Desi Train

Chapter Three : Escape to India

Sanket Shukla was having a tough day. It was a holiday. And they were packing for their vacation to Mauritius. Mini, his wife was panicky, causing her to fret and worst of all, nag. And therein lay the reason for the day being not as easy as he had envisioned.

As the DM (District Magistrate) of Ghaziabad, Sanket was one of those few in the civil services, that still kept themselves clean of all the corruption around them. And he had learnt to stay within the system without stepping on anyone’s toes.

He often wondered if his job, that was supposed to be so stressful, was made easy, because of his Guru… BABAJI.

“Don’t forget to wrap BABAJI’s photo in the suitcase” he reminded his wife.

“Oh damn… I almost forgot that…” Mini quickly rushed to the kitchen where one of the cabinets had been converted to a temple. She took out BABAJI’s photo and carefully wrapped it in one of the prayer-towels that BABAJI had given here.

“Listen… should we carry it in the carryon? That way it would not be touched by feet”

Sanket agreed “Yeah, good idea. Give IT to me I’ll carry BABAJI in my shoulder bag”

The phone rang.

Mini picked it up “Brij Bhaiyya? Pranaam… Yeah… we are packing still. Our flight’s early in the morning… Sanket? Yeah please wait a second”

She handed the receiver to Sanket “Brij Bhaisaab is calling from Almora. He says he has a message from BABAJI for you”

Sanket quickly grabbed the receiver “Brij Bhai namashkar… BABAJI’s message?”

He listened for a minute “I’m blessed that BABAJI wants me to do this… It’ll be done Brij Bhai”

He placed the receiver back on the cradle.

Mini was intrigued “BABAJI’s message? What is it?”

Sanket went to the half zipped suitcase and unzipped it fully. He started removing his clothes from it, and while taking out his carefully round-wrapped socks, he looked up at Mini

“Vacation’s cancelled. BABAJI would like me to stay here and wait for a call”

“Call? Oh the Games of GOD… Who will call Sanket?”

“Someone called Andy Raheja who is chasing a criminal in India. My job would be to provide him everything he wants”

“Who’s this Andy Raheja?”

Sanket shrugged. “Who knows. But doing the GOD’s work means we both can accept the fact that we are now in the shade of HIS love and protection”

Mini smiled “True… I didn’t cook anything for lunch thinking we’ll be grabbing a quick bite later on… Let me put some rice in the cooker, I’ll prepare some pulao”

Sanket stopped her. “Don’t worry. Let’s go out and have a nice meal. On our way back we can drop by Durga Mandir. It’s been quite a few weeks since we went there”

“Good idea. Let me change quickly”

As Mini left the room, Sanket emptied the suitcase and carried it the garage. He picked up his cellphone and called his assistant.

“Mishra-jee… please try and find out who is Andy Raheja… Yeah… A, n, d, y or maybe A, n, d, i, e… Raheja… O Mishrajee, we cancelled our trip to Mauritius. Just let everyone of those who were coming to drop us at the airport, know about it…”

Sanket stuffed the empty suitcase in one of the closets in his garage and walked back into the house. Andy Raheja… who are you? And how do you know BABAJI?

————————————————————————————————————

Peshawar, 9pm

The houses all shared the common wall. Old and young men sat on the flat rooftops smoking hookahs. The narrow streets were paved with red brinks. An open sewage channel lay on either side of street. The small houses on both sides of the street were old. Very old. Some door had the year in which they were built, carved out on them in small Urdu letters.

The main source of income for most living in these houses came from running shops at Nulla Bazaar, a street market in town. From selling camels, to carpets to arms and ammunition, Nulla bazaar was one place where you could stop at a store to buy a Kalashnikov and step into the next shop to eat some hot and sweet halwa. Most of the people running these shops lived next to each other. Most of them were from the North West Frontier Province, a wild wild west in Pakistan. Many even came from Afghanistan, having fled the country during the Russion invasion, and never went back.

One of the houses at the very end of the street belongs to Qadri. His house serves as a safe house or a junction to terrorists on the move. Raffiq sat on the roof top smoking a hookah with Qadri, discussing the current political situation in Pakistan and how unreligious it’s military government had become. They both were waiting for a message. The footsteps on the cement steps had them turning to look at who it was.

Anwar, a sixteen year old kid, approached them. He bowed to both the men and delivered the message, he had just received from one of his teachers who taught religion and politics.

“Thanks Anwar” Qadri took out a tabeez and handed it to him. “Take this and put it next to your pillow. Now leave for home. But ask Tughlaq to serve you dinner before you go home.”

