Major Danish Mehra woke up groggy and disoriented from his concussed state behind the shroud of shrubs. He wheezed in pain as he turned around to take stock of his surroundings and peered through the shrubs in front. The ground splayed out into an open grassy esplanade beyond. Overnight cold and dew had left his left side numbed, shoulder downwards. It was still quite dark with a cloak of fog clinging about as he checked his watch; 0515 the analog stared back through the cracked glass. Shuddering in the wetness he searched around as his hand touched something. It was a body! The shock sent him into tizzy as he clutched his forehead trying to remember the events of the last night as pain wrecked through his distressed body in waves. It all came back in dazzling clarity as he recollected having chased this guy from the car park outside his office which ended in an altercation; who killed whom and why? An involuntary convulsion on his left side made him touch his shoulder and he seethed in pain; his fingers came back wet.....he smelled them. Blood!

ACP Zaid Khan, IB knew that the Operation Loaded Dice had been a master stroke of the ISI across the borders but was unaware of the level of penetration achieved in the power centres of Delhi. Who were they now? What was the Objective and the back-up plans? How were the sympathisers and guides maintaining the logistics including cash flow? Questions that had no easy answers and one luxury that they didnt have was time. The enemy was deeply embedded and faceless; yet to pin them down he needed to separate Friend from Foe. that too in his own countrys capital!

Two protagonists, hailing from different organizations unbeknownst to each other were working in tandem across different spectrums. Chillingly the destiny had made them the only heir apparent to this enfolding conundrum amidst a pit full of vipers. Will they succeed was the moot question!

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