Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

One week earlier…

Naina left the house at 3am, after everybody else had fallen asleep. She took almost nothing with her except for two changes of clothes and some money. Heading towards the bus station she arrived at 4am, one hour before the bus to Mumbai was scheduled to leave. However she traveled for only four stops with the bus before she got out. Here was where Naina made her first change, swapping her modern clothes for a sari, a mangalsutra and a sindoor, and waited for her next bus. With this bus she travelled for a total of three hours before once again getting out. This time when Naina changed it was into a traditional looking salwar kameez, and she took off the mangalsutra and rubbed out the sindoor. Pulling the dupatta over her head, she set off for the train station and bought a ticket to Delhi. If anyone had seen Naina, they wouldn't have given her a second glance. With her outfit, her lack of makeup and her downcast gaze, she didn't stand out compared to any other girl. Once the train had left, Naina sipped a cup of chai and mentally went over her plan again. Even then she was on alert, looking out for anybody suspicious, anybody who seemed to be watching her. But so far everything was going according to plan, and at 9am, she supposed her parents might even assume she was still asleep in her own bed.

There were many reasons why Naina had become the best cadet of KMA. Besides her excellent performance in drills, her mind had always been exceptionally sharp. For the last two months she had painstakingly planned her moves, going over pros and cons, working out where the dangers lay and how she would overcome them. For two months she had planned in secret, never once telling anything to her fellow cadets and friends. The only person who knew the truth now was Alekh, and she was glad of that. He had given her the details of friends he had in Delhi who would be able to help her with some of her problems.

Hours later when the train finally arrived, Naina got down quickly and left the station. The first thing she did was have her nose pierced, the second thing she did was to buy a hair dye to make her hair darker, which she did in a hotel bathroom. Finally she went to a market and bought the plainest, most traditional salwar kameez she could find. She swapped her fashionable shoes for some ordinary sandles.

Her preparations finally complete, Naina left to find Alekh's friends. She needed fake documents in order to hide her identity, and they would be able to provide them. Her new ID listed her as Adilah Khan, daughter of Jalil Khan. Anybody who saw Naina in this disguise would never have doubted that it was the truth.

Naina's work in Delhi was completed within a day, and she was determined to leave as soon as possible. Although she hadn't had any sleep, she needed to get moving before somebody caught up to her. She was headed to Hyderabad next, but would be changing direction three or four times before she reached there. Everything was planned, and she knew where she would have to change and when the connecting bus or train left. Settling into the berth of her first train for what would be a six hour trip, Naina immediately went to sleep. She needed to conserve her energy for what lay ahead.

…

One week later, Naina was in Ahmedabad when she heard the news. She was checking the temporary email account she had set up, something she only did very cautiously, and that too when she was about to leave a city. She was shocked by the message she had received. Naina had thought that she would have more time, that her mission would be accomplished before there was any real danger. But there on the screen in front of her, it was spelled out in black and white: Transfer to Jammu has been arranged. It will happen on Friday.

The words chilled Naina's blood. Transferring him to Jammu meant that they were getting ready to execute him. She couldn't have come this far only to fail, her mission pointless with him dead. Her plans would have to change, the next step would have to wait until she had found a solution to this.

Naina went to a nearby PCO and dialed a number she had learnt by heart, too scared to carry it on her in case she was caught.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end said.

"Please call Alekh Sharma to the phone." She told them.

"And who are you?"

"Tell him that it's Basanti." It was a code that they had worked out earlier, partially due to Alekh's love of Sholay and partially because anyone would suspect that it was just a girlfriend of Alekh's calling without wanting to give her real name.

Within a minute, Alekh was on the other end of the line. "Ha, bol. Tu kaisi ho?"

"I'm fine Alekh, but there's been a problem."

"What is it?"

"Captain Rajveer is due to be transferred to Delhi this Friday, we need to do something."

"When did you find out?"

"Just ten minutes ago, Bunty emailed me the information. Thank god we have him."

"So what now?"

"Can you meet me? I need your help with this, I can't do it alone. I think you know what it is we have to do."

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Good, meet me in Ajmer tomorrow night an hour before prayers start, outside the Shrine. We'll offer some flowers."

"Done."

And Alekh hung up.

Naina took a deep breath, they only had five days to come up with a plan to save Captain Rajveer before he could be taken to Jammu. She wished that it hadn't happened so soon, just a few more weeks and she could've won him his freedom. But the circumstances had changed, and the plan had to change. Naina left to buy the ticket for the first part of her trip, there was a bus to Udaipur leaving in an hour and she intended to be on it.

**

Alekh traveled towards Ajmer on a bus, looking resolutely out the window at the landscape. Gone were his usual clothes, replaced by a man's salwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head. He was glad that he hadn't bothered to shave for a few days because it made him look more authentic. Everybody else on the bus would assume him to be just another pilgrim to Ajmeri Baba's Dargah.

Alekh felt bad about leaving Huda behind in Delhi like that, but he hadn't had any other option. If he had waited until the morning to leave then he would've risked being late to meet Naina, and he didn't want to risk Huda following him either.

He just hoped that some of what he had said before he left had sunk into Huda's thick head. He thought of the conversation he had with Naina a little over a week ago, just before her engagement. After she had told him of her plans, Alekh had promised to support her, and given her the names of his friends that could help her. It was then that he'd asked her the question that he'd been wanting to know the answer to all along.

"But why are you getting engaged to Huda?"

Naina hadn't looked at him as she replied, instead she had stared down at the log they were sitting on, drawing patterns on the bark with her finger.

"Nobody will expect me to leave straight after the engagement," she told him "It's the perfect cover for getting away."

"Then you're not really going to marry Huda?"

"I am." Naina had replied simply, "The engagement is cover for my getaway but it's still real. Once my mission is accomplished, I'll marry him whenever he wants."

"Naina," Alekh had said pleadingly, and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. "I know that you don't love Huda, so why are you doing this?"

Naina had steeled her expression, shutting off any emotions she might have been feeling. "I've made my decision, Alekh." She had told him, "And I'm not going to change it."

He knew it was pointless to try to change her mind, so the only option he had left was to try and make Huda see some sense before it was too late.

Two hours later, he met Naina in front of the shrine. She was already carrying some flowers, and despite wanting to hug her with relief, he silently walked inside with her to offer them. Both of them offered their own prayers for the success of the mission and then exited quickly. They had walked for one kilometre before Naina finally spoke.

"I've brought you a change of clothes," she told him. "We'll change in this hotel and then be on our way."

When they had come out of the bathrooms, both looked like typical hippies, Naina wearing a loose skirt and blouse, and Alekh some roughly woven pants and a loose shirt.

"Where are we going now?" he asked her

"Pushkar," she told him. "We need to blend in. We'll stay there for a few days while we work out our next plan."

And stepping outside, they ordered a taxi to take them to their next destination.