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Bharath Kumar

Romance Classics Thriller

4.6  

Bharath Kumar

Romance Classics Thriller

Operation Star Jewel

Operation Star Jewel

9 mins
413


Pakistan carried out a covert attack in the centre region of Kashmir wherein the SMG( Secret Mission Group) was destroyed and also the most prestigious star jewel was stolen. It was a double whammy for India as they not only lost the glittering star jewel but also the renowned SMG that had been instrumental in carrying out various secret missions over the last decade. The military team did not want to respond with silence but wanted to retaliate to destroy Pakistan's SMG and also bring back the star jewel. In the backdrop of Pakistan's covert attack, Ankur, who had a brilliant track record was assigned the leadership role in India's secret mission to bring back the star jewel and also terminate their SMG. Ankur was on a much-deserved break after carrying out his previous mission successfully. He was asked to report to duty in three days.


A girl named Riya happened to be his new neighbour. On a Sunday morning, she appeared on her balcony and was a mesmerising beauty to behold. Her short wavy hairs spread around the nape of her neck which seemed to bathe in the glorious sun rays. She wore a green salwar kameez with green earrings and a green dot in between her eyes which complimented her overall look. A golden chain which hung around her neck reflected the sun rays falling on it towards Ankur. He squinted his eyes for some time due to the game played by sun rays and after some time when she took a few paces behind towards the door he was able to distinctly see her face. She was indeed drop-dead gorgeous. Whenever he visited his mother in Delhi, she always pestered him to marry and emphasised the point that seeing his marriage was her last wish. For a minute, Ankur felt if the girl standing on the opposite balcony can fulfil that wish but then he felt stupid. The girl's thoughts incessantly penetrated his mind to keep him occupied throughout the day. To get rid of her gripping thoughts, he decided to go for a walk and spend some time with his friends. So, he opened the door but was shocked to see the same girl with a sweet box in her hand standing opposite him with a flashing smile which could make anyone go dizzy.

"Hi, My name is Riya. I am from Mumbai. I am new to Kashmir," she said in a sweet tone.

"My name is Ankur," he said with his fingers leaning onto the wall.

"I felt this place to be lonely. Today, I am celebrating my birthday but I didn't know with whom to celebrate the event. If you don't mind, could you please have a sweet?" an echo of melody interspersed with her childlike voice.

The genuine words which poured from her mouth coupled with her smile reverberated in his heart to ring the love bell. She had to wave her hand across his face to jolt him back to reality. He picked a sweet from the box and thrust it into his mouth as a whole which amused her. A cute smile hovered on her lips to manifest her hidden dimples. 

She was not a girl who could be forgotten in a snap of a finger; she had that aura to linger in anyone's mind who came in contact with her.


Ankur still had three days to get close with the girl before reporting to his duty and if the luck favours perhaps stamp the marriage proposal. In the evening time, he came out of his house to see if he could catch a glimpse of her. To his surprise, she not only appeared but also waved her hands with a gorgeous smile on her countenance as if she had known him for a long time. He thought her to be a people-friendly personality. He reciprocated with a smile.

"How is your day?" she asked.

"Quite boring," he responded.

"Same pinch," she said.

She came puffing down the stairs and materialized next to him. Today, she had donned white salwar kameez and her body colour gave a tough fight to her outfit itself. Perhaps the breeze hummed a piece of Bollywood music persuading her veil to cover his face.

A moment of silence accorded them a chance to look at each other. The green garden provided them with the much-needed license to have a conversation which eventually brewed love between them. A plethora of words exchanged between them never showed any sign of abhorrence, rather weaved together to sprout love thoughts. They looked at each other in silence which became a testament to their growing love. Apparently, they proposed to each other. He told her that he would be on a mission for a while and once he succeeds, he would marry her. She asked him if he could take her to a valley the next day so that they could spend time with each other before he departs to set his mission in motion. He nodded his head in affirmation letting her smiley face usher forever into his heart. They exchanged a smile before they disappeared back to their respective residences.  


Ankur and Riya set off for the Kashmir valley to savour the splendid atmosphere around. They sat together just beholding the magnificent snow-capped mountains in the backdrop of a sunlit sky. This was one of the places that did not demand the visitors to converse because it was churned with enough beauty which could cajole the visitors into its aura. They spent almost fifteen minutes without exchanging words and eventually Riya breached the silence. 

"I never knew I would find my man here," Riya said with her eyes hooked to the nightingale which was on a music-churning spree.

"I fell for you the moment I saw you and the conversation we had yesterday further strengthened my trust in you," Ankur continued. "I wish I could spend a few more days with you but I have to go to pursue a mission for my country. Once I complete the mission, I will talk to my parents about you and hope we can get hitched."

