The Mission

He looked from side to side, scanning with his eyes for any distant signs of activity as his earstried hard to filter out the distant hum of an engine. He looked at the glowing 4.5 inch screen in front of him, a smile slowly started to break out on his face. He turned around to see if the others were ready...

He took a long, deep breath to calm his nerves. His life almost flashed in front of his eyes. He had never been interested in school, by 13 he had decided to drop out and work to support the family. For the next 3 years he worked a farm hand, earning as much as he could to help the family with expenses. Then one day, he heard that the Amir's residence was looking for a full-time gardener and the pay was excellent. He would now be able to save enough money to marry off his sister in style. He wasted no time in finding out about the job and within a month he was hired. He worked as hard as he could for gardening was still new for him. It would please him to see the Amir or so he was called, take a long soothing walk through the roses every morning. One day, he mustered enough courage to talk to the Amir, he was surprised by how gentle and learned the Amir was. Over the course of many such conversations, he learnt about religion, he learnt of the Amir's exploits in war. He was so fascinated that he read books in which the Amir describes how he led his men to destroy the infidels. Suddenly one day, the Amir had asked him, "Would you be willing to work for your country?". Without a hesitation, he had said "Yes!".

The Amir had introduced these men as his brothers to him. The Amir told him that they would take good care of him and teach him all the things he needed to know to be useful for the country. The men surrounded him, one of them put a blindfold over his eyes and the other tied it in a tight knot at the back. He remembered being shoved in a vehicle of some sort and then he passed out. When he finally came to his senses, they were still travelling and his eyes were still blindfolded. After a few hours, his blindfold was taken off and his eyes adjusted to their new surroundings. He did not know much time had passed since he was shoved into the car. It was evening now, the sun was falling off the horizon and he being led into a dilapidated building, there was no electricity here, only a few hurricane lamps illuminated that the path. They gave him a plate of food and asked him to sleep off his long journey...

He woke up the next morning unsure of his surroundings. An elderly man came up to him and explained that no-one here was to be addressed by names. They were all souls engaged in the work of the lord and none of them would have any names. They shall not speak of their hometown or of where they came from. They shall not mention their family. Their time here shall be spent in taking the name of the Lord Almighty. Once the ground rules were clear, he was taken out to pray. A few days passed, he had been assigned minor duties such as serving food. Then, one day, the elderly man walked up to him again and asked if he was ready for his real training. He was so curious by now, he couldn't wait to say yes. The elderly man introduced him to a couple of well built guys and told him that they would make him mentally and physically ready to stand up for his country.

Over the course of the next 6 months, he went through intense training. He was taught to use the Kalashnikovs, hand grenades, grenade launchers and pistols. He was also taught the basics of bomb-making, some basic naval navigation and a few ethnic accents. During these 6 months, he was subjected to rigorous physical training, every time he complained about being tired, he was punished into working harder. At end of 6 months, he was put through an intense mock interrogation training to ensure that he could withstand intense physical abuse while being interrogated and yet not utter a word. Nine months after the training began, he was declared mission ready. The elderly man was back and talked to him about the importance of the training he had just received. The elderly man also reminded him of the importance of success on his mission. He was told not to question his objectives at any point and that he would know when the time came for him 'to do the job' for his country. They parted with the words "Jai Hind...."

Early the next morning, he was blindfolded again. This time he remembered being driven somewhere, then he was shoved into a seat, he heard a loud noise and felt like his stomach was being churned. He could sense that they were travelling north-west, it was weird that he could figure that out, 9 months ago he wouldn't have been able to. He felt ready to put his training to use. A two and a half hour journey later, he felt the same stomach churning sensation again. Suddenly, it was all silent again, the loud noise that had been pounding his ears over the last couple of hours eased away. He was shoved out of his chair and driven away again to an unknown location. He could feel that they were climbing on a winding road. When his blindfold was removed, he was sitting in a room with 5 strangers, they welcomed him in a language he could understand but he recognized the accent as one in which he had been trained.

The strangers told him that his indoctrination and training was impeccable, he didn't understand but nodded in the affirmative. As they talked, he realized that an attack on the infidels was being planned. He was named commander and was supposed to lead a 6 member team into the heart of the infidel to create havoc. He was shown video cds of the places that were supposed to be targetted. He realized those targets were in India, his motherland.....

Suddenly, he became aware of 'his mission'. He instantly knew what to do, he assembled the 6 member team as they begam their journey to India by sea. He was the naval navigation expert and he took turns with one other member to navigate. Only the two of them knew to use the GPS system. It had been 7 days since they had started sailing, they had constantly been heading south-east, keeping their engines running at low efficiency, so they could avoid being detected by the navy or the coast-guard.

It was pitch-dark in the night, he could see the city-lights in the horizon. He was extremely tense, but he wouldn't let anything show in his manner. He looked from side to side, scanning with his eyes for any distant signs of activity as his ears tried hard to filter out the distant hum of an engine. He looked at the glowing 4.5 inch screen in front of him, a smile slowly started to break out on his face. He turned around to see if the others were ready. He wanted to make sure that no-one would hear what he was about to do. He picked up his Kalashnikov as if he were readying it for the assault that would begin in a few minutes, suddenly he turned around fired exactly 5 rounds hitting every other member in the team right in between their eyes. He picked up the satellite phone and cried "We are being followed by the Indian navy, we are 3 men down, I don't know if we will make it." He ditched the phone in the water along with all their ammunition and supplies. Lowering a rubber dinghy into the water, he thought about what the elderly man had told him at the end of his training......"Jai Hind"