Operation Chaos: A Gripping Action Thriller (2 page)

Prakash Mehta and his subordinates got into the SUVs waiting for them in the basement and rushed towards the traced location of the call; screaming out the sirens.

''Sir, the Head of Security at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on the line,'' said Sharma, as he passed the Chief his cell phone.

Prakash Mehta took the call, clenching the phone tightly in anxiety.

''Good evening, Sir. I am Ashraf Khan, the Head of Securi-'' started the voice on the other side.

''No time for introductions, boy. I will only say this once and I do not like people who question me back. We just intercepted a threat call from the premises of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. I want you to first secure the President, then assemble your men and search for that caller. My team and I are on our way there. Until we get there, secure all the exits and evacuate the building. However, do not let anyone out of the premises. I would need them for questioning.''

''Sir, the President is on his tour of the country. I will pass the message to the officer in-charge of his security. Securing exits now,'' Ashraf kept his reply to the point.

Prakash Mehta felt a bit relieved.

That is one good thing- the President is not at the Bhawan. Now who the hell is this caller and what could be his intentions?

Many questions crossed Prakash Mehta's mind as the vehicle fought its way through the traffic jammed roads of Delhi. A pedestrian crossing the streets nearly missed being hit by Prakash Mehta's car. The SUV screeched to a halt just inches from the pedestrian. The driver honked the horn. But the passerby didn't appear to care about it.

Typical Indian pedestrians!
Prakash exhaled in anger.

Minutes later, the convoy with the SUVs sped onto Rajpath- their sirens blaring through the quiet evening sky.

We are almost there. Hope they have found the caller!

The Chief checked with the Head of Security at the Rashtrapati Bhawan again. They had secured the exits, but the search was still going on. The President's Security Officer, accompanying the President in Assam, had been informed. Prakash Mehta's team at the I.B. headquarters was still tracing the exact co-ordinates. Some unidentified jamming signal was slowing them down.

The huge gates of the Presidential palace now came into view. The monument's Mughal architectural designs, Persian art forms and the European architectural styles were clearly visible as they approached the magnificent gate with four elephant statues upon the two side pillars. The Head of Security of the Rashtrapati Bhawan- Ashraf Khan was at the gate to meet Prakash. Two cannons near the guard posts added a historic feel to the monument. Ashraf climbed in the SUV and reported the happenings to Prakash Mehta.

''We have covered almost all of the grounds and the Mughal Gardens. Now we are moving to the buildings. I have sent separate search teams to the eastern and western wings.''

Another officer radioed in to the Chief. ''Sir, we have set up a 2 km perimeter. Awaiting further orders.''

''We don't know exactly how our mysterious caller looks, but keep checking their IDs. Detain any suspicious personnel,'' the Chief replied.

Their vehicles skidded to a halt in front of the Jaipur Column and the agents promptly scattered in search of the anonymous caller. Chief Prakash Mehta started walking towards the main building.

Prakash knew that this search was like searching for a needle in a haystack. It was almost impossible to arrest the culprit if he had already fled the premises. That very moment, there was a beep on the Chief's phone. It was a message from his tech-team.

Incoming Message: Call source traced. Signal tracked from the west wing.

''We have lead now,'' the Chief said, turning to Ashraf. ''Direct your men to the west wing. I hope it narrows down our search.''

Ashraf ran towards the stairways leading to the Presidential residence. He switched on the 'talk' button of his Walkie Talkie. ''Every one converge their search to the western block. We have information that...''

What happened next second wasn't even remotely anticipated.

A blast of sound reached him first, an almost physical assault upon the eardrums. A tenth of a second later the shock wave blew Ashraf off the ground, launching him forward. The explosion shook up everyone and everything. The SUVs blasted like dynamite sticks, splattering sheets of metal, which flew everywhere. Fire and smoke shot high up into the air.

