Endless Voyage
Rise and fall of humanity
by
pradipkumar raol
&
prakash vaidya
Part - 3
Paradise must have its serpent, and in these beautiful and splendid mountain ranges of Afghanistan the serpent was international terrorist Nubi Ansary. He was 5’11” and lean in built with a bony face having thin lips. His cheeks were deep in the face which was filled with black beard. Few white hairs in the beard were distinctly visible. His eyes were big and the pupils inside were brownish. They looked as if tongue of a snake is lurking inside at regular intervals. The complexion of his face had become copper like having had too much exposure in the scorching heat of the mountains.
His nose was unusually long and thin. Oh! He looked like a terrorist. And he was a saboteur terrorist. He was equipped with a sharp sadist brain. He was an instrument of repression and despotism. Under the left eye there was a deep horizontal scar, which was about two inches long, as a result of a street brawl happened years ago, and due to this that eye looked smaller than the right eye. No man could ever forget Nubi’s face if he had seen it even once. He never laughed and remained tense and alert, all the time. It was these features that chilled his visitors which were not too many. His strides were long and fast so that his guards had to almost run following him.
His father had been brutally killed by American soldiers during the time of fall of Saddam. He and his younger sister Shakila came to settle down in one of the bordering towns of Pakistan after much wandering here and there. They later on came to nearby city Peshawar in hope of earning some money. After much assiduity they got a job of loading and unloading in a big vegetable market
This was a turning point in his life as it was here that the course of his destiny was about to take a sharp turn. It so happened that one fine morning as he was unloading a truck someone struck a friendly tap on his head. He turned back in anger and what he saw was a boy named Rehman who looked five to seven years elder to him. And he was laughing at him. He too was working in this market and Nubi knew him. Nubi was boiling with raze and before he knew they came to hitting blows to each other. Seeing his strength weakening against the elder boy, as a last resort he whipped out a knife and lunged at Rehman, driving the knife home to the hilt. Rehman slumped to the ground, mortally wounded, while Nubi fled from the scene. But before falling to the ground Rehman had just managed to snatch away Nubi’s knife and was successful in inflicting a sizable cut under the left eye of Nubi. Then he fell to the ground due to heavy loss of blood and with that, knife had slipped away from his grip. Pressing his hand on the wound Nubi ran and ran fast. His wound was bleeding profusely and hurting too much. Suddenly a car going ahead of him slowed down, its door opened and someone pulled him inside. It was the car of a notorious terrorist. When Rehman was taken to the hospital he was declared dead.
Next day Nubi was resting in one of the hotels of Multan city. However, not able to get immediate treatment the scar under his left eye made a permanent mark on his otherwise not so beautiful face. Later on, after few days he managed to bring up his sister Shakila to stay with him.
The terrorist organization treated them both nicely and trained them in arms and ammunition. They were slowly brainwashed against America. And they started believing with conviction that America was responsible for the damaging conditions of Afghanistan. He was in a high dudgeon over the partial American occupation and he actually wanted to take revenge for his father’s killing, years went by and both brother and sister were growing up. They were using rifles and machine guns as if they were toys.
Nubi was made the commander of western segment at the young age of twenty two. This wing of the terrorist organization was operating in only western countries. His notoriety had increased quite substantially. His name only brought fear and hatred in the minds of people. Gazi was the name of the person who had saved him and brought him to Multan. One commits mistake when he is really asking for it. It seems death was reckoning him. His lusty eyes fell on Shakila who now looked attractive and voluptuous. He intended lewd and lascivious cohabitation with her. One day he tried to molest her, but Nubi reached there in time, however surely by an accident. He put his revolver in Gazi’s mouth and fired three shots. Lumps of material from his brain went flying in the air and got stuck to the walls. Both, brother and sister took Gazi’s vehicle and ran away to Afghanistan and went into hiding to avoid possible consequences.
Shakila knew his brother well. Even jokingly she did not dare to tap him lightly on his head. If done so he would surely flare up in rage. However, his administrative powers and ability to control others were worthy of praise.
Terrorist organization Harkat - ul - I came into existence under his leadership. Gradually it spread its wings as days went by and succeeded in instilling fear into the minds of people and governments, especially in the countries like America, England, France, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and India etc. It became so notorious and ruthless that it was banned by the international community. Nevertheless, its presence was strongly felt, in fact increased by way of more and more terror attacks in the Middle East countries, Europe, America, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. His network remained very active, effective and formidable.
