14. THE FIRST BLOOD
3:00 AM
Rituparna's boat moved forward.
Rituparna's boat inched closer to the second boat. With every second their seemed to be a flurry of activity and muffled splashing sounds could be heard.
The customs officer realized what they were doing and he motioned to Rituparna...
Rituparna too understood what was going on...
The crew was dumping the contraband into the sea.
Rituparna was beyond himself at this point.
When the boats had barely five feet between them, he jumped into the second boat. The divers quickly plunged into the sea.
Deepika cocked her pistol, worried about Rituparna. When their boat was close enough, she too, jumped.
Immediately there was a shot.
One of the smugglers had fallen dead, killed, presumably by Rituparna.
Deepika shot the hand of a man who was attempting to shoot at Rituparna.
Three smugglers were down now. Eight more to go.
There was another shot and a grunt.
To her horror Deepika realized, a customs officer had been shot in the leg. His colleague pushed him out of harm's way.
Rituparna had eradicated one more smuggler. Deepika took down one.
Shekhar, a customs officer shot another two.
Angad, his colleague killed two more.
There was another shot as a smuggler fired at Shekhar. He fell on the spot.
A bullet wizzed past Deepika and she felt Rituparna crash on her, protecting her, keeping her out of harm's way.
He shot one of the remaining smugglers.
The last one tried to shoot Rituparna, but Angad lifted his revolver and shot him, before he could react.
Rituparna stood up cautiously.
A shot wizzed over his head.He ducked instinctively.
A shot rang out, and was followed by silence.
Rituparna looked up.
Deepika had her gun trained on the man who had fired at him.
Rituparna looked at her and she stared back, challengingly.
She put her gun in the back of her jeans and rushed towards Shekhar.
Rituparna stared unbelieveingly at her back.
She had saved his life.
15. EUPHORIA
TWO HOURS LATER
ABROAD TEAM A CRAFT
The paramedic team had arrived with haste.
Shekhar had been moved to a hospital, but he had been announced DOA.
Veer was being treated for his leg injury.
Angad had escaped with a few scratches.
Rituparna had a long gash on his palm and face injuries.
Deepika too had some face injuries and there was a long slash on her knee.
Rituparna's walky talky buzzed.
It was Parth.
Deepika hurriedly approached Rituparna.
'Target achieved. Six hostiles dead. Three captured.'
Rituparna spoke, 'Target achieved all hostiles dead.'
Parth gave their coordinates.
Soon, Deepika could make out the figure of a boat on their right.
Parth's boat came closer to their boat. Rituparna and Deepika rushed towards the deck.
Deepika saw all the members of Special Squad on the opposite boat and heaved a sigh of relief. She smiled at them and at Parth.
They looked at each other over the water, all traces of misunderstandings gone.
Parth too smiled at her.
Deepika looked towards the east, over the water, at the rising sun.
The golden rays crept over the water setting it ablaze.
Deepika looked to her side.
Rituparna was standing beside her.
He looked at her and smiled.
She looked into his eyes, all doubts assuaged, she reciprocated with a smile.
She felt the sweet success tinged with the bitter pain of loss...
He was confused by the expression in her eyes... it made him feel intensly happy... he felt as though his stomach was doing push-ups without his knowledge...(please do not attribute this to sea sickness 😆)
They both turned their gaze towards the glorious rising sun, with a new confidence in their hearts, minds at peace.
Two figures outlined by the splendid rays of the glowing ball of fire.
Parth wiped the blood from Junhui's arm and looked into her eyes.
She nodded and took her arm away.
They too looked at the rising sun.
The rest of the day all they had to do was cast a look back at the moment and the elation filled their hearts'
And the rest of the day there was alos why'why'why' in their minds.
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