We three started trying to figure out what to do because the bastard has taken anything that we could have used to get ourselves and the girls out of here.
After a while Faisal tried to talk to the girls but they really were very scared to even utter a single word. But Faisal being Faisal started to talk to them nonetheless. He started to tell them stories about our high school days and surprisingly enough after some time the girls were starting to listen to his nonsense.
"...And then I tripped and fell face first on the ground and these assholes who call themselves my friends instead of helping me up, they were laughing their asses off infront of the girls. Huh!! What great friends I have." He said glaring at us while remembering that embarrassing day.
"Well that is what you get by playing a hero while wearing roller skates when you don't even know how to stand on your own two feet." Reyansh said teasingly.
The girls started to laugh seeing Faisal and Reyansh's banter. That was what Faisal was trying to achieve. He wanted them to relax, so that they would tell us anything that they know about the assholes and their organisation.
"How old are you girls?" Faisal asked.
At first they didn't answer. But after sometime they all looked towards a brown hair girl who seems to be in her late twenties.
"We are of all ages. Some of us are in our early twenties and some late. I'm twenty six. The oldest one in this group." She replied looking depressed and uninterested in the conversation.
"Can you get us out of here, officer?" A girl probably twenty two years old asked us.
I was about to say something but the brown hair girl beat me to it.
"Don't get your hopes up. They too are locked here with us and they also don't have there weapons with them. Just be thankful that you will leave this warehouse alive but they will die tonight." She said dejectedly.
Well she was right that we don't have any kind of weapons but she was wrong about one thing, we were going to leave this warehouse alive and that too with them.
"Don't you worry girl we all are leaving this warehouse safely tonight." I said looking straight into the brown hair girl's eyes.
"And how are you going to do it officer? You don't have any weapons on you and your backup team is all the way back to your base." She said looking at us as if we have lost our minds.
"Who said they left?" Faisal said smiling his brightest smile.
"What?" The girl asked confused.
With that Faisal showed everyone the hidden Microphone glued to his dog tags.
"They took everything but they forgot that we are Indian Army, we wouldn't have came here on a wimp. We were more then prepared." Faisal said.
"Then why haven't you called for your backup team yet." Asked one of the girls.
"Because they are already here." Reyansh said looking towards the door.
Just then the door of the basement burst open with Captain Nihaal and the backup team.
"Took you long enough." I said standing up.
"I was bewitched by Officer Faisal's embarrassment story to keep track of time. Sorry." He said with a straight face obviously embarrassing Faisal even more.
"You don't have to mention it again." Faisal murmured under his breath.
"What about the guards that were outside?" Reyansh asked while checking out his gun.
"Dead." Nihaal said straight forwardly.
"Are these the girls Officer Pratik was talking about?" John , an Officer, asked.
"Yes." Faisal replied.
"How many are you?" I asked Nihaal while fixing my gun.
"Six including myself. The others are around the area with Officer Pratik and Eliot for cover fire." He said.
"Okay John, take two men and escort the girls out safely. Nihaal, Reyansh, Faisal and myself will buy you time and try and take down the mafia head. Now move, we don't have much time." I said ordered.
"Yes Major." They said simultaneously.
As John was about to escort the girls out, the brown haired girl turned to me said "I am sorry, Sir. I didn't believe you."
"Its okay . I completely understand why you won't trust a stranger." I said smiling at the girl.
"We're ready, Major." Said Nihaal.
"Now go with him. He will take you out safely." I said reassuring her.
I turned to leave but she suddenly grabbed my hand and with a heavy voice said, "There is one more, Sir."
At first I didn't understand what she was implying but suddenly it came to me what she was talking about.
"Where is She?" I asked her.
"She is in the furthermost room down the hallway. You have to cross their meeting room to get there. Please save her, Sir. If not either they will kill her or she will kill herself." She said in a desperate voice.
"Don't worry girl, we will try our best." Said Reyansh in a comforting voice.
"Let's go." Said John.
After John and the girls were safely out of sight, Nihaal, Reyansh , Faisal and myself headed towards the meeting room again. And this time we did encounter many guards. As we reached the meeting room we were already bruised here and there from fighting the guards. And we knew that the Mafia's already knew that we were coming for them. But as we were about to enter the room, I looked down the hallway towards the room the girl had mentioned earlier.
'Hold on tight girl, we will save you after we kill the ones who have caused you harm.' I said to myself hoping that somehow even she has heard me.