In the mountain range the head quarter of his organization was tightly secured. It was guarded by two F-70 guns which were assisted by radars. Their range was about 20 km. and can detect any approaching unfriendly object in the sky. Nubi was more afraid of mosad’s commandos other than anybody else. That is why he had shifted to this new base in the mountain range. Once they had nearly attacked the old base and he had lost heavily. This new base was thus made impenetrable. His number one enemies were capitalist countries. And he had decided to damage America because he particularly did not like interference of America in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, America had added fuel to his fury. That is why he was frequently targeting it’s cities by regular bomb blasting, kidnapping its citizens etc. Lastly he had assassinated Texas’s Governor and had hijacked a passenger plane. In the later developments, FBI had sent ten of Nubi’s terrorists behind bars. He was very infuriated, and issued threats to the American Government to release them immediately, otherwise be ready for retaliation.
Looking to the past history of such terrorist organization, the American Government thought that, Nubi might plan for usual terror attacks and they tightened the security at airports, embassies and at important places. But nothing happened for a considerable length of time.
They thought that, this is the result of heightened security system. Peace had prevailed, but nobody knew that underneath this calmness, dynamites were laid. This was a peace before an approaching storm.
Thomas arrived at Kabul Airport. There were not many people there. As he came out one Pathan followed him saying ‘Indian guest! Indian guest! Thomas understood, and shakes hands with him. They walked to the parking lot. The Pathan came to a halt nearby one old looking car. Inside there was a bearded man behind the driving seat. Both of them got into the car. They had traveled about 400 km. of rough terrain. The bearded man stopped the car when they had reached some sort of smooth and leveled ground. He drank some water and got out of the car. He did not care to offer it to his co-passengers. A helicopter was seen coming toward them from distance. ‘Presumably for them,’ Thomas thought .The Pathan too got out of the vehicle and instructed Thomas to do the same. The helicopter landed some hundred feet away from the party. Thomas was asked to move to the chopper, he hesitated but when Pathan put a revolver to his head, he started walking. When they neared it Thomas was blind folded and his hands were tied behind. He was assisted to get in to the chopper. It quickly flew away in the direction of ‘Zebak’. The other two were left behind. They had done their part of the job.
‘Zebak’ is a border city of Afghanistan situated to the north of Kabul. It is touched by three other borders. On Chinese border there was Khargosh ghat and Bartholly Ghat, and on Russian border there was Kulyab and Shiradabad. While on third side there was Pakistan’s border, there India and Parkhan came. They did all their movements through Pakistan’s border. In the times of danger they can run away or escape from Zebak in any direction. ‘Harkat-ul-I’s main head quarter was established near Zebak for this advantage. He had taken all the precaution to safeguard its secrecy from strangers. He kept many informers in the city also. Its building was constructed underground. All the modern equipments and facilities were available there. While on the other side he had piled up deadliest weapons which included, missiles, guns, rifles, machine guns, bombs, grenades, and landmines and rocket launchers. In addition, it had a well-equipped laboratory which investigated and improvised upon weapons. Experts from different fields like technology, medical, science, surgery were working for him, of course against their will. Surrounded by mountain range the head quarter of Harkat-ul-I was secure and impenetrable. Nubi Ansari and all his men staunchly believed that other than their own religious people are sinners. That is why the whole world should adopt their religion. So according to them it was justifiable to torture and kill others.
Such was their fanaticism that only death can remove it from their ideology. But, realistically speaking Nubi was misguiding and misusing them for his own evil designs. Some News Papers reported that he had completely brain-washed them in the name of holy war.
His network was well spread across several countries, his ambitions ever increasing, that is why he was in need of more and more funds. Nobody knew where the money came from, but he never had real problem with that.
Nubi, now was bent upon teaching a lesson to America so it can never set its eyes upon any Muslim country. He was not satisfied with small singular attacks. He was planning something big to break America financially and destroy its scientific & technological supremacy.
In his headquarters he was right now seated beside his sister Shakila whose long fingers were quickly tapping on the key-pad, numbers of information was displaying on the computer screen. They were details about various bank accounts across the world. Altogether they showed balance of billions of dollars, however it seemed insufficient to Nubi. He needed more funds for implementation of his new operation. It looked like help from Saudi Arabia had not materialized yet.
