Heaven in Hell

Meeting the Chief

0200 HOURS

OFFICER SIDDHARTH MISHRA:

It was dead of another chilly night with 4 degrees and we were waiting for Ashwin to arrive. Agent Prescott had somehow managed to get me a 15 days leave of absence and get me on schedule with the others. He had asked us all to meet at the old abandoned railways tracks of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh sharp at 0145 hours. Ashwin is late for god knows why and that is why we are freezing our asses sitting on the tracks with complete silence.

Agent Prescott had informed me and Roshesh that Chief Darhk won't join us for another few months, but he would overlook the training. As long as he is far, I'm sure we would manage fine. What would happen when he comes is a different story though. Agent Prescott, though, looks bad. There are dark circles under his eyes and he nearly fell at our feet when he arrived. He had removed his back pack and is sleeping on the tracks with his backpack as the pillow and his feet raised on the tracks.

Within another minute, we see Ashwin running up the tracks with fear in his eyes. No one can save him now. Without a word, Agent Prescott hits him upside the head, motions for him to keep shut and we walk sneakily the rest of the way to our new training grounds. Only Agent Prescott knows the location.

A fair distance into the industrial area, Agent Prescott motions for us to walk inside a factory through a backdoor after opening a lock and punching some security key in.

Once we have walked a few steps in, we wait for Agent Prescott to walk ahead. Closing the doors and arming the lock again, Agent Prescott walks to the dead centre, turns towards us and before he says a word, he is knocked down to his knees and then face first pummelled with one of his hand's twisted behind and the attacker's knee dug deep into his back. The attacker holding the gun shouts 'Drop' while still keeping Agent Prescott on his stomach.

I look at Roshesh to see him dropping for push-ups and I immediately realise the situation. Shit, Hades is here.

Without bothering to remove my backpack, I too drop in the push-up position. The clueless cadets follow our movements, though they seem shaken.

When he fires his eerily real looking gun at Agent Prescott's head, bubbles come out, making it really difficult for us to keep our straight faces intact. Without letting go of Agent Prescott's hand, he pulls his head up using his hairs and asks, "Who was late?"

Agent Prescott keeps looking straight with his lips tightly shut, clearly in pain. When it seems clear that he won't be saying anything, Hades turns to us, smiles and says, "Come on boys, tell me who was late and this night will go quite easy. Only for the rest of you, ofcourse"

Agent Prescott's silence said it all. This was a test. We say a name and we are all gone. While I know Roshesh will not say a word, I'm not so sure about the cadets. Shit, we are gone tonight.

Roshesh silently whispers, "Do not say a word". Unfortunately, it is not silent enough for Chief Darhk who has now let Agent Prescott go, with a kick on his back, and is stalking towards Roshesh. I admire him for not shaking at the mere thought of what would come next.

Kicking Roshesh in the abs, he says, "Prescott and boys, except you, Officer, start pushing. We will do this for days until I know who was late so you better fess up." With another kick to Roshesh's abs, he says, "Officer, mind repeating what you said."

Roshesh keeps silent. Agent Prescott groans getting my attention. With a subtle nod, which I think was meant for Roshesh, he continues with his push-ups. Hades knows it too.

Roshesh speaks, "I said – Do not say a word, sir"

"Excellent. I have two rebels in the team. Prescott and you will do the two man push-up. Go"