As we burst through the door, the guards started shooting at us blindly. Dodging the bullets carefully we too started to fire at them. After a minute four out of six guards were on the ground. We four were also not fully unscathed.
"Goodness, look at the vigour and guts of the Army. They not only entered my domain without my permission but they made me loose many of my men and also the girls." Wasim, the Mafia head, said with suppressed anger.
"It's our duty to protect the innocent, no matter who they are. But someone like you won't even understand the word duty now, would you? " I said calmly.
"Wearing that uniform doesn't makes you immortal officer, so you better watch what you say. You can still get killed." Bala, the second in command of this fucked up organization, said pointing his gun towards me.
"Pull it but I promise you one thing I won't go alone, I'll take you with me." I said pointing my gun straight to his head.
We all were holding guns against each other but none were ready to use it yet. Then suddenly a shot was fired and the guns started blazing again.
I killed the remaining two guards and one of them fell in the dark corner of the room from where I heard a whimper.
That's when I noticed the woman who was with them. She was curled up in a tiny ball in the corner with her hands covering her ears. Her dark brown almost black hairs were touching the ground and she had her eyes closed. But I couldn't see her whole face as it was covered with a scarf. She was obviously scared.
'This is the girl she was talking about.' I thought to myself.
"Are you alright Miss?" I asked as gently as I could in all these noise.
At first she didn't seem to have heard me, so I asked her again and when she still didn't answer I touched her hands slightly to get her attention but suddenly she grabbed my hand hard and looked straight in my eyes and said in a desperate voice.
"Please, help me."
Eyes. Those eyes were the first thing I noticed of her. Dull green eyes, which I am sure were once brighter then the sun but lost their shine after being hopeless for far too long . And those eyes were begging me to save them, to save them from this hell.
'What have they done to you?' I wished to ask her but there was no time for it. Instead I stood up pulling her with me and said,"I will, just stay close to me."
She nodded her head and tailed behind me as I was trying to make way to take her safely out of here. I was holding her hands as strongly as I could without hurting her. But as we reached the door I felt a tug at my hands.
I looked behind and saw Wasim holding her other hand and pulling her towards him.
"Let go officer, she's mine." He barked angrily.
"I won't because I don't think the girl wants to be with you." I said just as angry.
But then out of nowhere more of their men came rushing with their guns blazing and I lost my hold on her hands. Her tearful and desperate eyes begging me to not let her go. Only her bracelet was left with me and she disappeared among the men that were standing between the Mafia and us.
I tried to find her but she was nowhere to be seen. I was still trying but then Nihaal pulled me away from the crowd and shouted.
"We need to get out of here, they outnumber us Major!!"
"No, We have to find her." I said insisting. I seriously don't know what the fuck has gotten into me. I knew that Nihaal was talking sence but I just wasn't having it.
"Major, she is nowhere to be seen. They took her. Now we have to leave or we will die. And you were the one who said that dying doesn't serve your country. You have to live to serve it. So let's go."
With that he pulled me out of the warehouse and towards the chopper which has arrived for us. I looked around one last time, hoping against hope that I will see her but I did not see anything but the remains of the ones who died.
"What do we do with the warehouse, Sir? " Eliot asked me after we were all about a safe distance from the warehouse.
"Take it down." I said and boarded the chopper feeling as if I have failed someone I shouldn't have.
I wasn't liking this feeling, the feeling of being angry and sad at the same time. I was never one to believe in prayers and God but if there was one I prayed that she will be alright and get away from them in time.
We all returned to the base safely. Seeing us the brown haired girl ran towards me and asked in an exicted voice, "Where is She? Is she alright? She's not hurt, right?"
I couldn't say anything. Even if I wanted to I wasn't able to utter a single word.
"We couldn't save her." Said Nihaal noticing me being unable to speak.
"But you said you will save her." She said tearfully.
"I'm Sorry." I said at last.
I don't know who I was sorry for but in that moment I knew that me not saving her will always be a scar on my conscience. Because those fearful but understanding eyes will always haunt me.
The girl started crying as the nurses on the base took her away. And as I was walking towards the changing room thinking that my day couldn't get any worse, one of my junior officer came running to me proving that I couldn't be more wrong.
"Sir, we got a call from St. John Hospital of Dehradun." He said hurriedly.
"And…?" I asked uninterested.
"Its about your parents, Sir." He said hesitantly.
I knew nothing good can happen in my life but what I didn't know was that one sentence would turn my life upside down.