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  Ansari swerved around the bend on the road that cut into the Ladakh mountains east of Leh. “You will see.” He replied as they bypassed yet another army truck convoy heading down the road.

  Gephel shook his head and looked to the side of the road as they drove on. The relatively flat road was bordered on either side by snow interspersed with rocks, canvassing an otherwise desolate mountain range. The cold winds cut through the thinly-covered fabric skin of the vehicle and made an otherwise arduous journey even more painful.

  Gephel wondered how the old silk-route travelers of past centuries had navigated such difficult terrain. There were no roads back then. No satellite navigation systems and no help if you got lost in the endless rolling mountains of Ladakh, devoid of all plant life except in a few valleys. Over the last few decades, the army and air-force had established themselves here. And so had the Chinese in Tibet. The road heading east from Leh was as filled with activity as could be imagined. No civilians were out here except those working with the government. Every few kilometers they would come across a sprawling army camp or a convoy of trucks parked by the road. For Gephel, the valley of Gyantse had once been an ancestral home. But he hadn’t been back there since his family had fled to India. Decades later, he wondered about his cultural lineage. What was left of it, at least. The Tibetan culture, his culture, had been decimated by the Chinese over the past decades. Would he ever even see his home again? He knew Gyantse only from his parent’s and grandparent’s words. Would his children even have access to that small verbal luxury? What use were future generations when they had no access to their own culture?

  “What are you thinking?” Ansari asked without taking his eyes off the road. Gephel realized he had been lost in thought for some time. He turned to face his friend.

  “Nothing.”

  “This place reminds you of home, eh?” Ansari asked empathetically. He knew Gephel and his past. After all, Ansari hadn’t pulled Gephel’s name out of a hat for Basu when they started the Pathfinder missions four years ago.

  “Of course it reminds me of home!”

  “You ever wonder what it would have been like if your family hadn’t come over in 1959?” Ansari asked as he finally took a turn off the road on to a dirt track and continued driving.

  “Not really.” Gephel replied offhandedly and then turned to face the desolate mountains again. “I got to see what my people had to live like over there. I have yet to see such misery elsewhere. I hope I never do. The Chinese will pay for what they did…but perhaps not in this lifetime.”

  “We are here.” Ansari applied the brakes and the Gypsy lurched to a halt on the snowy-gravel. Gephel looked around and saw several command-trailers parked on the relatively flat terrain nearby. They were covered with white snow-flake camo-netting through which their many radio and electronics antennae projected into the cold, grey Ladakh skies above.

  “We are expected. Come on,” Ansari grabbed his gloves from the dashboard and exited the vehicle. Gephel did the same, following Ansari as they made their way through the freezing, slushy-wet mud towards the command-trailers. They passed several soldiers along the way, all of whom were kitted out in heavy snow jackets. But as Gephel wondered where he was, his eyes spotted the two parked Light-Combat-Helicopters further away, covered inside white painted, modular semi-cylindrical hangers. He saw the sleek outline of the parked helicopters showing as the entrance flaps of the modular hanger were rolled up for some work. He could see ground crews working on one of the choppers.

  “Our rides?” Gephel asked Ansari.

  “No. Just the escorts. Come on.”

  As Gephel continued to follow two steps behind Ansari, he mumbled a comment he knew only Ansari was in earshot of: “sneaky bastard!”

  “I know.”

  “And who authorized this?” Gephel asked. Ansari did not answer but instead pointed to the several other Gypsy vehicles parked on the other side of the clearing. Gephel noticed a wooden sign pegged into the mud by the locals. It said: ‘FARP ZULU 114-HU’

  Gephel now knew where he was. The location was one of several Forward-Area-Rearming-Points, or FARPs, operated by the resident attack-helicopter unit of the air-force in Ladakh. This unit had been formed in-situ during the China war and specialized in the use of the high-altitude Light Combat Helicopters, or LCHs. These helicopters were advanced vehicles designed specifically for high altitude combat. The LCHs were small, sleek and sported advanced digital pattern white-brown camouflage to negate infrared returns. They were capable of operating under all but the most difficult weather conditions and during the war, had proven deadly to both enemy armor units in Ladakh as well as unmanned enemy drones flying above the battlefield. As such, they had developed a deadly reputation amongst both friendly and enemy forces in these mountains. The 114 Helicopter Unit had been in theater ever since.

