#8

They shook hands. He then shook hands with Anil Biswas.

" Morning sir. "

" Morning. "

He asked, " For how long you have been here? "

Prateek said, " Our flight had landed at six in the morning. "

Shekhar hummed.

Anil said, " As soon as the call came from the ministry, both of us immediately came here from Patiala. "

" It's a matter of national security. It had to be done immediately. "

Minister Rajeshwar Nath and Avijit arrived along with the commandoes. Prateek and Anil saluted him who greeted them with salute too.

Rajeshwar said, " Please, be in. "

Rajeshwar Nath was sitting at the head of the long conference table. Army personnel Prateek and Anil were sitting on his left. Advisor Avijit was sitting on his right with a chair was kept vacant between them. A file was kept before Rajeshwar. Shekhar was standing at the end of the table.

Rajeshwar cleared his throat.

" We'll start the discussion once Mr. Menon arrives. "

Shekhar looked at his wrist watch and looked outside. Prithvi Menon entered the room and shook hand with him.

" Mr. Menon, please have your seat. "

He nodded.

" Thank you, Mr. Secretary. "

Prithvi came to the vacant chair and sat near to the minister.

" Morning sir. "

Rajeshwar nodded and smiled.

Shekhar said, " Since the operational head of the Unicorn is here, we should start the meeting now. "

Anil asked, " What's this Unicorn? "

Avijit said, " It's a covert intelligence agency. "

" I have only heard about RA&W, DIA, IB and NIA. Haven't heard about that one. "

Prithvi said, " It's an affiliation of the RA&W. More secretive than your RA&W and DIA. "

Rajeshwar opened the file. The file had a black and white photograph of Brigadier Ashok Dwivedi at the left corner of the page. He was in his Army uniform in the photograph. The rest of the page had his career details.

He said, " Major General Prateek Verma, we are here to discuss about one of your officers who has tried to take our military secrets out of the country for some personal reason. "

" This is true, sir. "

" What would you like to say Colonel Anil? "

" Yes sir. Mr. Dwivedi's daughter was in London who was kidnapped reportedly by the ISI in order to blackmail him to share India's military secrets with them. "

Rajeshwar nodded and hummed. He looked at Prithvi.

Prithvi said, " One of our agents was involved in whatever happened in London who has gone rogue now. In order to take action against them and neutralize the threat my subordinate has sent an operative. "

Avijit asked, " Did you contact him? "

" No sir. We haven't heard from him anything regarding the operation yet. "

Rajeshwar said, " If Brigadier Ashok lands here in one piece then we have to decide what do to with him and his service rank. "

Avijit said, " Since he has tried to share sensitive information to the other organisation he may be tried for treason. "

Anil said, " It may tarnish the image of Indian army. People will loose confidence in our forces. "

Rajeshwar said, " You both have been called here to decide whether he should be prosecuted or removed from the service permanently. "

Prateek hummed and sighed. Prithvi's phone began to ring.

" Excuse me. "

Rajeshwar nodded. Prithvi left his seat and came out of the room. He took out his phone and attended the call.

Subhash said, " Sir. "

" Listening. "

" Brigadier Ashok Dwivedi is no more. "

" What? "

" Alpha was able to bring the briefcase and his daughter safe. "

" Where is he now? "

" I am not able to contact him yet. Neel has told me everything about the operation. I believe he might have executed Zebra too. "

" Okay. "

He hung up the call and went back to the conference room. A number of Army personnel were gathered at the funeral of Brigadier Ashok Dwivedi. The funeral was taking place at a funeral park in Patiala. Prateek and Anil were too present in the funeral. He was given a twenty one gun salute by the soldiers around him. His daughter, Ritika was holding her mother, Nilima who was trying to control her tears. When the funeral ended the people began to leave the park one by one. Vihaan was standing outside the park with goggles on his eyes. Prithvi joined him and stood by him on his left. He was too wearing goggles.

He said, " This is not the first time that you have come to someone's funeral. What are you looking at? "

" Nope. Well, I am flabbergasted. Those who gathered at his funeral do not have even the slightest idea that just a day ago this man was going to sell confidential information of their intelligence to ISI. "

He got his eye on Prateek Verma who was leaving the park while accessing his phone.

They walked together to Prithvi's car which was parked among the other cars outside the funeral park. Prithvi sat on the driving seat. Vihaan sat on the passenger seat. After he ignited the car, they fastened their seat belts. He drove the car through the streets.

Vihaan asked, " Do you have something to eat? I am starving. "

" Check my bag. "

A side bag was hanging on the driving seat on its back. Vihaan stretched his hand and grabbed the bag. He kept the bag on his lap and opened the zip. There were two egg patties inside.

Prithvi said, " You can take one. "

" Thank you sir. "

He took out one patty, zipped the bag and kept it on the back seat. He began to have his patty.

Prithvi asked, " You don't talk to Mr. Verma now. "

" We haven't talked for a while. I would hardly ever want to come across him. "

" You haven't been able to forget Shreya yet. "

" Let me have this patty, sir. Don't talk about her. "

" Oh. Alright. I won't talk about her. "

He kept driving quitely for a while. He got his hand on the volume controller of the music system. He turned it clockwise in order to raise the volume. The stereo speakers began to play a sad romantic song, 'BEETE LAMHEIN (KK)'. Vihaan sighed and hummed. He turned the controller and lowered the volume.

Prithvi said, " It was your favourite song. "

" Not anymore. "

Prithvi gave a smile. He raised the gear and kept on driving.