Page 122 - Love Story of a Commando

romance and what not.
‘Yes!’ he replied briefly and then turned towards me and said, ‘Hey
Riya! Meet Captain Vaibhav, he is junior to me but we did our NSG training
together.’
‘Hi!’ I said rather awkwardly.
‘Hey ma’am! I must say sir is super lucky to keep on meeting such
pretty faces all the time while chasing terrorists. And here I am so short on
luck that I get to protect old or bald men all the time, sometimes with huge
paunches. Not that they are not important but I never got to save a pretty girl
during any of my operations. Ha ha!’ He looked so excited stating all this
while I was wondering how many more pretty faces Virat had met.
‘Pretty faces all the times? If I may ask, how many more such faces
have crossed paths with Virat.’ I rolled my eyes.
All that vulnerability was long gone and the possessive girlfriend was
back again.
‘Oye! Shut it! Okay! Riya, he is just kidding. Don’t mind. And you,
Vaibhav ji, don’t forget we are in PoK. In fact, last night I had an encounter
with two militants there.’ He gestured towards the caves above.
A shiver ran down my spine remembering last night’s events and I
was quiet once again.
‘That looks like a kind of watch tower arrangement there. It means
we are close to some terror launch pads in the area and we must hurry. As
soon as their fellow friend detects it they will surely come down here,’
Vaibhav said seriously.
‘Yes! Let’s move! Where are the para guys?’ he said.
‘They are keeping a watch on these rocks and waiting for our signal
to move,’ Vaibhav replied.
Virat picked up his semi-automatic MP5 submachine gun again. He
checked the magazine and then signalled for us to move. This time we
moved in a formation.
I was walking almost in a semicircle surrounded by all three men
with their MP5 submachine guns aimed at an unknown enemy. Virat was
behind me and the other two NSG guys were on my left and right. This kind
of security attention made me nervous but I managed to climb down the
rocks somehow, fumbling sometimes.
The emptiness you feel over the barren mountains and the echoing
feeling of your insignificance is dramatically changed once you come back
to the plains; lush greenery not only feels welcoming but also allows you to
be a part of it. That is how I felt once we reached the bottom. Surprisingly I
was not scared anymore. The nervousness was replaced by astonishment.
I saw at least six men come out of the bushes once we reached the
pre-decided spot and all of them were in pathani suits and pherans, perfect