Operation Chaos: A Gripping Action Thriller (16 page)

A rush of freezing wind greeted him as he jerked the door wide open and stepped outside his lab. A miniature blizzard howled into the belly of the room. He locked the door, put on his overcoat and scarf, making himself ready for the chills of the desert. The night was quiet and so was the road. A group of army trucks had just come in and most of the guards were busy shifting the delivered consignments to the safe house. The regular night patrol was nowhere to be seen.

I hope A.K. Das has not left for his bunker,
a little worry was gnawing at Ajay.

His stream of thought was broken when he saw there were no lights in the cabin of the assistant co-ordinator. The front door was locked. Surprisingly, Ajay could still see from a small light glowing in the darkness inside through the translucent window.

He must have left his desktop on by mistake.

Ajay was about to leave when he saw something move inside the cabin. As if a person had passed by the desktop screen. The window was translucent, making it impossible to predict anything going on inside the cabin. Ajay stood still for a moment. He knew he was tired and that he needed his sleep.

But his mind stirred some doubts. Doubts which needed clarification.

Maybe there is something fishy going on in here. Maybe someone else is operating the co-ordinator's computer. I must check out what is going on here.

But Ajay knew going inside alone involved a great risk. He ran to the nearest watchtower and waved his hands to the military men above. A couple of soldiers came down to investigate the situation. After he was done explaining what he had seen to the Indian army soldiers, Ajay led them to the co-ordinator's cabin.

The cabin was a L - shaped structure attached to the data room where all the recorded data saved on disks and floppies was stored. It had two exits - one was the cabin's front door and the other was the back door from the data room. One of the soldiers circled to the back door while Ajay and the other soldier knocked at the main door.

''Mr. Das, are you there inside?''

There was a sound of some quick movements, crashing of a chair and then suddenly there was silence. The soldiers signalled each other and decided to move in.

''I think something is wrong. You better stay close behind me, Mr. Ajay. If there is an intruder inside, we'll get him,'' the soldier ensured.

The other soldier at the back door was ready to tackle anyone coming out of that door. He gave a thumbs up to his partner at the front door who checked his pistol, clicked the safety off and kicked the front door. The door went down with a loud bang.

Ajay crouched and followed the soldier who was desperately trying to find the light switch in the dark of the cabin. Failing to find the switch, the soldier took out his cigar lighter and held it high to cover the maximum area. Clenching the pistol firmly in his other hand, he moved across the room towards the desktop which was now shut down. The chair in front of the desktop was lying down on the floor and somebody had left a notepad beside the keyboard. When the soldier was busy checking the notepad near the desktop, Ajay saw something move at the corner of the L-shaped cabin. He was about to alert the soldier when a small vase came flying and hit that soldier. Before the soldier could recover, two bullets hit him right on his chest and stomach. The man went down instantly.

Ajay did not hear the sound of bullets, but he saw the body of the soldier crashing on the floor. The lighter fell on the floor a few metres ahead enlightening a small portion of the cabin. Ajay now knew that there was an intruder in the room and that he was dangerous.

Is he using a silenced weapon?
Ajay slowly began crawling.
Does he know I am here? Of course, his eyes must be better adjusted to the darkness. But I had maintained a low profile. There is no way he could have seen me.

He tried to figure out his next move.
Should I shout out to the soldier at the back door for help? He is my last chance. But shouting would expose my existence in the room and my position as well. If the soldier doesn't hear my cry, I would be a dead chicken.

The lighter had now gone off. The room was completely dark. Ajay decided to play it silent. He knew that the intruder was somewhere near the opposite corner of the cabin. It was a safe move to escape out of the front door lying down on the stomach. Ajay retraced his steps back towards the front door slowly and trying to remain as silent as possible. But then suddenly he heard footsteps. The footsteps were coming towards him and the sound of the each footstep made his heart skip a beat. Ajay was sweating profusely, but he also had to think of something. He saw a desk exactly opposite to the A.K. Das's computer under which he could fit, so he quickly rolled over under the desk and waited for the inevitable to happen.

The footsteps kept coming closer. For a second, Ajay thought that he could jump the intruder and take him by surprise as he passed by. But then he ruled out the idea by logic.

He killed an army soldier. Intruder one. Me zero.

He might be physically stronger than me. Intruder two. Me zero.

He has a silenced weapon. Intruder ten. Me zero.

I should probably wait here until he leaves
, thought Ajay.

The footsteps went towards the door and he could hear a distinct creaking as the intruder closed the broken door. Ajay was aware of a fear, a fear bordering on a reason-abdicating panic, such as he had never previously experienced.

After a couple of seconds the footsteps seemed to come closer again. Then Ajay saw the intruder move towards the desktop. He was wearing a dark dress and had wrapped cloth over his face to conceal his identity.

What is he trying to do now? Steal more secrets? And what is the guard at back door still doing? He should be suspicious by now and should have come in to check.

The mysterious figure picked up the chair, booted the computer, kept his silenced pistol on the table next to the mouse and started to jot down something on the notepad. The intruder had no idea that Ajay was watching him from behind. The bright light coming from the screen of the monitor made it impossible for Ajay to recognise the intruder from behind. Ajay caught a glimpse of his hand and noticed that the intruder was using a pair of hand gloves to avoid leaving any fingerprints. In the light coming from the screen, Ajay could faintly make out the red colour of his hand gloves.

He has no idea there is another soldier waiting outside. That soldier might come in any time now. Patience, Ajay, Patience. Maintain your calm.

Ajay had too many things going on in his mind. He was breathing faster every second. Minutes seemed like hours.

