A Family Finally Reunites

(This story is inspired by Surgical Strike which India conducted post Uri attacks.  Please do not read if you hate reading about deaths and killings)

The covert operation wasn’t even known to some of the top experts in the state as Commandoes from special forces were drafted in to execute the highly secretive operation.

A group of 20 intrepid fighters had undergone years of rigorous training to be able to carry out such operations successfully.

The team was headed by Major Girish Bakshi and the entire operation was coordinated by Col Narang.  The team had just one motto;

‘Kill all, spare none; Everyone Returns Together’

The colonel was keen to use the darkness of the night to mount a surprise attack, the fully automated weapons included IWI Tavor-21, SMG, Sub Machine Gun Heckler and a small pistol Glock 17 besides night vision cameras, swiss knifes and door blasters.   They were also carrying barrel grenade launchers, grenades and smoke grenades.

In order to avoid getting detected at night, they also wore camouflage and divided themselves into 4 small groups to siege the entire place in one go.

For many of them this was their first operation and were raring to go.

A pre-operation huddle was called in and Major Bakshi asked if everyone was ready.

They replied with a roaring ‘Yes’ in unison.

He then asked if anyone wish to leave;

‘No, Sir’ everyone cried out.

‘What’s our mission’ asked the Major.

‘Kill all, spare none, everyone returns together’, everyone screamed.

Let’s go now, he shouted as everyone began running to get inside the helicopter waiting for them.  The colonel wished Major Bakshi a grand success.

‘I want you to be back for an early breakfast with me’ he said.

‘Yes Sir’ replied the Major dishing out a crisp salute with a subtle smile and took his leave.

The group began cracking jokes as they sat aboard the two helicopters which was to drop them at the designated location, half a kilometer away from the site of their action.

The expression however changed the moment they were dropped off.

Quickly organizing themselves into 4 teams, they walked stealthily towards the place they were to begin their operation.

The walk towards the dilapidated structure took them 5 minutes as they sieged it from all the directions.  The terrorists intentionally chose such a place to avoid being noticed.

However, the sleuths operating in the area got clued about it from a local informant, and the news was quickly relayed to military intelligence.

They verified the information swiftly and decided to act on it within a week.

The first group waited at the entrance as the other two blocked the rear and side exits.

There were two guards in front manning the gates and carrying AK 47.

It was 2 a.m and their bodies were pleading to sleep as they roamed around lazily guarding the main door.

Maj. Bakshi asked Captain Rathore to handle them supported by two other commandoes.

The Captain moved like a tiger waiting for its prey, moving clandestinely and without making any noise.

The darkness of the night helped too as although he could see everything clearly through his night vision glasses, the terrorists could not.

Surprising them with a quick shot fired off his muffled gun, he swiftly ended their lives as the two other commandoes ensured, they don’t make any sound as their soul hurriedly left the planet.

20, colonel Narang had informed Maj Bakshi of the number of terrorists hiding in that place, 2 gone, 18 more to follow, he thought.

The front team walked surreptitiously as one team behind covered their movement while yet another couple of them remained close to the gates.

The strategy was being followed to the T.

There were two rooms inside along with a big kitchen, a hall, washroom and stairs to go to the terrace.  The map of the place was imprinted on the minds of every group member.

Captain Rathore lead the charge and secretly peeked inside.  Everyone was sleeping except for one who was busy watching something on his phone.

He gestured the number he saw to others along with their location.

Major made one thing very clear since the start, the attack should surprise the terrorists leaving them with no chance to regroup or retaliate.

The one who was still awake could derail the surprise element, he thought.

They decided to wait for a few minutes to see if he will go to sleep.

Everyone waited with bated breath as one of the groups which went to the back side also joined them, leaving 3 people to manage the rear now.

There was no door or exit there and the only way to escape from that side would be to jump from the terrace.  Major allowed them to come to the front to support the main team after getting the information wirelessly from Lt. Sandeep.

When even after 5 minutes, they didn’t see him sleeping, Major decided its time to launch the attack.  However, just when they were about to enter, he got up and began walking.

Everyone became highly attentive expecting him to walk towards them.

He however, went to the washroom.  The room had turned entirely sleepy now with no one awake.  The teams were quickly assigned all the areas they were supposed to sanitize as the bulk of them attacked the main bedroom.

