On Guard
On Guard
She may not know the details of the mission but from what she had gathered, she was able to discern the kind of assignment it was going to be. And that's what she proceeded to discuss with Shaurya. Prithvi had told her that she would get the details of the mission closer to the date. But in her eyes, those were just the logistics. The crux was figuring out what to do, irrespective of where one is.
Half hour later
They were just about to reach the house when Bela turned sharply to look at him.
"I don't need to tell you that you can't breathe a word of this to anyone, not even your other team members. Once you are on the mission, I will be your sole handler. I will introduce you to my eagle. Once it familiarises itself with your smell, we will only use that as the method of communication, that too, if needed under the dire most circumstance," she instructed.
"Also, the training that you will be doing with Mriga tonight onwards will simply be your daily warm-up. We will be conducting your intensive education post 2 am every night. So, make sure that you catch enough sleep during the day," she told him.
At her last sentence, something struck him and he couldn't help but ask, "When would you be sleeping then, Guruji?"
Bela registered the change in his form of addressing her and grinned at the concern in his voice. Was the young lad questioning her efficiency?
"Don't worry. It will not affect the training intensity or my concentration. As I mentioned earlier, you cannot afford to be distracted with other people's problems or issues, including mine. I need you to have a single-minded focus towards your goal. Understood?" she asked with force in her voice.
"Mom, is that you?" Mriga came out and peered in the darkness.
"Yes, I was showing the nearby training facility to Veer. Once, you both do your warm up, we will shift to that place to work on your agility and stamina," she replied smoothly.
Mriga's face fell at that thought of going to the place which her mother was mentioning. It was a small hill but had been entrenched with various hideouts and booby traps. She had heard some officers at the police station mention a couple of years back that her mother had been the chief architect of that hill. She had started it as a hobby many years ago and kept making changes to it even till date. As a result, no one except her knew what exactly lay in that structure. None of the officers had come even close to surviving the hill unscathed in these many years. And it was a well-kept secret amongst few of the Northern zilla residents. From the outside, the hill looked absolutely identical to the ones surrounding it. To avoid civilians from going near it, there was a spooky little rumour about a poisonous snake pit existing there.
Mriga had visited the place with her mother a couple of time but never to train. Thinking about it, she worried her lower lip. She was definitely going to fail and even Shaurya may not make it out of there, in one piece. Was this what her mother meant by checking his ability? In that case, he was probably going to fail miserably.
As if her mother could read her thoughts, she gave her a smile and crossed her to walk inside the house.
Eastern Zilla
Prithvi was leering at the people passing him by, causing them to look at him in disgust. He was dressed as a ruffian, much in the same garb as Shaurya usually did. In fact, Shaurya had picked this look from Prithvi during the initial days of following him and added his personal touches to it, later.
Prithvi had been in the zilla for a couple of days now and was posing as a homeless thug right next to the seashore.
Since the waters were choppy, not many people ventured towards it except for the experienced fishermen and women who went to catch the fish every morning. These people were easy to recognise with their weathered faces and callused hands.
In fact, there was a family of women here who were expert in staying underwater for more than five to seven minutes at a go and used that ability to swim in the deeper part of the ocean. They managed to procure the best catch, which was sold to the fancy hotels and upper class households.
This family had been producing such expert underwater swimmers for generations, now. Clad in tied sarees and plaited hair, these women's ages ranged from fifty to fifteen. It was an awesome sight to behold and being an average swimmer, Prithvi was in serious awe of them.
Apart from these, there were a few couples who used the deserted area to express their 'love' for each other, especially during late evenings. In the past forty-eight hours, Prithvi had heard so many explicit conversations that he felt that he would get a nosebleed by the end of it. Tonight, was his third night of being here in a row and his stomach led out a loud growl reminding him that it still existed!