“The war is over, captain.” He said finally, his voice cracking under the strain of saying the words.
“Sir?”
“I said, the war is over,” Kulkarni said more forcefully. “All military targets worthy of attention have been or will be nuked by our side. The Pakistanis have been scattered like cockroaches. We need to get more specifics from corps, but rhino is no longer tasked with any strategic objectives.” Kulkarni looked around the faces of the officers to see that most of them had come to the same conclusion at some subconscious level. “So, gents, in light of this, army command has determined that there is nothing but radiation hazard left for rhino and trishul inside Pakistan. And we want none of it. So they are pulling us out.”
The officers looked at each other and Kulkarni saw many of them nodding agreement. One of them finally blurted it out: “so we are going home, sir?”
Kulkarni nodded. He noticed that, to his soldiers, crossing the international border in the desert and entering India felt like entering through the front door of a home, leaving the harsh storm outside. It was a feeling that had been earned in blood out here.
“Yes,” Kulkarni finally replied. “We are going home.”
51
“Friendlies inbound!” Vikram announced over team comms from his position up in the tree. Down below, Pathanya turned to Kamidalla: “deploy red smoke.”
“You got it.”
Pathanya watched as Kamidalla took out the smoke canister from his backpack, armed it and tossed it past the trees and into the farms beyond it. Within seconds the red smoke was climbing past the height of the plants and gathering volume. By then the sounds of the helicopter rotors were increasing. Pathanya turned to Grewal as he limped over with the medic: “you ready to go, sir?”
“Major,” Grewal replied, “I owe you and your men my life. I will never forget this.”
Pathanya smiled: “it’s our job, sir.”
Grewal nodded and limped over to the edge of the trees where Kamidalla waited for them. Pathanya shouted over the sounds of the helicopter engines: “Kamidalla, deliver our guest to the birds! And then get to team-two!” He then turned to face the others around him: “the rest of you, we are leaving! Team-one with me. Team-two with Captain Kamidalla! Let’s go!”
By now the tree branches were swaying in the rotor downwash. The first of three Dhruv helicopters landed within the wet mud of the fields. Their landing skids sunk into the slush as they came to rest. Pathanya waved the pathfinders forward. Eight pathfinders advanced from the tree-line just as the red smoke was dissipated by the rotors. Kamidalla and the medic lifted Grewal by the arm and legs and ran with him to the third Dhruv helicopter. The crew-chief of the helicopter swiveled the side-mount machinegun out of the way as they loaded Grewal onboard.
Pathanya walked at a slower pace than the others. He had his rifle up at shoulder level and pointed away from the helicopters and towards the houses further west. He saw several occupants on the rooftops there observing the action. But so far no attacks. He wanted to keep it that way.
He looked at Vikram clambering down from his treetop observation post: “Vik! Get your butt down fast! Stop monkeying around!”
“Coming!” Vikram shouted over the noise. “Don’t leave without me!”
Vikram jumped on to the ground, picked up his rifle and hoisted his backpack. The Dhruv helicopter carrying Grewal lifted off the farm and headed southeast towards the Indian border. Pathanya saw the four LCH gunships flying in a large circle: they were looking for trouble and drawing attention away from the vulnerable Dhruv transports…
“Pathfinder-actual, this is panther-actual!” Pathanya pressed his comms earpiece closer into his ear as Jagat chimed in: “get your asses on board! Now!”
“Roger!”
Pathanya waved to the others and patted Vikram as he ran past. Within seconds they were boarding. Jagat saw them from the cockpit glass and got the confirmation nod from his copilot that everyone was aboard. He increased power and the helicopter lifted off the ground and pitched forward as it picked up speed. The second helicopter did the same, moment later.
As the LCHs began taking position ahead and behind the transports, Pathanya saw the friendly face of Jagat’s copilot giving him a thumbs up sign from the cockpit.
“Nice to see you too,” Pathanya muttered and waved back. He changed comms to Kamidalla: “you remember the deal?”
“Roger,” Kamidalla responded from the other helicopter. “I remember you leaving me to guard some godforsaken piece of land with half of pathfinder while you and Vik go get some fun! Thanks!”
Pathanya shared a look with Vikram, who smiled. Pathanya responded: “if you don’t keep that FARP secure, none of us are going home. Just remember that.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Team-two copies all!”
The pilots chimed in: “panther-actual, this is panther-two. Looks like this our stop. We are departing for the D-Z. See you on the way back. Over.”
“Wilco, panther-two,” Jagat responded. “Keep alert and radio-in anything that looks out of our playbooks. Out.”
As the second Dhruv and two of the LCHs peeled off, Pathanya moved up the cabin and poked his head between the two pilots: “what’s our E-T-A to the A-O?”
Jagat checked his map displays: “fifteen minutes. Get your men ready. I will sound the warning when we are two minutes out!”
“Roger!” Pathanya said as he moved back from the cockpit. He found the crew-chief manning the side-mounted machine gun leaning out of the entrance into the wind to detect threats below them. It was an unenviable job. Especially in winter. The crew-chiefs had to be dressed in thick thermal gear, face-plate helmets with oxygen masks and a harness to prevent them being thrown out by sudden turbulence. Add to that their helmet-mounted night-vision optics and they looked positively alien. Except for their arms, they showed no discernable human emotions behind all that paraphernalia…
As Pathanya watched, the crew-chief made some sudden motion and then aligned his machinegun against some target and let loose. The entire cabin reverberated with the vibration and noise of the heavy-caliber machinegun barrage. A few moments later they heard the deadly whizzing noises of tracer rounds flying close by…
As Jagat made violent evasive maneuvers, the copilot turned to the passengers: “we are taking fire from Pak army remnants below! Hang tight! We are evading!”
Vikram grabbed the side frame of the helicopter with both hands as he summarized the situation as understood by the pathfinders: “Oh shit!”
Haider, Akram and the other officers looked up from their breakfast table as the distant sound of heavy machineguns echoed around them. It had come from the east. They got up from the wooden chairs they had been sitting on at the roadside restaurant and looked to the eastern hills. There was nothing much to see.
One of the captains nearby turned to Akram: “maybe it was just some jihadists doing what they…”
“Quiet!” Akram ordered. “Listen!”
Haider walked past Akram and waved to the drivers and other soldiers: “we are leavi…”
The new sounds of helicopter rotors echoed through the eastern hills and was persistent. All doubt was instantly gone. Akram began shouting orders for everyone to get on board the trucks and move. But Haider was smarter. He had already clambered into the back of his truck and had gathered his G3 rifle, maps and other items. He jumped out of the vehicle as Akram ran past.