Even before they could realize anything, bullets began raining on the terrorists, some tried to escape, but could not.

Major counted again, a total of 12, which meant 6 were still missing.

There was firing going on in another room as well.  Two commandoes stayed back to check if anyone is still alive in that room, while the rest went to the other rooms to help their teams.

One of terrorist started running to the terrace. Naik Dushyant began chasing him as he fired at him.  He however, dodged the bullet and kept running.

Soon, both of them were on the top of the house and seeing no other way to escape, the terrorist jumped down.

The moment he landed on the ground; two bullets ran across his body as the two commandoes waiting on the backside of the house fired at him.

Naik Dushyant, recced the entire terrace before going down.

19 dead confirmed, relayed Major to everyone.

They now began searching for the last one, washroom was the only place which was still unchecked and it was also bolted from inside.

The terrorist who till now was busy on the phone, was inside.

Bullets from Heckler and Sub machine Gun tore apart the fragile wooden door and pierced his body killing him instantly.

20 Done, said, Major as he looked at his watch, they took 20 minutes including 5 minutes to reach the building and 5 waiting for one of them to sleep.

Captain Rathore and others began collecting evidence from the site.  They quickly examined every room collecting what they deem was important including the phones, pen drives, literature strewn around and the hard disks.

Captain went to the kitchen and began looking around.

As he looked down under the slab, he found someone.

A young boy, who just began his teenage.

As the child saw the Captain, tears began rolling down without a sound as the fear stifled his voice box.

Captain was in a fix on what to do?

The orders were clear, kill everyone.  However, his hands could not press the trigger after looking at his innocent face.

He doesn’t even have a weapon, he thought.

Just then someone shot at him on his back, a terrorist who was still not dead tried making a kill. The bullet however, hit the Captain on his bulletproof vest, it didn’t hurt but did gave a slight pain.

Naik Dushyant quickly began running inside to help but even before he could step in, Captain’s bullet ran through the terrorist’s temple and onto the wall.

He was now ‘dead’.

Naik. Dushyant also saw the boy as he got in. He was about to shoot, when Captain asked him not to.

‘Let’s ask Major what to do with him’, suggested Captain Rathore.

Major at first wanted to get rid of him, but as they brought the kid outside, even he could not ask anyone to shoot.

They asked him how he landed up there.

‘I was kidnapped from my house and have been working here as a cook for the last 2 months’ said the boy slowly.

His voice cracked up every now and then due to fear as he continued to cry while speaking.

‘yes, tell us more’ asked the Captain.

‘I tried running away, but was captured’.

‘They are really bad people’ said the child as he began crying even more loudly.

‘We won’t do anything, don’t cry’ asked the Captain.

‘I was physically abused, beaten and tortured daily. They call me an Indian dog’ said the young boy.

Major Bakshi looked at Captain Rathore and agreed to take him.

He spoke to Col Narang and explained everything.

‘It’s a huge risk you are taking Major, I hope nothing untoward happens.’

‘However, if you think you are doing the right thing, I won’t stop you’.

Jubilant upon getting Colonel’s permission, they began the retreat.  The time was 2:30 now and the entire operation was over in 30 minutes.

They ran towards the choppers, which were on their way, to reach in another 5 minutes.

The firing by the terrorists and jumping of one of them from the terrace, though woke up few of the houses, as people began looking out to find out what’s happening.

Major asked the entire team to move quickly as they could also hear noise of cars running in, now.

‘We have to be quick’, he exhorted everyone as they reached the helicopters.

A truck began following them as they started jumping inside.

However, even before it could come closer, the chopper took off and within a few minutes they were invisible in the sky.

‘I asked to have an early breakfast, I never thought it will be this early’ joked Colonel as Major was back with his team after a successful operation.

We fulfilled our motto sir;

‘Killed all, spared none and all of us are back together’ said Major Bakshi.

‘What about the boy’ asked Colonel.

‘We have found out his details, his parents have even registered a missing FIR in the local police station’.

‘No one will know, how he was rescued’ said Major Bakshi.

‘I’ll leave it to you then.  Let me inform the minister about the success of this operation’ he said and went inside his cabin.

Maj Bakshi looked at Captain Rathore.  He knew what he was supposed to do.

He quickly arranged for transport, so the child could reunite with his family.

The next day, the nation woke up to one of the biggest and successful strike on militants while a family re-united with their long-lost son.