He extracted money from Pastun businessmen who were millionaire and were well established in Dubai and Pakistani rich men who were still afraid of him. He used all dirty tricks to make them part with their money. He used to encourage and assist marijuana growing farmers to get huge profits. It was reported that he had also established several religious organizations whose members came to Mecca on pretext of performing ‘Hajj’ who then came to Saudi Arabia and collected loads of money as donations from kings and rich men. He did not even spare Afghani women who were widowed due to long drawn wars. They were forced to do little jobs, even beg in order to survive. If this matter was disclosed they would not be able to escape from the wrath of Thaliban. According to one very famous English Daily’s reporter Nubi had become an Islamic mafia–terrorist in all its widest sense.
Shakila managed and kept track of all the funds coming in for ‘Harkat-ul-I’. She once again checked all the data. The front company from Kuwait which manufactured electric cables had wired 3.5 million dollars. Shakila felt relieved a bit but Nubi was not satisfied. Money from Saudi Arabia had not arrived yet. He banged his fist violently on the table. Shakila did not like this and left the room. His brother was in a strange temperament now a day. He too came out of the room and marched briskly down the long carpeted hallway past several doors, turned sharply, and entered into a room were his most trusted aide Mirza was sitting. There, few men were working on computers. Mirza was young and very clever fellow. He had done his MBA from Harvard. Nubi had given him the most important task of handling affairs of arms & ammunition. He had the powers to buy and distribute deadly weapons for their cause. That is why he could smell in advance as where the next strike would be.
He had contacts in different countries for that. According to particulars mission’s requirements he can arrange for lethal weapons. Beside this he used to collect all the information necessary for implementing a terror attack. Thus, he had become an essential part of Nubi’s organization. However, Nubi’s management was such that no member was allowed to interfere in each other’s affairs.
On seeing Nubi entering the room Mirza instantly stood up and saluted him.
“Mirza, what is the news?’
‘Everything is fine, just according to your instructions and advice.’
‘Oh! Very well! Saying this he moved forward. Another fellow looked up and said, ‘Janab! Terror attack was carried out in Las-Vegas in which the casino named ‘The Eagle’ was completely destroyed, hundred and twenty five people died and many got injured, out of which twenty are fighting with death’
‘Very good, indeed!’ he was very happy.
‘And janab, in bonus in the same attack media king Tom Blake also died. Lot of chaos and confusion was created.
‘Why there was so much publicity?’
‘Because, the people and media believe that this blast was instigated by the Governor of California who is now a presidential candidate and Tom Blake did not like this.’
‘No, no. no,’ Nubi spoke with anger, ‘we have to own this attack, inform ‘Al Fakira’ channel that we have carried out this attack, understand? “
‘Yes! Janab’.
‘Well, what is next?’
‘Yes, weapons have been delivered to Iraq, and American consulate in Beirut was bomb blasted. However, the high commissioner could not be killed because he was not there.’
‘Was not killed? Very bad,’ Nubi got furious.
‘We sent the help; you asked to give to our group in Pakistan. In India we attacked at two different places. One train was blasted in Mumbai and in Kashmir one B.S.F. Jeep was totally destroyed by our militants. One D.S.P. and Eight inspectors were killed. Also our men have reached Russia for our missiles collaboration with other terrorist groups. Their detail message is likely to come in a day or two.
‘Fantastic!!!’
‘American govt. has been warned again for the last time to release our men’, Janab.
‘Very fine’, Nubi seemed happy and felt elevated to hear all these news.
‘Thomas has arrived; I mean he is brought here.’
‘Hamm!! That is still good!’
As he was gathering knowledge about all his assignment abroad the green light came to life in the room. He suddenly spoke, ‘welcoming news! One more step forward in the direction of success. Let us, move to the laboratory.’ They went to the lab – section. Here, scientists were developing tissue cultures and with the help of biotechnology they were trying to prepare masks which can help in duplicating some one’s identity. It seemed they had been advancing in this technique. Such bio-mask can easily be fitted on a person’s face with the help of minor surgery. He congratulated the scientists and promised to release them shortly. With incredulity they listened, their hearts filled with the utmost abhorrence for him.
Then, the dreaded party advanced to a large room. As they entered, everybody stood up and they exchanged greetings. He took his position and sat on the smooth silky kashmiri carpet. Shakila and Mirza also took their seats either side of him. In few minutes, from the main door two hefty men entered with Thomas.