Chapter 3

DRDO: DEFENCE REASEARCH AND DELVELOPMENT ORGANISATION

PRESS CONFERENCE

Homi Bhabha Auditorium, DRDO HQ,

Delhi, India

Time - 18:30 hrs

''Today, I have called this press conference to proudly declare that we, along with our Russian partners NPO Mashinostroyenia, have successfully completed the phase 1 of the hypersonic version of the
BrahMos
.''

Claps, cheers and applause flooded the auditorium as Dr C. Kapoor presented an animated design of the hypersonic version of the BrahMos missile on the screen.

The news reporters could not contain their curiosities for long after the formal introductions. The questions started coming in like darts-

''Sir, what exactly was the phase 1 of the project?''

''Sir, when will the phase 2 start?''

''What is the speciality of this missile?''

Dr. Kapoor, the managing director of the BrahMos Project loved being in the spotlight. He thrived on those flashes from the cameras and questions from the press. He started explaining everything in detail. Extreme detail.

''On August 20, 1998, the US Navy in an attempt to destroy the Al-Qaida training camps in eastern Afghanistan and hoping to capture its leader Osama  Bin Laden attacked the training camps with the best cruise missiles of the US artillery-the
Tomahawk missiles
. The
Tomahawks,
which fly over a speed of 550 mph- about 0.8 times the speed of sound or 0.8 mach, took about 2 hours to travel the 1100-kilometer distance over the Arabian Sea. Unfortunately, Bin Laden had disappeared by then-missed almost by an hour.

Many other similar scenarios have created a necessity for faster missiles with a larger destruction impact. Presently, BrahMos is the only supersonic cruise missile in service in the world.''

He paused briefly. A new wave of cheers and applause shook the auditorium.

''Even the American Tomahawk is only 0.8 mach whereas BrahMos can reach up to 2.8 mach which is around 924 meters per second. Efforts are going on in many countries currently to achieve supersonic speeds. But our joint venture with Russia has now graduated to the hypersonic domain where we would be using ScramJet engines instead of RamJet. This would expand the operating range above four mach.  The phase 1 of the project was to design a surface-to-surface hypersonic cruise missile, which we have successfully completed!''

Cheers and appreciation flooded in while the clicks of cameras continued. The other scientists and technologists on the dais held their heads high with pride. 

''Sir, would you please elaborate on the Russian assistance you had during this project?'' another question popped up from the crowd.

Mr. Kapoor stared at the young reporter with satirical eyes- elongated and sly.
Why the hell are you more worried about the Russians? 
Nevertheless, he continued by putting up a fake smile.

''As we all know that ‘Project BrahMos’ was born on February 12 1998 when an intergovernmental agreement was signed in Moscow by the President of India and Russia’s first Deputy Defence minister, which paved way for ‘BrahMos Aerospace’-the joint venture entity between India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia. The name decided for this project was 'BrahMos' which is a combination of the names of two great rivers- Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia..."

He felt a vibration in his right pocket.

It's probably just another 'congratulations' call.
He had been receiving many since the morning.

''... The aim of our partnership was to design, develop and manufacture the world’s only supersonic cruise missile system- BRAHMOS. The first time we successfully launched BRAMHOS on June 12, 2001. The missile...''

The vibration stopped.

''The missile has gone through a number of modifications since then along with many trial tests...''

Again, he could feel his cell phone vibrations against his thigh.

  ''... We have also induced it into the Indian Army and Navy. The work on the hypersonic version began in 2008 and since then our team...''

Call terminated. The vibration stopped.

''... has worked days and nights to design the missile.''

And yet again- he was receiving a call.

Now who is the moron on the other side of the line? This better be important.

''
Ladies and Gentlemen, please excuse me for a second.''

He stepped away from the mikes as he took out his vibrating cell phone and made his way backstage. The LED display of the screen showed-
UNKNOWN NUMBER.

His thumb moved towards the receive button on the dial-pad. Little did he know that he was about to pick up
the most unexpected call of his life
.