Qadri stretched himself over the center of the rooftop which had a large open square pointing to the verandah below. Six people sat on the floor of the verandah smoking hookahs and playing cards.

“Tughlaq!… see that Anwar eats dinner before he goes home”

Anwar bowed again and left.

“I don’t understand… why go back to India? Isn’t this a mistake?” Raffiq was frowning.

“People are hot on your trial Raffiqmiya. The CIA, FBI, our own screwed up military, which are nothing but pawns of the US Government. You have to lie low for some more time before being assigned your next job.”

“Why not Europe? Or even Kashmir? I feel so worthless simply running from the evil scum of this earth. I’m a jihadi and I want to die fighting for my religion. But this running around. I’ve been moving from one place to the next for the last 15 months. From one place to the other. It’s frustrating.”

“Allah be praised for giving us warriors like you. Raffiqmiya you are meant to do great things in our times. We all can see it. But for now. You have to leave for India and then on to Nepal. I believe the direction has been chosen because you will be leading our holy war from Nepal. Anjum and Shakil are in Nepal and they have been collecting a lot of weapons for our war”

Raffiq got up and put on his slipper.

“Where are you going?”

“To get some shirts and pants. Wearing this Pathani suit is surely an invitation for the Indian police however stupid they may be”

Qadri laughed.

“Good. Use the door that leads to our neighbour’s house and then leave from their back door. You should leave in a couple of hours. I’ll arrange for Anwar to accompany you till the border…”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll manage it.”

“What sector do you plan to get into India from?”

“The usual”

“Dere?”

Raffiq smiled as he started walking down the stairs “Yeah. It’s short and it’s sweet. Entering from Kashmir can take days if not weeks.”

Raffiq had done it numerous times in the past. But each time he chose that one place to enter India from. It had always proved lucky for him, though for others it was one place they avoided cause of heavy military presence.

Raffiq would enter India from Dera Baba Nanak.

————————————————————————————————————

Anwar was casually walking down the street, concentrating on his half eaten bhutta (corn) which was served at Qadri’s house. As he walked passed a grey truck, its door opened, diverting his attention from the dinner towards the truck.

The man in the truck wore a police cap.

“Oye kiddo, come here”

There were a whole range of stripes pinned to his breast. Anwar guessed, the man in uniform must be someone big.

“Jee, Janab” Anwar questioned with utmost courtesy as he stood within a few inches of the man in uniform.

Four men jumped out from the back of truck and stood around Anwar.

“We saw you entering Qadri’s house. What’s going on in there?”

“Nothing Janaab. Qadri-miya serves me dinner at times”

No sooner did Anwar complete his sentence, he felt a sharp, stinging slap on his check.

“I will ask you one more time, after which I’ll put you in a dark cell for the rest of your life… What’s going on inside the house?”

Anwar was feeling the fear. He had tears rolling down the cheecks out of the pain from the slap.

He attempted to be genuine again “Janaab… Allah kasam… I was there… for… for… din..”

Another sharp slap. Someone from behind him slapped the back of his head and grabbed his collar from the back.

The uniformed man sitting in the truck slapped him again. “Take him to center. Let him rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life.”

Anwar was panicking. “Janaab, please please let me go. I swear. I’ll never visit this house again”

“Good. Now tell us who’s inside the house”

Six men sitting in the verandah, two on the top, 8 to 10 Kalashnikovs, suspected box of hand grenades on the room to the right, 3 rooms on the left, 1 bathroom behind the house, kitchen on the right, a door in the bedroom on the left led to the neighbor’s house who at times supplied Qadri with weapons to sell in his shop. One new guy called Raffiq had arrived two nights ago. But he wouldn’t stay long. He was leaving for India in a few hours, though he didn’t know how and from where would he cross the border.

Information downloaded. Anwar was sent packing home.

Captain Usman lighted a cigarette and walked over to the van parked on the other side of the street. He opened the door at the back and stepped in to join a company of four men sitting inside. Andy Raheja and his men.

“Gentlemen it’s confirmed your target is in. We have to move in quickly.”

“Yes we heard. How do you plan to do this Captain?” It was Andy eager to move in as quickly as possible.

“I’ll be moving in with my team in first. We’ll blow the door and contain the six men down here. Meanwhile four of my men will move up using these stairs while these two of my guys provide them cover. If the two guys above, on the roof top, one of which is your target, haven’t reacted, then we can get them right here. Else I believe we’ll be chasing them from one roof top to the other.”

