COVER STORY

“Did you hear that?” Captain Sajid Raza asked his partner Captain Bilal Ahmad stopping abruptly. They were in the woods on patrol, just a few miles away from the town.

Both men became static instantly, straining to listen for anything unusual in the silence of the night. They heard nothing more than the chirping of the crickets, the soft whisper of the trees singing the ancient song with the roaring river about its might in the background. Bilal gave Sajid a look. Even though he had heard nothing suspicious, he dared not speak or move for he trusted his partner more than himself.

Sajid was starting to believe that it was just his ears playing tricks after three hour of duty in the freezing December cold. Just as he opened his mouth to tell Bilal this, he heard it again.

A faint crunch of a boot stepping on a dry twig.

This time Bilal heard it as well and looked at Sajid in confirmation. A common man wouldn’t have noticed this soft sound, but these men weren’t ordinary; they were trained to ignore not even the slightest change in the direction of the wind. Besides, this was a restricted area, and unless whoever was out there was a wild animal in boots it was an uninvited guest with not so noble intentions.

Sajid motioned for Bilal to take cover behind the big oak tree to escape detection in the light of the full moon. The two young men softly crept behind the tree and readied their rifles, straining their ears to assess the situation, all the while looking around through their rifle scopes.

Sajid’s heart pounded against his ribcage with the blood rushing to his limbs, the fight or flight instinct taking over. Flight was out of the question; he would die before turning his back to the enemy, leaving this country unguarded, so fight it was. Death before disgrace!

Slowly turning around Sajid noticed a sudden movement in the west some two kilometers away. It appeared someone besides them was also taking cover behind the canopy of trees to avoid being seen. He tapped Bilal on the back, all the while keeping his eye on the cluster of trees he had seen movement in, pointing him to the targets’ location.

After a few seconds both men nodded at each other and Sajid pressed his wireless whispering, “Papa Oscar three two one. Code red Delta wing. Over.”

In one tenth of a second before someone replied, “Papa Oscar three two nine, position? Over.”

“Seven miles northwest from Foxtrot Charlie Hotel seven one two, over!” Bilal replied.

“Number? Over.”

“Uncertain. Over,” answered Bilal.

“Permission to pursue? Over,” inquired Sajid. softly as he watched the silhouette of a man armed with a machine gun.

“Not until we know the number. We’re trying to get a live feed. Backup is on the way. Over,” the ops room responded, causing Sajid to clench his teeth. He hated waiting, but he couldn’t forget the most basic rule of warfare: follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) no matter what.

“Yes, sir!” He answered.

“Keep us in the loop and try to see if you can get the number. The drone is flying over the area.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Col. Khawar, QRF in!” The line man announced.

“Do we have a live feed?” Col. Khawar inquired.

“We’re working at it!” came the response from the ops room.

“Do the men on ground have any idea about the number?”

“More than two!” Sajid informed as he saw two men with their backs to them moving as if they were addressing a group, however he could not be sure.

“Activity?”

“Relaxed.”

“Ammunition?”

“Most likely machine guns and rocket launchers.”

“Only two men in the area?”

“Yes, sir!”

“We’ve got live feed!” Ops room announced.

“Details?”

“There are at least a dozen miscreants and they are spread in a three-kilometer radius. Exact location will be available in a few moments.”

“Can we guess what ammunition they have?”

“We can see rocket launchers, machine guns and rifles!”

“Exact location figured. About two miles away from patrol officers and four miles away from QRF at this moment!” A new voice informed.

“Patrol team, take cover and open fire when you see a green spark in the sky. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” Both Sajid and Bilal whispered.

Sajid looked at Bilal as both decided the perfect position to open fire. After a few moments of looking around, one decided to take position behind a six foot tall boulder while the other made his way behind the trunk of a hundred year old oak tree.

Sajid alternated between looking at the miscreants and at the sky through the canopy of trees, waiting for the green signal. His heart was beating with the speed of light and adrenaline was coursing through his veins. He had been in similar situations more times than he could count on his fingers, but each time felt like the first time. He wasn’t afraid to die - fear for his life was never on his mind. There was just something very heady about the moment just before you opened fire knowing that the slight movement of your finger will result in some devil reaching hell.

Sajid closed his eyes for a microsecond and prayed for success, but quickly snapped them open when someone started the countdown in his earpiece.

“One.” Both Sajid and Bilal looked at each other.

“Two.” Both nodded their heads before turning to face the enemy.

“Three!” And a flicker of green light flashed in the sky.

Without wasting a single heartbeat, both men opened fire. At the exact same moment firing started from the opposite side, sandwiching the miscreants.

Game on!

A tenth part of a second later the miscreants also opened fired. The previously quite woods were filled with the roar of bullets, the shouts of both the army and miscreants, the chirping of birds that were had awakened due to the noise.

Sajid felt his heart thumping like never before and the blood pounding in his ears. Sneaking from behind the tree he continued to fire at the three men who were running towards them. Without thinking he stepped out in the open, with his gun held in front of him and shot one of the monsters in the head.

