Operation Wonder Machine - 1

“Radio base..? This is the Delta Team.” Major Walter announced on his radio. “We have captured Arzham-al-Rashid from Tazvekistan. We are flying him back to our base. Request you to keep the observation drones hovering above his area to check for further movements.”

4 months later

Major Walter walked inside Arzham’s prison cell & kept his tablet device in front of him.

“3 days ago, our Intel servers picked up an encrypted message sent to one of your allies.” He showed him the jpeg images. “Tell me what these images mean.” Walter ordered him sternly, tapping his boots on the floor, “And tell me what are you guys planning..!”

With his left eye bruised and a stitched scar on his face, Arzham looked at the Major & in a treacherous voice replied back, “I told you what all that I know. When I got arrested, we hadn’t planned anything of this type.” He flexed his nostrils as he inhaled. “We have one boss who plans everything. I’ve never met him, nor have I seen his face. He only gives us orders on call or videos.” He rudely pushed aside the tablet. “I have no idea what these images mean.”

“He says he has no idea of the encrypted data.” Walter reported to General David Edges. “We got this Intel from our server .This data was sent from an unknown ID on a networking site, which removed itself some time back. They were sent to someone in the Middle East. Unable to track the receiver, we are still trying to sort out the messages hidden in these images.”

“We need to finish our actions before President Thomas Jemo visits our country. He is a Nobel peace awardee & he is visiting us for preaching peace. If something happens when he’s here, we’ll be in a big trouble. So let’s plan out our actions fast.” David instructed to Walter.

“No progress, Major.” Natasha from the I.D. (Intelligence Department) was still trying to figure out the encrypted messages. “I still don’t know what messages they were conveying to each other. I am trying to get some extra info from the laptops we got in his base at Tazvekistan. Tried hard but still no luck.”

“Ping me when you come across something,” Walter reminded her. He then went at his desk and opened the images .What possibly could be hidden here? The first image was of a woman in a stripped jacket, framed inside a square, with random 4 numbers on 4 corners. The second one was a grilled sandwich placed on a table with a globe on one side, again with 4 random numbers on four corners. The third was a lady in strips shirt cycling on a road, with a walnut tree at one side, again having the 4 random numbers. Strips are the only connection in two images, but in what way? he still couldn’t understand it.

The next day as Walter entered the agency, he got a ping from Marcus of the I.D., “Major, I was checking some random footage & trying to match faces of all the terrorists we have in our database & I came across this one, a CCTV footage of a suburban metro station about 2 days ago. Have a look.” Walter opened the video. It showed a man ,identified to be a member of the group headed by Arzham, wearing hoodie on the metro station, speaking to someone on his cell –phone.Suddenly, Walter noticed something. And something clicked in his mind.

“Natasha, look at the shopping bag this person’s holding..!!” Walter dashed in the I.D. and showed the video to her. “It’s a retail brand in one of the Shopping malls in that area..! Get me the info & location of all the malls in the vicinity of this metro…!! And right now ,keep an eye on all of the CCTVs of the metro stations which fall in the vicinity of bigger shopping malls..!!” His orders were immediately carried out. With no progress still on the images, he was positive this clue may get some answer.

“Major, this retail brand is in one of the biggest malls in the city,” Marcus showed up with a satellite image of the entire area, pointing his finger at the location, “The surroundings are full of office buildings and a major traffic all around. Plus,” he paused and exhaled, “President Thomas Jemo will be visiting this mall, inaugurating his peace mission which will be telecasted LIVE across all over the world….”

Now Walter understood. The terrorists got this mall as it’ll attract huge crowds from all over, the perfect place for any destruction. But still he never knew what type of destruction they had planned, or on whom.

“Marcus, send the Elite Alpha team & bomb squad right now to this mall. Order them to scan every single area that they can..!” Walter had to take some action, as maybe this could get him some clue. “And get me the detailed info of all the places The President gonna visit…!”

As Walter headed for his cabin, he kept thinking of the 1st image. What could possibly be hidden inside? He again opened it and rechecked it. Stripped Jacket. The 4 numbers. The bag in the terrorist hand. The retail brand. And then it strike him hard. He did some simple calculations just to confirm his idea. And he was right.

“Natasha, look…!” He took the 1st image to I.D. & placed it in front of her, “This is the same brand whose bag the terrorist had in his hand. This brand has a big store in the mall where we have sent our team.” He paused. “Now, add the random numbers placed on the 4 corners of the frame …!” Natasha added them and was left awestruck with the answer. “They are the…..”

“Absolutely…!!!”Walter screamed, “they represent the geographical co-ordinates of the Mall where the President will be doing his peace inauguration..!!” he banged his fist on the table “Those idiots definitely chose the right location….!” He paused, placed his hand on the table, “ Let’s look at the rest two images. They’ll surely hold us some clue regarding the locations of other two buildings..”

“I am still pushing my head to find out what their intentions are & why are they doing this..” Natasha said, looking at the images and thinking deeply.

Leaving Natasha to handle the search, Walter dashed out of the I.D. and reported the matter to General David, who instructed him to carry out immediate response and tackle the situation on urgent basis.

“Radio one..? This is the Elite Alpha team. We’ve scanned every area, every shop of the mall but we haven’t found anything which can be termed as dangerous.” Walter received the radio communication from the Elite team who were on search in the mall. “Until further notice we are still stationed up here in case of any emergency & awaiting your further orders.”

“I’ve got the other two locations, Walter...!” Natasha said as soon as Walter entered the I.D. “Exactly as you said, the sandwich in the image is a peculiar one sold in the famous restaurant in one of the malls. The numbers on the corners add up again to the co-ordinates…” She then showed him the co-ordinates. “Which give us the desired location. Same is the case with the 3rd one. The striped jacket the lady is wearing is again a trademark one sold in one of retail showrooms of the mall, the tree specifies the walnut coloured interiors.” She showed him the image. “Again, the 4 random numbers gives us the co-ordinates of the mall…” She displayed all the three images in a row. “They specifically choose these as they knew the president will be coming in the 1st Mall. The other 2 will have a live broadcast with huge display screens placed in their atriums, again a place with maximum crowd..!”

As Natasha said this, everything became crystal clear in Walter’s mind. Without knowing what type of explosives would be used, he now had to stop all three of them at one time.

“Natasha …continue to analyse the data that we have collected from their base. Perhaps we may understand their motives and the type of explosives used.” He said as he rushed to take the Elite teams at the other two malls. “And keep questioning Arzham. I am sure he may still know something..!”

Without waiting for his bosses’ approval, Walter gathered the other two Special Forces Alpha Team, and immediately headed towards the desired locations. He ordered the second team towards the 2nd Mall, carrying himself to the third one. Using Fast rope landings, they all landed down in the Mall and immediately scattered inside. Walter gave every team certain directions & he was in continues contact with the other two teams. The Elite Alpha team was again instructed to recheck the 1st mall. 

“Walter…!” Natasha almost screamed as he answered the call, “I have analysed all the data that we had from their base. Have you heard of Operation Wonder Machine…?”

“Nope….I have no idea. What’s that?” Walter questioned her back.

“Listen, Walter. I have found out some very important data regarding this operation. Now listen to me very carefully…”

TO BE CONTINUED…….

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