We were still sitting in the car
discussing the details of all that had happened during the day when Praveen
said, “It’s already 4:30 PM. Let’s get into the village and get some more
details before it gets dark.”
I felt he was right and nodded quietly.
Any planned mission or a planned attack is similar to an exam. The exam
spans for just few hours while the preparation for it spans over months
including hours and hours of dedication and hard work all day and night. A
mission may end in an instant with a single bullet but it is not all that
atleast if the target of the bullet hasn’t to be ourselves. The greater part of
the mission, which is also the most important part, is always gathering the
information and using it in a right way and draw out a near to perfect plan. A
Spy is trained to do this since the day he decides to become one. A Spy clearly
understands the risk of losing patience during that part of the mission and
never proceeds on any attack without a proper plan.
I picked up my Heckler & Koch
Semiautomatic Pistol and checking the magazine once placed it neatly inside my
T-Shirt. Praveen picked up his Colt and then picked up the bag packed up with
few more arms and bullets. I picked up the Sniper bag and hung it on my back.
Holding another bag that had few other accessories, I locked the car.
We walked towards the Narayanpura
road and turned back to confirm that the car was not visible from the road.
Then we headed straight towards the village.
“What if we spook the villagers
and somehow the message gets carried to that group?” I asked.
“I too am thinking the same”
Praveen said, “but we cannot lose this opportunity to watch the house before it
gets dark”
“Yes, atleast we can scout the
place and prepare for an attack and any surprise that might hit us”
“We will walk to the house and
check it out. Better not to waste any more time”
As we entered the village, the
first thing that my eyes fell on was a building that looked little bigger than
others that were obviously houses.
Praveen pointed to it and said, “That’s
the only restaurant in this village”
“Anyhow the owner knows you and
you already have a coverid. Tell him or anyone something about me, say your
driver, and let’s continue with the same coverid you guys have used” I said.
“Yeah that’s right. We can say
that Ram had some other work and we are waiting for him and will take a walk in
the village. But you be a technical engineer whom we picked up to study the
area and site for the factory. If you want to be driver then you will have to
wear back that stinking T-Shirt and those slippers.” Praveen replied with a
grin.
Happy with the idea, I just
smiled at him and we walked straight towards the hotel. The owner of the hotel
greeted Praveen with his smile and welcomed us both.
“I knew sir. No one can walk out
of my restaurant without eating. The smell of my hot bhajji’s pulled you back. Sit down please” the owner said,
directing us to a table.
Praveen smiled and said, “Thank
you. Actually my friend had another work and he went to another place. Until he
gets back we will take a walk into the village and check site and water. This
is our engineer from Bangalore. He had to join us when we came earlier but he
got late.”
“Yes yes check the water check
the site. It will be good for the village if a factory opens here. But now you
must eat my special bhajji’s” he said
with the same smile that had never gone away off his face.
We couldn’t resist him and did
not wanted to risk anything by hurrying up and above all we too were hungry. So
we decided to spend few minutes there and quickly gobbled up a hot bhajji and extended our hands to the
plate to pick another one.
While eating my second bhajji I said, “Sir so I heard there is
another group here who are also planning on the factory. Do you know anything
about them? I mean not them but about their site? Where is the site? How much
far from the river? Construction started?”
He nodded blankly raising his
shoulders and said, “No idea at all. No one from the village goes that deep
into the forest where they say the factory site is. Also, none of them mingle
with us so we have no idea about where and what they are building”
“Oh. Then how do they travel so
deep into the forest?” Praveen asked.
“They have a jeep and few people
have seen them taking jeep through a small road that they have made but that
too until a certain place. After that no one has gone. We are waiting on the
road they say they are building and also we are too afraid to walk in that
forest because of the animals.”
“We too need to plan all that
roads, men, construction materials and all. I say it would be better to talk to
them once.” I said turning to Praveen.
“Yes yes. We will be talking to
the owner. We are already getting contact details while we are working on the
government sanctions and approvals” Praveen replied back to me.
“How many persons stay in that
home Sir?” I asked the owner.
“No idea at all. I have seen only
two guys who come to pick their food and give us order for the next day. It
seems strange to me that some days they order for 15 plates and some days 18
plates and some days 25 plates” he said with a worried look on his face.
I wondered the innocence of the
villagers. So much of suspicious activities were going on around them yet they
were hoping for a factory and jobs coming in and were happy. I knew even
Praveen was wondering the same as wiped the oil off his hand with his hankie.
“Thanks for the delicious bhajji’s. We will take a walk around the
village until my friend comes” Praveen said paying the bill.
“We should thank you for getting a
paper mill to our village sir” he said.
“Which way is the river?” I asked
and before he replied, I continued “And which way is their road? And their
house?”
“My boy can come with you and
show you” the owner of the restaurant replied and yelled for the boy.
“No no. I just asked casually.
Just show us the direction, we will walk” I said.
As soon as he gave us a rough
direction to the river and the house, we came out of the restaurant and started
walking towards the house.
It was a typical village with
small brick houses on the sides of narrow streets. Almost all the streets were
muddy and uneven. The street we walked through to get near to the house was the
main road that stretched across the village from east to west connecting the entrance,
school, river bank, and the dead end.
As we walked, we got strange
stares and very very few smiles from the villagers, most of them wondering our presence.
We were on high alert to keep watching for any suspicious looking men and
especially those wearing green T-Shirts.
The house where this group stayed
was on the last street to the left of this main road. The main road almost ran
into it as a dead end and the other end of that narrow street was where the
forest started. This house, though was at the end of the street and was almost
alone with the nearest house being atleast a meter or two meters away from
this, it’s still was close to its neighboring house and also the house behind it
and we could never attack it with opposition from around 20 people, probably well
armed, without alarming and frightening the neighbors.
We could neither keep a watch on
it standing in open on the main road nor walk past the house to get into the
forest and hide. We simple stood out in the open with few surprised eyes gazing
at us and our strange black bags and expecting
an armed surprise from that group anytime and our brains working quicker than
ever to think of a plan to overcome yet another hurdle of the mission and of
the long long day…
To be Contd…
Vishal…
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