Two men fell as he again took cover behind the tree. Shouts and bangs filling his ears. In the middle of it all was the sound of a blast and he prayed with everything inside of him that everyone from their team was safe.

Peeking from the side he noticed a man running to south east while another was escaping to the south west. Opening fire at the nearest one he ran towards him and felt something hot touch the apex of his left shoulder and neck. Not stopping to check if he was hit, he continued making his way towards the two men. When one fell to the ground he turned and rushed towards the other. Again he felt a bullet hit him, this time in his right lower leg.

Still not stopping he followed the running man, shooting until the miscreant’s    lifeless body fell head first and rolled down the small hill.

Taking cover behind a tree, Sajid surveyed the area checking for movement. He was just taking stock of his wounds when suddenly he heard the unmistakable click of a riffle loading somewhere close. Before he had the time to move a single muscle of his body a bullet whizzed by the right side of his face.

Quickly, Sajid got behind the tree and heard the unmistakable sound of bullets hitting the trunk on the other side of the tree as one managed to graze the side of his left arm.

Mentally counting to three, Sajid came out of the cover and, with a loud roar, opened fire at the terrorist who had taken cover behind another tree some fifteen meters away.

This time he felt a bullet hit first his right arm and then his right leg causing him to lose balance and fall to his knees. Sajid still didn’t stop and continued firing even when with each passing second he found it difficult to hold on to the riffle. Bullets flew from both sides, some barely missing his body while others pierced it. At last he saw a bullet pass hit the miscreant in the neck! All the pain was worth seeing the look of surprise mixed fear in the terrorist’s eyes just before he fell dead.

Immense pain and the blood loss made Sajid dizzy but he still tried to stand up making sure the riffle was secure in his arms. When he couldn’t stand after multiple attempts, he tried crawling towards the same tree behind which the enemy had been hiding. He barely held back a cry of agony as his left leg protested at even the slightest movement.

When Sajid had finally reached the tree he let out the breath he had been holding for the fear that if he opened his mouth he’d scream in agony. Behind the tree he rested his back against the trunk and winced in pain. Soon it became too difficult to focus. As his vision became hazy he fought to keep his eyes open and not give in to the sleep that was lulling him into peace.

Not yet, Sajid! You can’t close them now! Just a little more!

To distract himself from pain, Sajid thought about the times when he was a young boy and would often get hurt doing things his mother had forbidden him to. Like climbing on roof tops and swinging from trees like Tarzan. He remembered one particular incident when he was ten and had broken his arm. To his ten year old self the pain of a broken bone was the worst one ever, and wouldn’t let him sleep.

          He remembered how his mother had sat with his head in her lap and ran her fingers gently through his hair. She had told him stories of brave centaurs, beautiful dryads, gentle fawn, greedy goblins and evil dwarfs. She told him to look at the stars above him which had been there for thousands of years. Think about all that they had witnessed and all that they would see. She made him promise that no matter what happened in his life he would always side with the truth. She taught him to search for the courage inside of him. She warned him to never let her down.

I haven’t let you down, Mama, I have used every bit of courage inside of me, and I fought till I couldn’t fight anymore…

He thought of his younger sister who was graduating next Saturday. He was due to leave for Lahore on Thursday to attend her convocation. She would be so angry if he missed it but he was hoping she would understand in case he didn’t make it.

You are the best little sister a brother ever had, I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become, Mano…

He thought of his old father who would probably be the first one to receive the news. He knew that his old eyes would be wet with tears, but his lips would whisper words of gratitude.

Abba, don’t be sad, you have to be brave for Mama and Mano…

And, at last, he thought of his beautiful wife who was waiting for him to return. He knew he was going to break all the promises he made to her, but he hoped that she would forgive him.

Kaia, you are and you always have been the star of my universe. Take care of our son and let him know how much his Baba loved him…

It was only after he finally heard the sound of someone softly shouting “Clear!” in his earpiece did Sajid allowed himself to close his eyes and slip into a slumber that was beckoning him.

Soon the woods which were previously filled with sounds of firing and shouting became quiet again. Under the brightness of the full moon they became almost magical. And a sudden hush fell over the bright night. The insects and birds also fell quiet as the river sang a soft mournful song.

In the southwest of the woods, a few meters away from the crying river, slumped against the trunk of a blooming Magnolia tree, whose fragrance filled the entire woods, was a man.

His face and most of the body was covered in blood, which formed a big, damp red circle around him. His head was bent on the right as he had a wound on the left side of his neck. But even in the unconscious state, he held his rifle to his chest with strong, blood-covered hands.

His uniform was completely drenched with blood except for the small green flag, which glowed bright in the mystic night, its beauty somehow enhanced with the few drops of blood splattered across it.

Suddenly, a soft wind whistled through the wood … as if to pay its tribute to the bravery of Sajid. The wind caused the branches of the sweet Magnolia to shake and a beautiful white flower fell on Sajid. And no flower had ever been as happy as this one for it landed on something so much more precious and beautiful; it landed on the blood that would nourish the pure land of Pakistan for all the times to come.