to him as “
Lef-
tenant-Colonel”. He wondered whether it was because Ansari had not told the Colonel his real name. He shook his head after some thought:

“No sir, not that we could see. But they
do
have some units out on patrol all along the border. The recon team we ambushed had notes on our unit dispositions and so forth for this sector, though. They had actually infiltrated behind our lines just as we had done behind theirs, roughly through the same route. But all indications from the notes I handed over to you and Ansari show that they probably wanted to know whether we had plans beyond Kongra-La.”

“Just like we want to know about
their
plans south of it,” Ansari said finally. “And I will agree with the
Lef-
tenant-Colonel’s assessment on this. They will send recon teams into Sikkim from this sector, and we have to stop them getting intelligence on our dispositions. So now we know that they have in fact been sending teams across. We need more units out here to plug the gaps. Our team broke through the border by crossing the peaks rather than the passes and nearly reached the camp perimeter this morning before we spotted them. If
we
can do it, the Chinese can do it too. We must work with that assumption.”

The Colonel was hardly enthusiastic about that:

“
That
means that
I
have to spread out my men even more to plug these holes rather than keeping them concentrated into a fighting fist. That is a folly I can ill afford, especially against the Chinese. As you say, we need more units. I will forward the estimates up to Brigade. Let’s see what comes off it. In any case, good work.”

The Colonel leaned back into his chair and faced Ansari and gestured him to continue. Ansari nodded and moved on:

“Anyway, coming to the bigger picture. What’s the latest at Gyantse?”

“55
TH
and 11
TH
Divisions,” Gephel answered.

“55
TH
Division, huh?” Ansari pondered.

Yet another familiar unit from the past...

“Yes sir. The Chinese 55
TH
Division is already concentrated at Gyantse and has units on the way towards the Chumbi valley. We located the divisional headquarters and two brigade headquarters near Gyantse. We didn’t really see any units under 11
TH
Division, but we have this information based on sources near the Karo-La. That makes three, I believe,” Gephel said for the record.

“Yes it does. Good work on the unit identifications. We have a Chinese brigade concentrating inside the Chumbi opposite Nathu-La. We are already engaged in local operations against them. The Chinese have another brigade heading to join this first one based on the photographs you provided us. That leaves a third brigade still 55
TH
Division at Gyantse. We can be sure that it will move down as well once 11
TH
Division comes down to Gyantse from the Karo-La. We have a lot of shit heading our way!” Ansari said and leaned back in his seat. 

“And what about us?” Gephel asked.

“You are to stay here and get your team the rest it deserves. Get them cleaned up and have some hot food for a change. Until we handle and terminate the threat from the Chinese forces in Tibet, you are not going anywhere back in,” Ansari stated forcefully.

Gephel and Ngawang did not like that one single bit. Ansari did not expect them to do so either. Ngawang was about to say something but Gephel held him with a glare before looking at Ansari:

“With all due respect, I think we can do some good out there. And you
know
that. So where is this coming from?” Gephel asked.

“You know I can’t discuss that. The bottom line is that this thing has a potential of turning into something very nasty. And the last thing we need is to be seen as connected with the Tibetan rebellion. When we defeat the Chinese, we will let you all loose into Tibet to wrench it back from Beijing. But for now, you are to stay and serve as regular line officers that you are,” Ansari said blandly. He didn’t really believe in what he was saying any more than the people he was saying it to.

“That’s typical bullshit from New-Delhi!” Ngawang blurted out. Gephel shot him a stare that instantly shut him up.

“Apologies, sir. I don’t know what came over me,” Ngawang added half-heartedly. Ansari nodded in understanding.

“We
will
defeat the Chinese, Major. And you
will
get a chance to fight for your country’s freedom. You have my word on it. For now however,
stand your men down!
”

SASER

SOUTH OF DAULAT BEG OLDI

DAY 3 + 1430 HRS

The single Smerch battery in the valley had been engaged in the counter-battery role for three days. More than a dozen Chinese field artillery batteries east of the border were by now nothing more than smoldering wreckage. And as a result the Chinese artillery fire on Brigadier Adesara’s force at DBO had substantially reduced.

But for all that, the constant fire-on-the-move tactics that had prevented the Indian Smerch unit from being wiped out by Chinese MBRL counter-battery fire had also exhausted its crews and nearly emptied its stock of ammunition at Saser. The launchers were covered with soot after having been used for so long without cleaning up. The tires of the vehicles were covered in muddy slush caused by melting snow and the gravel dust.

But after days of desperate combat against numerically superior enemy forces, it was a pleasure for the commander and crews of his battery to see a column of friendly armored vehicles moving past their positions in a long convoy to the north…

The outcome of the battles in Ladakh was far from clear at the moment. Frontlines were changing by the hour and chaos was in the air.

North of Saser was the DBO sector. In the DBO, the 5
TH
Infantry Brigade under Adesara had barely escaped being overrun the day before. South of the Chip-Chap River, southeast of DBO, forward deployed elements of the 10
TH
Mechanized Battalion under Colonel Sudarshan had been badly mauled trying to hold back the heavy armored push by Chinese forces. The battle had between the unit’s BMPs and the Chinese ZBDs had been bloody and desperate, both sides having taken severe casualties.