Chapter 4

Thar Desert, Rajasthan, Western Frontier, India.

Co-ordinates: 26
° 59
′
 06 N, 71° 00
′
 05
″

Time: 18:40 hrs

The CornerShot gun was one of the upgrades to the equipment of the Black Cats after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The weapon allowed the operator to both see and attack an armed target without exposing the operator to counter attack. The system consisted of a pistol mounted in the front end of the weapon, which could rotate horizontally with a digital camera, a flashlight and a 40 mm grenade launcher- a perfect lethal weapon.

Laser designators, wall surveillance radars, portable X ray machines, night vision, thermal imaging cameras, remotely operated mini vehicles, level 3 bulletproof vests were the new toys the CATS were equipped with.

David had a distinct reputation in his unit- whenever he and his task force went for any operation, David brought everybody back home. He never returned with a soldier killed in action or missing in action. Back in his army days, David had ran 27 kilometres through the woods near the Indo-China border carrying his severely injured officer in-command to a medical camp on his shoulder all the way along.

''Everyone geared up?'' David asked.

All of the crew of the chopper nodded their heads in affirmation.

*******

Somewhere inside the enemy camp
:

''
Janab
, we have got a chopper on our radars.''

Their leader rose up from the chair, but his face was calm.

''Must be the B.S.F patrol. For the past eleven days, we have been operating here and they do not have a slightest clue about it. You know the drill- Blackout for next 20 minutes. Kill all the switches. No radio contact until the patrol passes. I don't want them picking up our radio signals. Inform me after they have patrolled out of the radar range.
Aur chaukkane rehena
.''

''
Ji Janab
!'' was the reply.

*******

Seven commandos and Commander David roped their way down on the enemy territory. David radioed the pilot, ''Big Bird, we are on the ground. Stay within the range and give them an impression of a regular patrol. Sgt. Harish, you will stay in the chopper for sniper support. Get backup from the BSF if you can.''

Turning towards his team he said, ''Ok. Here's what we do- we break into their bunkers, take them out one by one, gather whatever Intel we can get from this place and get back home. It's not that easy as it might have sounded right now. But don't worry people. I will take you home- All of you.''

The Army had taught him one solid thing- You watch your team’s backs, and they will watch yours.

The eight figures stealthily crawled their way towards the enemy camp. The area, which Commander David had surveyed from the chopper, was pretty much same as given in the maps supplied by the Headquarters. Four bunkers lined up 2 by 2 directly in front of them, a main building beyond the bunkers and a typical watchtower towards the east.

He drew a rough sketch of the map on the ground and explained everyone their tasks. ''We split up into two teams here. Rakesh take Sgt Mohan, Capt. Ashish and Cpl Mahesh with you from the left. You are Charlie. The rest of you with me to the right. We are Bravo. They have blacked out, so this will give us a Night vision advantage. Be alert; use your wall surveillance scanners and thermal imaging to navigate. Keep it silent boys- suppressed weapons only.''

All of it seemed so customary for David. If he was concerned, no trace of it showed in his face. He resumed his soft whistling calmly, almost leisurely, scanned the sector. The two teams split up and made their way to left and right bunkers. The bunkers lining either side of the mud road, solid, craggy, four square buildings, looked as if they had been defying the bitter desert winters for a long time and intended going on doing so for as long again.

''Charlie to Bravo. We are in position to breach the bunkers. Waiting for your go.''

''Charlie, do you see anything on your thermal imaging cams?'' Bravo team's reply.

''Absolutely nothing, Sir.''

''This could be a trap or an ambush. So stay alert. All right- Night visions on. Go, Go, Go.''

Silence.

Both teams blasted into the bunkers- a loud banging of the door, footsteps of the commandos breaching in, and then silence again.

Team Bravo-

In the right bunker, David quickly checked the corners at his 3 O' clock. Nothing

''Check those corners at your nine. ''

''Clear, Sir.''

''Move. You see anything?''