Nubi greeted him, ‘welcome Mr. Samir Chakrabarti, and ‘I’m Nubi, Nubi Ansari, a man chosen by God to destroy America.’ There were six large young men behind Nubi, spaced rather widely, legs apart, and arms folded, scowling. They had long beards and green turbans wound roughly on their heads.
Everyone was staring at Thomas. Thomas got startled, but did not allow that to appear on his face, instead he looked around. So Nubi again spoke, ‘Thomas, I am telling you. Am I wrong?’ Thomas did not reply. ‘Thomas,’ Nubi continued further, ‘your real name is Samir Chakravarti. Your parents live at 36, Chaurangi Lane in Calcutta. Your father is a retired brigadier; you also joined the army and got training in U.S. Thereafter, you were promoted as in-charge missile operative commanding officer. You rose to very high position in no time. Am I right?’
‘Yes’, Thomas replied with irritation.
Nubi once again continued, in a moment of testiness, ‘let me reveal more, to refresh your memory Mr. Chakravarti. Indian army had a deal with one French company for buying electronic rifles. One of my agents sneaked into the deal for its finalization and offered Kickbacks. When the matter became open, you were made a scapegoat. You were court-martialed and sentenced to jail. Those who were involved in the murky deed escaped and were enjoying cocktail party while you were getting ready to serve jail term, because the deal had technical approvals signed by you.’ He added further, ‘you were a tough guy but your father couldn’t bear this humiliation and as a result, the doors of home were closed for you forever. After serving the term, you took shelter in Goa. You even changed your identity in order to be free from your past. You just dissolved into thin air. Nobody knew your reality, not even Cuckoo, am I right?’ he finished with a pride in his voice.
‘Perfectly right, but how did you come to know all this?’ Thomas asked with a bit of surprise.
‘You see, Mr. Chakravarti, it is my job to collect experts of various kinds who can be helpful in my sacred work. Even my men know only two things, one, to complete the job given to them and two, if they fail, an instant death would be welcoming them. At the start of this organization I had declared that whenever a set-back could be attributed to human error, the human being in question should forthwith be executed. There is no love without fear, any way you are known for your courage and marksmanship. However, you possess that extra ability which is of particular interest to me, and that is your knowledge in missile technology.’
‘I am afraid, Nubi,’ Thomas said, ‘that this type of despotic behavior would not accomplish what you wish.’
‘Different worlds, different rules, any way I don’t need your advice, at least at this juncture, right now I am on to a big thing, very big… very big indeed. If by the grace of Allah, I succeed I will be deemed fit for a “Life Time Achievement Award” in the field of “terrorism.” He seemed lost in thoughts.
Thomas’s sharp brain instantly recognized the moment of weakness in his opponent’s mind. This was an opportunity to ask about Cuckoo’s whereabouts. ‘Where is she now? You have done a great mistake in kidnapping her, let me talk to her.’
Nubi was looking at him with wary and ice-hard eyes, then he said, ‘Oh, she is alright, don’t worry, and sorry I can’t do that, and you are not in a position to bargain.’ Nubi was firm in his voice. Thomas was aware of his helpless and precarious situation so he decided to remain quiet and not to pursue the matter further.
Nubi then addressed his fellow men, ‘now it is possible to destroy America and it’s puppet nations. To destroy America, we will have to destroy National Aeronautics and Space Administration
‘NASA?’ everybody said loudly.
‘Yeah, NASA, with NASA destroyed America will be damaged heavily. And thereafter, our new friend Mr. Thomas with his extraordinary knowledge of missile technology will help us in destroying America and its ‘gulam’(slave) nations completely. “Uncle Sam” shall perish. So, from now onwards, friends, we will not carry out small jobs, we will let some time pass. When the FBI, CIA and other agencies get careless, we will strike on NASA. The master plan for that is under preparation. Do you have any questions? Any doubt?’
‘No, No,’ they replied. Nubi got up hurriedly and with him Mirza and Shakila also got up. Nubi said to both of them, ‘Mr. Thomas is our valued guest, see to it that he must not feel uncomfortable in any way.’ He smiled with a kind of vicious camaraderie.
‘Okay Janab.’ Mirza moved forward taking Thomas with him, while Shakila followed Nubi. Nubi thought: If Thomas does not create any trouble then only he can finally win. It seemed difficult to get work out of him considering his cleverness and audacity. However Allah has cure for all. A stealthy smile ran across his thin lips. His mind and heart was warped by passion and rancor. Outside, over the splendid mountains darkness was slowly spreading in all directions.