  Ansari opened the door of the large command trailer and waved Gephel in. As both men entered the spacious interiors of the vehicle, they were met there by several air-force officers in their flight-suits, bent over a small map table. Other stations including radios were currently unmanned.

  “Colonel Ansari,” the air-force group-captain held out his hand and Ansari shook it. He noticed the senior air-force officer looked much older than his age: yet another veteran of the last war.

  “Group-captain Dutt, this is Colonel Gephel. He is my deputy-commander.” Ansari introduced Gephel in the same breath. Dutt nodded and motioned both men to come to the side of the map table. “Gentlemen, welcome to 1-1-4 H-U. I was informed today by the western air-ops commander that my men and I are currently removed from recon operations planned in support of the upcoming strikes and are instead assigned to your SOCOM task force. Does that sum it up?”

  Ansari nodded with a smile, so Dutt continued: “Needless to say, my boys and I are very curious to know why we have been taken off the roster just before the balloon goes up and instead assigned to your task force.”

  Ansari took the cue and opened his briefcase with the satellite imagery of the target areas. He handed these out to Dutt and the other pilots in the trailer. Dutt frowned as he looked over the color images.

  “Forget your precious recon missions, group-captain. I have the kind of mission that will make your pilots drool!”

  Dutt looked up from the images to Ansari and then to his other four pilots: “Fair enough, colonel. You have our attention.”

  “What the hell do you mean they are empty?”

  Malhotra turned away from the speaker on the table and looked at his officers. He picked up a pair of the satellite images and compared them yet again. “I don’t know what to tell you, sir. But these camps are empty as far as I can tell. These images don’t lie. The camps were active up until three days ago when we threatened the Pakistanis with strikes. Now there isn’t a soul in them. All buildings look abandoned.”

  He heard Bhosale’s heavy breath on the other end of the line. He also heard some background chatter. Probably some of Bhosale’s operations officers offering suggestions.

  Not that there is much to do…Malhotra viewed the images in his hands yet again. One had been taken by a RISAT bird five days ago. And the other one was from an hour ago. Other images taken in between these two had confirmed the steady removal of personal from all of the Pakistani-operated terror camps inside Kashmir. The enemy had scampered. And it wasn’t hard to guess who had tipped them off.

  “This is a problem.” Bhosale added. Malhotra nodded at his end. “Indeed, sir.”

  “The babus of South Block have created this cluster-fuck situation. We told those bastards not to reveal our plans to Rawalpindi. What the hell did they think was going to happen?!”

  Malhotra looked away from the speaker and eyed the men in his presence, wondering why the big-boss had let his emotion get the better of him in front of all the men. If anything, it was an indicator of how bad things were with the civilian government. And the chief was, after all, only human. In any other circumstance, his emo
tions would be excusable. But not here. Not when morale was already sinking within the men they commanded.

  “Options?” Bhosale said testily. Malhotra heard some of the other senior operations officers on the other side talking about rolling back the scale of the strikes or some such thing. Malhotra was already zoned out and lost in his own thoughts as he reviewed the images, hoping to find some viable solutions…

  One thing was quite clear: the strikes would go ahead as planned. The prime-minister and his politically leaning defense-minister had set that in stone as the only means to survive in office. And followed that up with gross incompetence to ensure that the current plans were effectively castrated. If the current operations went ahead as planned, they would strike nothing but mud buildings and empty training grounds. The target individuals had dissipated like water into the rocks.

