Op Rooppur V: Highway Skirmish

20:00

Sohel drove the car at full speed towards the town. He was looking very anxious as he drove. He could still see the three cars following him. Soon, bullets rained down on Sohel's car. 5.56x46mm NATO bullets kept hitting their car. Sohel ducked as the bullets broke the rear windscreen. He looked at Naomi and said, "What are you waiting for? Fire back."

She quietly obeyed. She took her MP5 from the backseat and started firing from the window. Sohel ordered Aria to call 999.

"Hello. This is the national emergency hotline. How may I help you?"

"This is Bravo 2-1 from SNA. Connect me to Pabna Police Station."

"Yes, sir."

A few seconds later, a male voice answered from the other side.

"OC Manik speaking from Pabna Police Station."

"Bravo 2-1 From SNA. We're taking heavy fire from hostiles on the Pabna-Ishwardi Highway. We need backup now!"

"HUH! Look, kid, I'm not in the mood for pranks today. No way you're under fire on a national highway. A kid shouldn't do prank calls like this."

Sohel got frustrated. But he stayed calm and ordered Aria to cancel the noise cancellation. The OC got baffled by the sudden sounds of gunfire and high engine noises.

"Now if you believe me, send reinforcements or you can hang up."

"...Gear up, we have to move."

Sohel hung up the phone. He looked through the mirror and saw there was one car still chasing them. He looked at Naomi and asked, "What happened to the other two?"

She replied, "She burst the front tires of the other two cars so they won't be able to move anymore."

"How much ammo do you have left?"

"I have 1 more magazine after this one."

"Hmm, Let..."

As he was going to say something, a few bullets hit Naomi, and she almost fell from the car due to the knockback. But Sohel caught her by her vest and pulled her inside.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, no major injury thanks to my armour."

"Good." He quickly looked back at the road and nearly avoided hitting a truck from the other side. but it caused him to lose control of the car, and they scratched through the safety barrier before stopping.

Sohel banged the steering wheel as he failed to start the car back up. Both of them quickly got out of the car and took cover behind it.

The hostile car stopped, and four gunmen came out. Sohel took out his pistol. He looked at Naomi and said, "Try to take them alive. No unnecessary killing."

Naomi looked at Sohel and said, disbelief in her eyes, "Even though they freaking rained bullets at us?"

Sohel stayed quiet. Naomi seemed unhappy at the order, but she still obliged. As the goons came closer, Naomi stood up, asking them to drop their weapons and surrender. Sohel was about to stand up when Aria spoke up.

"Sir. My scans are showing Blast along with three other people coming this way."

Sohel was baffled. He understood those three are none other than his friends. He stood up while telling Aria to connect him with Jacob. Sohel also told the goons to stand down. The goons were stunned for a moment before one of them aimed at Naomi. Sohel noticed this and pulled Naomi towards him. The goon sprayed a few bullets but missed. Only one bullet scratched Naomi's arm.

Both of them ran and took cover behind the car as the other goons started firing too. Sohel's comms rang as Jacob's voice came from it: "Blast to Ghost, is the comms clear?"

"Clear Blast. What are you doing on the highway? Turn back right now."

"Sir, I'm hearing heavy gunfire in the distance. Is everything alright?"

"Nothing is alright. Turn back right now."

As he could say anything more, a car stopped right behind them. Sohel looked back, and his eyes dilated as he saw his friends inside the car. Tahmid was sitting in the driving seat with a horrified look. Sohel turned back towards the enemies. As they were continuously shooting. He fired a few shots to make them stop and turned back again. He screamed "Get out of here."

Tahmid quickly reversed and turned the car. As he was fleeing, a stray bullet hit the back tyre, and the car drifted and slammed against the safety barrier. Sohel got anxious as he saw that.

He started firing at the goons, making them back off. Naomi took the chance and quickly got close to them. As the four were occupied with Sohel, they didn't realise Naomi getting close. Before they could realise Naomi took out all four of them with swift chops at the back of their haeds.

Sohel rushed to the car. He opened the front driver seat door and saw Tahmid lying unconscious with his head on the steering wheel. Beside him was Jacob. He was unconscious too. Both of them were bleeding. He quickly diagnosed both of them and felt relieved as they were just bleeding from small cuts in their bodies.

After this, he looked at the backseat. He saw Mitali and Ovi looking at him horrified. Mitali was taking a defensive stance. Sohel assured them that he was not an enemy. That they can calm down. Naomi came and stood behind Sohel. She informed him that all four goons were unconscious.

Sohel turned around and sighed. As he calmed down a bit, he noticed police cars and personnel on the spot. A middle-aged man wearing a police uniform came to Sohel and asked, "Are you the one who called us?"

"Yes. I'm Lt. Ghost from SNA."

"This is Sgt. Medusa. And you are?"

"OC Manik Das from Pabna police station. What happened here?"

"These guys were working for wanted criminal Lu-shen. We located one of his safehouses in Dapunia and came to investigate. Where they attacked us."

"LU-SHEN? Who's that? Who're you guys?"

"We are from the SNA. Didn't you receive any info about us? Your DC should've gotten orders to cooperate with us."

"Wait here. Let me make a call."

He was about to get to a side, but before he could go, Sohel asked him to get some medical attention for the passengers in the car. The OC hinted at someone, and two medics moved to the car. The OC also went a little far to talk to someone. Sohel looked at Naomi and saw her heavily breathing while holding her scratched arm. Sohel holstered his gun and moved to Naomi.

"You broken?"

"Not yet... I guess."

The OC came back and said, "Yes, sir. It's confirmed. I'm told to assist you in this operation. Just order me if you need anything."

Sohel nodded. He gave OC the location of the safe house and told him to take care of both the injured civilians and the goons in different manners.

Sohel then turned to Naomi and said, "Let's get back to the hotel for now. We need to patch you up. And I also don't want to get to the hotel after my friends when I told them I'm staying in the hotel."

Naomi nodded.