Day light will be here soon, so our parties were getting ready to watch the action. The other parties had reached their locations. By first light, they would come to know if they were in the line of sight of the village. They could relocate in the wee hours of morning, if minor changes were required.
Ranvir was still looking at the village. Till now, everything was moving as planned. I moved up to Ranvir.
‘Sir, the parties are in position’ he said
‘Yes’ I replied, looking around to see if I could see anything.
‘This is smooth. We should be able to wrap this up by noon, nahi?’ I could see excitement all over his face.
‘Do you know Murphy?’ I asked
‘Murphy?’
‘Yes, Murphy, the one with all the laws. He says “things will go wrong, when u least expect it”. What I mean to say is, when you are out in the open with your men, always be on your guard. Remember this, complacency kills’
‘Yes sir, I understand’
‘You should. Not only because it is your life in danger, but also the lives of your men. Ranvir, your one mistake can cost one person his life. Do remember that throughout your life. There will be times, when the situation is such, you have to take risks. Take them. But never take unwarranted risks’ I said, trying to tell him that in a matter of some time, he will have to take on responsibilities alone.
‘Sir’
Just then, I thought I saw some movement in the other mountain ridge. Just to confirm, I took my binos. I could see something moving amongst trees. If these were our chaps, then it was a very poor show of drills.
It would take a trained eye to identify the movements, but I could do so now after spending so much time in Manipur. I concentrated on the movements. I could not see what was moving, but it was no where near co-ordinates of our parties. And it was moving towards Pramod’s location. Pramod had already given the report of his reaching the location. Could it have been Pramod relocating his party for a clearer view of the village? Or was it?
No movement was welcome at this point of time, which was visible from a distance. The movements were not tactical, but well hidden. Now, I concentrated fiercely on the movements. I could see some uniforms………
‘SHIT’
‘Sir?’ all this while Ranvir was watching me.
‘SHIT, SHIT, SHIT’ I could not say any thing else at that time.
‘Those are militants moving towards Pramod. Oh man, if they get to him without getting noticed Pramod is fucked!! They’ll have him inside out. Fuck, Ranvir, get the radio set, and FAST’
Militants moving towards Pramod? Do they know he is there?? Was it a routine patrol they were taking out? Has Pramod seen them???
Ranvir rushed back with radio set.
‘Four for four alfa’ I called for Pramod
No answer.
I called again ‘four for four alfa’
I was praying to god that he should reply this time……
No reply again.
I gave it a last try. ‘You bastard, four alfa, for gods’ sake, reply’
Listening that four alfa did not reply, Saurabh came in….
‘One seven for four, any urgent message, over?’
‘Bloody four alfa. That chap isn’t answering’ I was frustrated
‘Any serious movements, sir?’ even Saurabh was worried by now.
‘Can see some movements towards him. If he doesn’t react, he’ll be had’
Listening to intensity of the situation, our CO came in
‘One five for four, is the movement towards him clearly seen?’
‘Very clearly’ I replied, hoping the CO would not have come in, but now that he was here, he took charge.
‘How much reaction time does he have?’ he enquired
‘About five mins’ I said
‘Bloody hell, is he sleeping? Four, can u get there?’ he asked me
‘Negative, negative’ he was on the other ridge and it would take me some time to reach there.
CO had to take a decision. He was not able to see the situation, but then he decided to go in with Saurabh and Sreejith, who appeared to be nearer to Pramod.
‘One five for one seven, are all teams in location?’ he asked Saurabh
As I could see the whole situation, I had a better picture, so I interrupted.
‘Four for one five, before anyone goes in, give me five mins.’ I requested
Every thing had changed within a few minutes. The game which was clearly in our hands, now we were on back foot, willing to even bust the operation…..
I could feel the heat of the situation. How could Pramod get into this???
Fuck the militants……
Fuck Pramod…….
FUCK MURPHY…….