  Or had they? Malhotra realized as he jerked forward in his seat and began scouring through the imagery laid out on the table until he found what he was looking for. Then he looked at the images and smiled.

  Of course!

  The answer had been available to them all along.

  It had all to do with terrain topology and weather conditions, the latter of which was at its worst at this time of the year. Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir was mostly steep mountains and barren high-altitude ridges. These locations were unsuited for habitation in the winter months. But there were locations inside the valleys where the altitude was lower and these valleys were habitable. And if there was one thing that these mujahedeen liked more than anything else, it was creature comforts. In every war since 1947, Pakistan had attempted to use these “warriors” as the tip of their sword for the battles inside Indian Kashmir. And in all cases it had the same net result: the Pashtun warriors were more interested in pillaging and rape than in tactics and strategy. There was a reason why the terror camps were also located in the valleys and vegetated parts of the Himalayas north of the line-of-control.

  The image Malhotra held in his hands showed him the consequences of this tendency of the Pashtuns. It showed Skardu before and after the Pakistanis had revealed the Indian threats to jihadists. The camps were deserted. But the soldiers had to go somewhere, right? They certainly weren’t hiding out in the mountains braving the snow. No, that wasn’t their style. And sure enough, Skardu was certainly showing a lot more people this time of the year…

  And it is certainly not increased tourism! Malhotra put that image down and picked up another set from the table taken over the Deosai valley villages. Same as Skardu. Lots of “civilian” pickup trucks on the move. Much more than what the region enjoyed at this time of the year. These guys were spread out over the valley in smaller encampments by the look of it. Pakistani army convoys were also visible in the images and the soldiers in these convoys seemed to ignore these roadside camps as though they didn’t exist…

  So much for joint operations against terrorism!

  “Sir,” Malhotra said finally. “I have an option that you might like!”

  “What’s this?” Pathanya said as he walked outside of the building. He saw several of his team members removing wooden crates and other olive-green metallic boxes from the back of two military trucks that had rolled rear-first into the parking lot.

  “Our gear has been released to us.” Kamidalla noted as he walked past Pathanya carrying one of the boxes into the main lobby. Pathanya followed him in as others began bringing in more of the gear. Kamidalla put the box down on the floor and opened it. He then lifted one of the several rifles in the box and shouldered it. Pathanya picked up another one. He noticed straight away that these were the newly developed Multi-Caliber-Individual-Weapon-System or MICWS rifle. The weapon was fitted with the latest optical sights that SOCOM could provide them. The particular rifle that he had picked was fitted with a red-dot sight, but he noticed some of the other boxes were marked according to what they carried: infrared scopes, night-vision goggles, ammunition, under-barrel grenade-launcher attachments and so on. Kamidalla lofted his rifle and checked the red-dot sight as well as the balance of the weapon. Others in the room began doing the same. The click-clack metallic noise in the room was deafening.

  Pathanya looked around and didn’t feel he had to say anything. These men were highly-trained, elite operators who had been selected for their intelligence. They knew what they had to do and how to do it. As such, Pathanya’s role as team leader was more unusual than a typical light-infantry unit. His job was only to lay out the plan of action and the next objective. He didn’t have to worry about the smaller details.

  Gephel walked into the room a few seconds later and saw the equipment and weapons laid out over the lobby. He turned to Pathanya with a smile: “What have you done to my dinner room?”

  “Apologies, sir. We will clean it up again.”

  Gephel smiled: “You won’t have the time.”

  “When do we leave?” Pathanya asked as activity in the room came to a sudden standstill.

  “Tonight.” Gephel responded. “Twelve hours from now, the gears start to rotate. The trucks outside will take you and your team to the airbase at nineteen-hundred hours. Dust off will depend on other elements doing their job so it is likely to vary. But rest-assured, you will not be returning to this location once you leave here, this evening. So make sure your personal belongings are stowed into those same trucks outside. Colonel Ansari is already at operations and I will be joining him soon. I just wanted to wish you all luck and good hunting!” Gephel turned to Pathanya: “walk with me.”

