Delta Squad

20:10

Control Centre

He finds the other side of the door empty. There was just a staircase going down.

Sohel says, "ARIA, turn on NVG, and keep scanning for heartbeats."

ARIA replies, "Yes, Captain."

Sohel slowly gets down the stairs while aiming his rifle forward. As he gets almost at the end of the staircase, ARIA suddenly stops him.

"Captain, my scans are picking up multiple heartbeat signals. There are at least 10 living organisms down there."

Wrinkles appear on Sohel's forehead as he hears that. He says, "Well, that wasn't unexpected, but the numbers are a bit too much for one man to handle."

Sohel sits down on the stairs and spends around 5 minutes thinking about what to do. He then suddenly grabs his rifle and gets up. He chucles and says, "How could I forget that I had these?"

Sohel slowly gets to the end of the staircase. He then takes out two flashbangs from his utility vest and throws them inside. The moment the flashbangs explode, Sohel jumps in. He sees seven gorrilas in front of him. He creates seven fresh holes in their foreheads in quick succession with 5.56×45mm bullets. He then takes a good look at the room once he ensures all seven gorillas are dead and no one else is coming. It was a small room with brick walls. It had only one way in and out—the door from which he entered. Only one light was lit that dimly lit the room. There was a wall of bars on the left side of the room.

Sohel goes to the bars and tries to look inside. Suddenly, an exhausted voice comes from inside the jail. It said, "Who's there? I heard suppressed gunshots. That uniform... You're from the SNA. Finally... Finally someone came to rescue us."

Sohel asks, "Who's there? Come into the light. Let me see."

Two silhouettes slowly come forward. Sohel's eyes widen as he sees Lt. Martinez and Lt. Ivanovna coming forward. Both of them were badly injured. They were missing their helmets, plate carriers and utility vests. Their kevlar suits were badly damaged and torn in places.

Sohel frantically says, "Please wait a bit. Let me get you out of there."

He looks around for a key but fails to find one. As a desperate attempt, he gets close to the bars and asks them to get back. They slowly get back. Sohel targets at the lock with his rifle. He fires 3 bullets at the lock, and it breaks. A satisfactory smile appears on Sohel's face. He quickly opens the door and gets inside.

As he gets inside, Lt. Martinez and Lt. Ivanovna come to him.

Lt. Martinez notices the Bravo squad badge on Sohel's sleeve and asks, "Didn't see that badge before. Which squad are you from?"

Sohel replies, "It's me. Ghost."

"Oh." Suddenly a sense of urgency comes on him, and he runs back to a corner of the cell and crouches in front of something.

Lt. Martinez says in an anxious tone, "You have a medic in your squad, right? Where is she? Mad-dog needs serious medical attention."

Sohel runs to Lt. Martinez and turns on the flashlight on his helmet. As he turns on the flashlight, he almost throws up. Lt. Hossaini was lying on the floor. He too was missing his helmet, plate carrier and utility vest. And in addition to his torn-up Kevlar suit, he was missing both of his legs from knee down. The wound was wrapped in clothes, but that didn't much help, as Sohel could smell the smell of infection from almost 7 feet away.

Sohel says in a hurried voice, "Quick, pick him up and come with me."

Lt. Martinez nods and picks Lt. Hossaini up on his shoulder. All of them get out of the jail cell. Lieutenant . Ivanovna picks up an AK-47 from one of the dead gorillas. Sohel leads them all back to the broken window and says, "Wait here. Help will arrive soon."

Sohel starts heading towards the other door when Lt. Martinez stops him. He asks, "Where are you going?"

"To get the one behind all of this. He should be in the main room."

"Fixer, you go with him," orders Lt. Martinez.

Lieutenant . Ivanovna nods and jumps back inside the building.

Lt. Ivanovna looks back at Lt. Martinez and says, "Take care. I'll be back with good news."

Lt. Martinez nods.

Sohel and Ivanovna run towards the other door. Sohel again rotates the CCTV a little by hitting it with the knife's handle.

They open the door and find themselves in another corridor. They carefully cross the corridor and stop in front of another door at the end of the corridor. Sohel slowly and carefully opens the door and sees a man sitting in front of a big control panel with many monitors covering every nook and cranny of the island.

The room had no lights. The only light source in that room was the monitors.

Sohel totally opens the door and yells, "Get away from that console. Hands where I can see them."

The man turns around. As the man turns around, Sohel recognizes him. It was the owner of the island, Dr. Arindam Sen. He wasn't surprised, as he had already seen it coming.

"Hello, Captain. Congratulations! You've successfully completed my challenge. It looks like my gorillas still have some shortcomings. Thanks for pointing them to me."

"Hands where I can see them, Dr. Sen. I won't say again."

Dr. Sen chuckles. He says, "Looks like you've already claimed your reward. Anyway, I'd recommend you two drop your weapons."

Just as he says, nine soldiers emerge from the darkness. All of them, aiming their SKS rifle at them. Leading those soldiers was Lt. Kumar.

Sohel wasn't ready for this one. He asks in astonishment, "Lt. Kumar? Why...why would you?"

Lt. Kumar laughs and says, "Why? Of course it's because Dr. Sen here pays me better…..way better than that joke of a salary I get from being an IN lieutenant. Now, drop your weapons."

Sohel and Yekaterina look at each other and drop their rifles.

"Your sidearm and knife too. Drop them."

Sohel grits his teeth and obliges.

"Now be a good boy and sit in that corner. Go."

Two soldiers push Sohel and Yekaterina to a corner and forcefully make them sit down.

Sohel says while trying to control his anger, "Don't think you've won. My squad is still out there."

"Oh, are they? I wonder for how long. They can't hide under that dock forever. Sooner or later, they'll get exhausted. When they do, they'll have two options. One, drown under that dock. Or two, try to get to land, get shot or get torn apart by my gorillas."

Just then, a loud boom is heard, and the island shakes.

Everyone, except Sohel, panics. Sohel starts chuckling. Dr. Sen asks, "What's so funny? What's going on?"

Sohel replies, "Nothing. Just the counterattack has begun."

At that moment, Sohel was hearing a familiar voice in the comms.

"You missed me, Captain?"