Where is that damn guard,
Ajay was now panic-stricken and restless. He decided to brave the inevitable and sneak out silently. Maintaining a low profile, he crawled out of the desk soundlessly.

Front door or the back door?
Ajay had a choice to make.
That guy has a direct shot at the front door. One mistake and he would be putting bullets through me. Better take the back door.

Ajay crawled at a snail's pace ducking between tables and cupboard. He was almost midway near the corner of the cabin when his path was blocked by a long wooden partition. The only way past it was a wooden door which was the entrance to the data room.

Okay. Almost there. I just have to swiftly open the door and make a dash for the back door.

Ajay took a deep breath. He was two metres away from the door. Checking on the intruder who was busy copying data, Ajay slowly started to rise up. He took a small step towards the door when his right foot accidently stepped on a paper weight lying on the floor.

The sound was sharp and the intruder didn't waste a second in picking up his gun. The only problem the intruder now faced was that his eyes had been focused on the bright screen for too long. As he turned towards the source of the sound, he couldn't clearly comprehend the outline of Ajay dashing for the door at the partition. Without wasting any time, the intruder fired four rounds randomly towards the wooden partition. Ajay had jumped towards the door knob and he was in mid air when the bullets went whizzing past him. One nearly missed the back of his head and Ajay could sense it going past his hair. The other two were fired quite a distance above him, but the last bullet tore through the fabric of his overcoat, sliced his skin and brushed past his right shoulder. Ajay, landing on the door, was about to open the doorknob when the other soldier rushed in through the front door. The mysterious intruder had now adjusted his eyes to the darkness. Before the second soldier could get his pistol out of the holster, three bullets went right through his chest. Ajay watched his last ray of hope fall down dead as he closed the partition door behind him.

The data room was more like a server room with nine long cabinets arranged three by three in a very symmetrical distribution. All the data hard disks were classified and kept for records. The room was small and the cabinets stood like pillars in some Greek architecture. Ajay dodged the cabinets and made way through the piles of floppies and finally reached the back door. He was one step away from freedom.

He unbolted the door and pushed it outwards. The door wouldn't budge. Ajay gave it a hard push with his shoulder again and yet the door stood still. It was bolted from outside.

The door of the wooden partition opened and a figure armed with a gun stepped into the data room!

Chapter 45

The second soldier after a long time had grown suspicious of something fishy going on inside the cabin. He bolted the back door from outside so no one could come exit from behind. Then he entered from the front door to investigate and had taken three bullets in his chest. Ajay was now trapped. Totally. He knew there was absolutely no chance he was getting out of there alive. The room was absolutely dark and the only way out of the room now was the door in the wooden partition through which the intruder had just entered. The intruder moved slowly from cabinet to cabinet, checking every corner for signs of any survivor.

Ajay slithered quietly in the dark, guessing the movements of the armed intruder and trying to remain as far from him as possible. Ajay had made a mental note of the layout of the cabinets and stacks of floppies in the room when he had crossed the room. The sound of the attacker turning quickly or displacing a piled stack of floppies would give away his rough position to Ajay. He concentrated hard on listening to footsteps which were coming towards him from his left.

He will be on the other side of this cabinet any second now. This is my only chance. Either I do this or I die.

Ajay took out a pen from his pocket and tossed it over his head from above the cabinet so that it would fall on the opposite side of the cabinet. The sound of the falling pen reverberated throughout the room. The footsteps became quick and heavy. They approached the spot where the pen had landed and then suddenly stopped.

Got him just where I wanted.

The next moment, Ajay put all his power into his muscles and pushed the entire cabinet to his opposite side where the intruder was investigating. The entire stack of hard drives and unused electronic equipments came down, tumbling on the intruder. Ajay had made his window of escape. He dashed to the door in the partition, ran into the office room, and made it straight out of the main door. He didn't even care to look back for a couple of seconds. He just ran and ran to the nearest security check post. Never in his life had he run so furiously. After covering a considerable distance, Ajay glanced behind. There it was - the mysterious figure with its face covered, dark clothing and red hand gloves staring at him. Ajay quickly turned left and took cover behind the parked military trucks to avoid any bullets that might be fired upon him.

Gasping for breath, he ran to the watchtower.

''You need to come over right now! Shots were fired in the co-ordinator's cabin-''

Ajay, out of breath and in the verge of a collapse, managed to explain the guards the gravity of the situation and dragged them to the cabin. Twenty minutes later, the assistant co-ordinator's office was a buzzing centre of activity: Military officers were investigating the situation, Ajay had been cross-questioned three times by the authorities. Mr. A.K. Das was summoned immediately to check if any data was missing from his computer. The medics had cleaned and bandaged the wound on Ajay's right shoulder where the bullet had brushed past.

''So it was you who toppled that cabinet and broke those important hard drives?'' An officer was questioning a terror stricken Ajaysingh Chauhan.

''Yes, I had no option. I couldn't think of anything else,'' Ajay responded in a resolute manner.

''Did you have a good look at his face?''

''No. He had his face covered.''

''Did he see you?''

''I don't think so. We were never actually face to face. I am pretty sure he spotted me when I was running away, but he couldn't have seen my face. It was too dark,'' Ajay reasoned.

''Good,'' said the officer curtly. His manner was the most brisk and business-like and he did not mince words when he spoke next. ''It is a good thing he did not see you. With you exposed all of us would have been in danger and judging by this mayhem, he will surely strike back and his next target will be you. He will try and get rid of you as soon as he gets a chance. That means he is one of us and is in the facility at this moment''. Having said that, the Officer looked at Ajay and said with a quiet concern, ''You better watch out Mr. Ajay, it could be anyone.''