  The two men walked into the courtyard facing the snow-capped Himalayas around them. The rare sunlight cut through the clouds and illuminated the Leh valley. Gephel turned to Pathanya: “make sure your men get a good rest today. Mandatory sleep for everyone. They have a long and freezing night ahead of them. Understood?”

  “Understood, sir.”

  “Good.” Gephel then stiffened his back: “remember the extremely sensitive nature of this mission. Out beyond those lines,” he gestured to the northern peaks with his arm, “you and your team are going to be isolated and surrounded. This is not Bhutan, major. At least there you had the sympathetic population on your side and Warlord and his heavy firepower supporting your every move. Out here, expect to get shot from all sides and from everyone who can hold a gun. We all know what happened to Kalia and his men during the Kargil war.”

  “I understand, sir.” Pathanya replied. He had already made his peace with his personal life in case things went wrong later that night.

  “That said,” Gephel continued, “this is not Kargil. Here we are going on the offensive and rest-assured, Ansari and I will provide all the support we can muster. If all goes well, you will be in and out within two hours.”

  “Understood, sir. We will get the job done.”

  “You do that, major! Good hunting.” Gephel shook Pathanya’s hand and then walked off towards his parked Gypsy. In his wake he left Pathanya in silence, staring at the snow glistening on the peaks to the northwest. As he watched the peaks, wondering what lay behind them for him and his team, a pair of Mig-29s thundered across the valley, breaking his reverie. He watched the aircraft disappear across the ridgeline to the south and walked back into the building.

  ──── 11 ────

  The tires of the heavy Tatra trucks crumbled the snowy gravel and halted with a jerk. The hydraulic pumps began elevating the three-tube launcher of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles to vertical position. Within a minute the tubes were vertical and locked in place as other equipment and comms came online. The Brahmos system was designed to be autonomous in its operations. A decentralized warfare system. All it needed were targets within a three-hundred kilometer radius of the vehicle in any direction. With a supersonic cruise speed of three times the speed of sound, it was a premier first-strike weapon, and a deadly one at that.

  These three launchers had been on the move over the past week and had arrived in the Kashmir valley only the night before. The Pakistanis didn�
��t have satellites but the Chinese did. And it was to be expected that all Chinese information on Indian forces in the Kashmir valley was being passed on Rawalpindi. As such, the autonomous Brahmos system was a key element in keeping the enemy guessing until it was too late. With readiness-to-launch times less than ten minutes and a flight time of five minutes, the missiles could hit targets before they could react or move.

  As the infantry convoy accompanying these launchers moved a safe distance away, the launch crews got to work. Target information was fed down to them from the army’s XIV Corps. To the soldiers guarding the vehicles against any surprise attack by the enemy, the nine manmade pillars stretching monolithically into the deep blue night sky was an eerie sight. There were no lights and all vision was through their night-vision goggles. The infantry force commander had informed all of his men to avoid looking at these tubes when the time came, else they would be instantly blinded. This suited the soldiers perfectly, since their job was not to look at the launchers but to scan outside their security perimeter, kneeling on one leg and with their rifles held up at their shoulders. Every several seconds they heard the mechanical noises of the launcher vehicles as the crews inside kept on working and the minutes ticked past…

  “Tower, this is mongol-two, we are rolling.”

  The radio squawked in Verma’s earphones as the aircraft began to accelerate down the runway. He removed the headset and put it around his neck. The ERJ-145 rolled down the runway and quickly lifted into the freezing air, climbing away from the night lights of Srinagar. As the small aircraft quickly moved into the air, Verma put on his headset once more to hear the cockpit chatter.

  “…Roger, tower. Mongol-two is airborne and entering TAC-1 air control. Out.”

  Behind him, the men and women manning their stations got to work. Comms came online and the large airborne radar mounted outside in the form of a beam, went online. The comms chatter increased as the aircraft began establishing its presence over the airspace.