“Captain, I know you said that we can only enter after you give the signal, but please let two of my men go with you. Atleast let KC and Planman accompany your team…”

Captain Usman cut Andy’s sentence “Andy-janaab, I don’t know what this man did or not did. For me he is another terrorist, we have been looking for a long time. Another scum who is using misguided principles in the name of my religion. Trust me, I would love to see you and your guys take him away and do whatever you want to, with him. But my superiors have given me stern instructions to see that none on your team is hurt. I don’t know how you know so many of the top persons in our government, and I don’t care. But I do care to see that their instructions are followed to the very last letter.

No Andy-janaab, I can’t let you in before I have cleared the entire house”

KC spoke “Captain. Let me go. Just me. We aren’t going to be sitting here. We trust you and your men, but it is imperative we catch Raffiq. We know how he moves and what he’ll do to get away from our hands. You need someone who is familiar with the moves of this guy.”

Captain Usman looked at KC, who was looking right back in his eyes. It had been ten years since the last time they had worked together. KC was a good guy who had on many occasions saved many of his men from near death situations.

“Alright KC, but just you… AndyJanaab four of my men will be here at the backdoor and three here on the street to see that the terrorists don’t escape. Please be assured that you will have your man within the next 30 minutes”

They shook hands and Captain Usman stepped outside.

KC strapped his bullet proof vest and followed Usman.

“Good Luck” Andy wished him softly, while Planman and DJ patted his back on the way out.

DJ opened his laptop to check the visual signals coming from KC’s camera. They checked fine.

“We have visual”

“Good. Let’s get our guy” Planman rubbed his palms and cocked his handgun while setting his earpiece.

Andy let out a silent prayer. Please God… don’t let him escape this time.

————————————————————————————————————

Raffiq was at the corner of the street on his way back, when the firing started. There was a loud explosion and then machine gun fire. He quickly moved to the side of the street and started sprinting towards the house. In the darkness he saw four uniformed men with their guns pointing to the backdoor of the house. They were there to see that no one escaped.

Raffiq noticed flashes of light followed by the sound of gunfire from the rooftop Qadri!!! He could hear voices of the attackers screaming at the men inside.

And then he very clearly heard a distinctive American accent screaming at someone

“WHERE IS RAFFIQ?”

The FBI? The CIA? Someone American for sure. Raffiq quietly slipped back into the darkness and then just as quickly started running away.

————————————————————————————————————

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“WHERE IS RAFFIQ?” KC had the gun pointed at Qadri’s forehead.

Qadri’s left shoulder was bleeding from the bullet wound. He needed assistance or he would die soon from the loss of blood.

“He… he… left..”

“WHERE ?”

“India… please help me… I’m hurt…”

“We’ll take you to the hospital but where is he now?”

“He… went out to get some clothes”

“WHERE?”

“I don’t… know… please help me?”

“HOW IS HE PLANNING TO ENTER INDIA?”

“From… from… Dere…”

Andy was glued to the monitor in the van watching the whole screen. Planman had the map out looking for a place called “Dere”.

“Where the fuck is Dere”

Andy shot back “It’s Dera Baba Nanak”

He turned back at the monitor and spoke in his microphone “KC, ask him where is he headed to, in India?”

KC turned back to Qadri “Where is Raffiq going to go in India? What are his plans?”

Qadri was losing consciousness.

“Please janab… help me”

“Where is Raffiq headed to?”

“Nepal… he will enter Nepal via Mahendranagar”

Bill Rosedrum stationed at the hotel was audience to the entire scene on his monitor.

“KC… let the locals take over. We are entering into a big mess here.”

Planman spoke “Bill. Direct the locals at all bus and train stations and airports. We have to get him before he crosses the border”

“Planman… I’m doing just that… DJ, it’s time you made the calls to India. Let’s not waste time in getting political clearances at the last moment, just in case we may need it.”

Planman banged his fist “SHIT FUCKING SHIT. WE ALMOST HAD HIM”

The back door of the van opened as KC walked in. DJ helped him take off his gear.

Andy looked at him. “What’s the plan from here?”

KC lighted a cigarette and took a deep puff.

“Well… he’s now a rat in a forest. It won’t be worth chasing him in Pakistan. Rather than staying here and being hot on his tail, I say let’s give him a warm reception in India.” He tapped his earpiece “Bill? How soon can we find out his chain of contact points in India?”

“A few hours… perhaps a couple of days. Listen guys. The trail is still hot… let’s keep it on. We can start driving from here till the border and have a mighty fat chance to get him.”

KC looked at Andy “Your call Boss”

Andy closed his eyes

Did you catch the bad guy Daddy?

Not yet my child… not yet

He opened his eyes with a definite focus.