Their fingers entwined together as they walked across the valley to welcome the twilight. Unbidden, a few men rushed to the spot and bound them with ropes and their face was covered with masks. There was no option for escape as they were dragged inside a jeep which zoomed through the roads. Some chemicals sprayed on the kerchief stirred their nose for a while as they blacked out. 


When Ankur opened his eyes, he found himself bound to a pillar in a dark room and Riya was tied to the adjacent pillar.

"What's going on?" he raised his voice.

"I think we are abducted," Riya replied.

They could hear the footsteps of someone and the sound rose to a crescendo when the authoritative footsteps came to a halt in the centre of the dark room. The darkness vanished the moment lights erupted from all directions to increase the visibility of the room. 

"How are you, Mr Ankur?" a man with a grey beard and a long moustache asked in a gritty voice.

"Who are you? What is your agenda?"

"I saw the love birds trying to spoil the beauty of Kashmir and felt it was my discretion to abduct you guys."

"What nonsense?"

"Welcome to the SMG of Pakistan," he roared in delight.

Now Ankur realized that he was trapped in Pakistan. An unexpected turn of events materialised to compel his heart to skip a beat. One of the guards arrived and freed Riya who subsequently pulled up a suit kept on the table and wore it.

"Are you taken for a ride?" she laughed.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am a worker of Pakistan SMG. We were apprised that you were to lead the Indian team that had planned to destroy our SMG and retrieve the star jewel," Riya sounded like a professional.

"How could you betray me?" Ankur asked.

"I just came as a spy. My job was to make you fall in love with me. I succeeded in that. Later on, our team was waiting near the Kashmir valley where the appearance of Indian soldiers is very minimal. So under the pretext of roaming around the valley, I helped my team to abduct you. You never had an inkling that I was a working Pakistani spy. We will hang you tomorrow and the news will spread like a wildfire which will coerce your Indian military to abandon their plan to nullify us. So, you have a day before you get hanged. You can spend the entire night ruminating about your folly," she laughed and scurried out of the room and the others followed suit with a smirk on their face. 


In the middle of the night, a strange incident stirred the consciousness of the SMG workers. A fire bell was pressed which continued to shout out loud, "There is a fire in the building. Please vacate," Everyone congregated on the ground floor and it took some time to realize that it was a prank played by someone. Being professionals, SMG workers never resorted to such pranks, so they wondered who was behind this unexpected incident. 

"Star jewel is stolen," someone panicked from behind.

"How could it be stolen?" Riya looked surprised.

When they barged into the room where Ankur was placed, they could see a person tied to the pillar with his hair covering his face. Someone checked if it was Ankur and the reality jolted them into a shocker. One of their guards had replaced Ankur. What just happened? Before they could rack their brains to unravel the mystery, Riya received a phone call from Ankur. Without wasting a second, she picked up the call.

"Are you taken for a ride?" he gave them a taste of her own medicine.

"Where are you?" she screamed.

He made a video call where he was found with his subordinates inside a plane which had left Pakistan. He had the coveted glittering star jewel in his hand. 

"How did you steal the jewel?" 

"Hold on! I didn't steal the jewel. I am just taking it back to the country where it belongs."

He narrates the story of which the SMG team was unaware.

Ankur had come to Riya's house to return her earring which had fallen in the garden during their conversation. At that time, he overheard her conversation with her Pakistani team which revealed her real identity. Just when he was thinking of a plan to carry out a covert operation to bring back the jewel, Riya's real identity germinated an idea in his mind. He knew her guards would kidnap him near the valley, so he had already informed his team well in advance so that they could follow him. His team attacked the SMG workers and pulled out ID cards from them; they used their uniforms as camouflage to gain entry into the SMG building. By pressing the fire alarm button, they made sure everyone's attention fell on the ground floor while they rendered two guards who were outside the star room unconscious before scooping the jewel. They also replaced Ankur with one of their guards before retreating away from the building. 

"You have twenty seconds to ponder about your folly. We will not hurry back to India without meeting our objective which is not only to retrieve the jewel but also to erase your SMG. The countdown begins, 10,9,8...."

The SMG workers ran helter-skelter when the bomb tied around one of their guards made a loud sound. The bomb exploded in a jiffy to wipe out the SMG in retaliation to their attack on the Indian SMG. Ankur and his team were given a hero welcome as they came back to India with the successful completion of their mission. Multiple garlands hung around his neck as he viewed the Indian military heads marching toward him to congratulate his brave act. The star jewel was kept in a secured room with tightened security around. Ankur went on a deserved holiday.


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