Chapter 2

"So Mr. Bheemraj, it's been a long time. Remember us?"

A voice boomed around the office and a live video started playing on the screen handled by the secretary. The hijackers stood on the other side of the screen, armed with a pointed look on their faces. The video ended as soon as it had begun.

"How is this possible..." Mr. Bheemraj whispered to himself.

"Who are they, sir?" The secretary asked, eyes never leaving the screen.

"Dead people, from the past..." He replied, a bead of sweat running down his forehead

--

In the metro, a palpable tension covered the atmosphere, a sense of doom and tragedy.

"Om, open the gates," Anirudh said on the mic. The gates opened almost a second later.

All the corrupted air went out of the coach and Anirudh continued, "turn the AC on."

Everyone consequently removed their masks and started checking the unconscious passengers, who were slowly regaining consciousness.

"Raj, do you copy?" Anirudh asked.

"Yeah, Anirudh. Speak."

"Raj, are the lasers installed outside?" Anirudh spoke.

"Yes, the lasers are installed on both the sides and tested successfully." Came the reply.

"And what about the cameras and the explosives?" Om asked from his position.

"They are perfectly placed where you marked on the map."

Anirudh nodded to himself and looked at everyone inside the metro. With a short intake of breath, he gave his order.

"Begin Phase two."

Everyone huddled around the coach. They made the passengers sit on the seats and tied their hands to each others' with sure locks, and every person on the end to respective poles.

A group of seven people was tied and dragged to the seats.

"Okay you move," Veronica ordered three people who obediently got up and followed her to the front of the metro.

"Raj, take care of them. Jagrit, assist him with the work, and be quick!" She left in a rush.

Three more people were made to move towards the back side of the metro.

"Sir, there's someone coming." Om's voice reached everyone.

--

Three CRPF soldiers, armed and quick with their movements started moving towards the metro from the platform.

"Be very silent, we can't alert them," One of them said as they moved, to grasp the severity of the situation. They kept moving slowly, switching their guns from safe mode to burst mode.

--

"Lasers or explosives?" Om asked simply.

"Calm down, boy. Let's prove to Mr. Bheemraj that we are still the same people he handpicked," Anirudh smirked.

--

"What's that beep sound?" one of the CRPF soldiers asked, stopping in his tracks.

Within no time, an explosion took place, killing all 3 of them on the spot, with the sound echoing until the very end of the metro line.

--

"Sir, there was an explosion. None of them came back."

The secretary hurried inside the office with a worried voice.

"Yeah. How can I underestimate them? They were not simple agents. Beasts, now that would be a better term." Mr. Bheemraj was growing nervous by the moment.

In the meantime, another video greeted him.

"Beasts, remember sir? That was our team name, right? You, of all people, can't forget it. You thought we came without any preparation? Just for the sake of your remembrance, we have Major Raj Singh and Dr. Vivek Wadhwa with us.

A man with explosive hands and a mad scientist. Don't let any innocent life go to waste now."

The video ended.

The secretary had a very questioning look on his face. Mr. Bheemraj nodded in response.

"Operation Over N Out." He started.

"This goes back to 26 November 2008, when Mumbai was attacked by ten terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, killing 166 people, capturing big spots of Mumbai, adversely affecting the relationship of India and Pakistan.

I was the head of R&AW at that time, and the news had angered us to the core. Around that time, I got a call from the joint intelligence secretary about a secret meeting.

In this meeting, the agenda was clear. Revenge. I was told to prepare a team of seven people. This was for a secret attack on the two terrorist groups.

As it was a secret mission, everything was strictly confidential. We were executing it beneath the Prime Minister's nose."

Bheemraj went into flashback remembering the chaotic time.

'Mr. Bheem, how much time will you need to prepare?'

'Three days sir. I have a list of potential candidates ready.'

"Three days later, I introduced them, the seven Beasts to the team, all seven of them no less than perfect in their particular sectors.

