A Window Of Opportunity

That was the right opportunity for me to get hold of the notorious gang leader Yakub's third wife, Razia, who was also the second - in - command of the gang. Razia was the youngest, most dangerous and outrageous among all gang members and that's why I was given the charge of arresting her while she was travelling alone in this train. She had disguised herself as an old 60 years old lady Nihar Bano. I was amazed to see the perfection in her get up. I was sure she would be accompanied with few of her gang members who might have spread themselves in the same compartment, and definitely, in forged appearances. Razia had got the highest level of hardest possible training in Sindh for two years after joining this gang. This gang of Yakub was operative in India for the last 7 years and was well supported by many terrorist groups.

Razia was not only one of the most beautiful girl when she joined the gang at the age of 15, but she also had very high ambitions to reach at the top in the gang. She didn't believe in 'slow and steady wins the race'. Rather she believed in getting anything that she wanted by hook or by crook. She was known in the group for taking up the most challenging assignments. Yakub was 35 and Razia 17 when they got married. After their marriage, Razia's powers multiplied within no time. Nothing was impossible for her. There were no restrictions on her. That made her get advanced training in different kinds of high end weapons and combats. Expertising in these increased her strength manifold. This current mission was no less than an uphill task but not for Razia. She decided to take it up singlehandedly.

I was working with intelligence department for more than a decade. None of my project failed that I was leading right since my joining the department. Some of these were really 'mission impossible'. I had my own style of planning and execution. At one time, in my fourth year of service, I had brought Yakub's gang almost to an end but then all of a sudden I got orders to travel to Spain for another assignment. I tried hard to find out who was behind these orders but all in vain. I could sense there are some insiders in the department who are Yakub's wellwishers. Though my digging into Yakub's gang was a top most secret but then it was just before our final encounter with Yakub in which I had full sure shot plans to grab him or kill him when I got these orders to handover everything and move out.

That encounter never happened and within 6 months, Yakub was able to flourish his gang to new heights. Razia had a special role in this achievement. It took me full one year to come back and by that time Yakub 's gang had become the most powerful in the country. For last many years, this gang had become a soar in department's eye. Huge destructions, high killings, lootings, and what not was getting into the credit of this gang. Today's mission was something very special and that's why Razia decided to take it up. The train was going from Mumbai to Chennai. This was an express train. Security was at high alert. The department had got a tip that this train is going to be blown up by Yakub's gang and Razia decided to execute it. I was sitting right opposite to Nihar Bano, actually Razia.

I had no clue how Razia has planned to execute her plan. I was not having a bit of hint what exactly her plan was. Only thing I was sure of was that if Razia has taken this assignment, there are very high chances of her success. There were only five stations where this train was to stop. Scrutiny was so high at Mumbai that there was no chance of Razia or any of her gang members travelling in the train carrying a weapon of any kind. That was bothering me a lot. If they are not having any weapons, arms, or ammunitions, then how do they plan to execute it. Two stations had already passed. This was the third station that the train was about to reach in next ten minutes. I was fully alert throughout keeping an eye on Nihar Bano and any of her activities. Till now it was all clean.

My instincts were telling me something is wrong in my understanding the whole situation. If something has to happen, it's this coming halt, my mind whispered. My heart said this is the right opportunity to grab Razia and get down before the coming halt. I never knew its going to be that easy. It was quite easy to grab Razia. I just stood up calmly, started walking towards Nihar Bano. For a moment our eyes met but I didn't notice any kind of uneasiness in her. I just whispered in her ears that it will be good if she cooperates to avoid any unwanted situation. She accepted it silently without saying a word. One of my accomplices pulled the chain for an emergency stop and we got down just give minutes before the third station of the train. We got down. I handed over Razia to my team.

I had to rush fast to the third station where the train was halted for 10 minutes. My plan was to go to Chennai office the next day to discuss about another important case and go Back to my Mumbai office after two days. I was happy I got the right opportunity to take the right kind of action in time and grab the most dangerous gang member of Yakub's gang. I reached at the station right in time. Within a couple of minutes, I got into my compartment. Before going to my seat, I wanted to call my Mumbai headquarters office to inform that I successfully competed my mission and a big tragedy was avoided to happen. After inform, I moved towards my seat, looked outside through the window thinking I will just sit and relax listening to some good music for the rest of the journey. 

The moment I settled on my seat, I got the biggest shock of my life. Nihar Bano was sitting right opposite to my seat. The same seat from where I had arrested Razia just 15 minutes back. This was real Nihar Bano, an old member of the gang. I could easily identify the belt and wires right below her kurta. She had a small remote like device in her hand. All of a sudden, everything changed. The mission that I thought over, was not actually over. The danger was still around the corner. Nihar Bano was looking straight into my eyes with a sarcastic smile on her face.

I had to quickly brush up the situation and find out a quick solution. This was not to happen at any cost. It was not the question of my life but if all the innocent people traveling in the train. My mind was totally blank. I was feeling completely helpless. I felt severe headache and was desperate to get a tablet from my bag. I bent down, pulled out my bag, opened the zip, took out the steel medicine box that was quite heavy in weight. In the spur of a moment I threw that heavy box on Nihar Bano's face. The remote splashed out of her hand as both her hands involuntarily moved in front of her face to avoid it hitting the steel box.

The very next moment, I had that remote in my hands that I disabled immediately. The suicide bomb on Nihar Bano's body was useless now. Razia had played a well planned game with me by easily getting arrested to let me feel happy and relaxed. I was lucky to get another window of opportunity. This time I had one more chance to do something more fruitful.