“Bill and DJ… You two pack your bags and leave for New Delhi. I need the fort ready if we ever have to come to India. KC, Planman and I will pursue Raffiq from here. Bill, call up whatever politician you have to in Pakistan, but get Captain Usman and his team moving forward after Raffiq right upto the border, if need be”

“I’ll start making calls right away”

DJ commented as he started the van “Can you imagine how hard it would be for a common man, to chase this guy, without the connections you have”

Andy let out a slight smile “Everything can be bought.”

Planman slipped in one, without looking up from his laptop

“Even the bullet for a terrorist’s head”

————————————————————————————————————

Los Angeles

The mansion was quiet. It had been quiet for more than year. Her thin frail body lay on the bed in one of the bedrooms facing the Pacific Ocean. She had been lying there for over a year. Eyes closed, no sound, no movement. A number of tubes were attached to her body.

The old lady sitting next to the bed caressed the woman’s head.

“Get well soon dear. Andy will be here any day and may want to take you out for surfing. See your surfing board there. I polished it myself. Who will Andy go out to surf with if you don’t get up my child?”

She spent days talking to the woman on the bed. But the woman never answered, never opened her eyes.

“You know the other day Meera came in my dreams. She was saying she’s coming back. She misses her grandma… I miss her too…”

“Uh” – a faint sound seemed to have come from lady in bed.

It shocked the old lady.

“NURSE NURSE… COME QUICKLY”

The nurse rushed in. “What’s the matter Mrs. Raheja?”

“SHE SPOKE… SHE SPOKE… CHRISTINA SAID SOMETHING”

The nurse quickly checked Christina’s eyes. She then checked her pulse and quickly glanced at the monitors next to the bed.

“No Mrs. Raheja… you must have imagined it. There are no signs that…”

“NO NO… I HEARD HER SAY SOMETHING”

The nurse felt sorry for the old lady. She took her arm around her shoulders “Let’s get some rest Mrs. Raheja. You haven’t slept for a while now.”

“Buttt…”

“I’ll call Dr. Shah and tell him what happened. He’ll definitely run more detailed reports when he visits Christina this evening”

As they both started walking out of the room, they both distinctively heard the sound…

“Uh”

With shock they both looked back.

Christina was coming out of her year long coma.

————————————————————————————————————

Sanket listened as he held the phone between his ear and shoulder while he jotted down feverlishly on his notepad.

“Ok. Thanks Mishraji”

Mini called from the kitchen. “Dinner’s ready. Are you gonna keep working even on your vacation?”

“No baba…” Sanket dropped his cellphone on the table in his living room and started walking to the dining table.

The news on the television, placed in front of the dining table, was relaying a shot of a police-terrorist gun fight that took place in Peshawar.

“What’s that?” Mini inquired as she brought in a bowl from the kitchen and placed it on the dining table.

“Some police action on certain terrorists somewhere in Pakistan”

“Oh… hey listen… Alka and her husband have invited us for dinner tomorrow”

“Oh ok. But…” His cellphone started ringing.

“You and your cellphone” Mini smilingly taunted him, as she turned back towards the kitchen.

Sanket picked up the call “Sanket Shukla”

“Good evening Sanket-ji, sorry to call you at this hour. I’m R.K. Kapur from the PM’s office”

Sanket’s hand immediately moved to the remote to switch the television off.

“Yes Kapur saab, we met last year on Independence day celebrations at Modi-jee’s farm house”

“Yes yes Sanket-ji… I remember. Sanket-ji, do you have a few minutes to talk in private?”

“Oh yes Kapur saab, please go ahead. I’m at my house”

“Sanket ji, the Prime Minister would like to talk to you”

Every hair of Sanket’s body stood up. THE PRIME MINISTER!!!!!!!!

————————————————————————————————————

Five minutes later.

Sanket switched his cell phone off and crashed on the sofa.

Mini came out into the living room “You haven’t started eating??? Who was that on the phone?”

Sanket looked up at her “Honey, will you believe me if I said it was the Prime Minister”

Mini rolled her eyes over “Oh yeah and the President of India is standing at the main gate of our house”

Sanket let out a crooked smile “No honey it WAS the PM”

“Ok ok… so it was the PM… so what does the PM want from my great husband”

“He wants me to be the Indian guide for someone who’s coming to India with his anti-terrorist team”

Mini now paused. She still hadn’t made the connection.

“… ah… who is this guy?”

Sanket got up from the sofa and slowly walked towards Mini. He bent down and looked deep into her eyes before finally speaking…

“An Indian from America, called… Andy Raheja”

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Filed under Fiction, The Chase
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