Eastern Zilla
Mriga had drawn the short straw and was the odd one out. The remaining four had been divided in two pairs. She listened to her mentor who was telling her about the mission which they were about to undertake. They had been getting reports of some foreigners in the zilla and a couple of them had been spotted in a nearby area. Their task was to go and do a recee of the surroundings and if possible, identify these infiltrators. They also needed to figure out the place where these people were lodged.
Mriga's mentor, Trupti was a tiny girl, shorter than even her but quiet intelligence shone out of her eyes. She wasn't treating Mriga as an intern but as an equal partner which gave her a confidence a boost. She vowed to give it her absolute best.
"Remember, we are there only to observe, not engage. Also, in the unlikely chance of something happening to me, you must find your way back to the headquarters without anyone finding you. Have you been taught how to spot and shake off a tail?" Trupti asked.
Mriga nodded her head vigorously, thinking back to her time spent training under Shaurya. His scowling face popped up in her head, causing her to smile.
Thankfully, the senior took it as her enthusiasm for the mission and didn't question her out-of-place grin.
"You will maintain a distance of atleast twenty meters from me at all times. When I gesture at you, follow my gaze. I need you to try and memorise the faces which we encounter for us to be able to come back and help the team draw a sketch of these people. Look for things which stand out," she repeated her instructions.
Mriga said solemnly, "I promise to do my best."
According to the hurried discussion early this morning between the five of them, one pair of her friends had gone to the Eastern zilla border which they shared with the Southern zilla. A group of smugglers had been caught by the border force with a big stash of drugs. Before the police took them away, this team needed to get maximum information about the whole episode.
Nirbhay and Chiranjeev had been assigned to tail the agent who was going to meet his informant. They were supposed to see and learn the exchange process and also some new decoding techniques.
Two hours later
Mriga realized that stakeout wasn't as glamorous or fun as she had thought it to be when she was on her own. With Shaurya, the whole night used to pass without her even realizing it. But now, shielding her eyes against the morning sun, she was bored as her eyes followed those of her senior in the bazaar.
Not surprisingly, Ramanujam had known about today's plan and when they had reached the exit door of the building last night, they found it locked. It meant that there was not going to be any night training. They had concluded in hushed voices that maybe he wanted the five of them to be alert and at their best for the activity today. But who was his mole who kept him abreast of all that was happening inside this building?
They had speculated about various names in hushed voice at the breakfast table early morning, today before leaving for their assigned tasks. With only one week to go before the training ended, this was the only time to learn on the job.
Curbing a yawn which threatened to surface, Mriga pinched herself to stay alert. She had deliberately not eaten anything except for a banana in the morning. Hunger helped her stay sharp.
Suddenly, she realised that she couldn't see her mentor anywhere. Running her eyes furiously across the marketplace, the girl was nowhere to be seen. How is that possible? She had just made an eye contact with Trupti three minutes ago.
Shit!
"What am I supposed to do now? No fast movements. No drawing unnecessary attention to oneself. No playing the hero," she repeated the mantras in her head, suppressing the urge to make a mad dash across the place, and shout out the senior's name.
Slowly, she got up from the place where she was sitting, and started walking towards the place where she had seen the girl last. She knew that she was supposed to go back immediately and not linger on. But she couldn't abide by this, at least not yet.
Upon reaching the spot, she didn't stop there immediately but went past it and came back to it as an afterthought. Slipping her foot out of the shoes, she felt the ground with her toe while keeping the nonchalant gaze at the people around. Though they hadn't decided on a distress code like this, Mriga had learnt in the lectures about a spy leaving clues behind for his comrades.
Disappointedly, she didn't find anything, not even a piece of garbage.
The institute was located quite far from where her current position and her fear was that it may be too late by the time she managed to go back and report this.
"Dare I go to that place?" the bold thought came to her.
During the last few sessions at the Eastern zilla centre, they had been briefed about the history of Suraksha Chakra and the conribution of the brothels across the country. In one of the classes, they were told about the one which was located in this zilla serving as the information link. Mriga had overheard the boys discussing it and how they should go visit the place for an 'educational tour for gaining holistic knowledge' as part of their learning!
She vaguely remembered it being close to where she was right now. But she didn't know who the mole was supposed to be in there.