--

"Jagrit, do you copy?" Veronica said.

"Yes, this is Jagrit." He replied from his position.

"Is the back end all set up?" She asked.

"No, not yet. We are working on it. One of the hostages started running, so had to beat him up," He answered.

"Okay, be quick and meet at Om's position, over." She said.

The time was 2 am now and all the passengers were awake; talking, begging for mercy.

"Hey, where is my friend?" one of the passengers asked loudly.

"The tall one?" Anirudh questions.

"Yeah, the tall one. Blue Jacket, round specs." She replied, hopeful.

"Don't worry, he's not dead yet. He's protecting us, from the back."

Anirudh told her. Even after all this fiasco, they were humans and could sense pain. He looked away.

"Who are you guys, ISI, LeT, which terrorist group are you from?" An old man asked.

Jagrit walked towards the old man, raises his gun to beat him but is stopped by Anirudh.

"It's his right to know us," He looked at the man. "We are not terrorists, old man. We are all from one country." He paused. "India."

The coach went dramatically silent.

"We used to be the citizens of this country, but--"

"Anirudh, do you copy?" Someone spoke on his receiver.

"Yes, go ahead."

"Two men, bulletproof jackets, army movements."

"No bombs this time," Anirudh said. "Arjun, go with the drill."

--

"Where did you find them, sir?" The secretary questioned.

"All of them were in surveillance for a year. Seven people, seven different states.

The youngest among them was Om Kapur. 21 years old, Bengaluru boy, recently graduated from a reputed University. He was an ordinary student, but his skills were not at all ordinary. At the age of 18, he had hacked around twenty major Indian government websites. He was caught several times, but without any sure proof so he got bailed out in a matter of hours. I got to know about him when he tried hacking the R&AW database, which was an illegal activity and he could have landed up in jail. I caught him. We had a meeting which ended up being a deal. It was simple. He will have to serve R&AW after his graduation, to which he obviously agreed. He was the first member of the Beasts."

He stopped to drink some water.

"Do you know the full form of DRDO?" He asked, then.

"Defence Research and Development Organisation," The secretary answered.

"Why sir?"

"The second member of the Beasts was recruited from here. A man from Mumbai, wrinkles on his face, always sleepy but still kept his work as his first priority. He was working on something he named 'quadcopters.'

By 2008, Americans were using drones on Afghanistan and Pakistan to kill the conversational activity among the terrorists. He got the idea from there. He was working on a project which could spy on enemy forces with the help of a remote controller and four rotors. He did succeed in his work and many did appreciate him but his main motive was to use it here, in R&AW. We met several times, and then he agreed for the mission."

"Dr. Vivek. Didn't get to hear much about him." The secretary said.

"Yeah. He wasn't hungry for fame or money so he ignored his interviews. Mr. Bheemraj replied. Then he looked at the screen again.

"You can see women in many major sectors now but this wasn't the scene at that time," He started again.

"Veronica Gupta, a gem of the army service corps. Woman are still not allowed to serve in infantry, but allowed to join the army. Veronica joined the army in 2006 and topped the academy in two things; beating male personnel in hand to hand combat and aiming for the bullseye every time she held the gun. She got out of the academy with the gold medal but wasn't in favor of the rule as she wanted to serve the army but couldn't.

I met her at the parade. I was there to meet one of my old friend, who was a Colonel in the Bihar Regiment. Veronica turned out to be his daughter and we talked about the future when I assured her that her talent won't go in vain. After the attacks, the girl from Bihar got recruited for the mission."

--

The time was 1:38 AM. All the news channels were covering the hijack. The Prime Minister ordered to take any force to put down the terror attack. A team of ATS, NSG, and SFF was deployed for the rescue operation.

The secretary entered the room.

"They will be here by 4 am, sir."

Mr. Bheemraj was on his phone.

"Yeah, we need you. Only you can help. Your old colleague is there. Report to me ASAP," He said urgently.

"We just got someone to lead." He sighed.